ROH TV results: The Kingdom vs. Bullet Club; Bobby Fish vs. Dragon Lee

The rise of a new version of The Kingdom began on the latest episode of Ring of Honor television. Taped in Lowell, MA, the show featured Matt Taven returning to TV with a new stable facing off against Adam Cole and the Bullet Club.

Also on the episode, Dragon Lee earned a TV title shot against Bobby Fish. In the opening match, Big Mike played cat-and-mouse with trickster Toru Yano.  

Michael Elgin defeated Toru Yano

Taped before breaking his orbital bone, Big Mike was his usual self here. So was Yano. The early portion of the match was Yano begging off. He offered a left handed handshake then tried to turn it into a test of strength. He failed that test as the power of Elgin proved too great. Elgin then pummeled Yano before knocking him out of the ring.

On the outside, Yano grabbed a pair of snips that he used to cut loose a turnbuckle pad. Yano gained a momentary advantage using underhanded tactics like choking Elgin with the tag rope. But Big Mike would soon fire up.

Elgin got a near fall when he executed a falcon arrow. Moments later, Elgin retrieved the snips and cut loose another turnbuckle pad. Upon blocking a buckle bomb, Yano sent Elgin into an exposed buckle. Referee Todd Sinclair blocked an attempted low blow only for Yano to use him as a human shield. Yano then used a low blow anyway and cradled Elgin for a two count.

Elgin hoisted up Yano and dropped him on an exposed buckle with snake eyes. Yano still kicked out even after a lariat clothesline. So, Elgin finished him off with a sit-out powerbomb and covered him for the pinfall.

Hyping a TV title match on the next episode, Bobby Fish cut a promo on Hangman Page. Besides being a title match, there is a grudge to settle as Page injured Fish in storyline when he attacked him with a chair. Fish would later have his ribs taped and that played a part in the story of the next match.

Dragon Lee defeated World TV Champion Bobby Fish in a non-title proving ground match

In an effort to get him over and introduce him to the TV audience, a video package highlighted Dragon Lee and aired earlier in the show before this match. On commentary, Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino played up the injury to Fish. Dragon Lee was at first reluctant to target the taped ribs until doing so later in the match. That was after Fish turned up the intensity.

They started off with mat wrestling that led to dives and heated exchanges down the stretch. Fish sold the ribs during the match, fighting through the pain. Lee applied a submission hold but Fish got a rope break. Fish had a last minute flurry, but Lee rolled him up with a la magistral cradle for the pin. In winning the “proving ground” match, Lee gets a future title shot for beating the champion.

The announcers put over Fish having to defend the title in “seven days” against Page on the next episode of ROH TV. In reality, the matches took place several weeks apart. Nevertheless, the injury angle unfolded on TV the past several weeks so the storyline is consistent.

The Kingdom defeated Bullet Club to advance in the six-man tag tournament

The back story here was the history between Adam Cole and Matt Taven. Formerly, Cole was the leader of The Kingdom with Taven as a stablemate. Cole went on to leave the stable before joining Bullet Club. Taven reformed The Kingdom in his image after being sidelined by an injury and now seeks vengeance on Cole.

With Taven as the leader of a new Kingdom, TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia debuted as members of the new faction. They would face Cole and The Young Bucks in this match as part of the first round in the B block of the six-man tag team championship tournament.

As part of their grand entrance, a scribe read a proclamation from a scroll as a little person held candles and a microphone in introducing Taven and his new Kingdom. The new stable attacked Bullet Club before the bell to start the match. They thrashed Cole and the Jackson brothers, leaving them laying heading into a commercial.

Just after the break, Bullet Club came back with triple superkicks. They went to do the Rise of the Terminator spot, but The Kingdom tripped them up. Bullet Club responded by powerbombing them all on the ring apron, then redoing the Terminator spot to set up triple dives through the ropes. Cole almost ate it as he exploded across the ring, but he recovered nicely. Bullet Club would go on to do some comedy before Kingdom cut them off.

Kingdom worked over Matt Jackson for some time doing double and triple-team combinations. For the hot tag, Nick Jackson ran wild before a commercial, and was he still running wild as the show returned from the break. Relating to the back story, Cole and Taven eventually came face-to-face. They had mostly avoided each other until squaring off late in the match. A slugfest ensued.

Taven spat at Cole, so Cole superkicked Taven’s braced knee, then Cole sent a snot rocket at Taven in retaliation. They traded near falls as the others would also jump in. The Bucks of course had a superkick party. Cole jumped off the top rope into a wicked Canadian Destroyer that folded up Taven. When the dust settled after the action peaked in the closing moments, Kingdom isolated Matt and O’Ryan covered him for the pin.