McXal's Reviews

For our second night of Glory By Honor 15 action, the headline act is Champions vs All-Stars. It’s a somewhat annual tradition for Ring Of Honor, when they throw all their title-holders together regardless of personal allegiances or alliances, to face a squad of top ROH names. How will that work when there are Six-Man Tag Title holders to throw into the mix from next year? It means tonight Bullet Club’s Adam Cole and the Young Bucks will be forced to buddy up with a man they have repeatedly attacked in recent weeks (TV Champion Bobby Fish) to face the Briscoes, Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle. That much talent in the main event often spells trouble for the undercard, but the card here actually looks solid. ACH wrestles old rival Adam Page in his final match in the territory. Motor City Machine Guns face Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser in a match which could decide future championship opportunities. Young guns also get a chance to star as Donovan Dijak faces Jay White and Kamaitachi faces CMLL’s Angel De Oro. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Dearborn, MI.

If ROH really let these two cut loose then this match could be better than anything on Night One in Chicago. As they are opening the show I suspect they won’t get that much freedom, but I really hope they are afford the opportunity to produce something decent. The stakes are high for this one as well. White is undefeated and yet to be pinned since coming to ROH, and Prince Nana vowed that after his TV Title defeat to Bobby Fish at All Star Extravaganza that he would not allow Dijak to sustain any more high profile defeats. 

Dijak tries to intimidate and bully White…but it’s nothing the young New Zealander won’t have seen a thousand times as an NJPW Young Lion and he reacts positively by leaping off the apron to score with a flying forearm. He tries a tope suicida, only to be caught by the neck for an APRON CHOKESLAM! Back in the ring be punishes the back further with Time To Fly, which draws the first significant nearfall. White counters the Chokeslam Backbreaker with a DDT, but finds that does as much damage to his own back as it does to Dijak. More Young Lion fire from Jay sets up the beautiful missile dropkick for 2…although again that damages his own spine. Urinage blocked…into the Martini Killer Kick for 2! Donovan tries the same move again but Jay counters into an athletic dropkick, quickly followed by a tope suicida to the outside. SHOTGUN DROPKICK TO THE GUARDRAILS! White heads to the top rope and lands a SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE FLOOR! Prince Nana panics and tries to distract White, and it allows Dijak to put a thrust kick into his ribs. White lariats him down and gives him a brainbuster for 2! Crippler Crossface applied, floated into the Rings Of Saturn when Dijak almost grabs a rope! Just like at All Star Extravaganza Dijak refuses to tap-out though. Dijak grabs his throat when he tries a flying double stomp…but White COUNTERS the Chokeslam Backbreaker into the urinage suplex. Nana is on the apron to stop him setting up the Kiwi Crusher. Feast Your Eyes COUNTERED to a leg-capture pin! White grabs another huge victory at 11:28

Rating - *** - As I suggested during the introductory paragraph, this was easily as good as anything that took place in Chicago yesterday. Of course I’d have liked them to get more time, and I’d have preferred if they concentrated a little less on hitting cool moves and a little more on selling properly and telling me a story – but this was the opening match of the night. They aren’t out here to steal the show, they are there to give the fans a good time and get them going – and they definitely fulfilled that brief. Every time Delirous/ROH actually lets Dijak work a serious match he does rather well…

Another defeat doesn’t go down well with Nana and Dijak. They put the boots to White, with Nana so enraged that he starts shoving Dijak around and ranting at him too. He basically forces Donovan to give Jay Feast Your Eyes…and looks furious when White rolls away to avoid it. 

Once again this is a match which could actually be very decent if the participants are given some room. But there’s also the risk that this could become a real chore to sit through. It is early days, but ROH’s treatment of Sho and Yoh has been comically awful – it is truly hard to understand why they’d even take them on excursion if all they wanted to do was book them as comedy jobbers. In all fairness, ANX aren’t treated much better and they are regulars. The Cabinet was put together with the best of intentions, but where once King and Titus were allowed to stand in the ring and deliver cutting, but accurate remarks about the state of ROH, pro-wrestling and it’s fans…now they have Caprice Coleman talking nonsense and have been saddled with the Kaepernick rip-off gimmick.

Yoh complains about not being able to understand Caprice’s pre-match verbiage…so King and Titus hop off their knees and punch the Boyz’ lights out. ANX quickly separate their opponents and hold Sho hostage inside the ring. King nearly takes his head off with a corkscrew enzi for 2, as Caprice hilariously points out how sh*t Kevin Kelly is at his job (on two or three different occasions). Komatsu rescues his partner with a kick to King’s head, then benefits from the hot tag to hit a Saito suplex for 2. Rocket Launcher German by the Tempuras gets a nearfall as well. Stereo kicks by ANX, then Kenny hits the Shotgun Knees. CORKSCREW PLANCHA! Dawg Splash from Titus to Yoh gets 2. Kenny returns for the One Night Stand, handing ANX the victory at 05:56

Rating - ** - Fun while it lasted, but once again a perplexing waste of Sho and Yoh’s time. I understand they are fresh out of the Dojo on excursion, but how are they going to get better for NJPW if they just get squashed in ROH every week? Even Watanabe got better treatment than the poor Tempura Boyz. The action here was lively, Yoh in particularly got to show some babyface fire…but this felt like ANX squashing two kids out of wrestling school. 

Last night in Chicago both of these men were part of an explosive four corner match, which Kamai won. He is familiar with De Oro’s work in CMLL from his time spent with that promotion and will have designs on sending him packing just like he did to Stuka Jr. on television a few weeks earlier. He’ll also want to rectify what happened at the last PPV when he lost to another CMLL debutant in the form of his old rival Dragon Lee.

The flavour of the initial lock-up and exchanges, with minimal contact or impact but incredible speed and fluidity, feels as authentically lucha libre as it gets. De Oro is the first to take flight, landing a tope suicida to the outside. Kamai’s attempt at a recovery is quickly quashed too with a tilta-whirl backbreaker on the floor. He thinks about another dive, but finds Tachi on hand to block an attempted Asai moonsault into the FLYING SUNSET BOMB TO THE FLOOR! Kamaitachi has clearly been training with Chris Daniels too, as he returns to the ring and berates Todd Sinclair for checking on Angel’s health rather than administering a count. Next he makes a move for Angel’s mask, unlacing it and actually exposing half of his face before he fights free. Kamai goes for it again in camel clutch position, once again almost exposing De Oro’s face. BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOONSAULT to the floor by Angel! He cross-bodies back in, before flipping back over the ropes in spectacular fashion, delivering an Asai moonsault to get a nearfall. Stunner/Lungblower combo by De Oro for another close 2-count. He wants to finish it with another top rope move, but is knocked to the floor by Tachi. SUPER SUICIDAL SENTON BOMB TO THE FLOOR NAILED! Both competitors have their bell rung after that and need time to recover. Angel hits a springboard lucha armdrag, sending his opponent to the floor as a set up for HANDSPRING MOONSAULT OVER THE TOP! Kamaitachi starts chasing Angel around the ring…and still can’t lay a finger on the masked man! Superkick by Angel! KAMAI RIPS HIS MASK OFF! The fans go nuts for that, and Tachi small packages him…for 2! De Oro slides his mask back on. SUPERKICK DUEL! TIME BOMB! Kamaitachi wins at 11:20

Rating - **** - In the interests of full disclosure, 4* felt extremely generous for this. However, I wanted a rating to accurately reflect that this was the most I have enjoyed match all of Glory By Honor 15 weekend thus far. It was exciting, fun, vibrant…and for the first time I felt like I was watching wrestlers who were actually given some freedom to express themselves rather than working a corporate, safe, toned down style. It felt authentically Mexican, which I believe is the whole reason ROH has started to put more effort into leveraging the CMLL relationship to get guys like Angel De Oro onto their shows. It was also a reminder of the incredible versatility and quality that Kamaitachi possesses as a performer. We are right at the end of his ROH run now; he has brought real consistency to live events all summer and will be a huge miss once he returns to New Japan.

Kelly Klein crashes the show and is pissed off at Scarlett Bordeaux for not announcing her as the winner of her match versus Thunderkitty the previous night in Chicago. She knocks Scarlett senseless with an elbow strike then tosses her around the ring for sh*ts and giggles. I’d complain more about this segment, but at least it acknowledges the Women Of Honor division exists. You could be forgiven for missing it if you don’t watch YouTube or DVD bonus features.

It is just one week until Silas gets his World Title shot against Adam Cole in Florida. Despite having the biggest singles opportunity of his career in mere days, he takes a break from his preparation tonight to join his partner, Beer City Bruiser, in a high profile tag team encounter which will push the winners closer to an ROH Tag Title shot whilst vastly reducing the likelihood of the losers getting one.

Silas gets heat by trashing the Women’s Revolution and WOH division for literally no reason. He’s in f*cking Detroit wrestling the Machine Guns – did he really need to bury women’s wrestling for cheap heat? Shelley’s experience and smarts are too much for Silas and Bruiser to suppress, and he hands the Machine Guns an early advantage. They team up to hit a few combo moves, knocking both the Milwaukee guys to the outside. They retrieve Young and give him a dropkick to his bare ass (yep) for 2. Silas wrestles the next few minutes with his ass hanging out…and still manages to knock Sabin to the outside with a springboard lariat. BCB rams Sabin’s spine into the apron as they look to exacerbate some of his old, nagging injuries. His back and neck take a real beating, but Alex helps him out by giving Silas a jumping enzi from the apron. Turnbuckle Shellshock on Young! Sabin follows it with the through-the-legs tope suicida, then gives Shelley a boost into a tornado DDT for 2. MCMG appear to be setting up a version of The Decade’s old finisher (All Seeing Eye) on Young but Bruiser pulls Chris out of the ring before they can hit it. Lariat/German suplex combo by Silas and Beer City gets 2. Emerald Fusion by Bruiser, followed by a slingshot double stomp from Young. Bruiser climbs but MISSES the Keg Splash, landing horrifically on his knees. Sabin blocks the Plunge…only to eat a lariat from BCB! ASCS Rush on Bruiser! Sabin has picked up a leg injury somewhere and is limping around, but thankfully has enough left to hit BCB with Skull & Bones. Machine Guns win at 13:22

Rating - ** - It wasn’t that this was necessarily a bad match, it just wasn’t a very exciting one. Some of the elements contained within it made a lot of sense. Bruiser and Silas working Sabin’s back and neck, which have been focal points of MCMG’s rivals all year, was a logical strategy. Similarly I liked the start where Shelley’s wrestling skill made Silas and Bruiser look silly. But, beyond those core plot points the match never really went anywhere. The pace quickened but the action didn’t really feel more frenzied and the stakes didn’t feel higher. Sabin didn’t bother selling the neck, not that his opponents were really targeting anymore either. In the end they sacrificed the story they were telling to hit spots, except they were nowhere near as fast, innovative or exciting as Kamaitachi or Angel De Oro so it felt overwhelmingly flat.

Alex Shelley grabs a microphone and talks at length (great length) about the role Detroit plays in world culture, about how influential the Machine Guns have been on tag team wrestling, and how ROH has helped shape professional wrestling. He reasserts a claim he has made on commentary recently that this company is now a ‘numbers’ game with Bullet Club, The Kingdom, The Cabinet and others. He wants gold and knows he and Sabin need to help them get belts. I swear this promo went on longer than the damn match he just worked…

After getting to work an actual, real-life, decent match in Chicago yesterday Martinez is now dragged back into the BJ Whitmer/Kevin Sullivan bullsh*t angle…and he has more jobbers to kill as a result. If this segment ends with Whitmer trying to give Corino (who is currently not at ringside ‘checking on Scarlett Bordeaux’) the spike and Corino ‘wrestling his inner demons’ before deciding not to use it I am going to lose my damn mind…

Whitmer and Martinez attack the job crew before the bell, and BJ does his best to break Acumen’s neck with a German suplex. The beating Blake receives lasts for what feels like hours. He hits a sloppy rana on BJ allowing him to tag out to Beardsley…who is chopped down with a Martinez spinning heel kick. South Of Heaven nailed, allowing BJ to win it for his team at 04:05

Rating - DUD - As I’ve expressed repeatedly over the years, I have no problem with squash matches when they don’t take long and serve a clear purpose. This one failed on both counts. Four minutes felt like forever and could easily have been halved without damaging the effect of the match whatsoever. And I don’t get why it needed to be booked at all. We’ve been watching Punishment and BJ f*ck up Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara for weeks. We get it, they can beat up jobbers. Last night showed Martinez’s value as an in-ring commodity. The apron-strings need to be cut and he needs to be allowed to work…or else he’ll wind up another missed opportunity. 

Kevin Kelly requests an interview with Whitmer and demands answers to the endless riddles that this Sullivan angle has posed. BJ spouts more nonsense about pieces of puzzles, armies of darkness, and walks out leaving another golden spike in Steve Corino’s seat at the announce table.

It is fitting that the last match we’ll see from ACH in his Ring Of Honor tenure is another battle with Page. These two men have mirror-image career paths since they came into the company. Both are extremely capable talents who always deliver when put into marquee matches and given the opportunity to steal the show. Periodically they are involved in grudge matches and angles (last year they had a great little feud with each other), but at the end of it ROH’s booking completely fails them, squanders their momentum, resulting in them falling back into the same spot on the card they were before. After years of being one of ROH’s most consistent in-ring performers, ACH had a very public temper tantrum and was allowed out of his expiring contract making this his last date. Hangman remains, and although creatively in a mess, he is now making decent money as a member of Bullet Club and ‘Being The Elite’ cast member. Last year they did battle over who was a hotter rising star, and Page’s grievance has always been that ACH gets opportunities he doesn’t (and wastes them). Can he send him packing with one last, decisive, defeat to prove that the Hangman was always the better of these two rivals?

Page enters the arena first and hides behind the guardrails waiting to ambush ACH in the aisle during his entrance. He does a number on ACH’s back and ribs, mirroring the attacks he delivered to Bobby Fish at the last television taping. After several minutes of abuse they enter the ring for the first time allowing the bell to ring. The match, therefore, officially gets underway with ACH flat on his back sucking wind, trying to recover. Rite Of Passage blocked with superkicks…only for ACH to collapse to his knees with the impact of delivering those. He eventually follows up with a pescado, but again comes up selling his injuries and is slow to capitalise. Hero’s Grip gets 2…and again ACH grimaces and clasps his neck. Hangman knows his routine and blocks the slingshot flatliner into a rear gourdbuster for 2. ACH goes for desperate pinning combinations because he is injured and just wants to get out of the match. Midnight Star misses…and when ACH lands on his feet Hangman socks him with the Buckshot Lariat. Rite Of Passage wins it for Page at 05:13

Rating - *** - This should erase any doubts you might have had about whether ACH is being punished and bombed out of ROH for his supposedly-sulky comments at another promotion’s shows. It was a fun little bout (and to give praise where it’s due, without Steve Corino to crack jokes with, Kevin Kelly actually did a solid job calling the action and catching up newer viewers with ACH and Page’s history together)...but obviously this should be called a disappointment. These two stole a couple of shows during their feud last year and struck a similarly intense and cutting-edge vibe to this encounter. The one positive is that ACH goes out on his back SO emphatically that it actually does quite a lot to restore the damage done to Adam Page since Death Before Dishonor when he beat Jay Briscoe.

There is no ovation or applause or respect shown for ACH on his way out. The camera simply switches back to Corino and Kelly talking about Scarlett Bordeaux, Kevin Sullivan and BJ Whitmer. I understand he apparently acted somewhat petulantly towards the end of his run, but ACH has been a superb performer for this company – a sustained period during which time he amassed a huge body of consistently very good work. As a fan of Ring Of Honor, I will miss watching him work here…

Christopher Daniels is in Kazarian’s corner for this. I’d much rather see Lethal/Daniels than this, but the Ring General is covered in bandages due to injuries sustained yesterday when Bullet Club put him through a table in Chicago. Frankie and Lethal are at remarkably similar stages in their careers. Both are looking to rebound after their lengthy title reigns were curtailed by Bullet Club members, and each needing big wins to spark a revival or restore them to the championship picture.

Kazarian is in phenomenal shape and contributes substantially to an intense and even opening period. He blocks the Lethal Combination and counters it into a rolling neckbreaker. That is followed by a high velocity Russian legsweep and it is clear that Frankie’s focus will be the neck during these early minutes. He actually sends Jay crashing over the top rope with a belly to belly suplex. It leads to a battle on the apron and a springboard dropkick from Lethal. He successfully lands a tope suicida too, slowly rebuilding his momentum after a tough start to the contest. Hey Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino, how about you shut the f*ck up about Tetsuya Naito and call the damn match you’re watching? The pace of the action becomes frantic as each man desperately tries to nab the vital victory with a roll-up. Lethal abandons that approach first and HAMMERS Frankie with a roaring elbow. Kaz absorbs it and fires back with a mafia kick, leaving them both on the mat. Lethal is up first, scoring 2 with an emphatic German suplex. LUNGBLOWER to counter the Lethal Injection…only for Jay to no-sell it and hit the Lethal Combo instead. Kazarian survives that and gives him a Jerry Lynn leg drop in the ropes, right down across that sore neck. Slingshot Cutter gets 2. LETHAL INJECTION! Jay survives, and hits his big finish to emerge victorious at 11:48

Rating - *** - This was so good it’s almost frustrating not to be able to go higher on my rating. The first eleven minutes were awesome to watch, filled with subtle story-telling, clever touches and great wrestling from two seasoned campaigners. But the finish felt so sudden, rushed and anticlimactic. Having laid a great foundation they needed at least another five to ten minutes to really take it home properly and deliver the match they were capable of. I loved what I saw here (and I’m on record as being largely indifferent to Kazarian as a singles worker at this stage of his career), so I come away bitterly disappointed that they were robbed of the chance to truly deliver something that stole the entire weekend. Could someone not have cut Shelley’s mic earlier and given this bout more time?

This is our Champions vs All-Stars main event – an 8-man tag bout which will be contested under elimination rules. Whenever you bring eight men of this calibre together there are always so many stories, and this is no exception. Jay Briscoe and Cole have contested wars over the World Title. The Briscoes and the Bucks are seemingly on a collision course over the Tag Titles…assuming the Jackson brothers can survive the challenge of current #1 contenders Cabana and Castle. How will friends Bobby Fish and Dalton Castle approach this match, in light of their falling out over the TV Title earlier in the summer? Mark Briscoe’s ‘dream’ is to be TV Champion, will he target Fish in particular to prove his credentials for another title shot? Cabana hates Bullet Club for ruining his dream of becoming World Champion in Chicago during the Global Wars main event. How will Fish, Kyle O’Reilly’s best friend and tag partner, possibly be able to co-exist on the same team as Kyle’s most hated rival Adam Cole? Or the Young Bucks, against whom he has done battle countless times in recent years? It isn’t a given that the All-Star team will be able to get along either. The Briscoes, Colt and Dalton have worked each other a lot recently, and it is clear that Jay and Mark begrudge being behind their partners in the queue for a Tag Title shot considering their legendary status in this company along with the fact that they defeated them during the Reloaded Tour. Which of these combustible elements will start the fire first?

There is a noticeable division between Fish and his partners; he stands apart from the Bullet Club and refuses to interact with them during the entrances. Cole and the Bucks kill the first two minutes of the match leading their own ‘this is awesome’ chants…then Dalton spends the next two minutes posing. Five minutes in and we finally get some wrestling, with Castle tossing the World Champion around amateur-style on the mat. ELBOW SUICIDA by Jay! He looks for the Jay Driller early only for Cole to hit a jumping neckbreaker as a counter. The Briscoes and the Bucks lock horns for the first time, with Jay and Mark using all their experience to split the Jackson brothers and stop them hitting combo moves. Sadly it means they’ve taken their eye off Cole, who lands a Superkick on Mark. Bullet Club start amusing themselves by refusing to let Fish tag in…so he retaliates by blind-tagging then laying out Matt Jackson – his own partner – with an axehandle smash. After that the SuperKliq refuse to help him so as a result he is exposed to a whole heap of double-team moves by both the Briscoes and the Cabana/Castle duo. The TV Champion resolves to go it alone and cleans house on all four opponents! Then he delivers a SOMERSAULT PESCADO onto his partners! Small package on Jay…gets a three! Fish scores a super-rare pinfall victory over Jay Briscoe, making him the first man out at 14:33. He tries the same thing on Mark Briscoe as well and gets a close nearfall. Turnbuckle exploder nailed as well, only for Mark to counter the Falcon Arrow into a schoolboy for three. Fish is eliminated at 16:16. Cole and the Bucks jump the ropes to attack their opponents, kick-starting a brawl which rages all around ringside. Nick hits a running knee to Castle, propped up against the guardrail…only for Dalton to hit back with a diving knee off the apron. SUPERKICK FLURRY by Cole and Nick! Rise Of The Terminator topes nailed! MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY MARK! The All-Stars make a point of isolating the World Champion, prompting Matt to attempt a rescue mission with an APRON BOMB on Castle (and his sh*tty back). 

It leaves Dalton clutching his back miserably and unable to defend himself as the Young Bucks start doubling up on him. EVEREST GERMAN on Cole! Redneck Kung Fu from Mark sets up the Fisherman Buster. Froggy Bow COUNTERED WITH A DOUBLE SUPERKICK! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S/LAST SHOCK COMBO! Cole pins Mark to eliminate him at 27:16. Triple Superkicks blocked by the remaining two All-Stars but Castle is feeling the fatigue and can hardly stand. Somehow he finds a way to knock the Jacksons back…then counters Panama Sunrise into a belly to belly suplex. TRIPLE SUPERKICK on Dalton! Quickly followed by the same on Cabana. BANG-A-RANG ON COLE! DALTON ELIMINATES THE WORLD CHAMPION! Cole is out at 30:45! The match comes to a halt in shock as everyone involved comprehends the magnitude of what just happened. Dalton has a few words – grabbing a microphone to point out that the four men left are the Tag Champions and the #1 contenders. He challenges the Bucks to abandon Champions vs All-Stars and make this a Tag Title Match! Even Cabana isn’t sure about that, but before he can voice his opinion Matt is on the stick and agreeing to it. The belts are on the line! Flying Asshole missed by Colt, allowing Matt to hit the flipping Ace Crusher for 2. Elevated Swanton Bomb from Nick scores another nearfall soon after. The champs stalk the ring and take turns trying to break Cabana’s skull with Superkicks. Colt sells them like death too which I really like. He crawls into a hot tag to Dalton who doles out the suplexes like a Peacock-featured Taz. Nick goes back to kicking Cabana in the head, until Castle grabs him for an EVEREST GERMAN/SUPERMAN PIN COMBO…for 2! More Superkicks on Colt, countered to CHICAGO SKYLINE! BANG-A-RANG ON NICK! MATT BREAKS THE FALL! DOUBLE BILLY GOAT’S CURSES! Nick and Matt link arms to prevent each other from tapping! Quebrada by Cabana…right into a DOUBLE SUPERKICK! Bang-A-Rang COUNTERED to Early Onset Alzheimer’s. MELTZER DRIVER! The Bucks retain at 44:07 (total match time).

Rating - **** - I don’t quite know what to make of that, although I’m quite certain I enjoyed it more than anything else this weekend. It started so slowly that I was reaching for my watch to see whether I’d be better off going to bed…but it got better and better, eventually building to the raging climax that was the impromptu Tag Title bout. So many things contained within this were well done. The potentially weird pairing of Bobby Fish and the SuperKliq was managed perfectly, and although he dropped out early Fish actually emerges as one of the stars of the match having pinned Jay Briscoe and taken the fight to all SEVEN men he was sharing the ring with. Dalton pinning Adam Cole was a huge moment, and they did a great job in essentially stopping the match to really put over how significant it was. The switch on the usual Champions vs All-Stars format, amending it to an ROH Tag Title Match led to a really hot finish as well. It meant that the scheduled Bucks vs Cabana/Castle match, which would’ve been a formality given that we know we’re getting Bucks/Briscoes for Final Battle anyway, was revised into something altogether more innovative and exciting. So exciting, in fact, that they even managed to build enough credible drama that fans were biting on Dalton and Colt’s false finishes in the dying minutes. There were down-times and slow moments too, but on the whole this was almost an hour of really entertaining and theatrical stuff. Beyond question it was the show-stealer for the entire Glory By Honor 15 weekend

Colt consoles Castle, but the show ends with them seemingly bickering about why Dalton asked for the match tonight rather than wait to wrestle the Bucks when they were fresh…

Tape Rating - *** - Glory By Honor 15 won’t go down in history as an all-time great weekend. It was actually one of the poorest double-headers that ROH has promoted all year. Last night was arguably the weakest show of 2016 and, whilst better, this wasn’t fantastic either. BUT, the best matches of the weekend were all here. Champions vs All-Stars was really great, throwing up surprises, twists and turns that you might not have expected and will almost certainly enjoy. It also has the under-rated Kamaitachi/Angel De Oro match, which had a lot of the same authentically-lucha qualities that people loved about Kamaitachi/Dragon Lee from All Star Extravaganza. White/Dijak and Lethal/Kazarian were really decent as well. The lows were pronounced and obvious – like another dose of utter sh*t from the Whitmer/Corino angle, the horrific treatment of Sho, Yoh and ACH, or Alex Shelley’s enthusiastic but exceptionally dull promo. But at least tonight there was some genuinely very good wrestling to make the ‘bad’ stuff worth sitting through…

3) Jay White vs Donovan Dijak (***)

2) Kamaitachi vs Angel De Oro (****)

1) Bullet Club/Bobby Fish vs Briscoes/Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle (****) 

5) Donovan Dijak vs Beer City Bruiser vs Punishment Martinez (*** - Night 1)

4) Jay White vs Donovan Dijak (*** - Night 2)

3) Young Bucks vs The Addiction (*** - Night 1)

2) Kamaitachi vs Angel De Oro (**** - Night 2)

1) Bullet Club/Bobby Fish vs Briscoes/Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle (**** - Night 2)