McXal's Reviews

This event is actually called an ‘Aftershock Tour’ live event, but the only other event on said ‘tour’ seems to have been a television taping. None of the content ROH taped in North Carolina after Best In The World has been broadcast yet, so there is a great deal of the Best In The World 2016 ‘aftershock’ that we are yet to see – including some pretty major problems for World Champion Jay Lethal. Bullet Club attacked him and shaved his head at the taping, and he leads a squad also including Colt Cabana and Jay Briscoe into battle against Bullet Club’s Adam Cole, Nick Jackson and Adam Page in the main event here. Beneath that we’ll see ACH and Silas Young settle their rivalry in a Last Man Standing Match, Moose’s final ROH match (versus Christopher Daniels), Kamaitachi taking on TV Champion Bobby Fish, plus an in-ring live event debut for Jay White as he faces Lio Rush. The DVD for this one also includes a bonus disc of the entire ‘Women Of Honor Special’ live event that took place before the ROH main show. I’ll be reviewing that here as well. The main event of that sees Candice LeRae make her ROH debut to face the undefeated Kelly Klein. We also have a 2/3 Falls rematch of the excellent Mandy Leon vs Hania The Huntress bout that stole the show at the special Women Of Honor TV broadcast recently. We are in Baltimore, MD. Ian Riccaboni provides commentary on the Women Of Honor event, with Kevin Kelly and Matt Taven calling Aftershock 2016 itself.

This is a strong choice to open the first ever Women Of Honor show. Hendrix regularly appears on the main shows as part of the House Of Truth so has some name value. She’s also a relatively watchable, charismatic presence. Crazy Mary has become something of an WOH regular too, but despite some spirited individual performances she hasn’t won too many matches. Beating Taeler tonight wouldn’t necessarily be a shock, but it would do plenty to elevate her status in the Women Of Honor division.

Dobson is, as usual, an animated presence…and starts hot by landing a succession of dropkicks and heading straight upstairs looking for her Kaiju Killer moonsault to end the match. Taeler jerks her off the top rope and starts pulling the hair to keep the dangerous Crazy Mary grounded. Cartwheel palm strike loosens Dobson’s jaw, leaving her vulnerable for a sidewalk slam. Last Chancery applied to put more pressure on the neck. Dobson tries to hit the Lethal Injection on the House Of Truth member, only for it to be countered into a mounted sleeper by Hendrix. Cartwheel kick INTO THE CROTCH! The fans rightly demand to know why Taeler hasn’t been disqualified right there. She goes back to the Last Chancery…then headbutts the sh*t out of Mary when she escapes. Crazy Mary is game for a stiff strike exchange though and comes back hitting Taeler HARD. A running knee off the apron as Hendrix rocking, quickly followed by a cannonball senton to the floor! She sets Hendrix up in an open chair. DIVING KNEE THROUGH THE CHAIR MISSES! Crazy Mary just trashed her own leg on an open steel chair! They crawl back into the ring still pasting each other with strikes! Hendrix blinks first and tries to pin Dobson using the tights. FISHERMAN BUSTER INTO THE TURNBUCKLES by Mary! KAIJU KILLER! But Taeler kicks out at 2. Kentucky Knee misses…and further injures the leg Dobson injured in the chair. Taeler drags her opponent to the top rope, only to be headbutted back down then wiped out with a shotgun knee. LONG KISS GOODNIGHT! Hendrix wins at 11:32

Rating - *** - Both of these women were the first to benefit from the Women Of Honor getting their own live show. This wasn’t a dark match, it wasn’t being kept short for YouTube or the TV show. Instead they get a decent time allowance, enabling them to go out express themselves – and delivering a terrific opening match in the process. The character work was strong – each woman has a clearly recognisable gimmick, which they each used to enhance the in-ring content The story they told was decent, and it was great seeing Crazy Mary get plenty of offence before putting over the bigger ‘name’ in Women Of Honor. She isn’t a top star in WOH but Dobson has already been involved in two of the best matches the women have produced all year.

Putting these two in the ring together on the first Women Of Honor live special is once again a good idea. They have known each other for a long time, all the way back to their days training together. Rose, formerly known as ‘Jumping’ Jamilia Craft, returned from Japan to enter the Women Of Honor division, but suffered an early loss to Veda that she now wants to avenge. Apparently Jenny is preparing for another prolonged stay in Japan, so badly wants a win over her old rival before she goes.

Rose’s determination to get her win back is made very apparent when she jumps Scott right after the bell and maintains the ferocity of her attack for the minute. She lands a running elbow attack for 2 as Veda just can’t get out of the starting gate it appears. Riccaboni puts over Veda’s resilience, and she proves it by surviving the early onslaught then putting Rose on the canvas with her version of the Stratusfaction. Ian points out that Scott is trying to weaken Jenny’s neck to set up for the Plex Express. Rose puts a horse collar on Veda, alongside more excellent commentary from Riccaboni, whom has spied a knee brace on the leg that move targets. A diving scorpion kick puts Scott in charge once more, jarring the neck again. NECK DROP PLEX EXPRESS! That was so brutal that Jenny’s broken body almost explodes off the canvas and to the outside. It gives her valuable time to recover, and when Veda comes to retrieve her Jenny is waiting to dish out some wild rides into the guardrails. Kicks to the ribs by Veda…before Rose counters to a SNAP SUPLEX ON THE APRON! That really hurts Jenny’s injured neck but the upside is that Veda now carries an injury.too. Back in the ring the old foes trade shots. Veda celebrates hitting a wind-up–palm strike…only to be repeatedly battered to the ground by Rose. She tries to hit Veda’s own finisher on her! COUNTERED to a German suplex by Veda though. SNAP SUPLERPLEX by Rose! It’s not enough and Scott batters her injured neck some more with a running enzi. Veda demands a microphone to taunt Rose for quitting and going back to Japan…before belting her with the mic behind the ref’s back. Bridging Plex Express gives Scott the win at 13:29

Rating - ** - This didn’t feel as smooth or intense as the Dobson/Hendrix opening match, but that is by no means to say it was bad. Jenny Rose showed more depth, aggression and subtlety to her work than I’ve ever seen from her before and that really helped. Unlike the last match, though, I’m not sure this one benefited from the extra time. Veda is at her best when she doesn’t go long and works her style and attitude into something of a no-f*cks-given sprint. There were times when this one really began to drag…

Matt Taven has randomly Riccaboni for commentary on this one. It pits the ‘Bullet Babe’ Amber Gallows, who has had a prominent spot in the Women Of Honor division since coming in at the start of the year, teaming with future WWE wrestler Deonna Purrazzo (who is an excellent worker) and future WWE referee Kennadi Brink (making her ROH debut). They will play the villains of the piece, with veteran Sumie Sakai heading a squad of babyface acts into battle. Faye Jackson debuted earlier in 2016 so only has a fraction of the experience of someone like Sakai. Their third parther, Solo, has been popular and entertaining whenever she has popped into Women Of Honor. Her sugar-fuelled woodland creature gimmick is oddly adorable. Prince Nana is at ringside too for some reason…

Brink refuses to start with Jackson, who uses her size to mug Gallows in the corner. Purrazzo tags, knees the sh*t out of Sakai in the corner then angrily forces Kennadi in to pull her weight. Darling gets involved and hits a running crossbody off the apron to wipe out all three opponents…and they barely have time to get up before Sumie hits a TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Faye hits a crossbody off the apron too! Amber jerks Sakai to the ground by the hair and hauls her into their corner to isolate her. Smartly she brings Deonna in to do the majority of the work – including dropping Sumie on her head with a snug German suplex. Sumie escapes via a fisherman neckbreaker though, making the hot tag to Darling. She gets 2 on Brink with the Candy Crush (rebound cutter), before being offered her sugary drink/source of power by Sumie. Amber steals it and Kennadi capitalises with a sidewalk slam. Once again they make sure Purrazzo is the woman in the ring to dominate on offence and control the pace. Brink tosses Solo’s drink all over her face…which is a huge mistake as she gets just enough to sugar-fuel her recovery. She hits a double armbreaker on Deonna and Amber, followed by a Spear on Kennadi. Hot tag to Jackson…who hits a Chocolate Thunder splash for 2. All six women charge around the ring, allowing Jackson to dish out the Triple Spun Milkshake running hip attacks. Even her own partners get sent scattering by Faye’s booty! Brink Butterfly Suplex puts a stop to it, getting her the big win on her Women Of Honor debut at 08:11

Rating - *** - Right at the bottom end of the 3* threshold, but I thought this had plenty going for it and above all was always worked smart and logically...instead of six women hitting spots trying to get over for the sake of it. Whenever the heel team needed to pull something out, it was the experience of Amber Gallows doing it. Whenever they were on top they made sure Deonna was in the ring as the most technically proficient member of their team. If a mistake was to be made it was usually Brink or Jackson (the newest Women Of Honor) making them. I thought the heat segment on Solo was really good, and the use of her gimmicked sugar drink to inspire her comeback probably the highlight of the match. There was also a thrilling little Sumie/Deonna exchange in there too. ROH would be bonkers not to book those two in a singles match somewhere soon…

I love Candice LeRae, but to me this is the most anticipated match on the card. Mandy has her detractors as a worker (myself included), but I think few would dispute that her singles match with Hania on the ROH on SBG Episode #249 Women Of Honor Special stole the show. They worked a fast, athletic and action-packed style and were intensely evenly matched. Now each holds a win over the other, so they look to settle it in a 2/3 Falls rematch to that thrilling TV bout. Hania is, if possible in even better shape for this than she was then. 

They pick up where they left off on television, working fast, keeping it crisp and almost impossible to be separated. Leon is the first to up the aggression by nailing a diving lariat from the apron to the floor, but The Huntress responds quickly to dropkick her down for a CANNONBALL to the floor! Sensibly after hitting that she pulls Mandy back into the ring and tries to slow it right down with a MutaLock. She dominates until she wants to speed things up again; attempting a running heel kick in the corner only for Leon to counter with a flatliner into the Koji Clutch. Mandy looks for the running bulldog, one of her favourite spots…only for Hania to counter into the Eclipse! That’s how she won in Nashville, and it’s how she takes the first fall here at 04:25. The Exotic Goddess is rattled, slumping against the ropes for The Huntress to deliver a running dropkick. She shows her desperation to get back into the match with a couple of flash pins…which Hania escapes and responds to with a sliding DDT for 2. Again Mandy tries a quick pin, and again Hania hits back- this time with a Mexican surfboard. She wants to end it with Hanialation…and when Leon blocks she steps back and hits a SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK for 2! Leon is in trouble and seemingly has nowhere else to go…until she breaks out one last flash pin, keeping Hania’s shoulders to the mat to even the score at 1-1 in a time of 07:55. The Huntress fumes, peppering Leon with kicks and slaps as a manner of venting her frustration. Mandy starts no-selling even as bits of her start spilling out of her gear, and then they collide mid-ring with simultaneous clothesline attempts. THEN THEY GET BACK UP AND DO IT AGAIN! And then the same with mafia kicks as well! In the end they both collapse in a heap, unable to stand any longer. HANIALATION! Mandy kicks out! Taeler Hendrix joins commentary, openly cheering for Hania to win. RUNNING TOMIKAZE BY MANDY! FOR 2! FLASH PINS BY HANIA! Still 2, and Leon hauls her into Havana Dreams. HANIA TAPS! Mandy wins at 12:07

Rating - *** - There is a real chance that these two just stole the show again. How Hania wasn’t already working more places I really don’t know – she is athletic, exciting, has a terrific look, an identifiable gimmick and looks a complete package. Mandy Leon has looked and wrestled horribly against other opponents, so The Huntress does deserve praise for her part in making these two matches as good as they were. The first fall was very referential to the last match, with an even pace and a finish lifted straight out of the Nashville match. Leon’s performance in the second fall was excellent. Everything she did conveyed her desperation to win, which I really liked. Sometimes the second fall in a 2/3 Falls Match lacks drama and heat because people assume it will go to a third. That wasn’t the case here, largely because of Mandy. Having said all that, I don’t get why this needed to be 2/3 Falls. I know it’s a cute gimmick and they’ve traded wins…but they could have had largely the same match without the stipulations and it would have been better. This is a WOH event. Was there really no more than twelve minutes for them either? It is a great shame that Hania did nothing more with ROH after these two matches sadly. She looked to be an immense talent, and the kind of unpolished, undiscovered, clearly-talented diamond that ROH could have built the division around.

The two women hug and raise each other’s hands after the match. Mandy gets on the mic to put over her opponent (plus the fans who have come out to support the first Women Of Honor event). Taeler Hendrix stomps into the ring and berates Mandy for trying to be the ‘queen’ of the Women Of Honor. Hania defends Mandy, and Taeler stomps away promising to bring in a friend who is a ‘maniacal’ machine to help take them both on (a hint that she wants to bring Jessicka Havok to ROH). Sadly by the time Havok got here Hania wouldn’t be…

In the midst of a lengthy undefeated streak, Klein issued an open challenge for the very first Women Of Honor live event. It has been answered by SoCal veteran, ultra-popular independent stalwart Candice LeRae. She is one of the most recognisable names out there on the indies not signed up to a major company, and is a smart choice for ROH to work with and add some star power to this live show (if they weren’t willing to pay money and bring a big Joshi name in or something like that). Anyone who has followed LeRae’s career will know that she is exceedingly tough, and will therefore present arguably the biggest test to Klein’s streak yet…

Seeing Candice in an ROH ring feels extremely weird. She is intent on following the Code Of Honor, and absolutely PASTES Kelly with an elbow strike when it is declined. LeRae’s experience comes to the fore as she continually outwits Kelly in the early minutes. She hits armdrags, strikes and even drives her undefeated foe to the floor! The problem is that Klein is like a Terminator…who keeps getting up and trying to hurt her opponent. She dusts herself off on the arena floor and starts mowing LeRae into the railings. Suplex on the floor by Candice! SO BJ WHITMER GIVES HER AN APRON BACKBREAKER! Referee Todd Sinclair missed that checking on the fallen Klein. Riccaboni puts that over as the first time BJ has ever had to interfere in one of Kelly’s matches. With LeRae’s back and neck now screaming in pain, Kelly mounts her for a camel clutch to pile on the pressure. Next she tries the rolling backbreakers…only for Candice to counter into a crossface! BJ tries to push the bottom rope closer to Klein’s grasp, creating enough of a distraction for Kelly to break the hold with a diving slam. A bow and arrow stretch cranks on the injured back again…but LeRae escapes with a charging knee strike. Klein blocks the Balls-Plex…TOPE SUICIDA INSTEAD BY CANDICE! Once again Whitmer gets involved – creating another distraction whilst Kelly starts hammering LeRae in the corner. This time Candice counters with a tornado DDT though. Rolling suplexes by Kelly…but when she tries to roll through again into End Of The Match LeRae counters her into a small package for a hot 2-count! CANNONBALL OFF THE APRON wipes out Whitmer! The place goes wild for that one! Candice tries to choke Klein out with a mounted sleeper…SO KELLY BREAKS IT WITH A DIVING BACKPACK STUNNER THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE! And despite diving her own body through a table Klein once again Terminator’s out of the wreckage and heads back into the ring! With her back already ruined, Klein now starts working on LeRae’s arm – almost tapping her out with a kimura. Candice fights out…so Kelly starts STRIKING THE BAD ARM! BALLS-PLEX BY LERAE! GETS 2! END OF THE MATCH! LeRae doesn’t tap, but she is unconscious at 12:06, giving Kelly yet another win in her lengthy undefeated streak.

Rating - **** - This is an obviously generous 4*. The Whitmer interference became annoying, some of the execution was scrappy and overall it was far from perfect. But pro-wrestling isn’t always about technical perfection – it is about taking a fan on a journey. To that end, I thought this was excellent. It was laid out tremendously to showcase the skills of both women. Candice is, by far, the biggest ‘name’ on this Women Of Honor special. Her debut felt like a big deal, and she got to dominate the opening minutes…so BJ had to interfere in one of Klein’s matches (supposedly for the very first time) in order to shut her down. Kelly is a decent athlete but doesn’t necessarily convey emotion terribly well. Thankfully Candice does that brilliantly, providing all the heart whilst Kelly got to look like an unstoppable monster. She took Candice’s best shots and kept getting back up. She chucked her own body through a table – and once again got back up. There have been some decent Women Of Honor matches in 2016 but, to me anyway, this was the first time any have given me ‘big match’ vibes; the first time a Women Of Honor match felt like an ‘event’. If ROH or Sinclair were serious about this division LeRae is a name they should be throwing money at to sign up. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t happen…

BJ Whitmer antagonises Scarlett Bordeaux again…then Klein destroys her with a Michinoku Driver. Sumie Sakai runs down for a belated save…setting the scene for the next major challenge to Kelly’s undefeated streak.

This is the first time C2C have made it to the main show as a team. They performed as singles stars during the Top Prospect Tournament this year, but now Shaheem Ali and Leon St Giovanni are looking to force a spot on the roster, in one of the most crowded tag team divisions around. War Machine are still recovering after failing to get the Tag Titles back from The Addiction – and patiently waiting for the Pretty Boy Killers to be booked again (as they are the reason Addiction beat them in Columbus). Coincidentally, Hanson and Rowe started teaming after impressing as singles talents in the Top Prospect Tournament too. Ali and St Giovanni have a lot to prove…

Shaheem starts and soon needs his athleticism to dodge attempts at the Superman Punch and Shotgun Knees from Rowe. LSG nips into the ring to take Rowe down with a neckbreaker despite not being the legal man. Leon then takes flight with a corkscrew plancha to the floor which wipes Hanson out. C2C celebrate, unaware that inside the ring Ray Rowe is already back up. Once again Ali and St Giovanni hit double-teams…so Rowe gives LSG the Cement Mixer. Hot tag to Hanson, who misses the Bronco Buster and gets put down by a double-team kick flurry. One can’t help but be impressed by Coast 2 Coast…but soon enough Hanson floors then with a double cartwheel lariat. ‘Standing room only in Baltimore’ – Kevin Kelly as the camera pans around an arena full of people who are very obviously all sitting down. Rowe almost murders LSG with a Ligerbomb, and the newcomer earns real props when he kicks out of that. REBOUND LARIAT/GERMAN SUPLEX COMBO gives War Machine the win at a time of 06:43

Rating - ** - I’m in two minds about this match. On the one hand, I thought St Giovanni and Ali looked impressive, and surprised a lot of people with the competency of their performance. But on the other, I think it did nothing for War Machine having to be the ones selling for them and letting them show off all the fancy double-teams they’ve been rehearsing. Hanson and Rowe needed a decisive squash here – and there is no doubt that not getting it damages them as much as it benefited C2C.

This one could be extremely decent. New Zealand-born Jay White has joined Kamaitachi on excursion from New Japan, as we saw at Best In The World when Kamai tried to pick a fight with him when he attended the show as a fan. White made his in-ring debut at the post-BITW TV tapings in Concord, and follows that with his first appearance on the live event circuit tonight. His opponent, Lio Rush, is in the midst of an outstanding debut year in Ring Of Honor. Who will win this battle of immensely talented rising stars? Alex Shelley joins commentary as he has trained and lived with White in Japan…and is also a noted proponent/supporter of Lio Rush as a star of the future too.

They start with a prolonged chain-wrestling sequence, which suits Jay as it allows him to slow Rush down. Sensibly the Kiwi star backs to the ropes as soon as Lio starts to build momentum though. Lio somersaults under a clothesline then springboards off the ropes into a rana to knock White out of the ring. Baseball slide missed on the floor…and Jay hits a SHOTGUN DROPKICK INTO THE RAILS! That hurts Lio’s back and White drags him right back into the ring to make it worse via an abdominal stretch. He then works a bow and arrow stretch, complete with aggressive finger-snapping just for kicks. On commentary Shelley is so au fait with the traditional NJPW ‘young lion’ style that he can actually call Jay’s spots before he hits them. It is the unorthodoxy of Lio’s style, compared to the more traditional education of White, which sees the TPT winner squirm his way back into the contest. He is so illusive that he manages to kick Jay out of the ring, to mow him down with a Heat Seeking Missile. FOLLOWED BY AN ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Lio is so beaten up that all he can do to follow up is crawl back into the ring and hope for a count-out win. White beats the count and starts hammering Lio with European uppercuts. BRAINBUSTER ON THE FLOOR! Now it’s Jay’s turn to drag his battered body into the ring looking for a count-out. Rush dives in and nineteen, and is immediately met with a running brainbuster. White’s beautiful missile dropkick rockets Lio halfway across the ring, setting him for a Crossface to further batter his injury-ravaged back. Rush escapes, right into a KUNG FU FIGHT SEQUENCE that gives Low Ki/Amazing Red a run for it’s money! Corkscrew sliding enziguri gets 2 for Lio. DRAGON’S CALL! White kicks out, then counters the Rush Hour with an emphatic dropkick, followed by an urinage suplex to crumple Rush on his back again. KIWI KRUSHER! White pulls out the win at 14:12

Rating - **** - I’ll start my recap with a negative; I don’t quite understand why New Japan’s touring rookie gets to go over ROH’s Top Prospect, who has been delivering spectacular matches all year. But, arguing about whether the right person won or not, this was a fantastic wrestling match blending cutting edge (and at times almost unbelievable) feats of athleticism with a grounded, timeless psychology. Jay’s NJPW Dojo influence meshed impossibly well with the unpredictable and unique manner that Lio Rush moves about the ring; delivering a gripping clash of styles. In the end White had done enough damage to the back and midsection to potentially negate the Dragon’s Call whilst also weakening Lio enough for him to hit his version of Low Ki’s Ki Krusher (the Kiwi Krusher) for the win. 

ANX have a new entrance, complete with the same placard-wielding supporters who beefed up their entourage when they crashed the Best In The World PPV. With Caprice Coleman now in the camp and their faction formally known as ‘The Cabinet’, they continue their campaign to make wrestling great again, and want to get back into the Tag Title picture as soon as possible. Titus and Ferrara have been friends and rivals for a long-time, as we saw when they had an ultra-competitive singles match back during the Conquest Tour.

‘Chairman Of Championships’ Kenny King starts the match for his team, slapping Ferrara in the face then doing a victory lap around ringside. Will retaliates with a diving headscissors…so Kenny angrily stomps him into the mat in response. Ferrara and Cheese rattle few some double-teams which give them the upper hand, but they never shake off the nefarious tactics of ANX and in the end King guillotines Burger hard over the top rope. Smartly Cheese doesn’t hang around to take a beating; tagging Ferrara in so he can hit a tope suicida on both All Nighters. Caprice Coleman is quickly on the scene to create a distraction and enable ANX to start beating Burger into the barricades. It leaves Cheese alone with ANX – charging into the ring to give Rhett some Kobashi chops. Shotei countered with a spinebuster by King! Tornado DDT back into the match by Will…only for him to stand up into a diving slam from Titus. And NOW Burger hits the Shotei! Eyes Wide Shut/double stomp gets 2 on Titus. One Night Stand defeats Burger at 09:17

Rating - * - Not a match that will live long in the memory. I don’t dislike The Cabinet gimmick, but ANX have always been a team which needs talented opposition to deliver good matches. They are rarely the guys to drag great matches out of ‘lesser’ teams, and so it proved again here. Ferrara and Burger didn’t do much wrong, but there was just no reason to believe in or route for them, sapping away any drama they may have created. Some of the false finishes down the stretch were cringingly devoid of any heat or interest.

The TV Title isn’t on the line here, but there is no doubt that a win would earn Kamaitachi a title shot in the future. He delivered an ultra-competitive bout with Fish’s tag partner, Kyle O’Reilly, at the past pay-per-view, but continued his trend of losing big matches. Fed up of trying to be an honourable competitor, later in the show Tachi returned to the rudo ways we saw from him during his time in Mexico by brawling with Jay White in the crowd, aligning with The Addiction and helping them beat the Motor City Machine Guns to retain the ROH Tag Championship. Will a change in attitude mean he now starts winning these big matches? Christopher Daniels is in his corner tonight…

Kamaitachi refuses to shake hands, which Daniels – a veteran of defying the Code Of Honor – greatly approves of. Bobby out-strikes Kamai from the bell…so Daniels trips him up then bundles him into the guardrail behind the referee’s back. Taven’s commentary is generally quite distracting, but I must admit him confusing Kamaitachi with Tamagotchi’s drew a genuine guffaw out of me. Tachi takes his turn ploughing the TV Champion into the railings, injuring Bobby’s leg in the process. Of course he also maintains a regular schedule of distracting Todd Sinclair so Daniels can keep putting the boots to Fish as well. He works an extended Figure 4 Leglock and although it doesn’t force victory it does reduce Fish to being barely able to support his own weight. Bobby is reduced to hopping around the ring…and drops Kamaitachi right on his head with the turnbuckle exploder. INVERTED SUNSET FLIP PILEDRIVER OFF THE SECOND ROPE! IS FISH DEAD!? He somehow kicks out, but looks out on his feet – walking into the flying Meteora. Fish hits a dragon screw…and hauls Tachi into a desperate Fish Hook Deluxe. Daniels drags Kamai to the ropes, and as Sinclair admonishes the Ring General for that (how was it not a DQ by the way!?) Tachi punts Fish in the balls. Falcon Arrow INTO the Fish Hook Deluxe! Kamaitachi taps! It’s over at 10:05

Rating - *** - When they were allowed to ditch the shenanigans and wrestle this was really good. Fish being a better striker, forcing Kamaitachi to f*ck up his legs to stop it, was a great and simple story that they could’ve ran with. Unfortunately Delirious has no subtlety when it comes to getting people over as heels, so all he could do was have Daniels interfere constantly, which at times threatened to ruin the match entirely. I did quite like the sudden nature of Fish’s submission victory however. After he choked Ishii out at Global Wars, flash-pinned Dalton at Best In The World and now tapping out Kamaitachi without warning here, they are building up a body of work which suggests that Fish is a potentially lethal champion (no pun intended), capable of beating an opponent with multiple moves at any time. That was a vibe Bryan Danielson had as World Champion, and it added so much drama to his matches later into his title run…

INTERMISSION – BJ Whitmer replaces Matt Taven on commentary, whilst Kevin Kelly openly calls for Steve Corino to return to his spot at the booth.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that I won’t like this match. Daddiego is a relic of the now-departed Truth Martini-led House Of Truth and certainly doesn’t have the chops to stand on his own as a solo guy. His opponent is nicknamed ‘Cauliflower’ and eats a raw cauliflower during his entrance. He is another who has effectively purchased a spot in Ring Of Honor by paying to attend their training camps and seminars.

Kelly and Whitmer put Brown over as a proficient grappler. I have no issue with that, and he does get a chance to show that by making Diesel look completely foolish in the first couple of minutes. Daddiego uses his power to fling Cauliflower to the floor. He misses the world’s least athletic double stomp back into the ring…so settles for trying to punch his opponent’s lights out with his taped fists instead. Sh*tty flying double stomp finds the mark second time around. Brown gets 2 with a Saito suplex, and clings on to maintain a grounded abdominal stretch variant, which Joey breaks by lifting him into a Samoan drop. He knocks Chase out with another punch flurry (he used to box, didn’t you know!), then completes his ascension to becoming one of the worst wrestler’s in ROH history by winning the match with a poorly executed bastardisation of Kevin Steen’s Package Piledriver. Joey wins at 04:45

Rating - DUD - If you’re looking for looking for a redeeming feature it was that Brown did indeed look to be a competent grappler. Unfortunately the cauliflower gimmick, and creepy 70’s sex pest look do a lot to distract from the fact that he appears to be a decent wrestler. Daddiego is beyond terrible, and it is unfathomable that ROH would still book him now House Of Truth is over. 

Putting current Tag Champion Kazarian into this match means he has to share a ring with a representative of both the Briscoe brothers and the Motor City Machine Guns – two teams whom have had issues with The Addiction in the past and would love a title shot. He isn’t the only one with a target on his back tonight though. Mark Briscoe is the current #1 contender to the TV Title (presumably after the events of the Concord TV taping), meaning he is a prize scalp to be picked off as well. It leaves Dijak as the dangerous outsider – the man who knows he needs wins fast and often if he is to force his way into an ROH World Title rematch with Jay Lethal.

Sabin and Kazarian start, picking up where they left off at Best In The World, but each bail rather than get into the ring with Dijak. Briscoe has no such qualms but his only reward for such bravery is to be tossed across the ring. He has better luck against Sabin and runs through an impressive, fast-paced chain-wrestling sequence. Everyone scatters to the floor, with Sabin springboarding over Mark to hit a rebound crossbody to the floor…before standing up and eating the blockbuster off the apron from Briscoe. Froggy Bow nailed, but Kaz is legal and almost steals the pin Mark thought he’d earned. Frankie goes after the neck that The Addiction have targeted repeatedly in 2016, hitting a swinging neckbreaker then hauling him into a sleeper hold. A springboard neckbreaker jars the neck again as well and now Donovan tags in looking to profit from his work. Sabin has a BIG laceration over his eye, but with blood pouring down his face he blocks Feast Your Eyes and makes a big tag to Briscoe. The bloody Sabin sprints back in soon after to put both Mark and Kazarian in a double abdominal stretch. Everyone spills out again, with Chris diving off the apron into a cannonball aimed at Kaz. SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY DIJAK! He starts punching Sabin in his bloody, cut-up eye…only for the Machine Gun to defiantly dive out of the corner into a swinging DDT for 2. Dijak’s amazing springboard moonsault gets boots and leads to the bizarre scenario where Sabin is so wounded he has to tag his big rival Kazarian. MARTINI KILLER KICK from Dijak to Kaz! Urinage from Briscoe to Sabin! WAVE OF THE FUTURE from Kaz to Briscoe! FISHERMAN BUSTER by Mark! He pins Kazarian to win at 13:37

Rating - *** - In the aftermath of this images were posted onto ROH’s social media platforms demonstrating quite how nasty the cut Sabin suffered actually was. The unintentional blood loss was unfortunate, but did add a whole heap of extra drama to what could have felt like a routine house show four-way. The Sabin/Kazarian exchanges were the centrepiece of the match, which I appreciated as it suggests that the MCMG/Addiction angle has more distance to run. I’m happy Dijak is getting booked onto live events at last, but he badly needs some direction. In the two months since his killer, break-out TV match with Jay Lethal in Toronto he’s done absolutely nothing…

Christopher Daniels stomps into the ring to object to his tag partner being pinned in the concluding moments of the previous match. He calls it another example of the ROH conspiracy against The Addiction and makes a false announcement that due to his legal protests both Kazarian’s loss and Kamaitachi’s earlier have now been overturned. Enter Moose, making his final ROH appearance and looking to shut Daniels’ mouth…

Two years ago if you’d have told me that I’d be genuinely saddened that Moose was leaving ROH I’d never have believed you, but I am. His improvement, particularly in the second half of his tenure in the promotion, has been quite remarkable and he will be a miss. By this point his long-time manager Stokely Hathaway had already departed (and I believe already appearing in Evolve), and rumours swirled that both WWE and TNA were interested in bringing Moose in (he wound up debuting for Impact Wrestling just a few days after this). This is the final ROH date he is contractually committed to. Can he leave on a high, or will the cunning veteran find a way to send him packing with a loss?

Despite the fact that Moose has regularly competed without Stokely in attendance, Kevin Kelly is off on a lengthy tangent about Hathaway’s absence having a detrimental impact on his in-ring ability. Even the Ring General can’t cope with Moose’s size and gets thrown around with ease in the first few minutes. The Guardrail Swing rattles Daniels’ shiny head, and Moose even finds time to throw Kazarian into the railings as well. Frankie’s suffering does at least give Daniels a chance to recover and he uses it to sidestep a tackle on the floor and ram Moose’s neck into the barriers. He keeps hammering on the neck, which although basic is great wrestling…meaning Kevin Kelly is bored and rambling on about the Corino/Whitmer match at Best In The World instead. I really can’t stand his work at all. Moose chops his way back into the match but clutches his neck the whole time and gets put right back down to the ground with an ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE NECK! Even getting Daniels over for a suplex takes an enormous amount out of the big man. He throws caution to the wind and starts using (neck-selling) headbutts to mount another comeback, concluding with a People’s Headbutt for 2. A scrappy press slam pitches Daniels over the top rope to the floor, and Moose soon retrieves him for the clubbing discus lariat. Hitstick countered with a knee to the neck, followed by the Koji Clutch to punish the neck still more. It’s not enough to draw a submission though and Moose retaliates with the Go To Hell Bomb for 2. Kaz distracts Moose as he lines up the Hitstick again…and Daniels pounces to pin him using the ropes, scoring a tainted victory at 13:54

Rating - *** - The crowd were quiet, the commentary was completely dreadful, the finish sucked and I wasn’t a massive fan of Moose’s approach to selling the neck (what were those headbutts about!?)…but this match deserves praise if only for the vintage Chris Daniels masterclass we got to watch. The guy is such a solid hand in the ring and can work matches like this – with brilliant, precision work on a body part of an opponent – in his sleep. The way he hones in on an injury, modifies his offence to suit the purpose and carries the approach through everything he does in a match is an example to young wrestlers. The live audience may not have been enthralled, but I loved the hell out of watching Daniels in his element...in an increasingly-rare singles outing. As usual, Delirious can’t contemplate a world where heels are allowed to look strong and win clean though, which absolutely sucks. With Moose on the way out there was absolutely no reason why he had to be protected so heavily with that finish. All it does is make The Addiction look like fluky, talent-less cheaters once again.

An annoyed Moose drops Daniels with the Hitstick, but then gets swarmed by Kazarian and Kamaitachi (who joins his new friends at ringside). Tachi decimates the neck again with a Meteora from top, before Alex Shelley and Jay White (and his short shorts) make a belated save…

After being left in an even fouler mood by losing his feud-ending match with Dalton Castle earlier in the year, Silas found a new target to direct his misery at in the form of ACH. ACH’s happy-go-lucky attitude and penchant for toys, cartoons and video games were not – according to Silas – appropriate behaviours for a ‘Real Man’. He attacked him repeatedly during the War Of The Worlds Tour, but ACH did then get a measure of payback with a PPV victory over him at Best In The World. Now they look to settle the rivalry once and for all under Last (Real) Man Standing rules…

Silas sprints out during ACH’s entrance and jumps him from behind. Inside the first minute of the match he has opened up an injury to the midsection. ACH looks to introduce a table to help him make a comeback…so Young stomps his ribs hard to prevent him. He then tosses the table aside simply to piss off the live crowd, which I love. A slingshot pescado does find the mark…before ACH grabs a chair and hurls it as hard as he can in Young’s direction. Sadly for him the Last Real Man ducks behind a security guard to save himself. Killer Combo nailed on the floor to crush ACH’s ribs some more. Young drives a chair into the back then kicks it into his face in an attempt to make him stay down for the count. Powerbomb through a table blocked only for Silas to throw another chair into ACH’s face as he lines up a springboard move. Young then ties him up in the ringside mats in the hope of holding him down long enough to get a 10-count, which I’ve not seen before and is pretty entertaining. Somehow ACH escapes his cocoon of mats and innovatively flicks a chair into Silas’ face. The Last Real Man is thrown all around ringside, into guardrail after guardrail. Even when he tries to hit Misery on the floor ACH simply counters into another big heave to the barricade. Young blocks the Hero’s Grip with an ACE CRUSHER THROUGH AN OPEN CHAIR! PEEGEE WAJA PLUNGE ON A CHAIR! Only for ACH to block the rebound moonsault with a steel chair! MIDNIGHT STAR! It destroys his ribs but ACH is risking it all in an attempt to force the victory! He slumps against the open table in disappointment when Young beats the count…then tries the 450 Splash again only to get a mouthful of canvas. AIR JORDAN TO THE FLOOR NAILED! He thinks about putting Silas through a table, but gets cut off on the top rope. The two men battle on the ropes…ACH HITS A SUPERPLEX THROUGH THE TABLE! Both men are toast after that, with the midsection injury that ACH has battled since minute one of the match now seemingly beyond manageable. As the referee’s count reaches nine Young flops through the ropes…but LANDS ON HIS FEET ON THE FLOOR! With ACH still down, Young is declared the victor at 18:37

Rating - **** - There is something of an art to working these ‘no rules’ grudge matches under the Sinclair administration. Very rarely do workers actually get truly ultra-violent (the recent Corino/Whitmer bout being a notable exception), meaning they have to walk a difficult tightrope between not disappointing the fans but also not getting too extreme and risking the wrath of ‘the office’. For the second time in 2016 (the Fight Without Honor on TV against Dalton was great too), I felt like Silas Young walked that tightrope superbly. The key to his approach is that he works it like any other wrestling match – except he can use weapons to do more damage, more quickly. The idea of attacking ACH from behind and injuring him before the match even began was a good one. It gave a plausible reason to tone ACH’s stuff down, and meant there was incredible drama on almost all of ACH’s signature offence as it hurt him as much as it did Young. He wasn’t just hitting the Midnight Star because it was his ‘big finish’, he was quite literally sacrificing his body and accepting immense amounts of physical pain in an effort to put Silas away. The finish was clever, if not particularly satisfactory. There was palpable disappointment in the audience, which probably wasn’t the reaction the quality of this match deserved…but with ACH now being faded out of ROH as his contract approaches expiry putting Silas over was the correct call.

The issues between these gentlemen go all the way back to Global Wars 2016, with the strength of anti-Bullet Club feeling being so strong on the ROH side that it is sufficient to unite rivals over the World Title in an attempt to gain vengeance. Adam Cole joined Bullet Club in Chicago in a shocking PPV takeover angle which derailed Colt Cabana’s big ROH World Title shot. The following night in Dearborn Hangman Page also turned his back on ROH – putting his old rival Jay Briscoe through a table in the process. Now everyone wants revenge on Bullet Club, who will be hoping that Cabana and Briscoe’s desire to take Lethal’s title creates dissension amongst their trio. Lethal is sporting a new look for this one, having had his head shaved by Bullet Club at the last TV taping (something that hasn’t yet aired). 

Lethal doesn’t take kindly to Cole laughing about his bald head…and sucker punches him to get us started. He propels Cole into the guardrails with a tope, as on the other side of the ring Briscoe has already started beating the piss out of Hangman. Team ROH isolate Page, even whilst visibly start arguing amongst themselves. Flying Asshole nailed by Colt…into the Billy Goat’s Curse. DOUBLE SUPERKICK by Cole and Jackson to break it. RISE OF THE TERMINATOR by Nick! Now Bullet Club work Cabana over in a far more coherent, cohesive manner than the ROH side managed with Page. Cole, meanwhile continually goes out of his way to antagonise Lethal whenever possible even whilst beating Cabana down. Eventually Colt tags the World Champion in…and Cole turns and runs rather than get involved with him. Lethal chases him through the ropes for a CUTTER ON THE FLOOR! GUARDRAIL TOPE from Briscoe to Hangman! Page blocks the Lethal Injection, then the Jay Driller…but then gets hit with the Day One Neckbreaker. Cole tags with his old enemy Jay Briscoe and gets a Day One Neckbreaker, then a massive superplex. MOONSAULT by Colt gets 2. SUPERKICK by Jackson! TRIPLE SUPERKICK ON THE CHAMP! SSP TORPEDO LARIAT TO THE FLOOR BY PAGE! PANAMA SUNRISE ON CABANA! 450 SPLASH BY NICK! LETHAL SAVES! Lethal Combination drops Nick…only for the champ to walk into the NXT Last Shot by Cole. Buckshot Lariat from Page to Briscoe! SUPERKICK FLURRY by Nick! CHICAGO SKYLINE by Colt! CABANA WINS! He pins Nick Jackson at 15:26

Rating - **** - Sometimes these multi-man tag main events become dull non-events, featuring a succession of guys coming in and out and doing as little as possible; stalling their way to a hot finishing sequence. Thankfully from the moment Lethal punched the cackling Bullet Club team in the face there was an edge to this one. It won’t enter the running for any MOTY polls, but there was an underlying quality to everything that happened. Briscoe wanted to fight Page whenever possible. Every interaction between Lethal and Cole (the next in line for a major title shot) was teased and significant. The ROH team constantly bickered, even when in the ascendancy, in a way the Bullet Club team didn’t. Once they took the handbrake off and let everything veer wildly out of control to a spot-filled conclusion it became a riot to watch – with something of a shock ending as I hadn’t picked Cabana as the one to go over at all. Given that Briscoe/Page is a known rivalry, and we know we will be getting Lethal/Cole somewhere soon, I do see the logic in giving Colt the win to make sure he stays relevant too. 

Tape Rating - *** - If you purchased the DVD set of this one, rather than the VOD, then it represents some pretty serious value for money. Not everything is great – particularly the irksome booking and deeply annoying Kevin Kelly commentary – but across four hours and two DVD’s of action most of it is of a decent standard. The Women Of Honor event was probably better than it had any right to be, and culminated in the stand-out WOH bout of the year (that I’ve seen) thus far in Klein/LeRae. Then the men’s show had some decent stuff alongside three clear-standouts. It is a house show, so don’t expect to have your mind blown – but the sheer volume of enjoyable, competitive in-ring content makes this a sound investment in my opinion.

3) Jay Lethal/Jay Briscoe/Colt Cabana vs Adam Cole/Nick Jackson/Adam Page (****)

2) Jay White vs Lio Rush (****)

1) Silas Young vs ACH (****)