McXal's Reviews

This episode is packed full of pre-announced content; so much so that it feels like they will struggle to fit it all in. Cheeseburger and Shane Taylor will act out David vs Goliath with a spot in the Final Battle TV Title four-corner match up for grabs. Hangman Page has been sent by Cody to injure Dalton Castle in the main event so he can't challenge for the World Title at Final Battle. We also have Jay White's last TV match of his excursion with Matt Taven and an update from Bully Ray on his health condition. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are, once again, in Philadelphia, PA at the 2300 Arena.

This is effectively White's farewell to ROH on full-time excursion. His final appearance was at the Soaring Eagle Cup show which, despite my protestations to ROH via email and social media, thus far remains unreleased. He faces Matt Taven; a man hugely motivated by what he and his friends believe is a 'conspiracy' against them (even if the facts in no way back that up). 

Taven punches White square in the jaw to get the match started. Jay fires back with some heavy duty strikes of his own then tests out Taven's bad knee with an early MutaLock. Matt escapes and demonstrates the power left in his knee by crotching White and blasting him with a jumping enzi. Elbow suicida by White blasts him into the guardrails seconds later though. During commercials the Kiwi knocks him into the crowd with a running uppercut too. When we come back from the break the two men are still drilling each other with powerful shots. Jay mocks The Kingdom by taking their leader to the floor and belting him with more uppercuts right in front of O'Ryan and Marseglia. After tossing Taven's goons aside he scoops him up for an APRON BRAINBUSTER! Vinny and TK throw him back into the ring, presumably to help him avoid a count-out...but it annoys Taven since he wanted some respite. They wind up feeding him into a Saito suplex by Jay. Lionsault misses for Taven, allowing White to unload the rolling judo-throw suplexes. Dead-lift German gets 2 as the New Japan star presses home his advantage. O'Ryan distracts him as he sets up the Kiwi Crusher...as Vinny feeds Taven a baseball bat. He fails to use it successfully, then dives into White's knees on his attempt at the Five Star Frog Splash. Urinage suplex by Jay to counter the Climax. Marseglia pops up on the apron brandishing his axe...which obviously distracts the ref. TK crotches Jay on the ropes, and Matt grabs the win with a TOP ROPE Climax. Taven wins at 07:45 (shown).

Rating - ** - The majority of the match was good. The finish was horrible. Perhaps it's just my perception, I don't have any stats to back it up, but it feels like Delirious has vastly dialled up the number of silly, overbooked run-in finishes he's used this year. White is about to go back to Japan. If Sho and Yoh can rebound from being the Tempura Boyz in ROH, dropping their final match clean to The Dawgs, to winning the Jr Tag Titles as Roppongi 3K then there is absolutely no reason why someone as talented as White couldn't have put Taven over clean. 

Marseglia tries to cut Jay's arm off with his axe, leading to a hugely belated save from the rest of Search & Destroy. 

EARLIER TODAY - Shaheem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni argue about their latest loss. Flip Gordon interrupts and recruits them to his 'army' to face the bullies in Bullet Club in the main event next week. The trio then head off to find their 'West Coast homie' to complete their squad...

After his slightly tense Pulpit with Taylor last week, Caprice Coleman is on commentary to watch his former Rebellion stable-mate in action. The winner of this advances to the four-way Final Battle TV Title Match. Last week we saw Punishment Martinez become the first man to qualify.

Burger is hugely over and roared on by the fans. This is such a mismatch that even the ruthless Taylor looks uncomfortable with hitting his opponent. Cheese capitalises with some early strikes...and starts to really piss Taylor off. Shotei nailed, dropping Shane to one knee. CHOKESLAM OF TOTAL DEATH by Taylor! He almost broke Burger in half! Knockout Punch rattles Burgers jaw, giving Taylor an emphatic victory at 02:25

Rating - N/A - This was exactly the match I wanted to see. Cheeseburger's popularity was harnessed effectively to create a really hot atmosphere, before Taylor got to look like a total killer in mowing him down. I've no issue with Burger in matches like this. He took a huge bump to put his opponent over, his facials and emotive body language were superb, none of his offence made Taylor look totally idiotic - and ultimately he stared at the lights to put the right man over. 

The Dawgs come out to gloat at Burger's defeat and try to pay Taylor in pennies to put Cheeseburger out of ROH. Since it's barely more than a dollar Shane tosses their cash aside - and prevents Will and Rhett from attacking Burger for themselves as well.

NEXT WEEK - Silas Young and Jonathan Gresham meet in the final TV Title qualification match for Final Battle 2017.

EARLIER TODAY - Flip and Coast 2 Coast find Scorpio Sky in the locker room. Bullet Club have made him look stupid on ROH television too - so he agrees to join them.

Cody joins commentary for this one. With Castle in hot pursuit of his World Title he has called on the 'problem solver of Bullet Club' to take him out before he makes it to a title shot. Hangman enters with a mission to put Dalton back on the injured list...whilst Dalton wants to win and send a message to the American Nightmare.

Holy sh*t the pop for Page is enormous. The gulf between how over the BTE cast are to everyone else is unbelievable now. Dalton comes out without Boys and goes right after Page with the Heat Seeking Missile. Hangman has no choice but to run away from the opponent he has been enlisted to injure! It successfully lures Castle out of the ring again...and allows Page to bash his skull into the guardrail. TOP ROPE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Hangman starts to dominate, staying out of the grappling clutches of his opponent and controlling with plenty of strikes. But he gets cocky - and finds himself back dropped onto the apron. Gesturing towards Cody, Dalton starts mauling Page with suplex after suplex like a peacock-feathered Brock Lesnar. As Adam tries to scramble off the ground Castle jumps on top and drives repeated elbows into the neck. During commercials we see Page turning the tide and going after Castle's bad back with an APRON POWERBOMB! Back in the ring he lands a Superkick, which Castle no sells into a BACK DROP DRIVER! BANG-A-RANG! But Cody hauls Todd Sinclair out of the ring, breaking the count before three! SHOOTING STAR OFF THE APRON by Page! Buckshot Lariat blocked...Bang-A-Rang blocked...Rite Of Passage blocked! Cody grabs Castle...only for Page to accidentally sock the champ in the mouth! EVEREST GERMAN! Castle cranks on the neck again with a modified version of the London Dungeon, drawing a huge submission victory. Dalton is on the road to Final Battle, victorious at 08:51 (shown).

Rating - *** - I really enjoyed this. It felt like one of those annoying matches where the need to cut it up and abbreviate it for multiple commercial breaks really hurt it - but what we did see was excellent. Page is having a really great year (you've probably not noticed because he isn't booked very well and is eclipsed by the rest of The Elite) and really shone when he was being a stone cold hitman going after Dalton's bad back. Serious Castle, when he ditches the pageantry and goes to work, is absolutely fantastic as well. I used the term 'peacock-feathered Brock Lesnar' during play-by-play and that description feels totally apt. He sent a message to the World Champion with countless suplexes and a ruthless assault on Page's neck. I'm sad we didn't get the full version of this - and I'd love to see a rematch somewhere soon.

Cody appears on the apron...creating a diversion which allows Hangman to wipe out Dalton from behind. The Champion holsters up his 'Ring' of Honor finger and punches Castle's lights out! With the Peacock unconscious Cody forces him to kiss the ring...

Instead of that great Dalton/Hangman match as our main event, apparently we needed a Bully Ray promo to end the show. It is fitting that this 'I have to retire' tour comes through the former-ECW Arena though - and in this building his nostalgic ramblings do feel relevant and poignant rather than overwhelmingly played-out. He even busts out some Dudley glasses which gets him a pop on a level with The Elite. Joe Koff is here and puts him over too...which thankfully Jay Briscoe comes out and shuts down. Briscoe doesn't even need a microphone - and calls Bubba a p*ssy for retiring without so much as a fight in the ECW Arena. He spits in his face, then almost KO's Joe Koff too until Bobby Cruise and BJ Whitmer sprint to the ring to pull Koff away. Finally he sucker-punches Bully from behind. TOMMY DREAMER is here! Velvet Sky is also out trying to pull the unconscious Bubba out of the ring. Tommy and Mark Briscoe try to stop Jay hitting him with a chair. MARK KICKS TOMMY IN THE DICK! The Briscoes chuck Velvet Sky out of the ring! 3-D ON BULLY! 

Tape Rating - *** - The finish to Taven/White really annoyed me, but everything else on this episode was enjoyable. Taylor/Cheeseburger was precisely the match it should have been. We got some fun mini-skits backstage showing Flip recruit his team for next week. Hangman/Dalton had a very decent little match whilst delivering strong build for Castle/Cody at Final Battle...and the show-ending segment involving the Briscoes, Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer was exceptional. The bar has been lowered with a number of underwhelming shows recently - but this was the most I've enjoyed ROH TV in weeks...