Ring of Honor TV Episode #398 in Pittsburgh aired on 5/3 and was the lead-in for the ROH War of the Worlds tour. It saw last week’s challenge answered, as Lifeblood and The Kingdom took each other on in tag team competition. The Allure’s disrespect for Kelly Klein continued. This is the Reflection of Honor ROH TV review.
And we got to hear from Dalton Castle for the first time since his humiliating loss to Rush at the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard. The main question on everyone’s mind was whether Castle would redeem himself for taking out his frustrations on the Boys following that matchup.
Eli Isom vs PJ Black
The show immediately started with Shinobi Shadow Squad’s Eli Isom taking on on PJ Black. The match started with some fast-paced grappling, then switched to chain wrestling. Isom consolidated the advantage with a knee to the face as PJ came off the ropes.
But the offensive was cut short when PJ caught Isom’s feet in a Boston crab when he attempted a springboard dropkick in the middle of the ring. This followed with some more pin attempts by both competitors, but PJ ultimately caught Isom in the Billy Goats Curse.
PJ hit a springboard cross body, but Isom rolled all the way backward and nearly pinned PJ. This followed with a German suplex by Isom which evened the odds of the match, as both wrestlers were fatigued.
The two traded blows and chops for a while, but Isom changed the pace as he caught PJ in a fireman’s carry off the ropes. When PJ went to the outside for a breather, Isom connected with a suicide dive.
Isom went for a springboard inside the ring, but slipped and landed on his head. PJ quickly capitalized and went for a pin attempt. When that didn’t work, PJ launched Isom off the turnbuckle with a hurricanrana.
With Isom conveniently planted in the middle of the ring, PJ hit an impressive springboard 450 splash onto Isom. Isom barely kicked out. PJ quickly followed up with a moonsault double stomp off the top turnbuckle. Surely enough, that consolidated the pinfall giving PJ Black the win.
Winner: PJ Black
Raylyn vs Kelly Klein – Non-Title Match
Next up, Raylyn went up against Kelly Klein, the ROH Women of Honor Champion. However, this was a non-title match. Raylyn got on the microphone and said she had no respect for Kelly Klein and would not shake her hand.
The crowd chanted, “Kelly’s gonna kill you.” The match started with Kelly demonstrating her size and power advantage, dominating in grappling and giving Raylyn some hard shoves.
Raylyn grabbed Kelly by the hair and pummeled her onto her back. Then she went to work clobbering Kelly’s face with her fists.
Raylyn went to the top rope for a crossbody, but Kelly caught her and threw her backward into an overhead suplex. Kelly gave her a taste of her own medicine, throwing her backward by the hair a couple of times, then knocked her down with a hard boot to the midsection.
She picked her up on her shoulders and dropped her with her finishing maneuver, the K Power. Kelly pinned her and obtained an easy and quick win.
She then proceeded to get on the microphone and tell Raylyn that she would now respect her. Raylyn accepted a hand-shake and conceded defeat. Kelly continued to tell the crowd that she would continue to be the people’s women’s champions.
When reminded everyone of her win at Madison Square Garden, becoming the first woman to become a two-time champion. She expressed her frustration with The Allure coming out and ruining what should have been the greatest moment in her career.
Kelly accused The Allure of just being desperate for attention and hashtags, while she just cares about wrestling. “Women of Honor is about wrestling,” she concluded.
The Allure’s Velvet and Leon suddenly walked out on the entrance ramp. As Kelly became distracted, Angelina Love snuck in from the crowd and surprised her with a hard boot to the face that throttled her brain.
The three women from The Allure then climbed into the ring to surround Kelly, but Jenny Rose came running into the ring in her defense. The Allure grabbed Jenny and wrote the stable’s logo on her forehead with lipstick, and continued to humiliate her by taking photos of her with their smartphones.
The Allure boasted their presence to the crowd as Kelly and Jenny lay in the ring seeing stars, and the segment cut out to a commercial break.
Winner: Kelly Klein
Dalton Castle Owes the World Answers
Dalton Castle came out to speak and make his presence seen for the first time since is humiliating defeat at the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard. At the G1, Rush defeated Castle in mere seconds in one of Castle’s greatest career upsets.
The frustration reached such intensity that Castle decided to take his aggression out on his Boys, beating them mercilessly following the match.
Dalton Castle told the fans that he understands observers are looking for answers and that he owes them an explanation. Castle called out the Boys, saying he owes them an explanation more than anything.
He said that he wanted to make things right, as this appeared to be a request for a heart to heart talk. Castle said what happened at G1 was a mistake. “What the three of has was something special,” Castle proceeded to say.
Castle asked the Boys to move past this period and go forward. The Boys opened their arms to Castle, and the three of them embraced each other in a hug in the middle of the ring.
After embracing, Castle went on to explain to the audience that he is stronger than ever. “You will never see me put my hands on my boys again,” he exclaimed.
“Because these two right here are no boys of mine!” he concluded. Dalton’s face turned serious, as he turned around and clotheslined one of the Boys. He proceeded to beat the Boys down again, in a similar manner to what transpired at the G1 show.
As it appeared Dalton was leaving, he decided to go back in the ring and unleash more punishment on the Boys. He then unmasked them and took the masks away with him.
The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia) versus Lifeblood (Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins)
The main event began with The Kingdom’s TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia taking on Lifeblood’s Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins. The match immediately started off with all four competitors brawling.
TK and Vinny retreated to the outside. When order was restored, TK and Haskins went at it in a series of reversals. A series of quick tags between Tracy and Haskins were made, in an interesting strategy to conserve each other’s stamina and cardio.
But as Tracy entered, Vinny attempted to enter the ring and interrupt his offense, but Vinny was outsmarted. Tracy tripped him onto his knees and both Tracy and Haskins took turns kicking both competitors in the faces.
Tracy and Haskins then put them both in camel clutches while their opponent’s legs were locked around each other. After a commercial break, TK was able to stop Haskin and Tracy’s offensive with the help of interference by Vinny.
Vinny worked on Tracy, then delivered a saito suplex, and tagged TK in. TK locked Tracy’s arm in, refusing to let him tag Haskins. When Tracy attempted to break the hold, TK slammed him back with a double underhook suplex.
Vinny was tagged back in and began to provoke Tracy, before hitting him with some vicious running forearms. Vinny attempted to execute a belly to back suplex, but Tracy was able to flip back onto his feet and gain some surprise hits on Vinny.
Tracy caught Vinny in a leg drop off the top rope to the back of his head. Both men were on the mat struggling to get to their feet. Both competitors tagged their partners in.
TK came at Haskins with a clothesline, but it was blocked and Haskins shot back with a forearm and a knee to the midsection. Moments later, TK attempted to roll Haskins up but got caught in a cross face. But Vinny grabbed his partner’s foot and put it on the ropes to break the hold.
Frustrated, Haskins went to the ring apron and kicked Vinny in the face. Tracy tagged in and hit a frogsplash on TK, who was still recovering from the crossface.
Tracy went back to the top rope, but Vinny grabbed his foot, allowing TK to capitalize upon the delay. But again, Tracy used his quick thinking to pummel TK face first onto the top turnbuckle with his signature DDT.
Tracy put TK in an ankle lock, but it was broken up by Vinny. Vinny also knocked Haskins off the ring apron with a hard forearm.
The team of The Kingdom tried to take Tracy out with their double team finishing maneuver, but TK was too tired and could not lift him. Tracy went off the ropes, tagging in Haskins, who threw Vinny out of the ring.
Tracy took TK out with a jawbreaker, leaving him vulnerable to Haskins. As Vinny attempted to re-enter the ring, Tracy followed by kicking him back out. Haskins put TK in a sharpshooter and made him tap in the middle of the ring.
Tracy got on the microphone and said that match is what Ring of Honor is all about. He said he had unfinished business with Bully Ray, calling him a snake and cancer in ROH. Tracy called out Bully Ray to face him and Haskins and bring whoever he wants.
Instead, Bully Ray came out alone. Bully Ray taunted Tracy, reminding them of his recent attack on their member, Tenille Dashwood when he threw her through a table backstage. Bully Ray then told them to go to hell and departed without a fight.
Winners: Lifeblood
