McXal's Reviews

Ring Of Honor’s first quarter of 2016 has been as strong as anything I can remember under Sinclair ownership. They brought that strong form into WrestleMania weekend yesterday with a superb Night One of Supercard Of Honor 10. Being honest, the top-to-bottom line-up isn’t as strong tonight (and apparently also includes a ‘rap concert’ from Mike ‘P-Dog’ Posey). But, the biggest matches of the weekend are tonight – as reDRagon look to settle their big singles rivalries once and for all. The main event puts Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly together in a No Holds Barred Match, whilst Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish will settle their issues under 2/3 Falls rules. We are also promised that World Champion Jay Lethal will ‘address’ the return of Colt Cabana that took place yesterday. We once again join Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III in Dallas, TX.

Jay Lethal comes straight to the ring and refuses to give Colt Cabana a title shot as he isn’t signed and isn’t even on the ROH roster…and doesn’t care enough to be here tonight because he’s off doing podcasts. Instead he puts over Cheeseburger as a hard worker…and offers him a title shot right now!

The way Lethal is being booked and conducting himself right now is confusing, but I think I mean that in a good way. Instead of turning him babyface because fans cheer for him now, they’ve not changed his character or how he acts…but similarly aren’t going all out to turn him heel either. Right now he gets very organic crowd reactions dependent on circumstance and opponent. Only the best World Champions (Nigel, Danielson and Joe) have demonstrated that ability. He should have learned the perils of underestimating an opponent yesterday when Lio Rush pushed him to the limit (where the hell is Rush on this show?!)…so presumably he won’t be taking Cheeseburger lightly even though he proposed this championship match as something of a joke.

Lethal jumps Burger during the Code Of Honor, and attacks with an aggressive look on his face in contrast to the opening minutes against Lio. Cheese has the audacity to land a rana…so Jay angrily tosses him from the ring. He tosses the challenger into the railings a few times before returning to the ring for a neckbreaker. Lethal starts declining the opportunity to get a three-count on Burger because he wants to send a message to Cabana. Lethal Injection wins it for Jay at 04:34

Rating - N/A - After stealing the show yesterday Lethal gets an easier night tonight. I thought this was an effective squash which delivered both an emphatic victory and also a clear, physical statement on where he is mentally following Colt’s return. They kept the unbelievable Cheeseburger offence to the absolute minimum too which is a bonus.

BOOM BOOM! There’s no podcast – Colt Cabana is in the building and he’s dressed to wrestle. He tells Lethal that yesterday wasn’t a publicity stunt, and since they’re both in their gear he wants to face the World Champion right now. Taeler Hendrix tries to stop Lethal from agreeing, prompting Colt to make fun of the champ for always needing someone – be it Taeler or Truth Martini – to make his decisions. That works…and we have ourselves a match

No World Title on the line for this one, but we know what this is all about. Cabana’s return created headlines, and his impassioned promo telling everyone he wanted to give his career real meaning by becoming ROH World Champion was extremely moving. But with Lethal claiming he doesn’t deserve a title shot, can Colt beat him here and prove undeniably that he does deserve an opportunity?

Punches fly…then Cabana boots Lethal into the guardrails. Taeler distracts him though, and Jay immediately capitalises with a tope suicida. Hail To The King blocked…with Colt rolling him into Billy Goat’s Curse. Lethal Injection countered to a roll-up…COLT WINS! He pins the champ at 02:45.

Rating - N/A - This didn’t actually go over as well with the live crowd as you’d expected, mostly because it wasn’t made clear to them that this wasn’t a title match and they react with disappointment when Cabana isn’t announced as the new champion. This was more of an angle than a match, but it was a nice touch which allows ROH to quickly insert Colt into a title match despite the five year hiatus.

We haven’t actually seen Sydal and ACH team together for a while, but they would certainly be a heavy-hitting addition to the already-stacked tag division if they do recommence teaming up with any regularity. Sydal is already one half of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Champions along with Ricochet. Given that neither King or Titus currently tour with NJPW, that presumably puts a target on his back as the bitter ANX, with their new aggressive attitude, look to advance their own reputations whether the ROH fans like them or not.

According to Kevin Kelly, Kenny King is carrying a back injury into this. That may explain why Titus starts…and start he does by getting repeatedly taken to ground by the experienced Sydal. Stereo dropkicks knock the All Nights to the outside, still dazed as ACH takes a run up for a TWISTING AIR JORDAN! Rhett gets his feet up to block the standing Sydal-sault, then brings King in for an Argentine gutbuster. ANX’s offence makes Matt’s midsection a target…but they can’t keep him isolated for long enough and soon find the energetic ACH back in. He gets 2 with the Hero’s Grip on Kenny, but find Titus in position to block the Spirit Bomb with a dropkick. Sydal saves ACH from the One Night Stand before feeding Rhett into the Spirit Bomb this time around. Sydal Press/Midnight Star combo gives their team the victory at 08:33

Rating - ** - Nothing wrong with this at all, but it did feel a little brief, insubstantial and inconsequential. I really like the Sydal/ACH team (since we can’t have Ricochet in ROH thanks to Lucha Underground) and I don’t dispute giving them the win here, but there was nothing that stood out to make this memorable. 

This is a rematch of the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament finals, which saw Dijak emerge the comprehensive victor. His win in the tournament led to him being recruited by Truth Martini to the House Of Truth…but the move didn’t work out as he’d hoped and he has spent much of the last year forced into a team with the hopeless J. Diesel and acting as Jay Lethal’s heavy. After he grew tired of this treatment and was forced out of the HOT he violently snapped and ‘broke Martini’s neck’. His attack is the reason Truth is out of commission…and why he now has all the remaining members gunning for him. Last night Taeler Hendrix paid BJ Whitmer off to allow Joey Daddiego into the Six Man Mayhen match – an opportunity he took by viciously attacking Donovan’s ribs with a chair. It means Dijak has them heavily taped tonight. Does that injury give Ferrara a sniff of an upset tonight? Daddiego is on commentary…and no surprise he’s f*cking awful at that too; literally shouting everything into the microphone, offering zero insight and answering everything with closed, short sentences which offer Kelly and MW3 nothing to work with.

A fired up Ferrara jumps Dijak before the bell…prompting Donovan to THROW HIM OVER THE TOP! On the floor he bashes Will’s skull into the ringpost, before returning to the ring to land a rebound splash for 2. That doesn’t hurt his ribs for some reason...yet seconds later when Ferrara runs him into the turnbuckle pads they do bother him? I don’t quite get that, but Ferrara looks to make him suffer with a grounded abdominal stretch. Flying tornado flatliner out of the corner gets 2 for Will. He tries a superplex, but can’t get Donovan up and gets thrown away with a TOP ROPE CHOKESLAM. MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY DIJAK! The crowd are f*cking loving Dijak…but then he blows it by slipping on the top going for a springboard move and splatting face-first on the canvas. Kelly and Mr Wrestling think on their feet to cover it by blaming the rib injury sustained at Daddiego’s hands. Chokeslam Backbreaker nailed, drawing a spirited kick-out from Ferrara. Dijak hits a powerbomb next, only for Ferrara to give him the disrespectful one count treatment! FEAST YOUR EYES! Dijak wins at 07:28

Rating - ** - Donovan Dijak is a special athlete and ROH have really sh*t the bed by not having achieved more with him over the last year. Yes he cocked up a big spot here, but the uncanny athleticism he has for a man of his size makes him such a spectacle. It felt like they were FINALLY going to pull the trigger on him with the Truth Martini mugging in Las Vegas…but since then he’s hardly been booked, and when he has he is still slumming it at the bottom of the card with the likes of Ferrara and Joey f*cking Daddiego. There is absolutely no way this should have been booked to go as long as it did.

Diesel jumps Dijak again after the match and starts violently attacking the ribs with a chair once more. 

Both men had incredibly strong 2015’s. Roderick was heralded by many as having the best year of his career, whilst Bobby really came into his own for his singles work alongside reDRagon. They clashed at Final Battle, when Fish forced then-TV Champion Strong to tap-out…but the official didn’t see it. Strong wound up scoring the win, and then proceeded to duck Bobby’s extremely vocal petitions for a rematch. At the same time as he ducked a man who made him tap on pay-per-view, his substantial ego saw him set up a ‘Roddy vs The World’ challenge whereby he offered talent from all over the wrestling landscape title shots. That hubris proved to be his undoing as he lost the TV Title to New Japan’s Tomohiro Ishii at Honor Rising weekend…supposedly after a ‘backstage confrontation’ with Fish. Now neither man stands to hold or win the TV Title…so pride and bragging rights are all that are at stake in this one.

Fish can barely contain his excitement at finally getting his hands on Strong one-on-one. He starts aggressively, pelting Strong with strikes even after he tries to flee to the floor. Strong bails again to avoid the Muta-sault from Fish…but Bobby hops right back up and takes him out again with a pescado. Just has he has done multiple times recently, Roderick hides behind the referee to get some respite – before shoving him into Fish to cause a distraction, and then levelling his opponent with the Jumping Knee. End Of Heartache wins the first fall for Strong at 03:29. For all his early momentum Fish is now really struggling; slumping to the floor next to the announce table. Mr ROH drags him back up and gives him the GUARDRAIL BACKBREAKER. Fish doesn’t get a chance to recover from that as Strong LAUNCHES him ribs-first into the ringpost before heading back inside and looking for a count-out victory. Bobby barely beats the count and falls to his knees once again after diving back under the ropes. No longer to his strikes have any potency either, meaning Roddy can shake them off and continue to dominate back inside the ropes. The Muso plants him on those offending ribs too and render him barely able to kick out of pinfall attempts. Times are desperate for Fish…so he lunges into a flash pin AND GETS IT! Against the momentum, Bobby levels the score at 1-1 in a time of 08:48. Roderick is pissed off and pops right back to his feet and starts kicking him in the ribs and back once more. He tries an Olympic Slam on the floor, and when it’s blocked he propels himself into the Jumping Knee instead…but collides leg-first with the ringpost. Fish brings things back inside and gets a nearfall following the turnbuckle exploder suplex. Buzzsaw Kick scores, and followed by a successful Muta-sault for 2. Fish tries to ride Roderick with a sleeper hold…only for Strong to break it by lunging full-force into the turnbuckles. A superplex brings them back into the middle of the ring, once again destroying Bobby’s midsection. Urinage backbreaker nailed into the Stronghold! Fish tries to counter to the Fish Hook, but this time Strong sees that one coming and DESTROYS him with the Jumping Knee leaving them both on the round and in trouble. Bobby survives and applies the FISH HOOK DELUXE! Strong taps at 16:16

Rating - *** - The 2/3 Falls stipulation hindered them here. For the first time this weekend I don’t think a match was laid out, timed or paced correctly at all. If they were only willing to spare circa fifteen minutes for these guys then there is no way they should have gone 2/3 Falls. Fitting three falls into such a condensed period KILLS the drama…meaning once again they have a decent match but not one that comes close to reaching the heights of their 2015 encounter in Chicago. There was some really good work in places (mostly Strong attacking the midsection), but in such a short time period nothing stuck, nothing was sold properly and therefore felt devoid of any real tension. The final fall, which should be the pinnacle of the drama when a 2/3 Falls Match is done right, felt hugely flat almost entirely because it felt like they hadn’t even gotten started. The right man won (Roddy is just a couple of months from leaving), and it was an enjoyable watch…but it certainly didn’t reach its full potential.

Mike Posey and the Get Along Gang arrive for a post-intermission ‘rap concert’…but doesn’t even grab a microphone before Moose and Stokely Hathaway come out. P-Dog calls him out-dated and tells him he can’t wrestle, so Moose steps into the ring and massacres him and the entire Get Along Gang. If this was used to ‘write out’ Posey and this dumb ass gimmick from ever appearing in ROH again I’d be okay with it. I suspect it isn’t though, and therefore I couldn’t help but sit through this and feel like Fish and Strong REALLY could’ve used this time better…

Up next we have the scheduled non-title match between War Machine and the Silas/BCB team. But Young gets on the microphone and (after running down the fans of course) taunts Hanson and Rowe for being cowardly and not putting the belts on the line. That’s all it takes for them to agree, and Senior Referee allows them to defend the Ring Of Honor Tag Championship right here, right now…

We’ve seen these two teams face each other before, and it was a real ugly fight. Since that time Young and BCB have only grown stronger as a team (Bruiser’s performance at Night One was remarkable), and having goaded Hanson and Rowe into putting the belts on the line they now stand a real chance of being the duo who stops War Machine’s Path Of Destruction…

Rowe levels Bruiser with a knee strike and the Superman Punch…then he and his partner sort of mess up a sweet pop-up powerslam double team spot (though Young still got his ass kicked on it). Shotgun Knee/Bronco Buster combo works far better and utterly flattens Beer City again. Silas shows is resourcefulness by luring Rowe towards the ropes then using them to throttle him…which in turn rockets him backwards into a German suplex by BCB. The Last Real Man tears the sh*t out of Ray’s back and tries to get him to submit to a crossface, then an STF. There is no tap-out but Rowe is visibly weakened and it means that Bruiser can easily stop him executing a powerbomb with a swift forearm to the spine. Judo throw into a knee strike rocks Silas’ head back though, bringing in Hanson legally for a hoss showdown with the Bruiser. Hanson sits down on his face…then hits the inverted slam on Silas. Sledgehammer strikes in the corner to both challengers next, with Ray Rowe still down recovering from the punishment he suffered. Back Drop Driver/Lionsault/Fatty Splash sequence from the challengers gets 2! Rowe returns with the CEMENT MIXER ON BRUISER! That’s crazy strength! Path Of Resistance gets 2 on the Last Real Man. BCB saves his partner from Fallout as Young hits the turnbuckle DDT on Hanson! CANNONBALL TO THE FLOOR BY BRUISER! Cartwheel Lariat on Young! He tries the same spot on Bruiser only for the big man to counter it to a DDT. He goes upstairs, but Rowe counters the Keg Splash with a ROPE RUN BELLY TO BELLY SUPERPLEX! ELBOW SUICIDA BY HANSON! FALLOUT ON SILAS! The champs retain at 10:47

Rating - *** - Is this the weekend I became a Beer City Bruiser convert? This was MOTN thus far and it is becoming very apparent that when Bruiser’s lack of stamina and finesse can be hidden in a big man, tough guy ‘fights’ like this he becomes an effective performer. The ‘heat segment’ on Ray Rowe was a little uninteresting (particularly as the work on his back was total filler that wasn’t relevant to anything later in the contest) but when it was four big dudes just beating the piss out of each other it was super entertaining. War Machine are a little unlucky to have become Tag Champs at the time they have. They are an awesome duo, but a combination of injuries and mismanagement mean it has taken far too long to put the straps on them. They are really fun to watch, but just aren’t as popular as the Bucks, the refocused Briscoes or the reunited Machine Guns (and even The Addiction in truth). It feels like the good work they are doing is going under the radar, and a clock ticking on when the Tag Title goes to one of the aforementioned teams.

The last Decade representative standing, BJ Whitmer, hasn’t done a lot of wrestling recently. After conning his way to a win over Adam Page at the Anniversary Show he has been content to accept money and allow others to wrestle his matches for him. That isn’t the case tonight and he faces perhaps his toughest test since returning from injury. Castle won a Six Man Mayhem (that BJ was supposed to be part of) yesterday, and would like to follow up his triumph over long-time rival Silas Young in Las Vegas with a 2-0 record over WrestleMania weekend. Page is another talented dude who isn’t wrestling tonight for some reason, but he is on commentary for this one.

Whitmer stalls for the first couple of minutes as Dalton and the fans rile him up. There is an awesome moment where Dalton gets SO into one of his weird poses that BJ thinks he can jump him…but Castle is such a lethal mat wrestler that the second BJ comes near him he takes him down and owns him. That outbreak of physicality is enough to convince Whitmer to leave the ring for more stalling. For a man that once had a Barbed Wire Match with the Necro Butcher, fighting on the floor is much more his speed. He pops Dalton in the mouth and shoves him into the guardrails…but doesn’t count on the Peacock fighting back into the ring then building speed for the HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! Bringing the match back inside the ring Castle once again dominates a mat-based contest; a pattern the veteran BJ realises he needs to break. He delivers a spinebuster on Dalton’s suspect back then maintains some distance so Dalton can’t just grapple him endlessly. He starts keeping the Peacock in the ground, which isn’t thrilling to watch but does represent sound wrestling strategy. But he starts getting cocky, and is reminded of the threat Dalton possesses when Castle pounces to hit an exploder suplex from his knees. Whitmer acts quickly to shut him down again with a powerslam onto that bad back once more. Whitmer’s Exploder ’98 is blocked…so The Decade man punts him in the head and lands a big lariat for 2 instead. EVEREST GERMAN out of nowhere by Dalton! That was an amazing counter! Whitmer shuts him down again with elbows to the neck and back then mounts the ropes for a BACK SUPERPLEX! He doesn’t get a win on that but is now so confident of victory that BJ finds time to antagonise both The Boys and Adam Page. He gets heat for stealing one of The Boys’ masks…only for it to backfire when it pisses Dalton off so much that he lands Bang-A-Rang and wins at 14:55

Rating - *** - I’ve seen some negative responses to this one, but I thought it was a decent match. Admittedly it was slow and never particularly exciting…but I don’t have a problem with that. ROH have plenty of acts who deliver ‘exciting’ matches. What this did well was that it told a believable story for the characters the two men play and the skills they both possess. Castle’s weirdness and phenomenal amateur skills caused Whitmer problems, which he solved using his ability to brawl, plus his veteran sensibilities and cunning. He found a way to nullify Dalton’s strengths, beat the sh*t out of a known weak point on the Party Peacock and it was only his own arrogance (again, in keeping with  BJ’s character) in deciding he had it won so he could f*ck around with The Boys and Page which led to his demise.

Page leaves commentary with a steel chair and a microphone. He blames Whitmer for ruining The Decade because he was obsessed with Steve Corino (which in turn caused Page to lose his ‘dream match’ with Jay Briscoe). He challenges BJ to a Street Fight when ROH return to Texas on the Conquest Tour in a couple of weeks.

The winners of this become #1 contenders to War Machine, I believe at the upcoming Global Wars PPV. There is tons of history between all four of these teams. The Briscoes and Chris Daniels go all the way back to Year One (when Daniels recruited impressionable teenage Mark to The Prophecy). The Machine Guns and the Briscoes had an incredible couple of matches years during Gabe Sapolsky's ROH tenure. The Addiction, the Bucks and MCMG are developing something of a three-team rivalry following Sabin’s defection from the KRD to reunite with Alex Shelley. Last night the Bucks and Machine Guns main evented in a hell of a match against each other (with Matt and Nick emerging victorious). Which of these ultra-capable duos will advance to challenge Hanson and Rowe?

The Bucks are treated like rockstars from their adoring fans, and the whole building is chanting ‘this is awesome’ before a bell has even sounded. Daniels and Kazarian go after Matt Jackson’s back early, which really pisses him off so he Superkicks Frankie off the apron! The Machine Guns team up on Jay Briscoe…but get prevented from making further progress when the Bucks team up on them! The Addiction and the Bucks battle over double suplexes…and the other four join them as well. FOUR-MAN TANDEM SUPLEX by the Bucks and the Briscoes! The Jacksons want a ‘2 Sweet’ from Jay and Mark, who are hilarious in their disgust at the suggestion…and get SUPERKICKED! But the multi-time ROH Tag Champions rally to stop them hitting Rise Of The Terminator topes. BRISCOE BIEL OVER THE TOP ROPE ON NICK! There is nobody in the ring now, and all eight guys brawling like crazy on the outside. Matt pokes Shelley in the eyes…so Alex gives both Jacksons a DOUBLE TESTICULAR CLAW! Through the legs tope suicida from Sabin! SLINGSHOT APRON DDT BY KAZ! ARABIAN PRESS BY DANIELS! Flying blockbuster off the apron by Mark. He sets up the Cactus Elbow…COUNTERED WITH EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S! The Addiction decide they want to slow things down and capture Mark Briscoe for a period of isolation (referee Paul Turner is so happy about slowing down that he allows them to be legal). Mark clings to existence with the veterans, but finally hits an urinage and tags out to Shelley…who gives Daniels the turnbuckle Shellshock. Jay gives Kaz the ‘Day One Neckbreaker’ (Corino called it that and I love it). TORNADO DDT TO THE FLOOR from Nick to Mark! SUPERKICK PARTY ON JAY! Daniels saves Frankie from the Meltzer Driver by pushing Nick backwards INTO A FLYING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR. Sabin prevents the Best Meltzer Ever by The Addiction! Redneck Kung Fu on Shelley! Kazarian doesn’t let the younger Briscoe hit the Froggy Bow though…just as Jay doesn’t let him hit the Flux Capacitor. DOOMSDAY DEVICE COUNTERED TO A MID-AIR FLUX CAPACITOR! HOLY SH*T! SUPERKICK PARTY to block Celebrity Rehab by The Addiction. FOUR-MAN SUPERKICK PARTY from the Machine Guns and the Bucks to Jay Briscoe. STEREO KNOCK-OUT SUPERKICKS! EVERYONE IS DOWN! Mark and Frankie climb the ropes, where Briscoe SUPERPLEXES KAZ TO THE FLOOR ON TOP OF EVERYONE! In the ring Jay blocks Angel’s Wings and scoops the Ring General up for the DOOMSDAY DEVICE! Briscoes win at 16:56!

Rating - **** - Somewhere in the locker room Cole and O’Reilly are seething at having to follow this mayhem. To Delirious and ROH’s credit, they seem well aware that they have one of the hottest acts on the planet under contract in the Young Bucks, so are steering into the skid by giving them a platform to work the crazy style that make them so popular on a nightly basis. The participants here made almost no attempt to work a standard tag match formula, and instead were given carte blanche to do whatever the hell they liked. It was an eight-man demolition derby with everyone getting a chance to shine and/or showcase the unique skills that they were bringing to the (Superkick) party. I loved the cranky vets Daniels and Kaz trying to ‘slow it down’, almost as much as I did the angry Briscoes refusing to ‘2 Sweet’ the Bucks. I liked Bucks/MCMG from Night One more as I felt it had more of a story to tell and more of an emotional centre…but this was still one of the best matches from a really strong weekend for ROH.

Stokely Hathaway and Moose are in the ring again. Apparently Gedo was very impressed with Moose’s performance against Kazuchika Okada at the Anniversary Show. As a result, in May Moose will be teaming with Okada on the NJPW/ROH tour events. Couldn’t they have done this earlier? Did they forget?

Is it ever truly over between these two great rivals? They were put together as Future Shock early in their ROH careers, and despite a successful run have largely been on divergent paths ever since. As far back as the 10th Anniversary Show they were on opposing sides as Kyle teamed with mentor Davey Richards to face Cole and Eddie Edwards. Their bloody ‘Hybrid Rules’ Match is infamous too. But sometime last year it felt like these old rivals had found common ground once again. Cole was apparently falling out with his colleagues in The Kingdom and reformed Future Shock for a few matches (even failing to win the Tag Titles from The Addiction). But it was all just another game from the manipulative Adam Cole, and he once again turned on Kyle by costing him the World Title in the main event of the All Star Extravaganza 7 pay-per-view. He cheated to beat O’Reilly when they clashed again at Final Battle 2015…and their desire to hurt each other arguably cost them both the chance of becoming World Champion in a triple threat main event for Jay Lethal’s World Title in Las Vegas. An interesting point to note is that O’Reilly has never scored a major win over Cole. Their Hybrid Rules Match, their subsequent TV Title rematch on television, the Final Battle 2015 match – Cole was the victor in all of them. Is this the match that finally ends this years-long feud?

The tone is immediately set as Cole sprints up the aisle during O’Reilly’s entrance and levels him with a length of metal chain. Each takes rough rides into the guardrails next, with Kyle recovering quickly and landing a running mafia kick against the sheet metal too. Cole aims a superkick at O’Reilly, who ducks AND HE NAILS MANDY LEON INSTEAD! Cole’s ‘eh, I don’t really care’ smirk after that is pretty funny. O’Reilly makes him pay with a belly to belly on the floor, then the APRON MISSILE DROPKICK THROUGH A CHAIR! Next he pursues Cole up the aisle, swinging a steel chair into his back. He rips out a section of guardrail and bridges it across the aisle…and soon enough both men are stood on top of it swinging punches. Adam low blocks Kyle…but can’t capitalise and O’Reilly BRAINBUSTERS HIM ON THE GUARDRAIL! Unsurprisingly Cole looks for the sanctuary of the ring…only for his opponent to grab him again for a hanging armbar in the ropes. SUPLEX FROM THE RING TO THE FLOOR by Cole! Now they do something of a Dragon/Nigel tribute as Cole repeatedly drives his former partner face-first into the ringpost. Cole throws him over the top rope to the floor again, and for a second time Kyle lands awkwardly on his knees. The former World Champion has absolutely spotted it too, and targets the potential knee injury with a shinbreaker on a chair. CON-CHAIR-TO ON THE KNEE! For the first time Kyle looks defenceless…until he lands AXE & SMASH THROUGH A CHAIR! He’s now hurting his own body to injure Cole it seems. A tornado DDT on the chair follows. It dawns on Mr Wrestling III that neither man has attempted a pinfall as yet. 

O’Reilly does go for one after stepping off an open chair into a Poetry In Motion dropkick through another steel chair, and gets a 2-count. Cole avoids a brainbuster through the chair and superkicks the knee out to hit the Shining Wizard. Next he throws a chair full-force into Kyle’s face, so hard that it’s still wrapped around his skull seconds later. O’Reilly is having to hold himself up by the ropes now, but as they exchange strikes on the apron he finds a way to lock onto a guillotine choke. Cole decides his only escape on that is to DIVE THEM BOTH THROUGH A TABLE! As he landed on top of O’Reilly he got the better end of that deal too. Cole puts open chairs back to back, with MW3 even mentioning his background in CZW to demonstrate that he has seen people annihilate each other’s bodies in matches like this. In this instance it comes back to haunt him as Kyle hits a backbreaker on the chairs. Are some asshole fans chanting ‘that didn’t hurt’!?! F*ck them if so. O’Reilly grabs the chain Cole brought out…but doesn’t get to use it as Cole capitalises by almost f*cking decapitating him with it. Steel chair shot…NO SOLD BY O’REILLY! FLORIDA KEY! NO SOLD! SUPERKICK BLOCKED…JAWBREAKER LARIAT COUNTERED WITH A STEEL CHAIR RUNNING KNEE STRIKE! O’REILLY KICKS OUT! Adam wants to finish this and sets up a table in the ring…seemingly for a TOP ROPE Panama Sunrise through it. SUPERPLEX THROUGH THE TABLE BY KYLE! Both guys are wrecked now…and stagger around like drunks ready to keep fighting. KAWADA KICKS! ELBOW DUEL! They both collapse into open chairs…AND KEEP SWINGING! BRAINBUSTER THROUGH A CHAIR BY O’REILLY! He wraps the chain around Cole’s throat and arm. CHAIN-WRAPPED, THROAT-THROTTLING ARM-AGEDDON! INTO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! COLE IS OUT! THAT’S NUTS! Kyle finally beats his great enemy at 27:21 

Rating - ****1/2 - The best part about this was that they didn’t abandon who they are as wrestlers to hit numerous, tediously set-up ‘grudge match’ weapon spots. Sure there were plenty of those, but on the whole the set-up was in keeping with how they usually wrestle their matches, albeit amped up to suit their mutual desire to murder each other. Some of this was really violent...never bloody or tasteless, and we didn’t see an endless parade of weapons or gimmicks, but they really put their bodies through hell. I will admit I felt like there was a little bit of lag in the middle, but the opening and closing stretches were fantastic. What really sold me on this was the moment where they beat each other up so badly that they collapsed into opposing chairs, looked at each other, and then kept fighting. It was a graphic, visual representation and true embodiment of a bitter rivalry which goes back to their very start in this promotion. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III really got the tone right on commentary too (and I don’t praise Kelly easily of course). I don’t think it was quite the all-time Ring Of Honor classic they promote it as, and it lacked the visceral compelling drama of the 2012 Hybrid Fighting Rules Match (although technically speaking this was probably a BETTER match than that one). It was, however, imaginative, innovative, tough to watch…and with a fantastic finish. Is this the end of their feud???

Tape Rating - *** - Night Two definitely didn’t reach the same level as Night One, which was a fantastic show. The first half tonight, topped by the moderately disappointing Strong vs Fish 2/3 Falls Match wasn’t much to write home about. However, the two main events were among ROH’s best matches all weekend. I’m quite sure there won’t have been too many better matches than O’Reilly/Cole from any company working the Dallas area this weekend either. Throw in a really fun Tag Title Match too and this is definitely still worth your while even if not AS GOOD as Night One. It’s a real shame ROH couldn’t do more to get these out live – they’d have been one of the talking points of WrestleMania weekend thanks to how good this double-header has been.

3) War Machine vs Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser (***)

2) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs The Addiction vs Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (****)

1) Kyle O’Reilly vs Adam Cole (****1/2)

5) Kyle O’Reilly vs Matt Sydal (**** - Night One)

4) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs The Addiction vs Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (**** - Night Two)

3) Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (**** - Night One)

2) Kyle O’Reilly vs Adam Cole (****1/2 - Night Two)

1) Jay Lethal vs Lio Rush (****1/2 - Night One)