McXal's Reviews

Fans watching Supercard Of Honor 11 who hadn't kept up to date with the events of this television taping may have been surprised to find that it wasn't The Kingdom defending the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles against the Bullet Club. In the main event of this episode we'll find out the reason why, as they defend those belts despite losing TK O'Ryan to a broken leg at the 15th Anniversary. We also have the second semi-final in the Top Prospect Tournament (which feels like it has gone on forever this year) with John Skyler and Curt Stallion vying to join Josh 'The Goods' Woods in the finals. Ian Riccaboni and Kevin Kelly provide commentary from Las Vegas, NV.

His involvement with Kevin Sullivan and BJ Whitmer may be over, but this match is a hangover from Martinez's time with that crew. They targeted Hanson due to a supposed previous association with Sullivan - in an issue which culminated on Episode 286 when Martinez and BJ defeated War Machine in an Anything Goes Match. Punishment then decimated BJ, went to Japan and almost became a breakout sensation by coming close to defeating Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Title at Honor Rising 2017. Hanson wants payback, Punisher wants to prove he is the real deal...

Martinez goes for an early spinning heel kick, but it is caught and countered into an emphatic powerbomb. ELBOW SUICIDA by Hanson! BRONCO BUSTER THROUGH A CHAIR ON THE FLOOR! Punisher absorbs that and fires back with a spear from the second rope. ROH's pyro has set off a fire alarm which is really distracting. Hanson's power is a real factor and he starts using it to throw Punishment around the ring with devastating ease. Sledgehammer strikes in the corner hit the mark...only for Martinez to no sell and grab him by the throat before delivering a springboard punch to the apron! RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE OVER THE RINGPOST! Super spinning heel kick gets 2 for Martinez. South Of Heaven blocked...Cartwheel lariat blocked! Springboard by Punisher INTO A POWERSLAM by Hanson! Now Hanson tries a springboard and gets caught. Spin Kick Of Doom ducked...so they start booting the sh*t out of each other. SPIN KICK OF DOOM gets 2! He thinks about the Hanson-sault, but is distracted by Davey Boy Smith Jr. on the stage. HANSON-SAULT MISSES! Cyclone kick nailed, setting up the South Of Heaven. Martinez wins at 07:41 (shown)

Rating - *** - A really fun big boy battle to kick off the hour. Both of these two are athletic and courageous enough to try some really extraordinary things for men of their size, so putting them in the ring together was always likely to yield a spectacular result. The old ROH mentality would be to notice the chemistry between them and book another match down the line - but I don't know whether we'll see it. Putting Punishment over was clearly the correct call. I criticised ROH for not putting him over in the TV Title Six Man Mayhem on PPV, and it was critical he got a big win here to follow up on the Episode 286 angle/split from BJ.

Silas Young pops in to promote ROH 'Unauthorized' in his hometown of Milwaukee later this month. 

Hangman Page attacks Frankie Kazarian in the parking lot. Bullet Club deployed him to send a message to Kaz after his actions at the Anniversary Show...

I do think criticism of the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament field is justified. Nobody jumps off the page as begging to be signed, and half of the field has no business in a tournament designed to unearth 'top prospects'. But having said that, the final three - these two plus Josh Woods already in the final - were the pick of the bunch. Skyler was in probably the best match of the tournament so far in his opening round win over Sean Carr. Stallion was a guy that came in with as much hype as anyone, and survived an examination from the veteran Preston Quinn to get here.

Skyler is aggressive and slaps Stallion in the face, kick-starting an aggressive strike exchange. Curt is the quicker man and lands dropkicks and double stomps because his opponent simply can't keep up with him. Skyler has to leave the ring to break up his momentum...and when Stallion attempts a dive John THROWS HIM INTO THE RAILINGS! That looked horrifying! Stallion is understandably barely able to get back to his feet. When he does crawl back into the ring Skyler is waiting to put the boots to him. He gets the boots up on a senton splash attempt, so John hits a tiger driver instead for 2. NECK DROP GERMAN! NO SOLD! GERMAN ON SKYLER! Followed by a bridging German variant which gets a nearfall. Superkick by Skyler...no sold with such an emphatic dropkick that John collapses to the apron. Slingshot Spear back in gets 2! Buck Off nailed...and again Skyler kicks out. Stallion tries to knock him out with a headbutt, only for a frankensteiner attempt to be countered into the Southern Salvation. Skyler wins and heads to the finals at 08:17 (shown).

Rating - *** - Arguably the two standout performers from Round One (although I do see the upside in someone like Woods) came together here to deliver the best match of the tournament. It wasn't outrageous, and wasn't a patch on something like Martinez/Rush from last year, but it was exciting, incredibly violent in places and had enough about to it to suck in the notoriously difficult New York crowd. I'm curious as to why Skyler didn't get anything longer term after this tournament. In terms of people I'd like to see more of from this tournament field - a final of Skyler vs Woods is probably the final I'd have picked.

From his hotel room Adam Cole (post-surgery to remove the head lump) provides a video message asking the Young Bucks to return his calls. He says he 'forgives' them and wants to reunite the SuperKliq...

Lets start by making the obligatory point that the Briscoes and Bully having earned a title shot with just a single victory says everything for how much of a joke these Trios Titles are. It really does feel like they were conceived with the sole purpose of being a prop to get the new Kingdom over. And that then becomes a problem when one of that trio - TK O'Ryan - breaks his leg during a title defence. Taven and Marseglia have recruited Silas to be their partner, which does make a degree of sense given that ROH have been pushing the angle that he and Bruiser want to be Six-Man Champions but couldn't find a third partner. He is joining them on the understanding that he and Bruiser can have a shot once TK has returned. The defending champions, therefore, are a first-time trio giving up piles of experience to the Briscoes and Bubba. Do they have a shot? Especially when you consider the Briscoes have plenty of history with the previous incarnation of The Kingdom so will no doubt be fired up for this...

Silas snatches one of the belts and demands to wear it to the ring which is pretty funny. It leads to the defending champions getting into a huge argument...seemingly entirely so Bully can get a microphone and talk again. He calls them 'former champions' and jumps them to get the match started. It is a dominant start for the challengers; first clearing the ring then isolating Marseglia for a period of unrelenting punishment. To save him Silas and Taven have to work together - and do so to crotch Jay against the ringpost. Kevin Kelly talking about what a strong 2017 Silas is having (a year where he has barely wrestled and commentated for the majority of it) shows what a disingenuous, bogus, lousy commentator he really is. He constantly says such obviously false things to make whatever stupid, vapid point has popped into his head. We return from commercials as Jay Briscoe makes a hot tag to his brother...but The Kingdom cut his fire short with a legsweep/Lionsault combo. Young tries to jump Mark - against the wishes of Taven. They get into another argument...and in walks Bully to punish them. Bubba Bomb gets 2 on Vinny. 3-D nailed...and we have new champs at 08:18 (shown).

Rating - ** - A very sad, low key and underwhelming way for The Kingdom/Trios Champs experiment to end. They had shown flashes of genuine chemistry but hadn't really scratched the surface of their capabilities...and felt like they were constantly battling how poorly booked this championship really is. I completely understand needing to get the belts away from Taven and Vinny as they are a man down - and in all fairness the best part of this match was how they and Silas interacted. But I don't see what the Briscoes or Bully gain from this. Had Rhett Titus been healthy/booked for this weekend I wonder if The Rebellion might have been a better fit - getting the 'rub' from a title win plus adding some spice to their growing rivalry with Search & Destroy. Even a Bullet Club trio getting a run would've made more sense (Kingdom eliminated them from the tournament to crown the first champs). I have a lot of time for Jay and Mark Briscoe, but them acting as backing dancers for Bubba Ray Dudley rolling through his overplayed 'hits' is surely one of the worst 'gimmicks' they've had in their entire ROH run. Taven and Vinny deserve a lot of credit for even working this match. They can't have been in a great head space after what happened to TK (they were literally helping doctors get his boot off and carry him out at the PPV - Taven in particular looked utterly devastated) so just getting through this match is something to be proud of.

Silas and Taven furiously argue on the floor, each blaming the other for their defeat. Obviously Bully Ray needs to get on the microphone to talk...again. 

NEXT WEEK - Our main event is a wildcard 8-man tag. The winners will advance to a four corner match on a future episode, with an ROH World Title shot on the line.

Tape Rating - ** - Had the main event been better I'd have rated this episode higher. Martinez/Hanson and Skyler/Stallion were enjoyable free TV bouts which are worth checking out, and we got some interesting angle advancement involving the Bullet Club too. But the flat main event, the totally baffling booking of the Six-Man Titles and the less-than-enthralling prospect of the Briscoes and Bully as Trios Champions moving forward meant this episode ended on something of a flat note for me.