McXal's Reviews

Having skipped the Honor Re-United Tour in 2018 (which I regret somewhat as all of those shows were actually rather good), this is another UK show that I attended in person meaning I'm able to contrast the live experience to that of watching on DVD/VOD. I dug out the live thoughts I posted to the ROHWorld.com Forum and will share some excerpts from those at the end too. Although their popularity is nowhere near the peaks of previous years, Ring Of Honor still chose to run a 2019 tour of the UK - with new venues in Newport (Wales) and Bolton joining the now-traditional London leg. Tickets moved notoriously slowly, even after big matches like Rush vs Jeff Cobb were announced, along with guest spots from Flamita, Mike Bailey and a number of stand-outs from the UK scene. I touched on it in my Glory By Honor 17 review, but I was astonished that ROH didn't run Rush vs Scurll SOMEWHERE on this tour simply because sales were so bad, and that would have certainly shifted some tickets (particularly in London). I've been attending wrestling shows at the Bethnal Green York Hall venue since the early 2000's and I have to say I've never been to a show at that building with a smaller or more lifeless crowd than were in place for this show. Ticket prices didn't help (I can't recall what ROH were charging, but I do recall it was more than RevPro, who routinely fill York Hall with considerably more star-studded line-ups than ROH offered in 2019). So with half-full buildings (at best) and a trio of cards lacking some sizzle, ROH heads back across the Atlantic. Tonight Lethal & Gresham's pursuit of the Tag Championship intensifies as they face the Briscoes in singles matches. Shane Taylor defends the TV Title against Joe Hendry, Kelly Klein's battles with The Allure continue as she defends her WOH Title against Mandy Leon, Flamita debuts (in place of the injured Bandido) facing Colt Cabana and our main event sees the Villain Enterprise duo of Marty Scurll and Flip Gordon face World Champion Rush and Jeff Cobb. Ian Riccaboni provides solo commentary (with the help of assorted guests throughout the night) in London, England.

Lifeblood are down on numbers, but now bring their message to Mark Haskins' home country for the first time - and they also have Vicky Haskins in their corner. Their opponents are Australian independent stars. My assumption was that they were touring the UK already hence why ROH booked them, but Cagematch doesn't list any UK dates for them other than the ROH Honor United shows. They are Mitch Waterman and Nick Bury, I believe their gimmick is that they are asshole jock Aussie Rules types...

Williams starts with Bury; staying close to the Australian and outclassing him with his technical skill. Nick announces that he is a 'big boy' so wants to do big boy spots like tests of strength and shoulder tackles instead...only for Williams to dominate him there too. Waterman and Haskins tag; the Aussie taking a cheap-shot at Haskins in the corner, then getting stomped into the ground by the furious Lifeblood member. Bury barges in to help his partner out, so Lifeblood both Brats' legs together and take turns booting them in the chest (whilst Vicky distracts the ref in a wholly un-Lifeblood-like manner). The official finally gets his focus back on the match just in time to break up a double camel clutch spot by Haskins and Tracy. Knee strike/German suplex combo by Nick and Mitch, finally gaining them a foothold in the match as we tick past seven minutes. Bury taunts Tracy by spraying water in his face, and does the same thing to Vicky as well. Haskins furiously tags in, but the Brats overwhelm him 2-on-1 momentarily. The Australians are thrown outside for the ELBOW SUICIDA/TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE COMBO by Lifeblood! Turnbuckle DDT on Bury, followed by Cradle To The Grave by Haskins for 2. Samoan drop/neckbreaker combo in response by The Brat Pack. Tracy gives Nick the Piledriver...followed by the Haskins Sharpshooter. Bury taps at 11:40

Rating - ** - Solid fun to get the show going. It was essentially a prolonged squash with Lifeblood spending most of the match on offence, but there were ample opportunities for The Brat Pack to entertain with their slightly juvenile routine - and it did make them rather entertaining. If nothing else, they were sufficiently annoying that you relished seeing Lifeblood beat their asses. 

After settling their differences in the ring with their sensational bout at Death Before Dishonor, Lethal and Gresham are now getting their tag team back on track and are focusing on becoming Tag Champions. Lethal holds 2019 victories over both Briscoes, and has never held the Tag Titles in his lengthy Ring Of Honor career. They meet in singles matches tonight, presenting all four men with the opportunity to put down a marker ahead of their inevitable tag team showdown.

Gresham wears his Octopus entrance mask for the first time, and has new long tights too. The opening minute does a tremendous job distilling down the nature of the contest between these guys - with Briscoe over-powering Gresh into the corner first only for Gresham to come out of the corner and use his technical wizardry to work circles around Jay on the ground. Finally Briscoe gets annoyed and obliterates the smaller man with a thudding reverse elbow. He briefly peppers Gresh with big strikes, leading to an increasingly desperate Octopus wrestling him to the ground then delivering a running punt to the exposed arm. He aggressively targets Jay's arm; softening it up for the Octopus Stretch and also leaving Briscoe's ability to deliver the Jay Driller diminished. It means that Gresham is able to easily break Jay's grip when he tries to slow things down using a chinlock too. Gresham climbs the ropes applying a hammerlock at the top...which Jay COUNTERS into a super gourdbuster! Clearly that damages his own arm in delivering it though - and Gresh is up first to kick out at the arm again. Diving knee strike from the apron to the floor lands deep in Briscoe's shoulder too. Mafia kick on the floor by Jay! He relishes being out on the floor; pursuing Gresh around to batter him into guardrails and subject him to a barrage of wild strikes. Day One Neckbreaker gets 2. Quebrada by Gresh...rolled straight into a jumping stomp to Jay's injured arm as well. Octopus Stretch...countered into Briscoe's plunging DVD to put them both on the mat. Gresh tries to jump off the top so Briscoe CATCHES HIM WITH ANOTHER DVD! But Briscoe's injured arm means he can't lift Gresh for the Jay Driller! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA NAILED! Gresh makes a mess of the ring apron whilst he's out on the floor, and when Todd Sinclair tries to clean it Gresh sprays BLACK MIST into Jay's eyes! With Briscoe blinded, Gresham rolls him up for a huge win at 13:30

Rating - **** - Watching live this was MOTN for me, but quite some distance. There wasn't anything particularly fancy about it; just a kick-ass wrestling match with an easily understandable story, delivered by two performers who are superb at what they do. Gresham out-wrestled Briscoe at every turn and opened up a major injury on his arm, which paid off massively at the end when Jay couldn't execute the Jay Driller. Briscoe's response was to look to win via blunt force trauma; bludgeoning Gresham in the ring and out of it; trying to win with strikes and big drops on the head and neck. The finish, with Gresh pulling out the Black Mist to get a major win over a former World Champion is significant. He has been cheating to win matches since returning from Best Of Super Juniors, but it had been thought that Jay Lethal had managed to put Gresh back on an 'honourable' path. The conclusion here shows that not to be the case...which may be relevant later.

With two former World Champions, two former TV Champions, a New Japan wrestler and a UK debutant (who is now signed for WWE's NXT UK brand) this is certainly a star-studded Six Man Mayhem. This is Matt Taven's first match since losing the World Title to Rush, with rumours persisting that he is battling an ankle injury. Silas has feuded with both King and Castle in the past, and also has a historic dislike for NJPW guys getting spots on ROH shows so won't be looking to make any friends out here either. Amy Rose has made the trip and is Kenny King's corner.

Silas and Dalton bicker before the bell and are the first to throw strikes as the bell rings. ARABIAN PRESS to the floor by Kenny! AIR TAVEN scores! Young evades Aurora Borealis, but Matt keeps moving and drops Brown with a rolling neckbreaker instead. Rampage isn't down for long; catching Dalton going for a leapfrog and slamming him to the ground. Hikuleo drops him with a powerslam of his own...only for Silas to clear the ring again. Kenny blocks the Plunge, and when Young counters the Royal Flush King hits the spinebuster instead. Dalton has some fun throwing competitors out of the ring repeatedly as if he thinks it's a Royal Rumble...until Hiku smashes both he and Taven over the top single-handedly. The six men split into groups of three in opposing corners, setting up the big guest stars (Rampage and Leo) to hit big Tower Of Doom bombs out of the corner. Just The Tip from Taven to King...only for him to be smeared into the mat by an urinage slam from Brown. Silas blocks the Bang-A-Rang and hits Misery on Dalton to win at 08:52

Rating - ** - A load of guys, a load of spots, eight minutes to play with. It's hard to go too wrong with that formula. You won't find anything too remarkable here, and it felt odd that they didn't have Taven go over on his big comeback match. I'm also not sure what Silas really gains from winning here; considering he got a World Title shot on literally the last show it feels like Dalton, Kenny or Taven could have used the win more than him.

This is the start of what turned out to be Kelly's final weekend in Ring Of Honor. We know she has been feuding with The Allure going back to G1 Supercard, and she recaptured the WOH World Title from Angelina Love at Glory By Honor (albeit with plenty of help from Maria Manic). Now Mandy steps into the ring as the first challenger in The Gatekeeper's third reign; reigniting a rivalry which goes back a long time. These two have been stalwarts of the Women Of Honor division almost uninterrupted since it relaunched.

Leon attacks Klein from behind to get us started, so Klein dumps her face-first on the apron and takes the fight to the outside. Mandy's somewhat comical overblown selling of a whip into the guardrail is very entertaining. She reassumes control by distracting the official then spraying hairspray into Kelly's eyes. A single-arm DDT lands, then Mandy wraps the arm in the ropes to wrench on it some more. Panic Attack nailed, but Kelly retaliates with an arm-selling sidewalk slam. She hits a big spear too, but every move is punctuated by Klein having to tend to her injured arm which hangs limp by her side. Somehow she delivers an avalanche fallaway slam...and then appears so injured that the referee checks if she wants to continue. Mandy rolls away and drops a chair into the ring - but it's a trap. When the ref confiscates that she instead rattles Kelly's skull with the WOH Title belt...and pins her to win at 06:24. Todd Sinclair (who wasn't the official for this one) isn't happy. He sprints to the ring and angrily remonstrates with the UK ref; ordering that the match should continue. If he saw Mandy use the belt why isn't it a DQ? The bell rings for a restart, Klein hits the K-Power and retains at 06:40 (total)

Rating - * - Unfortunately this goes down as still more trash from the Women Of Honor division featuring Kelly Klein and The Allure - and it has to stop soon, it really does. The most irritating part about this is that there was a hint of decent wrestling on display here. Klein's selling of her arm injury was excellent, and Mandy was visibly trying her absolute hardest in what was a big match for her personally. Unfortunately none of that will be remembered because of the shenanigans at the end. I do wonder in hindsight if Delirious wishes he'd have just put the belt on Mandy tonight (or wishes he'd never put it back on Kelly for a third time at Glory By Honor). Given the notorious events that would subsequently transpire involving Klein and Joey Mercury, having the title on a wrestler they weren't about to hastily release from her contract would have been useful...

Flamita is making a keenly-awaited ROH debut this weekend. He's someone who's name had always cropped up any time fans were listing talent they'd like to see come in, and he was finally booked as a replacement for Bandido when he had to drop out of this tour after suffering an injury in Las Vegas. His opponent is seasoned Ring Of Honor veteran Colt Cabana - who has started to become more active in the ring again as the year draws to a close. 

Both men seem in good spirits at the bell, pretty much taking turns to goof around and show off. Flamita does a number of back-flips...but when he tries an extravagant flipping corkscrew lucha armdrag Colt refuses to play ball and simply stands his ground. Slingshot somersault headscissors by Flamita instead! Cabana tries his own, slightly less gracious lucha armdrag - which Flam blocks by tossing him out and delivering a SLINGSHOT RANA TO THE FLOOR! Cabana gets his knees up to block a standing moonsault attempt though, slowing the pace right down to prevent the luchador from taking to the air anymore. Flamita retreats up the aisle trying to catch his breath whilst Cabana wastes time chatting to Ian Riccaboni (who is doing solo commentary at ringside). A superkick from Flamita knocks Colt into the front row...and Flamita scrambles up to the top rope for a SUICIDE DIVE INTO THE CROWD! Back in the ring Flam delivers a Red Star Press for 2, then a slingshot DDT which spikes Cabana right on his head. Flying Asshole by Cabana with the Superman Pin following soon after for a close nearfall. Chicago Skyline blocked into a RETADOR! 450 SPLASH! Cabana kicks out! Flam Fly blocked into the CHICAGO SKYLINE! Colt wins at 15:20

Rating - *** - A strong undercard match, getting the blend between good comedy and good wrestling just about right. There were points where this did feel like an exhibition match or an excuse for Flamita to get his sh*t in, but on the whole it was well paced/executed. Cabana showed all his years of experience with a quite brilliant physical performance, moving from the jovial prankster at the start to an incredibly intense fighter in the closing stages. It's not hard to see why ROH officials wanted to book Flamita more after this display either. 

The Prestigious One earned this title shot the hard way (whilst Taylor was giving out title matches to local jobbers like sweets); taking Taylor to a time-limit draw in a Proving Ground Match during the Global Wars Espectacular Tour. He now receives his title shot in the UK, in a building he has performed in many times previously. Can he end Shane T's dominant reign? His partner/rival Dalton Castle crashes commentary for this match. Hendry's entrance included a Shane Taylor Promotions spoof themed around the original UK version of 'The Office'...but I presume it was cut from the DVD for copyright reasons. I fully understand that; but comedy entrances are a HUGE part of Hendry's gimmick. If they can't even put them on DVD's what is the point of signing him? He will really struggle to get over if you take away such a massive part of his act. (I double checked, and it's been cut from the Honor Club VOD version too).

Taylor seems to grow in confidence with every match, and Hendry smartly tries to lock him up and cling to him in a way to negate his size and striking power. He successfully forces the champ into a wrestling match rather than a fight and that is where Hendry has a pronounced advantage. Shane starts trash-talking the challenger, and smiles broadly as he goads Joe into trading shoulder tackles with him (since he is easily able to win that exchange). It provokes Hendry to quicken the pace, cause the champ to gasp for air with some World Of Sport trickery...and then drive Taylor to the floor with a tackle. But now Joe makes a critical mistake and tries to follow Taylor to the outside. Shane capitalises instantly with a TOWER OF LONDON OFF THE APRON! He batters Hendry outside the ring then almost takes his head off with a leg drop on the apron. It now means that when Joe tries to get back in the ring and wrestle Shane the champ is able to brush him away and paste him to the canvas with a reverse elbow. He then escorts back to the outside for some violent heaves into the guardrails. He keeps doing it, until finally Joe reverses one and throws Taylor THROUGH the guardrails! FANS HIT THE DECK TOO! The courage Joe showed there was enough to even get some praise out of Dalton Castle on commentary...but his hope is quickly extinguished with a brutal lariat from the champion. SUPLEX BY JOE! KNOCK-OUT PUNCH by Taylor! Joe somehow resists defeat and levels Shane T again with a Codebreaker. He trades strikes with Taylor...which proves to be ill-advised as Shane almost caves in his face with a knee strike. Package Piledriver gets 2! Second rope splash nailed...but still Joe won't be pinned. FREAK OF NATURE ON TAYLOR! GETS 2! HENDRY LOCK! Taylor rolls through, but Hendry counters Greetings From 216 back to the Hendry Lock. With his last burst of strength Shane boots his way free and hits GREETINGS FROM 216! Taylor retains at 14:32

Rating - **** - In the building live I thought this was a good match, but found the lack of crowd heat (particularly in the first half) hurt it. Watching on DVD really allowed me to appreciate the finer detail of what they were doing though and this was great - easily Hendry's best ROH match, and one of Taylor's best bouts of 2019 too. The opening half of the match, which live I found heat-less, was SO smart. Both competitors continually came up with strategies to negate what their opponent was trying to do. Hendry wanted to grapple Taylor...so Shane pissed him off and got him to try tackles. Joe recognised his lower body weight made that a challenge, so he blew Taylor up then tackled him to the floor. But out there Taylor came into his own and pulverised Joe, delivering such a vicious beating that Hendry never fully recovered. And that made his performance in the closing stages of the match all the more remarkable. Despite being heavily wounded on the floor, Hendry found the fortitude to brawl with him outside, trade strikes inside...and even the power to hit an incredible Freak Of Nature. An outstanding midcard match.

Aussie Open were originally booked for this show, but after Mark Davis had to drop out due to injury he was replaced by fellow Schadenfreude member Lucky Kid (now signed to WWE's NXT UK brand). They are faced with the intimidating prospect of wrestling former ROH Tag/current Six-Man Champions Brody King and PCO. At Glory By Honor PCO became #1 contender for the World Title and will face the winner of this weekend's Rush/Cobb match in the main event at Final Battle. That #1 Contenders Tournament final included Marty forcing the rest of Villain Enterprises to work against PCO; all attacking him throughout the match. Is PCO back on the same page as Brody, and has he been able to overcome his issues with 'electrical malfunctions'?

PCO starts with Fletcher; the Australian struggling to stay out of the #1 contenders clutches and getting battered. Lucky tags with Brody...and bridges the size-gap by working face and taking King's legs out from under him. Kyle looks to follow up with a flying crossbody but Brody emphatically counters into a Bossman Slam for 2. PCO follows with a second rope leg drop and the Villains threaten to overwhelm Fletcher. With perhaps the last of his energy he dodges and weaves his way to a tag and once again Kid looks to use his speed to out-wit Brody. Handspring elbow blocked, but Lucky counters a back suplex into a standing Shiranui for 2. Brody responds by stacking Schadenfreude on top of each other and chopping them so hard that Fletcher inadvertently German suplexes his own partner. Hiptoss/cannonball senton combo by the Villains. PCO climbs to the top as Brody places their opponents on the apron. TOP ROPE CANNONBALL TO THE APRON! Fletcher somehow recovers to dropkick Brody off the apron...lands a ROPE RUN SOMERSAULT PLANCHA to the floor! Electric chair/lungblower combo from Schadenfreude to PCO gets 2. The Monster starts yelling at his opponents to chop him harder...eventually dropping Lucky with the Pop-Up Powerbomb. Double chokeslam by Villain Enterprises, but Fletcher somehow blocks the PCO-Sault. Satellite Crossface from Lucky to King! PCO tries to break with a somersault senton...only for Lucky to roll the hold to the other side of the ring to move! German suplex by Brody. GONZO BOMB! PCO-SAULT! Villains win at 13:43

Rating - *** - A little slow to get going, but it wound up being a rather fun tag match. I liked the dynamic between the two sides; Brody and PCO doing a great job of mauling Fletcher, whilst Lucky in particular was so small and fast that he posed genuine problems for the Villains. That went right through to the finish where Kid came close to tapping Brody out. This turned out to be Brody's final ROH match of 2019. Supposedly he injured his knee (I didn't see anything obvious in the match itself) and wound up missing the remainder of the year.

This is the second half of our Briscoe vs Lethal/Gresham singles double-header for the evening. Earlier in the show we saw Gresham score a major victory over Jay, but only after spraying black mist into his eyes. Can Lethal complete the sweep? Will we find out how he feels about Gresham once again using dishonourable measures to win matches? Can Mark secure a measure of his revenge for his brother's loss earlier in the show? Ian informs us that Lethal is 5-0 over Mark in ROH history (I don't have the time or inclination to double check if that's accurate or not). Bobby Cruise sits in on commentary too.

The match begins with an evenly-matched, clean wrestling sequence. Mark is the more willing to go to strikes, but hasn't done his homework and quickly finds himself levelled with the hiptoss/dropkick sequence. Another Lethal staple - the springboard dropkick to the apron - lands as well, causing Briscoe to fall to the floor. That proves to be advantageous though as Mark springs into life and lands the Cactus Elbow. A third dropkick, this time a missile variant from the top, hints at a Lethal fightback, only for Briscoe to take him down again with a super gourdbuster. Superplex lands as well as Briscoe's strategy of trying to hit major offensive bombs continues to overwhelm the wrestling-centric approach of Lethal. They trade chops, even though Mark's heavy-duty offence has left Jay nursing a back injury. It gets worse moments later when Briscoe counters the Lethal Injection with GERMAN SUPLEXES! Iconoclasm blocked...Urinage instead. Froggy Bow dodged...Figure 4 blocked...Lethal Injection nailed - but Mark kicks out! He also rolls to the outside meaning Jay has to retrieve his body before he can follow up. By the time he has Briscoe back on the apron, Mark has recovered and he drills the bad back again with a back suplex on the apron. Jonathan Gresham scurries out and shoves Mark to the ground - then seemingly hides under the ring so that Todd, Lethal and Briscoe can't find him! Mark collided with the ringpost on the way down and comes back up bleeding heavily. His brother Jay runs out to check on him...prompting Gresh to pop up from under the ring and hop inside brandishing a steel chair! Lethal berates Gresham and steals the chair from him. LETHAL NAILS JAY WITH THE CHAIR! Gresham leaps for joy and joins Lethal in beating down Jay. The bloody Mark gets in the fight as well, and somewhere around the 14:00 mark the match has to be thrown out...

Rating - *** - The match itself was only ok. I liked the general direction, with Mark not being able to outwrestle Lethal so instead going for bigger moves almost constantly and injuring Lethal's back as a result. It wasn't fought at the fastest pace, and they didn't seem to have too many ideas on how to fill the time so at points this did feel very slow - as if they were killing time before pulling the trigger on the angle at the end. Having said that, when it came, Lethal's 'heel turn' and blasting Jay with the steel chair was a genuinely shocking moment...yet at the same time though, it was also completely understandable after the frustrating year Lethal has had. 

Security and referees desperately try to separate the four men; Lethal and Gresham eventually walking away having left both Briscoe brothers bloody. 

This is our main event, and even though the World Championship isn't on the line there are a number of interesting storylines in play here, all centred around Rush's belt. He defends it in Bolton on Night 3 of this tour...against his partner tonight. Cobb won the Defy Or Deny Match at Honor For All to earn that shot. But matters are complicated by the fact that Rush and Jeff appear to have some mutual respect; Cobb is the only man on the roster other than his brother that Rush has even so much as extended a fist bump too. Can they maintain that chemistry, or will that dissolve with the stakes so high this weekend? Their opponents are Villain Enterprises, with former BTE cast-members Marty and Flip tagging in ROH for the first time. Marty desperately wants to be World Champion, but the first Villain to get a title shot will be PCO at Final Battle. Will PCO's stable-mates do him a favour and soften up both of his potential Final Battle opponents tonight?

Marty has a lot to say for himself during the entrances and introductions, but quite literally runs all the way up the aisle back to the stage when Rush tries to shut him up. Flip starts for his team and needs all of his speed and athleticism to stay out of Cobb's clutches. In the end Jeff basically blasts Flip out of the ring, forcing him to make the tag to Scurll. Marty demands to face the World Champion, and Rush joins him for an electric counter-wrestling sequence. That concludes with Rush and Marty spitting at Cobb and Flip respectively. Cobb and Rush seize the advantage over Gordon; roughing him up with strikes and Cobb's big suplexes. Scurll helps him out, knocking Rush off the apron then hopping the ropes for a Flip-assisted Apron Superkick on Jeff. Tornado DDT/superkick combo on Cobb gets 2. The Villains cut the ring in half and work together to wear down the Olympian...including Marty showing off his heavyweight credentials with a big suplex too. Jeff PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE to block the Chickenwing though! Double wrist-clutch suplex on both Villains, opening the door for a big tag to El Toro Blanco. Incineration levels Scurll, then he dishes out the fake-out bootscrape in the corner to Gordon. Rush and Cobb surge into the ring and overwhelm Flip with a flurry of combo moves, culminating in Jeff's standing moonsault for 2. Big tag to Scurll...who hits the half nelson suplex on Rush after the champion blocks Just Kidding. Flip BRUTALLY dropkicks Rush into the guardrail moments later...then leaps back to the apron to hit the Kinder Surprise on Cobb. Cheeky Nando's Kick by Marty, setting up a POWERBOMB/SHIRANUI COMBO on Cobb for 2. Pele Kick by Flip, into the STF! Chickenwing on Rush at the same time! Cobb escapes and lures Marty into kicking his own partner in the head. DEAD-LIFT SUPERPLEX from Cobb to Scurll. JUST KIDDING SUPERKICK by Jeff! Springboard Spear by Flip! MEXICAN DESTROYER BY RUSH! All four men are down! Marty stops Jeff hitting Tour Of The Islands and gives him a Finger Snap...only for Rush to decimate him with another knee strike. Turnbuckle belly to belly on Flip - which as always is the set-up for the BULL'S HORNS! Rush has it won, but Cobb blind-tags himself in to hit Tour Of The Islands - and he wins the match for their team at 18:08

Rating - **** - This turned out to be a lively main event. It felt rather rigid and formulaic at points, but there were enough flashpoints and interesting moments provided by these four; in combinations of guys that we haven't seen too often. Neither Rush nor Cobb have spent a huge amount of time in the ring with Marty or Flip, so every match-up felt like it was bringing something fresh and exciting - from Marty antagonising the short-tempered Rush, Flip using his athleticism to out-wit Cobb and some spectacular offensive combo moves from two teams that we haven't seen partner up all that often. It was paced effectively and felt like it built to a roaring finish - with Jeff stealing Rush's pin to make a statement before their championship match in Bolton.

As you might expect, Rush is furious at Cobb. There is no fist bump between them tonight - Rush holds the belt right in Jeff's face to intimidate him as the show fades out.

Tape Rating - *** - Speaking solely about the in-ring content of this show, it was pretty good. The Women Of Honor Title Match was a big miss (nothing unusual for the WOH division in 2019 unfortunately), and there were a couple of rather forgettable matches, but there was a lot of decent content. Gresham vs Briscoe was excellent, Taylor vs Hendry very under-rated, the main event lively and a killer angle with the Lethal heel turn. Comparing it to the experience of being at this show live - my opinions whilst reviewing the DVD remained broadly similar as they were in the building that night, with perhaps the TV Title Match and the main event coming off better than I remembered. As promised, I dug out the live thoughts that I posted to the ROHWorld forum on the train home that evening, and looking back two years later I feel almost exactly the same way. I posted: 'I thought it was a fun show...but ROH is so cold right now. It was quite uncomfortable to watch. Tickets so overpriced the venue was circa half full. Meet & Greets so overpriced that most of the wrestlers are basically stood around looking awkward'. I went on - '[I] first went to a York Hall show in the early 00's - and I can't ever remember such a sullen atmosphere in that venue. That's not to say the fans weren't lively at points and didn't try - but this product just isn't sticking right now'. And it's that last sentence that feels the most pertinent; what ROH is doing right now just isn't 'sticking'. This wasn't a bad show. But it wasn't a great one either, and it certainly wasn't a can't miss event...nor was it any better than any of the other promotions who run York Hall with considerably cheaper ticket prices. When your product is as cold as Ring Of Honor's had become, comfortable, solid shows like this aren't good enough. You heat the product up by having can't miss matches on every show, or compelling storylines which entice viewers back...and ROH has neither. And what's worse, they really made no effort to have a 'can't miss' match, and instead were content to treat this London audience (by far the biggest crowd of the tour by the way) to a ho-hum house show. Why not run Rush/Scurll for the title here? Why not let either of the Briscoes vs Lethal/Gresh singles matches go 20+ minutes to produce something really special? The closing sentences of my live review feel chillingly relevant as I write this in early November of 2021 and feels like a great place to end this review too. 'The quality of the wrestling on the whole was decent. I enjoyed my night. But I came away feeling so disheartened at how brutally corporate, formulaic and completely disconnected from its audience ROH feels right now. It's sad. I genuinely don't know if I'll see another ROH show live if this seemingly terminal downward trend can't be halted fast...'

3) Rush/Jeff Cobb vs Marty Scurll/Flip Gordon (****)

2) Shane Taylor vs Joe Hendry (****)

1) Jonathan Gresham vs Jay Briscoe (****)