McXal's Reviews

Final Battle 2016 is in the books. We have a new ROH World Champion (although don’t get too comfortable with that one), Cody Rhodes has arrived, the first ever Six-Man Tag Champions have been crowned and a new Broken threat has emerged to the Young Bucks’ Tag Titles. All of that, however, is on the back-burner for the next couple of weeks as we still have more content to get through from October’s ‘Road To Final Battle’ TV tapings. The main event will see Motor City Machine Guns’ plans to bring together a group of like-minded individuals of talent in an effort to fight the ‘numbers game’ dominating the wrestling landscape come to fruition as they team with Jay White and Lio Rush to face Jay Lethal, Silas Young and the Briscoes. We’ll also see a whole bunch of talent who aren’t doing anything meaningful at Final Battle such as the Tempura Boyz, War Machine, Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara, Donovan Dijak, BJ Whitmer, Punishment Martinez and even f*cking Joey Daddiego. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary from Baltimore, MD.

This is a rematch from Glory By Honor 15, when Burger and Ferrara defeated the Tempuraz. Tonight the ROH Dojo crew bring out Joey Daddiego alongside them, as apparently he has been training with them and teaching them some stuff (no comment). Is tonight the night where we finally see any resemblance to the Roppongi 3K team that Sho and Yoh would become when they return to NJPW, rather than the ineffective touring comedy job squad they’ve appeared as thus far?

Diesel is on commentary trying to convince me that Cheeseburger is ‘bigger and stronger’ than ever, then goes in depth into his nutrition plan because the in-ring action is so irrelevant. Once again the Boyz walk a fine line towards cheating in an effort to take the advantage. Yoh is particularly dastardly in pulling Burger off the apron, removing Will’s chance of a tag and ensuring Sho gets to continue working him over. The hot tag comes eventually, bringing in Cheeseburger and his embarrassing Kobashi chops on Tanaka. Shotei/Paydirt combo on Sho gets 2. Komatsu aids his partner, giving Ferrara a lungblower and setting him up for the Rocket Launcher German. Superkick/Shock Arrow combo wins it for Tempura Boyz at 05:29 (shown)

Rating - * - The match wasn’t great anyway, but the flow was totally killed by inserting a commercial break less than a minute before the end of the match. When you tape your show in advance there is no excuse for sh*t like that. I don’t think it would’ve changed my rating, but it definitely didn’t help. The Tempura Boyz continue to hint at the talent that they possess – this week with some interesting aggressive tag formula work and a hot double-team finish. However, they were dragged down by their opponents, in front of a silent crowd which just didn’t care about any of these guys.

Prince Nana marches Donovan Dijak out to the ring and orders him to end the careers of everyone inside it. J. Diesel takes offence to his old stable-mate’s abuse of his ‘friend’ Ferrara and mooches into the ring to lend a hand. He grabs a mic and challenges Dijak to a match...

Dijak and Daddiego had an issue earlier in the year after Donovan quit the House Of Truth and ended Truth Martini’s career. Jay Lethal and Taeler Hendrix sent J. Diesel to eliminate Dijak, and although he failed he did inflict a serious rib injury which may have contributed to Lethal’s televised win over Dijak earlier in the year. Now with a vastly reduced role as a 2016 Tank Toland knock-off to a couple of enhancement talents, Daddiego must know he is perilously close to being cut from the roster…

Joey immediately starts punching those ribs he injured earlier in the year. But it’s predictable and Donovan knows it is his coming. He simply bides his time and awaits an opportunity to deliver a ribbreaker. Joey has better luck jumping off the ropes into a stomp to Dijak’s back, then almost cripples him with an electric chair suplex, followed by a brainbuster. Prince Nana has to get involved and crotches Diesel in the corner. He is defenceless and defeated by Feast Your Eyes at 02:25

Rating - DUD - Crap match in a standalone context, but in wider scope this was an assassination of Dijak’s credibility. If the aim is to get him over, that went straight out of the window when he needed Prince Nana’s help just to beat Joey f*cking Daddiego. And that’s before you take into account that the entirety of this very brief match consisted of Diesel on offence.

Prince Nana once again sternly admonishes Donovan Dijak before walking to the locker room without him.

ROH RECAP – Ian Riccaboni shows clips of Kenny King, Rhett Titus and Caprice Coleman rejecting ‘The Cabinet’ gimmick in Florida, followed by their re-branding as ‘The Rebellion’ at Survival Of The Fittest. 

Kevin Sullivan and BJ Whitmer get creepy promo time (with Punishment Martinez standing ominously in the background) encouraging Steve Corino to ‘join us and come home’…

So are Whitmer and Martinez a regular team now? Are they part of the tag division? Do they want title shots? It sure would be useful to know this information given that, as far as we know, their sole motivation is being evil and torturing Steve Corino. Regardless of motive, an assignment against War Machine is rarely a pleasant experience. 

Team Sullivan attack War Machine before the bell, which even Nigel and Kevin point out seems a terrible idea. Within seconds Hanson has smeared Martinez into the railing as an intense brawl rages all around ringside. Superman Punch floors Whitmer, giving Rowe time to set up a table on the floor. Hanson and Punishment take turns trying to hit the other as hard as possible – a pattern which Martinez breaks by slamming Hanson into the concrete floor. He recovers strong with an elbow suicida, but on the inside Whitmer decapitates Rowe with a lariat. This is all very intense, but the sh*tty gimmick Whitmer and Martinez are stuck with means nobody cares and the fans are almost totally silent. Rowe and BJ continue to exchange shots, shoving the referee to the ground in their desire to beat each other up. When Paul Turner is sent crashing a second time he has no choice but to call for a double DQ, throwing the match out at 04:33 (shown).

Rating - ** - I didn’t actually hate this. It was awkward that the crowd were completely silent, and I have nothing but bad things to say about the angle Whitmer and Martinez are stuck in. But the actual wrestling content of this was decent. They worked hard and sold me on how intense, violent and ‘up for a fight’ they all were. 

Whitmer KO’s the referee, whilst Punishment grabs Rowe for SOUTH OF HEAVEN OFF THE APRON, THROUGH THE TABLE! Kevin Sullivan hovers over the fallen Hanson, calling him by his real name (Todd). Apparently Kevin used to take Hanson to wrestling shows when he was a kid (and doesn’t make it clear whether this was in a kindly uncle or abduction context)…but has grown displeased with the boy he once knew because he grew up to be a wrestler who supposedly idolised Steve Corino. This whole angle just gets worse every time they try to advance it. Have Hanson and Steve Corino interacted once in the two years they've been on the roster together!? Sullivan calls out Corino then tries to convince him to attack Hanson. Kevin, BJ and Punishment walk away…and Corino stands confused about whether to attack or not.

NEXT WEEK – Women Of Honor TV special #2! They don’t announce it as the theme, but it feels like they have a WOH core roster versus outsiders theme going, as Mandy Leon faces Jessicka Havok, Deonna Purrazzo faces Candice LeRae and Kelly Klein puts her streak up against the returning ODB in the main event…

Here we have a star-packed 8-man tag to end the episode and kill time until new post-Final Battle content goes live. This was taped in October, but going by broadcast date the Briscoes now need to rebound after failing to take the ROH Tag Titles from the Young Bucks at the PPV. Unity and cohesion may be hard to come by on their team too. For one thing they have to team with Jay Lethal, the man who ended Jay Briscoe’s second reign as World Champion. They also have to put up with the fact that Lethal and Silas don’t like each other one bit after the events of the Reloaded Tour in Lockport. There should be no such problem on the other side of the ring. Once again we’ll see Shelley and Sabin team with a couple of the young talents they have been vocal supporters of through the back half of 2016 – the undefeated Jay White and the spectacular Top Prospect Tournament winner Lio Rush (a man who took Lethal to the absolute limit back at Supercard Of Honor too). 

Lethal and Rush start, immediately reprising their MOTYC from earlier in 2016. I really like that, unlike last time, there are no smiles and smirks from Jay – he is all business and wants to mess Lio up from the outset. He takes his head off with a superkick to prevent him hitting a big dive…but then Rush counters an attempt at the Lethal Combination with strikes. TOPE ATOMICO BY LIO! ELBOW SUICIDA BY JAY BRISCOE! Silas dives off the apron with a lariat on Shelley! White blocks an attempted powerbomb on the floor…and inside the ring Rush and Lethal are still going at it! Four-way dropkick sequence in the Machine Gun corner almost knocks out the former World Champion Lethal. Lio lands a flying double stomp across Lethal’s back as he is held prone by Sabin and White. Young acts as a difference-maker for his team, ironically coming to the rescue of his rival Jay Lethal and ambushing Rush with a back suplex. The Rebellion have appeared in the aisle and are watching the action unfold. Soon after Lethal returns to the ring clearly looking to make a point at the expense of Lio Rush. Lio HEADSTANDS out of an Ace Crusher attempt though…and makes a hot tag to White. The Kiwi hits the running suplex on Lethal, followed by a HALF AND HALF SUPLEX on Silas! Flatliner/DDT combo from Shelley to the Briscoes! HEAT SEEKING MISSILE FLURRY BY LIO! Superkick/Urinage combo decimates Lethal, leaving him in position for DRAGON’S CALL – INTO LETHAL’S KNEES! Lethal Combination nailed. White shoves Lethal own to stop him landing the Macho Elbow…only to be Kung Fu’d back out by Mark. Killer Combo from Young to Lio! Mark tries fight all four of his opponents by himself…with absolutely no joy. KIWI CRUSHER! WHITE PINS MARK! It’s over at 13:19 (shown)

Rating - **** - A generous, scaled upwards for free television rating…but this one was really enjoyable, and capped off with a hot (and rare) finish with a Briscoe brother taking the fall to promote a young up and coming talent. Lio Rush and Jay Lethal’s match at Supercard Of Honor was an absolute hidden gem, and everything they did in reprising that one during this match was perfect. The whole aim here was to get the ‘new breed’ of talent over too…which I loved. Lio Rush and Jay White were the stars for their team, whilst on the opposite side Silas Young was always the man leading the charge and doing the best work for his unit. Great wrestling and a concerted effort to make deserving rising stars look good make this match an easy one for me to recommend

Tape Rating - ** - Nobody should pretend this was a terrific episode, because it wasn’t. Indeed, these dead episodes taped before, but airing after, a major PPV event are rarely very good. But that main event means it was far from a waste of time. Everything else was pretty bad, but you can skip all that anyway. The quality of product coming out of this taping continues to be a step up from the Lowell episodes in a major way…