5/20/2017 ROH TV Report
This week’s show will feature footage from Honor Rising in Japan in February 2017.
1) Tiger Mask, Delirious and Jushin Liger vs EVIL, Bushi and Sanada
This match is for the NJPW Six-Man Tag Team titles. Delirious is giving EVIL repeated armbreakers to start. EVIL chops Delirious to the mat and Tiger Mask and Sanada tag in. Bushi distracts Tiger and Sanada knocks him down and tries to take off his mask. Sanada forearms Tiger in the back and Bushi tags in and kicks him. Tiger fights back and chokes Bushi with a shirt. Liger tags in and clotheslines Bushi in the corner and whips him into a kick by Tiger. Liger takes Bushi to the top rope and Bushi tears at Liger’s mask. EVIL knocks Liger to the floor where Sanada kicks him. EVIL whips Delirious into the guardrail. Bushi attacks Liger on the floor and rolls him inside. Bushi chokes Liger on the ropes and rips at his mask. Sanada tags in and trades strikes with Liger and knocks him down. Sanada gives Liger a vertical suplex. EVIL tags in and kicks Liger repeatedly in the corner. EVIL gives him a clothesline in the corner and then bodyslams him and hits a senton. Bushi tags in and gives Liger a missile dropkick. Bushi and EVIL whip Liger into the corner but he avoids a charge by Bushi and gives EVIL a shotei palmstrike and gives Bushi a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Sanada goes for a German suplex on Liger who throws him outside. Tiger Mask tags in and gives Bushi a missile dropkick as the show goes to commercial.
After the break Bushi is on the top rope and Tiger Mask gives him an armdrag followed by a tombstone. Tiger Mask goes up top but EVIL slams him to the mat. Bushi gives Tiger Mask a neckbreaker. Tiger Mask gives him a tiger driver. Delirious tags in and hits the ropes several times before clotheslining Bushi. Delirious whips Bushi into the corner but misses a charge and headbutts the turnbuckle. Sanada tags in but Delirious picks him up on his shoulders and slams him face-first to the mat. Delirious gives him a back kick and a DDT. Liger and Tiger Mask come in and Liger gives Sanada a shotei in the corner. Delirious backrakes Sanada and puts him in the cobra clutch. Sanada backs him into the corner and escapes allowing EVIL to clothesline Delirious. Bushi hits Delirious with double knees. Sanada and EVIL strike Liger and Bushi gives him a lung-blower. Sanada grabs Delirious for a skull-end who rolls him up several times. Delirious gives Sanada a German suplex but Sanada lands on his feet and gives Delirious a drop toehold into a chair held by EVIL on the outside. Sanada then gives Delirious the skull-end (dragon sleeper) for the submission win.
2) Punishment Martinez vs Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Title
Martinez gets in Goto’s face and Goto shoves him to start. Goto grabs a headlock. Martinez whips him into the ropes and Goto hits a shoulder-block. Martinez knocks Goto down with a shoulder-block. They tie up and Goto back Martinez into the ropes and throws elbows. Martinez whips Goto into the ropes but Goto stops and flexes. Goto throws Martinez outside but Martinez lands on his feet. Martinez returns inside and hiptosses Goto and knocks him to the floor with a boot to the face. Martinez follows outside and whips Goto into the guardrail. Martinez takes him inside and hits a back elbow. Martinez grabs Goto in a facelock but Goto fights out with elbows. Martinez hits a spinning heel kick followed by a back elbow in the corner. Goto gives him a spinning heel kick in the corner. Goto goes for a suplex but Martinez escapes only to take a kick to the chest from Goto. Goto clotheslines Martinez in the corner then goes up top and hits an elbow-drop. They trade several elbows and then trade punches hockey-fight style. Goto gets Martinez on his shoulders and gives him a neckbreaker and the show goes to commercial.
After the break Goto and Martinez clothesline each other twice and then Martinez takes Goto down with a big clothesline. Martinez gives Goto a headkick. Martinez hits elbows in the corner followed by a clothesline and a falcon arrow. Martinez goes up top but Goto rolls outside where Martinez hits him with a tope over the top rope. Martinez rolls Goto inside and then hits a leg lariat off the top rope. Martinez goes for the South of Heaven chokeslam but Goto counters into a GTR attempt. Martinez counters into a suplex attempt but Goto knees him in the head and hits a headbutt. Martinez blocks a kick and punches Goto. Martinez goes for the chokeslam but Goto gets him in the GTR for the pinfall.
3) Kenny Omega, Cody and The Young Bucks vs Jay and Mark Briscoe, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada
Okada and Omega are about to start but Okada asks for Cody. Omega refuses and Mark and Cody tag in. Mark throws some chops, floats over a charging Cody in the corner and armdrags in. Jay tags in and punches and uppercuts Cody. Jay goes to Irish Whip him but Cody blocks it and up-kicks him. Nick Jackson tags in and dropkicks Jay. Nick charges Jay but takes some punches. Jay headbutts Nick. Ospreay tags in and goes back-and-forth with Nick until dropkicking him. Matt is in and he and Nick attempt to throw Ospreay who bounces off the ropes and throws them. Ospreay stops short on a dive and The Bucks kick the barricade in frustration. Ospreay gives Matt a headscissors (out of a tombstone attempt) into Nick followed by a flying headscissors. Ospreay goes to the apron and Matt grabs him a headscissors and Nick dropkicks him to the floor.
After a commercial, Nick runs Ospreay’s head into the boots of his partners in the corner. Nick then attempts to run Ospreay’s head into all six boots of his partners in the corner but Ospreay reverses and runs Nick into them. Ospreay goes for a tag but Omega, Cody and Matt pull the Briscoes and Okada off the apron. Nick hits a running knee on Ospreay in the corner. Ospreay backdrops Cody to the floor. He gives Nick a flipping kick and somersaults out of the way of a charging Omega. The Bucks then superkick Ospreay and Omega and Cody throw him back into the ropes for another superkick. Omega and Cody then hold Ospreay draped on the apron for a rolling senton off the apron by Nick. Nick brings Ospreay inside for a combination springboard splash and moonsault by the Bucks. Omega tags in and kicks Ospreay. Omega bodyslams him and hits a flash elbowdrop then applies a chinlock. Ospreay fights out and punches Omega and elbows him in the face. Ospreay hits the ropes and Cody knees him in the back. Omega goes for a suplex but Ospreay twists into a stunner on Omega. Ospreay tries for the tag but Omega goes for a back suplex. Ospreay maneuvers out and hits a savate kick followed by a satellite DDT. Okada and Cody tag in with Okada hitting back elbows. The Bucks come in and punch Okada who fights back with strikes and gives them a double flapjack. Okada kips up but Cody hits him with a kick off the second rope. Cody goes for Cross Rhodes but Okada catches him in a neckbreaker. Mark tags in and dropkicks Nick off the apron. Mark elbows Omega and hits him with a Pele kick. Omega whips Mark into the ropes but Jay tags in clotheslines Omega. The Briscoes whip Matt into the corner and hit him with clotheslines and a double dropkick as the show goes to another commercial.
After the break, Jay hits a tope suicida on the Bucks and Cody on the floor. Mark then gives Nick a Cactus Jack elbow off the apron. Ospreay and Okada are the ring firing up but the Bucks drag Okada to the floor. Omega hits the ring and kicks Ospreay in the gut but Ospreay dropkicks him to the floor and hits a space flying tiger drop onto him and his partners. Okada goes up top but Cody cuts him off and goes for a superplex to the floor. Okada blocks it and Ospreay goes to the top and Cody superplexes him onto The Bucks and The Briscoes. Okada and Omega then face off in the ring for the first time since the Tokyo Dome and trade strikes. Okada boots him in the face but takes a knee to the face. Omega picks him up for a one-winged angel but Okada escapes. Okada goes for a rainmaker but gets superkicks by the Bucks. Omega gives Okada a snapdragon. Omega and the Bucks fire each other up with slaps and then hit a triple superkick on Okada. Ospreay hits a top rope bodypress on the Bucks. Omega whips Ospreay into the ropes but Ospreay handsprings into an enzuiuguri. Cody powerslams Ospreay. Mark goes for a uranage on Cody who blocks it and elbows Mark. Jay hits an elbow on Cody and then punches away at the Bucks and gives them a double clothesline. Okada is in and he dropkicks Omega. Jay puts Omega on the top rope and superplexes him. Mark hits a froggy ‘bow on Omega followed by Okada hitting a top rope elbowdrop on Omega. Okada goes for a rainmaker but Omega gives him a knee to the face. Omega goes for another knee but Ospreay catches him in a one-man Spanish Fly. Cody tags in and punches Ospreay who elbows him in the corner. Ospreay hits a big corner dropkick on Cody and gives him a falcon arrow. Ospreay goes up top and pushes off nick. Ospreay goes for a shooting star press but Cody avoids it. Cody goes for Cross Rhodes but Ospreay rolls him and hits a big spinning kick. Ospreay goes for a springboard stunner but Cody catches him in Cross Rhodes and gets the pin.
This was a good episode, made enjoyable for me as I hadn’t watched Honor Rising. The opener was fine and then Martinez put in a good showing against Goto showing that he does have potential. The main event was really hard to recap because of all the action which means it is fun to watch. It was pretty cool that the first time Omega and Okada faced off since the Tokyo Dome was on an ROH-branded show. Ospreay got to shine in the main event as well and the main event makes this show worth watching.
