McXal's Reviews

We’ve now arrived in February – a month which will see Ring Of Honor’s next pay-per-view event, and also see some of the roster pack up for a Japanese mini-tour. There is much to prove and spots to earn on all of those big cards. This evening we’ll see more action from the Top Prospect Tournament, and a main event which sees War Machine defending the Tag Titles against #1 contenders the All Night Express. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Concord, NC.

Shelley is embroiled in a rivalry with the KRD, having returned to ROH and cost them the Tag Titles. It’s unknown how Chris Sabin feels about the situation (Sabin has joined commentary by the way) and thus far the former Motor City Machine Guns haven’t come to blows. Daniels and Kaz know they dislike Shelley – who is so in their head and has made them so enraged that the Fallen Angel is currently out suspended for attacking a referee. 

He may not have physically struck his former partner, but Sabin does willingly create a distraction which allows Kazarian to jump him from behind. Shelley takes a few swings at Frankie’s legs, provoking the ‘Heavy Metal Rebel’ to poke him in the eyes then drop him with a slingshot DDT. Steve Corino somehow dials into commentary and calls out BJ Whitmer, as Kaz continues to do a number on Shelley’s neck. Top rope leg drop misses though, potentially saving Alex from a broken neck. He rallies with a diving knee strike to the floor…but as soon as they return to the ring Frankie cracks the neck again with a swinging neckbreaker. Wave Of The Future gets 2! That’s an old-school Kaz move, and significant too for it’s resemblance to the Shellshock…which Alex promptly uses to drill him into the turnbuckles. Flux Capacitor countered, only for Shelley’s frog splash to get knees. Frankie grabs the bell hammer only for Shelley to dodge and drop him with a German suplex. Chris Sabin appears on the apron again, but still doesn’t make a move on his former friend. Shelley takes advantage and wins the match with Sliced Bread #2 at 09:21 (shown).

Rating - *** - At the low end of the 3* scale, but this one had some sound fundamentals which I liked. I’m a fan of Alex Shelley which helps, and the slow-burn storyline with Sabin and the KRD is one I’m interested in. They did a lot to progress that here, with Sabin seemingly allied with Frankie but once again never really hurting Shelley directly. I liked Kazarian’s work on the neck as well (and wish the commentators had done more to pick up on it). It wasn’t particularly exciting, and Corino hacking into commentary was very distracting – so definitely not without fault.

Post-match Frankie demands to know why Sabin wouldn’t get involved to help him.

As the only other male active member of the House Of Truth, J. Diesel suddenly has a lot of pressure on him. Having kicked Donovan Dijak out, Martini effectively gave Daddiego the vote of confidence as Lethal’s top enforcer and he now needs to back that up with wins and improved in-ring action. A victory over Castle (who has looked outstanding since getting the Boys back) would be a fine way to demonstrate improvement.

Is anyone else fed up of hearing about Joey’s amateur boxing career? I swear Kevin Kelly trots out the same boring lines every time he wrestles. Castle uses his amateur skills to make a mockery of Diesel, but then gets distracted by Truth Martini and tossed out of the ring. Truth is so pleased with that he celebrates with a Spinaroonie (which the crowd goes nuts for)…only for the Boys to make him look like a turkey by tripping him through the ropes. Daddiego goes after Castle’s back with stomps and a front slam, although everything he does still looks so clumsy. Dalton gives him a knee to the head, then the Bang-A-Rang to get the victory at 03:32

Rating - DUD - Truth Martini was the most entertaining part of this, which isn’t a good thing. Dalton won rather comprehensively so I have no major complaints, other than my continued confusion as to why Daddiego keeps getting booked to wrestle. He’s so painfully not good enough, and I can’t believe he gets paid so little that there isn’t a more capable worker out there who could take his spot for cheaper. 

Silas Young comes out and addresses the Boys by their real names (Brent and Brandon Tate). He still wants them to be Real Men, and has the Beer City Bruiser hold them captive and make them watch as he attacks Castle. The Boys fight back and attack Silas and the Bruiser…so get their asses handed to them as punishment. 

LSG (introduced as ‘Leo St. Giovanni’) will go on to become a part of ROH’s tag division with fellow 2016 TPT participant Shaheem Ali, but would perhaps be considered an outsider for this match. Ben ‘Action’ Ortiz was the first man announced for the tournament, and is a graduate of Tommy Dreamer’s wrestling school. He’s a big, rotund, husky chap with gear reminiscent of Bam Bam Bigelow. Nigel and Kevin Kelly put him over as a modern day Bam Bam – which is a big statement to make.

St. Giovanni gets punched in the face when he thinks about an early dive to the floor, before Ortiz scales the ropes to miss a SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT FROG SPLASH! A tumbling lariat finds the mark for Leon, and now he does get to hit his dive spot – a corkscrew plancha to the floor. Nigel points out that Ortiz looks pretty gassed, but somehow he survives that and puts LSG away with the Killscreen (back suplex gourdbuster) at 03:54

Rating - * - My least favourite match of the TPT so far, and almost completely devoid of the heart, drama and emotion we saw in the Colby/Martinez match last week. It is hard to judge a talent based on these three minute introductory matches, but this was brutally bland...

Stokely Hathaway has requested some interview time with Kevin Kelly. He proclaims 2016 to be the ‘year of Moose’, and lays down the challenge to Kazuchika Okada for the 14th Anniversary. 

This is the title shot ANX earned by defeating the Young Bucks and the Briscoes at Final Battle. It was something of an upset at the time, and their record has been mixed since becoming #1 contenders. Titus and King do have the legitimate claim that they never lost the Tag Titles (their reign came to an end when Kenny signed with TNA and was stripped of the belt). War Machine are on a dominating tear, and massacred former champions The Kingdom at Final Battle. Is today going to be another dominant display from them?

The challengers land some early double teams to unsettle Hanson, but with little lasting damage inflicted before he clobbers them both with the cartwheel lariat. Their double teams work better with Rowe leading to him being isolated in the ring as ANX press home their advantage. The strength of the champs is too much to combat though, with both Hanson and Rowe soon in the ring together spectacular over-powering their challengers. Rhett saves King from the Path Of Resistance, then soars straight to the floor into an attempted pescado on Rowe…who counters with an exploder on the floor. All four brawl around ringside now with escalating ferocity. ELBOW SUICIDA BY HANSON! Rowe turns King’s lights out with an emphatic knee strike! Kenny blocks Fallout for all he is worth, luring Rowe into a Shotgun Knee…which King dodges, dragging referee Paul Turner in the firing line to take the move! He drops Rowe with his own Shotgun Knees before going to the floor to retrieve a table. CEMENT MIXER THROUGH THE TABLE BY ROWE! Turner saw that, and the champs are disqualified at 08:32 (shown)

Rating - ** - Some of this was good, and it certainly ended extremely strongly – but in amongst the good there was plenty of forgettable/mediocre content too. Good as these teams are, they are quite obviously a step below the likes of the Bucks, the Briscoes and reDRagon when it comes to popularity – and the sullen, non-responsive crowd didn’t really help then here. It wasn't like they weren’t devoid of chemistry as opponents though. I liked the early double teams having no effect on Hanson, or Titus’ fiery flurry with Rowe in the closing moments. This match didn’t, however, feel particularly special or memorable. 

Rowe and Titus keep fighting, and are quickly joined by their partners. The brawl continues even as the ring fills with countless security personnel and officials. They are eventually separated, and it is apparent we’ll see these four go at it again in future.

NEXT WEEK – Young Bucks vs Sydal/ACH will be your main event

Tape Rating - ** - I liked plenty about this episode. It lacked a higher quality main event and had a somewhat bloated undercard, but Kazarian/Shelley was a legitimately enjoyable little opener, the final couple of minutes of the main event were extremely exciting and the show on the whole really helped continue the build to the Vegas anniversary event. Not every show can be a knockout – but it isn’t much to ask that even the ‘weaker’ episodes make you want to tune in to see what happens next; and this one delivered on that front.