McXal's Reviews

This is our first live event stop of 2018, and say it quietly but the card looks good. From a Young Bucks vs Best Friends main event to a Punishment Martinez vs Flip Gordon opening match - there are some decent matches on tap. Highlights of the midcard include Jay Lethal taking on Jonathan Gresham and The Kingdom facing Bullet Club in trios action. In an effort to generate interest in the product and the promote the new Honor Club service, ROH streamed this show for free. Can they make a statement with additional eyes on the product this evening? Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in position, providing commentary from Concord, NC.

Rather than cutting to the arena for the raucous guardrail banging fans or 'ROH' chants, Bobby Cruise flatly brings Bully Ray out, introducing him as the new 'ROH Enforcer' (as was revealed at the January TV tapings in Nashville). He fires up the crowd...and then leaves.

The Punisher will enter this match incredibly disappointed. He pushed World Champion Dalton Castle to the limit in Nashville, during the World Title Match taped for Episode #334 which broadcast the same weekend as this show. But a momentary lapse in concentration when he seemed to have the match won saw Dalton sneak away victorious. He will now look to vent some frustration at Flip's expense. He defeated him a couple of times last year, most notably in the spectacular final two of Survival Of The Fittest 2018. Can Flip avenge the SOTF loss and pull off an upset?

Gordon is cagey, fearing Martinez's power but struggling with a strategy to keep the big man down. Sticking and moving is the right approach - punching him in the face then tripping him to the floor. Gordon tries a springboard...but Punisher jumps onto the apron. And Flip BALANCES on the top rope to stare at him! What an awesome visual, made better when Gordon back flips away before Martinez can touch him. Back in the ring they bust out a nifty kung fu fight sequence next. Martinez has seen enough and LAUNCHES Gordon backwards into the railings as he tries another springboard. Looking to break Gordon in half so he can no longer fly, Punishment keeps flinging him into the guardrail. He misses a springboard senton...but Martinez is back on his feet before the wounded Gordon is even to a knee. Flip lifts a spot from his rival Matt Jackson and launches Punisher face-first into the buckles using the Worst Case Scenario. Springboard Sling Blade follows, then the Samoan Pop for 2. The big man marches forward like a terminator and drills Gordon spine-first into the deck with the falcon arrow. Psycho Driver blocked with a Superkick! No sold...and Punisher spins Gordon through the air with a lariat. Kinder Surprise blocked...so Flip WALKS BACKWARDS ON THE TOP ROPE! Kinder Surprise into a SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA! 450 SPLASH HALFWAY ACROSS THE RING! FOR 2! Martinez grabs him by the throat on the way up...but Gordon back flips out of South Of Heaven. Star Spangled Stunner countered into a full nelson slam/Curb Stomp combo. DEAD-LIFT SOUTH OF HEAVEN! Martinez wins at 09:32

Rating - *** - A really hot little match to start the show. These two have great chemistry together; both being tremendous athletes but Flip's unreal athleticism making him a terrific foil for the power of Martinez. As I've said before, Martinez has a brilliant ability to really sell what his opponent is dishing out yet somehow still come off like a monster. I truly hope he doesn't lose it.

Caprice Coleman joins commentary for this battle between two of his former stable-mates in The Rebellion. King successfully pinned TV Champion Silas Young in Nashville and is in hot pursuit of a TV Title rematch - so can't afford an ill-timed lost to Taylor, who is also in the title picture. 

King throws up the old Rebellion hand-signal but is shoved away by a motivated Taylor. Kicks thrown by Kenny but he finds his bigger opponent up to the task of dodging every one. Taylor's power is such that King struggles to get him off his feet. Working hard to increase the pace, he dropkicks Shane to the floor...but finds his corkscrew pescado scouted. Taylor steps aside on that, so Kenny feints on the apron and lands a jumping corkscrew senton to the floor instead. The former TV Champion is now so confident that he stops for a selfie with a fan...and he walks into the POP-UP Chokeslam by Shane. Shotgun Knees miss too, setting up the Warrior Splash by Taylor for 2. Capo kick on the apron knocks Taylor to the floor...and this time King is successful with the corkscrew pescado. King makes Taylor pull his heavier body back inside the ring without assistance...and then levels him with the One Night Stand. Taylor kicks out and floors him with a shortarm lariat for 2. He tries to come off the top...but Kenny drags him out of the corner into the ROYAL FLUSH! Big win for King at 10:17

Rating - *** - Another in a growing line of solid matches from Taylor, but he continues to lose big-time bouts. The purpose here was to prime Kenny King for his TV Title rematch and they did a fantastic job of that at least. Shane was threatening and violent - which made King's ability to stick and move, or work at high speed all the more impressive. At some point they need to move both of these men on from impressive ten minute undercard matches towards something more substantial if they ever want fans to buy into them though.

King and Taylor hug after the match, with Kenny trying to console his former partner after another demoralising defeat in ROH.

Ian Riccaboni takes to the stage to introduce the 16th and final competitor in the Women Of Honor Title Tournament - Tenille Dashwood. She gets a pretty crazy reaction...so of course Bully Ray is out here to get a piece of it. He wants to know why she isn't wrestling tonight...and books her into a match, teaming with Mandy Leon to face Kelly Klein and Stacy Shadows.

Apparently this was supposed to be Silas taking on Cheeseburger, but unfortunately the latter is out with the flu. It's a desperate shame for Burger to miss out on the extra exposure, but is a major opportunity for Woods to impress in this rematch from the qualification round of Survival Of The Fittest 2017. On that night he put in an impressive performance but lost. Since then Silas has gone on to become TV Champion, meaning The Goods could instantly become a championship contender if he wins. 

Woods flies out of the blocks with plenty of amateur-style grappling and attempted MMA strikes. Clearly Young isn't comfortable working that style of match with him so runs to the corner then pokes his inexperienced opponent in the eyes. Ian tries to give an overview of Silas' ROH history and somehow manages to get his home town, his debut year and his debut match wrong. Has Kevin Kelly done his prep work for this show? Inside the ring Silas is still trying to evade Woods' knee strikes - eventually requiring Beer City Bruiser to suckerpunch Josh from the floor to help him out. With The Goods rattled, Young starts mocking him and posing to the fans...before ramming the point home and hitting him with the Killer Combo. The Last Real Man removes all the advantage Josh's skillset offers him by holding him on the canvas in a snug rear chinlock. Woods tries to escape with a German suplex...only to be kicked into the ropes where Bruiser SMASHES a beer bottle over his head. If that wasn't weird enough...Josh then totally no-sells it to give Silas an exploder suplex on the floor. Ian and Cabana scrambling to cover the ridiculousness of that on commentary is pretty funny. Silas is reduced to going for flash pins to escape with a win as Josh peppers him with kicks and knees. The TV Champ blocks the gutwrench powerbomb...so Woods rolls him into an anklelock. Bruiser grabs Young's arm and pulls it to the ropes. CHAOS THEORY gets 2! Deenda Bar blocked and Young delivers Misery for the win at 10:52

Rating - * - Delirious has booked ROH for a long time. Before that he was a wrestler in ROH since the early 00's. How has he become SO out of touch with the core values of this promotion? He must realise that it is more credible for the wrestlers, and more enjoyable for the fans, if he lets his talent get over by working competitive, athletic wrestling matches - rather than these overbooked moron-fests. NOBODY benefitted from this match. Woods looks like a dolt for continually getting blind-sided by Bruiser. The referee looks like a total idiot for not spotting it (and for doing nothing when he did see it). Silas just became TV Champion, and needs massive amounts of help to beat one of the lowest ranking guys on the roster. How was this mess in any way preferable to giving them 10-12 minutes for a competitive match? Silas is a smart, grizzled veteran. Woods is a naive but dangerous MMA fighter - the script writes itself, and a good match with a clean finish would be eminently more beneficial to all involved. Woods no-selling being smashed in the head with a glass bottle was one of the dumbest things I've seen in a long time...

Kenny King appears on the stage and taunts Silas, telling him that his time as champion is numbered.

Another date ticks by on SCU's expiring ROH contracts. Joe Koff has announced that they will be released after Final Battle 2018 and, as much as they hate ROH, they are now trying to find ways to make it as difficult as possible (either to force new contracts, or to make Joe uncomfortable on the way out). This show takes place a week before their Six-Man Title shot with Bullet Club (taped in Nashville in January) was broadcast and the lack of gold around their waists tells you they weren't successful there. It means victory here is even more important. It puts them back in the Trios Title picture firstly, and a win over Dalton Castle rockets them into the ROH Title picture too. Joe Koff surely wouldn't be able to run their contracts down if one of them was World Champion right? Daniels has a track record of beating Castle too. The Dawgs are on commentary for no real reason...

Rhett and Ferrara's incessant yelling distracts from an innocuous opening couple of minutes which sees Castle and Daniels work back and forth but largely kill time without doing much of any real substance. Daniels refuses to grapple with the champ and drags him to the ground...so Dalton and The Boys concoct an elaborate scheme which sees all of SCU dumped to the outside. They make no effort to rush back into the ring and instead goof around trying to do a human sofa spot like Dalton & The Boys do. Then they all hug. Jesus this has been five minutes of absolute nothing so far. I thought this show was supposed to be showing the product off to a wider audience? The Boys have some fun teaming up on Kazarian...but The Addiction are the masters of that and soon turn the tables with some multi-man offence on Boy #1. SCU isolate the aforementioned Boy; a period in which Scorpio produces all the most interesting moments of offence, yet inexplicably sees the smallest amount of ringtime. A double stomp/running STO/springboard leg drop triple team combo is particularly spectacular as the villains work hard to keep the World Champion out of the ring. They take their eye off the ball (or The Boy) though - and miss them pulling a Twin Thing switch with Boy #2. He quickly scurries out for a legal tag to Castle ('like tags mean anything in Ring Of Honor' - accurate thoughts from Rhett Titus). Dalton drills Daniels with a running knee in the corner then hits him with the Everest German for 2. Daniels and Sky try do pull a Boys-style switch without being spotted by the referee - which admittedly was rather amusing. Paul Turner has none of it, and the champ starts throwing Boys at members of SCU as they scatter around ringside! Boy #2 eats Celebrity Rehab...and Castle breaks the pin. Wasn't Dalton the legal man a second ago when Rhett pointed out that tags in ROH are pointless? Sky nails #2 with a spinning heel kick and takes the win at 13:52

Rating - ** - This was completely uneventful house show filler. Ordinarily that wouldn't be an issue, but if ROH are streaming this event for free to attract new fans then matches like this just aren't what is required. Particularly since the World Champion and, on paper, the face of the company is involved. In a fifteen minute match I think we actually got around five minutes of relevant content. The rest was just grab-ass and filler, killing time until they could go home. Daniels, Kaz and Sky have worked matches like this a thousand times and happily sat in autopilot throughout. Dalton's back was falling apart by this point so needed to be protected, meaning it was only really the Tate Twins who were left putting any effort in. There were some BIG personalities involved here - Dalton f*cking Castle is World Champion, alongside squawking identical twins, respected veterans Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky, plus one of the best north American workers of the last twenty years in Chris Daniels. There was no excuse for this to be as boring as it turned out. At least the heels got a clean win...

SCU try to attack Castle after the match, so he gives Daniels Bang-A-Rang. Because Delirious couldn't just let heels win cleanly without immediately having the babyface get some comeback...

The Briscoes aren't booked this evening but come out after intermission anyway. They promise to spill the blood of the fans' heroes and gloat about the Motor City Machine Guns not being able to compete tonight because they injured Chris Sabin in Nashville. They want Alex Shelley to come out and award them the Tag Titles...so he comes through the crowd and attacks them with his championship belt. The Briscoes soon turn it round and start beating him down 2-on-1. Shelley is left laying with a Jay Driller.

'The Gatekeeper' Kelly Klein remains the hot favourite to win the WOH Title Tournament. Even with veteran names, world class Stardom talent and now the arrival of Tenille, she has one count-out loss on the record for her entire ROH career. This is a chance to prove her dominance - particularly as by this point both she and Mandy had won their first round matches and knew they would be facing each other in the Quarter Final stage. Dashwood (formerly Emma in WWE) is a hot property free agent out of Australia, following her release in 2017. She has as much star power as anyone else in the tournament, can she channel that into championship success? Her first round opponent will be Shadows - so those two women will also be looking to inflict some damage before they meet in tournament action. Brandi Rhodes is on commentary, and she awaits the winner of the Dashwood/Shadows first round bout.

Klein and Shadows disagree about who gets to start, which isn't a good sign for their team. Leon starts with Stacy - trying to move quickly and stay out of the bigger competitor's clutches. Shadows absolutely NAILS her with an elbow though and throws her back into the corner to call out Tenille. That turns out to be a mistake as the Aussie hits her with a neckbreaker in the ropes. Kelly steps in and tries to take control only for Dashwood to shake off her knee strikes and land a Russian legsweep. Mandy tags in and renews hostilities with Klein; these two are veterans of the Women Of Honor resurgence. The power of Klein sees the Exotic Goddess beaten down...and Shadows blind-tags the Gatekeeper out so she can get a piece of the action. Stacy is pretty fun to watch as she bullys Mandy and keeps her on the ground whilst occasionally taunting Tenille as well. Leon eventually drags her to the canvas with a seriously ugly DDT though, setting up the hot tag to Dashwood. Emma-mite Sandwich nailed, and she finds time to heave Klein to the floor where Leon is waiting to lay out her out. Spotlight Kick finishes Shadows, giving Tenille the win at 06:43

Rating - ** - Some of this got a little sloppy, but the tag formula worked well and I thought the overall presentation of Tenille was very effective. Getting Dashwood over was clearly the point here, so to that end you could call this a successful match. Mandy probably didn't deliver her finest performance, and there was only a time for a couple of cameos from Klein (both of which looked seriously awkward), but I did like Shadows. Her size and aggression made her effective in her role. It is great that the Women Of Honor make the main show now - but I still want more. At some point are ROH going to let the Women's division provide something more substantial than just 5-10 minute popcorn matches?

Well this should be interesting. Lethal has entered the Danielson/Daniels/Davey Richards class (I could've named more guys there) where he can just be thrown out on any night, given twenty minutes of ring-time and steal the show, regardless of opponent. Which means when he has a good opponent - as he does tonight in the form of world class technical wizard Jon Gresham - it is particularly exciting. The question here isn't so much 'will this be a good match'. It's more 'will these two be given the time and freedom to deliver a good match'? 

Lethal's Randy Savage-inspired trunks and boots look cool. He approaches the contest with obvious trepidation and every time he tries to lock up he finds Gresham confronting him with a different whacky piece of chain-wrestling to evade him. Gresham's wrist-grab to counter the hiptoss/dropkick sequence is sheer genius. Jay starts getting pissed off, especially when The Octopus starts verbally taunting him too. He switches approach and floors Gresh with a powerful barrage of chops. Buoyed by that success, he continues counteracting Gresham's technical stuff with rugged violence - and the success is immediately demonstrated when he is able to land the hiptoss/dropkick sequence. Rather than panicking, Gresham absorbs some of Jay's best shots...and retaliates with a running punt to the arm. He hasn't been sucked into a strike exchange with the former World Champion and instead has a devised a strategy to take him back to the mat. The arm is now the focal point for his offence and soon Jay is really struggling to get up and keep fighting. They work an awesome sequence where Gresh cranks the arm with an armwrench, Lethal WHACKS him with an elbow smash...so Jon wrenches the arm even further. In the end The Octopus floors him with an armdrag and dropkicks him with such force that the Franchise falls out of the ring. Punt to the arm FROM THE APRON! ACE CRUSHER ON THE FLOOR BY LETHAL! That was delivered with such force that Gresham was almost counted out - and perhaps more interestingly, Lethal is so injured that he was actually disappointed that he didn't win like that. Gresham's knee appears to have been tweaked after the spill on the floor - and when they get back to their feet they take turns throwing strikes at their injured body parts. SNAP German suplex by Gresham! NO SOLD! Jay tries a Lethal Injection, but his arm gives way! Quebrada into La Magistral gets 2 for Jon...then he hauls Jay into a Crossface to rip on the arm again. Jay makes the ropes and hits the Lethal Combination...but can't capitalise because of his bad arm. Jon tries to block the Figure 4 to protect his leg...only for Lethal to land a dragon screw, followed by rolling kneebreakers. He thinks about Hail To The King, but is confronted by Gresham applying a wristlock on the top rope! He whacks the bad arm to set up a tornado DDT. BRIDGING GERMAN gets 2 before his leg gives out...and it also dropped Lethal right on his bad arm again. Lethal Injection  COUNTERED WITH A KICK TO THE ARM! OCTOPUS STRETCH! Lethal grabs the leg and Samoan drops him to escape! HAIL TO THE KING! FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! GRESHAM TAPS! Lethal wins at 17:54

Rating - ****1/2 - So this match was right up my street. I've been generous with this rating and I don't think everyone will like this as much as I did...but from start to finish this was superb.  Everything oozed quality, every movement had a consequence, every action produced a reaction. The match was delivered with incredibly precise attention to detail. First we saw Gresham almost trying to provoke Lethal with his mind-blowing technical/chain-wrestling ability. We saw Lethal try to counter that by knocking the sh*t out of him...which in turn drove Gresham to start trying to break his arm. The Franchise, in his desperation, went for an Ace Crusher on the floor and even pleaded with the referee to give him a count-out (!!) win...and the trip to the floor worked in his favour as it injured Gresham's leg. From there each man sold their injury valiantly, they ratcheted up the drama and built to a finish which was both relevant to the match AND sold Lethal's arm injury. Brilliant stuff. This is the kind of action ROH was founded to deliver and it's no surprise that, after performances like this in competitive, clean and exciting matches, Gresham would start to climb the ranks. Not that Woods is in Gresham's league, but compare how much this loss does for Gresh, versus Josh's loss to Silas Young earlier. Please book more matches like this Delirious...

The Kingdom want respect and championship opportunity, and know that a high profile victory over the big-draws of Bullet Club will help deliver those. Taven has become embroiled in a mini-feud with Cody in particular. He kicked him in the dick in Philadelphia after Final Battle, and even after losing to the American Nightmare on Episode 333 of the TV show still masterminded a Kingdom beatdown. Taven has also stolen Cody's beloved 'Ring' Of Honor too. Questions remain over the unity of Bullet Club. Divides are growing between Cody and Kenny Omega, who meet at Supercard Of Honor 12 in New Orleans, and whilst publically everyone insists that all is well there are growing tensions for all to see. Can the Nightmare, the Hangman and The Villain stay on the same page here?

Cabana is quick to point out that the Bullet Club all use their own entrances, rather than coming in as a unified team like The Kingdom. All three of them do a brilliant job acting out the internal tensions with their facial expressions too. Cody goes after The Kingdom with a chair after Vinny pulls his axe on Brandi (at ringside), meanwhile Taven stays on the floor making out with the 'Ring' Of Honor. Marty decides that Vinny is so annoying that he wants to whack him with his umbrella...so Marseglia grabs his axe again. Hilariously, Scurll tags the 'problem solver' Hangman in, even though Vinny is still armed with an axe! As referees eject the aforementioned axe from ringside, O'Ryan starts antagonising Page. Taven accepts a tag but immediately leaves again when Cody hurdles the ropes to pursue him. In the end he comes back - but wearing a 'Kiss The Ring' shirt and demanding Rhodes kiss it. Disaster Kick nailed, setting up a tope suicida by Marty. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE by Cody! HANGMAN-SAULT TO THE FLOOR SCORES! Bullet Club is fine! Back in the ring Page gets 2 with the Drop-sault...right before being mugged by all three Kingdom members at once. Bridging German/elbow drop combo gets 2. Marty has some fun making Marseglia look inadequate, then hits Just Kidding on TK. Superplex nailed on Vinny...only for Taven to pounce with a TKO over the top rope. The Villain takes a real beating with every fight-back he attempts thwarted by something violent from his adversaries. Rock Star Supernova blocked, so they give him the Twist Of Fate/Redrum combo...but Scurll gets his knees up. Cody tags and drops Matt with the powerslam. DRAGON RUSH! Why is Cody doing Kenny Omega moves? Red Star Press by Page whilst Rhodes throws Marseglia into the front row. When he comes back Page levels him with the Buckshot Lariat. Kick Of The King on Page! American Nightmare Lock on Taven! Matt escapes and tries to hit another low blow just like on television. Cody catches it and tries to give him Shattered Dreams. He is distracted by TK and Brandi arguing on the floor! With the ref trying to eject Brandi from ringside, Taven punches Cody in the face with the 'Ring' and pins the American Nightmare to win at 16:31

Rating - *** - I quite like the Cody/Scurll/Hangman trio. They have a really different dynamic to any of the three-man teams that include the Young Bucks and makes for a fresh type of match. Cody's charisma and star-power, Scurll's weirdness and technical prowess, combined with Page's athleticism and raw power - they gel together surprisingly well. This match was at its best when it was showcasing any one of the above qualities of the Bullet Club team. It was at its worst when The Kingdom needed to carry it - because for the most part this was another match when they were only presented as remotely threatening when they had weapons, or when they were cheating. They will never be taken seriously unless ROH starts taking their presentation seriously - i.e. they can't keep being cheating buffoons in every match. At least Taven got the win over Cody here that he should have got on television...

In the ring Bullet Club have extensive conversations about the loss, but appear on the same page by raising each others hands before they leave.

With careers in ROH and NJPW to think about, this big-time main event represents an opportunity for both teams to stake their claims for championship opportunities. The Bucks enter with more mental baggage, as they are in the middle of the fractioning Bullet Club cliques. Are they able to put that out of their mind and concentrate on winning the match?

The Bucks look for the Stereo Sharpshooters early, driving the Friends out of the ring for a tactical rethink. Their 'run in and punch' plan is unsuccessful though as Matt and Nick are lying in wait, ready to unleash more double teams. Riccaboni and Cabana have already spotted that Matt's back (injured publically at recent NJPW events) is bothering him. Somersault plancha scores for Beretta but then stops for a hug with Chuckie that allows the Jacksons to recover. Rise Of The Terminator topes nailed! The teams brawl on the outside, with Matt finding a Shiranui off the ringpost countered to a LAWN DART CUTTER ON THE FLOOR! Obviously that does some serious damage and after despatching Nick into the guardrails they drag the wounded brother into the ring to start attacking his back. Abdominal stretch applied, with extra leverage illegally supplied by Chuckie from the apron as well. The Best Friends are so dominant that they put on sunglasses to have some fun whilst tearing Matt's back to shreds. Indeed, they literally start smoking cigarettes whilst working the abdominal stretch! Trent is still smoking as he walks into a SUPERKICK! Hot tag to Nick, who kicks the sunglasses off the Friends' faces...but watches in horror as Matt's back gives out on him, preventing him hitting a buckle bomb to set up one of their combo moves. Moonsault off the apron by Nick instead but, almost out of habit, he tries to call his brother for More Bang For Your Buck. Again Matt's back isn't up for it and Nick eats a superplex/double stomp combo as a result. Sole Food/Half Nelson suplex combo gets 2. Nick reluctantly tags in his seriously injured brother...and Trent instantly NAILS him with a back suplex. Lawn Dart Cutter blocked, only for Beretta to deliver a snap German suplex when Matt can't hit a springboard move seconds later. GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE APRON BY NICK! SWANTON BOMB/DDT COMBO! Was that all Matt had left in the tank? He slowly crawls to the top rope where his back is clobbered again by Beretta. Frankensteiner...rolled into a SHARPSHOOTER! SUPERKICK by Nick to rescue his ailing brother! He puts Trent in a Sharpshooter...but therefore is powerless to stop Taylor putting Matt in the same move. Belly to belly into the turbuckles from Beretta to Nick! Matt spits in his face...so is put down with the Gobstopper Knee. PILEDRIVER ON THE APRON! Matt is dead! Taylor demands that he is peeled off the floor of the arena for a Strong Zero on the floor...only for Nick to kick him over for a CODE RED ON THE FLOOR! 450 SPLASH BY NICK! AWFUL WAFFLE BY TAYLOR! MATT BREAKS THE PIN! Rolling backbreakers on him by Chuckie. NO SOLD! SPEAR! SUPERKICK! Matt is almost collapsing...SUPERKICK FLURRY on Trent! BACK-SELLING MELTZER DRIVER! Bucks win at 25:07

Rating - **** - At the time this match didn't get as much love as perhaps it should have. I will admit that, given the fact that ROH were trying to appeal to a wider audience by giving this show away for free, letting the Young Bucks experiment with a longer, artier, more sophisticated form of tag bout may not have been the best choice. There was also already some fatigue around 'Matt sells the back' matches even at this stage. BUT, history has been kind to this. Removing the context of ROH trying to appeal to more casual fans, this was a fantastic, lengthy tag bout. Matt Jackson's selling of the back was phenomenally good (they did this 'work the back' style match a lot, and this was some of his best selling anywhere). So compelling was his job putting over that injury that it actually made the Best Friends come off like killers...and they were busy goofing around with hugs, plastic sunglasses and cigarette breaks. It also created a really interesting dynamic for future Young Buck matches - how do they function as a team when they are so used to hitting strings of double teams on autopilot and one of the brothers is too injured to do the things he usually can? Nick struggling to break out of the usual routine and desperately begging his brother to somehow do the spot anyway was a GREAT visual. In truth I wish they'd have done this match with a different team. I'm a big fan of Chuck and Trent and love them in the tag division. But their jovial approach wasn't needed. It dragged you out of the dramatic moments Matt's selling was trying to create. Imagine this match, but with the Briscoes f*cking up Matt's back. Or with The Addiction, Chris Daniels in particular, surgically dissecting the injury. Whilst I agree they probably should've gone with a more traditional Young Bucks spot-fest given the fact they were running a free show I really liked this. This change in style for the Bucks felt brave, and their performances here proved they were easily good enough workers to pull it off. I really want to see more of this kind of match from them as 2018 progresses - even if many at the time wouldn't have agreed with that.

Tape Rating - ** - The problem with this show isn't the top of the card. Bullet Club/Kingdom was decent, and the two-punch combo of Bucks/Best Friends and Lethal/Gresham were both outstanding matches. Jay Lethal and Jon Gresham's match gets better with age; a contest so good it set in motion a chain of events which we were still witnessing by Final Battle 2019 - almost two years later - when they were a tag team pursuing the Briscoes. It really deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. No, the problem with this show is that the undercard is really forgettable. They were giving this show away for free trying to win some new fans...so making your undercard bland, giving new viewers very little of interest and making them sit through almost two hours of wrestling before you give them something genuinely world class is desperately poor form. I appreciate Dalton was already struggling with his back, but putting the World Title on him then chucking him back into the midcard to do the same inconsequential haha matches he always did renders the World Championship meaningless and makes the company look silly. Booking Tenille Dashwood's big debut but then giving her barely any time to showcase her skills felt like a colossal waste. Having your TV Champion need insane amounts of outside help to beat one of your lowest ranked guys was awful. Despite some great matches at the upper end of the line-up (Flip/Punisher was a decent opener too in fairness), this show in particular felt so bogged down by the mediocrity in the middle. And very little of it felt like it was the fault of the performers...

3) Punishment Martinez vs Flip Gordon (***)

2) Young Bucks vs Best Friends (****)

1) Jay Lethal vs Jonathan Gresham (****1/2)