BRM Reviews the 11/12/2016 ROH (mostly back on track)

[Big Red Machine]

FISH VS. PAGE VIDEO PACKAGE- good

ROH SIX-MAN TAG TEAM TITLE TOURNAMENT FRIST-ROUND MATCH: Kamaitachi & The Addiction vs. Team CMLL (Ultimo Guerrero, Hechicero, & Okumura)- 4.75/10
Obviously I know who Ultimo Guerrero is, but I knew nothing of these other two. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino decided that it would be a good idea right off the bat to tell me that Okumura was old. Yeah. That’s definitely going to make me more excited for this match.
How much do you think Kaz is paying the announcers to talk about how he “is in the best shape of his life” every time they mention him?
Steve Corino noted that Kazarian has “changed his wrestling style.” I have seen no evidence of this in the two and a half years he has been in ROH.
They spent WAY too much time on the outside while trying to shine up the CMLL guys with their complicated but not really impressive-looking Lucha stuff, which is the worst kind of Lucha stuff. Speaking of Lucha stuff… CMLL has now sent over eight guys to ROH as part of this working relationship. Of those eight guys, I have now seen seven of them wrestle. Of those seven, only two (Dragon Lee and The Panther) have been guys I would ever have any interest in seeing again, and only Dragon Lee has been impressive (the guy I haven’t seen yet is Angel de Oro). So what, exactly, is ROH getting out of this relationship?
Team CMLL won because of a screw-up between Daniels and Kamaitachi. Kamaitachi got in Daniels face after the match so Kaz got in Kamaitachi’s. Daniels interceded and acknowledged that he was at fault and invited Kamaitachi to extra penance in the form of a free shot, but instead of hitting him like Daniels asked, Kamaitachi spit at Daniels feet and walked off. This was a very clever way to make Daniels and Kaz feel more like faces as they continue their turn while break Kamaitachi away from them so he can remain a heel.

CAPRICE COLEMAN PROMO- “Forty-two years of combined wrestling experience, and the best thing Ring of Honor could come up with was the Cabinet.”
Yup. We have now just entered the dreaded territory of the dumbest and most clichéd of all worked shoots. So if they are coming out here and not playing the characters that ROH wants them to play, why aren’t their mics being cut off or security being sent out to silence them or the show cutting to a commercial?
Vince Russo, thy name is Delirious.

QUICK RECAP OF IMPORANT NOTES FROM THE CHAMPIONS VS. ALL-STARS MATCH- good, although they probably should have plugged the VOD harder.

COLT CABANA & DALTON CASTLE BACKSTAGE- umm… how are we seeing this random event in the locker room? This was sooooo out of place in a show that doesn’t even make its backstage promos try to feel like they are live.
The gist of this segment was that Dalton couldn’t find the Boys but Colt assured Dalton that they didn’t need them. It was strongly implied that Colt locked them in a closet.

DALTON CASTLE & COLT CABANA vs. KEITH LEE & SHANE TAYLOR- 5.5/10
Colt & Dalton lost because Dalton accidentally hit Colt when he was trying to hit one of his opponents… which is exactly the same finish as we got in the last match. Also Lee & Taylor should be able to beat Colt & Dalton without something like that happening.
I have more stuff to say about this match, but I’m going to wait to say it until a certain future event occurs. For now, all I will say is that the match was good for what it was and I enjoyed Dalton much more here than I normally do because he wasn’t doing silly bullsh*t.

NEW KINGDOM PROMO- all three guys got to speak and all were fine. I just wish I had any idea which one was Marseglia and which one was O’Ryan.

ADAM COLE PROMO- meh. It was more of a quick plug for tonight’s main event, the Briscoes vs. Young Bucks tag title match at Final Battle and Cole’s upcoming title defenses against Jay Lethal in London and Kyle O’Reilly at Final Battle.

ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Bobby Fish(c) vs. Adam Page- 6.5/10
Page jumped Bobby Fish on the outside and worked over his ribs for a while. Finally Page put Fish in the ring so the match could start. Kyle O’Reilly came out to protest how unfair this was that Fish had to wrestle despite being jumped. I’m not saying that Kyle doesn’t have a point, but if why didn’t Kyle come out to save Bobby from the beat-down while it was happening? That beat-down last for quite a while and the match hadn’t started yet so it’s not like he would be getting Bobby DQed or anything.
The match was shorter than it should have been, but they told their story (Fish having to fight from behind due to the sneak-attack targeting his previously injured ribs), but having the injured Fish defeating Page cleanly here hurt Page (who has spent the past year having important wins in big spots erased by being Bullet Club’s job-boy) a lot more than it could have possibly helped Fish.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Adam Cole came out for the expressed purpose of setting up a stare-down between him and O’Reilly which then grew to include Lethal. Cole did the best anyone possibly could at making this feel natural with his promo, but it still felt completely manufactured.

Despite the many negative things I’ve said about the events on this show and the mediocre ratings I’ve given the matches, this show did feel like a step in the right direction for ROH in terms of the tone of the show. Everything was serious and the competitors (and announcers) were focused on the outcomes of the matches the desire for prestigious championships.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Steve Corino said that “at Glory By Honor Colt Cabana & Dalton Castle proved that they’re a tag team on the rise.”
Um… how do you figure that? From the highlight you showed us earlier, they appear to have lost cleanly to the tag champs. Seems to me like they’re on their way down.