McXal's Reviews

For the first time in its history, this weekend ROH runs Survival Of The Fittest over three nights. Six matches, from which the six winners meet in a single elimination match with a World Title shot at stake. Tomorrow night we'll see Jon Gresham, Vinny Marseglia, TK O'Ryan, Matt Taven, Flip Gordon and Cheeseburger in tournament action, whilst this evening we have Silas Young vs Josh Woods, Beer City Bruiser vs Shane Taylor and 2012 winner Jay Lethal taking on Punishment Martinez. We'll also have The Kingdom facing Search & Destroy in trios action, Joey Ryan coming in to challenge Kenny King for the TV Title, more CMLL guys making debuts, Women Of Honor talent on the main show, Dalton Castle and Marty Scurll, plus a scheduled (emphasis on that word) double main event of the Young Bucks against Flip Gordon and Scorpio Sky, then The Addiction versus Cody and Kenny Omega - yes, The Cleaner is here for this show as well. If that weren't enough, Arrow star (and friend of Cody) Stephen Amell is our host for the evening. Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer are on commentary on San Antonio, TX. The crowd is absolutely massive compared to when ROH ran the same building at the start of the year. Obviously the vast majority are decked out in Bullet Club/Elite/Omega/Bucks/Cody/Marty/Hangman shirts...

Stephen Amell takes his hosting duties seriously and comes straight to the ring to start the show. He's here because a 'friend' told him to check out ROH - and he loves professional wrestling. The Addiction come out to interrupt him and Frankie's inability to reference the right superhero is very funny. Daniels bemoans Amell being promoted over The Addiction for the show...so Stephen calls them 'has-beens'. Cody arrives and has Amell's back...so in response Daniels offers to 'lead' the Flip Army and wants to change the main event to The Addiction, Scorpio Sky and Flip Gordon against Bullet Club. Daniels is so confident he is even happy to fight handicap style so Cody can invite 'Bad Luck Failure', 'Thomas Tonga', 'Tanga Ebola' or 'Chase Stevens' to join in too. Cody agrees, and announces that Stephen Amell is part of the Bullet Club - so he'll be in it too! That really should be it, but Cody sticks around to take some unnecessary and irrelevant shots at WWE.

This is our first of three SOTF qualification bouts tonight. Given that by the end of 2019 (I'm writing this in May 2020, but as Covid-19 has ensured there's not been any new ROH content in months it feels disingenuous to call them a regular team in 2020!) these two would become a regular tag team this should be interesting. Silas has had a strong year and is preparing for a TV Title shot at Final Battle. Woods won the Top Prospect Tournament and has had a few decent matches but is still yet to get any traction or momentum going in his ROH career. A run to the finals of Survival Of The Fittest could be really significant for his development...

Silas acts like a jerk so Woods dumps him on his ass with his shoot skills. Young is an experienced pro though and recognises when Josh gets over-excited - then easily dodges him, leaving him to bash his head in the corner. The Goods looks dazed after that, which Young viciously exploits. Any time Josh shows signs of recovery Silas takes him to the ground and grinds onto a rear chinlock, negating his MMA-influenced strikes and piling more pressure onto whatever head-injury he's suffering with. Woods hangs in there before eventually firing back with a flurry of suplexes and knee strikes. Sliding DDT by Silas dumps his opponent on his damaged head again though. The Goods swings a desperate roundhouse kick in Silas' direction...then both men crumple to the ground. Young gets into an ill-advised strike exchange with Josh, and gets knocked so loopy that Woods is able to hit rolling gutwrench suplex into a gutwrench powerbomb. He floats that straight into Deenda Bar too! The Last Real Man is lucky that he was situated so close to the ropes there. Woods wants to come off the top only for Young to shunt the ref into the ropes, which topples Josh into Misery. Young wins at 09:56

Rating - *** - The best matches Woods has had in ROH this year are the ones where his opponents have been good enough to strike a balance between putting over his MMA skills, but also making him look like an inexperienced wrestler who's lack of ring-time can be exploited. To that end I thought Silas was perfect here, delivering a terrific individual performance. He bumped around and made Woods look like a killer on offence, whilst constructing a simple but well-executed plot which saw him ruthlessly exploit every mistake Woods made. I didn't really understand why he needed to cheat to win though. I can see why fans have been slow to catch on to Josh Woods. There are points in every one of his matches where he looks incredibly awkward, he works with this vacant (and sort of annoying) smile on his face the whole time like he isn't taking it seriously and he is clearly still working out what kind of professional wrestler he wants to be. However, with the right opponent I enjoy watching him. I do think he has serious potential if the rough edges can be sanded off.

Colt Cabana calls this a 'battle of the big boys'. Taylor is from Cleveland but has worked extensively in the Texas region so should enjoy some fan support. Like Silas, he is preparing to challenge for the TV Title at Final Battle. The way he has recovered from losing Keith Lee as his tag partner at the start of 2020 has been impressive. He has delivered some solid matches when given the opportunity to do so, and is now positioned as a roaming gun for hire with a fearsome Knock Out Punch. Bruiser is a big man for him to KO though. Silas is back out with BCB, hoping to see his partner join him in the finals of Survival Of The Fittest.

Beer City invites Taylor to give him some of his best shots...and takes a few of his best to the abdomen. He shakes them off and starts slapping Shane about though! The big men battle for position on the apron, setting up the rolling senton to the floor by Bruiser. TURNBUCKLE DVD NAILED! That looked completely terrifying. Taylor is such a big dude that it takes vital seconds for BCB to get him into the middle of the ring after that for a cover. Taylor retaliates with a knee strike, followed by the Warrior Splash for 2. Big Shane teases a moonsault...but is LIGERBOMBED OUT OF THE CORNER! Taylor looks done, so Bruiser starts climbing for the Keg Splash. SUPER BRAINBUSTER by Taylor gets 2. KO Punch lands, and Bruiser is out like a light. Taylor is victorious at 08:01

Rating - *** - That felt unnecessarily violent. Slow-going at times, but they took some huge, risky bumps for men of this size. I'm a massive fan of Taylor. His gritty back-story makes him stand-out, his no-nonsense character delivery comes off as bad-ass rather than mindless or lacking in charisma, his weight-loss story is remarkable and when given the chance the dude can GO. He's another desperately under-rated guy struggling for exposure in the enormous shadow cast by The Elite...

This is our final SOTF qualification match of the night, and this is where the tournament gets extremely interesting. Martinez is on a roll which started when he brutalised Jay White in a Street Fight at Death Before Dishonor. Lethal won Survival Of The Fittest in 2012 and has made noises about wanting to become World Champion once again - therefore needs to win this tournament. Both come in with serious momentum, but one man will see that curtailed this evening. This one is without a doubt the stand-out match of the SOTF qualification round.

Lethal tries to start quickly, but is stunned to see Punisher keeping up with him every step of the way. They rattle through a marvellous near-miss kick duel which brings the crowd to their feet. Martinez laughs at Lethal's strikes, until Jay delivers the hiptoss dropkick combo with such force that Punishment leaves the ring. The big man EASILY blocks Lethal's tope suicida attempt by simply batting him away though! He rams Jay sternum-first into the guardrail, perhaps looking to exploit the injuries he suffered at the hands of Silas and Bruiser earlier in the year. Tope suicida COUNTERED to a chokeslam on the apron! Martinez follows it with the super spinning heel kick and has the Franchise is major trouble. Punisher uppercuts him so hard that Lethal tumbles backwards...straight through the ropes and splattering onto the floor. Release falcon arrow causes Jay to crash down onto his injured midsection again. He battles to block South Of Heaven; boxing Punishment into the corner before blasting him with an Ace Crusher when he stumbles out again. Cyclone Kick countered to the Lethal Combination. And at last Jay is able to hit a tope suicida, and he re-enters with Hail To The King as well. Punisher dusts that off with a ONE-count though. Martinez misses a Curb Stomp, jarring his knee in the process. Lethal notices and drives multiple kicks to the big man's vertical base. He almost collapses when trying to kick out at Jay...who drops him into the Figure 4 Leglock. But Punisher is so tall that he gets to the ropes relatively quickly. He throttles Lethal only for the former World Champ to kick his knee out from under him. PSYCHO DRIVER gets 2! Martinez misses a leg-selling springboard senton, and both men are down. Marty Scurll comes out and again tries to convince Lethal to use his umbrella to secure the win. Lethal NAILS Marty with it! LETHAL INJECTION COUNTERED TO A PSYCHO DRIVER/CURB STOMP COMBO! SOUTH OF HEAVEN! Martinez is on his way to the finals at 14:43

Rating - **** - Jay Lethal is such a f*cking workhorse now. Like Bryan Danielson, Davey Richards, Roderick Strong or Chris Daniels (to name a few), ROH officials know that if they sent him out with a half-decent time allowance he is going to produce a great match regardless of his opponent. Tonight he had a great one too. Martinez delivers every-time he gets an opportunity, and getting fifteen minutes with ROH's 'franchise player' was a big deal. He showed he could work a more traditional style of ROH match, with big hits, strong wrestling, decent selling and palpable drama. I enjoyed him targeting Lethal's bad ribs from earlier in the year, he sold his leg REALLY well and carried himself like a future World Champion throughout. I don't generally like run-in finishes - but Scurll's appearance did make complete sense here and this is now the second time (including the Florida TV tapings) that Lethal has lost a match because he refused to be villainous like Marty.

There have been issues brewing between The Kingdom and Search & Destroy. Vinny and TK have failed to take the Tag Titles from the Machine Guns, but cheated to beat Jay White (in his last televised match) and have done the same with Gresham too. S&D don't back down from a fight so will be coming for revenge here, whilst The Kingdom eye up another win over them so that they earn another Tag Title shot in the near future.

The Kingdom attack during S&D's entrance, triggering a brawl on the floor. It suits them to brawl on the floor where the skills of Gresham, Shelley and Sabin aren't as effective, particularly when they break the rules and start choking Sabin out with electrical cable. Criss-cross apron dives by the Machine Guns, teeing up a tope suicida by Gresham. Hesitation Dropkick from Sabin to Vinny! As soon as they were able to return the match to the ring Search & Destroy use their superior wrestling skills to regain control. That is until Shelley inexplicably BITES MARSEGLIA'S DICK and doesn't get disqualified!? Vinny is pissed and gives him a diving cutter in the ropes as payback. TK spears Gresh then spinebusters Sabin in quick successful too. It means that Shelley is cut-off from his partners and falls victim to repeated flurries of double and triple teams (some of which are really awkward and poorly executed). The Kingdom start doing a goofy comedy spot where they take repeated in-play time-outs...whilst Shelley stands around, doesn't tag out and waits around to kick them all in the head. The Octopus does get a tag and sets about making Taven and Marseglia look like complete idiots. Side Effect/double stomp combo by Marseglia and TK, right into a German suplex/elbow drop combo by Marseglia and Taven. Shellshock/DDT combo nailed by Shelley, then the Machine Guns give O'Ryan the Dream Sequence. Taven saves his partner from Skull & Bones, but climbs onto Alex's shoulders only to be hauled down with a SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA BY GRESHAM! Skull & Bones nailed! REDRUM by Vinny to break the fall! Through-the-legs tope by Sabin! AIR TAVEN wipes out his own partners! SHOOTING STAR PRESS by Gresham...but right onto Taven's knees! Matt rolls him up, delivering a pinfall victory for The Kingdom at 14:36

Rating - *** - I didn't get the stupid comedy spots here - be that Shelley's dick grabbing/biting or The Kingdom's idiotic time-out huddles. Not everyone on the ROH roster needs to do dumbass skits in every match just because The Elite do. Those two segments aside, I liked this. I much prefer it when The Kingdom are presented like credible threats. None of them are perfect individually, but since the Six-Man Title Tournament in 2016 it has been apparent that they really do work well together as a trio. It was a solid, heel outing and they were rewarded with a clean victory which keeps them relevant and gives them another viable claim to a title shot down the line. 

Kudos to ROH, for once again putting their 'Women Of Honor Wednesday' match on the show itself rather than taping it dark. Baker and Purrazzo were on opposing ends of a six-woman tag at Global Wars Pittsburgh, where their exchanges left many clamouring for a singles match. Here is that singles showdown. Deonna has a No DQ grudge match with Karen Q in Dallas tomorrow night, so will need to ensure she doesn't lose focus and overlook the extremely dangerous dentist across the ring from her...

Baker is anxious to prove herself and has no fear of going hold-for-hold with Deonna even if it potentially exposes her arm to damage. Her long limbs make it difficult for Purrazzo to control her on the canvas and they work to a stalemate. Britt has a fearsome superkick, and her just attempting it sends Deonna scurrying to the ropes to evade. Sling Blade nailed by Baker instead for 2. Running chinlock a'la Adam Cole sees Purrazzo on the deck and in trouble, with Britt stayong on the neck to land a fisherman neckbreaker soon after. Lockjaw applied, piling more pressure on Purrazzo's neck until Deonna counters it to a pinning predicament forcing her to break it. Roaring elbow by Britt, but Deonna fires back with a clothesline sending them both to the mat. Running knee by Purrazzo, right into the Italian Legsweep for 2. ELBOW SMASH by Baker almost knocks her opponent out cold. The Virtuosa recovers and levels Britt with a German suplex. SUPERKICK ON THE FLOOR! Deonna blocks a brainbuster then COUNTERS the RainBaker into her Fujiwara Armbar. Britt taps at 08:06

Rating - *** - I wish they could've gotten more time. This was comfortably the best WOH match I've seen in 2017 (I don't watch every Wednesday admittedly) and the step up in quality between these two and the likes of Jenny Rose, Mandy Leon, Faye Jackson and Sumie Sakai was stark. Britt gave Deonna everything she had, targeting her neck with a sustained and violent onslaught. However, such is the potency of Deonna's Fujiwara that, as soon as she locked it in, Britt had no choice but to tap. I'd love to see a rematch. I'd love to see Baker become a regular. I suspect I'll get neither...

This match sees two more luchadors debut as part of ROH's relationship with CMLL. Esfinge and Cometa haven't come here to make up the numbers and will be looking to demonstrate their skills with a comprehensive win over one of the lowest ranked teams in ROH's tag division.

The Dawgs try to get a 'USA' chant going, which would work in some markets - but in Texas the crowd are firmly behind the luchadors. Rey starts with Ferrara, who doesn't do the worst job keeping up with him as they trade some lucha basics. Esfinge is jacked, but his exchanges with Titus aren't anywhere near as smooth. Even Cabana tries to cover it by talking about the differences between American wrestling and Lucha Libre. Titus hits a dropkick to knock Esfinge to the floor, where Ferrara is waiting to hit a tornado DDT. The Dawgs team up to wear down Esfinge, making sure to keep him on the ground and maintain a methodical pace. Cometa gets a tag and instantly livens things up with a running hurricanrana to the outside! Twisting press back in gets 2 on Little Willy. Tope atomico scores for Esfinge! STEP-UP CORKSCREW PLANCHA by Cometa! Rhett shoves Esfinge off the top when he tries another dive...and takes flight with the Big Dawg Splash on Rey for 2. MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR by Cometa...as Esfinge almost drops Ferrara on his head inside the ring. Bridging pin scores the win for Team CMLL at 11:00

Rating - ** - The last couple of minutes, with the luchadors breaking free of the constraints of the formulaic 'American style' and hitting a few dives, were good. Before that this felt awkward; a real clash of styles where neither team felt on the same wavelength as the other. The Dawgs have earned this chance to face higher profile international competition because they've done a decent job within their role as an undercard tag team in the second half of the year. But I presume neither man has heaps of experience working with luchadors and it showed. 

The 'King Of Dong Style' getting a title shot despite not having been in the company for years can be loosely explained by Kenny promising to be a fighting champion and vowing to defend the belt at as many events as possible. Joey dabbled in ROH during the HDNet era, working as the 'Hired Magnum' for Prince Nana's Embassy. I thought he did some good stuff - but his style never really felt like a good fit for ROH at the time. Given his appearances on Being The Elite, and the way the entire style of ROH has evolved to mirror the stars of that YouTube show, he will probably feel more at home this time around. Nonetheless, for ROH's corporate overlords, having a man sponsored by YouPorn (Cabana straight-up says it on commentary) as TV Champion would present a major challenge! A win for Ryan would also instantly earn him a spot on the card at the biggest PPV of the year, because Final Battle already has a four-way TV Title Match signed...

King acting surprised and annoyed that Ryan spends minutes stalling and oiling himself up, despite the fact he's done the exact same routine forever, is pretty irritating. Has he not studied his opponent? Has he not heard of Joey Ryan? Ryan, of course, starts by demanding that Kenny grab his dick. King (rightly) points out that he is being sexually harassed but soon has to start devising wrestling counters to what is effectively attempted sexual assault as Joey tries to force him to grab his dick. Tumbleweed senton off the apron scores. The champ does a good job of enforcing a traditional wrestling match, but then he tries an atomic drop...and collapses in a heap since Ryan's invincible dick almost snapped his leg in half. The challenger escorts King around the ring - choking him in the corner in a manner which accentuates his shapely thighs. Spinebuster in response by King...but soon after he falls head-first into Joey's crotch, and is knocked silly as a result. YouPorn Plex blocked with a capoeira kick/corkscrew pescado combo. One Night Stand gets 2 for King! Ryan tries to set up for the Moustache Ride, and when Kenny counters it Joey pounces with the SUPER YOUPORN PLEX! King kicks out at 2, so Ryan pulls a lollipop out of his trucks and tries to 70's Kick it through Kenny's teeth. That is countered to the Royal Flush, and King retains at 12:02

Rating - ** - It was fun seeing Joey Ryan. He hasn't been in ROH for a long time, and it was nice to see him return. This isn't what I'd have booked him to do at all though. For one thing, having him as a babyface hitting all his crowd-pleasing joke spots meant he was far more over than Kenny. That wouldn't be a problem if King were heel - but ROH have worked hard to cultivate this babyface, family-man character for Kenny, and having Ryan make him look stupid (and heelish) craps all over it. If you know anything about Ryan, you know exactly what to expect. Personally I felt like ROH should have booked him to do something with the Being The Elite cast. He cameos on the YouTube show anyway. His character and gimmick works well with them. Having him interact with those guys fits. Having him make Kenny King, whom ROH has worked so hard to rebrand this year, look stupid didn't work for me.

This is a rematch of Marty's debut at Reach For The Sky Tour Liverpool in 2016. On that night he cheated to win (he's a Villain). Castle is now on the road to Final Battle and preparing to face Scurll's Bullet Club team-mate Cody for the World Championship. There can be no better preparation for Dalton than avenging that 2016 loss on the way to the biggest match of his career.

Marty moves hesitantly and doesn't want to lock up with his opponent. He tries to choke Castle in the ropes but finds Dalton is able to slither backwards to the floor to escape. Scurll retaliates by stomping on Castle's hands. Dalton tries to chop back at him...but rattles his arm against the ringpost. The Peacock can't afford an injury so close to Final Battle so this instantly becomes a dangerous situation. He hauls Marty back into the ring for some knee strikes and Greco-Roman throws. Scurll hides behind referee Paul Turner to break his momentum - then pops out to snap Castle's arm over the top rope. They get into a really physical tussle on the floor which sees them bouncing each other off guardrails and the apron. Scurll stomps the arm, leaving it hanging limp by Castle's side. Dalton fires back with amateur-style suplexes but can't connect with the Everest German before Marty levels him with Just Kidding. Scurll blocks Bang-A-Rang but is rumbled trying to pin Castle with his feet on the ropes. Referee Paul Turner is knocked out in the ensuing scuffle and misses as Dalton holds Marty to the mat for a prolonged period after hitting the Everest German. Scurll goes for his umbrella - just like last year in Liverpool. UMBRELLA TO THE SKULL! But unlike in the UK Castle finds a way to kick out. Finger Snap by The Villain. Dalton no-sells and takes it to the floor...so Scurll shoves him back-first into the apron and PLANTS him with a tornado DDT. Chickenwing blocked...into Bang-A-Rang! Castle avenges the loss in Liverpool, getting a huge win at 14:50

Rating - *** - A fine match, which could've been so much better had there been any ambition shown. There were some fantastic touches of detail here. Scurll avoiding locking up with Castle was a nod to the Lesnar-esque grappling Dalton has demonstrated in recent shows. His work on the arm therefore became all-the-more relevant is it weakened Castle's ability to do that. But Marty didn't target the arm with much consistency, and Dalton didn't sell it much either. There were some astounding counter wrestling sequences and moments of bruising physicality...but they felt like isolated skits or segments with minimal relevance to the rest of the match. Bringing the umbrella in to reference their first match was a nice really nice touch too. It was perfectly decent, but somehow felt less than the sum of its parts, with a flimsy/non-existent narrative barely holding it all together. For a semi-main event, a huge rematch, and a major roadblock on Dalton's road to the World Title I had expected more.

Once again Flip Gordon leads an 'army' into battle against the Bullet Club. Initially he was scheduled to be teaming with Sky against his chief bullies the Young Bucks. But when The Addiction got involved and messed the card around, he now finds himself in a handicap situation against The Elite, the World Champion and Green Arrow! Daniels has one final shot at Cody and the World Title tomorrow night in Dallas, making this match an interesting prelude for Night 2. The Addiction and the Young Bucks have buckets of history too. Interestingly, this match also features Daniels and Kaz teaming with Scorpio Sky before the official formation of SoCal Uncensored. It's a 5-on-4 handicap match, but Bullet Club's extra man is a non-wrestler and a TV star. How will that impact the dynamic of their usually fluent multi-man style?

We have to wait for the crowd to stop wildly chanting for every member of Bullet Club (and multiple rounds of 'this is awesome') before the match can even start. Kazarian and Cody spend further minutes after the bell rings pointedly not wrestling and killing more time. Sky tags in with Matt and the pace thankfully quickens, even though Matt is disappointed he isn't getting his hands on Flip. He does have a microphone though and uses it hit his own catchphrases and start his own chants whilst wrestling. Gordon has seen enough - tags in and fights to a BRILLIANT back-flip heavy stand-off with Nick. Daniels tags and demands a piece of The Cleaner, who accepts a tag and blows the roof off the building. The Ring General isn't in the mood for Omega's games - and simply starts stomping him into the canvas. One Winged Angel blocked...Angel's Wings blocked...V-Trigger misses! So Daniels vents his frustration by popping Amell in the mouth! HART ATTACK by Amell and Omega on Frankie! Stephen then pops Daniels across the skull with an enziguri and tags out to his friend Cody. Kotaro Crusher nailed, setting up an ACE CRUSHER by Amell! We break off now for the inevitable 'ten boots' skit (because every match on this show needs a comedy segment), driving the crowd wild. The lack of effort the rest of the team make as Daniels is subjected to five minutes of brain-bashing in the corner makes this all the more of a sham. Scurll comes out so they can actually hit all ten boots (to all four opponents). Todd Sinclair did almost nothing to stop The Villain getting involved, then just stands and watches as the Bucks drag a table out from under the ring. Frankie obstinately refuses to participate in a table spot and instead drags the American Nightmare into the ring in an attempt to start an actual wrestling match. One-legged standing moonsault gets 2 for Gordon - filling him with so much confidence that he starts getting in Omega's face too. Cody rocks Daniels with a Disaster Kick, powerslams through Kaz and crawls towards a crucial tag to the Young Bucks. They get straight into it with The Addiction, with Matt countering Celebrity Rehab and bringing Kenny into play. Stop Sign Enzi nailed, into a Dragon Rush! Springboard Sling Blade COUNTERED to a Dragon Rush on Flip. V-Trigger blocked. SUPERKICKS for SCU! Amell pops in with a Superkick on Kaz as well! Five-man Superkick (comically botched thanks to the actor) clears the ring. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE BY CODY! SLINGSHOT RANA TO THE FLOOR by Kaz! ARABIAN PRESS to the outside by Daniels! Rise Of The Terminator topes by Omega and Matt! CORKSCREW MOONSAULT by Gordon! Amell is left alone in the ring! TOP ROPE STAGE DIVE BY AMELL! Stephen Amell is completely exhausted, but still thinks about a Styles Clash on Daniels until Kaz makes the save. Nick hits a moonsault off the apron...but then springboards into an Ace Crusher by Scorpio. STAR SPANGLED STUNNER! V-TRIGGER! ANGEL'S WINGS! Daniels has it won, but instead chases Amell onto the apron. POWERBOMB/STO THROUGH THE DAMN TABLE ON AMELL! The Addiction just destroyed the star of a major television show! And somehow Amell kicks out at 2! Daniels tries to ruin him with a chair, but Gordon won't let his partner get them disqualified. The Addiction get into a fight with their own partner, so Flip hits a springboard blockbuster on both of them and walks out! Sky leaves too, so now it's 5-on-2! Cross Rhodes on Kazarian. V-Trigger on Daniels! DOUBLE INDY-TAKER! The Elite pile up to all pin Daniels at once, winning the match at 31:50

Rating - *** - There was a lot of good stuff here, but it also felt incredibly bloated - and more about the 'Being The Elite' cast getting to f*ck around with their buddies than it was an actual wrestling match. Kazarian being a grumpy bastard and refusing to play along was really fun. For a non-wrestler, Amell gave an incredibly spirited and brave account of himself. I also really like that Flip stood up for himself and walked out on The Addiction rather than beat Bullet Club the 'wrong way'. It is a tad cheesy, but it fleshes out his character within the context of Ring Of Honor, not just a YouTube show, and I thoroughly appreciated that. I didn't need more than five minutes of yet another main event dedicated to the 'ten boots' skit - which has already grown wildly stale. The level of indifference and/or incompetence referees are now required to show in order to allow The Elite to goof around in matches like this has reached preposterous levels. Daniels literally had three or four guys lying on top of him at the end, but still Todd Sinclair counted the pin. This also felt like a total waste of Omega. I understand he's here to sell tickets and hang out with his friends and presumably accepted the booking on the understanding that he wouldn't have to be the 'Best Bout Machine'. But this is now the sixth live show in a row he has main evented. Only getting ONE singles match out of that (which was the overbooked Yoshi-Hashi match in Chicago) feels like wasting a precious date with one of the most talented and OVER wrestlers on the planet. Could they not even tried to have booked Omega/Lethal? Or even an Omega/Daniels singles match (they've had a singles match in ROH in the past to play off)? Just something to break up the increasingly repetitive format of The Elite multi-man tag main events...

Tape Rating - ** - I don't want to give the impression that I thought this was a 'bad' show. It wasn't...but unless you're particularly desperate to watch The Elite, featuring Stephen Amell, goof around for more than half an hour then there is no reason you need to see it. The show was called Survival Of The Fittest Night 1 - but the SOTF tournament is almost irrelevant. Lethal/Martinez was MOTN for me, but it felt like ROH got all the tournament matches out of the way early so they could crack on with what the fans came to see - which was apparently comedy wrestling. Aside from Baker/Purrazzo (which was a good Women Of Honor match by the way), every wrestler seemed compelled to veer off into joke spots...and it got annoying. I understand Being The Elite is extremely popular and those guys sell all the tickets. But it doesn't mean EVERY wrestler needs to do it. Why was Alex Shelley biting someone's dick? Why book Joey Ryan and have him make your TV Champion look massively incompetent? I'm a huge fan of the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Marty Scurll. I like Cody a lot too. But the amount of influence they have over the product had gotten out of control by this point. All their friends were getting booked. Every match seemed completely catered to their audience alone. ROH management seemed completely incapable of finding a balance between the popularity of 'Being The Elite' and building new stars or protecting the promotion in the long-term. I had no problem sitting through this show in a single sitting. I liked a lot of the matches. But nothing here felt like essential viewing...and by the end I was starting to get a bit annoyed at the endless jokes. It all felt a bit insulting. Even the commentary, without Ian Riccaboni, felt like a Colt Cabana $5 Wrestling commentary track with he and BJ cheerily cracking jokes to each other all night.

3) Dalton Castle vs Marty Scurll (***)

2) Cody/Kenny Omega/Young Bucks/Stephen Amell vs Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian/Scorpio Sky/Flip Gordon (***)

1) Punishment Martinez vs Jay Lethal (****)