McXal's Reviews

The final episode taped at the 'Steel City Excellence 2018' event, and we've saved some big matches for last. Jay Lethal meets Punishment Martinez in a Survival Of The Fittest 2017 rematch, and the main event pits Six-Man Champions SoCal Uncensored against Bullet Club's Cody, Marty Scurll and Adam Page. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are at the announce desk in Pittsburgh, PA.

Lethal revealed a couple of weeks ago that, after failing to win the World Title at the 16th Anniversary and failing to win the Tag Title at Supercard Of Honor, ROH officials have told him he needs to go back to square one and rack up wins before he will be considered for another shot. He wants to go back and beat everyone who owns a recent-history win over him and is starting with Martinez. The Punisher beat him as part of the Survival Of The Fittest 2017 Tournament (something of an upset at the time), and after also failing to capture the World Title in early 2018 Martinez also needs high profile wins to get back into the title hunt.

Lethal clotheslines Martinez through the streamers and over the top rope, dropkicks him off the apron and goes absolutely crazy with SEVEN TOPE SUICIDAS! Martinez looks to have tweaked a knee being repeatedly swept into the guardrails on those dives and Jay quickly starts attacking it in the same manner as the Jon Gresham matches. It is a relentless onslaught on the body part that leaves Punisher totally unable to get out of the starting blocks in the contest. Thankfully his legs are so long that it becomes problematic for Jay to apply the Figure 4 and at last Martinez is able to unleash a couple of hammer-blow strikes. Leg-selling sidewalk slam nailed, then a corkscrew enzi (even though his leg buckles half-way through hitting it). Lethal delivers a running dropkick to the knee...so Punisher goes for broke and dives off the top rope with the super spinning heel kick. That hurts him so much to pull off that Jay is actually up first and able to give him a big suplex though. At last he is able to lock in the Figure 4...but Punishment's height means he is able to reach back and get a rope. Lethal Injection blocked with a full nelson slam, then a Curb Stomp for 2. He tries an avalance South Of Heaven, so Lethal keeps him at bay with more shots to the leg. Hail To The King gets 2. Punisher's knee gives way so he can't hit the Psycho Driver, but then he blocks the Figure 4 by throttling Lethal. South Of Heaven blocked...Cyclone Kick attempted but Punisher's knee gives away again! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wins at 11:07 (shown).

Rating - **** - The best match of the taping so far, and it sees Lethal avenge his 2017 loss to Punishment whilst taking his first steps back towards the World Title. So much was great about this, from Lethal's super-jacked start to proceedings, through to Martinez's brilliant sell of the leg injury which played directly into the finish when it finally gave out to Jay could hit the Lethal Injection. Even edited down for television this flowed extremely well. Terrific stuff from two of ROH's best non-Bullet Club performers.

NEXT WEEK - Sumie Sakai defends the WOH Title against Jenny Rose.

ROH acts like J. Diesel's return is an occurrence of note. I wasn't aware he'd been gone too long at all (I'm sure he was involved in an angle with Ferrara and Cheeseburger last year right?) and certainly hadn't been clamouring for his return. The premise for this is somewhat interesting though, since he is a relatively accomplished boxer, taking on Taylor who has been making a name for himself by knocking people out.

Joey flies out of the blocks and peppers Taylor with jabs and body shots. Taylor shakes them off and decimates him with a Baldo Bomb/Warrior Splash combo. Running cannonball into the corner misses allowing Daddiego to land more boxing blows. Dreadful-looking DVD gets 2 for Diesel and gets a colossal over-sell by Riccaboni and Coleman on commentary. Shane's response is to pulverise him all over ringside, then to drape him between two open chairs. RUNNING SPLASH OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE CHAIRS! Joey is destroyed...and when referee Mike Posey tries to reason with the rampaging Taylor he is goozled for a CHOKESLAM ON THE FLOOR! I presume that should be the match over at 04:30? Security guys come out to try to stop things, so Taylor destroys them too.

Rating - N/A - Lets talk negatives first; why was Daddiego brought back and why was he allowed to go almost five minutes with a guy ROH are trying to get over as a killer? If this is his last contribution to ROH it is fitting that his final act is to drag someone down, as he did to Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijak in the past. The big positive here was clearly Taylor's rampage at the end. Watching him spectacularly tear through body after body in a deliciously violent manner was really entertaining.

Cody and Brandi break the news that at Best In The World 2018 he is confirmed as challenging Dalton Castle for the World Title. He has to announce it without Marty around, since that was the date Scurll wanted to cash in his Defy Or Deny-awarded title shot.

We know the extensive history between these trios. Page and Kazarian had a violent feud in 2017, as did Daniels and Cody. SCU were, at time of taping, the current Six-Man Champions; belts they defeated Hangman and the Bucks for, and belts Page presumably wants back. With Cody and Marty both squabbling over who gets a Best In The World ROH Title shot will they be able to stay on the same page? 

Cody starts with Sky, and there is some history between those two gentlemen as well. The Nightmare gets the best of that with a stalling gourdbuster. Back from commercials with The Villain making Daniels look foolish with his British-style. Page and Kazarian can't be kept apart any longer, trading armdrags at a relentless pace. Punches fly next...and Page almost knocks Frankie out with a roaring elbow. Drop-sault on both members of The Addiction gets 2! Springboard dropkick from Rhodes whilst Kaz is still reeling from it. Disaster Kick inadvertently knocks out Marty! Is Bullet Club really fine!? Daniels capitalises with a Blue Thunder Driver on Cody and spearheads SCU in a beatdown on the former World Champion. Running vertical leap frankensteiner by Scorpio gets 2. Cody makes a vital tag to Marty, who seems to have gotten over the misplaced Disaster Kick earlier. The Villain savages Sky in the corner then levels Frankie with Just Kidding. Drop toehold/Red Star Press sequence by Bullet Club (who are fine!). Daniels dumps Scurll to the floor and NAILS him with the Arabian Press. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE by Cody. SLINGSHOT RANA TO THE FLOOR BY KAZ! APRON SSP TACKLE by Page takes him out. TOPE ATOMICO by Sky! Daniels actually wants to do a second dive and goes upstairs. Cody chases up the ropes to catch him. SUPERPLEX TO THE FLOOR ONTO EVERYONE! All six guys are an absolute mess after that sequence...and they all dive into the ring at a count of nineteen to keep the party going. Daniels rakes the eyes to block Marty's Finger Snap...so Page powerbombs the f*ck out of him. Slingshot Cutter by Kaz! Powerslam by Cody! PUMPHANDLE GHOSTBUSTER by Marty! Scorpio blocks the Chickenwing...as Hangman hits a DOUBLE Buckshot Lariat on The Addiction. DIN'S FIRE from Cody to Scorpio. RITE OF PASSAGE! Hangman pins Sky to win at 13:05

Rating - **** - An absolutely great free TV six-man here. Since the Bucks weren't involved it had a grittier, harder-hitting dynamic that I really dug; spearheaded by the Page/Kazarian exchanges. The second half was incredibly action-packed and fast-paced but was memorable not for the elaborate sequences and combo moves, and more for guys trying to f*ck each other up dropping bombs on each other. The continuing evolution of 'Bullet Club is fine' to now have Cody's ego start to dissolve his relationship with Marty is an interesting next step in that angle too. Don't sleep on this main event.

Daniels tries to attack Bullet Club after the bell. Marty tries to make the save with his umbrella...BUT LAYS OUT CODY! He has a look of shock on his face as we fade out.

Tape Rating - *** - The first three episodes from this taping weren't great. Thankfully ROH saved the best for last here, busting out the two best matches of the tapings (and a really cool-looking Shane Taylor rampage). I'm a little disappointed more wasn't done to address the Briscoes destroying Bullet Club last week (other than a brief video recap it wasn't even mentioned), but as a standalone hour of wrestling television this was a strong broadcast.

5) Jonathan Gresham vs Will Ferrara (*** - Episode 346)

4) Silas Young vs Flip Gordon (*** - Episode 345)

3) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Young Bucks (*** - Episode 347)

2) Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian/Scorpio Sky vs Cody/Marty Scurll/Adam Page (**** - Episode 348)

1) Jay Lethal vs Punishment Martinez (**** - Episode 348)