Ring of Honor wrestling celebrated their 15th Anniversary last night with a huge card which saw Christopher Daniels challenge Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship. The Broken Hardys also defended the ROH Tag Team Championships in a Triple Threat Las Vegas Street Fight.
#1 Jay White vs. Kenny King
The show started out strong with an old ROH favourite in Kenny King taking on Jay White. For those that don’t know, Jay White was recently in the Young Lions system in New Japan Pro Wrestling. This was a really good choice for an opener to the show, and the two seem to have strong chemistry together. Jay White even had a nice tribute to the recently injured Tomoaki Honma by hitting a Kokeshi headbutt on Kenny King. Ultimately, White got the win when he rolled up Kenny King.
Winner: Jay White
#2 Six Man Mayhem for ROH Television Title shot: Frankie Kazarian vs. Cheeseburger vs. Adam Page vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Silas Young vs. Chris Sabin
The only way that this match can be described is complete and total mayhem...ah, I get it. Anyway, Punishment Martinez looked really good in this one and was actually impressive compared to his work on the recent Honor Rising shows in Japan. He hit an insane step-up tope con hilo to all five of his opponents on the outside that has to be seen to be believed. The action was all over the place and there was too much going on to keep track of. At the end of the match, Frankie Kazarian stood tall after hitting the Ace of Spades on Cheeseburger.
Winner: Frankie Kazarian
#3 Top Contenders Match: Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish
If you have any preconceived notions about what kind of match this would be, you were not disappointed. Fish and Lethal beat the life out of each other in an intense matchup for the Top Contenders’ spot. Lethal took the spoils when Bobby Fish missed a spin kick and fell prey to a Lethal Injection. Really, really good match. This show is warming my heart so far, as it feels like an older ROH show.
Winner: Jay Lethal
#4 ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Kingdom (C) vs. Dalton Castle and The Boys
The Kingdom is one of the most hated groups in all of ROH, and not really in the way you want to be hated. Dalton Castle and The Boys are one of the most beloved acts in wrestling, for a lot of people. The match was pretty good, but Matt Taven and this iteration of The Kingdom is just...bad. Taven finished the match with Rock Star Supernova and picked up the win.
It should also be noted that Kingdom member TK O’Ryan got injured during this match. He attempted an Asai moonsault to the outside, and either the top of his feet or his ankles crashed into the guardrail. He was carried out, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Winners and still ROH Six-Man Champions: The Kingdom
#5 ROH Television Title: Marty Scurll (C) vs. Lio Rush
If you don’t know who Marty Scurll is, he’s quite possibly one of the best characters in all of professional wrestling today, as well as a pretty great wrestler to boot. Lio Rush is one of the hottest prospects on the independent wrestling scene right now, so you know this match had a lot going for it. Boy, did it deliver. Scurll and Lio Rush had a tremendous match here, with Rush playing the face in peril perfectly throughout the match.
Scurll focused on Rush’s taped up right shoulder and honed in on the weak body part, ultimately locking in his Chicken Wing finisher for the victory.
Winner and still ROH TV Champion: Marty Scurll
#6 The Briscoes & Bully Ray vs. War Machine & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
This match didn’t really make much sense as far as the team of War Machine and Davey Boy Smith Jr. are concerned. Davey Boy is a member of Suzuki-gun, a hated heel stable in Japan. War Machine are fan favourites nearly everywhere they go. With that tangent out of the way, this match was really just kind of there. It wasn’t bad, per se, but something just felt off. It may be because of the drastic slow down in action from the first part of the show, but this match felt like it was on a different show.
Bully Ray got the win for his team after hitting the 3D on Raymond Rowe of War Machine.
Winners: Bully Ray & The Briscoes
#7 ROH Tag Team Championship Las Vegas Street Fight: The Hardys (C) vs The Young Bucks vs Roppongi Vice
Just to be clear, the Hardys weren’t, “Broken,” tonight due to cease and desist orders from Impact Wrestling. On to the match, it was everything you could ever hope for in a triple threat tag team street fight. Roppongi Vice was sort of an afterthought in this match, though, as it was about the ROH Tag Team Champions and the former champs.
Rocky Romero and Trent were the crash test dummies of this match, taking tonnes of sick bumps. This match had almost everything conceivable as a weapon. Romero put on a sleeve covered in thumb tacks, Trent dumped a large bag of thumbtacks out into the ring, which he subsequently was the first person to bump into chest-first.
Matt Hardy then put the tacks in Trent’s mouth before Nick Jackson superkicked Trent. Romero took a Meltzer Driver onto the tacks. Tables, ladders, thumbtacks, blood everywhere – this is how you do a hardcore match.
Finally, Jeff Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb on Trent through a table from the top of a ladder. Mercifully, Trent was pinned.
Winners and still ROH Tag Team Champions: The Hardys
#8 ROH World Championship: Adam Cole (C) vs. Christopher Daniels
For as awesome as the Vegas Street Fight match was for the sheer brutality, this match was equally great from a storytelling standpoint. Cole was his usual cocky prick self. Daniels was conveying the emotion in this being his last chance for an ROH Championship shot. Daniels ate a superkick into the ring post face first, which busted him open.
Adam Cole took advantage, playing the cocky heel perfectly as he worked to wear down the sentimental favourite, Daniels. This was a great ROH World Championship match, and then Bullet Club interference happened after a ref bump. In the melee, Kazarian ripped off the Bullet Club shirt to reveal the Christopher Daniels Destiny shirt in a moment that got a huge pop.
Christopher Daniels then hit Adam Cole with three moonsaults to become the ROH World Champion. Not only was he given the current title belt, but they brought out the original ROH World Championship belt for him, too. The roster came down to ringside to celebrate as Daniels had finally won the big one. The Briscoes lifted the new ROH World Champion up on their shoulders as he sobbed tears of joy to end the 15th Anniversary Show.
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