ROH WRESTLING TELEVISION, Episode 347

It’s War of the Worlds Weekend! The Young Bucks and #DemBoyz, Jay & Mark Briscoe, have one more go over the ROH World Tag Team Championships! Which pair of brothers will prove themselves THE BEST tag team in all of Ring of Honor? Plus, the Women of Honor are in action as Kelly Klein takes on Madison Rayne!

All images courtesy of the Fite.TV app and streaming service

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Kelly Klein VS Madison Rayne; Kelly wins.
• The Dawgs VS The Motor City Machine Guns; MCMG win.
• Facade w/ Danni VS Eli Isom; no contest.
• ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Briscoes VS The Young Bucks; The Young Bucks win by disqualification; The Briscoes retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships.

PLAY BY PLAY

Kelly Klein VS Madison Rayne!

WOH are in action as The Gatekeeper looks to rebuild after suffering her first loss by pinfall. Can the #PrettyBadass beat the Queen Bee to then aim herself at the inaugural WOH Champion, Sumie Sakai?

Madison offers the Code of Honor handshake, but Kelly worries more about her hair and mouth guard. Madison mocks the arm slapping as the bell rings. The two circle, tie up, and Kelly shoves Madison to a corner. They circle and tie up again, and Kelly again shoves Madison back. Kelly circles with Madison a third time, and Madison gets behind Kelly to roll her up. ONE, but Madison is back on Kelly with a leg-hook roll up, ONE. Kelly gets to ropes but Madison whips. Kelly reverses and sends Madison to a corner. Madison slips out as Kelly runs in, then throws in a shoulder. She slides under, then runs, and counters Kelly’s hip toss into a bridging cover, ONE. Kelly grows frustrated while Madison runs again.

Madison goes for a wheelbarrow, but Kelly turns that into a facebuster. Madison gets to a corner, Kelly runs in and hits the forearm smash. Kelly adds a back elbow, then a big clothesline. Kelly runs and boots Madison down, and has control while we go to break.

ROH returns to Kelly holding Madison down in a half-nelson chinlock. Fans rally and Madison stands up. She fights out with elbows, then forearms. Madison runs in but into Kelly’s elbow. Kelly climbs up and puts Madison in the hanging sleeper hold. She lets go at the ref’s count, and Madison slumps out of the ring. Kelly pursues Madison on the outside, but Madison fights back. Kelly knees low and suplexes Madison up and over. Fans applaud while Kelly fires herself up. Kelly looms over Madison before putting her in the ring. Kelly grins as she takes her time, but Madison dropkicks her feet out! Madison catches her breath while Kelly gets upset. Kelly slides in, but Madison is ready with forearms and chops. Madison fires off, then runs, and runs Kelly over. Madison gets around again, rip cord swing out for a cutter! AKA Chance of Rayne!

Cover, TWO! Madison knows she’s close, so she keeps on Kelly. Kelly resists the suplex and powers Madison to a corner. Kelly gives a body shot, then scoops, but Madison slips out. Madison pushes Kelly into buckles, but Kelly bucks her off. Kelly gives Madison a strong right, then drags her into the facelock. Madison fights back with knees, then picks Kelly up for the Rayne Check guillotine drop!

Cover, TWO! And Madison is shocked! Kelly survives yet another of her best moves. Madison stands up while Kelly slowly stirs. Kelly dodges the boot, fireman’s carry, to Landslide!

Cover, TWO, and now Kelly is frustrated. The fans rally while Kelly drags Madison up. Madison resists the suplex, then rocks Kelly with an enziguri! Madison stands up while Kelly goes to a corner. She runs in, but Kelly dodges and sends Madison into the post. Kelly rocks Madison with a knee right to the face! Cover, Kelly wins!

Winner: Kelly, by pinfall

The win wasn’t pretty, but the Pretty Badass gets back on top. With a killer knee added to her arsenal, will Kelly climb back to the top of the WOH Division and take that title from Sumie Sakai?

SoCal Uncensored speaks.

“Despite the shenanigans of The Kingdom, SoCal Uncensored is still the Six Man Tag Team Champions.” Next week, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky take on The Bullet Club’s Marty Scurll, Cody & Adam Page. It’s one more opportunity for SCU to punch them, kick them, spit on them and kick them in the balls, for another victory over them. “There is no secret that there is dissension in the Bullet Club”, but the SCU are a well-oiled machine. Before the Bullet Club tears itself apart, these three promise to tear them apart. Will the SCU win to then take revenge on Taven, Marseglia & O’Ryan?

Jay Lethal speaks.

“Next week, Punishment Martinez, you step into the ring with the Franchise of Ring of Honor.” Let’s look at the match on paper. The numbers don’t lie: Martinez is taller, has a longer reach, and is stronger than Lethal. But luckily for Lethal, this isn’t about power lifting or boxing, this is pro-wrestling. Martinez steps up to one of the greatest. Lethal plans to right the wrong that was his loss to Martinez from before. Lethal wants Martinez to bring everything he has, because Lethal will. Can Lethal scratch off the blemish on his record?

The Motor City Machine Guns are in the ring.

Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin enjoy the chants from the fans before speaking. “When we got back together, we had one singular goal in mind.” That was to become the ROH Tag Team Champions, and they did that. But now they’re not the champions. The question therefore, is what’s next for MCMG? Where do they go from here? Do they shake hands and “call it a day”? Or should they stay together and prove they’re “the best damn tag team there has ever been? Fans go with that one. “Well to be perfectly honestly”, they don’t know. They’ve been to Hell and back, but Sabin lets Shelley know they’re brothers for life. Shelley and Sabin hug, but oooooh, Hell, noooo! It’s The Dawgs, Big Rhett & Little Willie.

They’re not here for achy breaky hearts. Sabin & Shelley are confused about what’s next. Rhett had a favorite childhood movie: Old Yeller. Sometimes, you just gotta put old dogs out to pasture. And that’s when The Dawgs sucker punch the MCMG! In fact, Big Rhett wants referee Todd Sinclair to make this official. Sinclair has little choice, he calls for the bell and we have a match.

The Dawgs VS The Motor City Machine Guns!

Rhett & Will stomp away on Shelley & Sabin, respectively. Fans are on the MCMG’s side as The Dawgs bring them up. The Dawgs whip MCMG at each other, but the MCMG do-si-do and head back at The Dawgs. The Dawgs dodge, but then so do the MCMG, and they hit corner clotheslines. MCMG send The Dawgs out of the ring, then Shelley holds the way open for Sabin to DIVE!

Sabin hits both Dawgs, and the fans applaud as Sabin puts Ferrara in the ring. Shelly bumps Ferrara off buckles and then Sabin hits the running back elbow. Shelley climbs while Sabin brings Ferrara out, for a flying knee drop backbreaker. Sabin then feeds Ferrara to Shelley, and MCMG combine for the enziguri complete shot. Fans fire up but Rhett is back. Rhett throws hands, then whips Shelley. Shelley reverses, and the atomic drop starts the Dream Sequence! Dropkick and Last Chancery, but Ferrara trips up Sabin to stop the sequence. Ferrara rocks Sabin with a right, then gives a right to Shelley, and tops it off with a tornado DDT for Sabin! Sabin hits the ground, then Rhett dropkicks Shelley out of the ring. Ferrara stands the MCMG up, and Rhett builds speed to FLY!

The Dawgs are in control while we go to break.

ROH returns to The Dawgs arguing as they do, and Rhett whips Ferrara into Shelley for the shoulder tackle. Ferrara runs at Rhett but is turned back into Shelley. They go again, but Shelley boots Ferrara, then puts Rhett on the apron. Shelley rocks Rhett, and evades Ferrara, but Rhett trips Shelley off the apron. Rhett rebounds to then drive Shelley into barriers. Rhett holds Shelley still for Ferrara, and Ferrara builds speed to DIVE, but Shelley evades and Ferrara collides with Rhett. Shelley tags Sabin, he builds speed to FLY onto The Dawgs! He wipes them both out and the fans are fired up. Sabin puts Rhett in the ring then climbs up top. Sabin jumps for the missile dropkick! Then he hurries tot he apron, to Penalty Kick Ferrara down.

Sabin keeps going, but the springboard DDT is blocked by Rhett’s strength. Rhett rocks Sabin with a swift jab, then boots Shelley as he comes in. Rhett takes time to taunt, but he runs into an atomic drop. The Dream Sequence restarts and completes! Fans applaud as MCMG fetch Ferrara, but Ferrara rams Shelley into barriers. Sabin throws forearms on Rhett, then back kicks. Sabin runs, but into Rhett’s backbreaker. Rhett gut wrenches Sabin up, and hits snake eyes. Rhett runs corner to corner for a helluva kick, then feeds Sabin to Ferrara for the BLL lariat! Big Rhett climbs up, for the Dawgy Splash!

Double Dawg cover, but Shelley break sit up just in time. Ferrara goes after Shelley and throws him out, right into barriers. Ferrara keeps Shelley down while Rhett brings Sabin back up. Rhett puts Sabin on the top rope, rocks him with a right, then climbs up to join him. Sabin fights back and pushes Rhett down, but Rhett springs back up, only for Sabin to trip him up. Rhett ends up in the Tree of Woe, Sabin leaps and rolls to the other corner. Ferrara returns, gets around Sabin for the waistlock, but Shelley returns to grab Ferrara in a waistlock. Ferrara ditches Sabin to standing switch with Shelley, but Shelley backs Ferrara to a corner. Sabin runs in to clothesline Ferrara, and Shelley runs to baseball slide dropkick Rhett.

Sabin whips Ferrara to Shelley, and Shelley throws Little Willie overhead to land on Big Rhett! He hits his own dropkick on Rhett, and the fans are fired up. Shelley and Sabin kick combo Rhett, then Shelley climbs up while Sabin turns Rhett around. Shelley leaps, and MCMG hits Skull & Bones!

Cover, MCMG win!

Winners: MCMG (Shelley & Sabin), Sabin pinning

They may not know what’s next for themselves, but the MCMG win here tonight. Will Shelley & Sabin figure out their future in ROH’s stacked Tag Team Division?

The Young Bucks speak.

“Two of the best tag teams in ROH history.” Matt & Nick Jackson vow that tonight, they become four-time ROH Tag Team Champions. Tonight, Young Bucks and Briscoes, one more time to prove who are the greatest of all time.

Punishment Martinez speaks.

Or rather, he sends a message with a highlight reel. The Reincarnation of the Purple Mist clearly enjoys beating people down by any means necessary. What will he do to Jay Lethal in their rematch next week?

Facade w/ Danni VS Eli Isom!

The Neon Ninja has traveled the world, but looks to leave his mark on ROH in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, his opponent has been on ROH TV before, without success. Which man will make the bigger impact in Pennsylvania?

The fans chant “Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!” for their hometown boy while he and Eli uphold the Code of Honor. The bell rings and the two circle. They tie up, and Eli powers Facade to the ropes. Facade slips around to roll up, ONE, and Facade hops over the leg sweep to snapmare Eli. Cover, ONE and Eli slips around to a waistlock. Facade bucks him off then springboards up and over. Eli runs into Facade’s scooping cover, ONE into the crucifix, ONE. Facade slips up and around to a hammerlock into Mahistrol, TWO into Eli’s standard cover, TWO, to another cover for Facade, TWO. The two roll around, both going for covers, Facade gets his, TWO. The two both handspring and the fans applaud this even match-up. Facade and Eli circle, and the home crowd chants for their “Ninja! Ninja!”

Eli and Facade fist bump, but then Facade trips Eli up. Facade runs and cartwheels, then hops over. Eli hops over a cole times, then runs Facade over with a knee strike. Eli takes aim from the corner, then runs in for a big European Uppercut. He whips Facade corner to corner but Facade reverses. Facade runs in but Eli dodges. Facade headstands on the corner, then catches Eli with headscissors. Eli counters that into a shoulder carry, but Facade slips out. They roll back, TWO and Facade uses the momentum to springboard enziguri Eli down! Fans fire up as Eli rolls out. Facade takes aim, builds speed, and has to change plans as Eli slips back into the ring.

Eli runs at Facade, but Facade rams a shoulder into him. Facade slingshots and rolls off Eli’s back, ducks Eli’s clothesline, but runs into the tilt-o-whirl backbreaker! Eli keeps going, and throws Facade with a Northern Lights suplex! Facade rolls out and Eli fires up. He wants Pittsburgh to get loud, so they get loud. Danni checks on Facade, and rallies the fans back on his side. Eli runs, but into Facade’s kick. Eli slumps out of the ring and Facade gets back in. Facade feeds off the fans’ energy, and runs to double springboard and FLY!

Facade knocks Eli down with a 450 clothesline, and lands on his feet! Fans fire up for the “Aerosol Assassin”, and he puts Eli in the ring. Facade climbs up, takes aim, then walks the tightrope for a springboard flying kick!

Cover, TWO! Eli survives, but Facade keeps his cool. However, a certain Enforcer walks out now…

Bully Ray goes right to the ring, and clobbers Facade with a clothesline!

No Contest

Bully despises the youth, but fans despise him. Bully goes after Eli now, and tosses him right out of the ring. Danni checks on Facade, but Bully looms over. Fans chant for “Cheeseburger!” but Bully tosses Facade out, too. Bully gets a microphone, and says “As Enforcer of ROH”, Bully fires Eli and Facade! “You are young boy bottom feeders who don’t deserve a job in the wrestling business! Don’t ever show up here again.” Why, Bully, Why? What did these two do to deserve that? But before another word is said, here comes Burger!

Fans cheer for the hero as he stands across from the evil Bully. “Bully, I respected you. I trusted you. I just want to tell you to your face… You’re a piece of shit.” Cursing on television will cost Burger some money, but fans are on his side 100%! Bully grabs Burger, and with the one hand alone, Choke Slams him down!

Bully shouts at the fans, “There’s your Cheeseburger, you pieces of dog crap!” But then Joe Koff appears!

“You’re so proud of yourself, aren’t you, Mr. Enforcer?” Koff says “Shame on me”, because he heard about Bully from other wrestlers and other promotions. But Koff is “the nice guy”, so he just wanted to give Bully a chance. Bully really did good things, for a while. But Bully went and fired two good wrestlers as “The Enforcer”. Koff tells “The Enforcer”, “You’re Done!” Bully shouts back that if he’s done, and Koff wants to empower the fans to mock him, he has something to say. “As of right now, I’m officially un-retired.” Bully is back in the game? And showing off his ring from the WWE Hall of Fame, while flipping everyone off. If Bully is wrestling again, will he face the consequences of his actions in the ring?

The Bullet Club speaks.

“You know who I hate?” Christopher Daniels. Hangman hates Kazarian. Scurll isn’t okay with Scorpio Sky. That’s not his real name, though. And Scurll despises uncensored. So therefore, they all hate SoCal Uncensored. “Which is perfect!” Next week, they will defeat SCU, and then should get a shot at the ROH World Six Man Tag titles. And after that, Cody will regain the ROH World Championship. Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Scurll is up to face Dalton Castle before Cody. Hangman keeps Cody and Scurll focused on beating the SCU. Right? Yeah! With this dysfunction, will that really be true?

ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Briscoes VS The Young Bucks!

Jay & Mark Briscoe have held those titles nine times, while Matt & Nick Jackson have only held it three times. Will #DemBoyz end up in a SUPERKICK PARTY that ends their current reign and gives the Bucks their fourth?

But already, the Briscoes aren’t playing nice, as they chuck chairs into the ring!

The Bucks manage to get clear of the flying steel, but the Briscoes rush the Bucks. Jay gets Matt down and stomps away, but Nick tosses a chair back at Mark, and it hits Mark square in the face! Mark tumbles out, and Nick slingshots out to bring him down! Matt gets away from Jay as the bell rings, and we have our match!

Jay rocks Matt with a European Uppercut while Nick clubs away on Mark. Mark hits back and puts Nick into the barriers while Jay rakes Matt’s eyes. The fans duel while the Briscoes keep on the Bucks. Matt snap suplexes Nick up onto the apron, then shouts for the camera man to get out of his face. Jay brings Matt over for Mark to mug with body shots. The Briscoes keep on Matt as they put him in the ring, but he gets going and Nick joins in, for a double DIVE!

The Bucks bring #DemBoyz down and the fans fire up. Fans chant “Too Sweet! Woop Woop!” while The Bucks give a shout out to KO with double apron powerbombs! The Bucks are all fired up while we take one last break.

ROH returns once more, and things have settled down to a normal match in the ring. The Briscoes have Matt isolated in their corner. Matt fights out with haymakers all around. He boots Mark down but Mark whips him away from Nick. Matt uses that to take Jay out with a wrecking ball dropkick. Mark intercepts Matt as he runs back into the ring. Mark stiffly chops Matt in a corner, then whips him corner to corner. Matt goes up and over, and SPEARS Mark down! Both men are down, and fans rally for Matt. Matt crawls over, hot tag to Nick!

Nick rallies on the Briscoes with kicks and elbows. Mark dodges a kick but Nick catches Jay’s. Nick spins Jay to then rock him with the roundhouse. Mark suplexes but Nick slips out, to then hit Jay with a shining wizard. Nick hits both Briscoes with the bulldog-clothesline combo! Fans are thunderous and Nick is all fired up. Nick stomps, but Mark blocks the kick. Nick dodges to say “See ya!” and hit Jay with a triangle dropkick. Mark misses, and gets double SUPERKICKS!

Mark staggers, so the Bucks go out and SUPERKICK Jay! The Bucks go back to Mark, positioning him for the Frog Splash Moonsault! Cover, TWO, but the Bucks keep their cool. Fans rally for the Bucks again, and Nick repositions Mark. Nick climbs back up, but Mark moves and Nick rolls through his 450. Mark runs at Nick but Nick dodges. Things speed up, and Mark runs Nick over with the leaping chop. Both men are down, but Nick tags in Matt. Matt flies but into Mark’s yurinagi, that Matt reverses into a wheelbarrow roll-up. Matt springs up and says “You’re dead!” with a SUPERKICK! He goes for the legs, and puts on the “Cease” Sharpshooter! Nick intercepts Jay, and goes for the same, but Jay shoves Nick into Matt, breaking the hold.

Jay rocks Nick with a forearm, then pulls him over to steal the Sharpshooter! Mark intercepts Matt with a Russian leg sweep into the sleeper hold and body scissors. Jay rolls Nick over, and it’s two holds at once! And a middle finger for good measure.

The Briscoes show no respect and no mercy. Nick and Jay aren’t legal, so Jay lets Nick go while Mark chokes Matt out. Sinclair checks on Matt with the lift of his arm. Matt comes back to life! So Jay stomps him out. Jay drags Matt up while fans rally for “Young Bucks! Young Bucks!” Mark lifts Matt up, and the Briscoes together hit a crucifix neckbreaker!

Cover, TWO!! And The Briscoes can’t believe it. The fans know “This is Awesome!” Mark drags Matt up and brings him over. Jay lifts Matt up in the Electric Chair, and Mark climbs up to the top rope. The Briscoes hit Doomsday, but Matt lands on his feet!? And he SUPERKICKS Mark. Jay SUPERKICKS Matt, then gets the double underhook, Jay Driller!

Cover, TWO!! But how?! Mark brawls with Nick on the outside while fans are thunderous. Fans chant “ROH! ROH!” while Nick Penalty Kicks Mark. Jay knocks Nick down, then goes back to Matt, small package, TWO! Matt scoops Jay, and Nick scrambles up, but Mark SMACKS Nick with a chair!

The referee saw and heard that, this match is disqualified!

The Young Bucks win by disqualification; The Briscoes are still ROH World Tag Team Champions.

The fans boo and jeer, but Mark doesn’t care. Mark tosses that chair and it hits Matt in the face. The Briscoes regroup, with more chairs taken from the audience. Jay smacks Nick with a chair, then hits Matt. Mark keeps collecting chairs, and Mark smacks Matt and Nick again in turn. Mark drags Matt up to the top rope, and Jay joins his brother. Nick can only watch as the Briscoes DOUBLE SUPERPLEX Matt onto the chair pile!!

Matt writhes in agony, but the Briscoes keep going. They keep Nick down and anticipate the arrival of more Bullet Club members. Mark moves in position, armed with a chair. Hangman Page storms out to the ring, followed by Flip Gordon, and that’s when Mark strikes!

Mark takes out both the #FlipArmy and Hangman, then rejoins Jay in the ring. They beat down the Bucks, and even bite them! Finally, Cody appears, armed with his own chair!

The American Nightmare goes after #DemBoyz and holds his own! But it’s not enough, Mark SMACKS him with his leather belt! And then chokes him with it! Jay gets back up, and throws a chair in Cody’s face. Fans chant for Scurll, but The Villain is a no-show. The Briscoes raise up their titles, proud of their underhanded yet savage actions. With #DemBoyz willing to do anything to retain, is there any hope for another team to reign?

My Thoughts:

A good episode here, and Heel heavy in the story developments. Good to see WOH again, and as I said, now that they have a title for the Division, seeing them regularly should be the way to go. Kelly’s story now is building back from her first real defeat, and it presented itself well as she struggled against Madison. These two probably need to work together more as parts felt clumsy, but they got through the major beats. It’s rare for a Heel to go through “crisis of confidence” but perhaps Kelly can make it work. MCMG have their own “crisis of confidence”, and I like the way they and The Dawgs shifted into a match like that. MCMG win to stay afloat in the ROH Tag Team Division, but maybe they could make the lateral movement into the Six Man Division with Jonathan Gresham by their side.

Bully Ray and ROH using his WWE status continues to be a genius move. Whether you see WWE as a promotion that’s “ruining pro-wrestling for everyone else” or not, using Bully to represent that concept works wonders here. He’s literally shutting out the new stars that deserve opportunities, the stars fans are starting to like, without any reason other than his personal opinion. And if Bully is coming out of retirement, that’s actually pretty big if he has a match against Cheeseburger or any number of these young stars. The promos tonight were all great, especially the Bullet Club’s, as it ties in their story with SCU and The Kingdom with their won story of dysfunction. I can’t be sure which way their Six Man with SCU will go, but the winners probably will move on to fight for the Six Man Tag titles.

That main event wasn’t long, but it was insane. The match is “ruined” by The Briscoes resorting to the DQ, and then The Briscoes up the Heel heat with that insane beating they give almost all of the ROH Bullet Club and Flip Gordon. It extends a story between them and The Bullet Club, while bringing into question the Six Man Tag next week. Sandy Fork VS Everybody is becoming more and more real for them in ROH, and I have a feeling The Briscoes will end up facing multiple teams in one big Tag Team Championship match down the line. That might be the only way to keep them from using Champion’s Advantage to retain.

My Score: 8.5/10