Preview:ROH Manhattan Mayhem
3/3/18
Hammerstein Ballroom
NYC, New York
This Saturday, Ring of Honor presents Manhattan Mayhem at 7 pm and is a special Experience show, chock full of fan choices that will determine match types, participants, and special guest commentary. The show is headlined by a War Games Style Ultimate Mayhem Match sans the cage, pitting SoCal Uncensored and Shane Taylor against Bullet Club, minus Cody.
Tenille Dashwood & Deonna Purrazzo vs. Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose
As the Women of Honor tournament is currently taking place, this Women of Honor tag match comes off as different than others that have taken place on ROH shows. Both sides of this match are all still active participants in the tournament and could very well end up facing each other down the road. As that has been teased by the company, it’s very likely that one or even both sides seem to have some issues working well together as they could have the idea in the back on their minds that there is more benefit to losing that match if means getting ahead in the tournament down the road. Having the match included as part of the live stream is a positive for the division and the company’s commitment to the division as a whole.
Kenny King & (Fan’s Choice of Motor City Machine Guns, The Briscoes, Coast to Coast or Best Friends) vs. Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas
With Kenny King recently winning the ROH World Television title back, this is a nice safe match, allowing him to be protected, no matter who his opponents end up being. Coast to Coast would be the most logical, as they teamed with King before against the same opponents, but as it is left up to fan vote, the Briscoes could easily end being the team picked here, which could be an odd fit. The smart money would be to have the Briscoes and the Motor City Machine Guns in the four corner survival match pitting the teams not voted in against each other, as a little bit of extra build towards the 16th Anniversary Show tag title match. Trent Barreta is injured and off NJPW shows, so it’s doubtful that the Best Friends will appear and that should impact the participants as well. The Young/King program may not be done and as such, look for Young, Bruiser and Milonas to triumph on the strength of them teaming together beforehand.
Punishment Martinez vs. Soberano Jr.
This is a really interesting match for a number of reasons. First, the size difference here will be a factor, as Soberano Jr, a CMLL star, does not often find himself squaring up against opponents of Martinez’s size. Martinez has proven that he can work with smaller wrestlers like Jonathan Gresham and most recently, Flip Gordon, so the matchup should be a strong one and could easily be a show stealer. Martinez is unnaturally agile for a man his size and this contest should include a number of exciting dives to the outside from both men. This being Soberano Jr.’s debut will impact the result, but Soberano will have a good showing and excite the crowd in this one. Expect for Martinez to win an action-packed contest that will leave Ring of Honor fans wanting more of the CMLL star, much like they have when seeing Dragon Lee in the company as well.
Flip Gordon vs. Cody: Fan’s Pick Stipulation Match (2/3 Falls Match, Lumberjack Match or Gordon Goes All In)
This match has been months in the making for Being the Elite fans, as Flip Gordon has essentially been the little brother that the cool kids won’t let join their group. After being “welcomed” to ROH by the Young Bucks harmless ribbing, he seemed to get in everyone’s good graces, except for Cody. Although Gordon has been in episodes of Being the Elite consistently, Cody has continued to rebuff him and he now has an opportunity to exact a bit of revenge against Cody. Gordon has been working extremely well from underneath and is an easy underdog to root for, especially against the overbearing Cody. The three possible stipulations are a 2/3 falls match, a lumberjack match or if Gordon wins he gets booked on the All In show. If the votes are real, the obvious winner would be that Gordon makes his way onto the All-In card.ok for a solid match on all fronts, with Cody stealing the match from Gordon by some means of chicanery. This would allow Gordon to continue to look strong, while Cody heads into his match with Taven coming off a victory. There is still plenty of time for Gordon to get onto the show somehow and he does not need the win here just yet.
Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys) & Volador Jr. vs. Jay Lethal & Ultimo Guerrero
Some might be displeased to see this matchup, as it seems to come out of nowhere, but with Lethal and Castle set to clash a week after the show, giving Castle something aside from a lame duck predictable title match is the way to go. Volador Jr. Impressed at Supercard of Honor last year and is a legitimately great luchador, while Ultimo Guerrero has managed to find himself into the hearts of ROH fans, consistently engaging the crowd in a way no other CMLL star has before. Volador and Guerrero recently teamed together in tag tournament in CMLL that saw technicos and rudos (Spanish for faces and heels) pair up. The two made it all the way to the finals of the tournament this past Friday, but not without some issues between the two. During a match the Monday before, Volador Jr. Was tripped up in a match against Guerrero, breaking his nose as he was caught up in the ropes. Although the two CMLL stars could have conceivably tagged again, pairing them with the ROH talent here creates a bit of intrigue as both sides pit rivals against each other.
Ultimate Mayhem Match: SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) & Shane Taylor vs Bullet Club (Adam Page, The Young Bucks & Marty Scurll)
The fans get to choose one last time in what may actually have an important impact on the main event, as they get to vote on who the special guest commentator will be. The choices are Cody, Bully Ray, The Dawgs, Caprice Coleman, Mandy Leon and BJ Whitmer. As seen recently on ROH television, Cody reacted slowly when the Young Bucks were being attacked by the full squad of SoCal Uncensored Cody would seem to be an easy winner here, perhaps stirring the pot a bit here and causing some more cracks, or fissures as it were, in the foundation of the Bullet Club. The Hammerstein crowd is very much a Bullet Club crowd and although this is a live stream VOD event, it is not the PPV and as such, expect the match to be a crowd pleaser, sending everyone home happy with a Bullet Club victory. Both Page and Scurll should look very strong coming out of this, as both seem in line for pushes-Page in NJPW and Scurll in ROH. This will certainly be a fun brawl and the gimmick here makes this unique and not a simple 8-Man tag, which ROH has done ad-nauseam before.
One thing that ROH has been touting is that past Manhattan Mayhem events have been full of surprises, so expect something of that nature during the show.
The event can be view at ROH’s website, for HonorClub members.
