McXal's Reviews

Hot on the heels of the well-received Manhattan Mayhem 8 show, Ring Of Honor returns the following night for another Honor Club livestream event. Elements of last nights show in New York were intentionally set up to be taped for the television show, and that is less the case this evening. This is more of a conventional live show, however there are still some intriguing bouts on the card. Gold is on the line as the Briscoes - fatigued and battle-scarred from their Street Fight against GOD - defend their newly-won Tag Titles against The Bouncers, whilst Eli Isom steps up to challenge Shane Taylor for the TV Title. Future stable-mates Dragon Lee and Kenny King meet in singles action, before a trios main event with serious World Championship implications. ROH Champion Matt Taven teams with the rest of The Kingdom to face Jay Lethal, his partner Jon Gresham...and Taven's Summer Supercard challenger, the returning Alex Shelley. Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana and Caprice Coleman are at the announce desk to call the action in Lowell, MA.

The Bouncers earned this title shot by winning a Gauntlet Match at State Of The Art. Having their championship match scheduled for this evening has proven to be a piece of outrageously good fortune, as it means they'll meet the Briscoe brothers just 24 hours removed from their brutal Street Fight with the Guerrillas Of Destiny in New York. Now 11-time Tag Champions, Jay and Mark have experienced losing the titles in their first defence more than once and will be desperate to avoid the same fate again.

Bruiser's chest has bandaging on it to cover the wound he suffered when Vinny Marseglia stubbed a cigar out on him last night. Milonas flattens Jay with a running crossbody and he immediately leaves the ring struggling to walk...so Bruiser squashes him again with a cannonball off the apron. Mark comes to his brother's aid with a blockbuster off the apron, then sets up a chair in the ring for a STEP-UP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! Day One Neckbreaker/Froggy Bow combo gets 2, with Milonas scooping up Mark and hitting a powerslam into the edge of the ring. Bossman Slam on Jay follows. As Jay tries to crawl away Brawler simply traps him in the corner and starts repeatedly sitting on his face. The Bouncers isolate Jay, who has looked sluggish and uncomfortable for the duration of the bout thus far. Even his hot tag to Mark is more collapsing backwards and landing in his corner more out of fortune than anything else. Sick Kick from Mark to Milonas gets 2. Beer City DDT blocked, so Bruiser hits a spinebuster...so Jay sprints in and starts repeatedly kicking BCB in the head. STANDING BANZAI DROP from Milonas to Jay! The champs try to trade strikes with the challengers, but don't have the fire-power and get battered. But Jay dropkicks Bruiser off the turnbuckles to block Last Call. POWERBOMB on Milonas! Froggy Bow again! Briscoes retain at 09:00

Rating - *** - This was better than it had any right to be. Nobody bought The Bouncers as potential champions, whilst the Briscoes were far from their best having contested a brutal fight the previous evening. And yet despite those limitations this was largely entertaining. These four have decent chemistry as opponents; they are an easy watch as four big and tough dudes just looking to beat the sh*t out of each other. It was interesting to see Jay play the vulnerable babyface too. It isn't a role he plays in Briscoe tags with much regularity, but was completely believable and took a serious beating - particularly at the hands/ass of Milonas. 

The Briscoes don't get long to celebrate as the Guerrillas Of Destiny run in through the crowd and attack them from behind with the Tag Title belts. They leave Mark and Jay in pools of their own blood with a savage beatdown, letting us know that the Briscoes/GOD rivalry is far from over...

Writing this review in October of 2021 makes this a particularly interesting match. Casanova is now signed to WWE/NXT as Carmelo Hayes and has just been earmarked as a potential breakout star of the 'NXT 2.0' rebrand as North American Champion. He is from the New England area, as is his opponent Preston - who has his own 'Trust Fund Manager' and gets promo time to talk about ladies riding his meat missile. His entire act feels very derivative of stuff people were doing in ECW more than two decades ago.

Preston is an obvious heel and attacks before the bell to get some more heat. Casanova retaliates with a rebound leg drop for 2 though. Jimmy's manager interrupts Casanova's flow by hopping onto the apron though, and Preston quickly assumes control via an emphatic powerslam. Facebuster nailed, as is an Olympic Slam for 2. CC busts out a capoeira strike and a big running knee only to be shut down again by a fireman carry slam. Casanova to the top rope - hitting a flying Rocker Dropper for the win at 05:31

Rating - * - Innocuous and unremarkable. It would be easy to look at WWE strapping a rocket to Casanova in NXT two years later and say that 'ROH' missed the boat, however based on the limited evidence of this five minute match he didn't jump out immediately as a can't-miss prospect. Athletic for sure, but his moveset seemed rather flimsy and one-dimensional. He did have more going for him that Preston though - a journeyman worker in his mid-30's with an unimaginative gimmick and (again from the very brief glimpse we saw here) a pretty dated in-ring style too. Nothing was actively bad here, but I'd be lying if I thought either man jumped out and demanded more bookings with their performance.

An intriguing clash between two veterans is up next. Silas hasn't gotten on well with Lifeblood all year, and that continues here since Black is a known associate of that faction. 

Black out-wrestles Young early, visibly frustrating the 'Technician Of Honor' as a result. In an entirely non-technical manner he hauls the Darewolf out of the ring and gets the better of a fist-fight on the floor instead. Back in the ring Silas keeps breaking rules but getting away with it, demonstrating the 'veteran' tricks which he used with such relish in his rivalry with Jonathan Gresham. PJ hits a springboard moonsault in response and gets a nearfall. ROPE RUN SPANISH FLY gets 2! Young dodges the springboard 450 Splash and crotches PJ over the top rope. Misery nailed, giving Silas an impressive clean win at 06:27

Rating - ** - Not a match that will live long in the memory. As with the previous Casanova/Preston encounter, it wasn't actively bad but really didn't offer much to entice you in or get excited about. As a long-time fan and someone who has criticised Delirious plenty of times, it is only right that I point out the fact that the deserving heel won the match and did so cleanly without any tricks, 'outs' or outside interference. Young looks more credible as a result, and PJ's reputation is so well-established that losing here doesn't do much to harm him anyway.

Women Of Honor Champion Kelly Klein replaces Colt Cabana on commentary for this match, with reasons to keep her eyes on all three competitors. Steelz is her next challenger, in a match scheduled for Summer Supercard in Toronto. Tasha won a four-way on ROH TV Episode 408 (which also featured Angelina) to earn that title shot. Klein and Love are embroiled in a tense feud, stemming from The Allure's unceremonious debut at G1 Supercard when they attacked Kelly and ruined her WOH Title victory over Mayu Iwatani. That leaves Rivera - still a newcomer to ROH, but she turned heads at the last TV taping in Philadelphia when she defeated the veteran matriarch of the Women Of Honor division Sumie Sakai. There's no Mandy Leon tonight, with only Velvet Sky accompanying Angelina to the ring (and also doing her ring introduction)

Angelina refuses to start until she has pointed out that Steelz 'stole' the #1 contendership win from her in Philadelphia, and that she pinned the WOH Champion at Best In The World. It successfully goads Tasha into putting her #1 contendership on the line here. They shove each other around, but the match starts with Rivera ambushing and taking the fight to the pair of them. Steelz bounces her head off the mat with a spinebuster...but is tossed out by Love, who tries to steal her pin. Okurrr! blocked into the Koji Clutch by Angelina. Rivera drags Love out of the ring, but walks into the Hard Knocks Drop by Steelz instead for 2. Samoan drop from Karissa to Love soon follows. Rivera tries to capitalise and hit a superplex on Tasha, but as she does so Angelina powerbombs her off the second rope for 2. Botox Injection on Rivera! But Tasha throws Love out again and hits the Okurrr! to pin Karissa at 06:11

Rating - * - There are elements to the performance of all three women that I like, but as a triple threat package this was poor. It felt disjointed, at times sloppy and wound up really quite tedious to sit through. Steelz's attitude is great, Rivera seems a natural athlete and if nothing else Angelina is a solid heel in a rather bland sea of personalities in the Women Of Honor division...and actually the big redeeming feature of this was how it promoted Steelz ahead of her title match in Toronto. She took the fight to Angelina and ended the match screwing her over to win, directly reprising her victory at the recent TV taping. It's very clear that Klein/Love is really the only 'money' match in the division right now though.

Velvet hairsprays Steelz in the face before she can celebrate, and feeds her into a Botox Injection from Angelina. Kelly Klein marches down the aisle and chases The Allure away before helping Rivera and Steelz to their feet. She shakes Tasha's hand and they share an intense stare-down ahead of Toronto. That is until the lights go out and Maria Manic magically appears in the ring. She lays out Rivera, and when Sumie Sakai runs out to help, Maria almost breaks her in half with a Torture Rack. More security goons get tossed around by the Maneater as well...

Manhattan Mayhem saw mixed fortunes for these two competitors. Lee returned to ROH and overcame Jonathan Gresham, getting a win back after losing to Dalton Castle on pay-per-view at Best In The World. King successfully negotiated his way into the scheduled World Title Match, but failed to win. I presume that match constituted the World Title shot he earned by winning the 2019 Honor Rumble, so he now returns to the queue of contenders and needs something like a big win against an international star like Lee to start pushing for another match with Taven...

King exchanges words with timekeeper Amy Rose during his ring-entrance. He looks pumped up, refuses to shake hands and spends the opening minute over-powering Lee and playing to the crowd. Dragon is unmoved and retaliates with a few of his lucha skills and some of his own poses for the audience. Like last night he lures his opponent into trying to strike with him...then blitzes Kenny with kicks and knees. He hits a version of the Shattered Dreams on King, which the commentators rightly call out as a low blow that shouldn't have been allowed. King is, of course, rattled and walks into a running rana. But he dodges a plancha and throws Lee INTO THE CROWD! Kenny then drags Lee off the arena floor for a BRAINBUSTER! Inverted neckbreaker nailed, followed by a lariat (plus a detour as King tries to rip the mask from Lee's head) sees Kenny impose his dominance over the luchador. Dragon gets enraged at the lack of respect from his opponent, landing a hurricanrana then a CRAZY TOPE ATOMICO! He clipped Kenny, but landed flat on his back on the floor too. Bull's Horns nailed, but we've established that his version isn't as powerful as Rush's and only gets 2. Amy Rose leaves her timekeeping position and appears to be cheering Kenny on - watching as he blocks the Desnucadora and hits a Chin Checker/capo kick/Blue Thunder Driver flurry. Lee's head and neck are really bothering him now...but somehow he lands a snap German. REVERSE RANA! NO SOLD! SPINEBUSTER by Kenny! Both men down! King is up first, still kicking at the head. Royal Flush countered with a knee strike and a DDT though. They fight up the turnbuckles...where Lee batters King with headbutts and hits the Ghetto Stomp for 2. Amy Rose distracts him as he lines up the Incineration, and Kenny pops up with the Royal Flush to snatch the win at 13:00

Rating - *** - A better finish on this and I'd have gone higher on my rating. I thought the body of the match itself was pretty good. Kenny King seems to have found another gear as a worker of late and he looked on his game here; precise, exciting and ruthless in his assault on the head and neck. In all honesty I didn't HATE the finish either. Clearly I'd have preferred they get to end the match in the quality and manner it deserved, but this angle with King and Amy Rose has been simmering for a while. Delirious has to pull the trigger on it at some point, and I'd much rather they did it here on a VOD show than have ruined the final match in the King/Lethal Best Of 3 for instance. Even here it wasn't like she did much more than vaguely distract Lee either - she wasn't feeding King weapons or anything hokey like that. Ultimately this was a pretty decent match between two future stable-mates, but one that could have been better if they'd been allowed to wrestle to a 'proper' finish.

Amy Rose leaves with Kenny, who delivers a warning that he is off to 'invade' CMLL...

Last summer on Episode 367 of ROH television Isom was able to pin Taylor to gain victory in a four corner match. Taylor would gain revenge a few weeks later, but that shock pinfall loss to Eli clearly hasn't been forgotten. It has been deemed enough merit for Isom to be granted a TV Title shot this evening. Isom clearly has a bright future and is the star of the Shinobi Shadow Squad. This is one of the biggest matches of his ROH career...but in some ways as nobody expects him to win there really isn't much pressure on him at all. Can he pull off the most monumental of upsets?

Taylor apparently doesn't follow the Code Of Honor because he feels that he has been disrespected for his entire ROH career, therefore doesn't want to follow their code. It's hard to argue with that. Isom stays light on his feet and lays in some early blows whilst keeping out of the champ's clutches. After ninety seconds Taylor does catch up with him though...and sends him flying through the air with a tackle. Pescado attempted by Eli, and when Shane catches him he slithers off the shoulders and shunts him into the ringpost. Tope suicida lands, but he tries it a second time and gets DDT'D OFF THE APRON! Isom's body is still limp from that as Taylor props him up in a chair and knees his face into the guardrails too. The pace slows dramatically; Shane T methodically pursuing his challenger around the ring to brutalise him with chops and bootscrapes...until Eli literally collapses out of the ring. Piledriver on the apron blocked, so Shane BIELS HIM TO THE F*CKING GROUND! Somehow he recovers enough to evade Taylor's second rope splash and trips the champion out of the ring. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Rotating frog splash back in gets 2. Isom thinks about The Promise, but when Shane blocks that Eli drills him with a DDT instead. AIR RAID CRASH on the big man gets 2. So Taylor punches him so hard his head almost spins as much as the kid from Exorcist. Yet Isom keeps getting up, throwing strikes at Taylor until he can barely stand...and Shane punishes him with a powerbomb. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! Isom kicks out! The crowd love that, but Eli gets up into Greetings From 216 as does finally lose at 13:00

Rating - *** - This came from nowhere and turned out to be really lively. The title never felt in jeopardy, so the match became all about how far they could push Isom believably getting in offence on Taylor without damaging Shane's credibility...and on that front they got the balance pretty much perfect. In his pomp Samoa Joe was great at matches like this; seeming like a complete bad-ass yet allowing his opponents just enough space to really shine and get themselves over. Taylor's performance here reminded me of that; he was largely the aggressor here and at times brutalised his opponent. He looked like a total destroyer. But as a result, each time Eli got back up and hit something impressive that popped the crowd, he got more and more over. They'd whipped the crowd into a pretty frenzied atmosphere by the end.

The original main event for this show was going to be Villain Enterprises defending the Six-Man Title against Lifeblood, but after Brody King suffered an ankle injury in New York (on top of Flip Gordon not really being able to do anything because of his arm injury), there aren't enough Villains left standing to defend even under the Bullet Club Freebird rule. It means that we're getting a tag encounter instead - with Flip Gordon and Tracy Williams at ringside supporting their respective teams. The Lifeblood/Villains feud has really intensified as we head into the height of summer...

Bandido and Scurll start, with the Lifeblood representative taking the initiative early and pissing The Villain off. Haskins and PCO tag; the Englishman almost trembling with adrenaline as he unloads strikes on the big man. He trips PCO to the floor...but PCO drags him off the apron and holds him in the air for the apron Superkick by Scurll. The Villains isolate Haskins, his back and his neck taking a real beating. Sensibly he lunges into a tag as quickly as possible, unleashing Bandido for a springboard Tornillo aimed at Marty. X-Knee nailed for 2! RUNNING falcon arrow by Mark, but Scurll gets the feet up to block a moonsault from Bandido. Scurll inadvertently clocks PCO with a superkick. ELBOW SUICIDA/RUNNING MOONSAULT COMBO by Lifeblood! Back in the ring the Soldier Roll scores, then Haskins propels Bandido into a STANDING PHOENIX DOUBLE STOMP for 2! I'm not sure that's the move they were going for, but it looked brutal! Just Kidding by Marty...so Haskins retorts with his fake-out punch to leave them both down. Pop-Up Powerbomb from PCO to Bandido! BUCKLE BOMB! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! Bandido somehow kicks out. Cambridge Crab/flying leg drop combo by Villain Enterprises! TOPE CON HILO by PCO! HEAD DROP HALF NELSON SUPLEX from Scurll to Bandido gets 2! PCO climbs to the top, where Marty throws him into a Steen-ton Bomb...but again Bandido kicks out. PCO tries to dive off the top rope...SO BANDIDO CATCHES HIM WITH A POWERSLAM! PCO NO SELLS! He scrambles to the top again with his eyes on Haskins on the apron. Bandido intercepts him to hit the SPANISH FLY! FOR 2! Flip Gordon smacks Bandido from behind to prevent him from hitting the 21-Plex...and Scurll snaps his fingers. CHICKENWING! Bandido taps, Villains win at 13:20

Rating - **** - This tag match was all killer, no filler. At just thirteen minutes there was no fat on this at all; it whizzed by as the four involved just brutalised each other. Bandido and PCO will take the headlines with their death-defying antics, but Haskins and Scurll were very effective in everything they did as well. I adored Haskins' pumped up, terrier-like early attack on PCO for instance. Neither of these two duos have tagged regularly, and I'm not sure a longer-form bout would have worked for this combination of athletes - but they really clicked in this high-octane spot-fest.

This is one of the biggest bouts on the show and is a rematch from G1 Supercard. On that night Rush defeated Dalton in mere seconds, humiliating the former World Champion and sparking a major change in attitude. The Boys are gone, the winged entrance is no more...and Castle has been obsessed with Rush ever since. He has watched his matches from ringside, formed an odd-couple team with him to compete in a Tag Gauntlet at State Of The Art then went after (and defeated) his brother Dragon Lee at Best In The World. Both men are desperate not only to win, but also hurt their rival tonight...

The bell rings...and Castle jumps out of the ring to ensure that he doesn't lose in less than a minute like he did in MSG. He returns and trash talks Rush...so El Toro Blanco hammers him into the corner and does the bootscrape Bull's Horns fake-out to make the point that he can beat Dalton any time he wants. When Castle looks for the safety of the ropes Rush swings through and applies a hanging armbar. They go to the floor, where Castle lands the tiger feint headscissors and a mafia kick. He takes a page out of Rush's book too by battering his skull into the guardrails. He is looking for a count-out victory to end the undefeated streak...then hits back suplex onto the apron when Rush gets back up. Dalton looks frustrated as he continues to beat on his nemesis, yet Rush keeps doing just enough to stay alive in the match. Everest German blocked...so Castle hits a lariat instead. Rush spits in Castle's face as he continues to pummel him...and delivers a snap German. Dalton's brains are instantly scrambled, allowing Rush to haul him out of the ring to toss him into the barricades then lob a trash can in his face. Rush throws a chair into the ring...but Castle smacks him in the balls, getting himself disqualified. Rush wins at 09:58

Rating - *** - I could see people going both ways in their response to this match, but I liked it. I thought it was different from many Rush matches, played cleverly with the FORMAT of most Rush matches and most importantly of all felt like both a grudge match and a natural reaction to the G1 Supercard bout. Clearly they'll have one more match to finish the feud, so as another instalment in a rivalry which has been oddly compelling since G1 Supercard I quite enjoyed this. Viewed in isolation as a standalone match I could certainly see why people would rate this lower however.

Dalton grabs the chair and absolutely HAMMERS Rush with it. The first shot with the chair is grotesque, and with Rush down Castle repeatedly smashes him in the back and shoulder with the weapon. 

This is our main event for the evening, and there are a number of intriguing hooks to go through. It's worth pointing out that since this is in Massachusetts that The Kingdom will be considerably more popular than they are in other markets. Taven is the World Champion, and has a long-standing rivalry with Jay Lethal, whom he pinned last night in New York to retain the World Title (in a triple threat). His next defence will be at Summer Supercard, when he faces the returning Alex Shelley. Shelley is a former mentor and stable-mate of Gresham in Search & Destroy...but if you want to go way back, on the night he launched Generation Next one of the Special K members he chose to embarrass was a young Jay Lethal. In more recent times Gresham and Lethal's partnership has become strained, as Jay has disagreed with some of the nefarious tactics Gresh has used to win matches with recently. Can they get on the same page? They'll need to as The Kingdom are perhaps the most decorated trio in ROH...

Big babyface reaction for The Kingdom; the ring filling with streamers during their entrance. Shelley starts for his team, so Taven steps out and sends Marseglia in to do his bidding. Vinny tries to grapple with Shelley early on, going back and forth at frenetic pace in an impressive opening exchange from both. Lethal comes in next and he too calls out Taven, but this time the champ sends O'Ryan in. Jay hiptosses him out of the ring, but O'Ryan recovers to dodge the springboard dropkick and battle his way back inside. The sequence ends with TK making a statement by dumping Lethal to the floor. Gresham in, confronted by Taven who tags in legally for the first time. The Octopus is too quick and too skilful for the champ to lay a gloved hand on for a minute...until Matt boots him in the face and levels him with a discus lariat. Marseglia joins him in the ring and nails a Saito suplex for 2. Double flapjack by TKO and Vinny, teeing up a sequence of their trademark combo moves which leave Gresham reeling. That is until Gresh leapfrog Marseglia causing him to Spear his own partner. Hot tag to Shelley, who drops TK and Vinny with a flatliner/DDT combo. He stacks them both on top of each other to apply a DOUBLE half-crab! And when Taven tries to break it Shelley grabs him with a Testicular Claw (as Lethal distracts the ref). Mandible Claw on O'Ryan next! Lethal tags and takes the fight to the wounded TKO, before leaving him to the sadistic technical skills of The Octopus. With Shelley still taunting the World Champion, a huge portion of the audience in attendance starts vocally cheering for O'Ryan. Shelley sticks it to them by giving Marseglia the Paradise Lock/ass dropkick combo. BACK FIST from O'Ryan to Gresham, into a back drop on the floor for Lethal! Hot tag to Vinny, who runs straight into a tope suicida. AIR TAVEN NAILED! Back in the ring Marseglia hits a Side Effect on Jay, followed by a double underhook backbreaker to Gresham. Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO A LUNGBLOWER! Russian Legsweep/Just The Tip combo by Marseglia and Taven gets 2. Shelley blocks the Climax...so Taven counters Sliced Bread #2. Gresham and TK start throwing strikes...until Lethal intervenes to rocket his partner into the CORNETTE CUTTER! Quebrada from Gresham to TK! LETHAL INJECTION! SHELLSHOCK! BORDER CITY STRETCH! Shelley wins it for his team at 18:16

Rating - **** - Sometimes these B-show trios main events can fall flat, but I actually thought this was rather lively. Shelley's charisma is always something I've found people tend to under-rate, and he looked more comfortable than anyone else in the entire match with The Kingdom as Boston-area babyfaces. He didn't work heel, but he was smarmy and antagonised Taven and his minions at all times. He had a presence which you couldn't help but watch and, even if the 'I'm a veteran, give me a title shot' basis for Summer Supercard is laughably crap - I do think this did a good job of getting me fired up to watch Taven/Shelley. His performance was the stand-out, but Taven was presented well (I particularly enjoyed his brief interactions with Lethal), the heat segment on Gresham was effective. I also felt that TK and Vinny came off like a surprisingly competent tag team...which is a shame because as of this writing this is O'Ryan's penultimate ROH match (his last being in Toronto)

Tape Rating - *** - This wasn't as compact, energetic, lively or significant as Manhattan Mayhem, and thus definitely felt more like the standard ROH 'live event'/house show product that we're used to. But nevertheless it was a solid and enjoyable event. There was a half hour period the show really did lose its way (the Casanova/Preston, Young/Black, Steelz/Rivera/Love sequence of matches), but everything else was largely decent. I LOVED the Briscoes/GOD brawl, which came after an unexpectedly enjoyable Briscoes/Bouncers tag, the undercard was populated with extremely solid bouts (including another impressive performance from rising star Eli Isom), and once again the Lifeblood/Villains feud stole the show with another incredibly exciting tag match. If you enter this expecting something on the level of Manhattan Mayhem you may be disappointed - but this was a more coherent and well-wrestled product than several ROH live shows in 2019, which is to be appreciated and celebrated.

3) Kenny King vs Dragon Lee (***)

2) Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham/Alex Shelley vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan (****)

1) Marty Scurll/PCO vs Mark Haskins/Bandido (****)

5) Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham/Alex Shelley vs Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan (**** - Mass Hysteria)

4)  Marty Scurll/PCO vs Mark Haskins/Bandido (**** - Mass Hysteria)

3) Marty Scurll/Flip Gordon/Brody King/PCO vs Tracy Williams/Mark Haskins/Bandido/PJ Black (**** - Manhattan Mayhem 8)

2) Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal vs Kenny King (**** - Manhattan Mayhem 8)

1) Guerrillas Of Destiny vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (**** - Manhattan Mayhem 8)