McXal's Reviews

The positioning of this, the first live event of 2019, is somewhat odd. I'm sure there are reasons, metrics and commercial factors outlined by Sinclair commercial analysis which explain why the Honor Club live event should air on a Sunday (rather than Friday night before the Saturday TV taping, or simply swapping place with the taping)...but this show is in the unenviable position of being broadcast barely two weeks into EIGHT weeks worth of episodes taped in Philadelphia and Atlanta. Taking place after, but airing chronologically before two months worth of television is a tough ask. Thankfully the card is very promising. We may not be able to acknowledge them on screen as Lifeblood (since that doesn't air for weeks), but the new group promising to restore honour to ROH are all placed in prominent matches. Regular NJPW team Juice Robinson and David Finlay face the Best Friends, Tracy Williams vs Flip Gordon and Mark Haskins vs Beer City Bruiser should both be intriguing style battles...and we have a potential dream match as Bandido faces 'Darewolf' PJ Black. All that becomes before a main event which offers a rematch to my 2018 ROH MOTY - Jay Lethal defends the World Title against Dalton Castle. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Colt Cabana provide commentary from Concord, NC.

The previous night at the Atlanta TV tapings the trio of Skyler, Hollis and Quinn got some mic time and a high profile match against Villain Enterprises. Skyler proclaimed them to be the best trio in ROH. Those are big words, and they'll certainly need a win over the likes of the Shinobi Shadow Squad if they are to cement roster spots.

Skyler's group ambush 3S during their entrance and therefore start in the ascendancy. Isom is the first to fight back, tossing Hollis over the top rope at both of his partners. BIG somersault plancha by Eli! He hits a springboard double stomp as well, but the opposition show their superior experience moments later. They trap Nova in their corner, distract the referee then mob him 3-on-1 whilst the rest of the Shadow Squad protest. Skyler and Hollis in particular look smooth; tagging in and out with real fluency as they cut Ryan off from his partners. Nova does eventually scuttle away from Josey, unleashing Cheeseburger for the first time. He scatters the trio, before giving way to Isom who flies in with more big strikes on Quinn. Straightjacket German gets 2 and requires Corey to make the save. Shotei on him! Slingshot Spear on Burger by Skyler. DOUBLE TEAM ALARM CLOCK by Isom and Nova! Double stomp/elevated DDT triple team (called 'Oyasumi' apparently) wins it for 3S at 05:47

Rating - ** - Skyler, Hollis and Isom are all good and they all featured heavily so this was constantly entertaining for the brief five minutes it ran. Even if they ditched Quinn, I'm surprised ROH didn't look at recruiting Skyler and Hollis as a full-time team. The tag roster is hardly stacked right now; they are both solid workers, and Skyler can talk too. Isom getting the win for his team (and general commanding performance) is significant. After his appearance at Final Battle I said that Delirious now has a responsibility to try and integrate him onto the main roster. To do so these are the matches he needs to shine in...

This is Haskins' first US live Honor Club appearance. He is now in ROH full-time after being consistently outstanding every time ROH went to the UK. His first task is a formidable one though. He faces the fearsome Beer City Bruiser, with BCB himself forlorn and distracted at the disintegration of his tag team with Silas Young. He even faced his former friend in a No DQ Match in Philadelphia (which would air on SBG stations the following weekend from this show). With Bruiser hurt and distracted, does he become an even more dangerous foe for the Englishman, or is this the ideal opportunity for Haskins to take down the big man?

Bruiser entering 'from the bar' gives us ample opportunity to survey even more of the largely-empty arena. I do really like his theme song though. Haskins tries to lock up and wrestle...but Bruiser throws him aside and demands a fight. Mark gives him some thunderous kicks and quickly realises that BCB is able to absorb his best shots without backing down. Eventually Bruiser simply tosses Haskins into the air and belts him with a Sick Kick. Haskins kicks out the knee to drop Bruiser down, then kicks at the arm as well before hooking BCB into the Star Armbar. COUNTERED to a Samoan drop - but the damage to Beer City's arm may already be done. Vader Bomb Elbow misses...Haskins' Sharpshooter is blocked too. Bruiser tries to bite Haskins, so he PUNCHES him down to one knee. No sold by Bruiser into a lariat. Emerald Flowsion gets 2, and if that weren't enough the big man follows that with a powerslam as well. Keg Splash misses (at least he protected his knees that time), and he's still reeling as Haskins launches off the top with a flying double stomp. Haskins wins at 06:50

Rating - ** - Short, functional and basic - but nevertheless an enjoyable clash of styles and sizes. Haskins was made to look like a ragdoll by Bruiser at times, yet retained credibility and was completely believable trading strikes with the big man and almost tapping him out. 

Juice has promised he'll work more ROH shows in 2019, so here he is on Honor Club teaming up with his somewhat regular New Japan tag partner. Whilst he and Finlay were making a splash at the Atlanta TV tapings the previous evening, a family emergency forced Trent to miss the show altogether. It meant he missed out on a Tag Title shot with the Briscoes which is unfortunate...and it also means that this stands as Trent and Chuckie's final ROH match together before they signed with AEW in early February 2019. It brings Trent and Juice back into an ROH ring together for the first time since their classic at Global Wars 2018 Toronto.

Robinson and Beretta start with some really loaded, tense exchanges. Everything is clean, but everything they do is laced with dislike for each other. Taylor and Finlay soon replace them, with David's more muscular frame giving him the edge on the Kentucky Gentleman. Chuckie breaks up a few Fin-Juice double teams with Sole Food on Finlay, clearing a path for Trent to drive Finlay over the top rope. The Best Friends haul him outside and drape him over the guardrails - in position for Trent to dive off the adjacent guardrail segment and double stomp him. His back is wounded there and the Friends immediately look to exploit it. Beretta tries to suplex him off the apron...and when David counters that with a slingshot over the ropes Trent simply catches him into a snap northern lights suplex. Back suplex countered though, opening the door for a hot tag to Juice! Spinebuster from Trent to Finlay! Superkick on Robinson! All four men are down; Trent and Juice the legal men just as they were ten minutes ago when we got started. Beretta chops at Robinson...who jabs back then nails him with a diving DDT for 2. Cannonball senton blocked...tornado DDT blocked! Shotgun dropkick into the CANNONBALL! What a great little sequence that was from Trent and Juice. Juice Box COUNTERED to the tornado DDT! Robinson avoids the Gobstopper Knee, so Trent grabs him for a HALF NELSON SUPLEX! GOBSTOPPER! Juice kicks out at the last fraction of a second. Dudebuster blocked...Pulp Friction countered to a toilet flush pin for 2. Gobstopper COUNTERED TO THE JUICE BOX! Finlay and Chuckie in...SNAP PILEDRIVER! Juice breaks the pin for his team, so Beretta mows him down with a pescado. Taylor misses a moonsault. Awful Waffle blocked into the TRASH PANDA! Finlay pins Taylor to win at 14:51

Rating - **** - I really f*cking liked this match. The Best Friends were sublime as slimeball dicks; it felt like the most character they've shown in their entire ROH run. They weren't outright heels and they still did the bits of their routine that fans like - they were just complete dicks to their opponents and it was great to watch. Beretta and Juice were solid gold in the ring together again too. They countered move after move, played off spots from their Toronto match and generally looked like absolutely world class professional wrestlers - leaving you astonished that the WWE would let two men with that level of talent and charisma go. For their spot on the card this was SO good. I've seen a lot of love for some of the other matches on this show, but I really dug this one. It's a real shame that for various reasons none of these four would stick around in ROH much beyond the first couple of months of the year...

Kenny King has replaced Caprice Coleman on commentary, most likely to take a closer look at Flip Gordon, since Flip is one of the men ahead of him in the pecking order for a World Title shot. Hot Sauce enters this match 0-2 in his ROH career; on the losing end of two technical clinics against Jon Gresham at Survival Of The Fittest 2018, then to Zack Sabre Jr. (which aired the weekend of this show). Picking up what would be his first (broadcast) victory in ROH against the winner of the Sea Of Honor Tournament would be a substantial boost to his fledgling Ring Of Honor career.

Tracy acts quickly to lock up with Gordon, ensuring his ultra-athletic opponent is grounded. He almost converts an attempted leapfrog to his Crossface finish, but Gordon escapes and nails a springboard dropkick. IED nailed by Flip too...but he then collapses nursing his knee. Springboard Spear gets 2 - but Gordon then rolls out of the ring. Todd Sinclair checks on him, then stops the match at 03:12. Williams wins the match by referee stoppage...

Rating - N/A - The knee injury was legitimate. It's a cruel blow for Flip who was poised to finally get a decent run after spending 2018 - which should have been a break-out year for him - shackled to Bully Ray. He now faces a race against time to be healthy for Madison Square Garden, and it leaves ROH facing a couple of months without one of the higher profile names left on their roster. Given that Chris Sabin blew his knee out to end his ROH career the previous night in Atlanta, it's been a rough weekend for ROH on the injury-front (particularly since both men were being set up for World Title shots)...

Colt Cabana (who had been scheduled to team with Flip in the upcoming Tag Wars 2019 Tournament in Texas) leaves commentary and helps carry Gordon back to the locker room.

This a Six-Man Tag Title Proving Ground Match (maybe the first one ever?) - meaning if the newly formed green machine team of Delirious, The Hurricane and Luchasaurus get a win or a time-limit draw they'll earn a title shot. The Kingdom are currently making enemies all over the roster. They attacked Rush in Philadelphia, Taven's fake World Title belt is driving Jay Lethal insane and they're also ducking Villain Enterprises as well. With so many people gunning for them, does it split their focus enough to let a first-time trio capitalise. Delirious and Helms did team up a couple of times in 2018 though, so they do have some experience...

Delirious is competing with a rib injury and has them taped up. They don't stop him losing his sh*t when the bell rings though. He does decide that, after a minute of freaking out, he'd rather watch Helms start for their team instead. I don't think its unfair to say that Hurricane isn't in the best condition of his entire career, but he is sporting an awesome mask which is a hybrid of his own, Delirious' and Luchasaurus'. Neither Taven nor TK can get to grips with the Superhero...so Marseglia tags and calls out 'the dinosaur'. He tries to lure Lucha into a Kingdom trap but doesn't reckon on the dinosaur being so big and powerful he just smokes through all three opponents without breaking a sweat. A spinning heel kick almost decapitates Vinny and gets a 2-count. Samoan drop/neckbreaker combo by Hurricane and Lucha dumps the poor Horror King on his ass again. Leaping Lariat by Delirious, but he is slow to capitalise due to his bad ribs. FLAPJACK/FLATLINER COMBO by O'Ryan and Taven to absolutely crush that rib injury. Soon after TK and Marseglia land a double flapjack and a senton/leg drop combo, again all pointedly targeting the Lizard Man's injured midsection. Just The Tip nailed but rather than pin Delirious Taven opts to stomp and knee the ribs sadistically. O'Ryan gets involved...and then is almost MURDERED with a snap suplex-turned DDT! Delirious bites and DDT's past Matt and finally collapses into a tag to The Hurricane. Eye Of The Hurricane on TK! Hurri-Chokeslam blocked by Marseglia, into an inverted DDT for 2. Luchasaurus saves Helms from The Kingdom by almost kicking O'Ryan'shead off. TRIPLE CHOKESLAMS by Hurricane, Lucha and Delirious! MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON by Luchasaurus! Defying his injuries Delirious tags back in, but bumbles right into House Of 1000 Horses. Kingdom win at 13:51

Rating - *** - The Six-Man 'division' has been a mixed bag since its inception. There have been some good matches, and there have also been some real disappointments involving 'novelty' teams like the 'Green Machine' trio we saw here. But one constant has been that when they are booked and presented like credible threats (and not cowardly, cheating weasels), The Kingdom are an extremely solid group. They were really good here; over as heels, getting good reactions from the crowd, doing an awesome job working over Delirious' ribs and generally laying the groundwork for their flashy opponents to work around. Hurricane hit his popular spots and was well protected otherwise. Delirious took the brunt of the punishment and the fall. Luchasaurus once again shone on offence, meaning it continues to mystify me why ROH let him walk off to AEW before the year was out. This could have been a real mess. It wasn't - and amongst the big, zany characters there was some really smart wrestling on display.

The announce team do a good job setting this match up as a 'dream match' between a man world-renowned for his athletic style (PJ) and a representative of the next generation in that ilk; Bandido. It makes this match feel like the kind of contest ROH in era would have promoted. The Darewolf has been enigmatic in his ROH appearances thus far; confident to the point of arrogant inside the ring but without nailing down his agenda or revealing what he is in ROH to accomplish. Bandido is an outrageously good piece of recruitment from ROH, pinched from under the noses of AEW who seemed sure to sign him up after putting him in the main event of All In. He was one of the most over guys in the building at the Atlanta TV tapings and looks set for big things in 2019...

Black shakes hands and appears motivated by the challenge Bandido will present to him. He may be older and bigger, but he does a solid job keeping up with the young luchador as they run the ropes at real speed. He is looking for a way in to lay a glove on Bandido...but the newcomer is so illusive that he actually does a handstand in the middle of dodging a strike! Superkick from Bandido knocks the Darewolf outside, into position for a pescado/tope suicida flurry...followed by a RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! PJ lands a couple of big kicks; using Bandido's own momentum against him - booting him in the face every time the masked man runs at him. As you might expect, Black's next strategy is to start slowing Bandido down. He works holds, he keeps him on the mat and only allows him up for big suplexes or slams. He has speed too of course - dumping Bandido out with a headscissors and hitting a tope suicida, followed by a CORKSCREW pescado. Springboard crossbody CAUGHT by Bandido, moving into position to hit a satellite headscissors into the corner. TORNILLO! He peppers Black with rapid-fire strikes and then absolutely pelts him with a bizarre satellite facebuster from a kneeling position. Multi-revolution tornado DDT countered into a brainbuster by the Darewolf. Ditching the pretty sh*t, PJ starts straight-up punching Bandido in the face. Springboard by Bandido - INTERCEPTED IN MID-AIR WITH A SPRINGBOARD RANA BY PJ! He gets cocky and tries to press home his advantage, only to be outright muscled into a crucifix driver. X-KNEE GETS 2! Bandido tries to roll-up PJ, who plucks him out of the air into the Black Diamond for 2. Bandido survives that and tries to tap Black out with an armbar! Black scrambles to the top, Bandido tries to run after him...but stumbles on the way up, crotches Black then falls out of the ring. REVOLUTION FLY! Bandido recovers quick and gets the win at 13:45

Rating - **** - Messy and sloppy at times, but in a strange way that was actually part of the charm of this match. They threw so many MOVES out there that you could have been blinded by them, but beneath the flash and sizzle I thought they were telling a pretty nifty story as well. It was by far Black's best performance in ROH so far. He was on top form as the veteran high flyer, battling with the realisation that time has passed him by and he can't do all the whacky sh*t Bandido can, but still being so good he almost forced a victory anyway. The entire match became about Black trying to lock into a strategy which could combat the relentless, crazy offence coming his way from Bandido. Couple this with the awesome match he had against Haskins in Atlanta, and it marks a stunning debut weekend for Bandido.

This is another Proving Ground Match except, unlike with the Six-Man Titles earlier, this one is 'Instant Reward'. If Cobb doesn't win, then the victor will get an immediate TV Title shot. As the commentators point out - the TV Title changed hands under these exact circumstances in 2018 when Punishment Martinez won a multi-man Proving Ground contest then went on to take the belt from then-champion Silas Young. Cobb and Taylor shared a really physical match on TV in late-2018 so will welcome another chance to lock horns. Taylor will also be making a beeline for Gresham, since The Octopus choked him out in a four-way back at Honor For All. We'll also see some intrigue around whether former Rebellion stable-mates Taylor and Rhett will work together. Whatever happens, Jeff very clearly has his work cut out here...

Taylor gets on a microphone and calls it disrespectful to even put him in a 'Proving Ground' Match since he has nothing to prove. He buries his opponents...then walks out! Titus tosses Cobb to the floor, but turns around and is made to look foolish by Gresham and his chain-wrestling skill. Gresh tries a crossbody on Cobb as well, but simply bounces off him. He and Rhett keep trying flying crossbody blocks without success, until Titus switches approach and cleans out both opponents with big dropkicks. He looks for a Snuggle-monkey flip in the corner only to be slapped across the face by Jeff then dropkicked on the top turnbuckle. Stalling one-armed superplex nailed by the TV Champion for 2. Gresham tries to kick Cobb's legs from under him, and when Jeff refuses to go down The Octopus tries to dislocate his knee from a standing position. The impact on that is minimal - seconds later Cobb plucks Rhett off the canvas and gives him a DEAD-LIFT GERMAN right on top of Gresh. Standing moonsault nailed by the big man! Quebrada from Gresh to Titus. TOPE CON HILO NAILED! SHOOTING STAR PRESS into Titus' knees! Buckle Bomb by Titus, followed by a somersault plancha on Cobb. Rhett-ribution DDT gets 2! Snuggle-monkey flip tosses Cobb across the ring into position for repeated Yakuza Kicks. DEAD-LIFT PILEDRIVER BY COBB! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! Cobb pins Titus at 08:25

Rating - *** - I'm not sure what the deal was with Shane Taylor. His reasoning for taking himself out of the match wasn't clear, even taking into account the new lawless trouble-making character he appeared to be at the Philadelphia TV tapings. His departure did make the match less interesting as it denied us any Cobb/Taylor brawling, but clearly the idea is to build to another singles between them down the line. Instead we had a fun but spotty and formulaic triple threat. Cobb shone and looked particularly dominant in the finish. Titus was actually presented like a relatively skilled and dangerous wrestler too - which unfortunately felt jarring as he's spent the last year goofing around in The Dawgs then doing this weird faux-Masterpiece gimmick. 

Silas Young distracts Cobb during his celebrations, allowing Shane Taylor to return and attack the TV Champion from behind. Taylor poses with the TV Title belt then leaves having laid Cobb out...

The bad blood between Klein and Rose goes back to Manhattan Mayhem last year when Rose accidentally damaged Kelly's teeth in a match. The Gatekeeper was furious and they've fought multiple times since. Since winning the WOH World Title from Sumie Sakai at Final Battle, Klein has promised to be a fighting champion - to the extent that she plans to defend it in every singles match she has. It means Rose gets another shot at the belt, and to make things interesting she challenged her rival to make it a no rules Street Fight too. Will this be enough to settle the score between these two athletes?

Kelly now has an entourage with her called 'Camp Klein'. They immediately distract Rose so The Gatekeeper can jump her. Klein fills the ring with chairs but is cut down by a Spear before she can use them as weapons then dropkicked off the apron by a fired up challenger. Klein fishes under the ring for weapons...but can only find one of Vinny Marseglia's balloons before Jenny Spears her on the floor and tosses her into the guardrails. Not content with that Jenny puts Klein through an open chair with a running forearm too. The challenger wants to use a length of bungee cord...but has it snatched from her, and Klein uses it to try and strangle her unconscious. Bungee cord cravat with knee strikes! Not content with that, Kelly grabs ring announcer Nick Lendl's tie and attempts to go full Bryan Danielson/Justin Roberts on her opponent. With Rose choked out, Camp Klein busy themselves at ringside setting up a table. Jenny blocks an attempted suplex through said table with a snap suplex on the floor to leave both women in pain on the ground. Even from their knees they keep slapping and elbowing the sh*t out of each other. German suplex by Rose, leaving the champ sufficiently woozy to lay her out on the table. RUNNING SPLASH OFF THE APRON! Jenny bounces off Klein's body into the guardrails, without the table breaking, which looks rather painful. The battle goes back to the apron, where Rose tries a sleeper hold only to be scooped onto Klein's shoulders, who DIVES BOTH OF THEM THROUGH THE TABLE to the floor! Jenny is up first, stacking chairs up in the middle of the ring and chasing Kelly up the ropes. SUPERPLEX INTO THE CHAIR STACK! When Klein kicks out Rose grabs the bell to use as a weapon...before again being distracted by Camp Klein. K-POWER INTO THE CHAIR STACK! Kelly retains at 12:36

Rating - *** - Scrappy, with a slightly weird lay-out that seemed to perpetually undermine the credibility of both workers...but wow did these two ever bust their asses. They took some big hits on the floor, through tables or into chairs and it is hard not to admire their toughness and courage. They really were working exceptionally hard to use the spotlight and platform they'd been given to elevate this above your 'typical' Women Of Honor match. It did feel weird having Kelly cheat using Camp Klein all the way through the match, after her semi-babyface turn at Final Battle, desire to be a fighting champion...and after all the work ROH did in rebuilding her credibility by having her beat all three opponents when she won the belt. Similarly it felt weird that Rose was being constantly made fun of or criticised on commentary for trying to fire the crowd up. The announce team had a point, but they went on about it so much that it made Jenny come off as rather incompetent. Its little things like that, as well as some real ugly executional flaws which stopped this from becoming a 'great' match rather than a pretty good one.

As Kelly celebrates with Camp Klein, Ian teases a 'major name' coming in to challenge her for the WOH Title at Bound By Honor 2019 in Florida...

The Briscoes and Silas are clearly part of some kind of alliance following events at the end of 'Farewell To The Elite' in Philadelphia. They face the undefeated new trio of Villain Enterprises, who are positioning themselves to challenge The Kingdom for the Six-Man Titles - if Taven and cohorts will stop ducking them. The Briscoes are reigning Tag Champions, and Marty has a pinfall win over Jay from Honor Re-United last year too. The Villains will know that a win over the Tag Champions tonight will put them in the running for their belts as well. Marty in particular will be motivated to get some payback for his now departed friends in The Elite...

Brody starts with Jay in an exchange which is every bit as hard-hitting and rugged as you'd expect. And remember that King is wrestling with a broken jaw which is wired shut. PCO and Mark in next for a crazy-off. They spend a couple of minutes egging each other on to hit each other harder and harder. Ian generously compares it to 'Joe and Kobashi', although if he was looking for a Kobashi exaggeration to make I'd have probably gone with Kobashi/Sasaki. PCO even breaks out Machine Gun Chops in the corner! Scurll and Silas are pretty violent with each other too, capping off a really hard-hitting five minute period. Marty stomps the arm into the canvas to change the tone and start setting Young up for the Chickenwing. He tricks Silas into smacking Jay off the apron as well, triggering a six-man brawl around ringside. SUPERKICK/GOURDBUSTER ON THE FLOOR by Brody and Marty! PCO thinks about a dive...ICONOCLASM ONTO THE F*CKING APRON BY MARK! IS PCO DEAD?! Somehow he crawls away from that, but the momentum has shifted with the Briscoes/Silas trio isolating Scurll from his partners. As an aside, 'The Sickness' is a completely unacceptable name for the alliance formed by Bully, the Briscoes, Taylor and Silas in Philadelphia - they keep being referred to as that and it is dreadful. Meanwhile Marty is being completely overwhelmed; barely allowed out of the opposition corner and made to battle even to catch his breath. Killer Combo blocked, and when Young looks for The Plunge Marty scoots out of the ring. Hot tag to Brody, who is so violent he mows through both Briscoes at once. DOUBLE LUCHA ARM DRAG! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! King is on fire! BACK BODY DROP CANNONBALL BY PCO! HALF NELSON SUPLEX from Scurll to Mark, followed by a Bossman Slam from Brody for 2. Jay is bleeding, and gets Superkicked in the face by Scurll as a counter to the Day One Neckbreaker. LARIAT ACROSS THE FACE from King to Jay, only for Mark to take him down with a Sick Kick. Mark and PCO reunite in the middle of the ring to trade blows again, only for Silas to interfere with a springboard lariat to the apron. MILWAUKEE DESTROYER ON THE F*CKING APRON BY SILAS! Seriously, how the f*ck is PCO alive?! Marty is tossed ribs-first into the guardrails and draped over an open table...only for Brody to intercept Mark for a PRESS SLAM FROM THE TOP ROPE THROUGH THE TABLE! Jay Driller countered to a powerbomb by Scurll, setting Briscoe up for a diving leg drop from the indestructible PCO. GONZO BOMB! PCO-SAULT! PCO pins Jay, giving the Villains the win at 17:11

Rating - **** - That was absolutely nuts. Thanks to the stars of The Elite, ROH has been delivering stellar multi-man tag matches in high profile spots on the card for the last few years. This continues that tradition, but took the 'style' in a completely different and at times frankly insane direction. PCO's ability to take punishment is legendary, but the guy literally gave us two 'holy sh*t is he dead' moments in the same ten minute period. Everybody had a part to play - and did so extremely well. The Briscoes have been doing this for years and were right at home beating the sh*t out of their opponents. Mark's wild exchanges with PCO were memorable, whilst Jay taking the pin to put the Villains over was a nice touch (and a neat follow-up to him being pinned by Marty in the UK last year too). Putting heavies like Brody and PCO around Scurll is smart - and gives his group a completely different vibe to The Elite. This took place a couple of days after their debut as a group was broadcast on television, yet anticipation for the two new guys was such that the whole piece got a great reaction from the live audience. This is absolutely what we need to see more of in 2019...

Nick Aldis replaces Caprice Coleman on commentary for the main event. As usual he puts over the lineage of the NWA Heavyweight Championship (which comes off as belittling to the ROH Championship moments before the main event by the way) and is here to announce that ROH and the NWA are partnering to bring back the Crockett Cup in this building later in the year...

World Champion Jay Lethal started the year with a litany of challengers queuing up to face him. Marty Scurll and Flip Gordon won tournaments, Chris Sabin survived in the Proving Ground, Matt Taven believes he has already surpassed 'The Franchise' and now stands as the 'Real World Champion'. That left Castle, who takes his contractually-obligated championship rematch this evening. He lost the belt to Jay in a four-way on TV last summer, but was so beaten up and broken down from his physical title reign that he needed time off to recover and even after returning has looked a shadow of his former self. Yet he still holds a burning desire to return to the mountain top and, as his MOTYC classic with Lethal in Las Vegas last year proved, he certainly has it in his locker to beat the champion tonight. Lethal is on a mission to make it to Madison Square Garden as champion, even whilst contenders line-up to face him. This is an extremely tough way to get his year started...

NECK DROP GERMAN BY DALTON! An exploder suplex follows that as well, sending Lethal scuttling out of the ring for respite. BACK DROP DRIVER ON THE FLOOR! Lethal is almost out, clutching his neck and head in pain. He lashes out defensively and shoves Dalton back-first into the guardrail - an early play to attack Castle's injury. Dalton covers it by rolling around on the mat with Lethal, crushing the ribs and elbowing the back. LETHAL INJECTION! Both men are down! When they do get up they stagger around still punch-drunk. Jay hits a neckbreaker to plant the challenger on his damaged spine again; now attacking the back aggressively. He rides Castle with a camel clutch leaving him barely able to stand. When Dalton does try to fight back Lethal delivers a thrust kick to the ribs, catapulting him straight through the ropes for a rough landing back-first on the arena floor. The Boys manage to get him up...but he returns to the ring into another barrage of elbows to the back and another camel clutch. ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP by Castle, defying the pain to drop Lethal on his head again. Castle evades the springboard dropkick to the apron, but instead Lethal counters another attempted suplex on the floor by shunting Dalton into the guardrails again. Lethal hits two thirds of the Tope Trilogy...and when Castle stops the third Jay drops him with an ACE CRUSHER ON THE FLOOR! Hail To the King countered to a crucifix pin. LETHAL COMBINATION! Hail To The King - across the ribs as well - gets 2. Dalton starts kicking him in the head to block the Figure 4, then ducks under the Injection into a schoolboy pin for 2. Back-selling knees to the head by the challenger next, causing Jay to stumble to the floor. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! Spinning bulldog gets 2...but Dalton collapses alongside the champ. He beats on Lethal, desperately trying to find a way to finish him off. Bang-A-Rang blocked...Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO THE EVEREST GERMAN! NO SOLD! LARIAT by Castle! BANG-A-RANG COUNTERED TO A BUCKLE BOMB! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal retains at 16:30

Rating - **** - The fact that they got even close to the outstanding quality of their 16th Anniversary PPV match is an amazing accomplishment. There isn't much that rivals this for Dalton's best post-World Title singles match in truth. They shaved ten minutes off the run-time of their Vegas match which clearly worked in his favour - but kept in a lot of what made that match great; namely Lethal's brilliant isolation of a body part, Castle's selling and some astonishing moments of violence. Crucially, this one even continued themes established last year too. Back in Vegas we saw Castle counteracting Jay's composure, poise and ability to work a body part with explosive offensive flurries - particularly outside the ring. This time around he started the match trying to do that (further inspired by Kenny King having success doing something similar in Toronto)...and this time around Jay was better equipped to counter it too. Exciting, explosive, building from the first match - this really was a great match and better than it had any right to be. 

Tape Rating - **** - What a superb first live event of 2019. In 2018, whilst ROH did a great job of promoting their major pay-per-views, the live show/VOD Honor Club events were incredibly inconsistent and rarely gave off the impression that ROH/SBG cared about providing a must-see product for Honor Club members. There was barely a bad match to be seen all night here, and from top to bottom it felt like the roster was busting their asses to produce a good show. Four matches hitting a 4* level for me makes this an easy one to recommend, but there were so many more promising signs. The newly signed talent (Bandido, PCO, Brody, Haskins, Tracy and even PJ) all shone to varying degrees and will enhance the in-ring quality of ROH's midcard considerably. The sheer effort and determination that Kelly Klein and Jenny Rose showed in their Street Fight was something to be admired. Even a midcard trios tag featuring an ageing Shane Helms was rather fun. From a wrestling perspective the only real blemish was the unfortunate injury to Flip. There were elements of the show I didn't care for of course; namely Nick Aldis' promo and the slightly uneasy Briscoe/Silas/Taylor faction (Bully was thankfully absent)...but even there I can at least credit Delirious and ROH for trying something, rather than being complacent or lazy. 2019 ROH has a bad reputation - sometimes deserved, but often not. This is a really strong show to get the year started.

3) Bandido vs PJ Black (****)

2) Marty Scurll/Brody King/PCO vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe/Silas Young (****)

1) Jay Lethal vs Dalton Castle (****)