McXal's Reviews

It's Christmas Eve, Final Battle is a wrap and we have ourselves a Ring Of Honor holiday special. Our main event is a Christmas-themed, random-draw 10-man tag with teams captained by the two men who met in the Final Battle main event - Cody and Dalton Castle. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are our hosts for all the festive fun in Lakeland, FL.

Cody complains about having to pick his team at random, as he and Dalton stand over presents containing the names of their partners. The Party Peacock is happy with whomever he gets first. The American Nightmare is not - and storms off.

Grimm debuted at 'Elite', failing to win a blink-and-you'll-miss-it triple threat also featuring Jon Gresham and Josh Woods. He'll be hoping to make a better impression this evening, teaming with one of ROH's fastest rising stars, to face the big-mouthed team known as The Dawgs. Rhett has forced 'Little Willy' to dress up as a red-nosed reindeer.

Grimm puts Ferrara in a full nelson specifically to prevent him removing his reindeer costume. He tries to choke Will out - right in front of Titus who does nothing to help his partner. One-legged standing moonsault gets 2 for Flip. Rhett dumps Gordon face-first into the apron, then clobbers him into the guardrails to finally put The Dawgs in the fight. He starts using Little Willy as a weapon whether he likes it or not, putting Gordon on the defensive. Springboard Sling Blade nailed by Flip, opening the door for a hot tag to Simon. Exploder suplex from Grimm to Ferrara. Brock Samson's Revenge gets 2 for Grimm...right before Will rockets Gordon into the guardrails as he attempts a springboard move. Ferrara KO's Grimm with a loaded Christmas gift, setting up the double Rhett-ribution for a Dawg victory at 07:00 (shown).

Rating - ** - I truly don't understand what ROH were trying to gain from bringing Grimm in for this weekend. I can't imagine he's really a big enough draw to have an impact when you already have Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks and Cody on the roster. And he barely wrestled for twelve minutes across two nights, with multiple people to share the ring with. I've learned nothing about whether he has the working chops to cut it in ROH and I don't know why ROH brought him in if he was going to be treated as just 'some guy'. Wasting Flip's big win over Page a few episodes earlier to have him participate in this felt like a big step backwards too. I did like the Christmas comedy from The Dawgs though. 

Cody heads back to the presents to pick his next two team-members. He is happier with his second pick, but perplexed by his third pick and queries 'does this guy even work here?' He makes another pick and leaves sulking that he didn't get any of his friends. 

Dalton is still busy opening his presents - and his final pick will 'certainly make things interesting'.

INSIDE ROH - Ian Riccaboni wraps up 2017 for the Women Of Honor division. He documents Mandy Leon's first tour of Stardom, Deonna Purrazzo and Kelly Klein's year-long rivalry (which introduced Karen Q to the division too), and new stars like Stella Grey and Brandi Rhodes. This package really made it seem like Deonna was poised to be the star of the division...which makes the direction they went in with the subsequent WOH Title tournament very strange.

Cody comes to the ring with a Christmas gift for the ROH fans...but then stomps on it because he hates Christmas. He is still miserable that he doesn't get to partner with his friends...

Our Christmas Surprise 10-man tag main event has certainly thrown together some unique pairings. Taped before Final Battle (so part of the build up to the PPV) we see champion and challenger for the World Title - Cody and Castle - captain squads of five into battle. Dalton has to team with his old rival (and as of Final Battle, new TV Champion) Silas Young - but having Silas on his side means he has something to counteract Martinez, another participant in the Final Battle TV Title fourway. Search & Destroy members Sabin and Gresham are on opposing teams, but as are Bullet Club's Cody and Marty Scurll. How will Scorpio be able to coexist with Cody too, after having been embarrassed by the champion when he competed in a sham World Title Match against him a few weeks ago.

Dalton is wrestling in a Christmas jumper, and watches as Search & Destroy's Sabin and Gresham start. Unsurprisingly they can't be separated and call it a draw before tagging out. Sky is too fast for Silas and makes him look silly...until he eventually does catch him with the Killer Combo. Cody refuses to get in the ring with Castle and orders Josh Woods to do it instead. That is an interesting pairing since Woods is one of the few men who has Dalton's number when it comes to mat grappling. Cody steals Dalton's jumper to distract him...and The Goods dumps the Peacock on his ass. So Dalton DROPS HIM ON HIS HEAD! These guys have a thrilling battle for superiority on the mat, then vacate so Hanson and Martinez can take centre stage. They exchange lariats...then BACK DROP DRIVERS! Cody yells at Punishment for not doing enough - so Punisher chops him to make a tag. Hanson does the same thing to Scurll on the other side of the ring. He throws The Villain into the ring to fight the American Nightmare! They One Sweet and hug, bringing everyone else in for a mass brawl. TOPE ATOMICO by Sky! AWESOMEBOMB TO THE FLOOR from Woods to Gresham! ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE by Cody! SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY MARTINEZ! Not to be outdone, Hanson climbs to the top. TOP ROPE SOMERSAULT DIVE OUTSIDE! Scurll tries to lead his team in a 'Christmas Train' on Scorp - where everyone hits Sky in the corner except The Villain. Cody refuses to hit Scurll, and when Punisher tries to throw him at him Marty moves, causing Rhodes to eat ringpost! Dalton starts tossing opponents out of the ring in a suplex-heavy display of total dominance. Sky blocks Bang-A-Rang to score with a leaping frankensteiner. Gresham and Sabin go at it again, broken up by Silas who gives Sabin a sliding DDT. Capture suplex by Woods to counter Misery by Young. Super spinning heel kick from Punisher to Hanson...who no sells it entirely to hit the handspring elbow. CROSS-RHODES on Hanson! Disaster Kick on Dalton! NO SOLD! BANG-A-RANG! Final Answer by Sky! BANG-A-RANG on him as well! Dalton pins Sky to win at 17:35 (shown).

Rating - **** - Had this been a PPV or VOD/DVD show I'd probably only have gone to 3* on it. However, for free television this was whacky, goofy, fresh and downright FUN. I thought it was very well laid out and hit all the beats I wanted to see. Gresham and Sabin faced each other in a Search & Destroy battle. Martinez and Hanson beat the sh*t out of each other. Silas and Dalton teased dissension going back to their feud. Every interaction surrounding whether Marty and Cody would come to blows was very good. The grappling between Castle and Woods was intense. When it came, the inevitable dive sequence was thrilling. Crucially though, Dalton Castle (the World Champion in waiting at time of filming - or in his first match as champion at time of broadcast) came off like a killer. There was a point where he was hurling people around in another Brock Lesnar-esque display of dominance that I marvelled at. It really is a shame his back had already started falling apart as the guy really is/was a total package performer on his day. Considering this was nothing more than a silly Christmas stocking filler I was really impressed...

Tape Rating - *** - ROH television in the second half of the year has been something of a slog to sit through. The live shows, on the whole, have been very good - but TV hasn't been of the best standard. This final taping of the year in Florida, thankfully, delivered a really solid set of episodes. I appreciated that the main event here got a lot of time (like Elite vs Best Friends/Rocky last week). It filled the vast majority of the episode (including entrances and Dalton/Cody backstage skits) and was well-worth checking out. Depending on when you view it, it also makes an excellent prelude/prologue to Dalton vs Cody at Final Battle. Setting aside my confusion around why Simon Grimm was booked, presumably at great expense, to do nothing on this Florida swing, this was a decent episode to close out 2017...

5) Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal (*** - Episode 325)

4) Flip Gordon vs Adam Page (*** - Episode 324)

3) Marty Scurll vs Beer City Bruiser (**** - Episode 324)

2) Dalton Castle/Silas Young/Hanson/Jon Gresham/Marty Scurll vs Cody/Scorpio Sky/Josh Woods/Chris Sabin/Punishment Martinez (**** - Episode 327)

1) Kenny Omega/Young Bucks vs Rocky Romero/Trent Beretta/Chuck Taylor (**** - Episode 326)