ROH 397 – Survival Of The Fittest 2015: Night 1 – 13th November 2015
I almost don’t want to jinx it, because ROH has a real track record for letting me down over the last year or so, but these two shows may well be the most I’ve looked forward to one of ROH’s Survival Of The Fittest tournaments ever. And I say that even with this evening’s DVD featuring Joey ‘Diesel’ Daddiego in the main event! Undoubtedly the stand-out qualifier is the culmination of the outstanding Best Of 5 Series between ACH and Matt Sydal, but beneath that we have a multitude of tag team rivalries colliding inside two fourway matches and a re-ignition of one of 2014’s hottest rivalries as Roderick Strong and Cedric Alexander lock horns once more. Non-tournament action features The Kingdom defending the Tag Titles against reDRagon, and the aforementioned Daddiego main event (he is part of a House Of Truth team which faces the Bullet Club). The line-up for Night 2 looks great too…please don’t let me down ROH! Kevin Kelly and BJ Whitmer provide commentary from Milwaukee, WI. If you’ve not seen an event from this building before, it’s easily one of the best ROH run in. Visually stunning…and the crowd are usually decent too. I’m almost disappointed they aren’t running the finals here.
Christopher Daniels vs Hanson vs Kenny King vs Mark Briscoe
Although the Survival Of The Fittest tournament, and it’s prize of a guaranteed World Title shot, will be at the forefront of everyone’s ambitions this evening it is impossible not to overlook the obvious Tag Title ramifications of these two four corner qualifiers. The Briscoes, The Addiction, War Machine and All Night Express all want what The Kingdom have and will welcome a chance to push their team up the tag division pecking order even in this format. There are lots of issues between them too, like the Briscoes trading wins with ANX, waging wars with War Machine, and so on.
King is impressive in the early minutes and gets the better of first Daniels, then Briscoe. Finally the Ring General blind tags the ANX man out to profit on his work beating down Mark. Hanson makes his imposing presence felt as order starts to break down – clubbing Daniels to the floor but leaving himself exposed to a flying knee strike by Briscoe. Kenny counters a solo Briscoe Biel into a capoeira kick for 2! Meanwhile Daniels continues to only tag in when he can opportunistically benefit from the hard work of one of his opponents. Mark busts out the Redneck Kung Fu to keep him at bay and escapes with a tag to Kenny – who has looked really strong whenever he’s involved. He hurdles the top rope with a guillotine…but in doing so exposes himself to Hanson who blind tags to give Daniels the Sledgehammer/Bronco Buster combo. Cartwheel Lariat from Hanson to King…but only because Daniels ducked it! Angel’s Wings countered to the inverted powerslam for 2! Hanson and Mark wage bearded warfare on each other (which Daniels happily watches from the apron), with Briscoe ducking the Spin Kick Of Doom then Hanson dodging the Froggy Bow. Daniels sneaks in legally again to give Briscoe the BME…and advances to the finals at 12:28
Rating - *** - Almost the ideal match to start the show in that they didn’t go overboard on spots but still really engaged the live crowd with the entertainment value of their work. Daniels being a devious old bastard was the brilliant thread which held it all together, but I loved the side-plots orbiting around that like King being superb or Mark and Hanson still wanting to beat the f*ck out of each other.
Cedric Alexander vs Roderick Strong
This would be our first singles SOTF qualifier, and it should be good. Strong and Alexander’s feud in 2014 made for gripping viewing and threatened to really put Cedric on the map as a top tier player when he won their climactic battle at Best In The World. But his career has hugely plateau’d since then and he now finds himself on a losing streak and locked in legal action with ROH. His career would be reinvigorated by winning this tournament obviously – but just a win here would be huge for him. Strong is now TV Champion of course, so beating him would put him in line for a title shot. Roddy is also prior SOTF winner (a decade ago in 2005) so himself has a chance to make history by becoming the first repeat victor ROH has ever seen.
No handshake from Cedric, which is sold as a heel move but makes perfect sense after all the sh*t Roddy put him through last year. He does act like a dick seconds later though; trying to show off by taking Strong to the mat only for the TV Champion to make him his b*tch and send him running to the floor. Next he tries to work fast with Strong…but Mr ROH is so good he can hang with Cedric there too. The back quickly becomes a target obviously; forcing Ced to exit the ring again for some respite. He benefits from the distance and capitalises by raking the eyes and delivering a running punt to the chest. The springboard lariat is nailed perfectly (unlike TV this week when he slipped) for a nearfall. BIG ELBOWS by Strong…so Alexander rebounds from the second rope to floor him again with a springboard enziguri. He sets up the Three Amigos only to find his traditional show of disrespect on the third blocked by a Roderick Strong gourdbuster. RUNNING BOOT INTO THE GUARDRAILS bu Strong! Olympic Slam gets 2! Death By Roderick blocked…capture backbreaker blocked! 540 Kick gets 2 for Alexander! Now Roddy is on the defensive, fighting the Lumbar Check, ducking another springboard and almost MURDERING him with the Muso. This crowd are so awesome they seriously bit on that as a false finish. Cedric blocks Strong’s superplex and lunges off the top rope to grab his opponent for a HUGE MICHINOKU DRIVER! Strong looks completely rattles and stumbles like a drunk onto the corner where Alexander lands the IED flurry into a brainbuster which gets another nearfall. Overtime blocked for the SUPERPLEX! ROLLED INTO DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK SCORES! Strong advances at 15:27
Rating - **** - It’s Roderick Strong in 2015, so it shouldn’t surprise you at all that this was excellent. Alexander hung in there with him too, and these guys delivered an incredibly intense and physical match. Without wanting to spoil anything, Strong wound up missing Night 2 having sustained a concussion – and there were two or three separate moments where I could completely believe that he got legitimately knocked silly. Some of the strikes they threw were insanely heavy-handed, and they are both such dynamic athletes meaning everything they do is done at such a ferocious speed…so the velocity of some of this action was quite the spectacle. If ROH are happy to let Cedric walk away, I hope they at least give him the chance to work a few more matches like this on his way out.
Adam Page vs Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
This will have a unique atmosphere, with one of the most unpopular guys on the roster (Young) hugely over as a babyface here in his home market. He is in the midst of a feud with Dalton Castle which most recently saw him cheat to beat him at All Star Extravaganza and gain ownership of his Boys as a result. The Boys don’t appear to be in attendance here but Silas has brought his buddy the Beer City Bruiser.
Young tries to get some heat with a promo…and gets cheered even more! He also says The Boys aren’t here because they had a great time drinking with him last night and are hungover as a result. With Castle furious, the dastardly Adam Page takes advantage to jump him from the bell. Credit to Page, he is up for fighting the Last Real Man too and pisses the whole crowd off when he starts choking him in the ropes. Apron tiger feint headscissors to the floor from Castle to Page! Bruiser grabs Dalton’s leg to distract him…so Castle dives at him with an elbow suicida. And at the same time Page slingshots over him for the somersault lariat on Silas for 2. SHOOTING STAR TORPEDO HEADBUTT OFF THE APRON by Adam! His only reward is Young’s Killer Combo for 2, as again Beer City puts his hands on the Party Peacock outside the ring. EVEREST GERMAN gets 2 on Page. Young grabs his distracted rival and actually nails the Peegee Waja Plunge! Page blocks Misery with the Spike DDT, but then gets URINAGE SUPLEXED OVER THE TOP ROPE BY DALTON! Not content with that Castle back drops Silas out onto both Page and BJ Whitmer. Beer City tries to rush the ring though, and when Dalton turns to deal with that Young pounces with Misery. He wins at 07:11
Rating - *** - They didn’t get much time but packed all seven minutes with constant action, roared on by an absolutely awesome crowd. Castle and Page show so much potential, whilst Young is such an easily relatable and understandable character…and watching the three of them splurge offence on each other wound up being far more enjoyable than you might have expected.
Silas and BCB emphatically beat Castle down after the match. Is Delirious drunk? Is he aware he actually just booked a heel character to actually look strong? (Albeit in his home market where he’ll get cheered!)
Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs reDRagon – ROH Tag Title Match
reDRagon feel like the Tag Title belts should still be around their waists, given the diabolical KRD scheme which saw The Addiction defeat them, and how their ‘rematch’ wound up being when Bobby Fish wasn’t even in the building. And they now enter even more motivated following the events of All Star Extravaganza. Adam Cole joins Kevin Kelly for commentary here, and O’Reilly would love to send a message to his hated enemy by destroying his stable-mates and taking their gold from them before his very eyes. The challengers earned this title shot by pinning the champs as part of a six man tag on television a couple of weeks ago.
reDRagon start hot, taking the champs straight to the floor where they dole out kicks and guardrail bumps unrelentingly. Taven in particular suffers and is nearly tapped out to the Arm-ageddon in the early going. Maria Kanellis has to act to save her team, causing a distraction to allow The Kingdom to crotch Fish against the ringpost. Tandem superkicks knock O’Reilly straight out of the ring leaving the way clear for them to isolate his partner. The heat segment on Bobby is the least interesting thing on the show, particularly coupled with the Milwaukee crowd’s annoying habit of chanting ‘SHOTS’ every time Taven does anything. Thankfully it ends with Fish throwing one champ into the other with an exploder suplex and making the hot tag. Diving knee off the apron takes out Bennett! HANGING ARMBAR on Taven! Two Man Smash Machine gets 2 for the challengers, with Adam Cole now extremely agitated whilst on commentary. Taven blocks Chasing The Dragon…and Bennett grounds Kyle with a spinebuster. Hail Mary blocked…Axe & Smash blocked…Samoan drop by Bobby! Spear by Bennett COUNTERED by O’Reilly into a front choke! Proton Pack blocked into Ride The Lightning for 2! Maria pulls her husband to safety…so Bobby Fish takes her out with a baseball slide! SUICIDE DIVE by Taven, but it takes out his own partner! Cole has left commentary as O’Reilly almost puts Matt through the guardrails with another flying knee. CHASING THE DRAGON! Maria pulls Todd Sinclair out of the ring when he looked set to count the pin! Bennett has to rescue his wife with a Spear, as in the melee Cole runs in and superkicks O’Reilly! HAIL MARY! Kingdom retain in a hectic 13:52!
Rating - *** - As I said during play-by-play, the crowd were pretty annoying for this…and Kingdom’s heat segment on Fish was intensely boring. However, once we got past that this turned out really decent. Obviously there was plentiful overbooking, but amongst that some of the action was completely nuts and made me miss seeing reDRagon in tag team action more regularly. Pretty ironic considering I spent most of their full-time run as a team wanting to see more O’Reilly singles matches! The screwy finish was at least well-executed considering the amount of bodies, timing and precision that was needed to pull it off. Having invested so much time into this Cole/O’Reilly feud, I hope their Final Battle match really gets the platform to steal the show! To give you a point of reference, I thought this was superior to the Tag Title Match these two teams contested at Supercard Of Honor 9 thanks to that tremendously exciting second half.
Fish and Taven are still brawling on the floor…and inside the ring O’Reilly and Cole have to be pulled apart as they wildly come to blows.
INTERMISSION – Kevin Kelly hops into the ring because he needs a commentary partner for the second half. With Steve Corino still under suspension, he had to call up another old friend – bringing out Mr Wrestling III. MW3 says he’s been getting notes from Corino and is pumped to see a Superkick Party in the main event. (For those who aren’t aware this is all an open joke as the new masked commentator is just one of Steve Corino’s other gimmicks)
Frankie Kazarian vs Raymond Rowe vs Rhett Titus vs Jay Briscoe
Back to SOTF qualification action, with the other half of the teams which made up the earlier four corner match now stepping into competition. Frankie will be extremely motivated knowing his partner already waits for him in the final, whilst all the rest will be planning payback for the losses of their partners earlier. Jay Briscoe has been strangely isolated from the World Title picture since dropping the belt to Jay Lethal in June, and may well view victory in this tournament (an accolade he hasn’t claimed in his ROH career) as his quickest route to a title shot.
Kazarian is predictably antagonistic and like his partner earlier looks to be selective about when he gets involved. He leaves Rowe and Briscoe to get things started…then acts like a dick and breaks up their battle when it threatens to get interesting. His actions quickly aggravate all three opponents to such an extent that they all start taking turns beating him up and dumping him outside. The three babyfaces then turn on each other, culminating in the powerbomb/superplex Tower Of Doom spot…which winds up leaving them all injured and Frankie free to pick their bones. Kaz and Titus try to slow things down with some more methodical mat-based stuff, but since that isn’t a strong-point of either one of them it really kills the crowd (who raucously roar the second Jay comes in and breaks up their exchange with a double stomp). Finally Rowe and Jay come to blows…and the War Machine man’s power is so formidable that even a 2-time former World Champion can’t cope. Rhett gives Rowe a hideous-looking Super Sex Factor, but missed Kaz blind-tagging and becoming the legal man. Thrust Buster on him anyway! Rowe recovers phenomenally quickly to hit Path Of Resistance on Briscoe…only to eat Kazarian’s slingshot cutter. GERMAN SUPERPLEX FROM ROWE TO KAZ…WHO FLIPS INTO A MOONSAULT PRESS ON TITUS! Jay Driller finishes Rhett, advancing Briscoe at 16:40
Rating - *** - This was the worst match on the show so far, and I genuinely considered going down to 2* on it. Upon reflection, I thought there was still sufficient quality content scattered amongst a few more tedious element to make that a little unfair though. Kazarian trying to wrestle like Daniels earlier, but failing to do it as successfully because he couldn’t control his urge to be an asshole was really fun. The disappointingly brief exchanges between Briscoe and Rowe were the undoubted in-ring highlights of the whole thing, and that big spot out of the corner with Ray superplexing Frankie into a moonsault on Titus was wild.
Adam Cole vs Michael Elgin vs Moose
I mentioned Roderick Strong’s opportunity to make history by becoming a two-time SOTF winner earlier. The other two men with that chance this year are in this match, with 2014 winner Cole and 2011 winner Elgin joined by the dangerous and constantly improving Moose. All three have well-documented World Title aspirations, Cole and Elgin have traded ROH Championship wins in the past too – making this perhaps the most difficult to call of all six SOTF qualification matches this year.
Cole grabs a microphone and rants about his superiority to O’Reilly some more, but makes the mistake of being a prick to two much bigger dudes in the form of his opponents so they pummel him in the first minute. Big Mike and Moose get into an argument about who can suplex him better though, giving him a chance to escape. Moose gives chase and batters him into the guardrails until Elgin swoops to take out the big football player with a cannonball off the apron. THIRTY SECOND SUPLEX ON MOOSE! Elgin’s muscles spasm, ripple and quiver uncontrollably as he executes that amazing feat of strength. Cole is the man who profits by hitting the Shining Wizard for 2. Corino is distracting, but completely hysterical on commentary as he describes his masked wife, masked love making and masked child ‘Mr Wrestling Jr’. Cole is trying to submit Moose with the Figure 4…taking his eyes off Elgin who breaks it with the corkscrew senton. Running DVD from Elgin to Cole; driving him into a seated Moose in the corner as well. Moose’s response is to sit both his opponents on the top rope and effortlessly hit them both with a standing dropkick. Go To Hell on Elgin gets 2…before Unbreakable leapfrogs the Hitstick. Game Breaker instead! Superkick flurry by Cole! Florida Key for 2! Great rivals Cole and Elgin really nail each other with elbows…until Elgin floors him with a devastating roaring elbow. ROLLING POWERBOMBS ON MOOSE! SUPERKICK BY COLE! He lines up the Panama Sunrise but gets distracted by Kyle O’Reilly in the aisle – who is being held back by referees! ELGIN BOMB! Big Mike advances to the finals at 13:16
Rating - *** - This has been a really fun show so far, and this match was no exception. Elgin and Moose’s triple threat with Roderick Strong at Best In The World was better, but this one had a lot of the same qualities in that it meshed amazing displays of power and athleticism from those two with the sheer quality of their opponent (Cole in this case). Cole was the obvious villain of the piece, and is now so good that you can almost forgive the farcical finish to All Star Extravaganza because he’s making this feud with O’Reilly so enjoyable as a result.
ACH vs Matt Sydal – Best Of 5 Series Match 5
Tied at 2-2 in the series, the deciding match between them will also determine which of them advances to the Survival Of The Fittest final. Sydal actually made it to the final two of SOTF all the way back in 2006, and would relish the chance to go one further nine years later. He was outstanding in the first three matches of the series, producing a superb performance to win the first match but then losing matches #2 and #3 despite being absolutely dominant at times. ACH has grown in confidence with each passing match, and possesses the Midnight Star finishing move which Matt has struggled with throughout. In many ways his best performance so far was his loss in match #4 though – where in a total reversal of #2 he controlled the entirety of the match (as his veteran opponent got more and more irritated) but lost to a single offensive flurry right at the death. This one also takes us right back to where the ACH/Sydal first began – because it was after their awesome SOTF qualification match last year (Sydal won) that they decided to start teaming up. Who is the last man to join Daniels, Strong, Silas, Jay Briscoe and Elgin in the 2015 Survival Of The Fittest final?
Apparently ACH is coming in off a recent concussion whilst Sydal is just back from a Japanese tour, meaning neither are at 100%. That might explain why the opening minutes are cagey as both man feels their way in and tries to avoid making mistakes. The pace slowly quickens of course, with each man countering trademark moves then sharing an extremely intense handshake. Matt takes a stab at trying to work over ACH’s leg in an effort to negate the Midnight Star…but is shut down by a hiptoss neckbreaker. ACH in response is really honing on the head and neck of the veteran. Pretty soon we have one guy limping heavily and one checking his neck after almost every move to show the effectiveness of their offence. Matt increases the intensity by working over ACH’s leg in the ropes, before breaking out a bridging deathlock to make the point that his neck isn’t bothering him. ACH keeps trying to mount offence but at every turn is taken down with Sydal grabbing his busted leg on the way. Sydal starts bullying his young partner – standing over him and trying to physically intimidate him as he struggles to stand. Again, from a guy who spent most of the first match smiling, the fact that he is this intense by match #5 is testament to ACH’s skills. ACH hobbles into a running neckbreaker, then somehow counters the standing moonsault into the HERO’S GRIP! The way he sold the leg whilst doing that was awesome too! He takes way too long going upstairs for the Midnight Star though, allowing Sydal to capitalise with the Slice/standing moonsault combo. Vertical leap frankensteiner gets 2 and leaves us wondering whether ACH has anything left. Matt tries a super rana to finish things off, but ACH moves south leaving him crotched on the turnbuckles! LEG SELLING FLYING DOUBLE STOMP gets 2! Sydal kicks the leg…so ACH elbows the neck in return! Kicks traded, before Sydal counters a brainbuster with a FRONT FLIP RANA for 2! Desperate to win, ACH actually grabs at Matt’s trunks to stop him scaling the ropes for the SSP. REVERSE RANA BY SYDAL! This is how he won match #4! SYDAL PRESS GETS KNEES! But ACH’s bad leg means he can barely stand either! ROARING ELBOW TO THE NECK! BRAINBUSTER! MIDNIGHT STAR NAILED! ACH WINS THE SERIES! 19:24 is your time.
Rating - **** - A fittingly well-worked conclusion to a series which has been one of the best things Ring Of Honor have done all year. All five matches have been seriously good, given real time to develop and delivered not just amazing feats of athleticism but also some marvellous story-telling. This wasn’t the most exciting of the five, but they were working seriously hard to bring in elements of all four preceding matches as well as working in new strategies to keep things fresh. Sydal tried to be the controlling veteran, but in a pissed off aggressive manner rather than the smiling, smirking uber-confident way he’d presented himself all the way back in Dearborn. He controlled long stretches just as we saw in Chicago Ridge – but this time just as with both San Antonio matches ACH had the confidence and conviction to continually take the fight back to him. Having struggled with the Midnight Star and ACH’s athleticism all series Sydal devised a strategy to negate those, and for the majority of the bout ACH’s selling was outstanding (albeit he did let himself down by totally ignoring it for the finishing sequence which is a shame). ACH is the right call to win, and as ever the crucial thing now is that Delirious follows up on this…and doesn’t turn his series win here into another Cedric Alexander/Roderick Strong situation where Ced won his big feud then went right back to the same spot he’d had on the card before it.
SIDENOTE – It didn’t work out that way, but if I was Delirious I’d have seriously considered having ACH win the whole tournament this year. Knowing who did end up winning I don’t think there was ever the intention of removing the belt from Jay Lethal at this juncture. Putting ACH over would have been a terrific way to follow on from the Best Of 5 Series win, and would have brilliantly led in to repeats more Lethal/ACH matches after their TV Title stuff last year got over so strongly. It would certainly have made as much sense (from a creative standpoint if not a financial one) as turning the tournament into cheap publicity stunt to get a World Title match onto the Wrestle Kingdom 2016 card which is what ended up happening.
Jay Lethal/Donovan Dijak/Joey Daddiego vs AJ Styles/Young Bucks
Out there somewhere on the independent circuit there must be a more talented, undiscovered (and younger) worker who could fulfil the exact same role as J. Diesel for the same money. Is he really the best Sinclair’s budget can get for the roster spot he occupies? Hopefully the other five guys in this match are good enough to cover for him as he really is dreadful and I find it appalling that he is about to headline a Ring Of Honor event with genuine top draws like AJ and the Bucks. Styles and Lethal are preparing to go to war over the World Championship at Final Battle so have the chance to land some significant warning shots tonight.
Nick isn’t taking Lethal very seriously at all which does nothing but piss the World Champion off. He stomps off in a sulk then leaves Diesel to deal with Styles. Naturally Joey can even make chain wrestling with AJ looking difficult for some reason and looks far more comfortable ditching anything fancy to swing an uncomplicated right hand into his face. Dijak is so tall that even leap-frogging one Buck over another barely reaches throat height as the Bullet Club’s combo moves start coming into play. Nick hits Joey with a moonsault off the apron…then gets springboard dropkicked off it forcibly by Lethal soon after. FEAST YOUR EYES from Dijak to Nick! I like that Daddiego and Dijak then form a human shield to prevent Nick’s partners from helping him back into the ring! House Of Truth isolate Nick for a few minutes; Jay adeptly captaining his side and thwarting a frantic escape attempt by the Young Buck with a Lethal Combination for 2. Matt comes to his brother’s aid with a Superkick though, allowing Styles to legally tag in. Donovan blocks the Clash…Calf Killer instead! Lethal saves and takes the chance to put the boots to his Final Battle opponent! He tries to rip of AJ with a Phenomenal Forearm, but it’s blocked. Lethal Injection ducked! Big boot/spinebuster/Hail To The King triple team from HOT gets 2! AJ counters a Dijak chokeslam attempt with a bodyscissors over the top rope, and with bodies scattered Lethal sets up the Tope Trifecta! PHENOMENAL FOREARM by Styles to counter! Bicycle Kick from Donovan to save the champ from the Clash! DIJAK MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON MISSES! BLOODY SUNDAY! 450 SPLASH BY NICK! 450 SPLASH BY MATT! LETHAL SAVES! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMERS on Joey and Donovan! Lethal ducks the Pele and hits AJ with the LETHAL INJECTION! DOUBLE SUPERKICK ON LETHAL! MELTZER DRIVER NAILED! MARTINI SAVES DADDIEGO! Bullet Club surround Truth…who stands steadfast and accepts his fate like a champ! TRIPLE SUPERKICK! Lethal is equally brave in trying to fight all three opponents at once! STYLES CLASH! AJ pins the World Champion! Bullet Club win at 16:30
Rating - **** - These days Ring Of Honor run a lot of these filler 6-man main event level matches. The results are mixed with some being extremely average and others being hugely entertaining. This one definitely fell on the latter end of the spectrum and was a whole lot of fun. It was well documented that AJ wasn’t 100% and starting to feel the wear and tear from his prolific and demanding independent schedule - so this felt like the ideal way to build to Final Battle. Having a champion who can lose non-title matches again (unlike Jay Briscoe) is a welcome change in dynamic to the ROH Championship and having Styles convincingly pin the champ a month out from their showdown makes total sense. The whole match very smartly hyped Lethal vs AJ, but crucially didn’t make everyone else look like idiots in the first place. The Young Bucks were very clearly the best tag team, Lethal very clearly the captain of his team, and both Dijak and Daddiego got to come off like smart, bruising enforcers rather than big idiotic meatheads. Having the heels suck it up and accept their fate at the end (Martini accepting his Superkick punishment like a man then Jay trying to fight everyone even though all of his allies had been neutralised) means they come away from this looking like strong, empathetic and believable characters too. Filler main event this may have been, but the wrestling it contained was good and it clearly achieved it’s purpose of promoting the next pay-per-view main event. Job done…
AJ ends the show by standing over Jay Lethal with his World Title belt raised aloft.
Tape Rating - *** - There isn’t a bad match to be found on this DVD making it incredibly easy to watch and recommend. It is a house show so unless you were as invested in the ACH/Sydal Best Of 5 as I was there isn’t anything you really NEED to see, but you won’t find a more solid three hours of wrestling anywhere. All it really lacks is a really great, stellar, stand-out match (the three 4* ratings I did give were very much on the low end of that scale) but after a number of shows which have really lacked consistency recently it was great to see Ring Of Honor deliver a top-to-bottom strong event.
Top 3 Matches
3) AJ Styles/Young Bucks vs Jay Lethal/Donovan Dijak/Joey Daddiego (****)
2) ACH vs Matt Sydal (****)
1) Roderick Strong vs Cedric Alexander (****)