We’ve got some big updates coming out of Friday night’s ROH 19th Anniversary pay-per-view, including the identify of the cinematic match mystery man, a betrayal, and a faction potentially calling it quits.
Who Was The Mystery Man?
The Unsanctioned Match between long-time rivals Matt Taven and Vincent ended up being a cinematic match filmed at the building “where it all started” between them — 31 Franklin St. in Fall River, MA. There was a wrestling ring setup inside and they fought all over the building. At one point Taven did an elbow drop down a flight of stairs, which was awesome.
The final spot saw both men teetering on the outside of the second floor balcony, trading shots way up in the air. An unidentified large man then pushed them both off the balcony, plumittting something like 20 feet through a table on the floor. The man then returned to carry off an unconscious Vincent at the end.
For those who have asked, the mystery individual was Bill Carr, a former CZW Tag Team Champion and one half of Team Tremendous alongside his partner, Dan Barry.
Mexisquad Calling It Quits?
Ring of Honor might be splitting up the Mexisquad (Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus). The trio lost to Shane Taylor and the Soldiers of Savagery in an ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship match during the free hour one pre-show.
They were clearly frustrated but agreed to face each other in an impromptu triple threat match on the PPV main card in order to work out their issues. Bandido won the match with a Dragonrana and the 24 Plex, but Flamita shoved him twice and walked out on the group afterwards.
La Faccion Fails Dragon Lee
Dragon Lee lost both his titles without actually being at the show. Members of La Faccion Ingobernable were forced to fill in for him, resulting in Kenny King losing the ROH World Television Championship to Tracy Williams. King and Bestia del Ring also lost the ROH World Tag Team Championships to Williams and Rhett Titus of The Foundation.
The faction now controls three of the promotion’s top titles, with Jonathan Gresham as ROH Pure Champion. Jay Lethal had the opportunity to make it a clean sweep in the main event, but came up just short to ROH World Champion RUSH.
Speaking of LFI, there was another big change in the faction during Friday night’s PPV. Amy Rose is very clearly no longer with the group after being speared to hell and back by Bestia del Ring after the boys lost the world tag team titles. Kenny King set her up for the spot, and they made it clear Rose’s services as a manager are no longer required.
Silas Young Betrays Josh Woods
Josh Woods’ former mentor Silas Young returned to ROH TV a few weeks back, lecturing Woods about losing a match to Dalton Castle and coming up short in last year’s Pure Championship tournament. The grizzled veteran suggested that they begin teaming together again so that he can continue bestowing his knowledge on the 2017 Top Prospect winner.
Woods faced Dalton Castle in a rematch on Friday night and was seconds away from putting his opponent away when Silas instructed his protege to use a steel chair. When he refused, Silas hit Woods with the chair for disobeying him, allowing Castle to sneak out another victory.