McXal's Reviews

I can't quite recall the details, but it did feel like ROH decided to run this show as an iPPV at quite late notice. The card reflects that too, since it is probably the weakest of the three WOTW UK line-ups this weekend. The main event is our only World Title match of the tour however, with Los Ingobernables de Japon's SANADA challenging Cody. The Tag Titles and TV Title are on the line too. The Bucks defend against The Addiction, whilst Kushida has to stave off the challenge of Dalton Castle, Hiromu Takahashi and former champ Marty Scurll in a four-way. We also have an all-CMLL affair as the veterans of Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero face the younger generation of Mistico and Titan. Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer once again call the action - as ROH returns to the Olympia (scene of the Danielson/McGuinness unification bout; one of the most notorious and historic bouts in ROH history), in Liverpool, UK.

At the recent TV taping in Concord the Bullet Club of Marty Scurll and Hangman Page screwed Kenny King out of the TV Title shot he'd worked so hard for. They ran in during a hotly contested bout between King and champion Kushida, forcing a no-contest. Although King and Kushida won a subsequent impromptu tag match, Kenny still laments his lost championship opportunity and is preparing for a rematch at Death Before Dishonor. Tonight he looks to get payback on Hangman along the way...

The action is fast and furious, and evenly contested. Page misses a Red Star Press, but in turn King misses a big heel kick. To the floor we go where Hangman hits a moonsault press off the guardrail! He re-enters the ring with a rope-walk eye poke...which provokes King into delivering a burst of ferocious strikes. Royal Flush blocked allowing Page to hit a neckbreaker in the ropes. Deadlift pumphandle suplex gets 2 soon after. Capo kick knocks Page to the floor, and almost without breaking stride King hits the CORKSCREW PESCADO! There isn't a lot of room around ringside in the building this evening so that took real precision. One Night Stand back into the ring gets 2. Hangman lands on his feet to block a German suplex and clocks King with the Buckshot Lariat! Rite Of Passage blocked with a corkscrew enziguri. Royal Flush wins it for King at 08:42

Rating - ** - There was something a little off about this one. They seemed lethargic and a step off the pace at all times. There were some big spots, but the bout seemed to move at a sedate pace which didn't do much to lift a rather quiet crowd. King winning is absolutely the right call considering what ROH have planned for him at Death Before Dishonor, but it is a shame that Delirious has once again blown it with Hangman and is now having to use him as a heater for someone else. 

Ian Riccaboni does a really great job setting this one up. It's the veterans of CMLL combat in Ultimo and Bucanero taking on the current generation. Mistico and Titan are masked, whilst their opponents have been in wrestling so long they've both had to forfeit them along the way. Mistico and Titan both failed to win Ring Of Honor championships in London yesterday, although Titan made a spectacular impression with his stunning bout against Kushida.

Titan smartly starts on the apron considering what he went through in London. Bucanero doesn't show Mistico much respect and delights in slapping him around. Titan tags in and is far too quick for Guerrero - backflipping into a rana which sends the veteran to the floor. Tope atomico...BUT ULTIMO CATCHES HIM WITH A POWERBOMB ON THE FLOOR! In the ring Rey is trying to tear Mistico's mask off! On the floor Bucanero stacks up both the masked luchadors...for a DOUBLE Leap Of Faith against the guardrail. Ian and BJ point out that had to kill the ribs that Titan took heavy punishment to yesterday. Back in the ring Ultimo and Bucanero tear into his ribs further with an elevated Castigo Bucanero combo. Guerrero crushes them again right after with the headstand Bronco Buster. Titan swallows the pain to hit a handspring elbow, then a couple of illusive kicks to open the door to a hot tag to Mistico. The fresh man is too fast for the veterans and scales the ropes for a TOP ROPE FLYING HEADSCISSORS TO THE FLOOR! Guerrero tries to hit back with a pop-up powerbomb, only to find it countered with a mid-air rana by Mistico. Ultimo catches him trying to go to the top once more - landing an avalanche gourdbuster for 2. AWESOME BOMB gets 2 for Ultimo! Titan in, defying the pain in his ribs with springboard crossbodies and dropkicks...but then collapsing in pain before being able to cover. He tries an ill-advised bridging pin on Bucanero only for Ultimo to STOMP down on those ribs again. Springboard rana by Mistico! SPRINGBOARD ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY TITAN! He nearly smashed into the guardrails again! BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOONSAULT BY MISTICO! Titan tries to climb...only to be nabbed into the GUERRERO SPECIAL! Ultimo pins Titan to win at 11:33

Rating - **** - I'm being hugely generous going this high on my rating, but this really was a blast to watch. At the core it had such a simple and relatable story, namely the old dogs of war squaring off with the young guns in their prime. Bucanero and Ultimo (in particular Rey) were fun as the bullies, and I loved the amount of references to Titan's rib injuries from London there were. Titan was the star once again; incredibly fast, sympathetic when selling his injuries - the guy is the breakout star of the tour for those not familiar with the CMLL product. If I was ROH I'd be calling CMLL to see how quickly I could get Titan booked more regularly. Having been in the Liverpool Olympia for this show I can tell you this was a riot to watch live too.

Rev Pro representation on this show is minimal, but their reigning British Cruiserweight Champion Josh Bodom makes his debut and gets a huge opportunity to work the 'Franchise of ROH'. As we saw last night, Lethal is laser-focused on grudge matches with Silas Young in Edinburgh and Las Vegas - which means he isn't paying as much attention to these filler matches. That opens the door to a potential sizeable upset for Bodom tonight...

Bodom spots that Lethal has a heavily taped and padded arm which I like. All of his initial offensive salvos are aimed at it...although Jay easily tosses him aside with the springboard dropkick to the apron. Josh keeps countering Lethal's signature spots though and finally decks him with a jumping enzi. Lethal looks rattled - and almost relieved when he lands his hiptoss/dropkick combo. He stalks Bodom, ensuring he closes the distance between them and slows the pace to a methodical crawl. Josh doesn't appear to have the striking power to match his opponent...but can counter the Lethal Injection with a reverse rana out of nowhere! Tope suicida nailed up the aisle, quickly followed with a springboard moonsault to the floor as well. Back in the ring Bodom gets 2 with a Red Star Press. Tree of woe dropkick next as Jay really struggles to cope with his British adversary. The Lethal Combination lands, and he almost staggers across the ring on autopilot to hit Hail To The King. Silas Young comes to ringside and hurls abuse at Lethal...but has to watch as he lands the Lethal Injection to win at 09:05

Rating - ** - Nothing wrong with this at all. I liked the lay-out as it did a lot to promote Bodom even in defeat. But it also didn't do a whole lot to excite me. Lethal looked to be carrying an injury and rightly sought to protect it with far bigger matches coming up in the near future. It didn't go too long, and ends in a manner which promotes my favourite ROH feud of the year so I don't have too many complaints. Bodom isn't someone I'd be in a rush to see in an ROH ring again right now...

Young and Lethal start brawling, and it takes all three of the referee's present for the evening to tear Silas off Lethal...

A loss to LIJ at Episode #298 of the Sinclair show was the trigger for Jay Briscoe's most recent descent into rage and ultimately the loss of the Six-Man Titles to Dalton & The Boys. The Briscoes and Bully would love to get a win back over Naito, the 2017 G-1 Climax winner, and his team tonight. But, perhaps the bigger issue is whether Jay, Mark and Bubba can keep their increasingly fragile alliance together. It's nice that ROH couldn't find time to make this show not look atrocious, but have managed to overdub the NJPW themes with the horrible generic rock. 

Mark starts with Naito, who looks completely disinterested in working this evening even by his own standards. Bushi is very quickly brought in to actually wrestle. Jay immediately wants in, demanding payback for the Mist he received back in Philadelphia. In turn Bushi quickly tags out to Evil. Naito (just about) gets involved by tripping Jay from behind, before Bushi tags back and calls out Bully. That is a clear mistake - and Bubba has soon left a handprint on the masked junior's chest. But Bully is nothing of not self-promoting...so of course he is only interested in hogging the spotlight from the biggest star in the match. He demands Naito, who unenthusiastically obliges and shows barely any interest in locking horns with the former ECW and WWE performer. His nonchalance does him no favours and leaves him at the mercy of Bully and the Briscoes. Evil makes the save; dragging Bubba to the floor as Naito rakes at the eyes of Jay. Mark busts out some Redneck Kung Fu, then a Fisherman Buster on Evil for 2. Naito is still clowning around meanwhile, and stops his opponents hitting the Wassup Headbutt with his Tranquilo pose. Wassup DROPKICK by Bushi! But he then accidentally sprays the green mist into Evil's face! Super 3-D nailed, allowing Jay to pin Bushi at 13:39

Rating - * - For the second night in a row the Bully Ray match absolutely tanks. In truth this was almost fifteen minutes of nothing but shenanigans. Naito arrived for this tour in rough shape after the gruelling G-1 schedule and, like last night, is looking to collect a paycheck whilst doing as little as possible. In London he had nine other guys (including five Being The Elite cast members) and a red hot crowd to cover it. Sadly for him tonight he had Bully, who was only looking to self-promote and hog the ring - which exposed Naito's lack of effort far more. I felt sorry for the Briscoes, EVIL and BUSHI, who probably could have had a far better match if the 'big names' weren't here. I also don't understand why the Briscoes and Bully won here. All three of them got singles wins last night, putting Naito over would have lost them nothing and would have furthered their slow-burn split angle. In the building this felt LONG, and a real waste of the Briscoes. It was even more tedious on DVD...

This is an ROH debut for Haskins, who has been a star on the UK independent scene for a long time. He briefly worked for TNA, but is perhaps most recognisable at this point for his work in Progress. As we saw with Jay Lethal and Josh Bodom earlier - if Young pays too much attention to his imminent grudge matches with his biggest rival then his opponent tonight, with home country advantage, is more than capable of springing an upset.

Haskins isn't intimidated by the surly nature of his opponent and wastes no time taking him to the mat. He puts a slingshot dropkick into Young's jaw then flies to the arena floor after him with a tope suicida. Bicycle kick against the railing has Silas reeling...but then he tries it a second time and runs straight into an APRON BOMB! Mark's back and neck are, of course, instantly sore spots which Young looks to exploit. Haskins is hurting...but fired up when Silas starts disrespectfully slapping him about. He tries the Star Armbar, only for his injuries to mean he can't maintain the bridge and Young slithers to the ropes. Sharpshooter applied next but again he can't maintain the submission hold. Electric chair drop by Silas, who slams down on the neck again right after with a sliding DDT for 2. Killer Combo next - and still it's only good enough for a 2-count. It's time for Misery...except Jay Lethal is back out here looking to distract him. Misery COUNTERED into a Samoan Driver! Haskins gets a huge upset victory in a time of 10:16

Rating - *** - Obviously it was a strong debut for Haskins because he won, but as an all round package he delivered here. He isn't a big guy but presented himself well, his selling ensured Silas was well-protected even in defeat...but most importantly his aggression ensured he looked a credible threat to the established ROH star. Lethal/Bodom earlier was fine, but felt very much like Lethal doing Bodom a favour. This was better because it felt like Haskins BELONGED at this level and was just waiting for the opportunity to prove it. 

For the second time this evening referees have to separate Lethal and Silas as they brawl off towards the locker rooms...

All the video packages to hype this match basically shill this as another Kushida/Scurll rematch. To the extent that it gets you wondering why they didn't just book Kushida/Scurll III. I'm quite certain they'd deliver a better match for the iPPV than this will be. Their second match at Best In The World is one of my favourite from ROH all year. The addition of Dalton and Hiromu does throw in some interesting plot twists though. Last time we were in the Liverpool Olympia it was for The Villain's debut - during which he defeated Dalton Castle, but only via illicit use of his umbrella. On the other side of the ring, the rivalry between Kushida and Takahashi, arguably NJPW's top two juniors' needs no introduction. Castle himself has shared great matches with both Kushida and Hiromu (during his excursion as Kamaitachi) as well. Having survived a war with Titan 24-hours earlier, how much gas does Kushida have in the tank to stave off three more top tier challengers?

Hiromu spends the introductions literally gesturing towards Kushida's IWGP Junior Title belt, which sort of puts a downer on the TV Title. Kushida and Marty go straight after each other and f*ck each other up against the guardrails. Meanwhile in the ring documented cat-lover Dalton Castle opts out of wrestling and instead wants to play with Daryl Takahashi...until Hiromu sucker punches him. Takahashi gets stuck between Villain and Peacock poses, then eats a springboard strike from Kushida. We get a few in-ring sequences between Kushida and Hiromu and they are, of course, electric. Sadly they are all too brief and we go back to cat-based comedy with Dalton soon after. Tiger feint headscissors on the floor by Castle. Handspring heel kick from Kushida to Scurll! It leaves him position for Takahashi to explode him into the guardrails with an apron missile dropkick. He tries the same thing on Kushida....COUNTERED TO A MID-AIR CROSS ARMBREAKER! Hiromu taps on the floor, which obviously means nothing. Hoverboard Lock inside the ring blocked, into a turnbuckle suplex by Hiromu. He tries to sunset flip bomb Castle to the floor, and when Dalton clings to the ropes to block it Marty starts breaking his fingers! Castle is powerbombed off the apron...but The Boys catch him! TOPE ATOMICO ONTO EVERYONE by Kushida! Inside the ring Marty hits the Bird Of Prey on Takahashi for 2. Chickenwing COUNTERED into a German suplex by Dalton! Pele Kick from Kushida to Hiromu! Castle throws out suplexes for all three opponents. Next Takahashi hits running ranas onto everyone. Moonsault from Kushida to Scurll gets 2. Tajiri Handspring Elbow wipes out Dalton and Hiromu. Kushida tries the same on Marty...right into the CHICKENWING! COUNTERED TO THE HOVERBOARD LOCK! Back To The Future blocked, with Castle and Takahashi arriving to hit stereo Germans. Bang-A-Rang on Hiromu! Castle has it won...only for Hangman Page to run out and distract the ref. Scurll starts swinging his umbrella as a weapon...but is then KO'd by the Tanaka Punch of Kushida. Back To The Future on Castle! Kushida retains at 11:22

Rating - ** - I knocked a star off for the finish, which sucked. I was already annoyed because I felt this should have been a third Kushida/Scurll TV Title Match, so throwing a lazy and unnecessary run-in finish didn't thrill me at all. ALL the promotion for this match was about Kushida and Marty. Doing a third match in their series, in Marty's home country, would've really popped the Liverpool fans. And if you didn't want to put Kushida over Scurll for a third time, a time limit draw could have been the 'get out'. Adding Dalton and Hiromu meant this became an altogether less enjoyable, overly comedic scramble-style spot-fest. Some of it worked. Some of it was funny. Nothing was anything like as good as Kushida/Scurll at Best In The World (or anything big-time Kushida/Takahashi matches have delivered either). 

This feud needs no introduction. It spans multiple promotions and multiple years...and the events of Best In The World appear to have reignited it. That night in Lowell the crowd turned their back on Chris Daniels to raucously cheer Cody Rhodes onto victory - taking the Ring General's ROH Title. Feeling abandoned by the fans, The Addiction have embarked on a quest to destroy everything the fans love. And since the fans love the Young Bucks and Bullet Club - that's who they targeted. At the Concord TV Taping they proclaimed that it wasn't about getting the Tag Titles back but having been presented with this grudge match and this title shot, they will be more than happy to liberate the ultra-popular Jackson brothers of their much-coveted belts.

The Addiction jump the Bucks from behind, spoiling their introductions and pissing the fans off accordingly. A flurry of dropkicks from all angles bring the champions back into proceedings quickly however. Rise Of The Terminator dodged, as are Superkicks...then Daniels rams Nick into the guardrails. The challengers work over Nick's midsection - with sufficient potency that he frantically tags out to his brother. Sadly Matt gets the same treatment; namely getting his back and ribs smashed into the railings and his problematic back targeted by the veterans. He finally blocks an Asai moonsault by Daniels and brings Nick back with a hot tag. The Bucks have fun working over the former World Champion - and try to get him to tap out with a Sharpshooter. Nick dives off the apron with a tornado DDT on Kaz as he tries to save as well. Daniels survives and counters an attempt at a buckle bomb with a hurricanrana. Tomikaze by Frankie! Angel's Wings COUNTERED with a Superkick! STEREO SHARPSHOOTERS! The Addiction escape...so eat stereo Superkicks. More Bang For Your Buck blocked. MORE BANG FOR YOUR BEST MOONSAULT EVER! SWANTON BY NICK TO SAVE! Hiptoss powerbomb combo on Nick. CELEBRITY REHAB gets 2! They line up the Best Meltzer Ever...only for Nick to save and drop Daniels into a tree of woe. MELTZER DRIVER ON KAZ! The Bucks retain at 13:37

Rating - *** - These guys are so good and have worked each other so often that even on their worst nights they will deliver something highly watchable. This was very much on the low-end of what they are capable of. The individual component parts were actually quite fun, I liked The Addiction jumping the Bucks from behind to start; it made perfect sense given the story they came out of the most recent TV taping with. I really liked their work on Matt and Nick's backs. I enjoyed their constant countering of the Bucks' signature offensive combos, given that their mission statement is pissing fans off. And, when the time came to move through the gears, the last couple of minutes were very exciting too. The issue was that the whole match was so rushed and none of those individual parts connected very well. It felt very much like four veterans playing the hits. Nothing they did had any great emotional resonance. I had fun with it live, as I did on DVD - but there are far better Bucks/Addiction matches out there. Considering this was an iPPV broadcast there really isn't an excuse for either a) screwing them for time or b) letting them go out and take it easy with a greatest hits package.

Conceptually I have a problem with this as a World Title Match. In the pre-PPV hype videos Cody hypes it as a 'favour' for NJPW, who want to test their future heavyweight star in a big-time PPV match. How inferior does that make ROH look when NJPW want to use their WORLD TITLE as a try-out environment for their young guys? And that is before you even explore the realities of what SANADA has actually done to earn this opportunity. If the idea was to do a Cody vs LIJ Title Match (and discounting the banged up Naito), why not book EVIL or Hiromu into it - both of whom have history with ROH on their excursions. Not to mention that Hiromu was consistent as hell during his tour, was hot in NJPW and would have delivered a far better title match. With that out the way, here we have our iPPV main event. Cody of Bullet Club defends against SANADA of Los Ingobernables. New Japan want to see how their star of the future hangs in a high stakes match up. Cody thinks he is doing 'the office' a favour. How seriously is he taking this - and does his nonchalance open the door to a sizeable upset this evening.

Setting the tone for the kind of match we can expect, Cody hops straight out of the ring to argue with the sections of the crowd which aren't cheering for him. He kills two minutes of ringtime without even getting close to Sanada, and in doing so starts turning more and more portions of the audience into Sanada fans. When they do lock up Cold Skull easily keeps up with the American Nightmare. He blocks the Disaster Kick with a dropkick which sends Rhodes back to the floor for more stalling. The champ teases walking out...but finds his path blocked by Tetsuya Naito! Sanada lies in wait and plants another dropkick into the side of Cody's skull. In the end Cody hides behind Ian Riccaboni...then THROWS him at Sanada to get an advantage! He pitches the challenger into the railings before returning to the ring for a stalling gourdbuster. In response Sanada tries to come off the top rope...but is blocked with the ROPE RUN super armdrag for 2. Now Cody stalls for more time by acting like Stardust for a reaction. This is a masterclass in how to milk a crowd for reactions with as little wrestling as humanly possible. He tries to submit the challenger with the American Nightmare...and now it's Sanada's turn to leave the ring and kill time. He tries to get into the ring...and then hammers Cody INTO Ian Riccaboni's lap! Ian collapses in a heap as BJ guffaws with laughter. Paradise Lock gets 2. Cody retaliates with the Disaster Kick for 2 as well. Moonsault press MISSES and Sanada almost steals it with La Magistral. TKO scores as well but still Rhodes kicks out. Sanada misses a moonsault now...so Cody spits in his face! We are almost seventeen minutes into this and Cody has barely wrestled at all. Next he accidentally KO's Todd Sinclair! Sanada blasts him with Cross Rhodes - but with no ref to count the pin we don't have a new World Champion. LeBell Lock by Cody! What is happening? Now Cody starts doing 'Yes' chants and calling out Bryan Danielson? Sanada makes him pay with a RUNNING powerbomb. Cody pokes the eyes. Cross Rhodes...countered to Skull End! COUNTERED BACK to Cross Rhodes! Cody retains at 19:50

Rating - * - In defence of this match, I will say that I thought it was good fun to watch live. My problem really is that, if people want Cody Rhodes as World Champion - this is what Cody has to offer at main event level. He isn't a bad worker, and given the right opponent or angle and he can carry his end. But he doesn't have the chops to do the heavy lifting for himself. Here, against a cold opponent in a situation where the result was a foregone conclusion, he didn't have the capability to elevate it in the manner that a Bryan Danielson or a Samoa Joe would have done. What he has is the ability to stall, to milk a live crowd and to innovate new ways to do as little as possible. I'd estimate there was less than five minutes of actual wrestling content in this twenty minute main event. It had every cheap trick in the book to kill time, and Sanada isn't the worker to rescue the situation. Every review I've read of this show was extremely critical of this main event - and I am no different. But, to repeat the point I started on, the live experience of this match was altogether different.

Cody, who has spent every show since Best In The World playing up to the crowd, now goes full heel and buries Liverpool. He then questions 'who the hell is left' for him to beat...having just completed only his second ROH-broadcast title defence, with only one of those being against an active roster member. Dalton Castle answers the question regardless - staking his claim for the next World Title shot. In doing so, he tosses the Six-Man Title belt aside for some reason. Because they hadn't been devalued enough?! Cody runs away rather than answer the challenge...

Tape Rating - ** - This was always a strange choice of show to be the PPV presentation for the tour. London and Edinburgh both have better cards. As was, nothing about this show really worked, other than a decent debut for Mark Haskins and a super-underrated lucha undercard tag. The TV Title Match was a spotty sprint with too many guys in it and a lame finish. Bully Ray and Naito stunk out the joint. The Addiction and the Youngs Bucks had a decent, but bang average by their standards encounter. And the main event really was a comprehensive introduction to what we can expect from Cody as a World Champion...and it was the antithesis of what many come to expect from an ROH World Title Match. As a paying fan in the crowd I made the long drive back to my home town from Liverpool rather confused about what I'd seen. It was fun enough as a live show...but SO far from what I'd expect to see at a Ring Of Honor event. It felt like a goofball WWE house show. As I said in my London review - at the prices ROH charge I don't think they can justify coasting along like this...

3) Mark Haskins vs Silas Young (***)

2) Young Bucks vs The Addiction (***)

1) Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero vs Mistico/Titan (****)