Welcome back to another edition of "Honorable Mention," the once-weekly Ring of Honor report exclusively available at Cheap-Heat.com. My name is Mark Adam Haggerty and I am pleased as punch to be here just two days shy of Ring of Honor "Best in the World" live on pay-per-view. This was an excellent hour of professional wrestling and finally hit the crescendo that we ROH fans have been anticipating for three weeks.
This week's show comes to us from the Tedreeve Arena in Toronto, Canada with Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino calling the action. There's another Corino in the arena! It's Steve's son Colby, who accompanies the Decade's BJ Whitmer and Adam Page to the ring for their match against War Machine. Colby fell victim to the menacing Moose just a few weeks ago, but has returned to the ring where he'll fulfill the necessary "Young Boy" duties bestowed upon him by BJ. Whitmer gets the microphone and tells the angry fans that a live mic is "way louder than they are." The fans try hard to bury BJ's voice, but it's no use: "Two weeks ago Colby, you came out here and you showed the world how much of a man you are, and you came within an inch of beating that big goofy bastard Moose. But I don't think your father gets it. I don't think he understands. And I think he needs to see it— AGAIN !" BJ tells Colby Corino to "step up and take his place in the match." Colby immediately takes a roll of white tape and begins to wrap it around his wrists. As soon as the bell sounds, Adam Page tags Colby into action against Raymond Rowe, who doesn't want to wrestle Corino. "You're not ready Colby," yelled Rowe, as he begged the Young Boy to listen to his father. Colby slapped Rowe across the face, causing King Corino to stand and scream: "Who taught you this?" Rowe tags out, fearful of what he might do to Steve Corino's son. According to Kevin Kelly, Ray Rowe has known Colby ever since he was ten years old, and opts to allow "Warbeard" to handle the light work. Hanson slams Colby, and tags Rowe back in, but Rowe continues to ignore the challenge, ordering the other members of the Decade to tag into the match. Rowe is forced to attack Colby Corino with a vicious backbreaker-gutbuster-powerbomb combo. Adam Page refused to tag in, and War Machine picked up the victory mere seconds later. BJ Whitmer continued to rile King Corino at ringside, to the point where the former world champion broadcaster tossed down his headset and prepared to fight. Before anything could happen however, Kevin Kelly threw the show to a break, in an attempt to restore order.
"Around this time last year, I was considered THE breakout star in Ring of Honor," Cedric Alexander is in the center of the ring, telling the fans how he is no longer the breakout star he once was. "Right now for Cedric Alexander it's do-or-die. I need to start picking up WINS ! I need to start picking up wins to prove to my family that this dream of being a professional wrestler isn't a waste of time." Cedric Alexander is ready to challenge anyone in the locker room, and decides to call out the undefeated Moose! Moose comes to the ring per usual alongside Stokley Hathaway and Veda Scott, prepared to meet whatever challenge awaits him. Cedric keeps up with the big man, evading every one of his drop kicks, and landing a sizzling sidekick to the back of Moose's head. The action spills to the outside, and Cedric is still in control over the burly Moose, but not for long! Once they return to the ring, Moose hits Cedric with a successful drop kick, sending Cedric Alexander back to the outside. We head into a commercial—for Ring of Honor Best in the World—and once we return, Moose and Cedric are still going back and forth. Cedric is very good at reversing the rookie Moose's moves, but has a tough time building any sort of discernible offense that might win him the match. The announcers make frequent mention of how Moose is friends with the majority of men and women in the back, including his manager Stokley Hathaway, as well as his opponent Cedric Alexander. Veda Scott however, has other plans for the future of Moose, and would rather see him turn a blind eye to the rest of the Ring of Honor roster. This match is heating up and Moose scores a near fall following a decapitating lariat. The fans battle chant-for-chant: "Let's go Moose" versus "Let's go Cedric," until this match devolves into a series of forearm strikes. Moose heads to the top rope, but Cedric catches him and prepares to end the undefeated streak of his friend following a litany of high impact drop kicks to the head. "Moose's eyes are dimming," says Kevin Kelly! Just before Cedric can deliver his final kick, Moose summons the strength to employ his somersault Spear. Both men are down and at the mercy of the referee's count. Veda yells at Stokley to distract the referee, and she hands a wrench to Moose. Moose refuses to use the tool to gain the victory, but Cedric Alexander has no problem earning a win that way! Cedric uses Moose's confusion against him and seizes the wrench, smacks him across the skull with it, and hands Moose the very first loss in his wrestling career.
Mandy Leone is backstage giving us a history lesson on what went down between reDRagon and the Addiction when the latter team stole the coveted tag titles from the former. Adam Cole interrupts Mandy, and cuts a promo on his return to pay-per-view this Friday night alongside Matt Taven and Mike Bennett. They'll be heading into six-man-competition this weekend against the Bullet Club's AJ Styles and The Young Bucks.
The main event tonight is—well, it's a contract signing. BUT the main event match this evening is a tag team contest. ACH and Matt Sydal will head into battle against the record-setting seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and the former NEVER Openweight Champion Tetsuya Naito. The NJPW team refuses to adhere to the code of honor, despite Sydal and ACH's insistence. Things kick off with Tanahashi against Matt Sydal, as both men decide take things to the mat. Naito taunts Sydal from the apron, and soon ACH is part of this match. Things wage forward with both teams earning the upper hand, and the NJPW team playing a bit of a heel role. While that might seem odd to NJPW fans familiar with Tanahashi and Naito, it makes perfect sense across the Pacific Ocean where ACH and Matt Sydal are far more popular. Tanahashi scurries back to his corner like a cowardly heel, and things speed up when ACH and Naito take control of the contest. Naito's eyeball gimmick is sort of strange, and even odder when mocked by the inordinately agile ACH. Tanahashi takes ACH to the outside and tosses him into the barricade behind referee Todd Sinclair's back; the New Japan team is most certainly the more dastardly of the two this evening. We head into a commercial break and when we return, ACH has fallen victim to both of his opponents, as Sydal struggles to get back into the action. Naito attempts a Superplex but is sent spiraling down to the canvas. ACH takes advantage of Naito's slip up and applies a double foot stomp to the back of his opponents shoulders. He tags Sydal into the match, and the former Evan Bourne gets to work in settling the score against these two international stars. The waning moments of the match are exciting and unpredictable—both Sydal and Tanahashi battle for dominance before ACH returns for a final go at the former IWGP champion. ACH hits Tanahashi with more than a dozen standing sidekicks for a near fall, and follows up with a German Suplex with a bridge for a 2 and 9/10ths count. ACH mocks Tanahashi to his face, and is awarded a Texas Cloverleaf for his efforts. Before he can reach the bottom rope, Sydal returns with a jumping knee to the face of Hiroshi Tanahashi. The match ends with a frog splash by Tanahashi on ACH for the 1-2-3, and a definitive end to an extraordinary match.
The final segment tonight, and dare I say the main event, is a contract signing between the ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe, and the ROH World Television Champion Jay Lethal. They're set to meet this Friday night at Terminal One in New York City, where both of their belts will be on the line. Lethal hits the ring first, dressed like Lou Bega (Mambo Number 5) and flanked by Truth Martini. Jay Briscoe is accompanied by his brother Mark, who will be in action on Friday against another member of the House of Truth, in Donavan Dijak. Things are tense between the champions; Jay Lethal has said on multiple occasions that his TV title is far more prestigious than the World Championship held by Briscoe. Former World Champion and current ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness is presiding over the precedings, and explains the rules and time limit. Nigel says that this will be the biggest match in Ring of Honor history, and asks both men for their final words going into the fight. Lethal says that the only reason he doesn't flip the table over and "beat [Briscoe] where he stands" is because he "needs him at his best." Lethal says that after June 19 th —after Best in the World—Jay Briscoe will no business in Ring of Honor anymore. Jay Briscoe responds in kind, angered by Lethal's overconfident demeanor: "June 19 th , when I get done whoopin' yo ass, when I get done with you boy , you gonna have to go back to being the �Black Machismo' man!" Take that TNA! Lethal flips the table and both men remove their shirts, and hold their belts side by side as they continue to talk smack while the camera's fade out. Great show.
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