The show opens with Watanabe vs. Dalton Castle in singles action.  Castle is escorted to the ring by his two male escorts.  Castle is coming off his PPV win over Silas.  They respect the Code of Honor by shaking hands pre-match.

Kevin Kelly calls Castle the Party Peacock.  They start slow and build into a few decent exchanges.  At one point they get locked up in a small package and roll around the ring reversing it on each other only ending up with a one count.  Watanabe connects with a nice running Senton, but Castle kicks out at two.  Castle executes a Dead Lift German, which is impressive considering Watanabe’s size, but Watanabe kicks out.  Castle takes advantage of Watanabe losing focus and hits his spin into a front slam that gets him the pin and the win.

Post match they shake hands.  Castle gets the mic while his manservants make a man chair for him to sit down on.  He claims to be the only real man in ROH.  This causes Silas Young to come out before we cut to commercial. 

It was a decent match to open the show.  Castle is a real star and he’s making the most of his push.  His gimmick is unique, but what is unclear is if he’s supposed to be a heel or not.  It will be important for ROH to go one direction or the other with him if they want to get him to that next level.  Staying in the middle will eventually hurt his gimmick.

Nigel McGuinness is out to introduce the House of Truth.  Jay Lethal is out with Truth Martini, Dijack, and Jay Diesel.  McGuinness congratulates Lethal on winning the World Title before turning the mic over to him, but Martini grabs the mic and speaks first.  Martini claims the fans aren’t Lethal’s people, but the House of Truth is. 

Lethal gets on the mic and claims he’s the best in the world.  He claims he’s the Champion of the greatest Wrestling Company in the world because he is the champ of ROH now.  He then cuts the interview short, but McGuinness stops him and asks which belt he plans to vacate.  Lethal says he’s not giving up either belt.  McGuinness informs him that if he plans to keep both belts he will have to defend them separately and on occasion twice in a night.  Lethal is not happy about this.

McGuinness reminds him that he will be facing Roderick Strong at the next PPV for the World Title and next week on TV he will defend the TV Title against Marc Briscoe.  Lethal has no issue with it, and suddenly Strong’s music hits as he heads out to the ring to confront Lethal.  Strong puts over their match and we cut to commercial.

Strong is likely going to be served up to Lethal at the next PPV, but its good booking.  It’s a showcase match for Lethal against a solid in ring worker.  In this spot the WWE often have an immediate rematch of the last title match, but by going this route ROH can build to another big match between Lethal and Briscoe down the road and it will be hotter.  That’s smart booking even if they only waited 60 days or so to do it.  That’s how you get the fans engaged in the longer story.  Also, it would appear that Lethal will be dropping the TV Title, whether that’s to Marc Briscoe or not remains to be seen.

Elgin and Redragon team up to take on The Kingdom of Bennett, Cole, and Taven with Maria.  The announce team plays up the tension between Cole and the rest of the team.  Cole is visibly checked out during their entrance.  Maria grabs the mic and tells Cole that the loss at Best in the World is not his fault and the Kingdom will never fall.  The group shares a hug as a show of solidarity. 

Elgin is out next and the announcers point out that he will represent Ring of Honor in the NJPW G1 Climax later in the month.  Redragon are out next.  All six men shake hands for the Code of Honor. 

Elgin puts Bennett in a super long suplex that Cole and Taven try to break up, but are unsuccessful.  The announce team are pressing the fact that Elgin is getting his smile back and has been different lately.  The Kingdom get the better of Elgin and begin a working him over.  Redragon are yet to get into the match as we hit the 10-minute mark.

Elgin goes house of fire and takes out all three men.  He then hits the hot tag on Redragon who take the match over hitting numerous combo moves.  O’Reilly has Taven in an arm bar over the top rope until Cole connects a Super Kick on him to break it up.  Elgin is back in and goes house of fire on Taven and Bennett.  He performs a double Samoan drop on them, which was an extremely impressive show of strength. 

The Kingdom get back the advantage hitting various moves climaxing in Cole hitting Eglin with a Shining Wizard, but Elgin kicks out.  Redragon get back in the ring to even the odds.  Elgin Powerbombs Cole over the top onto all five men.  Taven then gets caught by a Superbomb from Elgin, but Cole makes the save to keep the match going.  Bennett and Taven hit a Stuffed Pile Driver on Elgin and he kicks out.  It looks like Fish didn’t know if he was supposed to make the save.

Redragon hit Adam Cole with Chasing the Dragon to secure the pin and the win for their team.  Cole honors the Code of Honor and raises the hand of his opponents.  He then leaves by himself.  This suggests the breakup of Cole and the Kingdom is imminent.  Cole is looking to become a face for the first time in a long time and ROH is using the heat on the Kingdom to do it, which is smart booking.

Yet another great six man tag to end the show for ROH.  The action was strong, but a notch or two down from last week.  It completed a solid show that only had two matches and one in ring segment.  Although the show didn’t feature very many stars it was still very good because everything that happened was entertaining.  Next week is promising a TV Title defense from Jay Lethal, which should be enough to carry the show.

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About the author
James Garner
Avid wrestling fan since the I was kid in the 80's. Also huge follower of all major sports.