McXal's Reviews

I went back and forth over whether to include this as part of my main ROH review 'series' or not. Clearly this isn't a traditional wrestling event, let alone a traditional Ring Of Honor show. It is the streamed, compilation of choice cuts from the four nights of action at the end of October as part of the inaugural 'Chris Jericho Cruise'. Y2J put on a cruise full of 'wrestling, music, comedy and more', using his connections with multiple promotions to ensure he had stars from New Japan, ROH, Impact and more along for the ride. Since this is an Honor Club/Fite TV venture, certain contracted talent to other promotions can't appear, meaning a Young Bucks vs LAX dream match isn't shown, along with World Title defences for Jay Lethal and Sumie Sakai, plus all manner of other weird hijinx and shenanigans. What we will see is the first ever 'Sea Of Honor' Tournament (although the first round isn't shown), with eight men vying to earn an ROH World Title opportunity in future - plus a dream main event as the 'Alpha Club' of Chris Jericho and the Young Bucks face Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and Marty Scurll. Colt Cabana provides commentary alongside a rotating cast of co-announcers, aboard the 'Norwegian Jade' Cruise ship somewhere between Miami, FL and the Bahamas...

Cabana provides a post-production introduction, dubbed over highlights of the first round of the tournament to show how our Quarter-Finalists made it to this stage. 

To make it to this stage Chris Daniels defeated Delirious. Remington subs in for Dalton Castle, who made it here via a DQ win over Matt Taven, who used his 'Real World Title' belt to KO the Party Peacock. Apparently that inflicted a concussion which sees 'Smooth Sailin' Ashley Remington replace Dalton, leaving Daniels thoroughly unimpressed. If you're not familiar, Remington is a character Castle used to work during his Chikara days. Jay Lethal is on commentary with Colt, whilst SoCal Val is handling ring announcing duties.

Daniels refuses to believe it isn't Dalton, even whilst the fans loudly chant to confirm that it is not. Lethal is either drunk or finds the 'Smooth Sailin' gimmick so funny he can barely get his words out. Colt is insistent that Dalton is just so concussed that he has adopted a new persona. Ashley's powerful mat skills are certainly reminiscent of Castle's. He starts repeatedly punching Daniels in the stomach but tries to finish it with a Vader Bomb and dives into CD's knees. Lethal and Cabana's sailing/boat/seafood puns on commentary are brutal. He works Remington's abdomen over in the same way that Ashley had target his gut earlier - diving into the Arabian press for 2. Smooth Sailin' retaliates by driving the ribs into the canvas with a spinning bulldog. He prevents Daniels hitting the ropes for the BME and grabs his leg for a cradle pin at 07:11. Remington advances...

Rating - ** - Short, silly and unremarkable as a streaming experience more than two years later...but live and aboard the ship it felt like the fans, the wrestlers and the commentators were all having lots of fun. As a snapshot of the vibe on board the Jericho Cruise this was effective, and it was kept short enough that it never felt boring or like they were outstaying their welcome.

Through 'Being The Elite' we know that these two are no strangers to each other. They met in a kick-ass main event of the first ROH on SBG episode of 2018, which Marty won. He has his sights set on the ROH World Championship, whilst Gordon is trying to get another title shot after failing to beat Lethal at All In (after he tricked his way to victory in the Over Budget Battle Royal).

The fans are split almost 50/50, which seems to annoy Marty. Instead of the Code Of Honor they hug...out of which Scurll blasts Flip with the Rock Bottom for 2. The Villain is trying to blast Gordon out of the match before it even starts...but is caught completely off-guard when Flip nips up, lands a Pele Kick then moonsaults from the second rope for a nearfall. They trade chops in the corner, where Marty blocks the Kinder Surprise and tries a superplex. Flip blocks it with so many headbutts that he dazes himself...meaning he sits prone on the top rope and eats a superplex anyway. Marty goes to work on the arm, busting out a GROTESQUE octopus stretch variant. It leaves Gordon's arm hanging limp by his side...and unable to block Marty hitting him with a succession of backbreakers. He battles out of an abdominal stretch and knocks The Villain back with a springboard dropkick (which damages his own injuries as much as it does Marty). Samoan Pop nailed...moonsault misses...SPRINGBOARD SLING BLADE! 450 SPLASH gets 2! They start emptying the tanks on each other; standing mid-ring and reeling off chop after chop. Superkick by Scurll...no sold for a knee strike by Flip...no sold for a Jawbreaker Lariat by Marty! Scurll tries to bully and intimidate Flip, seemingly losing his temper along the way. Gordon refuses to back down...until he almost has his head taken off with a roaring elbow. Ghostbuster COUNTERED to a Falcon Arrow by Gordon. 4-Nifty misses, setting up a powerbomb by Scurll...but Gordon rolls through the ensuing pin into a cradle of his own, grabbing a big win at 11:17. Flip advances to the next round

Rating - *** - I'm curious as to how much influence ROH has over the booking here. There are merits to both men winning and, it was undeniably refreshing to see Flip set free of all ROH's bullsh*t with Bubba Dudley and allowed to demonstrate his skill as a worker. But at the same time, when ROH feel like they are trying to rebuild Marty towards the World Title picture, another loss does feel damaging to The Villain. The match itself was just plain fun. Ten minutes of fast-paced, carefree, thoroughly modern wrestling. Flip hit some cool spots and sold his injuries relatively well, Marty was excellent as a dastardly technician, the striking was crisp and some of the more elaborate counter-wrestling sequences really popped. 

Marty refuses another hug with Flip and leaves angrily...

Interestingly, Briscoe uses his old (much better) entrance theme and he doesn't appear to be quite as aggressive or heelish as he has been on ROH television. Although he and his brother have refocused themselves on tag wrestling and dominated the tag division in 2018 as a result (albeit they come into this after the Glory By Honor TV taping which saw them lose the Tag Titles to SCU), as a 2-time former ROH Champion he will eagerly accept any opportunity to get back to the top of the singles division too. He survived an apparently hard-fought encounter with Kenny King in the first round, whilst Burger scored an unlikely upset victory over Beer City Bruiser.

Cheeseburger's Liger-inspired gear is unpleasant to look at. Jay suggests he take a count-out loss because 'nobody wants to see Cheeseburger die on this boat'. Cheese rejects that offer with a middle finger...so Briscoe almost caves his skull in with a big boot. The former World and Tag Champion mutters angrily to himself as he beats Cheese around the ring. A DVD gets a 2-count leaving Jay in even more disbelief that his opponent hasn't surrendered. He tries to break him in half with a camel clutch...until Burger bites his hand and gets a couple of boots up into Briscoe's groin. He unleashes the Shotei for a shock 2-count! Jay takes his head off with a superkick, snaps off the Day One Neckbreaker and eventually finishes Burger off with a Jay Driller at 06:34

Rating - * - Too long for what they were trying to achieve, which meant it felt far less heated and exciting than it could have had they made it more abrupt. The star I awarded was almost completely for Jay's performance which brilliantly straddled the line between comedy (to play to a boatload of 'Being The Elite' fans) and outright aggression. 

This is too close to call and should be a hell of a fight. Two dudes who love to fight now go into battle looking to take one step closer to a World Title shot. Page in particularly will be motivated after failing to win the International Cup over in the UK to earn a similar title shot. Briscoe secured his place here with a victory over Will Ferrara, whilst Hangman battled past his old rival Frankie Kazarian. The winner faces Jay Briscoe in the semi-finals, raising the prospect of a rare Briscoe vs Briscoe singles clash.

They start by voluntarily taking turns to chop each other. Page's aren't as loud, which he hilariously starts justifying to the crowd as they start making fun of him. Moving on from chops they spent the next couple of minutes taking turns to hit body slams and vertical suplexes. Briscoe tries to dive off the top rope...but sails right into a violent boot into his face by Page (who is still getting sh*t from the crowd for being weak). Hangman is noticeably having a hard-time not cracking up with the fans. As the battle continues Mark almost flips him out of his boots with a 'strong' lariat for 2. A passing bird flies into the crowd, to the absolute DELIGHT of Cabana and Lethal on commentary. The match genuinely comes to a stop whilst the bird hangs out in the crowd...and when we resume Cabana and Lethal amuse themselves with endless avian puns. Bridging German suplex by Page gets 2, and the duelling continues as Mark hits right back with a fisherman buster for a comparable nearfall. Discus lariat into a folding powerbomb by Page, only for Mark to unleash the rolling DVD. Froggy Bow misses...Rite Of Passage blocked. Buckshot Lariat countered to a schoolboy pin, handing Mark the win at 10:25

Rating - ** - The live crowd had an absolute riot with this. Unfortunately the tit-for-tat duelling spots didn't do a great deal for me, the cameo from a bird in the crowd meant very little as a VOD experience and the whole thing felt like it was disappointingly played for laughs. Clearly that's what the audience on the boat were looking for and I understand why these two wouldn't go hell for leather in the circumstance. It did mean that very little of this bout really resonated with me however.

Castle returns to tournament action, after Ashley Remington was substituted in for him during the Quarter Finals. He'll be looking to recreate the win he scored over Flip back at Bound By Honor, and formally earn the championship rematch he feels he is due. 

Castle competes in a shirt due to 'very severe sunburn', as the fans call for Ashley Remington's reinstatement in the tournament. Gordon hits a shoulder tackle, instantly hurting Dalton's sunburn. The fans call him an asshole and chant for 'aloe vera'. Castle dodges a Pele Kick...but walks into a big chop to the chest. It sends Dalton to the floor begging for water to pour over his raging chest. He returns into more chops and a BACK RAKE! Springboard frog splash - again across the sunburnt chest - gets a nearfall for Flip. He splatters down onto the same body part again seconds later with a standing moonsault as well. Mandy Leon has gone on a bizarre commentary tangent where she implies Taven has spiked her drink and starts talking with a British accent...whilst Dalton calls for an icepack for his chest. This is completely bizarre. The former champion defies the pain to land a sliding DDT, before he starts working over the same midsection that Scurll targeted in the last round. Just like his match with Marty, Flip hits a springboard dropkick even though it hurts himself. Springboard Spear follows that, yet again throwing his body into Dalton's sunburned torso. Castle hits a running knee, tumbles over the top rope and seems to visibly hurt himself (which is always a real worry with him). As soon as he comes back Gordon snatches him in an ugly ass roll-up to grab another win at 09:35

Rating - *** - As with Page/Briscoe, this was very much played for laughs with an awareness of what their paying audience wanted to see. The reason I enjoyed this more is that, even with the comedy, they still kept an air of realism and believability. Flip trying to work over Dalton's sunburn was silly and funny, but it did make sense and he persisted with it. Castle going after the injuries Gordon sustained in the last round was a great touch of detail. Four deflating roll-up finishes in five matches is somewhat annoying though...

Considering their longevity in ROH, encounters between the Briscoe brothers are an incredibly rare commodity. After coming into ROH as feuding siblings and meeting twice within the first year of the promotion's existence, singles matches between them have been infrequent. The definitive Briscoe vs Briscoe encounter remains the 5th Year Festival Finale, where they stole the show in a gruelling and brutal double knock-out designed to 'toughen each other up' following a Tag Title loss. The winner advances to the finals to face Flip with a World Title shot up for grabs.

Supposedly Jay wanted this to be 'friendly competition' but Mark has refused and wants to 'go to war' with his brother. The younger brother demonstrates his willingness to fight by charging at Jay and DECKING him with the urinage and a rolling DVD. FROGGY BOW NAILED! Jay kicks out and bails to the floor (deck). He picks up a chair and throws it into Mark's face like a maniac! It barely stops Mark in truth; he continually gets up even whilst Jay clubs the sh*t out of him. They spill to the outside and are still absolutely battering each other. Jay grabs a can of beer and cracks it over his brother's skull. He wedges a chair in the corner...which Mark promptly THROWS HIM THROUGH! FLYING CROSSBODY THROUGH A CHAIR gets 2 for Mark. Ditching the weaponry, instead they face off and start kicking each other's brains in. Day One Neckbreaker breaks the cycle and gets a 2-count. Mark blocks the Jay Driller, hauls his brother into the corner and gives him an Iconoclasm. Brainbuster next before Mark heads back to the top. This time the Froggy Bow misses, but he reacts to drop Jay on top of his head with a fisherman buster. Jay throws a chair at Mark again! JAY DRILLER! Big brother Jay advances to the finals at 10:46

Rating - **** - This is the first match on this show where it's felt like the performers involved have gone out to really produce something special. Sure we've seen some decent wrestling, but most of it has been tinted towards appeasing the 'Being The Elite' audience and featured talents playing it safe and/or playing it for laughs. Not so here; the Briscoes ripped each other to shreds from the first second to last. It wasn't cerebral, it threw the rules out of the window...and featured two big, beardy brothers trying to knock the other one out. Even within the confines of a ten-minute sprint on a cruise ship, they produced something which respected and paid homage to the legacy of their previous classics, and entertained the audience so much that I've no doubt this stood out as one of the best across the four nights of wrestling on the 2018 Jericho Cruise...

On to day four of the cruise, and back into bright sunlight for the finals of the Sea Of Honor Tournament. The winner receives a World Title shot, with reigning champion Jay Lethal back on commentary to witness it. 

Jay attacks Flip during his entrance, right after he does that back flip/pull-off-the-shorts combo. He throttles him with his own shirt on the floor...until Flip cleverly hops onto the apron and kicks Briscoe in the face. 450 Splash gets knees though, before Briscoes floors him with a mafia kick. He seems to be doing his best to knock Gordon out, so its admirable that Flip keeps hitting back; almost perching on the top rope like a bird before finally hitting a springboard dropkick. BACK DROP DRIVER by Jay! If Gordon's neck wasn't broken by that, Briscoe cranks onto it some more with a chinlock. Springboard crossbody by Flip - amending his signature offence due to the injuries he has sustained. Jay starts POUNDING on the neck...but somehow Gordon nips under a shot, Pele Kicks him in the head and lands a Springboard Spear for 2. He superkicks Briscoe's knee from under him and lands a running dropkick to the back of the head...only for Jay to counter the Falcon Arrow into a brainbuster. Superkick/Falcon Arrow combo in response by Flip! JAY DRILLER! FLIP GETS A SHOULDER UP! Nearfalls do not get any closer than that. Kinder Surprise! FLIP-5 NAILED! Gordon wins at 10:50

Rating - *** - I don't quite know what to make of that match. I definitely enjoyed it, in particular Jay's work absolutely destroying Flip...but something didn't quite click with me about that finish. It seemed like they'd worked the first ten minutes of a longer match and skipped straight over everything else to the finish. Not necessarily a problem, but given that wins over Jay Briscoe have been at a premium over the last few years, him losing clean to help further the career of a rising star like Flip Gordon should definitely have felt like more of a 'moment' than it did here. 

Although they'd all leave soon after, this is christened 'Alpha Club vs Bullet Club' and sees Jericho technically make an ROH debut. He teams with the Young Bucks to face his great rival Kenny Omega. Kenny wants for revenge for the way Jericho crashed All In, and is gearing up for their singles showdown in NJPW. This is the only match he and Jericho worked on the cruise. The decks are packed and you can spot so many wrestling personalities around finding a vantage point to watch. Don Callis and Scott D'Amore join Cabana for commentary. Matching gear for Jericho and the Bucks, with chunks of the crowd singing along to 'Judus'.

Marty, Cody and Kenny get progressively more irritated as the entrances, introductions and ovations for the Alpha Club/Bucks Of Jericho/Y2Jackson just keep going. Cody starts with co-Trios Champion Nick Jackson...and gets sent packing back to his corner with a snap rana. The American Nightmare lands his drop-down palm strike but then gets distracted by going around the ring throwing middle fingers at anyone not cheering for him. Jericho and the Bucks tag in and out hitting rapid-fire axehandles. Marty tries to rescue his partner and falls victim to more triple teaming from the Alpha Club! Double facecrusher combo by Matt and Jericho as their team starts to clean house. TRIPLE PESCADOS! Bullet Club regroup and decide the time has come to send in The Cleaner, who of course calls out Jericho immediately. They circle each other as the crowd goes nuts...until Rhodes forcibly tags Kenny out. He gets huge heat for that as well as eating a missile dropkick from Y2J. Scurll takes a cheap-shot at Nick from the apron before blasting him with the apron Superkick. Stalling gourdbuster from Cody - as well as stealing Nick's headband and refusing to toss it into the crowd. They work Nick over intensely - with Cabana making a great point on commentary that Nick prefers to be on the apron getting the hot tag. Marty is, as always, ready for a Villainous cheap attack on Nick's partners to prevent a tag as well. Cody teases Shattered Dreams, but refuses to do it at the last second to get a rise out of the fans...and as a result eats a crossbody block by Nick. Hot tag to Y2J, who runs through Scurll to dropkick Omega off the apron. LIONSAULT gets 2. Marty looks for the Chickenwing but it is COUNTERED TO THE WALLS OF JERICHO! Stereo Sharpshooters from the Bucks to Cody and Kenny! The Bullet Club all hold each other's hands to stop themselves tapping which is a great touch. Cody and Kenny try to hit a 'double team' but are thwarted by Matt, who blocks You Can't Escape with knees, launching Omega to the floor. Frog splash/standing moonsault combo on Rhodes gets 2. More Bang For Your Buck blocked...Cross Rhodes blocked...Meltzer Driver blocked too! In the end Cody plants Matt with the powerslam before vacating for Nick and Omega can tee off on each other. Kotaro Crusher nailed! SUPERKICK AOI SHOUDOU GETS 2! Dragon Rush suplex flurry by The Cleaner. Jericho pops an elbow into Kenny's face to block the V-Trigger - the two rivals are finally alone in the ring together. They come to blows until - of course - The Villain breaks it up! DOUBLE SUPERKICK to block Rise Of The Terminator. TRIPLE SUPERKICK ON OMEGA GETS 2! ROPE RUN ASSISTED INDYTAKER! WALLS OF JERICHO! CODEBREAKER ON SCURLL! CROSS RHODES ON JERICHO! DOUBLE SUPERKICK ON CODY! POISON RANA from Omega to Matt! WALLS OF JERICHO ON OMEGA! Kenny tries to make the ropes - right into a slingshot facebuster by Nick! UMBRELLA SHOT BY MARTY! Jericho goes out like a light after that. Cody stops the Bucks hitting the Meltzer...as Omega's back gives out preventing him from hitting the One Winged Angel! V-TRIGGER INSTEAD! V-TRIGGER AGAIN! ONE WINGED ANGEL! Omega pins Matt to take the win at 23:18

Rating - **** - This delivered in the way you need your main event/biggest drawing match to deliver. It didn't actually get batsh*t crazy until the very end, and instead they relied on their skill, experience and craftmanship as story-tellers to carry most of the contest. Every Jericho/Omega exchange was brilliantly teased for maximum significance. Cody and Marty were almost faultless in their timing when the occasion called for someone to be an asshole. That leaves the Young Bucks, who did what the Bucks always do; namely sell and bump their asses off, orchestrate scintillating and elaborate combo/sequence spots and come up with one absolutely electric hot tag. The whole piece felt like an event and a big moment in time...as well as acting like a live action prelude to the launch of All Elite Wrestling. 

Even after the bell Jericho and Omega continue to argue as we fade out...

Tape Rating - ** - This is a really hard show to review as my experience watching it is completely different to many others. Clearly for those on board the 2018 Jericho Cruise these matches would have been a lot of fun. BUT for those paying to watch this compilation - missing all the big matches involving Impact Wrestling talent - this probably felt thoroughly unimpressive until the main event. But for me, watching and reviewing this for the first time in the midst of the UK's second wave/lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic, this whole two hour show felt like a breath of fresh air. Seeing a brotherhood, a sisterhood, a collection of like-minded people come together from all over the world on a big ass boat to share in their mutual passions of music and pro-wrestling was completely refreshing at a time when social distancing has made that kind of endeavour almost obsolete. Clearly this isn't a show you 'need' to see, good as Briscoe/Briscoe or Alpha Club/Bullet Club were. But if the reality of 2020 or the global Covid pandemic is getting you down, then a sunny two hours of fun wrestling on a boat where the mutual respect, appreciation and admiration between fan and worker continually leaps out of the screen and grabs you could be just the pick-you-up you're looking for. 

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

2) Jay Briscoe vs Mark Briscoe (****)

1) Kenny Omega/Cody/Marty Scurll vs Chris Jericho/Young Bucks (****)