McXal's Reviews

This is the last time the athletes of Ring Of Honor will do battle on US soil before the 17th Anniversary which means the entire roster is looking to mark their card and build momentum going into the pay-per-view. Never is that more apparent than in the main event when World Title rivals Jay Lethal and Matt Taven cross paths in six-man action (also featuring the rest of The Kingdom, Jon Gresham and Rush). Gold is up for grabs too and the landscape of the big show in Vegas could all change dependent on certain results here tonight. As she does in every singles match she wrestles, Kelly Klein puts the Women Of Honor World Title on the line - but tonight in a huge bout against the ace of Stardom Mayu Iwatani. Jeff Cobb faces a stern test for the TV Title as well, in the form of sneaky veteran Rocky Romero. This card also features another Lifeblood multi-man tag, PCO and Mark Briscoe looking to continue where they left off after that crazy brawl in San Antonio, and Zack Sabre Jr. is on the card too. We are in Miami, FL, but without our usual commentary team. Ian and Colt are tonight replaced by Caprice Coleman and NWA Champion Nick Aldis...

This was initially scheduled to be Briscoe taking on Brody King, but Rhett steps in after Brody was forced to miss this event due to the birth of his child. On paper that clearly means this is less of a grudge match, but it is important to remember that the feud between the Briscoes and Rhett's All Night Express tag team was once so intense it needed a Ladder War to settle it. Tonight Jay will be confronted with the flexing, posing, oiled up 'Mr Survival Of The Fittest' version of Titus however...

Titus gets on the mic and makes fat jokes about Jay, but then tries to get him to join the 'Flex Express' by offering to rub baby oil on him. It won't surprise you to read that Briscoe isn't impressed and starts mauling Titus all over ringside. Rhett sensibly gets it back in the ring and levels the playing field with the big dropkick for 2. He starts chopping at the former World Champion, and when Jay tries to fight back Rhett dumps him out of the ring and lands a somersault plancha. Thrust Buster gets 2! Day One Neckbreaker from Briscoe, followed by a big lariat. Jay Driller wins it at 05:32

Rating - * - Losing Briscoe/Brody from this show is a shame. They could have had quite a dynamic brawl and this clearly wasn't trying to be a substitute for that. It wasn't actually too bad in truth - sensibly booked to go short since interest in it was minimal, whilst allowing both wrestlers to hit the beats the crowd expected to see from them. There was a little too much Rhett offence for my taste in what was, in essence, a squash match though.

Dalton's search for a win now takes him to the very bottom of the card. The Shinobi Shadow Squad have had a strong start to 2019 and Cheeseburger remains popular - but they are a long way from the heights of taking the World Title from Cody Rhodes in a Hammerstein Ballroom main event like Dalton once did. Dalton's frustrations have come close to boiling over at times, but he remains on the same page as his beloved Boys. He will be desperate to leave Florida with his first victory in a while...but on the flip side, 3-S will no doubt be eyeing up victory over former Six-Man Champions to propel them up the trios ranks.

Castle starts and tries to grapple with Nova from the outset. Despite annoying Dalton with a couple of shots to the face, Castle is able to toss Nova around with ease. Isom tags, and despite some cries from the crowd it doesn't appear that Castle trusts The Boys enough to tag one of them in. Eli is fast enough to cause him problems...but can only land a knee to the jaw before Dalton drops him on his neck with a German suplex. Finally he feels the opponent is sufficiently weakened that he trusts The Boys to enter. Boy #1 rather easily lets Eli tag Cheeseburger in and Dalton looks exasperated as two thirds of the Shadow Squad hit a combo facecrusher on his Boy. Nova flattens #1 with multiple kick flurries, then vacates the ring so Isom can hit a springboard frog splash which almost wins it. An agitated Dalton Castle runs in without a tag and creates enough of a distraction that The Boys can swap unseen by the referee. #2 waits for Burger to tag then nails him with a jumping enzi before hauling him across the ring and away from his partners. Dalton captains his team with real aggression - vocally encouraging The Boys to really work Cheese over; his knees and ribs being punished at different points. Boy #2 leapfrogs off Castle's shoulders into a double stomp straight into the chest for a 2-count. Once again a Boy allows their target to escape though...unleashing Isom who in seconds has that same Boy in the air for a pop-up DVD. Dalton tags and tries to take Eli's head off with a big boot. Everest German blocked, and Boy #2 blind-tags in against Dalton's wishes! He angrily yells at the Boy and demands to be tagged back in, giving Eli precious time to recover. RUNNING KICK TO THE FACE! But Castle is by himself after Isom scatters The Boys off the apron...and without help as Eli hits The Promise (Brainbuster) and nabs a huge victory over the former World Champion at 12:16

Rating - ** - A little longer than it needed to be, but really solid nonetheless. Castle gave us a masterclass in character delivery and was by far the best thing about this match. Even if he can't wrestle at the level he once did, matches like this demonstrate that he absolutely can still have a purpose in Ring Of Honor if managed correctly. His aggression, the way he portrayed his lack of trust in The Boys, the way he allowed his anger to build throughout the match - it was a great watch. Isom winning was a great call too, giving the feather in the cap of another win over a former World Champion, continuing his rise up the card and in a manner which furthers Dalton's storyline too.

There isn't much back story to this from an ROH perspective. This is just two veteran technical wrestlers with polar opposite personalities getting in the ring to see who the better man is. ZSJ has torn through ROH competition thus far - undefeated in clinics against the likes of Jon Gresham and Tracy Williams. But Colt has seen Zack's routine countless times before and has more than enough tricks of his own to cause the Englishman problems. Cabana has been vocal about wanting to be in the ring rather than just being a commentator, and one would suggest being the first man to beat Sabre Jr. in an ROH ring would springboard him back onto the full-time active roster.

No Code Of Honor from Zack again - kicking the hand of the grinning Cabana away. Colt's wise-cracking and constant narration visibly irritate Sabre though, throwing him off his game and causing him to have by far his worst start to an ROH match thus far. Predictably he looks for arm holds to work his way into the contest - but holds that Cabana has a counter for. There is some really great wrestling on display here - on both a technical and a character level. Colt knows he is in Zack's head and starts trying to piss him off even more. He works a surfboard with relish and it is clear that he's starting to hurt Zack as well now. Even when ZSJ thinks he has a counter, Colt effortlessly reverses that too! Sabre NAILS Cabana with a European uppercut - then slaps him in the face! Ditching the wrestling altogether he tries strikes instead...so Cabana absolutely DESTROYS him with a double chop! Kick to the arm blocked into the Billy Goat's Curse! COUNTERED to a bridging pin by Sabre for 2! Cabana almost takes his head off with an elbow strike to kill his momentum again. He tries a powerbomb only for Zack to counter to an arm submission. Colt dumps him to the turnbuckles...so Zack explodes with another uppercut then a PK for 2. Once again ZSJ attacks the arm, only for Colt to ditch the technical stuff and punch him in the face. Bionic elbow COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! Colt taps in a fascinating 13:06

Rating - *** - I wish they were given another ten minutes for this one, because they were on their way to producing an absolute classic. The marriage between Cabana's haha routine and Zack's aggressive, short-tempered persona proved to be a great watch. Zack has dominated his matches so far, but was taken aback by the offbeat and supremely confident antics of his opponent tonight. Cabana is bigger, stronger and well-versed in the World Of Sport style so on paper has all the tools to threaten Zack - so when you throw in his mindgames too he very quickly went from comedy part-timer to genuine threat. Zack's character work as the straight-man to Colt's comedian was superb too. He put Colt over hard and let the tension build for a full ten minutes before finally ripping into him with some frightening strikes. It's just such a shame they didn't get longer to flesh this story out. Going into this I felt like it was a slight waste of a precious ZSJ booking - but coming out I want to see a rematch, that's how good this was!

Since Marty comes into this as #1 contender, by way of his victory at Survival Of The Fittest 2018, he has the biggest target on his back. Anybody who wants into the World Title picture knows they need to go through him in order to do so. First in line may well be King, who beat Marty during his impressive summer of 2018 and has been vocal about wanting another shot at Jay Lethal. King also has plenty of history with Silas Young; the two trading TV Title wins in the first quarter of last year. Mack is the enigma; the NWA National Champion with speed, agility, size and power. Fans have waited a long time to see him in ROH rings with any regularity and he is more than capable of blasting his way straight into the title picture too. Aldis being on commentary for this is interesting, since Scurll used the TV tapings the previous evening to challenge him to an NWA Title Match at The Crockett Cup...

Silas walks out and leaves everyone else to start, whilst Scurll wastes no time in reigniting his issues with Kenny from last year - setting King up for a nipple cripple/titty twister from Willie. Young tries to jump everyone from behind but he too is taken out by the impromptu alliance between Scurll and Mack. Marty and Willie run the ropes and thrill the crowd with a few near misses...until they both get dragged out from behind by Silas and King then dumped into the guardrails. It leaves those two alone to revisit their 2018 feud - countering each other's signature spots then simultaneously booting each other in the face. Willie thinks about the Frog Splash...but all of his opponents one after another clash with him on the ropes to stop it. FROG CROSSBODY ONTO EVERYONE! They skittle to the floor - so Willie lays them out again with a somersault plancha too. INVERTED CANNONBALL flurry, interrupted only by a Killer Combo from Silas. Royal Flush blocked into the slingshot swinging neckbreaker. Plunge on Scurll...BLOCKED with a big superkick by Mack! Spinebuster from King to Young gets 2. One Night Stand on Willie...and still just 2. Scurll dodges the corkscrew pescado then marches into the ring to take Silas out with a lungblower. Backbreaker/senton splash combo from Marty and Willie to King! The Villain wants to trade strikes with Mack, and proves his heavyweight credentials by holding his own! Just Kidding nailed...but Young and King stop him from snapping the fingers. Plunge on King...blocked with knees. HALF NELSON SUPLEX by Marty! CHICKENWING! SILAS TAPS! But Kenny has the referee distracted with a steel chair! Todd Sinclair tosses the chair away and as he does so King gives Scurll a low blow; getting the win at 11:16

Rating - *** - An entertaining little spot-fest fourway here. For the most part it was just guys doing moves, but everything felt well-paced and several sequences carried more substance due to the way they referenced feuds from the previous year. For me, Scurll dropping a pinfall is a strange one though. On paper he is ROH's biggest draw at this point and it feels like he should be the guy getting a more prominent role in the post-Elite ROH world. But he has been little more than a special attraction so far in 2019, whilst Lifeblood, Matt Taven and even Kenny King are more heavily promoted. Clearly the idea here is that Kenny becomes a credible title challenger thanks to a victory over Marty. I understand the logic, and presumably there was a genuine expectation at this point that Scurll would be joining his friends in AEW as soon as his contract permitted - but his marginalisation through the first shows of 2019 feels odd. Surely at the very least they needed to keep him strong and promoted as aggressively as possible through to G1 Supercard; an event sold out largely on the back of The Elite and NJPW fans?

Romero earned this title shot by winning a Proving Ground triple threat match back in Houston; albeit by pinning Dalton Castle rather than Cobb himself. Nobody has been able to beat Jeff in singles action so far in a reign of terror which has seen him destroy the 2018 Top Prospect Tournament then defeat Punishment Martinez so emphatically that the previous TV Champion left the territory. Rocky has years of experience on his side though. As a world-travelled junior heavyweight veteran he will have faced big, powerful guys of all shapes and sizes. He is renowned for his sneakiness and cunning, so does he have a plan to topple the 'Hawaiian Juggernaut'?

Rocky bounces around excitedly, even though he is basically ignored the significantly bigger champion throughout the early exchanges. The challenger tries to control Cobb with headlocks - which fails - then looks to quicken the pace only to be flattened with a shoulder block. In the end he pokes Jeff in the eyes to get ahead, before tripping him onto the apron then dropkicking the knees out to send him to the floor. Pescado caught...so Romero slips free, bashes Jeff's head against the ringpost then jumps off the apron at him with a flying knee. Missile dropkick TO THE KNEE...even whilst slipping on the ropes! Cross armbreaker blocked...and so is a hurricanrana. OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE by Cobb! Rather than attempting anything complex, the champ tries to crush the life out of his energetic challenger; crushing the ribs with a bearhug then drilling the same ribs into the turnbuckles with real force. Romero squirms away and finds his midsection crushed again with a standing moonsault. The wily challenger desperately tries to create some distance and the second he does so he immediately pounces with a tornado DDT. Forever Clotheslines...into the STANDING SHIRANUI for 2. Rocky tries another springboard, slips again and still manages to drive a knee into the neck. Unsurprisingly he comes up selling his ribs again after that. Shiranui COUNTERED into a backbreaker by the big man. Rocky looks ragged and appears to be fighting on instinct now...but fight he does. He drops Cobb with a flash hurricanrana for 2 then collapses to the mat in exhaustion. With one last adrenaline burst he charges Cobb with a strike flurry. Jeff is reeling...but then THROWS HIM AT THE TURNBUCKLES! DEAD-LIFT GERMAN SUPLEX! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! Cobb retains at 14:19

Rating - *** - If I did half stars I'd certainly have this at ***1/2 level; I really did enjoy it. Some of it was a little ragged (mostly Rocky's attempts to hit springboard moves!), and I thought it took Cobb until the halfway stage to really grow into his role as the dominating monster of the piece...but the second act got really good. Romero for his part told a great story; a confident, brash veteran recognising he is completely outgunned but still fighting for all he is worth in the hopes of pulling off an upset. The closing sequence, where you could argue he realised he couldn't win but kept throwing strikes anyway (then got totally destroyed with a devastating Cobb flurry), made for superb viewing. Not Cobb's highest profile TV Title defence so some may have missed this altogether, which is a shame as it was rather good fun.

After winning the WOH Championship that she felt was destined to belong to her at Final Battle, Klein has set about promoting herself as a dominant champion. She now voluntarily defends the belt in every singles match she wrestles, be they dark matches, YouTube exclusives, TV or live event. That offer was extended to Mayu, who returns to ROH via the ongoing partnership they have with Stardom. This is, by some way, Kelly's sternest test to date. Iwatani - the 'ace' of Stardom - is one of the best female wrestlers on the planet and has stacks of experience in big time championship matches. Can Klein further enhance her reputation as 'The Gatekeeper' by staving off world class competition tonight? Mayu has former WOH Champion Sumie Sakai in her corner as some form of back-up to counteract the presence of Camp Klein.

Iwatani has her left knee heavily bandaged and braced, and is reportedly working through pretty substantial knee issues to be here. Klein looks confident and quickly locks up with the challenger, trying to user her power advantage to muscle Mayu around. Iwatani breaks that and tees off with some big strikes...to which Kelly returns fire! However, she quickly grabs a headlock to control Mayu and evade further punishing shots. Klein refuses to be Irish whipped and starts battering her opponent with shoulder blocks. The challenger struggles to bridge the size gap and rolls out of the ring after a series of violent knees and kicks. The Gatekeeper quickly pounces on that and drills her into the guardrails repeatedly. Back in the ring, Kelly perches on the top rope and starts hanging Mayu in an illegal choke hold - swinging her around like a ragdoll too. Satellite headscissors by Iwatani, throwing Klein back for just long enough for her to hit her BRUTAL running dropkick. TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE TO THE OUTSIDE! NO SOLD BY KLEIN! GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Klein crawls back into the ring and remains there hoping for a count-out...but Sumie is able to rally Mayu and get her back in time. They tear into each other with kicks and elbows...until Mayu ducks behind the champ and drops her with a German suplex. Dragon Suplex blocked though, right into a clubbing elbow to the head then a lariat which Mayu bumps on her neck. DRAGON SUPLEX FLURRY! Somehow Klein gets a shoulder up...so Mayu drills her with a Shining Wizard. MOONSAULT NAILED! Kelly kicks out! Iwatani climbs again! MOONSAULT AGAIN! MAYU WINS! New champion at 11:02

Rating - *** - Among the very best WOH Title Matches thus far. I thought they created a big fight feel, and they also produced some of the most exciting moments on the show so far even whilst not necessarily seeming to naturally 'click' as opponents. It would be easy to write Kelly off since Mayu is good enough to get a 3* match out of just about anyone, but I did think Klein played her part too. Some of her striking looked weak compared to Mayu - however, she was otherwise convincing as a dominant, all-conquering bad ass defending her turf against a highly-skilled but far smaller outsider. I've enjoyed Aldis and Caprice's commentary thus far, but I didn't like how much they talked up Iwatani as an underdog. Not only does it completely downplay that she is a legitimately phenomenal worker, but it actually negated Klein's ability to dominate the match too. They should have been talking Kelly up as destroying the 'Ace of Stardom', one of the best in the world...rather than acting like Mayu only had a puncher's chance against her.

Cary Silkin is on hand to present Iwatani with the belt, and she celebrates with Sumie Sakai as Kelly has to be carried out by Camp Klein.

Lifeblood have been formed to restore the honour to ROH. Clearly that means that at times they need to stand up and fight against the likes of Bully Ray, the Briscoes, Shane Taylor and Silas Young. But they've also stated that their mission extends to providing examples of what they consider to be authentic ROH matches. At the Atlanta TV taping where they formed, they demonstrated this ethos by challenging Jay Lethal to assemble a team to face them in a match where the objective was to deliver the highest standard of wrestling possible. We see that again tonight as they face two hungry, motivated teams looking to climb the card and eyeing up scalps like New Japan's Juice Robinson or high profile foreign imports like Bandido or Haskins...

Haskins and Ali start, with Shaheem having to work hard to keep up with the Brit as they trade holds on the mat. Williams tags in next and is paired off with Bruiser who you suspect is less likely to get on the canvas and chain-wrestle. Tracy goes after the arm right away, so BCB steps away and demands a 'fight'. Hot Sauce is happy throwing strikes but doesn't have the heft behind his blows that Bruiser has. Bandido and LSG take to the ring next, obviously at high speed. St. Giovanni counters a running rana with a somersault; a feat so impressive that all eight men pile in and get in each other's faces. Milonas tags and dwarfs Bandido, who literally bounces off the big man. Haskins has a go instead - throwing a flurry of kicks at the Kingpin, all of which are totally no-sold. Brian flattens him with a senton splash and sends him packing to the outside. The Bouncers and C2C isolate Haskins, tagging in and out with fluidity and using frequent combo moves to keep him well away from the Lifeblood corner. His midsection is really bothering him after that senton from Milonas...and it is made worse when The Bouncers use their bulk to sandwich him. The Englishman rolls around the ring dodging attempted splashes from the big men though and clings to his ribs in pain as he rolls into the hot tag to Juice. Full nelson slam downs Ali, and he doesn't miss as a step as he hits cannonball sentons on both members of Coast 2 Coast. Bandido and St. Giovanni lock horns again, with LSG accidentally knocking his own partner (Bruiser) off the apron in the process. Bandido flips over Leon into a hurricanrana to the floor on BCB! Tornillo on LSG! Pescado from Shaheem to Robinson! PK from Haskins to Ali! Bruiser grabs Haskins for a DVD ON THE APRON! SUPER DDT from Bandido to Milonas! PHOENIX SPLASH from LSG to break the pin! Haskins saves and scoops LSG up to Samoan driver him onto his own partner! Bandido gives Bruiser a headscissors with such force that he takes out his own partner! Second rope crossbody by Bruiser...BUT BANDIDO F*CKING CATCHES HIM! POWERSLAM BY BANDIDO! Saint-splosion COUNTERED TO THE X-KNEE! 21-PLEX! Bandido pins LSG to grab the win for Lifeblood at 16:21

Rating - **** - MOTN thus far for me. It was actually pretty formulaic in its execution, so structurally it won't offer you many surprises. What really piqued my interest here was some of the unique dynamics and in-ring match-ups we got to witness; and how they all came together as an ensemble cast to produce a relentlessly entertaining quarter of an hour of action. Bandido and LSG had a really intense chemistry together that went all the way to the finish. Seeing big guys like The Bouncers in with flyers like Bandido or technicians like Williams/Haskins was intriguing. The C2C/Bouncers team actually USING the bulk of their biggest member (Milonas) to set up a heat segment - which Haskins was still selling to the very end - made genuine sense. And, when it came, the flurry of high spots and false finishes at the end was a joy to watch. I wasn't expecting much from this and it really took me by surprise. Sadly this Florida weekend all but ends Lifeblood's time as a serious faction. Finlay isn't here (and got injured in Japan soon after), Tenille makes her last appearance in Las Vegas and Juice only has two more US dates after this as well.

After Villain Enterprises won Tag Wars 2019, earning themselves a Tag Title shot at the 17th Anniversary, they were ambushed by the Briscoes leading to a chaotic brawl as the Texas leg of the 'Road To G1 Supercard' Tour came to a close. We didn't see Jay Briscoe vs Brody King earlier in the show, but we will see their partners do battle in what could be a wild and lawless affair. Pride is at stake, plus the opportunity to inflict some real damage before they even reach Vegas and the Anniversary pay-per-view.

The first minute brings plenty of yelling and bizarre facial expressions, along with a lot of strikes. Unable to separate themselves there they instead opt to up the stakes with some steel chairs. Todd Sinclair convinces them to change their mind, and as he does so Mark attacks PCO from behind then gives him the blockbuster to the floor. PCO is up quickly and they return to the ring to chop the sh*t out of each other. Briscoe backs out of that by raking the good eye of his opponent and biting him in the head. Big lariats from Mark...but they seem to fire PCO up rather than hurt him and he dumps Briscoe with a chokeslam. Machine Gun Chops by PCO, before he dumps Briscoe out of the ring and almost breaks him in half with a TOPE CON HILO! Mark retorts by guillotining PCO over the guardrails! CACTUS ELBOW nailed! And PCO no sells it to CHOKESLAM HIM ON THE APRON! With Mark KO'd on the apron you already know what PCO wants to do. He scales the ropes...AND MISSES THE SOMERSAULT SENTON ON THE APRON! HE GETS UP! CORKSCREW SENTON TO THE FLOOR BY MARK! Todd Sinclair has given up trying to control these guys now! They trundle up onto the stage and start chopping each other to f*ck once again. POWERBOMB ON THE STAGE by Briscoe! Still PCO won't stay down! He crawls away...so Mark boots him down the f*cking stairs! Briscoe returns to the ring looking for a count-out but is surprised to see PCO SPRINTING to the ring behind him. STEEL CHAIR TO THE FACE! ANOTHER CHAIR SHOT! FROGGY BOW! PCO KICKS OUT! Redneck Kung Fu unleashed, rocking PCO against the ropes at least. But he marches straight out of the corner with messy ass version of a Michinoku Driver. PCO-SAULT! PCO grabs the victory at 12:45. He's not human!

Rating - **** - From a wrestling perspective this is clearly a generous rating. But this match was unique and a complete spectacle from first bell to last. Thankfully they didn't stall or kill time with meaningless filler content or lethargic 'wrestling' holds - they came out swinging and brawled with intensity, purpose and violence throughout. As a pairing their fearless disregard for their own safety and whacky personalities gave them a natural chemistry. Nothing about this was clever, but in the most satisfying way it gave you exactly what you'd hope to see in a Mark Briscoe vs PCO match. 

The Six-Man Championship is not being defended by The Kingdom this evening. That may be just as well because the trio they face this evening do not like them one bit and will be out for blood. Lethal and Taven are preparing to lock horns at the 17th Anniversary for the World Title; Taven believing that he already stands as the 'Real World Champion'. But he has issues with Rush as well, carrying over from CMLL. It saw him lead his squad in attacking Rush after his debut in Phildelphia - something that El Toro Blanco wants payback for tonight.

Taven is so irate at Lethal for smashing up his purple belt that he refuses to let him in the ring, and Jay does enter the entire Kingdom walk away and stall. Finally Gresham and Marseglia agree to start; The Octopus of course making Vinny look a little foolish with his various tricks and techniques. O'Ryan and Rush enter next, straight into big-time strike exchanges like we saw between them in Philadelphia. SNAP GERMAN SUPLEX DUEL! Rush's intensity and velocity see him win out there, before he boots TK in the corner and gets a big pop with a Tranquilo pose. On the outside, Taven and Lethal have seen enough and just start brawling on the floor! Gresh and Vinny try unsuccessfully to break them up, so Rush goes after everyone with a TOPE ATOMICO! He gets up and brains O'Ryan against the guardrails, whilst on the other side of the ring Taven and Lethal still can't be separated. Rush decides to suplex Marseglia onto the timekeeping table...but after being blind-sided by TKO, Vinny grabs Rush for a DDT ON A CHAIR ON THE FLOOR! Oh, and meanwhile Lethal and Taven are still beating the living daylights out of one another! In fact, the only thing that convince Taven to let off Lethal is the opportunity to drive Rush's skull into the guardrails and ringpost. The Kingdom have isolated El Toro Blanco and are relentlessly beating on his head and neck. Even when he is able to rocket O'Ryan with a jumping forearm smash he collapses to the ground...and only barely makes it to his corner for a tag to Gresham. The Octopus leapfrogs Marseglia, causing him to take out O'Ryan with a wayward Spear, then uses Vinny again for leverage to hit a moonsault onto O'Ryan as well! Marseglia shuts his momentum down with a backbreaker...so Gresh dumps him with a suplex and sets Lethal loose. Taven is straight in to confront him! TOPE TRILOGY TO THE KINGDOM! Taven dodges Hail To The King, but walks into the Lethal Combination instead for 2. Just The Tip in response, also for a two-count. The Kingdom try to set up Rock Star Supernova...but Lethal counters with a rana on Taven! TRIPLE DROPKICK ON O'RYAN! Taven breaks the pin...and eats an Ace Crusher from Lethal! House Of 1000 Horses on Rush, who is then launched neck and shoulder-first into the ringpost. Gresh eats House Of 1000 Horses too, so The Kingdom can single Lethal out again. Climax blocked...Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO THE CLIMAX! TAVEN WINS! He pins the World Champion at 15:03!

Rating - **** - As far as filler, house show six-man tag main events go, this was a lot of fun. The Kingdom are an under-rated trios act, and demonstrated that with a strong performance against opponents of real quality tonight. In particular the opening half of the match was REALLY strong. It immediately established the Lethal/Taven rivalry as one on the brink of boiling over, but also made the point that individually Gresham and Rush were better singles workers than Vinny or TK. It was only when The Kingdom made things messy, made it a brawl and got traditional wrestlers like Lethal and Gresham on the floor that they were able to get an advantage. Their heat segment on Rush, where they just tried to knock him the f*ck out, was fantastic too. I was expecting this to be effective as a building block to Lethal/Taven at the 17th Anniversary - and on that score it delivered in spades. But as a standalone six-man match this was surprisingly strong.

Kenny King struts out onto the stage and gloats at Lethal's loss, trash-talking Marty Scurll as he goes. That brings The Villain out to attack him from behind...and as that happens Taven and Lethal start brawling again. PCO trundles out to help Marty fight off King, Marseglia and PCO...and Silas Young is out here for reasons which aren't entirely clear. Shortly after the entire locker room empties just to have a fight! Rhett Titus, Dalton & The Boys, Coast 2 Coast, The Bouncers, Zack Sabre Jr, Lifeblood, Rocky Romero, the Shinobi Shadow Squad, Jeff Cobb...and there are probably more! The ring is full and it appears that the entire ROH roster just wants to beat the sh*t out of each other. As bodies start to scatter Bully Ray trundles out...and is confronted by PCO! The Briscoes attack PCO from behind, helping their ally Bubba and adding fire to their showdown with The Villains at the 17th Anniversary. PCO shakes them off, climbs the ropes and HITS A PCO-SAULT TO THE FLOOR ONTO THE ENTIRE ROSTER! 

Tape Rating - *** - This is another solid event from Ring Of Honor in 2019. The small, muted crowd tells you that the product is stone cold in terms of fan interest - but the quality of the in-ring content was better than you might expect for a low-level VOD show. It started slow, with a skippable first half an hour, but from the 30-minute mark the wrestling is of a consistently decent quality (including a surprise Women Of Honor World Title change) before taking us to three really good main events. The two multi-man tag matches were actually better than I'd expected them to be; both breezy, brisk watches with lots of action, strong individual performances within them and compelling, clean victories setting up deserving talents for bigger things down the road. Sandwiched between them was Briscoe/PCO, which didn't surprise me in any way...but in many ways became the most memorable match on the show due to how psychotic it was. I also thought Nick Aldis and Caprice Coleman provided a really interesting perspective from the announce table. Neither were seasoned commentators at this point, nor were they traditional 'play-by-play' guys and at times some of their transition segments between matches were awkward as hell. But when calling the action, and being able to draw on their own experience of in-ring competition, I found them fascinating to listen to. Getting the perspective of an active World Champion like Aldis felt particularly unique. ROH in 2019 gets a lot of bad press, and some of it very deserved. But they also put on some incredibly under-rated live events and this is certainly one of those.

3) Juice Robinson/Tracy Williams/Mark Haskins/Bandido vs Coast 2 Coast/The Bouncers (****)

2) PCO vs Mark Briscoe (****)

1) Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan vs Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham/Rush (****)