McXal's Reviews

We reach the third show of the Road To Best In The World 2016 Tour, and the third live event taped across the course of the weekend. Night 1 in Collinsville was an exceptionally decent house show effort from ROH, but was then followed by Night 2 in Indianapolis which was a definite step in the wrong direction (albeit highlighted by a superb Jay Briscoe vs Moose match). ROH have undoubtedly saved the best card of the weekend for last, with a lot of good stuff booked for tonight. The ‘main event of the weekend’ is Jay Briscoe, who keeps taking high profile matches and is getting more and more banged up as he prepares for Best In The World, taking on Roderick Strong. Beneath that World Champion Jay Lethal has a grudge match with Bullet Club’s Adam Page. The impressive Kamaitachi faces TV Title #1 contender Dalton Castle, Lio Rush and Adam Cole meet in a potential show-stealer, and we are also getting the final encounter between The Addiction and War Machine – in a No DQ Match with the ROH Tag Team Championship at stake. Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer provide commentary from Columbus, OH.

Unfortunately since she is working the show tonight it means Veda has had to step away from commentary, where she has been superb all weekend. I’m amazed ROH didn’t do more with her in that role. Her opponent tonight is ‘Crazy’ Mary Dobson, whom I believe we last saw tapping out to Kelly Klein in a Women Of Honor match taped at Global Wars 2016 in Chicago. 

Crazy Mary REALLY likes the Code Of Honor…to the extent that Scott has to kick her just to let go of her hand. Dobson then retaliates by almost taking poor Veda’s head off with a running knee. Flying crossbody nailed in the first thirty seconds by Mary gets an early nearfall. HEAD DROP GERMAN BY VEDA! ONE COUNT OF DISRESPECT! Surprisingly, Scott copes well with that – taking the match to the outside and pausing to do some commentary. She then gives her a running dropkick through an open chair. SLIDING SPEAR back into the ring gets 2. Veda isn’t even letting Dobson get up now, rattling her jaw with a shining wizard as she gets to her knees. She tries to pull Mary up by the hair…so Crazy rips her own hair out and hands it to her! Holy sh*t! Dobson smiles like a manic and slaps her so hard that Veda crumbles to the floor. FLYING KNEE OFF THE APRON THROUGH A CHAIR! Dobson then bridges up off the mat like a horror movie…right into the Kentucky Knee for 2. She tries to come off the ropes next, only for Veda to kick her knees out from under her then score with a modified Tower Of London. LIGERBOMB BY DOBSON gets 2! Veda blocks the Kaiju Killer right into the PLEX EXPRESS! Veda wins at 06:20

Rating - *** - Hands down the best Women Of Honor match of 2016 (that I’ve seen). These two went to war from the opening bell and beat the sh*t out of each other until the very end. Dobson looked much better here than she did getting squashed by Kelly Klein, and Veda continues to be perhaps the most under-rated of all the Women Of Honor. Whilst Klein gets the Goldberg gimmick, Taeler Hendrix runs the House Of Truth and Mandy Leon is given the ‘rising star’ treatment, Veda has a solid gimmick, is better on the mic and has more of a personality than any of them…and busts her ass in the ring. I’m quickly coming to the opinion that ROH made a real error letting her go…

Speaking of Kelly Klein, she marches to the ring and beats down the participants in the match. BJ then proceeds to intimidate Scarlett Bordeaux (ring announcing again tonight) until she walks out in tears…

The main show begins with Jay Briscoe’s music and the #1 contender hobbling out to the ring. ROH officials are apparently so concerned about his ‘health’ that they want to stop him competing tonight in order to protect the Best In The World main event. His scheduled opponent, Roderick Strong, comes out and makes fun of him then walks out calling him a b*tch. Jay angrily rejects the concerns of ‘officials’ and confirms that he is wrestling the main event regardless…

We’ve seen these two wrestle before, and they are usually great value when in the ring together Coleman’s big mouth and brash attitude has been riling fans up all weekend. ACH is no stranger to rubbing people up the wrong way either. Tonight he’ll be focused on pulling out a victory as he tries to build momentum in preparation for his match with current rival Silas Young on pay-per-view. The Last Real Man himself slides into commentary alongside Ian and BJ for this one…

Caprice runs down the local sports teams to get heat tonight. Sometimes the old ones are the best ones I suppose. They stall for more than a minute, which gives Silas ample time to trash ACH for buying toys at a convention. Coleman tries to kick at ACH’s legs, identifying that he can’t keep up with his opponent tonight. VERTICAL LEAP super rana out of nowhere by Caprice! Spinebuster lands next as Coleman continues to put the spoilers on ACH any time he threatens to build momentum. ACH finally hammers into him with a running lariat…so once again Caprice shuts him down, this time with a thumb to the eyes. Hero’s Grip nailed from nothing but ACH is so roughed up he can barely maintain a bridge. Caprice teases a big dive spot…only to further piss off the live fans by rolling under the ropes and dismissively slapping his opponent in the face instead. Ringpost 619 misses though, and ACH hits a lariat on the floor, followed by the PK from the apron. But as soon as they enter the ring Caprice grounds him yet again, this time with the Mind Trip. Trinity suplex flurry nailed for 2. Sky Splitter dodged though, right into the Spirit Bomb! MIDNIGHT STAR! ACH wins at 09:50

Rating - *** - They didn’t tell the story I thought they’d tell at all, and I really like that. The direction they went in (Caprice recognising that ACH was too fast for him, so deciding to crush his momentum before he built up any speed) was a gutsy one considering they were opening the show. But, it worked extremely well. Coleman’s antagonistic pre-match promo ensured they had some decent heat, and fans bought into wanting to see ACH win without necessarily breaking out a lot of the high impact combo moves or dives that we are used to seeing from him. It was telling that ACH’s most successful offence for most of this match was a lariat. Ultimately Caprice lost because he relinquished control, allowed ACH to string together one of those high-speed bursts of offence…

Silas Young teases trying to attack ACH from behind, but walks out hurling abuse at him instead.

Former ECW/WWE star Stevie Richards has appeared regularly for ROH in 2016, and the biggest testament to the quality of his work is that very few people are singling him out as not belonging. You could argue whether his spot would be better given to someone younger, but he has name value, has consistently worked very hard and demonstrated that he has no problem putting core ROH roster guys over. He fully deserves the repeated invites back, and tonight he’ll pose a stiff test to Mark Briscoe as he gears up for a battle with old friend and rival Roderick Strong at the forthcoming PPV.

Stevie works hard to hang with Briscoe in an exchange of holds, then shows his wealth of experience by countering a wild armdrag attempt by Mark into a submission hold. He then makes the mistake of mocking Redneck Kung Fu…so Mark promptly boots him in the head. Richards decides he doesn’t want to trade strikes with the ROH stalwart and finds a way to crotch him over the ropes. Next time Mark attempts a comeback Stevie closes him down again with a swinging neckbreaker. He starts doing mock Kung Fu strikes of his own…only for Briscoe to palm strike him into a fisherman buster. Stevie Kick blocked…so Richards drops him into the Koji Clutch instead. Rolling DVD from Mark to escape, followed by the Froggy Bow. Briscoe wins at 07:24

Rating - ** - There won’t be any MOTY honours coming in the direction of this match, but it was solid enough. I enjoyed watching Richards work more of an aggressive, heel style. He looked comfortable in that role obviously, and kept things relatively interesting whilst Briscoe mostly ‘played the hits’ around him. A couple of mis-steps, a generally low key vibe and a couple of annoying fan chants (‘We want tables’!? Seriously guys!?) did stunt my enjoyment of this one though

I’ve spoken at length in the past about how these guys are not my favourite parts of the ROH roster. Bruiser has turned it around somewhat in that his team with Silas is entertaining and covers his weaknesses well…but I don’t have much interest in him as a singles performer, and certainly not against bloody Cheeseburger. This should be a novel battle between the littlest guy on the books and one of the biggest I suppose. Silas Young is back on commentary for this one too…

Cheeseburger gets flattened because he tries to work headlocks like an out-and-out moron. Next he tries farcical Kobashi chops, which work for some reason. An attempted flying headscissors off the apron is blocked…but after Burger cleverly hops over Beer City’s head to the floor, BCB grabs him for an emphatic body slam. Back in the ring Bruiser takes an eternity to lift Burger up for a crucifix cutter. More strikes from Cheese, culminating in the Shotei as Bruiser perches on the top rope. Springboard bulldog gets 2 for the smaller athlete. Rotund cannonball senton off the apron misses for BCB, and Burger capitalises with the tope swinging DDT to the floor. Isn’t that Ferrara’s spot? The site of Cheeseburger somehow dragging Bruiser off the floor and back into the ring is implausibly ludicrous. BCB kills him with a back drop driver then a sit-out piledriver for the win at 05:53.

Rating - * - I felt like 1* is a generous rating and definitely doesn’t reflect necessarily reflect the fact that I hated this. I don’t like Bruiser singles matches, and I absolutely HATE it when I’m supposed to buy into Cheeseburger’s offence as credible against guys who are three times his size. Pretending his Kobashi chops were powerful enough to knock Bruiser out of the ring, or watching him laughably ‘pick Bruiser up’ off the floor when KO’d was beyond dumb. I could see how some of the little and large comedy might have resonated with fans who actually like Cheeseburger...but this was a big miss for me.

Silas grabs a microphone to complain about people who like video games and comic books. It is all a calculated verbal shot at ACH obviously…eventually drawing ACH to run in from the crowd to rescue Burger before Silas can hit Misery on him. 

ANX have been rejuvenated by their new campaign to ‘make wrestling great again’, racking up a number of wins recently. This is the biggest test of their newfound momentum, however, as they face an MCMG team who have been almost unstoppable since reuniting at the Anniversary Show and now find themselves as #1 contenders to face the winners of Addiction/War Machine on PPV. Who’s momentum stalls here – the All Nights’ or the Machine Guns’?

King and Sabin start without shenanigans or silliness, and instead deliver a high quality back and forth wrestling exchange. Rhett tags in with Shelley and is still trying to make ‘he pulled my hair’ happen, whilst ROH audiences continue to not give a sh*t about that stupid gimmick. Kenny takes control and jumps Shelley from behind…only to be dumped out allowing the Machine Guns to team up on Titus. Thankfully for him King returns quickly and capo kicks Shelley from the apron. He assaults Alex on the floor, kick starting a period of ANX dominance in the match. It isn’t particularly inspiring stuff though, particularly when Rhett takes the lead as he just doesn’t have the same presence as King. In the end it’s Kenny that absorbs the Shellshock to the turnbuckles (which Shelley does at almost the same point in every match), opening the door for a hot tag to Sabin. He steps off Titus into a tornado DDT on Kenny to clear the ring. Through-the-legs tope suicida nailed! ANX retaliate with a springboard blockbuster over Rhett’s knees for 2. Shelley saves his partner from the One Night Stand before nailing Titus with a pescado. Kenny tries to pin Sabin using the ropes…but Paul Turner spots it and stops counting. DOUBLE RUBIX CUBE on Kenny gives MCMG the win at 10:56

Rating - ** - It was definitely the right call to put the Machine Guns over. ANX’s new direction is interesting, but certainly not worth sacrificing Shelley and Sabin’s momentum for. It has to be said that the match itself fell short of expectations though. I’m certain these guys have better matches in them, but none of them are good (or over) enough to work a basic tag formula match at the most relaxed and sedate of B-show paces, and expect it to get over. The fans were silent, the action was middle of the road, and whilst it didn’t suck it definitely wasn’t memorable at all.

The Ring Of Honor World Champion intensely dislikes the Bullet Club. Regardless of whether you consider him a heel, a babyface or something in between, the events of Global Wars (when they introduced Adam Cole, wrecked his PPV main event and beat him up) mean he will jump at the chance to get into the ring with them. He was also part of the losing ROH team in the recent Dearborn 10-man main event which saw Hangman Page debut in Bullet Club too. On Page’s part, this is a chance to establish his own World Title credentials, and if nothing else soften Lethal up since his stable-mate Adam Cole is also gunning for the belt…

SUPERKICK BY LETHAL! He doesn’t wait for a bell, he just walks up to Hangman and knocks his block off! To the floor he flies, tossing Page into the rails…but in turn taking a trip to the railings himself when Page rams him ribs-first into them. Mounted punches against the barricade by Jay, only for Page to grab his balls and heave him into the barriers again. The match returns to the ring where the wrestling acumen of the champ sees him reassume control. It’s far too early for the Lethal Injection though, and Page counters with a flapjack onto the ropes. Springboard dropkick to the floor by Lethal in response, right into the rolling tope suicidas. On the third tope of the trilogy he teases having a leg injury, but it’s just a set-up to distract Hangman and enable Taeler Hendrix to trip him off the apron. Page’s body is bruised and heavily marked after the repeated trips into the guardrail during this match, and Lethal doesn’t allow him to recover before locking in the Figure 4 Leglock. That leg does appear to be bothering Jay though, and he has to release the hold. APRON STO BY PAGE! SSP TORPEDO LARIAT TO THE FLOOR! Both men are really feeling the effects of the hard-fought match, and with the champion vulnerable Hangman decides to test just how healthy Lethal’s knee and leg really are. He rips bandages and padding away and soon has him hobbling all over the ring. It brings a smile to Page’s face as he has the World Champion powerless to prevent him from hitting the stalling pumphandle suplex for 2. Lethal lands a flurry of kicks to Page’s skull…but all use his bad leg and leave him rolling around on the ground in pain. POP-UP NECKBREAKER gets 2! Lethal makes an ill-advised trip to the top looking for Hail To The King…only to be intercepted at the top with a running mafia kick from the Hangman. Superplex blocked by Jay…who then misses a Macho Axehandle and limps into the Spike DDT for 2. Rite Of Passage blocked...SUPERKICK TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD INSTEAD! Buckshot Lariat COUNTERED to an Ace Crusher! HAIL TO THE KING for 2. Taeler Hendrix tries to get involved again, distracting referee Todd Sinclair and causing him to miss the Young Bucks sneaking through the curtain. SUPERKICK PARTY ON LETHAL! BUCKSHOT LARIAT! LETHAL KICKS OUT! Lethal Combination to lock the Rite Of Passage…and then he steps aside and watches as Page inadvertently superkicks Nick Jackson. SUPERKICK ON MATT! DOUBLE LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wins at 17:52

Rating - **** - The deadly silent crowd, who only really perked up when the Young Bucks arrived, hurt the drama of this. It only just snuck into 4* territory, but the body of the work here was really enjoyable. I criticise Delirious for some of his half-baked, unimaginative booking – but just like last-year I like the depth he’s diving into for the Lethal/Briscoe Best In The World build. The idea that both champion and challenger enter the rematch, a year later, both banged up after a gruelling ‘Road To BITW Tour’ is an interesting one very much reminiscent of several New Japan main event angles in recent years. I also thought the deft lay-out of the match – with Lethal acting like he wasn’t injured only for Page to f*ck him up and prove otherwise – made Hangman look formidable too. I was indifferent to the Young Bucks interference at the end. On the one hand it ruined the match to an extent, but on the other they brought the fans to life and added far more atmosphere to the conclusion than there otherwise would have been. Page, who didn’t need Bullet Club association to have matches of this quality, continues his epic losing streak since signing up to Bullet Club for an increase his Pro Wrestling Tees money. Personally I’d have given serious consideration to putting him over here, as it was non-title. It would further push the ‘Lethal is injured’ angle, recover some of Hangman’s shattered credibility and instantly create a hot World Title Match for a TV taping or a future house show…

BJ Whitmer leaves commentary as we return from intermission. His annoying ‘boo so I can’t talk, pretty please’ gimmick is even more tedious in front of this Columbus crowd who are among the most low key of ROH audiences thus far in 2016. To his credit, the ‘we want wrestling’ chant he draws out of them is as loud as they’ve been all night (which even Ian Riccaboni comments on). Todd Sinclair, Paul Turner and Ian Riccaboni all try to convince him to leave…which he eventually does. 

This comes closer to resembling legitimate preparation for Dalton Castle’s big TV Title showdown with Bobby Fish on pay-per-view. Kamaitachi is on excursion from New Japan, where Bobby Fish also works, and they are both junior heavyweights. I’m clutching at straws a little, but this should still be a great match. Castle has been protected since the end of his feud with Silas back in February, frequently working comedy matches lower down the card or multi-man bouts. In 2018 he said in interviews that he was working with a broken back as long ago as 2016, so it is entirely possible that even by this point he had begin struggling with that injury. One of the few times he has really cut loose since Vegas was against another New Japan guy – Kushida – during the War Of The Worlds Tour. If this one reaches the levels that match did then we are in for a treat.

Castle preens and poses, but doesn’t get much of a rise out of Kamaitachi so sulks in the corner with his Boys. Tachi escapes an attempt at a Karelin lift…which Dalton reacts to by half-posing, half rubbing his back. Maybe I’m looking for things that aren’t there, but this is early June 2016 and he already doesn’t look right. Even Kamaitachi can bridge further back than him tonight (which The Boys respect so much that they fan him). The Japanese star mows Dalton down with a running dropkick but then tries another kick moments later and finds it countered into a capture suplex. Dalton batters his neck against the turnbuckles and hits a back suplex for 2. Amateur-grappling mounted bearhug applied to work the back…until he strays from the mat stuff and tries to deliver a running knee from the apron only to be thrown unceremoniously to the floor. TOP ROPE CRAZY SENTON BOMB TO THE OUTSIDE nailed by Kamaitachi to wipe out Castle and The Boys. Back in the ring Tachi tries a springboard elbow but sees it COUNTERED to the Everest German for 2. Next Kamaitachi leaps off the second rope, and this time when Dalton tries to catch him for another suplex counter he simply counters right back into a DDT. ROLLING GERMANS get 2. Castle tries to leave the ring for response and still Kamai stays on him; hurling his body off the apron for a flying missile dropkick into the guardrail. NO SOLD by the Peacock! TIGER FEINT RANA OFF THE APRON! HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! BOTH MEN DOWN! They both crawl back in at a sluggish pace with bodies crying out in pain. Incredibly they start running at each other with big strikes…and this time Castle does land his jumping knee strike from the apron. Kamaitachi blocks a superplex by landing on his feet (which looked super-awkward but does seem like an effective counter). DIVING WHEELBARROW BOMB OFF THE SECOND ROPE by Kamaitachi! METEORA GETS 2! Time Bomb blocked, but so is the Bang-A-Rang! Elbows by Dalton…kicks by Kamai! DALTON THROWS HIM TO THE FLOOR! DEAD-LIFT OUTSIDE-IN EVEREST GERMAN! Castle wins at 14:14

Rating - **** - Knowing how bad Dalton’s back wound up being makes these matches uncomfortable viewing...but also exceptionally dramatic. This was great stuff, and perhaps not in the manner you might have expected. Both men have quirky characters and big personalities, but they actually stripped a lot of that back to focus on having a really good, hard-fought, ultra-competitive wrestling match instead. It may not have been to everyone’s liking but I thought it was solid. Much of the offence of both competitors targeted the neck and back; I thought they both did a strong job conveying the wear and tear of such a physical, aggressive match as it wore on too. I’m not quite sure they got the pacing right (it felt like it had already peaked when Dalton won), and it felt like there were some noticeable errors in communication. But this was still high level stuff and arguably MOTN thus far even over Lethal/Page.

Not since 2013 when Matt Taven won the Top Prospect Tournament then won the TV Title (ironically from Adam Cole) a few weeks later has a TPT winner made such an immediate impact as Lio Rush. Up next he faces a former World Champion in Cole; a man who needs to beat him convincingly to press home his own claims for a match with the winner of the Lethal/Briscoe Best In The World main event. Cole has the Young Bucks and Hangman Page all come out as part of his entrance, but they all leave before the bell.

Rush stands and watches as the four Bullet Club guys goof around with streamers and shooting footage on their phones before leaving. He has a smile on his face as he tells Cole to ‘suck it’ though, provoking the former champion into a violent assault which starts the match. Adam drags him all round ringside doling out fierce shots to the guardrails, and follows that with an OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX INTO THE APRON! Inside two minutes he has inflicted a significant back injury on Lio which inevitably negates his ability to move quickly or fly. Cole methodically sticks to a slow pace and shuts Rush down every time he tries to speed things up. The frustrated youngster eventually tries a hopeless jump onto the air and is easily caught with a DVD over the knee to crush his spine again. Next Lio tries to come off the second rope…only to be swept off the turnbuckles into a cradle backbreaker for 2. WHACKY COUNTER into a slap by Rush! Next he back flips into a jumping enzi to drive Cole out of the ring…and is on him again with a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! How much does his back have left after that? Cole moves as he lines up the Dragon’s Call, so Lio lands a swinging DDT for 2 instead – but that’s another move which drops him on his spine. Sluggishly he heads upstairs again but is confronted by Cole meeting him on the turnbuckles. He knocks Cole away with another kick, but MISSES the Dragon’s Call. SHINING WIZARD TO THE BACK gets 2! Adam tries another DVD over the knee…and when Lio lands on his feet off that he decks him with the NXT version of the Last Shot instead. Rush spits in his face…and then stomps the sh*t out of the Bullet Club member in the corner! SUPERKICK BY COLE! That only gets 2, enraging Cole so much he almost knocks out Todd Sinclair too! The fans, who were another silent crowd unconvinced by Rush in the opening minutes, are red-hot for this now. Lio can barely get up after the Superkick, so Cole thinks about the Panama Sunrise. COUNTERED TO A DIVING REVERSE RANA! DRAGON’S CALL NAILED! COLE KICKS OUT! Veda Scott’s acting when selling the disbelief that Rush didn’t win there is outstanding too. Lio throws elbows at the reeling Cole…but every time Adam responds Lio’s body is so battered he is knocked off his feet. Last Shot countered to a small package for a CLOSE two! SLIDING ENZI! Still only two for the TPT winner!? Cole ducks the Rush Hour into a SUPERKICK! LAST SHOT! Cole finally beats the rising star at 16:08

Rating - **** - A deserved standing ovation for these two. Watching Lio Rush in ROH in 2016 is an absolute joy. I genuinely think you have to go all the way back to the Briscoes in 2002 to find a talent to be as good as he is, at such an insanely young age, with so little formal experience behind him. His career oddly parallels Adam Cole’s at this stage – a much-hyped rising star looking to build on his accomplishments with CZW on a wider stage, earning looks from the WWN guys before eventually signing with Ring Of Honor. Cole wasn’t stealing the show regularly in his first year either I can tell you! That said, in 2016 Adam Cole is Ring Of Honor’s star player. He isn’t champ like Lethal, he hasn’t been here since Day One like Jay Briscoe, he isn’t a technical wizard like Kyle O’Reilly or outrageously strong like Michael Elgin. But he has star power and an x-factor that none of those guys have. He can sell you a story and a character so brilliantly; this match was just another example of that. Lio’s work is phenomenal (although I would have liked him to work harder in selling the back – Cole put a lot of work into it) and is getting really good at turning indifferent crowds, unfamiliar with his work, into vocal audiences. Tonight though, as great as he was, it was Cole’s performance that laid all the groundwork and helped get him over. To be frank, it was the performance of a World Champion in waiting…

Cole applauds Lio, helps him to his feet and calls him the ‘future of Ring Of Honor’. They hug, and hold it for just long enough that you think it may not be the obvious set-up it seemed…and then the Young Bucks run in to knock his block off with tandem Superkicks. Lio gets treated like a jobber and triple Superkicked into oblivion before the Motor City Machine Guns make a massively-belated save…

As I said during my Road To BITW Indianapolis review, the lay-out of the feud between these two teams has been horrendous, to the extent that it genuinely feels like the idea is to make all four guys look as stupid as possible at all times. War Machine have looked like bearded boneheads from start to finish, whilst The Addiction have come off more like cowardly, fortuitous chancers than they have calculating, scheming veterans. I didn’t disagree with the decision to take the belts away from Hanson and Rowe once the ‘money’ match of their reign (vs the Briscoes at Global Wars) had taken place. I didn’t disagree with putting the belts on Daniels and Kazarian, given that they are a great team in their own right, and embroiled in concurrent rivalries with two of the more popular teams on the roster in the Machine Guns and the Young Bucks. But if you asked a hundred wrestling fans to book this championship transition, not one of them would have come up with something as bad as the way these guys have been handled. This match is where we find out if it was all worthwhile. Will Addiction leave with the belts again? Or can Hanson and Rowe obtain revenge for the dastardly way they were ‘manipulated’ out of their belts? Perhaps more pertinently, will they actually be allowed to deliver a good match?

War Machine fill the ring with trash cans and chairs during their entrance, only for The Addiction to hilariously toss them back out during theirs. ‘You’re the Ring General, you got this’ – Kazarian to Daniels as he scarpers for the apron leaving his partner to start with an angry Ray Rowe. It doesn’t take long for all four to pile in and throw punches however. The action spills around ringside, captured atrociously by the production crew who seem intent on missing all the action (including Ian Riccaboni getting knocked out of his seat). Could that not have been fixed for the DVD? Hanson crotches Daniels on the ringpost as Kaz decides to hide under the ring. The challengers bring it back inside for stereo hammer blow strikes which have both members of The Addiction reeling. Daniels eventually retaliates with a low blow to block Hanson’s Bronco Buster. They adopt divide and conquer tactics; clearing the ring of one opponent as they team up on the other. But that falls apart when Frankie tries to use a springboard crossbody to keep Rowe on the outside. Ray catches him with ease…only to be wiped out by the Arabian Press to the floor from Daniels instead. Hanson gets vital time to recover…and hits the Bronco Buster off the apron! ATOMIC DROP ON AN OPEN CHAIR! On the floor Kazarian accidentally chops the ringpost…and hurts his arm again moments later when he misses a chair shot on Rowe and whacks the guardrails. War Machine escort the champs around ringside for stereo Sledgehammers on the barriers before Daniels counters to brain Hanson on the ringpost. Kaz blasts Rowe with one of the garbage cans…as the Ring General ties Hanson to the ropes with tape. STEEL CHAIR SHOT on the helpless Hanson. Next he tapes Ray Rowe’s ankles to the ropes as well, setting him up for unprotected leg drops and moonsaults! SPRINGBOARD LEG DROP ON A CHAIR! But when they try to pin Rowe Paul Turner points out he can’t get it because his legs are in the ropes! Daniels has to cut him free! I can’t remember seeing that before. Once freed Rowe mows down Kaz with a tackle and grabs some scissors so he can cut his partner free as well. Big Hanson flies back in using a top rope reverse elbow on the Fallen Angel. Path Of Destruction gets 2 on Daniels. But Daniels then uses a steel chair to block the Cartwheel Lariat. CEMENT MIXER THROUGH AN OPEN CHAIR BY ROWE! He and Kazarian brawl hanging perilously over the timekeeping table! In the end he settles for giving Frankie a running powerbomb into his own partner sandwiched to the guardrails. GUARDRAIL BRONCO BUSTER by Hanson! FALLOUT ON KAZARIAN! But Daniels breaks the pin! The rampant War Machine crush him as well with a double chokeslam. They have a chance to win the match and get their titles back…but instead Rowe sends Hanson to the floor to bring a table in, picking vengeance over gold. They pay a heavy price! The Pretty Boy Killers run in for some reason, with Lee taking Hanson out with his Spirit Bomb. Taylor crushes Rowe with a second rope splash. CELEBRITY REHAB THROUGH A TABLE ON HANSON! Addiction retain at 22:27

Rating - *** - Good match…but another f*cking terrible finish, which once again makes War Machine look like abject morons and The Addiction like nothing more than lucky old bastards. The fans weren’t great for this (or have been poorly mic’d all night) but I admired how hard these four men worked. It was by far their best match together. War Machine were violent and merciless, whilst Addiction did a great job as scheming villains. I’m all for the Pretty Boy Killers getting more bookings, and I’m down with them working an angle with War Machine. But this was an outright horrible way of manufacturing that scenario. The four guys who busted their ass for 20+ minutes before Lee and Taylor ran in deserved so much better…and everyone in this company deserves better than a booker/creative team who can't fathom a world where heels are anything other than chickensh*ts who lose unless they benefit from some combination of cheating or outside interference.

Ian Riccaboni promotes this as the first major singles match between these two since 'Only The Strong Survive' back in 2011. I don’t care enough to do the research to confirm that or otherwise, but I do hope they are as good tonight as they were back then. These two have been friends and rivals for as long as they have been in ROH together. When the Generation Next faction formed at the event carrying their name, one of the first to stand up to them was Jay Briscoe (and his brother). They teamed together and/or been heated rivals in the years since. Both have won the Tag Titles, both have been World Champion…and they now stand as two of the most decorated and respected veterans on the roster. Roddy enters this one with nothing to lose. Out of the championship picture and facing a supposedly-injured Briscoe, a win here would enable him to muscle back into the ROH Title scene.

Strong cuts an animated, agitated figure in the early exchanges. He bounces from side to side, leaves the ring to argue with fans, refuses to shut his mouth and wrestle…then eventually walks into a mafia kick from his opponent. TOPE SUICIDA INTO THE GUARDRAILS BY JAY! Roddy is in full retreat now but can’t keep out of Briscoe’s clutches. GUARDRAIL GUTBUSTER nailed by Strong; a devastating blow to Briscoe’s ailing, injured body. Jay hardly has time to catch his breath before Roderick gives him a GUARDRAIL BACKBREAKER as well. He takes the fight back into the ring and gets a nearfall from the Olympic Slam. A trickle of blood dribbles down Briscoe’s forehead, and Veda points out heavy bruising on his back…which Strong tries to exploit with a surfboard around the ringpost. Mr ROH wants a superplex, and when Jay refuses to cooperate he plucks him out of mid-air with a violent dropkick into the injured ribs instead. Briscoe blocks the urinage backbreaker and hits a snap DVD leaving both men down on the canvas in pain. But Roddy blocks the Day One Neckbreaker with more shots to the ribs. Jay makes do with a big falcon arrow…and again struggles to follow up as he hunches down on his knees. JUMPING KNEE in the ropes by Strong, before he busts out the Muso to crush Briscoe’s ribs some more. CRADLE BACKBREAKER! Gibson Driver COUNTERED with a Roaring Elbow! SUPERPLEX by Strong, rolled right into Death By Roderick! But then Jay blocks the Sick Kick with a diving lariat for 2. The old rivals stagger towards each other, covered in sweat and egging each other on to keep throwing strikes. Briscoe throws a big boot…and wipes out Todd Sinclair when Strong ducks behind him. Day One Neckbreaker nailed! JAY DRILLER! RODDY KICKS OUT! JUMPING KNEE FLURRY! SICK KICK! JAY KICKS OUT! END OF HEARTACHE! STRONG PINS THE #1 CONTENDER! 18:11 is your time!

Rating - **** - I’ve hammered Delirious for some sh*tty creative decisions all night, but I’ll end on a positive because I loved what he did by having Briscoe lose here. All weekend he’s been pushing the idea that both champion and challenger for Best In The World are so fired up and ready to fight that they are wearing out their own bodies on this long and gruelling tour before the pay-per-view. We’ve seen Lethal hobbling around, and tonight we saw Jay compete against the wishes of ‘ROH officials’. Not everyone is a superhero and not every show can have a happy ending. Tonight Roderick Strong proved he was just too good for an injured Briscoe, picking apart his ribs and casting huge doubts about how ready Briscoe will be to compete at Best In The World. As a stand-alone match, ref-bump aside, this was excellent, but as a small piece in a bigger World Title jigsaw puzzle it was even better. Jay Briscoe has been in vintage form all weekend, delivering great matches on all three shows. 

Tape Rating - *** - Something Ring Of Honor started the year doing well was messing with the formats of their live events, shaking things up and making these 'on tour' shows feel wholly more unpredictable. Unfortunately in the second quarter of 2016 they’ve stepped away from that, and gone back to the bad habit of having a painfully skippable and mediocre first hour - as was very much the case with this DVD. Once that first third of the night was out of the way this was a solid show however. Creatively something has been ‘off’ about ROH since Supercard Of Honor weekend wrapped and some of the writing/storylines here were totally inexplicable, but just like in 2014/15 the immense talent of the roster is bailing the booker out. Cole/Rush was spectacular and stole the show, but the Briscoe/Strong main event was brilliant, whilst Lethal/Page and Kamaitchi/Castle were real gems on the undercard. They finished the weekend strong, just be prepared to use your skip button a lot through the first hour…

3) Dalton Castle vs Kamaitachi (****)

2) Roderick Strong vs Jay Briscoe (****)

1) Adam Cole vs Lio Rush (****)

5) Adam Cole vs Kamaitachi (**** - Collinsville)

4) Alex Shelley vs Lio Rush (**** - Collinsville)

3) Roderick Strong vs Jay Briscoe (**** - Columbus)

2) Adam Cole vs Lio Rush (**** - Columbus)

1) Jay Briscoe vs Moose (**** - Indianapolis)