McXal's Reviews

If you don't focus too hard on how devastatingly short-sighted the booking is, the Global Wars 2017 Tour has been fun so far. We come to night three, with an argument to be made that this show has the best card of the lot. The Elite use Freebird Rules to defend the Six-Man Titles against the Best Friends and Flip Gordon in the main event, topping a card which also includes our only World Title defence of the Tour (Cody vs Kushida), Jay Lethal against Hiromu Takahashi, Shane Taylor locking horns with Josh Woods again and The Addiction (if they can be bothered to compete this evening) facing Search & Destroy's Jay White and Jonathan Gresham. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Columbus, OH.

After refusing to compete yesterday, Daniels and Kazarian ARE wrestling this evening - but only to make a point to the Motor City Machine Guns by beating up their stable-mates.. Daniels and White need no introduction to each other, having contested a terrific series of matches in 2016, where the Kiwi had the veterans number. This is Gresham's first appearance of the tour. He'll be keen to make up for lost time and to prove to ROH officials that he should have been booked every night.

Kaz offers to fight anyone wearing a Bullet Club shirt. He starts the match with Gresham and tries to prove a point by holding his own with the Octopus on the mat. White changes things up...and Daniels quickly makes himself scarce which I like. Gresh is booted off the top rope by Frankie, into the waiting arms of the Ring General who rams his skull into the ringpost. The tag team fluidity of The Addiction quickly overwhelms Gresham. They start to bully him, exploiting his lack of size and cutting him off from his partner. The back and neck is a focal point of their offence - particularly when they bludgeon him with repeated springboard leg drops and Asai moonsaults. White gets a tag and suplexes Daniels straight down on top of Kazarian. Urinage on Kaz, setting up a 450 SPLASH for 2 by Jonathan. Tope suicida by Daniels! Slingshot cutter by Frankie! Powerbomb/neckbreaker gets 2 before White makes a frantic save. CELEBRITY REHAB on White, giving The Addiction victory at 11:56

Rating - *** - Whilst I'm only notionally interested in the current 'we hate ROH fans' gimmick The Addiction are running, I did think this was a really solid opening match largely on the back of their easily identifiable heel act. They weren't reinventing the wheel and, Gresham aside, weren't doing anything ambitious. But they worked the formula well, made both White and Gresh look like worthy opponents for the most part, and the right man stared at the lights to put The Addiction over too. I could have watched this for longer.

Kenny King comes out to break the news to the Columbus fans that Mark Briscoe was injured last night, so they can't team up to face the 'Bullet Club B-Team' (Page and Scurll) tonight. Hangman and The Villain come out onto the stage and make fun of the TV Champion for not being able to get a date or a tag partner. They suggest he teams up with a fan, a crew member, a cameraman or a commentator. Marty has apparently forgotten that Colt Cabana is on commentary. The Chicago veteran gleefully steps up from the booth to agree to the team with Kenny.

Lethal has some history with Los Ingobernables. Back in 2016 he and Naito appeared to have forged some kind of link between LIJ and the House Of Truth (Lethal's faction)...only for Naito and his men to walk out on Lethal later in the year. Both men are 2-0 on the tour so far - Lethal earning hard-fought victories over Frankie Kazarian and Jay White, whilst Takahashi overcame Christopher Daniels in Buffalo before benefiting from Mark Briscoe's injury to be awarded an easy forfeit win yesterday.

Hiromu is quirky and moderately disrespectful...but up for a fight, meaning before long they are both chopping lumps out of each other. Takahashi dropkicks Lethal's historically bad knee, provoking Jay to break out an early tope suicida into the guardrails. Superkick in the ropes by Hiromu, setting up a SUNSET FLIP BOMB TO THE FLOOR! That was a horrific bump by Lethal...which the sullen crowd put over initially, but then start doing dumbass 'twinkie' chants at Todd Sinclair. Jay beats the count back into the ring, but then slumps to his knees and drops to the floor again. Takahashi drags him up and dumps him into the railing. The fans, instead of reacting to the brutal assault on Lethal, start a stupid ass chant for Daryl. Hiromu obliges them by grabbing Daryl and disrespectfully belting Lethal across the head with it. Isn't that a DQ Todd? Jay's neck is clearly bothering him so Taka scissors the head and forces him to take the long road to the ropes - delivering more damage to the wounded body part. Lethal Combination scores...but Jay is so hurt that he simply rolls away holding his head. We go back to where we started the match - with both men chopping and slapping each other relentlessly. Hiromu blinks first and kicks the middle rope into Jay's throat - snapping the bad neck back soon after. Time Bomb blocked...POP-UP POWERBOMB instead! That's followed with a falcon arrow and brings Lethal perilously close to defeat. Still Takahashi can't hit the Time Bomb though - and when he puts a foot up to block Hail To The King the wounded Lethal grabs it and locks on the Figure 4. Once again, instead of putting over the drama this sh*tty crowd are chanting for Daryl. Takahashi grabs the neck to escape...then scouts the Lethal Injection to COUNTER into a neck drop German suplex! These guys are just beating the sh*t out of each other! We go back to the wild chop duelling for a third time! Takahashi RANA'S LETHAL INTO THE D! Lethal defies his neck injury to force a rope break. Still he can't hit the Time Bomb. ACE CRUSHER! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wins at 15:55

Rating - **** - Outside of Martinez/Ospreay this was the best match of the Global Wars 2017 Tour so far. The crowd were awful, but inside the ring these guys absolutely killed it. Daryl was involved but kept to a minimum and, for the most part, it was two extremely talented workers cutting the bullsh*t and beating the hell out of each other. For all his bravado Takahashi is a cutting and brilliant technician at times. His remorseless assault on Lethal's neck was an absolute privilege to watch. After his disappointment against Daniels in Buffalo and the false-start in Pittsburgh with Mark Briscoe - FINALLY the phenomenal worker version of Hiromu showed up tonight. This was a very special match. 

This is a title match because the Machine Guns have decided they want to be fighting champions. Which would mean more if ROH didn't dole out arbitrary title shots for all of it's secondary belts to all comers at random already. Young and Bruiser haven't done much as a team in 2017, largely because Silas has been involved in his feud with Jay Lethal. They do pose a real threat to Sabin and Shelley though - proven by their win in the Tag Wars 2016 Tournament. The Dawgs are on commentary and are as annoying as they are irrelevant to the action you'll see in the ring. 

The challengers attack the champions during their entrance, giving them an immediate advantage. The Guns hit back with criss-cross dives from the apron to the floor. There's a real cool moment when they return to the ring as Sabin and Shelley attempt the Dream Sequence on Bruiser - but then change to something different because he's just too big. Shelley starts doing random Macho Man impressions, which confuse BCB so much he accidentally clobbers his own partner to the floor. Young improvises whilst out there though and chucks Alex into the railings. He re-enters the ring with a slingshot double stomp to the ribs. Beer City tries to make that injury worse with a butt splash...but then shows surprisingly speed to get back up and deck Shelley again with a clothesline moments later. The challengers also take the time to keep knocking Sabin off the apron meaning Shelley doesn't have anyone to tag. But BCB is starting to look blown up as the match approaches ten minutes - letting Shelley jump over his head and into a hot tag to Sabin. Missile dropkick drops Silas, who has to recover quickly to block the Cradle Shock as Alex launches himself over the ropes into a pescado on Bruiser. Through-the-legs tope by Sabin seconds later. Misery by Silas! KEG SPLASH NAILED! Shelley dives in at the last second to break the count. SPIKE BEER CITY DRIVER! Surely that is Alex Shelley's evening over? Sabin blocks Misery to hit a springboard DDT. Shelley returns for the ASCS Rush, then the Dream Sequence on Young. Skull & Bones finishes Bruiser at 12:51

Rating - ** - This didn't work for me and felt far longer than the thirteen minutes it ran for. Part of the issue was that I didn't feel like they utilised Bruiser effectively - keeping him in the ring for far too long and blowing him up, rather than picking his moments to hit big man offence for maximum impact. He showed that in the last couple of minutes with a couple of huge spots which felt like the highlights of the match for me. So many elements I found niggly and annoying too. Like how The Dawgs, Riccaboni AND Silas/Bruiser kept calling MCMG 'high flyers'. They aren't. I'm not sure you'd ever class them as that even in their prime - particularly Shelley, who has always been renowned as a great technical wrestler. The complete marginalisation of Silas Young was supremely irritating too. If you didn't watch the product regularly you'd have no idea that this guy was in a big PPV bout beating a former World Champion. He wasn't presented remotely like a big deal, or like a real threat to the Machine Guns. In summary the match felt predictable, lacking in drama and borderline annoying as an overall presentation/package. 

CHAOS and Suzuki-gun are no stranger to six-man tags on the undercard, and tonight they find themselves in the US filling the exact same role. You feel that Hashi and Ospreay in particular have very little to gain from this. Hashi challenges Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Title as the headline bout of the entire tour tomorrow, whilst Ospreay is the new IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion so can ill afford an injury at the hands of the marauding heavyweights standing across the ring from him. The CHAOS trio won't want to go 0-2 for the Tour though, having failed to beat Bullet Club in the Pittsburgh main event with the ROH Six-Man Titles on the line...

Suzuki-gun offer to shake hands...which the CHAOS team believe, like they haven't wrestled each a thousand times on NJPW house shows before. It felt like a dumb way to start the match, but the ensuing brawl on the floor is far more compelling. Smith rams Ospreay into the railing and chokes him so hard it seems like an actual attempted murder...as Suzuki quite literally chases Yano through the crowd. He runs into the ring and makes a dart for the turnbuckles with the sadistic Suzuki in hot pursuit. Yano does the annoying rope break gimmick - and it turns out to be so annoying that Minoru slaps him in the face. Hanging armbar applied in the ropes as the KES punch lumps out of Yano's partners on the floor. Todd Sinclair has to put a stop to his antics...and Suzuki chases him around the ring like a mad man too. Yano is completely stranded inside the ring without another member of his team in sight. Stalling Bulldog-style vertical suplex by Davey; always an astonishing feat when performed on someone of Yano's size. Yoshi finally makes a break into the ring to rescue his partner - but Suzuki puts him in a submission hold too! Ospreay gets a tag and lands a Red Star Press on Smith Jr. OsCutter misses...so he breaks out the Stun Dog Millionaire to counter another Bulldog suplex attempt. Moonsault - COUNTERED with a double boot that propels Will straight back into the air again. Suzuki senses the danger and demands a tag in so he can administer a beating on the junior champ. He goads Ospreay into a strike exchange and almost turns his lights out with palm strikes. Somehow Will absorbs his best shots and still manages to throw a heel kick back his way then tag Hashi in. Head Hunter on Archer gets 2...so Lance decimates him with a Pounce. Hart Attack nailed by KES, drawing Yano and Ospreay in for a save. Ospreay tries a tope...only to be caught by KES and THROWN INTO THE CROWD! Killer Bomb blocked by Hashi, then Ospreay flies in with the Pip Pip Cheerio. Hashi pins Archer at 14:41

Rating - *** - If you watch NJPW with any regularity you'll be familiar with what you're going to get here. The wrestling was decent, the brawl was interesting, Ospreay took a few wicked bumps, Yano did his standard routine...and Hashi got the big win since he's being set up for a bigger match tomorrow. A competent NJPW house show match which just happened to take place in an ROH ring. The exchange between Ospreay and Suzuki was gold though.

For the second night running the Women Of Honor are a welcome addition to the main show. Holidead is making her debut tonight - billed as an 'international star' despite being from the States due to the fact that she has been a regular with Stardom for a couple of years. Sakai has tasted defeat on two consecutive nights on this tour so far so badly needs a win over the debutant here.

Holi is an intimidating presence and Sakai - sporting bruises after two demanding matches already this week - does her best to keep out of her clutches. TOP ROPE FLYING CROSSBODY TO THE FLOOR! Dead is rattled after that but comes back with a shoulder block in the ropes. She tries to come off the top rope too only for Sumie to catch her. Frankensteiner nailed but Sakai can't force a successful pinfall at that stage. Missile dropkick scores...only for Holidead to get right back up and drill her with a spinebuster. Sumie's attempt at a German suplex is blocked, allowing Holi to boot her in the head for 2. Darkness Falls blocked, setting up Sakai to fly and Holidead with a flurry of intricate pinning combinations. Sakai gets a successful pinfall victory at 06:57

Rating - ** - Holidead looked great here; a vast improvement over some of the Women Of Honor regulars. Sadly she didn't get much time to do anything with it. She showed off little touches of her character, personality and gimmick, she looked athletic and tough inside the ropes...but didn't really go anywhere and soon found herself lying down for the slightly clumsy Sumie. It wasn't as long or exciting, but this did feel more competent than the WOH trios match last night.

At this point in their ROH careers both men were taking plenty of criticism. Woods is/was a long-term project who made mistakes and wasn't perhaps capable of the kind of performances ROH fans expected coming straight out of his Top Prospect Tournament win. Taylor suffered from being stuck in the shadow of Keith Lee (who was, in all fairness, better at that stage) and the failed Rebellion angle (even though he was by far the highlight of that faction). Some of the fan negativity means some really good matches from the pair have been overlooked. For instance, both of them have had bruising and enjoyable bouts with Jay Briscoe. Taylor's slug-out with Hirooki Goto on the War Of The Worlds Tour is my favourite Goto ROH match. On Episode 310 of the TV show Taylor, receiving a pay-off from QT Marshall for unexplained reasons, locked horns with 'The Goods' - and wound up on the losing end. It was a decent TV match and Josh's win should have been a big moment in his young career. Instead it was ruined when Shane fulfilled his contract with QT by attacking him afterwards. Now each is coming for payback. The Goods wants to put a beating on Taylor, Shane wants a revenge victory.

Taylor is from Ohio, so gets a decent pop. The crowd continue to chant his name as Woods unsuccessfully rattles off some early strikes. Instead he kicks at the big legs of Taylor before lunging into a rear naked choke which has Shane grabbing for the ropes. Taylor's response is to punch Woods square in the jaw! Ankle Lock by Woods...so Taylor CLOBBERS him off the apron! Giving chase to the floor, Taylor tackles Woods into the guardrails and barely lets him recover from that to back suplex him onto the apron. Josh starts making mistakes - attempting a crazy overhead suplex and rightly getting obliterated by a running elbow. Taylor repeatedly smashes at the neck of his opponent, but the rattled Woods goes on instinct and lands a roundhouse kick with such force that the big man falls outside. AGAIN The Goods makes the mistake of giving chase though and for a second time is smeared into the barricade. GUARDRAIL CANNONBALL nailed by Taylor! He thinks it's over and is totally blind-sided as they return to the ring and Josh tags him with a springboard knee smash. Running knee in the corner follows! Taylor starts elbowing and headbutting at the neck. GERMAN SUPLEX BY WOODS! He runs at Taylor with an elbow...which Taylor ducks into GREETINGS FROM 216! Taylor gets a big win at 08:20

Rating - *** - I'm not sure people are on board with me enjoying the work of these two. They can be hit or miss and both have rough edges to polish, but I think there is clear upside in both cases. Here the crowd were uncomfortably sullen, but these two have solid chemistry as opponents and rattled off a hugely enjoyable bout - probably my favourite of the night so far after Lethal/Hiromu. Demonstrating both an awareness of their limitations but also an understanding of how their styles might compliment each other, they laid out an uncomplicated and hard-hitting battle which completely flew by. Taylor is a strong-style, violent mercenary - Woods the raw, inexperienced but dangerous mixed martial artist. Each came at the other with a desire to use their respective skillset to knock the other out. I liked the approach and took a lot more out of this than I suspect other viewers (and certainly the fans in attendance) will have.

The downside of Cabana being such an outstanding addition to the commentary table is that he wrestles infrequently now. After his outstanding and hugely under-rated main event run in 2016 - where he delivered some of the best matches of his entire ROH career - it is a real shame. Hearing his thinly-veiled barbs and jibes about how much he wants to wrestle whilst on commentary is pretty heart-breaking too. He makes a welcome return to the ring this evening, filling in for the injured Mark Briscoe to join Kenny King in facing an old enemy. He has no love for the Bullet Club after they ruined his big World Title shot against Jay Lethal back at Global Wars 2016. The following night he watched as Adam Page turned on his team in a five-on-five bout vs Bullet Club costing Cabana another main event victory too. Scurll and Page would both consider themselves in the hunt for King's TV Title as well, putting a target on Kenny's back for this bout...

Cabana and Scurll start, giving us plenty of jokes and plenty of entertaining World Of Sport-influenced exchanges. King tags, misses a corkscrew pescado...and instead jumps onto the stage then jumps off into a CORKSCREW SENTON! Scurll hits back with a Just Kidding stomp to the hand, setting up a Page baseball slide which knocks the TV Champ into the railing. Kenny tries the Last Chancery only to have Marty stomping on the ribs. There has been some decent wrestling on display so far in the match - so of course the biggest pops are reserved for Marty clowning around with repeated comedy back rakes. Hangman and Marty keep accidentally hitting each other though - opening the door for a hot tag to Colt. He lands a quebrada on both opponents, then rolling Flying Assholes for 2. Straightjacket lungblower by Marty shuts down his momentum. Chickenwing COUNTERED to the Billy Goat's Curse! BUCKSHOT LARIAT by Page to break that. He wants a spike Rite Of Passage as well, but Marty takes far too long getting up the ropes. Colt tries to counter...and Marty kicks Page in the dick when trying to help! SSP TORPEDO to the floor by Page! Just Kidding from Marty to Cabana. Then Colt puts an oven mit on his finger to prevent The Villain from pulling off the Finger Snap! Marty rips it off and snaps the fingers anyway! ROYAL FLUSH on Page! The TV Champ wins it at 12:36

Rating - *** - I didn't have an overwhelming amount of excitement to watch this. Scurll since he joined the Bullet Club and became a comedy worker is nowhere near as enjoyable for me to watch as he was during his TV Title reign, and the mismanagement of Page is depressing every time I see him. Against that back drop, this was really fun. King busted his ass and came off like a total star here. Colt didn't do much more than play the hits, but his comic timing is so refined and on point that his interactions with Scurll in particular were a joy to watch. For a filler tag match thrown together at short notice this probably didn't have any right being as entertaining as it wound up being.

In 2016 Kevin Kelly started pushing the idea that Kushida wanted to be ROH Champion. Finally tonight we get the pay-off to that as he challenges the American Nightmare for the World Title. It is an arguable point that his recent win/loss record is worthy of this opportunity but you certainly couldn't argue that his in-ring performances in both ROH and NJPW over the last year haven't warranted this title shot. He is a dangerous adversary and one that, if Cody underestimates him whilst messing around with his gaudy ring and crowd-pleasing chicanery, may just be capable of ending Cody's reign.

We waste a LOT of time with shenanigans involving the ring, particularly after Kushida gives Rhodes the middle finger rather than kiss it. Cody tries to get some heat by running down the Columbus fans for not chanting his name loudly enough...which does at least get a few people routing for the challenger. We are almost three minutes in before they even get close to wrestling though. Cody instantly gets his heat back by doing Stardust poses though, then kills more time by demanding security kick certain fans out. Kushida counters the drop-down palmstrike into an armbar...prompting Cody to hop the rail and run into the crowd for safety. He leaves the ring again when Kushida tries to jump off the top rope at him as well. We are the best part of ten minutes in when he finally returns and spits water into Kushida's face so he can take a few cheap shots. Stalling gourdbuster gets him a nearfall and represents his first serious attempt to actually wrestle. Surfboard applied, with a boot right in the neck to set up the Cross Rhodes...then converts to the Figure 4 when Kushida tries to escape, laying the groundwork for the American Nightmare Lock instead. The arrogant champion vocally sets up an avalanche brainbuster attempt...which Kushida counters with a flying armbar DDT. Once again Rhodes leaves the ring, but this time Kushida gives chase and gives him a Shellshock into the guardrail. STEP-UP MISSILE DROPKICK into the barricades! He somehow aimed that at the shoulder and follows it with more precision kicks to the arm. Rolling Thunder DDT landed, with Cody frantically clinging to his arm to escape the Hoverboard Lock. In the end he finds a fantastic counter into the Alabamaslam! Disaster Kick COUNTERED WITH A FLYING ARMBAR! The champ makes the ropes, so Kushida gives him another armbreaker. Tajiri Elbow blocked...Cross Rhodes blocked too! Tanaka Punch rocks Cody, who retaliates with a powerslam but then curls up into a ball nursing his arm. Disaster Kick nailed. Cross Rhodes COUNTERED TO THE HOVERBOARD LOCK! Rhodes rolls to the ropes. Back To The Future BLOCKED INTO CROSS RHODES! Cody wins at 17:13

Rating - **** - One of Cody's best matches in ROH, which isn't surprising considering how in form his opponent had been. The reason this worked is that Cody's incessant stalling and showmanship actually played into the story of the match. Unlike, for example, the SANADA defence in Liverpool where he goofed off and f*cked around for no reason other than to get himself over and waste time - here it felt like there was a story. He wanted to put himself over...but he also greatly feared his opponent. By running deep into the crowd at the first sign of an armbar it signalled his trepidation about having to face Kushida. The task for the challenger was to trap Cody in the ring and lure him into a wrestling match - which Cody couldn't cope with for a long time. Kushida destroyed his arm, putting on a wrestling clinic which almost secured him the World Title. And the skill and calibre of Kushida's showing means that Cody's win - clean and resourceful when it came - becomes all the more impressive. This felt like Cody surviving a major challenge, enriching his championship legacy as a result. In short, this is the type of championship match ROH used to be all about. It joins his Bullrope Match with Lethal, his 2/3 Falls Match with Daniels and his early bouts with Donovan Dijak and Will Ospreay as Cody's best ROH singles work.

Bullet Club/Freebird Rule is once again in effect this evening, meaning Omega swaps in for Hangman and the Six-Man Titles are on the line again. Bullet Club members have already successfully defended the belts against both The Kingdom and CHAOS on this tour. What hope do the first-time team of CHAOS' Beretta, Chuck Taylor (who has a pinfall win over the Bucks) and the relative newcomer who The Elite victimise on their YouTube show have? It is a huge match for Flip, who doesn't work many live events - but now steps into a main event championship situation.

Trent pokes Nick in the eyes to prevent an early Superkick. Rope-run twisting lucha armdrag by Nick instead, sending Beretta packing back into his corner! Flip tags, to the delight of Matt Jackson - who demands to be tagged so he can continue the bullying which was an ongoing storyline on 'Being The Elite'. Superkick blocked...into multiple flips by Gordon! Matt teases a respectful handshake - which the Best Friends dive in and prevent Flip from accepting. The pop Omega gets just for tagging into the match is totally obscene. He pulls rank on Taylor and repeatedly takes him to ground. Chuckie has better luck with Matt - hitting him with a belly to belly suplex which sets up Beretta's slingshot boot scrape. Flip capitalises with a springboard senton as well - but it winds up preventing the Friends from getting their hug in...so they chuck their own partner out! RUNNING CORKSCREW PLANCHA by Gordon! He still can't get a hug from his partners though! Double stomp/backbreaker combo by Omega and Nick grounds Flip. For the third night running Omega instigates a call for multiple amounts of 'boots' - eventually calling Marty, Cody and Hangman out of the locker room. Tonight they don't even try to hide it from the referee...who just stands and watches without a DQ for no reason whatsoever. He even stands there as the entire Bullet Club hug, do Ultimate Warrior poses and mug to the crowd. The Best Friends are watching from the floor completely bemused...until the entire referee crew comes out and ejects the uninvited members of Bullet Club from ringside. Gordon got plenty of time to recover amongst that chaos...but when he makes it to his corner he finds Matt Jackson waiting with a microphone, to hit his 'where do you think you're going'. AOI SHOUDOU gets 2 for Kenny. Dr Wily Bomb gets another nearfall with the Friends having to dive in for a save. They crotch the Bucks on the ropes, Taylor gives Matt a superplex then TRENT GERMAN SUPERPLEXES NICK ON TOP! 450 SPLASH draws a close nearfall for Gordon. Dragon Rush suplexes for all three challengers. Omega wants to do the same move to Trent on the apron. APRON PILEDRIVER BY BERETTA! On commentary BJ sells that brilliantly by the way. KINDER SURPRISE to block the IndyTaker! STRONG ZERO! SWANTON BOMB by Nick to break the pin! V-TRIGGER on Flip! One Winged Angel COUNTERED TO THE F*CKING AWFUL WAFFLE! Hangman and Cody run back out and drag the ref out. How is THAT not a disqualification? ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD 450 TO THE FLOOR BY FLIP! Meanwhile Trent and Chuckie have decided that since referee Paul Turner isn't enforcing rules anyway they may as well bring a table into play. They open it up then drag Nick Jackson onto the stage above it. Matt runs up at the very end to prevent his brother being chokeslammed. SUPERKICK FLURRY! TRIPLE SUPERKICK OFF THE STAGE THROUGH THE TABLE! The Best Friends are cooked and it means The Elite are alone with Flip! He charges the stage and sends the, scattering. MOONSAULT OFF THE STAGE...CAUGHT! STAGE DIVE MELTZER DRIVER ON THE F*CKING FLOOR! And still Flip tries to get back to his feet! ONE-WINGED INDYTAKER! Bullet Club retain at a nutty 25:00

Rating - **** - I'm lost for words at how to even describe this match. If you're a stickler for the rules, if you don't like the Young Bucks, if you were expecting 'Best Bout Machine' Omega, or if you don't like 'Being The Elite' then I'd give this one a wide-birth, you'll hate it. They did SO MUCH illegal sh*t that I'm astonished they didn't just book this as a random No DQ Match to legitimise it. They fought on the floor for endless amounts of time. We got multiple run-ins, outside interference actually costing the challengers the match, tables...the works. There were also long stretches which must have gone over people who don't watch the YouTube show's heads entirely. BUT, here's the thing. I like 'Being The Elite'. I'm not hugely comfortable with it bleeding into the ROH product and it clearly did here...but at least they were entertaining about it. The story they crafted, taking the bullying of Flip Gordon from YouTube and into the ring, was REALLY good. Gordon's defiant performance too was excellent. He looked excellent here, and I loved the conclusion where he ran into battle willingly against all three of The Elite...and got royally f*cked up as a result. All tour we've had Bullet Club haha-stuff six-man tags main eventing. This was by far the most competent at knitting together goofball skits with good wrestling. But it is also the one that borrowed the most liberally from 'Being The Elite'. It almost felt like I was watching a PWG match...

Tape Rating - *** - I didn't find this as easy to sit through as the Pittsburgh show. Big parts of this DVD felt like real filler. BUT, when running down the card the matches I most wanted to see were the Lethal/Takahashi, Cody/Kushida and Six-Man Title main event. They were all excellent. Just like his match with Jay White in Pittsburgh, Lethal busted his ass and delivered an old school ROH undercard classic. The main event won't suit everyone's taste - but fans of Being The Elite got everything they could have wished for in a crazy, chaotic, utterly whacky ride which lasted almost half an hour. And the show also produced one of Cody's best matches in the company; one which actually worked his pageantry and stall-heavy style into the story really well. If you have Honor Club you probably don't need to watch the whole show - but those three matches (plus a shout-out for Taylor/Woods, which I really liked) are worth your time.

3) Cody vs Kushida (****)

2) Kenny Omega/Young Bucks vs Trent Beretta/Chuck Taylor/Flip Gordon (****)

1) Jay Lethal vs Hiromu Takahashi (****)