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 1/13/16)

The Boys Are Back In Town 

– Ever since returning to Ring Of Honor unannounced, it has been expected that fans would buy back All-Night Express as an unstoppable force, with no explanation of their whereabouts the last three years. We only know they’re doing well and want the World Tag Team Titles, like any team should. The lack of explanation and character development for ANX has alienated fans from embracing them and that led to the story told in the opening match between ANX and Roppongi Vice, which was a keen way to kick of the hour with good action. It appears ANX – already the #1 Contender’s – are showing more heel tendencies and reacting to the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm for their moves and maneuvers. As the match progressed, their actions became more ruthless and calculated. The finish served to make ANX look clever by way of ring awareness, as King blindly tagged in right before Rhett Titus was seemingly finished off, as King snuck in the winning pinfall. Rocky Romero stood out in the match for his enthusiasm and Trent Barretta also shined in his aerial moves. Wish we knew more about Roppongi Vice from an ROH perspective, because they rock a swagger all their own. Creatively, this was a better way to tell the story with ANX going forward and with War Machine as Champs, it makes it possible.

– The following week’s show received some excellent hype and the segment involving The Kingdom, reDRagon and The Young Bucks had a point of everyone wanting a piece of The Kingdom understandably. Going into the segment, it was hyped as a question of seeing what was next for The Kingdom in 2016. Obviously, with Michael Bennett/Maria Kanellis already in TNA, this was probably their last set of tapings as a full team. We saw hints of Cole maybe turning on his partners when he bragged about defeating Kyle O’Reilly at Final Battle while his other partners “dropped the ball.” Also liked the touch of added security surrounding the ring, as it furthered the Cole-O’Reilly feud and it made perfect sense for O’Reilly to try to force his way inside, with his partner by his side. Fish was also good on the mic here. When Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness already booked a reDRagon-Kingdom match for the following week, The Young Bucks, probably ROH’s most over tag team, pleaded their case with top tag teams and threw their name into the hat. The “Philly Street Fight” stipulation also works and should give us one hell of a main event.

– Going off a previous segment where Donovan Dijak accepted an envelope from Prince Nana behind Truth Martini’s back, we knew there was an underlying goal of separating Dijak from The House Of Truth. After all, Dijak is tall, muscular and can fly. He seems to be gaining popularity with the fans, so whatever helps him get over as a babyface, we’re all for. The result was set up perfectly when Dijak and his partner, Joey “Diesel” Daddiego lost in an enhancement bout against the World Tag Team Champions, War Machine. Dijon had a moment in the match where he actually showed off his aerial moves and embraced the crowd, even throwing Martini’s book to the side to his dismay. The loss set up Martini to call Dijak his weak link and questioned where he was during the main event of Final Battle and his lack of being a team player was a slap to his face and his own slap was nice. This was the moment to set up Dijak and that came off well, as telling by the crowd’s reaction. Nana coming out to applaud Dijak also made sense, but we wonder when all this envelope stuff will play out. Is Nana picking members for a new Embassy or is he simply looking at contenders to be his new protege? It turned Caprice Coleman heel and Dijak face, with Will Ferrara somewhere in the middle. Who knows where it’s going?

– reDragon’s backstage promo hyped the following week’s three-way Philly Street Fight, getting over that the other teams had no idea what was coming for them and even though their upbringings didn’t come from dangerous places, they could still bring it hardcore style.

– The ensemble from the Four Corner Survival main event was certainly random (Dalton Castle, Moose, Matt Sydal, Jay Briscoe) but it allowed for some entertaining action, chock-full of fast-paced maneuvers and well-timed comedy spots. The fans dueled “Man Up,” “Fan Up,” and “Moose” chants and they also clamored over Sydal’s moves. There was also a funny spot where Stokely Hathaway took one of The Boys’ fans and started fanning Moose briefly. All in all, Castle was the primary focus of the match and the story was that him and his boys were reunited and the sky was the limit. Him winning the match can only mean good things.

Quick Results

• The All-Night Express def. Roppongi Vice via pinfall
• War Machine def. Donovan Dijak/Joey Daddiego (w/Truth Martini) via pinfall 
• Four Corner Survival – Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) def. Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway), Matt Sydal and Jay Briscoe