ROH Classics: Brody King vs Jeff Cobb in hoss fight deluxe, most shocking upsets, more!

ROH is here to fill their wrestling void while on hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic. Brody King and Jeff Cobb clashed in a high-impact hoss fight, The Honor List featured the ROH’s most shocking upsets, and Vincent ambushed Matt Taven in his own home.

Brody King is a hoss

Brody King was profiled on ROH Wrestling, episode #455 (here). It featured a World Six-Man Tag Team Championship contest against MexiSquad, a hoss fight deluxe against Jeff Cobb, and finding success in a tag team with PCO against Juice Robinson and David Finley.

The first match on the docket was Villain Enterprises losing the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship to MexiSquad. Brody King, Marty Scurll, and Flip Gordon entered as champs. Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus were the challengers. The bout took place on January 11, 2020 at Saturday Night at Center Stage in Atlanta, GA.

This match wasn’t really a showcase for King. This is material for fans more interested in watching innovative lucha libre from the MexiSquad. Their top moves were a triple teamwork wheelbarrow moonsault with a leg drop on the side and a teamwork springboard moonsault backbreaker. King’s heavy hits were a running senton in a backbreaker combo and a suicide dive. In the end, Scurll wasted too much time pumping the crowd for his chickenwing submission. Bandido rolled Scurll up to win the contest and the six-man belts.

The match du jour was a hoss fight deluxe pitting King against Jeff Cobb on September 27, 2019 at Death Before Dishonor in Las Vegas, NV. It was King’s first singles bout with ROH. The earlier six-man is the most exciting of the bunch, but this hoss fight is my pick to watch. The testosterone was oozing.

The two beasts opened the match by crashing into each other like rams. They collided about 20 times. The result was a stalemate. Later, they had a heavy strike exchange in the center of the ring. That was also a stalemate. Top moves were an overhead release suplex by Cobb, a stalling superplex by Cobb, a suicide dive by King, and a piledriver by King. The close had a snap German suplex exchange in the order of Cobb, King, Cobb. King charged for a clothesline, Cobb ducked, and King came bouncing back off the ropes right into Cobb’s Tour of the Islands finisher. Cobb pinned King for the 1, 2, 3. That match made me sweaty.

The main event for this episode was King teaming with PCO against Juice Robinson and David Finley on January 26, 2019 at Road to G1 Supercard in San Antonio, TX. It was a solid tag bout but another one I wouldn’t consider a showcase for King. However, he did take charge for the win. King knocked Finley down off the turnbuckles. That led to a gutwrench piledriver for victory.

The show closed with highlights of King and PCO winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship against the Briscoes.

That wasn’t all the action ROH offered this week. Free matches posted on ROH’s YouTube channel include:

• No DQ: Kevin Steen vs Silas Young - ROH Summer Heat Tour 2014 (here)
• Beer City Bruiser provided commentary for his first ROH match (here)
• Hanson vs Rowe in the 2014 Top Prospect Tournament Final (here)

Most Shocking Upsets

The Honor List counted down the top 10 most shocking upsets in ROH history.

10. PCO defeats Marty Scurll
9. Super Smash Brothers defeat Kevin Steen & El Generico
8. Mark Haskins defeats Silas Young
7. Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger defeat Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian
6. Eli Isom pinned Christopher Daniels in six-man action
5. Eli Isom defeats Shane Taylor
4. Matt Taven defeats Adam Cole to win ROH World Television Championship
3. Naruki Doi & Shingo defeat the Briscoes to win ROH World Tag Team Championship
2. Dalton Castle & The Boys defeat the Briscoes & Bully Ray to win ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
1. Austin Aries defeats Samoa Joe to win ROH World Championship

We’ll close with a current ROH storyline. Vincent violated social distancing to ambush Matt Taven in his own home. Taven was in the middle of a Q&A when Vincent attacked. How rude!

If you are looking for ROH on DVD, check their buy 1, get 1 free sale for compilation discs.