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 3/16/16)

Gauntlet War

– With one show left before the post-ROH 14th Anniversary Show tapings, it wasn’t a bad idea to fill television time with a seven-team tag team gauntlet to determine new #1 contenders, but we figured it’d feature highlight teams like Matt Sydal/ACH, Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser or The All Night Express, but that didn’t happen. Anyhow, let’s get to the coverage. With War Machine as the Champions, we were pulling for either reDRagon or The Young Bucks for that spot. With the first match being reDRagon-Will Ferrara/Caprice Coleman, we were curious if they’d pull that “first team up, last team standing” story, which carried us through the match’s first half. Ferrera showed some aggression and Coleman some nice athleticism, but it wasn’t long before Bobby Fish made Ferrara tap out to his kneebar. The second match (reDragon-Joey Daddiego/Chris LaRusso) continued the storyline of Truth Martini looking for an acceptable replacement for Donovan Dijak, giving them opportunities to impress him or suffer the consequences. Looking at the “martial arts lawyer” LaRusso, you could tell which way it’d go. The crowd dumped “Justin Bieber” chants on him, which wasn’t wrong per se. LaRusso accidentally kicked Daddiego and he received a “thumbs down,” as they left him to dry, reDRagon getting the second fall. It was so-so thus far, until The Young Bucks came out. Now, it’s exciting. This was the second best fall of the match, with some creative spots. Also liked how they built up to the first Superkick until towards the end when it led to the finish and YB finished them off. You could guess who won between YB and Tough Guy Inc., though that was entertaining while it lasted, with the heels constantly strategizing and Tim Hughes being too dramatic. The sixth match (YB-The Addiction) was unexpectedly short, but Addiction made their presence felt by attacking YB from behind when their music hit and did some fancy “Too Sweet” mocking before getting pinned. They heeled it up by attacking YB and hitting Celebrity Rehab on them and then attacking the final team, Roppongi Vice. At this point, we thought they were setting up YB to win this and the last fall was certainly competitive, as the two teams had some history surrounding the IWGP Tag Team Championships and worked well together. YB was teasing the Indy-Taker enough but couldn’t hit it and RPG got the upset win, seemingly disappointing everyone in attendance. We thought the torch was going to be eventually passed to YB, but every time they come close to teasing it, they always pull the curtain back. RPG-War Machine doesn’t sound as exciting to us. Neither team talks, so that’s even worse. RPG’s credible in the ring, but all we know about them is their cool theme that simply says “Roppongi Vice” and things that rhyme with it. Also didn’t get why the last four minutes went to the finish of The Briscoes-“Unbreakable” Michael Elgin/Hiroshi Tanahashi from ROH’s 14th, perhaps to hype the New Japan Pro-Wrestling talent appearing on ROH TV next week, but it felt out of place.

Quick Results

• Seven-Team Tag Gauntlet To Determine #1 Contender’s For ROH World Tag Team Championships – Roppongi Vice def. The Young Bucks, The Addiction, Tim Hughes/Brutal Bob Evans, reDRagon, Joey Daddiego (w/Truth Martini)/Chris LaRusso and Caprice Coleman/Will Ferrera