ROH Wrestling Television, Episode 412

LifeBlood looks for payback on Villain Enterprises and their brand new “mercenary,” Flip Gordon! What happens during Summer Supercard weekend?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• From Manhattan Mayhem – Jonathan Gresham VS Dragon Lee; Lee wins.
• Soldiers of Savagery VS Corey “Hyena” Hex & Geddy Cahoon; Soldiers of Savagery win.
• From Mass Hysteria – ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Briscoes VS The Bouncers; The Briscoes win and retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships.
• From Manhattan Mayhem – 8 Man Tag: Villain Enterprises VS PJ Black & LifeBlood; LifeBlood wins.

PLAY BY PLAY

ROH looks back to Best in the World 2019.

Flip Gordon helped LifeBlood against the Soldiers of Savagery, despite having lost to Bandido just earlier in the night. Bandido, Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams then extended an offer to Flip to join up! Flip accepted the LifeBlood T-shirt, but the Villain, Marty Scurll, interrupted on the titantron! He congratulated LifeBlood on standing tall, but Scurll had to rain on their parade. The same night LifeBlood gained a new ally, Villain Enterprises revealed its own new “employee.” Scurll scoured the Earth, and found the perfect new recruit right under his nose. “Ladies and gentlemen, he is the intern, he is the understudy, he is the mercenary.” It was… FLIP GORDON!! But how?!

And then Flip would attack LifeBlood and be reinforced by Scurll, Brody King and PCO! Villain Enterprises would lay waste to LifeBlood, topping it off with putting Tracy on a table, for FLIP to 450 crash through!! And that is what leads us to tonight’s main event!

ROH throws it to Ian Riccaboni and Quinn McKay!

It’s Summer Supercard weekend, but the action is still hot even after! Quinn talked with Villain Enterprises that night way back when, and yet they did NOT say a thing about Flip Gordon joining! But that aside, Manhattan Mayhem continues tonight as we relive even more of, well, the mayhem!

Jonathan Gresham VS Dragon Lee!

The Octopus takes on CMLL’s Dragon as Manhattan Mayhem’s opener! But after resorting to underhanded tactics to best the Last Real Man, is Gresham starting to slip to the dark side? Or will he keep it clean against the luchador?

Find the full match on Honor Club, because ROH jumps ahead a bit to where Gresham and Lee are trading CHOPS! They pick up speed and fans are loving it! Lee eggs Gresham on, so Gresham undoes some tape. Gresham throws the tape down and the ref cleans it up, so the ref misses Gresham nut-tap Lee! Gresham smirks as that darker edge comes back. Gresham then punts the leg and arm-drags Lee around!

ROH skips forward again, and Gresham has Lee in a butterfly deathlock! Gresham grabs a leg and adds half a Crab to this! Gresham pulls back to make it a cover, TWO! Gresham argues with the ref, but the ref assures that was a fair count. But Gresham won’t back off until the ref reprimands him. The Octopus calms down and goes back to Lee.

Another skip forward, and Gresham CHOPS Lee in the corner. Lee CHOPS back! They have another CHOP fight! Gresham rocks Lee and stands on his chest! The ref counts and Gresham backs off.

Another skip, and both men are on the top rope. Gresham wants the superplex but Lee resists, so now it’s a slap fight! Gresham, then Lee, and back again! They pick up speed and Lee rocks Gresham with a flurry! Lee headbutts Gresham into a Tree of Woe, WOE STOMPS! Lee keeps moving, shotgun knee! Cover, TWO!! Gresham survives but Lee is fired up! Lee brings the knee pads down, knee trigger!! Cover, Lee wins!!

Winner: Dragon Lee, by pinfall

The tricks the Octopus tried did not work! Dragon Lee is victorious in the ROH ring, will he be rising up the ranks?

Quinn McKay interviews Dragon Lee.

After his victory over Gresham, one of the best technical wrestlers today, how is he feeling? “You know who I am? The people know who Dragon Lee is.” Dinastia Munos wrestles in Mexico, the US and in Japan to make their name AND the name of CMLL known throughout the world. NJPW, ROH and CMLL know how dedicated Lee is. Gresham is a great wrestler. They had an amazing match, and matches like this are the kind Lee wants, and the kind Lee wants the fans to see. Lee will keep coming for more. He makes his dreams a reality in NJPW, in CMLL and hopes to do the same in ROH. He has more wrestlers to face, both losses and wins. And like his brother Rush says, it’s all good. “Stay tuned, because we bring surprises, and another one is coming soon.” What will Dinastia Munos do next in ROH?

Quinn McKay now interviews Jonathan Gresham.

Whenever the referee got distracted, “what was that?” If anyone here knew anything, that’s just Gresham trying to win. Jay Lethal’s voice was ringing in Gresham’s head to do things his way. Gresham wants to be a champion, like Lethal was. Lethal’s already had championships, he knows what that’s like. He’s forgotten what it means to be hungry like Gresham. Gresham should’ve done what he felt was right, but he listened to Lethal, and lost. Gresham sarcastically thanks Lethal, but will Gresham genuinely do anything and everything to win?

Shinobi Shadow Squad trains hard.

Ryan Nova practices strikes, Eli Isom strength trains, and Cheeseburger works on suplexes. They have a picture of the OG Villain Enterprises members, with shuriken stuck in them. Triple S still wants those ROH World Six Man Tag titles, but will they be able to overcome Marty Scurll’s squad? They get their chance next week!

ROH returns to Ian and Quinn.

They are looking forward to Shinobi Shadow Squad pulling off an upset against Villain Enterprises, but that is a tall task for the three younger stars. Another title match coming next week is Kelly Klein defending her WOH World Championship against Karissa Rivera! Rivera shocked us when she defeated the inaugural champion, Sumie Sakai, in her ROH TV debut! Sumie showed respect, is this the rise of a new star in the Women of Honor Division?

Karissa Rivera speaks.

Rivera is on a mission to be the world’s best women’s wrestler. Right now, the best is Kelly Klein, and she has the title to prove it. Kelly is on a great win streak, but she’s yet to face Rivera. Rivera is confident to become the NEW WOH World Champion. She’ll bring the fight and leave it all in the ring. May the best woman win.

ROH looks closer at Rhett Titus.

The Fittest has been in ROH his entire wrestling career. That’s 14 years. He was a ROH Dojo graduate, and this is the only place he’s ever wanted to be. A memorable match for him was when he and Kenny King, All Night Express, took on The Briscoes in a Ladder War. They both put so much into that match, and he remembers passing out because of blood loss. Then there was when they finally became ROH Tag Team Champions after beating Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. He and Kenny worked so hard for that moment for being a makeshift team, but that’s what made it all worth it.

The first time Kenny King left ROH, things changed so drastically. Kenny was just gone, and Rhett bounced around tag teams. He teamed with BJ Whitmer, Cliff Compton, but it never quite matched him and King. And then, 2015, ANX returned! It was Kenny’s idea to reunite, and Rhett went with it, and they won against The Briscoes! The magic was back, but not quite. They’d miss out on the big matches and opportunities, and it frustrated them both. They then took it out on ROH by recruiting Caprice Coleman and Shane Taylor to form The Rebellion. But then that team and the four were forced to disband forever. That’s when Rhett tried again, with “Lil’ Willie” Ferrara to form The Dawgs. It was a lot of fun teaming with someone who became a good friend, but Will got discouraged, too. Will bailed on Rhett, and Rhett was back at square one.

In comes The Fittest. Being in the best shape of his life and needing to provide for a growing family, Rhett strikes out on his own! Philly’s Proving Ground match was big, but he fell short to old friend Shane Taylor. And then Kenny King just came up and said it was “disgusting,” what happened to their friendship? Kenny insulted Rhett in front of his wife and unborn child, that was the most disrespectful thing Kenny could’ve done. But at the same time, Kenny might have a point about Rhett losing some of that fire. Rhett admits he’s made mistakes, but the biggest mistake seems to be not smacking Kenny in the mouth that night. Kenny wants Rhett to wake up, but will Kenny come to regret waking something up inside Rhett?

Soldiers of Savagery VS Corey “Hyena” Hex & Geddy Cahoon!

Moses Maddox and Jasper Kaun are back to continue their streak of destruction. And they don’t even care who their opponents are, they attack while the introductions are being made! The bell rings and Moses clotheslines out the beefy but pale young man while Kaun hauls up the young man with fiery boots and camo tights. Kaun whips and CLOBBERS Camo Pants! Ian informs us this is Corey “Hyena” Hex, but does it really matter at this point? Moses fetches Hex’s tag partner, Geddy Cahoon, and drags him up to throw into a post! Geddy flies off and hits the floor! Then together, the Soldiers of Savagery DOUBLE CHOKE SLAM Hex! Cover, Soldiers of Savagery win!

Winners: Soldiers of Savagery, Kaun pinning

Another win with barely a sweat broken. Will the ROH Tag Team Division continue to shout “SOS” when these two come around?

ROH returns to Ian and Quinn.

Clearly Moses and Kaun are not a team to take lightly. Yet they seemed to not take a Triple Threat in Manhattan Mayhem seriously, as they only cared about double choke slamming Beer City Bruiser through the timekeeper’s table before just bailing. The Bouncers recovered and beat Team Coast2Coast to win an ROH World Tag Team Championship match at Mass Hysteria.

ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Briscoes VS The Bouncers!

Get the full match on Honor Club because ROH jumps into the thick of it, as all four men are down. The teams regroup as a 10 count climbs. Lowell declares “This is Awesome!” but it’s far from over. The four men stand, and we have a brawl! The Bouncers punch but the Briscoes punch back. CHOPS start flying, then big jabs! Fans fire up with “BEER! BEER!” Bruiser and Milonas wind up to punch both Briscoes down! Bruiser gets Jay out while Milonas puts Mark up top. But Jay returns to dropkick Bruiser down hard! Mark fights back and Milonas is alone! Jay grabs Milonas and Mark punches him down, for a POWERBOMB! Mark leaps for FROGGY-BOW! Cover, The Briscoes win!

Winners: The Briscoes, Mark pinning; still ROH World Tag Team Champions

Two matches in one weekend, and #DemBoyz win both! But of course, we already know this, but the Briscoes surprisingly accept the #ToastofHonor. At the same time, we also know the Guerrillas of Destiny won’t just leave those ROH World Tag Team Championships alone. When and if the Bouncers get another shot at those titles, will it be Jay and Mark or Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa holding them?

ROH looks back to July 20th’s Six Man Street Fight!

Hot Sauce Tracy told Villain Enterprises their grudge wasn’t even about the titles right now, so they could leave those “pieces of trash” behind. And since they were on the street corner known for extreme violence, they’d up the ante and make that Six Man main event a PHILLY STREET FIGHT! Fans agreed as they chanted, “E C DUB! E C DUB!” Scurll chuckled, but he figured why not. “Be careful what you wish for.” With that, Villain Enterprises rushed the ring, and the fight was on! The Street Fight was of course extreme, pushing all six men to their limits. There would be flying, flipping, and crashing through tables! And somehow, some way, LifeBlood would win! They now have a win over the ROH World Six Man Tag Champions, but will hold onto that in their back pockets. Tonight’s escalation into an Eight Man is about settling scores!

8 Man Tag: Villain Enterprises VS PJ Black & LifeBlood!

The Darewolf joins Hot Sauce, Mr. Overkill and the daredevil luchador to take the fight to Marty Scurll, Brody King, PCO and their “intern,” Flip Gordon! Will LifeBlood keep on its roll and win against the Six Man champs again? Or will upping things to eight be too much?

ROH returns from commercial and the teams sort out. Williams starts against Scurll, and fans are already thunderous with dueling. Scurll and Williams circle and tie up, and Williams waistlocks. Scurll pries out to a wristlock, but Williams slips through to reverse it. Williams gets Scurll on the mat but Scurll is up fast. Scurll rolls, spins and reverses the wristlock again, which fans cheer. But Williams reaches back to grab Scurll’s head. Williams sits down to bring Scurll with him, then rolls and reverses the hold back. Williams waistlocks then spins Scurll into a cravat. Scurll breaks free, but Williams just gets it back. Scurll breaks free again, but gets caught again! This time, Scurll breaks free and backs off. But he runs into a waistlock and slam! Williams slaps Scurll around in a rear mount, but lets up to see what Scurll does.

Scurll gets up in a huff to shove Williams back. Williams shoves but Scurll shoves again. The shoving gets chippy and their teams clear the corners! The referee keeps the peace as best he can all by himself, and all eight men have a stand-off. Williams and Scurll assure their teams to go back to the corners, but fans cheer for Bandido. Williams tags Bandido in! Scurll knees Bandido low then whips but Bandido handsprings. Scurll gets clear but Bandido dodges him to huricanrana then dropkick Scurll down! Fans fire up but Scurll tags in Flip! Fans like this match-up, too. Flip still has fans cheer for him even in his new, more menacing form. Flip calls for a test of strength, but then uses it to flip off and pie-face Bandido. Bandido shrugs that off, but Flip tags out to Brody. Bandido doesn’t back down, he gets right in Brody’s face. Or, his chest, given the height difference.

Brody shoves Bandido back then blocks the punch. Brody CHOPS Bandido, then goes acrobatic to arm-drag Bandid across the ring! Fans are thunderous over that supersized lucha libre! Bandido is dizzy as he gets back to his feet, and Brody eggs him on. Bandido throws back elbows but Brody shoves him away. Bandido SUPERKICKS, then goes out to bait Brody into a kick! Bandido springboards and huricanranas Brody away! Tag to Scurll but Scurll gets an arm-drag to armlock. Tag to Haskins, and we get to see more from these UK rivals! Haskins wrenches and wrings Scurll out then stomps the arm! Haskins kicks Scurll in the back then snapmares him right into an armlock. Fans rally while PJ teases Scurll.

Tag to Williams and Williams climbs to drop an ax handle on Scurll’s arm. Williams throws strikes then wrenches Scurll to a wristlock. Williams tags PJ and PJ drops ax handles on the arm. PJ wrenches and drags Scurll to the mat. The ref has to keep an angry Brody back, and PJ drags Scurll over to tag in Bandido. Bandido climbs and dumdum stomps the arm! Scurll goes to an open corner and Bandido snapmares him out. Bandido runs to shotgun basement dropkick Scurll down! Cover, TWO! Bandido cravats Scurll to the corner and Haskins tags back in. Haskins takes the hand-off and wrenches Scurll. Scurll fights back but Haskins knees low. Tag to Williams and Haskins suplexes Scurll into Williams’ atomic drop! Then Williams tags PJ, and back suplexes Scurll down for PJ’s stomp! PJ flexes as he covers with one foot, ONE!

Scurll gets up but PJ stays between him and Villain Enterprises. PJ wheelbarrows and victory rolls, but to the floating “Japanese Love Bucket”! Tag to Williams, and Williams hops up, up and away for a leg drop! Cover, TWO! Williams mouths off at Villain Enterprises before throwing hands on Scurll. Williams whips but Scurll holds ropes. Scurll tosses Williams out, and both Brody and PCO bumrush LifeBlood! They’re all down, and fans fire up as Brody builds speed. Brody FLIES to bowl over Williams and Haskins! Scurll CHOPS away on PCO to fire him up! PCO runs, and FLIES to bowl Haskins and Williams over again! Villain Enterprises has Manhattan in a frenzy as ROH goes to break!

ROH returns once more as Williams is fed to Scurll in the ring. Scurll covers, TWO! Scurll drags Williams over to the corner and tags in Brody. Brody CHOPS Williams, then again! Tag to PCO, and PCO drags Williams up for a sidewalk salm! Cover, ONE, but PCO keeps moving. PCO goes up top, and SWANTONS! Cover, TWO!! Williams still lives, but PCO stalks him to a corner. Fans are thunderous for PCO and he drags Williams up and back to tag Scurll. Scurll then tags Brody, and both Scurll and PCO whip Williams corner to corner. A train begins, PCO’s splash, Brody’s clothesline, and Scurll’s European Uppercut! Scurll then feeds Williams to Brody and PCO for a DOUBLE CHOKE SLAM! Cover, TWO!! Williams still lives, but Brody tags in Flip! Flip stalks Williams to a corner and kicks him.

Flip grabs hair and talks trash before he CHOPS Williams. He sweeps the legs then grind a foot into Williams’ throat. The ref counts and Flip lets up, to talk trash to the rest of LifeBlood. Flip then gives Williams another stomp before tagging Brody. Brody stomps Williams then tags Scurll. Scurll cusses out LifeBlood and throws up two fingers, the UK version of our dirty bird, but Williams is back on his feet. Williams blocks Scurll’s boot to CHOP him back! Then spin him around for a big back suplex! Both men are down but fans rally up. HOt tag to Bandido! Who leaps up for a tornillo crossbody! And dropkick! But Brody runs in, Bandido springboards, but Brody deflects the crossbody! He hauls Bandido back up for a pop, but Bandido fights the fireman’s carry, only to get a CHOP!

Brody runs corner to corner but only gets post! PCO runs in, but Bandido dodges him, too. Bandido runs into a BOOT! PCO hops up, he leaps, but Bandido catches him!? Manhattan can’t beileve Bandido powerslams PCO! PCO regrousp with Villain Enterprises outside, but Bandido is up to LEAP! Bandido takes them all down! Bandido puts Scurll back in but Flip slides in with a chair. Williams sees that and stops him right there! Williams has the chair and uses it to chase Flip! They go up the ramp, and this turns into another Six Man. Scurll sneaks up on Bandido to roll him up! TWO!! Scurll uppercuts Bandido then runs, but into reverse chicken wings, only for Bandido to spin him out for a knee! Bandido runs, but into a LARIAT! Both men are down again, and ROH takes one more break!

ROH returns and so has Williams. Williams rallies for Bandido as he and Scurll crawl. Hot tags to Brody and Haskins! But PCO joins in only for Haskins to duck the double clothesline and fire off kicks and chops! He kicks PCO, CHOPS Brody, repeat. But PCO blocks one kick for Brody to CHOP Haskins down. Brody and PCO haul Haskins up but Haskins slips out of the double choke slam. Haskins hops over Brody and dumps out PCO! He builds speed but they both get clear, so he Tiger Feints back in. Haskins redirects to DIVE onto PCO! Then he DIVES onto Brody! But Scurll blasts LifeBlood’s corner to then join Haskins on the apron. Scurll gets Haskins with a 52 Fake-Out enziguri! But PJ SUPERKICKS Scurll! Brody gets in and clotheslines PJ out hard! Williams CHOPS away on Brody from both sides! And then a strike fest of CHOPS!

Brody stays on his feet so Williams kicks and knees and reels him in. But Brody powers Williams into a corner. Brody rams his shoulder in, then goes corner to corner, only for Williams to get him with a corner 619! Williams pushes Brody back to then climb and leap, missile dropkick! Brody bails out, Williams wrecks him with a dropkick. Scurll hits Williams but LifeBlood goes after Scurll. PCO climbs up and aims at the cluster, FOR A MOONSAULT! “This is Awesome!” and PCO is NOT HUMAN! PCO drags Bandido up and puts him in the ring. PCO drags Bandido onto the apron but Bandido moule kicks back. To then Sunset Powerbomb PCO on the apron!! Everyone is down, and Manhattan cheers for “ROH! ROH!”

Brody has Haskins but Haskins throws knees and elbows. He fakes Brody out for a punch, but runs into a boot! And then rebounds into a forearm! Brody lifts Haskins, SIT-OUT BOMB! Cover, TWO!? Haskins survives?! Brody vows to end it now, and lifts Haskins again. But Haskins slips out, tags PJ, and PJ climbs for flying double stomps! Haskins goes back to the apron to Penalty Kick Scurll, then knee Brody! Bandido runs in, 21 PLEX! Darewolf springboard 450!! Cover, LifeBlood wins!!

Winners: LifeBlood, PJ Black pinning

The honorary member secures a major victory for LifeBlood! They have yet another win over the ROH World Six Man Tag Champions, but will they cash in on this momentum to take away the titles?

My Thoughts:

This was another odd episode from ROH. They gave us more Manhattan Mayhem snippets, which was fine, but we really only got part of what was supposedly an amazing Gresham VS Lee match, stuff from the ROH World Tag Team title scene we basically new from last week, and a squash match just to keep Soldiers of Savagery fresh in our minds. I would’ve preferred if we got just one of those to fill the whole space, but I guess they need to sell Honor Club. The Rhett Titus segment was actually great, and I think a Face turn for him against Kenny King would be great for Rhett. This might be what helps Rhett break out of the slump he is clearly facing, though I’m honestly surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

We also get a lot of hype going into a great Episode 413. The women’s title will be on the line, but I’m pretty sure Kelly Klein wins over Karissa Rivera. However, with Rivera giving us a great match against Sumie Sakai, I expect very much the same for her against Klein, even in losing. Then in the main event, borrowed from Manhattan Mayhem, we got a great 8 Man. The Six Man Street Fight was a high bar but this 8 Man came close. With Shinobi Shadow Squad next week, I’m sure Villain Enterprises gets the win back to stay strong as LifeBlood surely comes around for a title match at the next ROH PPV. At least, it should be, that’s how big that third match is going to be.

My Score: 8.2/10