McXal's Reviews

The Bullet Club are out of control, using Ring Of Honor as their playground, calling their own shots and doing whatever they want seemingly without fear of consequence due to their enduring popularity and drawing power. But things have escalated across the past two weeks of television. Firstly they ruined the scheduled Lethal/O’Reilly World Title Match, seemingly putting Kyle on the shelf with a shoulder injury. That provoked Nigel McGuinness to bar Adam Cole from the World Title picture, so Cole and the Bucks increased the stakes again by assaulting Jay Lethal and shaving his head. Will that provoke a reaction? In the meantime, Lethal also has to worry about the main event tonight – Colt Cabana’s World Title rematch after the Bullet Club destroyed their previous bout back at Global Wars. We are back in the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness to call it…

Adam Cole and the Bucks have some promo time over the opening recap package, where they vow to turn Ring Of Honor into Nigel McGuinness’ personal ‘hell’ until he overturns his decision to block Cole from the belt. Elsewhere Jay Lethal screams into a mirror at the site of his newly-shaved head…

White has had a hugely successful start to his Ring Of Honor career. With back-to-back victories over Kamaitachi and The Addiction to mark his televised debut, he followed that with a superb performance and win over Lio Rush at the Aftershock event in Baltimore. He can’t afford to take his foot off the gas pedal and slip up against a lower-ranked guy like Ferrara.

Kevin Kelly informs me that Ferrara is the ‘heart and soul of Ring Of Honor’, as if I’d forgotten momentarily that he was one of the worst commentators currently working regularly. White starts strongly against Heart and Soul Willy…until over-confidence almost proves his undoing and Ferrara hits a flying headscissors from the second. Jay smartly takes his opponent to the ground, showcasing his NJPW Dojo training and stretching him in all kinds of directions. Ferrara tosses him to the floor though – before lining him up for a tope suicida. He returns to the ring with the rebound tornado DDT for 2. Ferrara comes up looking frustrated, most likely because he’s almost burned through the four spots he usually hits in all his matches. White is on the charge; delivering the running suplex and rolling seamlessly into the missile dropkick for 2. Flatliner by Will…to which Jay responds with the urinage suplex. Kiwi Crusher wins it at 06:48 (shown).

Rating - ** - I was harsh to Ferrara on play-by-play. It’s not his fault that he has been around in ROH for a couple of years now and never really once been afforded the opportunity to grow or expand his role. For what it’s worth, his fire and intensity in this one was admirable. It never felt like he was going to win, but he was clearly trying his damndest to inject some drama into proceedings – and I can definitely respect that.

A video packages announces that Katsuyori Shibata will debut in ROH at Death Before Dishonor 14, and has already been signed to a match against Silas Young. 

Mark Briscoe is scheduled to be the guest on Bobby Fish’s chat show. However, he comes out before the segment ‘starts’ to decry the show as ‘Communist propaganda’, and refuses to be a part of it since Bobby will just use it to ‘get into his head’. Instead he announces his own talk show – the ‘Chicken Shack’. Bobby is his guest, and is asked some completely bizarre questions about Ethiopian midgets and airplane food. Quickly Bobby makes it very personal and very serious – calling Mark Briscoe ‘Jay Briscoe’s little brother’ and outright stating that the TV Title would be a ‘secondary title’ if he won it. 

The Addiction have some stern words for the top contenders to the ROH Tag Championship…

After years in exile, the Ring Of Honor World Championship is the prize that convinced Colt to return to this company. Despite his career as a proud independent wrestler and pioneering podcaster, he feels like his legacy needs to include being ROH Champion. He knows he can beat Lethal too, having done so on his first match back in ROH, at Supercard Of Honor earlier in the year. Their big PPV shown in his hometown of Chicago at Global Wars 2016 was, however, ruined by a Bullet Club takeover. Both he and Lethal have their issues with that faction…but both remain keenly aware of what the top prize in the company is. Can Cabana finally achieve his dream? And what is Lethal’s mental state after having his head shaved in Concord? There are multiple extra security guards at ringside to prevent Cole and the Young Bucks from getting involved again tonight…

We begin with a series of intense lock-ups, which obviously favours Colt because it makes a platform for him to utilise all his whacky European-influenced chain-wrestling techniques. Lethal responds with a dropkick, delivered with such force that Cabana flees the ring to recover. He returns to the ring and takes the champ to ground again, dominating once more and driving his opponent to the floor where he mournfully rubs his now-bald head. Now Jay drags Colt to the floor; aggressively booting him in the face then driving him right up the aisle with a trilogy of tope suicidas! We return to the ring and this time Lethal is able to use big strikes to block Cabana’s grappling. Colt is a seasoned pro though, and with his mat-wrestling temporarily negated he is happy to throw fists with the champ instead. Billy Goat’s Curse blocked and Jay hits the Lethal Combination. Lethal heads upstairs for Hail To The King, but pauses momentarily to again rub at his shaven head. HAIL TO THE KING COUNTERED TO A CRUCIFIX PIN…for 2! LETHAL INJECTION! COLT KICKS OUT! His expression suggests he is out on his feet, but instinct means Cabana is still alive in the contest. The champ tries to give him the top rope Lethal Injection…COUNTERED TO CHICAGO SKYLINE! Once again Lethal kicks at 2. Both men are at their limits but still fighting for all they are worth. ACE CRUSHER! NO SOLD! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wins at 12:11 (shown).

Rating - **** - I will freely admit this was a generous 4*, but I enjoyed this. The Philadelphia fans were at their very best, injecting the match with a big-match aura which enhanced everything they were doing. Cabana profited from Lethal’s split focus and controlled long stretches with his immense skill, but in more than a year as World Champion we have seen that Jay has the ability to pull out victories in all circumstances. He lured Colt into more of a fight after weakening him with dives on the floor, and finally secured the victory (but only after two Lethal Injections). It was a neat little story and an immensely enjoyable TV main event.

Cabana sinks to his knees after yet another unsuccessful ROH Title bout, but shakes his hands and despairingly heads to the locker rooms. Jay Lethal, meanwhile, grabs a microphone and asks Nigel to join him in the ring. He has four words for the Match Maker – ‘I want Adam Cole’. For the head-shaving, for the embarrassment, and for all the damage Bullet Club are doing to ROH, he pleads with Nigel to lift the ban and book the match for Death Before Dishonor. Nigel refuses…and out onto the stage comes Adam Cole to decry the entire segment as staged. He thinks Lethal is ducking him and calls him a ‘little b*tch’. Lethal gets on his knees and begs McGuinness to book it…and he gives in. Lethal vs Cole is official for Death Before Dishonor

Tape Rating - *** - A hot crowd makes SUCH a difference to the product. The Philly crowd have been influencing live pro-wrestling for decades of course, and the hot audience really did contribute to this episode. Lethal/Cabana II was a strong bout, made even better by a group of fans who treated it and reacted TO it like it was a huge deal. Then their scorching hot reactions to the Lethal/Nigel/Cole segment at the end there made Lethal/Cole feel like the hottest World Title match Ring Of Honor has booked in a long time. The last few weeks of TV have really been strong, with ROH finally feeling like they’ve got a handle on this Bullet Club angle and started using it to enhance their own product rather than act like an NJPW tribute show. Throw in the announcement of Shibata’s debut, and the interesting Briscoe/Fish interview segment and from nowhere ROH has crafted some genuine interest in the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view.