McXal's Reviews

This week we will enjoy yet more Road Rage content from Tokyo and Honor Rising. We are promised ‘Bullet Club’ hour…with the faction’s matches from Night One of the weekend taking centre stage. That means we’ll see the Briscoes against Anderson and Gallows (in what was their final weekend with NJPW), plus a big 8-man tag pitting Tanahashi, Elgin, Honma and Moose against a BC quartet. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III provide commentary for action taped in Tokyo, JP.

For those that aren’t familiar with NJPW, Hall is the son of Scott Hall and was assigned to the Bullet Club as their official ‘young boy’. Tanahashi (who was competing with a seriously messed up shoulder at this point) and Elgin are now a regular team in Japan, and were preparing to bring their duo stateside for a match against the Briscoes the following week in ROH. Arguably the man with the most to gain here is Moose – someone who is openly petitioning for higher profile matches in Ring Of Honor. A strong tour against big NJPW names would boost those claims.

Moose’s entrance music and chant gets him instantly over with the NJPW fans, and he starts for his team in a clash of the titans with Fale. Mr Wrestling III notes on commentary that New Japan is Elgin’s ‘home’ now, rather than ROH which is interesting. It’s obvious that Moose has the edge in athleticism and floors BLF with his massive dropkick. Tonga and Honma enter next, really laying in the shots on each other before Honma inevitably goes to the headbutts (which miss). All eight men pile in, with the babyfaces clearing the ring so they can do muscle poses. Yujiro cheapshots Tanahashi from behind and cracks a steel chair across his back and bad shoulder out of sight of the referee…and instantly the bad arm hangs limp at Tana’s side. It gets worse when he rolls back inside the ring and Bad Luck STANDS on it! Takahashi is such a dirty bastard, not content with being the reason Tanahashi’s shoulder is f*cked he now saunters in and rakes his eyes for fun! Elgin has seen enough and steamrolls through Yujiro with a flying tackle! ONE ARM PRESS SLAM ON TONGA! The New Japan fans seriously love Elgin! He gets ambushed by Cody as he tries his stalling suplex spot on Yujiro…so Unbreakable suplexes both of them at once! Yujiro low blows his way free (after clinging to Tiger Hattori for dear life), but his tag to Hall is met with the re-entry of Moose…so clobbers Razor Ramon Jr. with a discus lariat! Hitstick blocked…but Moose is just to big to hit the Razor’s Edge on! Bullet Club join forces to annihilate Moose culminating in a Cody chokeslam for 2. Honma hits a diving headbutt to save his partner from the Razor’s Edge again, as Elgin picks up Tanahashi and press slams him into a PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! ROPE RUN FLYING CROSSBODY BY MOOSE! HITSTICK! He pins Cody at 11:38

Rating - *** - Considering the circumstances (i.e. a low key, minimally valued house show for NJPW) I thought they had a good time with this. Tanahashi and Honma were barely used (as arguably the biggest NJPW names involved), but when they were in I thought Yujiro (who I’ve always liked) heel work on Tanahashi’s shoulder was solid. 

Jay Lethal (wearing a Los Ingobernables shirt) hangs out with Truth Martini in Tokyo. They plan to go find a massage parlour and get a happy ending. Seriously, did a ten year old come up with these skits?

SUPERCARD OF HONOR 10 RECAP – The closing moments of the outstanding Lethal vs Lio Rush World Title match are shown. That, of course, leads in to the return of Colt Cabana. This is included to promote the forthcoming Global Wars PPV (which is in a week’s time and has barely been built up at all, other than running footage of a New Japan house show on TV for weeks). Lethal will defend the World Title against Cabana in the main event – live from his home town of Chicago. Clips of Lethal’s defence versus Cheeseburger, then impromptu non-title loss to Colt at Night Two, are also shown.

Jay Lethal and Truth Martini’s quest for a happy ending continues. They find a suitable venue…and encounter a ‘happy’ looking Delirious coming out. They then head to the New Japan store to ‘break all of Okada’s stuff’.

Elsewhere Dalton Castle hangs out at a ‘Peacock’ store then goes to a Cat Café, whilst the Briscoes eat steak with Roderick Strong.

When the Anderson/Gallows team first made their way to ROH the match everyone wanted to see was them against the Briscoes – and now they bring that same match back to Japan for what Anderson and Gallows had publicly confirmed as their final weekend in New Japan. Last time the Bullet Club members successfully defended their IWGP Tag Titles against the Briscoes. Can Jay and Mark come to their home promotion and return the favour by way of a send off? It’s worth pointing out that the Briscoes aren’t exactly ‘ROH property’ at this point either, given that they are two thirds of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champions along with Toru Yano. 

Anderson and Gallows jump the Briscoes during their entrance, setting a precedent for what is sure to be an intense and physical match. Within seconds Jay sends Doc flying over the top with a Cactus Clothesline, as on the other side Mark lands his diving blockbuster from the apron to the floor on Machine Gun. The Briscoes isolate Anderson for a couple of minutes, forcing Gallows to intervene by pulling Mark to the apron and delivering a savage punt to the exposed head. Next he drags the younger Briscoe into the crowd and pounds on him with a chair (which presumably the ref doesn’t see as he stays inside the ring administering a count). It leaves Mark obviously wounded and in desperate need of a tag to Jay. With the assistance of some impromptu Reneck Kung Fu the hot tag does come, bringing in a fired up former ROH Champion. But with Mark still struggling to recover Jay succumbs to the numbers game and almost falls to defeat via Anderson’s Swivel Gun Stun. Magic Killer blocked, as is the Gun Stun! Doc saves his partner from the Jay Driller as the counters continue, so Jay steams into Machine Gun with the Rude Awakening instead. Froggy Bow finishes him at 08:23

Rating - ** - Conceptually I understood what they were going for here, and there were a couple of little sequences were it felt like things were going to ignite…but for the most part this felt hugely sanitised, safe and formulaic. Time after time when things looked like they were about to kick off the pace would grind to a halt, a rest-hold would come out and everyone would just stop moving. It wasn’t bad, and it was thoroughly professional…but very obviously the work of a bunch of guys who all plan on working much more important live events than this one in the near future.

Tape Rating - N/A - The in-ring content from Honor Rising this week was a big step down from the two previous episodes…but the addition of putting Cabana’s return on TV just in time to promote Global Wars 2016 salvaged the show. I believe this wraps up Road Rage from Japan, which seems a little weird as they wound up airing nothing from Night 2…which included the NEVER Openweight Trios Tag Title change and Jay Lethal defending the ROH World Title. I feel like both of those matches could’ve been included instead of either of the Bullet Club matches we got tonight.