ROH Honorable Mention: Ospreay and Scurll Trade ROH TV Title
Ring of Honor’s Reach For the Sky tour in England saw the ROH Television title trade possession between two of England’s native sons, Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll during a wild three show tour.
Both Ospreay and Scurll made their ROH debuts in Liverpool, with Ospreay challenging Bobby Fish for the Television title and exuberant Scurll facing off against the equally flamboyant Dalton Castle. Scurll was able to show the ROH faithful why his moniker is the “Villain”, as he was able to misdirect the referee’s gaze just long enough to use his signature umbrella to his advantage, striking Castle across the shoulder before driving the Party Peacock’s shoulder into the ring post. With Castle incapacitated, Scurll was easily able to ensnare him in a Chickenwing submission for the victory.
Not be outdone in front of his home crowd as well, Ospreay made quite a mark on his first official night as a Ring of Honor competitor. Originally schedule for a proving ground match against Bobby Fish, Nigel McGuinness revealed before the match that both Ospreay and Fish had agreed that they were up to the task of wrestling for the title. Ospreay had actual already had a shot of ROH this year, as he challenged Adam Cole for the title at NJPW’s Destruction event. Just as it seemed that Fish would retain by making Ospreay submit to a kneebar, the Aerial Assassin used his mat skills to bridge over Fish and trap him in a pin, winning the match. The live crowd absolutely erupted for the Ospreay victory.
The very next night, the British compatriots Ospreay and Scurll did something that they had rarely done in England, team together. The unlikely duo squared off against the ROH World Tag Team champions in the form of the Young Bucks and despite a gallant effort, suffered a victory, exposing their distaste for each other in the process as well as setting the stage for the third and final night of the tour. Originally scheduled to be a normal singles match, the match between Ospreay and Scurll then became a ROH World TV title match, with Ospreay defending the very title that he had only capture 48 hours earlier. As if the Ospreay victory had not garnered enough attention by it’s own merit, Scurll assured that all the eyes of the wrestling world would once again be across the pond, wresting the title away from the newly minted champion.
Scurll’s victory speaks to the changes with the Ring of Honor roster as well as the company making a very grandiose gesturing in announcing that the newly signed talent would not merely be appearing for ROH, but in fact would be prominently enmeshed in the future of the company. In Ospreay,age 23, and Scurll, age 28, Ring of Honor now has talent that can be major players for years to come. Signing the two was news enough, but having the two claim a ROH World Television title reign to their resumes this early in their run portends major roles within the company. Scurll, ever the irritant, has already began to publicly prod Ospreay’s short reign and certainly indicates that the two are far from ending the rivalry that has developed between the two.
https://twitter.com/MartyScurll/status/801728469021454336
Bobby Fish was originally scheduled to defend TV title against CMLL star Dragon Lee, who had earned the right to the title shot by recently defeating Fish during a proving ground match. Ospreay’s win and subsequent loss to Scurll has created a scenario in which Lee, Fish and Ospreay are all deserving to a title shot. Thusly, the three will get just that at Final Battle as ROH has officially announced that Scurll’s first defense with be a four corner survival match on December 2nd. No matter the result, ROH has made it abundantly clear that both Ospreay and Scurll are part of ROHs plans for 2017.
On Dec. 2nd at FINAL BATTLE it's a 4 Corner Survival for the TV Title w/ @MartyScurll vs @WillOspreay vs @theBobbyF… https://t.co/KcQ8XEb01n pic.twitter.com/Zy48ZicQJ8
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 26, 2016
