McXal's Reviews

We arrive at the annual ROH/NJPW cross-promoted War Of The Worlds Tour. ROH have tried something with their DVD release - combining all three releases into a single consolidated box-set, which I think is a great idea to continue the limited physical media market, especially now Honor Club exists and will presumably be looked as the main potential source of regular inbound revenue? They did the same with Bound By Honor. The amount of care and attention they put into the physical release needs improving though. Hiroshi Tanahashi is on the box and, unless he makes unannounced run-ins on every show, he isn't here. Dalton Castle is prominently featured too and he won't be competing due to injury. In truth, many of NJPW's biggest names aren't here for this tour either. Los Ingobernables de Japon are out in force with Naito, Takahashi, EVIL, SANADA and BUSHI all making the trip though, along with Jay White, Rocky Romero and Roppongi 3K of CHAOS and Jushin Liger. Highlights tonight include Bullet Club of Marty, Hangman and Cody facing Romero, SHO and YOH and a Bucks vs Hiromu/BUSHI main event which could be really fun. BJ Whitmer and Colt Cabana call the action in Lowell, MA.

The Tag Titles are not on the line this evening, but this is still an intriguing contest. Flip has carved out a niche in ROH standing up to bullies. He stood up to The Elite when they were hazing him. He has stood up to Bully Ray in recent weeks, and now he steps into the ring with the Briscoe brothers in a more violent headspace than they've ever been. His team-mate is the legendary Jushin Liger. How the Briscoes would love to further their own legacy by taking Liger out...

Mark has plenty in his arsenal to keep up with Gordon, but Flip has more flips and nip-ups than Briscoe can handle - driving Mark from the ring then celebrating with another backflip for luck. Liger tags with Jay and dips into his veteran bag of tricks trying to make Jay look foolish. Mark jumps him from behind to block a Mexican surfboard and the 9-time Tag champions team up to take control of Gordon. Jay absolutely mows Flip down with a running elbow from behind. He and his brother haul Flip into the corner and maul him with chops and kicks. Flip escapes with, what else, a back flip though and tags in a fired up Liger who cleans house. Mark knocks him back with a sliding kick on the apron though, before feeding him to Jay who is waiting to lay in more fierce strikes. Gordon springboards in to Liger's aid, skittling the Briscoes outside for a TOPE ATOMICO! Samoan Pop gets 2 on Mark before Jay breaks the pin. Cannonball off the apron by Liger! Shotei on Mark! 450 SPLASH! It gets 2 - but only because Liger was goofing around counting along with the ref rather than stopping Jay from breaking another pin. Jay kicks both Flip and Liger in the balls, then decimates Gordon with the Day One Neckbreaker. Gordon blocks the Cut-Throat Driver and gives Jay the Kinder Surprise! Mark hauls Flip to the top rope for an AVALANCHE SPLASH MOUNTAIN NECKBREAKER! That's now called the 'Redneck Boogie' apparently, and the Briscoes win at 11:49

Rating - *** - What a fun opening encounter this was. It wasn't overly complex or ambitious, but everyone hit the spots people wanted to see, they built to a crazy opening sequence and the Briscoes looked like absolute machines. I'm not the biggest fan of feeding Flip's momentum to put Jay and Mark over (arguably the win would also have been more impactful if ROH could have convinced NJPW to let Liger go under), but it doesn't detract from an enjoyable start to the show.

Women Of Honor action on the main card is always welcome. Purrazzo teams with the debuting Skylar to face the WOH Champion and arguably the biggest star in the promotion, Tenille. It's a big ask but would be a major statement of her championship credentials if she could pull it off...

Sakai starts with The Virtuosa, who lights her up with big chops. Sumie tries to go for the Smash Mouth but finds Purrazzo able to easily counter to La Magistral for 2. Fujiwara Armbar countered to a northern lights by the champ though, backing Deonna into her corner. Dashwood tags in with the debutant, who is slightly bigger and overpowers the Australian as they lock-up. An intense battle of waistlocks and standing switches gets a big reaction from the crowd, and ends when Tenille hits a Russian legsweep for 2. Sakai flies in with a flying crossbody and gets a nearfall of her own as the veterans pile the pressure on Skylar. Deonna tries to rescue her partner with the Three Amigas on Sakai, but the champ blocks it. NECK DROP GERMAN INSTEAD! Sakai is motionless and, full of confidence, Purrazzo takes a swipe at Tenille on the apron as well. Hiptoss knee smash by Skylar, setting up a DDT for 2. Sakai is really taking a beating at the hands of a debuting athlete and ducks her head right into a brutal Pele strike for 2. Purrazzo tries to choke the champion out and, with her last burst of energy, Sakai finds a way to counter with a back suplex. Dashwood gets a hot tag and noticeably walks Skylar through a sequence which culminates with her applying the Dilemma in the ropes. Taste Of Tenille nailed...but she turns into a mafia kick from Purrazzo. Missile dropkick by Sakai! METEORA by Skylar...except she turns right into the Spotlight Kick. Tenille wins at 07:52

Rating - ** - Far more good than bad, with Purrazzo looking absolutely outstanding. Even Skylar more than held her own for the majority of the contest, albeit she marginally lost her way at the end and needed some very visible help from Tenille to get her through. Unfortunately this suffered from the same issue which plagues the vast majority of WOH matches; it just didn't get enough time. There was some GREAT content to be had here. Deonna had three simultaneous plotlines on the go; trying to mentor a debutant, prove herself against the star-power of Tenille and dominate the WOH Champion to get into the title picture. It was all so rushed, meaning nothing had any real emotional impact. And it's a real shame, since this was one of the best crowds I've seen for any Women Of Honor match.

Kelly Klein runs in after the bell and gets into a vicious brawl with Deonna. Security floods the ring and has a hell of a time trying to separate the Virtuosa and the Gatekeeper! They will meet at the War Of The Worlds TV taping in Chicago at the end of the tour...

Dalton Castle arrives to address the live crowd, with Colt Cabana listing the catalogue of injuries he is currently dealing with (back, hip, shoulder, fingers, thumb...it's quite a list!). He reminds everyone that he has been Champion for six months...but can't defend against Matt Taven this evening. He has been dealing with back issues for his entire reign and cracks jokes about all the pain and problems he has been working through. He teases forfeiting the World Title but then announces he won't be relinquishing it - and will be back and better than ever once he has healed. It ends with him getting The Boys to throw croissants into the audience...

Matt Taven comes out with The Kingdom next, visibly irate that his ROH Title shot has been cancelled. He thinks its another example of the Kingdom conspiracy and that he should be awarded the World Championship...and vows not to leave the building without making his 'presence felt'. 

This is an interesting matchup. The Kingdom are in their home state and get a warm ovation from the crowd. But C2C are on a real hot streak and come into this having just beaten former Tag Champions the Motor City Machine Guns in Florida. They are clear heels in front of this audience though...

O'Ryan and St. Giovanni open up by battling to a fast-paced stalemate. TK strikes first with a powerslam then brings in Marseglia, who has a harder time keeping up with the raw speed of LSG. Spinebuster/diving headbutt combo gets 2 on Ali seconds later though. Why does nobody ever point out that The Kingdom have had a Six-Man Title rematch - during the 2017 Global Wars Tour - whenever one of them complains about not having got a shot at the belts they never lost? Marseglia crawls under the ring to evade Shaheem's somersault plancha - and drags Ali under with him when he gives chase. LSG charges under the ring trying to help. Paul Turner is dragged under too, leaving O'Ryan alone in the ring. Turner emerges with a few balloons and orders TK to go get his partner. Coast 2 Coast are out next, along with Marseglia, his axe and a few more balloons. What a completely pointless segment. Coastal Stroke nailed by LSG and Ali. O'Ryan counters a swinging front slam by Leon and makes a big tag to Vinny, who lands the Sam Hane into the Side Effect for 2. But TKO is wounded meaning Marseglia is fighting alone. Coast To Coast blocked into the Twist Of Fate/Redrum combo. SCU come out and try to take back their Six-Man Title belts...allowing Leon to roll-up Marseglia and grab another win for C2C at 08:31

Rating - * - Most of the match was bland, basic and inoffensive...but that completely pointless 'horror movie' spot in the middle where Marseglia dragged people under the ring for no reason, only for them to emerge with precisely nothing different about them killed it for me. It was dumb. I don't particularly care for the Bray Wyatt/Fiend character in WWE and they have a colossal budget. At ROH's level this dumb sh*t. What's worse is that at the start they had a really hot crowd, fired up by Taven's borderline babyface hometown promo. It was dead by the end...

Taven gets on the microphone and calls SCU thieves. He challenges Daniels, Kaz and Scorpio to a Six-Man Title Match tonight...

Oh boy. If I was watching this show for fun, and not for review purposes, I'd be reaching for my DVD skip button right now rather than putting myself through this. Bully turned on Burger at Supercard Of Honor and has been on a bitter veteran rampage ever since. Cheeseburger has taken it upon himself to stand up to the Hall Of Famer - even though he has been very aware that he is risking injury and thoroughly outmatched. Does he have anything in his arsenal to remotely threaten Bully here?

Bully tries to intimidate Cabana during his entrance, but Colt doesn't back up and continues to berate him. He dwarfs Cheeseburger and almost rockets him through the roof of the arena with a devastating series of powerbombs. Burger is left barely conscious but has enough about him to tell Todd Sinclair not to stop the match. Bubba brings a metal chain into the ring...then punches Cheese in the balls when Todd confiscates it (even though Sinclair very obviously saw the whole thing). He walks out and stands with his back to the ring, allowing himself to be counted out. Burger 'wins' at 05:04

Rating - DUD - The worst part is that I'm almost certain Bubba walked to the locker room congratulating himself on the great heat he got. Nothing about this is what I want to see from an ROH product. I am not the biggest Cheeseburger fan, but Bully Ray is intolerable. His ROH run should have concluded at Final Battle where the Briscoes carried him through an enjoyable feud and Tommy Dreamer stepped in to give us a proxy Briscoes/Dudleyz dream match in the Hammerstein. This self-serving, heel character sucks time out of the shows, energy out of the crowd and accomplishes nothing. I'm not even interested in any kind of explanation as to why he intentionally counted himself out there; I simply don't care.

He sarcastically raises Burger's hand, then gives him one last sadistic powerbomb before leaving the ring to intimidate Bobby Cruise...

This is the first time SHO and YOH have returned to ROH since their excursion where they performed entirely as undercard comedy jobbers the 'Tempura Boyz'. They returned to Japan, were treated with more respect and credibility and instantly became smash hits on the junior tag scene. Managed by Rocky Romero (and teaming with him tonight), they represent CHAOS against a Bullet Club trio in turmoil. Cody's ego is out of control. He and Scurll are falling apart over who gets to challenge for the World Championship at Best In The World, whilst Hangman questions his loyalty to 'Team Cody' as he continues to have his accomplishments wholly overshadowed by the circus surrounding the American Nightmare. Can this dysfunctional trio get on the same page tonight?

Burnard The Business Bear gets a bigger pop than several wrestlers on the show, which nobody sees a problem for some reason. Marty starts, only to be instantly tagged out by his 'leader' Cody. He and Romero have fun riffing off some of the exchanges they had in their random ROH Title Match in Florida last year, with the experienced Romero eventually driving Rhodes out of the ring. He agrees to tag Scurll in now, with Sho stepping in to face The Villain. Marty has some fun chain-wrestling around Tanaka but is shocked to find himself blitzed by lightning quick double teams when Yoh hops the rope as well. Burnard The Bear helps Marty out, tripping Yoh so he can deliver a lungblower. Hangman in, problem solving for Bullet Club by stomping Yoh into the ground. It's so emphatic that it even gets Cody and Marty back on the same page temporarily. Cody teases doing Shattered Dreams but doesn't because he decides he wants to be jeered by the crowd for this two-minute period. Yoh escapes and makes a tag to Sho. Stalling fisherman buster on Scurll, rolled into a fisherman buster which Page has to break up. Just Kidding countered to a double knee smash by 3K - getting a close nearfall. Wrist clutch Ghostbuster by Scurll in response. Cody tags him out before he can break out the Chickenwing tough. The delay allows Sho to counter Cross Rhodes and make a crucial tag to Rocky. Forever Clotheslines by Romero. Shiranui countered to a Disaster Kick! German suplex from Sho to Cody! Buckshot Lariat from Hangman to Yoh! Running Shiranui gets 2 on the American Nightmare, with Marty having to make the save...then boot Romero out of the ring. Scurll accidentally superkicks Burnard! Cody is furious! 'That's my bear' - Cody! Hangman tries to calm the argument between his two partners as the match continues. Triple knee strikes by Chaos, setting up a somersault plancha/tope suicida triple! Back in the ring Cody drops Romero with Cross Rhodes to win at 14:37

Rating - ** - This wasn't a bad match by any means, but it all felt painfully flat and devoid of any jeopardy. The simmering tension between Scurll and Cody is fun to watch play out...but unfortunately that is pretty much all that this six-man has going for it. The rest was rather bland, by the numbers and formulaic. 

Marty has a tantrum and storms off as Cody and Hangman check on the health of Burnard The Bear...

As we know from previous years, Silas dislikes the New Japan talent as he feels like they take spots from deserving ROH talent like him on major shows when they come in. He has his work cut out for him tonight though, as he faces Naito and his two beefy heavyweight stable-mates EVIL and SANADA. 

Silas spots Evil's attempt at cheap-shotting him...so Evil feeds his boot to referee Todd Sinclair then punts him in the exposed stomach instead. Naito tags, and Silas leaves the ring. He knows Naito won't be able to resist busting out the Tranquilo pose...and when he does Bruiser and Milonas jump him from behind. That genuinely might be the highlight of the show so far for me. The Bouncers look like they are having a great time brutalising a top star like Naito. Bruiser gnaws on his forehead with his remaining teeth, but ducks his head into a desperate tornado DDT. Hot tag to Sanada, entering the match for the first time. He puts the Paradise Lock on Young, turning his back on Bruiser in the process and eating a Samoan drop. Milonas misses the senton splash...and Evil demands a piece of the Kingpin. Bronco Buster by Evil! All six men brawl in the ring...with Milonas (eventually) slamming both Evil and Naito at the same time. Ligerbomb on Sanada - who rolls away before they can convert to the Keg Splash. LIJ dodge BCB as he lines up a cannonball off the apron - meaning he wipes out only Silas. DOUBLE POWERBOMB on Milonas! Evil Lariat! Everything Is Evil! Evil wins at 09:40

Rating - ** - Low key, predictable, scrappy in places and nothing more than an exhibition match for the LIJ crew...but nevertheless this had some real charm to it as well. Silas setting up Naito for his Tranquilo ambush was a BRILLIANT spot. Watching The Bouncers in all their ugly, heavyweight, brawling ways gang up on one of NJPW's top stars was a strangely enjoyable spectacle. It fell apart a little at the end, and SANADA was so irrelevant to this he may as well have stayed in the locker room. But this felt like a different and unique way to use house show-mode Los Ingobernables; ultimately more enjoyable than I'd probably have expected.

Originally these three were going to team up to face SCU in a six-man tag bout, but since SoCal Uncensored have shuffled the card to face The Kingdom, instead these guys are going to work each other. It's White's first ROH events since ending his excursion, returning to Japan and becoming the Switchblade. He and Lethal shared an absolute classic back on the 2017 Global Wars Tour. Lethal may be at a disadvantage, considering that White is a member of CHAOS - as is Chuckie's partner Trent Beretta. Indeed, Taylor has actually replaced Beretta in a lot of his recent NJPW dates; even teaming with Okada. Will they team up to eliminate ROH's 'Franchise'?

Immediately White and Taylor team up on Lethal. That lasts for the first 90 seconds and ends when Lethal tosses them outside and starts blasting them with repeated tope suicidas. Macho Axehandle clocks White for 2 but still Lethal is having to fight both of his opponents at the same time. Chuckie's persistent distractions enable Switchblade to nail a Saito suplex. Chuck acts like an annoying doofus; prancing, posing, profiting from and taking credit for White's hard work. He stands and watches as White narrowly avoids getting rammed into the guardrails and visibly irritates the Switchblade by seemingly encouraging the ref to give him a count-out victory. Cabana and Whitmer have done an awful job explaining Taylor's relationship with the Chaos faction, meaning fans watching on Honor Club are given almost no context to this prolonged 2-on-1 beatdown. BACK DROP DRIVER by White! Chuckie celebrates that move and tries to hug White...who in turn tries to give him the Blade Runner! Lethal in with the Lethal Combination to drive Chuck outside, before moving smoothly into an Ace Crusher for White. Figure 4 Leglock applied...but too close to the ropes, allowing Switchblade to escape. Somersault plancha by Chuckie onto both men! He follows that with a sitout powerbomb on Lethal for 2. Sole Food on White...no sold so White can deliver a dead-lift German suplex. Lethal Injection blocked...Blade Runner blocked...LETHAL INJECTION! Then Taylor pounces to jack-knife pin Lethal, snatching an unlikely win for the Kentucky Gentleman at 10:43

Rating - ** - I couldn't go any lower on the rating because amongst the silliness there were a few REALLY good wrestling exchanges between Lethal and White. Why this couldn't have been booked as a straight Lethal/White Global Wars rematch (going to a time limit draw if IWGP US Champion White can't job) I'm not entirely sure. I don't think Taylor goofing off and making White look silly particularly helped. It also felt like a colossally dumb move to put Chuck over Lethal, considering they have literally just started Lethal on a quest to rack up wins and get a World Title shot. Given the amount of talent involved here a ten minute joke match is a spectacular waste. 

SCU are being terminated from their contracts at the end of 2018, meaning their status as active champions gives them a precious bargaining tool at the negotiating table with COO Joe Koff. Knowing the importance of these belts to their career, they became particularly irritated when The Kingdom invade the brutal Ladder Match at Supercard Of Honor...and eventually stole the belts. The Kingdom believe themselves the real Six-Man Champions, having never been pinned as a trio to lose them. Kaz and Sky took back their Six-Man belts earlier. How SCU would dearly love to have all three of their belts back and to put The Kingdom in the rear-view mirror.

Taven still has one of the Six-Man belts, and also has his family in the front row. Kazarian attacks Marseglia from behind as Daniels prowls the ring, surveying the crowd which turned on him so spectacularly at Best In The World last year. Kick Of The King by Taven to rescue his partner. TK then misses (like, clear daylight) Sky's head on a diving elbow drop, but they all sell like he hit it. AIR TAVEN wipes out Daniels! Marseglia vanishes under the ring again and emerges having tied balloons around Frankie's neck. TK and Taven hit a double flapjack, after which Vinny starts popping the balloons in Kazarian's ears. That under-the-ring spot needs to go, or get a seriously better pay-off, urgently. Daniels tries to avoid a Kick Of The King again, so Taven converts in mid-air to a lucha armdrag instead. Scorpio 'receipts' O'Ryan for that sh*tty elbow drop earlier, but barely connecting on a diving knee strike off the apron. It sets the champs up for a series of triple-teams on O'Ryan, leaving him very much isolated from his partners. Vinny helps out his partner by giving Daniels an Ace Crusher in the ropes, setting up TK for a hot tag to Taven. Russian legsweep/moonsault combo gets 2. Frankie hits a Cactus Clothesline to block Rock Star Supernova, leaving Daniels alone in the ring with Taven - who hits the running knee smash for 2. RUNNING FRANKENSTEINER by Sky! The Kingdom toss Kazarian and Scorpio to the outside, then send Vinny upstairs for the Redrum. Knee strikes from Sky to make the save. Springboard Codebreaker from Kaz to TK! BME on Marseglia - only for Taven to pull the ref to the floor! TOPE ATOMICO BY SKY! He wipes out Todd Sinclair along with his opponents there! Mustang Ride by O'Ryan...and he then ducks causing Kazarian to inadvertently KO Daniels with a title belt shot to the head. Five Star Frog Splash by Taven - winning back the Six-Man Titles for The Kingdom at 14:10

Rating - ** - Matt Taven wrestled this match beautifully. He was in superb form, hitting everything he attempted with beautiful precision and came off like a star. Unfortunately he teams with Vinny Marseglia, who is a complete goof. The guys has done the same completely stupid 'hide under the ring and use balloons' spot twice on the same show and it needs to go. It's more annoying than the Bullet Club's '10 boots' gimmick. Marseglia being overbearingly irritating, TK messing things up, SCU being on autopilot and an unnecessary ref-bump finish all combined to completely eclipse how good Taven had been. It's a big win for The Kingdom, the right market to put the belts back on them and sort of fun to see them as the babyface act. But as a package this didn't click for me. Sort of like this entire show...

The headline bout for the War Of The Worlds 2018 Tour takes place in Chicago at the TV taping when the full LIJ line-up will do battle with the Bullet Club's Cody, Hangman, Marty and the Bucks. Here we see a warm-up for that as the LIJ juniors face the Bucks. It's significant in New Japan circles as the Bucks have just graduated to heavyweight, so it would be a major statement if Hiromu and BUSHI topple them in our international main event. 

Fans chant for 'All In' louder than they've chanted for any non-Elite ROH wrestler all night. If that doesn't concern ROH management then it should. LIJ attack the Bucks early, with Nick having to think fast to save his brother's back from a double suplex. Stereo pescados by the Bucks as they look to hit back. Matt switches up the Kevin Steen Cannonball for a basement dropkick to protect his back as well which I like. Bushi hits a double hurricanrana to ground both Bucks and is so thrilled with it he breaks out the Bushi-roonie to celebrate. With Takahashi distracting the ref Bushi starts choking Matt using his shirt. Los Ingobernables clean house, with offence increasingly aimed at Matt's back. STF by Bushi has him crying out in pain. If that weren't bad enough Hiromu drags him up onto the stage trying to break his back with a suplex. Matt fights back by throwing LIJ down the stairs. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA OFF THE STAGE! Bushi grabs his leg at the last possible second to stop him tagging Nick though. HITSTICK on Takahashi! Nick takes a tag, bringing with him one of the best hot tags in the business! But he tags his ailing brother right back in so they put LIJ into stereo Sharpshooters. Standing moonsault/frog splash combo gets 2 on Hiromu. Matt's back causes him to scream in pain as he struggles to get Takahashi up for More Bang For Your Buck. SUNSET FLIP GERMAN COMBO by Bushi and Hiromu! They want a Doomsday move, but Nick feeds Bushi into a SUPERPLEX OFF HIROMU'S SHOULDERS! 450 SPLASH BY NICK! Matt basically destroyed his back hitting that superplex...but again his brother drags him up so they can hit Superkicks. Superkick on Hiromu. NO SOLD! DOUBLE SUPERKICK! Meltzer Driver blocked by Bushi...who sprays Green Mist into Matt's eyes! BLIND MAN SUPERKICKS by Matt! SUPERKICK ON NICK! Sharpshooter on the referee! Paul Turner (who had a bottle of water to help Matt!) taps out fervently whilst Nick finally pours water into his brothers eyes to restore his vision. SUNSET FLIP BOMB OFF THE APRON BY HIROMU! DESTROYER BY BUSHI! GETS 2! Takahashi tries to end Matt's career with a sunset flip bomb to the floor. CORKSCREW CUTTER OFF THE APRON BY MATT! TOPE SUICIDA BY BUSHI! MELTZER DRIVER! Matt pins Bushi to win at 15:24

Rating - **** - Well, the Young Bucks saved the show. I don't think ROH have done themselves many favours with this live event...but letting these four headline was a great call. They didn't go too crazy (by their standards), and instead worked a really exciting and technically savvy junior heavyweight tag bout. Matt's selling of the back was outstanding, Nick's hot tag was awesome, BUSHI was a complete dick, Takahashi is one of the best junior workers on the planet - the entire fifteen minute sprint was a melting pot of talented individuals showcasing their skills. 

Tape Rating - ** - I genuinely considered giving this show a 1* rating. The Young Bucks just about salvaged the event enough to avoid that...but this wasn't a good night for Ring Of Honor. My suggestion would be that if they want to pat themselves on the back about having the 'best wrestling on the planet', and if they want people to subscribe to Honor Club...then they need to let their product back it up. Up to Supercard this year it felt like they were turning things around. We were getting MOTYC's on every show, 16th Anniversary was arguably the best SBG PPV ever, Supercard Of Honor was a great show as well. But since then it's all gone flat. TV hasn't been great and these Honor Club streaming shows have basically been a procession of forgettable, disappointing ten minute matches. The second best match on the card here was a functional, but not much more, curtain-jerking tag. The entire middle portion is complete filler. Even for completists there is little that really becomes essential viewing. War Of The Worlds Tour events are some of ROH's biggest drawing events of the year. There is no beating around the bush here; this event wasn't good enough. If you strip the Bucks out (which happens at the end of 2018 of course) it really is dire. If you're looking at which ROH events you can skip - this is definitely one of them.

3) Tetsuya Naito/EVIL/SANADA vs Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser/Brian Milonas (**)

2) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Jushin Liger/Flip Gordon (***)

1) Young Bucks vs Hiromu Takahashi/BUSHI (****)