ROH Supercard of Honor X: Night 2
Dallas, Texas 4/2/16
Pre-Show
1.) The Pretty Boy Killers (Keith Lee & Shane Taylor) vs.
“The Outlaw” Ken Phoenix & Shaheem Ali: **1/4
Keith Lee & Shane Taylor have been featured in ROH pre-shows
and smaller ROH live events before, but this was a particularly big opportunity
for them, since all of the big ‘Mania Weekend festivities are on their home
turf. Ken Phoenix & Shaheem Ali got some offense it, but this was basically
an extended squash match. At one point during the match, Shane Taylor attacked
some security guys, which was a setup for Keith Lee’s insane dive over the top
rope. In the end, The Pretty Boy Killers won with ease.
Main Card
The show kicked off with a promo from ROH World Champion Jay
Lethal. He wanted to address what happened the night before with Colt Cabana.
Lethal claims that it wasn’t a return, because people like Cabana can’t come
& go as they please, and get instant title shots. That’s not how it works
here, Lethal said, and added that he’ll be damned if he lets someone like Cabana
leapfrog everyone on the roster who’s actually deserving of a title shot.
Lethal called out the fans for cheering for Colt Cabana, pointing out that he’s
probably recording a podcast somewhere, while he’s busting his ass here in ROH.
He said a ton of guys in the locker room deserve a shot at his ROH World Title.
Someone in the crowd shouts Cheeseburger’s name, and Lethal agrees. He seems
amused by this idea, and said he’ll defend the ROH World Title against
Cheeseburger right now.
1.) ROH World Title – Jay Lethal (with Taeler Hendrix) vs.
Cheeseburger: **
This was a relatively short match. Cheeseburger got some offense
in, but Lethal pretty much dominated most of the match, and won with the Lethal
Injection in short order. It was ok for what it way, but Cheeseburger’s matches
against Lethal for the ROH World TV Title were much better than this.
After the match ended, Colt Cabana came out. He called out
Lethal for claiming he’s the greatest ROH World Champion, only to call out
someone like Cheeseburger for a title defense. Cabana said that the night
before wasn’t a publicity stunt, and that he’s returned home to ROH. He wants a
match with Lethal right now, and asked him if he has the balls to accept his
challenge. Lethal goes to leave, but Cabana says he’s here because he wants the
ROH World Title, and if Lethal wants to prove he’s the greatest, he’ll face him
right now. Lethal backs down again, and Cabana responded by saying that without
Truth Martini, Lethal’s lost his balls. He claims that Lethal is scared to call
his own shots, and adds that Truth Martini and Taeler Hendrix would say no to
this challenge. Lethal gets incensed, the bell rings, and it looks like we have
a match!
2.) Non-Title Match – ROH World Champion Jay Lethal (with Taeler
Hendrix) vs. Colt Cabana: **1/4
This only went about three minutes or so, but for what it
was….it actually worked pretty well. It was essentially worked like the final
minutes of a much longer match. They managed to pack in a nice little
mini-match in such a sort time frame. It ended when Cabana caught Lethal in a
rollup for the three count!! Cabana stared down Lethal intently as the crowd
went wild after his victory over the ROH World Champion. After the match, Cabana
took the mic and said that’s how you come back to ROH! These weren’t exactly
good matches, but as whole package, this opening segment did a great job to
build up a proper match between Jay Lethal & Colt Cabana.
3.) ACH & Matt Sydal vs. The All-Night Express: ***1/4
Everyone involved in this match lost the night before (ANX was
on the losing side of an Eight-Man Tag, while ACH & Matt Sydal both lost
singles matches), so a win would go a long way for both sides. This was a fun
tag team encounter. It wasn’t as exciting as some of the other tag team matches
that ROH presented across these two shows, but still, it was entertaining. The
last few minutes were particularly good, and in the end, ACH & Matt Sydal
would score the victory.
4.) Donovan Dijak (with Prince Nana) vs. Will Ferrara: ***1/4
Joey “Diesel” Daddiego is on commentary for this match. Dijak
came out with his ribs taped up after being attacked by Daddiego the night
before. Before the match began, Ferrara took the mic, and brought up how he and
Dijak met in the Finals of the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament. Ferrara brings up
Prince Nana’s letters, mentioning that they said that those who seize
opportunity will be rewarded greatly. Dijak’s been rewarded recently, but Ferrara
said that won’t stop him from kicking Dijak’s ass.
As for the match itself, it was pretty solid, though it
definitely had some rough patches. There was some good action throughout, and
both guys were definitely working hard. There were some insane moves towards
the end of the match. Dijak hit Ferrara with a super chokeslam from the top
rope, followed by a moonsault to the outside that didn’t connect 100%. He then
tried to hit a springboard dive from the top rope to the inside, but he tripped
on the ropes. Ferrara was supposed to counter with a dropkick, but with Dijak
tripping, it looked pretty rough, to the point where it garnered “Botchamania”
chants. Despite those issues Dijak eventually picked up the victory after hitting
Ferrara with Feast Your Eyes.
After the match, Dijak and Ferrara shook hands, but as the
former when to leave, he was attacked by Joey Daddiego, who used a chair to go
after the ribs of Dijak, just like he did the night before.
5.) 2/3 Falls Match – Bobby Fish vs. Roderick Strong: ***3/4
This was the culmination of the feud between these two that
dates back to late 2015. As a whole, this was a very good 2/3 Falls Match that
told a fascinating story. Fish dominated the 1st Fall, but Strong used
the referee as a distraction, and took out Fish with a jumping knee followed by
The End Of Heartache to win the 1st Fall. Then, Strong really dominated
the 2nd Fall, but Fish caught him with a flash rollup to even things
up 1-1. They fought hard in the 3rd and final fall, but ultimately,
Fish was able to make Strong tap out to the heel hook to win the match. Again,
this was really good, but it just fell shy of being a great match. Both guys
worked hard, but they haven’t had a truly great match since the feud fully got
into gear.
Up next, “P Dog” Mike Posey comes out with his posse. He tries
to start a rap concert, but is quickly interrupted by Moose. Posey calls out
Moose, calling him slow, overrated, outdated, and said he can’t wrestle. His
posse teams up on Moose, but Moose easily fights back. He dropkicks Posey and the
male members of his entourage to the floor, and then hits a massive dive on the
outside onto all of them. He beats them all up some more on the floor, and
eventually spears Posey in the ring. Stokely Hathaway then tells Kevin Kelly
& Mr. Wrestling 3 that a special surprise is coming in May.
6.) ROH World Tag Team Titles – War Machine vs. Silas Young
& The Beer City Bruiser: ***1/2
Before the match, Young took the mic and called out the fans,
saying that they’re the worst group of fans he’s ever seen. He then said that
he wants this match with War Machine to be for the ROH World Tag Team Titles,
which was a challenge that the champions gladly accepted. When the dust
settled, this ended up being a really strong match. It was actually similar to
the Eight-Man Tag from the night before, in that it was a sprint/brawl
(relatively speaking), going about ten minutes or so, and they packed in a lot
of fun action. War Machine are always fun to watch in these types of matches,
and I think they worked well with Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser, who
really took it to the champions at a number of points. In the end, War Machine
would end up scoring the victory to retain their ROH World Tag Team Titles.
7.) Dalton Castle vs. BJ Whitmer: **3/4
Adam Page was on commentary for this one. I don’t necessarily
have an issue with the match itself taking place, but the big issue was that it
was WAAAY too long. There was fine wrestling here, particularly in the second
half, but this didn’t need to go nearly fifteen minutes. That wasn’t necessary
at all. Towards the end of the match, BJ Whitmer took a mask from one of The
Boys and stomped on it. That detour led to his downfall, as Castle would
capitalize and scored the victory.
After the match, Adam Page brought a chair into the ring, but
instead of going after Whitmer, he sits down. Page said that The Decade once
had a purpose, but over the last year, they lost focus. He said the obsession that
BJ Whitmer has with Corino cost him a big match against Jay Briscoe. Page said
that Whitmer was worried about Corino, when he should’ve been worried about
him. He said that he waited patiently, until the moment was right to cut out
the cancer, and that cancer was BJ Whitmer. He then announces that later that
month, when ROH returns to San Antonio, they’ll be facing off in a San Antonio
Street Fight!
8.) #1 Contender’s Four-Corner Survival – The Addiction vs. The
Briscoes vs. The Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Young Bucks: ****1/4
The winner of this match will receive a future title match
against War Machine. This was about as crazy as you would’ve guessed. There was
crazy action from start to finish, bodies were flying all over the place, and
all four teams involved had moments to shine. I wouldn’t really call this a
MOTYC, but it fits right in with the quality of tag team wrestling that we were
seeing from ROH around this time. It’s matches like this that really show the
quality of ROH’s tag team division. I would call the main event (which I’ll get
to in a minute) the best match on the show, but this four-way tag team battle
wasn’t that far behind. The Briscoes would pick up the win after hitting
Daniels with the Doomsday Device, setting up a future clash with War Machine
with the ROH World Tag Team Titles on the line.
Before the main event, Stokely Hathaway came out to cut a quick
promo. He said that people think they failed when Moose lost to Okada, but that
wasn’t true. He got a call from Gedo, who said that Moose earned the respect of
Okada. Hathaway then announces that, in May, Moose would be teaming up with
Okada for a special tag team match.
9.) No Holds Barred Match – Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly: ****1/2
Well, we all knew that it would come to this. After what happened at Final Battle, it was obvious that these two were going to meet again, and when they did, it was going to be violent. That’s exactly what we saw here, and it was a fantastic hardcore brawl. It was violent right from the beginning, as Cole attacked O’Reilly with a chain during his entrance. There was a ton of great action throughout, and the match got a lot of time (going nearly a half-hour), so all of the big hardcore spots they did got the chance to breathe, which definitely helped. There really wasn’t any blood in this one, but it was still pretty violent. Chairs, Tables, The Barricades (more specifically, a barricade bridge), a chain, and other weapons were used throughout. The fact that these two have shown a true distain for each other over the course of their rivalry added a great deal to this. As a final match in a long, heated rivalry between two former tag team partners, this was tremendous. In the end, O’Reilly would get the win with a Triangle Arm Bar with an assist from the same chain that Cole brought out earlier. O’Reilly stood tall as the show came to a close.
Overall:
8.25/10
While this wasn’t as good as Night
1, I still thought that Night 2
of Supercard of Honor X was still a
very solid show. The first two matches weren’t exactly great from an in-ring
perspective, but from a storyline perspective, they did a fantastic job in
advancing the issues between Colt Cabana and Jay Lethal. Aside from Bobby Fish
vs. Roderick Strong, the middle of the card was good, but by no means
spectacular. However, this show was really lifted up by the final two matches.
The Four-Way Tag Team Match was exactly what you excited, while the main event
proved to be an epic conclusion to the Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly rivalry (even
though they would renew that rivalry later in the year). Again, it wasn’t the
best ROH show of this big weekend in Dallas, but it served as a good
continuation from Night 1, and it
capped off a strong weekend in general for ROH.
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