McXal's Reviews

In many ways G1 Supercard marked the pinnacle of the ROH/NJPW relationship. The pinnacle in the sense that they sold out MSG together, and the pinnacle in the sense that the show appears to have solidified New Japan's resolve that they were able to pursue their North American interests alone and without the level of partnership with Ring Of Honor that they'd previously leveraged. That is certainly reflected in the quality of talent they sent over for the 2019 War Of The Worlds Tour. Gone are the days where we see Okada, Tanahashi, Naito and their ilk; this year NJPW send the 'New Japan Dads' Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata, midcard acts like Hirooki Goto, EVIL & SANADA, plus the reigning ROH Tag Champions Guerrillas Of Destiny (alongside Hikuleo). The cards are decent, and I'm genuinely more interested in watching Nagata in an ROH ring than I am watching Okada, Naito and Tanahashi half-ass it yet again - but in terms of prestige and star power it is hard to deny that the 2019 War Of The Worlds line-up is a substantial step down from previous iterations of the tour. We begin this evening with an intriguing card, headlined by a Flip Gordon vs Bandido clash which we should have seen during the Road To G1 Supercard Tour but got delayed due to Flip's injury. Beneath that Jeff Cobb teams with the aforementioned NJPW veterans to challenge Villain Enterprises for the Six-Man Championship, whilst the Guerrillas Of Destiny defend the Tag Titles against #1 contenders Jay Lethal and Jon Gresham. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are on commentary in Buffalo, NY.

I forgot to mention in my intro paragraph that the NJPW US Dojo kids are here again for the tour. First through the curtain is Coughlin, presented with the opportunity to produce a major upset if he can overcome the veteran 'Darewolf'. Black has apparently taken inspiration from Lifeblood and now wants to fight with honour...but that won't mean his generosity will extend to lying down for this hungry youngster. He'll want to produce an emphatic victory to move up the card himself...

Coughlin relishes the chance to show his grasp of the fundamentals, working back and forth with Black in the opening minutes. PJ is impressed and applauds the youngster after coming off worst on the mat, but duly shows his experience, creates some distance and starts taking Alex off his feet with ease. Coughlin decides to trade strikes with Black, where he shows plenty of fire but loses his focus and finds himself picked off by the veteran. Black repeatedly drops him on his back and neck - but does grow frustrated as the LA Dojo student repeatedly gets back up and starts throwing strikes again. Coughlin rolls through a sunset flip by PJ and hits a Karelin-lift suplex for 2. He tries to follow with the Lion Tamer submission that is the calling card of the NJPW LA Dojo kids, only for Black to easily dust it off. Superkick almost takes Coughlin's head off and PJ hits the moonsault double stomp ('The Wildness') to cement the victory at 07:25

Rating - ** - I can't fault the intensity or the ferocity of some of the striking on display here. However, without wanting to sound like a killjoy, I don't watch Ring Of Honor to see New Japan's US Young Lions get some in-ring seasoning. This was flat and felt like such a dour, unexciting way to start the show. New Japan should be using their own US shows for stuff like this.

So is Klein now back to defending the WOH Title in every match she has? If so that blows. But then again, Carney is making her ROH debut here so getting a title shot in your first match sucks pretty hard as well. According to Cagematch (which is by no means an exhaustive resource, great as it is) at time of writing Carney hasn't worked anywhere since late-2019, but up to this point had done some work in places like RISE, SHIMMER and some other places where you wouldn't expect her to get a look if she wasn't in some way talented. According to Ian R she also took this match at late notice, replacing some who had to drop off the card. Kelly clearly has bigger fish to fry, entering completely distracted by the antics of The Allure - who debuted by attacking her at G1 Supercard.

As soon as the bell rings, the lights go out and The Allure make their entrance on the stage. They flirt with Ian so hard that he has to excuse himself and go to the locker room, so Angelina and Velvet call the action with Colt. Carney (eventually) grabs the opportunity to jump Kelly from behind, taking her to ground as Angelina questions why she is receiving a title shot ahead of her. The Gatekeeper actually has to leave the ring to recover from Carney's early attack. Since she was announced as hailing from Buffalo, the crowd get behind Kate too, particularly when she starts brawling on the floor with Klein. There is even an audible groan when Kelly takes evasive action causing the challenger to eat the ringpost. Jumping DDT by Klein, who then catches Carney trying a crossbody and dumps her with a fallaway slam. Kate flails away with some DREADFUL strikes, which the camera/production team make no attempt to cover for. Meanwhile on commentary The Beautiful People are talking about 'making an Impact'. Mandy Leon is seemingly on Instagram live too, as in the ring Klein hits the K-Power and retains the title at 07:16

Rating - * - Initially I gave this a 'DUD' rating, but I changed my mind. In between The Allure sucking, and the wrestling sucking at the end - there were a couple of minutes early in the match where the crowd were genuinely invested and it was pretty enjoyable watching a spirited underdog babyface take the fight to Klein. Of course that makes absolutely no sense since ROH are supposed to be getting Kelly over as a babyface to feud with The Allure, but at this point who genuinely expects much of ROH's booking to make sense anyway? To end on a positive, I did find Colt Cabana's interactions with Velvet and Angelina to be legitimately funny. He has great comedic timing and was clearly having some fun with the whole deal. Not that having your announcer crack jokes with the 'top heels' in the WOH division is necessarily a good thing either...

Kelly gets straight on the microphone and challenges the 'three bitches' to a fight. They laugh, take a few pictures on their phones then leave. Presumably they got paid for this...

Speaking of getting paid to do nothing, Rhett Titus struts out all greased up in his Speedo, throws a few poses then heads over for an unnecessary commentary cameo as well.

Like Coughlin earlier, NJPW US Young Lions Connors and Fredericks have appeared regularly in ROH throughout the first half of 2019. They are lacking in victories and will no doubt be seeking to rectify that with a win over The Kingdom this evening.

O'Ryan and Connors start against a back drop of Riccaboni and Cabana discussing the scent of Rhett Titus' baby oil. That should tell you how seriously we should take this. As with PJ/Coughlin, Clark makes an early impression by working the basics causing problems on the ground for TK. The match continues to follow the same pattern as PJ/Coughlin as we go into strikes from there - and this time the Young Lions have the fire power to overwhelm their foe. O'Ryan is sent packing, bringing in Marseglia for the first time. Fredericks meets him and once again takes the mat to the canvas where his competent grappling and counter-wrestling frustrates the Horror King. Vinny eventually starts slapping and spitting at Karl...who retains his composure and mows through both Kingdom representatives in quick succession. Eventually The Kingdom get on the same page and lay Connors out with a double flapjack. Marseglia hits a back suplex on the apron whilst referee Todd Sinclair is totally preoccupied by separating TK and Fredericks. Powerslam/diving headbutt combo gets 2, via a minor flub where The Kingdom forget who the legal man was mere seconds after tagging each other. Clark frees himself from Vinny's clutches, spears through O'Ryan and makes the hot tag to Fredericks. Hiptoss/elbow drop combo on Marseglia, then a spinebuster on TK - setting him up for the Lion Tamer. Marseglia tries to break it...but Karl ignores his strikes and sits deeper into the hold. Finally he breaks it with a Side Effect. House Of 1000 Horses on Connors! Karl gets the same, giving The Kingdom a win at 10:28

Rating - * - A longer, slightly less intense and less interesting tag team version of the first match. Except this came with added minor screw-ups and mishaps from the 'established' act too. The Kingdom legitimately looked like worse wrestlers than the Young Lions at points, which isn't ideal. 

This is Hikuleo's US debut, and technically ROH debut as well - although he did appear at the 2019 Honor Rising shows in Japan. He is the younger brother of the Guerrillas Of Destiny, also represents Bullet Club and is a tall, imposing...if slightly wiry presence. Taylor has been a threat in ROH all year, and is poised for a pretty significant War Of The Worlds Tour. He could use a big, international victory over a visiting NJPW talent this evening.

Taylor spits at Hiku, provoking a powerful early strike flurry from the near-seven footer. He unleashes a big boot in the corner which knocks Shane from the top rope to the floor, drawing a big reaction from the previously sullen audience. Another big boot misses though, setting Taylor up to chop him so hard that it appears to hurt his own hand. A knee strike snaps Hikuleo's head back...only for him to fire up and deliver a Samoan drop. Knockout Punch ducked, into a lariat by Leo! Out of nowhere Shane muscles him into GREETINGS FROM 216! Taylor wins at 03:35

Rating - ** - This was my favourite match on the show so far. Unlike everything else it didn't go too long and provided moments of genuine excitement. I've repeatedly pointed out that Taylor is one of the most under-rated and completely believable wrestlers in ROH and matches like this really prove why. He was aggressive, his personality filled the room and livened up a pretty dour crowd and he also showed a willingness to sell, bump and absorb big strikes which made Hikuleo look decent too. 

It's a tough time to be in Lifeblood right now. Finlay is injured, Juice has gone back to Japan and Bully Ray put Tenille Dashwood out of ROH as well. But against that back drop Haskins and Williams have put together a fine body of work in 2019. They've quickly become a dangerous team on the tag scene - but lack a signature victory to help them break out. They've failed to defeat Jay Lethal and Jon Gresham in two superb bouts (including a 30-Minute Iron Team clash at Masters Of The Craft) and will now eye up victory over the returning LIJ duo as a means to put them into title contention. But EVIL & SANADA have their own issues with the Guerrillas and want the IWGP Tag Championship back. They too would like nothing more than a shot at them and will therefore recognise the value of a victory over a team put together to epitomise the very 'lifeblood' of Ring Of Honor.

No handshakes from LIJ, meaning Lifeblood start the match already annoyed. Tracy's mood isn't improved by getting a cheap-shot in the breadbasket inside thirty seconds. He and Evil light each other up with chops...but since Evil is indeed (as his name suggests) evil, he ends that sequence by raking Tracy's eyes. Haskins and Sanada in next; the Englishman striking at the NJPW star like a pitbull but doesn't make an impact before Sanada puts both members of Lifeblood in the Paradise Lock. Haskins starts trying to grapple with Evil just to negate his power; eventually beating him down in the corner with an assist from Williams. The lack of crowd reaction for Lifeblood's work versus the ovations the LIJ duo get is pretty stark - Tracy starts working over Evil's arm to near total silence in the arena. They only come to life when Hot Sauce breaks to strike Sanada off the apron, and even then only to boo and jeer the ROH talent. Sanada tripping and taking cheap-shots at Tracy gets cheered of course. Los Ingobernables trap Hot Sauce in their corner and take frequent shortcuts in pursuit of wearing him down. Tracy throws aside his shoulder brace in a rage as he and Sanada strike lumps out of each other. Williams keeps fighting even though his striking is visibly less effective which is admirable - but sadly for him his only reward is getting pelted in the corner by Evil as well. Rocker Dropper out of the corner by Tracy opens the door...and he makes the hot tag to Haskins. Star Armbar on Sanada...but quickly broken by Evil. Overkill's response is to hit a Russian legsweep/flatliner combo on both opponents, followed by wildly out of control tope suicidas to the floor as they try to flee. Frog Splash from Williams to Sanada gets 2! Sanada retaliates an effortless springboard double dropkick; a reminder of how insanely athletic he is if nothing else. Darkness Falls on Haskins gets 2! Everything Is Evil COUNTERED to the rolling Samoan Driver by Mark though. Once again Hot Sauce tries to strike with Sanada...and he ROCKS the New Japan star with a discus lariat. Piledriver blocked, but when Sanada chases Tracy up the ropes he catches him with the SUPER TURNBUCKLE DDT. Flying knee strike off the apron from Haskins to Evil, as inside the ring Williams gets 2 with a DVD. Ankle Lock applied, which Sanada only escapes by climbing up Todd Sinclair and shoving him aside so Evil can whack Tracy with a chair. HASKINS BREAKS THE PIN! The crowd loudly boo that, and cheer as LIJ drop Haskins with the Magic Killer. Williams gets the same treatment, Los Ingobernables win at 18:32

Rating - *** - By far the best match on the show so far, and probably in the running for SANADA's best match in an ROH ring (which is more an indictment on how little he tries in his Ring Of Honor matches than anything else). This was a little longer than it needed to be, and had a slightly strange juxtaposition of LIJ playing the hits without much emotion (but getting cheered like superheroes for it) whilst Haskins and Williams were screaming, yelling and throwing strikes like a Budokan Hall main event with nobody caring. The first ten minutes were fairly forgettable although I really did admire the tenacity and fighting spirit showed by Williams. Even if the live audience weren't buying it, I related to him as he valiantly traded blows with the visibly unaffected and indifferent LIJ duo. If ROH weren't already concerned about their 2019 problems - this match should have put them into stark focus. 'Lifeblood' was THE big angle that they used to launch 2019 and the post-Elite era. Already dying a death with Juice, Finlay and Tenille gone, watching midcard NJPW heels get loudly cheered whilst half-assing their performance against two of the best workers on ROH's roster all year says everything about how bad things have gotten.

Dalton Castle makes his entrance to the arena, now without Boys having attacked them both in MSG and on TV. He takes his place at the time-keeping table to observe the next match between two men whom he has plenty of history with

El Toro Blanco is unbeaten in singles competition, despite opponents now queuing up for an opportunity to be the one who ends his streak. Castle wanted do to it at G1 Supercard but was humiliated in mere seconds. Members of Lifeblood and The Kingdom have tried and failed. Now the 'Last Real Man' steps up...

Rush paces the ring with crazy intensity and yells loudly at Silas, who tries to trash-talk in response but gets dumped on his ass to the floor. Young starts taking evasive action - fleeing from Rush until he puts his head through the ropes and leaves himself vulnerable to an unprotected strike. Still reeling from that, Rush also nurses his knee as Young hurls him into the guardrails repeatedly. The experience of Young really shows with the match at a snails-pace and Rush's intensity now completely nullified. Anarchist Suplex nailed, leaving Rush in the foetal position nursing his ribs. With Paul Turner distracted, Silas then wraps a chair around Rush's neck and JAMS IT INTO THE RINGPOST! That looked brutal...but for some reason Rush almost no-sells it. He's back in the ring within ten seconds and goes crazy; dragging Silas outside and battering him against the barricades. With the ref diving for cover, Rush even throws a trash can in the direction of Young's fallen body. BULL'S HORNS! Rush wins at 07:02

Rating - ** - What a weird match this was. I didn't hate it by any means; Rush is pretty entertaining in these energetic, frenetic sprints - and I thought the dynamic with Silas being a cheating asshole veteran to negate him was smart. But Rush's comeback sequence here went way off the rails. That chair around the neck/ringpost spot is brutal and definitely shouldn't be used as a no-selling, fighting spirit trigger point/transition spot. Neither should the ref turning a blind-eye to Rush just casually using a weapon right in front of him. I'd be keen to see these two wrestle again since I liked the character interplay between them...but at a certain point this particular encounter completely lost me.

Dalton Castle leaves his position at ringside and poses in front of Rush, provoking an angry reaction from El Toro Blanco as the Party Peacock struts away...

Matt Taven is out next, holding the World Title aloft to the crowd but then strolling over to join Ian and Colt for commentary...and promptly pointing out that 'this show has been kind of eh so far'! He is here to scout PCO ahead of their World Championship Match tomorrow night in Toronto.

As I said in my introduction to the show, at this point I'm probably more interested in watching Kojima and Nagata in ROH than some of the other NJPW names we've started to become over-exposed to. In particular Nagata, who I've always been a big fan of. Kojima is returning to ROH for the first time since Final Battle 2003 (when he represented AJPW) and together the Dads join forces with TV Champion Jeff Cobb as they look to take the Six-Man Championship from Villain Enterprises. The Villains have been unstoppable as a trio all year whilst King and PCO eliminated Nagata and Kojima from the NWA Crockett Cup as well. However, with Scurll still trying to recover from his failure to win the World Title at G1 Supercard and PCO gearing up for his own title shot tomorrow there is a danger that the defending champions will drop their guard here. They cannot afford to do that as the sheer volume of experience and quality on the opposition team this evening makes them huge threats.

Marty trash-talks Nagata, all the while hiding behind Brody King. They start together and Scurll dips into his British, World Of Sport influences to cause real problems for the former IWGP Champion. He then walks out before Nagata gets the chance to land any big strikes, clearing the ring for Brody and Cobb to lock horns. They do some hoss lucha spots and get probably the biggest pop of the entire night. PCO and Kojima in next, picking back up where they left off at the Crockett Cup. PCO socks Koji to the floor with a discus lariat and LAUNCHES his entire body straight at him with a tope suicida! Kojima recovers to capture PCO in the corner and hit him with a superplex, setting up the NJPW veterans with an opportunity to use their experience as a team to isolate PCO. They go after his arm again just as they did at the Crockett Cup; Nagata scattering both of PCO's partners to give them more room to try to snap PCO's arm from the sockett. Cobb tries to do the same thing seconds later - but this time Marty dives to avoid him, leaving him free on the apron to take a hot tag after PCO lands a chokeslam on the TV Champion. The challengers try to regroup on the floor...only to find King flying at them with a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! PCO wants a turn - BACK DROP PLANCHA COMBO by Scurll and the French-Canadian Frankenstein! Marty then assists Brody by slingshot flipping him into a German suplex on Cobb. 619/CANNONBALL COMBO gets 2! DOUBLE PUMPHANDLE SUPLEX from Cobb to Marty and Brody! PCO tries to help...so Jeff dumps him with a belly to belly as well. CAPTURE BELLY TO BELLY on King! Nagata wants in so he can finally hit some stiff kicks on Marty. Scurll tries to trade strikes with him, then uses his smarts instead to hit Just Kidding. Nagata ignores it and tries to tap him out with the Fujiwara Armbar! Brody and PCO have to break that up, before Kojima levels PCO with a DDT. EXPLODER SUPERPLEX from Nagata to Scurll gets 2. He follows that with a Brainbuster, but again Marty kicks out...right into the Nagata Lock II! But that is countered by snapping Nagata's fingers! Jumping enziguri to block the Chickenwing though! We go back to Kojima and PCO chopping the sh*t out of each other, but that appears to leave PCO in an almost orgasmic state. KOJI CUTTER! PCO gets up and hits a Michinoku Driver for 2! Brainbuster by Kojima! KOJI LARIAT! Both men down! By the time Kojima finally covers, King has returned to break the pin. Scurll catapults Koji into a senton splash by King, then sends PCO upstairs. PCO-SAULT! Villains retain at 19:50

Rating - **** - I get accused of over-rating trios tag matches quite often, but I really do like the format and I thought this match was another in the line of really strong trios matches coming out of ROH in the first half of 2019. Given the age and mobility of some of the participants obviously this wasn't flawlessly executed, but to me it felt aggressive and violent throughout, didn't get bogged down with much filler and really made the Ring Of Honor talent look like stars. Scurll antagonised Nagata early, with the pay-off being that he took some of Yuji's best shots at the end and countered the Nagata Lock. I loved that they referenced PCO's Crockett Cup arm injury and the Villains vs NJ Dads match in that tournament without making it the focal point, and the match ended with PCO (ROH's #1 contender remember) getting a big win over Kojima. Cobb and Brody were the least-featured of the six men, but even they were able to look like killers during their brief offensive flurries at various points. I understand criticising this for pointlessly being a title match - as many did. The result certainly would have felt in more doubt if the belts were not on the line. But at this point so many teams have gotten ROH Trios Title shots without so much as having tagged before that it really doesn't matter. The quality of the match was such that I quickly forgot about that.

Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan charge the ring, toss Scurll and Brody aside and try to ambush PCO. They get made to look like bitches as PCO easily throws them out of the ring...but their presence creates enough of a distraction to set Taven up. He lays out PCO with the World Title belt and tries to stand over him posing...only for PCO to no-sell it, sending Taven running up the aisle in terror.

Lethal and Gresham have become a reputable team in Ring Of Honor, boasting a win over the Young Bucks last year and earning this title shot via victory in a 30-Minute Iron Team Match with Lifeblood's Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins. Both are outspoken supporters of ROH, the Code Of Honor and the values the company supposedly stands for, so neither will care for the disrespect and disinterest with which the GOD have treated the ROH Tag Championship. They've tossed the belts around in promos, actively trashed the company and used the belts to taunt their rivals the Briscoes; knowing how much Jay and Mark covet them. The Briscoes would like a piece of the GOD on this tour, but first Tonga and Loa will need all their skill and experience as a team to survive a former ROH World Champion and one of the most skilled technical wrestlers on the planet. 'Blind' Kenny King is assisted to the announce table by Amy Rose to provide guest commentary on his arch rival Jay Lethal too.

The GOD attack the challengers during the introductions, such is their lack of interest in ROH traditions. Loa drops Lethal throat-first over the guardrails inside the minute, only for the challengers to rally and fight back with criss-crossing tope suicidas. Gresham traps Tonga on the mat where he can negate the size difference and try to pick his limbs apart. Enziguri/dragon screw combo gets 2, almost entirely missed by the announce team as Kenny King rambles on about raising a lawsuit against Great Muta. Tama blocks the Figure 4 Leglock though and makes a crucial tag out to Loa, who starts working over Lethal's back and neck. His predicament is made worse by the fact that Tonga is on the other side of the ring attacking Gresham on the floor. Tanga's smile grows broader and broader...but that leads to over-confidence. He misses a body avalanche which sets Lethal up for a big tag to The Octopus. He does his best to give Tonga a serious knee injury right away...but is overwhelmed by the raw power of the Guerrillas of utterly steamroll him in the corner. Loa almost ends it with an emphatic sit-out powerbomb for 2. Tama tries to get some payback for Gresham's antics through the entire match and viciously rams Gresham's leg into the canvas. Tonga smirks at Gresham's attempts to trade strikes with him...and for a second time a smiling, unfocused Guerrilla allows a vulnerable challenger to escape! Lethal Combination instantly drops Tama into position for Hail To The King. Gresham kicks at Tonga's leg again, leaving him in position for an enzi/superkick combo. Loa saves his partner as Gresham is DROPPED with the Tongan Twist. Loa distracts the referee on one side of the ring, as on the other Tonga uses one of the IWGP Tag Title belts to NAIL Jay as he sets up the Lethal Injection. GERMAN SUPLEX from Gresham to Tonga which gets a great nearfall. GUN STUN wins it for Tama, meaning the GOD retain at 14:35

Rating - *** - This won't win any MOTY honours, but I did like the chemistry between these two teams. They really played up the fact that Lethal and Gresham were too inexperienced and ill-equipped as a tag team to threaten the Guerrillas' title reign, but possessed just enough skill as world class singles wrestlers to deliver some really potent flashes of hope and optimism. They made for a great babyface team, which in turn made you really care about what assholes the GOD were. They cheated, they attacked before the bell, both hot tags came not from great tag wrestling from the challengers but from complete over-confidence from the champs...and are firmly established to ROH viewers as fearsome, imposing, villainous forces atop the Ring Of Honor tag team division. 

As the Guerrillas pose victorious, the Briscoes angrily march onto the stage. Jay calls the match historic, since it will be the GOD's only successful title defence before they lose the belts to the Briscoes in Chicago on the final leg of the War Of The Worlds Tour. Tama disrespectfully throws one of the ROH Tag Title belts out of the ring, triggering a brawl which has to be curtailed by ROH Future Of Honor and NJPW LA Dojo guys. Jay is left bleeding from the eye but still cursing profusely and promising that they will 'run circles' around the Guerrillas in Chicago.

This is billed as a 'dream match' and is a somewhat surprising (but welcome) choice to main event the show. We were supposed to see this during the Road To G1 Supercard shows in Texas before a knee injury caused Flip to miss those events. He returned from injury at G1 Supercard, where he teamed with Bandido's Lifeblood allies and scored another victory over Bully Ray, but enjoyed mixed fortunes at the subsequent live events; losing a World Title Match to Matt Taven at the recent Pittsburgh TV taping then participating in (but failing to win) a spectacular four-corner bout in Columbus also featuring PJ Black and Caristico...won by Bandido. Flip and Bandido prepared for this encounter by teaming up in the NWA Crockett Cup - making it to the semi-finals before a combination of cheating by the opposition and continuing problems with Gordon's knee caused their elimination. Only the undefeated Rush has been able to beat Bandido in ROH singles competition thus far...

The crowd is lively for this, to the extent that the participants spend the entire first minute of the match circling and enjoying the chants before locking up. Gordon tries to turn himself heel by doing random back-flips then 'flossing' for no apparent reason. Bandido is more business-like and swats aside Flip's early grappling attempts before getting in his face. Flip hand-stands into a headscissors to score the first serious takedown, but is astonished to find Bandido able to do a handstand of his own - setting up a satellite headscissors. Gordon retaliates by flipping out of a running rana! Each man misses with big kick attempts, battling to a stalemate at the five-minute mark. Blockbuster by Gordon, upping the stakes and grabbing an advantage for the first time. He lands an inverted cannonball senton in the corner for 2. He hammers the luchador onto his back across the top rope, then outright stands on his ribs - eventually delivering a Kinder Surprise so aggressively that Bandido topples straight out of the ring. The back and ribs appear to be bothering Bandido now; injuries which we've seen other wrestlers exploit already in 2019. Flip capitalises with a 'shin-board' senton splash across the ribs for 2 then goes to ground using submission holds to press home his lead. TORNILLO by Bandido, but of course that damages his own ribs to execute. Somehow he follows that with an inverted suplex and a Shining Wizard. TOPE ATOMICO SCORES! Bandido drags Flip up from that and delivers a straight-up punt to his bad knee. Gordon quickly retreats to the corner, giving Bandido more time to Gordon quickly retreats to the corner, giving Bandido more time to recover. He uses it accordingly before hurdling the ropes and wrapping Flip's knee around the ringpost. Shinbreaker off the canvas nailed as well, leaving Gordon in serious peril. Bandido hangs the leg in the ropes and runs along the apron to deliver another strike to the exposed knee. ONE-ARMED press slam INTO a European uppercut, causing Gordon to land jarring his knee again too. Red Star Press gets 2, and as Gordon tries a desperate dive off the top rope Bandido charges and DROPKICKS HIM INTO THE GUARDRAILS! Bandido runs looking for an elbow suicida...but Flip COUNTERS by tossing him sternum-first into the barricades as well! Gordon tries a Flip-5 on the floor...COUNTERED TO A REVERSE RANA! Both men need the majority of the twenty second count before finally emerging back in the ring to continue the battle. Flip tries to charge at Bandido, who meets him with a STANDING REVOLUTION FLY for 2. They start pasting each other with chops...then take shots at each other's injuries as well. Bandido almost decapitates Gordon with a heel kick, but Flip gets up and mounts the masked man with a sleeper hold. For a man with damaged ribs it now becomes even harder to breathe - and Bandido's mask visibly raises up and down to demonstrate how he is gasping for air. Bandido starts climbing the ropes with Flip on his back...eventually crotching him on the turnbuckles. REVOLUTION FLY! But the damage Bandido sustains is severe too and he loses critical seconds before covering, meaning it only gets 2. Gordon uses the ropes to drag himself up...and superkicks the ribs as Bandido looks for the 21-Plex. STAR-SPANGLED STUNNER gets 2! X-KNEE! NO SOLD! FLIP-5! Gordon wins at 25:21

Rating - **** - A thrilling junior heavyweight main event, which was allotted a generous time-allowance and really delivered on the top billing it was given. In a down year for ROH this is certainly one of those matches you might have missed which is well worth seeking out, standing as one of the best from this promotion in 2019 thus far. Obviously I am going to point out the selling of the knee or midsection which was 'selective' at best, but I only point that out as a reason why I didn't push this into MOTYC territory in my rating, rather than to be overly critical. This was exciting, packed with some really neat and innovative wrestling sequences and even with the aforementioned selling issues, you were never really left in any real doubt what the 'story' they were trying to tell was - building all the way to the finish, where Flip dropped Bandido right onto his injured ribs to win. A great match, and sensible booking by ROH to let two of their biggest contracted stars close the show like this. 

Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams help their stable-mate to his feet, with Haskins on the microphone putting over both combatants. Haskins wishes Flip luck in the forthcoming NJPW Best Of Super Juniors, then offers him a spot in Lifeblood when he returns...

Tape Rating - ** - It is easy to criticise this event. More than half the card is unspeakably mediocre; filled with New Japan young boys and matches you just aren't interested in. But in the VOD-age where flogging DVD's isn't ROH's main revenue source, as much as it pains old-timers like me, that probably isn't as much of an issue as it used to be. All the poor content on the bottom half of this card is stuff fans most likely didn't care about...and have the ability to skip over on the Honor Club VOD anyway. Whether you think it's right that ROH live events now include a load of skippable filler that nobody really wants to see, that is the reality. And when you put that to one side, the matches you do care about and probably would pay to see are all really quite good (with the possible exception of Rush/Silas). Not only that, with non-wrestling appearances from Matt Taven, Dalton Castle, Kenny King and the Briscoes, lots of angles/storylines were actually advanced too. Viewed in its entirety this certainly isn't a must-see event - however Bandido/Flip and Villains vs Cobb/Kojima/Nagata are both really good (and take up almost an hour of the show by themselves). The big ROH vs NJPW tag matches - LIJ vs Lifeblood and GOD vs Lethal/Gresham - are both entertaining in their own right as well. I've read a lot of criticism both of this show and of ROH's 2019 product in general, and I completely understand why. The Sapolsky golden years this clearly is not. But there are much worse shows in ROH's recent history than this. There are much worse BOOKED shows than this in ROH's recent history too. Night One of the 2019 War Of The Worlds Tour is far from perfect...but ROH in 2019 is a palpably imperfect product anyway. I can't be wholly critical of a show which demonstrates a clear intent to promote some of ROH's top contracted names at the time, tries to advance their own storylines, and actually produces some pretty good wrestling in the matches we really cared about. 

3) Guerrillas Of Destiny vs Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham (***)

2) Marty Scurll/Brody King/PCO vs Jeff Cobb/Satoshi Kojima/Yuji Nagata (****)

1) Flip Gordon vs Bandido (****)