ROH vs PCW – Supershow Of Honor 2 – 27th/28th/29th November 2015
Last year Preston City Wrestling forged a partnership with Ring Of Honor and flew in a whole bunch of ROH talent (plus others like Lance Storm, Booker T, Uhaa Nation, Chris Masters, Paul London etc) for a weekend of fun, frolics, hangovers and wasted potential. The shows were mostly fun but usually tinged with disappointment, silly jokes and scrooge-like time allocations. I wasn’t overly flattering about my impressions of PCW…and I got a ton of feedback as a result. Many agreed with me, but many others staunchly defended PCW’s product; telling me I didn’t understand it because I wasn’t there live, I didn’t show enough love to the BritWres community, or that I was simply an ROH fanboy. A year has passed, we’ve reached November 2015…and ROH are coming back. A strong Ring Of Honor talent contingent includes Jay Lethal, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, reDRagon, War Machine, Kenny King, Dalton Castle, Delirious, Silas Young and Cedric Alexander – and they’ll lock horns with a PCW crew once again boasting the likes of Team Single, Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Joey Hayes, Martin Kirby, El Ligero, Lionheart (wrestling this year)…and bolstered by former ROH Pure Champion Doug Williams too. The Saturday night show will also see PCW play host to Sean Waltman, Scott Hall and Drew Galloway, which should be an experience.
Once again, this is a PCW-produced product, with ROH just allowing them to use their name and talent. After being decidedly mixed on how much I liked the first Supershow I passed on making the long drive up to Preston to see these shows live and instead pre-ordered the DVD’s as soon as they became available. Rather laughably, they then sat on pre-order for what seemed like forever (with few if any updates on what the delay was)…until WrestleCrate UK randomly announced in the spring of 2017 that the Supershow Of Honor 2 DVD package was being included as part of their top tier subscription service. Pre-orders were shipping too – meaning after almost two years of waiting I received this DVD set twice within the space of three days. Not ideal service…but there are enough rumours, opinions, conversations and Twitter rants on the PCW customer service experience which are easy enough to find without me adding an arbitrary moan on that matter. The DVD’s are here, the line-ups look as mixed as they did last year – let’s get rolling. We are in Preston, UK for all four events – with commentary from the same unbearably dreadful duo as last year (Greg Lambert and ‘Stallion’). I recommend selecting the crowd noise audio channel…
Show One – 27th November 2015
Just like last year we start the weekend with a Friday night event – with ROH challengers in play for all of PCW’s Championships. Adam Cole and Bubblegum challenge El Ligero for the PCW Cruiserweight Title, reDRagon once again take on Team Single’s Rampage Brown and Tyson T-Bone with the PCW Tag Titles at stake, whilst Dave Mastiff puts the PCW Heavyweight Championship on the line against ROH TV Champion Roderick Strong. The main event has even higher stakes as Jay Lethal defends the ROH World Title against Noam Dar. Doug Williams also makes his first (sort-of) ROH appearance in far far too long as he squares off with Silas Young.
El Ligero vs Bubblegum vs Adam Cole – PCW Cruiserweight Title Match
This match takes place just a couple of weeks after Ligero had defeated Bubblegum to win PCW’s Cruiserweight Title. BB wants the belt back, but also has to contend with a man he pissed off during last year’s Supershow in the form of Adam Cole. That night he stole a pin on Cole’s hated rival Kyle O’Reilly before the ROH man himself was able to. A year later we know far more clearly just how intensely Cole dislikes O’Reilly – so he won’t have forgiven Gum for that. The announce team inform me that this is actually an impromptu match, with PCW authority figure Joanna Rose pulling Ligero from an 8-man ROH vs PCW Tag set for later this evening and forcing him into this defence. Elimination rules are in effect here.
Bubble runs at Ligero, only to be unceremoniously dumped straight to the floor. TOPE ATOMICO by El Lig to wipe out both opponents! Cole almost profits from the constant punishment Gum has received; getting a nearfall after the Shining Wizard. Ligero blocks the same move and takes out The Kingdom member with a superkick…leaving all three down. Cole’s ego is apparently out of control as he drags Bubblegum out of the ring to prevent him pinning Ligero. Gum puts the champion on his shoulders, but as Cole dives to assist him with a Doomsday Device Ligero counters with a REVERSE RANA ON GUM! He rolls Bubble up and eliminates him at 06:02. Bubblegum reacts badly of course, and lays Lig out with the Filthy Habit (Pedigree). The luchador is at Adam Cole’s mercy…and eats a couple of violent superkicks for 2. Panama Sunrise blocked! LAST SHOT! Cole wins at 08:19!
Rating - *** - Perhaps surprisingly, I quite liked this. They weren’t booked to go long, so rather than wasting any time just went at full speed from the very opening bell. I’m not hugely familiar with the PCW product, but it was perfectly clear through their interactions and body language that Ligero and Bubble have history…watching their rivalry bounce off of the obvious excellence of Adam Cole was enjoyable.
Doug Williams vs Silas Young
The Anarchist’s history with Ring Of Honor stretches all the way back to 2002, when he debuted spectacularly at Road To The Title and forced his way into the inaugural ROH Championship contest. He did eventually go on to hold ROH gold in the form of the Pure Title (eventually losing it to John Walters) but I don’t believe he has appeared since 2007. Obviously TNA was a big part of the reason for that, but now back competing in the UK and affectionately known as the ‘Ambassador’ of British Wrestling – he’ll know strong performances this weekend could see ROH/Sinclair bringing him back.
Young falls into the trap that so many have fallen into before – and tries to engage Williams in the trading of holds. Doug effortlessly chains with him, countering out of anything the Last Real Man tries. Even when the pace quickens Doug has answers to every question Young poses. Silas sensibly takes the Englishman out of his element by tossing him over the top rope. I had a mixed relationship with the PCW crowd last year, but some of the interactions between then and Silas are genuinely entertaining. The American pulls the trunks, punches, kicks and does all he can to keep a methodical, brawling pace to negate Doug’s skills. He can’t keep the Anarchist down, but does weaken him so much that after hitting a belly to belly suplex Williams has no capability to return to his feet. A release exploder suplex eventually follows…into a running lariat for 2. Chaos Theory blocked! Killer Combo nailed for 2! Williams hops up the ropes for a FLYING ELBOW STRIKE! Peegee Waja Plunge misses! CHAOS THEORY! Doug wins at 10:57
Rating - *** - I really miss watching Doug compete regularly. He’s a little older, a little slower, and a little thicker around the middle these days – but he remains an absolutely outstanding wrestler. These two experienced old pro’s put together a classy and strategically sound little match which didn’t over-exert them but still told a great story with continually escalating drama right to the very end. Doug was a wrestling machine, Silas eventually started brawling with him to negate it – but having failed to hit his finishing move and been caught out by Williams’ speed he eventually succumbed to defeat. I would certainly advocate Doug being brought back to the US for some ‘proper’ ROH dates.
Kenny King vs Sha Samuels
Sha is a staple of the British wrestling scene, and something of a guilty pleasure of mine. Truth be told I’ve never really seen him have what I’d term a ‘great match’, but I love his promos and delivery of the ‘East End Butcher’ gimmick. He has been lined up to form part of ITV’s new World Of Sport project if it ever gets up off the ground – which shows that TV executives and experienced wrestling producers like Jeff Jarrett can see he possesses an obvious ability to connect with audiences. His no-nonsense Londoner act is a strange fit for a northern-based company like PCW, but he is the ‘hometown’ performer here, against a man who only recently returned to Ring Of Honor in Kenny King. Sha is unbeaten in PCW competition.
Samuels attacks Kenny from behind, because he’s a bastard like that. King needs all of his speed and athleticism to keep the Butcher at bay…and Sha’s response is to walk out and piss the fans off some more. He pulls the braces off of his trunks and chokes Kenny with them right in front of the referee. He has no pretty offence but doesn’t allow King space to catch his breath and simply mauls him from all angles. Kenny blocks Sha’s vaunted Sleeper Hold and rocks him with a Capo Kick and a corkscrew enzi for 2. Royal Flush COUNTERED to the Sleeper! King is choked out and loses at 06:32
Rating - ** - Like I said, Sha just isn’t a visually impressive wrestler to watch but does a great job portraying a character. He was still building his legacy in PCW at this point, so having an ROH name to add to his career hit-list is another feather in his cap. It was a strong showing from him too – dominating the All Night Express member from the very opening bell then choking him to unconsciousness with the Sleeper Hold.
Delirious/Dalton Castle vs Joey Hayes/Martin Kirby
With Silas still in possession of the actual Boys, Castle has recruited some pale British substitutes to don the masks and accompany him to ringside this evening. He teams with a lunatic lizard man to represent Ring Of Honor against Hayes and Kirby – both of whom worked the 2014 Supershow and did very little to impress in doing so. PCW have always put them both in very prominent spots however, so perhaps this is the weekend that they’ll really showcase why to a much larger audience. Hayes is wearing a D’Lo Brown chest protector and carries what appears to be PCW’s equivalent of the Money In The Bank gimmick (even though the announce team inform me that Kirby is actually the man in possession of the PCW Money In The Bank contract).
Joey convinces Delirious to sing Kirby’s entrance music. The Lizard Man then tries to eat the MITB briefcase, before stealing a handbag from a lady at ringside. That should tell you everything about what kind of match this will be. Three minutes in and we’ve had plenty of comedic shenanigans, but very little wrestling whatsoever. Briefly Dalton and Kirby threaten to start seriously wrestling, but Delirious quickly tags in for more comedic skits. Things finally get serious with Hayes kicking Castle off the second rope causing him to land right on his neck, before tagging out and letting his more serious, credible partner lead the isolation of the Party Peacock. Together they competently pick apart the neck and back of their foe – whilst struggling to keep their odd couple tag team on the same page. An argument eventually breaks out allowing Dalton to tag out. Hayes inadvertently spears Kirby…and Delirious promptly makes it worse by tossing one opponent on top of the other. Panic Attack on Joey! Bang-A-Rang on Kirby! Kirbstop on Delirious, enabling the PCW guys to hit a double team elevated DDT. Hayes sucker punches his own partner to ensure he can steal the pin on ROH’s booker at 12:16
Rating - * - If you enjoyed the Al Snow/Steve Blackman ‘Head Cheese’ odd couple tag team routine and have always wanted to see two skinny British independent scene guys recreate it then the Kirby/Hayes team will suit you down to the ground. Unfortunately that’s quite a small niche market and for the most part I found this rather uninteresting. I’ve no problem with Delirious as a comedy wrestler (his interactions with Mad Man Manson last year were hysterical) but this wasn’t original, unique and most importantly wasn’t funny. Flying Dalton all the way over here just to waste him in this environment wasn’t a great idea either.
Dave Mastiff vs Roderick Strong – PCW Heavyweight Title Match
Although he is far from my favourite British scene guy, Mastiff is one of the better British workers PCW book on a regular basis. His match with Adam Cole last year almost stole the entire weekend, and in the time since he has gone on to become PCW’s Champion. He now defends against ROH’s Television Champion in Roderick Strong. Mr ROH has proclaimed that he is now on a ‘Roddy vs The World’ mission – so capturing an overseas promotion’s top prize would certainly fall within that remit.
Mastiff actually draws a strong ‘home promotion’ babyface reaction which is refreshing. The Preston fans almost cause Roddy to walk out as they heckle him over his boots. Strong is desperate to stay out of the Bastard’s clutches – eventually attacking him from behind to negate his significant power. A mere glancing blow with a dropkick is enough for Dave to knock the challenger clear out of the ring though. Strong uses the ringpost to wear Mastiff down but continues to get distracted by the heckling of the UK fans. The champ at last catches up with Strong – mowing him down like roadkill with a running crossbody block. Finlay Roll/senton splash combo gets 2. Strong continues to quicken the pace and sprint around the ring at all times as he knows the Bastard just can’t lay a glove on him. SUPERPLEX TAKES DOWN THE BASTARD! He foolishly looks for End Of Heartache…but does get him up for DEATH BY RODERICK instead! Sick Kick nailed for 2! GERMAN SUPLEX INTO THE BOTTOM TURNBUCKLE! CANNONBALL! Mastiff retains at 10:04
Rating - *** - Roderick is having such a good year that even goofing around and only taking a match half seriously he’s still seriously awesome. It’s pretty clear that the Ring Of Honor crew are treating this like something of a jolly, which is a shame as these two had great chemistry and could have produced something really epic if put into a position to do so. Instead we got a few laughs (it’s PCW, it’s all they have to offer) and an enjoyable little cat-and-mouse chase between smaller challenger and massive champion. It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world for ROH to follow up on this defeat by bringing Mastiff to the US to challenge for the TV Title if they are serious about this ‘Roddy vs The World’ gimmick.
Dave Rayne/Charlie Garrett/Ashton Smith/Iestyn Rees vs Hanson/Raymond Rowe/Cedric Alexander/Lionheart
This is billed as an inter-promotional 8-man tag match, with Lionheart being announced as the secret ‘mystery’ partner of Alexander and War Machine. Obviously he’s a turncoat PCW talent, who used Supershow Of Honor weekend last year to announce his return to the ring following an injury at the hands of AJ Styles’ Styles Clash. Rayne is the same idiotic goon than the PCW fans loved last year, Garrett and Smith are a comedy tag team called ‘Interracial Love’, and Rees is their no-nonsense partner accompanied by General Manager Joanna Rose to ringside.
Hanson absolutely destroys Rayne, to guffaws from the live audience. Smith takes a run up and dives into as many bodies as possible with a tope suicida, and as they struggle to get back to their feet from that Cedric piles out too with a somersault plancha. Joanna Rose plants his face into the apron right afterwards to hand Rees the advantage though. Iestyn assumes the role of team captain and berates his partners any time they threaten to drop the ball on isolating Alexander inside the ring. There isn’t a whole lot of silly comedy going on right now so the PCW crowd don’t seem that interested unfortunately. Rowe gets a tag and almost takes Rees’ head off with the Cement Mixer, feeding him into Hanson’s Sledgehammer strikes. Shotgun Knee/Bronco Buster combo nailed, which is so impressive in Rees’ own tag partners applaud. They drop off the apron and refuse to tag out as well! Iestyn bullies Rayne in and is escorted back to the locker room by Joanna Rose. Kick 2 Kill from Cedric to Smith! Brainbuster by Garrett! Cartwheel Lariat by Hanson! Rayne throws out Diamond Cutters to Lionheart and Cedric…only to be destroyed by War Machine. Path Of Resistance nailed and Lionheart polishes Rayne off with a frog splash at 09:22
Rating - ** - They kept it short, had a clear story they wanted to tell, executed said story efficiently and allowed the most competent wrestlers (i.e. War Machine and Cedric) plenty of chances to shine so it’s hard to ask for any more from this. It was disappointing that the crowd weren’t more involved, although not surprising as it is becoming clear after five ROH/PCW events that they are most comfortable watching comedy wrestling which they can interact with and chant silly things at. To me this seems like a waste of future IWGP Tag Champions Hanson and Rowe or future WWE 205 Live superstar Cedric Alexander – but if PCW want to bring them in then use them like this that is entirely their prerogative.
Team Single vs reDRagon – PCW Tag Title Street Fight
reDRagon and Team Single clashed repeatedly across the course of the 2014 Supershow weekend, culminating in a rather disappointing No DQ Match at Show 4 which reDRagon won. That appears to have earned them a PCW Tag Title opportunity upon their return, and as neither team appears to have forgotten those skirmishes last year they’ve been booked into a Street Fight.
Rampage and T-Bone are wearing street clothes, whilst reDRagon are in traditional trunks. The fight is on the floor in seconds – and O’Reilly uses the environment to repeatedly dive off chairs wiping out opponents. The challengers kick the legs out from under Brown, then put the boots on T-Bone’s arms as well. Two Man Smash Machine on the floor! Kyle flogs Tyson with a rubber chicken as PCW’s idiot commentary demands to know why the huge Team Single can’t challenge for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles. RUBBER CHICKEN CON-CHAIR-TO on Tyson! He hits back with a DDT on a chair to take out O’Reilly. They split reDRagon in half, with Fish kept outside the ring and O’Reilly given a real beating inside. Even in a Street Fight PCW can’t resist going nuts with stupid comedy stuff – and after rubber chickens were used earlier Team Single start hammering on both challengers with rolls of Christmas wrapping paper. Total Elimination gets 2 on T-Bone as reDRagon use their straight wrestling skills to mount a comeback. O’Reilly puts Brown through a chair with a running knee strike on the floor…but inside the ring Bone has smashed his partner into the turnbuckles with an exploder. STEEL CHAIR DUEL between Kyle and T-Bone! VAN DAMINATOR by O’Reilly! Jawbreaker Lariat on Rampage…who no sells and clocks him with a running lariat of his own. CHASING THE DRAGON ON A STEEL CHAIR! Rampage breaks the count! DRAGON SUPLEX by Tyson! JUMPING PILEDRIVER ON FISH! Kyle saves with the rubber chicken! SCREWDRIVER ON O’REILLY! Team Single win at 13:17
Rating - *** - What frustrates me most is that these two teams have great chemistry together. The fluid, hybrid styles of O’Reilly and Fish mesh so well with the rugged brawling style of the British team. They proved that last year, and this year was a continuation of that. My issue is that PCW can’t help but put comedy into every match. This was a strong and intense Street Fight, and the segments with rubber chickens and wrapping paper felt so jarringly out of place. One token comedy spot would have been ok…but they just kept bouncing back and forth between a novelty weapon, then a steel chair or huge bump to the point that it became silly. I considered going to an ultra-generous 4* on this because it was genuinely very enjoyable, but ultimately there was just too much nonsense.
O’Reilly and Fish insist on a handshake from Team Single…but are interrupted by Joey Hayes wielding Martin Kirby’s MITB briefcase. reDRagon waffle Team Single with their IWGP belts and leave…as Kirby and Hayes cash in for a Tag Title shot looking to end Brown and T-Bone’s reign that began back in 2013. They pin Team Single in seconds…but have their celebrations interrupted by Joanna Rose. She declares the result void as Hayes can’t cash in a briefcase he doesn’t own. I don’t follow PCW so this did nothing for me – but it’s worth pointing out that this got massive reactions from the Preston fans.
Jay Lethal vs Noam Dar – ROH World Title Match
In mere months Dar would be selected to form part of the field for WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic tournament, so by this point Noam’s stock was already growing rapidly. He impressed in his outings at last year’s Supershow Of Honor – and has proven a solid hand across a number of prominent UK indies (Progress, WCPW etc) as well as a handful of TNA appearances too. This is the biggest opportunity of his career to this point as this effectively not only offers him a chance to become ROH Champion, but also get a spot in the main event of Ring Of Honor’s biggest annual pay-per-view and presumably a defence against AJ Styles to boot.
Dar’s Star Wars entrance is possibly the best thing on the show so far. He is extremely popular in Preston this evening and backs up that popularity by proving to be more than a match for Lethal on the mat. Quick and technically sound, he succeeds in striking the champ so hard that Lethal has to leave the ring. So complex is Noam’s approach that soon Lethal resorts to nothing more than a simple, muscular headlock to hold him down. The pace slows, the number of intricate chain-sequences on the mat diminish and gradually the ROH Champion starts to establish his dominance. The Tope Trifecta drives Dar into the front row, with his failure to find a counter to that indicative of just how much he has been worn down by Lethal’s approach. The rapidity of Dar hasn’t been completely extinguished though – and he finds some reserves to run at Jay and kick him off the second rope. With a leg submission hold in his arsenal he starts attacking the knees – even going so far as getting a fan to assist him with dropkicking the legs into the ringpost. Lethal is now so anxious to escape he starts going for basic, ugly roll-ups in an effort to leave with the belt. Champagne Super-Kneebar blocked but Lethal can barely stand now. He hobbles right into a NECK DROP GERMAN by Dar! Trying to pop up he rocks Noam with a superkick – but with the leg damaged it has minimal effect and Dar decks him again with a lariat. Lethal Combination nailed from nowhere…although the champ is slow to cover and cradles his leg as he lunges into a pin. Is Hail To The King a smart move with his leg so damaged? Perhaps not as Noam catches him in the ropes and gives him a hurricanrana out of the corner. He kicks the leg again! NOVA ROLLER! FISHERMAN BUSTER with the bad leg cradled…gets 2! CHAMPAGNE SUPER-KNEEBAR! Lethal grabs the trunks to escape…but Dar counters the Lethal Injection BACK TO THE KNEEBAR! Jay makes the ropes to the Scotsman’s dismay. Double stomp to the knee misses! LETHAL INJECTION! In a flash Lethal retains in a time of 18:58
Rating - **** - This was excellent; taking it’s place as the best match from any of the five ROH/PCW Supershow events thus far. Lethal is such a great worker that, when freed of the confines of his House Of Truth gimmick his matches actually get better rather than worse. The silly PCW crowd amused themselves with drunken ‘Dar’ chants, whilst these two guys worked through a killer little match which did a hell of a lot to promote how much potential Noam has. He was allowed to look fast, technically superb and like a real threat in what was an obvious filler title defence for Lethal. Dar grasped the opportunity with both hands, Jay was gracious and worked extremely hard to put him over…and the result was a really decent main event of a vastly superior quality to anything else on the show.
Lethal shows his respect for the challenger by offering Noam Dar a handshake.
Show One Tape Rating - ** - In truth this was riddled with all the same issues that I had with the PCW/ROH cross-over events in 2014. There are plenty of good wrestlers, a number of decent little matches and therefore more than enough to keep you mildly entertained for three hours. But PCW and their fanbase just can’t resist dragging every match down the comedy route. I imagine ROH’s wrestlers love this environment – as it means they can have a good time, don’t need to bust their ass and take too many crazy risks ahead of Final Battle all whilst getting a decent overseas payday. Lethal/Dar was a class above anything else and well worth seeing if you can find it, but Williams/Silas, Mastiff/Strong and Team Single/reDRagon had their charm too. Last year I had my hopes too high and came away disappointed. This year I am more prepared for the style of wrestling and live atmosphere PCW wants to promote. It’s not conducive to much world class wrestling, but it is nice to see wrestlers and fans alike having fun. As long as each of the four shows this year packs in a match the calibre of the main event here this DVD-set will still be a worthwhile experience.
Top 3 Show One Matches
3) Doug Williams vs Silas Young (***)
2) Team Single vs reDRagon (***)
1) Jay Lethal vs Noam Dar (****)
Show Two – 28th November 2015
If the four successful champions coming out of Show One thought the hardest parts of their weekend were over they were much mistaken. Less than 24 hours later we have the PCW Cruiserweight, Tag & Heavyweight Titles on the line once more, and an ROH World Title match main events again too. Jay Lethal defends against Doug Williams in one of my most anticipated bouts of the entire weekend, Adam Cole puts his newly won PCW Cruiserweight belt on the line against Ashton Smith, Silas Young challenges Dave Mastiff for PCW’s top singles prize whilst Team Single have a huge four-team defence of their PCW Tag belts. Elsewhere Dalton Castle wants to end Sha Samuels undefeated streak and we’ll see Noam Dar and Cedric Alexander collide in a match which could steal the entire weekend.
Charlie Garrett vs El Ligero vs Roderick Strong vs Dave Rayne vs Bubblegum vs Kenny King
Not one of these six walked away from last night’s event with their hand raised in victory. Strong and Ligero suffered the most high profile defeats, with Roddy failing to wrest the PCW Title from Dave Mastiff and Ligero losing the PCW Cruiserweight belt to Adam Cole (in a match which also featured Bubblegum). Starting what is affectionately known as the ‘hangover show’ with a bang will be top of their agendas. As the reigning ROH TV Champion Roderick obviously has the biggest target on his back. All six men would love a crack at that particular title.
El Lig and Bubblegum go right at it in a continuation of their rivalry, whilst the comedic Rayne appears to just walk out of the ring to avoid conflict (and gets hammered by Strong as punishment). King drops Garrett with a spinebuster for 2. Strong and Rayne are still going at it – with Dave’s chops wholly ineffective for the most part. Kenny counters the Sick Kick into a cradle suplex but is prevented from winning after a flying crossbody from Garrett. Rayne almost decapitates Ligero with a roaring elbow…who in turn has his head taken off with a heel kick by King. The fans want to see a Dave Rayne dive – and get their wish as he lands a thoroughly un-athletic leap from the top rope onto all five opponents. Outta Nowhere on Charlie…and Kenny! Ligero blocks it then plants Gum with a Code Red for 2. Roddy wins with the Sick Kick on Rayne at 07:42
Rating - * - Pretty inoffensive, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it either ‘good’ or ‘funny’…which is unfortunate since I think that’s what they were shooting for. The ‘We Are Dave Rayne’ chants are so appropriate, because Rayne really is the walking, wrestling embodiment of PCW's very existence. He’s kind of fun and/or kind of entertaining…but only in small doses before it starts to get really repetitive. I could have done with seeing more of the Ligero/Bubblegum exchanges on the outside, as they looked really spirited.
Sha Samuels vs Dalton Castle
The East End Butcher is undefeated in PCW competition, and carried that streak through the first night of Supershow Of Honor 2 with an impressive win over Kenny King. He has another ROH star in his sights now, with the Party Peacock Dalton Castle the next to face him.
Sha’s reaction to Castle is simply magnificent. They spend several minutes riffing off each other to much hilarity, with both of them (and the ref) corpsing constantly. Eventually they hug it out – and surprisingly it’s Dalton who does the double-cross and drops his opponent with a belly to belly suplex. Samuels tries to walk out…only for Castle to sprint round the other side of the Evoque Nightclub and deliver a massive running boot at the top of the stairs. Finally snapping, Sha kicks him in the balls and tries to choke him out with the Sleeper only for Castle to repeatedly grab the ropes. Castle tries to springboard off the middle rope…but is caught in the Sleeper again and rendered unconscious at 05:31
Rating - N/A - There wasn’t much wrestling to be found here, and there didn’t need to be. Thankfully, audio levels on this DVD are terrible meaning crowd noise basically drowns out PCW’s awful commentators, and as a result we got to hear every bit of the marvellous comedic exchanges between these two. They were extremely entertaining and well-worth checking out. In the long-run I’m not sure how beneficial it is for PCW to have a dude they are trying to promote as a no-nonsense tough guy engaging in comedy hug spots with Dalton, but that’s not my concern (and I don’t find it remotely surprising that they’d prioritise getting a quick laugh from an audience over long-term character development anyway).
Adam Cole vs Ashton Smith – PCW Cruiserweight Title Match
Cole shocked everyone by winning PCW Cruiser gold from El Ligero in his very first defence last night. The Ring Of Honor star now looks set to take one of Preston City Wrestling’s belts back to the US unless one of their own can get it back before the weekend ends. Enter Ashton Smith, a fast-rising star who may just perhaps possess enough raw potential to cause an upset…
Nobody is taking this very seriously (shocking I know) – with the fans more interested in shouting out other famous celebrities with the surname of ‘Cole’. And since the commentators are so atrocious they can’t help but join in. Adam Cole strolls to an early advantage over the home promotion’s challenger, who quickly looks out of his depth. The slow and relaxed pace suits the champion down to the ground, particularly since he has a rematch from last year’s Supershow Of Honor with Dave Mastiff at Show 3 to prepare for. Smith hits a flying leg lariat and follows it up with an Olympic Slam for 2…before Cole shuts him down once more with the Shining Wizard. Figure 4 Leglock applied, although that’s a poor choice in the smaller PCW ring as the tall challenger easily makes the ropes. Ashton then goes for a crossbody off the top even though he’s so tall and has to crouch to avoid the low ceiling – which looks every bit as idiotic as it sounds – and is crushed with a mid-air superkick by Cole. The champ rakes the eyes and polishes Smith off with the Last Shot at 09:15
Rating - * - The crowd weren’t great, and for the most part detracted from a match which was rather painfully average even before taking them into consideration. I always bash PCW for never giving their matches enough time, so it is perhaps ironic that this lasted far too long. It was an elongated, tedious squash which did nothing to elevate Ashton and presented an entirely boring viewing experience for the home viewer. Cole’s rematch with Mastiff at Show 3 is perhaps the centrepiece of the entire weekend so one can’t begrudge him for resting up for that one…which again makes me wonder why they needed almost ten minutes here!
Noam Dar vs Cedric Alexander
Dar vs Lethal for the ROH World Title last night was an outstanding match, with such quality that it almost felt out of place amongst an entire weekend of comedy wrestling and weird fan chants. This one could be every bit as good if they don’t play it for laughs. Alexander has been as consistent in the ring all year, despite being booked like garbage for most of it by ROH, and it will be extremely interesting to watch these two future WWE cruiserweights go head to head.
The referee for this appears to be an actual child. Urgh…this match starts with two minutes of jokes around what Noam is going to do with his ring jacket. When they finally do lock up, just like Lethal last night, Alexander is bewitched by the grappling skills of Dar. The ensuing battle is low impact but nonetheless a commendable exchange of chain wrestling fundamentals. It ends back where it started – cracking jokes and winding up the man-child referee with endless pinning combinations yielding a 1-count. We are more than ten minutes deep before they build up any speed at all, and when they do it benefits Cedric as he clocks the Scottish athlete with a dropkick. The poor hapless little ref gets kicked in the balls by accident…but then Cedric and Noam give each other low blows to leave all three down grasping their junk. Alexander hits a Michinoku Driver in a rare glimpse of a higher impact move, but misses Overtime and falls victim to the Kneebar. Cedric taps at 15:44
Rating - DUD - There were some decent wrestling exchanges tucked away in here somewhere, but I have so little interest in watching these guys go more than fifteen minutes doing nothing more than wisecracking and not taking the match remotely seriously. Matches like this are exactly why I didn’t like PCW last year and why I was in no way inspired to check out more of their stuff after the first Supershow Of Honor weekend. I understand that it is a ‘tradition’ that these afternoon shows aren’t taken as seriously, and I understand that four shows in three days is a lot so I can’t expect these athletes to go full throttle throughout…but once again I feel like most of the roster is more interesting in getting a few laughs from a hundred or so people in the building than they are selling PCW to the wider audience that bringing in ROH stars exposes them to. I love both of these guys, but this was the sh*ts.
Team Single vs Joey Hayes/Martin Kirby vs reDRagon vs War Machine – PCW Tag Title Match
Last night we saw no end of hijinx between Team Single, reDRagon and the Hayes/Kirby duo. Single and reDRagon contested a hard-fought Street Fight for Rampage and T-Bone’s Tag Title belts, and after Team Single emerged victorious Hayes and Kirby tried to cash in the PCW Money In The Bank contract to end their lengthy championship reign. They actually scored a three count, but Single’s ‘Friends With Benefits’ ally GM Joanna Rose overturned the decision. War Machine are added to the explosive mix of those three teams this afternoon; things could get messy.
Is O’Reilly still drunk from the night before? Dude looks AWFUL! He orders Fish to start for their team so he can snooze on the apron. He probably isn’t too grateful as the seemingly well-rested War Machine absolutely decimate him. Hayes and Kirby can’t wait to start a fight with Team Single, so they fight on the floor leaving the ROH guys to work the match by themselves. Sleepy Kyle gets his sh*t together sufficiently to throw a few kicks…only to eat cartwheel lariat from Hanson. Kirbstop from Martin to T-Bone nailed! Rowe lugs the sh*t out of O’Reilly…who is so sleepy he doesn’t seem to feel it. Chasing The Dragon blocked with a double chokeslam on Fish! Two Man Smash Machine on Hayes! DUELLING PILEDRIVERS from Team Single to Hayes and Kirby sees them retain at 06:29
Rating - ** - This brief, six minute filler match is by a distance the best wrestling we’ve seen on this second DVD of the weekend thus far. The juvenile humour was there – but kept brief and rather amusing (O’Reilly being drunk/hungover/half asleep) – and mercifully there was a fair amount of enjoyable wrestling too. Team Single and the Hayes/Kirby duo had some heated exchanges which made sense after last night. War Machine manhandling Hayes drew chuckles from the Preston fans, and there was a great little tease for Team Single vs War Machine in there too.
Dave Mastiff vs Silas Young – PCW Heavyweight Title Match
Big Dave was mightily impressive in mowing through Ring Of Honor’s Roderick Strong when he challenged him for the PCW Championship last night. Today he has two more tough competitors from ROH lined up – starting with this one. In kayfabe I have no idea what Silas has done to warrant getting a title shot (he jobbed to Doug Williams yesterday) but I love the idea of these two working together so can’t complain too vociferously.
Silas cuts a killer promo on the PCW fans and calls Mastiff an ‘average fat guy’…which is quite ironic for someone who teams with Beer City Bruiser. The Bastard doesn’t take kindly to that and entertains himself in the opening minutes by repeatedly slapping him in the face. He’s not just a mauler either – he takes Young to the ground and ties him in knots on the canvas too! Young lets the barbs of the fans get to him as well, and the match is more than five minutes deep before he lands any significant offence on the champion; throttling him on the top rope then negating the size by working a chinlock on the ground. Mastiff looks to flatten him in the corner as soon as he returns to his feet though, and does so with such force that he can knock his challenger loopy with a German suplex. Silas puts everything he has into a rebound lariat…before getting planted in the corner and taken out with the Cannonball. It winds up being an easy defence for Mastiff at 09:19
Rating - ** - I’m surprised Ring Of Honor allowed Silas to go in there and get quite so comprehensively crushed, but as a squash this was moderately entertaining. The interactions between Silas and the PCW fans were fun, and I did appreciate the effort he put in to putting over PCW’s Champion hard. Based on his two victories thus far it’s almost a shame that ROH and PCW couldn’t work out a deal to have Mastiff go over to the US and work a few ROH dates.
Lionheart vs Delirious
PCW are working an angle where Lionheart has grown to dislike their audience and feels that they don’t show him enough respect for all he’s done for the company. Last night he went so far as to join the Ring Of Honor team in a PCW vs ROH 8-man tag (and ended up on the winning side in the process). Now he gets the chance to lock horns with the Lizard Man, potentially earning him yet more attention from Ring Of Honor senior management. Could a win here be his ticket out of Preston and over to America for good?
Lionheart demands that the referee doesn’t ring the bell – which I can’t believe more of Delirious’ opponents haven’t tried. He then proceeds to punch the lights out of a motionless Delirious! Of course the bell does eventually ring, exploding the Lizard Man back into life and kick-starting a back and forth brawl on the floor. At first I thought it was quite dynamic, but as the minutes tick by I start to get a little concerned that Lion doesn’t have an awful lot else in his locker. It actually starts to resemble a match two students in a wrestling academy would have, or look like something decades old, as they jostle over basic vertical suplexes and body slams. It’s only Delirious eccentric character that is keeping this remotely interesting in truth. He blocks Lionheart’s urinage slam and starts trying to claw flesh from his torso with a series of back rakes. Lion counters the Panic Attack and drops the masked man with a superkick, then lands a pretty terrible frog splash for 2. Urinage Slam and another miserable frog splash give Lion the victory at 08:34
Rating - * - This felt lengthy. It was thankfully devoid of a lot of the humour that has dragged down so much of this weekend (particularly Show 2) already…unfortunately it was also totally devoid of excitement as well. But for Delirious being a dynamic, watchable presence in and around the ring this would have been incredibly boring to sit through.
Jay Lethal vs Doug Williams – ROH World Title Match
The Anarchist has been chasing this championship since it’s very inception. He has unsuccessfully challenged Samoa Joe in the past, was part of the first ever Ring Of Honor Championship match and would eventually go on to become Pure Champion for the summer of 2004. Last night Lethal struggled to cope with the British style and technical trickery of Noam Dar – which doesn’t bode well as Dar is like a total novice at working that style when compared to Doug. After a gruelling title defence less than 24 hours earlier there is no doubt that Jay’s reign is under real threat here.
Lethal willingly engages Williams in some chain-wrestling exchanges in the opening minutes, and Doug can hardly wipe the smile from his face as he effortlessly picks the World Champion apart. The left leg gets plenty of early focus, which I like as that was the knee Dar went after last night too. In the end Lethal has to lure Williams into a false sense of security with some gentle comedy…before kicking him in the stomach and sending him crashing through the front row with a tope suicida. Williams comes up from that favouring his neck, which Lethal is all over with a sliding DDT for 2. The Anarchist’s response is to kick at the bad leg again in the corner to leave Jay on his ass. His own desperation to win the title becomes apparent – as he stops wrestling so consistently and goes for repeated pinfall attempts trying to beat the champ at any cost. BRIDGING Crippler Crossface damages Lethal’s neck in anticipation for the Chaos Theory, but Lethal dodges the Bomb Scare and starts hammering Williams into the corner with repeated clotheslines (we’re talking almost Delirious-like repetitiveness)! A swinging neckbreaker puts Williams down and in position for Hail To The King which gets 2. Gory Special by Doug…and an exploder suplex for 2. Chaos Theory blocked…diving European uppercut instead snaps Lethal’s head back! He retaliates with the LETHAL COMBO for 2! Koji Clutch…escaped. Lethal Injection blocked…Chaos Theory blocked…SUPERKICK! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal retains at 14:11
Rating - *** - This was the only match of any merit at all on Show 2. Jay Lethal is already in the running for MVP of the entire weekend as he’s had a couple of really enjoyable title defences against BritWres talent. The Dar match was better, but that one had the better crowd and took place on a ‘real show’ as opposed to a novelty joke afternoon event. But even without going at full throttle (and with only the sullen 'hangover crowd' watching) this was heaps of fun. Williams probed Jay’s leg for weaknesses, which was a nice touch as it clearly referenced Lethal/Dar. Lethal tried to combat the challenger at his own grappling game, but came up woefully short and only found a route back into the contest once he’d made it a fight rather than a pure wrestling match (another big statement considering they are both former ROH Pure Champions). In the end both went after each other’s necks hard – with Lethal able to hit his vaunted finishing move first and therefore leave with his hand raised. Unfortunately that’s it for Doug this weekend; he’s not booked for Shows 3 and 4. I can accept that in 2015/16/17 he probably doesn’t have the name value to be worth flying in to the US on a regular basis, but he really is still SO good. It’s a shame ROH won’t ever really see more of him. If you’re UK-based and see him on a show near you he’s usually a guarantee of at least one decent match on the card.
Show Two Tape Rating - * - Up until the main event I really didn’t enjoy this at all. It was 2+ hours of everything I hated about PCW last year…but without respite. There were no good matches, there was no Mad Man Manson to provide genuine comedy. It was just a roster full of guys working to a fraction of their full potential, goofing off in front of a couple of hundred fans – who weren’t even that vocal or into it themselves. Samuels/Castle produced some genuine laughs, and the main event was competitive. Outside of that though, this was pretty atrocious. Something like Dar/Alexander could have been great but wound up being a total disaster. Unless you’re an ROH Championship completist and really want to see Lethal/Williams there truly is no reason to watch this one…
Top 3 Show Two Matches
3) Team Single vs Joey Hayes/Martin Kirby vs reDRagon vs War Machine (**)
2) Sha Samuels vs Dalton Castle (N/A)
1) Jay Lethal vs Doug Williams (***)
Show Three – 28th November 2015
And so we go to the Saturday night show, which most would consider to be the ‘big one’. The headline bout is the big rematch from one of Supershow Of Honor 2014’s highlights as Dave Mastiff defends the PCW Title against Adam Cole (who could now leave the weekend holding both of PCW’s singles belts having already won El Ligero’s Cruiserweight crown)…in an 30-minute Iron Man Match. Big names are brought in on the undercard as Drew Galloway takes on Noam Dar whilst Sean Waltman – accompanied by Scott Hall – teams with Dave Rayne and The Hooligans (Paige’s brothers Zak and Roy Knight) to take on the Friends With Benefits crew. Jay Lethal puts the World Title up for a third time in less than a day as he defends against Joey Hayes, Sha Samuels wants to go 3-0 for the weekend (he’s not on Show 4) with a win over Delirious…and reDRagon take on War Machine in one which could steal the show if PCW butt out and let them actually wrestle.
Charlie Garrett vs Ashton Smith vs Martin Kirby vs Silas Young vs Cedric Alexander vs Dalton Castle
For some reason the PCW commentators brag about how many of their shows start with these filler six-way matches. Garrett and Smith are tag partners which may give them something of an advantage, whilst Kirby seems distracted before the match even starts because his tag parter – Joey Hayes – runs out and steals his MITB briefcase again. Young and Castle are in the midst of a heated rivalry so it will be interesting to see how they interact during this…particularly since Dalton has got himself some British ‘Boys’ for the weekend whilst Silas holds his hostage.
As usual Silas dislikes Dalton’s attitude and walks out of the ring seemingly refusing to participate whilst he peacocks. Eventually Silas does enter – predictably to attack Castle from behind. Kirby grumpily forces Smith and Garrett to face each other…leading to our first comedy spots of the night. Castle tries to teach Interracial Love how to hug properly before ejecting them both from the ring and throwing Silas out after them! Tope suicida takes out the Last Real Man! Alexander joins the party with a somersault plancha onto pretty much everyone! INTERRACIAL HAND-HOLDING SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS BY SMITH AND GARRETT! Kirbstop on Cedric…who hits back with the Michinoku Driver for 2. Killer Combo by Young! Olympic Slam by Ashton! EVEREST GERMAN from Castle to Smith, only for Garrett to break the pin with a standing moonsault. BANG-A-RANG ON SILAS! Castle grabs a victory over his arch rival at 08:28
Rating - ** - Without doing anything too remarkable, this was considerably better than everything that we saw (outside of the main event) on Show 2. The comedy was kept minimal and fairly entertaining, I loved the IRL hand-holding plancha spot, and it was kept relevant by Dalton scoring a huge win over his rival at the end.
Lionheart vs Roderick Strong
The Scotsman has had a decent weekend so far. He considers himself a disrespected and under-appreciated franchise player for PCW so turned on them to join the ROH team in an inter-promotional 8-man at Show 1. This afternoon he followed that with a victory over Delirious. Roddy is 1-1 for the weekend, after failing to win the PCW Title from Mastiff but then winning a six-way at Show 2.
The fans don’t like Lionheart, so unlike last night start chanting how much they like Roddy’s little boots. The PCW worker orders the ref check them as a consequence…then tries to jump him from behind before the bell rings. He uses his strike-based approach to beat the ROH TV Champion back and it’s clear that Strong has been thrown off of his game. He teases the Styles Clash but gets tossed away with a gourdbuster by Roddy – although Lion bumped terribly meaning that sequence looked like garbage. The Olympic Slam drops Heart down onto his suspect neck and instantly leaves him struggling to move. Death By Roderick blocked…jumping knee instead gets 2. Now Strong attempts the Styles Clash – causing Lion to roll out of the ring. He is so offended by that (and fans chanting for AJ) that he walks out, giving Strong a count-out win at 06:47
Rating - * - The issue with PCW is that they are SO reliant on the international talent they bring in. It’s what their model is built around. Lionheart is a big figure on their core roster…but is limited in the ring. I felt that even Roderick Strong, in a career-best year, could do nothing to stop him dragging this one down.
reDRagon vs War Machine
Hanson and Rowe are in the final stages of their preparations to challenge The Kingdom for the ROH Tag Titles at Final Battle. Therefore Fish and O’Reilly will have calculated that a win for them here does them no harm at all when it comes to petitioning for an early shot at War Machine should they take the gold.
reDRagon take turns kicking Rowe’s legs and fell him like a big tree in the early going. They show their experience as a team as they isolate him for a few minutes but just aren’t doing enough damage to the big man. He eventually judo throws O’Reilly to the ground and destroys his jaw with a running knee. Within seconds the tide has completely turned and War Machine are having their way with Kyle. Things break down after O’Reilly briefly traps Rowe in an armbar – allowing him to bring in Bobby to throw him into the turnbuckles with an exploder. Hanson lands the reverse powerslam before Sledgehammer-ing him down into Bronco Buster position. But it misses! O’Reilly takes advantage with a tag…and dives off the apron into a flying knee to the floor on Rowe. Neither member of War Machine can suppress Kyle’s fire, and back comes Fish to join him for Total Elimination on Hanson. Chasing The Dragon blocked! Cartwheel lariat COUNTERED to Fish’s Samoan drop! CEMENT MIXER ON FISH! AXE & SMASH! CARTWHEEL LARIAT! O’Reilly tries to choke Rowe out with a sleeper…so Rowe breaks it by grabbing Fish for a GERMAN SUPLEX WITH O’REILLY ON HIS BACK! Path Of Resistance/frog splash combo sees War Machine pin Kyle at 11:59
Rating - *** - This was very decent and will be one of the better matches we see this weekend. The real shame is that the crowd were really good for this, and were on their feet chanting ‘that was awesome’ at the end – proving that if you give the PCW crowd actual good wrestling they will definitely respond to it. Neither team went too crazy here, but kept the workrate high and delivered a structurally sound tag team encounter. Both teams are good enough that I didn’t feel like they ever really got out of the middle gears here and still gave us something of impressive quality.
El Ligero vs Kenny King
Both men are currently winless for the weekend, so badly need their hand to be raised after this one is said and done. Ligero is still smarting over dropping the PCW Cruiserweight Title to Adam Cole last night, and will be planning a big win here to press his claims for a rematch. King comes out decked in his Beatdown Clan attire from TNA.
Greg Lambert trying to sell this as an ‘international dream match’ is quite possibly the most comically enormous overstatement I’ve ever heard. Despite being the smaller man El Lig tries to control King on the mat rather than working at a quickened pace. They jostle over a hiptoss for what seems like forever, after which Kenny drops to the ground apparently struck down by a severe knee injury. But this is BDC Kenny King – and all an evil plan. As soon as Ligero’s back is turned he pops back to his feet and violently attacks him. Shotgun Knees dodged though…and Ligero capitalises with a slingshot cutter for 2. C4L blocked RVD-style with a northern lights suplex by Kenny, into a corkscrew enziguri. The masked man clings to the ropes to block the Royal Flush and pops up to successfully execute the C4L this time. Ligero wins at 08:50
Rating - ** - I wasn’t too into what they were doing, but the BDC heel-ish edge to King and fake injury angle did at least add some spice to proceedings. King has been jobbed out hard this weekend, suffering fairly comprehensive defeats to both Ligero and Sha Samuels…
Rampage Brown/Tyson T-Bone/Bubblegum/Iestyn Rees vs Dave Rayne/Roy Knight/Zak Knight/X-Pac
PCW care not for WWE trademarks, so duly introduce Waltman as X-Pac (and even use his old Attitude Era music). He was a mystery fourth partner for Dave Rayne and The Hooligans (part of the Knight family, Paige’s brothers etc) and is accompanied by Scott Hall. The other team all represent the ‘Friends With Benefits’ stable and have General Manager Joanna Rose with them. She has an ongoing feud with Rayne.
Hall and Waltman grab a microphone to kill the first couple of minutes hitting their catchphrases. Rayne and Bubblegum start, but of course the fans demand X-Pac. Bubble quickly scrams to evade the Bronco Buster. Zak and Roy run through T-Bone, before Roy shows impressive speed to actually outwork Bubblegum. Gum retorts by back body dropping Roy on the floor…into the FWB corner briefly until Zak breaks it up with a somersault plancha. Rees and Rampage keep holding Roy captive in their corner and for the first time Friends With Benefits start building some momentum. The drunken PCW fans singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at the moustachio’d Iestyn Rees is admittedly rather funny. It clearly throws Rees off his game – as he tries to piss Scott Hall off with a Razor’s Edge and soon finds himself falling victim to Waltman’s Bronco Buster. Diving Outta Nowhere from Rayne to T-Bone! Zak gives Tyson an ass splash, only to be thrown out of the ring by Rees – who keeps trying to piss Hall off for some reason. That, of course, gets him a toothpick to the face, allowing X-Pac to finish him with the X-Factor at 12:45
Rating - ** - Inoffensive, nostalgic fun all round here. Waltman and Hall seemed to be having a good time, and largely kept out of the way so the British guys could have their moments to shine. The Hooligans looked good, making me sad they haven’t been booked for all four shows this weekend. If you’re questioning the wisdom of PCW putting X-Pac over a guy they’d put their top belt on in the coming couple of years…don’t. Bringing in old timers for nostalgia pops is pretty much PCW’s business model.
Jay Lethal vs Joey Hayes – ROH World Title Match
Nobody could accuse Lethal of not being generous in offering PCW’s core talent opportunities to win his belt this weekend. This is the third time in as many shows he has put it on the line, a third defence in just 24 hours, and a supremely gruelling way to prepare for AJ Styles at Final Battle. Having survived Noam Dar and Doug Williams, he now faces Joey Hayes; a man still reeling from being ‘robbed’ of the PCW Tag Titles last night. Can he get his head back in the game and produce one of the biggest shocks in Ring Of Honor history?
Lethal wants to end this quickly – superkicking Joey so hard he collapses out of the ring and struggles to recompose himself. He survives the early onslaught and starts to attack the neck that Williams worked over at the afternoon show. His attacks just aren’t having enough impact though and soon Jay is back strutting his stuff, impersonating Ric Flair and whacking on a Figure 4 Leglock just for fun. Hayes keeps coming back and rattles off another neckbreaker…causing the ROH Champion, in his third defence in such a condensed period of time, to visibly slow down. Hayes is able to counter the Lethal Injection…into a Crippler Crossface! It’s piling on pressure to the neck, and the move he beat Lance Storm with last year! Lethal makes the ropes…Lethal Combination…countered back to the Crossface! LETHAL INJECTION! Jay retains at 09:59
Rating - *** - Lethal is having an incredible weekend, and this was another decent little match from him. Hayes played his part by not being terrible, and I loved his approach of targeting the neck to play off what Doug Williams did at Show Two. They got the tone of the match just right too. Hayes is in the midst of a comedic gimmick run with Martin Kirby, and Lethal came out smiling, high fiving and cracking jokes of his own. They gradually got more and more serious, and actually built up some real tension as they traded counters in the closing stretch. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend…
Sha Samuels vs Delirious
One man is 2-0 for the weekend, the other is 0-2 – with Samuels looking seriously impressive with back to back wins over Kenny King and Dalton Castle. He wants a shot at Dave Mastiff and the PCW Heavyweight Championship, and is yet to be beaten in this promotion. If he can end his weekend with another victory his claims for a title shot will get harder and harder to ignore.
Sha doesn’t understand what Delirious is shouting at him but finds it infuriating nevertheless. They somehow manage to kill more than three minutes doing little more than yelling and gesturing at each other is which is a rather strange spectacle to watch. It gets weirder when the fans start singing the Eastenders theme tune at Samuels whilst Delirious lands the Panic Attack on him. The commentators suppose that Delirious watched the Sha/Dalton match from earlier and is trying to be weird as some kind of strategy…which I’d dispute because he’s not doing anything that he wouldn’t do in every other match. Never Ending Story clotheslines knock Samuels loopy, but he’s too big to set up for the Cobra Stretch. Sha grabs the mask and uses it to haul the Lizard Man into the Sleeper Hold. He wins at 07:29
Rating - * - I imagine this was far more entertaining if you were in the building to witness it live. On DVD it felt quite boring to sit through and lacked a lot of the charm and genuine humour that Sha’s match with Dalton Castle had on the afternoon show. Samuels is clearly a project for PCW right now, so it’s nice that Ring Of Honor could send over three guys to lay down for him and really get him over. He leaves Supershow Of Honor weekend primed and ready to be a top contender to PCW’s Heavyweight Championship.
We are set for the feel-good debut of a youngster out of the PCW training academy (Jack Baron)…but he gets ambushed by a hooded figure coming through the crowd. It’s an unannounced Drew Galloway. He demands to take the kid's spot, meaning he now faces Noam Dar up next.
Drew Galloway vs Noam Dar
I believe Galloway had only made one or two appearances for PCW before this and was already involved in something of a rivalry with Dar. He’s now gatecrashed a party he wasn’t invited to for a rematch – and Dar now faces a considerably more sizeable challenge than a diminutive rookie fresh out of wrestling school.
Dar is fired up or this, and throws Galloway through an entire section of chairs! Drew responds by giving him a body slam onto one of the rock solid nightclub tables in the vicinity of the ring. To the stage at the back of the club they go. BRAINBUSTER ON THE STAGE BY DAR! Followed by a flying crossbody off it to the floor below. POWERBOMB THROUGH THE FIRE ESCAPE BY DREW! The fans have to help Noam back to his feet and back up towards ringside. Galloway’s size becomes a real factor; giving him the range to repeatedly kick and stomp his opponent back to the mat every time he tries to recover. Dar goes after his long leg but finds himself peppered with kicks in the corner. They stand dead centre of the ring and swing wild strikes at each other…until Galloway turns Dar’s lights out with the Claymore. TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER…gets 2! Dar refuses to quit despite getting slapped senseless! Future Shock nailed. TWO AGAIN! Drew is enraged and hauls his rival to the apron…where Noam manages to smash his leg against the ringpost! DIVING DOUBLE STOMP TO THE LEG! CHAMPAGNE SUPER KNEEBAR! Galloway’s frantic efforts to escape that inadvertently knock the referee senseless, which he opportunistically capitalises on by kicking Dar in the balls. He wants to use a metal pipe as a weapon…and is temporarily stopped by returning PCW rookie Jack Baron looking for payback for earlier. KNEEBAR AGAIN! GALLOWAY TAPS! Dar wins at 14:44
Rating - **** - I suspect we won’t see anything more exciting than this in the remainder of Supershow Of Honor 2. These two threw everything they had into this; beating the hell out of each other all over the nightclub setting PCW shows take place in then returning to the ring for a real thrill-ride of a match. Considering the size difference between them it was amazing how smooth everything they did was. There are few finer things in wrestling than a good ‘big dude vs little dude’ battle when done right, and they smashed that formula here. Amongst 10+ hours of juvenile crowd chants and half-cooked comedy matches this weekend, Noam Dar has delivered two real crackers…
Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole – PCW Heavyweight Title 30-Minute Iron Man Match
Last year Cole vs Mastiff was one of the real standout moments of the whole Supershow Of Honor weekend. When a sequel ROH tour was announced, a rematch of that was top of the agenda and PCW have duly delivered. This time there is plenty of championship spice added too. Mastiff is the PCW Champion and has looked really strong in defeating Roderick Strong and Silas Young in defence of that belt already this weekend. But Cole also comes in wearing PCW gold, and having taken El Ligero’s Cruiserweight Title at Show 1, he wants to leave the weekend as a dual-weight PCW Champion and take both of their belts back to America. He’ll also be desperate to avenge the loss he suffered to the Bastard last year. A 30-Minute Iron Man stipulation surely favours a man of his stature and conditioning over the 300+ lbs champion.
The nightclub PCW run in has huge projection screens so the time is visible from every camera angle which I appreciate. Mastiff moves as little as possible during the introductions, which makes sense as his size makes going half an hour a real challenge. Even once the bell rings he looks to keep hold of Cole, work the mat and make the pace as methodical as possible. Cole does try to quicken things up…but is caught and body slammed straight back down. The Cruiserweight Champion needs to liven things up and does so with a jumping neckbreaker. Mastiff is already breathing hard and has that wind tested further as Cole goes for a flurry of pinfall attempts. The champ is seemingly so puffed out from that he succumbs to a small package giving Cole a 1-0 lead at 06:49. SUPERKICK FLURRY! HE PINS HIM AGAIN! At 07:31 it’s now 2-0 to the challenger who looks far more comfortable under this stipulation than Big Dave. Mastiff actually rolls out of the ring, chest pumping, to recompose himself. With two falls in the bank Cole now revisits a strategy which served him well against Dave last year; that being to work over the leg. The Bastard kicks away from the Figure 4…and DUMPS Cole over the top rope with a gourdbuster straight to the wooden floor. He landed hard there, opening a window of opportunity for the huge PCW Champion. Mastiff nonchalantly hurls him back over the top rope and enjoys more recovery time in the corner as Cole struggles to get back into the ring. Belly to belly suplex scores at the halfway point…and although he leads 2-0 the sheer size differential is really starting to count against Cole. He sensibly kicks out the legs and slams into a Shining Wizard – as much to keep the Bastard at bay as it is to look for another pinfall. LARIAT by Mastiff! FLORIDA KEY ON COLE! Using Cole’s own move the champ makes it 1-2 at 17:15. They trade strikes on the apron…and both sink to their haunches having had their brains scrambles. DEAD-LIFT SUPERPLEX BY MASTIFF! Shades of Cole’s great rival Michael Elgin now, and he makes it 2-2 at 18:59. To the knees goes Cole again, leaving Dave squirming on the ground and fighting to stay out of the Figure 4. He gets the knee slammed into the ringpost instead though which is possibly even more damaging. RINGPOST FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! Mastiff retaliates by jerking his legs backwards and ramming Cole’s head straight into the same ringpost. Superkick blocked…STANDING WIZARD! FOR 2! Panama Sunrise is prepared…but Mastiff rolls through into a BUCKLE BOMB! CANNONBALL NAILED! MASTIFF IS 3-2 UP! 24:38 is the time, and having led 2-0 Cole is now racing against time to salvage his PCW Title prospects. In his desperation to get back into the match he knocks heads with Mastiff and since he has taken such damage to the head and neck he drops down to his knees in pain. Dave looks to cement victory with another superplex…but Cole counters with a SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE! FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! The move Mastiff has fought all match! Can he survive for two more minutes? Less than 90 seconds left! Now down to the last minute! MASTIFF ROLLS TO THE FLOOR! Both men are on the floor of the building with less than a minute remaining! LAST SHOT OUT OF NOWHERE! COLE EQUALISES! IT’S 3-3 AT 29:55! The clock runs out, and as it’s a draw Mastiff retains via championship advantage! He violently shakes his head and demands five more minutes though! Apparently it’s sudden death extra time! SUPERKICK FLURRY BY COLE! NO SOLD! LARIAT BY MASTIFF! Sha Samuels runs in and attacks both men, causing a rather hokey non-contest finish to the overtime period at 30:49 (total)…
Rating - **** - If they’d have thrown a clean finish on that overtime period I think my rating would have been even higher. I loved their match last year…and this one was superior. I was sceptical of the Iron Man stipulation, since it didn’t seem like it would suit Mastiff’s style at all and would also give the travelling international talent plenty of opportunity to stall, take it easy and play the PCW fans for laughs rather than concentrate on quality performance. But they used the match stipulation superbly and crafted marvellous drama for the full duration. Mastiff started unsettled and uncomfortable due to his perceived lack of stamina…and Cole profited by racing to a 2-0 lead. But Cole got over-confident and let mistakes slip into his game, which just wasn’t acceptable when dealing with someone of Mastiff’s size. Big Dave pulled out Cole’s own move to mess with his head, and forced his way to a 3-2 advantage due to his ability to dish out devastating amounts of punishment. Cole reached deep into his bag of tricks, concentrated on what worked for him in 2014 and viciously attacked the legs of the tiring big man. Mastiff spent the whole match in fear of and fighting out of the Figure 4…but when Cole finally locked it in with a minute to go all seemed lost. But even down to the last minute they had more twists and turns planned; first you thought Cole would get a submission win…then you thought Mastiff was hanging on…then with mere seconds left the ROH man struck to equalise. This was a slow burner but built into a real rollercoaster – and stands out as the best match of the weekend. Even with a BS finish!
Samuels poses with the belt, then storms over the announce table to proclaim himself the next PCW Champion. Thankfully he then leaves giving Mastiff and Cole the chance to shake hands and the fans the chance to give them the ovation they deserve for their efforts.
Show Three Tape Rating - *** - At the third time of asking PCW deliver a show which is well worth checking out. It wasn’t all perfect of course, but for the majority of this show the comedy matches and general slacker silliness was downplayed and replaced with genuine attempts to deliver some great wrestling. Dar/Galloway and Mastiff/Cole were completely different but both outstanding matches; sufficiently so that if PCW offer any kind of standalone purchase/download of Show 3 only I’d recommend you do just for those guys and skip the remainder of the weekend. The fact that they were complimented by a very decent tag encounter between reDRagon and War Machine and another super little Jay Lethal match for the weekend more than justifies rating this show at significantly higher than the previous two. Show 2 left me completely enraged and struggling to find the motivation to review the remainder of this DVD set. I’m still not in love with the PCW product, but I do love great wrestling and I feel that I at least got to see some of that this time!
Top 3 Show Three Matches
3) War Machine vs reDRagon (***)
2) Noam Dar vs Drew Galloway (****)
1) Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole (****)
Show Four – 29th November 2015
Last year Show 4 had a noticeably different feel than the previous three shows. It’s an early show on the Sunday, meaning a lot of the domestic talent has already headed out of Preston to take other bookings or return to their home areas, leaving the ROH crew and a handful of UK talent to close out the weekend. In 2014 that meant we got the best match of the weekend when Jay Briscoe defended the ROH Title against Tommaso Ciampa. Ring Of Honor could potentially repeat that and close out the weekend with another classic this year, as our main event this evening is another encounter in the series between Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong. Another huge ROH rivalry comes to the UK too as Dalton Castle and Silas Young lock horns just a few weeks away from Final Battle. Elsewhere reDRagon continue their rivalry with Friends With Benefits in a trios tag also featuring Delirious and Iestyn Rees, Kenny King faces Cedric Alexander and Bubblegum tries to salvage PCW pride and stop one of their core belts from departing across the Atlantic when he challenges Adam Cole for the Cruiserweight Championship.
SIDENOTE – We have a different commentary team for this show. It’s Chris Brooker and the ring announcer Richard Parker.
Tyson T-Bone/Iestyn Rees/Bubblegum vs Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reilly/Delirious
There appears to be no Rampage for this show which is a shame. reDRagon have quite a history with PCW Tag Champions Team Single, whom form a core part of GM Joanna Rose’s Friends With Benefits stable. They failed to take the PCW Tag Titles from them on Friday night, so will want a measure of revenge here. Delirious is winless all weekend, so would love to sign off with a victory.
reDRagon treat Delirious (affectionately) like a pet dog, and tickle his tummy in an attempt to soothe him before the ring bell sends him crazy. O’Reilly eventually starts for his team, engaging in some really solid junior heavyweight wrestling with Bubble. The ROH team quickly isolate the former PCW Cruiserweight Champion, having some fun with him at the same time. T-Bone has to step in; striking illegally to haul Delirious into the FWB corner and rescue his partner. They work him over for a couple of minutes until he finds a way to crawl through ALL their legs and make a hot tag to Kyle. Two Man Smash Machine on Gum gets 2. Fish drops Bone with the Samoan drop as O’Reilly drags Rees to the floor. Delirious and BG are legal…and the masked man acts fast to hit the Panic Attack. Joanna Rose distracts him as he prepares Shadows Over Hell though, allowing Bubble to low blow him off the top rope and pin him for the win at 08:48
Rating - ** - Completely inoffensive, and certainly made better by the ability of O’Reilly and Fish to improve anyone whom they are in the ring with. It’s amazing how much better Bubblegum looked as a talent when he was in there working with those guys over people like Kirby, Hayes or even Ligero. Delirious ends the weekend with a depressing 0-4 record, which shows incredible respect to the boys. As a non-active, semi-regular worker with a full-time job as ROH’s booker he went out of his way to put over any PCW talent they want him to.
Lionheart vs Noam Dar
Getting Dar for all four shows this year is great. Last night Lionheart walked out on his match with Roderick Strong after Mr ROH attempted the Styles Clash – a move which broke his neck when executed by AJ himself – and was cheered for it by the PCW fans. Noam is not struggling for respect from the PCW audience, who have shown him nothing but love all weekend. He has rewarded them with impressive performances against Jay Lethal and Drew Galloway (he also beat Cedric Alexander at Show 2 don’t forget).
Lots of shenanigans before the bell here – including a mass crowd rendition of an Oasis song, Lionheart’s one very vocal fan getting a hug from her hero and Dar hijacking a camera to film some of the show. Even Jay Lethal struggled to deal with Dar’s technical skills at times on Friday night, so it isn’t a surprise at all that Lion can’t cope. He gets made to look foolish and reacts badly, then angrily starts punching and kicking the smaller man around the ring. Poor Lionheart is boring the fans again, so they opt to disrespect him by ignoring his heat segment and cracking jokes at the expense of the man-child referee again. Heart starts bullying the ref now…who gets a massive pop for shoving Lion backwards into the Champagne Super Kneebar. He makes the ropes, then walks out on a match for the second show running. Dar gets a count-out win giving him a 3-1 record for the weekend at 05:58
Rating - * - Giving Lionheart a gimmick where he walks out on all his matches, therefore giving them all BS non-finishes, makes extremely tough to watch. A colossal waste of Noam Dar, and a match which the live audience might have liked but I found very little to redeem it on DVD.
Dar gets on the mic to criticise Lionheart’s attitude, then throws his hat into the ring for a PCW Heavyweight Title shot. Sha Samuels is in the building today despite not being booked – and that comment brings him to ringside. He lists the people he’s beaten (which includes Mastiff twice apparently) to emphasise that he should be at the front of the queue…so Noam challenges him to a fight. Sha declines.
Kenny King vs Cedric Alexander
Both men will be disappointed with their weekend thus far. They’ve not scored the wins that they would have liked and will both want to salvage something with their final outing. Both are exciting and athletic performers so this could be a real cracker. King is dressed in BDC gear again…but also decides to wear some of War Machine’s ring outfits too!
The ring announcer starts announcing Cedric as Kenny, which seems rather uncool. King duly gets the crowd to chant that he’s a racist. Neither man appears to be taking the match that seriously, but are actually so agile that even taking it easy they are still pretty good. They get faster and faster but just can’t score with their attempts and corkscrew enziguris – eventually smashing shins against other and recreating the Peter Griffin/Family Guy never-ending ‘ahhh’ moan of pain. Alexander attempts the Three Amigos, with the third countered by King into a suplex of his own. King dials up the intensity by landing a huge spinning heel kick (which Cedric sells with a crazy flip bump) then a spinebuster. Royal Flush is blocked though, allowing Cedric to drop him with the Michinoku Driver. Capo Kick by Kenny…into the Royal Flush! He wins at 08:37
Rating - *** - Pretty low key, but actually rather good. I’d like to see these two work a singles match in ROH before Alexander leaves because they had sound chemistry together. Kenny ultimately walked out victorious because he was the man that took the match more seriously, played to the crowd less and found a way to hit his finishing move.
Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
These two are engaged in one of the most personal feuds in ROH right now. Dalton scored a couple of controversial wins over Young, provoking the rage of the Last Real Man who then cheated to beat him back at All Star Extravaganza (when Castle’s Boys were on the line). This weekend Dalton has been using some stand-in UK Boys which won’t impress Silas. These men meet again on ROH soil at the Final Battle pay-per-view, meaning they have a golden opportunity here to wear each other down and possibly inflict a decisive injury to give them an advantage at ROH’s big show.
Silas calls Castle a ‘predator’ for how he treats Boys, which really pisses Dalton off. He lands a nasty slap right across Young’s face and launches into an attack on the Last Real Man’s neck to set him up for the Everest German or Bang-A-Rang. Young thinks about taking it to the floor, but when heckled by the fans turns right around and hits a slingshot double stomp into Castle’s ribs. All of his offence is geared around making it hard for the Peacock to catch his breath but he just can’t keep him down. Castle’s strikes are a real problem for him – as is his ability to grapple and suplex him from seemingly impossible angles. He sets up an Everest German on the apron only for Silas to toss him away and SPEAR HIM THROUGH THE TURNBUCKLES TO THE FLOOR! Where did that come from and why is a random live event in the UK where they debuted that? Young follows it with an attempt at the slingshot swinging neckbreaker…but undershoots on the ropes to ensure an even more brutal landing for Castle. Misery blocked…Everest German blocked! Killer Combo gets 2! Peegee Waja Plunge misses though and Castle gets back to his feet swinging more huge strikes. BANG-A-RANG SCORES! It’s a clean win over Young right before Final Battle for Castle. He has his hand raised at 09:27
Rating - *** - This was better than any of the matches that have taken place thus far during their feud over in ROH. No overbooking, a clean finish and some really good wrestling too. I loved the psychology here, as without going overboard or super-obvious with it, both were quietly and effectively setting up their finishing moves almost from the opening bell. Dalton came in angry at the loss of his Boys, made angrier by Silas’ pre-match comments…and duly won the race to hit a finishing move first meaning he had his hand raised. I hope they can recreate this at Final Battle.
War Machine vs Roy Knight/Tyson T-Bone
This was scheduled to be War Machine vs The Hooligans, but Zak Knight is off the show. Roy explains it as an injury sustained during a drinking binge the previous evening, and begs anyone in the PCW locker room to come out and partner him against Hanson and Rowe. T-Bone answers the call for unexplained reasons – so one can only presume he’s out here to make a statement about how great he is at the expense of both War Machine and The Hooligans.
Neither Knight nor Rowe can successfully execute a shoulder block…and when they leave the ring for more room to move Hanson thinks fast to take out both opponents with a flying tope suicida. Roy hits back by clotheslining the War Beard through a chair! He has no time to celebrate though, as Rowe gives him a huge body slam on the wooden floor then drops his own partner on top of him with a senton. The pace is frenetic here, with Hanson socking T-Bone with the cartwheel lariat, only for Knight to dive at him right away with a missile dropkick. He then brains Rowe with a plastic chair as the fight spills into the crowd. Hanson props Roy up against a drinks stand for the Sledgehammer, as Rowe channels his inner Samoa Joe with an Ole Kick. CRAZY DIVE THROUGH CHAIRS by Roy! He follows it with an elevated DDT for 2…with his own partner breaking the fall because he wants the glory himself! PILEDRIVER ON HANSON! Now Knight breaks the pin of his own partner. Shotgun Knee/Bronco Buster combo by War Machine to take out T-Bone, before Knight counters the Path Of Resistance. FALLOUT INSTEAD! War Machine win at 09:10
Rating - *** - This was good, brainless entertainment. It was nice to see four big, tough dudes dial back on the silly jokes and contest a simple, straightforward ten minute slug-out. War Machine winning was the right call as they are a regular team, but the dissension between T-Bone and Knight serves PCW well too as I believe they were building towards Team Single vs The Hooligans for the Tag Titles.
T-Bone takes out Roy with a Tombstone after the match, and is then chased off by Zak Knight on crutches. Zak demands a Tag Title shot in 2016 when he’s recovered.
Adam Cole is out next, limping heavily and selling the effects of his 30-minute war with Dave Mastiff the previous evening. He was so impressed with the PCW fans last night that he is rewarding them with an open challenge for a Cruiserweight Title shot right now…which is answered by Bubblegum
Adam Cole vs Bubblegum – PCW Cruiserweight Title Match
It isn’t that long since Gum lost this belt to El Ligero, but much has happened since then. Ligero lost it to Cole at Show 1 of this long weekend (in a match which also included BG), and after a successful defence against Ashton Smith it now appears that Cole is on the brink of taking a Preston City Wrestling title back to the US where they will only have limited access to it. The former champion is now PCW’s only hope of retaining control of their Cruiserweight Title, and he has the advantage of fighting an extremely battle-weary former ROH World Champion.
Bubble doesn’t hang around and instantly drives a knee into Cole’s apparently injured ribs. He swiftly slips under the ropes next, to whack his opponent into the ringpost leaving him in yet more pain. The attack on Cole’s ribs is relentless – eventually pissing the ROH man off so much that he angrily scoops him up for a DVD over the knee. Florida Key is blocked…so the champ lands a Shining Wizard instead for 2. Figure 4 Leglock blocked though, into a lungblower by Gum to crush those ribs again. RUNNING KNEE by Cole to counter an attempted spear. He is put on the ground again immediately afterwards though as BG gives him a low blow…and crashes into the ribs again with a double stomp. LAST SHOT! From nothing, Cole gets the win and takes the belt to the US. 08:01 is the time
Rating - ** - I was liking this as much as anything I’ve seen from Bubblegum. He channelled his annoying pipsqueak gimmick into an effective assault on the already-injured Adam Cole, who in turn sold that attack really well. What brought this one down for me was how sudden the finish was. I don’t think it would have killed PCW to give these guys another few minutes to flesh this one out and produce something significant. Cole would indeed take the PCW Cruiserweight Title back to America, and never came back with it. Supposedly ROH/SBG promised PCW that Cole would wear their belt on TV and would defend it in ROH itself, and that they’d have access to him for a few shows too. That didn’t happen, he’d never defend it again after this show and PCW cut their losses in mid-2016 by stripping him of the belt.
Interracial Love vs Joey Hayes/Martin Kirby
Presumably this match will go a long way towards determining future contendership for the PCW Tag Titles. Hayes and Kirby thought they’d dethroned Team Single earlier this weekend before the decision was overturned so will remain top challengers. Based on events we saw minutes earlier The Hooligans are clearly in the mix. Interracial Love (Ashton Smith and Charlie Garrett) will know a big win here throws their names into the conversation too.
Any thoughts of seeing anything serious here are extinguished when Garrett spends the first minute trying to grab Joey’s ass…prompting Hayes to sulk in the corner whilst the fans call him a ‘wanker’. It has to be said that when they do start wrestling Charlie does look rather crisp and precise; arguably a cut above a lot of the UK talent PCW promote. Joey gets so frustrated that he slaps Kirby’s bald head (as a tag) then forcibly puts him into the match by catapulting him over the top rope. That promotes the best commentary moment of the weekend as Brooker calls him a ‘colossal bellend’. All four men bundle in, mostly for more odd-couple comedy capers between Hayes and Kirby. Martin uses Joey’s D’Lo Brown chest protector to block a few chops, although they continue to struggle with the power and size of Garrett in particular. They set about isolating Smith instead…mostly with more goofy dysfunctional tag team shenanigans. Garrett eventually gets a hot tag of course, and hits a perfect standing moonsault on Hayes for 2. Kirby sets up for the Kirbstop…which Smith blocks by making a spectacle of himself working in slow motion whilst all the others watch on in confusion. Admittedly that was rather funny. Hayes grabs Smith’s tights AND the ropes…pinning him at 12:27
Rating - * - Having sat through almost twelve hours of PCW goofing off and jerking around, deep into the fourth show of the weekend I’m entirely bored of their annoying, PWG-lite style. I wasn’t overly fond of the Hayes/Kirby odd couple gimmick at the start of the weekend, so having sat through four shows of pretty much the same routine without deviation I'm now thoroughly bored. Even more annoying is the fact that Garrett actually looked like a competent and promising talent here – but largely had that swept under the carpet so the other three could get more cheap laugh spots in.
Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong
This has been perhaps Ring Of Honor’s definitive rivalry in 2015. Their one-hour draw at Death Before Dishonor is one of the matches of the year, and the subsequent televised rematches in Philadelphia and Kalamazoo were both excellent too. Strong failed in his quest to take the World Championship from Lethal on two occasions, but successfully beat him to claim the TV Title at the Glory By Honor weekend TV taping – meaning this pits both of Ring Of Honor’s singles champions against each other (with neither belt on the line obviously). Their rivalry has torn houses down in the US, and now they bring it to the UK to close out Supershow Of Honor 2 weekend.
Lethal is in a good mood; smiling and even grabbing a microphone to praise PCW and the fans. Strong seems cheerful…but then he chops the absolute hell out of the World Champion! Even by his standards that was ferocious. Jay is so upset by that he grabs a t-shirt to put on and starts praising the ‘sh*tty little boots’. After a few more chops he actually walks all the way to the locker room…and returns wearing Joey Hayes’ chest protector! Five minutes pass and still Lethal is wisecracking – with the announce team now speculating that he is playing mindgames to psyche out a familiar opponent. Roderick gets exceptionally irritated – finally snapping and dragging Jay out of the ring for a flurry of chops whilst perched in the laps of assorted front row fans. Lethal’s response is to nail an explosive tope suicida which forces Strong onto the retreat. He keeps his distance from the World Champ; picking his moments to dart in and land a big strike or an early offensive bomb on the back. Jay is obviously terrified of having his back worked over and defends himself with some blatant cheating. Crazily Lethal actually takes full-on back bumps on the solid floor of the club to sell the impact of Roddy’s chops…and defies the pain that presumably causes to level his adversary with a superkick. The smiles and jokes are gone now – Lethal violently stomps Strong into the canvas…but is thrown back down onto his problem midsection again soon afterwards with the Muso. Cradle backbreaker out of the corner nailed and gets 2, but perhaps more importantly dishes out yet more punishment to Jay’s ailing spine. Lethal Combination…but where Jay would normally arch backwards into the Koji Clutch this time his back prevents him from doing so. Strong seizes the opportunity and hits the Olympic Slam on the bad back again. MASSIVE chops traded…leading to a superkick from Lethal…and the SICK KICK BY RODDY! FOR 2! Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO A FRONT SLAM! STRONGHOLD! LETHAL TAPS! Making a huge statement, Roderick taps out the World Champion at 19:25
Rating - **** - The larking around at the start wasn’t to my taste, but I really did appreciate the announcer (who was miles better than Greg Lambert all show) trying to explain it as a strategic choice by Lethal. Once they got serious, as usual, things between these two got very good very quickly. Strong went for the back – and after multiple bouts between them this year Lethal fought with everything he had to keep out of his clutches. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful, and was trapped in the Stronghold before he could successfully take Mr ROH out with one of his signature finishing moves. Much like Briscoe/Ciampa at Show 4 last year, this was a really strong and ‘proper ROH-style’ encounter to wrap up a very long weekend…
Strong cuts his music and summons all of the ROH crew out to the ring so they can receive the applause of the PCW fans (Delirious is the only guy missing). He expresses his gratitude on behalf of the ROH locker room and hopes they come back for Supershow Of Honor 3 next year (they didn’t). It’s actually quite a sweet moment to see them all breaking kayfabe and evidently enjoying being part of such an occasion. I’d wager they had way more ‘fun’ working these PCW co-promoted events than they had at during the full ROH ‘Reach For The Sky’ tour the following year.
Show Four Tape Rating - ** - I’m not sure I’d put this one ahead of #3 for best show of the weekend, but it would certainly be in contention for second place. Lethal/Strong proving that they are awesome even in house-show mode has a lot to do with that obviously, but this isn’t a total one-match show by any means. Dalton and Silas surpassing anything they’ve done in an ROH ring was a pleasant surprise and really got me pumped for their Final Battle match in December. Watching War Machine, T-Bone and one of the Knight brothers beat each other up was good for some fun – as was King/Cedric. There is still some juvenile PCW trash to sit through, but this show is much more reliant on the skills of the Ring Of Honor contingent…and is all the better for it.
Top 3 Show Four Matches
3) War Machine vs Roy Knight/Tyson T-Bone (***)
2) Dalton Castle vs Silas Young (***)
1) Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong (****)
Supershow Of Honor 2 Tape Rating - ** - I’ve landed on a rating for the whole package which is broadly the same as last year. I am NOT the target market for PCW’s product by any means, and just like last year I found trawling through four of their DVD’s back-to-back an extremely grinding experience. I am fully aware that at times during this review I’ve sounded like an old, grouchy, repetitive, cantankerous killjoy...and it isn’t my intention to endlessly bash the company or the fans that support it. I truly am pleased that the boys get a good payday, and get to enjoy their work (and social lives) amongst a couple of hundred loyal supporters who don’t expect them to destroy their bodies in the ring and just want to all have a good time together. That’s completely understandable…and even admirable. My disappointment comes from the fact that these shows could be a launchpad to showcase PCW (and the BritWres scene in a broader sense) to a wider audience, and I don’t think their niche style is particularly appealing or representative of what the UK scene has to offer. Sinclair/ROH might also consider the weekend a chance to strengthen the Ring Of Honor brand overseas (the importance of which cannot be overstated – look how overseas markets and deals basically keep TNA alive now)…a chance which is missed spectacularly because there are too many drunken joke matches and not enough quality in-ring action.
The reason I’ve broadly rated this DVD/Blu-Ray package the same as last year is that, on the whole, the experience of watching them was no more or less enjoyable. The real positive is that there was significantly more genuinely quality wrestling this year. Cole/Mastiff, Lethal/Dar and Dar/Galloway are all outstanding matches that are well worth checking out, and there is plenty of very decent stuff scattered amongst all four events. Unfortunately the real negative is that there is a lot more real crap to sit through. Some of PCW’s in-house talent is really poor, and so far behind some of the bigger names in the BritWres picture. And the comedy-heavy, easy-on-the-body approach is fine when you’ve got legitimate comedic talents like Mad Man Manson, Paul London, Delirious or Dalton Castle working. Unfortunately the likes of Joey Hayes, Martin Kirby, Ashton Smith, Dave Rayne and more just aren’t up to that level and it becomes immensely tedious watching guys repeat the same skits and jokes show after show with the audience laughing less and less.
It’s hard to say which Supershow Of Honor weekend I actually preferred. 2014 wasn't always easy to sit through but did have lots to offer for all markets. Major ex-WWE names were scattered throughout, there were a couple of genuinely hysterical comedic treats and a couple of superb matches. 2014’s weekend felt more diverse and like it had a broader appeal. Having criticised that weekend for being a missed opportunity to promote their product to a wider audience, I felt that if anything PCW reverted even further to type in 2015. Were there more, BETTER matches, absolutely yes. But all four shows were packed with even more miserly time allowances for potentially great matches, painfully mediocre performances from several British workers and a reliance on the headache inducing, never-ending joke reel skits (which were mostly less funny than last year). Watching a potentially weekend-stealing match between Noam Dar and Cedric Alexander dragged down into the gutter by silly games and antics was exceptionally frustrating for instance. To curtail this rather length concluding ramble...Supershow Of Honor 2 offers a relatively cheap package price for four shows and more than ten hours of wrestling…a great deal of which is watchable. If you like the PCW ‘style’ more than I then these sets represent a super purchase. Even if, like me, you don’t like the drunk chants and comedy banter, there is enough in-ring quality to make this a worthwhile endeavour. Certainly Jay Lethal’s body of hard work across the weekend, or a couple of Noam Dar’s outstanding performances, or the engaging story-telling of Mastiff and Cole in their Iron Man ALL deserve to be seen by a wider audience than just the few hundred PCW fans in a night club.
Top 7 Supershow Of Honor 2 Weekend Matches
7) Jay Lethal vs Doug Williams (*** - Show 2)
6) War Machine vs reDRagon (*** - Show 3)
5) Team Single vs reDRagon (*** - Show 1)
4) Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong (**** - Show 4)
3) Noam Dar vs Drew Galloway (**** - Show 3)
2) Jay Lethal vs Noam Dar (**** - Show 1)
1) Dave Mastiff vs Adam Cole (**** - Show 3)