McXal's Reviews

We close out the 16th Anniversary TV tapings with two big matches. Our main event is a Tag Team Gauntlet Match with the winners crowd #1 contenders to the Tag Championship. Beneath that is Hiromu Takahashi meeting Frankie Kazarian, which should be good. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are on commentary in Las Vegas, NV.

The Addiction took Hiromu under their wing when he spent several months on excursion with ROH in 2016 (then performing as Kamaitachi). They ended acrimoniously after defeat in the tournament to crown the first Six-Man Champions and Takahashi is now a prominent and popular member of the Los Ingobernables de Japon faction in NJPW. Kaz isn't impressed by his change in attitude and stuffed cat-toting antics, so wants to teach him a lesson again tonight...

Neither man wants to shake hands, such is the lingering ill-will between them. Kaz makes a statement in the first minute by defying his age and hanging with Hiromu hold-for-hold absolutely effortlessly. Hiromu gathers his thoughts with a fan's Daryl at ringside...and Kazarian makes him pay with a snap suplex into the guardrails. Frankie tries to maintain a slow pace, negating all of Takahashi's explosiveness. Even when Takahashi tries a slingshot move off the ropes Kaz manages to cut it off and slam into his neck with a springboard leg drop. Back suplex backbreaker follows that as Kaz's strategy starts to become clear. Kick flurry by Takahashi in an attempt to speed things up. Missile dropkick off the apron nailed! But Hiromu is so worn down he collapses afterwards and can't capitalise. Frankie drops him on his neck again with the slingshot DDT seconds later. Hiromo tries to come off the apron again...right into the slingshot cutter; another devastating blow to the neck. Frankie is starting to get frustrated - getting into a shoving exchange with the ref then trying to pin his opponent using the ropes. Takahashi, fighting hurt, starts going for flash pins. He slumps across the ropes momentarily before emerging to land the TIME BOMB! Hiromu wins at 08:32 (shown).

Rating - *** - I almost went to 4* on this; I really thought it was damn good. Kazarian looked extremely motivated to produce a great TV match; rolling back the years to dominate a world class junior heavyweight worker. Even more under-rated than Kaz's performance here was Hiromu. In eight minutes he did an amazing job conveying all the emotions he experienced - from frustration to fury - and did a terrific job selling the neck injury which Frankie opened up. The finish, where Takahashi realised he was on the brink of defeat so started going for rapid pins, almost collapsed, then jumped back up with one last burst of energy to hit his finishing move, was outstanding. My real issue, as it often is with ROH TV matches, is that everything felt too rushed and compressed. So much of the drama is lost when it feels like you are watching talented guys with the fast forward button pressed.

In the locker room we see The Bouncers assaulting Leon St. Giovanni, putting the status of Coast 2 Coast into doubt heading into the main event.

The winners here get a Tag Title shot at an unspecified future point in time. The participants are The Bouncers, Coast 2 Coast (if LSG can compete), The Dawgs, Motor City Machine Guns, The Kingdom and the Young Bucks. The Bucks, and the Machine Guns have history with each other and both want to get back into the picture for the belts held by 9-time champions the Briscoes. The Kingdom (represented by Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan) have a mission statement to win every belt in ROH so need a win here, whilst Coast 2 Coast come in hotter than most on the back of multiple high profile wins in 2018.

The Bouncers are first in, and unfortunately C2C have drawn #2. Shaheem Ali enters by himself and dives at them with a somersault plancha. The big men counter by sandwiching him with their sizeable bodies, before Milonas hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. Ali somehow lands the Complete Shot on Beer City...but when he tries to climb the ropes Milonas nabs him for Last Call. The Bouncers advance at 04:00 (shown). Team #3 are The Dawgs, happy to wrestle Bruiser and Milonas since they like drinking as much as them. They proceed to spit beer into The Bouncers' faces and isolate BCB with a series of double teams. Ferrara hits a flying headcissors but that catapults Bruiser into his corner so Brian can tag in. He squashes Will against the turnbuckles and awaits his partner's arrival with a cannonball. Titus tagged...and he lands the Snugglemonkey flip on Bruiser, sending him into Little Willy's tornado DDT on the floor. The Dawgs can't hit the spike Rhett-ribution on someone as big as Milonas though. Kingpin superplexes Ferrara and wins another match at 05:52 (09:52 total shown). Motor City Machine Guns are next in, looking fired up as they launch their bid to regain the Tag Titles. Milonas quickly crushes Sabin with the standing senton, but presumably Chris had been watching a monitor as he dodges another Bruiser cannonball. Bruiser tries it off the apron moments later and accidentally lays out his own partner. Skull & Bones nailed and Shelley pins BCB to advance at 02:46 (12:38 total shown). The Young Bucks are #5, heading to the ring to face the team who took the Tag Titles from them last year. The pace picks up considerably following the removal of The Bouncers, but Matt is noticeably selling the back almost as soon as the Jacksons arrive. MCMG hit the Dream Sequence on him, which is another move which wrenches the back. Superkick by Matt...but he can't even dive towards his brother for a tag such is the extent of his injuries. Worst Case Scenario on Sabin! Shelley tries to drag Nick off the apron, but is Superkicked again and Nick gets the hot tag at last. He assists his brother with a standing Shiranui then sprints out of the ring for a DOUBLE SUPERKICK up the aisle to wipe Alex out. Spear on Sabin, then the standing moonsault/springboard splash combo for 2. Sliced Bread #2 attempted by Shelley...but Matt's back gives out before he can counter to the Meltzer. More Bang For Your Buck blocked...ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX from Sabin to Matt! Skull & Bones countered into a backslide, and despite searing pain Matt is able to pin Sabin at 07:23 (20:01 total shown). The Kingdom are the final two - coming out through the crowd and jumping the injured Matt Jackson from behind. The next few minutes are spent with Vinny and TK abusing Matt's back. Matt hits a flying elbow drop, but doesn't know that O'Ryan is hiding behind his brother - dragging Nick off the apron when a tag is on the cards. Springboard corkscrew cutter on Marseglia, with Matt decimating his own back to finally make the tag. ROPE RUN TWISTING MOONSAULT to the floor by Nick! GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE APRON destroys TK. That is followed with a tornado DDT to the floor on Marseglia. Sharpshooter applied on O'Ryan...and Vinny grabs his axe to try and break it! When Paul Turner confiscates the axe he smashes Nick in the ribs with TKO's bat instead. Matt's back gives out before he can hit a powerbomb prompting Vinny to expose the wooden floor of the arena. Nick saves with a PK! He begs his brother to find the strength to lift O'Ryan...and in the end has to help. ASSISTED MELTZER DRIVER! The Bucks win at 09:43 (29:44 shown).

Rating - ** - Is it sour grapes to ask why ROH can't devote thirty minutes of air time to matches that aren't Gauntlet Matches ever? If you're a long-term follower of my review series, you'll know I don't like Gauntlet Matches. I've experimented with different formats for reviewing purposes...but I still don't like them. This one wasn't horrible though. I certainly wouldn't have booked The Bouncers to go as long as they did, but at least there was a narrative there with them having taken out LSG earlier in the episode. Everything after the Young Bucks entered was fun, mostly due to Matt's selling of the back...but I'd far rather have seen Bucks/Kingdom or Bucks/MCMG in a 29-minute #1 contendership match, cutting out the rest of the bullsh*t.

Tape Rating - ** - If you like Gauntlet Matches more than me then this episode may do more for you. I didn't love it, and they dedicated two thirds of the episode to it. But, the redeeming feature for me was the excellent Kaz/Hiromu opener. It's well worth taking ten minutes out of your day to dig out on Honor Club; one of those fun, under-rated, under-appreciated TV length bouts which don't get enough praise. This felt like a TOUGH taping for the ROH performers and crew. The 16th Anniversary was a gruelling PPV. Dalton and Lethal beat the sh*t out of each other for almost thirty minutes in the main event. Martinez and Scurll both sustained eye injuries. The Hung Bucks and SCU had a completely insane, weapon-filled stunt-show match. Asking those guys to go out 24-hours later and tape a month of television, including build to the biggest show ROH has ticketed, was a huge ask - and the reduced match quality across this taping suggests the roster was feeling the strain. 

5) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Dalton Castle/Jay Lethal (*** - Episode 341)

4) Matt Taven vs Christopher Daniels vs Cody (*** - Episode 342)

3) Jay Lethal vs Caprice Coleman (*** - Episode 342)

2) Mayu Iwatani vs Deonna Purrazzo (*** - Episode 341)

1) Hiromu Takahashi vs Frankie Kazarian (*** - Episode 343)