McXal's Reviews

With the ROH crew out on tour of the United Kingdom, their weekly television show features some rather high profile bouts this evening too. The main event is a Six-Man Tag Title Tournament semi-final with the ‘new’ Kingdom of Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan facing Team CMLL of Ultimo Guerrero, Okumura and Hechicero. The winners advance to Final Battle and the tournament finals to crown the inaugural champions. Tonight we’ll also have Kyle O’Reilly preparing for Final Battle with a match against a man who pushed Adam Cole to the limit in Florida – Silas Young. Let us now return to Baltimore, MD to join Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino.

ROH have taken the time to insert a highlight reel of the Cole/Young title match from Lakeland, Florida, with the commentators making an earnest job of putting Silas’ performance over. It’s smart business, because not only does it put Young over to the casual viewer who hasn’t seen that match, but also positions him as a major threat to Kyle O’Reilly. Young just took Adam Cole to the limit, in a losing effort. If Kyle can’t beat Silas this evening, what chance will have against Cole at Final Battle?

Kyle looks to work his usual match but is thrown off his game by how capable Young is at finding counters to whatever is thrown at him. O’Reilly goes after the leg, which Kevin Kelly informs he has been surgically repaired in the past. Silas reacts by throwing him over the top rope then pursuing him outside for a brawl on the floor – where he looks far more comfortable than trading holds on the canvas. When we return from commercials Kyle has brought the match back inside and mounted a split-focused attack on both the arm and leg of his opponent. A heel hook pulls Young to the ground, where he then works a Fujiwara armbar to leave the Last Real Man in trouble. Silas counters out with a neckbreaker over the knee…but collapses because that hurt his leg badly. He follows it with an Ace Crusher for 2…only for Kyle to spring up from the canvas to hit the Regalplex. Young no sells and delivers a German! Plunge COUNTERED into a pop-up knee strike, putting Young into position for Arm-ageddon. Silas lunges to the bottom ropes…Misery blocked into the BRAINBUSTER! O’Reilly wins at 10:02 (shown).

Rating - *** - In my opinion this was a nailed on ***1/2 star match. It didn’t go long, but they found a very decent and coherent narrative to tell with what time they did get. O’Reilly leaves looking like a wrestling machine, having picked apart Young’s arm and leg simultaneously, whilst Young leaves having delivered a competitive performance on television which minimises the damage done to him by absorbing two high profile losses in succession. There haven’t been too many better opening matches on ROH’s television show in 2016.

Kevin Kelly tries to interview Silas Young after another loss. Silas angrily yells at the fans, then berates Jushin Liger – right in the face of notorious Baltimore wrestling fan ‘Ultra Liger’. This is done to set up Silas vs Liger at Final Battle…

Jay Lethal formally announces that Cody Rhodes is coming to Ring Of Honor at Final Battle, and they’ve been booked to wrestle each other. He reminds Cody that, as a former ROH Champion, he isn’t the man with anything to prove going into their match…

The Motor City Machine Guns have a sit-down interview discussing their emotional state following Ladder War 6. They are bitterly disappointed and go so far as to say they ‘choked’ by failing to win at All Star Extravaganza. It ends with them pedalling the same anti-Bullet Club rhetoric they’ve pushed all year and condemn the numbers advantage they always have. They announce their intent to form some kind of Ring Of Honor X-Men to fight them…and want the likes of Jay White and Lio Rush as the first members.

The Addiction get promo time next…and they too are haunted by the ghost of Ladder War. Daniels blames himself for their loss, and thanks Frankie for helping him regain their focus after being eliminated from the Six-Man Title Tournament. They look to start their comeback with a win over the Briscoe Brothers next week…

Another tag team that want to talk are Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle. They are in their locker room again, and The Boys are still missing in action. Cabana has lined up some replacements this week – where they are scheduled to face a couple of enhancement talents. They win in less than a minute, without Cabana even having to tag in. Dalton tries to put a positive spin on their team having to work up from the bottom again…until Colt pulls the plug and tries to quit their team. THEN KICKS HIM IN THE BALLS! He beats up the stand-in Boys for a joke too, before using one of their feathers to start STABBING Dalton in the eyes.

The winners of this match advance to Final Battle to compete in the finals of the tournament to crown the first ever ROH Six-Man Tag Champions. As has been pointed out commentary, the fact that these two teams are competing in a semi-final can be considered something of an upset. After months of random commentary appearances and cryptic hints, Matt Taven returned to ROH with his ‘new Kingdom’ in Lowell and shocked the world by defeating former Kingdom member (and current ROH Champion) Adam Cole, plus the wounded Young Bucks. Team CMLL were in action last week and overcame former Tag Champions The Addiction (with Kamaitachi), which once again many hadn’t predicted. Taven actually made his comeback from the serious knee injury he suffered at Final Battle 2015 with a tour of CMLL in Mexico – so will be familiar with his opposition tonight.

O’Ryan gets made to look a little silly by Hechicero, which he doesn’t take kindly too and rakes the luchador’s eyes. Vinny tags in to work the veteran Guerrero…and is swiftly dumped with the dropkick to the floor. TRIPLE TEAM LEAP OF FAITH TO THE RAILING! Back in the ring with Okumura throwing Taven around with suplexes…until Marseglia tosses him into the guardrail. It leads to The Kingdom holding the Japanese CMLL representative hostage in the ring for a few minutes. He escapes their clutches with a cutter/DDT combo and brings Ultimo back into play. Headstand Bronco Buster on both Taven and TK! Hechi ties Vinny in knots trying to force a submission until O’Ryan makes a save. HANGING DDT from Okumura to O’Ryan! Five Star Frog Splash missed by Taven, so the rest of The Kingdom hit STEREO TOPES! SUICIDE DIVE BY TAVEN! Rock Star Supernova finishes Hechicero, sending The Kingdom to the finals at 09:22 (shown)

Rating - *** - I preferred Team CMLL’s match with The Addiction and Kamaitachi, but for a ten minute free wrestling match I thought this was certainly entertaining. O’Ryan and Marseglia do lack a lot of polish, and working with the CMLL talents really exposed that. But Ultimo Guerrero is a charismatic performer, and although he is clearly being protected from taking on too much work too quickly, it is nice to have Matt Taven back in the fold too. 

NEXT WEEK – Briscoes vs The Addiction. Dem Boys pop in at the end of the episode to remind Daniels and Kazarian that their team have rebounded from multiple Ladder Wars, and call their pending bout nothing more than a tune-up for when they face the Young Bucks at Final Battle.

Tape Rating - *** - A solid, tight hour of wrestling. O’Reilly vs Silas was a great opener, the main event was spotty and enjoyable, whilst in the middle the tag scene came to the fore thanks to revealing interviews with the losing parties from Ladder War and the final big turn on Dalton by Colt Cabana. These kind of episodes don’t necessarily get rave reviews because there wasn’t a single must-see match, but this is the type of episode I really enjoy watching. It had a laser focus, every segment had an obvious goal and progressed people towards Final Battle in some manner. They even found time to build a random Silas vs Jushin Liger match at Final Battle just by incorporating Baltimore-regular Ultra Liger into proceedings.