The ROH/NJPW crossover action continues for the third week on ROH TV as we see action from their August Field of Honor event from MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York.
1) Timesplitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) vs. The Briscoes
It's Alex Shelley's first match back after months off from an injury and what a task he & KUSHIDA have in the form of their opponents, The Briscoes. I've never been a huge fan of the baseball stadium set ups, but I actually dig the way they have things looking tonight. All four guys shake hands and this dream match gets underway. KUSHIDA fights back from an early isolation period to clean house minutes in before giving Shelley the tag. The Splitters go nuts with what they do best, fast paced double team offense. They do quite the job of keeping Mark Briscoe isolated from this point forward. Mark is able to retaliate and tag in Jay for a semi-hot tag. The Briscoes start going to town and kick Shelley in the face and I'M CRINGING AS HE GETS HIS FRONT TEETH KICKED OUT. That's so hard to watch. Shelley really has had the worst luck in the past few years and I hate it for him. He keeps fighting though and is able to make the tag to KUSHIDA who once again starts cleaning house on DEM BOYS. Shelley joins in with a Jumping Knee off the ring apron on Jay as KUSHIDA gets a nearfall in the ring. KUSHIDA manages to get Mark in the hoverboard lock only for Jay to break it up. Shelley comes in to even the odds and the Time Splitters take over. A Moonsault/frog splash combo gets them a nearfall. Shelley is still hitting on all cylinders despite his nasty injury. Shelley has Mark up for the sliced bread on the top rope, but The Briscoes get out of that predicament. ASSISTED NECKBREAKER TO SHELLEY! 1..2..HE KICKS OUT! The action really gets too fast to call at this point. Jay attempts a Jay Driller on Shelley. He's not able to hit it and all four men end up in the ring for an array of throws and kicks. Ironically enough, Jay & Shelley are left to square off at the end of it and Jay finally hits the Jay Driller to pick up the win after a hot match.
Match rating - ***3/4
NEXT WEEK: Jay Lethal defends the ROH Television Championship against Takaaki Watanabe. He earned this shot on this same Field of Honor event so we see the final moments of that match between he & Cedric Alexander. It's a fun few minutes of action that sees an angry Moose distract Cedric long enough for Watanabe to take Cedric to suplex city before finishing him off with an STO to become the #1 Contender. I said it a few weeks ago, but Watanabe has really improved a lot in the past year and I can't wait to see him face off with Lethal.
2) Roderick Strong vs. Kazuchika Okada
Wow. Just wow. That's all I can muster to say at this point. The IWGP Heavyweight Champion and a man who's a top shoe in for Wrestle of The Year absolutely tore the house down or should I say they knocked it out of the park? Get it? Cause they're in a ball park? Yeah, that was bad, anyway. I should have known this would be amazing, but I honestly wasn't prepared for the barnburner that would ensue. Roddy was intense as usual right from the start as he took the fight to the champion. Dropping him on the ringside railing and just working him over in a successful effort to maintain control. In the third quarter of a year that Roddy has been taking full advantage of every big opportunity he's given, he continues to do so here. It's still crazy how much of a step up Roddy has taken things and this match is the perfect example. Okada begins making his comeback and this match goes from great to epic. The final 8-9 minutes I'd say are completely out of this world. They build slow with some very neat counters then go into the big guns for one of the best finishing sequences I've seen in months. Roddy REFUSED to take that Rainmaker lariat and reversed on multiple occassions with one of his always brutal jumping knees to the face. Just as Roddy refused that Rainmaker, Okada refused to stop going for it as Roddy went for probably his fourth jumping knee to counter and OKADA CATCHES HIM! OH MY GOD THE POWER! SLIPS HIM INTO POSITION! TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER! That was insane. This turned into a real fight near the end as you can tell. It took two piledrivers and Okada FINALLY hitting the rainmaker lariat to put Roddy away. This is a must see and one of my favorite ROH matches of the year without a doubt.
Match rating - ****1/2
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