McXal's Reviews

This show airs the same weekend as the Supercard Of Honor 12 iPPV from New Orleans. Therefore don't expect any major incidents on this show (or next week either). As a wrestling show this could be decent, with a Bullet Club/Kingdom/SCU triple threat main event pitting Cody against Matt Taven and Christopher Daniels, plus Jay Lethal in action and what could be bruising encounter between Shane Taylor and Punishment Martinez. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Las Vegas, NV.

This is a big match between two big dudes. Martinez has been around the World Title picture all year, but after losing a #1 contenders match to Marty Scurll at the 16th Anniversary he now feels somewhat out in the wilderness without a purpose. He and Taylor have had a number of heated exchanges in multi-man matches, and beat the hell out of each other in a heated encounter at Elite in late-2017. For Taylor, a win here would enhance his status, increase his profile and mean he earns more money to take home for his family.

Martinez is rocking a black eye after that bruising encounter with Marty on the PPV too. Taylor backs himself as the stronger man...and after getting the better of a test of strength appears to be vindicated. Punishment is faster though and uses that speed to counter out. Next they go strike-for-strike; both too fast to even lay a glancing blow on the other. They club each other with lariats, then Shane clocks Martinez with a left jab and clotheslines him over the top rope. Taylor thinks about a dive only to be kicked in the head before he can get through the ropes. Big cannonball in the corner scores for Shane - and he does the exact same thing off the apron seconds later when Punisher rolls out of the ring to escape him. There's an ill-advised trip to the top rope next for Taylor, which Martinez easily counters into a massive falcon arrow. South Of Heaven blocked with a knee...then an even more violent knee smash aimed right at Martinez's blackened eye. Pop-up spinebuster/Warrior Splash combo gets 2 for Taylor. Knockout Punch blocked with the Cyclone Kick by Punishment, followed by the STEP-UP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! SOUTH OF HEAVEN! Martinez wins at 06:44 (shown).

Rating - ** - This wasn't my favourite match between these two. It seemed to lack the urgency and speed that their Elite match (and some of their exchanges in multi-man matches) had. At their best it is spectacular to watch these two massive guys drop bombs on each other...but something was missing here. Maybe Martinez was struggling as a result of his eye injury.

COLEMAN'S PULPIT - Caprice is particularly excited today because his guest is Jay Lethal. Jay is wise to the joke and yells at him for being a snake-like host. He reminds Caprice of all his accomplishments in this company and repeats his ambition to become ROH World Champion again. Coleman hints at asking Lethal about his relationship with AJ Lee...so Jay storms off the set.

Frankie Kazarian says they 'gave the rub' to Hiromu Takahashi when he was on excursion in ROH. He thinks Daryl Takahashi is stupid and plans to destroy the stuffed cat next week as another lesson...

Placing this match here feels a little weird given that the Coleman's Pulpit segment to set it up aired thirty seconds earlier. Should they not have had Kaz/Hiromu in this slot then used Lethal/Caprice on next week's show? Ian and Colt talk like the Pulpit segment aired a couple of weeks ago, which makes me think it was cut from Episodes 340/341 for time with hyping Supercard the priority. As we just saw, Caprice antagonised Jay on his talk show, causing him to storm off set. Now Lethal looks to make Coleman pay inside the squared circle.

Coleman slugs Lethal during his entrance (so many heels are doing that in ROH right now)...but it means little as Jay quickly retaliates by suplexing him on the floor. Caprice has to endure a volley of savage chops from a fired up former World Champion...then a straight-up slap in the face. JACKHAMMER ON THE FLOOR! Caprice 619's around the ringpost into a dropkick and tries to kick Jay's head through the guardrails. Jumping enzi by Lethal...then a springboard dropkick setting up the big tope suicida. Bless-TO from Coleman, but it's only a one-count. Then he axehandles the Franchise across the back of the head and neck, both of which are still sore following his gruelling war with Castle on pay-per-view. Lethal Injection blocked with a Cobra Clutch legsweep, rolled into a Cobra Stretch. Lethal escapes that, but Coleman grabs the neck again with the Thermal Shock. Lethal Express, but Coleman rakes the eyes to counter. Lethal Injection! Jay wins at 08:31 (shown).

Rating - *** - A good match, with surprising levels of physicality. Good as he was before, Lethal has stepped up his game in the last twelve months. The level of violence and aggression he brought to this was compelling to watch. Given that the entire premise for this match was 'Caprice said mean things in an interview' it felt surprisingly heated. As usual it was slightly problematic having to buy into Coleman as a legitimate threat to someone of Lethal's stature given how ROH has always presented him, but the way he targeted the neck made his offence genuinely interesting. This was a far better match than I think may would have expected.

Kelly Klein compliments Mayu Iwatani on her accomplishments in wrestling, but doesn't think it is enough to stop her two year reign of dominance over the Women Of Honor division. Mayu gets interview time as well, with subtitling to inform us that she wants to win the tournament and bring prestige to the WOH Championship by defending it all over the world.

Tenille Dashwood is calm, composed and confident in her ability to win the tournament. Sumie Sakai, on the other hand, is extremely emotional. She thanks ROH for making her feel like she belongs and will complete a career journey by becoming champion at Supercard Of Honor.

Ian Riccaboni hypes the card for Masters Of The Craft 2018; including a Defy Or Deny main event, the big Lethal/Gresham rematch and a Women Of Honor tag bout.

There are lots of issues between these guys. Cody and Daniels have both been World Champion and contested a heated rivalry in 2017. Taven wants to be World Champion and will know how valuable a win over these two established main event stars would be in that quest. Cody and Taven have feuded all year, meeting at the 16th Anniversary when Cody defeated Taven and took back his beloved 'Ring' Of Honor. Another sidenote is that SCU are the Six-Man Champions; belts which The Kingdom dearly covet as the first holders of that belt, and feel they only lost thanks to O'Ryan's injury.

Cody has 'Burnard The Business Bear' with him who, as his name suggests, is all business and not fun-loving like Bury. Taven aggravates both opponents in the first ten seconds, causing the once-heated enemies to join forces and knock him out of the ring. Daniels and Cody start punching lumps out of each other, until Matt returns with a double missile dropkick. Cody gives him a back body drop on the floor...and jumps at him again with a tope moments later when he tries to recover. Arabian Press by Daniels wipes out the American Nightmare...and gives Taven enough time to recover and smash the Ring General into the ringpost. Kick Of The King knocks him off the apron then Taven hits the ring and drops Rhodes with a rolling neckbreaker. AIR TAVEN to take out Daniels...right before Cody lands the rope-run springboard dive onto both of them. American Nightmare Lock on Taven, broken by Daniels and the Best Moonsault Ever - which Riccaboni points out mirrors the finish to War Of The Worlds NYC. Burnard The Bear tries to rally Cody as Daniels and Taven battle over finishers inside the ring. Disaster Kick on Daniels! Kick Of The King on Daniels! Cross Rhodes on Daniels, but Taven breaks the pin with a FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! Amazing timing there, and Taven grabs the victory from under Cody's nose at 08:40 (shown).

Rating - *** - Clearly this wasn't a MOTYC, but it felt like three guys having fun riffing off each other for ten minutes and kept it interesting from start to finish. There were lots of references to past matches between them. Cody and Taven's exchanges were particularly heated, which was appropriate considering this taped 24-hours after their PPV match and week before they were scheduled to have a First Blood Match at Masters Of The Craft. Daniels felt a bit like a goon at times, which annoyed he as his gimmick has been 'the smartest man in the room' for the last year. But this was a throwaway main event which meant very little and in that context it was actually surprisingly decent. Giving Taven an actual clean win (even if it was on Daniels rather than Cody) was a great way for him to rebound and maintain a semblance of credibility after repeated clean defeats to the American Nightmare.

NEXT WEEK - Hiromu/Kazarian and a Tag Title #1 contendership Gauntlet Match.

Tape Rating - ** - A skippable filler episode which felt very aware of its own irrelevance given the broadcast date proximity to Supercard Of Honor. You didn't need to see anything here, and miss nothing if you give the week a miss. But I'm actually glad I watch every week - because skipping would've meant I missed out on the surprisingly intense Lethal/Caprice match and a decent, all-action main event. The broadcast also deserves credit for putting more effort into promoting a live event (Masters Of The Craft) taped exclusively for Honor Club, than they ever have before.