Honorable Mention
4/25/15
Written by Mark Adam Haggerty
How's it going Ring of Honor Wrestling fans! Mark Adam Haggerty back in the building for the long awaited return of "Honorable Mention." I've said on several occasions that Ring of Honor doesn't currently air in Southern California, so it's tough for me to catch the episodes in a timely fashion. However I've been back and forth between here and Las Vegas—looking to relocate—and had the chance to see this week's edition of ROH TV while staying on the �Strip. So without further ado, let's kick this thing into gear and get going with the April 25th edition of Ring of Honor. The show opens with Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, cutting a promo on how they're the best in the business—"That's not just a catch phrase," Kazarian said, "It's what we know in our hearts." The Addiction says that they've had the opportunity to face the world tag team champions, reDragon, twice before, but couldn't get the job done. Daniels says that he's not insane; he knows that you can't do the same thing over and over and expect different results: "There comes a time that maybe we have to rethink the plan of attack." Kazarian says that they've got to suit up in their armor like the Knights of Old and "sleigh the [re]Dragon to win the tag team titles." This statement is will inevitably foreshadow the finale of the evening.
Kevin Kelly and "King" Steve Corino welcome their nationwide audience to the Shrine Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas—where tonight the Addiction will battle reDragon for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Titles. The action in the arena gets going with the Decade preparing for a four-corners contest. BJ Whitmer is accompanied to the ring by Adam Page, and endures an avalanche of animosity from the fans in attendance. His first opponent is Will Ferrara, who has really been gaining momentum since LOSING in the Top Prospect Tournament finals to Donavon Dijak. Third is the incomparable Caprice Coleman. Now—I use the word "incomparable" quite a bit, and it's more than just a literary tactic to create alliteration; Caprice Coleman is truly unlike anyone in the wrestling industry, and for my money—doesn't get the chance to showcase his talents nearly as often as he should. But in the interest of varying my vocabulary, I'll find another word for "incomparable" that rolls off the tongue just as well. The fourth participant is none other than MOOSE, who truth be told, is one of my favorite members of the current ROH roster.
Moose and BJ Whitmer start things off inside the squared-circle with Caprice Coleman and Will Ferrara on the apron. BJ challenges Moose to a test of strength, but backs away when Moose obliges. He blind-tags Will Ferrara, who is more than willing to try his luck against the undefeated former football player. Moose keeps his eyes set on Whitmer, not wanting to mix it up with Ferrara. Moose turned away twice, but Ferrara pulled him back and Moose had no choice but to decimate the rookie Ferrara. With Will reeling, Whitmer was ready to enter the match and capitalize on Moose's hard work. He stepped between the ropes and slaughtered young Will Ferrara with hard closed-fists to the face, and knife-edge chops across the chest. Whitmer continued his offense with an Irish Whip to Will, followed by a picture-perfect powerslam. Whitmer gets a lot of heat from wrestling pundits, particularly because of his lackluster longevity in Ring of Honor.
Ferrara struggled through the commercial, and when we return, Moose is ready to re-enter the match—perhaps to teach the bully BJ Whitmer a lesson. BJ attempted to tag Caprice Coleman into the contest, but Caprice dropped from the apron so as to secure Whitmer's fate against the menacing Moose. Stokely Hathaway and Veda Scott look on from ringside—neither of whom seem to mimic Moose in terms of personality. He's got a heel manager in Veda and a spineless lackey in Stokely. That's not an insult either—Hathaway plays his part to perfection and I really enjoy their presence. They're like—J&J Security with a personality. Caprice joins the action against Moose and engages with Will Ferrara as well before he goes flying over the top rope with a beautiful springboard moonsault. Coleman, Whitmer, and Ferrara were all on the outside—the crowd started to chant "Moose, Moose, Moose, Moose…," in rapid succession. "Don't tell me! Three hundred pounds and—," Corino exclaimed, "—THE MOOSE IS LOOSE!" Moose flew over the top rope with a smoother-than-silk somersault plancha on all three of his opponents. The crowd went wild!
Moose rolled BJ Whitmer into the ring with a Spear in mind and victory within his sights. Whitmer countered and hit the monster with an Exploder Suplex. Moose rolled out of the ring—and given the very unique rules of the match—Will Ferrara slid in to take his place. Ferrara hit BJ with a sloppy, yet successful variation of his signature "Code Red" finishing maneuver and attempted to follow through on Coleman. Caprice hit Ferrara with the "One Inch Punch" and a hurricanrana from the top rope, followed by the "Sky Splitta" leg drop. It was down to Moose and Caprice in the final moments of the match; Moose lifted Coleman as if he were attempting a flapjack and caught him with big clothesline in mid air. He backed into the corner to prepare for the Spear on Caprice Coleman, and was blind-tagged by ROH's resident douche bag, BJ Whitmer. Whitmer allowed Moose to follow through, and proceeded to pin Caprice Coleman himself. Your winner is the leader of the Decade—BJ WHITMER!
When the match concluded, BJ Whitmer had no problem with standing toe-to-toe with the man whom he just robbed. "You a little mad, Moose?" BJ antagonized the unpinned powerhouse, "That's just one example of why I'm the very best at what I do, and you? Well, you're you Moose." BJ laughed and turned his back, knowing full well that Moose would never attack him from behind. "Oh you wanna fight? You want to fight Moose," he asked? "Not tonight you big goofy bastard!"
We head into another commercial and once we return, the Decade is still standing inside the ring, but now Adam Page has the microphone: "Attitude, charisma, heart," the crowd chanted for Page's nemesis—ACH. "Attitude, charisma, heart! ACH! Where was that attitude when you were in the ring with Samoa Joe, ACH?" Adam Cole is talking to a chair—kind of like that Clint Eastwood speech from the Republican National Convention in 2012—with an ACH shirt strewn across the back. "Charisma! What did charisma matter when you were in the ring with AJ Styles? And heart?" He mimed a referee's three count: "Was this the sound of your heart beating—when you tapped out to Alberto El Patron?" Page says that ACH is just the same as his t-shirt; he says "Attitude, Charisma, and Heart" on the outside, but on the inside, he's empty. "I want nothing more than to erase those three letters from Ring of Honor. I want nothing more than to BURN THOSE LETTERS FROM RING OF HONOR." With that, Page prepared to set fire to the ACH shirt with a disposable Bic lighter, but was interrupted by the familiar theme song of ACH. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," ACH began, "You come out here with these threats, burning my t-shirts? Adam Page, we were both presented with the same opportunities. The only difference is, you tucked your pride between your legs and ran off with BJ!" ACH tells the Decade and the fans that he knew the locker room hated him, but refused to leave: "I am wrestling! I am attitude, I am charisma, I am heart!"
BJ Whitmer threw Adam Page into the ring unceremoniously, and the official called for the bell. This impromptu street fight has just turned into a fully-sanctioned wrestling match. ACH hits Adam Page with a drop kick, and Page rolled out of the ring to regroup. BJ Whitmer is a peculiar personality; he throws Page to the wolves, so-to-speak, and then hits the apron to try and help the situation for his stable mate. Upon reentering the ring, Page is in control thanks to the distraction by Whitmer. But ACH is quick to come back and lands a kick on Page in the corner. However, before ACH can capitalize, Whitmer is back on the apron—egging Page's opponent on. ACH went after Whitmer, but was ultimately drawn back into the bout, and fell victim to the "Adam's Apple" by Adam Page.
The onslaught continued after the bell until Matt Sydal sprang into action on behalf of the fallen ACH. Whitmer and Page walked off with smiles on their faces, unimpressed with the competition that's been laid before them.
It's time for the main event of the evening—the Ring of Honor tag team championship is on the line as Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of reDragon defend against Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian AKA The Addiction. The challengers enter the arena to an uproarious ovation from an audience that respects their abilities regardless of which side of the aisle they walk. Both Daniels and Kazarian are phenomenal ENTERTAINERS. Yes, they're amazing professional wrestlers, but that doesn't take away from their energetic and highly choreographed entrance. ReDragon is also met with an incredible amount of colorful streamers and fanfare from the fans in San Antonio. The champions look awesome and mean business; as opposed to the smiles adorning Kazarian and Christopher, O'Reilly and Fish are focused and ready to retain their titles.
The bell rings and Kyle O'Reilly starts things off against Christopher Daniels, with more than 20-minutes left in the broadcast. Wade Keller was on this Tuesday's episode of "The Steve Austin Show," and compared Kyle O'Reilly—who Stone Cold admittedly NEVER HEARD OF—to Daniel Bryan. He said that O'Reilly and Bryan are both unassuming young men that don't draw too much attention, but have both managed to exceed expectations between the ropes. Kyle O'Reilly is consistently in my Top Five wrestlers from week to week, and he's not even my favorite member of reDragon! I am the biggest Bobby Fish mark in the world, I really truly believe that. I love the way he puts his mouth guard in and slashes his throat, signaling the switch from side-splitting comedy to skull-smashing calculation. He's a lot like Kurt Angle, in that he can tear it up inside the ring, while keeping the fans hooked on his one-liners and humorous backstage antics.
The match goes back and forth with reDragon maintaining control over the challengers, and Bobby Fish is the first man to tag into the action. The pace quickens and the duo of X-Division champions take the lead and earn a series of near-falls over the champions. Kyle O'Reilly and Frankie Kazarian go toe-to-toe and O'Reilly wrenches on Kazarian's left arm, leading him around the ring and to his team's corner. ReDragon attempts a double-team tactic that falls flat, but the champions are still able to come out on top. A quick series of tags between Fish and O'Reilly leads to a considerable edge over the tandem that they've twice beaten for the belts. Fish went for what looked like a T-Bone Suplex but was reversed by Kazarian. The fans in San Antonio stomped their feet and clapped as Frankie fought to get to his corner, and he did! Christopher Daniels—"the man that doesn't age" according to King Corino—enters the match and has no trouble dealing with both overzealous members of reDragon on his own. Earlier in the match, Kevin Kelly said that Christopher Daniels is the most experienced man in the match, to which Steve Corino replied, "He's been wrestling longer than anyone ever."
We head into the final commercial break of the evening and the Addiction is putting the pieces together to finally solve this championship puzzle. As we fade from advertisements back into the action, Daniels and Kazarian are already in middle of a double team sequence. Fish fights back, but remains on Spaghetti Legs, allowing Kazarian the chance to hook a thoroughly grape-vined arm breaker. O'Reilly entered and put a variation of his "Arm-ageddon" arm breaker on Kazarian, but Daniels broke up the monotony from the top rope. The fans are cheering wildly, not knowing whom to favor in this off-the-wall main event tag team match.
O'Reilly is described as "explosive" when he enters the ring and fends off both members of the Addiction. He leads his opponents into one another, and applies his trademark "Arm-ageddon" cross arm breaker. on Christopher Daniels. Kazarian kicked at Kyle O'Reilly, but O'Reilly refused to let go of the hold, and flipped Kazarian the "bird" in the process. He grabbed Kazarian by the leg and held both members of the Addiction victim in a double submission maneuver. Daniels is the legal man for the Addiction and finds the ropes. Kyle calls Bobby into the ring and they aim to finish Frankie and Christopher with a litany of running offensive maneuvers in the corner. They mimic the Addiction by shaking their hips, and double team Christopher Daniels with an INCREDIBLE DDT/bridging suplex combination. ReDragon goes "Chasing the Dragon," but the Addiction isn't done yet.
Daniels hits Fish with an STO, and Frankie Kazarian lands Kyle O'Reilly with a Diamond Cutter—or an RKO—OUT OF NOWHERE! Referee Todd Sinclair comes within a nanometer of three before Kyle O'Reilly kicks out. The war wages on with the champions reeling; Kyle O'Reilly and Christopher Daniels are the legal men and both lay flat on their backs following a double-clothesline. The fans inside the auditorium chant, "This is wrestling," and it's true. If this match happened on Monday Night Raw, it would be heralded as the greatest match in the history of WWE—and yet this is a standard day at the office for two of the best tag teams on the face of the Earth. Daniels attempts his perfect moonsault, but lands on his feet when a red-masked member of the Knights of the Red Dawn enters the ring.
Todd Sinclair's back was turned when the faceless individual tried to Super-Kick Daniels, but instead caught Kyle O'Reilly. The Addiction hit O'Reilly with "Celebrity Rehab" and we have NEW RING OF HONOR WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! After the match, reDragon and the Addiction joined forces to unmask the first member of the KRD. Bobby Fish pulled the red guise from the stranger's face, and the crowd was shocked to see the one and only CHRIS SABIN! Fish went to take out his wrath on Sabin, but was blindsided by the new tag team champions. Kazarian and Christopher threw reDragon from the ring, and along with Sabin, identified themselves as the Knights of the Red Dawn. The show ended with a blurred look at Kyle O'Reilly who was bleeding profusely from his forehead, so much so that Sinclair refused to show it. Kazarian and Christopher held their belts—and their red masks—high above their heads, amidst an auditorium of angry fans.
Congratulations to Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels on their victory. This was an excellent hour of professional wrestling and I resent the fact that I have to start writing my Smackdown review. Until next time this has been Mark Adam Haggerty reminding you to keep checking out my work here at Cheap-Heat and at Daily Wrestling News; follow me on Twitter via @TapeTraderz and on Facebook at "The B+ Players"; and listen to my weekly series of podcasts available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday exclusively at Cheap-Heat.com.
