McXal's Reviews

Well if WWE can successfully run on Monday nights for countless years, why not ROH? It’s the day after the infamous Global Wars 2016 pay-per-view, which ended in farcical, chaotic scenes as the Bullet Club ‘took over’. This week hosts the War Of The World 2016 Tour, starting on Monday with this event in Michigan, before heading to Canada for TV tapings on Wednesday, then returning to New York for a huge live event on Saturday. Tonight a Ring Of Honor team look to make Bullet Club face the consequences for derailing a PPV the previous evening in Chicago. The Briscoes, the hometown Motor City Machine Guns and Adam Page are scheduled to take on the Young Bucks, the Guerrillas Of Destiny and newest member Adam Cole in a 10-man main event. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito and ROH World Champion Jay Lethal are bringing their alliance to an ROH ring as they face reDRagon. The undercard has a number of potential showstealers, including Ishii vs Moose, Kushida vs Castle and Roderick Strong vs Lio Rush. We are in Dearborn, MI. Kevin Kelly survived the Superkick Party last night and provides commentary. He announces that Mr Wrestling III was injured and won’t be here, and instead is joined by BJ Whitmer who insists that MW3 isn’t here due to the contents of the flash drive he presented to him last night.

Bullet Club – the Young Bucks, the GOD and Adam Cole – come right through the curtain to a huge ovation. They act like heels but everyone loves them…and to prove they aren’t afraid of the repercussions of their actions last night they try to keep the Superkick Party going with an attack on Bobby Cruise. The Briscoes prevent that, making fun of Bullet Club’s shirt sales and social media presence…and the Machine Guns come through the curtain too. They get an even bigger pop than the Bullet Club and propose a 10-man tag…with Adam Page joining them as their partner. The Bucks, Cole and the Guerrillas flee into the front row, refusing to ‘jerk the curtain’ but agreeing to face them in the main event tonight.

Four men who had unsuccessful nights in Chicago the previous evening now look to turn their fortunes around. Silas and the Bruiser were relegated to the pre-show, and even then couldn’t buy a win – as the team of Juice Robinson and Kamaitachi won the triple threat tag they were competing in. ACH failed to become #1 contender to the TV Title in a match which did at least make PPV, whilst Sydal was part of a four-man team looking for some payback on the Bullet Club (and that was before they wrecked a World Title main event) but fell to another defeat. 

ACH and Young start, running through a frenetic open-minute of evenly paced action. Sydal tags and is decked by a lariat from BCB. He and the Last Real Man go after Matt’s ribs, with Bruiser even breaking out a couple of new spots in the process (like a brutal sit-out chickenwing gourdbuster). Matt attempts a hurricanrana only to be emphatically powerbombed into the ground once again. Reborn keeps fighting and throwing kicks and at lasts powers through his captors into the hot tag to ACH. Spirit Bomb blocked…so he hits the Hero’s Grip instead. AIR JORDAN ON BRUISER! Just about, because BCB was lumbering around a mile out of position! Sydal tries to put the exclamation point on it with a pescado…only for Beer City to dump him into the ringpost. ACH lands a miraculous sunset flip bomb on Bruiser, followed by the Midnight Star. It’s a huge win for ACH at 07:22

Rating - *** - For a very brief opening match I really enjoyed this. Sydal sold the sh*t out of Silas and BCB’s offence, meaning they in turn looked like killers when on offence. ACH then won the match almost single-handedly making him look awesome as well. In short, the veteran Sydal busted his ass so that everyone else could look great and the whole match clicked as a result. Sydal is SO under-rated.

ACH grabs a microphone and thanks Sydal for having his back and teaching him a lot. But he doesn’t need the veteran to ‘hold his hand’ anymore and extends a handshake which symbolises the amicable dissolution of their tag team. What a low key end to that long-term plot-line!

This was originally supposed to be Mr ROH against Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger…but since The Addiction dropped Liger on his head at Global Wars he is sitting this show out. Instead he has his spot taken by 2016 Top Prospect Tournament winner Lio Rush; the young, inexperienced prodigy who blew through the TPT field then marched on to Supercard Of Honor 10 and participated in arguably ROH’s MOTY thus far with Jay Lethal. Strong has been a measuring stick for new talent in this company for years, and represents a fearsome test to this particular new star.

Strong calls Liger a pussy then socks Rush with the microphone to get the match started. CRADLE APRON BACKBREAKER! Lio is reeling and has his body messed up further after repeated whips into the guardrails followed by a fireman’s carry throw into the ringpost. That might be enough to win it for Roderick but he opts to pull Lio’s shoulders off the ground and continue the beatdown. Rush dares to throw a couple of chops back at the former Triple Crown champ…so Strong almost snaps him in half with another cradle backbreaker. And still Lio gets back up – this time slapping Roddy in the face! Strong lawn darts him into the turnbuckles…only to have no option but to watch as Rush slithers back into the ring and connects with a climbing enzi from the ground. He can be so hard to pin down when he gets some momentum going and proves it again with a tilta-whirl DDT. Jumping Knee ducked into a TOPE ATOMICO by the Top Prospect winner! Rush Hour blocked though, with Strong levelling him with knees and elbows before dropping the Muso for 2. Lio still has enough to bock the Stronghold though. JUMPING KNEE to block Dragon’s Call…and Strong hauls Lio back inside the ropes with a superplex. Death By Roderick COUNTERED TO A REVERSE RANA! DRAGON’S CALL gets 2. POP-UP DEATH BY RODERICK! Sick Kick countered…Rush Hour countered…so Lio applies a guillotine choke. COUNTERED TO END OF HEARTACHE! Strong wins at 10:46

Rating - *** - You could definitely throw an extra half star on this rating with ease. Rush has been a superb addition to the ROH roster, putting together an impressive body of work already. This wasn’t a main event match so wasn’t on the same level as Rush/Lethal, but it had a lot of the same qualities. Strong played the sneering, disrespectful veteran dropping bombs on an opponent he considered beneath him…but time and time again found the remarkable ways that Rush moves and counters difficult to deal with (and nearly lost as a result). 

Strong grabs the mic again and trashes Liger some more…and this time the legend has heard enough. He runs in and lays Roddy out with the Shotei! He then joins commentary…with BJ Whitmer insistent that HE is Steve Corino.

This was originally going to be non-title but Hanson and Rowe, buoyed by finally beating the Briscoes last night, take the mic and demand that they be permitted to put the belts up. The Rainmaker is one of New Japan’s top stars, whilst Gedo is acknowledged as NJPW’s ‘power broker' on-air. As such this is a huge chance for War Machine to show their worth to the New Japan office. Given the experience and skills of the challengers, there is also a real threat that the ROH Tag Titles could be vanishing to Japan just 24 hours after ROH got the TV Title back!

Gedo starts with Hanson and gets thrown around like a child. Okada has better luck; building up a head of steam and actually taking Hanson off his feet with a tackle. Rowe gets a receipt by wiping Okada out, but then pisses him off by mocking the ‘Rainmaker’ pose. He pays for it by having his arm picked apart by Gedo and Okada…and has to hit a one-armed Cement Mixer on Gedo in order to tag out. Hanson gives the New Japan challengers the Sledgehammer (noticeably pulling the strikes far more on Gedo, the guy he needs to impress to get New Japan tours than he would to any other opponent). The champs isolate Gedo after using the Bronco Buster to incapacitate Okada. Liger is sure Gedo will ‘come back…no problem’…even as Hanson graphically holds him to the camera and starts dishing out crossface strikes. Clearly Liger knew something we didn’t as seconds later Gedo dodges the Shotgun Knee and makes the hot tag to the Rainmaker. He eats Superman Punch from Rowe after failing to land the diving elbow drop though, and has no choice but to bring the wounded Gedo back in. He dodges the Cartwheel Lariat but falls victim to the inverted powerslam instead. Rowe ducks the Rainmaker into a KNOCKOUT KNEE! NO SOLD! RAINMAKER NAILED! SPIN KICK OF DOOM wipes out Gedo! War Machine retain at 11:59

Rating - ** - Okada is an exceptional worker, Gedo has bags of experience and War Machine are a fun hoss team…but this didn’t click for me. The finishing sequence was pretty good, but everything else felt very formulaic and basic. Okada has had some really good matches in an ROH ring, but for the most part he gets VERY well protected. He kept the bumping to a minimum in this one, occasionally pottered in to hit a spot or two, then strolled off again to leave Gedo to do the work. That dynamic, coupled Hanson and Rowe looking a little too eager to impress (to the detriment of their usual aggressive, intense performance levels) and a crowd who wanted to see Okada so badly they basically crapped on everyone else meant this was a forgettable watch.

The Addiction are here to remind everyone that they were screwed out of the Tag Titles and that War Machine have never beaten them. Daniels challenges them to a Tag Title Match in New York on the final night of the tour...so Hanson reminds them that they haven’t won in months and keep injuring people. Rowe, however, is all fired up and demands they defend the belts again TONIGHT! It’ll be War Machine vs Addiction in the second half of this show…

At Global Wars Dalton become #1 contender for the TV Title. Preparations for his title shot begin in earnest just 24 hours later with a huge match against the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Kushida has been a strong performer in an ROH ring and has apparently expressed his desire to get into the picture for both Ring Of Honor singles championships as well. He must surely view victory here as the quickest route to make that happen.

The biggest compliment you can pay Dalton is that he is as popular any of the visiting New Japan stars. Kushida is an experienced grappler and mixed martial artist…and quickly makes that point by out-wrestling Castle on the canvas (something not many can do). Castle retreats for a brief fan from The Boys, and when he can’t overcome Kushida on the mat for a second time he tries some weird posing to get into his head instead. Kushida can play mindgames too…and proves it by getting fanned by The Boys as well! The distraction works and allows Kushida to cartwheel into a dropkick. Castle knees him off the ropes to the floor – a substantial enough spill that NOW Dalton is able to bully the Japanese star on the canvas. He works the back and ribs with methodical precision; dropkicking the ribs when Kushida escapes a hold for example, or entering a pinning attempt with a diving splash to the ribs. Even Liger on commentary, who has had issues with Dalton, purrs as Castle effortlessly throws his opponent around with assorted suplexes. Springboard chop brings Kushida back into things though, as does the standing moonsault he lands moments later. Dalton has to think fast to dodge the Buzzsaw Kick then escape the Hoverboard Lock…but then gets knocked to the floor anyway from a handspring kick from the Tajiri trainee. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA WIPES OUT THE BOYS! They sacrificed themselves to save Dalton. That does more damage to Kushida’s midsection of course, which Castle fully counters on with the tiger feint rana off the apron. That brief stint in the Hoverboard Lock has injured his arm…but he defies it to hit a ONE-ARM CAPTURE SUPLEX back into the ring! He is too injured to hit the Everest German though and Kushida escapes with a Pele Kick. KUSHIDA MOONSAULT BLOCKED WITH KNEES TO THE RIBS! ARM-SELLING EVEREST GERMAN BLOCKED INTO THE TANAKA PUNCH! Kushida delivers a devastating running punt to the arm, then a Roaring Elbow. BANG-A-RANG COUNTERED TO A FLASH PIN! Kushida wins at 12:59

Rating - **** - This was an outstanding match, and another to add to Kushida’s remarkable body of work in ROH. The decision to put him over, however, was f*cking terrible and indicative of why the ROH/NJPW relationship will never benefit Ring Of Honor from a creative standpoint (not that Sinclair care about that when dollars come in and attendances keep rising). Castle became the #1 contender to ROH’s TV Title 24 hours ago on PPV so should not be jobbing here. The match was superb, with incredible amounts of nuance and detail considering how short it was…but it is so hard to look past Kushida going over. I’m not dumb. I understand New Japan can pull rank and insist their Junior Champion doesn’t lose. But ROH have to stand their ground. A time limit draw would have been better than this (and also meant we got longer to watch them work). Bell to bell there was so much to enjoy, from Kushida out-wrestling Dalton then screwing around with The Boys, to Castle f*cking up his ribs, then Dalton’s wonderful job selling the arm injury Kushida inflicted in response. It will take something special to stop this stealing the show. 

INTERMISSION – Nigel McGuinness replaces Jushin Liger on commentary for the second half. BJ Whitmer goads him for letting the ‘inmates run the asylum’…which is a fair point. Half the roster have booked their own matches tonight! Conversation inevitably turns to the Bullet Club, and Nigel comes off as totally ineffective (albeit immensely entertaining) by basically shrugging his shoulders at their takeover of the Global Wars PPV because they are ‘good for business’ and sell a lot of merch. He even takes a sly dig at Kevin Kelly by saying ‘maybe I’d feel differently if I was the one that got Superkicked’. Other than a ‘fine’ it seems that he and the ‘Board Of Directors’ are imposing no sanctions on Adam Cole or the Young Bucks.

ANX have complained about being unappreciated and overlooked since the fans turned on them at two consecutive major pay-per-views (Final Battle and 14th Anniversary Show). For a team which feels like they don’t get the respect they deserve, the chance to step into the ring with a former ROH World Champion and one of the biggest names in the history of puroresu represents a colossal opportunity. Tanahashi and Elgin lost to Kazuchika Okada and Moose at Global Wars, so have a little to prove too.

The disrespect of ANX continues when Tanahashi refuses to shake their hands. They don’t take it well and suckerpunch their opponents at the bell. King roughs up Tanahashi at ringside, as Titus lies in wait to ambush Elgin when he tries to make a save. ANX isolate Tana, giving him a springboard blockbuster combo which looked brutally painful on the veteran’s notoriously ailing body. He makes a desperate tag to Big Mike who dishes out German suplexes to both opponents with absolute ease. ANX wisely recapture Tanahashi because they can’t cope with Unbreakable. They set up a double superplex but the Ace keeps them at bay with a weary, ugly-looking crossbody block. He then almost drops Rhett when feeding him to Elgin for a super powerslam. Slingshot Alabamasplash gets 2! Big Mike Fly Flow misses…so he gives Titus the Elgin Bomb instead. HIGH FLY FLOW! BIG MIKE FLY FLOW! Elgin and Tanahashi take the win at 09:32

Rating - ** - It was much sloppier than the War Machine vs Okada/Gedo match, but told a more inventive and less formulaic story so lets call it the same rating. I loved the idea that ANX went after Tanahashi. It defies the convention that the ‘big name’ is the one to be feared. Elgin is a beast, arguably as good as he as ever been and is a former ROH World Champion, whereas Tanahashi is almost 40 and comes into every match with a catalogue of injuries…so it made perfect sense. The problem here was that it never got particularly spectacular and as the match progressed the amount of messed up spots and obvious communication errors just kept racking up. Considering the quality and experience of the performers involved there is only so much tolerance you can have for that kind of thing.

Stokely Hathaway and Moose wanted big name opponents in 2016, and on this tour they are getting them. Moose teamed with Okada against Tanahashi and Elgin (in a victorious effort) at Global Wars, and now faces former ROH TV Champion, Ishii just 24 hours later. He also gets the opportunity to work IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito at the TV tapings in Canada too. Will he continue his incredible growth as a worker and performer? Can he earn a New Japan touring spot? Is he putting himself in the shop window for a move to another promotion with his contract running down?

Moose’s smile and Ishii’s dour expression could not be more contrasting. The crowd audibly gasp as Moose violently clubs Ishii to the ground. The experienced Stone Pitbull UNLOADS on Moose, who absorbs his best shots and knocks him off his feet easily for a second time. It unsettles Ishii so much he tries the Brainbuster early and is thrown away for the vertical leap dropkick to the floor. But Moose shows his lack of experience by getting over-excited and trying a needless dive spot. In a flash the former TV Champ nabs him and dumps him into the apron. Guardrail Swing by Moose, who then tries the Hitstick on the floor AND MISSES! Nigel McGuinness attributes that to inexperience as well, and he brains himself against the barricade. Back inside Ishii peppers him with chops…but Moose NO SELLS! STIFF HEADBUTT! You better believe that hurt the ROH competitor. He yells at Ishii to give him more…and he obliges with a jumping enzi. DISCUS LARIAT by Moose for 2! Go To Hell Bomb gets another nearfall. Is there anything Tomohiro Ishii can do to halt the relentless march of his opponent? He dodges the Hitstick for a second time…BRAINBUSTER NAILED! LARIAT FLURRY! MOOSE KICKS OUT! The Pitbull is getting desperate and fights to pull his massive adversary up to the top rope. AVALANCHE BRAINBUSTER! TWO AGAIN! Sliding Lariat ducked and the two men stand dead centre of the ring teeing off on each other. Ishii tries a third Brainbuster only for Moose to give him a HEAD DROP TURNBUCKLE SUPLEX! Hitstick dodged…discus lariat ducked. GERMAN BY ISHII! NO SOLD BY MOOSE! NECK DROP GERMAN! LARIATS! MOOSE WON’T GO DOWN! HEADBUTT AGAIN! BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAH! Ishii wins at 11:44

Rating - **** - Matches like this have become Ishii’s calling card in New Japan. I really liked his matches with Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish, but this was much closer to his comfort zone. He and Moose went out and clubbed each other to death here. Two years ago when Moose was stinking up the place and had people questioning his spot on the roster you’d never have believed we’d end up at this point. He has turned into a solid hand, in control of his gimmick and with a firm grasp on what skills he brings into a match. The sight of a guy his size being battered and dropped on his head by the stocky, brick sh*thouse Stone Pitbull was really memorable.

Nigel McGuinness disappears from commentary as he reportedly has to deal with a ‘situation’ in the back involving Bullet Club…

Is a third title defence in just 24 hours the smartest decision War Machine have ever made? They got the biggest win of their ROH careers in beating the Briscoes at Global Wars, but took a hell of a beating in the process. Having survived that, then beating the notorious Gedo and the great Rainmaker, Okada earlier…will their appetite for battle and desire to be fighting champions cost them here? The Addiction feel they were screwed out of the belts when they lost them to The Kingdom (without being pinned) last year and have been pushing conspiracy claims ever since. In reality, the reason they’ve not been near the Tag Titles recently is that they just haven’t won many matches. Apparently more preoccupied with injuring opponents than winning, they managed to injure both Jushin Liger and Cheeseburger in Chicago (but still lost to them)!

The champs are fired up and lay in the fists early on the smug and unsuspecting challengers. The battle spills to the floor where War Machine maul the veteran duo. They hit the body slam/senton combo on Kaz, on the wooden floor of the building before each scooping up a challenger and lawn darting them face-first into each other. Back inside they hit their sweet pop-up powerslam combo which leaves The Addiction practically begging for mercy. Their experience, guile and ability to manipulate the rules should never be discounted however and they find a way to turn the tables on Ray Rowe. It’s only temporary respite however as Hanson is quick to muscle his way in, aiding his partner to hit the Path Of Resistance for 2. Kazarian saves Daniels from Fallout then hands him one of the Tag Title belts, which the Ring General uses to nail Rowe! Angel’s Wings blocked with a Superman Punch, but as the ref battles to get the Tag Title belt out of the ring Frankie runs in to knock Rowe out with his belt of metal bullets that he wears to the ring. That’s enough for a title change. The Addiction win at 08:14

Rating - ** - I’d chalk this up as another instance of Delirious/Sinclair getting way too clever with how they book this product. I’m not criticising the title change itself; War Machine just aren’t as over as multiple other teams and having now delivered the War Machine/Briscoes match (which was basically the pay-off for their reign) it makes sense to move the belts into the Addiction/MCMG/Bucks feud which fans are more interested in. Since Hanson and Rowe aren’t working the Toronto show either (do they have Canadian border issues?) I even understand getting the belts off them tonight so that ROH don’t have to tape an entire block of TV without the Tag Titles. But why not just book Addiction/War Machine in a Tag Title Match? It’s not like fans wouldn’t be interested in Okada doing something else and HAD to see him with War Machine. War Machine, Daniels and Kazarian are capable of having a great match and didn’t need this hokey overbooked BS to protect them. Fans have watched Delirious flip-flop on booking Hanson and Rowe for the past two years as well, so it’s not like they’ve never seen War Machine lose before either. You can’t seriously tell me that having them accept this match like dumbasses then lose does more to ‘protect' War Machine than working a GREAT twenty minute Tag Title classic with a title change that generates fan buzz? Sadly Delirious has a prior record of booking title changes in lieu of genuine drama, and that was the case again here. No problem with The Addiction as champs, but how we got here was really bad. The match itself was fine, but a pretty limp and forgettable end to Hanson and Rowe’s reign.

Nigel returns to commentary with the news that Bullet Club are refusing to compete in the main event unless he agrees to fund the ‘Superkick Counter’ from yesterday coming back for it.

Last year reDRagon worked Lethal and Nakamura in a Tag Title Match at Field Of Honor, so this one serves as something of a rematch to that. Now that he has overcome Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly will be thinking about getting back into contention for Jay Lethal’s World Championship, so would really like to beat him here. He’d also like to avenge the fiercely competitive loss he suffered to IWGP Champ Naito at Global Wars. Bobby Fish comes in 24-hours removed from beating Ishii to become the new ROH TV Champion. How does he view this match? Does he need to win to prevent Lethal coming after the TV Title he did so much to elevate in 2014/15? Does he want to beat Lethal or Naito to get into the pecking order for an ROH or IWGP Title shot? How will Lethal and Naito’s alliance, formed at Honor Rising, factor into this? In Tokyo we saw Lethal leave wearing a Los Ingobernables hat, and Naito having his ‘eye opened’ by a Japanese translation of the Book Of Truth. Apparently Truth Martini now claims that it was the influence of his Book which led Naito the IWGP Heavyweight belt.

Lethal’s shoulder is heavily bandaged after the Bullet Club assault last night. O’Reilly refuses to shake Naito’s hand because he doesn’t want his ‘dick kicked’ like Chicago. Those two pick up where they left off yesterday with a furious strike exchange that leaves Naito scrambling for the ropes. Naito chasing Taeler Hendrix around trying to get her to kiss his hand better…then settling for a fan in the front row doing it instead gets plenty of laughs. Fish tags and tries to put Lethal in a crossface, instantly looking to target the champ’s injured shoulder. An injured arm is the last thing you need when working reDRagon – and they attack it viciously. Even when kicking at the legs O’Reilly makes sure he hammerlocks the arm first so Jay lands hard on it. The IWGP Champion has seen enough and clocks Kyle from behind. It distracts him so Jay can hit the Lethal Combination and tag out as quickly as he can. Naito captures O’Reilly and skippers his team in targeting his neck. Lethal contributes but still has to carry his injured arm and his general movements seem sluggish and off-pace to put over the effects of the Bullet Club attack. Fish gets a tag and puts the boots to Naito…before throwing Jay right into him with an exploder suplex. Two Man Smash Machine gets 2 on ‘El Ingobernable’…but he then blocks Chasing The Dragon into a tornado DDT on O’Reilly. Jumping enzi/mafia kick combo from Naito and Lethal to Bobby! TOPE SUICIDA BY LETHAL! But he’s so beaten up his feet clip the ropes and he doesn’t make the best contact. It’s enough to convince him to try again…at which point Fish lunges in and pushes O’Reilly out of the way. Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO ARM-AGEDDON ON THE BAD ARM! NAITO SAVES! Lethal almost inadvertently kicks his own partner, prompting an angry Naito to shove him to the ground! FISH SPEARS NAITO INTO THE RAILS! CHASING THE DRAGON ON LETHAL! O’Reilly pins the ROH Champion at 16:06

Rating - **** - Naito, traditionally my least favourite of the ‘big’ NJPW names on these tours, is stepping up his performance levels now he appears as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Granted he isn’t actually working that much harder, but he is allowing his opponents more of an opportunity to shine. Surrounding himself with the likes of Kyle O’Reilly – who will bust his ass to cover for Naito’s comparative lack of workrate - is obviously helpful too. I thought this was an awesome tag match, with welcome layering and depth beyond the obvious novelty value of reDRagon facing the top champions of the respective companies. The plays on the Chicago Naito/O’Reilly match were a nice touch. Lethal was utterly fantastic in the way he put over the effects of his experience at Global Wars with everything he did. He fully lived and embodied the character of a battle-scarred champion fighting through injury. His arm gave the match a focal point, and created major drama at the conclusion when Kyle countered the Lethal Injection. O’Reilly pinning Lethal also goes some way to redeeming the lousy decision to put him against Naito and job him out in his first major match after beating Adam Cole too.

Naito walks out on Lethal and Taeler after the match, perhaps signalling the end of their alliance?

Our main event sees the popular, renegade members of Bullet Club square off against a team of ROH talents with a lot to prove and big chips on their shoulder over the conduct of their opponents. Cole shocked everyone by revealing himself as the new member of the Club at Global Wars – showing up under cover of darkness to destroy the Lethal/Cabana World Title main event. The Bucks have prior issues with the Briscoes, plus an ongoing rivalry with the Machine Guns (who are almost as popular as the BC tonight since we are in Detroit). The spanner in the works for Team ROH here is that Adam Page is missing. He doesn’t come out with his team and is supposedly MIA due to Bullet Club activity in the locker room (which ROH never cares enough to f*cking shoot and put on these shows).

There is no hesitation from the Briscoes or the Machine Guns in fighting 5-on-4 odds. They sprint into battle and kick-start a brawl around ringside…leaving Cole inside the ring on his own to provide commentary. BOOM BOOM! Colt Cabana makes a surprise appearance, and sprints to the ring taking Page’s place in the match. He makes a beeline for Cole looking for revenge…but eats a DOUBLE SUPERKICK from the Bucks! Stereo pescados from MCMG take those guys out, giving us the Briscoes and the GOD in the ring to brawl like wildmen. The football tackle wipes out Tonga, leaving him so dazed that Team ROH are able to isolate him from his partners. Cabana gives him the Flying Asshole then MCMG take turns dishing out tree of woe dropkicks. Loa saves with a sucker punch on Shelley then rushes the ring for a Samoan Drop/Ace Crusher combo! RISE OF THE TERMINATOR TOPES BY THE BUCKS! It leaves Shelley horrendously wounded and with no partners in his corner to tag to as Adam Cole strolls in with a smug grin on his face. ‘Remember TNA, huh’ – Matt Jackson to Shelley as he slaps him around. Turnbuckle Shellshock on Nick! Sabin gets the hot tag and takes the fight to both Young Bucks. Matt blocks Skull & Bones…and then gets rescued by Nick when Sabin tees up the Cradle Shock. Back to the Briscoes and the Guerrillas trading shots; eventually obliterating each other so substantially that all four of them need to get out of the ring. Tama escapes a Jay Driller attempt and tags out, bringing in Matt who gets met with Cabana in full World Of Sport mode. Sabin tries a tope suicida but gets cut off with a Superkick. NXT LAST SHOT from Cole to Mark! SO JAY LARIATS HIM ON HI NECK! GUN STUN FROM TONGA TO CABANA! SUPERKICK PARTY ON JAY! NO SOLD! SUPERKICK PARTY…BUT IT KNOCKS OUT THE REF! More Superkicks knock Jay Briscoe to the floor, and with no referee in attendance the Bullet Club sense potential for more carnage. MORE BANG FOR YOUR F*CK ON THE FLOOR takes out Shelley! Sabin throws his body over his fallen partner trying to protect him and is punished with a SUPERKICK PARTY! DOUBLE SUPERKICKS FOR ALL OF TEAM ROH! Jay Briscoe is the last man standing, and he is surrounded so prepares for certain death. Adam Page is out! AND HE LOW BLOWS JAY! Next he drags him to the apron for a RITE OF PASSAGE INTO THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE…WHICH DOESN’T F*CKING BREAK! Guerrilla Warfare leaves Mark reeling, and the GOD pull him back up for a TRIPLE SUPERKICK from Cole and the Bucks. Bullet Club win at 20:08

Rating - **** - As a follow up to the chaos at Global Wars I thought this was really strong. They found a way to channel that ‘anarchic’ takeover mentality into the confines of a wrestling match in really effective ways. We got to see much more of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa here than we did at Global Wars too. Their exchanges with the Briscoes were some of the highlights of the match and it’s a travesty that we don’t have a GOD vs Briscoes tag scheduled for this tour. The Page heel turn doesn’t make the most amount of sense, given that he just left a stable because he wanted to call his own shots. HOWEVER, given that supposedly NJPW were high on him and wanted him as a gaijin talent to take some falls for Bullet Club, it isn't hard to understand why the future Hangman would go for it. Aligning Adam Page with a major faction like Bullet Club does at least feel like moderate progress in a career which hasn’t really advanced that far since he debuted years ago…and the fact that he did it by screwing over his old rival Jay Briscoe was at least a nice nod to Ring Of Honor continuity and storylines. Great, wild, unpredictable fun if you’re into the multi-man, heavily spot-based matches.

Post-match Cabana and Mark are completely obliterated with Superkicks. All members of Team ROH are zip-tied and Page pulls out a hangman’s noose (a prelude to his ‘Hangman’ persona) and HANGS CHRIS SABIN OVER THE ROPES! For the second show running Bullet Club stand tall having left broken bodies scattered all over ringside…

Tape Rating - *** - After a slow start this wound up being both a) a really good show and b) a pretty significant one. I won’t pretend I’m on board with some of Delirious’ booking, or that I’m comfortable with how insignificant NJPW’s roster and staff are allowed to make Ring Of Honor look…but as a wrestling show I got a lot out of this. It’s a sign of how insanely deep the talent roster is for these shows that Tanahashi and Okada can be in arguably the worst matches of the night and still the show reaches a pretty solid 3* rating. Kushida/Castle and Ishii/Moose were unexpected delights that really blew up the midcard, we saw another GREAT Naito match, a Tag Title change (that didn’t make much sense), another new member of Bullet Club (that didn’t make a whole lot of sense either)…and a fun main event which took all the good bits of the Bullet Club takeover angle from Global Wars and distilled it into a match. Considering this was by far the last significant event of this tour (Global Wars was a PPV, Toronto is a TV Taping and New York is…New York) this one really outdid my expectations.

3) Adam Cole/Young Bucks/Guerrillas Of Destiny vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe/Motor City Machine Guns/Adam Page (****)

2) reDRagon vs Jay Lethal/Tetsuya Naito (****)

1) Kushida vs Dalton Castle (****)