McXal's Reviews

Something about this show feels extremely superfluous. It's positioning, a week out from G1 Supercard with little left to accomplish, makes it feel redundant - and not to mention puts a rather cruel and unnecessary risk of injury on performers so desperately close to living out their dream. It also means that - rather annoyingly - my landmark 500th ROH show review is a random live event/B-show rather than the Madison Square Garden debut. That 500 number does include shows like Survival Of The Fittest 2012 or the 14th Anniversary TV Taping (i.e. DVD-released complete TV tapings) but condenses the two 'Double Feature' DVD's into single reviews, and excludes extra reviews I've done over the years like Do Or Die development cards, NJPW Honor Rising events, the two PCW Supershows Of Honor, early-years cross-over events with FWA or JAPW, not to mention all one hundred HDNet Episodes, hundreds of SBG TV episodes and probably more besides. The line-up for this event certainly isn't terrible by any means thankfully. Rush vs Tracy Williams, Silas Young vs Mark Haskins, Shane Taylor vs Marty Scurll, Briscoes/Villains II with the Tag Titles on the line combine to make the undercard feel pretty stacked. Our main event sees World Champion Jay Lethal teaming with TV Champ Jeff Cobb in triple threat tag action against Lifeblood and The Kingdom. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Baltimore, MD.

At 17th Anniversary 'El Toro Blanco' powered past Lifeblood's Bandido to retain his own undefeated record in ROH, and he also vanquished Mark Haskins at the subsequent Vegas TV tapings. Now another Lifeblood comrade steps up looking to be the man who ends Rush's streak. Tracy also makes an interesting opponent for Rush, just a week out from G1 Supercard. In MSG Rush will face the unorthodox Dalton Castle. It is hard to prepare someone like Dalton, but facing someone like Hot Sauce who wants to wrestle, grapple and stretch is at least in the same ballpark.

No handshake from Rush, showing once again that as an 'Ingobernable' his attitude is in direct conflict with the ideals of Lifeblood. He tackles Williams to the ground and aims a disrespectful kick into his braced shoulder right off the bat. A jumping forearm lands with such force that Tracy has to leave the ring, his dominant start continuing it seems. On the outside they light each other up with chops and actually fire each other up to hit harder. El Toro Blanco backs off first to throw Tracy THROUGH THE GUARDRAILS! Incredibly, Williams gets up and starts fighting again even with his body visibly bruised. Rush hits another dropkick high into the neck and shoulder to put Hot Sauce on the deck again. Tracy decides to rip off his shoulder brace...before tearing into Rush with more strikes. He counters Bull's Horns by weaving in the ropes, kicking Rush in the face then hopping off the top with a missile dropkick too. Rush boots him in the head and SPITS at him...so Tracy decapitates him with a discus lariat. SNAP GERMAN from Rush gets 2 and is followed up with a big brainbuster too. Hot Sauce fights to escape a superplex though, and counters to the SUPER TURNBUCKLE DDT! FLYING DDT gets 2! Rush is pissed and responds by slapping Tracy in the face and quite literally hauling him into a superplex. Top rope senton MISSES! Tracy misses a frog splash too and gets suplex into the corner ON HIS HEAD! BULL'S HORNS! Rush wins at 12:13

Rating - **** - My rating is very generous, but as an opening match on a show I loved this. It's hard to say it 'fired the crowd up' because once again ROH are running a massive building at 50% full or less, but it certainly got me into the show. I liked that there were no pleasantries or filler sequences at all here. It was all action at top pace from the very start when Rush started kicking at Tracy's bad shoulder like a dick. Both guys ended the match with huge welts on their chest, Tracy's back was a mess too - this whole deal was incredibly physical and violent. I really appreciated the effort.

Dalton Castle's music hits and he comes out talking to Rush in elementary school Spanish. Switching to English he admits to admiring Rush's intensity...and that makes him excited to hurt him and beat him at G1 Supercard.

Rhett Titus is obscenely lean and jacked. After competing in some semi-decent matches on live shows thus far in 2019, he's relegated back to prancing around and flexing in speedos with his sham trophy. He then joins Ian and Colt for commentary on the next match, and as part of that announces that he will be participating in the 2019 Honor Rumble at G1 Supercard.

Shinobi Shadow Squad have built some momentum and won a few trios matches of late, including one over former Six-Man Champions Dalton Castle & The Boys. They face a makeshift trio tonight, looking for another win to keep them in the hunt for the Six-Man Championship. C2C are looking to recapture their hot streak of early 2018, and this evening team with Delaney who gets another booking after playing his part in a fun little undercard triple threat at Survival Of The Fittest 2018.

LSG starts with Isom, working a brisk place and going through a blistering array of counters. Ali tries to display some power and dominate Eli, but the youngster shakes him off and lands a northern lights suplex. Nova tries to trade strikes with Shaheem, and surprises a few people by holding his own with the bigger man. Burger and Delaney next, and Cheese has some fun countering some of Colin's stuff. Nova and CB dish out a few double teams...but just when they look set to take charge Delaney drops him with a back suplex then bails as C2C maul Burger 2-on-1. Isom tags and lays out Ali and Delaney with a springboard dropkick...then dives at St. Giovanni as well. A springboard back in is CAUGHT by Shaheem into a swinging front slam. Tornado flatliner from Nova to Ali! Saint-splosion from LSG to Burger. Gutwrench powerbomb from Ali to Eli gets 2! C2C and Colin try to set up a triple Coast To Coast on Isom, only for the rest of 3-S to save their partner. Shotei on Delaney! Eli pins Colin to win in a time of 11:40

Rating - * - This was miles too long. Even cutting the run-time in half probably wouldn't have been a sufficient edit to make this more tolerable. There was some interesting wrestling in here - a more aggressive and thuggish Coast 2 Coast for one thing, coupled with another pleasing win for Eli Isom. But after Rush/Tracy lit up the room with their energy, there were long stretches where it felt like these guys were sucking the aforementioned energy back out. 

This is a rematch from War Of The Worlds UK Night 2, all the way back in 2017. That was Haskins' debut appearance and he marked it with a shock victory over the Last Real Man. For Haskins, that started a lengthy journey towards going full-time with Ring Of Honor; first by impressing at subsequent UK Tour events, then by winning the International Cup last year. He now represents Lifeblood; an honourable faction formed to oppose the reckless, chaotic rule-breaking we've seen from Silas Young all year. Young comes into this on the back of attacking Jon Gresham backstage at the 17th Anniversary, forcing their match to be cancelled. He'll be desperate to avenge that crushing loss he suffered two years ago...

Silas refuses to shake hands which, like Rush/Tracy earlier, ensures the Lifeblood member starts off in a bad mood. He comprehensively out-wrestles Young on the ground, and somewhat surprisingly the Last Real Man acknowledges the skill and does shake Mark's hand. Three minutes in and Young is blowing as he struggles to keep up with Haskins on the mat. Another handshake follows, then an unsporting chop into Mark's throat. He jerks the Englishman to the ground by the hair too, only for Haskins to dropkick the leg so hard that Silas flees. Tope suicida nailed leaving Haskins in complete control. It gets worse for Silas when he throws a chop at his opponent but connects only with the ringpost. Young captures Haskins' leg in the ropes then hits a rebound lariat, wrenching the knee in the process. He blasts the leg into the guardrail and follows with an APRON SHINBREAKER! Quickly we see that Mark is now battling a critical leg injury - which Cabana and Riccaboni do a great job framing against the backdrop of G1 Supercard (i.e. does he want to win even if it costs him a chance to wrestle in MSG). He leaves the ring and stretches the leg, but even getting back through the ropes is such a cumbersome task that Young has an easy job picking him off. Now unable to stand, Silas is more comfortable going to the mat with Haskins - where he now starts working the neck too in preparation for Misery. LEG CAPTURE Killer Combo gets 2! Haskins decides his leg is so f*cked it doesn't really matter, so he swings it wildly and connects with some big kicks. Sharpshooter applied as Haskins goes for broke...but he can't stop Young scurrying out of the ring. FLYING KNEE OFF THE APRON! Double stomp misses...but even though his leg buckles under him he retains his focus and COUNTERS the Killer Combo to the Star Armbar! Young barely makes the ropes that time. The Lifeblood member starts stomping on the now-injured arm...so Silas punts the bad leg, snaps it on the top rope and delivers the slingshot swinging neckbreaker for 2. Misery blocked into the SAMOAN DRIVER for 2. He boots Young in the head again, only to fall on his ass nursing his bad leg. Plunge gets 2 for Silas! Young wants to end Haskins' career with an apron piledriver, except even on one leg the Englishman refuses to play ball. Young tries to grab the ropes to pin him...and when Todd Sinclair spots it and punts his arm away, Haskins pounces to roll Silas up for a three-count. Another big win for 'Overkill' at 18:07

Rating - **** - It isn't a surprise that this turned out to be really good. Both Haskins and Young have been among ROH's most consistent performers in 2019 thus far and they were well-equipped to deliver something extremely decent when given almost twenty minutes of ring-time to play with. The structure of this was extremely interesting for those patient enough to stick with it too. Haskins was rampant early on; blowing Silas up with his superior technical skill. But after opening up an injury, Silas was the dominant force for the next segment; the leg injury also ensuring he felt confident enough to get on the ground with Haskins, work the neck and look to set up Misery too. Haskins' selling of the leg got a little weird - by that I mean he'd act like he could barely move, hit a spot which specifically used his injured leg like it was completely fine, then get up and start selling it like death again. On commentary they tried to sell it as an 'adrenaline rush' or 'going for broke' - which didn't really land with me. But the excitement of watching the gritty, feral Haskins fight from underneath was palpable and it felt like they were on for a really hot finish. Unfortunately the dodgy roll-up meant we didn't get a satisfactory conclusion. I presume the aim is to 'protect' Silas...but to me losing like a goof, taking his eye off the ball WHILST trying to cheat doesn't feel that protective. It shouldn't detract from what was a super little wrestling match before that though.

A furious Silas Young boots Haskins in the balls, as Bully Ray storms down the aisle. He admonishes Todd for kicking a wrestler, and reminds him that he also awarded Flip Gordon the 'I Quit' Match at Final Battle. Todd refuses to reverse the decision...and the rest of Lifeblood come out to chase Bully and Silas away before they can put Haskins through a table. Juice gets on the microphone and accepts Bubba's open challenge for a Street Fight at G1 Supercard...

It has been patently obvious for some time that the Women Of Honor division needs new blood. 2019 has seen Britt Baker, Madison Rayne, Tenille Dashwood, Thunder Rosa and Holidead all disappear from even part-time bookings. The gap has been plugged by borrowing Mayu Iwatani from Stardom, but her knee is hanging on by a thread and a division consisting solely of Sumie, her long-time friend/rival Jenny (they team up tonight), Kelly Klein and Mandy Leon won't get you very far. Given that Kris Statlander is now in AEW, Tasha Steelz is now in Impact and Karissa Rivera is now signed to WWE/NXT...one suspects this won't end well either. Everyone has worked a match or two for ROH in the past, with the exception of Rivera who makes her debut this evening.

Statlander and her alien gimmick are too much for her opponents to deal with early on. They all freak out and argue about who has to start with her. Eventually Rivera opts to politely ask her to tag out instead. Steelz in, botches an attempt at a lucha armdrag and gets punished with a few hiptosses from Karissa. Tasha tags out by basically slapping Rose and leaves with her tail between her legs. Ortiz meets her but is overpowered in the corner by the more experienced opponent. Sumie and Jenny try to isolate Ortiz, almost tapping her out to a prolonged half crab hold which Rivera shows no interest in breaking up. Even Statlander looks more motivated to get in than Gabby's own partner! She gets her wish and blasts through Sakai with a backbreaker. She beats on Rivera's midsection too; holding her up so Tasha can put a double boot into the ribs as well. Steelz misses a shoulder tackle and collides with the ringpost though, setting up a race to the corner for a tag. Rivera opts to tag in Sumie rather than her own partner. Does she not like Ortiz!? BACK DROP DRIVER from Sumie to Statlander gets 2. Steelz tries to Spear Sakai, who dodges and causes her to hit a tope on her own partner. TOP ROPE DIVE TO THE FLOOR by Sumie! Smash Mouth on Statlander, only for Ortiz and Rivera to break up a pin. Spear by Steelz...but she stands up and eats a Spear from Rose! BIG BANG THEORY from Statlander to Ortiz, giving her the win at 08:43

Rating - ** - It sounds easy to write this in 2021 when she's on AEW television every week (having rehabbed from a really serious knee injury by the way), but Statlander looked a class apart here. It's not just that she has a unique gimmick - it is the ease, poise and athleticism with which she moves around the ring. She made her stuff look effortless, whereas some other girls in the match looked like they were REALLY having to concentrate to pull off far more basic bits and pieces. It is interesting that they put Statlander over here. The easy choice would have been to put Sumie and Jenny over, not only because they are veterans but also because they are actually booked for G1 Supercard. Not doing that makes me thinks ROH may have had more plans to use Statlander. Clearly if those plans did exist, went the way of Deonna Purrazzo, Britt Baker, Karen Q, Tenille and all the other competent women's wrestlers they've missed out on sadly. As a match I didn't love this, but nor did I hate it. Ortiz and Rivera's tag team dynamic had me utterly confused, whilst Steelz looked like she was trying way too hard and messed up more than she hit clean. But there was enough action and excitement to maintain my interest for the standard (i.e. brief) Women Of Honor match run-time.

Kelly Klein's music hits as the six competitors start pulling themselves up from the canvas. She helps Gabby Ortiz back to her feet and says she is proud to represent the Women Of Honor division in Madison Square Garden. The Gatekeeper leaves with a promise to all six women that she will be a fighting champion and will happily put the belt up against any of them after she gets it back from Mayu Iwatani at G1 Supercard. 'Mayu is sooooooooo much better professional wrestler than you' - Sumie Sakai...

The Briscoes receive an immediate rematch for the Tag Titles they lost in a bloody war at the 17th Anniversary. The match is already set for G1 Supercard; it will be Villain Enterprises vs GOD vs LIJ vs Briscoes with both the ROH Tag Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Championship on the line. It means that Jay and Mark are competing here for payback, but also for the right to enter the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden with gold around their waists as defending champions.

Brody and Jay start, and within seconds are egging each other on in a contest of who can hit the other harder. Mark arrives to help his brother, putting King on his backside with the Briscoe football tackle. PCO and Mark now stare down, ready to renew hostilities from their crazy singles match in Miami. We get a Kobashi/Sasaki tribute act from these two; chopping flesh and screaming wildly. PCO ends it by back body dropping Mark OVER THE TURNBUCKLES! Brody tries to brawl with Jay on the floor, but gets swatted aside as Mark runs across the apron and hits the blockbuster to the floor on PCO. DVD/Froggy Bow combo gets 2. The challengers try to isolate PCO, but face a slight issue in that no matter how hard they hit him he seems impossible to take off his feet. In the end PCO ignores Jay's attempt to suplex him and absolutely spikes the former World Champion with a DDT instead. The champs hit a couple of senton splashes into the ribs, followed by a second rope leg drop into the midsection by PCO as well. Double chokeslam executed with such force that you can see Jay's head rattle off the canvas...and he gets almost no time to recover before Brody gives him a cannonball senton in the ropes as well. Roaring Elbow by Jay, knocking King aside for just long enough for him to tag Mark. Pele Kick on Brody, then he BACK DROPS PCO over the top into a somersault plancha on his own partner. TOP ROPE CORKSCREW SENTON to the floor by Mark. The Briscoes fill the ring with hardware like chairs and metal guardrail covers, whilst the teams themselves brawl around ringside. Sick Kick from Mark to PCO on the outside! On the other side of the ring, Brody rakes Jay's face across the guardrails...then TOSSES Mark off the top through the timekeeping table! TOPE CON HILO by PCO! The French-Canadian Frankenstein pulls both Briscoes up, then hauls ass so King can obliterate them again with a cannonball off the apron. PCO climbs the ropes with Mark down on the apron and in his sights. SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE APRON...MISSES AGAIN! Jay saved his brother, bashes King's head against the ringpost and dives off the top himself with a frog splash. Froggy Bow again...KING BREAKS THE PIN! He starts throwing chairs into the ring as well and soon enough all four men arm themselves! BRODY NAILS JAY! MARK THROWS A CHAIR AT BRODY! Todd disqualifies the Villains at 14:14 for striking first.

Rating - **** - I'm probably over-rating this a little, but I absolutely love the chemistry between these two teams. It feels totally different to almost anything the Briscoes have faced before in ROH, and that freshness is contributing to some crazy matches. Whenever they've met the action has felt legitimately out of control, genuinely wild and a completely believable struggle for referees to maintain order. There are even mini-rivalries forming within the tag feud too; Mark and PCO taking turns to out-crazy each other, whilst Jay and Brody look like they want to rip each other's heads off at every opportunity. This wasn't as crazy as the Vegas Street Fight, but felt no less like a grudge match - which is a really tough, fine line to walk. The non-finish did suck, and it feels annoying that this great rivalry is about to be cut off at the knees to involve LIJ and the GOD from New Japan...but I had a blast watching this. From the reviews I've seen, I feel like this is a little under-rated.

Brody falls out of the ring after that chair to the face, and Mark puts the exclamation point on it with a Cactus Elbow to the floor. Back in the ring the Briscoes grab PCO and give him a SUPERPLEX THROUGH A PILE OF CHAIRS! Not content with that they grab kendo sticks and start caning his FACE! SUPERPLEX THROUGH THE CHAIRS AGAIN! King is up...so Mark climbs to the top again and SOMERSAULT SENTONS HIM THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR! The Briscoes leave having sent an emphatic message at the final stop on the Road To G1 Supercard!

They air a longer version of the interview compilation with the ROH stars talking about what wrestling in MSG will mean to them (a condensed edit appeared on television). It is spine-chilling and full of what feels like very raw, real emotion. 

This is an interesting match at an interesting time in the careers of both men. Black showed a more humble, honourable attitude in Las Vegas - inspired by Bandido and Lifeblood. One man who has no problem breaking a few rules is his opponent tonight. King has won a lot of matches since Austin Aries inspired him to become more ruthless last summer. He suffered a disappointing loss to Marty Scurll at the 17th Anniversary but still remains in the hunt for a World Title shot and knows a win over an international superstar like the Darewolf will only enhance his reputation...

Black is unflustered by King refusing to shake hands and goes straight to the mat to apply a shortarm scissors. Kenny escapes with a Japanese armdrag. Kenny flips out of a big biel attempt, dances to celebrate and takes PJ down with supreme confidence. Black retorts with armdrags; the momentum swinging back and forth at high speed. The crowd could not be more silent for this by the way. PJ lands a headscissors takedown, but King leaves the ring to recover and throws Black into the guardrails with such force that he flips in the air and lands on his head. He stays on the midsection; landing a capture suplex and diving full-force over the top rope with a corkscrew pescado as well. ROPE RUN frankensteiner by Black though...and he pops right back up to the top rope for a moonsault press as well. Corkscrew pescado of his own by PJ, returning to the ring with a rather nasty double stomp for 2. Kenny shuts PJ down with a spinebuster, and stomps on Black's surgically repaired lower legs like an asshole. Black Diamond blocked, into a backslide with feet on the ropes for 2. PJ kicks out and hits a TOP ROPE Asai Moonsault for 2. King spits at Black...who gives him a pumphandle Black Diamond. Kenny crotches him as he sets up the 450 Splash, hits the Royal Flush and wins at 12:57

Rating - ** - The silent crowd didn't help this match at all, but watching this back I don't see where either wrestler really gave them a hook to buy into their work. Most of the match was painfully methodical in its pacing, the lay-out for long periods felt like one guy hitting a spot, both guys get up, then the other guy does one - rinse and repeat whilst selling nothing. Black hit some big aerial moves, but injuries and age mean he is a totally different wrestler than the ultra-agile athlete we once watched on WWE television - and Kenny King is not the right opponent to get the best out of him. It became quite uncomfortable to watch as they started mugging to the crowd just to break the overbearing silence within the arena. King winning is the right call if ROH are positioning him for a title shot at least.

Kenny King gets on a microphone to brag about his new two year contract and a big pay-rise. He confirms he will be in the Honor Rumble...and has demanded that he be the #1 entrant so he can run through the entire ROH roster and humble some 'decrepit Japanese legends' too...

In 'late, breaking news', Taylor has apparently goaded The Villain into putting his MSG World Title shot on the line. If Shane T wins tonight he will replace Marty in the triple threat Ladder Match at G1 Supercard. It would be nice if they could have included that in the broadcast right? Marty has a singles win over Taylor in the past, albeit Riccaboni reminds us that he needed powder to the face to secure that victory. Shane produced perhaps the best match of his ROH career whilst pushing Jeff Cobb to the limit in Las Vegas. Can he go one better with a shocking victory tonight, thereby punching his ticket to the biggest match of his life in New York City next weekend?

The ring absolutely filled with streamers for Marty's entrance, again making the point that he was one of the few 'hot' acts ROH had at this point. He slaps Taylor in the face, prompting Taylor to batter him around the ring for the next minute. Leg drop on the apron misses though, opening the door to Scurll to hit his Apron Superkick. Arm-breaker by Scurll and it hurts Taylor so much that he isn't able to defend himself as The Villain peppers him with shots in the corner. He opens up an arm injury on his opponent, giving him such a false sense of confidence that he thinks he can hit a suplex. Obviously Shane shakes that off with ease...and almost takes Marty's head off with an elbow smash on the apron. Tower Of London gets 2 for Shane T. The landing on that hurts Scurll's ribs and Taylor notices it, so spends the next couple of minutes driving shots into the midsection. Just Kidding by Marty, dropping the big man to his knees and into prime position for an enziguri kick to the head. 619 scores, then a tornado DDT when Scurll again fails to get Taylor over for a suplex. Graduation blocked, but so is Taylor's knock-out knee strike. BALDO BOMB instead gets 2 for Taylor. The Villain desperately slides out of Greetings From 216...but struggles to put the Chickenwing on a man Shane's size. Taylor misses a second rope slap...allowing Scurll to land a second rope hand stomp! FINGER SNAP! Shane no sells and starts popping his fingers back in! KNOCK-OUT PUNCH! But it hurt his hand so he can't capitalise! BRAINBUSTER BY SCURLL! Matt Taven decides to get a closer look at the action, coming from the locker rooms and hopping onto the apron to distract Scurll. Meanwhile Taylor wraps a chain around his fist and low blows Scurll. CHAIN-WRAPPED PUNCH! Taylor pins Marty at 12:25. He celebrates as Ian screams about graphics and video packages for G1 Supercard being ruined, but Todd Sinclair comes out and informs Paul Turner of Taylor's illegal weapon use. For an inexplicable reason, the decision is that the match 'must continue', meaning Taylor still has a chance of 'going to the Garden' when he should be disqualified. The bell rings and Marty charges at the protesting Taylor, locking him into the Chickenwing. Taylor taps instantly, Marty wins at 12:39 (total)

Rating - ** - The body of the match was good, but I knocked a whole star off (and was tempted to go even lower) thanks to that diabolical finish. It was unbelievably moronic, helped absolutely nobody and just made the booker look like an idiot for doing a dumb f*ck finish just for the sake of it. Taylor's stock could not be higher after his war with Jeff Cobb at the 17th Anniversary. How does Delirious capitalise on that? Why of course, have him cheat, need outside interference then look like a goon who taps out in mere seconds in his next broadcast match. Why the hell was Taven out here too?! I know he doesn't like Marty, but is he any happier facing a human wrecking ball like Taylor in a ladder match? The simple answer is that Delirious sent him out for the sake of it, because he doesn't have anything better when it comes to fleshing out the MSG triple threat match which really should have been a Lethal/Scurll singles match. And why on earth was the match re-started, rather than Taylor immediately disqualified for using a weapon? Literally the only guy who comes out of this well is Todd Sinclair, who looks like he decided to take action to f*ck Taylor over, after Bully Ray (an associate of Taylor) was an asshole to him earlier in the show. The wrestling itself generally entertained me throughout the match at least. They did some limb/body part work which went nowhere, but things really heated up and I loved that they actually did some innovative, neat stuff around Scurll's usual finger break shenanigans. Unfortunately all anyone will remember about this match is how atrocious the finish was. The complete SILENCE in the arena (admittedly from a crowd who haven't made much noise all night) spoke volumes. It wasn't shock that Taylor won. It was collective disbelief that Delirious was doing something so incredibly foolish. 

This is a slightly strange main event. Lethal and Cobb have big title defences at G1 Supercard to prepare for so could probably do without having to face four guys who have more experience as a team than they do. An issue between Lifeblood and The Kingdom flared up after TK and Vinny tried to interfere in the Lethal/Taven World Title Match at 17th Anniversary (albeit neither Juice, or Bandido were involved). Lifeblood have had something of a sporting rivalry with Jay Lethal since they first formed as well. Presumably Vinny and TK are here as hatchet men on a mission to inflict damage to Lethal before we reach MSG.

O'Ryan and Marseglia attack Lethal and Juice to get us started, and run away before the ROH Champion and IWGP US Champion can retaliate in anyway...meaning Lethal and Robinson are the legal men. They are respectful but intense, quickly trying to hit their finishing moves without success. Cobb tags, plucks Juice out of the air and hoists him onto his shoulders looking for a one-arm suplex. Robinson escapes, tries a hiptoss...only for Jeff to lift him into the Samoan drop/standing moonsault combo. Lifeblood team up on Cobb, meaning even when Jeff blocks a Robinson senton with his knees, Bandido is on hand to kick him in the face and hit a Red Star Press for 2. Shining Wizard almost knocks the TV Champion's head from his shoulders as well. Lethal tags to help out his partner, with The Kingdom getting increasingly annoyed on the apron that nobody is willing to tag them in. Finally Marseglia blind-tags Bandido...only for Robinson to instantly blind-tag him back out! Cannonball senton rocks Lethal, after he skittles The Kingdom off the apron for good measure. O'Ryan tags in, he and Juice instantly mess something up...right before Vinny hauls Robinson through the ropes and assaults him on the floor. The Kingdom clear all four opponents from the ring and get some polite, notional jeers from the near-silent crowd. BACK DROP DRIVER from Vinny to Juice! They isolate Robinson and keep him deep in their corner so he has no chance to tag out for several minutes. They even take him out of the ring and take turns bashing his skull into the side of the ring. TK drags Bandido off the apron even if Robinson gets close enough...which he threatens to after dropping O'Ryan with a spinebuster. Bandido finally tags in, stepping off Marseglia into a tornado DDT on O'Ryan. Tornillo on Vinny! STANDING C-4 gets 2! Lethal Combination on TKO! ACID DROP from Marseglia to Lethal! He has no chance to celebrate before Robinson hits him with a full nelson slam. ATHLETIC-PLEX from Cobb to Juice! Bandido CATCHES COBB IN MID-AIR! POWERSLAM! TORNILLO TO THE FLOOR NAILED! 21-PLEX on Marseglia! Cobb and TK break the pin! House Of 1000 Horses from The Kingdom to Juice, but Lethal is the legal man. Lethal Injection on Vinny! The World Champion wins at 16:10

Rating - *** - Once again the crowd were sullen and lifeless, but the match itself was entertaining enough for a filler live show main event. The Kingdom were a bit too cartoonish for my taste in their role as antagonists though. The crowd wasn't buying their sh*t, and I feel like they'd have been better served dialling up the aggression rather than the goofy character work. Fortunately four of these six men are all world class wrestlers and anytime we got a combination of Lethal, Cobb, Bandido or Juice together in the ring the action was usually pretty good. 

Matt Taven comes back out and confronts Lethal during his celebrations. Marty Scurll isn't far behind and a tense stare-off ensues as the show goes off the air.

Tape Rating - *** - This entire show really typifies the Ring Of Honor live event experience in 2019. As with many other shows this year, the undercard has some really strong and under-rated matches (which usually feature the likes of Tracy Williams, Mark Haskins, Silas Young or the Briscoes), but their impact is lost as the booking leaves you bewildered and confused, the biggest stars in the company are marginalised, Taven and Kenny King are pushed hard even when crowds aren't buying it and the whole event feels completely sterile and lacklustre because it takes place in a cavernous, mostly empty arena with vacant seats everywhere. I don't think this show is the most fulfilling three hour event Ring Of Honor have ever produced, but it really isn't that bad. There were some really poor matches, some truly abysmal booking and the whole event felt unnecessary when placed in such close proximity to G1 Supercard, yet despite that I can't call it a total waste of time. Rush/Tracy was a superb show-opener, Silas and Haskins continued their tremendous 2019 with a gruelling 18+ minute battle, whilst the Briscoes/Villains issue progressed with another wild brawl. Those three matches alone are worth checking out, and you'll also get an entertaining main event and lots of last-ditch hype for MSG. Reviewing this show in isolation, two years later, it is easier to focus on the positives rather than dwell on some of the clearly-apparent negatives the entire promotion is being weight down by...

3) Rush vs Tracy Williams (****)

2) Mark Haskins vs Silas Young (****)

1) Brody King/PCO vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (****)