ZACK SABRE JR. vs. TRACY WILLIAMS- 7/10
One little thing that I usually find cliché that I actually liked the way it was executed here was Ian Riccaboni begging for them to hold off on going to a commercial break to the action in progress. For whatever reason I felt that the combination of exactly what was happening in the ring at that moment Tracy had just tried to lock in an armbar which Zack blocked and they were struggling over it) combined with the urgency in Ian’s voice managed to make the action here feel more urgent rather than coming off as a hackneyed line.
Anyway, these two had an excellent technical wrestling match, going hold for hold in a wonderful display of grappling technique. More of this, please.

SILAS YOUNG & BEER CITY BRUISER BACKSTAGE- okay.
Bruiser is upset that Silas won’t answer his attempts to contact him even though they have been friends for eighteen years. Bruiser is also upset that they’re supposed to wrestle each other next week because he doesn’t want to wrestle his friend. Silas tells him that they were never friends and that BCB only doesn’t want to wrestle him because he knows he can’t win. I would have been much happier with this if they hadn’t tacked on the “I don’t want to wrestle you, Silas. You’re my friend!” part. It not only made BCB come off as whiny and not prepared for the life of a combat athlete, but it felt very out of character. Silas and BCB where two guys in the company I could see wrestling each other, probably even cheating a bit, and still going out for a beer together afterwards. Now all of a sudden BCB is an over-sensitive teenager?

BRISCOES PROMO- fine
SCU are invoking their rematch clause, but the Briscoes assure us that they don’t stand a chance.

TWISTED SISTERS vs. MADISON RAYNE & DR. BRITT BAKER- 5/10
Regarding Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, Ian Riccaboni told us to “make Isaac Yank’em jokes, but she’s the real deal.” I’m sorry… was Isaac Yank’em not a kayfabe real dentist? I’m pretty sure he was, so I’m not sure what Ian’s comment is referring to.
The match itself was fine. The babyfaces won.

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoes(c) vs. SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky)- 7/10
The match was passable for a main event, but SCU are leaving the company for a competitor. Could you really not have them put the Briscoes over clean? Why the hell would you protect them on their way out… and not just with chairshots but by giving them a f*cking VISUAL PINFALL ON THE WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS?!
MARTY SCURLL & THE KINGDOM SEGMENT- fine, but
Scurll comes out to cut a promo on ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, but as soon as he said this, “Real ROH World Champion” Matt Taven and his Kingdom lackeys came out. Taven said insisted that he was the real champion, and decided that Marty deserved an ass-kicking for his insolence. Taven noted that Marty’s friends are now all gone, leaving him alone and friendless (but not in Greenland like Andre was). Marty said that he had made some new friends, and cue the clichéd lights going out and…
IT’S SABU!
No. Just kidding. It’s Brody King.
Cue another power outage, followed by special effects on the CaryTron, then those go off so we’re dark again, and then PCO has also magically teleported into the ring. He babyfaces beat up The Kingdom, including PCO taking FOREVER to get to the top rope to do a moonsault to the outside which The Kingdom just stood there and took instead of moving. Yes, I know they’re supposed to catch him, but at least make it look like you’re selling damage that was done to you or exhausted rather than just standing there so he can land on you. The commentators start shouting about Villain Enterprises. Only after the announcers have said it does Marty say the name, and then a graphic flashes on the screen for them.
The crowd was very into this segment, but it’s one of those segments that really bugs me simply because it completely ignores the question of “if this were real…?”
Why do we have to do the stupid magical blackout and teleportation crap? What’s so bad about someone just coming down the ramp. Or, if you want to say that Marty anticipated this, you could have them hide in the crowd and come out of the crowd instead. Why do they have to magically teleport into the ring (and does said teleportation only work when the lights off?) Why does PCO have to magically control the video screen?
And yes, okay, Marty made the t-shirts so they had a logo for the graphics people in advance but why do the announcers have to shout the name of the stable before Marty ever does? Why can’t he wear is normal t-shirt and this all be a f*cking surprise to everyone? (If starting to sell the t-shirts right away is really important to you then after the TV episode finishes taping you can have Marty claim that he had shirts made up on his own and have someone put them out and start selling them then.) Things like this bug me because they’re just so symptomatic of this “who cares if it makes sense so long as it gets a pop” mentality that the company seems to have.

This was pretty good episode of ROH, even with some of my frustrations with the last fifteen minutes or so. The action is very good, but the booking still doesn’t give me too much hope. It feels like something out late 1999 ECW.

booking, if it does get better, should take a bit more time, you still have the AEW people all over these set of tapings. I think we need to wait until Anniversary show months to properly asses if there was any good change.

cero2k wrote: ↑Jan 17th, '19, 13:42 booking, if it does get better, should take a bit more time, you still have the AEW people all over these set of tapings. I think we need to wait until Anniversary show months to properly asses if there was any good change.

There was zero reason for the Briscoes to not win clean here. What were they planning on doing if SCU did stick around? Continue the feud after a f*cking LADDER WAR? The only reason to book this match so quickly after the Ladder War is if you think the guys are on their way out and this is your only chance to get it in
The booking in this match showed either an unhealthy obsession with dirty finishes (which is bad anywhere, but especially in ROH) or an appalling lack of foresight (especially about something that most fans found obvious)- or at the very least an appalling lack of common sense. Even if you think they're leaving but don't have an agreement in writing that you'll still be able to use them after if they sign with AEW then don't figure them into your stories and have them put people over clean.

Don't forget that this was the same booker who put the belts on these guys in October and then ran angle on TV announcing that they had signed new kayfabe contracts for 2019 when they had not signed new shoot contracts for 2019 yet, and did so despite the more flexible and more natural way to book their story being to keep them heel and either have them cheat to win the titles and make the story about management wanting someone to get the belts off of them or have them fail to win the titles with the build being that Final Battle would be their last chance, and at that point if they haven't signed new shoot contracts you just have them fail to win the belts, while if they have then you either turn them babyface at the tapings like they did with Daniels at Final Battle and have them earn Koff's respect to justify keeping them around, or you put the belts on them and do a "titles held hostage" situation where they are using the titles to keep getting booked (creating an atmosphere that is a combination of the build to Flair's retirement at WM 24 and the "we must get the belt off of Steen" angle from 2012-2013).

not trying to excuse Delirious at all. I think these tapings were the ones between Final Battle and WK13, so at this point Daddy NJPW hasn't told Delirious he can't play with AEW, so he may have tried to leave that SCU door open.

I guess what I really want to wait and see is how ROH moves now that there isn't really anyone that does so much fan service as the elite did and their own character work outside of ROH programming. The Elite had soo much power that to me, overshadowed a lot of stuff in ROH, and I have to imagine Delirious wanted to keep them happy, but now everyone should be 'manageable'. Delirious was the booker, but I feel the Elite had soo much power that them leaving feels like a slight change of booking. We'll see where it goes.

cero2k wrote: ↑Jan 17th, '19, 14:33 not trying to excuse Delirious at all. I think these tapings were the ones between Final Battle and WK13, so at this point Daddy NJPW hasn't told Delirious he can't play with AEW, so he may have tried to leave that SCU door open.

I don't think that call was something NJPW dictated to ROH. I think it was something that either ROH decided on or that AEW decided on, with NJPW choosing to remain loyal to ROH (at least in the short term) because of the upcoming Honor Rising tour and the MSG show.
I'm saying that there is a difference between leaving a door open with SCU and doing what Delirious did here, which basically requires them to come back or else the tag champs look bad.

cero2k wrote: ↑Jan 17th, '19, 14:33 I guess what I really want to wait and see is how ROH moves now that there isn't really anyone that does so much fan service as the elite did and their own character work outside of ROH programming. The Elite had soo much power that to me, overshadowed a lot of stuff in ROH, and I have to imagine Delirious wanted to keep them happy, but now everyone should be 'manageable'. Delirious was the booker, but I feel the Elite had soo much power that them leaving feels like a slight change of booking. We'll see where it goes.

I think they only really had input into their own stuff, and (at least with the Bucks) it was more just laying out how the big angles would be executed rather than the decisions on exactly what to do. The only two people who I got the sense were doing at least some degree of booking their own stuff were Bully Ray and Cody.