McXal's Reviews

This is technically ROH's third cross-promotional tour with NJPW in 2017 (fourth if you include Honor Rising weekend in Japan). The goal for this, the first ever 'Global Wars Tour' was to bring the stars of NJPW to markets that hadn't hosted them before, before a tour-ending iPPV in ROH's new Chicago building. The headline talent from Japan for the week is, of course, IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega. He is joined by Will Ospreay, Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano of CHAOS, Minoru Suzuki and the Killer Elite Squad of Suzuki-gun, plus juniors Kushida and Hiromu Takahashi. Another feature of the weekend is that the Bullet Club have decided to invoke the Freebird Rule on the Six-Man Titles - meaning across the week any combination of BC representatives could be defending them. You'll see that in our main event this evening as The Elite of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks defend them against The Kingdom. Also tonight we have Kushida vs Adam Page in a rematch of Kushida's ROH debut, Punishment Martinez against Will Ospreay in a match which could steal the show, Hiromu Takahashi facing a former ally during his ROH excursion in the form of Christopher Daniels, plus Mark Briscoe teaming with War Machine to face Suzuki-gun. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana welcome us to what is ROH's return to Buffalo, NY.

This bout actually puts together two of the most capable workers on the Women Of Honor roster. Sumie is getting up there in years and has never been a top class performer, but she is a solid hand and the kind of experienced head that the division very much needs. Deonna is very talented, and has real potential to become even better. She beat Sakai in one of 2016's best Women Of Honor matches, in Philadelphia towards the end of the year. Can Sumie, who has shown a new aggressive streak when needed recently, get payback and a win tonight? Apparently she took this match at short notice after Deonna's originally scheduled opponent - Stella Grey - was injured.

Purrazzo tries to control proceedings with her impressive mat wrestling skills, which appear to out-strip even the experience and MMA skills of her veteran rival. Sakai has to speed things up with a satellite headscissors - then catapults her opponent into a Boston crab. Purrazzo escapes and starts to target Sakai's arm. She shows a noticeable mean streak when working over the body part, which Ian explains as the 'madness' her issues with Karen Q have driven her to. Sakai starts no-selling the arm-work with her Mongolian chops...so Deonna straight up PUNTS her flailing arm again as she tries another chop. Sumie rolls through the cross armbreaker attempt and engages Purrazzo in a hard-hitting elbow strike duel. In the end they both collapse in a heap clutching at their battered skulls. Swinging fisherman suplex by Sakai; quickly followed by a missile dropkick for 2. Fujiwara Armbar applied by Deonna, but too close to the ropes allowing the veteran to grab an escape. FISHERMAN BUSTER by Sumie - but she pauses before covering, perhaps to sell the arm injury, and only gets a nearfall. GERMAN SUPLEX by Deonna! NO SOLD! Gourdbuster into the Fujiwara! Sakai taps at 08:05

Rating - *** - This may well be the best Women Of Honor match I've reviewed in 2017. Deonna is so much better than the majority of this roster. Everything about her; the way she moves in the ring, the way she presents herself, the way she attacks her matches, the way she sells for her opponents, how believable she makes everything look...it's ALL better than almost anyone else on the roster is capable of. Sakai worked hard, took some heavy bumps and played her part here. But she too showed her limitations here, particularly with her poor sell on the arm-work from her opponent. This was, though, a physical and hard-fought battle - with an intensity that you don't see from many WOH bouts. The 2016 Philly bout was perhaps more exciting, but this felt like a real fight. The fact that ROH didn't believe in Deonna enough (even with her connections to Marty Scurll at the time) to put enough money in front of her to build the division around her is a real shame.

I believe this was actually taped after intermission, and has Deonna Purrazzo joining Ian Riccaboni for commentary. Mandy and Jenny have been friends, with Jenny opening doors for Leon through the years as a training partner and fellow graduate of the ROH wrestling school. But their rivalry continues to get more and more competitive as they battle to prove themselves the better athlete. Apparently this is Mandy's return bout after touring Japan with Stardom.

The difference in how these two move when compared to Deonna is stark. Everything looks so much slower and more telegraphed. Jenny tries to make her experience count and dictate the pace early on. Mandy escapes a MutaLock and takes the fight right back to her 'Dojo sister' on the mat though. Panic Attack scores to drive Rose out of the ring - and Leon keeps coming with a rolling senton off the apron too. Jenny starts boxing her across the chest, setting up a SPEAR on the apron. Mandy's eyes are rolling around in her head...but there's no respite as Jenny pulls her up for a suplex on the floor. Mandy refuses to be pinned though - and hits back with a snap neckbreaker. Perfect-plex gets 2 for Rose. Astral Projection (a pumphandle driver very similar to Delirious' Chemical Imbalance II) gets Mandy the win at 08:23

Rating - ** - ROH need to stop booking these two against each other now. I understand their history coming out of the wrestling school is an easy story to tell, but they don't appear to have any chemistry in the ring together. To be positive, I liked the effort from both women here and I felt there were noticeable improvements in Leon's work after her Japan tour (she should immediately stop doing Delirious' moves though, it does her no favours). She is often quite unfairly made a scapegoat for all the issues the Women Of Honor division has. 

At the Vegas TV taping the new team of Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara defeated the Tempura Boyz. Can they back it up with a victory over Shaheem Ali and LSG tonight to prove that they are capable of a higher profile spot in the tag team division? Since that Vegas taping Sho and Yoh actually returned to Japan, became Roppongi 3K and were already IWGP Jr Tag Champions by this point - making Rhett and Will's win over them a real feather in their cap.

Titus overpowers Leon at the bell...but then throws his arms up in despair as Ferrara tags in and instantly allows LSG  back into the contest. C2C smartly try to isolate the smaller member of the opposition...until Rhett gets annoyed, slaps Ferrara about the head - which the referee counts as a tag much to Will's irritation. Ferrara tries to take a swing at his own partner, only for Titus to pick him up and start using him as a weapon to batter St. Giovanni with. Will tries to celebrate...only to be slapped in the dick by his own partner and dumped on top of LSG with a gourdbuster/splash combo. Ali is twitchy on the apron, and explodes into action when Leon finally tumbles into a hot tag. Swinging front slam on Will gets 2. Rhett tries to rescue his partner but Shaheem dumps him with a jumping flatliner. C2C think about hitting the stereo Van Terminators, but again Titus saves his partner. He lariats Ali into the guardrails - which feeds him into Ferrara's tornado DDT off the apron. Yakuza Kick on LSG, and The Dawgs grab the win with the double-team Rhett-ribution at 09:19

Rating - ** - The timing of the introduction of The Dawgs as a team makes perfect sense when you realise that Sho and Yoh have now gone back to Japan, therefore creating the need for a lower card team. Their act is decent as well. It reminds me of something like the Carnage Crew or the Ring Crew Express from ROH's early days (i.e. they have a ceiling and a limited shelf life but are solid professionals doing a dependable, reliable and consistent job in their assigned role), but they are something fresh for these filler undercard matches. Their constant bickering mid-match is definitely different. This was pretty decent, if a little predictable - and it was nice to see the heel team get a clean victory.

Bullet Club/BTE-mania is running wild for this tour. The houses are pretty packed since Kenny Omega, Cody, Marty, Hangman and the Bucks are all here - and the explosion of noise that greets Page as he walks through the curtain tells you just how over this group really is now. This is a repeat of Kushida's debut match from way back at All Star Extravaganza 5 in 2013. Hangman is the 'problem solver' of Bullet Club, so will no doubt he looking to put a beating on Kushida as he was the one that took the ROH TV Title from Bullet Club's Marty Scurll.

The audience is all Bullet Club (or members thereof) shirts as far as the eye can see. This one starts as you'd expect - with Page trying to use his power but dragged to the mat and made to look foolish by the now-former IWGP Junior Champion. The Time Splitter quickly goes to work on the arm, prompting Hangman to retreat to the apron and dish out a hanging neckbreaker in the ropes. That is followed by a slingshot powerslam back into the ring for 2. The woozy Kushida delivers a turnbuckle flatliner...but is so disorientated he can only crawl away afterwards. Page walks into the Rolling Thunder DDT, yet retains enough of his senses to dive into the ropes at first glimpse of the Hoverboard Lock. STALLING German suplex - with arm selling - nailed by the Hangman. I love that Kushida was smacking at the bad arm even as Page had him in the air. Kushida rolls to the floor...SHOOTING STAR PRESS COUNTERED TO A FLYING HOVERBOARD LOCK ON THE FLOOR! Back in the ring Page keeps fighting and uses all his strength to counter another Hoverboard into a dead-lift suplex. Pele by Kushida...no sold into a JUMPING PILEDRIVER for 2. Running heel kick by Kushida as Page tries to come off the top. FLYING HOVERBOARD LOCK! Page taps at 09:59

Rating - *** - As I said earlier, these are BIG cards with a lot of talent booked. Since ROH gets skittish at every booking a show longer than circa two hours, fifty minutes these days...it means that you'll see a lot of matches like this. That means matches where you like both guys, they are great talents so easily capable of a decent ten minute sprint...but you come away wishing someone had the balls to book them to go 15-20 minutes. I'm a big fan of both of these men so I liked what we got at least. Even in ten minutes, the work on the arm - and selling of the injury - were really fantastic.

At the Honor Rumble in Atlanta Kazarian defeated Lethal to earn a World Title shot, but only after much controversy and plenty of interference from Frankie's tag partner Christopher Daniels. They got into it again at the Las Vegas tapings after Death Before Dishonor and now have a singles match to settle the score between them.

Kaz can't help but notice the enormous ovation Lethal receives from this audience. Since his MO is pissing off ROH fans it shouldn't be any real surprise that he spends the first minute stalling and avoiding contact with his opponent. Hiptoss dropkick missed by Lethal, but in response Jay counters one of Frankie's signature legsweeps and they fight to a stalemate. Jay goes to work on Kazarian's neck and enjoys some success until the agitated Addiction-member hits back with Russian Legsweep then the hiptoss neckbreaker for 2. He leg drops Jay's neck a couple of times in the ropes, after which the former World Champion struggles to even stand. He rattles off the Lethal Combination but stays down clutching his head and neck rather than going for a pin. Frankie tries to bail...and is pitched straight into the guardrail with a tope suicida trilogy. Hail To The King back into the ring for 2. As soon as Frankie kicks out Lethal converts it to the Figure 4 Leglock and almost forces a submission. Kaz escapes to hit the slingshot cutter for another 2-count. Tomikaze blocked...Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO A LUNGBLOWER! Tomikaze nailed second time of asking - but it still isn't enough to get a victory. Kaz tries to set up a piledriver off the top rope, only to be countered with an Ace Crusher. Lethal Injection hands victory to Jay at 13:18

Rating - *** - Another enjoyable undercard match. It started slowly but got progressively more interesting and heated as they progressed. By the end the crowd were extremely vocal and it felt like both men were going all guns blazing for the big win. What held me back from giving this one a higher rating was that I never felt like there was a moment where Frankie could pull out the victory. Some of the wrestling was excellent, but they never got me to a place where a Kazarian victory felt plausible. As a result the finish felt a little flat. It didn't seem like Lethal had triumphantly overcome a dangerous foe - but more like a formality that he would win.

Silas Young comes out, bitter at being back in the midcard so quickly after his feud with Jay Lethal ended - and not even booked into a match this evening. He runs down Minoru Suzuki and promises to teach him some respect tomorrow in Pittsburgh. He also joins commentary to scout Suzuki-gun tonight.

KES and War Machine are no strangers to each other, having contested some ferocious battles across both ROH and NJPW. It is the first time that we'll get to see Suzuki-gun as a unit in ROH, following Suzuki's unsuccessful appearance at the Las Vegas PPV/TV weekend where he failed to capture both the World Title and Six-Man Title. This time around he brings his trusted lieutenants. Mark is the wildcard here - and competes without his brother at a time when Jay Briscoe is openly questioning his loyalty to the Briscoe tag team. 

Surely War Machine have SEEN Suzuki-gun right? Why do they waste time asking for a pre-match handshake? It starts a crazy six-man brawl on the outside which the cameras struggle to keep up with. Archer massacres Rowe with a boot against the rails, Suzuki basically walks around through multiple fist-fights smiling the entire time. Smith gives Briscoe a massive suplex right on the floor...then Minoru starts swinging chairs. Mark is back with a Cactus Elbow on Davey Boy! His momentum is short-lived as Suzuki starts grinding the bell hammer into his face. Shotgun Knees from Rowe to Archer...before he picks up his own partner and tosses him into Lance's face. Minoru dumps a trash can over Briscoe's head, then walks away as Smith Jr. body slams him on top of it as well, so he can put Rowe in a hanging armbar instead. Suzuki can't stop smiling and spits in Mark's face as his feeble boot strikes do nothing to break up an armbar on Ray Rowe. The KES take turns choking Ray in the ropes next, to the extent that the War Machine member looks to be completely out cold. Bulldog Bomb blocked though, as Rowe makes a resurgence with a flurry of headbutts to Smith. Hanson tagged...and hits a handspring elbow on the Killer Elite Squad! Sesame Street corner clotheslines continue his momentum, before he and Archer square off for DUELLING cartwheel lariats! Finally Suzuki and Briscoe are in legally together - tearing into each other with ferocious intensity. Mark is so fired up that even Minoru has to summon his partners to help him out. Hart Attack by the KES! Judo knee strike by Rowe! DECAPITATION on Archer! STEREO ELBOW SUICIDAS by War Machine! It means once again Mark and Suzuki can lay it in on each other. They are both loving it too - and egging each other on for more. Fisherman Buster gets 2 for Briscoe. Choke sleeper by Suzuki! GOTCH PILEDRIVER! Suzuki finally gets his first ROH win at 17:50

Rating - **** - A slightly generous 4* rating, but there was a lot to love about this match. The brawl at the start was completely wild; so much so that it takes some suspending of disbelief to understand how a referee wouldn't have stopped it. But it was so intense, incredibly violent and created a completely chaotic vibe which I loved. Seeing War Machine and the KES beat each other up is always fun too, but the Briscoe/Suzuki exchanges throughout the contest were fantastic. I'd argue this is one of Mark Briscoe's best individual performances in an ROH ring EVER - it really was that good. Toning down the 'Chicken' gimmick, dialling back the Redneck Kung Fu and all the easy parts of his routine he does most weeks, he held is own in a f*cking fight with Suzuki. Be it on the floor or in the ring he gave as good as he got, and since both he and Minoru are completely whacky characters they had great chemistry together. This one didn't need a ton of high spots to get over - just complete aggression from the very start. I'll get accused of over-rating it by some but this was really good.

Silas stares down Suzuki-gun from the top of the ramp. He gets Suzuki in a singles match tomorrow night in Pittsburgh...

Bully Ray is booked for this entire tour, even though he can't work due to the concussion Jay Briscoe gave him in Las Vegas. Maybe they could've saved a bunch of cash by not having him here tonight, then let Page/Kushida have another 5-10 minutes? He takes f*cking FOREVER to get into the ring before even talking too. He hints again at having to retire, milks sympathetic fan chanting for all it is worth and generally makes this feel interminably long. It ends with him thanking the Buffalo fans then leaving. Holy sh*t is he going to do this same spot on all four shows on this tour? In this whole ten minute segment he barely mentioned ROH...

When Hiromu was on excursion in ROH last year he formed an alliance with The Addiction. It ended unceremoniously when the trio were eliminated from the Six-Man Title Tournament - and now the man formerly known as 'Kamaitachi' has returned for something of a grudge match with Daniels. But since then the attitude of the 'Ring General' has vastly changed. Bitter at how his World Title reign ended, Daniels' ROH career has come full circle. As he was in 2002, he spends shows openly criticising ROH management and fans, decrying the principles of the promotion and trying to ruin everything the fans love. And, incidentally, the fans LOVE Los Ingobernables de Japon. Takahashi is the only representative of LIJ for this tour...

The fans loudly chant for Daryl and Hiromu which of course annoys Daniels. Takahashi makes it worse by jumping him before the bell and beating him into the corner. The mind games of the LIJ member are too much even for a veteran like Chris Daniels it seems. Daniels battles to avoid being tossed off the apron then clocks Hiromu with a diving clothesline to the floor. It's the opening he needs and, with a heavy dose of cheating, he starts working over Takahashi's back and neck. He breaks out a dragon screw too after Hiromu starts trying to kick at him. To the dismay of the fans he then leaves the ring to go get Daryl. He makes the stuffed cat watch as he tortures Hiromu with a figure 4 leglock, then starts biting him to torment Hiromu still more. Next he whacks Takahashi in the head with Daryl, and of course that causes Hiromu to hulk up. Pop-up powerbomb nailed, into a falcon arrow for 2. Time Bomb countered to a Blue Thunder Driver however. Daniels follows that with the running STO into the Koji Clutch. BME misses though and they collide mid-ring with stereo clotheslines. Takahashi is up first with a superkick...propelling Daniels back towards Daryl. Hiromu is furious and hauls Daniels to the canvas into the D. The former ROH champ taps out at 13:20

Rating - * - Well that was a colossal disappointment. Two of my favourite wrestlers for their respective promotions, I was looking forward to this as much anything on the card (or even on the entire tour). And it descended into a gimmicky, comedic farce. Any semblance of a good match was buried beneath Daniels working his 'f*ck the fans' act and Hiromu dicking around with a stuffed animal. Watching two world class wrestlers grab ass, kill time and mooch around in house show mode was a major buzzkill. 

Riccaboni reminds me during the entrances that the Chicago leg of this tour has supposedly one of the biggest box offices in ROH history - and Hashi is headlining that to challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Title. He prepares for it with a match against two of Kenny's Bullet Club associates. Known as the 'Allied Powers', Cody and Marty will be looking to send a dominant message to CHAOS...and maybe even soften Yoshi up for Omega too.

Cody starts the match for his team...and calls out Yano to join him, albeit mostly so he can be bullied into kissing the ring. Scurll is on hand to stop Toru attacking Cody from behind directly afterwards as well. The Villain also stops Yano ripping off a turnbuckle cover in the first minute too. Hashi tags and wipes Rhodes out with a neckbreaker immediately. He sends Bullet Club scattering, so Marty puts his mask on and starts chasing Yano around the ring instead. They drag Yano back into the ring so they can pick on him rather than face Hashi. Marty takes the lead, works over Toru's arm and starts doing Chris Jericho poses almost solely so commentary can shill tickets to Jericho's cruise. Finger Snap nailed (even after Toru kisses the ring again in a bid to prevent it)...but in the celebrations Yano uses his other hand to drag Scurll to the mat by his hair. Hot tag made to Hashi, who exposes Cody's neck and drives a dropkick into it for 2. Disaster Kick in response by Rhodes. Yano saves with low blows to both opponents...then saunters away to rip a turnbuckle cover off. He catapults Cody into the exposed bolt and actually has the champ pinned before Marty pulls referee Paul Turner to the floor. Cody hits Cross Rhodes to win at 10:36

Rating - ** - I actually preferred this to Daniels/Hiromu. I wasn't expecting great wrestling, I know that Yano does the same routine in every match...but a lot of his contributions to this match were actually rather interesting. Yano's interactions with Cody and Marty were genuinely entertaining, it didn't go too long and crucially (considering how comedy heavy it was) they made Yoshi-Hashi seem like a credible threat. It was a big fat waste of Marty though...

This is a grudge match coming out of the War Of The Worlds Tour in New York. On that night Martinez ruined what should've been a huge moment for Ospreay - as he defeated Jay White in an MOTYC which confirmed their place as future main event superstars. Will wants his payback this evening, and comes to the ring adorned with his newly-won IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title belt. These ROH/NJPW tours have been significant career milestones for Martinez in 2017 too. He earned the respect of Los Ingobernables, then pushed Hirooki Goto to the limit in pursuit of the NEVER Openweight Title on the Honor Rising tour, then gave Tetsuya Naito a hell of a fight when the NJPW crew came over for War Of The Worlds. Will he produce another career-definining performance?

The bell rings and Ospreay FLIES at Martinez with big boot after big boot - knocking the big man straight over the top rope. He is so fast that Punisher can't touch him...until he tries the Sasuke Special and Martinez punches his lights out! SUPER spinning heel kick gets 2 for Punisher. He tries to slow Will down with absolutely brutality; flinging him into the buckles then outright punching him IN THE NECK. Ospreay tries to fire up...only for Martinez to boot him like a rocket back into the corner. Will is reduced to biting to block South Of Heaven, but manages to trip his opponent to the floor. RUNNING THROW INTO THE GUARDRAILS by Punishment! Ospreay takes some absolutely murderous-looking bumps against the metal barriers. Ospreay explodes back with strikes in the corner, setting up the SASUKE SPECIAL! He follows that with a springboard dropkick with such hangtime that he almost overshoots Punisher's head - and he isn't a small man! Standing corkscrew senton right after gets 2 - but hurts the badly battered Aerial Assassin just to execute. Springboard corkscrew senton by Martinez...COUNTERED TO A MID-AIR SIT-OUT POWERBOMB BY OSPREAY! Pip Pip Cheerio attempted, but emphatically blocked with a kick to the damn throat. South Of Heaven COUNTERED to the Stun Dog Millionaire. PHOENIX SPLASH NAILED...for 2! Martinez is on the rocks, and still has enough to flatten the Englishman with a kryptonite backbreaker. He tries to climb the ropes...Ospreay tries to springboard to stop him. SUPER SOUTH OF HEAVEN COUNTERED TO A SPANISH FLY! ONE COUNT OF DISRESPECT! Release falcon arrow by Punisher! He flips Will in mid-air with the cyclone kick for 2.Psycho Driver countered into the Robinson Special! OsCutter BACK TO THE PSYCHO DRIVER! FOR 2! South Of Heaven somehow countered into a rana. Ospreay goes for a tope. CAUGHT FOR A LAST RIDE INTO THE APRON! Martinez has been decimating Ospreay's back all match. SOUTH OF HEAVEN! Huge win for Martinez at 13:01

Rating - ****1/2 - Will Ospreay barely works for ROH, yet still he's been in three of their best matches of the last twelve months (this joins the Jay White match from New York and the Scurll TV Title clash from late-2016). These two didn't get long, so filled what time they did have with total carnage and insanity from the opening bell. Some of the NJPW guys come over and coast along on reputation. Ospreay always comes to ROH with his working boots on, and he bumped around the arena like a total maniac to put Martinez over. I'm astonished NJPW allowed one of their champions to take a fall, but this was absolutely the right call. Martinez has been the most under-rated guy on the roster all year. Tonight he got the chance to steal the show and he crushed it. And this was in no way a carry job by Ospreay - Punishment was with him at every step. I'm astonished that ROH didn't strap a rocket to Martinez after this.

There is almost a glib hint of shock among the ROH fans after that. Like they couldn't quite fathom how or why the popular NJPW act hadn't gone over and the ROH guy was actually getting some shine

Considering the fact that The Kingdom are working a gimmick where they believe there is a conspiracy against them, it was awfully good of the ROH office to allow the Bullet Club to defend these titles under the 'Freebird Rule' tonight wasn't it? It means that The Kingdom finally have their Six-Man Tag Title rematch; a title the trio were never beaten to lose. The Bullet Club, in particular the Bucks, have had plenty of matches with various incarnations of The Kingdom in the last few years. The star act here, for once, isn't them either. Kenny Omega returns to ROH in the US for the first time in more than a year - delivering a bumper box office on all four nights of this tour. He won't want to let his 'Elite' brothers down by causing them to drop the Six-Man Titles tonight...

Matt starts with O'Ryan, with the announcers making it seem like a big deal that TK even gets to wrestle The Elite. Way to put over a former champion (and a guy who broke his leg for the company) there lads. The champs make O'Ryan and Marseglia look foolish, with Nick hitting a missile dropkick crossbody combo on both of Taven's boys. Taven himself tags in and calls out Omega right away. Climax blocked...One Winged Angel blocked...V-Trigger misses! Taven mocks the champs for the WWE's lawyers preventing from doing '2 Sweet' hand gestures anymore and almost stars a riot. Both Bucks charge across the ring with stereo Spears to knock Vinny and TK to the floor. In the ring Kenny decks Taven with the Kotaro Crusher. ELEVATED SOMERSAULT SENTON to the floor by Nick! Rise Of The Terminator triple tope by the champs! The brawl spills into the aisle...allowing Matt to climb the stars and hit a CANNONBALL OFF THE STAGE! Back in the ring Omega gets 2 with a springboard moonsault. The Bucks keep putting boots up, but Taven keeps countering and driving Kenny's head into them. It causes friction between The Elite, and with the fans demanding 'ten boots' instead out come Cody, Marty and Hangman. It means Kenny has five pairs of boots...and this time does ram Taven's head into them (as everyone has a jolly good laugh and films content for 'Being The Elite'). Everyone is confused why this isn't a DQ - Scurll is literally in the ring posing with the Bucks. The champs try a triple brainbuster on their opponents...and when it's blocked they try to get the rest of Bullet Club to help them out. Todd Sinclair puts his foot down at last and ejects them. This joke has gone on for a long time now! The Kingdom profit with triple low blows, which even Cabana agrees is almost fair enough given how much leeway Todd has allowed the champions. To give the challengers still more credit, they are absolutely revelling in the heat they are getting. Taven gets 2 with a Lionsault, perhaps because he stopped to rile up the crowd still more. The challengers isolate Matt with some effective heel work. Marseglia, not someone I always credit, really cracks me up by making a point of working a chinlock to piss off the highspot-loving Bucks fans. Nick finally gets a hot tag of course, and scatters his opponets like bowling pins. DOUBLE slingshot X-Factor...into the apron moonsault to take Taven out. Taven comes back with a springboard enzi, but finds the Climax COUNTERED with a Superkick. Kenny in - rocking Taven with the Stop Sign Enzi. DRAGON RUSH FLURRY! TRIPLE SUPERKICK  by the champs, right into triple Sharpshooters. The Kingdom survive without a tap-out there. Superkicks by the Bucks. CLIMAX ON NICK! V-TRIGGER! Dr Wily Bomb on Taven for 2 - before Vinny breaks it with REDRUM ON TODD! Taven and TK start beating on their opponents with the staff and baseball mat, as Marseglia moves towards Kenny brandishing the axe. He teases amputating his f*cking arm - until Cody, Marty and Hangman come out again for a save. V-TRIGGER ON TK! ONE-WINGED INDYTAKER! The Elite retain at 24:43

Rating - **** - The amount of enjoyment you get out of this will vary dependent on your tolerance for the Young Bucks and their BTE cohorts. This almost felt like a 25-minute Being The Elite taping, with The Kingdom along for the ride as The Elite goofed off then had their friends come out for more clowning around as well. There was still some incredibly good wrestling here though. As I've said many times, The Kingdom are an effective heel trio when given the opportunity to showcase it in suitably substantive matches. The Taven/Omega sequences were so good it made me wish we'd have gotten that as a singles match instead, the heat segment on Matt in front of a nuclear crowd was effective...and they took so much abuse it almost felt justified when they started using weapons. Most of this was good and most of the time there was at least an attempt made to make The Kingdom look threatening, which I appreciated. At times it felt like even I had passed my limit for how much shenanigans I wanted to tolerate in a main event though...

Tape Rating - *** - Other than a weak start to the second half (and a lack of time for Kushida and Adam Page), this was a great show. Using the Freebird Rule to have the Six-Man Titles defended feels like an excuse to put Kenny Omega in the main event every night, without having to book him in singles matches and, based on this crowd anyway, worked just fine...even if it doesn't do much for the shot credibility of the Trios Championship. Their main event was long and silly, but with plenty of tremendous athletics on display as well. The clear highlight of the night for me was the Ospreay vs Martinez match however. They stole the show with an outrageous display of offensive wrestling and a masterclass from Ospreay in how to put over a rising star. Bully Ray didn't need to be on the show, and Daniels/Hiromu didn't live up to expectations...but overall this is a solid show built around three outstanding main event-level encounters.

3) Kenny Omega/Young Bucks vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan (****)

2) Minoru Suzuki/Killer Elite Squad vs War Machine/Mark Briscoe (****)

1) Punishment Martinez vs Will Ospreay (****1/2)