ROH TV results: An ode to Roderick Strong and the ballad of Jay White

Ring of Honor television from Concord, NC, featured the departure of “Mr. ROH” and also some strong debuts. Roderick Strong wrestled Dalton Castle in what could be Strong’s final match in ROH, at least for the foreseeable future, as he left the company.

However, the focus of the match was more on Castle gaining a major victory instead of the looming departure of Strong.

As talent exits the company, others enter. In his excursion from New Japan, Jay White wrestled his first match for ROH against someone very familiar to him, Kamaitachi. Likewise, the tag team of Keith Lee and Shane Taylor also debuted, immediately beginning a feud with War Machine.

Jay White defeated Kamaitachi w/ Christopher Daniels

Before the match, a clip recapped an angle from the last pay-per-view where Kamaitachi and White began brawling at ringside. On commentary, Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness talked about White having customized ring gear for the first time and mentioned his backstory of training in the New Japan dojo.

Kamaitachi cheated to get a cheap shot as the bell sounded. White fought back, only to end up outside the ring, where Kamaitachi jumped off the apron with a missile dropkick to the floor.

After smashing White into the guardrail a few times, White reversed a third attempt and sent Kamaitachi crashing into the railing. Just as White appeared to gain some momentum, Daniels clotheslined him on floor.

Back in the ring, Kamaitachi applied a figure four leglock. White struggled, yet got to the ropes to break the hold. When he fired up after having his leg worked over, White was still selling it and continued doing so throughout his comeback.

White suplexed Kamaitachi, then went to nip-up only to stop and continue selling. Still, he climbed the turnbuckles to leap off with missile dropkick for a two count.

Kamaitachi cut White off and then climbed to the top buckle. He dropped double knees onto White for a near fall. White countered with a near fall after a uranage. White hoisted Kamaitachi for a suplex only for Daniels to hook his leg to trip him up.

White kicked out at two then dragged Daniels on to the apron. Kamaitachi charged towards them and collided with Daniels. White delivered his finisher, the Kiwi Crusher, for the deciding pinfall.

Afterwards, Kazarian ran in and joined Daniels in attacking White. They were stomping and pummeling him when the Motor City Machine Guns made the save. Chris Sabin then got on the mic to challenge the heels to an impromptu six-man tag team match.

The Motor City Machine Guns & Jay White defeated ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction & Kamaitachi

The heels took turns working over Sabin as the match is joined in progress. All three got near falls on Sabin as they continued to keep him from making a tag. They even knocked White and Shelley off the apron too. Sabin was finally able to fight his way over to make a hot tag and White exploded into the ring.

Jumping off the top rope, White hit a missile dropkick and Daniels kicked out at two. White followed that with a vertical suplex into a powerslam. Kazarian and Kamaitachi broke up the count when White tried for a cover.

Shelley and Sabin jumped in to clean house and do planchas to the outside, leaving White to finish off Daniels. After a Kiwi Crusher, White covered Daniels for the pin.

To say it was a strong debut for Jay White would be quite an understatement. And other new faces would later make their first appearances as well.

Next was a now-weekly segment featuring a Bullet Club promo. Adam Cole, flanked by The Young Bucks, cut a promo about the ROH world title match airing on next week’s episode with Jay Lethal defending against Kyle O’Reilly. Cole said Lethal was ducking him.

Cole also vowed to never allow O’Reilly to win the world title like he has always promised. Before that, he did say that they would not get involved in the title match next week.

Keith Lee and Shane Taylor debuted wearing suits and sunglasses, along with a lot of swag. Video clips from a house show in Columbus, OH, showed them laying out War Machine, among others. Much like with Jay White earlier, the debuting tandem were put over very strong.

Keith Lee & Shane Taylor defeated Victor Andrews & James Anthony

This was basically a complete squash. Lee executed a pop-up powerbomb and Taylor came off the middle rope with a splash for the pin. The whole time Lee was smirking. War Machine stormed to the ring when the match concluded.

Lee and Taylor brawled with Hanson and Rowe. The action spilled out to ringside and Lee did a flip dive over the top rope out to the floor. He smirked some more.

Promos from O’Reilly and Lethal hyped their title match for next week.

In an in-ring promo, BJ Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan explained some of their evil intentions. Whitmer was dressed in street clothes while Sullivan was in full gimmick. With an “X” painted on his forehead, Sullivan also wore a purple robe and had on his wrestling boots.

There was some story about Sullivan offering to pass the “Legacy of Evil” to Corino and Whitmer. Corino declined the offer and never told Whitmer about it. This angered Whitmer and now he has unleashed evil, or something like that.

Dalton Castle w/ The Boys defeated Roderick Strong

They kept things intense and there was almost no comedy from Castle. They grappled early on before upping the intensity. Known for his endurance and stamina, Strong was like a machine that Castle could not keep grounded.

At one point when The Boys were fanning Castle at ringside, Strong leapt through the ropes with a dropkick on one boy before clotheslining the other. Striking his boys briefly fired up Castle, except Strong gave him an Olympic slam that sent Castle crashing hard into the ring post. From there, Strong revved up his assault.

Castle made a comeback that led into a tope suicida through the ropes. Moments later, he did another tope to the outside. Back in the ring, Castle did a deadlift German suplex for a near fall. Castle took Strong to suplex city, but Strong still cut him off like a machine.

A flurry of offense from Strong led into a superplex. From there, Strong hit a gutbuster and a sick kick for a close near fall. Strong pulled down his knee pads and went for a jumping knee strike. Castle caught him and used the Bang-a-Rang to score the pinfall.

Though not shown on TV, ROH did post a video on YouTube and social media outlets showing Strong’s farewell address. He mostly thanked the fans and concluded by saying “no matter what happens with me, I’m always going to be Mr. ROH.”

On the next episode of ROH, an entire show devoted to Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jay Lethal for the world title.