Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

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

(Aired 2/15/17)

Boys Among Real Men 

– Hangman Page came out, his return still fresh on everyone’s minds. His opponent was in the ring in the form of Matt Sells. What a jobber name that was. Mark Briscoe was also on commentary for what it was worth. Sells was apparently in his hometown and was greeted with a shove into the ring post. One Rite Of Passage later and it was over. Post-match, Page grabbed a noose and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks came down. Superkick party. They gestured to the stage and ROH World Champion Adam Cole/”The American Nightmare” Cody walked to the ring. Chants of “Cody”/”Welcome home” were rampant. Cody kissed the canvas and played the crowd for a too-sweet with the Champ. He got the streamer treatment and addressed the warm reception before he deceptively turned on the fans for being “11 years too late.” Great heel work as always. Crowd chanted “Dusty” at him. Cody called out Jay Lethal and referred to him as the “Doorman Of ROH.” Lethal stormed out and came onto the apron. Some taunts and saliva later, Lethal charged at Cody, which commenced a beatdown. Bobby Fish came out for the save, an apparent hype for the main event, where he/Lethal would team against Cole/Cody. More of the ROH Cavalry came down, aka Jay White/Alex Shelley/Lio Rush. Not such a bad lead-in to commercial. Apparently that tag main event was set for now. Fish weaved around Cody, but got caught flush with a superkick from Cole. The Cody/Cole dynamic was almost comparable to the now-defunct Jeri-KO. Wonder if that was on purpose. For the first time ever, a man was too-sweeted in the eyes, as Cody did it to Fish. Lethal/Cody were tagged in simultaneously and went at each other’s heads. Lethal Injection on Cole changed the momentum, but it was Cody who was legal. It came to a point where all four men were exhausted and traded forearms. Lethal hit the most underwhelming tope on Cody ever. It was almost like a light nudge. The big story laid in the finish, as Fish had Cole dead in the armbar. Cody was unable to get it broken up, so the Champ had no choice but to tap out. A smart decision, especially based on that they needed to build Fish up as a threat for that World Title shot he gets at Manhattan Mayhem on Mar. 4. Not the most enlightening of matches, but Cody was great here and Hangman does his Hangman thing.

– Impromptu main events were all the rage, as Dalton Castle was ecstatic, because now his Boys were “main event level.” They were set to take on The Rebellion. That should be a real doozy.

– They wasted no time hyping next week’s huge main event, the ROH Decade Of Excellence Tournament Finals between Jay Briscoe and Christopher Daniels, where the winner would get a World Title Shot at the 15th Anniversary Show on Mar. 10. For the Briscoe side of things, they used Mark already there to get over how obsessed his brother was with the gold and how he goes crazy without it. It was a very Mark Briscoe explanation.

– Perhaps where the show shined best was Frankie Kazarian’s backstage promo on behalf of his best friend Daniels. It dabbled realism into a case of why Daniels needed the win for a “last chance” to stay relevant in the Title picture or risk an early exit in the business he was so passionate about. He even admitted Daniels had more passion in it than him. Well-delivered words. Strong stuff. Check it out if you can. Kazarian can bust them out too.

– Mark’s music hit and apparently, he had a match. His opponent was Sal Rinauro. Random squash match, but we guess the point was to establish that Briscoe wouldn’t be that weekly commentator replacement. As for squash material, it was above-average. Rinauro ripped some streamers and broke out the Alex Wright dance. That’ll be sure to piss off anybody. How about that? Briscoe broke out a blockbuster from the apron to the floor. They really dived into the ROH archives to remind us that Rinauro was once ROH World Tag Team Champions with Tony Mamluke. He did a backflip off the top rope, but that was about the extent of his offense. A fisherman buster and a froggy bow spelled the end of Mr. Rinauro. The “search” continued.

– They cut to a video package with pre-taped comments from Fish where he ran down reDRagon’s extensive resume – 672 days through three collective Tag Title Title reigns and two other ones as the IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions. He also spoke in depth about the importance of the ROH World Television Championship when he held it and how it was a “number two Title” in anyone else’s possession. This is where we get confused with ROH’s booking of Fish. He stands tall with Kyle O’Reilly and we like him in reDRagon, but his solo act seems so heelish. On top of that, it was Lethal who first made that claim that the TV Title was the superior one. We can only assume that this builds to a Fish-ROH World Television Champion Marty Scurll match, but who even knows?

– “The Last Real Man” Silas Young/The Beer City Bruiser joined commentary for the Six-Man Tag main event. Hilariously, Bruiser had covered a can with a white paper that was labeled, “Beer.” Also woven into this match was the reminder of Young’s search for a third partner to fit with him/Bruiser so they could compete for the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships. Castle got a big pop as usual. Ironically enough, they could also reference the Young-Castle feud aplenty. Shockingly, they didn’t. Well, Young said, “Oh god” during Castle’s entrance and berated the Boys, but that was it. We got a pre-taped promo where Castle was hyped to be in the running for those same Titles, but had to bust through The Rebellion first. Also hyped for next week was Young against Bull James as a result of that attack. Seen that one coming. One of The Boys leapt off the top rope only to meet a spinning heel kick by Kenny King on the way down. To ease tensions at the booth, Colt Cabana came down with a six-pack to keep Bruiser busy so he could take his place. To justify it, he explained he had his “Jewish lawyers help him bribe his way back.” He even found common ground with Young – “I had a bris, you better believe that I’m a real man,” Cabana said. Hilarious. We’re watching the match and it’s still weird how the babyface has these two nameless “Boys” who serve his every need, as awesome as the Castle character is charisma-wise. Spot of backwards logic there. Anyways, a Sky Splitter and Big Man Splash later and you could chalk one up to the bad guys. Post-match, ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions, The Kingdom, looked on from the stage. While that doesn’t hold much life, next week’s show does. Join us then.

Quick Results 

• Hangman Page def. Matt Sells via pinfall 
• Jay Lethal/Bobby Fish def. Adam Cole/Cody via submission 
• Mark Briscoe def. Sal Rinauro via pinfall 
• Six-Man Tag – The Rebellion def. Dalton Castle/The Boys via pinfall