McXal's Reviews

Three shows deep into the five-event ‘Road To Best In The World 2016 Tour’ and I’m already happy to call this year’s Tour more of a success than the absolute slog that was the 2015 Road To BITW Tour. Indianapolis wasn’t the best show and was plagued by technical difficulties, but even that had the outstanding Briscoe/Moose match which may standout as one of the most unexpected, under-rated, overlooked gems Ring Of Honor’s live events will produce all year. This weekend a lot of the guys who missed last week’s triple shot thanks to their New Japan commitments are back – so names like Elgin, O’Reilly and Fish beef up the roster. Many of them are scheduled to compete in the 2016 Tag Wars Tournament, which takes place this weekend. Nine teams compete in three triple threat qualification bouts tonight, with the winners advancing to a triple threat final stage tomorrow. Ordinarily that may feel like filler, but ROH’s tag division is SO deep that there are a lot of names slated to take part. Young Bucks, reDRagon, the Briscoes, ANX, RPG Vice, War Machine, plus a dream team of Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong are all involved…and all competing to become #1 contenders to whomever wins the ROH Tag Title match between The Addiction (who aren’t wrestling tonight) and the Motor City Machine Guns (who aren’t in the tournament) at Best In The World. Elsewhere in singles action, both the Elgin vs Kamaitachi and Shelley vs ACH matches could steal the show if given sufficient time. Kevin Kelly is back for the weekend too, joined by BJ Whitmer for commentary duties and sadly putting an end to the fun Ian Riccaboni/Veda Scott announce duo who I thought did such a great job at the previous run of shows.

It was in the Global Wars dark matches that we saw Juice make his Ring Of Honor debut, following his departure from WWE NXT and spending time in New Japan’s dojo system instead. Now he gets his first singles match against a man who stands as #1 contender to the TV Title and has been in formidable form as of late. Last time we saw Dalton wrestle New Japan’s on-excursion star Kamaitachi, and this time he wrestles another NJPW dojo prospect. Given how much time Bobby Fish has spent throughout his career working in Japan these aren’t the worst choices in preparatory matches.

Kevin Kelly is back, so obviously he’ll spend minutes talking about the Whitmer/Corino feud rather than this match. Robinson is up for a laugh with Castle and seems to annoy the Peacock with his own antics. The Boys aren’t impressed either and refuse to fan Juice (and they fan almost everyone). Juice lands on his feet when Castle tries his gutwrench suplex spot but Dalton shows his skill by floating easily into an armdrag instead. Robinson gets into Castle’s head again by antagonising The Boys on the floor too. It’s rare to see Castle this visibly irritated early in a match and it causes him to make mistakes, opening the door for Juice to land a couple of suplexes. Jumping senton blocked by Castle’s knees, and he further damages Robinson’s back by dodging cannonball in the corner and causing his spine to collide with the turnbuckles. Capture overhead belly to belly suplex nailed by Castle (although his own dodgy back means that he comes up seemingly in more pain than his opponent after hitting it). Everest German gets 2! Robinson retreats to the apron…but slingshots back in and eats big boot. Taste kick by Robinson, into the diving powerbomb for 2. A high-velocity pescado smears Dalton all over the hard-wood floor…only for him to recover strong with the tiger feint headscissors from the apron to the ground below! Back inside for Bang-A-Rang, and Robinson is defeated at 09:32

Rating - ** - I enjoyed this more than 2* probably implies. I’m not sure it was the best choice of opening match as it was a pretty lethargic pace, and fans didn’t seem particularly into Robinson for most of the contest. The way both men attacked each other’s backs was interesting, particularly watching poor Dalton given at this stage he was already struggling with back problems. So much of his moveset is reliant on core strength and flexibility, meaning at times it’s quite hard to watch him hit his signature moves when you know he must be hurting. In the end he overcomes another New Japan talent on his way to Best In The World, and hopefully didn’t put his body through too much so he can be as healthy as he possibly can for Fish on PPV.

reDRagon’s music hits during Dalton’s celebrations, and Bobby Fish comes out to host the #1 contender to his TV Title in a ‘Live Fish Tank’ segment. It’s actually quite a comical interlude, but mostly because Fish and Dalton are adept at improvisational humour around things like missing microphones and loud-mouthed fans. The interview is conducted on chairs formed of Boys, which is solid gold too. Turns out they are friends that go way back, and can both agree that they’d like to do brunch together after Best In The World. Pleasant as things are, Bobby just doesn’t think Dalton is championship material…which pisses Castle off so much that he cancels brunch and walks off.

Originally Sabin was scheduled for another Bullet Club grudge match this evening, against Adam Cole. However, Cole had to pull out of these shows after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Ferrara takes the opportunity to step into the ring with one half of the #1 contenders to the ROH Tag Titles. He knows Sabin has been on a tear since turning his back on the KRD to reform the Motor City Machine Guns with long-time friend Alex Shelley. This is exactly the kind of chance Prince Nana’s letters about enlightenment have given him the confidence to seize. Now he just needs to figure out a way to win…

Ferrara starts like a man with something to prove and repeatedly out-wrestles Sabin in the early exchanges. Chris does finally find a way to take Ferrara down, but he definitely takes the worst of the opening skirmishes. Cradle Shock blocked, with Will going back after the arm moments later. Sabin needs some heavy-duty strikes to knock him back…and even then Ferrara hits an armbar takedown. PK from the apron nailed by Sabin and he holds his opponent down in a chinlock just to buy him some time to regroup. Will grabs the arm he’s been working on all match and uses it to hoist him into a Samoan drop, which is immediately followed by an elbow suicida as Sabin bails. Chris dodges the rebound cutter Ferrara likes to deploy then scoops him up for a sit-out powerbomb. Rebound tornado DDT by Ferrara instead gets 2. Fujiwara armbar applied on the arm he’s target all match! He rounds that into a kimura only for Sabin to kick his way free into Cradle Shock. He wins at 08:02

Rating - ** - Very similar to the opening match in that it told a decent story an didn’t outstay it’s welcome, but also never felt particularly exciting and didn’t do enough to suck a subdued live crowd into proceedings. There is an argument to be made, however, that this was Will Ferrara’s best individual performance in an ROH ring to date. He was excellent here.

Christopher Daniels joins commentary for this, the first match in the 2016 Tag Wars Tournament. We haven’t seen the Tag Wars tournament concept in a couple of years, but it comes back this weekend with a whole new format featuring nine teams all vying to be crowned #1 contenders to the Tag Champions after Best In The World. There are some seriously big guys in this one. War Machine will be fired up to get back into the title picture having cruelly been denied winning back the titles by the Pretty Boy Killers last weekend in Columbus. They’ve had some hard-hitting battles with the Young/Bruiser team too. Moose and Lio are teaming together for the first time tonight. I think it was back during the Conquest Tour that it randomly came up that Moose and Rush are friends. Rush is the smallest man in the fight but is having a sensational rookie year in ROH and already has a 2016 tournament victory to his name. Is he the wildcard in this one?

Silas starts with Rush, which is probably good preparation for his match with ACH in a couple of weeks. Amusingly he tries to show off how he can do a bridge…which only provokes Lio into his usual snakelike ability to evade contact with an adversary before peppering the Last Real Man with kicks. Moose and Bruiser tag in, colliding like bulls in the middle of the ring and each refusing to budge. War Machine try to team-up on Moose…but even then he runs through them both with a football tackle. Young goes after Moose’s legs and quickly hobbles him sufficiently for he and his partner to drag the former football player into their corner for a beatdown. Moose explodes out of the corner with a bicycle kick on BCB though, before bringing Lio back for more impossibly fast strike sequences. Double team People’s Elbow by Moose and Rush! War Machine come in as a twosome again; this time absolutely decimating Rush. Moose saves his partner by making friends with Hanson and Rowe as they start targeting Beer City instead…until the former Tag Champions turn on him and punch his lights out. ROPE RUN REBOUND CROSSBODY…BLOCKED! FLYING CROSSBODY BY LIO NAILED! Then he tries a tope suicida to the floor, only to be caught by Rowe into an APRON BOMB! CANNONBALL TO THE FLOOR by Bruiser! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY MOOSE! Hanson is heading to the top to cap it off. TOP ROPE SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE FLOOR! Back in the ring Lio dodges the Bronco Buster…AND HITS A GERMAN SUPLEX ON HANSON! THEN ON ROWE AS WELL! He tries it on Bruiser too, and when he blocks that he busts out a DVD! Fans are going wild for him, and boo loudly when Silas attacks Lio from behind. RUSH HOUR ON YOUNG! ROWE SAVES! Lio tries the Rush Hour on Ray…WHO TRIES TO STRAIGHT UP F*CKING MURDER HIM WITH A BACK DROP DRIVER! That was a full on Gabe Sapolsky ‘DANGEROUS’ moment! Young nabs Rowe by countering Death Rowe into the Killer Combo, but is instantly decked by Hanson’s Cartwheel Lariat. Discus lariat from Moose to Hanson! Beer City Bruiser is trying to climb the ropes for some reason, and he is met by the somehow-not-dead Lio Rush! Frankensteiner blocked, into a MISERY/KEG SPLASH COMBO! Silas and Bruiser advance to the finals of Tag Wars 2016 (in their hometown of Milwaukee) at 14:01

Rating - *** - This was probably worthy of an extra half-star for the sensational performance of Lio Rush by himself. Watching his work in Ring Of Honor is really leading me to believe that, as of writing anyway, WWE are really missing a trick with him. He is a remarkable talent, and was the star of the match here. Moose only has a month or so left on his contract which is a shame as his little/large double act with Rush had some potential as well. Bruiser and Silas winning was definitely the right call (you won’t hear me saying that about Bruiser too often). Silas is always super-over in Milwaukee, their team is relatively fresh and definitely different to any other in the tag division…meaning of these three they are the most intriguing choice for a spot in the finals. The match itself started slow, but built in the second half with some fantastic, ROH Scramble Match style action.

Just like Matt Sydal, Shelley is another guy who saw potential in ACH and took him under his wing. These two men have a great deal of mutual respect…but just like with Sydal, ACH now wants to forge his own path and so is happy to wrestle the men who have mentored him. ACH considers wrestling Shelley to be a ‘dream match’, and stated in the build-up to this event that he thought they could have an MOTYC. As he prepares for a grudge showdown with Silas Young at the pay-per-view, can he build some momentum with a huge win over one half of the Tag Title #1 contenders?

Shelley is, by a distance, a better mat wrestler and demonstrates that in the first thirty seconds…but as the pace gradually quickens it becomes apparent that ACH is way too quick for him. Alex tries to leave the ring, only for ACH to keep running and completely mow him down with a tope into the railing. He then hits a diving crossbody off the guardrail as Shelley continues to struggle with his unrelenting speed. Tornado snap suplex by ACH, and he even vocally points out that he’s using that spot as a nod to Shelley’s old rival Jimmy Jacobs. Shelley dodges the Freebird Crossbody…and instantly takes the match to ground with a neckbreaker. Next he ties ACH in the ropes and lands a guillotine neck snap over the top…followed by a diving knee drop to the throat. Crossface applied after that to do more damage to ACH’s neck. ACH lariats his way free, but is too injured to land the Spirit Bomb. Hero’s Grip instead gets 2! Slingshot flatliner COUNTERED to the turnbuckle Shellshock! ACH FLIPS OUT OF A SLINGSHOT DDT! Is that even possible? He doesn’t get to celebrate for long before Alex grounds him again with a superkick. Sliced Bread #2 countered with a superkick…but then Shelley counters the Spirit Bomb into a back suplex with such a high angle that ACH lands on his face. Still he can’t hit Sliced Bread though…and this time ACH nails the Spirit Bomb. MIDNIGHT STAR! ACH scores a huge win at 09:15

Rating - *** - Nine minutes? Was there seriously not more than nine minutes available for these guys? I’m 100% certain that there is filler on this event which could’ve been cut to allow more time for this match. What we got of it was excellent (once again probably worthy of an extra half star), but for me it finished just as it was getting interesting. ACH was too quick and explosive, whilst Shelley was a lethal technician who picked apart his opponent’s neck. They established those interesting central premises, but got no opportunity to expand upon them before rolling to a sudden finish. 

Oh good, they are going to talk instead of get longer to wrestle. ACH puts Shelley over as one of his idols, and in turn Alex goes to town returning the compliments. It’s basically the same speech he gave to put Lio Rush over last weekend, but the sentiment seemed heartfelt. He offers ACH the help of the Motor City Machine Guns if he ever needs it in his fight against Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser. 

We come back from intermission for the now traditional tedious BJ Whitmer segment. Steve Corino is back from Japan too, and comes out for some promo time. He urges parents not to let their children watch the Fight Without Honor at Best In The World. He then starts spouting utter nonsense about an unseen ‘father’, a ‘golden spike’ and ‘cosmic cookies’ (all references to the pending, ridiculously moronic, debut of Kevin Sullivan)…and ends with death threats in BJ’s direction. 

I’d moan about how the momentum Dijak should have built after breaking Truth Martini’s neck in Las Vegas, followed by his terrific match with Jay Lethal in Toronto has been wasted…but in actuality it’s a positive that Dijak is even booked for this show. He’s been in ROH for more than a year now, and even at this point he doesn’t regularly work the live event circuit. Compare the impact he has made in a year to how quickly Lio Rush’s star has risen in mere months; Ring Of Honor and Delirious have droped the ball massively. He pushed World Champion Jay Lethal to the limit during the War Of The Worlds Tour, but ultimately lost the match. Tonight he needs to win at all costs…

Prince Nana tells Cheeseburger that this is an opportunity…but doesn’t actually explain what for. Dijak dwarfs him of course and smirks as Burger looks for any kind of offence that will pose a threat. Tenacious as Cheesey is, the big man has zero problem throwing him around. Feast Your Eyes nearly comes out early, and when Burger blocks it Donovan throttles him in the corner. The little man counters with a crap-looking hurricanrana before heading outside and tripping Dijak head-first into the ringpost. He tries a springboard tornado DDT off the guardrail…only for it to be countered into a release suplex on the floor. Back inside the ring Dijak throws Cheese most of the distance across the ring and starts to look frustrated that the small Dojo graduate won’t stay down. Burger hits a springboard bulldog for 2…and that’s a trigger for Donovan to enter kill mode. He throws him clean over the top rope, and once returning to the ring lands the chokeslam backbreaker with such force that he almost blows his own knee out. Feast Your Eyes is countered as this match rumbles on endlessly, and Burger gets a nearfall with the Shotei. At last Donovan hits Feast Your Eyes to win at 08:58

Rating - DUD - These two getting almost as much time as ACH and Alex Shelley is criminal. This was a total drag, and a death knell to any momentum Donovan Dijak might have built via his interactions with the House Of Truth earlier in 2016. Having a competitive, even match with Cheeseburger was murderous to Donovan’s credibility. His accomplishments as a Top Prospect winner have been eclipsed by every other winner of the tournament – from Michael Bennett, to Matt Taven, to Hanson and now to Lio Rush. Remember, Dalton Castle came into ROH in the Top Prospect Tournament that Dijak won…and has now left the eventual-winner in the dust. Hell, Punishment Martinez becomes a regular soon so Dijak won’t even be the only tall, lithe, super-agile guy on the roster either. Delirious needs to take a step back and seriously think about how he manages Dijak moving forward…

This is our second of three Tag Wars 2016 qualification bouts. The Bucks have plenty of history with both opposing teams tonight…but enter this with a big question mark hanging over both of them in regards to their health. Matt Jackson has a broken hand, and Nick Jackson suffered a severe rib injury during the War Of The Worlds Tour – and both wound up sitting out the Best Of The Super Juniors Tournament as a result. At 100% fitness the Young Bucks would be hot favourites, but with them potentially limited and RPG Vice potentially fatigued (they did compete in Best Of The Super Juniors) could the All Nights sneak in and cause an upset over the two New Japan duos? Frankie Kazarian joins the announce desk for this one.

Romero and Beretta find Kenny King’s pre-match rant so boring that they stroll off into the crowd for a rest. Only an insult to Rocky’s rap album is enough to tempt him back. He pays for his big mouth with an early Superkick from Matt. Less than a minute in and Matt Jackson is already clutching at his broken hand though. His brother, with ribs taped, tags and together they run through some of their trademark double teams to keep Kenny in the ring. Titus rescues his partner by smashing Matt’s broken hand into the apron…as inside the ring Kenny hits a ribbreaker on Nick. RPG Vice actually save the Bucks from further punishment…and of course the Jackson brothers say thanks with more Superkicks. Rocky and Trent stop the Rise Of The Terminator dives then Beretta starts using the guardrails to target the respective injuries. Still angry at getting Superkicked when they tried to help, RPG Vice happily feed Matt back to ANX inside the ring and propose a makeshift alliance to make an example of the Bucks. For the next few minutes the four of them take turns working Matt (and particularly his hand) over. Trent switches up his stalling bootscrape on the eyes spot to do it on the hand instead which I particularly enjoyed. At this point even throwing a punch is out for Matt – causing him so much pain that he leaps backwards into a spinebuster from King. ANX make a break for victory by turning on RPG Vice and that dissension in the ranks allows Matt to make a hand-selling tag to his brother. Superkick on Rocky! Superkick from Nick to Rhett, switching up a spot where he usually hits a somersault plancha in order to protect his ribs. Kevin Steen Cannonball! Matt starts using elbow strikes instead of punches…before walking into tandem jumping knees from RPG. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA by Trent! He gets 2 with a sliding Gobstopper on Matt before joining up with Romero to line-up Strong Zero. King makes the save and joins with Matt to hit a SUPERKICK/CRADLE SUPLEX COMBO on Beretta. Superkick Party on Kenny! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S for Titus! MELTZER DRIVER ON TRENT! KING STEALS THE PIN! ANX pull off the upset at 14:11

Rating - *** - I didn't find this match exciting at all, which is unusual for a Young Bucks match. However, what this did very well was harness their real-life injury problems to create genuine in-ring drama. Neither Matt or Nick were ‘selling’ in the traditional sense, merely competing with well-documented issues. That added legitimacy, levity and relevance to even the most basic of spots which attacked either Matt’s hand or Nick’s ribs. I’m the first to admit that, given how packed ROH’s tag scene is, a Tag Wars tournament final including All Night Express and the Silas/Bruiser team wouldn’t have immediately sprung to mind. But I can find arguments to justify both of those teams going over in their qualifiers. For ANX, they are in the midst of getting a new gimmick and angle off the ground. They see by far the most benefit of winning here. If there are question marks over the Young Bucks’ health then obviously they couldn’t win…and I would certainly prefer to see Kenny and Rhett in the final to the part-time RPG Vice team.

Having watched him absolutely kill it at these live events thus far in his ROH excursion it really isn’t a surprise that New Japan called Hiromu Takahashi (Kamaitachi) home before the year was out. This is a big match for him. Michael Elgin is more of a star in NJPW than he is in Ring Of Honor these days, and Kamai will know that a win here would most certainly catch the attention of his home office back in Japan. Kevin Kelly is practically foaming at the mouth in excitement when he gets to talk about Elgin's pending IWGP Intercontinental Title Ladder Match with Kenny Omega - which may well distract his focus from this bout.

Elgin is looking thick, and his size poses a substantial problem to Kamaitachi, who takes a while to figure out an approach. Deciding that lunatic offence is the way to go, first he looks for a sunset flip bomb to the floor and when that fails he launches into a TORNADO DDT OFF THE APRON instead! Elgin isn’t impressed and scoops him up for a GUARDRAIL BOMB! Tachi quite literally runs away after that, cowering against the barriers looking to get away from the former ROH Champion. Elgin flattens him with ruthless elbow smashes…but Kamai keeps getting back up. Eventually he drops to his knees in the corner, so Mike approaches him and delivers an unprotected bicycle kick with such force that Kevin Kelly asks referee Paul Turner if he is stopping the match. Clearly not, and Kamaitachi recovers strong to dropkick his opponent out of the ring. TOP ROPE SUICIDAL SENTON BOMB TO THE FLOOR NAILED! Tachi returns to the top rope for a frog splash back into the ring, but the fearless nature of his offence is starting to take its toll on his body. He is slow to capitalise…but still heads back up again! Double stomp misses, and Elgin stands tall in the middle of the ring blasting him with more elbows. HANGING GERMAN off the ropes gets 2. To the apron slumps Kamaitachi, with Elgin in hot pursuit trying to powerbomb him through the timekeeping table. DVD ON THE APRON! Kamaitachi has to be dead! Somehow he kicks out at 2. Elgin Bomb blocked into a snap German by Hiromu! FRANKENSTEINER! He just won’t stop climbing the ropes, landing repeated Meteora knee drops for 2. Inevitably he winds up going to the well too often and is caught on the top rope by more violent strikes by Big Mike. AVALANCHE DVD! FOR 2! BUCKLE BOMB! ELGIN BOMB COUNTERED TO A JACK-KNIFE PIN FOR 2! ROLLING ELGIN BOMBS! Big Mike wins at 12:50

Rating - **** - I love Hiromu in NJPW, but hadn’t seen more than highlight reels of his time in CMLL. Given how spectacularly mediocre Takaaki Watanabe (EVIL) was during his ROH excursion I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Kamaitachi in ROH…but he has been outstanding. He is a fresh, dynamic and downright exciting presence – livening up house shows by getting to work feature matches against some of ROH’s biggest names. What I particularly enjoyed about this one was that they made his utter recklessness an actual part of the storyline. The first minute consisted of him struggling to even move Elgin…so his solution was to repeatedly go to the top rope and hit as many crazy moves as possible. I thought Elgin worked a smart match here too. Without wanting to talk about NJPW too much, obviously he needed to look after himself given how close this date was to his Ladder Match with Omega. Working Kamaitachi meant he could reign himself in quite a bit, acting as a base for his opponent’s lunacy…and in my opinion Elgin is always at his best when he isn’t showing off, isn’t doing displays of strength just because he can, but actually concentrates on telling his story. And all that whilst a couple of jackasses in the crowd hurled almost constant abuse at him. No wonder he decided working ROH just wasn’t worth it…

It dawns on me that this is Roderick’s last live event weekend in ROH (Best In The World weekend contained his final shows). He starts by forming a ‘dream team’ with current World Champion Jay Lethal to participate in the final Tag Wars 2016 qualification bout. Relations between he and Lethal may be strained, but he brings vital experience to their team, particularly as Lethal (despite being World Champ) is the only man in the match to have never held the Tag Team Championship. Strong also beat Jay Briscoe in a hell of a match last weekend in Columbus, delivering a devastating blow to Jay’s momentum as he prepares for Lethal at Best In The World. An ongoing point of interest across this Road To Best In The World Tour is the health of Briscoe and Lethal. Both are competing in hard-fought, elite-level matches and they each seem to be picking up injuries before they get to PPV. The issues don’t stop there either. reDRagon were the team that ended the last Tag Title reign of the Briscoes. O’Reilly believes he should be World Champion, so has unfinished business with Jay Lethal. Bobby Fish is the current TV Champion so has a target on his back, with Strong in particular gunning for him after their feud earlier in the year. ROH are also pushing the stupid gimmick that Mark Briscoe’s ‘dream’ is to be TV Champion as well. Which duo adds some much needed star-power to the Tag Wars 2016 finals currently featuring All Night Express, Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser?

Despite the fact that Lethal and Jay Briscoe argue heatedly before the bell, neither starts in the ring; Mark and O’Reilly get us underway. It turns out Redneck Kung Fu is more than a match for Kyle’s MMA-influenced style and they work to a stalemate. Jay Briscoe tags…and immediately Lethal steps in with him, only for Strong to play spoiler and blind-tag his own partner out. Briscoe has the firepower to knock Roddy to the ground before vacating and letting Fish lay the boots in on his old TV Title rival. Lethal distracts Fish from the apron allowing Mr ROH to take control. Lethal and Roddy start hitting cohesive double teams as they isolate Bobby; working so well together that even current Tag Champion Christopher Daniels purrs about it on commentary. Kyle gets a much-needed tag and comes in swinging strikes at all who stand before him. He tries to break Strong’s arm with a Fujiwara armbar, but it’s broken by Jay Briscoe…so reDRagon give him the Two Man Smash Machine. We know Briscoe has been suffering with injuries, so it makes sense that reDRagon would look to isolate him inside the ring for a prolonged period of dominance. Jay fights his way free with a snap DVD, leading to tags all round so Mark and Roderick can come in together and preview their match at Best In The World. Iconoclasm from Mark to Roddy gets 2. The younger Briscoe brother takes the lead for his team in a beatdown on Strong, possibly with one eye on inflicting injuries which will impact their pay-per-view bout. A hot tag to the ROH Champion eventually comes, with Lethal dropping Fish with the Lethal Combination then dropping Mark into his lap with an Ace Crusher. He hits the rolling tope suicidas…before being confronted by Jay Briscoe. At last we get the Best In The World preview we’ve been waiting for! Briscoe has the edge in striking power, but Lethal is the more athletic and lands a rebound Ace Crusher! TURNBUCKLE EXPLODER from Fish to Lethal! Death By Roderick on O’Reilly, who rebounds off the ropes to block the Sick Kick with the Jawbreaker Lariat! Axe & Smash on Lethal…before the champ blocks Chasing The Dragon and tags out to Strong. Muso on Fish! Day One Neckbreaker BLOCKED with a Lethal superkick! The Young Bucks are here!? EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S ON LETHAL! JAY DRILLER ON STRONG! Jay Briscoe wins it at 19:24

Rating - *** - I did enjoy this main event, but it certainly felt lengthy. These big multi-man tag main events at house shows are hit or miss, and this certainly didn’t contain much 'can't miss’ content. To their credit, they did a good job building up any interactions between Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal. Admittedly that should be a no-brainer, prerequisite for the Best In The World PPV main event on a ‘Road To Best In The World Tour’, but they were effective at it. Everyone else felt a little like they were going through the motions however. Strong and Fish were subdued (and hardly referenced their own feud which kind of annoyed me). Kyle O’Reilly is arguably the best worker in the match and was wasted too. And all that came before yet more Bullet Club main event ruining featuring the Young Bucks. I don’t quite get why they were out there at all...

Tape Rating - ** - This wasn’t a bad show by any means. Some ROH live events drag, but I thought this moved along at a brisk pace and never felt dull. I’ve only gone 2* on my show rating, however, simply because there really isn’t any must-see viewing here...like, at all! The whole show is skippable, and only Elgin/Kamaitachi was even close to being worth going out of your way to see. I’m not quite sure a Tag Wars 2016 final of Briscoes vs ANX vs Silas/Bruiser was the combination of teams many wanted to see, but the three qualification matches on this show were varying degrees of entertaining – and certainly added a ‘different’ feel to some of the house show, filler, undercard action. Unless you’re majorly into Hiromu Takahashi, or are sad about Michael Elgin’s pending ROH departure so want to see one of his last 4* matches in the territory, there’s nothing worth stopping for here…

3) ACH vs Alex Shelley (***)

2) Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs Moose/Lio Rush vs War Machine (***)

1) Michael Elgin vs Kamaitachi (****)