McXal's Reviews

The 300th episode of ROH on SBG coincides with the conclusion to the 2017 War Of The Worlds Tour. Awaiting us tonight is a main event of World Champion Christopher Daniels teaming with Frankie Kazarian and Hiroshi Tanahashi to face CHAOS of Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto and Gedo. I'll also be reviewing the 'dark main event' to this taping - which was an Honor Club exclusive and the actual final match of Adam Cole's ROH career. After he cost Marty Scurll the TV Title last week, he and The Villain will settle their score once and for all in a Street Fight (which will be included at the end of my review of the actual episode as broadcast). Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana once again provide commentary from Philadelphia, PA.

Jay Lethal reminisces about winning the TV Title on Episode #2 of the ROH on SBG series. He can't wait to see what's in store for the next 300 episodes...

There is plenty of ill-will between these four men. Lethal and Silas are embroiled in a bitter rivalry which has seen them trade wins, battle through injuries, backstage attacks and more. Fish too dislikes Silas after the 'Last Real Man' came out to antagonise him during his unscheduled appearance back at Supercard Of Honor leading to a couple of really physical, bruising fights. As if that weren't enough, Lethal and Fish still want one more match against each other for bragging rights after their first match pretty much stole the show back at the 15th Anniversary. The next instalment in the Lethal/Silas rivalry has been signed for Best In The World 2017...

Fish wants to start with Silas...so of course is left to square off with the Bruiser. Bobby comically blows BCB up by making him run the ropes until he almost passes out...but it's done strategically too as it leaves Bruiser with no choice but to bring Silas in. Lethal forces Bobby out and takes his turn gassing Bruiser in the ropes as well! Still Young refuses to tag in...and instead hands him a beer! BRUISER HURLS ALL OVER RINGSIDE! It's mostly beer spit, but as far as comedy in wrestling goes it was legitimately very funny. Back from commercials with Lethal forcing Silas into the action by flying at him with a tope. BCB - now recovered it seems - runs in only to be floored with a Samoan drop by Fish, who follows that with the turnbuckle exploder for 2 on the Last Real Man. Slingshot somersault pescado over the turnbuckles nailed...as inside the ring Silas tries to counter the Lethal Injection into Misery. Bobby saves his partner from defeat, but then accidentally kicks his chest in with a misplaced kick! Jay hasn't gotten his breath back from that before Bruiser is on him with the rolling senton off the apron. OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX from Bruiser to Bobby! Lethal Injection on Beer City! MISERY ON LETHAL! Silas beats 'the franchise' again at 07:19 (shown)

Rating - ** - I enjoyed this more than a 2* rating would suggest. The comedy was funny, the wrestling was good, the story they told with Fish and Lethal forming an unlikely but effective alliance to get as Silas was entertaining - which made Young's moment of victory over them even more striking as a result. My big problem here was that it felt like a big chunk of the match was missing. They laid the ground work, they developed the central thematic direction of the match...but then leapt to the pay-off because TV time constraints didn't allow them to flesh anything out. It was rushed, anticlimactic and consequentially, Silas' big win lacked resonance.

Christopher Daniels promises 'continued dominance' as World Champion as ROH television passes 300 episodes...

TWO WEEKS AGO - Jay Briscoe rages to Mark Briscoe and Bully Ray about Dalton and The Boys costing him a loss to LIJ. Mark and Bubba try to calm him down. They've been signed to defend the Six-Man Titles against Castle and The Boys at Best In The World...

The Kingdom blame The Boys for injuring TK, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense - but does at least add some context and depth to what would otherwise be a throwaway squash. Taven and Vinny were upset to lose the Trios Titles as a result of O'Ryan's injury...and interestingly The Boys are now preparing for a shot at those same belts (against the men that beat The Kingdom). Can the Tate Twins spring an unlikely upset?

Taven and Vinny attack The Boys from behind as they come out; mauling them on the stage then in the aisle. Even O'Ryan takes some cheap shots and vents some anger at the expense of the hapless twins. Dalton Castle is unimpressed and makes an entrance to distract The Kingdom. The bell rings - as The Boys sneak up behind Marseglia and almost pin him! STEREO TOPE ATOMICOS by the identical twins! Taven throws one of them from the top rope to the floor - then gives the other Boy Ultimo Guerrero's inverted superplex finisher (as a tease for Kingdom vs Team CMLL at Best In The World). Redrum by Vinny wins it at 01:32

Rating - N/A - It didn't last long and certainly wasn't boring. Having two thirds of a team challenging for the Six-Man Titles at one of ROH's biggest shows of the year totally massacred says everything about how credible the ROH Trios Titles are though. Taven using Ultimo Guerrero's move was a nice nod his time in Mexico and a tease of their forthcoming Best In The World bout too...

Marseglia lays out referee Mike Posey (P-Dog) to 'make a statement'...but The Kingdom flee as Jay Briscoe storms to the ring in a rage. Dalton and Mark Briscoe have to talk him down from trying to murder The Boys on broadcast television...

Yes, J-Diesel does still work here so it seems. He has gone the Tank Toland route and is apparently something a personal trainer and mentor to the team of Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara. That may seem unrelated to this match, but Burger and Will are two of the men who have suffered most frequently at the hands of the fearsome Martinez. With Jay White now supposedly gunning for the Punisher, he will be looking to stay primed and ready for his inevitable showdown with the New Zealander by despatching Joey with ease tonight.

Diesel comes out swinging punches (did you know he used to be a boxer? I don't think commentary has ever mentioned that before) but his attacks seem to have no effect on Martinez. Punisher caves in Joey's chest with a springboard corkscrew senton. South Of Heaven wins it at 01:52

Rating - N/A - Even in a job role I didn't think Daddiego was particularly good. He is far less offensive than back when he was derailing Donovan Dijak's entire career with his incompetence at least. The big positive for booking him here is that he does at least have some 'name value' - making Punisher's total decimation of him slightly more noteworthy. 

Will Ferrara and Cheeseburger come out to check on their trainer...which of course means we can watch Punisher f*ck them up again. Jay White runs in looking for a fight with Martinez too, and unlike the other three guys he poses a threat. He and Martinez brawl back and forth

Kevin Kelly replaces Ian Riccaboni on commentary - and announces that a Kushida vs Scurll TV Title rematch has been signed for Best In The World. Cody Rhodes joins commentary too...

A week out from Best In The World, Cody is sitting ringside to commentate as he prepares to face Daniels for the World Title on pay-per-view. He'll be a distraction that Daniels can ill-afford here as he shares the ring with top quality competition. Joining he and Kaz this evening is NJPW's Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. They face a CHAOS trio of the hard-hitting Goto, the calculating veteran Gedo and the Aerial Assassin Ospreay. Any of those men would love to pin Daniels and jump the queue for a title shot of their own....

Goto gets such a deafening reaction that it somewhat catches me off guard; I hadn't realised quite how over he was with US fans. The match cuts to commercials after less than 40 seconds which is annoying, and when we come back we see Ospreay blocking Daniels hitting an Arabian Press and Gedo booting the champ right in the face. CHAOS set out to make a statement and isolate Daniels from his partners. He fights back with a running snapmare driver into the buckles on Goto before tagging Tanahashi in. Tumbling senton squashes Goto...but he gets right back up to counter the Sling Blade with a lariat. Pip Pip Cheerio/Red Star Press combo by Ospreay gets 2...and he smoothly flows into a double handspring Pele kick to wipe out both members of The Addiction. Ushigoroshi from Goto to Daniels! Sling Blade from Tana to Ospreay! All six are down! Tanahashi gets up and goes to the floor with a pescado. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD SSP TO THE FLOOR BY OSPREAY! In the ring Daniels gives Gedo a Blue Thunder Driver. Gedo Clutch gets 2 after Ospreay and Goto comes to his rescoe! OSCUTTER...but Will accidentally blasts Goto with it! High Fly Flow/BME combo is enough to beat Gedo at a time of 08:17 (shown).

Rating - *** - It wasn't much more than an exhibition for the NJPW guys, with so little relevance placed on ROH's product that their own lead commentator got booted. In truth my favourite parts of this were Chris Daniels doing Chris Daniels things, Ospreay being silky smooth and crazily athletic, plus Cody Rhodes being a smarmy jerk on commentary. Everything else was bottom level NJPW house show content. Even Goto didn't look like he was up for taking many bumps or breaking a sweat out there. At least it was Daniels, not Tanahashi who got to actually win the match for his team.

Cody rants on commentary about how he has been selling out houses and will do a record buyrate for ROH with his title win at Best In The World. Daniels spits at him from in the ring...and is then jumped from behind by the 'problem solver' Adam Page. Of course, Kaz and Hangman start brawling, as Rhodes sneaks in to take cheap shots at the World Champion. Rite Of Passage from Page to Kaz! ANGEL'S WINGS BY CODY! 

Tape Rating - ** - This show felt a little bit like ROH had been so preoccupied with the War Of The Worlds Tour that they'd forgotten they needed to promote Best In The World. Most of the matches feel rather undercooked, and basically every segment was here to announce a new random match or desperately try to add some heat to those previously announced. I quite liked the opening tag; the main event was fun throwaway stuff featuring the stars of New Japan...but unlike last week nothing here was essential viewing. I'm not sure your go-home show for a PPV should be so inconsequential.

It feels like the process of Cole leaving ROH has been extremely drawn out. His intention to leave feels like it has been apparent for a long time, yet he has actually been around for quite a few shows since dropping the World Title to Daniels at the Anniversary pay-per-view. He has put over Matt Taven to conclude their issues coming out of The Kingdom break-up. He had a 'dream match' versus Tanahashi in New York (because Kenny Omega couldn't get a work visa) and he also had a blistering, but unsuccessful, TV Title challenge against Marty Scurll at Supercard Of Honor. Secondary cast members on Being The Elite, 'The Villain' was the man Omega recruited to replace Cole in Bullet Club; the hatchet man as 'The Elite' fired him in spectacular fashion in the Hammerstein Ballroom. Cole came for some payback a couple of weeks ago on television; costing Marty the TV Title in a match against Kushida. That seemed to be his ROH farewell, and to all but Ringside Members (and anyone willing to pay to order it as a standalone VOD) it was. The most dedicated of ROH fans now get to watch one final battle between them...

The atmosphere in the 2300 Arena is pretty intense, with vocal sections of fans cheering for both men. They start with a 'Just Kidding' duel before Adam takes it to the floor for a brawl. With a smirk on his face Cole stokes the crowd up for an Ole Kick...but fakes out to poke Scurll in the eyes. Marty grabs a chair and jams it into Cole's ribs, so Cole Superkicks him in the face! He thinks about the Last Shot through an open chair but it is blocked by The Villain - who starts targeting the arm. Chickenwing countered into the NXT Last Shot through a chair for 2! Finger Snap by Scurll! He tries to hit the One Winged Angel! Cole blocks! Styles Clash attempted...but Cole blocks that as well. BLOODY SUNDAY BY COLE gets 2! The Young Bucks run in on the Bullet Club tribute act, teeing Cole up for an Ace Crusher by Scurll. The Bucks put the boots to the fallen Cole, with Cabana doing a fantastic job on commentary pointing out that nobody is going to help Cole because he's been such a jerk. TRIPLE SUPERKICK! The Bucks set up a table in the aisle...COLE SUPERKICKS THEM THROUGH IT! Last Shot nailed for 2! Cody Rhodes is here! CROSS RHODES on Cole! STILL 2! The American Nightmare tries to throw powder into Cole's eyes...but Cole tosses it back at him! Chickenwing! Cole makes the ropes...and for some reason Marty breaks the hold even though he doesn't have to. He drills Cole with repeated Superkicks then HAMMERS him with the umbrella. Cole spits in his face and throws up a middle finger. REPEATED FINGER SNAPS! MMA ELBOWS! CHICKENWING! He chokes Cole out, forcing Todd Sinclair to stop it at 13:57

Rating - *** - Their match in Florida, which wasn't such an overbooked and overly theatrical sideshow, was clearly better. However, this did have some genuine entertainment value. The crowd were pretty into it, we had bodies flying everywhere and a really savage, violent finish from Marty. Of course I wish they could have gone longer too - but given that they'd each already wrestled at the taping I am possibly being greedy. For what was effectively a bonus/dark match I had fun with this. Adam Cole is a genuinely irreplaceable talent that ROH must come to terms with losing. Total package athletes - i.e. someone that can talk, work, looks great and has a genuine x-factor - come along so rarely. He leaves as arguably the biggest success story of the Sinclair-owned ROH era...

Scurll clears the ring pretty quickly, leaving Adam Cole to receive a standing ovation. He is given the opportunity to say goodbye to the ROH fans - something which has been sorely missing from Ring Of Honor since Sinclair took over.

5) Marty Scurll vs Adam Cole (*** - Episode 300 DARK)

4) Cody vs Frankie Kazarian (*** - Episode 297)

3) Marty Scurll vs Kushida (**** - Episode 299)

2) Rocky Romero/Trent Beretta/Chuck Taylor vs Young Bucks/Adam Page (**** - Episode 299)

1) Adam Page vs Adam Cole (**** - Episode 298)

7) Kenny Omega/Young Bucks vs The Addiction/Hiroshi Tanahashi (**** - Toronto)

6) Young Bucks vs Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI (**** - New York)

5) CHAOS vs Cody/Adam Page/Young Bucks (**** - Deaborn)

4) Adam Page vs Adam Cole (**** - ROH on SBG Episode 298)

3) Cody vs Will Ospreay (**** - Toronto)

2) Will Ospreay vs Jay White (****1/2 - New York)

1) Kushida vs Jay Lethal (****1/2 - Toronto)