McXal's Reviews

On paper, this show has the better card this weekend - helped enormously by the huge Final Battle rematch at the top of the bill. The Young Bucks will once again defend their Tag Titles against the Briscoe Brothers - this time under 2/3 Falls Rules (under which the Briscoes have been dominant in years gone by). The Six-Man Tag Titles are on the line again tonight too as The Kingdom square off with Search & Destroy of Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin and Jay White. Given that they sit atop an undercard which also includes Fish/Rush, Page/Lethal, Castle/Dijak and a Bullet Club vs Addiction tag bout this could be a really enjoyable night. Once again our commentary comes from Ian Riccaboni and Silas Young. We are in Dallas, TX (in another new building).

Both of these men broke out in ROH during the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament. The difference being that Dijak had to win the whole thing to get noticed, whilst Dalton was eliminated in the first round but had so much star presence and charisma that he still stood out. Two years later they meet in Texas at interesting points in their careers. Dijak is #1 contender for the TV Title (but on his way out of the company), whilst Dalton Castle is wrestling with the knowledge that he will get a World Title shot at Supercard Of Honor, during WrestleMania weekend, in front of potentially ROH's biggest ever crowd (to that point). Ian and Silas push the angle that Dijak comes in carrying injuries sustained at the hands of Cody and the Bullet Club yesterday.

Castle is the kind of performer who can eat up a minute of a wrestling match without you even noticing that he and his opponent haven't even touched. Here he raucous ovation from the audience for a minute-long physical comedy routine which has even Dijak smirking behind his hands. He gets fed up of Dalton's shenanigans and grabs him by the throat, hauling him into a backbreaker. Castle has had no shortage of back problems and is rocked as a result. Donovan easily counters the tiger feint rana on the floor with a massive boot to the jaw. Castle retaliates with a series of running knees - all aimed at the neck of Dijak which took so much abuse yesterday. Bang-A-Rang countered into Time To Fly - but Dijak sells it too by collapsing into the corner holding his head. He finally follows up with the ribbreaker into a toss slam, inflicting yet more damage to Castle's back. Choke Breaker blocked with a high clothesline across Dijak's throat...but now Castle is too injured to hit the Everest German. DVD Bomb COUNTERED to the Everest German for 2. That move hurts both men so much that they both stay down afterwards. Castle wriggles out of Feast Your Eyes...MARTINI KILLER! DIJAK-SAULT NAILED FOR 2! Superkick by Dijak...BACK DROP DRIVER BY DALTON! NO SOLD! ELBOW by Dijak! But he is cradling his neck with every hold now. BANG-A-RANG! Huge win for Castle in a time of 11:23

Rating - *** - What a great match to open the show this was. We see plenty of matches on ROH house shows where guys take it easy, work on autopilot and 'play the hits'. These guys were not doing that at all and we as fans reap the rewards. I would have liked the haha stuff at the beginning to be shorter, but Dalton's persona instantly engages an audience. It drew their attention onto the match, which brilliantly referenced Dalton's long-term injury problems alongside Dijak's match yesterday. Each man demonstrated a high level of skill when on offence, each sold their injury respectably...and the final minute was incredibly exciting. Since All Star Extravaganza in Lowell Donovan Dijak has been at the top of his game - delivering multiple matches at a remarkably high level. ROH have wasted him for two years and he's just hitting form for in time to report to the Performance Center...

Rhett Titus is out next, working the weekend alone without his partners in The Rebellion (something he calls a travesty). Instead of them, he has been on a recruitment drive and has found an up and comer in the back who he claims should have been in the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament. He brings out 'Dirty' Andy Dalton (and amusingly has to nudge him in the direction of the hard camera so he can cut a promo). Dalton has apparently secured a match for he and Titus so he can prove his worth. Rhett wants a 'nice exhibition match' (which it is, just not for him...)

Personally I think they should have used a different talent for this spot. Dalton has been on TV and live events as an enhancement talent before, therefore Titus singling him out as a rising star, someone that is under-utilised and someone that would have won the Top Prospect Tournament if included carries no credibility. One suspects he'll be little more than cannon fodder again this evening given the size of the two gentlemen that stand across the ring from him. Titus will be keen to use his new partner as a human shield as well given the physical nature of the matches he and Kenny King shared with War Machine in early 2016...

Titus berates Dalton for getting them into this mess...only for Andy to ignore him and make things worse by spitting at Hanson and Rowe. Rowe flattens him with a Superman Punch for an instant nearfall. Hanson pops in for his first flash of count-along repetitive offence which is his gimmick now, before we break to the floor for some considerably more interesting brawl spots. Titus shoves Rowe into a support beam...dazing him temporarily so Dalton can wipe him out with a flying knee strike. Rhett then stops Hanson doing count-along Sledgehammer strikes with his dropkick. Titus and Dalton start rattling off double teams with impressive cohesion, but aren't making much impact. Rowe actually laughs off some offence from Dirty Andy...then walks into the Cement Mixer on Rhett. Brainbuster by Dalton! Hanson makes a save with count-along punches, followed by count-along body avalanches. Seriously, Hanson sucks now. He's like a Sesame Street skit. Bronco Buster misses, and the underdogs get a nearfall with an implant DDT/Big Dawg Splash combo. Rowe tagged...and Titus decides to leave before War Machine run riot. Decapitation on Rhett! Dalton eats the pop-up powerslam combo, then Fallout. War Machine win at 08:45

Rating - ** - This was a tough match to rate. It was pretty entertaining throughout and genuinely funny at times too. But conceptually this sucked and only furthered the perception of The Rebellion as stupid joke characters...and I thought the exact reason they stopped being The Cabinet was to get away from that. In addition, this match seemed like a vehicle to get Andy Dalton and his mom-swimsuit look over - which is f*cking ridiculous. War Machine spent more time bumping and selling for him here than they did for The Addiction in a months-long feud. He was more heavily protected than Rhett Titus for most of this...and Rhett is the established guy. It's not that Dalton looked bad - quite the opposite, this was impressive as I've seen him. It's that I'm furious that he got to look good at the expense of three talents who shouldn't be made fools of to put him over. And all that is before I get to (as I said during play-by-play), Hanson is miserable to watch now. A little muppet should be popping up to count along in the corner of the screen every time he's in the ring counting up Sledgehammer punches, or body avalanches, or tandem knee strikes with Rowe etc.

At the Atlanta TV taping we saw our main event for the 15th Anniversary Show set. Assuming Cole can survive Bobby Fish at Manhattan Mayhem, he will enter the Anniversary Show PPV to defend the World Championship against the winner of the Decade Of Excellence Tournament - Christopher Daniels. The Addiction were involved in the chaotic scenes involving Cody Rhodes at Final Battle as well, so Cody certainly isn't an irrelevance to this one either. Daniels and Kaz did suffer a shock loss to the Tempura Boyz in San Antonio the previous evening and appeared to argue afterwards. Have they got back onto the same page? They've been in a slump as a team since losing the belts in Ladder War 6 back at All Star Extravaganza 8.

Cole and Cody clearly want to get into Daniels' head, taking turns winding him up before Cole steps out and refuses to start the match. Cody outright stops the contest altogether to rag on the Texan fans, for several minutes until Kazarian gets bored and cuts him off. Stereo Figure 4 Leglocks by Bullet Club...countered in stereo by The Addiction. They have far greater experience as a team and show it as Daniels grabs the World Champion and hauls him back into their corner for a prolonged beatdown. Arabian Press up the aisle by Daniels to wipe out both opponents. Cody hits back with the Disaster Kick on Frankie rendering him unable to escape and tag Daniels back into the fray. Frankie and Cody botch a couple of things and it threatens to get ugly...but to their credit they each show their experience by getting it back and building to a DDT/inverted DDT combo by Kaz to both opponents. Daniels hits Rhodes with the Blue Thunder Driver for 2...then gets preoccupied with Adam Cole again so dives through the ropes after him with a tope suicida. Ian and Silas speculate on whether Daniels is more focused on becoming World Champion than the success of his tag team...with that dive being a prime example of his desire to go after Cole. The champ opens up a wooden chair in the ring and eggs Rhodes on try and use it as a weapon on Daniels. Frankie makes a save...ANGEL'S WINGS on Cole for 2. Springboard dropkick by Frankie to block Cross Rhodes! Celebrity Rehab blocked into a Superkick on Daniels! Cole wins at 16:41

Rating - ** - Well that was long. You wait months for Delirious to give a house show match on an undercard a decent time allowance...and this is what happens when he does? I liked every interaction Daniels and Cole had, and I really dig the story of Daniels being so laser-focused on the World Title (after waiting since 2002 for it) that he is dropping the ball as part of The Addiction. But this went almost seventeen minutes! There was a whole heap of dead air here...and it has to be said most of it came from Cody. I've been a supporter of his since he arrives - and he certainly carries himself like a total star. But he is maddeningly inconsistent inside the ropes. His match with Dijak yesterday was really good. But his match with Lethal at Final Battle felt unfocused, his TV matches have been forgettable, and he had a poor match here (even after stopping it for almost five minutes for some generic 'I hate this town' heat so he and Cole wouldn't get Bullet Club babyface pops). He botched things, he couldn't seem to decide whether he wanted to work a body part or not, he looked fidgety and just never looked comfortable. 

Adam Cole celebrates his clean win over one of his top contenders, and uses it as evidence that 'old Christopher Daniels' doesn't stand a chance of beating him in Las Vegas. Inside the ring Frankie and Daniels are arguing again...

Jay Lethal just doesn't like Bullet Club. He didn't like it when the torpedoed his PPV main event last year, he didn't like when Adam Cole, as part of the faction, took his World Title, and he still doesn't like them now they include his current rival Cody Rhodes. Therefore he will be anxious to score a victory over the 'Hangman' of Bullet Club, Adam Page. These guys had a great match in Columbus last year which saw Lethal emerge victorious. It would be a major boost to Page's career if he could get some payback with a return victory this evening.

Page attacks Lethal during his entrance...so Lethal dropkicks him off the apron. Each man still wears their vests as this war explodes into life, with Jay tearing his off after landing an electric flurry of tope suicidas. Hangman knocks Lethal loopy with trips to the railing, ensuring he is out on his feet and vulnerable to the SSP SHOULDER TACKLE off the apron. He seems to be working on the face and head, not by using too many elaborate spots but instead opting to smash it into the turnbuckles or open Lethal up for a running boot into the mouth for 2. It also means that when Lethal tries to trade strikes with him the Hangman is able to fell the former champ with a single elbow. Buckshot Lariat COUNTERED to the Lethal Combo...and both men are down. Hail To The King nailed for 2. Page dodges the Lethal Injection and piles into Lethal's face and head again with the Buckshot Lariat. Jay grabs the ropes to evade the Rite Of Passage, but injures his bad knee once again. Ace Crusher by Lethal, only for Cody to run in and distract him. RITE OF PASSAGE! Page wins at 10:03

Rating - *** - We can all agree that the finish here was poor and a classic case of Delirious not having the confidence to book a heel to go over cleanly. But before the finish this was very good. Page played his role well, coming off as aggressive and purposeful - with the entertaining gameplan of trying to f*ck up Lethal's head and face. Lethal wasn't at his best selling the impact of that, but otherwise drew plenty of genuine sympathy from the audience such is his ability to emote and tell his story within a contest. Their match last year was better, but this was decent enough. I have a lot of time for both men and I'm fully confident they could blow this out of the water with a better slot and more minutes of match-time to work with. As ever, I'm always on board with ROH pulling their fingers out and trying to push Page seriously...

Page, Cody and Adam Cole amuse themselves beating up Jay Lethal, drawing The Addiction out of the locker room to come to their rescue. Daniels calls the retreating Bullet Club a bunch of cowards. 

What a weird, thrown together bunch of guys this is. Ferrara is a fine feisty underdog, Gresham is a small but supremely skilled technician, Sho is a Japanese talent on excursion and hot after a big win yesterday, whilst Dane is a massive imposing monster who has enjoyed reasonable success since debuting back at Survival Of The Fittest 2016. Any one of these guys could win it...

Dane towers over everyone else in the match (and is almost double the size of Gresham) so unsurprisingly everyone leaves refusing to start the match with him. Finally Gresham and Ferrara trick Sho into starting on their behalf...and literally skip to the floor to make sure he can't tag out. Will waits for Jax to obliterate Tanaka with a Samoan drop before blind-tagging Dane out of the match. Ferrara also has a mini tantrum when Jon Gresham easily out-wrestles he and Sho without breaking a sweat. Jax tags back and throws Ferrara and Tanaka through the air with suplexes. Double airplane spin on both of them...into a double Samoan drop! DOUBLE 300 SPEAR! (Is that a 600?). Gresham has no choice but to step in with Godzilla...and gets dumped with a spinebuster when he tries to freaky lucha-inspired chain-wrestling. The monster tries to snap poor Gresh in half with a Boston Crab, but can't get a submission because Jon isn't the legal man. Ferrara and Tanaka are legal apparently, as all three of the smaller men unload offence on Dane (with Gresh leading the charge). Triple dropkick by the junior heavyweights! Will then suckerpunches Sho with Eyes Wide Shut to steal a win at 05:33

Rating - ** - The biggest compliment I can give this one is that it felt authentically 'old school' ROH, in the sense that it was a four corner match throwing together a bunch of guys with nothing else going on, who don't seem to belong together, and are really just out there to fill a spot. But, this was far from the worst of matches. Jax Dane was so different from everyone else he was rightly the focal point, and I thought he was excellent in what he needed to deliver. I don't think he's done much wrong in any of his ROH appearances to be honest, so I'm amazed at the level of indifference or criticism he has received from some quarters. I didn't particularly like the booking of Ferrara and Sho however. Sho and Yoh have started to find their feet as excitable, Japanese junior villains on the ROH undercard scene, so to see Sho relegated back to comedy idiot whilst Ferrara got the rudo role (and did a considerably worse job at it) was disappointing.

Hindsight would tell us that this is a battle between two men who are running down their contracts so they can start work in another company. The fact that there was a high demand for their talents isn't surprising, as they both had impressive 2016's - with Lio Rush becoming an instant hit and one of the most watchable parts of ROH's roster from the moment he debuted. Tonight he faces Bobby Fish who is preparing for his World Title shot at Manhattan Mayhem - a title shot Bobby won via victory in the 2016 Survival Of The Fittest Tournament. The man he defeated in the final two of that tournament was none other than his opponent this evening. Will lightning strike twice? Or does Lio get payback for the SOTF loss and simultaneously deal a major blow to Fish's Manhattan Mayhem preparations?

Fish is back to being a brash loudmouth tonight. Lio certainly doesn't lack in confidence either and the first minute descends into each of them trying to one-up each other in meaningless little battles like kicks or single-legs. Bobby is the man who dials up the aggression - repeatedly mowing Lio down with roundhouse kicks. Rush brings the speed, dodging Fish at every turn then coming off the bottom rope with an Asai moonsault to the floor. He makes an error in judgement by playing to the crowd and trying to out-strike Fish. The veteran recognises his mistake immediately and pounces to start attacking Lio's leg. The former TV Champ isn't holding back on his strikes either and pummels the wounded younger man in the corner. Ian Riccaboni shows why he is a huge upgrade on Kevin Kelly by talking about how Lio has enjoyed instant success in his career, versus how long Bobby Fish had to work before earning a spot in ROH. Fish puts some stink on a tilta-whirl backbreaker for 2. Now even when Lio tries to break out some of his signature illusive ducking and weaving tactics Bobby simply smothers him with a running elbow or flying tackle. Rush's knee is bothering him and Fish has beaten his back and ribs to pulp too...and he inflicts yet more damage with the turnbuckle exploder for 2. Rush throws a few more strikes, then brilliantly evades the running tackle spot Bobby has taken him down with a couple of times before. It opens the door for a diving corkscrew enzi strike. Fish retreats to the apron but keeps throwing strikes from out there - kicking the legs out from under his opponent once more. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE FLURRY by Lio! DRAGON'S CALL! But he loses precious seconds selling the injuries, and can only roll into a weakened cover for a 2-count. Bobby starts calling Lio a 'young boy' then crushes his ribs again with the Falcon Arrow. Lio kicks out...INTO FISH HOOK DELUXE! But Rush powers to the ropes! REPEATED KICKS TO BOBBY'S FACE! Fish boots Lio's legs again as he tries another Dragon's Call. AVALANCHE FALCON ARROW! Fish emerges victorious in an absolute war at 15:53

Rating - **** - Even on the most forgettable of ROH shows it feels like Delirious tries his hardest to throw in a 'keep the old ROH fans happy' match. This was definitely that match this evening - they killed it. There wasn't a lot of silly character work or shenanigans, just two high quality performers letting the immense skill of their ring-work do the talking. Lio Rush didn't spend long in ROH but amassed a remarkable back-catalogue of work, of which this now forms a part. His selling wasn't perfect, and at times I thought his laid back character detracted from how sympathetic I found him as an underdog...but he is SUCH a rising star. Fish was much better all round (from both a character and a workrate standpoint). I have this as best match of the entire weekend thus far.

The fans go nuts for the last match, which is why watching Sinclair-owned Ring Of Honor is so infuriating. This one felt as authentically 'old-school ROH' as any match this weekend, and it gets the biggest reaction. I wish the people in charge would notice and take heed. Bobby Fish gets the microphone and calls himself the 'next World Champion'. It draws out Adam Cole, who tries and fails to hit Fish with the title belt. Bobby hits a Falcon Arrow on top of the belt to leave Cole laying...

As I discussed for the main event for Undisputed Legacy yesterday, despite not having been on TV or DVD to announce it, the new Motor City Machine Guns and friends group is now formally called 'Search & Destroy'. They lost a big multi-man main match in San Antonio the previous evening, yet are rewarded with a title shot tonight for reasons that probably can't be explained other than 'we need challengers and the match will be good'. Jay White will be looking for some payback as he was part of the losing team that The Kingdom cheated to defeat in the finals of the Six-Man Tag Title Tournament at Final Battle 2016.

'The Six Man division is heating up' - Ian Riccaboni reaching to Kevin Kelly levels of bullsh*t in a vein attempt to put this new championship over. The Kingdom mug White from the bell, getting the jump on him over his more experienced partners. Search & Destroy clear the ring with a trio of dives to the floor, then return with Marseglia in their possession for a beatdown. White leaps over Shelley into a crossbody block for 2, putting his team in charge then bailing so the knowledge and tag team prowess of the Machine Guns can come to the fore. Taven has to make a save - dropping Sabin onto his dodge neck with a DDT. Very quickly it means that the champs are in charge, with plenty of offence aimed at Sabin's neck. Even something as simple as a throat thrust from O'Ryan injures the body part and prevents Chris from making a tag. Bridging German/springboard elbow drop from Taven and TK gets 2. Sabin blocks Rock Star Supernova and kicks his way through the defending champs for a hot tag to Jay. Elbow suicida from White to TK...and he floats through into a pescado!  Exploder to the turnbuckles floors O'Ryan again. Kiwi Crusher blocked...so all three challengers hit a triple team ASCS Rush version for 2. Russian legsweep/Asai moonsault combo by Vinny and Matt gets 2 as well! Resolution BLOCKED with White's knees into Taven's abs on the Five Star Frog Splash element of the signature Kingdom flurry. Turnbuckle Shellshock from Alex to Vinny! Through the legs tope by Sabin! Springboard corkscrew senton by Marseglia! RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE by Taven wipes out his own partners! TOP ROPE SWANTON TO THE FLOOR BY WHITE! The New Zealander almost shoots O'Ryan out of his boots with a shotgun missile dropkick...and with Search & Destroy running rampant Taven simply whacks Shelley in the back of his head with the walking stick he comes to the ring wielding. That's an obvious DQ victory for MCMG and White at 12:50

Rating - *** - None of the Six-Man Tag Title matches I've seen thus far have been bad by any stretch. The Kingdom are enjoyable enough as a trio and they've already proven to be decent foils for whichever triumvirate of ROH workers they've opposed. It has to be said, however, that this was the weakest by a distance. Shelley, Sabin and White never looked motivated, and certainly weren't acting like a group of guys who were desperate to win these new belts - which I found really off-putting and damaging to ROH's hopes of building the credibility of the trios division. With no tangible drama and no hope of a title change, plus a number of performers who fans may not be enormously familiar with (TK, Vinny and White in particular) the atmosphere inside the building felt flat. The finish was TERRIBLE too...

Search & Destroy nab the three title belts and pose with them whilst The Kingdom skulk away...

Because it's main event time and the show has barely clocked past two hours, ROH have decided in their infinite wisdom that what we fans would prefer is not matches like Fish/Rush, Lethal/Page or Castle/Dijak getting more time...but instead another Bullet Club promo segment. Here comes Cody Rhodes to do ring announcing duties for the Young Bucks. Jay Lethal jumps him from behind and they fight through the crowd and out of the building...

In London the Briscoe brothers were able to defeat the Bucks in non-title action. At Final Battle, when the stakes were highest however, the Bucks got their win back and entered 2017 still as Tag Champions. But the Briscoes have been granted another shot - with one of their favourite match stipulations booked for it too. Back during their 2007 title run the Briscoes made a name for themselves by winning 2/3 Falls matches in 'two straight' (i.e. not needing the third fall). It was symbolic of their dominance, with teams of the calibre of the Kings Of Wrestling and Kevin Steen/El Generico all going down in 'two straight'. Perhaps the biggest indicator that their epic Tag Title reign of '07 was coming to an end actually came when the No Remorse Corps were able to sneak a fall in a 2/3 Falls Match too (even though Jay and Mark survived to Final Battle '07 and Age Of The Fall). Can they reprise the success they enjoyed a decade ago? If they can they'll end the reign of the notorious Young Bucks and further cement their legacy as the greatest ROH Tag Champions of all time. There are some slightly weird rules in play here with the first fall being a standard match, the second under 'Lucha Rules' and the third fall (if needed) a No DQ Match...

Ian calls the first fall pivotal for the Briscoes, because 'Lucha Rules' will so obviously favour the Bucks. Seriously, this guy is such a vast improvement on the standard of ROH announcing for the past five years. Matt and Jay start and clearly know the significance of this first fall as they come out all guns blazing looking for an early pin. Nick and Mark don't let up the rapid pace either, so the Bucks decide to take matters into their own hands and start dishing out combo moves. In response, the Briscoes shut their big mouths with a flurry of big and aggressive strike flurries (and by tossing one of the Bucks to the floor). The power of the Briscoe brothers starts to see them dominate. It isn't always pretty but they keep the Young Bucks separate and grounded at all times. Jay is apparently competing with a cracked rib though, which can't be pleasant. Nick speeds things up with a moonsault off the apron, and almost snatches the first fall by blocking Mark's urinage suplex into a pin. Meltzer Driver blocked...Superkick no sold...and Mark lands a mafia kick to leave both he and Nick on the ground. Snap DVD from Jay to Matt gets 2. Nick saves his brother from the Doomsday Device...but then Mark hits the SPRINGBOARD CUTTER to counter the Meltzer Driver. Splash Mountain Neckbreaker for 2! Still the Briscoes can't hit the Doomsday Device, but in the melee Jay is able to victory roll Matt and snatch the first fall for the challengers at 09:35. With the first fall in the bank Jay gets on the microphone to berate 'lucha' rules, before Mark attacks both Nick and Matt from behind with a steel chair. The Briscoes are disqualified at 10:13, meaning we are now 1-1 and into the No DQ concluding fall. And since it's now No DQ there is nothing stopping Mark from continuing to hammer on the champs with the chair. Jay backs it up with a running avalanche to sandwich Nick's head against a chair in the corner. UNCLE MULE VAN DAMINATOR by Mark! That is Nick out of commission, so he switches focus to Matt and gives him a Russian legsweep into the guardrails. Both Bucks take bumps against the support beams holding the roof of the building up, dispersed with Mark continuing to pepper them with chair shots. NICK CLIMBS THE BEAM LIKE A TREE AND HITS A MOONSAULT! STEREO APRON BOMBS!  Rise Of The Terminator tope suicidas next as the defending champions start using their insanity and creativity to fight back into the contest. Onto the entrance stage we go next, with all four men trading strikes like lunatics. Jay Driller on the stage COUNTERED with a Superkick, and all four go down! They crawl back towards the ring at a stalemate - eventually getting back to their feet and going right back to throwing strikes. Superkick flurry by the Jacksons! This is how they won at Final Battle! SUPERKICK PARTY! Jay and Mark are begging for more! Therefore the Bucks strap their 'Superkick Party Championships' around their opponents heads...only for Jay and Mark to smack them around the face with the hardware. Day One Neckbreaker/Froggy Bow combo gets 2. LARIAT on Nick, setting him up for the JAY DRILLER! Froggy Bow again...but Hangman Page breaks the pin! FLYING BLOCKBUSTER OFF THE APRON ACCIDENTALLY TAKES OUT THE REF! Buckshot Lariat from Page to his old rival Jay! Hangman starts feeding chairs to the champs, which they leave in position for the ELEVATED SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASH THROUGH CHAIRS! Jay kicks out! INADVERTENT SUPERKICKS ON PAGE! INADVERTENT SUPERKICKS TO THE SECOND REF! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! JAY BREAKS THE PIN! The Bucks drag Jay up the aisle...FLYING INDYTAKER OFF THE STAGE! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMERS through a chair on Mark! MELTZER DRIVER ON THE CHAIR! It's done! The Bucks win the match 2-1 at 25:28

Rating - **** - This was a GREAT match, sitting comfortably as the best Bucks/Briscoes ROH bout that I've seen (ahead of their awesome HDNet match, ahead of that random house show match from a couple of years ago, and ahead of both of their late-2016 matches too). ROH had house shows and B-shows under Gabe Sapolsky too...but the thing his era did better is that when a f*cking great match like this happened on a B-show, they shouted from the rafters about it. They were on the message boards, it was in newswires - if you were an ROH fan you knew when you needed to check something out. Sinclair treats house shows like afterthoughts, so sadly this hidden gem will be lost to all but completists which is a real shame. I would have preferred they ditched the 2/3 Falls formats and just ran a No DQ match and I didn't love the 'f*ck lucha' jettison on the second fall...but for the most part this was so smart. The opening fall wasn't outrageous, but every action was loaded with significance (against a backdrop of some superb commentary from Ian Riccaboni). Then the final fall was suitably crazy - the Briscoes acting like total killers and the Bucks using the unique lay-out of this venue to get creative and hit some neat variants of their usual spots. If you have an Honor Club membership go watch this. I can't pretend the whole show is much to write home about, but these guys deserve to have as many eyes on this match as possible.

Tape Rating - ** - This was a very similar show to Undisputed Legacy the previous evening. Nothing on the card was offensively bad, but the whole event felt completely skippable until a couple of matches high on the card step in and save it. To that end, Honor Reigns Supreme is probably a slightly 'better' show because Fish/Rush and Bucks/Briscoes were the best matches of the weekend...but then again the entire undercard after Dijak/Castle was far worse than yesterday. Nothing from this weekend will live long in the memory, and with so much in the pipeline for ROH (Honor Rising 2017 in Japan, Manhattan Mayhem, the 15th Anniversary PPV then the huge Supercard Of Honor WrestleMania weekend show) this stop-off in Texas felt very inconsequential.

3) Dalton Castle vs Donovan Dijak (***)

2) Bobby Fish vs Lio Rush (****)

1) Young Bucks vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (****)

5) Dalton Castle vs Donovan Dijak (*** - Honor Reigns Supreme)

4) Cody vs Donovan Dijak (**** - Undisputed Legacy)

3) Adam Cole/Adam Page/Young Bucks vs Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin/Jay White/Lio Rush (**** - Undisputed Legacy)

2) Bobby Fish vs Lio Rush (**** - Honor Reigns Supreme)

1) Young Bucks vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (**** - Honor Reigns Supreme)