McXal's Reviews

The final broadcast of the year is a Road Rage show, taking us to highlights from the War Of The Worlds UK Tour which happened over the summer. Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer provided commentary for all three nights, so will be our hosts for the evening.

ROH care so little about this episode that Ian R calls this the 'Global Wars Tour' and not one person picked up on it or asked him to re-shoot (even though it obviously isn't live) to get the name of the shows right. 

This is taken from Night 1 of the WOTW UK Tour - in London, England. It is one of my favourite matches of the entire year, so I'm glad it is being exposed to a wider audience. No reason for the title to be on the line here, other than it being an international dream match between two junior heavyweight superstars. Kushida is the ace of the NJPW junior division; Titan is hot property in CMLL. It's a clash of the Japanese junior style and the classic luchador...for the ROH TV Title...in the UK. 

Kushida obviously fears the speed of the challenger so quickly tries to close the distance on him and make a grab for his arms. Titan is too quick to be held down though, and lands a springboard lucha armdrag to toss the champ out of the ring. Running rana on the floor nailed! He flies back in with a springboard crossbody as well! In the end he tries a back flip hurricanrana, which Kushida counters by propping him on referee Todd Sinclair and PUNTING the arm from under him! Titan leaves the ring nursing his arm, only for the champ to give chase! Armbreaker scores, before he dropkicks the challenger through a chair and into the guardrail. Back in the ring Kushida stomps the arm into the canvas to do yet more damage and set-up the Hoverboard Lock. Titan quite literally screams in terror and dives for the ropes to prevent his opponent from applying his submission finisher at this stage though. PELE KICK by Kushida to counter another springboard...only for Titan to no-sell and prawn him to over the ropes. SPRINGBOARD ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! TITAN IMPALES HIMSELF ON THE GUARDRAILS! Todd Sinclair sprints over as fans show real concern for the debuting challenger...and the fans go NUTS when Titan climbs out of the laps of the front row fans to keep fighting. Springboard dropkick back into the ring gets 2...but Titan is now seriously handicapped with both rib and arm injuries. Kushida kicks at both body parts, and Titan eggs him on! Alarm Clock style kick COUNTERED to a Figure 4 by Titan! The champ escapes, prompting Titan to climb the ropes again. Handspring kick by Kushida to block him! FLYING ARMBAR! TITAN GETS THE ROPES! But as he uses them to crawl back to his feet Kushida straight-up charges at him with a brutal dropkick to the bad limb. Titanics COUNTERED TO AN ARMBAR! COUNTERED TO LA MAGISTRAL FOR 2! Kushida grabs the mask...so Titan Pele Kicks him. ROPE RUN BY TITAN! Kushida tries Back To The Future. COUNTERED TO A SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA! KUSHIDA ROLLS THROUGH TO THE HOVERBOARD LOCK! Back To The Future COUNTERED with a corkscrew enzi! Turnbuckle Shellshock by Kushida. BACK TO THE FUTURE! The champion retains at 14:37

Rating - **** - This was phenomenal to witness live. The way fans responded to Titan as this match progressed was a joy. From respectful applause at the start (whilst wildly cheering Kushida), Titan's balls to the wall, ultra-courageous performance quickly won them over (and stole the show that night in London). You can't plan for accidents and mishaps like the scary ass guardrail bump from Titan's moonsault to the floor. The visceral, passionate, guttural ROAR the fans let out when Titan stood up and gestured that he wanted to fight on is something you can't script. After that point the atmosphere was red hot as we witnessed two international superstars fight tooth and nail. Titan took to the skies, Kushida tried to break his arm. Titan's body was falling apart, Kushida bled from the mouth. Ultimately the luchador fought bravely but couldn't defy his injuries, couldn't hit his own finisher and couldn't stave off the Back To The Future any longer. Absolutely great match, and another example of why Kushida was almost untouchable as one of the world's very best workers at this point in time. If you have Honor Club this one is must-see.

This is a weird choice to include on the episode. It comes from Night 2 of the WOTW UK Tour, taped in Liverpool, England and was one of the more forgettable matches of the whole weekend. Bodom's match with Kenny King and Colt Cabana in Edinburgh the following night was far better.

Bodom spots that Lethal has a heavily taped and padded arm which I like. All of his initial offensive salvos are aimed at it...although Jay easily tosses him aside with the springboard dropkick to the apron. Josh keeps countering Lethal's signature spots though and finally decks him with a jumping enzi. Lethal looks rattled - and almost relieved when he lands his hiptoss/dropkick combo. He stalks Bodom, ensuring he closes the distance between them and slows the pace to a methodical crawl. Josh doesn't appear to have the striking power to match his opponent...but can counter the Lethal Injection with a reverse rana out of nowhere! Tope suicida nailed up the aisle, quickly followed with a springboard moonsault to the floor as well. Back in the ring Bodom gets 2 with a Red Star Press. Tree of woe dropkick next as Jay really struggles to cope with his British adversary. The Lethal Combination lands, and he almost staggers across the ring on autopilot to hit Hail To The King. Silas Young comes to ringside and hurls abuse at Lethal...but has to watch as he lands the Lethal Injection to win at 09:05

Rating - ** - Nothing wrong with this at all. I liked the lay-out as it did a lot to promote Bodom even in defeat. But it also didn't do a whole lot to excite me. Lethal looked to be carrying an injury and rightly sought to protect it in what was nothing more than a filler match. It didn't go too long, and ended in a manner which promoted my favourite ROH feud of the year so I don't have too many complaints. Bodom isn't someone I'd be in a rush to see in an ROH ring again right now...

Back to London for the final bout of this Road Rage Episode. This is a dream match main event as Bullet Club, featuring most of the leading members of the 'Being The Elite' cast, take on Los Ingobernables de Japon. It features Hiromu's first time back in ROH since he finished up his excursion (as Kamaitachi). He is joined by Naito and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Champions EVIL, BUSHI and SANADA (who faced Cody for the ROH World Title in Liverpool). Bragging rights are at stake. Chances for contenders to stake future title shots are at stake. Naito was less than a week removed from beating Bullet Club's Kenny Omega to win the 2017 G-1 Climax Tournament so competes at well below 100% this evening. And he doesn't work hard on his ROH dates at the best of times...

Daryl Takahashi joins commentary. The crowd are completely insane for this. Hiromu steals Marty's umbrella. In short it feels like it takes an hour for the match to actually start. When it does Marty and Hiromu bust out a couple of really awesome sequences. Sanada tags and wants a piece of Cody, but doesn't actually get to wrestle him because the American Nightmare has to pause to play to the crowd. Hangman comes in next and makes a beeline for Naito, calling out the biggest name on the opposition team. The G-1 winner teases it...but then sends Evil into battle instead. The former Watanabe blasts Page straight over the top rope. Naito tries to do his 'Tranquilo' pose...only for The Villain to walk on and stop him in the head when he isn't looking. LIJ don't take that well and start teaming up to work Scurll over. Bushi, in particular, cheats by using his own shirt as a weapon...only for Marty to counter into a lungblower. The Bucks come to his aid, scattering LIJ members like bowling pins. RISE OF THE TERMINATOR! TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE BY CODY! APRON TORPEDO SSP BY PAGE! Elbow drop/frog splash combo from the Jacksons to Bushi gets 2. All ten men into the ring...setting up a FIVE-WAY FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK by Bullet Club! Los Ingobernables are so unified they all counter out at the same time too. Bullet Club are annoyed by that, and get more agitated as one-by-one they miss Bushi with moonsault attempts. The rest of his team trying to convince Marty to attempt a moonsault is pretty funny. Sanada gets a tag and puts Hangman in the Paradise Lock. Buckshot Laeiat from Page to Naito! Darkness Falls by Evil! Cross Rhodes by Cody! CROSS RHODES BY SANADA! Finger Snap on him by Scurll...who is then tossed into the turnbuckles by Hiromu. SUPERKICK FLURRY by the Bucks! They then drag Daryl away from the announce table! Sanada and Evil save the stuffed cat! Scurll tries to Chickenwing Daryl...HIROMU SAVES WITH A SUPERKICK! SUPERKICKS by the Bucks! MELTZER DRIVER ON DARYL! Hiromu cradles Daryl in tears, then FIRES UP ON ALL OF BULLET CLUB AT ONCE! FIVE MAN SUPERKICK ON HIROMU! GREEN MIST from Bushi to Hangman...who then narrowly avoids being pinned after an Evil Lariat. DESTINO! Naito wins at 22:28

Rating - **** - This match was mostly made up of comedy and crowd chants, but for sheer novelty value the spectacle of being able to book all ten of these guys into the same match was really something to behold. If you don't like the 'Being The Elite' brand of humour and if you didn't enjoy the Daryl Takahashi cat gimmick then a lot of this will really pass you by. It is silly, but both live and on DVD this was a blast to watch. It was completely unique and unlike almost any other main event in ROH's history. Giving this away for free on TV, when it was arguably the biggest match of the entire War Of The Worlds UK Tour is a bit sh*tty...

Tape Rating - N/A - I didn't necessarily agree with Lethal/Bodom or Bullet Club/LIJ as match choices for this. Lethal/Bodom because it was a pretty bland and forgettable match, whilst putting BC/LIJ on free TV felt like giving away the biggest match of the tour (when ROH are about to relaunch Honor Club and should be encouraging people to pay for content like this). But Kushida/Titan was phenomenal, the crowd in London was really hot and as a package this episode made ROH live events seem like a lot of fun, presumably encouraging more DVD/VOD buys and Honor Club subscriptions (which is the whole point of the Road Rage concept).

10) Hardy Boyz vs Young Bucks vs RPG Vice (**** - 15th Anniversary Show)

9) Young Bucks vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (**** - Honor Reigns Supreme)

8) Kushida vs Titan (**** - War Of The Worlds UK Tour Night 1)

7) Punishment Martinez vs Will Ospreay (****1/2 - Global Wars 2017 Buffalo)

6) Jay White vs Will Ospreay (****1/2 - War Of The Worlds 2017 New York)

5) Kushida vs Marty Scurll (****1/2 - Best In The World 2017)

4) Kushida vs Jay Lethal (****1/2 - War Of The Worlds 2017 Toronto)

3) Will Ospreay vs Flip Gordon (****1/2 - Global Wars 2017 Chicago)

2) Hardy Boyz vs Young Bucks (****1/2 - Supercard Of Honor 11)

1) Silas Young vs Jay Lethal (****1/2 - Unauthorized)

10) Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin/Jay White/Jonathan Gresham vs Young Bucks/Guerrillas Of Destiny (**** - Episode 312)

9) Rocky Romero/Trent Beretta/Chuck Taylor vs Young Bucks/Adam Page (**** - Episode 299)

8) Kushida vs Jay White (**** - Episode 305)

7) Adam Page vs Adam Cole (**** - Episode 298)

6) Marty Scurll vs Donovan Dijak (**** - Episode 284)

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

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

3) Jay Briscoe vs Jay White (**** - Episode 287)

2) Cody vs Christopher Daniels (**** - Episode 307)

1) Christopher Daniels vs Jay Briscoe (**** - Episode 283)