McXal's Reviews

In late-2017 ROH ran a double header of events in Florida and drew bumper gates on both nights. Crucially though, that weekend had Kenny Omega on the card. It perhaps created misconceptions about quite how significant the FL market could be...and leaves us with this double-header weekend awkwardly shoe-horned in despite having the War Of The Worlds 2018 Tour, another UK Tour and Best In The World 2018 coming up. I suppose Q1 was very light on live shows, and if Honor Club is to be a success then they need these live-stream shows too. To put it bluntly, these shows don't have the greatest of write-ups either...which for tonight at least strikes me as odd as the card is decent. The headliner is the Tag Title rematch between the Briscoes and the Motor City Machine Guns. Surely Sinclair-owned ROH has to get that match right at least once? The Hung Bucks face The Kingdom in trios action, Marty Scurll locks horns with Kenny King, Cody meets Punishment Martinez, Kelly Klein and Deonna Purrazzo contest a Women Of Honor grudge match...and Flip Gordon steps into the Proving Ground with Dalton Castle. All that sounds good right? Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana call the action from West Palm Beach, FL.

Few arguments can be made against Lethal being ROH's stand-out singles performer for 2018 thus far. Others are having good years; Lethal has been in spectacular form. He comes to Florida having emerged victorious from another MOTYC against Jon Gresham and looks to keep racking up singles wins so he can get back into the championship picture. Scorpio Sky is having a decent year as well; one third of the Six-Man Champions and thus far clinging to the roster spot that Joe Koff plans to deprive he and his SCU stable-mates of after Final Battle 2018. He'd only become more indispensible if he could start climbing the singles ranks - with wins over Joe Koff's 'franchise' therefore extremely valuable.

Sky tries to attack Lethal during his entrance but is staved off by Jay unleashing the Tope Trilogy. Lethal dominates the early minutes and feels confident enough to go right after the Figure 4. Scorpio smartly leaves the ring to curtail that momentum - which works as it opens the door for him to crotch the Franchise over the top rope. He lands repeated shots to the head and neck which Ian R points out is to set up for his jumping knee strike finish (the 'Big Fat Kill'). Neck nerve hold applied forcing Jay to strike his way free. He struggles to get Scorpio up for a suplex such is the extent of his neck injury - kick-starting a prolonged suplex-attempt duel...which ends when Jay hits a running vertical suplex. Lethal Combination scores and when Sky gets a leg up to prevent Hail To The King, Lethal transitions him to the Figure 4 Leglock. Scorpio frees himself but is now clearly hurting. Double stomp sets up a running knee smash. Slingshot cutter countered to the Lethal Injection! Lethal wins at 11:06

Rating - *** - As you'd expect given the talent of the two men involved, this was a solid opening match. If I were being cruelly honest I actually expected better, but even on an off-night they had enough in the tank to deliver a decent bout. It did feel lethargic and there certainly wasn't the crisp, precise, urgent focus that has been the hallmark of Lethal singles bouts so far in 2018. The one thing we did see here was Scorpio solidifying his reputation as a capable talent who is more than capable of hanging with the very top names on the roster, even in singles action.

These two are tied 1-1, making this a de facto rubber match. Taylor's stature in ROH has grown considerably this year, both as a worker and as a gun for hire for the rest of the roster. Woods has gone backwards, and has started working dark matches/Future Of Honor bouts again. He knows he needs big wins to maintain his roster spot (with the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament win looking an increasingly distant memory). He is billed as from West Palm Beach, so will have serious hometown support as he looks for one tonight. He also has MMA star 'King Mo' Lawal in his corner...

Taylor calls King Mo 'fake-ass Rampage Jackson' then proceeds to pulverise Josh in the corner. The Goods tries a springboard move but quite literally bounces off the big man to be smeared into the canvas. Fists fly on the outside and Shane respects Woods' strike-power to take the drastic action of a back drop driver on the apron! It takes Josh some time to recover from that, and as soon as he is healthy enough to throw strikes again Taylor simply starts dumping him against the guardrails. Guardrail cannonball nailed! Smartly Woods takes it back into the ring and keeps peppering Taylor with elbows. A mistake is inevitable and he gets in a warning shot by hurting Shane's arm with a triangle choke in the corner. Springboard enzi scores...as does a GERMAN SUPLEX on the big man! Taylor eggs Woods on so Josh starts knee-striking the sh*t out of him. Urinage slam/Warrior Splash combo in response by Taylor. Shane decides he wants a chair...and gets into a shoving match with King Mo on his way to retrieve it. Mo tries to get involved...distracting the ref as Woods nails him with a superkick through the chair! TKO knee smash gives Josh the win at 06:47

Rating - *** - The finish was sh*tty and the wrong man went over, but the match itself was one of Woods' best efforts. Taylor made a great opponent for him since he too is comfortable with a physical, strike-heavy match style. Woods was so much more impressive with his control and measured approach than he usually is. My own opinion is that Taylor has been having a strong 2018 and deserved the win here...but as a brief, punchy and high-impact undercard slug-out this was decent.

Taylor lays out Woods after the match then flips off King Mo, walking out rather than fight the MMA star.

This is a long-standing rivalry, going back as far as Supercard Of Honor last year when Klein defeated Purrazzo controversially. Deonna would have some revenge by causing Kelly's first WOH defeat weeks later (creating a distraction causing Klein to suffer a count-out loss to Karen Q) and still the fire rages between them. Both failed to win the WOH Title tournament, Deonna falling to Mayu Iwatani in the Quarter Finals whilst Kelly lost in the finals to Sumie (having beaten Mayu in the Semi-Finals), a big win is essential here to establish a pecking order for who gets a title shot.

Klein riffs off her legitimately bad promo with Deonna at Masters Of The Craft by getting the name of the town and her opponent wrong. It's even worse than Columbus, because it just draws attention to how awful she was last time. Ian brilliantly covers it by calling it evidence of her being 'rattled' by Deonna. We explode out of the blocks with a FIERY opening exchange which sees Purrazzo violently hurl Klein from the ring. Kelly tries to use the apron to pull herself back up - but Deonna kicks her arm from under her and splats her onto the ground again with a diving crossbody to the floor. Codebreaker on the arm nailed...but Kelly uses big elbows to block the Fujiwara at this stage. Knee strike in the ropes scrambles Deonna's brains too, leaving her on her knees on the floor. The Gatekeeper doesn't let her recover and instead throws her through the guardrail then lands a suplex on the crash mats. She tries to suplex Purrazzo back in...and almost on instinct The Virtuosa blocks it with a front choke on the ropes. A double clothesline spot sees both of these evenly matched fighters collapse to the ground. They fight back up with furious chops and forearms. Klein blocks another armbreaker and goes for End Of The Match...but Purrazzo jack-knifes into a pin - and wins! It's another loss for Klein at 05:19

Rating - *** - This was a completely bullsh*t time allocation given that this is basically the biggest 'grudge match' the Women Of Honor division has right now. I know Sumie is the champ, but Klein is still the monster of the division and Deonna is still the best worker. This was a terrific, surprisingly violent, intensely physical five minute sprint. A marker laid down to demonstrate what these two are capable of (and why either should be champion instead of Sumie right now). But this could (and should) have been more; they were deprived of the opportunity to deliver better. Kelly losing another match so soon after Supercard Of Honor makes her future direction very interesting.

The Gatekeeper is irate at another loss and tries to jump Purrazzo from behind. Security fills the ring to keep them apart as tempers threaten to boil over.

Two former TV Champions collide here. Kenny has been out of action since losing the TV Title back to Silas Young at Supercard, but returns tonight looking to refocus and get back into the title picture. Scurll also suffered a high profile loss in New Orleans - but bounced back the following week to pin the World Champion in a Defy Or Deny Match at Masters Of The Craft to establish himself as #1 contender to the ROH Championship once again. At the TV taping in Pittsburgh he said he wants to challenge at Best In The World - but so do lots of people. He needs to make his claim undeniable with a big win here...

Fans sing Backstreet Boys at Marty, which should tell you all you need to know about the popularity of Being The Elite. King backs himself to trade holds with Scurll and proves his worth by snapping off a couple of armdrags. His confidence grows, he makes fun of The Villain's 'bird of prey' pose then puts a nasty dropkick through his face. The Villain stomps on the hand, knees King in the face and hops to the apron for the Superkick as the crowd rally behind him. Back drop on the apron next, softening Kenny up so he can start working over the arm. We don't get anything flashy from The Villain here - he simply pins his opponent in the corner and repeatedly stomps on the shoulder as Ian informs us that King actually injured his shoulder in the Last Man Standing Match against Silas. A surfboard stretches out that injury next...but King hangs on then fires back with a couple of big kicks. Spinebuster nailed - but he falls backwards feeling the effects of his arm rather than press home his advantage on The Villain. Corkscrew pescado scores as Scurll bails. Inverted suplex by Marty, right into a PILEDRIVER for 2! The fans want him to snap a finger...but King keeps him at bay with a capo kick. Chickenwing countered to a pinning predicament gets 2 for Kenny. Lariat by Scurll in return! Still King won't let him snap the fingers, instead giving him a jumping enzi. Royal Flush COUNTERED to a DDT! Kenny tries to sunset flip out of the corner, only for Marty to reverse the momentum into a pin. Despite King's feet clearly being in the ropes and despite Marty holding them, the ref counts three and Scurll wins at 10:45

Rating - *** - I was really enjoying this, until the bogus finish came along out of nowhere and harpooned it. Scurll showed a more aggressive and ruthless edge to his style that I've been waiting to see break out, having allowed himself to be periodically overshadowed by the comedy putz character he plays on Being The Elite. King was more than respectable hanging with him, although I'd have liked to have seen a little more work done on selling the arm. But that finish was SO bad. Even worse, I don't quite get what it achieved. Marty is #1 contender - it isn't that damaging for King to put him over clean surely? The idea, I presume, is to give Kenny an 'out' - and I understand that logic. But doing it like this makes Scurll seem less like a good wrestler and more like a fluke victor, it makes loyal long-term employee Paul Turner look sh*t at his job and Kenny has still lost the match anyway. I don't see that the 'benefit' of protecting King was worth the cost...

The imposter Six-Man Champions The Kingdom sneak up on Scurll and beat the sh*t out of him. Since Taven had a scheduled title shot against Dalton on the War Of The Worlds Tour, it could also be a case of him softening up a future challenger should he win. The rest of Bullet Club let this attack go on for a while - and even then the Bucks let their music and entrance cues hit before coming out to help Marty.

Although The Kingdom have possession of the Six-Man belts, this is actually a battle of former Trios Champions. Each has made it clear they'd like a shot at SoCal Uncensored, making a victory here crucial. The history between Kingdom and Bullet Club runs deep; we saw the extent of the hatred at Manhattan Mayhem when they tore through the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Ultimate Mayhem Match. Now they meet again - with the Hung Bucks already pissed off that Taven and his stooges have attacked their friend Marty.

The Kingdom clear the ring and try to parody the Rise Of The Terminator...only to walk into a TRIPLE Superkick! Rise Of The Terminator tope suicidas by the Bucks! Hangman gets 2 with a Red Star Press on Marseglia, before the Bullet Club representatives haul away O'Ryan for a period of isolation and abuse. Taven makes a blind-tag and drives a knee into Matt's face to turn the match in his tea's favour. TK is the first to target Matt's back; delivering a succession of strikes to the lower spine and kidneys. The Kingdom steal the Cody-gifted weightlifting belt which Matt has used as a back support for most of the last month. Spinebuster/diving headbutt to the back combo by TK and Vinny gets 2.Taven slows the pace working assorted surfboard holds which leave Matt bent double and in real pain - made worse when he feeds him to the outside where his team-mates spear him against the side of the ring. Lion Tamer increases the pressure again. Matt tries to fight his way free even though Taven is still pounding on his back. He even tries the long-route; sprinting around the outside of the ring...but Taven dives onto his injured back to block it, whilst the rest of The Kingdom haul his partners away. Rolling neckbreaker nailed, setting up the Five Star Frog Splash for 2. Heavyweight double clothesline from Matt to Vinny and TK...at last opening the door for a hot tag to Hangman. CRADLE TOMBSTONE on TK...pin broken by the Redrum of Marseglia. Swanton Bomb by Nick! He teases his usual moonsault off the apron spot - but uses it as a fake-out on Marseglia and instead back drops Taven into his own partner. Nick takes a risk by tagging Matt back in - elevating him into the standing Shiranui. Stereo Sharpshooters...broken when Taven tosses Page through everyone. O'Ryan takes another shot at Matt's back - then walks into a Superkick by Nick. Kick Of The King by Taven...DOUBLE SUPERKICK on him by the Bucks. Taven blocks the Meltzer Driver, and behind the referee's back O'Ryan nails Matt Jackson's bad back with a baseball bat. Rock Star Supernova blocked - and Marty Scurll is back! He hits TK with the umbrella! TRIPLE SUPERKICK on TK! Rite Of Passage nailed, allowing Page to win TK at 16:01

Rating - *** - MOTN so far, but there was something a little off here. It felt a little too formulaic and sterile for a Young Bucks match, which isn't something I often find myself saying. So much of the focus went into Matt Jackson's back injury...but they didn't actually go anywhere with it, or pay it off in a tangible manner as other matches built around that injury have. The Kingdom didn't do much of interest in working on it, and in turn they didn't find any interesting ways to really incorporate the injury into the second half of the match. It was still a solidly worked six-man - but somehow felt devoid of the drama and layering that I usually praise these Bucks multi-man tags for. As a demonstration of big spots and offensive wrestling it was very decent though.

Post-intermission we are expecting to see a local-talent exhibition match. Serpentico is introduced to the crowd, but barely makes it to the ring before Bully Ray comes out and powerbombs him. Bubba intimidates Bobby Cruise...but then gets his microphone confiscated by Cheeseburger before he can talk. He calls him an asshole again, and this time when Bully tries to chokeslam him he counters it. Low blow by Bully just as the little man was lining up the Shotei though. It does at least convince the WWE Hall Of Famer to leave...

Riccaboni bills this as a battle for ranking places in ROH's crowded tag division. The Addiction are presumably highest ranked right now as former Tag Champions and two thirds of the current Six-Man Champions. They perhaps have more motivation too, knowing that their contracts are up at the end of the year and they need as much gold as possible to strengthen their negotiating position. The Dawgs and C2C have a mini-rivalry down at the bottom of the card, with Titus and Ferrara envious of the winning run and rise up the aforementioned ranks that Ali and LSG have produced in 2018. Young and Bruiser are the x-factor. Silas is the TV Champion so has a bullseye on his back, whilst Bruiser now teams regularly with Brian Milonas so the Young/BCB team has taken a back seat.

Daniels and Ali start, and the Ring General shows his experience by tricking his opponent and delivering a couple of cheap shots. Shaheem quickens the pace to toss Kazarian around, until Young blind-tags his way in. The Last Real Man and Kazarian trade near-falls and smack talk on their way to a mid-ring stalemate. The Dawgs end that by idiotically blind-tagging both men out. Titus makes me genuinely laugh out loud by deciding to start wrestling Ferrara anyway. He then sneaks away and tags Bruiser to fight Little Willy instead, to make fun of his partner. Beer City easily sends Ferrara packing but has a harder time with the speed and agility of St. Giovanni. Daniels tries to help Bruiser out - but BCB smacks him down as well, leading to a big argument between The Addiction and the Milwaukee boys. Rhett then tries to pin Ferrara...which Todd inexplicably counts even though neither are legal! Cannonball off the apron by Bruiser to clear out The Addiction. Titus tries to throw Ferrara into a tope - but he is caught by Bruiser and used as a weapon. Silas brains LSG against the guardrails to stop him attempting a big dive. Neckbreaker/sliding boot combo from Silas and Bruiser to Leon gets 2. The Dawgs take over, still bickering amongst themselves. Rhett accidentally tosses Will into a big boot from LSG and it's only the intervention of Kaz which stops St. Giovanni tagging out. The Addiction get methodical about it and try to actually slow LSG down by working his neck. Bruiser gets in on the act with a sweeping DDT...but again The Addiction and the Real Men get involved in an argument. Leon profits and makes the big tag to Ali. Swinging front slam on Will, then be back drops Titus right on top of his own partner. Stroke/Complete Shot combo gets 2 before The Addiction break the pin. Daniels, Kaz, Silas and BCB violently brawl on the floor - taking their eyes off LSG as he walks the ropes into the PHOENIX SPLASH to the floor. He recovers in time to save Shaheem from the Big Dawg Splash. COAST TO COAST on Ferrara! It's another big win for C2C at 15:02

Rating - *** - You can't legislate for the complete weirdness of ROH's booking. Woods/Taylor gets six minutes. Klein/Purrazzo gets less. Scurll/King only got ten minutes. Yet they find more than fifteen minutes for the lowest ranked guys on the entire roster? Having said that, the extra time really benefited these eight guys, who all played a part in making this a fun match. The Dawgs were, at times, very funny with their constant bickering. The simmering heat between Silas, Bruiser and The Addiction was the undisputed highlight of the match. And having C2C win backs up their token victories on television with something more substantial on a live show. The silence from the audience as they won tells you just how unfamiliar they still are with large portions of ROH's audience. Only more exposure and winning big matches will turn that around. 

In ROH terms Cody is on fire, having defeated Kenny Omega at Supercard Of Honor and set his mind on claiming his obligatory World Title rematch at Best In The World. But the Bullet Club civil war rages on. He thinks the Bucks chose him in New Orleans, whilst to many it seemed like Matt and Nick were trying to side with Kenny. His loyal supporter on 'Team Cody', Hangman Page is drifting away from him, realigning with the Bucks and even putting over Flip Gordon (who is making friends with Cody's wife) at Masters Of The Craft. Meanwhile Marty wants the Best In The World Title shot as well, and isn't allowing Cody to 'pull rank' and take it from him. Can the American Nightmare 'shut out the noise' and beat a dangerous foe who himself is trying to get back into the title picture. Burnard The Business Bear is at ringside...

Martinez watches Cody hop over the top rope during his entrance...then punches him straight in the mouth! The bell doesn't sound and the two men brawl to the floor. Rhodes tries to arm himself with a chair but Punisher swats it aside. SOUTH OF HEAVEN ON THE FLOOR FOR BURNARD! Cody starts waffling Martinez with a wooden chair and bashes his face into the ringpost. Finally the bell rings, the match beginning with a Disaster Kick from Cody which doesn't even knock Punisher off his feet. Dropdown palm strike by Cody...except Martinez totally ignores it and Curb Stomps his face and neck into the mat. Cody tries to leave the ring again, with the big man right on his tail to throw him into the guardrails. Rope run by Cody, but Martinez locks the armdrag and lands the super spinning heel kick for 2. Like many of Punishment's opponents recently Rhodes tries to get an advantage by going after the legs. A dragon screw in the ropes lands and is quickly followed by a dropkick to the knee. Martinez tries a springboard corkscrew senton...but Cody CATCHES THE LEG and turns it into the American Nightmare Lock. Martinez makes the ropes and hobbles away as Cody tears a turnbuckle pad off. It takes too long so Punisher is able to hit a falcon arrow. Din's Fire blocked by ramming Cody's face into the exposed turnbuckle bolt. PSYCHO DRIVER for 2. South Of Heaven blocked - into Cross Rhodes. Cody wins at 07:47

Rating - *** - If you're in with Bullet Club and on Being The Elite, your career in ROH will blossom. Scorpio Sky has a job, Hangman Page is finally the star he would have been a couple of years earlier had ROH booked him properly. Flip Gordon is a breakout star too. But, for guys like Punishment Martinez, it means the ROH glass ceiling is even thicker than it might otherwise be. It means he not only has to break through ROH's inability to properly create new stars, he has to get through an extra Elite-tinted glass ceiling too. This was a good match. It was a GREAT performance from Martinez as he delivered the kind of dominating-but-vulnerable big-man performance which has become his staple. But losing here was the end of his main event run in ROH. He'd never get back to into the top tier picture, and would be gone from ROH before the end of the year. Another guy who has come through ROH, used them to get noticed, then left because of the total stagnation of ROH's product outside a certain, elite group of guys. I don't want to give the impression that this bout wasn't entertaining. It absolutely was. It was intense, dynamic and gives Cody a huge scalp on his way to Best In The World. But the fact that ROH is willing to job out one of their brightest prospects, in less than ten minutes, in a completely irredeemable, forgettable manner tells you everything about the deeper issues at play within the company. 

This is a Proving Ground Match, meaning if Gordon can win or take it to a time-limit draw he will earn a World Title shot. When this concept was created the time-limit was only fifteen minutes, but it appears they've bumped it up to half an hour for 2018. Flip has a lot on his plate right now. He wants to be booked for All In but Cody opposes it. He has a blossoming friendship with Brandi Rhodes. He has won the acceptance of the Young Bucks (and maybe Hangman Page too)...but that has come at the price of getting involved in some of their issues with The Kingdom and SCU. He is preparing to be part of NJPW's Best Of Super Juniors. He has been singled out for verbal abuse from Bully Ray too. Against that back-drop he could be forgiven for overlooking his singles aspirations, but he shouldn't forget that he is one of the biggest breakout stars in the company. Dalton has (scheduled) upcoming defences against Matt Taven and either Cody or Scurll on his radar - and can't afford to lose focus tonight.

Flip accepts a left-handed handshake before the match, with Dalton still nursing a seriously bandaged and broken hand. Flip seems happy to accept a slower-paced opening, knowing that a draw is as good as a win for him - but he still can't resist breaking out some early nip-ups and backflips to get into Castle's head. The champ tries to control Gordon with headlocks, tries a shoulder tackle (and winces in pain from his back) and then tosses his opponent out of the ring instead. Gordon comes back and starts doing handstands...so Dalton walks out instead. The champ looks annoyed at Flip's antics and, since he can't do backflips, he calls The Boys into the ring and makes them do an inexplicably strange dance routine. It winds up exciting Dalton so much he turns his back on Gordon and is almost pinned as a result of a distraction created by his own Boys. But it also draws Flip closer to Dalton and in a flash he gets serious - dumping Flip on his head and stomping on his face. The grappling and amateur-style work - even with a damaged hand - gives him a real advantage over Gordon. Even when Flip blocks the Bang-A-Rang, Dalton simply drops him on his head and neck again with a spinebuster. The back and neck has become the focal point for Castle's offence - executed with such aggression that he even strikes at him with his injured hand. Springboard Sling Blade blocked...Bang-A-Rang blocked too. Gordon springboards into a delayed missile dropkick; a necessary risk just to keep Dalton at bay. Samoan Pop blocked...springboard spear scores instead for 2. Castle dumps him on his neck again with a clothesline. Kinder Surprise knocks the champion to the floor - but as everyone recoils expecting a dive Flip is still on the ground trying to recover. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE! No flips from Gordon due to his injuries...and worse still he only wipes out The Boys with it. Dalton dodged it, and runs at Gordon upon landing. Flip dodges, smashes him into the ringpost and hits a tope suicida. 450 Splash misses so he breaks out the Samoan Pop for 2 instead. Castle slows his momentum by hiding in the ropes before coming out with a BACK DROP DRIVER. BANG-A-RANG! Castle wins at 14:43

Rating - *** - Now this was a match I could really get behind. It was different from a typical Dalton Castle or a typical Flip Gordon match for a number of reasons. The broken hand meant Castle had to switch up his offence. He took the match FAR more seriously, ditched the pageantry and looked to negate the skills of his opponent with the rugged, physically intense, heavyweight style that has been the hallmark of his World Title reign. Knowing that a draw was as good as a win, Flip wrestled a totally different style too. He was calculating, less frenetic and seemed intent on picking his spots or waiting for his opportunities; knowing that the clock was his ally in this stipulation. The way Gordon changed up his big dives, ditching the flips in effect, to put over how much damage Dalton had done was another real highlight. But my issue was this one was that it felt incredibly incomplete. The way they were working this match made it seem as if they were going LONG. And they were laying the groundwork perfectly for a longer match, so many interesting themes had been established in those first 10-12 minutes. But then it sort of just...ended. They left a better match out there in the ring. Even the f*cking Dawgs got more time. This is a house show broadcast on Honor Club, so there is absolutely no reason ROH couldn't have given them another ten minutes at least here. Sinclair/ROH BADLY need to ditch their hard-ons for wrestling shows which rigidly refuse to go longer than three hours

Before the main event Ian Riccaboni confirms that Austin Aries is booked for the War Of The Worlds 2018 Tour TV taping in Chicago, and will challenge whomever the TV Champion is. 

The first two Briscoes/MCMG matches are revered as classics in the Ring Of Honor golden era. Sinclair & Delirious have revisited the rivalry a couple of times in the last year and, thus far, haven't got the tone right. Their first match at Masters Of The Craft 2017 was very good but - as is a common theme in recent years - didn't go long enough, felt unnecessarily curtailed and never stood a chance of living up to its predecessors. The next match, at the 16th Anniversary was understandably different. The Briscoes were on a tear, we were in a PPV setting (with other matches needing the time); the two teams did fine with the time they had. But here we are, the main event of a VOD-only show. The opportunity is here to let these four cut-loose, see if they can recapture the magic of a decade ago and produce the kind of stellar match which would really put Honor Club over as a 'must-have' subscription service. Surely it'll be third time lucky for this rivalry under Sinclair-owned ROH right?! Sabin and Shelley get on the microphone and suggest that they will quit if they don't win tonight...

The Machine Guns have upped the stakes and start on fire, driving the nine-time champions out of the ring. Mark tries to cheap-shot Sabin but falls victim to the technical excellence of Shelley who sends him packing for a second time. Through-the-legs tope suicida by Sabin wipes both of the brothers out as well. Missile dropkick/Shellshock combo gets 2; needing Jay to break the pin as well. Mark realises they need to take it up a gear - and flies at Alex with the blockbuster to the floor. He is still recovering from that when Jay starts choking him with his shirt. The Briscoes test out Shelley's back and neck with multiple camel clutch variants, with Cabana on commentary talking about Shelley's history of back injuries. Alex fights back by causing Mark to dropkick his own brother, then tags in Sabin to hit a SPRINGBOARD inside-out crossbody to the floor. GUARDRAIL SUPERPLEX nailed on Mark! All four men are on the floor bludgeoning each other into the barricades. Jay hauls Shelley onto the stage and tries to give him another Jay Driller on a chair...but this time Alex counters with a back drop. Turnbuckle Shellshock on Mark, as Sabin drops Jay with a dragon screw. The Briscoes are on the rack - but compose themselves as they so often do, and plant Sabin with the Splash Mountain. Shelley blocks the Day One Neckbreaker, cueing up the ASCS Rush. Dream Sequence on Mark. Skull & Bones blocked...Doomsday Device blocked. Made In Detroit blocked as well! Ditching the attempts at fancy-double teams, Jay decides instead to blast Sabin with a roaring elbow. JAY DRILLER! Mark traps Shelley in the Choke! It's over, Jay pins Shelley to win at a mere 12:58

Rating - *** - Before I veer off into a rant about ROH's pathetic time allocations, I want to pause and state that the match (what we got of it at least) was genuinely good, embodying some of the best bits about watching these two teams do battle. CLEARLY, though, thirteen minutes is a complete joke. A main event, Tag Title Match, and this is all ROH could find for them? Imagine getting Joe and Punk back together, or Danielson and Nigel, and only giving them twelve minutes. I'd love to know what the reason for it is. Is it cheaper for ROH, even on Honor Club, if they don't run longer than three hours? Do they genuinely believe fans would rather see a twelve minute teaser than an actual feature-length bout? Is the belief that ROH fans seriously can't tolerate shows longer than three hours? It was a good, competitive main event...but nothing more, with no opportunity for it to become anything more significant. And that isn't good enough

Tape Rating - ** - Bound By Honor Night 1: Night Of The Low-end 3* Matches. This is among the strangest ROH events I've ever reviewed. There wasn't a bad match to be found all night. Everything was of a solid standard, which is commendable. But is that enough in 2018, with so much other wrestling out there, at prices that would have seemed unfathomable a decade ago, thanks to streaming services? My own belief is that a bunch of 'well that was ok' matches and a big wad of cash from the Young Bucks' merch sales it NOT enough to set ROH apart from its competition. And what's worse is that there were multiple matches here that had they been booked differently, or allowed more time, felt like they could have been real classics. How many times did my summary of a match include something along the lines of 'well that finish sucked' or 'that needed more time' (or both)? It isn't fair on the hard-working talent involved that they've all been totally undermined by the cripplingly unambitious and unimaginative corporate 'vision' of what this company should be. Purrazzo/Klein, Castle/Flip, Briscoes/Machine Guns, Cody/Martinez; take your pick. They were all fine matches. But that is not enough in the ultra-competitive landscape of modern professional wrestling. It is unbelievably complacent to think this kind of show is ok in 2018.

3) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Motor City Machine Guns (***)

2) Young Bucks/Adam Page vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan (***)

1) Dalton Castle vs Flip Gordon (***)