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 11/16/16)

Good Ribbing 

– The opening video highlighted the big ROH World Television Championship main event to take place  between Hangman Page and Champion Bobby Fish. We saw a separate promo clash where Page took pride in his attack on Fish’s ribs and looked for the final key in Bullet Club to have all of the ROH gold. Fish wasn’t intimidated and eager to show Page that he simply was on another level. They did a good job with this match build, as this was one of the better storylines.

– The Six-Man Championship Tournament Bracket B match between The Addiction/Kamaitachi and Team CMLL certainly had its fill of action, but lacked on the storyline part of things. CMLL consisted of timely veterans like Ultimo Guerrero and not much was explained to us about them from the commentary team. Luckily, the biggest intrigue was The Addiction’s recent personality change after Ladder War VI to tweeners that leaned towards the babyface side. The fans even cheered for Frankie Kazarian and him/Christopher Daniels smiled at them a few times. Anybody who knows The Addiction would say that’s out of place for them. The veterans did a few nice triple-team maneuvers by the barricade and over it to lead into the first break. A worthy finish where Guerrero performed an inverted superplex on Daniels to end things. The post-match angle where Daniels took credit for the mess-up and prompted an angry Kamaitachi to hit him was a step towards making Addiction more babyface, though they’re not there yet. A good job by commentary as they pushed Kamaitachi’s spit on Daniels’ boots as an extremely disrespectful act. The loss will also build sympathy for Addiction headed forward, which will be better long-term in the direction they want to take them.

– The Cabinet’s ringside promo where they yelled at commentary and blamed the company for their “outlandish gimmick” was good, but we were iffy on the story here. The new serious side of the trio is welcomed, but they implied that the gimmick was something they were forced to do by the company and willfully played along. That’s not how it came off at the time. It’s a “realist” angle, but a bit distorted by smark logic. The one moment to hold on to here was Caprice Coleman’s statement that there were “more of them than we think.” We’ll see how that develops, but keep their serious demeanor and have them not blame the company for “playing characters.”

– The backstage segment with Dalton Castle and Colt Cabana took place before their match against Keith Lee/Shane Taylor. What happened here was that Castle couldn’t find The Boys before match time and Cabana convinced him that they didn’t need them. The best part of all came after the camera looked down in front of a backstage door and we saw purple feathers on the floor. Maybe somebody locked them up inside.

– The Castle/Cabana-Lee/Taylor match had a story even before that segment where the babyface comedy duo recently came up short in a quest to uncrown the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks. It was Castle who placed the challenge and took the pinfall. Anyways, the match itself was what we expected, as far as a “comedy vs. big men” bout. Some useful spots mixed with comedy of course. A big reaction when Castle hit Taylor with a German suplex. The tale told itself in the finish where Castle accidentally kicked Cabana in the face, as Castle then ate a powerbomb and second rope splash to fall to the heels. That was an “uh oh” moment as Castle tried to console Cabana. An obvious story development to what we expect to be a Cabana heel turn, as he’ll reveal he also attacked The Boys. It was better to take the slow build here.

– The backstage promo from The New Kingdom was necessary hype for the Bracket C bout in the Six-Man Championship Tournament, as they’d face Team CMLL. They put themselves over as they pinned The Young Bucks and Taven already said they won, but the rest of the tournament was an “instant replay.” We’ll see what comes of that.

– The backstage promo from ROH World Champion Adam Cole also gave us hype for his upcoming defenses – the first against Jay Lethal in London next week and then against Kyle O’Reilly at Final Battle on Dec. 2. He put himself and Bullet Club over as he again emphasized their quest for all the gold.

– The ROH World Television Championship main event between Page and Champion Fish had a good story headed in as we wondered the Champ’s condition what with his injured ribs and recent loss to Dragon Lee last week. On the other hand, we knew Page was a man undeterred as he attacked Fish from behind upon his entrance. As he grabbed a chair and threatened the Champ, Fish rolled into the ring to make the match official. From that point forward, they told a great story in the ring. Page has upped his game ever since he joined Bullet Club and is almost like a new man. We liked O’Reilly coming down to ringside to help cheer his partner on. From that point forward, we saw Fish get some momentum back with an exploder suplex that took Page from the apron to the floor. We got some more high-impact moves on both ends before sort of a flat clean finish where Page submitted inches from the ropes on Fish’s kneebar. Still a good match that was elevated with the proper hype. The post-match angle where Cole came out to confront O’Reilly and then we saw Lethal stand off on the other side of the apron was a good visual. It was evident that Cole had challengers from all angles and he retained his heel heat, as he slid out of the ring when things were too dramatic for him. Still, it was the right picture to see, especially as Final Battle draws near.

Quick Results

• Six-Man Championship Tournament – Bracket B – Team CMLL def. The Addiction/Kamaitachi via pinfall to advance 
• Shane Taylor/Keith Lee def. Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle via pinfall 
• ROH World Television Championship – Bobby Fish (Champion) def. Hangman Page via submission to retain