ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage Review - August 24, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises def. Lifeblood

Brody King and PCO represented Villain Enterprises here while Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams represented Lifeblood. At one point in the match, PCO did a suicide dive to the outside of the ring even though there wasn't anyone there. I understood what they were going for with that, but it was a dumb spot for 51-year-old to do. Other than that, this was an excellent opener and another awesome installment in this ongoing rivalry between Villain Enterprises and Lifeblood. I could watch them work together forever.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes Confronted The Rock 'N' Roll Express

I honestly don't have much of a desire to see The Rock 'N' Roll Express challenge for the ROH World Tag Team Championship in 2019, but they were a nice attraction for Ring of Honor's Nashville show. Plus, they have history with The Briscoes from the Crockett Cup earlier this year, so it makes sense. This was a solid segment that effectively set up their championship clash for the next night.

Angelina Love def. Sumie Sakai

Kelly Klein sat in on commentary here (and did a decent job), so it's clear they're building to Love vs. Klein for the WOH World Championship sometime soon. Unfortunately, despite how talented and how seasoned Sakai is, this wasn't very good. It featured the usual interference from The Allure, which has been dragging down the quality of these Women of Honor matches in a big way. I guess they're drawing heat, but they have been a poor trade-off for the departing likes of Tenille Dashwood, Deonna Purrazzo, Madison Rayne and Karen Q so far.

Silas Young, Felino and Okumura def. Shinobi Shadow Squad

Felino and Okumura are stars from CMLL and I had no idea who they were before this bout. That said, it was smart of ROH to have them team with an established star such as Young to give them additional exposure and I thought they performed well. Shinobi Shadow Squad are basically an enhancement trio, but at least they always put forth an incredible effort whenever they wrestle. This was a well-wrestled match, and as seen afterward, Young and Josh "The Goods" Woods have officially aligned after feuding not too long ago.

Chase Owens def. LSG and PJ Black in a ROH World Television Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Match

Owens has never done much for me personally, but he worked well with LSG and Black here. The three of them produced an enjoyable three-way (despite how random it looked on paper) and a shot at the ROH World Television Championship hanging in the balance helped make every nearfall feel more suspenseful. Owens will now challenge Shane Taylor for the title at Honor for All in Nashville.

Joe Hendry Interrupted Dalton Castle

I'm sorry, but I never saw the appeal of Hendry during his time in IMPACT. He's still doing the same gimmick where he sings a song and ridicules his opponent, but I personally don't find it too exciting. He has a good look and all, but whatever he's doing now is not befitting of a world champion. He'll get off to a fine start by beating Castle, but it definitely doesn't do Castle any favors.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Marty Scurll def. Bandido

Although he's one-third of the current World Six-Man Tag Team Champions, sometimes it's easy to forget Scurll is still with ROH, simply because he hasn't been as a top player in the promotion since failing to become ROH World Champion back at G1 Supercard in April. It's obvious he has one foot out the door, but he never ceases to capture the attention of the audience and go all out in his matches. This was a hell of a match as the crowd was electric for all the action, the storytelling was terrific, and both men killed it. I loved that they were given almost 20 minutes, too. Like I said earlier, I'd have no problem with the Villain Enterprises vs. Lifeblood feud lasting a little longer.

Rush, Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal and Kenny King def. ROH World Champion Matt Taven, ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes in a Champions vs. All-Stars Tag Team Elimination Match

This match was stacked with star power, and not just because of all the champions involved. A lot of these guys have history with each other and I appreciated that Lethal and King teased tension before the bell even rang because of their rivalry from earlier in the summer. I'm glad no one was taken out into well into the matchup and everyone had a chance to shine at one point or another. They were definitely dull periods, but they held the crowd's interest for the most part. The biggest takeaways coming out of this contest were Taylor pinning Lethal, Taven getting himself intentionally eliminated by blasting Rush with a chair, and Rush and Cobb standing tall as the sole survivors. Rush is on a roll right now, but Cobb really needed this after losing a lot of steam following his loss to Matt Taven at Best in the World.

Overall Show

I'm not sure if any of these matches will replayed on upcoming episodes of ROH TV, but this looked like a great card going in, so I figured I'd check it out. The main event, the opener and Scurll vs. Bandido were the best bouts of the night, but really the entire show from start to finish featured top-notch wrestling as well as build for Honor for All on Sunday night. ROH continues to suffer from a lack of buzz, but enjoyable events such as this one will only help their cause.