Pariah ,
cruefan68 - Thanks for the compliments guys! I do like how the Christopher Daniels promo came out. Less so with Jay Lethal but his promo got the point across, especially to a particular someone. 16th Anniversary is here and it's a can't miss show!
16th Anniversary
March 31, 2018
Las Vegas, NV
Ian Riccaboni welcomed the pay-per-view audience and introduced Matt Taven, who would be joining him on commentary for the first part of the show -
“It’s 16th Anniversary, Ricci Jabroni! It’s great to be here and I’m looking forward to embarrassing old man Kaz later tonight.”Four Corner SurvivalAdam Page def. Beer City Bruiser, Shane Taylor and CheeseburgerCheeseburger started out giving Page fits. Once Adam tagged out, it was Taylor and Bruiser taking turns pounding on Burger. Down the stretch, the contest turned into a real knock-down-drag-out between Page and Bruiser with “Hangman” taking the fall with a jumping DDT.
Dalton Castle def. Joey Daddiego by countout
Castle opened the action with a stunning power move as he lifted Daddiego into a bearhug, then flipped him around in his grip to execute a Deadlift German Suplex. The crowd popped and Dalton scaled the corner buckles only to have Daddiego recover and push him off his perch where he crashed to the floor. The match continued in rough-and-tumble fashion which included a ref bump. It was Castle coming out on top as he hit a headscissors takedown from the apron that sent Daddiego into the guardrail and he was counted out of the ring.
A promo played on the big screen. It showed a tall, dark figure with his back to the viewers, superimposed over a field of flames. As the camera zoomed in, the figure slowly turned to reveal the grim visage of Damien Martinez.
“What the hell was that?!” Matt Taven blurted once the video concluded.
“It was to announce the return of Damien Martinez,” Ian Riccaboni flatly stated.
“What? What are you talking about?”“Yes. His suspension is up. He’s returning to Ring of Honor Television in a couple of weeks.”“Suspension? Returning?! He’s supposed to be gone! No. No, this is wrong. I… I have to go.”“Taven? Taven! What’s the matter? I’m sorry, folks. It looks like Matt Taven has had something unforeseen come up. Let’s go to our next match.”Jay White def. Will Ferrara by pin
Ferrara made the mistake of trying to take advantage during the Code of Honor. This fired White up and he proceeded to blister Ferrara all around the ring with knife-edge chops, each one increasingly making the crowd cringe. Jay took his opponent down with a Russian leg sweep, then slapped on a Muta Lock which he transitioned into a crossface. Once he had stretched Ferrara enough, he drove him into the mat with a Kiwi Krusher for the finish. Will apologetically offered his hand again. White, still on guard, shook it and relaxed once it was clear Ferrara wasn’t going to get cute again.
Kazarian came out for his match with Matt Taven and waited while Taven’s music played. The moments ticked away without Taven showing. Finally, Matt appeared and distractedly made his way down to the ring, making an occasional quick glance over his shoulder. Kaz showed curiosity at Matt’s behavior.
Matt Taven def. Kazarian by pin
At the bell, Taven went for an eye rake right away. He tossed Kaz to the floor and followed with a suicide dive. As he went to pick Kaz up, something caught his eye and he looked up toward the entrance but there was nothing there. With his mind elsewhere, Taven was reversed by Kazarian and almost pinned with a Back to the Future. Taven was completely off balance and nearly put away with a Shining Wizard. Kaz missed a slingshot leg drop which allowed Matt to regroup and put together some offense. A pair of piledrivers nearly did Kaz in and Taven followed with a Climax. Before he made the cover, Matt again wasted time as he scanned the crowd, allowing Kaz to kick out. Taven shook his head and seemed to regain focus but his intensity went off the scale as he began manically giving Kaz multiple piledrivers and Climax’s. The referee had to stop the ugly display. Taven briskly made his way up the ramp, hands in his hair, looking unhinged. Kaz was in bad shape and it was a while before he was able to leave the ring area.
The Briscoes had made their ring entrance. Then Kelly Klein came out and stood at the top of the ramp, wearing one the tag team title belts, the other one slung over her shoulder in absence of her injured partner, Rhett Titus. She surveyed the ring then looked off stage, at which point Chris Sabin appeared with a flourish. Klein eyed him with hard regard as the crowd gave a mixed reaction to the situation. Once everyone was in the ring, introductions were made. As Sabin was about to be introduced, he stepped through the ropes and hopped off the apron. The ring announcer paused and looked to him, not sure what was going on. Chris examined the situation, shook his head and walked back up the ramp. Kelly’s angry glare followed him up to the stage. Sabin turned around and looked back to his would-be partner and shrugged, at which point the Young Bucks stepped out and joined him. Then the Truthless trio had a good laugh at Klein’s expense. Kelly coldly eyed her mockers, nodding to herself, accepting her circumstances. Resolutely, she turned to face the challengers, ready to defend the titles on her own.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPJay & Mark Briscoe def. Kelly Klein & Rhett Titus(c) by pin
The Briscoes were unsure how to approach the task at hand. Mark went to his corner, leaving Jay to start the match. Klein champed down on her mouth guard and raised her hands, ready to lock up. Jay hesitated.
“I ain’t about fighting no woman,” he voiced. Klein motioned for him to bring it but he just stepped back into his corner where he tagged his brother. Mark looked at him, perplexed, then reluctantly got in the ring.
Kelly caught a crane kick attempt by Mark and took it to him, including a big German suplex that really got his attention. Mark tried containing her with a side headlock takedown but when she got free, he resorted to rougher tactics. He used a killer uranage ad a head butt but he seemed to be holding back on both. Kelly fought back and got a near fall after a fallaway slam. Jay yelled from his corner
“Stop playin’ around, man!” This distracted Mark enough for Klein to slip on The End of the Match. Mark reached for the rope break. Klein continued to push her advantage. Jay had seen enough and tagged himself in when the opportunity presented itself. The match reset and Kelly was breathing a little hard but she kept going forward, hitting Jay with a knee lift that looked a little low. Kelly muscled Jay around some and he had reached his limit and took a swing at her. Kelly avoided the blow and blasted Jay with a running boot. Jay absorbed shot after shot and eventually rolled out to the floor, frustrated and conflicted. Jay climbed back in but ended up on the floor again. This time Kelly followed him out. Jay sidestepped a charge and she ended up colliding with the ring post. There were some boos from the crowd and Jay knew he was in a no-win situation. He pushed the dazed Klein back into the ring and said
“F- it” and gave her a Jay Driller. He instantly showed regret as she lay prone in the center of the ring and he grudgingly made the cover. Klein kicked out at two and Jay clenched his jaw, wanting this to be over. He set her up for another Jay Driller and even Mark yelled at him not to do it. As he was about to lift her up for the plunge, Rhett Titus made a sudden appearance and hurried to the ring, wincing as he did. Jay dropped Kelly on her head anyway but didn’t go for the cover. Instead he went over and tagged in his brother. Mark looked Titus’ way expectantly and Rhett pulled his shirt off revealing bandaged ribs. Titus got up on the apron and urged Kelly to tag him in. Klein slowly crawled to her corner and Mark didn’t try to stop her. Rhett made the tag and Mark nodded to him. Rhett brought some heat but missed an elevated dropkick and landed painfully on his injured ribs. A slingshot double foot stomp by Mark compounded the matter as Rhett clutched at his abdomen. Mark made the cover but Rhett urgently kicked out, a look of agony on his face. Jay tagged back in and was unmerciful. Rhett did make a comeback but foolishly went for and missed a frog splash. Rhett continued to put up a good fight but the outcome was inevitable. The Briscoes unintentionally tortured Titus until he could take no more and succumbed to a Jay Driller. The Briscoes were handed the tag team title belts but were clearly unhappy with how it came about. Titus and Klein both needed help from the ring area and the Briscoes halfheartedly defended themselves against some of the vocal criticism they received on their way out.
ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIPJay Lethal(c) def. Silas Young by pin
Lethal continued to make the case for himself of being the ace of ROH and the front runner in Field of Honor. He destroyed Young without much trouble, doing a lot of damage outside the ring as well as in. Silas even got color, uncommon in ROH. Jay finished with the Lethal Injection.
As Lethal held his belt, celebrating the win, the scene was interrupted by none other than former three-time ROH World Champion Austin Aries! The ROH legend stood at the top of the entrance ramp holding a microphone and waited for the ‘Au-stin Ar-ies!’ chant to die down.
“Well, it’s good to be remembered,” Austin began, smiling to himself.
“But that’s kind of why I’m here. You see, Jay Lethal, I heard what you’ve been saying. Something about becoming ROH World Champion and how all the former champions will be forgotten? I’m a three time ROH champ. No one is going to forget that.” Aries asked the crowd,
“Are you going to forget about me?” Another ‘Austin Aries’ chant started up.
“Well, to make sure, I’m challenging you, Jay. In one month at Supercard of Honor. And after that, if you do end up becoming champion, maybe I’ll come back and become the first four-time ROH World Champion.”The crowd cheered Aries as he left and Lethal was none too happy.
Field of Honor Group B MatchChristopher Daniels def Kenny King by pin
Daniels recently called out King, let him know he needed to up his game. The Fallen Angel’s pep talk may have worked too well as King nearly beat him with the Coronation. Kenny kept the pressure on the whole match but it was the crafty veteran Daniels sneaking in a chair shot to slow King’s roll. This led to Angel’s Wings for the win. King’s hometown Las Vegas crowd was not happy about Daniel’s tactics. Chris leaned in to say something to the groggy King as he took his hand to shake it. Daniel’s stepped back and earnestly said
“This wasn’t personal.” King, still shaking out the cobwebs, watched with an aggrieved expression as Daniels headed back up the ramp.
ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Truthless (Chris Sabin & The Young Bucks) def. Infernal Affairs(C) (Kenny Omega & Roppongi Vice) by DQ
The Truthless team of Chris Sabin and Matt and Nick Jackson received a mixed reaction as did their opponents, Kenny Omega, Rocky Romero, and Beretta. The Infernal Affairs trio posed at the top of the ramp as they all pointed finger guns at each others heads in Mexican standoff fashion. Ian Riccaboni explained the gesture as each member saying to the other: I don’t trust you, you don’t trust me, and that we are all on even ground because we know where each other stands. On the other side of the contest, the hinted-at rift in Truthless was nowhere to be seen, all three looking to be on the same page. This match was short and ended controversially. Romero was in trouble early as the Bucks hit him with the Indytaker. As they set Rocky up for More Bang For Your Buck, Kelly Klein came down to ringside. She shoved one of the ring crew from his chair and used it to clobber Sabin where he stood on the apron. The Bucks caught notice of this and went after Klein but were held at bay as she made defensive swings with the chair. The ref called for the bell, awarding the win but not the belts to Truthless by way of disqualification. The Bucks turned their attention back to the ring as the decision was announced and protested the call while Infernal Affairs slipped away in the confusion.
Current Rankings:
ROH World Champion - vacant
- Jay Lethal
- Christopher Daniels
- Jay White
- Dalton Castle
- Joey Daddiego
- Adam Page
- Kenny King
- Silas Young
- Rhett Titus
- Will Ferrara
Something that may have gone unnoticed is that the entire Two Fisted faction is in the tournament. I think any of them could be a dark horse. Will they work together or be at each others throats? We shall see. I have a couple of promo spots to post before 16th Anniversary. Here's the first one:
