4/10 ROH TV REPORT: PCO reflects on his career in the lead-up to challenging Rush for the ROH Title in the main event

ROH TV REPORT (ep.447)
APRIL 10, 2020
AIRED ON SINCLAIR SYNDICATED TV & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY RYAN SULLIVAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Host: No Host This Week

-The opening theme aired.

-This week’s episode begins with a video package, featuring PCO, sitting in a chair, in front of a camera. PCO reflects on the early part of his career, and specifically says he made many mistakes and wrong decisions. However, he always felt he would, one day, reach the top of pro wrestling.

-Next, he discusses his tag-team match with Brody King against The Briscoes at the 17th Anniversary show. He and Brody were victorious, which provided PCO momentum and the opportunity for a future world championship match.

-PCO then pivots the one-sided conversation to his match against Marty Scurll at Glory By Honor, with the winner receiving a World Championship match at Final Battle. (c)

(1) MARTY SCURLL vs. PCO – GLORY BY HONOR

The show returns with Scurll and PCO in the ring, and Marty has a microphone in his hand. He cuts a promo, saying he wants a clean match and may the best man win. The Code of Honor is adhered to, and while Todd Sinclair foolishly turns his back, Scurll uses his umbrella to wallop PCO over the head to start the match.

Scurll is on fire in the early going, with PCO trying to no-sell much of Marty’s offense. The match moves outside, where Marty’s onslaught continues. Scurll throws PCO back in the ring, but PCO soon turned the tide, hitting a pop-up power bomb and a top-rope cannonball for a near fall. (c)

Back live, Scurll quickly hits his infamous “finger snap” on both of PCO’s hands. Soon, Scurll teases his “chicken wing” finisher, but PCO counters by driving Marty into the corner; the referee was unable to get out of the way, and was temporarily knocked out. This allowed Brody King to come to ringside and deliver a sidewalk slam. Marty then went for a pin, but PCO kicked out at 2.

About two minutes later, PCO went to the top-rope, but after each man countered the other, Scurll again bumped into the referee, rendering him face down on the mat. Flip Gordon ran to the ring, and hit a nasty springboard kick to PCO. Scurll grabbed their six-man title belt, and hit PCO in the head with it. Scurll went for the pin, but PCO kicked out at 2, as they went to commercial. (c)

The finish occurs when Scurll delivers a lariat, but PCO no-sells the move. PCO then delivered a devastating lariat of his own, and hit the PCO-sault for the 1-2-3.

WINNER: PCO at 11:49

(Ryan’s Reaction: The match went less than twelve minutes, and had an umbrella shot to the head, along with two ref bumps. On paper, the script makes sense as a way to make PCO look like a monster (pun intended), but in reality, it was borderline comical. This was not a match deserving of being re-aired on ROH TV.)

-After the match Scurll gets the microphone. He says he has been there for three years, without receiving a world title match, and PCO took that from him. And to that, Scurll said “Congrats”! Scurll says he has never been world champ, like PCO, and this may be PCO’s last chance. Scurll said, “No one deserves it more than you.” Scurll raises PCO’s arm in victory, and PCO’s music hits taking us into commercial. (c)

-The show returns with PCO back in a chair, talking about the biggest night of his life, when he faced Rush for the ROH World Title at Final Battle. He hyped up Rush’s unorthodox style, but said Rush’s skills make him the perfect opponent for PCO.

(2) RUSH (Champion) vs. PCO (Challenger) – Ring of Honor World Title match

The ring introductions and entrances have been skipped, and the show jumps to Todd Sinclair, mid-ring, holding the championship belt over his head. The match starts extremely slowly, and the crowd was evenly split cheering for Rush and PCO. The two men meet in the middle and begin exchanging heavy blows. They quickly move outside the ring, and Rush gains the advantage, hitting PCO with a chair twice, and throwing him into the guardrails. Rush takes PCO back into the ring, and begins showboating into commercial. (c)

The match resumes with Rush outside the ring, looking for a ladder, which he finds and throws into the ring. Rush puts the ladder in the corner, and then whips PCO into that corner, inflicting plenty of pain to PCO’s back. The two men again go outside the ring, where Rush soon suplexes PCO through a table. Rush then starts leading PCO up the entrance ramp toward the stage, where PCO’s hearse is conveniently parked. While PCO recovers, Rush begins moving barricades and folding chairs, creating a huge pile of metal. Rush and PCO go on the entrance ramp, and as expected, Rush throws PCO off the ramp, and into the collection of metal. (c)

Back “live”, PCO’s music hits and his “creator” Destro arrived. Rush is celebrating in the ring, allowing Destro to walk to the hearse and pop the hood of the car. Destro applies jumper cables to both the car battery, and PCO, and, incredibly, jumpstarts PCO back into action. Rush goes back toward PCO, but PCO goes on offense, choke-slamming Rush onto the hood of the car. Rush soon counters, and delivers an overhead suplex on PCO down and off the hearse. (I realize how ridiculous this last paragraph reads.)

PCO finds a crowbar and starts swinging it wildly, but fails to connect with Rush. Rush, however, finds and hits PCO with a metal equipment case. This gives Rush the chance to take PCO back to the ring, and while PCO recovered mid-ring, Rush found three doors under the ring, and brought them inside the ropes. Rush then hits an overhead suplex on PCO, sending him through a door set up in a corner. PCO somewhat no-sells this, and while Rush goes in the opposite corner, PCO spears Rush through another door. (The match has reached absurdity.)

PCO goes to the top-rope and hits his PCO-sault on Rush for a long two-count. Rush then hits PCO with a chair to the head. Rush became distracted with Destro, and chased him outside the ring. Rush gets back inside the ropes and PCO hits a choke-slam on Rush. PCO places Rush on a table, and delivers his PCO-sault on Rush, through the table, for the 1-2-3.

WINNER: PCO at 20:04

(Ryan’s Reaction: I remember not caring for this match when I watched it live in Baltimore, and it was worse watching it back on television. It went far too long, and it was incredibly hokey throughout most of the 20 minutes. This would have been better served with several edits and about 12 minutes of television time.)

-The live crowd was, at first, stunned with PCO’s victory, and then soon absorbed what happened, and showered the ring with streamers to celebrate the title change.

-The show again pivots to PCO in a chair, talking about how he hurt his arm during this match, yet the encouragement of Destro, allowed him to overcome the pain and bend a crowbar with his hands.

-The show returns to the ring at Final Battle, and PCO has a microphone. PCO thanks the fans, and his friends in Villain Enterprises, Marty Scurll, Brody King, and Flip Gordon. He thanked the fans for the chants and support during the match, and said this was only the beginning of the PCO era as Ring of Honor champion.

-The show faded to black.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This has been the third week of these in-depth talent features, and each week they have gotten progressively less interesting. PCO has a fascinating story, but likely due to much of it involving the WWE, it was essentially ignored. PCO was out of character, which would normally be a plus, but PCO non-gimmick is only interesting if he’s reflecting on his early career mistakes. PCO, out-of-character, reflecting on two relatively mediocre matches, added little depth to his character, and felt like a bland retrospective on his stint in Ring of Honor. This is a very skippable episode of television.

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CATCH UP: 4/3 ROH TV REPORT: Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal in battle of champions, Jay Lethal vs. A.J. Styles, wrestlers comment on past matches