Ring of Honor aired ROH Episode #388 this week. This week’s episode feature two multi-wrestler matches. We had Sumie Sukai vs Madison Rayne vs Jenny Rose competing in a Triple Threat match. Meanwhile, the main event featured the previously hyped 10-man tag team match made in the final segment of episode 387.
Quick Results:
Madison Rayne defeats Sumie Sukai and Jenny Rose
Life Blood (Juice Robinson, Tracy Williams, David Finley, Mark Haskins, and Bandido) defeat Team Lethal (Jay Lethal, Dalton Castle, Jeff Cobb, Flip Gordon, and Jonathan Gresham)
Madison Rayne vs. Sumie Sukai vs. Jenny Rose
This match started off very slow. Rose gained control early. Rose is the largest woman of the three and got the upper hand using her power. The ladies then went back and forth for the remainder of the match. There was a nice spot where Sukai had Rose in a Boston Crab while Rayne locked in the Sleeper on Sukai. Sukai also hit a nice missile dropkick on both women from the ring apron to the outside. The finish came when Rayne hit a reverse DDT for the win.
ROH’s Women of Honor Division is clearly a few steps behind the women’s divisions in other companies. Rayne is a good worker but the pace and the intensity of the match never picked up. I love women’s wrestling. We’ve seen stars like Tessa Blanchard, Taya Valkarie, Shayna Baszler, Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte main eventing shows on other brands. ROH’s women’s roster doesn’t have the depth of talent these other brands do, especially when you don’t have the ladies of Shine there to support it. They are going to need to improve the in-ring product to warrant giving 15 minutes of TV time to these style matches.
Life Blood (Juice Robinson, Tracy Williams, David Finley, Mark Haskins, and Bandido) vs. Team Lethal (Jay Lethal, Dalton Castle, Jeff Cobb, Flip Gordon, and Jonathan Gresham)
This match started off with all 10 guys getting their own individual entrance. It was clear from the beginning this match was intended to be a showcase of the 10 guys in the ring. It was as though ROH was telling it’s audience, “We’re going to be okay after all those AEW guys left. Here’s 10 guys we still have to build around.” Whether they have the star power to truly fill the hole is yet to be seen.
This match did start off feeling more like a televised house show match than an intense match to prove who’s the best. Jay Lethal and Juice started us off in the ring. After a bit of back and forth, Dalton Castle, with the crowd fired up, got in the ring. I believe ROH thought the crowd would be excited to see the flamboyant duo in the ring together. However, the Atlanta audience had a different opinion. They wanted Bandido in the ring badly. They had to wait.
Dalton and Juice traded reversals and counters for a few minutes, highlighted by the Boys mimicking each move on the outside. Eventually, Tracy Williams entered the ring who begged for Gresham to get in. The two men put on a great display of technical wrestling before another man tagged in. This was the story for a bit. Haskins got in and wanted Cobb. Finally, the last two guys to tag in were Bandido and Gordon.
They had what has become to be a fairly expected anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better-lucha-flippy-do sequence in the ring. While we’ve seen these before between guys like Ricochet and Ospreay, this one was still quite impressive. Say what you will about these two guys, but one thing that cannot be argued is their athletic ability. Finally, in the last few minutes, the showcase portion stopped and the intensity picked up. Bandido and Gordon both hit super impressive dives to the outside. Cobb showed off his power and athleticism. Haskins got to shine as an intense wrestler. The final part of the match came when Dalton Castle looked to hit the bang-a-rang on Haskins. Somehow, he reversed this into a sharp shooter. Castle tapped for the win.
After the match, nine of the 10 men shook hands. Castle was nowhere to be found. ROH has been teasing a heel turn for Castle. This just furthers the speculation for the “Peacock” to finally snap.
Final Take
The first match was a dud in my opinion. You did get over Madison Rayne by pinning the first WOH Champion, but the match itself was pretty lackluster. Klein vs. Iwatani is scheduled for the 17th Anniversary Show. It looks like Rayne will be in line for a future title shot.
The 10-man tag accomplished the task it set out to accomplish. It gave a chance for the crowd to see the guys who are part of Life Blood stand across from some of the established guys in ROH. They showed they can hang and are going to be serious contenders to be the face of ROH moving forward. There definitely have been better 1o-man matches in ROH and other promotions. However, there were a lot of fun spots and the crowd was into the match.
For me, the guys who gained the most from the match were Jeff Cobb, Mark Haskins, and Bandido. Cobb looked like a star in this match. He not only showed off his strength, but matched athleticism with some of the smaller guys in this match. Haskins came across as a relentless bulldog. Submitting a former champion in Castle with a very nice counter into his finish was big time. Then there’s Bandido. If you’ve not seen much of Bandido, CHECK HIM OUT. Not only is he an incredible athlete, the man is strong. He caught Beer City Bruiser off the top rope at Bound by Honor. In this match, he did a dead lift power bomb on Castle. He’s also got that it factor that can’t be taught. He’s going to be the next big thing in ROH.
Overall, I’m giving this show a 2.5 out of 5. The women’s match was not good. The main event was solid, but could have been better given the amount of time they were slotted. Next week, Jeff Cobb is defending the Television Title vs. Silas Young. Given the recent storyline of Young and his buddies not being honorable, I’m expecting some shenanigans either during or after the match.
What did you think of the show? Put your ratings in the comments below.
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