Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 7/29/15)

Worst Father’s Gift Ever 

– Going off the last time we saw The Kingdom on screen, Adam Cole embraced his opponents after the match, which met disapproval from Maria Kanellis, Michael Bennett and Matt Taven. The question was if The Kingdom was still on board with things, as Kanellis joined the commentary team to deny any problems, also picking on Kevin Kelly for “stirring things up.” Bennett/Taven took on the jobber team of Corey Hollis/Jonathan Gresham and while at first, seemed slightly off their game, they recovered by the match’s finish. Hollis/Gresham were treated more than pushovers here, so it’ll be interesting to see if they pick up any kind of a push later on in the year. The overall consensus here was that everything was all well and good with The Kingdom, but it remained to be seen what would happen next with Cole.

– The Six Man Mayhem match between Caprice Coleman, Brutal Bob Evans, Silas Young, Cheeseburger, Moose and Dalton Castle had enough talent in it to be entertaining. Liked that this match had some interwoven feuds (Castle-Young, Cheeseburger-Evans) and how it played into the opening minutes, as the heels avoided any confrontation with those faces. It had some “contained structure” but it got a lot better once the action became more chaotic. Castle’s performance was memorable here, as he made some jaws drop with his extended German Suplex on Moose. Evans almost picked up the wins by illegal rope leverage, but Cheeseburger ratted him out for Moose to take advantage and get the win, putting him back on the win column. Is this the start of a new streak? Time will tell, but Moose is over and he’s got momentum into an eventual showdown with Cedric Alexander, who now has Veda Scott on his side.

– Probably the most memorable segment of the show came from BJ Whitmer, Adam Page, Colby Corino and King Corino. This was finally the moment that Steve Corino stood up for his son with Whitmer taking things further and further over the line. The new trick would’ve been having Colby fight in a four-man gauntlet against four “beasts” in the ROH Training Camp, disguised as “the best gift from the father you never had,” with some more shots at Steve, who at least looked ready to throw down and had to be stopped by Management, including Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness. The payoff is closer than ever, but we can respect the “slow burn” of the storyline as it allows Whitmer to get more and more heated. Judging by the passionate, obscenity-laced chants he got from the fans, it’s working for him.

– As we all know, it’s ROH and the main events always impress and bring things up a notch. That said – Bobby Fish and ACH were the latest to ride the train of main event momentum. It was an exciting, back-and-forth bout with a good share of hard hits, chops, dives and near-falls. ACH did some memorable dives her particularly, but he was outdone by Fish, who did a stellar top rope finisher to end the match. A nice little match to check out if you’ve got the time, but it’s not like you’ll miss anything too special if you don’t see it.

Quick Results

– The Kingdom (w/Maria Kanellis) def. Corey Hollis/Jonathan Gresham via pinfall

– Six-Man Mayhem – Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway) def. Dalton Castle (w/Dalton’s Boys), Silas Young, Cheeseburger, Brutal Bob Evans and Caprice Coleman via pinfall

– Bobby Fish def. ACH via pinfall