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 3/6/17 On FITE TV)

Party Favors 

– Backstage, the foursome of The Briscoes, Jay Lethal and Bobby Fish each took turns to say mean things about Bullet Club. Such insults included the outrageous labeling of them as “fake” and “t-shirt sellers.” Such daggers we got over here. Anyways, what made this memorable for us was Lethal’s labeling of their unit as “The Dream Team,” since they each targeted different BC members. Fish spoke about wanting to end ROH World Champion Adam Cole “if he chose to.” We’ll guess that Cole retained at Manhattan Mayhem?

– The ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship match between The Rebellion and The Kingdom with Dalton Castle on commentary was a bump in the road to get to 15th Anniversary show in just four days, but necessary nonetheless for the story they wanted to tell. Caprice Coleman must think he’s Farooq circa 1997 in that getup. Castle/The Boys would challenge the winners at 15th Anniversary, so him at the booth made sense. Not sure why Kingdom’s entrance video involved galloping horses, but they have a presence together. Still won’t save us from what hopefully is a quick bout. Commentator Ian Riccaboni first noted the “mirror image” between TK O’Ryan and Rhett Titus with looks and personalities the same. We liked that layer being driven into the match. It amplified with Coleman and Vinny Marseglia as they stepped on each other’s foot and poked each other in the eye simultaneously. Smart route to go. Rhett Titus appeared to tweak his knee, which we thought was a ploy to “play possum” headed into the break, but it may had been legitimate. He was helped to the back with rumors of an ACL/MCL tear and wasn’t there when commercial came back. Lio Rush emerged minutes later as an apparent replacement, which we couldn’t understand why he drew such heat until we put the pieces together. Even with that, he did a thrilling offensive sequence with suicide dives and was cheered. The ultimate pop came when Rush hit a Cutter on King. The Rockstar Supernova finished King off for the three as Kingdom retained. It wasn’t established if Rush was aligned with Kingdom, but we imagine probably not.

– They cut to video footage of Jay White (in a barn?) as he spoke about his thriller with Jay Briscoe that went to a draw, as he begged for a rematch from the company with the man “he took to the limit.” They then cut to a separate video of Jay for his reaction, as he was offended that he was seen as “someone taken to the limit” when he was nearly undefeated for three years at one point, dammit and such. Anyways, he called him “dog food.” Yes, that was meant as an insult. Their match will be in two weeks. Yay?

– Before Castle left the booth, he gave a rather passionate promo that was laden with kiddy insults so as to not “rattle the cage.” We dig it, but it doesn’t make us look any more forward to it. An appearance from The Boys would’ve been nice here too.

– The 2017 ROH Top Prospect Tournament Round One match between Raphael King and “Kingpin” Brian Milonas with Brutal Bob Evans on commentary was something to definitely fill TV time. King looked confident as hell with his valet and variety jacket. They worked in some insight on his “Big Brother” nickname, derived from his past as a fraternity brother and in-ring style of feeling superior to his opponents. He almost seems like a lost relative of Rush. We’re already familiar with him from America’s Most Liked Wrestling LIVE, so check those shows out for more coverage on him. Milonas’ size said enough already, so we don;t have to get into it. Just picture King Kong Bundy to an extent. Give “Kingpin” credit though – he could run on his feet when needed. King’s (lots of Kings on this show) valet, Devyn Nicole, got involved physically a couple times. Kingpin was hit with a Rock Bottom for a near-fall. That was about the extent of his offense, as a fallback senton from Kingpin did him in. That was on the weaker side of the Tourney, but maybe Milonas will fare better with similar sized opponents.

– Announce for next week – Punishment Martinez/BJ Whitmer against War Machine. Meh.

– The Eight-Man Tag main event between Cody/ROH World Tag Team Champions Young Bucks/Cole and Lethal/Fish/Briscoes with “The Almighty” Christopher Daniels on commentary was about as close as modern-day ROH could get to paying homage to those old WCW-nWo matches. It was also noted that Lethal and Fish would be opponents at 15th Anniversary, so we were curious if that would come into play with the finish. An early highlight was when Lethal sucker punched Cody off the apron. It was chaotic after that with much action on the floor. The “Superkick Party” was over with the crowd as one would assume. Particularly, YB had a nifty exchange with Lethal that ended with stereo tope con hilos. Cody performed a superplex on Mark Briscoe to the floor with the other participants to break the fall. Holy crap. Lethal did the three suicide dives, but accidentally nailed Fish with the last one. That led to a scuffle that they took into the crowd and they were out of the match apparently. It was Fish who got irate, just to note. The Meltzer Driver ended Jay Briscoe after an array of superkicks. YB getting the pin even helped them look strong for when they’d defend against Roppongi Vice at 15th Anniversary. Post-match, Daniels addressed some “party favors” he wanted to attend to and confronted Cole to his face. They came to blows, before Daniels struck Angel’s Wings and pulled out scissors and a razor. Cole fought back and was hit with another AW. Frankie Kazarian came out to help, just to take off his jacket and reveal a Bullet Club shirt underneath. A “BC” chant then started. We do like that this turn happened so close to the match since it adds another storyline layer. Daniels was met with stereo superkicks, as even Hangman Page joined the fray. Cole promised to “kill Daniels’ career.” We’d call that a strong enough angle.

Quick Results 

• ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships – The Kingdom (Champions) def. The Rebellion via pinfall to retain 
• ROH 2017 Top Prospect Tournament – Round One – “Kingpin” Brian Milonas def. Raphael King (w/Devyn Nicole) via pinfall to advance to next round 
• Eight-Man Tag – Adam Cole/The Young Bucks /Cody def. Jay Lethal/Bobby Fish/The Briscoes via pinfall