ROH 393 – All Star Extravaganza 7 – 18th September 2015
This pay-per-view serves as the pay-off for the storyline Ring Of Honor kicked into motion at Best In The World when they had Jay Lethal beat Jay Briscoe to become both ROH World and Television Champion. He’s been defending both titles separately ever since, and tonight is forced to do so on the same show as he faces both members of reDRagon with his belts on the line. That really is the big hook for this show (especially if you don’t want house shows as not a lot of TV time has been spent building up Fish or O’Reilly as challengers), but to his credit Delirious has really booked a crisp top-to-bottom card with plenty at stake from first match to last. Silas Young and Dalton Castle meet with supremely high stakes regarding the future of The Boys, the Briscoes have a mystery tag team, ACH and Matt Sydal contest the third match in their Best Of 5 Series in ACH’s hometown, Moose and Cedric Alexander settle their grudge in a No DQ Match, The Addiction put tag gold on the line against both The Kingdom and the Young Bucks…and Episode 208 of the TV show also informed us we have a super-high stakes last minute addition to the card throwing Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, AJ Styles and Michael Elgin in the ring together to crown a new #1 contender to the World Title. It’s an intriguing card, which Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino will talk us through. San Antonio, TX is our host city.
SIDENOTE – ROH have invested in a long-overdue ring canvas for this show, with a distinctive red stripe going across the centre of the ring on the new design. I like it and, along with the specially commissioned event-specific ring apron, it really helps to offset the fact that the San Antonio building is far from the most picturesque they’ve run pay-per-view in.
Jay Lethal vs Bobby Fish – ROH TV Title Match
Tonight Jay Lethal has to pay the price for his refusal to relinquish the Television Championship at the post-Best In The World TV tapings. He’s the longest-reigning TV Champ in ROH history, and has been forced into defending that belt as a separate entity to the World Title ever since he told Nigel McGuinness he wasn’t going to forfeit it. This evening, for the first time, is made to defend both belts on the same show as a result. And in an unfortunate twist of fate, both his opponents this evening are from the same tag team. The first reDRagon challenger he faces is Bobby Fish, the man who won a mini-tournament in Las Vegas on the Aftershock Tour to earn this shot – and comes into this red-hot having just scored a huge win over Roderick Strong in Chicago.
The audio for this is horrendous – with the live audience microphones hugely muted and the Spanish Commentary audio bleeding onto Kelly and Corino’s broadcast. Fish takes it straight to the mat and clamps on a crossface which forces the champ to retreat to the floor. For the first few minutes every time Jay tries anything he finds it blocked by a submission hold or a strike by the extremely dangerous challenger. Crucially, Fish has broken out a couple of arm submission holds – which could play into Kyle O’Reilly’s strategy in the main event too. Truth Martini distracts a rampant Bobby Fish, opening him up for the LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wants to end it early and is devastated to see Fish fall to the floor after that. The champ is desperate and DESTROYS him against the guardrails…before retreating to the ring looking for a count-out win. As soon as Bobby crawls back into the ring Lethal pounces on him; looking to keep him grounded with as little effort as possible. HEAD DROP TURNBUCKLE EXPLODER by Fish gets 2! LEG SELLING TOPE COMBO BY LETHAL! Fish cuts off the third to hit a springboard moonsault for 2. He kicks at Lethal’s leg again before dropping into the kneebar. Jay escapes…into more kicks to the legs and head. Does he have the will to win with another match still to come? Apparently he does as he drops Fish with the Lethal Combination and hobbles up the ropes for Hail To The King. Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO FISH HOOK DELUXE! Lethal grabs a handful of Fish’s trunks for an illegal pin, and shadily retains at 14:07
Rating - *** - With a better finish this would be an easy 4* match. For as storied and historic as Lethal’s TV Title reign has been, his record in TV Title pay-per-view matches is atrocious – so this is actually one of his best efforts in that respect. I loved his approach to this match, firstly by trying to win it early then by trying to use as little effort as possible. Basically, he acted like a piece of sh*t, but as the match wore on he showed admirable courage and resolve to survive Fish’s onslaught. My opinion is that he should’ve won this clean as it would have been the more appropriate end to the story they told and given more of a rub to the TV Title (Lethal trying to be a prick, but then manning up and busting his ass to win out of respect for the belt he’s held for so long)…but Delirious hates putting heels over clean and I can see why he took the ‘easy way out’ with a bullsh*t finish. It was a really hot way to start the show albeit with a major downer of a finish.
Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
I think the response of most Ring Of Honor fans has been nothing but positive to this feud (thus far). The contrast between the two characters is so jarring and vast, and the execution of those characters is so superb, that they have immense chemistry as rivals. Delirious has also done a decent job flipping the script on the traditional ‘heel/face’ dynamic too, since it’s the babyface – Dalton – who holds the upper hand thus far with two controversial victories. He has needed low blows and The Boys to beat Young, and the Last Real Man has had enough. He wanted one last match with Castle, and demanded possession of The Boys if he wins…since he wants to teach them how to be ‘real men’. The Party Peacock agreed, with the addendum that if he wins Silas becomes a ‘Boy’ too. The stakes could not be higher for this; one of the most hotly anticipated bouts all night.
The match begins in similar fashion to their previous encounters, with Silas struggling to cope with the antics of Castle and his Boys. He turns the match in his favour by countering Dalton’s tiger feint apron headscissors spot (which he does in every match) to a backbreaker on the floor though and sets about trying to work over Castle’s back. The action feels a little flat which is a shame, firstly because I like these guys and secondly because it gives Kelly and Corino ample opportunity to run through their usual barrage of unfunny and unrelated in-jokes. The back-work means that Young is able to counter the Everest German and score a nearfall with the Killer Combo. He smashes at the back to set Castle up for a sunset flip bomb rolled right into the slingshot swinging neckbreaker. Bang-A-Rang blocked, before Silas intelligently drags The Boys into the path of a tope attempt from the resurgent Party Peacock. Bang-A-Rang nailed after Silas tried to use his metal knee brace as a weapon…but Silas lands under the bottom rope to break the count. The act of getting the brace out of the ring causes a distraction, which Young capitalises on to give Dalton a low blow. He wins The Boys at 12:27
Rating - * - This didn’t click at all for me. Nothing they were doing was necessarily bad, but it all felt very sanitised, robotic and uninteresting. I’m still at a loss to explain how two such vibrant characters could produce such a dour match in fact. They never shook the impression that they were going through the motions, and this whole thing was actually so profoundly uninteresting I felt I had no choice but to go even lower than 2* on my rating. I really hope Sinclair/ROH put a little bit of money into this gimmick now though and film some vignettes of Silas and The Boys doing some ‘real men’ stuff. That could produce some comic gold.
The Briscoes get some promo time, with Jay admitting that their team got put on the backburner whilst he was World Champion. They now want to retake their spot as the top tag team in Ring Of Honor…
The Decade come out before Jay and Mark’s scheduled match against a ‘mystery team’, and announce that since both BJ Whitmer and Adam Page are injured, they aren’t the mystery opponents. They will be sitting in on commentary though. Romantic Touch (looking suspiciously more like Matt Taven than Rhett Titus) is out next to continue his odd pursuit of the Briscoes. He is beaten up and swiftly dismissed…before the lights go out to finally reveal their opponents – the returning All Night Express.
Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs All Night Express
In 2011 these two teams contested one of the most intense tag team rivalries in ROH history (albeit a lot of it went under the radar as it was during the transition to Sinclair ownership), culminating in a Ladder War at Death Before Dishonor 9. We haven’t seen ANX in ROH since 2012, when after winning the Tag Titles at Best In The World Kenny King opted to sign a deal with TNA – much to Jim Cornette’s fury – and apparently burned his bridge with ROH forever. Rhett Titus was forced to vacate the belts without ever losing them and was last seen, unmasked at least, as part of the SCUM storyline (although right after that the mysterious Romantic Touch started working for Ring Of Honor). Fences have been mended it seems and ANX are back. They actually won Ladder War 3, so technically you could say it’s the Briscoes looking for some payback here.
Titus instantly heaves Mark to the floor, as BJ Whitmer (sticking to The Decade’s principles) complains about Kenny King walking out on ROH. Jay takes the upper hand on Rhett and purposefully leads him to the closest corner to the announce table so that he can hurl abuse at Adam Page too. They cut the ring in half and isolate Titus; almost murdering ANX’s comeback momentum before it gets started. Kenny is more successful and it takes Jay jumping him from behind to prevent ANX landing the One Night Stand. Splash Mountain Neckbreaker on Rhett instead gets 2. King saves Titus from the Doomsday Device…so Jay NAILS him with a tope into the guardrails. Somersault pescado by Rhett! APRON BLOCKBUSTER by Mark! King drops Jay with a capo kick…then hits the ropes for the One Night Stand! ANX shock the Briscoes and pin Mark to win at 08:32
Rating - ** - Not exactly the most groundbreaking or exciting match to mark ANX’s comeback, but it was solid enough and good of the Briscoes to put them over upon their return. King’s TNA run was lengthy without being overly significant, but his performance here was another reminder of how polished and smooth his work can look. He is a slick performer and even now in his 30’s has heaps of potential if this ROH regime can be the guys to finally unlock it and add some substance to his undoubted style.
Adam Page tries to assault Jay Briscoe from behind, but is run off by King and Titus. ANX and the Briscoes shake hands to settle their differences
Cedric Alexander vs Moose – No DQ Match
Moose is still trying to recover from the career cross-roads that back-to-back defeats to Cedric Alexander left him at. Using monkey wrench-assisted punches, Cedric now holds THREE pinfall victories over the former NFL player – ending his undefeated streak on television, beating him again at Death Before Dishonor then eliminating from the TV Title contenders gauntlet at Field Of Honor. Moose is desperate for revenge on both Cedric and his former manager Veda Scott, and has insisted on a no rules environment for this grudge match. He says he is going to become ‘the monster Veda always wanted to create’ tonight, whilst Alexander wonders exactly why Moose has asked for a match which makes his wrench-wielding antics legal.
Moose comes out wearing a football helmet, which is certainly one way to block a wrench to the head. He immediately ducks his head charges into a helmeted headbutt to floor his opponent…then gives him a fallaway slam into the guardrails. By the time the clock reaches two minutes Moose has brought a ladder into play as well. He wants to somersault senton Cedric through it…but Alexander moves WAY early. Like a fool Moose continues anyway and collapses through the ladder in a heap. Veda Scott is instantly involved in a much cooler spot as she gives Stokely Hathaway an OLE KICK! Alexander dodges a Van Daminator chair dropkick…and hurls the chair straight into Moose’s face for 2. VAN DAMINATOR FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR INSTEAD! ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE OVER THE RINGPOST NAILED! Moose is on fire! Ced’s response is to give him a hurricanrana into a steel chair then 540 the back of the head. VAN TERMINATOR BY CEDRIC! FOR 2! Veda Scott is in the ring helping her client now, setting up a table in the corner for him. Before he gets a chance to use it Moose is back in the fight after hitting the Game Breaker. He wants to Hitstick him through a ladder, but is distracted by Veda for just long enough to allow Alexander to hit a springboard DDT. NO SOLD! BACK BODY DROP THROUGH THE LADDER! Moose fills the ring with steel chairs...but takes too long about it. MICHINOKU DRIVER INTO A CHAIR PILE by Alexander! He goes right into the Concussion On Delivery dropkick flurry trying to knock Moose unconscious. Veda hands him a wrench…only for Stokely to stop him using it. INADVERTENT CONCUSSION ON DELIVERY takes out Veda! Stokely hits Cedric with the wrench! HITSTICK THROUGH A TABLE! Moose gets the big win at 13:07
Rating - **** - Certainly not an attractive match, but I had so much fun watching it. It really wasn’t perfect, but they let everything hang out and threw every spot out there that they possibly could. As a midcard destruction derby this was compelling viewing. Veda and Stokely were worked in well without being overused, there were plenty of callbacks to earlier in the feud (like Cedric trying to give Moose concussions, Moose wearing a helmet because he’s been wrenched so often etc), and two men putting their bodies on the line to deliver something memorable. Hats off to both of them…
ACH vs Matt Sydal – Best Of 5 Series Match 3
Credit to the production guys as they’ve managed to get footage from the Dearborn and Chicago matches (which only took place a week ago) together in order to set the scene for this one. Match 1 saw a spirited contest, with Sydal getting more and more dominant as ACH got more and more desperate and leaving with a 1-0 lead. Match 2 was as one-sided as it gets…with the veteran controlling the pace from the opening bell, only for ACH to resourcefully counter the Sydal Press (which he’d lost to the previous evening) and immediately hit the Midnight Star to snatch an unlikely victory. He was second best last week, but found a way to hang in there and has the scores tied at 1-1 going into this one. He also has hometown advantage on his side tonight…
Sydal is clearly aware of the hometown advantage as he starts out aloof, goofing off and obviously looking to keep things slow and kill any early momentum ACH might have looked to build. He then goes right back to the arm – the strategy which got him so much success in Chicago. ACH needs a quicker pace, and when they finally start moving at speed he wastes no time in taking Sydal out with the MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! He is back in the air seconds later with the Freebird crossbody for 2. He wants to target Matt’s ribs…but of course that involved slowing down and almost instantly Sydal has found a way to take him to the ground and start working a half crab. ACH’s leg is obviously injured – and his opponent isn’t shy about going after it. Sydal does such a good job that ACH’s leg has actually already given way and started collapsing under them as he pulls out The Slice for 2. Despite carrying a leg injury ACH is trying to find ways to crank up the pace and break yet another match heavy in Sydal dominance. He can’t hold the bridge on the Hero’s Grip but is continually pulling out offensive moves which punish the ribs in preparation for the Midnight Star – including the flying double stomp which gets 2. He thinks about the brainbuster…only for Sydal to FLIP into a hurricanrana. RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY SYDAL! He’s stealing ACH’s moves again! But since he’s carrying bad ribs now he too is slow to come up from that spot. Sydal Press is prepped, only for ACH to move and hit the SECOND ROPE 450 SPLASH for 2! Brainbuster, followed by the MINIGHT STAR! ACH wins again and goes 2-1 up in the series. 16:28 is your time
Rating - **** - I’ve seen a few other reviews and noticed that not everyone has enjoyed this ACH/Sydal series as much as me…but I am absolutely loving it. I think people may have expected them to be more explosive and high-flying than they have perhaps been so far, but the way these two have told interesting stories and made each match smoothly and believably follow on from the last has been an absolute pleasure to watch. The way this built on the Chicago match was just awesome – but they also added new layers here for the remainder of the series, such as ACH finally finding a way to break lengthy periods of Sydal dominance (which he spectacularly failed to do in Chicago) and repeating the Midnight Star finish to set that move up as utterly lethal. In essence, Matt has been the aggressor for the vast majority of the three matches thus far – but is 2-1 down almost entirely due to how devastating ACH’s finisher is. My biggest gripe here is that ACH’s selling seems to be getting worse, rather than better, as the series progresses. He did a terrible job selling the leg injury here, largely because he had offensive responsibilities too. I hate being ‘that guy’ who moans about stuff like this, but it really looks silly when guys abandon selling an injury which defined a portion of the match because they have to hit ‘cool moves’. ACH did that here, which is frustrating. I believe match #4 takes place at the TV tapings the following evening in San Antonio, where he could wrap up a 3-1 series win.
The Addiction vs Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs Young Bucks – ROH Tag Title Match
Delirious has put plenty of effort into building this one, and it certainly feels like there is an arguable case for all three teams to win. Maria Kanellis is running her and Bennett’s ROH contracts down and publicly stated she wants an ROH Tag Title reign under their belt before then – presumably to strengthen her negotiating position. In Dearborn her team didn’t make the show, and instead crashed the end of the night to take out the Bucks and reDRagon. They also cost Matt and Nick the Tag Titles in Philadelphia as part of the Aftershock Tour. The Addiction champion themselves as the ‘smartest’ team in ROH – backed up by how they schemed their way to taking the belts from reDRagon, have survived multiple challenges, boast Chris Sabin backing them up, handcuffed and assaulted the Jacksons on TV and wound up standing tall in Philly for the lead-in TV episode. The Bucks, meanwhile, enter with all the momentum thanks to back-to-back main event wins over reDRagon and Future Shock at Reloaded Tour events the previous weekend. This one is too close to call…
Daniels and Kaz jump the gun and attack both teams before the bell…but their advantage lasts all of about four seconds before they get taken out by duelling superkicks on the floor by the Bucks. ‘High flying’ Michael Bennett hits a somersault plancha, only to be instantly one-upped by a CORKSCREW MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR by Nick! The benefit of the dive mayhem is that the veterans get a chance to regroup, snatching Matt Jackson and isolating him inside the ring for an extended period. Daniels misses the BME though – eating a superkick and allowing Matt to tag out. MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON by Nick! Then Matt catches Daniels attempting the Arabian press, leaving him exposed for a HANGING SUPERKICK! Bennett and Taven try to capitalise on some distraction from Maria…only to eat a tornado DDT on the floor! CRAZY TOPE by Daniels! The Bucks try to set Kaz up for their elevated senton in the ropes spot…but Bennett pulls Nick off the ropes, allowing Taven to take his place for an ELEVATED FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! SUPERKICK ON TAVEN! ANGEL’S WINGS ON BENNETT! Kaz drops Nick with the slingshot cutter…then pops his head into another superkick! All six men are down! Bennett hits the Spear on Matt…only to be taken out with Frankie’s apron DDT spot. CELEBRITY REHAB on Taven! Nick counters Angel’s Wings with a headscissors! DANIELS PUNCHES MARIA STRAIGHT IN THE DAMN FACE! Bennett is obviously pissed off…so charges at the Ring General and accidentally wipes out referee Paul Turner in the process. A KRD red mask is in the ring…but he superkicks Kazarian! CRADLE SHOCK ON DANIELS! Was that mystery man Sabin? The red mask leaves as Kaz eats EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S! MELTZER DRIVER! But Taven is the legal man! He rolls up Matt using the tights…and The Kingdom steal the Tag Titles at a wild 13:48!
Rating - **** - The actual wrestling/spotfest part of this match was a total riot. It was 100mph and almost impossible to keep up with for play-by-play text. The overbooking at the end was totally ridiculous however and meant the whole thing ended on something of a sour note. It’s a shame Delirious felt the need for more KRD/red mask shenanigans since it’s fair to say that completely bombed earlier in the year…and it’s even more of a shame that he was only comfortable putting the belts on The Kingdom after a whole pile of overbooked crap – ref bumps, run-ins, snatching a cheap pin, using the trunks illegally etc. This was our sixth match of the night and thus far only two have had clean finishes (Briscoes/ANX and Sydal/ACH). Would it have killed him to at least let Bennett and Taven hit their own finish rather than do another BS roll-up? I’ve read plenty about how Delirious’ booking drags this show down and tried to prepare myself for it…but the way he allowed TERRIBLE crap to bring down a completely thrilling sprint like this title match is the first time I’ve felt truly agitated watching this show.
SIDENOTE – Another thing people warned me to ‘prepare for’ ahead of watching this show was the creaking, squeaking ring…and my goodness they were so right. It’s getting worse and worse with each match that passes and embarrassingly amateur from ROH/Sinclair. What’s more annoying is that it’s clearly a decent microphone they’ve mic’d the ring up with – it is making sure you can hear every single little creak or moan of the ropes and filtering it into the audio as loud as f*cking possible. Why bring in such decent mics, boon cams, the Cary-tron, new canvases, special ring aprons and the like if you are going to cheap out and fail to, at the very least, oil the bloody ring you’re going to be working on.
Roderick Strong vs Michael Elgin vs Adam Cole vs AJ Styles
The winner of this is declared the new #1 contender to the World Championship…and Bobby Cruise also drops into his introduction that it’s being contested under ‘tornado rules’. That means four of the biggest names on the independent scenes – three of them former ROH Champions and one of them AJ f*cking Styles – are going to be unleashed in the ring at the same time. There is so much history between all of these guys, even if ROH waited for the final TV broadcast before the PPV to actually announce it. Strong and Elgin go all the way back to their time in the House Of Truth together (when Roddy was World Champion), Elgin was the man that Cole beat to win his World Title at Death Before Dishonor 11…only for Unbreakable to take it from him the following year at Best In The World 2014. Elgin is also the only man to have beaten AJ since his return to ROH; a run which includes wins over Cole and Strong…and a pretty scary neck injury for Roderick as well. This one throws together four of the best wrestlers in the world – who assumes pole position to meet the winner of Lethal/O’Reilly?
Elgin, a year after losing the World Title at All Star Extravaganza 6, is the first man going for pinfalls (on Strong) as Cole and AJ battle to the floor. Styles tries a hurricanrana on Strong but finds it countered to the Olympic Slam for 2. Big Mike is IGNORING Cole’s strikes altogether now to elbow the sh*t out of him! Adam recovers with an exposed knee Shining Wizard on Roddy, before smartly ducking the Phenomenal Forearm and hitting a running knee on Styles for 2. Muso from Roddy to AJ! And with him down Elgin scoops up his two remaining opponents to land the Samoan drop/fallaway slam combo leaving all four of them down. ‘All these guys’ – San Antonio fans. They work their way back to their feet utterly nailing each other with strikes…then break to opposite turnbuckles. Strong hits his superplex on Styles, as Elgin crunches Cole with the dead-lift falcon arrow! End Of Heartache blocked with a SPINNING BACKFIST by Elgin! Panama Sunrise attempt by Cole…countered to a back body drop by Elgin…and Styles CATCHES Adam trying to set up for the Styles Clash! Strong thwarts that and takes Styles out with the SICK KICK! END OF! HEARTACHE on Cole…but Big Mike breaks the pin. Phenomenal Forearm on Elgin! NO SOLD! DEADLIFT TURNBUCKLE GERMAN SUPLEX! Unbreakable wants an avalanche Elgin Bomb…but AJ counters it with a frankensteiner which sends him into the path of the PANAMA SUNRISE! FOR 2! Cole eats Pele Kick, with Styles instantly turning into the discus lariat on Strong. STYLES CLASH ON COLE! AJ is the new #1 contender at 14:30
Rating - *** - I’ve seen a lot of people rank this higher than me, with many considering it the best match of the PPV…but this one wasn’t necessarily to my taste. I like all four men, but much prefer them when they work actual wrestling matches as opposed to spotfests. This was hugely enjoyable, but still felt like something of a waste of four such talented individuals. They couldn’t move at the pace of the Tag Title spotfest that preceded it (i.e. the Young Bucks) which hurt them…and I even went back to watch the Styles/Strong/O’Reilly triple threat from Aftershock Tour: Hopkins and didn’t feel like they even reached that level either. Of course I had fun watching this, and I can’t wait to see Lethal vs AJ in an ROH ring again…but I didn’t feel this sort of match best-suited the skills of any of the competitors. Going on right after a Young Bucks match made it even more obvious.
Jay Lethal vs Kyle O’Reilly – ROH World Title Match
The Undisputed Champion Jay Lethal has been a dominating figure on the Ring Of Honor scene for a long time. His TV Title reign is unparalleled, and his achievement in holding both ROH singles championships at the same time is unprecedented. All year he has looked vulnerable against one man however – that being Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle has tapped him out twice in tag matches this year – during the Champions Challenge tag match at the Conquest Tour: Milwaukee show, and the Wild Card trios main event at Aftershock Tour: Las Vegas – and also took him to a 30-minute time limit draw for the TV Title at the Hopkins leg of the Conquest Tour. Does O’Reilly’s record against him, plus the fact that this is Jay’s second match of the evening, actually make the challenger the favourite to win here?
Lethal looks bedraggled and limps heavily during his ring entrance. He slaps his challenger in the face, but is slapped back twice as hard to show that O’Reilly isn’t backing down. The match is barely a minute old when Kyle first demonstrates his submission prowess by snaring the champ in a kimura. Lethal needs to get off the mat and does so by dropkicking his opponent off the apron. He hits a single tope, rather than attempting the trilogy, as he needs to conserve energy and prevent fatigue in his second match. O’Reilly catches him thinking about an early Lethal Injection and mounts him with a sleeper…but before he can sap too much energy Jay does his best to cripple him with a NECK DROP back suplex. Lethal Combination blocked…Lethal Injection blocked…into a front choke! NOW COUNTERED TO THE LETHAL COMBO! Jay tries to hang on for the Koji Clutch, but leaves himself vulnerable to an anklelock on that leg he entered the match favouring! Some of this wrestling is seriously slick. Kyle looks for a kimura again but finds it blocked with a F*CKING HEAD DROP GERMAN SUPLEX! Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO ARM-AGEDDON…COUNTERED TO A PIN USING THE TIGHTS…FOR 2! O’Reilly quickens the pace with strikes, followed by the Jawbreaker Lariat! SOLO CHASING THE DRAGON…INTO UNPROTECTED FACE STOMPS! Truth Martini hops onto the apron to distract Kyle just as he looks set to win…then pulls Todd Sinclair out of the ring when Kyle tries to submit him with a triangle choke. Nigel McGuinness drags Martini to the locker room…so we get MORE f*cking overbooking with a ref bump. Lethal hits a springboard Ace crusher, but is blocked by Bobby Fish when he prepares to use the World Title belt as a weapon. Donovan Dijak runs in…and NAILS Fish with the title belt! Adam Cole is in now! He knocks Dijak out…THEN SUPERKICKS O’REILLY IN THE FACE! Jay can hardly believe his luck and finishes the hapless O’Reilly with the Lethal Injection at 14:00
Rating - *** - I’ll start positive and say that, before all the garbage at the end, this was a HELL of a wrestling match. Lethal and O’Reilly have already produced a stunning MOTYC this year and displayed that same chemistry yet again. O’Reilly tearing Lethal apart with fast-paced submissions and strikes, then Jay coming back with numerous different methods of inflicting maximum damage for minimum effort, was a super little central plot for them to work. Lethal did a great job portraying a battle-worn champion in his second fight of the night and honestly comes off looking really strong even if the way he’s been booked this evening is complete sh*t. And on that note, what the f*ck was that finish? Even taking the Cole/O’Reilly turn out of the equation – did we really need multiple counts of Truth Martini interference, Nigel popping up from the announce table, ref bumps (again), title belts, Fish and Dijak involved too? And since I can talk about it now – the Cole/O’Reilly turn makes NO SENSE! If O’Reilly was a champion or had something Cole wanted it would be sort of relevant – but why would Cole, a man who openly wants to be World Champion again, waste an entire summer devising an elaborate plot with the rest of The Kingdom to f*ck with one half of a tag team for no reason? It was actually quite a shocking moment when he kicked Kyle in the face – but almost entirely because it was so bewildering as to why Delirious would book the entire angle in the first place, much less torpedo a pay-per-view main event to do it. And if this was the finish he’d booked for the main event, why not at least book Lethal to go over Fish clean in the opening match so he gets to leave the PPV with at least some credit? As with the Tag Title Match, before the overbooking came into play this was a good match…but this quickly degenerated into a perplexing mess.
Michael Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria Kanellis join Adam Cole in the ring to put on a show of Kingdom solidarity – ending O’Reilly’s evening with the triple superkick spot in the corner.
Tape Rating - *** - On a wrestling level this is an extremely solid show. Sure Castle/Silas was something of a bust, but everything else was decent. Ring Of Honor had a very decent roster at this point and workers of a high calibre yet again spared ROH/SBG/Delirious’ blushes to a certain extent on this show. There were three matches which just about snuck into 4* territory (Moose/Cedric, ACH/Sydal and Addiction/Kingdom/Bucks)…plus a few more which, on a wrestling level at least, were probably ***1/2-worthy (Lethal/Fish, Lethal/O’Reilly and Styles/Elgin/Cole/Strong). The undercard also includes the surprise return of Kenny King, which some aren’t too bothered about but I like the guy. But lets be brutally honest – all of the criticism this show gets is completely deserved, and despite it being a decent night of in-ring action, All Star Extravaganza 7 is only really remembered for the totally bizarre creative decisions that dogged countless matches. All of them, individually, aren’t cardinal sins…but cumulatively they add up to a shocking night for Delirious/Sinclair which I really am struggling to fathom or rationalise. On a wrestling level this show is good, and it’s important not to lose that in yet another internet rant about Delirious’ booking or corporate suits ruining Ring Of Honor. BUT, let’s not pretend like this PPV isn’t defined in every conceivable sense by how much creative decisions entirely overshadowed and diminished the remarkable work of the in-ring talent. To end my review, here are ten questions questions I’d like to pose; feel free to answer them if you’d like.
1) Did Delirious really need to book the cheap, cheating finish to Lethal/Fish knowing how much of a clusterf*ck he’d booked as a finish to the main event?
2) Did Lethal/O’Reilly REALLY need to be completely destroyed by so much garbage booking?
3) Knowing how overbooked his main event (and opening match) were, why the hell did Delirious also overbook the sh*t out of the Tag Title Match? Surely he had to realise this would really try the patience of the ROH fanbase, and even casual fans? This isn’t the late 90’s, and the days of Vince Russo million run-in PPV matches should be behind us?
4) Having already overbooked the sh*t out of the Tag Title match, and knowing that he already had a couple of bogus ‘flash pin’ finishes laid out on the show (Lethal/Fish and Silas/Dalton) was it really the best decision to have The Kingdom get a cheap roll-up finish too?
5) Does it not make The Kingdom look critically weak winning in such a manner? Surely they’d be better served at least getting to hit the Hail Mary before winning?
6) Could a more imaginative finish not have been concocted for Young/Castle? Given that he’d already got so much extra-curricular content laid out for his three big title matches, did Delirious really have nothing better than a cheap low blow for that one? Again, can he not see that this, along with so many other issues, really add up to a seriously frustrating viewing experience for new and old fans alike?
7) Given that there was so much other BS flying around, could they not have taken a ‘step back’ on the Moose/Cedric match, and pulled something like ‘banning Veda & Stokely from ringside’? They were actually used well in the match, but added nothing substantial and the match would have been just as good without them. They weren’t necessary, and pulling them could have provided at least one more ‘clean’ finish.
8) Is this really the sort of Ring Of Honor product that Sinclair/Delirious want to present at one of their biggest shows of the year? I’m not saying I need Bryan Danielson 25+ technical classics on every PPV (holy f*ck do I miss those) – but in what way do they perceive that they delivered ‘the best wrestling on the planet’ this evening?
9) Do Ring Of Honor/Sinclair Broadcasting genuinely believe that a pay-per-view with this many cheap (or non) finishes represents value for money? Quarterly pay-per-views should surely be something of a ‘culmination’ of feuds and storylines. Should this sort of content not be executed better on free television to promote these major events?
10) In what way does the Cole/O’Reilly stuff make sense? I understand they don’t like each other and have history but to me that isn’t sufficient. I want to know what is the specific motivation this year, this summer, for Adam Cole to put a stop on his career and his singles aspirations just to randomly f*ck with an old enemy whom he’d co-existed in the same company with for multiple years since their feud ended.
Top 3 Matches
3) Moose vs Cedric Alexander (****)
2) The Addiction vs Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs Young Bucks (****)
1) ACH vs Matt Sydal (****)