McXal's Reviews

Ten years ago at Glory By Honor 5 weekend Bryan Danielson and KENTA tore the roof off the Manhattan Center in a World Title Match which, to this day, remains arguably the best match in ROH history. Glory By Honor has played host to some incredible moments, but in recent times hasn’t been treated with quite the same reverence as other annual ROH events. This year Glory By Honor comprises two house shows with pretty poor reputations, that received no promotion at all. But, some of ROH’s biggest sleeper hit shows this year have come when they’ve turned what looked a mediocre card on paper into something memorable with a number of memorable matches. Tonight there is definitely some intriguing stuff which could steal the show. ROH tests the water on a division exclusively for ‘Super Heavyweights’ by throwing Beer City Bruiser, Punishment Martinez and Donovan Dijak into a triple threat. Angel De Oro debuts from CMLL into a high-flying four-way which will also include Kamaitachi, Nick Jackson and ACH (in his final weekend in the company). Dalton Castle faces Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal works Matt Jackson, The Cabinet face the Motor City Machine Guns and Jay White…and all that comes before a grudge match main events pits reDRagon against World Champion Adam Cole and his Bullet Club stablemate Hangman Page. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Chicago Ridge, IL.

Klein, who now has the awful nickname ‘Pretty Bad Ass’, remains undefeated and the dominant force in Women Of Honor. Her opponent tonight is the returning Thunderkitty. She’s appeared in ROH before, and will be familiar to women’s wrestling fans in the Chicago area because she is a regular with the SHIMMER promotion too. Apparently Glory By Honor marks the one-year anniversary of Kelly’s winning streak…

During the introductions Ian announces that the second Women Of Honor television special is being taped in Baltimore at the end of the month, which is exciting news for those of us who prefer to see the female athletes take centre stage rather than lurk around in free YouTube bouts. Thunder acknowledges the power of her opponent and decides her best strategy is to use some good, old-fashioned chain-wrestling. Her throwback offence actually contrasts quite well with Klein, and she enjoys success that she is able to knock Kelly’s mouth-guard out. Kelly retaliates with aggressive strikes before planting Kitty into the canvas with a sliding DDT. She misses a straight punch…but quickly recovers to kick TK’s lights out. Thunderkitty looks bedraggled and beaten, although she remains game for a fight! Fallaway slam from Klein to counter the Iron Claw! Tackles by Kitty…into a running crossbody to knock Klein off her feet. HEADBUTT BY THUNDER! They smash each other with elbows, until Kitty lands a DDT for 2. She tries to lock in the Sleeper to finish only for Klein to counter her with a snapmare into an IMPLANT DDT! End Of The Match wins it for Kelly at 07:43

Rating - *** - Most definitely a generous 3*, but this was far more entertaining than you might expect. I thought they had a really strong dynamic with Thunder’s old-school, unorthodox ways proving a surprisingly stiff test for Kelly to overcome. There were a number of cool moments where Kitty was trying something retro and weird, and all Klein could do to counter was to clobber her in the mouth. There are plenty of fans who love to trash Klein regardless of the quality of her matches. She is inconsistent and frustrating, but I do maintain she does occasionally have good matches and isn't totally incapable if put into the ring with the right opponent. I thought her match with Candice LeRae in Baltimore was really good, and for a free dark match going on YouTube, this one had some genuine quality to it as well. 

Scarlett Bordeaux refuses to announce Klein as the winner in protest at being attacked by Whitmer and Klein in Baltimore. Referees have to hold Kelly back from assaulting Scarlett again…

This is a battle of the Dojo graduates, as NJPW young lions Sho Tanaka and Yoh Komatsu face ROH’s Burger and Ferrara. Cheese and Will have grown closer as allies in their shared hatred of Punishment Martinez and Steve Corino, but don’t team on an ultra-regular basis. Burger does have some New Japan experience though, and has Jushin Liger as a some-time mentor, giving him an insight into the style of the Tempura Boyz…

Sho starts with Ferrara, but struggles as Will clamps his arm into a shortarm scissors. Cheeseburger enjoys similar early success when his athleticism proves too much for Yoh to come to grips with. Tanaka helps his partner with a cheap shot from behind which propels Burger (eventually) into a diving neckbreaker from his partner. Giant Swing/dropkick combo nailed for 2, and all of a sudden the Boyz are in full control with Cheese isolated in the ring. Sho sprints around the ring to pull Ferrara off the apron even when Burger does seem on the cusp of reaching his corner. Will eventually gets the tag of course and flattens Komatsu with a Samoan drop. Paydirt on Tanaka gets 2! Tempura Boyz hit a rocket launcher German suplex for 2 right back. Ferrara goes for a tope suicida, although catches his feet in the ropes and falls on his face. Burger drops Sho with the Shotei and wins at 07:26

Rating - ** - It would be easy for me to criticise this. I’m not comfortable with the treatment of Sho and Yoh at all, and they come across like total jokes. Similarly I’m historically not a fan of Cheeseburger (and only slightly more fond of Ferrara) so usually don’t enjoy it when ROH engineer situations where he wins a match. But, the actual wrestling content here was okay. The worked the tag formula well, all four men got a chance to shine and it ended before it had out-stayed its welcome. 

Kevin Kelly talks about this match as if ROH are actually formally kicking off a ‘super heavyweight division’. Presumably that was aborted pretty quickly when they realised it would be the same handful of guys fighting over and over again since ROH’s roster doesn’t have the depth of talent roster to support being broken up into weight classes. Having said that, I’m certainly not averse to more bruiserweight/hoss battles on Ring Of Honor events. Dijak and Martinez are enormously talented individuals and a fine example of what happens when ROH recruits talent properly. They are similar in that they are tall, powerful and freakishly athletic for their size. Bruiser, on the other hand, is their polar opposite. I’m not a fan of him in singles matches at all, but he is another guy who deserves praise for how much he has improved in the last year. Does he have the chops to hang with two legitimate athletes though? With BJ Whitmer, Prince Nana and Silas Young all at ringside there will be as much action on the floor as there is inside the ropes for this one.

Nobody wants to shake hands except Dijak, leading to Donovan getting pissed off and picking a fight with both of his opponents. STEREO MARTINI KILLER KICKS by Dijak and Punishment on BCB! Whitmer has found a perch next to the announce table and is whispering Sullivan-inspired nonsense at him, which is so annoying that it makes me want to mute my television. Bruiser returns with a Pounce on Donovan as he tries to polish Martinez off. DIJAK BACK FLIPS OUT OF SOUTH OF HEAVEN! CHOKESLAM BACKBREAKER nailed for 2! ‘First time he’s ever been off his feet in a regulation match’ – Kevin Kelly of Martinez, selectively forgetting all about the Top Prospect Tournament and Lio Rush it seems. Dijak and Martinez fight on the floor, only to be wiped out by the rolling senton by Beer City. RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE OVER THE TURNBUCKLES by Punisher! SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON BY DIJAK! Punishment grabs him by the throat as he sets up his moonsault, and when Donovan scoops him onto his shoulders Bruiser simply powerbombs both of them from the top rope! BCB clambers up the ropes now, hitting the Keg Splash on Dijak for 2. Martinez makes a save and lands a spinning heel kick off the top rope. DOUBLE CHOKESLAM on Bruiser! He grabs a leg to stop Dijak hitting Feast Your Eyes, but his only reward is Punishment hitting South Of Heaven ON TOP OF HIM! Emerald Fusion by Beer City gets 2, before he drags Punisher into the corner for rolling Banzai Drops. Dijak eventually returns and pulls him off into FEAST YOUR EYES! Huge win for Dijak as he pins BCB at 08:44

Rating - *** - Dijak and Martinez are remarkable athletes, and it is no surprise whatsoever that both would be picked up by WWE when their ROH contracts came to an end. Tall, rangy and amazingly agile – this was billed as a ‘super heavyweight’ battle, except they wrestled the whole thing like juniors. And, to his credit, Bruiser was up for a fight and hung in there with them. All the highlights and memorable moments were from Dijak and Martinez though; it felt like they were taking turns trying to one-up each other over who could hit the most incredible high spots. If you needed a reminder as to how badly ROH has messed up with Dijak, or as to how much potential Punishment has despite being saddled with the career-killing Whitmer/Corino/Sullivan bullsh*t, then this match is it.

So we follow three big dudes wrestling like junior heavyweights, by tossing four actual juniors in the ring together and seeing what happens. Angel is the latest debutant to make his way to ROH from CMLL. Like Stuka Jr. and Dragon Lee before him, he will be met by Kamaitachi – a man he is familiar with following Kamai’s stint in the Mexican promotion. ACH is a wildcard in his final weekend with ROH (this is the week after his infamous and cryptic ‘I want a divorce’ promo at an AAW show which many took to be about his ROH contractual status), whilst Nick Jackson continues his recovery from Ladder War 6 with a rare singles match. He will be the man with a target on his back here, as any of his opponents will know that a win over him puts them in possible contention for a Tag Title shot.

Former CMLL rivals Kamaitachi and Angel start, and it isn’t long before they are swinging chops at each other as hard as they possibly can. Apparently this is Lucha rules since Jackson runs in after Tachi is sent to the floor…and Nick has no problem with it as he sprints up the ropes into a flipping lucha armdrag on Oro. He then Superkicks ACH off the apron for good measure. Moonsault to the floor lays out ACH and Kamai! Brother Nero Swanton gets 2 on Angel, provoking a vocal chant of ‘Delete’ from the Chicago fans. I wonder if that will amount to anything in the near future. BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOONSAULT by De Oro! LUNATIC SUPER SENTON TO THE FLOOR by Kamaitachi! We go back inside for a four-way Superkick duel that leaves all four men laid out on the canvas. HANDSPRING MOONSAULT OUT OF THE RING by Angel. He hits a springboard moonsault back inside as well for a 2-count on Tachi. Sprint Bomb brainbuster by ACH, but he misses the Midnight Star and is destroyed with the running DVD into the turnbuckles. NECK DROP TIME BOMB ON ACH! Kamaitachi wins in brutal fashion at 07:58

Rating - *** - The finish felt a little weird and sudden, but the move itself was so emphatic and brutal I actually have no problem with it. This was pretty much the same match as the one we saw the super heavyweights contest previously, in that it was a bunch of dudes throwing their bodies all over the arena for our amusement. It wasn’t particularly clever, but I don’t think many could deny it’s obvious entertainment value. ACH was given the least time to shine and took the fall, which sort of makes sense given that he’s leaving the company and is in the dog-house after his public temper tantrum at another promotion’s show. 

At the Reloaded Tour event in Lockport the Briscoes shared an enormously competitive match with Dalton Castle and Colt Cabana. Castle’s team were unsuccessful on that night, but he has another crack at the former World Champion in singles action this time. Although currently one half of the #1 contenders for the Tag Titles, Dalton still retains singles aspirations. A win over Jay Briscoe is an extremely rare commodity in Ring Of Honor, and would be invaluable in Dalton’s quest for titles. Apparently Briscoe is smarting at the Young Bucks causing he and his brother to lose the IWGP Tag Titles to the Guerrillas Of Destiny, and frustrated that they have to wait until after Dalton and Colt before they get a title shot with the Bucks.

The clock reaches two minutes and these guys have barely touched each other, but still have the fans going nuts with the fun juxtaposition between their characters. Briscoe wants to shut up and have a fight, so therefore grows increasingly annoyed at Castle constantly taking a break for poses and shenanigans. In the end he throws Dalton out of the ring and straight up DRILLS him with a tope suicida into the guardrails. For a guy wrestling with a potentially broken back that looked totally savage. Corino and Kelly, meanwhile, are involved in a lengthy discussion about baseball and are almost completely ignoring this match now. Jay barks at Castle, demanding that he get up and continue to fight him. Dalton is a dangerous foe, however, as he is a lethal mat wrestler…which he demonstrates by straight-up tossing Briscoe face-first into the mat. Briscoe acts quickly to return the match to a methodical, brawl-centric pace which he evidently favours. He wants to deliver a big superplex (a sensible strategy on a guy with a back problem) but finds Castle able to counter with a running knee in the corner. Castle scores with a diving knee strike off the apron, then blocks the Day One Neckbreaker. Sadly for him Jay has a back drop driver in his arsenal, and uses it to wrench Castle’s ailing back into the canvas once again. They go to the floor where poor Castle gets his back crunched into the guardrails over and over. Briscoe ducks the tiger-feint rana from the apron once, only for Dalton to land on his feet and hit the same move second time around. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! Back inside the ring a rapid-fire wrist-clutch suplex gets 2. Everest German gets 2 as well! Jay grabs the ropes to block Bang-A-Rang and hits a JAY DRILLER from nowhere. Briscoe wins at 16:12

Rating - *** - I didn’t love this, and I really didn’t like the finish because it felt very sudden, dismissive and damaging to Dalton for Briscoe to beat him so easily after Castle had been on offence for several minutes. But as a concept they had a great idea for this match. I loved the character work and the way they played with their gimmicks – having Briscoe basically no-sell Dalton’s pageantry and charisma so he can kick the sh*t out of him was a lot of fun. They were also REALLY working hard out there. The bump Dalton took on the tope suicida was absolutely brutal, and was one of many really ferocious spills he took during the contest. I personally would have preferred Castle to come off as more of a threat to Briscoe here though. I don’t necessarily object to Jay going over; he’s put over both Lethal and Page recently (plus Roddy during the Road To BITW Tour), and given that part of his gimmick is now built around not losing often, I don’t think he needs to be putting Castle over on effectively what is effectively a house show when it could be saved for a more meaningful occasion. I do, however, object to how one-sided some of this felt. It was very enjoyable and easy to sit through…but it did have some flaws that prevented it being the classic encounter ROH will no doubt put it over as being.

At the post-All Star Extravaganza television taping The Cabinet made it to the semi-finals of the Six-Man Tag Title Tournament before losing to a team including one of their opponents this evening. White, teaming with Kushida and ACH on that occasion (a trio Alex Shelley helped put together), was on the victorious team. Now Caprice and ANX want some payback, and will know their opportunity to do so may be increased as the Machine Guns are still getting over their experience in Ladder War. With Trios Titles soon to be created, it adds huge significance to what were previously filler six-man bouts like this. Every win and loss will be crucial in determining contendership for those new belts…

King tries to bully White but finds the young Kiwi a formidable opponent, and ends up eating a diving punch off the apron. Rhett takes a cheap-shot at Shelley before dragging him into the Cabinet corner for a beat-down. Sabin still has bruises and marks on his body from Ladder War…and still moves quicker than anyone else in the match thus far to get the better of Caprice. He leads the isolation of Coleman, only for ANX to come to his rescue and pull him to the floor. TRIPLE DIVES to the outside by MCMG and White! Caprice freaks out and doesn’t like that at all, almost clawing and biting Jay’s face off in the aftermath. The Cabinet have started to develop a number of fun triple team combo moves and use them to great effect in keeping White cut-off from his partners. He finally makes it to Sabin, who comes in hot and fast for the second time in the match. He and Shelley toss ANX to the outside for the through-the-legs tope suicida! Urinage suplex by Jay gets 2, before Rhett blocks the Kiwi Crusher. Shotgun Knees by Kenny to save, before Coleman lands the Sky Splitter. Sabin dives in to break the count. Turnbuckle Shellshock by Alex! Spinebuster by King! Dropkick duel between Titus and White! ASCS Rush on Coleman, feeding him into the Kiwi Crusher. Jay wins it at 14:19

Rating - *** - Another fine but forgettable match from this consistent but underwhelming show. This one was pretty solid throughout, but it lacked excitement and needed more of a coherent narrative like The Cabinet’s match with White, ACH and Kushida from the TV taping. I was never bored, but neither was I ever particularly excited by what was going on. 

The Cabinet attack the victorious team from behind then pile up their fallen bodies in the middle of the ring. That would become the opening salvo in a lengthy war…

At the fifteenth annual Glory By Honor, we celebrate the history of ROH with a battle between these two veterans, both of whom go back to 2002 with the company. They have been part of some memorable battles over the Tag Titles in the past, and more recently have done battle as both are in pursuit of those belts once again. The Briscoes beat Cabana and Dalton Castle in Lockport, and Jay beat Dalton again earlier in the show. Can Mark complete the sweep here?

They spend the first ninety seconds working to a stalemate, during which time they seem to agree that Colt dislikes Redneck Kung Fu and Mark doesn’t like Cabana’s Bionic Elbows. There are lots of smiles and laughs, and plenty of respect as they tussle for superiority. Cabana makes Briscoe look silly with some World Of Sport stuff…so Mark shuts him down with a dropkick to the face. Briscoe works the midsection which fires Colt up to the point that he delivers a violent lariat to send Mark spinning through the air. Flying Asshole nailed…but Mark fires back with some kung fu strikes. Urinage nailed for 2…only for Colt to turn the momentum again and drive Briscoe scrambling to the ropes with the Billy Goat’s Curse. Fisherman Buster by Briscoe for 2. He wants to finish it with the Froggy Bow, only for Colt to intercept him on the top rope with Chicago Skyline. Colt wins at 11:37

Rating - * - This didn’t land with me at all. It was totally lacking in ambition, completely flat and wound up being a lifeless exchange of spots in front of a totally dead crowd. They put minimal effort into this, didn’t try anything different or unique – just played the hits and stared out into the crowd wondering why everyone was sat on their hands. 

By this point we are well aware that Lethal and the Bullet Club don’t get along. He and the faction have been at odds since Global Wars with no signs of slowing down. Tonight he faces Matt Jackson, who has been charged by Adam Cole to inflict as much damage to Lethal as possible before he makes it to London to challenge for the World Title…

If you’ve ever wondered why nobody just f*cks Lethal up when he turns his back on the ring for an eternity during his ring entrance…after this show you’ll wonder no more. Matt Jackson watches, then gives him a Superkick clean into the back of the head! He follows it with a pescado to the floor, and the bell finally rings when Lethal returns to the ring to hit a springboard dropkick. Another Superkick from Matt blocks the Tope Trilogy and scores with the flipping reverse cutter…into the Worst Case Scenario for 2. Jay blocks a superplex and delivers the Lethal Combination, setting up Hail To The King in the process. Lethal Injection blocked, only for Matt to Superkick the referee! Low blow on Lethal! Nick Jackson is out for a double Superkick! The Addiction are here! They slam Nick into the rails as they line up a Meltzer Driver. Lethal Injection on Matt! Jay wins at 05:06

Rating - ** - It isn’t often that the Jackson brothers work singles matches in ROH, and when they do they are often packed full of shenanigans. This was no exception, but they at least filled the five minutes of actual wrestling with some exciting moments and didn’t let up the fast pace at all. 

Apparently The Addiction aren’t cleared to wrestle, and are unhappy that Nigel McGuinness hasn’t given them a rematch yet. Kazarian wants a title shot right now, almost goading the Jacksons into putting the belts up just like he did to War Machine back in Dearborn. Matt and Nick clearly haven’t learned the lessons of history, because they Superkick The Addiction in their respective faces…then accept the challenge!

This is the first time Daniels and Kazarian have wrestled since Ladder War 6. They are supposedly not cleared to compete and Daniels in particular is still covered in tape. The Bucks need to keep their guard up here. Last time The Addiction tricked a tag team into defending their belts in their second match of the night it was at War Of The Worlds in Dearborn…when they cheated to beat a fatigued War Machine. The Bucks also have a record for losing the ROH Tag Titles on their first defence too!

We start the match brawling on the floor, with Nick repeatedly bashing Daniels’ head against the railing in an attempt to re-open his wounds from Ladder War. Rise Of The Terminator blocked, but then The Addiction try to steal the same spot and eat more Superkicks! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA by Nick! SPRINGBOARD DDT TO THE FLOOR from Matt to Frankie! Daniels somehow recovers to hit the Arabian Press to the outside too. Wave Of The Future by Kaz gets 2. Kevin Steen Cannonball! Matt stacks Kaz on top of Daniels for the HANGING SWANTON BOMB! The champs look at each other with an evil grin…before fishing a ladder out from under the ring! The Addiction get nuclear heel heat by confiscating it and taking it towards the locker room. Instead the Jacksons try to put Kazarian through a table. DOUBLE SUPERKICK FLURRY! TORNADO DDT OF THE APRON BY NICK! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! Daniels pulls the ref out to break the pin. He then saves Frankie from the Indytaker to hit the BEST MELTZER EVER! Nick pulls the ref out this time. CELEBRITY REHAB! FOR 2! Matt gives Kaz an Apron Bomb! ANGEL’S WINGS on him! Hangman Page and Adam Cole are out here! COLE POWERBOMBS DANIELS THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR! Obviously the Bucks are disqualified for that, but retain the Tag Championship at 11:22

Rating - *** - In terms of excitement and entertainment value this may well be match of the night. Unlike anything else on the show, this felt spontaneous, adventurous, bold and fun. They bombed each other with highspots, made some wonderful teased references to Ladder War, and gave the live audience a fun ride. I don’t quite understand why Chris Daniels, now in his late-40’s, has decided he wants to wrestle like early-00's Jeff Hardy all of a sudden, but he took another obscene table bump here. 

With Daniels taken out, Bullet Club prepare to eliminate Frankie Kazarian as well…but before they can reDRagon sprint out to the ring so that we can get our main event started…

There is a lot going on here, as it brings together the World and Television Champions on opposing sides of a tag team encounter. Hangman Page is in hot pursuit of Bobby Fish’s TV Title as Bullet Club try to lock down all the gold in ROH. He attacked him repeatedly at the Lowell TV taping, and gets a title shot at the forthcoming Baltimore taping. On the other side of the equation, O’Reilly and World Champion Adam Cole go back years. They are scheduled to do battle once again at Final Battle (assuming Cole survives the challenges of Silas Young and Jay Lethal before that), and Kyle will never pass up an opportunity to beat up his treacherous former tag partner…

Just like the previous match we start proceedings with a big brawl on the floor. O’Reilly gives Cole a venomous Ole Kick, then joins his partner for a Two Man Smash Machine (on the floor) for Hangman. Cole blocks a Brainbuster on the outside by suplexing Kyle to the floor…as on the other side Bobby cuts off a chair-wielding Page with a spear to the guardrail. Flying knee off the apron through an open chair from O’Reilly to Cole! Hangman peels his body off the floor and rattles Kyle’s spine with a chair shot, but then Todd Sinclair prevents Fish from using the same chair seconds later to get retribution. The match hasn’t started so he really has minimal jurisdiction to do so though. Page benefits by hitting Fish with a low blow as the bell finally rings. It means that when everyone returns to the ring the TV Champion is already at a severe disadvantage. Silas Young and Jay Lethal have both joined commentary in an effort to scout Cole…but also antagonise each other following on from Lockport. Bobby endures several minutes of punishment, before emerging to throw Cole at Page with an exploder suplex then taking a vital tag to O’Reilly. Kyle steams in to get his hands on Cole and starts picking apart his leg. The champ doesn’t like it one bit; freeing himself after a couple of Superkicks to his nemesis. Spike DDT by Hangman to help his partner out. Next Fish and Page go at it, looking to lay down a marker before Baltimore. Axe & Smash on Cole, feeding him into Bobby’s turnbuckle exploder spot. Chasing The Dragon blocked…then Cole hits a mid-air superkick to block a pescado. SHOOTING STAR LARIAT to the floor by Page! He re-enters the ring with the Buckshot Lariat for 2. Rite Of Passage blocked giving us a four man slug-fest. Kyle leaps into a guillotine choke on the ROH Champion, who COUNTERS it to the Last Shot. Fish Hook Deluxe on Hangman! Page taps at 13:55

Rating - *** - After the excitement and frenzy of activity that was the Bucks/Addiction match, this felt far slower and more sedate by comparison. As with much of this card, I didn’t think it was a bad match. Some of it was actually quite compelling – particularly the focus on the titles with O’Reilly and Cole, or Page and Fish continually at each other’s throats. But after a feisty brawl at the beginning it felt like they were losing heat as the match dragged along. Having Page tap-out clean to Fish does him no favours and cements the reality that ROH had no plans to promote him after his huge win over Jay Briscoe at Death Before Dishonor. He has been swiftly returned to the Bullet Club job spot...

Page attacks Fish on the floor preventing him from celebrating the win, and inside the ring Jay Lethal snatches Cole’s World Title belt to stop him hitting Kyle O’Reilly with it. Silas, Lethal, Cole and O’Reilly all snatch the belt from each other and stare off awkwardly as the show ends…

Tape Rating - ** - Among the very weakest Ring Of Honor events of 2016 thus far. It is saved somewhat by the fact that, clocking in at just over two hours and only really featuring one outright bad match, this show is actually a really easy watch. But the lack of effort put into this live event really was painfully apparent. We got nothing of significance, nothing of long-term relevance and a procession of undercooked, safe, predictable house-show filler matches which won’t live long in the memory. Even for completists there is really very little to recommend this from an in-ring standpoint...and that’s before you get to how goddamn annoying ROH’s mediocre booking is.

3) Jay Briscoe vs Dalton Castle (***)

2) Donovan Dijak vs Beer City Bruiser vs Punishment Martinez (***)

1) Young Bucks vs The Addiction (***)