McXal's Reviews

I said it in the summary of my review for the previous evening’s event, Ring Of Honor is in a post-All Star Extravaganza slump. I thought that was one of their stronger pay-per-view efforts in the last two years, but they’ve followed it up with a relatively low key TV taping (especially when compared to some of the EXCELLENT content they taped in Concord and Philadelphia over the summer), and a run of really poor live shows in Chicago, Dearborn and Ft Lauderdale. The card for this show is better than anything they’ve promoted since All Star Extravaganza, but with Delirious at the wheel and corporate sanitisation of the product dragging it down at every turn a strong line-up is now no guarantee of a great night. At the very least the main event should be good. Silas Young is rewarded for winning Honor Rumble 2016 with a title shot against Adam Cole in a match which got rave reviews at the time. Underneath that Fish/Briscoe, Lethal/Kamaitachi, O’Reilly/Dijak, Addiction vs Cabana & Castle or ANX vs Shelley & White could all steal the show if permitted enough time and scope to do so. Kevin Kelly is on commentary with a rotating cast of performers because Steve Corino ‘isn’t here tonight’ – or if you prefer, someone in ROH is trolling their own fans by having him work a Midnight Rider tribute gimmick whilst antagonising BJ Whitmer and wrecking Punishment Martinez’s career. We are taped in Lakeland, FL.

Earlier in the year ROH brought Amber into Women Of Honor with a (relatively) large amount of fanfare. They put her over as a member of Bullet Club, gave her an ally in Veda Scott and positioned her to be a major part of the division. That didn’t happen, her husband Doc Gallows returned to WWE, and since her in-ring performances weren’t that great nobody missed her. Instead she has remained an occasional visitor, and is yet to experience defeat in Women Of Honor competition albeit on a part-time schedule. Kennadi has been impressing people with her in-ring performances and comes in hot after defeating Rachael Ellering in Ft Lauderdale the previous night.

Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino flagged Brink’s bad attitude during their commentary last night, and she shows that again by being disrespectful to seasoned referee Paul Turner before the bell. She is similarly dismissive of her veteran opponent…and is made to pay as Gallows hits a flipping neck snap for 2. Kennadi puts her down again by propelling Amber off the top and kicking her in the head (through her own legs). She starts targeting Amber’s arm, levelling her with a divorce court when Gallows fights out of a shortarm scissors. A senton aimed at the expose arm misses…and Gallows’ arm hangs limp by her side as she tries to mount a comeback. Comedy ensues as there is masses of visible air between her attempt at a mafia kick and Brink’s head…only for Kennadi to bump like she’d hit her with a chair. Ugly spinebuster from Brink sets up the Anaconda Vice. Gallows taps, giving Brink a big win at 05:53

Rating - * - Kennadi definitely had potential, albeit couple with some rough edges. She has shown enough in her limited Women Of Honor appearances to make me sad that she’d step back from in-ring competition in 2017 to pursue a career as a referee in the WWE. This match had an uncomfortable dynamic. Gallows is more used to (and more suited to) working heel and contributed nothing to get behind as a home-state babyface. Brink, on the other hand, is a new talent with almost no exposure meaning fans didn’t know how to react to her either. The uncomfortable silence this was contested in didn’t make for a pleasant watch. Amber has been in the business for a long time. There are things that she is good at, but going between the ropes isn’t her strongest asset. She has worked for almost every major promotion where females compete…and all have reached the same conclusion. Kennadi going over was the right choice, even if ultimately ROH/WOH didn’t get to reap the benefits of her potential.

Two of my favourite opening matches of the entire year have been O’Reilly/Kamaitachi from Best In The World and Dijak/Fish from All Star Extravaganza so I am more than happy to see them brought together opening the main show here. They are both adaptable and exciting wrestlers who have shown their ability to work a variety of styles in 2016. Their agendas tonight could not be more different however. Dijak is trying to rebuild his career after losing an IWGP Intercontinental Title shot versus Michael Elgin at Field Of Honor, then failing to take the TV Title from Bobby Fish at All Star Extravaganza. Prince Nana openly swore on television that Dijak would not lose again…but that hasn’t prevented him dropping a couple more matches since. O’Reilly, on the other hand, has an ROH Title shot at the biggest show of the year – Final Battle – in his back pocket. His only task is building momentum as he prepares to face either Cole, Silas or Lethal…

Kevin Kelly constantly raving about O’Reilly’s loss to Katsuyori Shibata in NJPW as a means to put him over, rather than the time he beat him at a f*cking Ring Of Honor show, is the first of many times that man will intensely annoy me this evening. Dijak is measured and patient, keeping the pace slow and trying to intimidate Kyle. Despite the difference in size O’Reilly too remains calm, cracking jokes as he probes the big man for weaknesses and almost locking in the Arm-ageddon in the early minutes. It’s enough to open up an injury on Donovan’s arm. Dijak kicks his way free but nurses his arm before continuing and finds all of his subsequent offence marred by arm issues as well. He hits the ribbreaker into the barrel throw slam…then pauses before he is able to make a cover. An O’Reilly kick flurry prevents him from hitting Feast Your Eyes, and the submission master capitalises in an instant – using an armbreaker to take Donovan down then a kneebar whilst he’s on the mat as well. Fujiwara armbar locked in next and when Dijak makes the ropes Kyle remains on him with an armbreaker over the top rope. Chokeslam by Dijak to escape that…right into a SPRINGBOARD ARM-SELLING ELBOW DROP for 2! Weary from battle each man relentlessly throws wild strikes at each other. Axe & Smash duel…with neither man going down! Guillotine choke by O’Reilly only to be countered immediately into the Death Valley bomb from Donovan. Martini Killer countered to a tornado DDT…so Dijak deliveres the Chokeslam Backbreaker instead. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! Donovan muscles out of that so O’Reilly glides effortlessly into another guillotine choke. That sets up the Brainbuster, giving O’Reilly the win at 13:58

Rating - *** - A ***1/2 match without question. I had a great time with this, and they did a hell of a job reeling in a really silent crowd with some hard work, leaving the audience considerably more fired up for the show than they’d seemed previously – which is the exact purpose of an opening match. They went a little overboard with the fighting spirit/no sell sequences (Dijak’s sold a different limb injury much more consistently in the match with Fish, yielding a better contest as a result) and, as is par for the course with ROH shows, they really needed another five minutes because the finish felt rushed and shorn of drama. Regardless, this was an example of the genuine talent both possess (and an example of why they’ll be sorely missed this time next year when neither of them are on the roster)…

Prince Nana calls Dijak ‘stupid’ and walks out on him…

Up next it is supposed to be All Night Express wrestling Alex Shelley and Jay White. However, The Cabinet decide to get all meta; complaining about their spot and their gimmick. They blame ROH for the comedy villain routine they have been running all summer. Kenny tries to quit and walk away (as Kevin Kelly mocks him for walking out on ROH ‘again’)…but finds his path blocked by Rhett. ANX and Caprice lay waste to the cast of extras that accompany them to the ring, signifying that The Cabinet is dead. They walk away…but thankfully there are a couple of former Tag Champions in the locker room who aren’t doing anything special because the booker of this company isn’t the best…

The fact that Hanson and Rowe are appearing here as impromptu replacements for ANX tells you a lot about how far their stock has fallen since dropping the Tag Titles. As I said at the time, the feud with The Addiction was horrible and did nothing for their credibility…and since then they’ve been sidelined feuding with a team that ROH only sees fit to book every now and then. They know a win over an undefeated rising talent and one of the stars of Ladder War 6 would instantly restore their relevance and re-insert them into Tag Title contention.

Thank goodness ROH just happened to have a graphic prepared for this match. What a huge coincidence! Shelley starts for his team and is a ball of energy in the first minute. He tries to out-wrestle Hanson but can’t budge the big man, so instead quickens the pace and hits him from all angles. Things go sour quickly when Hanson is able to catch him – and he muscles Alex into the corner for some clubbing strikes. War Machine leave the ring and are hit with stereo knee strikes off the apron by Shelley and White. Hanson and Rowe drag Jay back inside to isolate him from his more experienced partner. The isolation on the New Zealander feels like it lasts forever without ever feeling interesting, and it’s a real relief when Shelley tags back to quicken things up again. He gives Rowe the Shellshock then sweeps Hanson’s legs to drop him into a Bronco Buster on his own partner. Huge pescado nailed, leaving the big men in position for White’s tope suicida. Urinage/frog splash combo on Rowe gets 2. Ray knees White into a Ligerbomb for 2. Decapitation nailed too, but this time Alex breaks the pin. Shelley rescues his partner from Fallout as well…so Hanson hits the cartwheel lariat on Jay. Sliced Bread #2 on Rowe! KIWI CRUSHER! It’s another massive win for White at 10:51

Rating - ** - For talents of this calibre to wrestle a match as dull and uninteresting as this is pretty criminal. This was everything fans have grown to dislike about Ring Of Honor house shows, it was bland, safe and totally inconsequential. Hanson and Rowe are pretty much dead as far as their credibility is concerned. Fans groaned in disappointment when they came out. They are former Tag Champions, and on their day fine workers too. But a prolonged period of inconsistent booking and never being given a reason to truly care about them (especially once they were done promoting the Briscoes match at Global Wars) means they are an irrelevance. The effort they put into their matches reflects that too – usually hitting the same spots, in the same order; coasting along regardless of the match situation. White and Shelley were better and more energetic – but they were stuck inside the same turgid, uninteresting, low-effort formula too. Watching talents that could steal the show and comfortably deliver top class main events work with their hands tied; cripplingly restricted and cajoled into these bland, nothing matches has been one of the biggest frustrations of following Ring Of Honor since SBG ownership really came into effect…

Bobby Fish is on commentary for this, which is perhaps fitting as the TV Title which he holds is a driving focus for both of these combatants. Page challenges him for the belt at the television tapings in a week’s time, with Bullet Club hell-bent on capturing all of the live Ring Of Honor championships. Mark has plenty of history with Bullet Club (in both ROH and NJPW), but also dreams of becoming Television Champion himself. Having lost a high profile title match to Fish already big wins over his fellow contenders for the belt are needed if he wants another shot.

Hangman strikes during Briscoe’s entrance, only for Mark to counter the Buckshot Lariat into the urinage. Briscoe rolls into a senton to the floor when Page tries to bail in avoidance of the Froggy Bow. A brawl on the floor ensues and it seems to favour Mark. The Hangman recognises it too; returning to the ring and kicking the ropes into his opponent’s crotch along the way. He maintains a slow pace and keeps it on the mat, getting 2 with an impressive pumphandle suplex. Briscoe needs a faster speed and dials things up with multiple high octane strike flurries. A big superplex seemingly puts Page on the cusp of defeat…until he fires across the ring with a surprise Superkick, setting up the Buckshot Lariat. Rite Of Passage blocked, only for Page to hide behind Todd Sinclair to prevent Mark from landing Froggy Bow. The confusion that causes gives Hangman a window to kick Briscoe in the balls – which he duly does. Rite Of Passage takes Page to victory at 09:27

Rating - ** - Try telling yourself the important thing here is that Page won. It would’ve been so easy for Delirious/ROH to fall back into their usual habit of just having a Briscoe go over regardless of whether it makes sense or not. Hangman needed the win here and leaves with singles victories over both Briscoe brothers in a short period of time. The match itself was limited but enjoyable enough too. Mark wanted to run around, strike and fight…whilst Page wanted to wrestle methodically and keep him down. It was a simple concept which they executed with ease. The finish, however, was uninventive in the extreme. It’s nothing new though, this booking regime has very little imagination when it comes to a ‘bad guy’ going over. 

So last night in Ft Lauderdale Bull James was part of a pretty dire match with World Champion Adam Cole. For reasons I’ve yet to have convincingly explained to me, Delirious opted to protect James by having his opponent tonight, Punishment Martinez – completely unconnected to anything else going on in the match – do a run in. Whitmer and the Punisher looked set to inflict more punishment until Mr Wrestling III midnight rode his way to the rescue, making his first appearance since the NJPW US tour. BJ antagonised MW3 during his spell as a commentator (believing he was Steve Corino), so III wanted revenge it seems. I’m also yet to hear a convincing argument as to why having Steve Corino, dressed as Mr Wrestling III, dressed as the Midnight Rider, is better business than just doing a straightforward Corino & partner versus BJ/Punishment match. And whilst we’re at it I’m ALSO yet to hear a convincing argument as to why Whitmer and Corino are STILL part of an on-going angle. 

The hideous music they’ve dubbed over the actual Midnight Rider entrance theme is so bad you can almost hear the porn stars in the back touching each other. Unsurprisingly BJ runs right into III and starts to brawl with him. James and Martinez rumble around ringside taking big swings at each other, mostly fitting in around the Whitmer/MW3 segments. Punishment eventually decides he should get involved with Mr Wrestling and immediately turns the match in his team’s favour when he does. This whole thing is a mess, again. Kevin Kelly appears to have given up the pretence that Mr Wrestling III isn’t Steve Corino and is going into great detail about the relationship Corino and Bull both had with Dusty Rhodes. Inside the ring James hits one of the worst attempts at a Pedigree you could imagine. Backyarders on trampolines with their scrawny kid brother make it look better than this guy. III nearly wins it by hitting Martinez with his shoe, but Punisher recovers strong to totally deck Bull with a spear. Exploder ’98 through a table from Whitmer to Wrestling! Is that a DQ? Of course not, because f*ck the rules apparently. Martinez wins with South Of Heaven at 07:46

Rating - DUD - Bull James utterly stunk again, but unlike yesterday he wasn’t the reason the match sucked. He was barely relevant in that regard. Wow, oh wow, was this ever a colossal, steaming turd. There was literally nothing to like about this from the sh*tty commentating, lousy officiating, crappy wrestling, farcical booking…it literally is a waste of the electricity it took to light the building and shoot the match. Watching the young talents Martinez and James rumble aimlessly on the floor whilst Whitmer and Corino in a mask hogged the spotlight was an embarrassing thing to sit through. The whole time I watched this I couldn’t help but think how much more organic this would have felt, and how much more into it the crowd would have been if they’d just put Steve Corino in here. Yesterday after Cole/Bull I was struggling to name a worse ROH match for all of 2016. I’ve just seen it now though. The only positive thing I have to say about this is that Martinez won. The sooner he gets salvaged from this total, abject, horrific creative mess the better.

BJ Whitmer wants to unmask Mr Wrestling III but is prevented from doing so by a chair-wielding Bull James. Hopefully that is the last act in Bull’s ROH career…

These two have been in blistering form throughout 2016, so this could be a legitimate MOTYC under the right circumstances. My suspicion is that all we’ll get is a highly competitive but frustrating twelve minute sprint which could’ve been so much more…but I’ll enjoy it whilst it lasts. It’s not long until Jay Lethal will be in London, England for his ROH World Title rematch, so all he’ll want to do here is avoid injury and build his momentum and confidence before his overseas venture.

Kamaitachi starts aggressively – raking the eyes and pummelling Lethal with precision dropkicks. Next he rams Jay into the railings when the former World Champion thinks about one of his signature tope suicidas. Lethal tries it a second time and eats a superkick too. Third time of asking Lethal boots Tachi off the apron for a SUICIDA INTO THE GUARDRAIL! They both landed hard on that and it visibly slows the visitor from New Japan. He reaches into his bag of tricks to crotch Lethal on the ropes, before rocketing him out of the ring again with a springboard lariat. A missile dropkick off the apron hurls Jay into the guardrails, crushing his ribs and back in the process. They remain a target for Kamaitachi’s offence albeit amongst a flurry of thunderous chops on the outside. It is only when Kamai abandons his methodical, focused approach and starts charging aimlessly at Jay that the former champ is able to pick him off with a wheelbarrow suplex. Kamaitachi pounds the ribs to block a superplex, only for Jay to counter the Meteora into a Lethal Combination. Hail To The King gets 2! Both men battle to the apron, with Kamaitachi taking a run-up into the SUNSET FLIP BOMB OFF THE APRON! Meteora crushes Lethal for 2. Time Bomb blocked…but then the Lethal Injection is countered into a German suplex. LETHAL INJECTION! Jay wins at 10:34

Rating - *** - Ten measly minutes? Are you f*cking serious? Was there seriously nothing ROH could cut from this entire sh*tty weekend to give these guys more time? Was it SO essential to keep your boring, predictably paced show format that these two couldn’t get longer? Look, what we got here was great…but as with a lot of other matches recently, it felt like two third of a very good match with a rushed finish bolted onto the end. The performances of the wrestlers in question were at an extremely high level, and they meshed together very well too. But when they are working in a company which has painfully outdated ideas of what professional wrestling should be then there’s not a whole lot more they can do. Sooner or later ROH will realise their fans aren’t coming to a show because it says ‘ROH’ on the marquee – they are coming because they want to see great wrestling. If ROH loses it’s ability to deliver that regularly then a big chunk of their fanbase goes with it. I don’t want to take away too much from the action we got, because it was enjoyable stuff. But having delivered such a kick ass opening ten minutes it was bitterly disappointing that they weren’t allowed to do more – even though there is very little on the remainder of the card that justifies getting more time than these two.

Thus far watching Sho and Yoh in ROH has been rather depressing. They did have the best match of their tenure last night against War Machine though, so perhaps things are looking up. Tonight they are in the ring with the ROH Dojo grads again (Burger and Will), plus the team of Shaheem Ali and Leon St Giovanni who started teaming up after the 2016 Top Prospect Tournament. All three of these teams lose regularly, so the chance of a rare ROH victory tonight is nothing to be sniffed at.

St Giovanni and Ferrara kick off. They look similar to each other and their offence is apparently a mirror image too. Ali calls out Cheeseburger, immediately making me question why all of Burger and Will’s opponents don’t do that. The next minute is spent in one of those infuriating sequences where a much bigger guy is made to look like a total moron selling Burger’s sh*tty-looking moves. Cheese can’t even nip-up properly as they wrestle to a forced stalemate. Tempura Boyz gang up on Burger, showing some personality for the very first time. It isn’t long before C2C are doing the same thing on Sho though. Tanaka survives and decks LSG with a lariat, whilst Yoh busies himself smacking about the remainder of their opposition. Komatsu tags in legally and works over Leon’s arms, and also finds time to wipe Shaheem off the apron before LSG can tag out too! St Giovanni tags out to Ferrara instead, who drops Sho on his head with Paydirt. Doomsday Cannonball by the Tempuras gets 2! Legsweep/Flatliner combo by Coast 2 Coast draws a nearfall as well. Cheeseburger lands the springboard knee on Leon…them Yoh floors him with a twisting neckbreaker. Deadlift German from Tanaka to LSG! Ferrara leaps into a corkscrew pescado…as Cheese wipes Leon out with the Shotei. That’s enough for another Burger/Ferrara victory at 10:17

Rating - ** - I can’t get on board with Cheeseburger and Ferrara winning matches as a team. It feels completely pointless. They are never going to be a top tier team, they are teaming out of convenience, and putting them needlessly over two more deserving teams who would have benefited far more from the win felt ridiculous. But the match before it was fun (whenever Burger wasn’t involved). Shaheem and Leon haven’t got a lot of fanfare so far but they’ve been crisp, athletic and exciting every time I’ve seen them – this was no exception. It was also nice to see more personality from the Tempura Boyz. Comedy pantomime villains is actually a step up from total no-hope losers!

Up next we should be getting Bobby Fish vs Jay Briscoe. I am not the biggest fan of booking them together, since Bobby Fish is a champion and shouldn’t be losing right now, whilst ROH has gone to such lengths to protect Jay Briscoe’s aura that they are almost obligated to make beating him a special occasion thing. Booking two men together when neither can really afford the loss makes me uncomfortable. Where some might use a great match time limit draw to ‘get out’ of this situation, or others might use the great match, double-count out approach…Delirious thinks he knows better. He has Adam Page (who has issues with both men) leave commentary and attack Fish, forcing a DQ inside a couple of minutes – thus setting up the following match instead.

This one does make sense. Page is challenging Fish for the TV Title in a week’s time, and has issues going back a full year with Jay Briscoe. Given how bad the show is though, I don’t know how it couldn’t have been any worse if they’d given Briscoe and Fish twenty minutes to produce a good match (they had a really under-rated singles match together when Jay was World Champion) then ‘get out’ of neither man being able to lose by having Hangman Page come out and attack both of them. At least then we’d have got at least one good match out of this clusterf*ck. 

Page hits Jay in the head with a microphone before the bell…which obviously only further provokes Briscoe and Fish to team up and beat his ass. They amuse themselves stiffing poor Hangman, knock him to the outside, then happily turn on each other. Page returns to level them both with a Buckshot Lariat. Shooting Star football tackle off the apron by Hangman! Right into an elbow suicida from Briscoe! Fish caps it off by suplexing one opponent into another and getting a nearfall on Page. Hangman doesn’t have very many moves apparently so delivers another Buckshot Lariat…before eating the Day One Neckbreaker. Jay Driller on Fish! Page low blows Jay then gives the already-unconscious Fish the Rite Of Passage. Page wins at 06:44

Rating - ** - I would feel harsh going lower on my rating, because as far as six minute, three-man sprint matches go this was ok. I didn’t love it but it wasn’t boring or uninteresting to watch and I certainly didn’t feel like they were coasting. Having Page go over Fish at least makes next week seem interesting too. It isn’t the fault of the men involved that this whole situation was a sh*tty one. It isn’t their fault that the whole scenario was as far away from the great wrestling that ROH was founded upon that the audience sat in almost total silence throughout. Like I said a few paragraphs ago – booking Fish/Briscoe in the first place was questionable. Having done so, however, sh*tting the bed and not giving the fans more than a six minute, dodgy finish, mess of a match is crap booking, leaves the live audience feeling ripped off and is indicative of a company which feels like fans are paying to see the ROH name RATHER than good wrestling. They aren’t. I promise they aren’t. 

Here we have two teams fighting to overcome Tag Championship disappointment. Over Glory By Honor weekend both had impromptu Tag Title Matches with the Young Bucks…and both failed. Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are still battle-scarred from Ladder War 6, seemingly more humble, hurt…but hungry to get back into the hunt. There are question marks over the future of the Cabana/Castle duo however. It was clear that Colt wasn’t entirely on board with Dalton’s decision to demand that they get their title shot during Champions vs All-Stars. Can they get back on the same page and use a win over the former Tag Champions to propel them into another shot at the Bucks?

Daniels forehead is comprised more of bandage and tape than it is of skin at this point. Sensibly he begins on the apron, watching as Cabana and Castle make Kazarian look foolish. Frankie skulks away unhappily and we reach the five minute mark with absolutely nothing of any real substance having taken place. Daniels and Dalton kill literal minutes with an extended test of strength segment, featuring multiple instances of interference from both of their partners. Colt and Dalton end up making a ‘Boy couch’ out of The Addiction…which proves to be too much for Daniels and Kaz to take. They aggressively try to rip Castle’s arm out of it’s socket. Although predictably that’s just a set-up for more goofball comedy as Frankie winds up trying to snap his own partner’s arm unintentionally. Does Castle sell the arm after that? Of course not, because there’s no need to pay attention to sh*t like that when you’re working minimal effort, comedy bullsh*t. We are almost ten minutes deep with absolutely nothing interesting happening. The Addiction threaten to make it serious…and by that I mean they rattle off a few of the same double-team sequences they do in every match on autopilot. So the match moves from maybe sort-of funny to predictable and slow instead. Mark Briscoe (on commentary) cares so little he starts calling Cabana by his real name for reasons I can’t explain. Can you imagine if he did that to CM Punk back in the day? Anyway, Colt (or Scotty if Mark prefers) bounds in with a moonsault and a Flying Asshole. Daniels fights back with a tope suicida, wiping out Castle in doing so. Bad Elimination gets 2 on Colt. Dalton returns doling out the big amateur-style throws…and legit drops Frankie horribly on his head. Kevin Kelly and Mark Briscoe miss that of course, since they are chattering away about the main event. Everest German puts Kaz on his head again, necessitating a last-ditch save from Daniels. Frankie recovers to give Cabana the slingshot cutter. Colt crotches Daniels in the corner to give him the Chicago Skyline, propelling him into Bang-A-Rang. Dalton wins at 17:04

Rating - ** - It is possible that this match has frustrated me more than any other tonight, even the Whitmer/Corino farce. This match actually did get a decent amount of time, but squandered it with the laziest, most underwhelming match this combination of workers could possibly put together. I understand that banter and physical comedy are part of the act for both Colt and Dalton. But there is no excuse for wasting TEN MINUTES of a seventeen minute bout with it. The last seven minutes, once The Addiction got serious, were better (albeit predictable and limited). But when excellent matches like Lethal vs Kamaitachi get stiffed for time and these guys mooch through one of the least memorable matches of their lives it is extremely frustrating. And that’s before you get into the realms of ‘this is a house show, why can’t BOTH matches get twenty minutes to do something special’? Do ROH genuinely think the fans who buy their house show VOD’s, or purchase Honor Club/Ringside Membership subscriptions are casual fans who couldn’t cope with too many longer matches on the same show? Because they’re wrong. And the quality of the last four shows tells you that they clearly don’t care about how the live crowd feels about them either…

Colt drops by commentary on his way to the back, and once again his jovial demeanour barely covers his frustration at Castle’s decision to blow their title shot against the Young Bucks in Dearborn.

One thing these two ‘Road To Final Battle’ events have done extremely well is promote this main event as a major happening. Almost everything else this weekend has been passable and insignificant, but at every turn we’ve been talking about this one. Silas Young survived the entire field to win Honor Rumble in Lockport during the Reloaded Tour to earn his shot – and since then has been stood to the side waving his arms around trying to get some attention as Adam Cole looks passed him to future defences against Jay Lethal in London and Kyle O’Reilly at Final Battle. Is tonight the night that the Last Real Man makes Adam Cole pay for under-estimating him?

Silas talks, moves and wrestles like a man with a point to prove. The fans aren’t treating him like anything special, Cole is busy poking fun at Jay Lethal (at the commentary table) and he clearly has all the motivation he needs to make a huge statement. Even when Adam concentrates on his challenger he smiles, cracks jokes and mugs to the crowd. Young is pissed off – and tips the champ head-first into the guardrails. At the five minute mark the aggressive and driven challenger has made all the running. Adam can’t lay a glove on him and is sent flying out of the ring again after a springboard lariat. A slingshot double stomp crushes Cole again on the way back in. Silas starts thinking about a finish, only to be shoved off the top rope as he potentially sets up the Plunge. The smiles and jokes have gone; Cole is all business and gets some payback on the outside with repeated throws to the barricades. Young’s neck becomes a target of course, as Cole has multiple finishing moves that impact that body part. Pretty soon Silas crumples to the ground on every Irish whip attempt…and Cole’s confidence returns at a rapid pace. Superkick blocked, only for Cole to pounce on his opponent’s legs instead and go straight for a Figure 4. ‘You’re not on my level’ – Cole pertinently barks at a man who has never broken out of the midcard despite years in ROH. Plunge blocked so Young nails a sliding lariat instead leaving both champion and challenger gasping for air. Cole wants to punish Young’s neck again but finds both the DVD over the knee then the Florida Key countered in quick succession. The Killer Combo flings Cole through the air, setting him up for an Ace Crusher. DVD over the knee by Cole, which Kevin Kelly still can’t stop calling the Last Shot, gets 2. The challenger prevents more damage being done to his neck by countering a superplex into a powerbomb…and follows with a slingshot neckbreaker. Cole takes swings at the leg to block Young’s advances, then delivers an OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX INTO THE APRON! The heavily injured Young just barely beats the count-out after that. Last Shot blocked…so Cole angrily clubs down on the exposed neck instead. SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE! Figure 4 Leglock applied again and questions are immediately raised about whether a man with a bad leg and a bad neck has what it takes to escape. Turns out he can, but in doing so leaves his chin open for a pair of Superkicks. NO SOLD! LARIATOOOOO! Both men are down and struggling in the Florida heat. LAST SHOT! GETS 2! Panama Sunrise ducked…PLUNGE COUNTERED WITH A SUPERKICK! NECK DROP GERMAN! BARE KNEE WIZARD! And still Silas won’t be counted down…so the champ breaks out the Figure 4 for a third time. It doesn’t draw a win but appears to completely eradicate Young’s ability to walk. Cole piefaces and taunts Silas…LAST SHOT ON COLE! PLUNGE NAILED for 2! Covered in sweat, both men crawl from their knees and egg each other on to keep throwing punches. Cole thinks he has it finished with more Superkicks…but is stunned to see Young semi-conscious and flipping him off. SCHOOL-BOY WITH THE TIGHTS ON COLE FOR 2! MISERY…BUT THE KNEE GIVES OUT! SUPERKICK! SUPERKICK TO THE NECK! FLORIDA KEY! LAST F’N SHOT! COLE RETAINS! Your time is 27:31

Rating - ****1/2 - The last four shows (Glory By Honor weekend, then Road To Final Battle weekend) have been a real slog to get through and the undeniable low point of 2016. These cards have not been good at all, and are in many ways some of the most indifferent content ROH has ever released. This match stands out like a beacon of light on a dark night however – an absolute classic which people really need to see. It wasn’t about exciting high spots, or spectacular bumps (although they came later)…this was a story and a journey that I thoroughly loved. The first five minutes saw Silas aggressively prove his worth, against the back drop of total indifference he was battling from an opponent, an audience and even a commentary team that weren’t giving him a chance of winning. Silas' fire stung Cole into action – angrily attacking both neck and leg to set up his finishing moves. But the champ, looking past Silas to Lethal in London and O’Reilly in New York, didn’t reckon on Silas’ tenacity and heart. He took the best Cole had and refused to give up. He repeatedly countered the Figure 4, kicked out of the Last Shot, dodged Panama Sunrise, countered the Florida Key, survived a Bare Knee Wizard and even absorbed a horrific suplex into the side of the ring. The kicker for me was the moment, twenty seven minutes into the match, when Silas almost won it with a handful of tights. Having been through an utter war, the perennial heel and pantomime villain ‘Last Real Man’ out-heeling even the Bullet Club to almost take the World Title was a simply brilliant tease. The whole thing was well-paced, brilliantly executed and a brilliant example of why Delirious needs to trust his immensely skilled workforce, loosen the strings and let them work longer matches more often. 

After a respectful handshake between Cole and Silas, Jay Lethal slides into the ring to confront the champion – putting him on notice before they meet in the UK.

Tape Rating - ** - As superb as the main event was, the value it adds isn’t sufficient to make this a 3* level show I’d recommend as a decent watch to all comers. Ring Of Honor completists will find more to enjoy here than the previous evening in Ft Lauderdale, thanks to a stellar main event, terrific opening match and the fun (if frustrating) Lethal/Kamaitachi encounter. But, just as with last night and with much of Glory By Honor weekend too, enormous amounts of this show were toxically poor and bereft of any entertainment value. Creatively it was in the toilet, with the horrendous tease and switch on the (already ill-advised) Fish/Briscoe match or the idiotic Midnight Mr Wrestling stuff. Kevin Kelly’s all-round abysmal commentary is a permanent, unwanted distraction. I became immensely frustrated watching good wrestlers under-perform in short, predictable, bland matches which do as much to hide their talent as it does promote it. This weekend feels like the embodiment of much of what ROH does wrong as an organisation. And a look around at the sparse crowd for this event should tell you that (as I have multiple times over recent reviews), just putting ‘ROH’ on a marquee and using ‘best wrestling in the world’ as a marketing slogan won’t pull the wool over anyone’s eyes for long. Tonight, in a substantially less than full venue that they’ve picked to host their WrestleMania weekend festivities in 2017, we saw what ROH need to focus on more (great matches like Cole/Young or O’Reilly/Dijak) and a whole lot of what will eventually drive fans away.

3) Jay Lethal vs Kamaitachi (***)

2) Kyle O’Reilly vs Donovan Dijak (***)

1) Adam Cole vs Silas Young (****1/2)

5) Jay Lethal vs Kamaitachi (*** - Night 2)

4) Kyle O’Reilly vs Kamaitachi vs Jay White vs Donovan Dijak (** - Night 1)

3) Kyle O’Reilly vs Donovan Dijak (*** - Night 2)

2) Adam Page vs Dalton Castle (**** - Night 1)

1) Adam Cole vs Silas Young (****1/2 - Night 2)