McXal's Reviews

Stuck between the Death Before Dishonor and All Star Extravaganza pay-per-views, and soon after the big summer-ending Field Of Honor live event featuring New Japan talent in Brooklyn, you could be forgiven for sleeping on these Reloaded Tour events. All the build for All Star Extravaganza 8 was taped in Las Vegas and the money talents won’t want to be getting injured so close to a major show. The main event for this one certainly reflects that as World Champion Adam Cole, plus biggest draw and Ladder War participants the Young Bucks look to protect each other in a trios tag match against Jay Lethal, Cole Cabana and Dalton Castle. The undercard, though, has some matches which really could deliver if given the platform to do so. Jonathan Gresham doesn’t appear on live events very often, but his match against Delirious should be great fun. Kamaitachi vs Alex Shelley and Christopher Daniels vs Jay White could both steal the show. There’s also a massive four-corner tag team bout in the midcard throwing together the Briscoes, War Machine, All Night Express and the Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser duo which is at equal risk of either lighting the place up or stinking it out. We are in a cool-looking new building (with a concrete wall on one-side of the ring, a unique caged-off entry set and fans in close proximity on the other three sides) in Pittsburgh, PA. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino provide commentary.

I’m not sure if this is Britt’s ROH debut, but she’s certainly new to the Women Of Honor scene. Veda introduces her during their entrances as her new partner. They tag up with the undefeated face of the Women Of Honor division (whether anyone likes it or not), Kelly Klein. Mandy Leon heads the opposition squad just 24-hours away from facing Taeler Hendrix and Jessicka Havok tomorrow night. Will her focus be on this one, or the big grudge tag bout she has in store? Her partners are ‘Crazy’ Mary Dobson (who we’ve seen face both Veda and Kelly in the past) and rookie ROH Dojo graduate Faye Jackson. After the WOH bonus match at Field Of Honor was a total horror show (which I very generously didn’t give a DUD too), here’s hoping for a better match from the female division tonight.

Leon starts with Baker, smashing into her with double knees then a sliding DDT for 2. Britt’s response is to knock her block off with an elbow smash! Dobson and Scott in next, picking up where they left off in Columbus with some ultra-aggressive striking. Veda hits a Scorpion kick…only for Mary to retaliate by dropkicking her right back into the corner. Jackson, in just her third professional match, has no fear getting into the ring with Klein. She has enough size that Klein can’t bully her, but she’s inexperienced and allows herself to get blind-sided by Britt. The Doctor is made to pay though, absorbing a butt splash from Faye. ROARING ELBOW on Crazy Mary! Baker’s elbows are intense. The heels isolate Dobson for a couple of minutes, until Mary hits a Pele Kick on Baker and gets a hot tag to Mandy. UNPRETTIER on Baker gets 2. In the midst of this Taeler refers to Klein’s trios as ‘the heels’ and it is completely cringe-worthy. All six women now in, spearheaded by Crazy Mary who violently kicks Scott in the head. Jackson steams into all her opponents with running hip attacks (the ‘Triple Spun Milkshake’)…and gets 2 on Baker after the Chocolate Thunder. Dobson and Veda are still beating the sh*t out of each other too! DIVING KNEE OFF THE APRON BY MARY! Mandy powerbombs Britt then heads upstairs for a SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! TOPE SUICIDA BY FAYE! Mary and Veda are the first back in…with Dobson landing the Kentucky Knee. Wheelbarrow bulldog from Leon to Klein! Spear from Jackson to Scott! ROCKER DROPPER from Britt to Faye! ROLLING FISHERMAN BUSTERS by Dobson! Veda kicks her knees out before she can hit the Kaiju Killer, before pulling her out of the corner with a HANGING MIND TRIP! INTO END OF THE MATCH! Dobson taps out at 11:06

Rating - *** - Now this is the kind of action I want to see from the Women Of Honor division! Not everyone in here is a great worker, but there was enough talent to carry it and all six willing to bust their asses and sacrifice their bodies to deliver something decent. Dobson stood out as possibly the best worker – her exchanges with Veda almost went under the radar but were always entertaining. Britt Baker made an instant impression with her athleticism and phenomenal striking, and together they all did enough to protect girls like Faye and Kelly, who aren’t necessarily as watchable. This surpassed the Veda/Mary match in Columbus as my favourite WOH DVD bonus bout I’ve seen all year (i.e. excluding the Women Of Honor live special in Baltimore, and the TV special taped in Nashville)

Field Of Honor kick-started what is effectively ACH’s final run of shows before he leaves ROH, so it’s no surprise that he’s right down the card tonight working permanent bottom-feeder Will Ferrara. Enjoy him whilst you can, because he finishes up after Glory By Honor weekend.

The first thirty seconds are a lot of fun as they work fast and struggle to lay a glove on each other. Ferrara gets an edge with a sloppy flying headscissors and follows up with a big clothesline on the outside. ACH comes back inside and decides to slow it down – dumping Will with a backbreaker and delivering a running boot to the neck. Ferrara dodges the slingshot flatfliner and hits his version of Paydirt. It knocks ACH to the floor again…and right into the path of a tope suicida. Rebound tornado DDT back inside gets 2. ACH hits a rapid-fire strike flurry – knocking Will to his knees and exposing him to a running knee to the neck! Will dumps ACH on his own neck with a headscissors out of the corner which scores another nearfall. Lumbar Check by ACH…into a Midnight Star to the back! ACH gets the victory at 08:15

Rating - ** - The match package as a whole was fine but no more, however the individual performance from ACH was excellent. I truly think people have been under-estimating how much his loss will impact Ring Of Honor, as he has been such a consistently good performer for the last three years. Here he single-handedly made this enjoyable with an uncharacteristically focused and violent attack on Will’s neck and back – carrying it all the way through to his finish. 

As I’ve said every time he has appeared in 2016, Gresham is an obscenely talented wrestler who should have been part of this company a long time ago. ROH have finally given him an opportunity to show what he can do in 2016, but mostly in short bursts and usually at televised events. Now he makes a live event and I’m looking forward to seeing how he contributes. His opponent will certainly ensure that this match is interesting. Delirious is an under-rated worker…but in recent years where he’s only appeared on a part-time basis he has worked even more of a comedic style than he did in his prime. Will the unorthodox and intricate mat-stylings of the Octopus trump the all-round unorthodoxy of the Lizard Man?

Delirious’ ring-bell freak-out lasts an entire minute, with Gresham mostly standing and watching as he gasses himself out. When the Lizard Man finally comes back down to earth Jon is just waiting so he can start running through his bewitching assortment of grappling holds. Next they run through an electrifying exchange of pinning combinations, which draws a great ovation from the crowd but is totally crapped on by Corino and Kelly who are busy talking about their forthcoming trips to Japan and New Zealand (to work with OTHER F*CKING COMPANIES) with Bobby Cruise. I can’t stand Kevin Kelly. He is the worst kind of appalling. Inside the ring the seamless, ultra-fluent chain-wrestling between the two combatants is a thrill to watch. Gresham introduces throws to counter Delirious’ attacks; higher impact offence which opens the door for him to work a couple of leg submissions. Even Delirious loudly applauds Gresh as a ‘good wrestler’! He extends a hand…but as a trick to start working a series of wristlocks. Gresham uses the referee to vault off into an escape. Ten minutes in and back to the canvas they go into another prolonged series of pinning attempts, this time with endless crucifix pin counters. In the end Gresham is able to hold Delirious’ shoulders down to win at 10:18

Rating - *** - This was a blast. Ten minutes of non-stop technical wizardry. They barely let go of each other for the entire match, countered each other a million times over and kept what could’ve been a cynical group of fans entertained too. Delirious deserves plenty of credit for having the fitness and stamina to deliver something like this given his limited in-ring schedule these days…and also for doing the right thing and putting Gresham over. ROH need him inked to a full-time deal as quickly as they possibly can. The only bad thing I have to say about this match is the commentary, which is ghastly. Corino and Kelly sound like they are on a boys weekend away from their wives and kids. They have their ‘old pal’ Bobby Cruise on commentary with them, and the three of them are sitting around, barely concentrating on the match cracking petty, smarmy in-jokes which belittle the in-ring action and exclude the viewer. 

What an opportunity this is for these two men to do damage to each other with All Star Extravaganza and Ladder War on the horizon. Kaz was betrayed by Sabin earlier in the year when he walked out on the KRD to reform the Motor City Machine Guns. Can he vent his frustration in a productive manner by inflicting injury on his old stable-mate before they even get to the pay-per-view?

Kazarian sensibly grabs an early headlock and runs with it, looking to expose Sabin’s problematic neck right away. These guys were clearly watching the Gresham/Delirious match as they decide they want to work their own pinning combination exchange on the canvas. Back to the neck Frankie goes by catapulting himself into an Edge-O-Matic for 2. After every move now Chris rockets up off the canvas clutching at his neck. The guillotine leg drop in the ropes punishes him again….but also knocks Sabin to the floor where he gets some time to recover. Next Kaz stands on the neck as he chokes Chris in the ropes, and the match starts to look drastically one-sided. Never-ending rolling pin attempts next, with neither man able to get the three-count…and then they come up and lay each other out with stereo clotheslines. Sabin is up first and delivers a missile dropkick…with such force that Kaz tries to pin him using the ropes just to escape the match. He tries the slingshot DDT only for Sabin to counter with a slingshot swinging neckbreaker. Over Easy gets 2 for Sabin! Future Shock blocked into Wave Of The Future for 2! Frankie wants to hit a superplex…but is instead trapped in the corner for the Hesitation Dropkick. Kamaitachi runs in looking to distract Sabin. He then holds Sabin’s legs down as Kazarian pins him, handing Frankie a cheap win at 12:57

Rating - ** - With a better finish this would have been a 3* match. As usual Delirious struggles to fathom a world where the heel can go over without run ins or cheating, so Kamaitachi’s appearance wasn’t particularly surprising. It also helps set up the Kamaitachi/Shelley match which is up next, so I can see why he did it. For the majority of the match I found this decidedly enjoyable though. It never shook the feeling that it was an oppressively slow clash between two men who’s best days in the ring where spent with another company and now have a LOT of miles on the clock…but Frankie worked the neck well and I really liked how Sabin sold it. That basic premise meant that everything they did, even if slower and less athletically than they were in their prime, had purpose and relevance.

Kazarian and Kamaitachi beat Sabin down which of course brings Alex Shelley sprinting out from backstage. Together the Machine Guns knock Frankie to the outside, only for Kamai to jump them from behind – jump-starting the next match.

Once again Kamaitachi has been recruited to do The Addiction’s bidding. Here he will be tasked with inflicting as much damage as possible to Shelley ahead of Ladder War 6. As we’ve heard during some of Alex’s commentary stints at previous events, he has history with Kamaitachi and has trained with him in the New Japan dojo. Tachi was also responsible for the Machine Guns’ failure to win the Tag Titles at Best In The World 2016.

The pace through the opening minutes gets quicker and quicker. They don’t stop until Kamaitachi flips through the ropes into a SUNSET BOMB onto the apron. It gets worse for him when he misses a running knee strike and collides with the guardrails. Kamaitachi rams a chair into the knee right afterwards rendering Alex completely unable to stand. Inside the ring he delivers an arm-capture dragon screw…and it is crystal clear that Tachi is looking to do a job on Shelley so he can’t even climb a ladder at All Star Extravaganza. Figure 4 Leglock applied, with Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino crediting Christopher Daniels as the architect of this plan. As soon as Alex makes the ropes on that hold Kamai hops off the second rope into a missile dropkick to the leg. He tries the same move a second time, but Shelley is an experienced campaigner and knows enough to dodge it. Annoyingly, Shelley totally no-sells the injury to deliver kick after kick after kick, driving Tachi to the floor and into position for a gorgeous TOPE SUICIDA! SLICED BREAD #2 ON THE FLOOR! Well he just has zero interest in selling that leg! He’s not done either – attempting a flying crossbody off the top rope as well. Kamaitachi blocks it with an emphatic dropkick into the ribs. NECK DROP GERMAN by Shelley! They wearily get back to their feet and rip into each other with elbow smashes…then superkicks. Alex hits Sliced Bread #2 inside the ring for a HOT nearfall. He appears to want to set up for the WA4…but Kamaitachi blocks it by ‘accidentally’ poking Todd Sinclair in the eyes! As the referee scrambles to recover Kamai punts Shelley in the balls…and gets a 2! Turnbuckle Shellshock nailed…into a pinning combination which delivers Shelley a win at 12:34

Rating - *** - This was really enjoyable. Had Shelley bothered to sell the leg, or if they’d come up with a slightly more dramatic or inventive finish I could easily have gone higher on my rating. These guys have been two of ROH’s more consistent performers in 2016 and gelled together really well. It felt like they were content having a decent match with lots of cool moves in, rather than a great match which told a relatable story. There’s nothing wrong with that, but this wasn’t as tailored to my taste as I’d have liked, and I don’t think scratched the surface of what these two are capable of in a ring together.

Christopher Daniels is out now but Alex Shelley flees before the Ring General can touch him. Daniels protests that Shelley cheated and screwed Kamaitachi. He delivers a warning to Shelley and Sabin’s friend Jay White. He faces the New Japan rookie later tonight and plans to make him suffer as a result of the Machine Guns’ actions.

There is a lot of history between these four teams. War Machine had rivalries with both the Briscoes and ANX during their Tag Title reign, successfully defeating both of them in major pay-per-view bouts. They’ve also had notable big-man brawls with the Milwaukee duo as well. Silas and the Bruiser won Tag Wars 2016 in a final which also contained the Briscoes and the All Nights. Jay and Mark are the OG’s of the tag division and have fought wars with all of their opponents; tearing buildings apart with War Machine and even facing King and Titus in a Ladder War years ago. All of these guys will be smarting at being left out of the Tag Title picture whilst The Addiction, the Bucks and the Machine Guns chase the gold…and know a big win here puts them at the front of the queue when All Star Extravaganza is in the books. Kenny King is competed with heavily taped ribs…

The Cabinet kneel and protest the Code Of Honor, piggybacking on the Colin Kaepernick story to get some cheap heat. Unsurprisingly the Briscoes find that offensive and kick them in the heads to end the protest. We get a tease on another Briscoes/War Machine fight…but the heels on the floor pull all four men outside to prevent it. Rowe obliterates Kenny with a knee strike whilst Hanson and Mark join forces to take on all comers. Hanson hammers on King’s injured ribs…until Rhett comes to the aid of his partner to drive War Beard into the apron. ANX beat him down on the floor and as a semblance of normality is restored it is they who are in the ascendancy. That is until Silas and BCB decide they want a piece of the action, so bully the All Nights out of the ring meaning they can take their shots at Hanson. Rowe makes a save with the Cement Mixer on Beer City…before stepping off his back into the Superman Punch on Young. Bruiser recovers with a sit-out facebuster on Jay Briscoe for 2. ANX, Silas and BCB all take turns beating Jay down for several minutes…but let him slither out of their grasp eventually so he can tag Mark back. The younger Briscoe tosses Rhett into King’s ribs, only to be met by Bruiser who wants to attempt his own Redneck Kung Fu! Young hits a rebound lariat to the apron to take Mark down…but then eats the cartwheel lariat by Hanson. Shotgun Knees from Rowe stop ANX giving Hanson the One Night Stand. Criss-cross body avalanches by War Machine, followed by relay race knee strikes – which leave Titus, King, Young and Bruiser battered senseless. Finally it means War Machine and the Briscoes can lock horns…and they fly at each other with fists raised. Mark and Hanson fight down the aisle towards the curtain, whilst Jay and Rowe tee off on each other inside the ropes. Jay even finds time to boot Kenny King from the apron to the railings. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA from Titus! CANNONBALL off the apron by Bruiser to follow that. Hanson and Mark have brawled all the way through the crowd and are now on the concrete wall/stage adjacent to the ring. HANSON THROWS MARK OFF THE STAGE! THEN SOMERSAULT DIVES RIGHT AFTER HIM! Decapitation on Jay! ANX bundle in before War Machine can pin him though. Rhett hits Rowe with a ‘Dawg Splash’ for 2…and is promptly removed via a big German suplex from BCB. Bruiser gives Mark a version of the Emerald Fusion for a hot nearfall. Banzai Drop missed by Bruiser, with Jay waiting to give him the Day One Neckbreaker. FROGGY BOW! Mark pins Bruiser to win the match at 18:05

Rating - **** - There was a slight slowdown in the middle, but this was largely the exact match you’d want to see from this group of workers. It was as far removed from the Gresham/Delirious match as it gets – consisting almost entirely of a bunch of big dudes brawling everywhere in a chaotic manner, busting out some insane stuff along the way. In his time in ROH Mark has dived off scaffolds, trucks and balconies, so it was no surprise that we saw him taking a spill off the ideally positioned concrete staging on one side of the ring. That spot with Hanson was undoubtedly the centrepiece of this, but there were a number of other little exchanges that I really liked. They teased anything involving the Briscoes and War Machine going back into battle very well. It wasn’t overdone but they came together at key points to really get the crowd involved. They don’t get a whole lot of credit, however All Night Express were really good in this too. Unlike the other three they aren’t big, hairy bulldozers. So they fought differently – relying on cheap-shots, attacks from behind and provoking fights between their opponents. It was a smart, logical performance from them. 

I can’t recall seeing LeRusso before, but there are a LOT of forgettable job guys who come through ROH, especially on televised shows. He has a size advantage over Cheeseburger, and therefore has a genuine opportunity to get some eyes on him with a win here. In case you’re in any doubt, LeRusso is on the card because he’s paid money to attend seminars and camps at the training school. 

LeRusso is an outspoken, arrogant heel character and grabs a microphone to self-promote before the bell. He tags Burger with a jumping knee and cranks onto a neck vice as his impressive start continues. A perfect slingshot suplex gets a nearfall too, and he hits a running powerslam to counter Cheese’s attempt at a crossbody block right after. Burger hits a springboard knee…then a tornado DDT when LeRusso blocks the Shotei. Cross-legged driver (or, as Kevin Kelly points out, Eddie Edwards’ Die Hard Driver) gets another close nearfall for the newcomer. Burger at last delivers the Shotei and gets a rare live event victory at 07:09

Rating - * - I had no interest in this even as a popcorn match, and I don’t enjoy watching Cheeseburger at all so this didn’t resonate with me whatsoever. I did, however, think that LeRusso looked decent. Hardly world class, but (compared to some of the utter crap that has gotten bookings thanks to ROH’s corporate, profit-driven methods of unearthing new talent) he was serviceable and engaging to a live audience. He was the reason I didn’t give this one the DUD treating.

The lights go out…and when they come back BJ Whitmer and Punishment Martinez are in the ring. BJ gives Burger the Exploder ’98 whilst Martinez eliminates LeRusso with a backbreaker. Will Ferrara runs in for a futile attempt at a rescue…quickly followed by Steve Corino! Punishment blocks him from getting to BJ then destroys Will with South Of Heaven. They try to get Corino to use the Golden Spike on Ferrara then walk out as Steve wrestles with his inner urge to use it…

Well this should be good. Coleman is under-rated by many as both a talker and a worker and for all the faults of The Cabinet as a gimmick, the fact that it gives him a greater role is fine by me. Rush has been a brilliant piece of recruitment by ROH this year and just keeps churning out great matches. If he is to succeed where others – like Page, ACH, Cedric – have failed then he needs to convert good performances into big wins. That means victory over Caprice is imperative…but is made a lot more difficult by the presence of the All Night Express at ringside.

Caprice wrestles in dress pants, and is made to look enormously foolish by an electrifying start by Lio. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE smashes him into the railings inside the opening minute. The veteran has years of experience on Rush however – and shows it by 619-feinting around the ringpost into a kick. Just when he thinks he has Lio down he comes right back with a diving rana off the apron though. Coleman responds by poking the eyes and tumbling through the ropes into his own headsicssors on the floor. He antagonises the fans by refusing to do a high-flying move from the top and instead decks Lio with a basic spinebuster and a flurry of mounted punches. One Inch Punch drives him into the corner, vulnerable to the leaping frankensteiner for 2. Lio is starting to get annoyed…and even though Coleman blocks Rush Hour, he is able to deliver a sliding enziguri. King and Titus hurl abuse at him as he hops up the ropes…perhaps causing him to miss the Dragon’s Call. Caprice counters with the Bless-TO, floated into a chickenwing crossface. The ribs and back of Lio are screaming in pain now. RUSH HOUR FROM NOWHERE! Lio wins at 10:24

Rating - *** - I like both of these guys, and they delivered a fun little match. They clearly weren’t given the freedom to do all kinds of crazy stuff and try to steal the show…and it did feel like they were working within themselves. However, even considering that this was enjoyable. Coleman was great as a veteran, targeting the core of a smaller, more athletic rival, and the finish with Lio winning out of nothing really puts over the effectiveness of his Rush Hour finishing move (which is one of my favourites in the company right now). 

On commentary Alex Shelley talks about how it’s a ‘numbers game’ in ROH and that the numbers aren’t adding up for he and Chris Sabin. Lio Rush is someone he wants on his ‘team’ apparently. He says the same of Jay White and ACH in the remainder of his commentary stint…

On White’s first night in the company he defeated Kamaitachi then Chris Daniels in consecutive matches. It was an explosive debut, and he remains undefeated to this point – including a memorable time limit draw with Jay Briscoe on television. Earlier in the night Daniels promised to destroy him however, to send a message to the Motor City Machine Guns (with whom he is friends apparently). Will the Ring General live up to his word, or will the New Zealander stand up for his friends and inflict damage on one half of the Tag Champions going into Ladder War?

White more than holds his own during cautious early mat exchanges, which is a serious accomplishment giving the vast gulf in experience between he and his opponent. It’s interesting stuff, but a little slow going for the live crowd who get distracted yelling things between sections. It is fun watching Daniels struggle and sweat buckets but continually get frustrated by a guy who has only recently graduated from Young Lion status. White starts slapping the veteran in the face too! After tossing Daniels to the floor he sails to the outside with a tope suicida…and after successfully landing that he pulls the fallen Tag Champ back inside to continue stretching him out on the mat. Grumpy Christopher Daniels snaps – raking White’s eyes hard and dumping him with a Saito suplex. Jay slumps to the ground, remaining vulnerable as Daniels approaches and throws him neck-first into the guardrail. The neck has been his target since the opening moments of the match, so it’s great continuity that he is still maintaining that focus ten minutes in. A neck wrench scores…then he slouches down on top of the Kiwi with a front facelock. A plunging neckbreaker scores as soon as White escapes that hold too. Jay does find a way to save himself somewhat by blocking the running STO…but to do so he hits a DDT which of course drops him on his injured neck anyway. He lands the running suplex…and nips up whilst nursing the injury. FLYING MISSILE DROPKICK nailed by White, further injuring himself in an attempt to put the Ring General away. Daniels absorbs the blow and nabs White into the Koji Clutch. When Jay escapes that this time Daniels does level him with the running STO for 2. Still White defies Daniels – pounding him in the ropes with European uppercuts and hitting the Urinage as the Fallen Angel struggles to recover. Kiwi Crusher blocked into an urinage slam. BME misses! CRIPPLER CROSSFACE INSTEAD! Daniels is rolling back the years with this performance. Angel’s Wings blocked into a vicious lariat…and both men are down! Daniels comes up throwing elbows to the neck…but Jay retaliates with a dropkick. KIWI CRUSHER NAILED! WHITE WINS! He took the best Daniels could throw at him and still pulled out a victory at 20:53

Rating - **** - You could have slotted this match into an ROH show a decade ago in the promotion’s absolute heyday and it wouldn’t have felt out of place. Christopher Daniels did here what he’s done so many times throughout his career – picked a body part, worked it like a bastard and told a hell of a story with it. White’s role was more challenging. To make the story work he had to be credible and believable when comprehensively out-wrestling a tenured veteran for the first five minutes, but then equally believable as a sympathetic babyface getting his neck torn apart for the remainder. This felt like an accomplished performance from a rising star with a big future...

We know the history with this one. Cole took the World Title from Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor, just weeks after he and the Bucks shocked everyone by shaving Jay’s head on television. But Lethal won’t be the only person fired up for this. Colt Cabana still hasn’t forgiven Bullet Club for wrecking his World Title shot in his home town back at Global Wars. The Bucks will be looking to avenge the tag loss they suffered to Lethal and Colt during the Road To Best In The World Tour too. Dalton is the odd man out here, and a wildcard who has a big opportunity to step up in a main event setting with some of the biggest stars currently in the promotion.

The fans vocally demand that Castle be the first man in for this team, even at the expense of Lethal and Cole locking horns again. He obliges…but then sits in the corner being fanned when the crowd start chanting for Cole instead. SUPERKICK ON A BOY! That’s one way to stop them being a factor! Dalton is enraged – hitting Adam with a running knee on the floor and kick-starting a wild six man brawl. Lethal tries to destroy Matt’s back with repeated tope suicidas which drill him against the guardrail. On the other side of the ring Nick is doing some whacky head bumps as Cabana smashes his face into the ring apron. Inside the ring Colt goes whacky and British…and Matt has no answer. Castle tags and similarly dominates him with the amateur grappling style. The World Champion has no choice but to intervene; pulling the ropes down on his rival Lethal to send the previous holder of his belt to the floor. Rise Of The Terminator dives blocked…TRIPLE SUPERKICKS ON THE FLOOR INSTEAD! TRIPLE RISE OF THE TERMINATOR! The SuperKliq drag Lethal out of the melee and cut him off from his partners. They have some fun triple team moves, but nothing is more over than Cole working a camel clutch on Lethal whilst the Bucks take a HUGE run-up before planting a kiss on his cheeks. On the floor Lethal trades shots with the Bucks…then he returns to the ring and no-sells a Cole Superkick to lunge for a hot tag to Cabana. He flies into the Jacksons with a quebrada…so they 2 Sweet him in the eyes! Colt blocks Panama Sunrise into the Billy Goat’s Curse. DOUBLE SUPERKICK BY THE BUCKS to break it! Cabana’s face as he locked in the hold only to see the Bucks marching towards him was awesome! Dalton in with a Gotch throw for the World Champion…then he German suplexes one Buck into the other! Cole gets northern lights suplexed onto both of them! Everest German blocked with STEREO SUPERKICKS TO THE NECK! Kevin Steen Cannonball nailed. Next they stack all three opponents on top of each other in the middle of the ring so Nick can SWANTON BOMB ONTO ALL OF THEM! Colt saves Castle from IndyTaker…so Matt gives Lethal the Worst Case Scenario instead. Superkick on Cabana! MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY NICK! MID-AIR LETHAL INJECTION TO BLOCK THE MELTZER DRIVER! Lethal Combination on Matt! COLE SUPERKICKS OUT OF THE LETHAL INJECTION! POP-UP INDYTAKER ON LETHAL! Castle lifts Cole up for Bang-A-Rang…and holds on despite the Bucks hammering him with Superkicks. PANAMA SUNRISE BY COLE! 450 SPLASH BY NICK! CABANA SAVES! He starts fighting all the Club single-handedly…SO THEY ALL SUPERKICK HIM OUT OF THE SKY AFTER A MOONSAULT! CHICAGO SKYLINE ON NICK! INTO THE LETHAL INJECTION! BANG-A-RANG NAILED AS WELL! CASTLE WINS! Your time is 22:25

Rating - **** - Usually these main event trios matches on house shows are pretty forgettable. Not this one…that was completely crazy. In true Young Bucks fashion, the pace in this one got quicker and quicker…and every time you thought they were done they kept breaking out newer, more insane things to do to each other. As usual, I’m sure many would dismiss this as a simple spot-fest, but there really is so much subtlety amongst the chaos. For instance, whenever Cabana was on offence he’d get the better of the Bucks – not by doing insane moves, but simply because he has a whacky European style that no amount of cool moves can easily overcome. Every Lethal/Cole exchange was loaded with significance; tellingly when Cole went after the former champion to give Bullet Club the advantage. Putting Dalton over here was a huge decision too. He hasn’t been involved much with the Bullet Club angle, but the win here immediately puts him in the World Title conversation…and perhaps signifies a genuine attempt from good old Delirious to start seriously elevating someone from the midcard. 

Tape Rating - *** - 2016 has produced several really under-rated live events outside of the major shows, and this was another one. Only the brief Cheeseburger match (plus the Whitmer/Corino crap) was actively bad, and there were some terrific matches in here. Daniels/White was a technical clinic (as was Gresham/Delirious, and Shelley/Kamaitachi wasn’t bad either), the four-way tag team match in the first half delivered in a big way…and the main event was absolutely thrilling stuff. Even if you’re not an ROH completist this one is well-worth checking out. The Women Of Honor bonus match kicked ass too!

3) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs All Night Express vs War Machine vs Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser (****)

2) Jay White vs Christopher Daniels (****)

1) Adam Cole/Young Bucks vs Jay Lethal/Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle (****)