ROH 391 – Reloaded Tour: Dearborn – 11th September 2015

The Reloaded Tour takes us through Dearborn and Chicago this weekend for two final stop-offs on the road to All Star Extravaganza. First and foremost it’s a big weekend for the Young Bucks, as they prepare for the pay-per-view with back to back main events against reDRagon (eventually – their scheduled match tonight is with The Kingdom) tonight then Future Shock tomorrow. Jay Lethal also has a big couple of days, with challengers lining up to face him looking to earn shots at both his belts. This evening he has a Defy Or Deny encounter with Dalton Castle, Cedric Alexander and Mark Briscoe. The Best Of 5 Series between Matt Sydal and ACH also kicks off this weekend as well, plus a match between Adam Cole and Roderick Strong is smuggled onto the undercard of this event too – but I’m hesitant to get too excited about it as they’ve had patchy chemistry as opponents previously. Kevin Kelly is on his own for commentary in Dearborn, MI.

Will Ferrara vs Bobby Fish
It doesn’t bode well for this DVD that the opening minute has consisted of breaking the news that Kevin Kelly is flying solo this evening and a loud, obnoxious fan heckling Ferrara for being tiny. He has a point, but there’s no need to be a douche and ruin the show for it. Fish and O’Reilly are pulling double duty tonight as they both have singles encounters early in the show and will only get wrapped into the main event after some shenanigans later when The Kingdom have 'travel difficulties'.

Fish is obviously the superior grappler but he is surprised by the resolve and resilience Ferrara shows to survive the early exchanges. It goes south for poor Will when he tries to tumble over Fish’s shoulders out of a another mat-wrestling exchanges and drops himself straight down on the top of his own head. It looks scary for a few moments before thankfully he gathers his senses and delivers a flying headscissors for 2. He actually comes up with a few intelligent little sequences to attack Bobby’s arm; some of his finest work in an ROH ring ever in fact. It doesn’t accomplish much though and soon Fish is on him and targeting his leg to set up the Fish Hook Deluxe. Slingshot senton TO THE LEG gets 2! Ferrara’s selling of the injury is patchy though I can see he is putting a bit of effort into it. Fish, on the other hand, is brilliantly modifying all his spots to work the leg instead – including his turnbuckle exploder spot which he adjusts to drive Will into the buckles knees-first. Dragon screw into the Fish Hook Deluxe…and Fish gets the win at 10:11

Rating - ** - One significant botch aside, this was actually an impressive performance from Ferrara. As I’ve said before, Bobby Fish singles matches are proving to be a real hidden treasure as 2015 ROH progresses – but Will certainly contributed to this one too. Quite surprisingly, he was so crisp and assured in a lot of his mat-based grappling that he didn’t look out of place at all working with one of the most accomplished men on the roster in that regard. Fish really is in outstanding form at the moment though. Even in a filler, B-show opener like this he was quite brilliant to watch as he tore into Ferrara’s leg. O’Reilly rightly gets lots of plaudits for his singles work – but that means Fish is really going under the radar at the moment and he is delivering the goods every time.

BJ Whitmer joins commentary to taunt Steve Corino (who is in England this weekend apparently) and antagonise Kevin Kelly too.

Samson Walker vs Moose
Assuming Whitmer and Kelly don’t totally ruin it with their bickering this could be quite the hoss battle. Samson is usually a pretty solid hand whenever he gets a house show booking…but ironically Moose is one of the guys blocking him from getting booked more regularly. ROH already has Moose, Hanson, Ray Rowe, Elgin and more to pick from if they want a big bad powerhouse worker. Since that’s Walker’s style he isn’t really worth considering for a longer-term spot right now. That means he has to do something drastic like beat Moose tonight if he is to force his name into the reckoning.

Walker looks to have gained a personality since we last saw him and is hugely verbal in the opening minute. Moose shows some impressive agility to somersault out of a hiptoss attempt then leap into a colossal dropkick which drives Samson to the outside. He boots him hard into the guardrails as well, but gets too confident and sprints into an apron bomb from Samson. Whitmer and Kelly might as well be in a different city and are barely bothering to mention the action as they ramble on about BJ’s feud with Steve Corino, his history with Allison Danger and the like. They are missing Walker doing a number on Moose’s back. Very few have been able to muscle Moose around like Samson has, but he doesn’t seem to be able to put him away. He blocks the Hitstick with a superkick, only to hop up the ropes and get dropkicked to the floor again! BIG MAN SOMERSAULT PESCADO BY MOOSE! Walker survives that and hits a curb stomp for 2. A desperate Moose blocks a powerbomb attempt…so Samson lariats the sh*t out of him! NO SOLD! Hitstick! Moose wins at 11:39

Rating - *** - This was a hit with the live crowd, and was quite the spectacle as these two big dudes went toe-to-toe and clubbed the crap out of each other. I didn’t love Moose’s no-selling of the back and things got a little sloppy at the end…but this was still much better than anyone expected it to be. Walker has gotten a few opportunities previously and this was the best he has looked in an ROH ring by far. He needs to decide if he wants to be an intimidating big man worker or something more comedic (he lurched between the two here and it was quite jarring) – however he demonstrated the kind of personality here that we’ve not seen from him previously.

Silas Young vs Kyle O’Reilly
There’s no heat between these two, but both have huge matches at All Star Extravaganza so badly need to build momentum here tonight. Silas Young will be forced to become one of The Boys if he can’t overcome Dalton Castle on pay-per-view, and O’Reilly is intent on leaving San Antonio as the new World Champion. Who leaves Dearborn with a morale-boosting victory?

A lot of Silas Young’s plans to turn Dalton’s Boys into ‘men’ sounds like the plots of low-budget pornographic films. It’s quite refreshing watching him tone down the angry ‘Last Real Man’ gimmick and get on the mat to wrestle with Kyle. He’s a real pro and doesn’t look out of place at all grappling with one of the top technicians on the independent scene. O’Reilly evidently wants to control Young from the mat and repeatedly goes back to side headlocks to stunt any momentum he looks to build. He clings to it even when Silas tries to escape to the floor, or break his grip with a back suplex. Rebound Lariat ducked as Young gets more desperate…and as he goes to the floor O’Reilly dives off the apron at him with a FLYING HEADLOCK! BJ Whitmer insightfully points out that Kyle is focused on playing to the crowd rather than wrestling now, and so it proves to be as Silas capitalises on his showmanship to dump him into the guardrails. He backs that up with the turnbuckle DDT and a neckbreaker – quickly rendering minutes of O’Reilly mat dominance irrelevant. Realising that his neck is becoming a target O’Reilly tries to throw strikes at the Last Real Man, but has evidently been weakened and finds it easily countered to an exploder suplex for 2. He keeps throwing kicks and knees; succeeding in dazing Young sufficiently to execute the rolling butterfly suplex trilogy. Jawbreaker Lariat COUNTERED TO THE KILLER COMBO! The Last Real Man goes in for the kill and chases Kyle up the turnbuckles…only to be countered into the AVALANCHE DIVORCE COURT! Fujiwara armbar…but Young escapes! Peegee Waja Plunge COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! Silas powerbombs free of that, so Kyle cranks on the arm with another Fujiwara instead. Kicks to the arm by O’Reilly, but Young escapes with a sunset flip bomb followed by a slingshot swinging neckbreaker for 2. O’Reilly slides out of Misery and starts teeing off on him with forearm strikes…and of course Silas throws them right back his way too! Axe & Smash blocked with an enzi…no sold into the JAWBREAKER LARIAT! BRAINBUSTER! ARM-AGEDDON! Young taps at 17:42

Rating - **** - Exactly the match both men needed going into feature matches at the forthcoming pay-per-view. O’Reilly gets a strong win and produces a superb, athletic performance to prove his World Championship credentials. On Silas’ part, he provides a timely reminder that when he isn’t totally bogged down in his gimmick he is a strong hand and capable of pushing Ring Of Honor’s top tier guys to their very limit. They divided this one into three clear chapters. The first saw Kyle trying to use his ground game to negate Young’s strengths, but failing to open up any real advantage and finally getting punished when he lost focus and played to the audience. Act II saw Silas aggressively target O’Reilly’s neck to set up Misery. The third period saw Kyle turn his attention to Silas’ arm, going all-out to injure it before Young could convert the neck damage he’d inflicted into his ‘Misery’ finishing move. Ultimately Kyle won because he avoided Misery for long enough to injure Young’s arm and trap him in the cross armbreaker. Great match…

Adam Cole vs Roderick Strong
There is plenty of history between these two men. They’ve feuded in the past, they’ve shared championship matches (including Cole ending Roddy’s TV Title reign) and now meet again with both at a career crossroads. Strong has failed to take the World Title from Jay Lethal so knows he needs big wins to get back into contention for another shot. Cole, meanwhile, has been reduced to a supporting act cheering for his friend O’Reilly against Lethal whilst bickering with his colleagues in The Kingdom. He has his own championship aspirations of course, and knows that a win over Strong (a man who recently took the champ to a 60-minute draw) vastly increases his stock.

The opening exchanges are cautious and completely even as the two former World Champions tentatively probe for weaknesses. Cole seems a little more interested in keeping the match grounded, presumably to evade backbreakers and chops – and it isn’t surprising that Strong is the first one pushing to increase the pace. His reward is to successfully execute some major strikes on the back – the Olympic Slam and the Argentine backbreaker. The big superplex is blocked though, as Cole slides away and superkicks his knees out from under him. With the Figure 4 in his arsenal Adam smells an opportunity and swarms all over Roddy’s left leg…and with his opponent dropped to one knee he is also able to knock him silly with a swift Shining Wizard. Death By Roderick blocked…Figure 4 Leglock blocked…into a leg selling dropkick by Strong! He dodges another kick at his leg, lands a (leg selling) Death By Roderick…but then slows up attempting the Sick Kick and gets cut-off with a flying knee from Cole. Muso gets 2…again with some delightfully subtle selling of the leg. Cole escapes a cradle backbreaker and superkicks him in the back of the head! Panama Sunrise blocked with the superplex…followed by the STRONGHOLD! Is the leg injury the reason Adam manages to crawl to the bottom rope there? Both men trade strikes on the apron, with Roderick shrugging off a superkick to execute the APRON BACKBREAKER! END OF HEARTACHE…COUNTERED TO THE FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! Mr ROH refuses to submit! DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK! END OF HEARTACHE! Strong wins at 18:21

Rating - **** - Is someone else booking this show? Did Delirious just allow back to back matches to go almost twenty minutes on the undercard? Ironically I’m still going to complain that these guys needed a little more time (the finish felt super-rushed) but I enjoyed it immensely nonetheless. These two haven’t always had the best chemistry as opponents, so tonight they kept it simple and worked a relatively uncomplicated bout extremely well. Each man worked a body part and effectively entered a race to see who would be able to hit a big finishing move first. Up until the last minute or so Roddy’s selling of the leg was so much fun, so it’s a shame he abandoned it to hit a few big spots at the end.

Nigel McGuinness texts Kevin Kelly to insist that BJ Whitmer is removed from colour commentary. When he wasn’t wasting time with the endless Steve Corino feud he was actually quite insightful, so it’s something of a shame he won’t be back for the second half. Stokely Hathaway replaces him and is nowhere near as good.

The popcorn match is scheduled to be Jacob Something (that’s the name he has given himself, I haven’t misread it) and Hakeem Zane (who has appeared as a jobber multiple times previously). They have a spirited little contest showcasing the size and power of Something and the speed and athleticism of Zane – including a couple of dives to the floor where they really let it ALL hang out. Something’s look and size make him look like more of a prospect, but Hakeem has paid his dues and probably paid more money to attend more training camps so leaves with the win. Adam Page, wielding BJ’s crutch, interrupts the victory celebrations to lay them both out. He calls out Jay Briscoe…then runs away when Jay comes out looking for a fight. In fact, Briscoe wants a fight so badly, he ends up doing the ring announcing for his originally scheduled opponent tonight instead!

Jay Briscoe vs Takaaki Watanabe
Watanabe has seen his stock rise quickly in recent weeks, following a super little match with ACH on television then a surprise victory in the TV Title #1 contendership Gauntlet at Field Of Honor. This will be the toughest test he has faced on his American excursion, and would be a major scalp heading into the San Antonio TV tapings and his title shot if he can pull off a win tonight.

Stokely is an appalling commentator. Like, so bad I can’t wait for him to shut up and let Kevin Kelly (of all people) talk instead. Briscoe spends a couple of minutes getting thrown about the ring by the muscular New Japan athlete, before working out he needs to up the stakes and try something high risk to get an advantage – nailing a big tope suicida as a result. He continues to struggle with Wata’s power though, being dropped with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. DVD by Jay…no sold! German suplex by Watanabe…and that’s no sold too! Adrenaline pumping, they trade elbows then simultaneously clobber each other with clotheslines to leave them both on the mat. My favourite bit of the match comes next as Taka basically ignores whatever the f*ck spot Jay wanted to hit and simply rolls through it and scoops him up for a fisherman buster. Evil STO blocked so they continue smashing the crap out of each other. Briscoe eventually hits the Jay Driller and pulls off the win at 09:27

Rating - ** - Stylistically this wasn’t necessarily to my taste, but it’s hard to be too harsh on a match when it’s very visible that both men are working hard and obviously beating the sh*t out of each other. Both Jay and Watanabe left with cuts, bumps and bruises as battle scars of what was an immensely physical, if not always coherent or pretty encounter. I feel like Watanabe should have been booked against an opponent Delirious felt comfortable jobbing out to him (rather than Jay who obviously needs to be protected and rebuilt after losing the belt) since we are supposed to buy him as a believable TV Title contender in a couple of weeks – but his efforts across recent ROH events have been a massive improvement on what we saw from him early on in his excursion. Certainly a lot more reminiscent of the sort of work he’d go on to do as EVIL after returning to New Japan.

Adam Page didn’t go too far away and pounces as soon as the bell rings to give Jay the Rite Of Passage. He has sent a clear message ahead of their forthcoming grudge match at the San Antonio TV tapings. Jay’s night isn’t over however, because as he recovers from that attack Romantic Touch enters the arena trying to give him rose petals. RT has been crashing Jay Briscoe’s promo’s for the website too – which some might consider interesting with the Briscoes facing a ‘mystery team’ at the PPV…

ACH vs Matt Sydal – Best Of 5 Series Match 1
Following his high profile loss to Adam Page at Death Before Dishonor 13, a frustrated ACH started to ponder whether he truly could ‘win the big one’ in a Ring Of Honor ring. He’s been a top quality competitor in this promotion for years but has always been the guy staring at the lights at the end of a 4* match rather than the one getting his hand raised. At ACH’s request, Nigel McGuinness has put together a Best Of 5 Series against his friend and mentor Matt Sydal in the hope that Sydal’s experience will rub off on him and he’ll learn how to smash through the glass ceiling.

There’s a great crowd for this one which is nice. They witness a cautious opening couple of minutes, which mostly feature the more experienced Sydal outwitting his protégé. They have fun countering each other’s unique headscissors attempts, then narrowly miss some big strikes drawing more applause from the audience. Aggression is shown by ACH as he refuses to give Matt a clean break…then starts going after the neck injury that Adam Page caused assaulting him on TV in New York. Sydal’s response is to B*TCH SLAP him and double stomp his chest in a manner which suggests he’s done playing nice and trying to be a ‘mentor’. ACH’s response…is to hit Sydal’s own sliding clothesline in the corner spot! That’s awesome! Matt is even more pissed off now; launching an attack on ACH’s leg to take away his vertical base. ACH throws strikes at the neck but can’t prevent several minutes of the former WWE superstar picking apart his leg. Even when he blocks the Sydal standing moonsault it winds up hurting himself as much as his opponent. He hits a double stomp for 2 – but falls to the ground where he usually lands on his feet! HERO’S GRIP…gets 2! SNAP CODE RED by Sydal! He misses a knee strike and falls out of the ring though, and in a flash ACH counters with the RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Just as quickly Sydal returns to the ring where he can pepper ACH with knee strikes then give him the BIZARRO DRIVER! PELE KICK from ACH to block the Sydal Press! Slice COUNTERED to a brainbuster! Matt runs up the ropes to prevent him hitting the Midnight Star…and just as quickly ACH locks arms with him to block Cyclorama. STANDING SUPER RANA…BUT ACH FLIPS THROUGH AND LANDS ON HIS FEET! RUNNING REVERSE RANA BY SYDAL! SYDAL PRESS NAILED! He gets a 1-0 lead in the series at 16:08

Rating - **** - These two just stole the show, which is quite a feat when you consider we’ve already seen a couple of really outstanding matches on this DVD. I will state again that I think ACH is having a remarkable 2015. It helps that he gets to work a lot of top talent (as Adam Page has pointed out in their feud) but the sheer volume of quality in-ring content he has churned out this year deserves some respect. I’ll admit his selling of the leg really wasn’t great here…but there was so much else he got so right with this performance. He and Sydal struck the perfect tone for the opening salvo in a five match series, keeping things respectful but full of purpose…then slowly cranking up the intensity as the match wore on. ACH did so many neat little things...like stealing Sydal’s moves, attacking his known injuries and even screaming ‘I need this more than you’ at him during the closing stages. In his own mellow way Sydal was similarly outstanding; using his body language and facial expressions to clearly mark the point where this stopped being a ‘training exercise’ for ACH and became ‘ok, you’re pissing me off and now I want to beat you up’. Match two takes place tomorrow night and I can’t wait to see where they take this series.

Jay Lethal vs Cedric Alexander vs Mark Briscoe vs Dalton Castle – Defy Or Deny Match
It’s important to note that this is Defy Or Deny rules for the Television Championship, not the World Title. The rules have been slightly tweaked since last time we saw Defy Or Deny – this time around the winner of the match will receive a TV Title shot…but if Lethal wins all three are automatically blocked from getting a shot again whilst he’s champion (not just anyone he himself pins). All three of these men have unsuccessfully challenged Jay during his lengthy tenure as TV Champion. Both Cedric and Dalton have grown considerably as competitors since they last challenged, so they may be considered the biggest threats.

Briscoe and Castle have some fun trading weird poses, but join forces to fight off both heels when they try to jump them from behind. Lethal and Cedric do succeed in dragging them out for a brawl on the floor finally, using the guardrails to kill any early momentum those two were enjoying. I like that when they return to the ring Dalton is able to use his straight-up WRESTLING skills to make mincemeat of Cedric. It takes Lethal coming to his aid to halt the Party Peacock…and yet again the Undisputed Champ takes him to the floor to establish dominance (with the tope trifecta). HEAT SEEKING MISSILE by Cedric! Jay looks for the Randy Savage axehandle smash…but is caught and countered for a belly to belly into the turnbuckles. Urinage from Briscoe to Cedric, then the Uncle Mule Kick leaving all four down! Alexander retaliates with a Concussion On Delivery flurry to both Lethal and Mark. EVEREST GERMAN by Castle eliminates him at 11:48 though! Briscoe blocks another Everest German soon after, scoring with the fisherman buster instead. Taeler Hendrix prevents him hitting the Froggy Bow (although I’ve got no idea why?) as Stokely and Kevin point out that the ring has actually been broken by this action – with a board noticeably sticking up from the mat. Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO A TAZ-MISSION by Briscoe! Even more strangely Hendrix and Martini make no effort to stop Mark hitting the Froggy Bow when it’s aimed at their own guy!? Luckily it misses, and Jay eliminates Mark with the Lethal Injection at 14:51. Dalton is the last hope for TV Title shot – and acts quickly to hit the tiger feint headscissors on the floor. Martini tries to pass the Book Of Truth to Lethal…but is intercepted by The Boys! BANG-A-RANG! FOR 2! Lethal kicks Castle in the balls behind the official’s back and wins the match with another Lethal Injection at 17:14

Rating - *** - Defy Or Deny doesn’t exactly have a rich heritage, and there aren’t really any ‘classic’ Defy Or Deny Matches in the ROH archives. This was no different, but one can’t deny that the concept of a champion getting the chance to actively block someone from challenging for his belt in future is quite a fun one. I didn’t understand why Cedric got so emphatically jobbed out (I guess his push is already coming to an end), and some of the interference from the House Of Truth was idiotic…but the wrestling exchanges we got between Castle and Lethal were very decent. I’d certainly be up for Dalton getting a World Title shot at Lethal somewhere down the line.

The Young Bucks head out for their scheduled main event against The Kingdom…but have to announce that Bennett, Taven and Maria aren’t in the building. They came to Dearborn for a Superkick Party…and just when all hope for one seemed lost reDRagon come through the curtain. They’ve fought all over the world, and want to do it again in an unsanctioned, no rules match!

Young Bucks vs reDRagon
This is an impromptu and unsanctioned main event, pitting two teams who have fought on a near-endless loop over the last few years with the ROH Tag Titles and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles at stake. Fish and O’Reilly currently hold those IWGP Jr. Tag belts so the Bucks will bite their hands off for a chance to beat them and prove to New Japan that they deserve another shot at those straps. Obviously reDRagon have already competed this evening, with Kyle competing in a particularly gruelling match with Silas Young, so they are at a clear disadvantage.

The Bucks accept reDRagon’s challenge by diving at them with stereo tope suicidas! HANDSPRING EYE RAKE ON THE FLOOR from Nick to Bobby! O’Reilly lines up his flying knee off the apron, but only succeeds in diving into Early Onset Alzheimer’s! Wisely reDRagon bring the match back into the ring, where Kyle somehow manages to start working submission holds on both opponents at the same time. It gives Fish space to hit the somersault pescado over the turnbuckles to the outside before kicking Nick right onto his f*cking head on the apron. Chasing The Dragon blocked…TORNADO DDT ON THE FLOOR from Nick to Fish! Ride The Lightning on Nick gets 2. Axe & Smash blocked with a Superkick…no sold into the Jawbreaker Lariat…only for Matt to pull O’Reilly through the ropes as he rolls them. INDYTAKER ON THE F*CKING FLOOR! Double superkick on Fish! CHASING THE DRAGON BY THE BUCKS…for 2! MELTZER DRIVER! Bucks win at 08:59

Rating - *** - It wasn’t designed to live up to the quality of some of their previous Ring Of Honor classics...instead this was just demented, spot-frenzy fun to send the live crowd home happy. I know some weren’t happy about the Bucks rolling over reDRagon quite so easily – but to me it makes perfect sense. Fish and O’Reilly were in their second match of the night and are winding down their tag team commitments to focus on their singles work. Matt and Nick, meanwhile, are Ring Of Honor’s top draws and have a Tag Title shot at All Star Extravaganza. A spectacular and memorable win like this is the perfect way to send them into the pay-per-view.

All four men show respect for each other after that…only to be attacked by Mike Bennett and Matt Taven in their street clothes. Adam Cole appears in the aisle and appears to gesture that he’s had enough of their antics and wants to quit The Kingdom. Maria Kanellis does nothing but wave him off

Tape Rating - *** - This was a seriously fun house show. I recall enjoying the Winter Warriors shows in Dayton and Atlanta slightly more but this was certainly one of the better live event (i.e. non-PPV/major show) releases of 2015 so far. It was refreshing to see multiple matches in the midcard get room to breathe – particularly something like O’Reilly/Silas which you wouldn’t normally expect to go almost twenty minutes. It meant there were three really outstanding midcard bouts (O’Reilly/Silas, Strong/Cole and the fantastic Sydal/ACH clash) alongside plenty of other entertaining stuff. The main event segment, from manic Young Buck spots, through to The Kingdom’s unlikely appearance, culminating in Cole’s apparent resignation, was highly enjoyable too. Great wrestling and solid storyline advancement make this a particularly solid show – and a fine way to rebound after the uneven Reloaded Atlanta show.

Top 3 Matches
3) Roderick Strong vs Adam Cole (****)
2) Kyle O’Reilly vs Silas Young (****)
1) Matt Sydal vs ACH (****)

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