McXal's Reviews

We are three weeks out from Final Battle and tensions are starting to reach boiling point. This week we'll see Silas Young and Jonathan Gresham fight to join Punishment Martinez, Shane Taylor and whomever the champion may be in a Final Battle TV Title four corner survival. The main event features Flip Gordon and his 'army' - Coast 2 Coast and Scorpio Sky - take the fight to the men who have bullied him for weeks on 'Being The Elite' and in ROH; the Bullet Club of the Young Bucks, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Philadelphia, PA.

Cody, the Bucks, Hangman and Marty open the show, joking around and shoehorning in all the catchphrases fans love from 'Being The Elite'. 

They haven't had much to do with Bullet Club, so you could be forgiven for not noticing the contributions these guys have made to ROH in 2017, but in their own way they've had really strong years. Gresham is now a regular on the roster and, even though he is light on wins, has earned universal acclaim for the quality of his technical wrestling - to the extent that a potential TV Title shot doesn't feel unwarranted. The Silas/Lethal feud is quite probably my feud of the year from this promotion. Silas came out victorious there - but the pressure is already on him to follow that up with something major. A championship match at the biggest show of the year would certainly fit the bill. Current champion Kenny King is on commentary...

Gresh has new music and a new Cary-tron video with his name correctly spelled. Silas starts mocking him for his height but soon finds himself having his arm picked apart by the Octopus. He has to leave the ring and relies on a distraction from Beer City Bruiser to give him the upper hand...and even then Gresh quickly repels the attack and drives him from the ring again. He makes Young look foolish by tangling his arms up...and grabs a leg instead when Silas battles to escape. It finally takes Bruiser dumping Jon face-first into the apron - behind referee Paul Turner's back - for Young to enjoy a prolonged period of offence. King on commentary hoping Gresham wins so he can get payback for ending The Rebellion is a nice touch. The Octopus dives off the top into a crossbody block for 2. He goes after the arm - but is swatted away with the Killer Combo. Plunge blocked into the Octopus Stretch! Beer City Bruiser smashes Gresham in the back of the head to break it. Even then Gresh hits a flying headscissors, then an Asai moonsault...followed by a tope suicida to take out BCB! Young has recovered though and hits Misery to win at 08:45 (shown).

Rating - * - When it was an actual wrestling match between Gresham and Young it was very good. The problem was that was only very infrequent and came between countless instances of Bruiser interfering. I understand the logic of wanting to protect Gresham. I could even have tolerated some low-level interference from BCB accordingly. But there was SO MUCH Bruiser involvement that it came incredibly damaging to Silas and totally disruptive to the quality of the wrestling. This isn't the first time recently that Gresham has had the fun sucked completely out of his matches because Delirious can't book heel wrestlers as anything other than douchebag cheaters...

NEXT WEEK - The Kingdom get a shot at the Tag Titles held by the Motor City Machine Guns. 

Up next we are supposed to see War Machine wrestle, but they are attacked from behind during their entrance by The Addiction. A brawl breaks out, during which Rowe throws Kazarian into the crowd - busting the nose of a female 'fan' in the front row. Officials rush to ringside...as Daniels barks at the commentators that War Machine 'just got ROH in a whole heap of trouble'

COLEMAN'S PULPIT - Kenny King is back on the Pulpit, supposedly to talk about his opponents in his TV Title defence at Final Battle. But Caprice goads him, implying that he is a prostitute for allowing ROH to shamelessly promote him and make a quick buck on the back of his raised profile resulting from his Bachelorette appearance. King is understandably furious and agrees to put the TV Title on the line at the upcoming Florida TV Taping in order to get his hands on Coleman...

The final quarter of 2017 has been one of real progress for Flip - particularly the 2017 Global Wars Tour. He produced a courageous performance alongside the Best Friends against Kenny Omega and the Bucks in Columbus, then delivered an MOTYC against Will Ospreay in Chicago. Determined to build on that momentum, he has now recruited an 'army' of hungry guys to fight alongside him as he tries to stand up to the sustained campaign of hazing and bullying he has endured at the hands of the 'Being The Elite' cast. The Elite will, as usual, be looking to 'welcome' Flip to ROH the hard-way but are smart enough to know how motivated Flip's Army will be. For Sky and Coast 2 Coast, the opportunity to main event ROH television against the hottest act in independent wrestling is massive. Jay Lethal joins commentary, scouting 'The Villain' ahead of their showdown at Final Battle. 

Cody comes out before the start and calls the Flip Army's chances of winning as much of a 'dream' as Dalton Castle's chances at Final Battle. Scurll starts with LSG and smartly tries to engage the high-flier in a mat-based exchange. It breaks when Todd Sinclair ejects Cody from ringside for refusing to get off the apron. Matt tags and demands a handshake from Flip...who refuses to be bullied and sends Scorpio into battle instead. He gets the better of Matt in a fast-paced sequence and sends him back to his corner. Gordon and Nick next...with Nick almost caving in Flip's chest with a dropkick as he messes around doing headstands. Rope-run lucha armdrag nailed, but then Nick misses a moonsault off the apron. MOONSAULT DUEL! Flip starts matrix-ducking Superkicks! That was awesome, but Matt capitalises and forces a handshake on Flip. FINGER SNAP/SUPERKICK COMBO nailed as Matt welcomes Flip to ROH. Everyone piles into the ring, with C2C unloading double-teams on the Bucks. Drop-sault by Hangman to save the Jacksons! TOP ROPE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR wipes out Ali and LSG! Rise Of The Terminator suicidas score next. Marty tries to get in on the dives...but runs into a SUPERKICK by Flip! DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD CROSSBODY TO THE FLOOR! Gordon starts flipping out of back suplex attempts, setting up Sky for a four-man crossbody into the ring! FOUR-MAN SUPERKICK wipes out Scorpio! Samoan Pop from Flip to Matt gets 2. But he misses a 450 Splash and eats a Superkick. Saints-plosion by LSG! CHICKENWING BY SCURLL! Scorp breaks it with a top rope elbow drop. TRIPLE SUPERKICKS on Coast 2 Coast! Nick and Shaheem battle on the apron, before LSG accidentally decks his own partner. GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE F*CKING APRON by Nick! DOUBLE STOMP TO THE FLOOR by Page. ACE CRUSHER ON THE APRON BY SKY! SPRINGBOARD DDT ON THE APRON BY MATT! Flip tries a tope-suicida...right into a MID-AIR FOUR-MAN SUPERKICK! More Bang For Your Buck misses, as Gordon knocks Nick to the floor with the Kinder Surprise. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE FLOOR! STEREO VAN TERMINATORS BY C2C! 450 SPLASH BY FLIP! Page and Marty break the pin right at the very last. Pele by Gordon blocks the Chickenwing. Flip tries to moonsault again, but sails right into another Superkick. Scorpio Sky is the last man standing...but starts ducking, weaving and watching as the Bullet Club start knocking each other around. Marty restores order and loads Hangman up with both Flip and Scorpio. INDYTAKER MELTZER DRIVER RITE OF PASSAGE COMBO! Page pins Sky to win at 18:04 (shown).

Rating - **** - Completely crazy from the outset. I had some problems, but the defining feature of this match was Flip Gordon busting his ass and trying to fight back against his bullies. It was the story they used in Columbus and they continued it here. Gordon and his endless repertoire of flips, was arguably the highlight of the match. I wanted to see more Hangman, I wanted to see more Scurll - and to be blunt I wanted to see a little more from Coast 2 Coast (who, even in a main event setting did little more than hit the same spots they usually bust out)...but as a near-twenty minute display of total chaos it was great. 

Tape Rating - *** - At last ROH lays out an episode to give the main event enough time to deliver something special. Obviously it helps that it was the Young Bucks in it, but I want to see more longer main events on ROH television. Ten minute filler matches with dodgy run-in finishes will not help this product stand out from their competitors. The type of insanity we saw in this main event absolutely will. It takes up circa half the episode and is great - therefore making this a pretty easy episode to recommend. It doesn't detract from what has been a pretty rough TV taping though. If you're not involved in an angle with Bullet Club or Bully Ray - chances are that you are being presented like a complete afterthought - and your match most likely ended with an unimaginative run-in finish. That simply isn't good enough and should not be the kind of product ROH puts on television. 

5) Punishment Martinez vs Josh Woods (** - Episode 321)

4) The Addiction vs Best Friends (*** - Episode 321)

3) Motor City Machine Guns vs War Machine (*** - Episode 320)

2) Dalton Castle vs Adam Page (*** - Episode 322)

1) Young Bucks/Adam Page/Marty Scurll vs Flip Gordon/Scorpio Sky/Shaheem Ali/Leon St. Giovanni (**** - Episode 323)