McXal's Reviews

One thing Ring Of Honor has done exceptionally well thus far in 2016 is make their live event/’On Tour’ shows more interesting. The Winter Warriors Tour house shows were all of a very high standard, all worth watching and all offering slight variants on the extremely tired ‘house show’ formula that ROH/Sinclair had pushed into the ground through 2014/15. That trend looks set to continue here with one of the most hotly anticipated ‘On Tour’ events of the year. The card is stacked, even without Kenny Omega who was pulled at late notice. The World Championship is on the line with Jay Lethal defending against Matt Sydal, who has been in hot form all year. Kushida, who was announced as Omega’s replacement, puts his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title on the line against ACH in a potential showstealer. The undercard tag pitting reDRagon against Adam Cole and Roderick Strong is an intriguing contest particularly if, like me, you’re watching it in 2019 and can acknowledge it as all four members of NXT’s ‘Undisputed Era’ locking horns. The packed tag division also gets plenty of exposure, with the Briscoes and War Machine squaring off in trios action (featuring Cheeseburger and Moose), then a triple threat tag throwing together The Addiction, the Young Bucks and the Motor City Machine Guns. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III provide commentary in Philadelphia, PA.

For once Sumie won’t be the only veteran Joshi wrestler making an appearance. Kyoko Kimura is here for a somewhat random debut. She has more than twelve years in the business and is arguably as well-known for her signature ‘afro’ hairstyle as she is for her work. To give some credit to the ROH School, technically 50% of the field here are graduates from the Dojo. Veda and Mandy are well-documented products, but Rose trained under Daizee Haze in the old ‘SHIMMER class’ years ago and used to work under a mask as ‘Jumping’ Jamilia Craft. We’ve seen Sakai and Scott do battle at live events before, and obviously Kimura coming in adds some international interest…but arguably the real interest here is in what role Leon and Hendrix will take. Both occupy prominent positions, with Mandy a regular on the TV show and Taeler in the House Of Truth…but neither have earned much of a reputation for their in-ring performances.

Ian Riccaboni is on commentary for this, and even he can’t keep a straight face when he calls the WOH the ‘hottest, most prestigious women’s division in the world’. Kyoko makes a point of disrespecting Sumie rather than follow the Code Of Honor. Rose and Scott start, having apparently trained together at the ROH school in the past. Veda eats a suplex and doesn’t want more of her old training buddy so tags out to Kimura and watches her put the boots to Jenny. Mandy tags in and the Joshi veteran almost licks her lips and getting to f*ck her up. She peppers the ‘Exotic Goddess’ with chops and is so dominant she quite literally can drag her around by the nose. It’s almost a surprise when Leon hits a Flatliner into a Koji Clutch which necessitates Taeler coming to the rescue. CARTWHEEL palm strike from Hendrix to Sakai gets 2. Scott gives her team the advantage with a cheap shot on Rose…then she decides to join commentary rather than face the consequences! ‘I’ve always dreamed of calling my own matches’ – Veda. She watches Hendrix and Kimura take turns roughing Jenny up, with Hendrix getting a nearfall via the Ginger Snap. BACK DROP DRIVER on Kyoko! That prompts Veda to leave commentary…right into a German suplex by Sumie. DEAD-LIFT FISHERMAN BUSTER on Hendrix. Taeler didn’t jump properly on that so Sumie f*cking muscled her over regardless! Leon hits a wheelbarrow bulldog on Kyoko, and steps aside so Rose can land a big spear on Veda. DIVING LARIAT OFF THE APRON by Rose! It leaves Kimura and Scott stacked on the outside, so Mandy climbs to the top for a SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Made all the more dangerous by the fact she slipped! The Philly fans are into this now! Sakai levels Hendrix with a missile dropkick, but then MISSES a moonsault. Tombstone by Taeler…countered to a roll-up by Sumie. She wins at 09:27

Rating - ** - The second half of this one was really good. Some of the execution was horrendous, and with all due respect to these hard-working women, they are not the first draft picks of female wrestling talent available on the independent scene. But they maintained a solid pace, built to a terrific conclusion, gave everyone a chance to hit their spots, minimised the amount of time the weaker players were in the ring, fully utilised how entertaining Veda Scott is, and most crucially they didn’t lose the fans. I must confess I expected a little more from Jenny Rose (although it’s tough to rate her too harshly based on a cameo on a ten minute trios tag). I’m watching her earlier SHIMMER work as Jamilia Craft, and given how long ago that was and how much experience she has subsequently gained in Japan I thought her ring work would be a little more polished. 

Dalton Castle (with The Boys…all in their wrestling gear) arrives to start the show. He complains about not having an opponent due to Omega dropping out, particularly since he’d worked so hard (‘doing squat thrusts on a hard-wood floor’) to prepare for him. He then tries to give away ‘free puppies’ to the entire audience…only for All Night Express to interrupt him. ‘The only puppies in Philadelphia are on fat 30-year-old virgins wearing a Bullet Club shirt’ – Rhett Titus. They rag on the Philly fans for turning on them at Final Battle…so Dalton calls them ‘pussies’. King challenges Dalton, and since ‘we don’t separate The Boys’, it’ll be a handicap match.

Although it hadn’t aired on TV at this point, this is technically the triumphant aftermath of Dalton’s feud-ending victory over Silas Young in Vegas. He was scheduled to get a potentially career-making match against Kenny Omega, but instead finds himself having to stand his ground against an agitated ANX. King and Titus didn’t enjoy their trip to Las Vegas for the 14th Anniversary as much as they failed to win the Tag Titles in a brutal No DQ Match against War Machine, contested in near-silence as they went on after a Young Bucks/Omega NEVER Openweight Trios Tag Title Match that blew the roof off the building. They are now open in their dislike of the fickle ROH fans, and therefore want example of one of the most popular workers on the roster (and his Boys).

Titus demands a Boy, much to the amusement of the fans. Once again it’s completely impossible to tell the Tate Twins apart, which causes problems for Rhett too as they make him look a little silly. Dalton throws one Boy at a time over the top rope into planchas to the floor, kick-starting a near-solid minute of entertaining offence featuring Castle tossing one of his Boys at an opponent. King nabs one of The Boys and cuts him off from his partners to restore some order; hammering him with an Argentine gutbuster. Royal Flush is blocked though, bringing Castle back in to deliver suplexes a-plenty. Titus saves his partner from Bang-A-Rang then tosses him into a ringpost. That eliminates him, and ANX grab a Boy each for a tandem Coronation/brainbuster spot. The All Nights win at 07:49

Rating - ** - The current creative direction they’ve gone in with ANX makes me more interested in seeing them on ROH shows than I ever have in their long history as a team. King is superb on a live microphone and they look so much more comfortable as heels rather than trying to be babyfaces in a division where the Bucks, the Briscoes, the reformed MCMG and probably even War Machine were more popular. I’m not a huge fan of Dalton indirectly losing his first match after ‘winning’ the Silas feud, but for an impromptu thrown together last-minute house show filler match this was fine. As I said on PBP, there were some really entertaining Dalton/Boys three man sequences.

Dalton has to come to the rescue of The Boys when ANX try to deliver a post-match beatdown. He sends King packing with the Bang-A-Rang…

We know that there are ongoing rivalries between Whitmer/Page and Cedric/Gresham, but for me the real intrigue here is seeing Alexander willingly team with BJ Whitmer of The Decade. BJ was part of The Decade who tortured and made Cedric’s very existence in Ring Of Honor miserable. The fact that, almost two years removed from his excellent feud with Roderick Strong, his stock is lower than ever and he is now reduced to teaming with the group he hated the most, is quite sad. He’s also smarting from his recent televised loss to Jon Gresham, such a significant moment that Gresh has been getting regular bookings since then. Teaming with Cedric does at least document how alone BJ is in the ROH landscape these days (unless it’s Women Of Honor and they acknowledge Kelly Klein’s existence). Whitmer and Page are at each other’s throats following Page’s decision to quit The Decade, and didn’t settle anything when they met at the 14th Anniversary.

Alexander is jumped by Gresham during his entrance, with Page sprinting out as well to get into a brawl with Whitmer. The match doesn’t start for some time as everyone fights around ringside in true ECW Arena fashion. OLE OLE KICK by Gresham! APRON BACKBREAKER by WHITMER! CRAZY TOPE SUICIDA NAILED BY GRESHAM! There is a little kid literally cowering in his father’s arms at the intensity of this! Veda Scott distracts Jon as the bell finally rings, feeding him into a spinebuster from BJ for 2. It leads to the bizarre sight of Cedric and BJ working as a cohesive unit to isolate Gresham. Their work is made all the better for how f*cking great at taking a beating Gresh is. His hit tag, when it does come, is warmly received and brings Page straight in…then straight out to the floor with a pescado on Whitmer. He is so anxious to get his hands on BJ he almost disregards Cedric. SHOOTING STAR HEADBUTT TO THE FLOOR! TILTA-WHIRL DDT BY GRESHAM! Buckshot Lariat from Page to Alexander gets 2. Whitmer, meanwhile, seems to have lost control – smearing Gresham’s face into the railings then grabbing a steel chair to go back into battle with Page. Hangman has a chair too though, handed to him by Mr Wrestling III! Duelling chairs goes nowhere, and Adam then counters Cedric’s rebound enziguri INTO THE RITE OF PASSAGE! Page wins at 07:01

Rating - *** - Personally I’d have opened the show with this. It was heated, packed with great action and really fired up the Philadelphia fans. Jon Gresham is such a high quality talent to add to the ROH roster and he was really starting to look at home by this point. Everything he did in this was perfect, from the beating he took at the hands of Whitmer and Page, to his fiery brawling spots on the floor at the beginning, to the pinpoint precision on some gorgeous high spots. He was the star of the show for me, without wishing to detract from the strong performances delivered by the other three.

The Briscoes are in hot pursuit of the ROH Tag Championship. It’s a title they’ve held more than anyone else, but you have to go back to 2013 for the last time they had the belts. They have made it clear to War Machine they are coming, and haven’t been shy about reminding Hanson and Rowe that every time their teams have met it’s been the Briscoes leaving victorious. As a prelude to their inevitable Tag Title showdown we see them clash in trios action this evening. One can’t help but feel like the champs got the better additional partner – bringing Moose into the fold to form a seriously sizeable trio. They all come out wearing matching football pads to show some unity. The injured Matt Taven is on commentary too, discussing his history with both the Briscoes and War Machine.

Burger starts with Moose, with the Philly fans losing their sh*t for him. I just don’t get the popularity of this kid. Moose acts scared of the Shotei, and heads out leaving Rowe to take a beating from both Briscoes. Hanson gets involved and flattens Mark in the corner with the Bronco Buster. The Tag Champs then forcibly perch Jay on the turnbuckles so Moose can land his vertical leap dropkick. ‘War Moose-chine’ isolate Mark, although watching on DVD it’s slightly hard to follow with Taven and MW3 cracking jokes almost constantly. Thankfully some of them are funny, and Kelly steers their attention back to the ring as Rowe trashes the younger Briscoe with the Cement Mixer. It doesn’t stop a hot tag to Cheese…except the three big men refuse to sell his offence! Shotei flurry NO SOLD! TRIPLE MAFIA KICK KILLS BURGER! He somehow regains his composure to skittle around the ring dodging finishing moves from all his adversaries then brings Jay in to tee off on Rowe. Mark ducks Hanson’s Cartwheel Lariat…so Hanson SITS ON HIS FACE! Jay picks Burger up and press slams him to the floor…only for his opponents to catch him and THROW HIM BACK! ELBOW SUICIDA INTO EVERYONE by Jay! Cheeseburger hits a springboard plancha, which annoyingly War Machine actually sell. Thankfully Moose didn’t and acts quickly to brain Burger against the railings. He and Jay take turns hitting each other as hard as possible…with Briscoe blinking first and nailing a DVD instead. Superman Punch by Rowe…but Mark saves his brother before the champs can hit Fallout. DOUBLE SUPERPLEX ON HANSON! Flying splash by Burger…which looks terrible but again is raucously cheered by the fans. Rowe tries to end his career with a German suplex! ‘There’s a dead child in the ring’ – Taven. The Briscoes and War Machine face-off and trash talk, before coming to blows at high velocity. Mark clears the ring after the urinage on Rowe….then counters Moose’s Game Breaker with Redneck Kung Fu. DISCUS LARIAT by Moose! Burger hits a running Shotei on Hanson…WHO F*CKING FLIP BUMP SELLS IT? Are you serious? Thankfully Moose charges down Cheeseburger with the Hitstick and picks up the victory at 15:16

Rating - *** - I didn’t have the highest of hopes for this, but it wound up being good value, in front of a live audience who went nuts for everything they did (which really helps). There were a few moments of completely ridiculous over-selling on Burger's offence (what the hell was Hanson doing at the end!?), which combined with Taven and Corino’s comedy did make this feel like a joke match at points…but in the end we saw some great action, and enough teases of War Machine/Briscoes (without ‘giving away the farm’) to keep everyone interested.

This is the match that was given to the Philadelphia fans to ‘make up’ for Kenny Omega being pulled at late notice. It may not be The Cleaner, but it should certainly be a hell of a match between two guys who have nothing but ultra-consistent every time they’ve stepped into an ROH ring. We’ve seen these two team before, and they have mutual allies in Alex Shelley and Matt Sydal. But we’ve also seen Sydal beat Kushida in Ring Of Honor before. With his prized Junior Title on the line there is no way Kushida will want to suffer a similar defeat tonight.

ACH is in a weird mood here. He is pretty dismissive of his opponent during the Code Of Honor, and smirks like an ass when giving him a voluntary clean break. Kushida rides him on the mat, proving that he can be asshole too…and also that he has the challenger’s number on the ground. He is a formidable competitor when the pace quickens as well – actually out-working ACH and giving him a STONE COLD STUNNER! ACH looks annoyed at that and throws the champ out of the ring…only for Kushida to land on his feet and chuck ACH chest-first into the railings. He tries it again, but this time ACH hurdles the guardrail, runs into the crowd then sprints back for an AIR JORDAN OFF THE BARRICADE! And he’s still being a dick too, checking Kushida’s famous wrist-tape watch as he struggles to recover. ACH starts targeting the midsection of the champion, which makes sense as it sets him up for the Midnight Star. Kushida needs to defend himself, and does so by jarring the arm of his opponent over the top rope. He handspring kicks ACH to the floor, then climbs the ropes looking for something extreme…only for ACH to knock him back and make fun of him. DIVING ARM-BREAKER OVER THE TOP ROPE by Kushida! TOP ROPE SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! Still wounded himself, Kushida wants to finish it with a moonsault back into the ring but the challenger kicks out at 2. ACH tries to PUMPHANDLE Kushida into the Big Bang Attack, only for Kushida to counter WHILST UPSIDE DOWN INTO THE HOVERBOARD LOCK! ACH escapes, and counters the Handspring Elbow into the HERO’S GRIP for 2! ACH’s arm hangs limp at this side as he transitions between spots, but doesn’t stop him trying to go to the top. The champ thwarts the Midnight Star with a HANDPSRING HEEL KICK! FLYING CROSS ARMBREAKER FROM THE TOP ROPE! INTO THE HOVERBOARD LOCK! But ACH somehow muscles free! TWISTING BRAINBUSTER BY ACH! Both men are down, as the fans chant ‘Better than Roadblock’ in reference to the WWE Network show this was running against. These two are a mess and can barely lift their arms to hit each other as they crawl up from the canvas. WIND-UP SLAP BY ACH! TANAKA PUNCH BY KUSHIDA! DISCUS LARIAT BY ACH! And they’re both flat-out on the ground again! ACH climbs the ropes again for an ARM-SELLING MIDNIGHT STAR…WHICH MISSES! RUNNING PUNT TO THE ARM! HOVERBOARD LOCK! ACH TAPS! Kushida retains at 18:47

Rating - ****1/2 - This was an outstanding match and is quite deservedly in the conversation for best ROH match of the year thus far. He doesn’t get as much praise as he should for it, but ACH has been one of ROH’s most consistent in-ring performers for a LONG time…and here he was in the ring with the guy many consider to be the workhorse of New Japan’s junior division. They meshed superbly, keeping the tone light early but constantly cranking up the drama and action as they progressed. We went all over ringside, took in dives from the crowd, top rope spills to the floor, some incredible false finishes, a BRILLIANT attack on the arm by Kushida…culminating in an incredibly tense final few minutes as both men were visibly shot but still going all out to destroy each other. Nobody really expected ACH to win here, so there wasn’t necessarily any tension on who the winner or loser would be. That the conclusion was as dramatic as it was is entirely down to how f*cking good the match was. I like Kenny Omega and Dalton Castle – but I genuinely don’t think they’d have had a better match than this. 

Well this will be a comedown after the last match. Presumably the live event had an intermission to split them up at least. Truth Martini isn’t with J. Diesel due to the injuries sustained at the hands of Donovan Dijak (who still can’t get booked apparently), but he does have Taeler Hendrix in his corner. Ferrara is someone who has had his career supposedly revitalised by the written word of Prince Nana. His association with Nana most likely makes him a target for what is left of the House Of Truth, given that Nana orchestrated Dijak’s assault on Martini.

Is Diesel competing in Jay Lethal’s gear? Is the guy who loudly yells ‘show your tits’ at Taeler (when her attire basically already does that) a giant idiot? Hendrix gets a mic and demands that Dijak watches and observes the damage Joey dishes out. He starts as promised by pinning Will in the corner and hammering him with punches. He used to be a boxer, in case you missed Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino talking about it in every match he has ever. Ferrara outsmarts Daddiego and tries to negate the punches by applying first a shortarm scissors and then a crossface. He actually does some nice work to attack the arm…but Diesel is utter garbage so doesn’t sell it all. Literally, it doesn’t bother him one iota as he doles out strikes, slams and throws. It then gets dangerous as he tree of woes Ferrara then heaves the back of his exposed head into the canvas as hard as possible. In all fairness, Will isn’t selling sh*t either, and starts hitting the same spots he hits in every match, in the same order too. Daddiego almost drops him on his head again…then hoists him into a clumsy sit-out powerbomb. Taeler Hendrix is as fed up of watching this match as I am, so feeds Joey a chair and demands he use it on Ferrara. Daddiego does indeed hit Will with the weapon, so is disqualified at 06:09

Rating - DUD – An early candidate for worst ROH match of 2016. Outside of the sound wrestling psychology of Ferrara working the arm to stop ex-boxer Diesel punching him (which lasted about thirty seconds) this was atrocious. Daddiego just isn’t good enough, on any level, to compete in a Ring Of Honor ring, and is a walking example of why ROH values cash money (i.e. people paying to attend their stupid training sessions and seminars) over in-ring ability when recruiting talent these days. He’s had a decent spot in the House Of Truth…but hasn’t developed. In fact he looked dangerously terrible here. 

Donovan Dijak IS HERE! His music hits and he storms the ring with Prince Nana to get into a fight. Quite incredibly, Delirious hasn’t booked him to straight-up murder the all-around useless Daddiego, and instead has them contest an even brawl as officials separate them. Way to go Lizard Man, not being able to beat up J f*cking Diesel – that’ll get him over. Joey and Taeler flee as Dijak assaults jobbers in the ring. 

The Undisputed Era collide! All of these men have issues going back years and years, but right now we see two singles feuds getting pushed together in a single tag match. Cole and O’Reilly still haven’t found a way to settle their war, and even with the TV Title now around Tomohiro Ishii’s waist Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong can’t stand each other either. On the face of it Cole and Roddy are at a severe disadvantage here. Their opponents have years of experience as a team to fall back on, plus Cole and Strong don’t exactly get along swimmingly either. 

O’Reilly starts for his team, even though Adam Cole has no intention of joining him. The fans are super-into all four men which creates a real big-fight atmosphere as we get underway. Fish succeeds in bloodying Cole’s nose…but as he taunts him for doing so his rival Strong jumps him from behind. reDRagon try to team up on Roddy, but in turn Cole attacks O’Reilly from behind. The ‘heels’ bail to stop reDRagon hitting tandem kick flurries, so instead O’Reilly and Fish hit stereo pescados. All four men fight like maniacs around ringside and all take some nasty spills into the guardrails at one point or another. Fish tries to spear Roddy into the railings…but is COUNTERED by a superkick from Cole! Kyle tries a flying knee off the apron but is caught into a CRADLE APRON BACKBREAKER by Roderick! His arm took the brunt of the impact there apparently, and it is something that Strong and Cole look to exploit. Olympic Slam/Shining Wizard combo gets 2…all the while repeatedly knocking Bobby off the apron so that he never has a chance to recover from that superkick on the floor. It comes to an end as Strong gets over-excited and turns his back on the action…then starts snapping an arm over the top rope unaware that O’Reilly has switched his with Cole’s. Adam salvages things before Kyle can tag but it does at least allow Fish back into play. Kick flurry from O’Reilly finally leads to him bringing Bobby back in legally. He throws Cole at his partner with an exploder suplex, leaving him open for a HANGING ARMBAR from Kyle. Two Man Smash Machine gets 2 before Strong comes to the rescue. DEATH BY RODERICK/NXT LAST SHOT COMBO FOR 2! Figure 4 on Fish! STRONGHOLD ON KYLE! COUNTERED TO STEREO ANKLELOCKS! Axe & Smash incapacitates Roderick, whilst inside the ring Fish counters another superkick into a Samoan drop to leave everyone down. JAWBREAKER LARIAT from O’Reilly to Strong! Cole stops them hitting Chasing The Dragon and hits an APRON OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX on Fish! He storms the ring to brawl with his arch rival O’Reilly…meaning Kyle turns his back on Strong’s JUMPING KNEE! Strong is legal, and pins Kyle at 15:45

Rating - **** - Mr Wrestling III calls it an upset, and he is dead right. Cole and Strong beating the established team of reDRagon should genuinely be a surprising turn of events, but they way they built to that shock decision and laid out the progression of this match backed it up well. reDRagon got to look like a superior team, but were undone after an uncontrollable brawl on the floor and never really recovered fully from that. I loved the way Cole and Strong controlled the match and kept Fish from even getting onto the apron…and in turn the way they documented exactly how Bobby eventually was able to get back (the Strong/Cole inadvertent armbreaker spot) was another superb layer of detail. Of course it was a tad formulaic, and I suspect they held back some of the spot-heavy stuff at the end to make room for the triple threat tag that comes after them – but this was still everything I wanted for a marquee match featuring four of Ring Of Honor’s best. The fact that all of them will be gone from the company in just over a year is a scary indictment on how much this roster is going to enter a state of flux over the next 18-24 months.

Ring Of Honor’s tag division is so outrageously deep that none of these three teams are actually that close to the titles right now. The Addiction have issues with both of these teams, although right now their sole focus has to be on getting payback on the Machine Guns after Chris Sabin walked out on their faction to reform his old team with Alex Shelley. With the Briscoes and ANX both apparently ahead of them in the pecking order to get at War Machine right now, all three teams know victory is essential here. Since Kenny Omega couldn’t attend the show tonight, the Bucks bring out his Broom in his honour – fully decked out in Young Bucks/The Elite merch available for purchase of course!

Daniels and Kazarian could not be more curmudgeonly during the entrances of their opponents. Their dislike brooms and ‘2 Sweets’ and MCMG hand-points makes them seem like grouchy parents at a kids party. It gets worse for Kaz when the Bucks put him on his head with their gutbuster/neckbreaker combo…then throw the Omega Broom (‘Broo-mega’) at him in a ‘crossbody’ then try to count him out for a loss to an inanimate object. Shelley gets into the spirit of things and goes full Flair bump when the Broom gets in his face! He and Nick go back and forth at frightening speed, leading to a tense Bucks/MCMG stand-off. The rapid-fire double-teams of the Young Bucks sees them assume control, decimating Alex with a standing Shiranui/diving knee sequence. DOUBLE TESTICULAR CLAW BY SHELLEY…into a double crucifix pin on both Jacksons for 2. He starts innovating crazy ways to take the fight to the Bucks, but then unwittingly tags in Christopher Daniels so The Addiction get to profit from his hard work. Kazarian makes a beeline for the Broom for some payback for earlier, slapping it about then giving it a leg drop. SUPERKICK by Matt since Kaz is so distracted by Broo-mega! Nick completes the job by wiping him out with a moonsault off the apron. The Addiction want a team-talk on the floor…RISE OF THE TERMINATOR BY THE BROOM! TOPE ATOMICO BY NICK! He hits a Swanton Bomb back into the ring on Daniels for 2. Chris Sabin suddenly remembers he’s in this match too and rocks the Ring General with a springboard DDT. Indytaker COUNTERED with a flatliner/DDT combo by Shelley! TOPE SUICIDA BY SABIN! CORKSCREW MOONSAULT BY NICK! ARABIAN PRESS BY DANIELS…blocked by Matt INTO A RUN-UP HANGING SUPERKICK BY NICK! Frankie wants to join the dive party with a pescado, only to propel himself over the ropes into a FOUR-MAN SUPERKICK PARTY from both opposing teams! It leaves the Machine Guns and the Bucks alone to fight amongst themselves in a FOUR MAN SUPERKICK WAR! Shelley goes for Sliced Bread #2…Matt tries to counter to the Meltzer Driver…and then Daniels returns to break that up with a schoolboy roll-up on him! What a sequence! Even the Fallen Angel gets in on the dives with a tope suicida. Sabin saves Matt from Celebrity Rehab, then Matt saves himself from Angel’s Wings with a rana into a Superkick. ANGEL’S WINGS ON NICK! SUPERKICK ON DANIELS! MORE BUCK/MCMG SUPERKICK DUELS! ‘I love Superkicks’ – Mr Wrestling III. The Bucks try to give Kaz a Meltzer Driver…only for Daniels to shove Nick backwards INTO A SPRINGBOARD CRAZY-SAULT TO THE F*CKING FLOOR! That wipes out Sabin and Shelley, as in the ring The Addiction line BME SPIKE PILEDRIVER! AKA THE BEST MELTZER EVER! The Addiction win in a raucous 19:50

Rating - **** - You’ll have read countless ROH reviews where I’ve been critical of matches not getting the right time allowance. Here ROH/Delirious deserve a ton of credit, because by giving this almost twenty minutes they really allowed it time to become something special. Instead of going crazy out of the gate it enabled the performers to layer in some tension, chuck in some comedy, and really build the crowd up so that when the insanity did come out in the second half of the match the place was nuts and biting on everything. It wasn’t perfect, and at times I thought that Daniels and Frankie really did look a step slower than their younger opposition…but nevertheless this wound up being quite spectacular and will really wet your appetite for their PPV Ladder War later in 2016.

Sydal has scored big wins all year, and has been awarded this title shot after his recent high profile singles victory over Adam Cole on ROH television. He goes back a long way in Ring Of Honor, but has never gotten himself into a viable position to become World Champion…until now. We know Lethal is vulnerable without Truth Martini – the man who masterminded his career resurgence going back to Supercard Of Honor 8 in New Orleans – in his corner, and we know Lethal is distracted by wanting payback on Donovan Dijak. Can ‘Reborn’ put the exclamation point on a storied career with an upset victory in our main event?

Somewhere along the line recently Jay Lethal appears to have gotten massively over as a babyface. He gets a huge ovation from the Philly fans, who fill the ring with streamers and vociferously chant his name. The methodical, ground-based style of the opening minutes favours him too although Kevin Kelly’s endless brown-nosing of NJPW on commentary makes it exceptionally hard to concentrate on the match. Sydal quickens the pace, but is shocked when Jay hangs with him and nails a dropkick to the back of the head. So shaken by that, Matt actually initiates them returning to an exchange of holds on the canvas. Finally he starts getting into Lethal’s head; scoring with armdrags repeatedly and taunting him whilst doing so. The champ finds that he can’t lay a glove on a rampant challenger…so leaves the ring to kill his momentum. Not able to out-work or out-fly Sydal, Lethal instead opts for a fist-fight and pummels him into the corner with punches and kicks. Taeler Hendrix distracts him with her tits – I’m not being sexist when I say that, she literally shoves his face into them – so he throws her into the guardrails! But it allows more than enough time for Lethal to take a run up for a TOPE INTO THE BARRICADE! Kelly and MW3 speculate that Sydal may have suffered a back injury on that. And despite working heel the fans are still loudly chanting Jay’s name! Sydal tries to counter him again, but with his body weakened Lethal is able to escape and drive an elbow into the spine. A cobra clutch backbreaker stretch is applied to do more damage. Slowed and wounded, some of Matt’s more athletic moves are temporarily removed from his arsenal it seems…so he mounts a comeback with a barrage of kicks. He hits The Slice for 2…noticeably attempting to pin the champ before looking for the standing moonsault he traditionally uses to succeed that spot (in order to protect his back). He is too slow to climb the ropes for the Sydal Press as well…but still manages to wipe Jay out with the diving Meteora. The champ hits the Lethal Combination to escape further punishment though. Lethal wants Hail To The King but Sydal stands up…so he looks for the Savage Axehandle instead, only for Sydal to counter in mid-air with a spinning heel kick. Vertical leap super rana by Matt! He wants the Sydal Press…SO LETHAL TOSSES HIM THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPER’S TABLE! Holy sh*t that just exploded! Sydal barely beats the count-out….and staggers back in to COUNTER THE LETHAL INJECTION TO A REVERSE RANA! SYDAL PRESS…GETS BOOTED AWAY! LETHAL INJECTION NAILED! Lethal retains at 19:03

Rating - **** - This was a slower and more measured match than I was expecting. I’m certainly not complaining that they went down the more cerebral route (as Sydal proved during the ACH Best Of 5, he is fully equipped to carry of this style of match), but it did surprise me somewhat. I like an opening sequence which is loaded with sub-text and intent, and I thought they really delivered that. Each man probed the other for weaknesses, with Sydal first standing up to Lethal’s tests then gradually starting to one-up him. It was only the interruption of Hendrix which actually turned the match in Lethal’s favour. And when it did he opened up an injury so severe that Sydal would spend the rest of the match fighting (and selling mostly). The tense, chess-match style was shattered in the closing stages with that crazy table bump…and the last minute, with Sydal beating the count and then looking on the cusp of victory when he climbed the ropes for the SSP, really had the place jumping. If anything this made me sad that Sydal didn’t get more chance to work main-event level matches back in 2005-7, when he lacked the experience and seasoning he has now but didn’t have a body worn down by years of nagging injuries…

Tape Rating - **** - I genuinely cannot praise the quality of these 2016 ROH house show/’on tour’ events highly enough. All of them have been worthwhile purchases (and arguably better than the 14th Anniversary PPV), and we’ve seen some outstanding stand-alone matches contained within. Aside from the Ferrara/Daddiego horror show, this was a really tight and entertaining live event. Four matches reaching 4* level means this is an easy one to recommend to Honor Club subscribers, with the Kushida/ACH match standing out as one of the best Ring Of Honor matches of 2016, and therefore really should be seen. 

3) Adam Cole/Roderick Strong vs reDRagon (****)

2) The Addiction vs Motor City Machine Guns vs Young Bucks (****)

1) Kushida vs ACH (****1/2)