McXal's Reviews

Looking at the other two matches lined up for this episode, I'm pretty confident that most people are here for the main event. There we'll see Kushida defend his ROH Television Championship against Jay White in a clash of touring NJPW stars. We are promised that we'll get an answer from Chris Daniels as to whether he accepts Cody's challenge of a 2/3 Falls World Title Match as well. Ian Riccaboni is joined by Rico De La Vega, making his TV debut on commentary. Since I don't watch the Future Of Honor shows/uploads it is my first exposure to him. We are in Lowell, MA once again.

The Young Bucks and Adam Page open the show, announcing that they are setting their sights on the ROH Six-Man Tag Championship. Nick decides that, since they are basically in the office anyway, we can consider it booked. They stick around to introduce Marty Scurll for his match...

What an oddball assortment of characters this is. From veterans like Kazarian and Terrible, arguable main event talent like Marty Scurll, hungry lower card guys like Marseglia and Ferrara, right down to the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament winner. There is a wide diversity of styles, personalities and agendas on display here. Kazarian and Scurll in the ring together will be something to look out for, given the history between The Addiction and Bullet Club. Terrible was part of the CMLL team which overcame The Kingdom (including Vinny) at Best In The World.

Kazarian tries to engineer starting the match off with The Villain but Marty refuses to play ball. He doesn't mind hopping in and taking a cheap shot at Kaz when his back is turned though. Frankie chases him up the aisle and onto the stage, allowing The Goods to tag and get grappling with Ferrara. Terrible and Marseglia enter the ring next, revisiting their odd chemistry from Best In The World. El T quite literally SLAPS him out of the ring. Five minutes in and Marty's only contribution has been sneaking into the ring to cheap shot people or break up pinfalls. Josh comes in again and grabs both Ferrara and Marseglia for a DOUBLE German suplex. Kaz in turn hits Woods with a slingshot rana on the floor. But Woods NO SELLS and dishes out an exploder! Running knee smash on Ferrara! Woods is on a role, but from nowhere he is attacked by Shane Taylor! With The Rebellion disbanded, Taylor is now his own man and has targeted 'The Goods' for unknown reasons. In the ring Vinny hits Redrum on Ferrara. Still Scurll has dodged all comers in this one. Lungblower from Kaz to Terrible, setting up the Tomikaze. Slingshot Cutter on Marseglia...only for Marty to shove him to the floor and steal the pin. Without doing a damn thing, Scurll pins Vinny to win at 08:32 (shown).

Rating - ** - It isn't a match I'd want to revisit or rewatch, but it certainly had some interesting moments. At the forefront was a hugely Pure Title-era, Nigel McGuinness-esque performance from Marty. He was extremely entertaining and supremely over without having to lift a finger. Marseglia and El Terrible aren't guys you'd want to watch in a singles match, but they are fun together in multi-man matches - and their exchanges in this one were even better than the Team CMLL vs Kingdom tag bout at the pay-per-view. I thought Josh Woods was given a strong showing as well, almost squashing Will Ferrara then presented as an equal to Kazarian...before Shane Taylor appeared. That will, I'm sure, be explained in the coming weeks. The real downside of this match, for me anyway, was Ferrara's performance. He was trying FAR too hard to get his new heel gimmick over. He got great heat coming out, and really didn't need to present himself as an annoying, big-mouthed idiot. Less should have been more for him.

Christopher Daniels gets some interview time to respond to Cody's challenge. He accepts, eschews 'temperamental outbursts' and starts plotting to get the World Title back in two weeks time...

Bruiser has his own entrance music now, which is nice. He is still flanked by Silas Young, brandishing his sign stating how many days it has been since Jay Lethal was last seen (which must look really weird to fans attending this taping just 24 hours after he was last seen at Best In The World), and he is preparing to take on someone even bigger and even burlier than he is. Milonas made it to the semi-finals of the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament and was noteworthy for his size and aggression. Being brutally honest, I had no interest in seeing him again. But, in the interests of fairness, I felt that way about Bruiser too - and for the most part I find him a tolerable member of the roster now. This could be really ugly though.

Bruiser tries to mark his turf as the 'big boy' of ROH...so Milonas picks him up and throws him with a fallaway slam. Silas Young distracts Brian, who turns his back on Beer City and gets mowed down with the rolling senton off the apron. Back in the ring BCB hits the hip attack/cannonball combo for 2. Bruiser climbs for the Keg Splash, but takes way too long allowing Milonas to scramble up the ropes to intercept him. MASSIVE superplex nailed, getting 2 for the 'King Pin'. Now it's Brian's time to climb - missing a disgraceful-looking second rope leg drop. Keg Splash wins it for Bruiser at 04:59

Rating - * - Five minutes was far too long for this. It wasn't the total trainwreck it could have been, but it really isn't the kind of match I'd put on Ring Of Honor television at any time. Giving Milonas credit, he looked more physically capable here than he did during the Top Prospect Tournament - and also came dressed in better (fitting) gear. Nothing about this made me think that I'd need to see these two as a tag team, which of course we'd go on to get.

Silas gets on the microphone proclaiming that we'll 'never' see Lethal on television again...

The Ring Of Honor Television Title is on the line tonight. It will put a man from New Zealand against a man from Japan, both representing NJPW, but fighting in an ROH ring in Massachusetts. Kushida supposedly told Kevin Kelly over and over again that he wanted to be a champion in ROH - and achieved that dream in Philadelphia when he defeated Marty Scurll to become TV Champ. He retained it against The Villain in a stunning battle at Best In The World - and faces no let-up in the quality of opponent as he now faces Search & Destroy's Jay White. The Kiwi only has only suffered a handful of defeats through his entire ROH excursion and is a legitimate threat to the belt here tonight...

Kushida starts grabbing at White's arms right away, but that only serves to bring him into Jay's clutches. The New Zealander is all too happy to go to ground with the champion - even though it appears that Kushida's speed is too much for him on the mat too. The champ stomps White's arm into the canvas, stinging the challenger into action - landing a big dropkick to prevent further damage to the arm. White starts blasting at Kushida's head and neck in an effort to set up the Kiwi Crusher or Crossface. Kushida hits back with the handspring heel kick, but the lack of precision in execution is noticeable. TOPE ATOMICO TO THE FLOOR! He wiped Jay out - but landed right on his bad neck too! White is actually first to recover - piling into the neck again with rolling suplexes. TURNBUCKLE SUPLEX nailed for 2! Kushida goes for broke and latches onto the Hoverboard Lock. Jay escapes, although not before sustaining significant damage to his arm. Tanaka Punch COUNTERED to a flatliner. DEADLIFT GERMAN! NO SOLD! Hoverboard Lock attempted again, only for White to make the ropes. Back from commercials with White driving repeated elbows into the neck before applying the Cobra Stretch. DR DRIVER by White when Kushida refuses to tap. Kiwi Crusher blocked (or did the arm give way?) into a Pele Kick from the champ. Running punt to the arm! He tries to tilta-whirl into the Hoverboard Lock...COUNTERED TO THE KIWI CRUSHER FOR 2! The bad arm meant his pin wasn't snug enough to get it done. The two weary competitors trade elbow smashes...before Kushida delivers the Tanaka Punch and they both collapse in a heap. Kushida climbs the ropes with White, setting up the FLYING HOVERBOARD LOCK! White reaches for the ropes, so Kushida busts out BACK TO THE FUTURE! He retains at 12:38 (shown)

Rating - **** - A really strong TV main event from two high class performers. The crowd in Lowell for this taping isn't the biggest, and isn't particularly vocal when nobody from Bullet Club is out there - so at times the audience did feel disengaged. That isn't a comment on the quality of the work though. Both men fought with fire, both had a logical approach to the bout trying to set up their finishing moves. In truth both could have sold their injuries better - but in a twelve minute TV sprint there isn't a whole lot of time for nuances like that. I had high expectations for this, and I felt like they met them.

Kenny King struts down the aisle and sarcastically applauds Kushida, reminding him that he is the #1 contender and is coming for the belt.

NEXT WEEK - Women Of Honor Special, headlined by Kelly Klein vs Deonna Purrazzo vs Karen Q

Tape Rating - *** - ROH TV episodes are essentially 45-minutes long. When you consider at least twenty of those were occupied with the main event - which was really good - I don't think a 3* rating for the episode is unjustified. The Six Man Mayhem to open the show was unique if not the highest quality. The Hung Bucks, Silas Young and Chris Daniels all popped in to advance their storylines too. If you have Honor Club, Kushida/White is definitely worth digging out and watching. A word on the debut of Rico De La Vega as well. He's kind of annoying and needs to ditch permanently calling Ian 'Rigatoni' IMMEDIATELY. But he very quickly established himself as a heelish colour man. There are merits to having Ian play-off an outright heel (rather than someone like Colt Cabana), and I presume the fact that he broadens ROH's appeal to a Hispanic market may help too. He wasn't intolerably terrible...like Kevin Kelly was for five (or more) years.