McXal's Reviews

Our last episode from the post-Death Before Dishonor TV taping has arrived, bringing with it a huge main event. The Addiction turn their bitterness towards Ring Of Honor onto the 'franchise' player; it's Jay Lethal and Kushida facing Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are at the announce desk in Las Vegas, NV - and they are joined by ROH Champion Cody too.

This could be interesting. It pits arguably the least-appreciated members of The Kingdom and Search & Destroy against each other. TK is competing in, what I believe, is only his second ROH singles match, albeit in a debut year truncated by a serious injury. Gresh is dangerous, technically unparalleled by the majority of the ROH roster and just waiting for an opportunity to really break out. Taven and Marseglia accompany TK to the ring holding up 'conspiracy' placards...

O'Ryan is remarkably cocky for someone who has barely worked three minutes of singles action in an entire year of ROH competition. He takes a cheap-shot and elbows Gresham in the jaw after a couple of minutes of being made to look stupid on the canvas by The Octopus. He spits in Gresham's face then hides behind Paul Turner to momentarily avoid the repercussions. The tricks and shenanigans of Gresh do finally put him on top...until Marseglia hops on the apron and threatens him with an axe! Understandably that is quite distracting and O'Ryan quickly counters with another unseen cheap strike. TK stalks Gresham and peppers him with shot after shot. The constant disrespect causes Jon to snap and administer such a wicked beating in the corner that the referee actually has to check TK isn't knocked out. O'Ryan recovers well and shoves his opponent to the floor. The Motor City Machine Guns run out to stop Taven and Vinny attacking Gresh on the floor. The ref ejects Sabin, Shelley, Taven and Marseglia from ringside...as Gresham puts TK in an anklelock. The Octopus comes at O'Ryan with flash pin after flash pin but can't put him away. In the end Taven and Vinny come back into the ring and start stomping on Gresham - causing an obvious DQ at 07:45 (shown)

Rating - * - Every now and again a decent wrestling match threatened to break out here. Unfortunately, for the most part, it was clouded in utter bullsh*t. O'Ryan came off like a completely clueless chump - only capable of posing any kind of threat to Gresham (a man a fraction of his height) if his two buddies on the floor (one of whom had an axe) helped out. Then we got multiple referee appearances, the Machine Guns showed up too, leading to a goofball non-finish. And we'll inevitably continue to hear about Kingdom 'conspiracies' in the weeks to come even though they very clearly were, in no way, the victims of a conspiracy here. I like Gresham a lot, but he was lost in a circus of utter sh*t here...

The least effective 'referee ejects someone' sequence ever comes to an end as Sabin and Shelley come back out too, clearing the ring to stop a further assault on their stable-mate.

Cody stands up from the commentary desk and decides he wants to 'right some wrongs' in ROH since he is now a 'company man'. He decides he wants to defend the ROH World Title - and calls out Scorpio Sky, since The Addiction ruined his ROH TV debut.

The most infuriating thing about the American Nightmare's reign so far is that he is both genuinely entertaining and, with the right opponent and booking, a fun worker too. The way he called out Sky, describing him as a 'youngster, fresh out of wrestling school' - then had to ask Bobby Cruise for his name - was hilariously belittling. Unlike Cheeseburger, this impromptu title defence feels like Cody biting off a great deal more than he can chew if he doesn't take his opponent seriously...

Sky willingly kisses the ring to start the match - taking Cody so much by surprise that he is almost able to nab him with an immediate flash pin for three! SUPER RANA nailed right after, sending Cody to the floor...and Scorp immediately follows with his flipping plancha up the aisle! Rhodes stomps back at the challenger, yet he still can't resist joking around and pisses Sky off so much that the returning Californian blasts him with a double stomp to the back. LeBell Lock ('YES...that IS a LeBell Lock' - Cabana), applied...then Cody wastes more time calling out Bryan Danielson. Fans start chanting 'Dalton Castle' at him in a truly surprising moment. Cody quickly gets them back on-side - for no apparent reason - by trashing his WWE Stardust character. He then rakes Sky's eyes and locks in the American Nightmare to tap Scorpio out at 04:37

Rating - * - As with the opening match, there were glimpses of actual wrestling here which I liked. I wasn't expecting a 5* classic - but when they concentrated on an actual wrestling story of Cody being a cocky prick, then allowing Sky to get over by hitting him with a spectacular offensive move this really clicked. But not for the first time, the totally bewildering presentation of Cody overshadowed the match for me. Given what the plan for Final Battle is, surely the champ would WANT fans getting behind Dalton Castle. Surely the idea would be for Dalton to actually get more over and elevate himself; getting the rub from a popular member of Bullet Club. Why, then, would he shut down a bunch of fans actually buying into that premise by going for the obvious pop of sh*tting on his WWE Stardust gimmick? And why on earth does he have Bryan Danielson moves and taunts in his arsenal? What is the actual goal for that? Every time I watch him at the moment I find myself partially entertained, partially perplexed. When they've got it right (the 2/3 Falls Match with Daniels) it has worked. This championship reign feels reminiscent of Austin Aries 2009/10 run as champ. The key difference being that back then ROH fans KNEW Aries could work and thought he was a dick for not bothering. Here we have very little evidence of elite-level work from Cody...but twice as much slacking? 

COLEMAN'S PULPIT - Another of Caprice's old Rebellion stable-mates, Kenny King is the guest this week. Kenny is proud of being the first American champion for a while and reiterates his promise to be a fighting champion. Caprice's mischievous questions about why Kenny didn't try as hard to win the Six-Man Titles in The Rebellion, or ROH only liking King because he was a reality star and his inability to keep women steal the segment.

Daniels and Kazarian snapped after CD lost the World Title at Best In The World. They've embarked on a campaign of ruining everything the ROH fans love. It has led to them trashing title matches, causing havoc in the 2017 Honor Rumble...and now turning their focus on beloved international star Kushida and the 'franchise' of ROH, Jay Lethal. The aforementioned havoc in the Honor Rumble wound up costing Lethal a shot at the World Title - which is why he stuck his nose into their business a couple of weeks ago on TV. The team of Lethal and Kushida is an intriguing one, given that Lethal has been the opponent in some of Kushida's finest ROH bouts. I looked at the clock during the entrances and was happy to see that this main event was being given decent time. So obviously we eat into it with a pre-match promo from The Addiction just to get cheap heat. Between that and a prostate pill commercial, more than six minutes drips by and now we have barely ten minutes for the main event. 

The bell rings, and The Addiction stall some more - each refusing to wrestle Kushida then leaving the ring and demanding to be counted out. For f*cks sake we already have Cody doing this exact gimmick. TOPE ATOMICO by Kushida forces them into the action, as does a tope suicida from Lethal. The tenacity of Lethal and Kushida sees them overwhelm The Addiction (who are trying to duck out), and they start working Daniels over. Kushida doing a Curry Man dance and gesturing at Daniels is a nice touch! Of course, The Addiction are a seasoned and regular team and that experience quickly comes into play. They team up to work Jay over...until Lethal gives Kaz a back body drop on the floor. Kushida flies in and almost taps Daniels out with the Hoverboard Lock instantly. Kaz trips Kushida from the outside to quell his momentum, allowing Daniels to hit a quebrada for 2. The Addiction target Kushida's back and neck, although a commercial break feels like it skips most of the work there. Tanaka Punch floors Kazarian, allowing him to tag out to Lethal. The Franchise propels himself straight off the top rope into Hail To The King on Daniels. Lethal Injection countered into the hiptoss powerbomb by the former Tag Champs. Cross armbreaker from Kushida to Frankie, who counters such is the fatigue felt by Kushida. Rolling Thunder DDT nailed, but Kushida can't hit Back To The Future and Frankie scuttles away...eventually countering the Tajiri Elbow into a semi-botched ocean cyclone suplex. Lethal Injection on him! Angel's Wings on Jay! Hoverboard Lock on Daniels! The Ring General taps, giving Kushida the victory at 11:16 (shown).

Rating - ** - As a match this felt like a waste of the talent involved, all whom are capable of far better - but all of whom are also smart enough to know that they were able to coast along here. Giving Kushida the win also felt like an unnecessary courtesy nod to New Japan on the same weekend NJPW allowed him to put over Kenny King and drop the TV Title to him. Kushida winning adds nothing to the ROH product and actually damages the credibility of the three ROH talents involved. 

NEXT WEEK - Kenny King defends the TV Title against Mark Briscoe

Tape Rating - * - An all round forgettable episode to end what has been a largely mediocre taping. In this episode, much as with everything else about ROH right now...New Japan and Bullet Club are heavily featured and promoted, whilst everything else is a wholly confusing mess. TK/Gresham started the show on a sour note. Two hungry young guys trying to better themselves used to be an ROH staple. Now it dissolves into totally overbooked, cliche'd, dated nonsense. Cody's wisecracking, shenanigan-heavy title reign continues to be heavy on chicanery and painfully light on actual wrestling. And the main event saw four guys coasting along, before the NJPW guy won to the detriment of everyone else. Don't worry though folks - after this taping ROH went to the Global Wars Tour, where more NJPW names (oh, and Kenny Omega) arrive to sell tickets and shift merch so the writing and creative direction doesn't have to.

5) Kenny King vs Josh Woods (** - Episode 316)

4) Jay Lethal/Kushida vs The Addiction (** - Episode 319)

3) Mark Briscoe vs Chuck Taylor vs Punishment Martinez vs Shane Taylor (*** - Episode 318)

2) Marty Scurll vs Jay White (*** - Episode 318)

1) Young Bucks/Adam Page vs Minoru Suzuki/Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser (**** - Episode 316)