ROH Weekly Recap: 7/13/2018
After two fantastic gauntlet matches in WWE this year, ROH kicks it up a notch with a tag team gauntlet.
Please let me open this article by apologizing for the absence of an ROH Weekly recap last week. I had quite a lot going on and could not find the time to write my recap. But, things are back to normal now, and to make up for my absence, you are getting treated to two ROH weekly recaps this week!
Over the past two weeks, quite a lot has happened in Ring of Honor. “Mr. Athletic” Jeff Cobb made a surprise appearance at the TV tapings in Atlanta, teasing that he had signed a deal with the company (nothing is official yet, but it looks likely). Also, ROH star Adam Page made history in his NJPW G1 Climax debut defeating Bad Luck Fale. As of writing this article, it is his only win so far in the tournament, but it is still a huge achievement for him.
And the most emotional news was Alex Shelley suggesting his retirement from pro wrestling on Twitter, after the most recent set of ROH TV tapings. For those who don’t know, Shelley has been one of the most prominent figures in ROH’s history. Debuting back in 2003 at Wrestlerave, he went on to form and lead the influential stable “Generation Next” in 2004, that included Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans. They had notable matches in 2004 and into 2005 against CM Punk, Jimmy Jacobs and the Rottweilers. Eventually, Shelley’s leadership of “Generation Next” was overthrown and he then joined Prince Nana’s heel “Embassy” to battle his former stable mates throughout the rest of 2005.
In the end, MCMG’s final match was against @NickJacksonYB, @MattJackson13, @njpwShowT, and @njpwyohei_k. I really don’t think I could’ve asked for a better ending. Four guys I love very much who I hope I helped some over the years. Thank you, gentlemen.
— @Lx$ (@fakekinkade) July 23, 2018
After this, in 2006, Shelley sporadically appeared to face numerous opponents over the coming years, including Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Title. He also appeared in a number of highly acclaimed tag team bouts with long-time partners Chris Sabin and KUSHIDA against the Briscoe Brothers, The Kings of Wrestling and ReDragon.
Then in late 2015, Shelley made his dramatic full-time return to ROH, and reunited with Sabin to reform “The Motor City Machine Guns”. Since then, Shelley has most prominently wrestled in tag team matches with Sabin, with who he formed the stable “Search and Destroy” and captured the ROH World Tag Titles at Death Before Dishonor XV (his only title reign in ROH).
If the reports are correct and this is Alex Shelley’s swansong in pro wrestling, I hope he has a very happy retirement, and thank you Alex for all your contributions in Ring of Honor over the last fifteen years!
To finish, if you want to see retrospectives of Alex Shelley’s Ring of Honor career, check out these 2-disc compilation sets entitled “Made in Detroit”, available at ROHWrestling.com and “The Rise of Generation Next” available at Highspots.com.
As always, any improvements, criticisms, feedback or suggestions are all welcome via the website or my Twitter account (@SteJay215). So now let’s get on with the show!
Venue – Hammerstein Ballroom – Manhattan NY.
Commentary Team – Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana (1st Match) and The Kingdom (Main Event)
A studio promo from The Kingdom opened this episode of ROH Wrestling where they proclaimed that although new contenders would be decided tonight, the belts were staying with them.
Match 1. Kelly Klein vs. Jenny Rose (Referee = Todd Sinclair)
If you have read my previous ROH recaps, you will see that I have not been most complimentary of the “Women of Honor” matches I have seen. The majority of them have been rather clunky, making them awkward viewing to say the least. Thankfully, this match was much better than the other “Women of Honor” matches I have recapped.
The last time these two wrestled was just over a year ago in Philadelphia and Klein picked up the win via submission.
Since then, both wrestlers have improved and are the best stars in the “Women of Honor” division. Jenny Rose is a graduate of the ROH Dojo and it was noted on commentary that she was the first wrestler to challenge for the Women of Honor Championship.
The Code of Honor was not adhered to in this match, and from the outset, it was a hard-hitting affair. There were classic technical exchanges, followed by some nasty looking strikes from Klein, and a beautiful German suplex into a spear by Rose for a close two-count. Klein eventually got the victory with her tried and tested suplex and guillotine choke combination for a submission victory that echoed 12 months before.
Winner = Kelly Klein
Before the main event there was a brief backstage promo with the DAWGS, who were trying to weasel some cash out of Cody to pay their third teammate. Cody initially refused, but then changed his mind, and threw enough dollar bills at them, they could have bought a fourth partner!
Match 2. – Main Event: 6-Man Tag Team No.1 Contenders Gauntlet (Referee = Paul Turner)
As with the NJPW NEVER 6-Man Tag Titles, the ROH 6-Man Titles are a good showcase for up and coming talent, as well as unique team combinations. This match had both of those elements and a hot crowd to boot.
Because this match was quite long, I will give you the list of the teams who entered, who eliminated them and notable points during the match:
Team 1 – Shane Taylor and the DAWGS (Will Ferrara and Rhett Titus) – Eliminated by Team 2
Team 2 – Jonathan Gresham, Alex Shelley and LSG – Eliminated by Team 4
Team 3 – Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas – Eliminated by Team 2
Team 4 – So Cal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) – Eliminated by Team 5
Team 5 – Kenny King, Chuckie T. and Eli Isom – Winners
Due to the nature of the match, the Code of Honor was not followed.
LSG of Coast 2 Coast had a fantastic showing for his trio’s team. He busted out some awesome highflying moves (including a massive dive to the floor) and eliminated two of the teams. Jonathan Gresham and Silas Young have off-the-charts chemistry. Silas has been one of my favourite wrestlers for many years and he deserves much more recognition than he gets. Their exchanges are some of the most fluid I have seen in a long time, especially the backdrop counters and the crowd loved it. Brian Milonas is enormous, and reminds me of “Big Sal” from ECW’s F.B.I. He also had a decent showing and did some quite athletic moves for a bigger guy.
So-Cal Uncensored were massively over with the crowd and it still amazes me just how good Christopher Daniels is. His psychology and ring awareness are on another level and his moves are just so crisp. SCU quickly eliminated Team 1, and then had to deal with the final fresh team, Team 5. On commentary, they were pushing the importance of this main event for Eli Isom, a ROH Dojo graduate, who until this match I had not seen. Eli has a ton of potential and along with his teammates, had a great finishing stretch with SCU. We even got a humorous three-way hug from Team 5, after taking it to SCU, much to the delight of the crowd.
Most shocking of all was the victory. It looked as though it was an easy victory for Daniels, thanks to his patented “Angels Wings.” But Eli somehow countered and got the win for his team. For those interested, Eli used the same counter to the “Angels Wings” that AJ Styles did when he won the X-Division Title at TNA Unbreakable 2005!
Conclusion
This episode of ROH Wrestling was well worth a watch. While only a two-match show, both matches were fun, the crowd was into everything and stars were made in the form of Eli Isom and LSG. A final note, I speak for everyone when I say how unselfish Christopher Daniels is when it comes to putting over new talent. It is a shame there are not more people like him in the pro wrestling business!
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