McXal's Reviews

This is the weekend ROH returned to the UK for the War Of The Worlds UK Tour. Reaction to the iPPV in Liverpool will be minimal if any. Instead we have the return to action of Colt Cabana in our main event, teaming with the Tempura Boyz to challenge Dalton Castle and his Boys for the Six-Man Championship. Ian Riccaboni is joined by BJ Whitmer and Caprice Coleman in Concord, NC.

This is among the highest profile matches LSG and Shaheem Ali have had since coming together as a team. A win over the Best Friends, soon after Chuck Taylor made his LONG awaited ROH debut, would be a major coup for the young duo.

Taylor starts with St. Giovanni, working to a stalemate and showing his respect for LSG's skills. Trent has better luck against Ali. C2C hit a couple of double team combo sequences; joining forces to secure an advantage where they'd struggled individually. Sole Food/German combo by the Best Friends! Leon levels both of them with a tumbling lariat, and follows it on Beretta with a swinging gutbuster for 2. Best Friends come back with a crucifix Ace Crusher double team. Shaheem counters a tornado DDT into a swinging front slam. FAKE-OUT somersault plancha by Ali! ROPE WALK PHOENIX SPLASH TO THE FLOOR BY LSG! St-plosion/Frog Splash combo gets 2 for C2C, before Chuckie saves by smashing Ali against the guardrail. 450 Splash by St. Giovanni gets knees. Gobstopper Knee, into the Cradle Piledriver! Beretta pins Leon to win at 09:18 (shown).

Rating - ** - I don't think the flat crowd did them any favours here. Not everyone in the audience will have been familiar with Trent and Chuck's work as a team, and very few seemed to have much prior knowledge of Coast 2 Coast either. It meant the first half of the match (where they stayed in the lower gears without much deviation or excitement) was contested in front of a near-silent audience. It came alive in the second half of the match with the Best Friends breaking out some fun combo moves and C2C delivering a couple of entertaining dive spots. In the end this didn't feel like a breakout match for LSG and Ali...yet it also didn't feel like a convincing squash win for the Best Friends. It falls into an awkward grey area in the middle and was enormously forgettable as a consequence.

EARLIER TODAY - Jay Lethal tries to give a sit-down interview about his issues with Silas Young. Silas interrupts and they end up brawling all around backstage. Bruiser shows up to distract Lethal, allowing Young to ram a chair into Jay's injured ribs again. Lethal demands matches with Young and Bruiser immediately...

There is a lot of history between these two men. The Briscoes feuded extensively with Taven during the previous incarnation of The Kingdom and we renew hostilities now with each man searching for his purpose in ROH. Both would love to be World Champion. Both are former Six-Man and Tag Champions. A win here feels like it could be significant in driving the career forward for either man.

Whitmer and Riccaboni describe Jay Briscoe as angrier than they've ever seen him, which he demonstrates by sprinting straight at his opponent and booting him out of the ring. Vinny Marseglia is at ringside and starts threatening Briscoe with an axe...allowing Matt to jump him from behind. The respite is short-lived and soon Briscoe is on him again, choking him in the corner. To his credit, Taven absorbs a real beating from the former World Champion - and unloads right back with a running knee strike to the jaw. Sadly for him, once again Jay takes one of his best shots and simply shakes it off to deliver a DVD. Springboard enzi by Taven...but still Jay won't stay down. He blocks the Lionsault with knees and steamrolls into the Lariat for 2. Briscoe has won matches with that move recently. Day One Neckbreaker blocked, into a Blue Thunder Driver for 2. Briscoes is up again! Climax blocked with a dropkick, knocking Taven to the floor for a F*CKING INSANE TOPE SUICIDA! Jay nearly landed on his own damn head he put so much into that. Marseglia tries to interfere...only to eat the Day One Neckbreaker. TK O'Ryan on crutches berates Briscoe too...and behind Jay's back he removes the cast from his leg! O'Ryan's broken leg is apparently healed and he smacks Briscoe across the head with the cast. The ref calls for the bell, giving Jay a DQ victory at 08:19 (shown).

Rating - *** - Phenomenal character work by Jay Briscoe here. The way he delivered, presented and sold his 'crazy man' character was superb. He genuinely came off like a wild man, making the whole match immensely watchable as a result. Taven fought hard and absorbed some of Jay's best shots, but any time he was able to hit any offence of his own, Briscoe almost ignored it to come at him again. The finish was somewhat silly, but it is great to see TK getting closer to a return to the ring. It was a tad goofy, but I did enjoy his direct look (and wink) into the camera before removing his cast. It showed genuine personality - which is something he has lacked so far.

TRIPLE CON-CHAIR-TO ON JAY BRISCOE! The Kingdom just destroyed one of the most iconic figures in Ring Of Honor history...

Cody cuts a promo where he gets Todd Sinclair to pull names out of a hat; the names of people he has beaten in defence of the ROH World Title in other promotions...

We ended 2016 with Cabana and Castle feuding. Here we are in the second half of 2017 and even with Colt largely relegated to the announce table they still don't like each other. Last week he interviewed Sho and Yoh, and in doing so dropped several derogatory comments about Dalton and his Boys. The Six-Man Champs took offence, and were willing to put the belts on the line to do something about it. 

Cabana tapping an imaginary watch and yelling 'TV time remaining Dalton' during Castle's entrance really cracked me up. He makes a beeline for The Boys, so they drive him from the ring with some lucha double teams. Cabana shrugs it off and starts doing Castle-inspired poses with Sho and Yoh. Raw power amateur-style throw by Dalton! The Boys and The Tempuraz set up for an electric chair test of strength...until Colt sneaks in and shoves the Twins over. Fisherman Buster into a Fujiwara armbar on Boy #1. Boy #2 tries to pull a switch, only for Cabana to spot it and haul the injured Boy back in. Flying Asshole by Colt...who celebrates by posing like Dalton again and misses another switch by The Boys! Sho and Yoh spot it but can't communicate with Cabana well enough to tell him! Hot tag to Dalton - who tosses the Tempura Boyz around like nothing. Flying Asshole COUNTERED TO THE EVEREST GERMAN! Next he tosses his own Boys into somersault planchas over the top rope onto all three opponents. Heat Seeking Missile on Colt! 3K on Boy#1! They have it won, but Colt demands he gets to finish it. Castle comes to the rescue...and hits Bang-A-Rang. Dalton pins Colt at 10:36 (shown).

Rating - ** - A lot of this was genuinely funny, and I'm obviously ok with an increasingly rare in-ring appearance for Cabana. This didn't feel like a main event though, and nor did it feel like a prestigious championship match. I wasn't averse to the creation of ROH Trios Titles last year, but I don't think we needed them if they were destined to be a joke or a prop. Dalton & The Boys retain tonight, but we know that the Young Bucks have announced their intention to pursue their belts - so big challenges lie ahead for them.

Dalton gets on the microphone and admits that Cabana was someone he looked up to when getting into the business...then demands Colt's respect having now beaten him three times. Cabana obliges and they shake hands to formally end their feud.

NEXT WEEK -  Young Bucks defend the Tag Titles against Motor City Machine Guns.

Tape Rating - ** - Had I been laying out this episode I would have had Taven/Briscoe main event. It was clearly the best match on the show which helps, but they are two of ROH's bigger names on the singles roster and it ended with the 'shock reveal' of TK O'Ryan seemingly being back to full fitness and joining his Kingdom stable-mates to potentially take Jay out of Ring Of Honor. That match and the Lethal/Silas segment were both good television. Everything else wasn't bad, but it was quite forgettable.