McXal's Reviews

This is the third year in a row that Ring Of Honor has held a summer, outdoor show in a minor league baseball stadium in New York. The first one was given a lot of promotion and was expected to be a major show in front of a sizeable crowd by ROH standards…but turned out to be something of a bust when the card tanked and the drunk crowd ruined things. Indeed, the 2014 inaugural Field Of Honor event is really only remembered now for the iconic visual of Matt Taven, silhouetted against the deep blue evening sky, diving off the top of a steel cage. In 2015 the stars of New Japan came to town to bolster the in-ring quality (particularly a memorable bout between Okada and Roderick Strong). Compared to that, 2016 feels somewhat low key, particularly as it takes place just a week after Death Before Dishonor. The stars of New Japan are still in town though and they’ve helped to create what, on paper anyway, is the strongest Field Of Honor line-up to date. Katsuyori Shibata vs Kyle O’Reilly could steal the show. Michael Elgin defending his IWGP Intercontinental Title against Donovan Dijak coul steal the show. Kushida’s rematch with Dalton Castle could steal the show. A Bullet Club team featuring the Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi facing the Motor City Machine Guns, ACH and Lio Rush could most certainly steal the show. And all of that is before a main event which sees Match Maker Nigel McGuinness try to punish Adam Cole for his sins – booking him straight into a four corner World Title defence against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito and former champion Jay Lethal. Kevin Kelly is ready for commentary, alongside Steve Corino making a welcome return to the booth (officially) for the first time in 2016. They are at MCU Park in Brooklyn, NY.

MCU Park is bathed in glorious evening sunlight as these two women take to the field and ring for their bout. It’s an interesting one, pitting one of the most capable, accomplished and exciting new stars in the Women Of Honor division (Deonna) against someone who has been at the forefront of the Women Of Honor revival but has now hit upon hard times (Taeler). Jay Lethal lost the World Title at Death Before Dishonor, and he also removed all House Of Truth branding from his entrance. She has lost control of the World Title, and potentially overseen the demise of one of the most successful factions in ROH history. How will her own aspirations as a singles wrestler be affected?

Hendrix is supposedly unhinged after a loss to Mandy Leon at the TV Tapings in Concord, and she certainly has an odd, maniacal nature to her movements in the opening minutes. She thinks fast to block Purrazzo’s Fujiwara armbar…but unwisely tries to work the mat with her and winds up getting kicked in the face. Deonna evades one of Taeler’s weird kicks out of the ropes…and this time does haul her down into the Fujiwara. Hendrix doesn’t tap and finds a bottom rope, before snapping Purrazzo against the middle rope throat-first. She follows it with a diving kick to the spine, then tries to make a statement by putting Deonna in her own armbar finisher. Grounded sleeper hold applied…and Deonna shows impressive agility to kick her way free from a seated position. Rolling suplexes from Purrazzo, but Hendrix blocks the third…and pins Deonna whilst holding her trunks at 06:09

Rating - * - Probably not the finest exhibition for the Women Of Honor division. Perhaps it was because this was effectively a dark match, but the crowd was substantially smaller than we’ve seen in previous years for Field Of Honor, and they were deathly silent throughout. The horrible audio on the commentary mics, plus audible music blaring from the funfair nearby gave this an incredibly amateur feel. Deonna is a talented worker who I have a lot of time for, but there wasn’t much she could do to salvage a six minute mess alongside a wildly unfocused Taeler Hendrix. Taeler has been a watchable presence in the WOH division, but she was poor here. There was no coherency to her work, she was supposed to be playing an ‘unhinged’ version of her character, but other than some weird body mannerisms in the first minute there wasn’t much different. She almost botched grabbing the tights at the end too. 

Hendrix aggressively headbutts Purrazzo to the ground when she protests at Taeler’s cheating, then brings a chair into the ring. She plans to give Deonna the Long Kiss Goodnight on it…but Mandy Leon runs out to make the save. Purrazzo then saves Mandy from getting whacked with the chair herself, and Taeler flees before facing the consequences of her actions. In the back afterwards Ian interviews Deonna and Mandy. Leon claims that it was she and Deonna who are responsible for the relaunch of Women Of Honor…and they agree to partner up on the forthcoming Reloaded Tour to face Taeler Hendrix and an unknown partner (effectively swapping Deonna in for Hania The Huntress, who is now out of ROH it seems)…

This is a rematch from the War Of The Worlds 2016 event in Dearborn. On that night these two contested an excellent bout, from which Kushida emerged victorious. Castle will no doubt have his mind set on avenging that defeat as he looks to kick on towards championship contention in ROH. Having lost to Okada last weekend at the pay-per-view he also won’t want another New Japan-sized blemish on his record either.

Castle and Kushida work the mat early. Both are skilled in that regard, but Dalton is noticeably the more tentative after having his arm picked apart by Kushida last time they met. It leads to Kushida riding him; showing him up and drawing warm applause from the fans. He even gets fanned by The Boys – something which always annoys Dalton. They get into a full-blown argument about who’s Boys they are! Kushida seems intent on mocking Castle and goes so far as to start stealing his poses as well…so Dalton knees him in the head. The Peacock starts working Kushida’s back…but is knocked back by the handspring kick. Pescado by Kushida wipes out the Boys! HEAT SEEKING MISSILE BY CASTLE also wipes out The Boys! TOPE ATOMICO from Kushida onto them all again. Iconoclasm nailed, right into the cross armbreaker – targeting Castle’s arm for the first time. Dalton uses his knees to block a moonsault and delivers a dead-lift suplex…but comes up feeling his arm. Tanaka Punch floors Dalton! Running punt to the arm scores, and Kushida goes right into the Hoverboard Lock! EVEREST GERMAN nailed…but Kushida kicks out at 2 by rolling onto the injured arm. Bang-A-Rang blocked…Hoverboard Lock countered…FLASH PIN AGAIN! Kushida wins! Just like in Dearborn, he has shocked a wounded Castle to snatch a win at 11:19

Rating - *** - The Dearborn match was better, with a little less comedy, but this was a fine way to open the show. I really liked the references to their first bout, particularly the finish which was superb. I’m not sure I agree with Kushida going over Dalton (a guy ROH want to build up as a credible singles star) twice in a row, but unfortunately he’s still a champion in NJPW, and since ROH are the junior partner here they have to suck it up. 

I have a bit of a problem with EVIL walking into a title match here. Guys like Dalton Castle, Mark Briscoe and Donovan Dijak are having to jump through hoops and win #1 contendership bouts to earn their shots. How has EVIL, who despite his association with Los Ingobernables de Japon has a TERRIBLE record in ROH as Watanabe, done anything to warrant this? Kevin Kelly does remind me that his biggest success in ROH came at Field Of Honor last year when he won a TV Title #1 contendership Gauntlet Match though. Bobby, however, has vowed to be a fighting champion and prove the TV Title to be the most prestigious belt in the company whilst he holds it. He has a track record of winning TV Title Matches in a variety of manners now – from submission, to stoppage, to pinfall – so he is a dangerous competitor.

It’s an imposing start from Evil who cheap-shots Fish, swats his away his attempt at a couple of martial arts kicks then rakes his eyes so hard he collapses to the ground. Bobby looks for the Fish Hook in response but Evil instantly grabs the ropes and heads to the floor. Out there he rams the champ’s head into the ringpost, then rams a steel chair into his ribs. People rightly question why that isn’t a DQ, but through fair means or foul Evil has dominated the match so far. Next he wraps the chair around Fish’s head and drives him into the ringpost again! Inside the ring he starts choking Bobby – leaving him on the ground for a curb stomp then a senton splash for 2. Another eye rake puts Fish down again, and he finally snaps. The champ starts choking the challenger in the ropes…then suplexes him on his head with the turnbuckle exploder. Big elbows by Evil, but Fish is able to block Darkness Falls at this stage. Samoan drop nailed…only for Evil to get right back up and deliver a back suplex. Fisherman buster nailed and both men lie flat-out afterwards. HALF NELSON SUPLEX puts Fish on his head! EVIL LARIAT gets 2! Darkness Falls nailed…and still just 2! Evil STO blocked...so he HEADBUTTS THE THROAT! Falcon Arrow by Fish…into Fish Hook Deluxe! Evil taps at 11:57

Rating - *** - Although Fish is still waiting for that first ‘signature’ title defence which really stands out and makes his TV Title reign mean something, this was another solid bout from his tenure with the belt. I liked the start in particular, as it featured the cold and emotionless EVIL working to shut down the big-mouthed and cocky champion by whatever means necessary. If he needed to cheat, then f*ck it, he was going to cheat. It sort of meandered in the second half, losing the crowd in the process, but the last minute redeemed it with some exciting back and forth action. As an individual performance, this was actually one of my favourite Watanabe/EVIL matches that I’ve seen thus far. I thought he was really entertaining.

What an opportunity this is for Dijak. He has not yet toured New Japan, but his impressive form in ROH this year has led him to become #1 contender to the TV Title and now inspired NJPW officials to grant him an opportunity against Elgin. These two, both former enforcers in the House Of Truth who have achieved greater success by leaving Truth Martini’s tutelage, have met before. Big Mike has had the upper hand in their previous battles. He defeated Kenny Omega in a Ladder Match to win this belt, so won’t relinquish it without a major fight.

Elgin has his head bandaged up because he isn’t taking time off to let wounds on his forehead heal. He is too strong for Dijak to bully around the ring and too stout to knock off his feet with a basic shoulder tackle. Forty Second Suplex nailed, before Elgin abandons his strength game for flashier moves and gets punished. Donovan lands the ribbreaker/toss-release throw combo to emphatically bring him back into the contest. Unlike Elgin, high-flying offence comes more naturally to Dijak and he gets a nearfall with a standing corkscrew senton. Time To Fly blocked by Elgin (since power moves are his thing), allowing him to hit a dead-lift German for 2. He pelts Dijak’s neck with an elbow strike which leaves him slumped on the apron. The challenger uses a heel kick to block the dead-lift superplex however and returns to the ring with a springboard flying elbow drop for 2. Chokeslam Backbreaker dodged by Unbreakable…and he elbows his way out of Feast Your Eyes too. LIGERBOMB by Donovan instead gets 2. He still can’t hit Feast Your Eyes though, as Big Mike walks away from it and rocks him with a big lariat. Buckle Bomb scores…only for Dijak to counter the Elgin Bomb into a Death Valley powerbomb for 2! Martini Killer Kick…NO SOLD! ELBOWS! NO SOLD! MARTINI KILLER AGAIN! Elgin is still on his feet…so Dijak gives him the Chokeslam Backbreaker. BIG MAN MOONSAULT gets 2! Elgin has understandably bailed to the apron, soon joined by Dijak for more massive elbows and forearm smashes. DVD ON THE APRON! Big Mike wants to fly too, only for Prince Nana to distract him on the ropes. Donovan climbs again, only to be countered with a GERMAN SUPERPLEX! SPINNING BACK FIST! Buckle Bomb/Elgin Bomb combo sees Big Mike retain his title at 15:16

Rating - *** - Certainly not the all-time classic the cliché-King Kevin Kelly was trying to put this over as, but there was certainly some fun to be had watching these two big dudes beat the piss out of each other. They’ve had smarter matches against each other in the past and at times this degenerated into something of a senseless and lethargic big man blow-out. But when it was at its best – i.e. when they moved quickly, dished out the big hits and got the crowd involved – it was really good to watch. It was also interesting to note that this is the first time that ROH’s commentary team have openly admitted that Elgin is now a New Japan talent, not Ring Of Honor’s anymore. 

Last year the Field Of Honor event contained a Gauntlet for a TV Title shot. This year the Tag Titles get the same treatment, with a unique twist that the winners will get their title shot immediately. That means, in effect, The Addiction are lying in wait in the locker room waiting to pick the bones of whomever survives this six team slug-fest. The entrants are Coast 2 Coast (whom I believe won their spot in this with a pre-show dark match win) of Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali, an ROH Dojo team of Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara, War Machine, the Briscoes, All Night Express and a team representing New Japan’s CHAOS faction.

Coast 2 Coast start with Gedo and Toru Yano of Chaos. Ali doesn’t like Yano’s silly games but is powerless to prevent being thrown out of the ring where Gedo is waiting to rake his eyes. Inside the ring Yano has cut off the turnbuckle pad and uses it to flog the hapless Ali with. LSG blind tags himself in and takes a few shots at the veteran Gedo. He actually enjoys such success that Yano has to come to his partner’s aid. Yano hits the Akakiri (low blow to half nelson pin) to eliminate LSG at 04:43. Ferrara and Cheeseburger are next in, accompanied by Joey Daddiego because reasons. He joins commentary to clarify that he is their strength and fitness coach. Bring bank Tank Toland! The Dojo squad team up on Yano and Gedo, successfully driving them both out of the ring. The Chaos team try to walk to the locker rooms, leading to a fight behind the foul ball line when ROH guys give chase. Ferrara gets 2 with Paydirt on Gedo…so once again Yano comes to the rescue! 634 double low blow on the Dojo chums! Gedo pins Cheeseburger to advance once again in 09:51. All Night Express are up next, getting into an argument with Ferrara and Cheeseburger (who we know they don’t like) on the way in. They jump Chaos…but Yano’s cheating bites them in the ass too! He rakes King in the eyes so hard that Gedo is almost able to eliminate him. Royal Flush/Dropkick combo sees ANX pin Gedo to eliminate his team at 12:33. War Machine enter at #5, which is a late number giving them a great chance to get their hands on The Addiction again. They have their old rivals King and Titus to get past first though! Their power is too much for ANX to cope with early on and War Machine run rampant. Credit goes to Kenny King, who takes some of their best shots and still keeps swinging back in the direction of Ray Rowe. The Cabinet start teaming up to isolate Rowe from his partner…presumably because that’s how every other War Machine match goes so they don’t want to break with tradition. Superman Punch knocks King to the ground though, allowing him to bring Hanson in. Bronco Buster misses, but Kenny slips trying a top rope move and almost lands on his head. The fans are remarkably lenient on him for that mess. Rowe saves Hanson from One Night Stand and hoists King up for Fallout. War Machine advance at 19:25. Our final entrants are the Briscoes, who must now be considered hot favourites. They are no strangers to War Machine of course, and the four of them immediately brawl to the floor. Rowe absolutely MURDERS Mark with elbows against the guardrail…to the extent that it’s almost surprising that the younger Briscoe is back on his feet moments later, only to be Superman Punched back down. He does finally respond by dropkicking Rowe through an open chair! Meanwhile in the aisle Jay gives Hanson a suplex onto the turf! ELBOW SUICIDA from Hanson to Mark! Jay and Rowe enter the ring and really swing for the fences with neither backing up an inch. Hanson has to join and hit the Cartwheel Lariat just to take Jay down. Urinage by Mark! Judo knee strike by Rowe, who lifts Mark into the rebound lariat/German suplex combo for 2! Mark escapes Fallout as Jay gives Rowe the Day One Neckbreaker. Froggy Bow pins Ray at 28:34…

Rating - ** - The Briscoes/War Machine segment was absolutely awesome, and really saved this Gauntlet for me. Before that, other than being mildly entertained by the antics of Yano and Gedo, this was much in the same vein as almost every other Gauntlet Match…namely long, basic, boring and accomplishing little more than killing time whilst padding out a show. It is worth persevering with though, because the final ten minutes of utter carnage between the Briscoes, Hanson and Ray Rowe were money. It was like a condensed version of their excellent Global Wars match, with the added bonus of a whole heap of brawling on the outfield of a baseball stadium. 

Once again Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are the beneficiaries of circumstance here. Having seem them cling onto their Tag Title in all manner of nefarious means, now they get to face the Briscoes brothers when they have already been worn down by the intensely physical violence that comes with wrestling War Machine. Can Jay and Mark dig deep and add yet another ROH Tag Title reign to their storied career in this company?

Daniels and Kazarian sprint out and make sure they get to jump the brothers from behind whilst they are still untangling themselves from the wreckage of the previous match. Bad Elimination drops Jay after Mark is sent packing to the floor. They isolate the former World Champion from his brother with ruthless, if somewhat uninteresting, efficiency. The tag to Mark does come eventually, and he climbs the ropes for a MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Splash Mountain Neckbreaker gets 2 before Kaz dives in to save. Addiction retort with their powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for a nearfall of their own. Jay saves his brother from Celebrity Rehab, hitting the snap DVD on Kazarian, then the JAY DRILLER on Daniels! Froggy Bow nailed…but Frankie pulls the ref out! The Young Bucks are out! DOUBLE SUPERKICK INADVERTENTLY CLOCKS THE REFEREE! FOUR-MAN BRISCOE BUCK SUPERKICK ON KAZARIAN! Daniels shoves Mark into Nick Jackson though, and immediately the Briscoes and the Jacksons start brawling! The Bucks give Mark a double Superkick, leaving him vulnerable to Celebrity Rehab. The Addiction retain at 09:03

Rating - ** - Forgettable and pretty pointless, but I will admit that the chaos that ensued once the Young Bucks arrived was moderately entertaining. It made sense from the standpoint that Bullet Club do what they want (hence the Bucks involvement), and we just saw Matt and Nick screwed out of the Tag Titles by The Addiction on TV. Their involvement maintained the ongoing storyline of Daniels and Kazarian needing huge amounts of luck to win their matches, and keeps pushing them and the Young Bucks together for an inevitable date with destiny.

Speaking of teams the Bucks have issues with, don’t forget about the Motor City Machine Guns. Sabin and Shelley haven’t forgotten Dearborn, when Hangman Page joined with the Bucks in Bullet Club and hung Sabin over the ropes using his noose. Page has lots of history with ACH as well, so certainly won’t take kindly to sharing a ring with him again. MCMG teaming with ACH and Lio makes plenty of sense. Shelley has vocally endorsed both of them after singles bouts at live events recently, and has been teaming with ACH back to last year. Lio and ACH also have some mutual respect for each other after an explosive little bout on television too. 

Matt Jackson starts with a ‘sweet’ eye poke on an unsuspecting young Lio Rush. The youngster fires back in typically explosive and illusive fashion, prompting him to tag Hangman in. Instantly Sabin wants in to get his hands on his Dearborn tormentor. They can’t be separated so Shelley and Nick take to the stage instead. ACH holds Nick over the ropes so Rush can hit a flying double stomp to the back! It leaves Nick down in their corner – and they capitalise with a four-way basement dropkick for 2. DOUBLE SUPERKICK by Page and Matt coming to their partner’s aid! They then hit the floor and give ACH the same treatment! RISE OF THE TERMINATOR by Nick! Quickly the tables are turned and Bullet Club have Rush captured on their side of the ring. It’s this scenario that brings Yujiro in legally for the first time. He is completely comfortable slowing it down and picking apart the Top Prospect Tournament winner. What I like about the heat segment is that Lio keeps getting little moments where he fights back. It isn’t a procession of time-wasting spots, and it feels like Bullet Club really have to work hard to keep him at their mercy. Eventually he tricks Matt into Superkicking his own brother then makes the big tag to ACH. SUPERMAN TOPE SUICIDA NAILED! Page blocks the slingshot flatliner…so ACH gives him the Lumbar Check! MAGIC KILLER from the Machine Guns to Matt! Lio hits rolling topes! ASCS KICK RUSH/HERO’S GRIP COMBO gets 2 on Hangman! Takahashi made the save on that, then gives ACH a fisherman buster. Nick fells Sabin with a Superkick, as Page gets a running start for the SHOOTING STAR LARIAT TO THE FLOOR! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S knocks Rush to the floor as he attempted a springboard. Corkscrew dive by Nick after that to wipe out the Machine Guns! HUGE RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY ACH! Sabin grabs Page for Skull & Bones…but Yujiro and Nick Jackson save him before they can hit it. SUPERKICK/RITE OF PASSAGE COMBO ON SABIN! Hangman pins Sabin to win the match at 14:13

Rating - **** - For the second Field Of Honor running it is very possible that a frenzied, Young Bucks-inspired 8-man tag in the midcard will steal the show. This was really good. Not just really good in the way you’d expect – i.e. seven guys hit flashy spots and dives whilst Yujiro is also there. But also good in that there were so many neat little touches that really enhanced the action. Sabin and Page made it abundantly clear at all times that they still don’t like each other. Lio Rush wasn’t the story here, but he was given plenty of offence and even got to look great during his in-peril segment. ACH has been repackaged as ‘Super ACH’ after his tour of Japan, and he dusted in enough new offence and sequences to feel fresh too. Even Yujiro, who gets plenty of stick, was incorporated perfectly into proceedings. If there was some sh*thousing to be done, a guy to be worked over or a pinfall to break up it was usually the Tokyo Pimp who was on hand to do it. They also left plenty unsaid between the Bucks and MCMG. Shelley and Sabin stealing Anderson and Gallows’ finisher was interesting, and there is definitely more to come between those two teams as well. Many will write this off as just another Young Bucks spot-fest, which they are entitled to do…however, there was SO much going on when you take a deeper look. It really was a super little bout.

When it was announced that Shibata was coming to ROH, this was probably the match fans wanted to see the most. He debuted with an impressive victory over Silas Young at Death Before Dishonor, but followed that up with a TV Title loss to Bobby Fish at the subsequent television taping (in a match which has yet to be broadcast). He won’t want to end his US tour with back-to-back losses over reDRagon members. O’Reilly made his return from injury at Death Before Dishonor to wreck Adam Cole’s title-winning celebrations. Cole still vows that Kyle will never become ROH Champion on his watch, so Kyle knows he needs high profile victories over competitors like Shibata to force Nigel into booking the title match he craves.

O’Reilly looks to have packed on some muscle mass over the summer. His upper body looks significantly bigger, and he needs all of that size as he goes strike for strike with Shibata early on. Kyle blocks an attempt at the cross armbreaker from his Japanese adversary, but then provokes him throwing back a version of Shibata’s own PK. Each man dodges attempted roundhouse kicks and retreats to opposing corners in a stalemate. Shibata gradually works his way into the ascendancy – kicking and striking out at O’Reilly’s arm. He grinds onto a shortarm scissors and extravagantly prevents repeated escape attempts from his opponent. It takes some stiff strikes from O’Reilly to bring him back into the match…then he suplexes him to the ground into a leg grapevine. He kicks Shibata as hard as he can, but they are no sold like nothing! Shibata yawns and gestures for more! It seems like Kyle’s strikes are having no impact and the New Japan star suplexes him back to the ground into another arm submission. O’Reilly grabs a rope and returns to his feet so they can HAMMER each other with big boots.  Shibata keeps trying to out-do O’Reilly with submissions only for the ROH competitor to find a way to strike back. Once again they return to a vertical base and once again they swing HARD at each other. Axe & Smash NO SOLD into an STO from Shibata. Kicks to the leg by Kyle…and he actually knocks his opponent to the mat! Regalplex countered into the Sleeper…which O’Reilly knows is set-up for the PK so scrambles to the ropes. HEAD DROP GERMAN by Shibata…f*cking NO SOLD! German suplex by O’Reilly…and that’s no sold too! STEREO MAFIA KICKS leave both of them on the ground. Tandem elbows find the mark, before a lariat by O’Reilly, into the Brainbuster. ONE COUNT! PK ON SHIBATA! Brainbuster again…and this time when Shibata puts his shoulder up Kyle floats into an Omoplata! Shibata refuses to tap out, but lapses into unconsciousness forcing the referee to stop it at 13:29

Rating - **** - This was everything you hoped it would be, although annoyingly it was being taped for Road Rage television so they probably didn’t get as much time as they’d have liked to pad things out. These two are immensely similar – big strikers, heavily martial arts influenced, brave, resilient and technically extremely savvy too. From the outset New Japan’s Shibata set out to intimidate O’Reilly. That makes sense – he is a veteran of the heavyweight scene in Japan, whereas Kyle is a junior. But O’Reilly, noticeably bigger than he was this time a year ago, refused to bow down or be bullied. Every time Shibata thought he had him trapped, cornered or beaten down O’Reilly would retaliate with a ferocious blast of strikes or an innovative submission hold of his own. Given that they grounded so much in a pseudo-shoot style the finish, although unpopular and confusing to the live crowd, was a very sensible one that enhanced Shibata’s ‘tough guy’ aura whilst simultaneously giving ROH’s O’Reilly a massive win as he presses on towards World Title contention.

New World Champion Adam Cole knows exactly what this is. Given the dastardly way he forced Match Maker Nigel McGuinness to renege on his vow that Cole would never get another title shot, there is little doubt that he is now being punished by Ring Of Honor authorities. He is being made to defend against three of the very best wrestlers in the world, all of whom have held the top prize in their respective promotions. Naito and Lethal were allies, but that alliance fractured at the Las Vegas TV taping resulting in them being booked as opponents for All Star Extravaganza. Will that issue take their eyes off of the prize of the ROH Title?

Lethal wants to start with Naito, who is busy looking disdainful at the fans’ chant of ‘all these guys’. He thinks he is getting his wish too when Naito forces Tanahashi out of the ring…but then Cole pisses him off by blind-tagging him out as well. The champ has a big smirk on his face, but quickly has it wiped off by the nonchalant showmanship of Naito. Even when they do start wrestling Cole can’t find a way to stop the leader of LIJ from f*cking around. Amusingly, when Naito does tag out he doesn’t stand on the apron – he grabs a chair and lounges on the floor watching Lethal and Tanahashi go at it. Lethal pauses to smash Cole off the apron to the turf, then springboard dropkicks the Ace out after him too. It leaves bodies on all sides of the ring and in perfect position for the former ROH Champ to bust out the Tope Trilogy. Back in the ring he puts a Figure 4 on Tanahashi, which pisses off Cole and does plenty of damage to Tana’s ageing knees. An irate Cole blind-tags him out again…and is punched in the mouth for his trouble. The champ gives Naito the DVD over the knee which, for the first time, knocks Naito off his rhythm. Lethal blind-tags him out before he can capitalise though and they brawl to the floor whilst Naito relaxes inside the ring. Jay starts suplexing Cole but finds himself on the wrong side of a makeshift alliance between Naito and the Ring Of Honor Champion. That alliance quickly falls apart however and allows him to land the Lethal Combination on Naito then make the hot tag to Tana…who gives both the heels a somersault senton. Naito shakes the ropes to stop him hitting the High Fly Flow! Cole and Lethal lock horns again, with Jay blocking the Panama Sunrise into the rebound Injection for 2. NXT Last Shot from Cole to Naito…only for Tanahashi to then hit the champ with the Sling Blade moments later. Cole stalks Lethal perched precariously on the top only to be knocked back for Hail To The King. HIGH FLY FLOW MISSES! LETHAL INJECTION ON TANAHASHI! Lethal tries the same move on Cole moments later…but as the ref scrambles for position he misses Naito waffling Lethal with the title belt. Naito wants to hit Destino for the win, and is halted with a Superkick from Cole. Last Shot on Jay, giving Cole another win over his rival at 17:21

Rating - *** - The positives here were clear to see. Naito was having a blast messing around, not giving a sh*t and pissing everyone else off as a consequence. Watching he and Tanahashi in an ROH Title Match was a fun spectacle. And, most crucially, the Cole/Lethal exchanges were all loaded with significance and weight. Unfortunately, all those factors didn’t stop this feeling intensely flat and lethargic. Nobody seemed to have any urgency or desire to win whatsoever. It felt like a procession of semi-interested spots coming one after another, all killing time until they could go to the finish. It was so bland that, if you weren’t aware of the TV taping spoilers, I can honestly say you wouldn’t have had a clue that Lethal and Naito even had an issue at all. 

Tape Rating - ** - This show runs for two hours and forty five minutes…and two hours of the show consist of very decent wrestling. Therefore, this certainly isn’t a waste of your time, and is worth checking out if you can fit it into your schedule. But, conversely, there isn’t actually much that you NEED to see either. The main event was enormously underwhelming, with only limited value as a Lethal/Cole sequel. They spend 45-minutes of run-time on a dour Gauntlet Match which only really came to life in the last ten minutes once the Briscoes, War Machine, The Addiction and the Young Bucks were in play. And whilst the undercard consisting of Kushida/Castle, Fish/EVIL and Elgin/Dijak delivers consistently decent matches…none of those three bouts, which could have stolen the show, really hit the standards you might expect. It’s not all a bust thankfully – O’Reilly/Shibata and the Bullet Club vs Machine Guns, ACH and Rush tag are really good. But then again, they are featured for free on Road Rage TV in a couple of weeks anyway. As usual Field Of Honor delivers a fun night of wrestling in a unique setting for ROH…but isn’t really much more than an outdoor, summer house show with limited rewatch value.

3) Michael Elgin vs Donovan Dijak (***)

2) Young Bucks/Adam Page/Yujiro Takahashi vs Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin/ACH/Lio Rush (****)

1) Kyle O’Reilly vs Katsuyori Shibata (****)