ROH 501 - G1 Supercard - 6th April 2019

Here we go with the notorious, controversial, intensely debated, high profile Ring Of Honor show of all time. And I will call it an ROH show, since it was Sinclair who pushed to break the McMahon family stranglehold on the arena and it was their lawyers who reportedly out-manoeuvred WWE when they tried to get the booking cancelled. For the first time in decades, a wrestling company other than WWE steps foot into the historic Madison Square Garden. Lets not kid ourselves that people are here for ROH though; the 15,000+ attendance has been delivered by The Elite & New Japan. Tickets went on sale back in 2018 when the mega-stars of The Elite were still in both ROH and NJPW, and there is no doubt this huge crowd would much rather be seeing Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks and Hangman Page on this card as well. In their absence, the top draws are very clearly NJPW, whom co-promote the show and have some massive matches on tap. Their headline bout sees Kazuchika Okada challenge 'Switchblade' Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, and will go on last despite ROH allegedly (and quite ludicrously) suggesting that their main event - Jay Lethal defending the ROH Championship in a Ladder Match against Marty Scurll and Matt Taven - should close the show. Beneath those two bouts this marathon event is littered with high-stakes championship affairs. Tetsuya Naito defends the IWGP Intercontinental Title against Kota Ibushi. Will Ospreay and Jeff Cobb go title-for-title with both the NEVER Openweight and ROH TV Titles on the line. Four teams will compete to leave with two sets of tag championships; it will be Guerrillas Of Destiny, LIJ of EVIL & Sanada, the Briscoes and Villain Enterprises of PCO & Brody King doing battle there. Rev-Pro are represented on the card too and Zack Sabre Jr. will defend their British Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. That's just a snap-shot of the action, which also sees the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight and Women Of Honor World Title up for grabs, Bully Ray in a Street Fight and a 30-man Honor Rumble. It's an unbelievably loaded show, and on paper it seems impossible to get this wrong; a momentous evening which offers both promotions the chance to promote their brand and reinvigorate their products in the wake of the formation of AEW. Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana and Kevin Kelly are on commentary - and if that weren't enough guests regularly rotate onto the announce desk with them throughout the night. We are in Manhattan, NY - to witness a company which started in a tiny recreation centre in Philadelphia sell-out the 'world's most famous arena'. 

SIDENOTE - The main show clocks in at almost five hours long. On top of that I'll be reviewing the Women Of Honor bonus match taped for YouTube, and the 2019 Honor Rumble, which formed the majority of the hour-long pre-show. It feels like we are back in the olden days of ROH with a show this hefty to get our teeth stuck into! I should also point out that the VQ on the DVD release of this show is appalling. It looks like a pirated rip of the VOD feed

Jenny Rose/Kagetsu/Hazuki vs Sumie Sakai/Hana Kimura/Stella Grey
Sadly this is the late Hana Kimura's final ROH match. She teams with Sumie Sakai, a former WOH World Champion and a long-time friend of both her and her mother Kyoko Kimura, plus Sumie's some-time student/apprentice Stella Grey. Jenny and Sumie have a constant friendly rivalry as part of the Women Of Honor division, and once again find themselves on opposing sides of the ring. Jenny teams with Oedo Tai, the faction that Hana defected from (by attacking Kagetsu) in late-2018. Both Kagetsu and Hazuki hold singles championships in Stardom - which Hana is very much in the running for...

Sumie is dressed in Hiromu Takahashi's gear for reasons which aren't made clear. Rose and Oedo Tai jump their opponents out of the pre-match handshakes, capturing Stella and looking to immediately isolate her. Kimura and Sumie have to act quickly to rescue their partner, but it leaves Sakai eating a few double-teams from Hazuki and Kagetsu. Hazuki hits a brutal kick to the head, but misses a senton splash and hobbles into the TJ Neckbreaker. Big boot flurry by Kimura gets 2! Grey and Hana hit a flurry of combo strikes...only for Hazuki to counter a brainbuster attempt into a front choke. COUNTERED back to the brainbuster by Kimura! Octopus Stretch by Hana, with Sumie and Stella intercepting Hazuki's partners so they can't make a save. Rose and Sakai tag, meaning they can renew their rivalry in MSG. Jenny smears Sakai into the canvas with a Spear...only for the former WOH Champion to retaliate with a double DDT on her and Kagetsu. Huge missile dropkick from Hana to Kagetsu! Smash Mouth gets 2 for Sumie. Everyone brawls outside, setting Sumie up for the TOP ROPE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Jenny shakes that off and Spears her on the floor, as Oedo Tai build up steam for STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS! Ebisu Otoshi gets 2 for Kagetsu, and she then scales the ropes for the OEDO COASTER! Kagetsu wins at 06:44

Rating - *** - Within the parameters of a seven minute pre-show match I thought these six women really did all they could. They flooded the ring with energy, moved at unrelenting speed and crucially made sure that the Joshi women were at the front and centre of the action. Kagetsu, Hazuki and Hana were all great, showcasing their assortment of killer strikes and a few more athletic moves too. I liked the references to the Sumie/Jenny rivalry too. There really wasn't much more they could have packed in to this, or much they could have done differently to make it any better. They went on first, an hour or more before the start of the PPV so didn't have a full house to work with...but the audience sounded really into their work too. Don't sleep on this; with the spot they were given it is a really commendable effort. In a funny way this match is actually one of the biggest surprise packages of the entire show.

Honor Rumble Match
This match brings together thirty men, in traditional over-the-top-rope elimination Royal Rumble format - all vying for the prize of an ROH World Title shot. We have stars from ROH and New Japan, plus a few surprises, lined up...but we know who will enter at #1. Kenny King is so determined to prove himself he has demanded to enter the ring first and has vowed to outlast the entire ROH roster plus the 'decrepit legends' of New Japan.

Kenny King's cheap ass roll of red carpet looks hilariously pathetic when placed on a stage of the size required for MSG. The pop for entrant #2 joining him in the ring is huge even though we are still half-full at best - it is Minoru Suzuki. Kenny chops him, and Suzuki starts laughing in his face. BRUTAL elbow strike floors Kenny, right before #3 joins the party and it is Cheeseburger. His entrance is basically ignored by King and Suzuki who are still squaring off, but Kevin Kelly and Riccaboni point out that Burger has history of going deep in the NJPW Rambo. He chops Minoru like an idiot, who in response does his best to MURDER poor Burger. #4 is Beer City Bruiser, and he relishes the chance to trundle down the aisle and start throwing jabs with all three opponents. #5 is Sho of R3K, presumably still pissed off about how sh*tty his booking was back when he was on excursion. He reverts to his ROH form upon entering the ring; getting out-striked by Cheeseburger then failing with an idiotic suplex attempt on Bruiser. #6 is Shingo Takagi, making a long-awaited return to ROH. He makes a beeline for Sho and clubs the sh*t out of him! Pumping Bomber COUNTERED to a German suplex, but entrant #7 is cue'd up...and Bushi arrives to back up his stable-mate Shingo. LIJ start teaming up on Sho, the airhorn to announce a new entrant goes off prematurely...but it is just seconds before #8 arrives - and that would be Yoh, who shows remarkably little urgently to get into the ring and help out his tag partner. They hit a double team on Bushi, comically botch a double dropkick on Shingo, and that's all we have time for before #9 shows up - and that is Shaheem Ali. Whilst he comes down the aisle R3K make Bruiser the first man eliminated. He decks Sho with a swinging front slam, which pretty much silences the crowd who care a LOT more about the NJPW guys than ROH's jobbers. Entrant #10 is Rhett Titus, who is more interested in flexing and posing in the middle of the ring rather than fighting. His old tag partner Kenny King shuts that down with a Capo kick, and the whole scene is so off-putting that the countdown to #11 is missed. LSG of Coast 2 Coast is the eleventh man in, going after Sho and Yoh since those guys were essentially joined at the hip during R3K's excursion. #12 is Ryusuke Taguchi; another guy from NJPW who gets a huge reaction. His entrance (which he films on his own camera) takes up so much time that he's barely in the ring before the clock ticks down to #13 - Will Ferrara. It's the first time he has been spotted since last year - and Rhett rushes over to give his partner in 'The Dawgs' a big hug. 

Ferrara doesn't want to hug, and of course they go right back into their routine of Little Willy being used as an involuntary weapon. #14 is Chase Owens of Bullet Club. He floors Will with the Jewel Heist and blocks a Taguchi hip attack with an atomic drop. #15 arrives, marking the half way point and it is Rocky Romero. The Forever Clotheslines come out immediately, to the delight of Taguchi, who directs Sho and Yoh to join him in a Forever Conga. EVERYONE JOINS IN ON BUSHI! Rocky is last man in and duly eliminates Bushi. #16 is Brian Milonas and at his size is a clear threat. He makes an immediate splash by grabbing C2C by the throat and throwing them BOTH over the top rope. #17 is Bad Luck Fale, adding more beef to the ring. He hoists both of Roppongi 3K over his own shoulder to eliminate the pair of them! Not content with that he THROWS BURGER OVER THE TOP ROPE...but the rest of Shinobi Shadow Squad catch him! Isom and Nova carry him around the ring triumphantly then re-insert him into the match. Fale's response is to drag those two into the ring and massacre them back to the floor just for fun! In amongst that chaos Jon Gresham arrives at #18. Shingo eliminates Titus with a Pumping Bomber, but in doing so turns his back on Minoru Suzuki and gets thrown out himself. #19 is Tracy Williams, who looks PUMPED to be here. He goes right after Suzuki and roars defiantly as he goes strike-for-strike with him. #20 is Yoshi-Hashi, and f*cking hell even he gets a huge pop. Gresham eliminates Taguchi during his entrance, meanwhile Tracy and Minoru are still beating the sh*t out of each other. #21 is PJ Black, someone on the ROH roster who actually has competed in MSG before. Ferrara is tossed by Suzuki, who then basically ignores PJ's attempts to wrestle him to heave Owens out to the floor instead. #22 is Jushin Liger, now in his retirement year making an emotional appearance in MSG. The pop is obscene for him, even over the horrible piped in generic entrance. He instantly eliminates Milonas too! The Kingdom's music hits and gets resoundingly boo'd (which should send a message for the Ladder Match later but doesn't) - #23 is TK O'Ryan. He low blows PJ and is soon joined by Vinny Marseglia at #24. The Kingdom team up to eliminate Tracy Williams as the countdown clock starts again. #25 is Delirious...who runs laps of the ring rather than gets inside it. He's barely in before #26, and that man is Tomohiro Ishii. Nobody wants to go near him either which is pretty funny. 

Ishii and Black botch the sh*t out of something, which eventually leads to PJ's elimination. #27 is Toru Yano...except he makes a beeline for the commentary table. He hands over his elbow pads and gives his spot to Colt Cabana! MSG goes NUTS for Colt, which is a really lovely moment (which the commentators ignore to chatter aimlessly with Yano on commentary). #28 is Hirooki Goto, unfortunately just as his Chaos stable-mate Yoshi-Hashi is ditched. Everyone bar Gresham and Ishii joins forces, grabs a piece of Bad Luck Fale and drops him over the top too; the field finally starting to thin down. Kenny King is still in the match, but for some reason is crawling around on the floor near the ring apron. #29 is King Haku, who is so pumped/old he almost falls over just walking down the aisle - and then it takes him the best part of another minute to get his entrance gear off. Ishii, by the way, is still standing around doing absolutely nothing. Haku puts the Tongan Death Grip on Cabana...so Colt calls Yano down from the announce table to help him as the buzzer sounds for #30. They let that play for a couple of seconds; just long enough for the crowd to think the last entrant is Yano...then they put the words 'Great Muta' on the screen and MSG goes bananas. In an Ishii update, he's just sitting down in the corner still doing nothing. Yano is also an official entrant now. Muta chucks Delirious out upon arrival. On the other side of the ring Yano tries to whack Suzuki with a turnbuckle pad...but accidentally socks his friend Colt Cabana, whom Minoru promptly eliminates. Suzuki throws Yano out after him, whilst Muta throws Gresham out. Suzuki boots Goto out...and FINALLY Ishii decides to do something! He and Suzuki start smacking the sh*t out of each other. Gotch Piledriver blocked...HANGING ARMBAR in the ropes instead! ISHII COUNTERS TO CLOBBER HIM TO THE FLOOR! That was an awesome elimination sequence! Kenny King is still hiding out somewhere out of sight, whilst The Kingdom give Burger House Of 1000 Horses and eliminate him. They turn on and eliminate Haku too...then toss Ishii to get HUGE heat! The 'final four' are The Kingdom, Muta and Liger which is a hilarious f*cking mismatch. Liger eliminates Vinny on one side with a Shotei, as on the other Muta punches out O'Ryan. We are down to Liger and Muta, which of course the crowd love. The legends play the hits; Shotei by Liger, elbow drop by Muta etc...but behind them they fail to see Kenny King slither back into the ring to throw them both out. King wins at 42:22

Rating - ** - Doing a US-style Royal Rumble but with an NJPW Rambo flavour really did make for a unique and engaging pre-show. When they started the building was half-full, but by the end the building was packed and going nuts; the ultimate testament to how well this accomplished the primary objective of a 'pre-show match'. Watching this back, the 2019 Honor Rumble is a microcosm of the issues with G1 Supercard on the whole. It is pretty fun as a total package, the NJPW guys are wildly over, whilst everything ROH do is either NOT over in any way, or completely tone-deaf and unaware of what the crowd actually wants to see (or both). It was a strange sight seeing these lower ranking guys like Taguchi, Yano and Hashi get massive pops whilst some ROH guys were coming out to the sound of a crowd not even recognising who the hell they are. There were some genuinely great moments in here though. The utter love displayed by the entirety of MSG for Colt Cabana getting to enter was genuinely heart-warming and maybe even the highlight of the match for me. Muta appearing as a surprise, and going to the 'final two' had the building going wild. Suzuki getting to go long meant he popped up every now and then to do something really cool, such as his brutal exchange with Ishii (leading to by far the best elimination of the night). Even on the ROH side, I enjoyed the brief Titus/Ferrara reunion, and 3-S giving Burger the Kofi Kingston treatment. Ishii visibly dogging it and not giving a sh*t was rather comical as well. The point where he decided to just go and sit down in the corner had me in stitches! 

SIDENOTE - As I've said a few times now, ROH have very clearly earmarked Kenny King as one of 'their guys' in the aftermath of The Elite exodus. It isn't a decision made entirely without merit; he is athletic, he can work an assortment of styles competently and he's a better promo than most of the roster. But the problem is he is stone cold and ROH fans have never once bought into him as a top guy; not when Gabe brought him over from FIP, not when Pearce booked him, not when Delirious booked him,  not when Cornette booked him and not in TNA either. If they wanted to use this show as an opportunity to reignite interest in both him as a viable top tier performer and ROH as a promotion - forcing him down the throats of 15,000+ BTE/NJPW fans by going bell to bell, having him win not through skill but by being a chickensh*t asshole and doing that by f*cking over two legends who the entire building were marking out like crazy for is literally the WORST POSSIBLE thing to do. Nobody watched the end of this match and thought 'wow, I can't wait to see Kenny King get a World Title shot' or 'wow, I can't wait to see that no good Kenny King get his comeuppance'. This finish accomplished nothing more than making everyone think 'ROH sucks, I won't watch their product when NJPW aren't around'. And this probably doesn't even crack the top 5 of bad decisions ROH make with G1 Supercard! 

Unsurprisingly, the puro legends don't take King's actions kindly. Muta sprays Red Mist in his face and walks out. Liger looks like he wanted to get a Shotei in as well, but King had already hit the floor. In another touching moment, it means Jushin Liger is left alone in the ring - and receives a standing ovation. He bows to all four corners of the MSG ring...

The PPV opens with an exceptionally moving video package, with the stars of ROH and New Japan all giving their thoughts on wrestling in Madison Square Garden tonight. From there we go to a wide shot of the crowd (most of whom are chanting 'New Japan') and a big pyro display to kick us off.

Will Ospreay vs Jeff Cobb - NEVER Openweight Title vs ROH TV Title Match
Both men put their respective singles championships on the line here; Ospreay defending the NEVER Openweight Title he won from Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom, Cobb putting up the TV Title he has gone undefeated for since bulldozing through Punishment Martinez last summer. Ospreay made his only defence of the NEVER Openweight Title at Honor Rising 2019 weekend in Tokyo and defeated ROH's Dalton Castle. The following night he was able to pin Cobb clean in the middle of the ring; effectively earning a shot at the TV Title he held for 48 hours back in 2016. Can Cobb avenge his loss to the Aerial Assassin? 

Ospreay is confronted with the sight of Cobb charging at him full-force with a BRUTAL tackle into the turmbuckles. They quickly brawl to the floor where Will hurdles the guardrails and pings straight back with a PIP PIP CHEERIO OFF THE RAILS! SASUKE SPECIAL...CAUGHT! OSPREAY COUNTERS TO A DDT ON THE FLOOR! He tries another Pip Pip Cheerio back in only to be plucked out of the air by the Olympian and shunted to the top rope for a STALLING superplex. He then launches Ospreay high onto the air with a savage biel. Ospreay goes for a running rana, only for Jeff to overpower him...and when Ospreay then tries to counter that by leaping into the air Jeff simply hauls him down into a bearhug. Such a mind-blowing sequence, probably too intricate in scale for an arena the size of MSG to appreciate. Tour Of The Island set up COUNTERED to a handspring Pele Kick! He boots Jeff in the face again, then snaps his whole head back on Pip Pip Cheerio for 2. Kevin and Ian inform us that Jeff is wrestling through a broken nose sustained earlier in the weekend so all of those blows really rock him. Storm Breaker blocked, setting Cobb up for a massive fallaway slam. Samoan Drop/standing moonsault combo gets 2. Ospreay starts striking at Cobb's face again, then LARIATS HIM IN THE FACE! Jeff doesn't budge...so Ospreay hook kicks him as well. RAINHAM MAKER gets 2! Hidden Blade ducked...Tour Of The Islands...COUNTERED TO A CODE RED FOR 2! Jeff grabs the tights to stop him going for an OsCutter and DESTROYS the Aerial Assassin with a lariat. FROG SPLASH BY COBB...MISSES! Robinson Special nailed. OSCUTTER BLOCKED! Cobb throws Will at the turnbuckles...HE REBOUNDS STRAIGHT BACK WITH THE OSCUTTER! FOR 2! Storm Breaker attempted only for Cobb to haul himself to the ropes. Cheeky Nandos Kick instead! Cobb uses headbutts to block an avalanche Storm Breaker. AVALANCHE TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS AGAIN! COBB WINS! It's over at 12:52

Rating - **** - An outstanding start to the PPV portion of the show. If you consider this an ROH match (Cobb was contracted to ROH at the time, even if he was always very open about NJPW being his goal) then this may even be the highlight of the night from a Ring Of Honor perspective. I'm sure they could work a different, more elaborate and longer match if called upon - but that wasn't the ask here. Their goal was to get the place rocking with some high octane spots, counters and displays of power and they delivered in abundance. The opening was thrilling, some of the stuff they were doing in the middle even as the crowd died down a little was spectacular in its intricacy and ambition...and they pulled it together at the end with a stellar array of counters and false finishes. Cobb winning is important for ROH too. He remains undefeated in ROH rings (in the US anyway), and gets a huge win in MSG to protect his status as one of ROH's top stars. He actually dropped the NEVER belt immediately, less than a month later to Taichi back in Japan but that is besides the point. His win here marks a concession to ROH's needs from New Japan, which I recognise and appreciated.

Dalton Castle vs Rush
In a strange way this match has had as much build as almost any other on the ROH side of the card. Castle challenged Rush after his impressive win over Bandido at the 17th Anniversary and has confronted him again on TV and in Baltimore. The Party Peacock has acknowledged that his recent record in ROH is terrible; almost winless all year in fact. But he is so impressed by the undefeated El Toro Blanco that he knew he wanted to face Rush at G1 Supercard - and thinks ending Rush's streak in MSG is just want he needs to reignite his career.

Castle has a suitably elaborate, grand entrance for MSG which includes a fleet of Boys wheeling him out on a rainbow chariot and holding up enormous cardboard peacock feathers...then ticker tape cannons going off as he walks down the aisle. The 'behind the scenes' of that entrance on Dalton's YouTube channel is fascinating by the way. Rush has a new, non-CMLL branded Cary-tron video too. One of The Boys leave a stray feather-fan in the ring...which appears to distract Dalton. The bell rings and Rush DESTROYS him with REPEATED BULL'S HORNS! Rush wins in 00:15!

Rating - N/A - At the time this felt like really sensible booking. The show was always going to have a colossal run-time, so this undoubtedly saves a few minutes. At this point Castle is as much about character and his entrance as he is an in-ring performer...so letting him have a glorious, enlarged, theatrical entrance - before having him get killed by ROH's new 'star' makes a statement too. It was sudden, shocking and absolutely spectacular to see Dalton completely assassinated like this. Looking back and writing in 2021 I still think it was a smart piece of business. But when viewed against the back drop of everything else ROH did at G1 Supercard, I do think there is an argument to be made that this is a mistake. Rush is earmarked as one of ROH's big hopes in the post-AEW world. Here, on ROH's biggest platform, he is rushed out as an afterthought in a twenty second piece of theatre where is entirely eclipsed by the guy with the broken back who supposedly can't wrestle. If ROH had hit a home run with the rest of the show this would have been great. But with everything else sucking, barely getting your 'next World Champ' on the show at all feels a little like a missed opportunity. 

Dalton sinks to his knees in despair after suffering his most humiliating loss in MSG. The 'original' Boys (the Tate Twins) try to console him...but he viciously attacks them then walks out.

Blurry, frantic footage reveals that Juice Robinson has been attacked in the locker rooms and has been left unconscious by an unknown assailant.

Mayu Iwatani vs Kelly Klein - Women Of Honor World Title Match
The Stardom Icon defeated The Gatekeeper to take the WOH World Title to Japan back at Bound By Honor 2019. Some called it an upset, perhaps taking into account that Klein actually has victories over Iwatani on her record during tours with Stardom. But Mayu is one of the best in the world and she proved it with another win over Klein at the 17th Anniversary. That defeat left Kelly to do some soul-searching. She has one last shot at Mayu and has vowed not only to defeat her, but to them become the kind of honourable champion that the WOH division needs. Mandy Leon joins commentary (replacing Kevin Kelly) to see if she can deliver...

Fred Yehi is part of Camp Klein tonight, which seems insane. The guy is a better wrestler than most of the current ROH roster. It's entirely pointless since Kelly sends all of Camp Klein back to the locker room anyway to demonstrate that she wants to fight with honour. She and Mayu share a respectful handshake too. Iwatani comes out of the gates looking to use her speed and technical ability, but Klein raises a few eyebrows by keeping up with her. She punts Mayu's bad knee from under her and drops right into a sadistic surfboard using the grapevined legs for extra leverage. Samoan drop gets 2, and from that position she bars the bad leg again and starts delivering straight punches to the knee. Iwatani clings to a sleeper hold as much to defend herself as to damage her adversary. Klein stands up and smashes her way free, then catches Iwatani trying an ill-advised flying crossbody. The challenger delivers an emphatic fallaway slam. Mayu is in pain and recognises the need to hit something big. SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR NAILED! She got insane hang-time on that too! It is delivered with such force, with such a rough landing on her bad knee she can barely get back through the ropes...and Kelly profits by bashing her skull into the ringpost. Back in the ring she and Mayu bludgeon each other with elbow strikes - which they keep doing in their matches even though Kelly's always look SO bad compared to Iwatani. The champ tries a hurricanrana, and when Kelly tries to block it with a powerbomb Mayu counters again to hit a slightly ropey reverse rana for 2. Two Step Dragon Suplex COUNTERED TO A F*CKING HEAD DROP GERMAN! NO SOLD! KLEIN-LINE! Both women go down. Iwatani gets up first and hits a Dragon Suplex...and is devastated to see that Kelly lands in the ropes. MOONSAULT misses! Iwatani hobbles into another Klein-Line and lands on her head again. Diving powerbomb gets 2 for The Gatekeeper, followed by ROLLING K-Powers. Kelly wins back her WOH Championship at 10:38

Rating - ** - Some of the reviews of this match are pretty rough which is a shame, and in my opinion aren't entirely deserved. Unfortunately this MSG crowd weren't interested in the story they were telling, and having these two run through ten hard-fought but rather clumsy minutes wasn't the right call. There were times when they were on the right track. Iwatani is a phenomenal wrestler and the crowd were into her hitting big spots, or having her take whacky bumps to make Kelly's offence look like death. They should have concentrated on that, because nobody was buying the horrific strike exchanges and they definitely didn't give a sh*t about Kelly's rather aimless and irrelevant work on Iwatani's bad knee. I'm on record as saying that I think Mayu Iwatani is one of the best wrestlers in the world. I'm also on record as being more of a Kelly Klein apologist than many too. The fact that even I could barely relate to this tells you that they didn't produce their best work - which is a shame on such a big stage. I just wish ROH had better talents for Mayu to work with. Of their three ROH matches this is the worst, but it isn't at all offensive or problematic on its own. The 'problem' comes next though...

Cary Silkin presents Kelly with the WOH Title belt, whilst Sumie Sakai tries to revive the fallen Mayu Iwatani. Klein helps Mayu to her feet and shakes her hand before she leaves. Mandy Leon leaves commentary, having spotted Angelina Love and Velvet Sky striding down the aisle (which the production team miss like idiots). They hop into the ring with mischief in their eyes, with Mandy stepping into the ring seemingly to side with Kelly. Except she takes her shoe off and blasts Kelly in the head. They fight off Jenny Rose and Stella Grey, who try to defend Kelly...then Love, Sky and Leon brand Kelly with lipstick whilst taking selfies. Their trio is revealed as 'The Allure'. As you might expect, the crowd sh*t on this...

SIDENOTE - Again, if this was ROH's ONLY mis-fire of the evening, it wouldn't be that bad. I don't want to see the tired 'Beautiful People' act in ROH of course, but I do recognise that the WOH division is basically dead at this point with no name talent and nobody for Kelly to even face. Bringing in experienced, TV-ready hands like Velvet and Angelina isn't an appalling idea - particularly as they are using it to help develop Mandy too. The problem is that putting this on G1 Supercard was an awful idea. Running this angle in a building full of New Japan and BTE fans was always going to be a car crash. There is a TV taping next week - run this sh*t there. As with Kenny King at the Honor Rumble earlier, my big problem with the segment was that it completely failed to make me want to keep watching the ROH product. I don't want to 'tune in to see what happens next'. I'm just disappointed that ROH thought this was an appropriate stage for them to debut rip-off Beautiful People...

SIDENOTE - I read an interesting article, which seemed to imply that this angle was originally conceived for Madison Rayne when she was in the company, but she opted to duck out because ROH wanted Mandy to be included. That may all be internet chatter though...

Kevin Kelly returns to commentary and Caprice Coleman has joined the announce desk too - just in time for ROH to get Mega Ran out to terribly perform his song 'Going To The Garden' for the second PPV running. The crowd is BRUTAL...until once again Bully Ray comes out looking to silence this idiot. The segment just drags on and on, the crowd continue sh*tting on Mega Ran - which Bubba does nothing to stop even though he needs to be a f*cking heel in his match. Eventually he hits the guy with a metal chain until he leaves...meaning we can have our 'open challenge'. Bully gloats about what happened to Juice, meaning his challenge is still open - and it is answered by Flip Gordon! He has new music and gets a HUGE pop. The bell rings, he gets a few shots in on Bully...tries to use a kendo stick as a weapon, and is promptly taken out by Silas Young and Shane Taylor. Before they can do much damage, Lifeblood's music hits, bringing out Juice Robinson and Mark Haskins. Juice isn't selling any injury from that backstage attack, tows a dumpster full of weapons behind him and tells Todd Sinclair to make this is a 3-on-3 match...

Bully Ray/Shane Taylor/Silas Young vs Flip Gordon/Juice Robinson/Mark Haskins - Street Fight
Despite his claim to be the only man on either ROH or New Japan's roster to wrestle in MSG being completely false, it did give Bully such confidence that he decided to issue an open challenge for a Street Fight for tonight. But he made it no secret that the man he wanted to answer was Flip Gordon. Flip beat him in an 'I Quit' Match at Final Battle, avenging almost a full year of intimidation from Bully. It should have been the end of the issue for Flip, but he suffered a knee injury at Honor Reigns Supreme on ROH's first weekend of events in 2019 and hasn't been seen since. He was expected to miss this show after apparently re-injuring his knee in Europe and failing to make the final 'Road To G1 Supercard' show in Baltimore. In his absence, Juice Robinson accepted Bubba's challenge - as leader of the Lifeblood faction who have formed to fight the lawlessness and destruction left by Bubba and his allies Taylor, Silas and the Briscoes. It means everyone in this six-man is extremely motivated to inflict wanton punishment on the opposing team tonight...

Haskins rattles Silas' spine with a baking sheet as Juice rams the dumpster into Taylor's midsection. Bully powerbombs Flip to the ground and gets in Robinson's face...so Juice punches his lights out. Young gives Juice a CHAIR PLUNGE...only for Haskins to roll him into the Samoan Driver. Gordon escapes Greetings From 216 then joins forces with Mark to hit stereo tope suicidas. Bully cleans house with a kendo stick...and is joined by Silas and Shane also armed with kendo sticks. The trio surround Flip...who instructs them to do their worst. They take turns hitting BRUTAL kendo stick shots, which he does his best to no-sell even though his back is literally bleeding. Lifeblood finally return, arming their team with kendo sticks too. Kevin Kelly is humming Star Wars songs because he is f*cking awful, and before long they have Bubba in a 3-on-1 situation - prompting him to run away! Somehow he manages to fight all of them off, which is almost as dumb as Kevin Kelly on commentary. TRASH CAN KINDER SURPRISE INSTEAD, then a Pele Kick on Silas too. Taylor rattles his skull with a trash can to shut him down. Bubba perches on the top and instructs Shane and Silas to set a table up beneath him. They feed Flip to him for an AWESOMEBOMB through the table! Lifeblood ensure the match continues by crotching Bully into the ringpost. ANARCHIST SUPLEX THROUGH A CHAIR from Silas to Haskins! The Englishman fights back and hits a flying double stomp through two chairs on Silas...but barely has time to celebrate before Taylor gives him a POP-UP GREETINGS FROM 216! Shane props up a wooden pallet in the corner of the ring, but takes so long to do it that Juice has time to brain him with a trash can. CANNONBALL through the pallet by Juice! Flip canes the sh*t out of Bubba again, as Haskins heads upstairs to hit the Wassup Headbutt! SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASH by Flip, giving his team the win in circa fifteen minutes...

Rating - ** - My thoughts here will echo my thoughts following Rush/Dalton or Iwatani/Klein. If it was ROH's only mis-fire of the show, this would be tolerable. Once the six-man breaks out it's a fine, plunder-filled hardcore sprint. Nothing amazing, a waste of the talent involved and totally unnecessary considering Flip already had his big moment of redemption over Bully back at Final Battle. However, they produced some cool spots and Flip, Haskins, Juice, Silas and Taylor got to do their thing in MSG which I'm sure was a wonderful moment for them both personally and professionally. But why does this exist at all?! Why did ROH need to do the same Mega Ran/Bully segment that already sucked ass at the Anniversary Show?! I guarantee not a single person - not even Mega Ran's own family - tuned into G1 Supercard hoping to see more of Mega Ran and Bully Ray talking! It murdered the crowd, it meant that Bully was getting f*cking babyface reactions when he should have been trying to get heat, and it killed the audience meaning the five hard-working, deserving guys in the match got an 'MSG moment' which mostly consisted of taking big bumps to awkward silences and the crowd chanting for f*cking D-Von Dudley. No wonder Juice decided to go back to Japan after this garbage. And why the hell did they need to eat up more than twenty minutes of the show with this trash?! Cobb/Ospreay was a hell of an opener, but the last hour of the show has been one mishap after another from ROH which has completely stalled the show...

Taiji Ishimori vs Dragon Lee vs Bandido - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
Bullet Club's Ishimori challenged anyone from ROH to a title match for this show, but was surprised by CMLL's Dragon Lee answering instead. ROH's lucha sensation Bandido has also been inserted meaning we have three of the best junior heavyweights in the world, each representing a different promotion, coming together to do battle this evening. Lee apparently wants the title so he can be the first one to face old rival Hiromu Takahashi when he finally returns from his horrific neck injury. He even carries Hiromu's mask to the ring with him...

Lee and Bandido punt Ishimori to the floor so they can get us started with some lucha craziness. Bandido knocks Lee out and hits a RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Dragon gets up and hits a RUNNING RANA FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT OUTSIDE by Ishimori! Springboard knee almost sees Bandido fall to defeat, only for Dragon to break the count and hit a slingshot dropkick and the Bull's Horns on Ishimori. Incineration gets 2! X-KNEE by Bandido! Handspring roundhouse kick by the champ...who then rolls straight into a Ligerbomb from Lee for 2. Dragon tries a Ghetto Stomp...intercepted by a SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA BY BANDIDO! NO SOLD! MEXICAN DESTROYER from Lee to Ishi! 21-Plex blocked twice, so Bandido hits a POP-UP CUTTER on Ishimori instead. GHETTO STOMP from Lee to Bandido! Desnucadora countered by Ishimori, who gives him the Cipher Utaki for 2! Bloody Cross blocked by Bandido, who chases the champion up the ropes again. Dragon throws him side and trades blows with Ishi up there. It leaves Bandido to fight up from the bottom, muscling them both up for a DOUBLE REVOLUTION FLY! Desnucadora blocked again. INCINERATION! REVERSE RANA! DESNUCADORA! Lee wins and is the new IWGP Jr Champion at 08:54

Rating - *** - A crazy spot-fest which reinvigorated a crowd who were ready to see some serious action after a pretty poor hour on the ROH side of the card. It is a shame that we couldn't find more than nine minutes for three world class junior heavyweight wrestlers - barely any more time than f*cking Mega Ran got in the ring. They delivered the goods though. It wasn't all smooth, and I don't think the pacing was great in that the first five minutes was insane, before a lull over the next couple of minutes as everything got a little scrappy after which time they recovered and built up steam again for the finish. A lot of the biggest and most memorable moments came from Bandido, which is a good sign for ROH and another indication that he is someone they need to be putting at the front and centre of their product as 2019 continues.

Brody King/PCO vs Guerrillas Of Destiny vs EVIL/SANADA vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ROH Tag Title/IWGP Tag Title Match
This match was originally conceived at NJPW Honor Rising when then-ROH Tag Champions challenged the GOD to a title vs title match in the aftermath of the Guerrillas defeating LIJ's EVIL & SANADA to get the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Championship back. A spanner was thrown into the works when the Briscoes lost the Tag Titles to Brody and PCO of Villain Enterprises in a bloody brawl at the 17th Anniversary Show. It was decided that the title vs title concept would remain, but instead as a four corner match involving both current and former champion teams. There are some big dudes and some ferocious rivalries all cluttered together in the ring here, meaning chaos could ensue...

PCO gets a special entrance featuring Destro, car batteries, pyro and an electric chair. It's all a bit silly but the crowd really seems to dig it. The Briscoes jump both he and his partner when they finally back it to the ring, except PCO ignores them and hits a TOPE CON HILO! LIJ and GOD are more than happy to brawl on the floor, until eventually the Villains and the Guerrillas charge into the ring to fight each other. The Briscoes stop that quickly and bludgeon Brody and PCO against the guardrails. Jado threatens Sanada with a kendo stick so he turns and puts Loa in the Paradise Lock instead. Mark hits Evil with a Pele Kick and is then joined by his brother for a double tackle on Sanada. They try the same move on Brody only for him to dive at both of them with a double crossbody block. RUNNING RANA from King to Tanga, setting up a hanging cannonball in the ropes. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR by the big man! Not to be out-done, Mark heads upstairs and launches himself into the corkscrew senton to the floor as well. He follows that with the Blockbuster off the apron to wipe Loa out. Day One Neckbreaker blocked by Tonga, only for him to be sent outside by Sanada. Evil NAILS Tama with a chair as referee Tiger Hattori has his attention diverted elsewhere. LIJ Magic Killer blocked, with a JAY DRILLER on Sanada! Froggy Bow nailed...but Brody breaks the pin. APRON CHOKESLAM from King to Mark! He orders PCO upstairs. CANNONBALL SENTON TO THE APRON NAILED! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ROH! GONZO BOMB! PCO-SAULT! GOD dive in simultaneously to break the pin; Tanga mowing King down with a Spear. The Guerillas scoop up PCO and give him a f*cking DOUBLE POWERBOMB OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR! HOLY SH*T! AND PCO SITS THE F*CK UP! MSG goes ape-shit for that, and Brody marches in to counter the Gun Stun with a German suplex on Tama. Jado cracks Brody with a kendo stick, feeding him into the Gun Stun. SUPER powerbomb! Guerrillas pin Brody to take home all the belts at 09:53

Rating - *** - In 2019 I was stunned by the idiotic scenes in the aftermath (which we'll get to momentarily) and so disappointed that the Briscoes were nothing more than after-thoughts in an undercard multi-man filler tag at G1 Supercard having spent their whole careers beating their bodies into the ground for Ring Of Honor. Those emotions actually blinded me to how good this match itself actually was. It was essentially a 'heavyweight tag battle' version of the juniors match that came before it - in the sense that they didn't get long so just went full-throttle with insane spots from start to finish. In fact, the pacing here was better than Ishimori/Lee/Bandido - centred around PCO who was the most over guy in the match by a mile. I loved that they paid off that apron cannonball spot he's been doing for months...only to up the violence ante for MSG with Tonga and Loa almost murdering him with that powerbomb to the floor instead. In all honesty I'd rather Delirious had saved the Villains/Briscoes title change, just let the Briscoes and the Guerrillas beat the sh*t out of each other here, then slotted Brody, PCO, EVIL & SANADA into the Honor Rumble to up the star-power there instead. But as a ten minute, four-team heavyweight slug out this had real charm that I just hadn't appreciated on first viewing...

As GOD celebrate their victory we get a brief glimpse of Enzo Amore and Big Cass jumping the guardrail and getting into a fight with the Briscoes (and Bully Ray). In an effort to make it seem like a 'shoot' the commentators refuse to acknowledge their presence, and instead talk about Toru Yano sneaking down to the ring and stealing GOD's IWGP Tag Title belts. The dumbest part about it is that we see almost none of the actual brawl. Enzo was on screen for a few seconds, same for Big Cass. I understand wanting to make it look like a shoot...but when you're trying to 'work the fans' at the expense of actually showing them the f*cking angle, what is the point? Instead we have to listen to the commentators chat sh*t, try to ignore how irresponsibly moronic the whole deal is with smirks on their faces, alongside a procession of graphics and crowd shots.

SIDENOTE - Unlike some of ROH's other mistakes at G1 Supercard, this idea was so clearly dumb as sh*t that I can't believe they went ahead with it. There is no defending it nor is there any logic you can use to explain it away. If they seriously wanted to use Enzo and Cass, which is a questionable decision to put it generously, why the f*ck did they think this was the way to do it? Everyone thought Enzo was a massive prick after his stunt at Survivor Series. Nobody who saw or read about that thought they wanted to see an indy company recreate it as an angle - let alone on the biggest stage that indy company will most likely ever have. It came off as dumb, it took even more attention away from the Briscoes (who won't get to wrestle at MSG again unless they leave ROH) and accomplished nothing. Yet again tonight, this angle didn't have me thinking 'I want to see more'. It had me thinking that ROH's booking is a complete atrocity and they are outright embarrassing themselves on their biggest show ever - and I am FAR from alone with that line of thinking. Even worse, the rumour is that this caused a diplomatic issue with the NJPW office as ROH officials hadn't told them it was happening...and they reportedly thought it was bullsh*t too! To reiterate; ROH are performing to a massive audience and an MSG sell-out as the final gift given to them by The Elite and the final fruits of the NJPW relationship. How could they think this was in any way appropriate for a building full of NJPW/BTE fans?! Different stakeholders have given different versions of events, different people have been cited as responsible for this mess and different reasons given for why the fall-out was so toxic...but for whatever reason, this angle was so poorly received it was immediately dropped. Enzo and Cass have subsequently said in interviews that ROH ghosted them in the aftermath

Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match
RevPro are also part of this cross-promotional, international alliance also featuring ROH, CMLL, NJPW and Stardom. Zack is their reigning British Heavyweight Champion; a belt he captured from Tomohiro Ishii at Wrestle Kingdom. New Japan have started getting behind ZSJ in a major way, and some would suggest that started a year ago when Zack won the 2018 New Japan Cup...defeating 'The Ace' Tanahashi in the finals. Since then he has regularly pushed the biggest stars to the limit; coming close to tapping Okada out and defeating the likes of Ishii at NJPW's biggest show. Now he steps into MSG as a proud British wrestler carrying a British Heavyweight Championship and looks to defend it with another high profile win against one of the most successful and beloved wrestlers in the history of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Tanahashi is still in a funk after losing the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Jay White back in February...

Taka Michinoku's hype speech is more over than most of ROH's roster! As he conducts his pre-match festivities Zack strolls up to Tanahashi and pie-faces him! Zack looks amped to be in MSG and eagerly goes to work trading holds with the Ace. For a second time he disrespectfully pie-faces Tana - this time the veteran reacts angrily and decks him with an uppercut. Sabre counters an elbow drop into an armbar instead, sending Tanahashi scurrying to the ropes. Zack starts attacking the arm, manipulating the joints and stomping the limb into the canvas. With Tana down, ZSJ starts flicking at him with disrespectful little kicks. Tanahashi tries to skin the cat back into the ring...but lets go to sell his arm and gets slapped into a HANGING ARMBAR! Tanahashi is desperate, and with nothing else to lose he propels his ailing body into a dropkick to the knee. Arm-selling somersault senton gets 2, and he tries to unleash the Texas Cloverleaf - but can't because of the arm. The Sling Blade is set-up...but Zack looks to counter it by grabbing the arm and going for an abdominal stretch. Tana escapes with a pumphandle slam...so once again Sabre climbs on the ropes and uses them for leverage on another arm submission. COUNTERED to a hanging dragon screw by Tanahashi! Texas Cloverleaf, but he can't maintain it and Sabre Jr converts to a triangle choke! Tanahashi POWERS out and back to the Cloverleaf! Taka looks frantic with worry on the outside and urges his charge to the ropes as quickly as he can. INVERTED Sling Blade...but it doesn't do enough damage and Sabre chases him up the ropes before he can look for the High Fly Flow. ARM STUNNER to pull Tana from the top! Tanahashi tries another dragon screw, but this time Zack simply steps through it into a bridging pin for 2. Zack Driver blocked into a bridging pin by Tanahashi! Sabre counters...so Tanahashi dragon screws the sh*t out of his leg. European Clutch gets 2, but Tanahashi stands up into ROLLING Twist & Shouts! Sling Blade scores for 2. The champion fights the Dragon Suplex, and then traps Tanahashi in an INSANE submission, with elements of the Hurrah!, but with the legs all tied up as well. It looks disgusting and Tana has to submit (verbally since his limbs are all being ripped out of their sockets) at 15:13

Rating - **** - Watching the show live I really enjoyed this match, and it really holds up to a second viewing. Where it really stands out from the rest of the card is that this is one of the few matches on the card where you felt like the wrestlers were working within themselves. This wasn't the absolute pinnacle of performance from either Tanahashi or ZSJ. But these two are so good that they can work an outright fantastic match, pitched perfectly for their spot in the show, without going ballistic with false finishes and without throwing out every move and high spot they've ever utilised. It was a beautiful match to watch; Sabre's intricate touches and tricks meshed brilliantly with the tenacity and fire of the beloved Ace. Tanahashi's selling of the arm was really consistent, meaning the audience genuinely felt he was in peril. It felt like big chunks of the crowd were screaming in horror as Zack tied him in knots for that climactic submission hold. Simple, uncomplicated and of the highest quality - a real pallet cleanser after some of the trash on ROH's half of the card tonight...

Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi - IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
A simple video package frames this match nicely. It touches on some of the batsh*t crazy matches they've had with each other in the past, and they each discuss how they enjoy the rivalry they have with each other. Ibushi defeated Naito during the New Japan Cup, but this time the IWGP IC Title is on the line; a belt which Naito defeated Chris Jericho for at Wrestle Kingdom. The leader of LIJ talks about wanting to become both IC and Heavyweight Champion at the same time, whilst Ibushi (who coincidentally signed his first contract with NJPW around this time, ending a prolonged period as a freelancer) talks about the reverence with which he views the IC belt due to the reigns of Tanahashi and Nakamura. Everyone promises they will be bringing their craziest antics yet to New York City...

Naito gets the biggest pop of the night so far; a prolonged roar which competes with the thumping beat of his entrance music. By the time the bell rings fans are chanting 'holy sh*t'! As you might expect, the big stage hasn't drastically altered Naito's approach early - he stalls, takes his time and postures; trying to get a reaction out of Ibushi. When they finally do lock up, we get a flurry of activity...but it ultimately ends in a stalemate with Naito on the ground pulling a Tranquilo pose. Kota knows he needs a fast pace and almost has a smile on his face as he snaps the champion to the ground with a rana. Naito responds by tripping him on the apron and emphatically dropkicking him to the floor. He tries to finish the match early with a brutal attack on the challenger against the guardrails, with such ferocity that Kota actually ends up in the laps of the front row fans (who duly help him back so the match can continue). The match continues in the ring where LIJ's leader can slow the pace and start to break the challenger down. Kota responds with rapid-fire strikes and a standing moonsault; a glimpse of the fire power in his arsenal if the champion can't keep him down. He duly does that by leapfrogging Ibushi face-first into the turnbuckles then putting a boot through his face. Ibushi bumped that right on his neck - which Naito spotted and he duly follows it with a couple of falling neckbreakers over the knee. Naito looks for a frankensteiner, but Ibushi squirms away and hits a PELE KICK TO THE ASS! Naito blocks the springboard German suplex...but in return Ibushi blocks Naito trying to spike him on the apron. JUMPING HURRICANRANA FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR by Ibushi! He isn't content with that and delivers a vicious springboard double stomp back into the ring for a two-count. Naito strikes at the neck and spikes him with a tornado DDT to kill his momentum. Frankensteiner wrenches the neck again, followed by a BRUTAL Gloria for 2. Kota rallies, fighting the inevitable march to Destino and clobbering the champion with a lariat. The champ crawls to the apron, and Ibushi's eyes widen with glee. SPRINGBOARD SPIKE GERMAN SUPERPLEX GETS 2! Not content there, Ibushi drops Naito on his head again with a straightjacket German. Kamigoye blocked...and Naito CRADLE TOMBSTONES HIM ON HIS NECK! That looked disgusting, to such an extent that it wasn't actually that spectacular visually - the guy pretty much just crumpled Ibushi in half! Both men have taken some horrific bumps and are the worse for wear - but from their knees keep throwing strikes and SMILING! Naito spits at Kota...who's eyes glaze over in rage before he palm strikes the f*ck out of him. NECK DROP REVERSE RANA! IBUSHI GETS UP! DESTINOOOOOOO! IBUSHI KICKS OUT! Destino again...countered with a roundhouse kick to the skull. BOMAYE BY IBUSHI! GETS 2! LAST RIDE! NAITO KICKS AGAIN! KAMIGOYE NAILED! IBUSHI WINS! New champion at 20:53

Rating - ****1/2 - Watching this live (and you need to remember, I'm in the UK so it was LATE by this point) this felt like the showstealer. Some of the subsequent reviews I've read weren't quite so complimentary so I wasn't sure to expect...but these guys blew me away for a second time. It is easy to get lost in the whirlwind of overblown false finishes and insane neck bumps, but there is a REALLY smart wrestling match in here too. Naito running through all his usual tricks and posturing made sense here; he wasn't doing it because it is his gimmick, he was doing it to get a rise out of Ibushi, the man he wants to avenge a recent loss to and an opponent he has openly spoken about his enjoyment wrestling. Remember, a part of the build up for this was that these guys LIKE doing crazy spots with each other. They weren't doing neck bumps just to pop a crowd, they actively enjoy a level of competition so intense that you have to try to murder your opponent. Kota's fighting spirit meant he shook off Naito's attack on his neck, he stole a spot from Nakamura (a man he described as 'God' in the pre-match video) to get ahead, then brutalised Naito with a savage finishing sequence. On this night Kota was crazier, he was better...and he leaves MSG with his arm raised. If you view this as an ROH show, this version of Naito was completely unrecognisable from the guy who usually shows up to work in a t-shirt and dog all his matches during War Of The Worlds Tours...

Kevin Kelly and Caprice Coleman leave commentary, with Nick Aldis replacing them alongside Riccaboni and Cabana. 'The National Treasure' is once again scouting Marty ahead of their NWA Title Match at The Crockett Cup. He is routing for The Villain to win not only because they are friends, but because he wants the title vs title match that Cody once promised him for All In...

Jay Lethal vs Matt Taven vs Marty Scurll - ROH World Title Ladder Match
This is Ring Of Honor's G1 Supercard main event, and they've thrown everything at it. We'll see three of the top stars in the company compete for the World Championship, and we'll be going to a stipulation Sinclair-owned ROH now throw about with increasing regularity - the Ladder Match. At 17th Anniversary Jay Lethal looked to shut down the challenge of the self-proclaimed 'Real World Champion' Matt Taven...with The Villain, #1 contender after winning Survival Of The Fittest 2018, waiting in the wings for the winner at Madison Square Garden. But plans change and this time alterations were forced by the quite stunning one hour time-limit draw between Lethal and Taven. Lethal couldn't beat Taven (albeit Matt had help from the rest of The Kingdom), he couldn't deny Taven's claim to be the 'Real World Champion'...leading to a situation where both Taven and Scurll felt they had legitimate title claims for G1 Supercard. The Franchise posed the triple threat Ladder Match as his solution. Will the New Jersey native, who has risen from the absolute bottom of the card (as a Special K extra back in 2002) to carry the World Title into MSG, reign supreme? Will The Villain, the last remaining member of The Elite who many argue delivered this capacity crowd, ascend to the throne? Or is that spot reserved for the coronation of a 'King' in Taven? 

Scurll gets a colossal pop. Not as sustained as Naito's, but it is loud and tells you all you need to know about who the crowd want to win. Taven gets a slightly pointless pianist beefing up his theme for his super special entranced. The bell rings and The Villain scurries straight to the floor looking for a ladder whilst Lethal and Taven lose their tempers and start striking each other. Jay tries to intercept Marty and the ladder...and as they jostle over it, Matt runs up for an AIR TAVEN THROUGH THE LADDER, wiping out both of them. Lethal is up first and lands the hiptoss/dropkick combo on the floor. Scurll is up next and delivers a tornado DDT from the apron to the floor as well, before filling the ring with ladders. He throws Taven into said ladders over and over again...but runs at Jay soon after only to find The Franchise poised to BACK DROP him through a ladder. Lethal then lifts a ladder into the air and HEAVES it over the top rope at Matt as he lies prone on the outside. Scurll tree of woe's Lethal with his head in a ladder...then HAMMERS the ladder with a steel chair. The Villain sets a ladder up, then grabs his umbrella to hook the belt down with far less climbing involved! Unfortunately we don't get enough of him trying to hook it before Taven blasts him with a superkick. LADDER-ENFORCED JUST THE TIP on Lethal! Apron Superkick by Marty. He tries to climb the ladder, but Lethal intercepts him with a HANGING FIGURE 4 ON THE LADDER! He only lets go because Matt tries to climb past both of them for the belt too. Scurll is now carrying a leg injury, and as he tries to hurdle onto the apron again Jay lies in wait to give him a CUTTER ON THE APRON! POWERBOMB THROUGH A LADDER ON THE FLOOR from Taven to Lethal! Scurll makes another dash for the belt but finds his leg so injured he can barely climb; a clear hindrance in a Ladder Match. Leg-selling 619 rocks Taven...who turns around and blocks the Chickenwing with a low blow. MSG f*cking hates that! Marty responds by stomping Matt's hand in the rungs of a ladder! Finger Snap COUNTERED to a rolling neckbreaker through a ladder! He thinks about a Frog Splash off the ladder...but Scurll chases him and hits a SUPERPLEX OFF THE LADDER! Lethal Injection COUNTERED to the Chickenwing! 

Jay escapes it by throwing both of their bodies through a ladder - which looked f*cking awesome! The champ climbs for his belt and gets fingertips on the gold. Out of nowhere Marty appears behind him! CHICKENWING AT THE TOP OF THE LADDER! Lethal tumbles off the ladder to escape, but Taven clambers up trying to reach the belt. FINGER SNAP blocks it! Lethal clubs Marty's bad knee with a chair to send him packing, as Taven plummets nursing his now-injured hands. Lethal Combination THROUGH A LADDER! He tries to impale The Villain with a ladder, but ends up creating a demented ladder 'x' structure as Marty moves. Scurll grabs Taven...GOURDBUSTER THROUGH THE LADDERS! LETHAL INJECTION! The champion has a window to win, but can't get the 'x' ladders separated to climb...and in tossing them out of the ring they ricochet over the guardrail and clobber a front row fan! That in itself is SO 2019 ROH! When he tries to get a new ladder Marty hoists him up for a BRAINBUSTER ON THE FLOOR! Scurll doesn't see Taven coming as he SPEARS SCURLL OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE TABLE! Of course both men are wrecked after that, and Lethal swoops - draping Taven over another table on the floor. The Franchise finds a mega-ladder, opens it up on the floor and starts to climb! HAIL TO THE KING...OFF THE LADDER THROUGH THE TABLE TO THE FLOOR! With everyone else down, the crowd rises to their feet in anticipation as Scurll has a clear run to the belt. His knee means he can't climb before Lethal recovers. They battle on the ladder as Taven hauls out a MASSIVE purple ladder from under the ring! Not content with that, Scurll and Lethal grab ladders and bridge them between the purple ladder rungs and the ring ropes to make platforms. Taven grabs Marty's leg and rips him down, crashing through one ladder platform on the way. It's a straight race between Taven and Lethal to the gold. Taven grabs the belt as it swings and uses it to SMASH LETHAL THROUGH A LADDER PLATFORM! TAVEN WINS! Matt Taven is the new ROH Champion at 29:35!

Rating - **** - I do think the ill-fated trajectory of Matt Taven's World Title reign has caused people to forget that this is a really great match. It is violent, there were some fun set-piece spots and Scurll's entire performance - from having a knee injury making it harder to climb the ladder to some of the clever ways he incorporated his signature spots into a Ladder Match environment - was incredibly innovative. It could have done with five minutes cut from the run-time and felt like it peaked with Lethal's big elbow drop off the ladder on the floor. The crowd were HOT for that and thought they were going to see Scurll win the belt (more on that in my sidenote to follow), then kind of died when they trundled on for another few minutes. The Young Bucks have been in most of ROH's recent Ladder Matches, meaning most of them were all very much suited to the Young Buck 'style'. What these three did extremely well was take it away from the elaborately choreographed multi-man stunts the Bucks favour, and back into a more aggressive, visceral, brutal realm. Such was the level of intensity and danger here that even the crowd weren't safe!

SIDENOTE - I have to pass comment on Matt Taven's win. I've criticised Delirious/Sinclair/ROH's booking a lot in recent years, and even I'm struggling to think of a more bewildering, miscalculated and woeful booking error than putting the belt on him here. I don't say that as someone who is anti-Taven, or even against the idea of him being World Champion. Follow my reviews right back to his very first matches and you'll see me speaking about his potential and that I like his work. But on THIS night, on this show, in this building, in this city, on this platform with more eyes watching ROH than possibly ever will again...it was a shockingly bad decision to have him win. Unfathomably few people really wanted a Taven victory here - not in a 'he'll get nuclear heat if we put him over way'...but in a 'surely ROH wouldn't be stupid enough to use their biggest show ever to complete Project Taven'? But they were and it remains inexcusable even in 2021. This was a show sold out by Elite fans. Not only are they disappointed by the BTE cast running their contracts down and leaving, you're going to troll them all again by having the one cast-member left standing (Scurll) NOT win? Even if the long-term plan was putting the belt on Taven, this was clearly not the night to do it. You had ten thousand plus people ready to see Marty Scurll win. He was by far the most over guy in the match, his reaction got probably the biggest pop of every ROH-contracted performer on the show, and the way everyone rose to their feet in anticipation when Taven and Lethal had their big table bump on the floor clearly demonstrated the result they WANTED to see. 

At the time, justification was thrown around like 'Marty will leave as soon as his contract is up'. And, writing in 2021 means we have to acknowledge that the subsequent 'Speaking Out' movement revelations against Scurll have given this booking f*ck up a convenient 'out' since it is now useful that Scurll isn't on the championship lineage. Neither of those excuses wash with me though. Taven's contract ran out before Scurll's. Even if ROH knew he was staying and Marty was leaving, they had enough dates with him. They could have put the belt on Marty here, then had him drop it to Taven on another night, when they aren't going to piss off 15,000 fans and the biggest global audience they'll ever have. And if not Scurll - LETHAL was a better choice to win here than Taven. ROH have been over-hyping Lethal for months. They've nicknamed him 'The Franchise', they've given him phony, filler title defences which mean jack sh*t in an effort to pad his legacy and promote the fallacy that his status is in any way comparable to the likes of Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson or Nigel McGuinness. If ROH really did care about making Lethal 'the greatest ROH Champion ever' - this was the night; have him win. He is relatively local, so would get an amount of 'home town' support. He pins nobody meaning you don't burn singles rematches (and Taven can still claim to not have been pinned by him), and you make him the only man in ROH history to defend the belt at MSG...before putting the belt on Taven down the line when, again, they aren't going to piss off 15,000 fans and the biggest global audience they'll ever have. Using this night to make Taven World Champion was a catastrophic choice. The sight of him standing on that ghastly purple ladder in Madison Square Garden, holding the ROH Championship belt, is synonymous with the total, abject and all encompassing failure that became Ring Of Honor in 2019. It killed the company from a business standpoint, and no matter how hard he worked (and I will defend Taven's body of work as champion because he busted his f*cking ass), it KILLED Matt Taven as a viable World Champion from the outset. 

Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada - IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
There is a lot of bitter history between these two men. White was summoned back from his successful 2016/17 excursion with ROH to become part of Okada's CHAOS faction. He enjoyed success within the group, but finally betrayed then Rainmaker by aligning with his manager Gedo and joining Bullet Club. Switchblade defeated Okada clean at Wrestle Kingdom, and went on to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi in February to become the youngest ever gaijin IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Okada won the 2019 New Japan Cup to earn this opportunity and knows what awaits him here. Can he overcome his bitter rival and former stable-mate. History awaits him; ascension to the position of the true ace of New Japan if he can once again take the top prize, on a most famous and historic night in Madison Square Garden...

Okada gets thunderous chants as the bell rings, so the champion rolls out of the ring and stalls to piss the crowd off. When he finally locks up, Okada easily backs him to the ropes, before letting him go to make a statement. Gedo's presence distracts him though, allowing Jay to haul to the ground. The crowd jeer him as he smugly works headlocks; both to wind them up and wear Okada down. The challenger escapes and hits a neckbreaker...so once again White leaves the ring. This time Okada gives chase though, and delivers a big boot with such force that the champ slumps over the guardrails. Gedo appears again, distracting Okada for just long enough for White to shunt him against the ringpost then hit a JUDO SUPLEX into the barricades! Already struggling to breathe, Okada returns to the ring only to be catapulted throat-first into the bottom rope. Almost on autopilot Okada attempts a DDT but finds White able to effortlessly counter it to one of his own. Flapjack connects though and leaves both men on the canvas at the ten minute mark. DDT follows for the challenger as he finally starts getting his routines going and inflicting some damage on White. Big Dropkick clobbers Jay from the ropes to the floor - injuring the champ and buying Okada more precious seconds of recovery time. For a second time he socks White in the mouth with a boot, and for a second time Gedo gets involved to try to help! This time Okada tosses him over the barriers after White...GUARDRAIL HURDLING DIVE INTO THE CROWD SCORES! Back in the ring, Kelly notes that this match has already gone longer than Wrestle Kingdom. Reverse Neckbreaker blocked...BACK DROP DRIVER by Switchblade! Blade Buster gets 2. Okada absorbs those blows and retaliates with the Reverse Neckbreaker...but again collapses to the ground feeling the adverse affects of this gruelling encounter. 

Tombstone blocked, with White again running away from his opponent - far more protect himself than aggravate the crowd now though. As he hides in the corner Okada propels his entire body at him with a shotgun dropkick. Diving elbow drop from the top nailed, leaving Jay in position for the finish...so he sits on his ass with a smile on his face to evade the Rainmaker! He lures Okada in then drops him with a flatliner and a dead-lift German suplex. Blade Runner blocked so White hits a Judo DDT into the turnbuckles and the urinage suplex instead for 2. Kiwi Crusher blocked, referencing his ROH tenure, so instead he hits a SAITO SUPLEX OVER THE TOP ROPE! KIWI CRUSHER gets 2! The champ is dominating now, and it is a genuine surprise when Okada scoops him out of nowhere for the Tombstone Piledriver. Gradually they return to their feet, laying into each other with big strikes. White again has Okada's number, evading the dropkick and chopping him so hard that his chest is practically bleeding. Dropkick nailed anyway! Gedo hops onto the apron in the nick of time to prevent the Rainmaker. SLEEPER SUPLEX by White! Blade Runner blocked...Tombstone blocked...so Okada dropkicks the back of the head. DISCUS LARIAT! RAINMAKER! GETS 2! Fans were so convinced that was the finish they'd already started throwing streamers. BLADE RUNNER! BOTH MEN DOWN! Their eyes are rolling around in their heads, their bodies have to be propped up against each other just so they don't collapse...and still they are smashing the sh*t out of each other. Jay runs out of gas first; falling to his knees after Okada slaps him in the face. Gedo again interferes...setting White up for a low blow! Blade Runner COUNTERED to a German suplex. Rainmaker blocked...Blade Runner blocked! White keeps fighting...so Okada LARIATS THE F*CK OUT OF HIM! RAINMAKER COUNTERED! SPINNING TOMBSTONE INSTEAD! RAAAAIINMAKEEEEEEER! Okada wins at 31:49

Rating - **** - This was a lot better than I remembered from my live viewing, although to again reiterate that it was obscenely late/early in the morning here in the UK by this point. Like the ROH Title Match, it probably could have done with having five minutes shaved off the run-time, and by the end the frequency of the Gedo interference spots became an irritant...but there is a lot of great stuff to be found. For one thing, I didn't realise quite how lively the crowd were. I remembered them being quite sullen for the first half - but didn't pick up on that so much here. White's style means the pace is slower, but he is getting legitimate heat - and everything they do fuels the narrative that Switchblade has Okada's number. You have to go deep into the match before you see Okada really 'on top' and truly the aggressor - setting him on course for victory. Before that (and with a few assists from Gedo), White delivers a dominant display. He toys with the fans, he batters the challenger and limits Okada only to small bursts of offence. When they finally came - and you knew they would - some of the teases and counters in the last few minutes were outstanding. For most of the last two or three minutes you felt like the end could come at any point. We end G1 Supercard, fittingly, with New Japan's top star restored to his throne and standing triumphant inside a truly iconic venue. 

Tape Rating - **** - So much has been written about this show that there isn't much more I can add, so instead I'll largely talk about what G1 Supercard meant to me as a fan of Ring Of Honor and someone who has been producing online content on ROH shows since 2002. But first and foremost one really should point out that this is a really f*cking good show. It's long, and as the great Larry Csonka put it - it's a 'tale of two shows'...but it holds up. The last two hours (i.e. from ZSJ/Tanahashi onwards) provide a truly exceptional sequence of matches, Cobb/Ospreay is a phenomenal opener and even the filler Junior Title and Tag Title Matches are solid light entertainment. But, when I closed my laptop after my live viewing of this show back in 2019 (probably with dawn about to break in the UK) my overwhelming thought was that I felt 'done' with ROH. Not necessarily angry, or even disappointed, but I ended this show with the realisation that this promotion, that I started following as sixteen year old kid back in 2002, wasn't for me anymore. One cannot deny that ROH tried a LOT of sh*t with this show, and really did try to utilise this one-in-a-lifetime platform. But the choices they made felt so utterly awful and so completely out of keeping with my values, likes and interests as a professional wrestling fan. I truly thought I'd catch my review series up then end it with final review of ROH in MSG - having followed them from the UK since the Murphy Rec days. 

In the subsequent days/weeks after G1 Supercard I stopped following ROH altogether; not watching anything and barely reading any news/results. I did dip my toes back in on occasion, checking out Manhattan Mayhem 8, Summer Supercard, Final Battle 2019 and Free Enterprise in early 2020. I also attended Honor United 2019 in London, with a dismally small crowd for York Hall. All were shows I thought had varying degrees of success but didn't provide much to entice me back permanently. The honest truth is that G1 Supercard had such a profoundly damaging impact on me as a fan of ROH that I didn't start regularly watching again until the post-pandemic Pure Tournament in the second half of 2020. That statement feels like a fitting place to end this review. As a wrestling show G1 Supercard is superb; we got some great matches, with the New Japan half of the card delivering an authentic 'supercard' experience. But as an ROH fan of 17 years - more than half of my life at that point - it was such an ugly experience it came close to driving me away permanently...

Top 3 Matches
3) Jay Lethal vs Matt Taven vs Marty Scurll (****)
2) Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada (****)
1) Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi (****1/2)

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