McXal's Reviews

One of the headline bouts for the entire War Of The Worlds 2018 Tour is our main event this evening. Former two-time World Champion Austin Aries competes in an ROH ring for the first time in three years, returning as the 'Belt Collector' and setting his sights on Silas Young's ROH TV Title. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are at the announce desk in Chicago, IL.

Cody opens the show for an in-ring promo where he proclaims that it has been a 'dream six months' since he is the leader of Bullet Club, the next NWA Heavyweight Champion and the time is now right for him to reclaim the ROH World Title. Except his 'Bullet Club subordinate' is in the Best In The World main event as well...and Marty is in the building to interrupt the American Nightmare. He thinks Cody is intimidated by him and will happily 'go through' him to get the World Title. Since they are friends he offers a handshake...during which he sarcastically teases snapping Cody's fingers! 

I haven't seen Karen since her shock first round elimination in the WOH Title Tournament at the hands of the rank outsider Brandi Rhodes. For one of the few women who own a victory over Kelly Klein it was an undignified exit and one she will want to rebound strongly from. She knows, therefore, the value of a victory over Tenille. The Australian is the biggest name on the Women Of Honor roster, but is herself stuck on the outside of the WOH Title picture. Victory really is critical for both women...

Karen is exceptionally cranky, tearing up Tenille's streamers and trash-talking her loudly before and after the opening bell. She and Dashwood jostle for control, mess up a satellite headscissors spot...then Q leaves the ring to evade the Taste Of Tenille. Her reward is a neckbreaker in the ropes by the Aussie, but she hits back with some ferocious striking against the ropes as we come out of commercials. Exploder suplex gets 2 and sets her up for repeated knees into Dashwood's back. The assault on the back continues and we see Tenille now visibly struggling to get back to her feet. Karen's finisher is a Boston Crab called the 'Spring Roll'...and when Dashwood blocks it she instead splatters her face into the canvas. Dilemma locked in, but of course that hurts Tenille's back and she can't follow up before Q has planted her again with a sidewalk slam. Repeated Irish whips to the buckles do yet more damage - but also fire Dashwood up until she fires back with a hair-mare. Taste Of Tenille gets 2. But before she can go any further Karen flips her over into the Spring Roll. Dashwood escapes and counters another Spring Roll attempt into a tucking roll-up...for three! Tenille is victorious at 08:07 (shown).

Rating - *** - The Women Of Honor are two-for-two in really strong matches at this taping. This wasn't as punchy and physical as Sakai/Rose last week, but it was driven by an exceptionally competent WRESTLING performance from Karen Q. Elements of her character were a little annoying, but her destruction of Dashwood's back was aggressive and precise. Tenille actually let her down a little by not putting as much effort into selling it as I'd have liked - but the finish more than made up for that as Dashwood's injuries stripped her of her finishing moves and forced her to innovate a flash-pin finish just to escape.

Ian Riccaboni recaps the Page/Martinez rivalry which began in Lakeland, FL and confirms that we'll see them settling their feud - at Best In The World. He also confirms that the Tag Titles will be on the line when the Briscoes defend against the Young Bucks at the same PPV.

It truly is an extraordinary occurrence to see the Impact World Champion on ROH television quite literally waving the belt right into the camera lens. He is the 'Belt Collector' (although by this point was already down to just three belts) and has returned to ROH in pursuit of the TV Title. He has previously held the World and Tag Championships in this promotion...and now wants Silas' belt to add to his collection. Will it be the Last Real Man or the Greatest Man That Ever Lived? What would the consequences be of Silas beating the Impact World Champion?

Silas tries to throw his shirt at Aries...only for A-Double to catch it mid-strut. He goes full Wrestling Machine by grounding Silas and making him look foolish. The champ bails before Aries can apply the Last Chancery though. Again Young tries and fails to out-work Austin on the canvas, growing so frustrated that he resorts to flicking sweat into the challenger's eyes. A-Double rolls back the years with armdrags then his basement dropkick out of a seated headscissors. Again it leaves Silas pouting outside of the ring. He flicks sweat at Aries again...so the former World Champion slaps him in the face. Diving elbow to the neck lands, followed by repeated smashes against the turnbuckles. He goes for the Heat Seeking Missile...but Silas counters with a brutal axehandle right across his jaw! The champion follows that with repeated shots against the guardrails; brawling and mauling on the outside to inflict punishment on Aries when he couldn't out-wrestle the Belt Collector between the ropes. Aries is clearly wounded - throwing strikes but stumbling back into the ring, into the Killer Combo for 2. Silas tries to work a full nelson to damage the neck...until A-Double runs him to the edge of the ring and hits a neckbreaker in the ropes. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! Back in the ring Silas gets a boot up to violently block the Impact Explosion Dropkick. Misery blocked...Brainbuster blocked as well. NECK DROP DVD ON THE APRON BY ARIES! IED COUNTERED TO THE PLUNGE! Silas tries to use the TV Title as a weapon...but when the ref confiscates the belt Austin traps him in the Last Chancery! Young barely makes the ropes there, so Austin goes outside and grabs the Impact World Title belt. Paul Turner confiscates that, then leaps into action as Silas almost profits with a schoolboy pin. Roaring Elbow nailed. IED SCORES! Paul Turner was bumped in the mayhem by the way. Beer City Bruiser tries to interfere - only for Aries' old protege Kenny King to come out to save! The distraction allows Silas to crotch Aries on the top going for the 450 Splash...but when he goes for the title belt again Kenny grabs it and NAILS him with it! Aries covers AND WINS! We appear to have a new TV Champion at 15:06 (shown). But as Aries celebrates he doesn't see Todd Sinclair come out and have a lengthy discussion with Paul Turner and Bobby Cruise. The decision is reversed and Aries is disqualified due to King's interference...

Rating - **** - I had this down as a really good TV main event. Bashing Aries is in fashion these days. His reputation as an outspoken, difficult personality precedes him, and in the days of social media having such an extreme influence, his controversial opinions via those mediums tend to make him a polarising figure too. But I don't have to be his friend, agree with his political opinions or hang out with him...and when he turns up with his working boots on, even as he gets older, he is an outstanding wrestler. He was at his best here, rolling back the years with a signature 'Wrestling Machine' type performance and contributing to what felt like a real big fight atmosphere. Each man attacked the neck for their finish, Aries dominated when they wrestled, Silas was on top when they brawled. They broke out some huge bumps (like the Aries apron DVD that we famously saw when he dropped the World Title to CM Punk at Death Before Dishonor 3), some of the finisher/familiarity counters were really fun - and I thought Ian Riccaboni did an outstanding job on commentary, conveying their history coming out of Milwaukee and Silas' desire to prove himself against someone he'd considered a measuring stick of success in the past. The finish was overbooked - but I completely understand the reasons why. Obviously Impact can't allow their champion to put over ROH's secondary champion on television. If it's a choice between not getting this match, and only getting it with a silly finish - then this is the option I'd pick every time. Particularly since, for the first time in a while, it actually involves ROH's referees getting something right and not sucking at their job. It also sets the stage for a potential King/Aries match...which everyone thought we were heading to when Aries showed up in the first place...

Aries punches Todd Sinclair's lights out, and wants to keep beating on him until Kenny King pulls him off. He then boots King in the balls and gives him a Brainbuster as well. LAST CHANCERY! He screams abuse in Kenny's face, scoops up his championship belts and leaves...

Tape Rating - *** - The success or failure of this episode hangs on the Silas/Aries match. They gave it a LOT of time by ROH TV standards...and for my money it delivered. I could live with the cheap finish due to the inter-promotional politics involved and I thought the match they wrestled before that was really smart (built on a vintage performance from Austin Aries). The Tenille/Karen WOH match was worth checking out too, and the Cody/Marty segment to open the show was perfectly fine as well. This was one of the better episodes of ROH TV I can remember for some time in fact...