ROH Dearborn, MI, TV taping results: Bullet Club angle continues; title changes

Submitted by Brian Young

– Kamaitachi and Will Ferrara started the night with a web exclusive match

Crowd didn’t seem to care for Ferrara all that much, but Kamanitachi got a nice reception. Fun opener. Both guys worked quick. Kamaitachi won with a modified Air Raid Crash. Great finisher.

– They announced that the show was being taped for VOD and DVD, so apparently these matches won’t be featured on ROH TV. Bobby Cruise got the crowd pumped up for the opener.

– Bullet Club came out, with their newest member Adam Cole, who may have been the most popular American wrestler on the show tonight.

Standard BC promo work. Called out the Briscoes, MCMG, Cabana, and Lethal. Briscoes and MCMG come out, call off their tag match and challenge Bullet Club. Cole reminds them they need a 5th man. Cue Adam Page who comes out and offers to be the 5th to the ROH team and demands the match start immediately. BC retreats, Nick Jackson says they didn’t come here to curtain jerk, and they’d see each other in the main event. Solid opening segment, crowd seemed to eat it up.

– Matt Sydal and ACH beat Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser

Sydal and ACH worked as underdogs while Silas and Bruiser played bullies. Okay stuff overall, but ACH is a much better act in person than he is on TV in my opinion. His dive to the outside using the second rope as a spring is very impressive. ACH gets the pin with a 450, and in the post match announces that he’s learned a lot from Sydal, but has to find his own path now. Sydal and ACH split amicably to a lukewarm reaction.

– Roddy Strong vs. Lio Rush

Rush came out, followed by Strong, who got a good pop. Roderick announced that Lio was replacing the injured Jushin Liger, to the displeasure of much of the crowd. Roderick worked as a full blown heel, bullying the smaller Rush. Rush did get some sneaky offense in, and looked impressive throughout. A fun spot had Lio catching Roddy in a rear naked choke, only for Roddy to run back first into the turnbuckle.

Lio climbed back on and they repeated the spot twice more. Ultimately, Roderick won by turning a guillotine into the End of Heartache, and getting the pin. Roddy added a post match beatdown for good measure, only for Liger to make the save, forcing Roddy to retreat. Liger took a position at the commentary desk for the next couple matches.

– ROH Champions War Machine beat Kazuchika Okada and Gedo

Okada with the biggest pop of the night thus far. Seemed like a significant portion of the crowd was there just to see him. War Machine, on the other hand, people seemed indifferent on. Rowe and Hanson got on the mic, and announced they were putting the belts on the line against Okada and Gedo. War Machine worked as heels (kinda), beating down the smaller Gedo before Okada could get a hot tag. In the end, Okada hit the Rainmaker on Rowe but was not the legal man. Hanson cleared Okada out of the ring and hit Gedo with a leg lariat for the win.

Post match, The Addiction, who were not announced, hit the ring, and challenged War Machine to a title match in NYC Saturday night. War Machine declined, and offered instead to put the belts on the line tonight. Crowd was excited for another title match.

– Kushida defeated Dalton Castle

People are really into Castle, and his entrance got big cheers. Kushida was also extremely over with the crowd. Funny spot early had Dalton retreating to the corner and being fanned by the Boys, only for Kushida to do the same moments later. They briefly fought over the Boys’ services before getting serious once again. Good chemistry between these two.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin beat the All Night Express

Good match, Elgin seems much less stale with Tanahashi by his side. Tanahashi was by far the most over man in the match. Better than the War Machine/Okada & Gedo match, but not by much. A few miscues by Kenny King that the crowd really got on him for. Finish was dual High Fly Flows by Tanahashi and Elgin, with Elgin getting the pin. Tanahashi was truly the star here. Everything he did looked effortless.

– Tomohiro Ishii pinned Moose

Moose was very over, but did attract some rather vocal detractors. Ishii was well liked, and got a decent reaction. The story of this one was Ishii finding ways to chop down Moose. Moose is much larger in person, and towered over Ishii. I’m not the biggest Ishii fan, but this match was very good. Trading chops, standard headbutts from Ishii (much of the crowd was encouraging Moose to engage Ishii in a battle of headbutts). Moose got the crowd going by swinging Ishii back and forth while standing in the corner of the ring barricades. Huge reaction for Ishii nailing Moose with a superplex. Ishii finally got the win with a brainbuster. After the match, Todd Sinclair ran down and grabbed Nigel McGuiness, who had been on commentary, and brought him to the back. No announcement to the crowd as to what was going on.

– The Addiction defeated War Machine to win the ROH tag titles

Crowd seemed to be 60/40 for The Addiction from the get go. All out brawl to start. First several minutes were spent on the floor, with the ref unable to gain control. War Machine remained dominant for much of the match, until Kaz was able to slip a title belt in the ring and distract the ref, allowing Daniels to hit Rowe with the belt. Ref was distracted for too long and Rowe kicked out at 2. Kaz tried the same routine, but Daniels got caught. While the ref returned the belt to ringside, Kaz hit Rowe with a chain made of bullets (bandoleer?), allowing Daniels to get the pin. New champs. Crowd was hot for the finish. Nobody in the room seemed to expect it.

– Nigel returned to commentary after the Tag Title Match

– ReDragon beat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito and ROH World Champion Jay Lethal

All 4 men were great, but Naito in particular stood out from the beginning, starting with a great entrance (including a belt toss). Comedy spot early had O’Reilly stomping Lethal’s fingers repeatedly, prompting Taeler Hendrix to kiss Lethal’s hand to alleviate the pain. O’Reilly gave Naito the same treatment, but when Naito asked Hendrix for the same treatment she gave Lethal, Lethal intervened. Naito eventually had a fan in the front row kiss his hand, to quite the reaction. Naito teased a dive to the outside, only to roll into his signature “I don’t give a sh*t” pose. Both teams went back and forth, lots of great action all around, too much to recount.

Finish had Lethal and Naito intercommunicating in the ring, allowing O’Reilly to take advantage and make a hot comeback. Bobby Fish took out Naito by running him into the barricade, before hitting Chasing the Dragon with O’Reilly to get the pin on Lethal. Seemed to be setting up a O’Reilly/Lethal title match. After the pin, Naito entered the ring with a chair, only to sit down in it rather than take out ReDragon. Naito treated us to a second belt toss, and seemed very displeased with Lethal. Seeds planted for a match between these too at some point as well. Strongly recommend seeing this match when it becomes available.

– Bullet Club vs. MCMG/Briscoes/Colt Cabana

Finally, Bullet Club came out for the main event. Noticeable change in the audio at this point in the night, so this match may have been shot for TV. Bucks and Cole were more over than Guerrillas of Destiny, but the latter seemed to win the crowd over by the end. Briscoes and MCMG out, only for Adam Cole to tell them that the Superkick Party started early in the back, and Adam Page can’t make it to the ring anymore. Cue Bullet Club beat down. The Bucks and Guerrillas divide and conquer, each taking a man to a corner on the outside barricades.

Adam Cole begins “Story Time with Adam Cole” only to be interrupted by Colt Cabana, who got arguably the biggest pop of the night. 10 man tag was complete chaos, but a lot of fun. Guerrillas and Briscoes seem to click with one another. Bucks taunted MCMG about TNA. Everyone got their signature spots in, except for the Guerrillas who don’t seem to have any yet.

Ref got taken out by an errant superkick from one of the Bucks. This allowed Adam Page to hit the ring, who immediatly turned on the faces and joined Bullet Club. Page put Jay Bricscoe through the ringside table with a keeling reverse belly to back piledriver. Superkicks for everyone. IndyTaker from the inside to the outside on one of the Machine Guns. Triple Superkick from Cole and the Bucks to Mark Briscoe for the finish. Post match, Page and Bullet Club hung Chris Sabin from the ring with a noose. Got decent heat.

BC left through the crowd and stood on the bar to celebrate. Cabana cut a defiant promo on the Bullet Club to end the show.