McXal's Reviews

We are in the home stretch towards Final Battle 2016, which is now just a month away – but between now and then there are still some pretty significant pieces of business to conduct. Later in November the roster packs up and ships off for the first full UK tour since Gabe Sapolsky’s era, and first we have a double shot weekend in Texas featuring the (almost) annual Survival Of The Fittest tournament. The 2016 edition doesn’t necessarily have the most loaded talent roster of all-time, but it does feel wide open and extremely hard to predict. We have debutants from CMLL in the form of Panther and Misterioso Jr, debutants from Texas in the form of Jax Dane, New Japan representation in the Tempura Boyz plus a whole gaggle of core roster talents who could all be considered among the front-runners – such as Donovan Dijak, Silas Young, Punishment Martinez, Colt Cabana, Bobby Fish, Kenny King, Dalton Castle, Lio Rush or Hangman Page. There are a couple of juicy non-tournament matches too, so I was quietly optimistic that this might be the show that finally breaks ROH’s post-All Star Extravaganza slump. But then I hit play on my DVD, and saw they were planning to cram an obscene amount of matches into just a two hour run-time, and quickly changed my mind. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Arlington, TX – a new Texan market that ROH visits for the first time this evening.

CMLL’s Panther and NJPW’s Yoh bring an international flavour to this, our first SOTF qualification bout of the night. Ferrara and his Dojo bro Cheeseburger have had some issues with the Tempura Boyz across recent shows, so won’t pass up an opportunity to lock horns with Yoh again. Silas is, as usual, the outsider, but he will be fired up to win the whole tournament having some so close to taking the World Title from Adam Cole in Florida. Kevin Kelly informs me that the four-way qualifiers tonight will be contested under lucha rules tonight as both have CMLL stars in them…but also that they might not be and actually be under normal rules. Seriously, the lack of effort or care given towards this product by those in charge, and those paid to provide a voice to it is completely embarrassing.

Predictably Silas makes absolutely no friends during the Code Of Honor, and splatters Panther into the ground with the Killer Combo when he thinks about a crowd-pleasing dive. Then he scatters the rest of the field by neckbreaker-ing Ferrara into a DDT on Yoh. Panther shuts him down with an AWESOME tope suicida into the railing! Komatsu then heels it up by stopping the luchador hitting a second dive soon after. German suplex gets Yoh a close nearfall, but can’t capitalise because Ferrara gets involved and takes him out with Paydirt. The Panther stops Young delivering the Plunge but instead is forced to eat the Ace Crusher. Silas no sells and belittles Yoh’s offence…until Yoh hits the twister for 2! Double springboard knock-out dropkick by Panther OBLITERATES Will, giving the CMLL star a shock victory, sending him to the finals at 05:05

Rating - ** - Short, meaningless but entertaining enough. The Panther was fun, albeit he was almost a generic as El Generico. Ferrara did the exact same moves he always does, whilst nobody really cared – as usual. I actually quite liked Yoh being a chickensh*t too, and could’ve done with seeing a bit more of his personality expressed…but there just wasn’t time. Not putting Silas into the finals does feel a little weird after how damn good his match with Cole was…but if they weren’t going to have him win the tournament, at least eliminating him here, without taking a fall, means he doesn’t take another loss. The kicker is whether the New Japan office will let Liger put him over at Final Battle…

We have new music for Donovan Dijak, who will view this tournament as an opportunity to press the reset button on his chronically under-performing ROH career. Between the Baltimore TV taping and this show he has also ditched Prince Nana apparently. He has a tough task ahead of him tonight however, as NWA/Texas indy scene veteran Jax Dane makes his ROH debut. Dane, whom some may recognise as ‘Wilcox’ from Impact’s ‘Veterans Of War’ team, actually even has NJPW experience on his resume too…and is a big, tough bruiser who won’t be remotely intimidated by the size and athleticism of Dijak.

Dane literally ignores Dijak and effortlessly destroys him with a belly to belly suplex, right into a violent lariat that sends him right out of the ring. Even when Donovan does try to fight back Dane simply grabs him again and doles out another emphatic suplex. Martini Killer by Dijak! Winded and groaning in pain, Dijak starts throwing strikes back…but finds Jax almost impossible to take off his feet. Chokeslam Backbreaker blocked…then Dane counters another Martini Killer into a spinebuster. Springboard by Dijak COUNTERED into a choking overhead suplex! He tries a chokeslam only for Dijak to BACK FLIP OUT OF IT into the Chokeslam Backbreaker for 2! Realising that speed is possibly the biggest weapon he possesses against the former NWA Champion, Donovan hops up the ropes for a springboard moonsault. He lands successfully but is than shocked to realise that Jax has actually caught him – and simply stands up with him to deliver a Samoan Drop. 300 SPEAR! Dane pulls off the second shock of the night and becomes the second debutant into the SOTF finals in a time of 06:07

Rating - *** - Big dudes clobbering lumps out of each other at a furious pace with occasional feats of phenomenal agility thrown in too. That is usually a recipe for an enjoyable match, and this one was no exception. Dane is somewhat one-note, and does that annoying thing generic big man wrestlers do which is shout, scream or cry out when they deliver their moves like that somehow makes it more impressive. He doesn’t need that, because he is an imposing, intimidating specimen and it was totally believable that he would manhandle even someone of Dijak’s size with ease. I’m so bored of banging the ‘ROH books Dijak like complete sh*t’ drum that I don’t even want to comment about how annoying it was so see him jobbed out here. What I will say is that he leaves in early 2017. If he’d already given them his notice at this point then it makes sense that they won’t go out of their way to put him over.

Chris Sabin marches to the ring and looks pissed off about something. Alex Shelley is supposed to be in the next match, but apparently someone has jumped him in the locker room and sent him to hospital. 

This is the SOTF qualifying bout Shelley was supposed to be involved in. Martinez is thankfully in town, with his gear (and therefore somehow not a suspect in the Shelley attack for some reason?) and ready to replace him at short notice. Punishment won’t have BJ Whitmer by his side either, as his mentor has been suspended for attacking a referee during the Baltimore TV taping. Like Silas Young earlier, Cabana (who has been an SOTF finalist before) will have his eye on a tournament victory here to propel him straight back into title contention. People are also waiting for him to explain his actions after he turned on Dalton Castle during the television tapings…

Cabana is SO much more fun as a jerk heel, and cuts a pre-match promo inferring that Dalton is a naïve, undeserving rookie. Martinez wants to victimise Cheeseburger as he has done multiple times since his return to ROH…so Colt grabs Burger and uses him as a weapon to beat the Punisher with. Martinez no-selling Cabana’s whacky World Of Sport gimmick to throttle him like a motherf*cker is amongst the most entertaining moments on the show. Last Ride attempted on Cheese…who blocks it only to get his lights punched out instead. Cabana, meanwhile, is hiding on the apron clutching the tag rope trying to change the rules so he doesn’t have to wrestle Punisher. Even more hilariously, Cheeseburger then does actually tag Colt who laughs in his face for being such an idiot. And to hammer that point home he convinces Burger to try a ludicrous dive spot to the floor, before lying in wait to take his head off. Flying Asshole on Cheese, with Martinez hitting the spinning mafia kick immediately afterwards – which forces Colt to break his pinfall. Shotei flurry from Burger! Except Punishment no sells it! South Of Heaven nailed – sending Punishment to the finals at 06:36

Rating - ** - As a match this wasn’t up to much. It was, however, great value for money as a piece of entertainment starring Colt Cabana. This kind of pseudo-comedy bout is quite literally how he makes his living, so he pretty much worked this thing on autopilot and was still among the best things on the DVD. During Gabe’s time with the book he did a very similar cocky prick heel run with Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey, so if you remember that the character work was largely recycled from that. But it was undeniably funny, and didn’t get in the way of the talent with the most upside (Martinez) getting his shot in the final. Upon reflection, this match actually did more to make Martinez look a serious threat than almost anything else they've done with him...

Steve Corino makes eye contact with Martinez in the aftermath of the match and openly tries to recruit him to his side…

During the recent Florida live events Kenny King, Rhett Titus and Caprice Coleman tossed aside The Cabinet gimmick, calling it a joke that they were forced to run with by management. Now they look to go in a more serious direction, and one would suggest there is no better way to do that than for King to defeat the current TV Champion before going on to the finals of Survival Of The Fittest. As an unnecessary aside, ROH have decided to start reacting to Caprice Coleman calling fans and wrestlers ‘jive turkeys’ as if it were some ultra-offensive term. Without getting into whether it is or isn’t – he’s been calling people that for f*cking years…so to randomly decide to start getting offended now is so unbelievably dumb. But then again ROH, Delirious and Sinclair have already proven time and time again they don’t give a sh*t and want to run this company in the laziest, most half-assed, manner…

Kenny is fired up and starts hot, but it’s nothing that Fish hasn’t seen before and he thinks on his feet to take his opponent to the canvas for some grappling. He rams King’s leg into the apron looking to set up the Fish Hook Deluxe…but Kenny has a smart defensive strategy of his own and kicks him into the guardrail. Back inside he delivers the corkscrew enziguri to the neck, following it with a neck vice then a high lariat so it becomes apparent that this body part will become the focal point for Kenny’s attack. Royal Flush blocked…so he takes Bobby’s head off with a mafia kick for 2. Fish retaliates with MMA strikes and an exploder suplex even though he is visibly feeling the adverse effect of King’s assault. Capo kick knocks him right out of the ring though, into the path of the CORKSCREW PESCADO! It has been imposing performance from King and it has left Fish glassy-eyed and rattled. He still wants to attack the leg, only to be knocked away for the Shotgun Knees. Kenny goes for that a second time – and instead it is countered to the turnbuckle exploder. NO SOLD! TURNBUCKLE CAPTURE SUPLEX dumps Bobby on his neck again. Fish kicks the legs out from under his opponent once more and defies his injuries to hit the Falcon Arrow. Fish Hook Deluxe forces King to tap at 10:35

Rating - *** - On a show which only goes two hours, ten minutes is seriously all the time Sinclair, ROH and Delirious could find time for? Do they all have dinner reservations they are late for or something? From a pure wrestling standpoint this was clearly MOTN so far and I had fun watching it. But this should have gone twice as long as this. ROH are trying to make us buy into King as a serious act now The Cabinet gimmick is gone. Nothing says ‘serious’ more than tapping out in ten minutes, despite dominating the entire match, as your goofball manager makes stupid jokes with the two equally goofy commentators. The wrestling was good, but I can’t put into words how downright idiotic it was not to let these guys have more time. Twenty minutes – King works the neck, Fish works the leg, build to a climax, sell the injuries…fans would’ve eaten it up. Kenny would leave with credibility having pushed the TV Champ to the limit. Bobby rolls into the finals as one of the favourites, but weakened as a result of his gruelling first round match (spoiler alert, making his eventual tournament win all the more triumphant too). Just like Lethal/Kamaitachi in Lakeland, the lack of time this one got was a total joke…

Of all the SOTF qualification matches this evening, this one may well be the hardest to call. As we just saw in Kenny King’s match, Titus was part of the collective rejection of ‘The Cabinet’ as a gimmick and wants to be taken seriously.  Standing across from him is Chris Sabin; angry at his partner being ‘attacked’ and ‘sent to hospital’ today and also motivated to put Ladder War 6 behind him. They are joined by Dalton Castle, who on grappling skill and fan support would be considered one of the favourites for the tournament. However, mystery surrounds his mental state following the actions of Colt Cabana the previous weekend in Baltimore…

Sabin has taken issue with the former Cabinet group so tries to stick the boots into Titus almost as soon as the bell rings. He and Dalton form a makeshift alliance to beat Rhett up for a prolonged period of time. They only stop when Titus is removed from the ring…and immediately turn on each other to continue the fight. After a distraction from Caprice, Titus is able to knock Sabin off the top rope, and follow it up with an impressive somersault plancha. Rhett moves surprisingly well and looks really decent, so of course Kelly and Corino are totally ignoring him to make jokes foreshadowing their respective imminent departures from ROH, plus multiple irrelevant in-jokes at Ian Riccaboni’s expense making them sound like assholes. Sabin hits back with a cannonball off the apron and a tornado DDT for 2. Castle returns with amateur-inspired throws to both opponents, bringing Coleman onto the apron for another distraction. DOUBLE PUNCH to Rhett’s balls by Sabin and Castle. He survives and lands the Big Dawg Splash for 2…before Castle breaks with the Everest German. Bang-A-Rang beats Titus, sending Castle to the finals at 10:38

Rating - * - The worst, or perhaps I should say most boring, match on the show so far. If you want to watch three men who have no chemistry together throw together improvised spots whilst trotting out every single tired, clichéd triple threat match trope imaginable then this is the match for you. Castle was the right man to win, and Titus was moving really well…but this was pretty terrible.

Adding ‘lucha rules’ to these four-ways certainly benefited Misterioso’s CMLL colleague The Panther earlier this evening when he surprisingly advanced to the finals. Joining CMLL’s Misterioso Jr here is NJPW’s Sho, Bullet Club’s Hangman and ROH’s 2016 Top Prospect Lio Rush. Page has actually been to the finals of Survival Of The Fittest before and has been around in ROH for long enough to know what a huge opportunity winning the whole tournament would create for him. Rush has 2016 tournament victory experience though, and is trying to utilise the skills he picked up during his recent European tour to help him earn back the ROH momentum he lost by going on the tour in the first place.

Sho gets some early offence in on Page, who takes it so badly that he stomps off and tags Rush in. Lio and Misterioso are extremely fun to watch together, mostly because the luchador is almost twice as big as the ROH star. Lio starts clearing the ring…so Misterioso pulls him outside for a trip to the railings. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY SHO! Hangman and Misterioso form a strange rudo alliance to work Tanaka over, even getting their sh*t together sufficiently to keep Rush out of the ring as well. Of course it quickly disintegrates when the time comes to start pinning Sho…who recovers and absolutely sledgehammers Hangman with a lariat. Lio decides to abandon tag rules to hit ROLLING Heat Seeking Missiles to Page and Misterioso, followed by a satellite headscissors on the floor for Tanaka. Dragon’s Call misses, allowing Page to deliver a back suplex gourdbuster for 2. Buckshot Lariat dodged….SSP TACKLE OFF THE APRON INSTEAD! Buckshot Lariat on Rush…gets 2! Rite Of Passage blocked, which opens the door to a missile dropkick from Sho. RUSH HOUR on Sho! Lio wins at 10:18

Rating - ** - When this match was good it was REALLY enjoyable. Rush, Page and Sho all looked great here. The problem was, as with every other match, it whizzed along at such a needlessly frantic pace that one almost developed motion sickness watching it. The weird Bullet Club/lucha rudo mash-up alliance between Hangman and Misterioso Jr. could’ve been really fun…but we got about thirty seconds of it. The contrast between the bulky luchador and the diminutive Lio Rush was really striking, but they barely spent any time in the ring together. Sending both Panther and Dane to the final, whilst cutting someone like Hangman, who could really use a good showing in Survival Of The Fittest, feels an extremely odd choice. 

So the finals are now set – it’ll be The Panther, Jax Dane, Punishment Martinez, Bobby Fish, Dalton Castle and Lio Rush battling it out to determine the next #1 contender to the ROH Title…

The Addiction remain in the wilderness, unable to recover from losing the Tag Titles back at All Star Extravaganza. Christopher Daniels in particular went through hell in Ladder War 6, and has seemed a humbled and broken man ever since. They lost their Tag Title rematch against the Young Bucks, and dropped another match to the Briscoes at the TV Taping too. Now Daniels is in the position where he is being used as a tune-up match for Kyle O’Reilly as he prepares to challenge for the World Title at Final Battle. But opportunity lies before the Ring General too – he’ll know a win here puts him in the conversation for title shots in 2017…

It’s one of those rare nights when Daniels isn’t the most dangerous competitor in a battle on the canvas, so it does feel somewhat unique to see an opponent of his continually look to take the match to the ground with headlocks. Daniels simply can’t break free and spends minutes getting more and more frustrated as Kyle continually takes him down. He yells at O’Reilly and slaps him in the face…but another problem is that O’Reilly can out-strike him too. Kyle kicks him to the ground and makes a move to lock in Arm-ageddon. Daniels retreats to the ropes….so Kyle dragon screws him around the middle rope too! A flying knee strike knocks the General to the arena floor, but it’s on the outside that the savvy veteran finally gets a chance to even the odds! As Kazarian jaws with Kyle from the commentary table, Daniels pounces to ram O’Reilly’s shoulder into the ringpost. Next he drills it into the guardrails and the apron, exacerbating injuries he sustained at the hands of Bullet Club earlier in 2016. Back in the ring he hits an arm stunner, then an ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE SHOULDER! Seriously, Chris Daniels is so damn good. I wish he wasn’t so constantly distracted by TNA back during ROH’s prime years. Even when delivering an STO he angles Kyle to ensure he takes the majority of the impact on his arm and shoulder. O’Reilly looks to quicken the pace with strikes and grabs a kneebar on the leg Daniels has taped up in an effort to open up an injury on his rival. Falling armbreaker by Daniels, setting up the Blue Thunder Driver…but now both men are so worn down that neither springs back to their feet to continue fighting. BME misses…so Daniels urinage slams him onto the shoulder and tries it again. BME COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! DANIELS HITS THE ARM TO BREAK IT! They get back to their feet and take turns striking at their respective injuries. Axe & Smash COUNTERED into an arm-capture flatliner! Kyle kicks the legs again, dropping Daniels to a knee so he can absolutely batter him with a strike to the jaw. His arm is weakened though, so it’s a struggle to get Daniels up for the Brainbuster. COUNTERED TO LAST RITES! Thankfully Frankie Kazarian is on commentary to put over how rare it is that Daniels uses that these days. Angels Wings COUNTERED BACK TO THE TRIANGLE CHOKE! THEN INTO ARM-AGEDDON! DANIELS TAPS! O’Reilly gets a hard-fought win at 16:48

Rating - **** - I’ll make no bones about it, this has been another extremely poor, lacklustre, low-effort live show from Ring Of Honor. Thankfully these two just stole it and saved it simultaneously with this superb technical wrestling clinic. I could have easily watched this for another fifteen-twenty minutes (and on a show which barely lasts two hours, there’s no reason it couldn’t other than the aforementioned Sinclair gives no sh*ts attitude), it really was that good. The tone they struck and the story they told was absolutely perfect. Daniels, so often the superior wrestler, was taught a lesson by the modern, hybrid fighter that O’Reilly has become…so had to reach into his bag of tricks and injure him during a brawl on the floor instead. Kyle wobbled, Daniels took it so seriously he broke out a move he hasn’t used regularly in years…but in the end O’Reilly’s vaunted submission finish proved too much. Had Kyle used a leg submission (maybe his tag partner Bobby Fish’s Fish Hook Deluxe?) my rating would have been even higher. I understand why they used Arm-ageddon as it needs to be positioned as a deadly finish going into Final Battle, however in the context of the match a leg submission would have made more sense. Other than that, this was great and completely out of place on an otherwise miserable show to sit through…

Daniels shakes Kyle’s hand and raises his arm in victory – showing him respect and continuing to demonstrate the humility that has typified The Addiction’s conduct since Ladder War 6.

It’s main event time, and we are scheduled to enjoy a rematch from Global Wars as old rivals the Briscoes and War Machine go into battle once again. The Pretty Boy Killers crash War Machine’s entrance though, just one day before they meet in San Antonio. Lee and Taylor want in on the match, and since the Briscoes are down for a fight like always this is quickly made a three way…

Tomorrow in San Antonio we are scheduled to see the blow-off conclusion to the long-standing rivalry between War Machine and the Pretty Boy Killers. Lee and Taylor weren’t booked tonight, but given that the whole reason they started this feud back in Columbus was that they wanted to make an impression and earn full-time spots it isn’t too surprising that they are crashing another party tonight. The Briscoes have plenty of history with Hanson and Rowe, and remain the measuring stick for all other Ring Of Honor tag teams to live up to. But with Final Battle and a title shot against the Young Bucks just around the corner, is willingly competing against four men of this size the best idea? Their decision-making becomes even more questionable when Jay suggests they throw out the rules and make this a no rules Street Fight!

The Briscoes and War Machine break off to work over a member of the PBK each. Fans’ kneecaps are in immediate jeopardy when their huge frames start crashing into the guardrails! Ole Ole kick from Rowe to Taylor. He and Jay then join forces for a Briscoe tackle spot which is pretty fun…but with Lee and Taylor incapacitated it’s time for the old rivals to turn on each other. Belly to belly OVER THE TOP from Keith to Mark! All six guys stagger around ringside looking like brawling drunks after closing time, with Hanson back body dropping Mark over the ringpost into a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA onto everyone else. Hanson is climbing! TOP ROPE SOMERSAULT SENTON OVER THE RINGPOST! This completely out of control now with everyone fighting into the crowd, all the way to the back of the arena. They reach the production truck at the back of the building – and Mark loves trucks! ROLLING SOMERSAULT PLANCHA OFF THE TOP OF THE DAMN TRUCK! Add that to his back catalogue of crazy ROH dives! Rowe and Jay are the first two men back in the ring and they are f*cking belting each other with elbow strikes. Elbow suicida scores for Jay, and on the other side of the ring the rest of the combatants are starting to pile back over the railings too. Pop-up powerslam combo by War Machine gets the first significant nearfall of the contest more than ten minutes into it. Lee and Taylor then give Hanson a colossal double spinebuster with scarily little effort. Redneck Kung Fu from Mark stops Keith hitting Ground Zero on his brother. In the end everyone stands around swinging punches like thugs…before collapsing in a sweaty heap together on the canvas. Nobody wants to back down! Hanson hits the inverted slam on Jay! GROUND ZERO ON HANSON! KO KNEE ON LEE! Taylor punches Rowe’s lights out…but then turns into the Day One Neckbreaker from Jay! Froggy Bow on Taylor gives the Briscoes the win at 15:17

Rating - *** - It was a little punch/kick heavy for my taste, and it was pretty apparent that they didn’t have much else laid out other than ‘we’ll brawl to the back of the building so Mark can jump off the truck’…but this was still a wild ride. Nobody wants to see these teams trade wristlocks or work a formulaic tag match, so throwing formats out the window and getting right into a lawless brawl really worked for them. If I’m being picky I wish they’d have done more to put Lee and Taylor over, albeit I understand why the Briscoes won given that they are #1 contenders to the Tag Titles. I’m reliably informed to expect more of the same when War Machine and the Pretty Boy Killers meet again, so as an appetiser for that encounter this one was great…

Tape Rating - ** - The last two matches totally saved this card. The format of this was totally weird, with the SOTF matches so rushed and forgettable you could’ve taken a decent-sized dump and missed all of them. The whole event barely lasts two hours, and that’s with the last two matches occupying more than forty minutes. I understand that one of Sinclair’s mission statements when they took control was to cut show-lengths down from Gabe’s 4/5/6 hour odysseys…but this was ridiculously, short-changingly bad. Watching a decent Bobby Fish/Kenny King match, where both guys would have HUGELY benefited from getting a decent run-time, cut down for no reason is as annoyed as I’ve been watching this company all year. If you have an Honor Club membership then O’Reilly/Daniels was completely fantastic, and the main event is worth a watch too. But if you don’t you miss absolutely nothing by skipping this. Even for a completist this is barely worth recommending. At least it wasn't as offensively awful as the second half of Night 1 from Road To Final Battle 2016 weekend in Florida...

3) Bobby Fish vs Kenny King (***)

2) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Keith Lee/Shane Taylor vs War Machine (***)

1) Kyle O’Reilly vs Christopher Daniels (****)