McXal's Reviews

This is the final night of the Honor Club VOD portion of the War Of The Worlds Tour, since the last show is a TV taping in Chicago. We arrive at a new Michigan venue with another mixed bag of a card. The main event is certainly an interesting one, as the Briscoes defend the Tag Titles against LIJ's Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI. The combination of the dangerous Briscoes and the enigmatic Naito should be quite the spectacle. The undercard has some obvious filler, but also some intriguing bouts like Cody/Hiromu, EVIL/Shane Taylor and a triple threat junior heavyweight tag team showdown featuring the Young Bucks, Roppongi 3K and the Motor City Machine Guns. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Royal Oak, MI for Night 3 of War Of The Worlds 2018.

Taylor makes his first appearance on the 2018 WOTW Tour and is plunged straight into the action against EVIL. The King Of Darkness is 2-0 for the tour so far, but in tag matches. Can he continue that streak against someone with the size and strike power of Taylor?

Taylor trash talks Evil who, entirely unsurprisingly, does something dastardly - in this case raking the eyes. Whilst still blinded Shane hits back with a tackle...so Evil gives him chops and a thrust kick to the gut. Taylor chokes the King Of Darkness in the ropes and continues to trash talk him even as the crowd loudly heckle him. Urinage slam nailed, into the Warrior Splash for 2. Swinging neckbreaker by Evil, but he has taken some real damage and struggles to lift his body off the apron. Darkness Falls is blocked, into a wild lariat by the American competitor for 2. Evil is in serious trouble and lies motionless as Taylor drops a big leg across his throat. They go to the floor where Evil profits from the ref being out of position to throw a chair into Taylor's face. He wraps an open chair around Shane's throat and SMASHES IT with another chair! How did the ref not see (or at least hear) that!? Taylor drags himself back into the ring, but right into the Bronco Buster for 2. Evil Lariat nailed...but Taylor doesn't go down. He tries again and Taylor NAILS him with a lariat of his own. Samoan drop scores but the second rope splash misses. DARKNESS FALLS! Both men down! Everything Is Evil blocked with a couple of violent knee strikes then a Baldo Bomb for 2. Greetings From 216 COUNTERED TO A GERMAN SUPLEX! NO SOLD! HEADBUTTS! EVIL LARIATOOOOO! Everything Is Evil nailed, giving Evil the win at 13:23

Rating - *** - It was a little slow and awkward to get started, but they were rocking by the end. People wanted to see these two big men drop bombs on each other and we got that in abundance through the second half of this match. I said during my WOTW Toronto review that EVIL keeps getting booked on these tours without ever really doing anything of note. This was actually one of his more enjoyable ROH matches. The crowd was completely dead for Taylor though, which is a worrying sign for ROH since he's one of the brighter rising stars they have to lean on after The Elite talent exodus...

Jenny gets her shot at Sumie's WOH Title at the War Of The Worlds TV taping in Chicago tomorrow, so this is the last chance for both champion and challenger to deliver a pre-emptive strike. Dashwood will, of course, want to force her way into the championship picture and will be eyeing up the pinfall victory over Sumie which would earn her that opportunity...

Sakai's entrance gets complete and utter silence. Jenny calls her out and slaps her in the face to get the match started. Sumie puts her on her ass with repeated dropkicks then leaves so her young apprentice can try to land a few fast-paced armdrags. Rose drops her with a sidewalk slam then swings another slap and Sumie on the apron. Tenille puts a boot through Grey's jaw then demands that she tag Sakai back in. Inexplicably they make a mess of a basic Irish whip spot but recover quickly with a crisp near-fall exchange then a double underhook suplex from Dashwood. Double neckbreaker drop by the champion, setting up a vital tag to Stella who delivers a straight kick into Rose's jaw. GREAT DDT by Jenny gets 2! She applies a Boston crab then a cloverleaf submission, all whilst staring directly at Sumie - clearly relishing torturing Sakai's protege in front of her own eyes. Stella tries to throw Dashwood out of the ring...only for Tenille to catch herself on the apron and hit a neckbreaker in the ropes. Northern lights bomb blocked...opening the door for a hot tag to Sakai. Missile dropkick nailed for 2. Back suplex plants Rose into the mat, before Sumie summons Stella for a ROCKET LAUNCHER SENTON! Rose dodges that and feeds Grey into the Dilemma from Dashwood. Taste Of Tenille on Sakai! No Doubt (urinage backbreaker/slam combo) by Jenny, beating Stella at 07:45

Rating - *** - This was the best WOH match of the tour. As ever it didn't go long, but with only a couple of minor execution flaws and couple of great central narrative threads this bout did a lot of things right. I don't think you could find a single ROH fan who would say that Sakai/Rose is what came to their mind first when they imagined a big time WOH Championship Match...but to the credit of both of those women I thought they set the stage for their title showdown in Chicago well. Jenny ditched her smiley, nice-girl persona and acted like an asshole to Sakai; slapping her in the face and making a point of bullying her young partner. The way Tenille and Jenny set up the win with a prolonged and targeted attack on Stella's back was really impressive too. Stella also did a strong job, especially considering her limited experience. Not everything she did looked particularly smooth but she bumped well and sold the beating convincingly too. 

Jenny makes a point of grabbing the championship belt and presenting it to Sumie...who angrily slaps her in the face and takes her down for a brawl. 

Up next it should be Punishment Martinez (who has new first day of film school screen-fades for each camera change on his entrance) against Hangman Page. They have a brewing rivalry which saw Martinez put Page through a table in Florida, then both of them interfering in each other's matches in Toronto. Page comes in through the crowd and jumps Punishment from behind with a chair. He props a table against the ringpost then SPEARS Martinez through it. Just like in Florida there will be no match between them tonight!

Ian and Colt announce that Jay Lethal suffered a concussion in Toronto, so has been replaced in the following contest by SANADA.

There isn't a massive amount of connective tissue here, so this one is all about trying to grab a victory to boost your singles aspirations. Taven is one third of the new Six-Man Champions, having defeated SCU in Lowell. Marty is, of course, friends with the Hung Bucks who held those championships until the 16th Anniversary and would love to get Bullet Club back into the running for the belts with a win. Marty, meanwhile, is #1 contender to the World Championship having defeated Dalton Castle in Defy Or Deny at Masters Of The Craft - whilst Taven is still smarting from having his World Title shot against Dalton cancelled due to injury. 

Taven leaves and refuses to start...so King dives after him with the corkscrew pescado. Sanada and Scurll remain in the ring trading some really crisp holds. The other three decide they'd all rather kick Marty out of the ring. Taven goes after him with a TOPE SUICIDA INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Seriously, the ringside area is so small and unsafe, who decided this was an appropriate building? Chin Checker from King to Sanada before a recovered Matt lays them both out with a missile dropkick. Kick Of The King (with a minor slip on the ropes which the crowd are merciless on) knocks Scurll to the outside again and, as Taven argues with the crowd Kenny levels him with a spinebuster. Taven and Sanada bicker over who gets to superplex King...for so long that Scurll has enough time to recover and grab everyone for the TOWER OF DOOM! Just Kidding on Taven...who recovers quickly enough to dodge the Chickenwing. Toehold on King, whilst Marty puts Taven in an abdominal stretch - then Sanada returns to put the unfortunate King in a crossface as well. Paradise Lock on Taven and King! Scurll tries to steal the Paradise Lock on Sanada but comically can't figure out how to do it...so makes Sanada show him on Todd Sinclair! He then tries to convince the LIJ member to shove a foreign object up the exposed asses of their opponents. Sanada tries for the Paradise Lock on Marty, who blocks it by going for the Finger Snap. Matt prevents the Finger Snap and gets HUGE heat. Five Star Frog Splash misses. King misses a frog splash too! Moonsault misses for Sanada. Scurll teases doing a top rope move but refuses...so eats a double superkick from King and Taven. Just The Tip on Kenny. Skull End COUNTERED to the Chickenwing. Last Chancery from Kenny to Sanada. CLIMAX on Scurll, but Sinclair doesn't count the pin because he's seeing if Sanada taps out. Marty kicks Taven in the balls - again unseen by the ref - to take the win at 11:40

Rating - ** - There was some good stuff in here but for the most part this felt like a real waste of the talented individuals involved. Taven got some good heat, Scurll was hugely over (and did some really fun stuff with SANADA). They were the highlights, although it was pretty much a succession of moves and spots with very little rhyme, reason, selling or logic...fun to watch, but immediately forgettable. I'm also not a fan of Delirious continually booking finishes which make his referees look like morons. 

As Riccaboni points out, between SHO, YOH, Shelley and the Bucks there are a LOT of IWGP Jr Tag Title reigns among the participants of this star-studded tag team triple threat. The Machine Guns are suffering something of an existential crisis and weren't booked for the first two dates on the tour. They have confessed that they are considering ending their team if they can't start winning matches, so facing two of the best tag teams in the world right now is a big ask. They have a storied rivalry with the Bucks and ended their Tag Title reign back in 2017 though, so know the road to victory over the mighty Jackson brothers. For R3K, this is an opportunity to further their blossoming reputation with a win over two former ROH Tag Champion teams, plus grabbing bragging rights over the Bucks - who are now a 'heavyweight' team in SHO and YOH's home promotion.

Sho and Sabin start, with the New Japan star grabbing an early advantage. Shelley and Yoh take turns chopping each other in the chest (egged on by the Bucks who are enjoying their opponents tearing each other apart). The Machine Guns start hitting double-teams on all four opponents culminating in the Dream Sequence on Matt. Through-the-legs tope suicida from Sabin to Roppongi 3K on the outside. Skull & Bones blocked by Yoh, who crotches Sabin on the top rope then storms off to leave the Bucks to carry the match for a while. Shelley endures multiple combo moves and becomes isolated from everyone else until he tricks Nick into belting his own brother with a knee strike. Hot tag to Sabin who busts out some really entertaining ways to combat both Jackson brothers simultaneously. Back suplex/neckbreaker combo by Sho and Yoh kills his momentum though. 3K blocked into a PK on Yoh...but a sarcastic Nick Jackson hauls Shelley off the apron before Sabin can tag. Matt gets a tag instead and blasts Yoh with a standing Shiranui. Stereo Sharpshooters on Roppongi 3K...broken by double superkicks by MCMG! DOUBLE GERMANS by Sho and Yoh. 3K COUNTERED to a tornado DDT by Nick! Tope atomico by Matt, quickly followed by a moonsault off the apron by Nick. Elevated Swanton Bomb gets 2. Sabin tags Matt out before they can hit More Bang For Your Buck. FOUR MAN SUPERKICK ON SHO! The Bucks and the Machine Guns charge the ring and beat on each other as their rivalry reignites. SUPERKICK FLURRY by the Jacksons. More Bang blocked. ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX by Sabin! 3K ON SABIN! Yoh steals the win at 16:23

Rating - *** - Being completely honest, I didn't really like the first half of this match. It felt like meandering, aimless filler content designed to do nothing more than to stretch out the length of the bout. However, the second half really rocked as all three teams traded spots at an electric pace. I'm not sure SHO and YOH really needed to go over here. Not that the Young Bucks need to enhance their popularity or credibility but we are building to Briscoes/Bucks at Best In The World - therefore the logical move would have been to put Matt and Nick over the Machine Guns. The idea was that it set up Briscoes vs Roppongi 3K for the Tag Titles in Chicago but this isn't the way I'd have gone at all.

Given how disappointingly short every major match on this card will most likely be, there is absolutely no reason for this one to exist and take up airtime. Silas obviously has a lot of history with The Boys, having once won possession of them from Dalton Castle and tried to turn them into 'Real Men' like him. He was unsuccessful in that quest but how The Boys would love some payback for that time they spent in servitude to Silas.

The Boys want the Code Of Honor...but get a kick to the stomach. They retaliate by tricking Silas into hitting a tope suicida on his own partner, then team up to shunt Bruiser into the ringpost. Springboard splash from Boy #1, causing Young to tag out and hand over to BCB so he can maul Boy #2. He hits a slingshot ocean cyclone suplex...but suffers as #1 and #2 swap places causing him to miss the Keg Splash. Tornado DDT on Silas by #2...then again The Boys step aside so Young wipes out his own partner. It leads to a tacky (and illegal) double pin on Bruiser for 2. Double suplex nailed on BCB, taking so much out of The Boys that they are exposed to a vicious beating from the TV Champion. Misery on Boy #1 followed by the Keg Splash. Bruiser wins at 07:10

Rating - * - One can't fault any of these guys for effort...but this should never have been on the card in the first place and went on way too long as well. The Boys should have been comprehensively squashed and it was damaging to the credibility of Silas and Bruiser that it took them more than seven minutes to put them away (not to mention spending a significant period of time actually bumping around for the twins...)

SCU have multiple scores to settle here. At Global Wars in 2016 Liger and Burger scored a shock tag team victory over The Addiction that they have never forgotten, whilst Scorpio and Flip have a rivalry coming into this as well. Liger and Flip teamed up in Lowell earlier in the week, but it's Liger's mentor/student relationship with Cheeseburger which is more notorious - including the legend teaching Burger his world famous Shotei strike. SoCal Uncensored have a ticking clock on their ROH careers and are on the hunt for as many wins as possible as they look to make themselves non-expendable to COO Joe Koff before his Final Battle 2018 deadline...

The Elite and All In are more popular than even Liger, with the whole arena chanting 'Book Flip' as Liger's entrance music dies down. Cheeseburger is still selling the injuries inflicted by Bully Ray but for some reason starts the match for his team. Even more idiotically, he goes for a flying crossbody even though he has injured ribs. Liger helps him out, driving Daniels back to the SCU corner then tagging Flip in. Sky instantly tags in with him but once again finds Gordon's speed too much of a challenge to overcome. A standing moonsault sends him packing, bringing in Kazarian who calls Liger out. The masked legend applies a Mexican surfboard with Burger and Flip keeping the rest of SCU at bay. Daniels tags in and starts targeting Liger's arm (with plenty of illegal help from his partners). In the end Liger tricks SCU into blindly working over Daniels' arm in error - even though it makes no sense since Liger wears a bright red full body suit meaning his arm is immediately identifiably different from the Fallen Angel's. Springboard blockbuster by Gordon, but he makes the mistake of tagging Burger in...with the injured smaller worker instantly mowed down with a running STO. Frankie tears off his gear to expose the heavily taped ribs, setting up SCU for a targeted attack on the injury. It lasts for a couple of minutes...but ends when Daniels lets Cheese slip away via a hurricanrana. C4 BY FLIP! Springboard Slingblade on Sky! Flip does Bully Ray's Dusty-inspired jabs...but then springboards right into Kazarian's Ace Crusher for 2. Liger tags and lays out both members of The Addiction with Shotei strikes. Brainbuster on Frankie! Daniels crotches him on the top rope, but Liger slips away for a KINDER SURPRISE/LIGERBOMB COMBO on Kaz! Springboard knee strike by Burger...who instantly has his momentum curtailed by a shot to his ribs. BEST MELTZER EVER! SCU win at 15:50

Rating - *** - It made no sense that a veteran like Jushin Liger would expose Cheeseburger, a young wrestler whom he supposedly mentors, to the kind of beating he sustained here. Why would he allow the already-injured Burger to start the match? Why would he tag him at the end? That spot with Daniels getting his arm attacked by his own partners was incredibly poorly judged as well. But despite those things this was one of my favourite matches on the show. Burger's injuries made him a compellingly sympathetic figure, particularly since most of SCU's now established triple team sequences target the ribs anyway. Flip was used sparingly but whenever he was 'getting his sh*t in' it was to contribute something outrageously fun. And the whole match built to a clean finish, with the right team going over in comprehensive fashion. 

Bully Ray comes out and fans cry out in horror as he low blows Liger from behind. Cheeseburger makes a foolish but courageous attempt to save his mentor and is destroyed with yet another powerbomb. Bully beats on Liger with a chain until Flip makes a save. 

Riccaboni promotes this match like Hiromu had to 'earn a shot at Cody' as just wrestling him is like a championship in itself. This is more build to the big Bullet Club vs LIJ 10-man rematch in Chicago at the TV taping. Hiromu's record in singles competition in ROH is extremely competitive as of late, but he steps in the ring with an American Nightmare looking to solidify his claim to a World Title shot at Best In The World 2018...

The bell rings...and Cody starts to stall. Interestingly, Hiromu is popular enough to split the crowd - particularly once he brings Daryl Jr into the ring. Two minutes in and finally some wrestling breaks out, albeit it's Hiromu hitting Cody with the stuffed cat then using it to knock him out of the ring. Burnard The Bear gets into the ring and tries to pick a fight with Daryl Jr. (yep)...and security fills the ring to hold Burnard back. Hiromu play-acts that he is having to hold Daryl back as well. Why is wrestling like this? Why are the crowd going nuts for this (and chanting 'fight forever')? Five minutes has passed and something actually happens - Takahashi dives off the apron with a missile dropkick. Rhodes responds by kicking the middle rope into his balls and delivering a hanging flatliner for 2. He repeatedly stomps on the legs of Hiromu then starts doing Kenny Omega poses whilst beating on the LIJ member in the ropes. Figure 4 applied, causing Takahashi to scream in pain as he battles to the ropes. The fans chant for Kenny Omega...so Cody tosses his opponent and spoofs the Rise Of The Terminator, obviously ending with a middle finger to the audience. Hiromu counters a superplex attempt into a super gourdbuster and whips Rhodes off his feet with a running rana. Time Bomb blocked...Cross Rhodes blocked as well, into a lariat by Takahashi. Time Bomb countered to the Disaster Kick for 2. CROSS RHODES by Hiromu...for 2. Cody rakes the eyes, but is superkicked when he puts the 'Ring Of Honor' on his finger. Sunset Flip Bomb to the floor COUNTERED with a 'ring punch' to the face. Din's Fire blocked...Cross Rhodes nailed instead! But Takahashi kicks out! DIN'S FIRE! Cody wins at 16:57

Rating - ** - On the positive side, this was MUCH better than Cody/Liger in Toronto. It was still a major disappointment though. Hiromu tried hard and bumped like mad, but Cody once again opted to use his stall-heavy, autopilot offence approach which sucked the life out of the match. Even though it was inevitable, I had no interest in seeing the Burnard/Daryl Jr showdown. The live audience very much did however...and it absolutely KILLED the crowd from that point on. They were near silent for this big-time semi-main event after that, save a few 'funny' chants at Cody's expense. Wrestling fans in 2018, largely inspired by 'Being The Elite' have gotten to a place where seeing and cheering for the JOKES they want is actually preferable to good wrestling. That isn't my taste at all and unfortunately big parts of this match truly embodied that style. 

One could question why this has been sanctioned as a championship match, but it's certainly one of the more intriguing bouts across any of the four War Of The Worlds 2018 dates. The Briscoes are record-breaking ROH Tag Champions and have torn through the tag division this year, returning to what they believe is their rightful spot at the very top. They have been in Ring Of Honor since the very first show and now step up to wildly popular, merch-shifting foreign invaders. How will the 'tranquilo' attitude of Los Ingobernables de Japon interact with the 'Sandy Fork strong style' of the champions?

Riccaboni trying his best to innovate a new way of saying 'Naito doesn't work hard on ROH live events' is legitimately entertaining. Jay starts with the aforementioned Naito, getting the jump on him after Mark attacks from behind. The LIJ leader quickly dumps the champs to the outside so he can 'Tranquilo' pose...until Jay starts throwing chairs at him! Ever-composed, Naito simply unfolds the chair and sits on it with a deadpan look on his face. Bushi tags and is too quick for Mark...so Jay barges in and blasts him with a roaring elbow. Mark camel clutches him and claws at the mask. His brother is back in the ring putting the boots to Bushi seconds later as Naito distracts referee Todd Sinclair by arguing with him. Mark hammers Naito off the apron before his masked partner gets anywhere near tagging out as well. Mark stomps on Bushi after he drops Jay with a DDT...but Bushi knocks him aside with a jumping enzi to tag in Naito. Neckbreakers for the champs, then the slingshot basement dropkick in the corner on Jay. Bushi blocks the Redneck Boogie to sunset flip Jay into a dropkick. Frankensteiner by Naito for 2. Destino blocked then COUNTERED into a running powerslam by Jay! Missile dropkick by Bushi, then a fisherman neckbreaker for 2. He manages to haul both Briscoes over with a double hurricanrana...so Mark lariats him so hard that he injures his own arm. Day One Neckbreaker gets 2...before Naito starts stomping Jay in the face. Redneck Boogie incapacitates Naito! Bushi low blows Jay...who DUCKS the green mist and low blows him right back. Jay Driller/Froggy Bow combo! The Briscoes retain at 13:42

Rating - *** - Thirteen minutes for a War Of The Worlds main event? This was one of the better matches on the show in all fairness...but you'll need to answer for yourself whether a perfectly decent, functional but formulaic and predictable main event is 'good enough'.  As expected, the character interplay between Naito and the Briscoes was decent although the match was so short that we got nowhere near enough of it. Oddly it was actually BUSHI who entertained me the most, making a great whipping boy for the Briscoe heat segment and busting out some fun sequences of his own. I LOVED the finish, with Jay ducking BUSHI's mist and beating him as a follow up to last year when BUSHI did blast mist into his face causing him to lose a six-man tag to LIJ. 

Tape Rating - ** - I am just astonished at the level of indifference showed towards the paying audience ROH has displayed since launching Honor Club. They had one chance to make a good first impression...and so far, one amazing Lethal/Gresham match aside these Honor Club livestream events have been instantly forgettable. Was this a bad show? Absolutely not. But it just felt so lacklustre, like nobody had put the slightest thought into how to make this event feel 'special', and like everyone thought that rolling out the stars of Being The Elite and the stars of Los Ingobernables was all they really needed to do. If I were using a trialling Honor Club there was absolutely nothing here that would convince me that ROH is the best place to spend my money on a monthly streaming service...

3) Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian/Scorpio Sky vs Jushin Liger/Flip Gordon/Cheeseburger (***)

2) Roppongi 3K vs Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (***)

1) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI (***)