ROH Episode 214 Rewind: The Kingdom vs. reDRagon & Michael Elgin

The 214th episode of Ring of Honor aired on October 24th on the Sinclair Broadcast group and October 28th on Destination America. This was the 3rd of 4 episodes taped inside of San Antonio’s Shrine Auditorium on September 19th.

Donovan Dijak w/ Truth Martini vs. Moose w/ Stokely Hathaway

Since making his ROH debut at Best in the World ’14, Moose has climbed the ranks with a quickness. The former NFL offensive lineman has continued to show an upside after being betrayed by Veda Scott this past Summer. If you don’t believe us, here’s what thee Jim Ross had to say about Moose in his latest post on JR’S Barbq:

Impressed with Moose on Ring of Honor Wrestling Wednesday night as well. He’s a big, athletic dude who has uncanny agility and balance for a 300 pounder. I’m actually somewhat shocked that WWE hasn’t made a serious overture to Moose and perhaps they have and I’ve not heard. I don’t know Moose personally but he’s certainly a prospect that would have interested me back in the day. ROH also saw a nice ratings increase Wednesday night.

As far as Dijak goes, the House of Truth big man is doing just fine as he continues to make a name for himself under the tutelage of Truth Martini. Dijak, who is following in the footsteps of The Kingdom’s Michael Bennett, Matt Taven and War Machine’s Hanson by winning the 2015 ROH top prospect tournament, came up short on this particular night against Moose.

After a hard-fought back and forth contest featuring plenty of jaw dropping spots, Dijak decided to go for his “Feast Your Eyes” finisher in the center of the ring.

Unfortunately for Dijak, Moose had been scouting his opponent; he was able to counter with relative ease by catching Dijak’s knee before he attempted to drive it into his face. Moose then ducked a lazy clothesline by the shocked Dijak and came back with a springboard enzuigiri of sorts off the top rope. He’d then follow with a spear to finish his opponent off and send the San Antonio crowd into a frenzy. Make no mistake about it, the fans love Moose. The sky is the limit for this young man and right now ROH is the right spot for him as he continues to hone his craft. 

Dalton Castle vs. Cedric Alexander w/ Veda Scott

Cedric Alexander comes out looking like a beaten man following his defeat by the hands of the aforementioned Moose in a NO DQ contest at ROH: All Star Extravaganza VII, an event that was aired the night before this particular episode was taped. His opponent, Dalton Castle, came into this contest having lost his “Boys” against Silas Young at the very same event. “I’m still here, and there’s a lot of hearts to break out there,” Castle said before entering the ring to take on Alexander.

As ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness stated on this broadcast, no one wants to know what Silas has been up to with Dalton’s boys. Whether you’re a religious man/woman or not, I feel like we can all agree on one thing  – “The Boys” need to be free’d – they need to be brought back home to Dalton and we can all do our part by including them in our prayers.

As far as the actual match went, Castle looked like a man possessed. He would eventually finish Alexander with his Bang-A-Rang before Veda Scott took to the microphone to threaten ROH with a lawsuit. The Drexel University School of Law grad would call ROH “an unsafe working environment,” due to Alexander being put into a NO DQ match at ASE VII.

Jay Lethal comes out with Truth Martini to cut a promo

Martini brought the ROH World Champion and World Television Champion Jay Lethal out on this night to honor him. The San Antonio crowd would counter by chanting “A.J. Styles” who just so happens to be the #1 contender to Lethal’s world title, before Mr. ROH himself, Roderick Strong, would come out to quickly interrupt Martini.

Strong had come up short to Lethal for the ROH World Heavyweight Title on two occasions earlier on in the year. Strong went on to explain that Lethal would not being holding either belt had it not been for Truth Martini.

With Styles being the #1 contender for Lethal’s world title, ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness, who was brought into the ring by Lethal to argue that Strong had no place in calling him out, went ahead and gave Strong a shot at the ROH World Television title much to the disdain of Lethal. This match would take place at a television taping on Kalamazoo, MI on October 23rd which will be aired at a later date.

The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Michael Bennett and Adam Cole w/ Maria Kanellis) vs. reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) w/ Michael Elgin

Current ROH tag team champions Matt Taven (who has always looked like a beefed up version of the ultra popular saxophonist Kenny G to me) and Michael Bennett (accompanied by the 1st Lady of ROH – Maria Kanellis) are arguably the best duo in the world right now. Add their stablemate Adam Cole into the mix and you’re looking at a trio with a certain chemistry that is simply top of the line.

Cole’s disdain with O’Reilly seemed to be the focus of this contest. I won’t get into the particulars (excuse me if 6-man tag matches just don’t do it for me) but I will tell you that the match – which was won by reDRagon and Elgin via pinfall following the former 3-time ROH tag champs hitting their “Chasing the Dragon” finisher on Bennett – was one of the better 6-man tags I’ve seen in a while. After it was all said and done, Nigel added Kyle O’Reilly into next week’s match between Styles and Cole making it a triple threat main event. Here’s a sneak peek of next week’s episode.