McXal's Reviews

ROH has really knocked it out of the park with it’s January output. Final Battle 2015 itself was arguably the best Sinclair-produced PPV yet, and the post-Final Battle TV tapings were very strong as well (culminating in an epic Philly Street Fight). They’ve followed that with three hugely enjoyable Winter Warriors live events and leave January 2016 in a very encouraging position. And that’s fortunate, because February is a huge month for the promotion. They’ll head to Japan to participate in NJPW’s ‘Honor Rising’ weekend, then finish off with their big 14th Anniversary pay-per-view in Vegas. Hopefully the next few episodes set those big shows up nicely. We return to Concord, NC with Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III – who instantly remind us that this week’s big main event pits Jay Lethal and Adam Cole against reDRagon.

No messing around with this episode, right out of the gate a blast from the distant past makes his return to ROH in the form of Masada. His brief ROH run saw him as an auxiliary member of the Carnage Crew (mostly back up for Loc and DeVito against Special K), before he got pissed off, sh*t in their bags and formed a ‘New & Improved’ version of the Carnage Crew instead. That literally was a storyline the often-heralded Gabe Sapolsky ran with! Unsurprisingly that angle tanked and he faded away in the summer of 2005 – the same time that Roddy’s stock really exploded as part of Generation Next. Masada went on to become a respected hardcore/death-match worker. I can’t pretend to be an expert there, but from what I understand he is renowned as a death match guy who ‘can work’. There is no denying that he is a dangerous competitor in this latest instalment of ‘Roddy vs The World’. Kevin Kelly announces on commentary that there are ‘relaxed rules’ for this…

Masada is big and strong, and proficient enough to pose the TV Champion some real problems when working the canvas. It’s enough to make Roderick abandon his plans to grapple the challenger and instead engage him in a strike battle. Masada doesn’t appear to like that, so drags Strong to the floor and gives him a body slam. APRON BACKBREAKER by Strong! But such is his ability to absorb pain when we come back from commercials he is decking Roderick with a lariat, followed by a Back Drop Driver for 2. Masadamizer nailed for another 2-count. Unsurprisingly Kelly and MW3 don’t use that name for it though! Strong rallies with the Olympic Slam and the Muso but is still effortlessly swatted away when lining up the Stronghold. Masada even has the wherewithal to haul him into a cross armbreaker. The ‘death match veteran’ pulls out a package of ‘bamboo’ skewers and wants to stab Roddy in the head with them…but Strong counters with his devastating new Jumping Knee finish. That’s enough for him to retain at 06:23

Rating - *** - I preferred Strong/Stevie from the last taping, but as far as these Roddy vs The World challenges go this was a really fun idea. Masada may not have conventional name value, but he’s a name that long-time fans of independent wrestling will obviously be familiar with. He has a unique look, fearsome size and (as always used to be the case back in the early 00’s) enough chops as a worker to carry his share. This was, mostly, a squash – but he did some fun stuff, whilst Corino and Kevin Kelly did an excellent job putting him over on commentary (in a way that reminded me of how Joey Styles used to put Sabu over). 

Bobby Fish pops up in the front row to continue his harassment of the Television Champion. He keeps accusing Roddy of ducking him. Strong walks out as Fish continues to petition for his title shot. 

This is the second first round match in the 2016 Top Prospect Tournament. Martinez is actually introduced as ‘Punisher’ Martinez here, and has competed as ‘Damian Martinez’ previously too I believe, but I’ll call him by the name that eventually stuck with him. He’s a tall guy who, on physical appearance, should wipe the floor with the smaller and younger Corino. But Colby has been around wrestling his whole life, trained with an incredible number of people and carries the nickname ‘Next Generation Ace’ for a reason. He also has The Decade’s BJ Whitmer in his corner…

Martinez smiles as Colby flails away at him with strikes…then almost takes his head off with a spinning kick in return. Kryptonite Krunch nailed, which looked devastating and Corino showed real courage to hang in there after that. Jimmy Jacobs Cutter by Colby, right into a standing corkscrew senton for 2. ROPE RUN SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! Corino Jr is on fire! He tries a flying headscissors off the apron…SO PUNISHMENT POWERBOMBS HIM ON HIS HEAD! APRON BOMB NAILED! Martinez hits his sit-out Chokeslam finish (South Of Heaven) to advance in the tournament at 03:26

Rating - *** - For a three minute match I thought this was great. It was instantly apparent as to why ROH signed Martinez on the back of his showing in this tournament...and why, after the completion of that contract, WWE would sign him. He is big, athletic and incredibly fast for his size – oozing star potential. Therefore that Colby was the star of the show in this specific match is testament to the gritty performance from the young man. He could barely contain his smile that at last he was getting this kind of opportunity in an ROH ring – and he threw everything he had into these three minutes. Crazy bumps, courageous kick-outs…even with BJ in his corner he wound up being the babyface. If Cheeseburger gets booked regularly and I’m supposed to take him seriously, I’ve no problem with Colby getting to wrestle more often.

BJ Whitmer grabs the microphone and asks his injured protégé to tell Mr Wrestling III to take his mask off. He reels off hugely personal jibes at Steve Corino’s expense, and when MW3 still won’t remove the mask Whitmer turns on Colby – assaulting him with repeated exploder suplexes. Unsurprisingly Mr Wrestling excuses himself to carry Colby to the locker room, and is replaced by Nigel on commentary. 

NEXT WEEK – All Night Express cash in their #1 contendership to challenge War Machine for the ROH Tag Team Championship. 

Three of these men will enter the main event of the 14th Anniversary Show with the World Title on the line. Lethal will be defending, with many believing he’d have lost possession of the belt back at All Star Extravaganza were it not for Cole turning on O’Reilly and costing him the match. It has reignited a bitter rivalry between those two, and Cole has the upper hand after a controversial win at Final Battle. reDRagon got a measure of payback the next night at the TV Tapings though, when they were part of the demolition derby Street Fight which saw Cole’s Kingdom stable-mates beaten so badly that none of them have come back. Bobby Fish is also in hot pursuit of the TV Title, despite champion Roderick Strong obviously ducking him. He needs as many wins as possible to force Match Maker Nigel McGuinness’ hand and grant him another title shot.

O’Reilly demands that he start the match with Cole, which is an offer Adam obviously declines. Instead Kyle tries to send a message to the World Champion by almost locking in the Arm-ageddon inside two minutes. The former Tag Champions take turns picking apart Lethal’s arm, until they eventually back drop him clean out of the ring. Cole storms in to rescue his partner with the DVD over the knee to Fish. He wants to send his own message to the World Champion of course, and isn’t shy about making it known whenever he has any success in beating Fish down. Despite not getting on he and Lethal do a commendable job isolating Bobby…but it doesn’t last forever and O’Reilly soon gets a tag and makes a beeline for Cole. Again Cole avoids a confrontation, so again it’s Lethal having to take his partner’s beating for him. DIVING KNEE OFF THE APRON AT COLE! Back inside for Arm-ageddon on Lethal…which Cole instantly breaks. He tries to leave the ring again, but this time Fish is lying in wait to spear him into the railing! reDRagon are left alone to double team Lethal and almost put him away with the Two Man Smash Machine. Chasing The Dragon blocked, and Cole returns for a SUPERKICK LETHAL COMBINATION double team…into the Shining Wizard for 2! HAIL TO THE KING gets 2! At last we get Cole and O’Reilly going toe-to-toe! They come out swinging until Cole hits a HEAD DROP GERMAN! NO SOLD! ROARING ELBOW! NO SOLD! SUPERKICK! NO SOLD! NIGEL MCLARIAT ON LETHAL! TURNBUCKLE EXPLODER BY FISH! INADVERTENT LETHAL INJECTION FROM LETHAL TO COLE! CHASING THE DRAGON! O’Reilly gets a huge pin on Adam Cole at 13:12 (shown)

Rating - **** - A hot TV main event to end another very decent episode. I’m not a big fan of triple threat matches, so the pending Lethal/O’Reilly/Cole main event isn’t one I’m massively pumped for. However, the 14th Anniversary main event did make this a particularly loaded match – and I thought the three protagonists did a fine job of building the tension between them. The Cole/O’Reilly issue is well-established and was treated well here (Kyle getting a win back over Cole is significant), so what this match needed to do (and accomplished) was bring Lethal into the picture. From Kyle trying to tap him out to make a point, to Cole getting in his face when he came to Jay’s rescue, to the finish which saw Lethal misfire with the Lethal Injection – it all firmly made the point that they all have beef with each other. And it did so within the confines of an entertaining stand alone tag match with an absolute riot of a closing stretch.

Tape Rating - *** - I thought this episode really clicked. Bringing Masada in for the ‘Roddy vs The World’ gimmick was a smart call and a well-worked match. Punishment Martinez looks an exciting talent in the Top Prospect Tournament, and he proved his credentials in the face of a courageous performance from young Colby Corino. That all built to our main event, which for free TV was very good and did much to build for the next pay-per-view. Smart, sensible, well-executed television.