McXal's Reviews

This is our final stop on the road to Best In The World 2017. I was hugely critical of the previous night's VOD-exclusive show in Chicago, but the card for tonight gives fans cause for cautious optimism. The 'Gateway To Gold' Gauntlet Match is the centrepiece, where ten men will compete to earn a World Title shot in the main event. Beneath that we have some fun matches lined up. Jay Briscoe vs Shane Taylor could be a real fight. The Young Bucks defending the ROH Tag Titles against The Kingdom should be entertaining. Alex Shelley makes an increasingly rare in-ring appearance, as the Motor City Machine Guns face the Bullet Club of Cody and Hangman Page (who were excellent in yesterday's main event). And we also have Bobby Fish's final ROH appearance; closing things out with his hotly anticipated Anniversary Show rematch with Jay Lethal. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana provide commentary from Collinsville, IL.

I believe this is the first time I've reviewed a Shadows match. Her nickname is apparently the 'Midwest Slayer' and she certainly has an imposing look. Her compact, stocky build is quite the contrast to Leon, and she looks to have all the tools to give the 'Exotic Goddess' a real challenge this evening. The WOH division itself is going through something of a rebuild. Talents like Veda Scott and Taeler Hendrix have fallen away. Crazy Mary Dobson, who had been a semi-regular, was also signed up to NXT. It left Mandy and Kelly Klein as the mainstays of the division as new talent - like Deonna Purrazzo - started to bed themselves in. Stacy is another member of that 'new class' trying to make an impact.

Stacy uses her size and tosses Leon around in the first thirty seconds. It gets REALLY ugly, really quickly as she and Leon trade some appalling strikes, then flub a snapmare spot. Shadows catches Leon going for a crossbody and flattens her with a diving front slam for 2. German suplex blocked...into more AWFUL kicks from Mandy. Jumping Unprettier by Leon...but Stacy rolls outside before she can make a pin. Mandy hits a cannonball off the apron! Shadows barely pauses to sell that and DESTROYS her with a spinebuster on the floor! Leon staggers back with a bulldog, then flings herself off the top rope into a Joshi-style missile dropkick with almost no attempt made to protect herself on landing. Again she struggles to make an impact though and Stacy blasts her with a bicycle kick for 2. The Exotic Goddess tries to force a submission with a Koji Clutch, and when Shadows stands up to escape that Mandy counters to a sunset flip...and snatches the win at 06:02

Rating - ** - Some of Mandy's striking was ghastly to look at, and it took them a couple of minutes to get onto the same page. But I thought this was a spirited little match which got better and better as it progressed. I've defended Leon frequently in my review series thus far. I don't think she's a great worker by any stretch, but I do think her and Kelly Klein have become scapegoats for the general fan dissatisfaction with the Women Of Honor division. She is in way over her head, with similarly ill-equipped opponents...but she busts her ass, takes big bumps and clearly has a passion to be successful. For every dreadful strike or sloppy spot here, there was a huge risk or painful looking bump. I can admire that kind of spirit. Shadows was serviceable as the cat to Mandy's mouse, and I was pleased that the flash pin finish, although ugly, did something to protect some of her mystique. The big issue ROH and the WOH division have is that there just isn't enough talent to make this viable - particularly if Sinclair won't open the checkbook and pay proper money for these women. The 'women's revolution' means WWE is playing catch-up and needs as much female talent as it can get. Any female wrestler with genuine skill or potential is being snapped up. ROH makes its task even more difficult as it doesn't work overly closely with prominent female wrestling promotions SHIMMER or SHINE (due to their association with WWNLive) or much of the talent therein. In a market where all the best talents either sign for WWE, or want to work for SHIMMER/SHINE (and even Impact) before ROH, or your owners don't want to spend the money to bring in established top tier female indy talent like Mercedes Martinez, Cheerleader Melissa, LuFisto etc - the pool of performers open the Women Of Honor division becomes slim...

Arguably the highest profile match we've seen from Flip in his brief ROH career. He makes his first appearance on a non-televised event and steps into the ring with a fired up Frankie Kazarian. Kaz is preparing for a Strap Match with Hangman Page - will that motivate him to put a beating on Gordon here, or cause complacency to set in and present Flip with the possibility of an upset victory?

Kazarian is a veteran and doesn't let go of Gordon in the opening minutes - limiting him to chain-wrestling and minimising his opportunities to fly. For his part Flip impresses by holding his own, eventually wrestling to a stalemate. A satellite headscissors dumps Kaz to the floor, allowing Flip to cartwheel along the apron into a kick to the head. Tope suicida nailed, but he then misses a springboard 450 back inside. Springboard dropkick instead nailed! Slingshot DDT from Frankie in response, using Flip's desire to use the ropes against him. Gordon is still reeling from that as he walks into the hiptoss neckbreaker for 2. A clubbing lariat - right across the neck and throat - spirals Gordon through the air and cements Kazarian's position of dominance. NECK DROP German suplex nailed! All of Kaz's offence is concentrated on destroying the head and neck of his young opponent now. He tries another hiptoss neckbreaker...but this time Gordon flips away from him! Punches and elbows by the youngster! Samoan Pop gets 2 - but he comes up clutching his neck. KINDER SURPRISE! Again Flip gets too excited - running into the ropes where Kaz hammers his neck with the Jerry Lynn leg drop, instantly followed by the slingshot cutter. Kaz wins at 07:33

Rating - *** - A really fun opening match which I wasn't ready to see end. Flip has been really fun thus far, delivering entertaining matches with a variety of opponents. He had a great squash against Sydal, a fun technician versus high-flyer battle at the TV taping in Chicago against Gresham and now this smart and punchy veteran versus talented rising star clash. Although low key in his delivery, Frankie absolutely destroyed Flip's neck as this went along, which Gordon was pleasingly committed to selling too. Everything I've seen from Gordon thus far has made me want to see more of him. These guys could've easily gone another five minutes without losing the audience.

The crowd isn't huge for this show, but they give Flip a standing ovation...

Like Gordon, we haven't seen C2C at many non-televised/house show events, so I'm looking forward to see what they can do when they get more than three compressed minutes to get all their sh*t in. Shaheem looks a natural athlete, LSG  is a precise high-flyer - they've done nothing but entertain me in what little I've seen of them so far. Will that be enough to stop a motivated Rebellion team (with Shane Taylor in their corner), preparing for war against Search & Destroy on pay-per-view?

Coleman recognises the natural gifts Ali possesses...so decides his best course of action is to ensnare him into a prolonged headlock. Shaheem clears the ring of both Rebels, but on the floor they hit a ringpost 619/guardrail lariat combo to put the C2C man on the defensive. St. Giovanni gets a tag and levels Coleman with a springboard forearm. The Rebellion put him down with a modified Hart Attack (Caprice showed incredible presence of mind to change his body position in mid-air when Rhett hadn't positioned LSG properly) for 2. Tumbling clothesline by Leon, which brings Shaheem back to drop Titus with an Olympic Slam. Trinity by Caprice, who hits the jumping super rana on Ali soon after. Big Dawg Splash by Titus wins it for The Rebellion at 07:34

Rating - ** - Too short to mean anything, too long to be a squash; C2C didn't get enough in to get themselves over, but got too much in for this to be considered a dominant win for The Rebellion. In short, this match never really made it clear what the purpose actually was - and as a result came off as extremely bland and forgettable. Caprice was fun at times, and I really do like the athleticism and potential of LSG and Ali, but this was entirely passable B-show filler content which you don't need to see under any circumstances.

Shane Taylor gets on the microphone, sends his Rebellion partners to the locker room and calls out Jay Briscoe for their match!

At no point during his ROH career thus far has Shane Taylor backed away from a fight. He came in with Keith Lee targeting two of the biggest men on the roster in War Machine. He has pushed everyone he's faced to the limit - even New Japan's Hirooki Goto during the War Of The Worlds Tour. Now he faces ROH original, former World Champion and current Six-Man Champion Jay Briscoe. A win here would be a major statement of intent...and would also potentially put The Rebellion at the front of the queue for a trios title shot should they survive Best In The World...

Briscoe doesn't wait for the introductions to finish; storming the ring and trying to take Taylor's head off with strikes. Shane takes his best shots and smashes him right back! Mafia kicks knock Taylor out of the ring, with the guardrail exploding behind him when Jay dives for an elbow suicida. Eventually Taylor starts ignoring Jay's repeated boots to the head...and gives him an APRON BOMB! The former World Champion slumps to the arena floor but is given no time to recover and soon finds his skull being bashed into a nearby garbage can. Jay has no choice but to retreat into the corner and cover up as Shane peppers him with strikes; in itself a remarkable concession of the threat Shane poses. And he isn't done, drawing a close nearfall with a Saito suplex. Needing to get some gas back in the tank, Shane puts all of his body weight across Jay's throat with a rear chinlock and does so with such conviction that it becomes semi-plausible that he might choke Jay out. ST-JOE NAILED! But he takes too long climbing the ropes for the flying splash - allowing Briscoe back up to hit a DVD. Roaring elbow drops Taylor to his knees, and a running rana completes the job of taking him down. Jay Driller blocked...Day One Neckbreaker instead! LARIAT BY TAYLOR! With a big smirk on his face he tries to set up a parody of the Jay Driller, only to be stomped back into the corner with running facewashes. GIANT SUPERPLEX BY JAY! NO SOLD! LARIATOOOO! JAY DRILLER NAILED! Briscoe wins in a bruising 12:46

Rating - **** - This was wild, physical, intense and I really enjoyed it. Taylor is something of a hidden gem on the ROH roster right now. He can talk, he carries his character well, his remarkable weight-loss means he is more mobile and physically exciting to watch...and he is really good in 'American strong-style' matches like this. At times this wasn't pretty but he and Jay really beat the sh*t out of each other. Even in defeat, getting to go toe-to-toe with a respected tough guy on the roster like Briscoe gives him real credibility. He is already the 'star' of The Rebellion and, having used them to make himself relevant again after Keith Lee left, it already feels like has outgrown a joke, comedy undercard heel stable. 

Ten men will enter in standard Gauntlet Match fashion, with the winner receiving a World Title shot in the main event. I don't know if the participants were announced ahead of time, but as I'm reviewing this years later I have the list of combatants and it is certainly an eclectic bunch. Jonathan Gresham and Yoh Komatsu will start. Yoh's fellow Tempura Boy, Sho Tanaka, will be out later too. We'll also see The Rebellion's Kenny King, Dalton Castle, Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara (just 24 hours after Will turned on Burger in Chicago), arch rivals Jay White and Punishment Martinez...and a totally random return to ROH for Jake Crist (of OI4K/oVe/Irish Airborne notoriety). Who advances to face Daniels, with the opportunity to royally f*ck up the Best In The World main event at stake!?

Yoh looks thrilled to get some actual wrestling in; smiling broadly as he and Gresh work the mat. Gresham uses his immense skill to frustrate Komatsu...until Yoh uses the ropes for some illegal assistance. The Tempura Boy opens up an injury to Jon's arm, noticeably annoying 'The Octopus'. He delivers a big vertical suplex but is now much slower in his attempts to capitalise. Sling Blade by Yoh, setting up a Pumphandle Driver for 2! Gresham has seen enough - busting out a funky bridging version of La Magistral to take the win, advancing at 06:10. Up next is Jake Crist (with Dave joining commentary to boot). It's a hot start for Crist - flinging himself out of the ropes with a flying Ace Crusher for 2. Gresham attacks the arm; quickly leaving him in real pain. Jake goes to kicks instead, right into a DIVING DVD for 2! Gresham dumps him on his shoulder again with a German, followed by a diving knee drop to the leg. The bridging cradle that drew victory against Yoh gets 2 on this occasion...so Crist f*cking DUMPS Gresh with a piledriver. Octopus Stretch on the bad arm! Jake taps at 05:27 (11:37 total). Kenny King is in at #4 - pouncing as a fatigued Gresham can barely get up of the ground and swinging him into the guardrails. After a suplex on the ground Jon looks down and out, but shows real courage to retaliate with a tackle into the railings on The Rebellion member. OLE KICK SCORES! Kenny shunts him into the ringpost...only for Gresham to no sell for a flying knee strike off the apron. CORKSCREW PESCADO by King! The bell officially rings with Gresh countering the Royal Flush into a victory roll for 2. Sadly for him Kenny counters back - muscling him into the Royal Flush and eliminating him at 01:14 (12:51 total), ending Gresham's impressive tenure in the bout. Sho Tanaka arrives at #5. He wants to maintain a quick pace and runs the ropes trying to blow Kenny up. King slumps to the outside...in an experienced move which allows him time to catch his breath before levelling Tanaka with a jumping enzi. Kenny looks ragged - noticeably popping Sho right in the mouth (inadvertently), then swinging wildly with an ugly clothesline spot for 2. Sho hits back with a fisherman suplex, but walks into the Last Chancery and has to submit at 05:20 (18:11 total). Dalton Castle is entrant #6 - getting his full entrance even in the middle of a match, if only to allow Kenny to catch his breath as he looked totally gassed. 

Even after the elaborate entrance King still wants more time so makes like his mentor Austin Aries and stalls on the floor. They continue the stall-fest by recreating the same thumb war spot they used in Chicago the previous evening, THEN some Dalton Castle posing to kill still more time. King has had almost a ten minute rest since defeating Sho by the time they start fighting in earnest. And by 'fighting in earnest', I mean King working a chinlock to stall again. Dude is absolutely sucking wind now and sweating buckets too. He is almost dead weight as Castle starts throwing him around with suplexes. Capo Kick blocks the Everest German. Bang-A-Rang blocked with a corkscrew enzi then a spinebuster for 2. Even Cabana on commentary has to point out that Kenny is totally blown up now. He can't hit the Royal Flush though, and Castle hauls him down again with a back drop driver. Everest German gets 2. Kenny runs away again...as Jay Briscoe emerges through the curtain to antagonise The Boys again. CORKSCREW DIVE by Kenny! Royal Flush! King wins again! 08:19 (26:30 shown) is the time and despite being absolutely exhausted, thanks to his old rival Jay Briscoe, Kenny King is still going. Cheeseburger is #7, breaking out the Shotei inside twenty seconds. Corkscrew enzi by King to counter an attempted Super Shotei. The Motor City Machine Guns run in and distract Kenny...so Burger can counter the Royal Flush into a small package and score an upset victory at 01:13 (27:43 total). So we went through all that with King looking blown up as f*ck just for a stupid Cheeseburger joke? Obviously Will Ferrara is #8, causing an immediate change in Burger's mood. Ferrara comes in through the crowd and SMOKES Cheese with a steel chair shot! Will accepts a DQ loss and beats the sh*t out of Burger with the chair (without the bell officially ringing for his time in the match). Punishment Martinez enters at #9, presented with the sight of an unconscious Cheeseburger. He hits South Of Heaven anyway - taking the win at 00:12 (27:55 total). It means that Martinez and Jay White - already huge rivals coming into this - are our final two. Jay sprints out into a fight with the Punisher and blasts him into the corner with his striking power. Martinez fires back with the rebound punch and instantly drops White to a knee. Flying forearm off the apron by White! He uppercuts Punishment with such force that the big man topples into the front row. Martinez recovers quickly and dishes out some rough trips into the guardrail himself. The brawl continues around ringside as referee Paul Turner counts them both out! It's a double count-out at 03:09 (31:04 total).

Rating - * - I straight-up don't like Gauntlet Matches. There are some exceptions, but mostly they aren't my thing at all and this was an example of why. There was some good stuff tucked away in here. Jon Gresham's performance was good. I thought they found a smart way of advancing the Ferrara/Cheeseburger stuff without adding to the already bloated run-time with them actually wrestling. Jay Briscoe making an appearance added a little more substance to the Briscoes/Bully vs Dalton/Boys Trios Title Match at Best In The World. But man alive was this a slog to get through. Jake Crist showed up dressed like an oddball, flailed around inexplicably, hit 5,000 spots, sold nothing...then left. He did nothing for me on this showing (and I'd much rather have seen the scheduled Bucks/OI4K match before Dave got injured). Kenny King has barely wrestled all year - and when he has it has mostly been in short matches or tags on television. His ring rust showed and he badly blew up. Unfortunately he was the focal point of the entire middle portion of the match - so a big chunk of this was boring, stall-heavy and brutally slow because he was utterly gassed. Dalton having to chuck him around like deadweight was scary. Given that ROH supposedly has big post-Rebellion plans for him, he needs to get his ring-legs back ASAP. Oh, and the finish. What the f*ck? We sit through 30 minutes of this and they come up with a double count-out!? I love White and Martinez, but that sucked. The entire 'Gateway To Gold' concept was a big miss for me. I hope it doesn't become an annual thing...

Security staff struggle to quell the brawl between Martinez and White...and into the melee comes Christopher Daniels. He criticises them for letting their tempers ruin the Gateway To Gold...but because we have no authority figure and wrestlers can book whatever the hell they want now (Daniels has basically decided his challengers all the way through his reign anyway, hence Cody keeps getting shots)...the champ decides to defend against both of them in a triple threat for the belt.

This is the final ROH appearance for Bobby Fish. Everyone thought he was done after failing to take the World Title at Manhattan Mayhem then losing to Jay Lethal at the Anniversary PPV - but he made an unscheduled appearance at Supercard Of Honor to announce that he wasn't going anywhere until he got one more match with Lethal. That takes place this evening; a rematch of their classic at the 15th Anniversary Show. Can he avenge the loss on his way out? Or will Lethal secure another big victory and push his claims for yet another shot at the World Championship?

The opening exchanges are tense and tentative; each man probing for weaknesses and keen to avoid any mistakes made in their prior bout. First strike goes to Fish who locks in a Crossface which has Lethal scrambling for the ropes. Jay is left feeling his ribs and back and visibly shows the ill-effects whilst hitting his hiptoss/dropkick combo. A single kick to the ribs is now enough to drop the former World Champion to his knees. In the end he punts Lethal with such force that Jay tumbles right through the ropes to the floor. Bobby is uncharacteristically quiet this evening; silent and ruthless as he picks apart 'the Franchise'. The ribs and back are crushed again with a Samoan Drop...only for Jay to no sell and fire back with the Lethal Combination! Both men are down and Fish leaves the ring for ample time to recover. He returns with a tilta-whirl backbreaker...but then MISSES a moonsault aimed at the bad ribs. Lethal flees...Fish tries a spear on the floor...and EATS GUARDRAIL when Jay dodges! Tope Trifecta nailed, each dive smearing Bobby against the railings again. Hail To The King scores for 2. With Lethal slow to recover from that, Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser stroll to the ring for a closer view of the action. Lethal Injection COUNTERED to the Fish Hook! Jay has had a bad leg for a long time - something that Silas has exploited as well. But he survives at this point (largely because Fish has stayed away from it all match). TURNBUCKLE EXPLODER rattles Jay's ribs and leg simultaneously. Fish thinks about the avalanche Falcon Arrow, but Jay shoves him away toppling Todd Sinclair in the process. Young seizes his opportunity with Sinclair on the deck - crotching Lethal the corner. Bobby hits the super Falcon Arrow second time around and wins at 12:46

Rating - *** - Good match, sh*tty finish...and a terribly underwhelming way for such a vibrant performer as Bobby Fish to depart Ring Of Honor. I appreciate ROH are gearing up for Best In The World, but this is a VOD show which only their most hardcore fans will watch. There was no need for this bullsh*t. We should have seen a twenty minute Lethal/Fish classic rematch to bid farewell to Bobby. If there were any need for Lethal/Silas shenanigans they could have come afterwards. How much more heat would it have gotten if Bobby and Jay had torn the house down, worked a clean match then both been jumped by Silas and Bruiser during a final Code Of Honor handshake/hug/standing ovation? This was crap, lazy, arrogant booking and a real example of why multiple companies have now overtaken ROH in their claim to be the 'best wrestling on the planet'. The meat and potatoes of the match were good, so I can't rate this a bad match'...but the dumb finish left a really sour taste in my mouth. It was just another reminder of how dearly I miss the promotion Ring Of Honor USED to be.

Silas and Bruiser put the boots to Lethal, then grab Fish for a SPIKE BEER CITY DRIVER! That's how Bobby's ROH career ends. 

Presumably this is part of Silas and Bruiser's ongoing quest to place themselves into the Six-Man Tag Title picture. A win over two thirds of the Trios Champs would certainly put them in contention even if they still haven't found their ideal third man yet. Bully also possesses a (f*cking retarded) singles win over Silas which is something the Last Real Man will be keen to avenge.

Bully actually opts out of getting a microphone and making it a No DQ match for once. Briscoe and Young start by engaging in a genuine, competitive and impressive exchange of wrestling holds as a result. BCB tags and thunders through Mark, calling out Bully for a fight. And to give Bubba some credit he actually takes a few bumps and makes something of an effort to put over Bruiser as a fearsome opponent. Very quickly he fires back and beats up both opponents with ease - but I did appreciate some of what he did. He follows it by back dropping Mark into a somersault plancha to the outside! Silas hits back by wishboning Briscoe on the ringpost, feeding him into the cannonball off the apron by Beer City. The Milwaukee boys are in charge now and maintain control by keeping Mark well away from his partner. The hot tag does eventually come meaning once again Bubba gets to have fun not selling anything and beating up both opponents at once. He stacks them like pancakes and sends Briscoe upstairs for the Wassup Froggy Bow. Nostalgia-mania runs wild and we all head outside for tables even though it makes no sense in a regular match. Bruiser isn't interested and flattens Mark with a cannonball in the corner for 2. Spike Beer City Driver blocked into a (mildly fluffed) Rocket 

Launcher Froggy Bow. Mark pins Bruiser to win at 11:54

Rating - ** - This wasn't the best ROH/Bully match thus far, but it was also far from the worst or most offensive. Before crushing them like flies he made a genuine effort to sell for Beer City Bruiser, and he was at least willing to participate in the set-up for a couple of cool Mark Briscoe spots. This was pretty bland and formulaic for my taste, but the live crowd were stoked full of nostalgic support for Bubba and generating plenty of heat for Silas and Bruiser so it was contested in front of a suitably rowdy audience. I'm already bored sh*tless of the 'playing the hits' sh*t that Bully does in every match. I don't want to see variable riffs on the Wassup spot. I don't want to be yelling about tables in the middle of a normal match. I don't want to chant 'EC-Dub'. I'm STILL waiting for somebody to tell me what the point of Bubba Ray in ROH actually is. Why is he here? What does he want to achieve? Surely they can't keep rolling him out to do the exact same sh*t on every show?

Ah, so the reason Bully didn't get on the microphone before the match is that he's going to talk now instead. Duelling chants of 'you still got it' and 'never lost it' chants delay him. Thankfully he keeps it brief and puts over ROH before leaving.

The Bucks have 'open contracts' out for title shots because, having beaten the Hardy Boyz at Supercard Of Honor, they feel that nobody can touch them as the best tag team in the world. The Kingdom are the beneficiaries this evening. Taven and Marseglia are still trying to rebound from losing TK O'Ryan to injury and the Six-Man Titles earlier in the year...but their record over the Bullet Club is decent. Taven has high profile wins over the Young Bucks/Bullet Club both with the current 'new' Kingdom and also the previous incarnation with Mike Bennett and Adam Cole. 

The Kingdom attack the champs from behind and Taven bludgeons both of them with his cane. It means by the time the bell rings the Bucks are completely on the back foot and Matt's bad back is already bothering him. They separate the Jacksons for a brawl on the floor leaving them completely unable to string together their exciting combo moves. Taven wants to hit the Hail Mary on the floor...but Nick saves his brother with a punt from the apron. The brothers immediately bring the match back into the ring...and immediately start hitting double team moves. Vinny is cut off from his partner and, noticing his taped shoulder, the Bucks start going to work on his arm. Taven cheap-shots Matt in his bad back though, curtailing the Bucks' momentum and bailing his partner out. Quickly the tables are turned and the challengers are in charge, with a wounded Matt Jackson at their mercy. Still they can't hit the Hail Mary on the floor though. Matt scatters them with back body drops to the concrete, but finds that Taven has hauled Nick off the apron before they can tag. Legsweep/Lionsault combo by The Kingdom gets 2. SUPERKICKS on the floor! ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA BY NICK! Double stomp/hanging lungblower flurry by the champs, setting up the frog splash/standing moonsault sequence as well. They attempt the standing Shiranui...but it's COUNTERED to the Proton Pack for 2! Redrum misses for Marseglia! FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH MISSES for Taven! SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT MISSES for Matt! SUPERKICK DUEL! All four men collapse in exhaustion. For a third time The Kingdom try to set up a Hail mary on the floor...but Nick saves his brother with a Superkick on the apron! INDYTAKER ON THE EXPOSED CONCRETE FLOOR! Taven is somehow not dead after that...but crawls into the ring only to fall victim to the MELTZER DRIVER! Bucks retain at 15:36

Rating - **** - So I thought this was shockingly great. It had all the chicanery you come to expect from a Young Bucks match of course, but what impressed me the most was the substance behind the sizzle tonight. The Kingdom realised they couldn't out-do the Bucks at their own game so devised a strategy which relied on them continually splitting the Bucks up and working them over outside the ring where it was much more difficult to string together combo moves. I loved how they tried to break out the old Bennett/Taven finisher - the Hail Mary spike piledriver - since that was so successful for the previous incarnation of The Kingdom against the Bullet Club. They used Matt Jackson's problem back to get the advantage where necessary...and looked every bit an outfit who posed a genuine threat to the most over tag team on planet earth. The Bucks were on the same wavelength too, picking up the story by repeatedly fighting to get back into the ring...then hitting flurries of combo moves whenever they could. This won't necessary get heaps of praise or go down as an all-time classic, however I found this to be fun and pretty unique for a Young Bucks match. And also Vinny Marseglia's best performance in an ROH ring by a hundred miles.

Since failing to win the Tag Titles in Ladder War 6 the MCMG have meandered and lost their focus on the Tag Championship. They have formed Search & Destroy with a number of their allies, bemoaned the number of factions in ROH making it difficult for them to find success and subsequently become embroiled in an ongoing feud with The Rebellion (which has seen Shelley repeatedly injured and out of action). Tonight they once again set their sights on Bullet Club, the group that they supposedly despise more than even The Rebellion. A win here over Cody and Hangman obviously reignites their Tag Title prospects, whilst a pin over Rhodes (who is going into a World Title match at Best In The World) could even tee them up for a World Title shot down the line...

Ian makes a great point that Page is actually nicknamed 'Hangman' after he tried to throttle Sabin when joining Bullet Club last year. He starts with Shelley and tempers quickly fray. The fight spills to the floor where Page ricochets off the apron to deck Sabin with a lariat. Through-the-legs tope suicida by Sabin scores in return as the fluidity and team experience of the Machine Guns comes to the fore. We see a number of signature MCMG double teams as they cut the ring in half to isolate Page. Hangman tries a desperate Buckshot Lariat but is pinballed with a flurry of strikes. He does eventually land a running clothesline to Sabin to set up the tag to Cody. Disaster Kick from inside to out takes down Shelley! Cross Rhodes nailed! But Sabin is the legal man and levels Rhodes with a punt afterwards. Buckshot Lariat gets 2 for Hangman. Skull & Bones by the Machine Guns...forcing Cody into a desperate save. Dream Sequence on the American Nightmare! Sabin accidentally nails his own partner with the Hesitation Dropkick...and is pinned by Page to give Bullet Club the win at 13:13

Rating - ** - Not bad, but flat all round and absolutely terrible booking to have these guys go on AFTER the Young Bucks. The Machine Guns are an influential team and Alex Shelley is one of the most under-rated wrestlers of the last ten to fifteen years...but they are stone cold right now. In the mid-late 00's they were pretty mind-blowing but a decade later teams like the Young Bucks have taken that 'style' up multiple notches. I don't think Shelley and Sabin have ever really found a style that 'fits' for them now they are older, wiser and slower. That, combined with their total inactivity as a team recently, meant fans were completely sullen for them. Page and Cody, part of the immensely over Bullet Club (and Being The Elite cast members) were the stars here. Personally I'd have had them win more emphatically to set them both up for their big PPV matches.

The fact that Delirious isn't revisiting the EXCELLENT series of matches Daniels had with White in 2016 (where Daniels couldn't beat Jay) as a singles bout for the World Title in 2017 boggles my mind. It seems like such an obvious thing to do when looking for a strong house show World Title main event. Instead we got the totally bogus finish to the Gauntlet For The Gold earlier, then Daniels needlessly offering warring rivals White and Martinez a title match anyway. Everything about this set-up feels convoluted and stupid. BUT, I like all three of these guys and Daniels is a master of delivering high quality triple threat matches. Can Jay and Punisher control their disdain for each other in order to win the ROH Title?

Apparently not - Daniels stands and watches as his two opponents charge at each other and start throwing strikes. Punishment decks White before turning his attention to the General, looking for an early South Of Heaven only for Jay to break it up. Elbow suicida nailed by White. Arabian Press by Daniels. CHOKESLAM ON THE APRON from Punisher to Daniels! Last Ride blocked by Jay, who scurries out of the ring whilst the champ sees his attempt at Angel's Wings countered to a Kryptonite Krunch for 2. Springboard corkscrew senton by Punisher wipes out both men! They aren't impressed with that so join forces to deliver a double superplex on the big man. White turns on Daniels to hit rolling suplexes...into ROLLING Germans on Martinez. DEAD-LIFT NECK DROP GERMAN on Daniels! Everest German on Martinez gets 2. Punishment blocks the Kiwi Crusher only for Jay to hit a brainbuster instead. MMA ELBOWS! COBRA STRETCH! Did Delirious sign off on him using that!? Daniels breaks it up with a Blue Thunder Driver. Martinez hops onto the apron and dishes out the top rope spinning heel kick to thwart the champion's attempt at the BME. PSYCHO DRIVER gets 2! Instead of trying to pin either opponent again the Punisher instead opts to toss them both outside for the TURNBUCKLE JUMP SUICIDE DIVE! South Of Heaven blocked into a DOUBLE ANGEL'S WINGS! Urinage from White to Daniels for 2. Kiwi Crusher blocked...Angel's Wings blocked...BME NAILED! Daniels finally gets a win over Jay White and retains the title at 13:44

Rating - *** - I was disappointed in this as a main event. It seems like such a no brainer to do another Daniels/White match and I'd have preferred that. I'd have preferred Daniels/Martinez in a singles match too. I definitely had minimal interest in a three-way sprint as the half-assed main event to a seriously boring 30+ minute Gauntlet Match. But, in unfortunate circumstances this was rather good. As I said in my intro, Daniels is one of the best triple threat wrestlers I've ever seen. This wasn't in the same league as some of his best three-ways but as a machine-gun-paced exchange of high spots (with an undercurrent of continuing the White/Punishment feud) this match was fine. Nothing worth going out of your way to see and ultimately quite forgettable - which is never what you want from a World Title Match - but fun whilst it lasted if nothing else.

Tape Rating - ** - Another blah show from ROH in 2017. I praised the War Of The Worlds Tour as it was mostly high quality stuff. The Manhattan Mayhem/15th Anniversary/Supercard Of Honor set of shows were very good too. But this weekend (moderately decent TV taping aside) has been lacklustre. I think I said in my review of 'Road To Best In The World 2017', but the fact that ROH feels it has reached a level where it can just churn out these poor quality, minimal effort house shows - at the prices they charge - and expect to compete with everything else out there on the wrestling landscape shows a bewildering level of arrogance (or ignorance) on the part of the corporate ownership. If you have Honor Club, go and check out Briscoe/Taylor and Bucks/Kingdom. They are both good matches. But they are short, pretty inconsequential in the long term and nothing on this show is really worth seeking out if you aren't the most hardcore of fans. Fish/Lethal was decent but a colossal disappointment given how good their Anniversary Show match was. The Gauntlet For The Gold was tedious to sit through, overly long and featured a shambolic cop-out of a finish. Bully Ray was, of course, going over more deserving talent. The main event was fun but completely irrelevant and forgettable. This show was better than Chicago Ridge the previous evening...but given that I called that show the worst event in ROH history, that is the faintest of praise.

3) Christopher Daniels vs Punishment Martinez vs Jay White (***)

2) Young Bucks vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia (****)

1) Jay Briscoe vs Shane Taylor (****)

5) Jay Lethal vs Bobby Fish (*** - Gateway To Gold)

4) Christopher Daniels vs Punishment Martinez vs Jay White (*** - Gateway To Gold)

3) The Addiction vs Cody/Adam Page (*** - Road To Best In The World 2017)

2) Young Bucks vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia (**** - Gateway To Gold)

1) Jay Briscoe vs Shane Taylor (**** - Gateway To Gold)