McXal's Reviews

The 2018 War Of The Worlds Tour concludes with this episode. Our main event is a rematch from the 2017 War Of The Worlds UK Tour Night 1 main event; a 10-man tag pitting Los Ingobernables de Japon (Naito, Takahashi, EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI) against Bullet Club (Cody, Scurll, Page & the Young Bucks). Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana call it in Chicago, IL.

Bullet Club gloat about All In selling out in less than 30-minutes and crack jokes about LIJ. 

Chuckie actually comes into this red hot, following a surprise win over Jay White and Jay Lethal on the first night of the tour. Not only does he have all the momentum, he also faces an opponent in an emotionally dark place following the events of a couple of weeks ago - when Kenny King was attacked by Austin Aries in the aftermath of a TV Title Match. Can King rebound tonight?

Taylor refuses to hug King, opting to get serious and engage him in a side headlock battle. The pace quickens and the two athletes can't be separated...so finally do agree to a hug. Chuck counters King's Japanese armdrag set up by clinging to the ropes, hugs him again...then blasts him with a belly to belly suplex. Moonsault misses allowing Kenny to score with a spinning heel kick. Capo kick to the floor, followed by the corkscrew pescado. King takes an age taking a selfie with a fan...and still has enough time to soar into the sky with a flying crossbody. Taylor tries to do Beretta's slingshot stomp...and when King rolls to the floor Chuckie goes after him in one fluent motion with a pescado. He also takes a photo with the same ringside fan, before returning to the ring with a sitout powerbomb. Sole Food nailed as a set-up for the falcon arrow for 2. Spinebuster scores for Kenny but Chuck counters the Royal Flush then hits a SNAP piledriver. Awful Waffle blocked...Royal Flush nailed. King wins in a time of 09:08 (shown)

Rating - ** - This match would have benefitted from some selective editing. There were some decent moments in here (taking tit-for-tat selfies with a ringside fan was genuinely funny) but as a package this really dragged and got the show off to a flat start. Compare this to something like Flip/Gresham from last week, which came off like such a hot start to an hour of wrestling television. Taylor losing here makes it even more ridiculous that he pinned Lethal in Lowell too. 

The Briscoes are in their back yard for a super shouty promo. They call the Young Bucks the best in the world...at selling t-shirts and making YouTube videos. But they have no chance of taking the Tag Titles from them at Best In The World

Shane Taylor is in the ring next, getting heckled so badly that he can barely speak. He berates Josh Woods for needing King Mo's assist to beat him at Bound By Honor. Tonight Taylor wants his win back over 'The Goods'...

These two men have traded a couple of wins and a couple of physical matches. As Taylor just told us, he is still bitter about the intervention of Woods' friend King Mo, which he feels cost him a match between the two in Florida. It's a loss which he wants to avenge tonight. Woods is still in a struggle to establish himself on the roster and is, in fact, making his first appearance since Bound By Honor.

Josh lays in an early knee strike, visibly rocking the big man. He tries to follow it with a springboard, but catapults himself right into Taylor's body and goes splat on the canvas. GUARDRAIL CANNONBALL by Shane! The Chicago crowd have decided they are going to loudly jeer both men here by the way. When we return from commercials we see Woods countering a powerslam attempt into a rear naked choke, with fans chanting 'CM Punk'. German suplex by Josh, drawing little more than polite, begrudging applause. He tries to knock Taylor out with repeated strikes in the corner, only for Shane to stand up and nail him with the Knockout Punch. Taylor wins at 03:00 (shown)

Rating - * - I do believe these two men have chemistry. This wasn't their night though, as they were made to rush through a series of random, barely connected spots with a commercial break in the middle, in front of a crowd who were intent on sh*tting all over them regardless. Both men have their limitations, but I see genuine potential in both of them as well. Unfortunately the realities of living in the 'Being The Elite' era means that fans just don't have the patience for these long-term project talents (especially when ROH book Taylor and Woods so poorly as well).

When these ten men met in London it was LIJ who came up victorious. It is a defeat Bullet Club would love to avenge this evening...but it a Bullet Club line-up riddled with internal issues. Whilst Cody continues to insist that 'Bullet Club is fine', his power-play to assume Kenny Omega's spot as 'leader' has led to a civil war. He thinks the Young Bucks 'chose him' with their involvement in the Kenny/Cody showdown at Supercard, but actually they seemed to be trying to side with Omega. Marty and Cody are on the cusp of completely falling out as they squabble over the World Championship (currently held by Dalton Castle, who is on commentary to scout them both ahead of Best In The World). Even the Young Bucks aren't completely on the same page by this point. Can they put all of that to one side and concentrate on the common goal of defeating Los Ingobernables?

Cody and Naito start...albeit only briefly because Naito tosses the American Nightmare so he can do the Tranquilo pose. Marty forcibly tags Cody out and makes a statement by working circles around Bushi. Evil jumps The Villain from behind before he can break the fingers though. We soon get a Bucks vs Evil/Sanada stare-down, tipping a hat to their brewing heavyweight rivalry in NJPW. LIJ block Superkicks and are soon joined by Takahashi and Scurll. All ten men fill the ring, toss the referee aside and go to war! The Bucks scatter bodies with a few combo moves, as inside the ring Cody, Marty and Page hit some sweet triple teams on Sanada. Rhodes wants to do Rise Of The Terminator...which Hiromu stops by smacking him around the head with Daryl Jr. DOUBLE SUPERKICK on Hiromu! ROPE RUN CORKSCREW MOONSAULT to the floor by Nick! Sanada blocks the Meltzer Driver as Evil CHOPS A CHAIR into Matt's face. Superkick lays out Sanada though, leaving them both flat on the ground. Takahashi and Scurll trade shots, until Marty leaves to start laying LIJ members from the apron as they stand on the floor. Just Kidding blocked by Hiromu. WRIST CLUTCH GHOSTBUSTER gets 2! TURNBUCKLE BELLY TO BELLY by Takahashi! Evil and Sanada try to ambush Nick but find themselves unable to counteract the rapid-fire striking from Jackson. Stereo Sharpshooters by the Bucks...broken up by Naito and Hiromu. DOUBLE BUCKSHOT LARIAT on them by Hangman! Punishment Martinez arrives at ringside before Page can follow up though, causing Hangman to leave the ring and brawl to the locker room with Punisher. LIJ have a numerical advantage now, making it count with a 5-on-1 gang attack on Matt Jackson. Disaster Kick on Takahashi! SUPERKICK on Naito. DESTROYER BY BUSHI! Magic Killer on Matt...but Nick breaks the pin by hauling Todd to the floor. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE BY CODY! Burnard The Bear stops Takahashi hitting his sunset flip bomb to the floor. BLACK MIST ON BURNARD! Cody is furious...but accidentally gets nailed in the guts by Marty and his umbrella. DESTINO BY NAITO! SUPERKICK FLURRY BY THE BUCKS! MELTZER DRIVER ON BUSHI! Matt Jackson wins at 14:28 (shown)

Rating - **** - There is an argument to be made that this was better than the London match. It wasn't as long or ambitious, but getting cut down for television also meant they ditched a lot of the comedy material and worked a straightforward, furiously-paced spot-heavy bout in front of a molten hot audience. Things like Martinez showing up to brawl with Page, or Cody and Marty struggling to get along, or the tense interactions between EVIL, SANADA and the Bucks all made this a very relevant, story-building encounter too whereas the London match was very much an exhibition-style indulgence. 

The episode ends with Dalton desperately trying to talk about the World Title on commentary but getting drowned out by fans chanting for All In, which isn't even an ROH show...

Tape Rating - *** - Bullet Club/LIJ took up more than half of the episode, and since I really liked that one I felt the episode was an easy one to recommend. Modern technology means it is easy to skip the forgettable Chuckie T/King bout or the actively disappointing Taylor/Wood rematch, so you can head straight to the main event which is an exciting bout in it's own right - but also far more relevant to ongoing storylines in both ROH and NJPW than its 2017 predecessor in the UK. It was actually one of the best matches from the entire War Of The Worlds 2018 Tour...

5) The Kingdom vs SoCal Uncensored (*** - Episode 349)

4) Flip Gordon vs Jonathan Gresham (*** - Episode 351)

3) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Roppongi 3K (**** - Episode 351)

2) Cody/Marty Scurll/Adam Page/Young Bucks vs Tetsuya Naito/Hiromu Takahashi/EVIL/SANADA/BUSHI (**** - ROH on SBG Episode 352)

1) Silas Young vs Austin Aries (**** - Episode 350)

7) Roppongi 3K vs Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (*** - Royal Oak)

6) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI (*** - Royal Oak)

5) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Roppongi 3K (**** - ROH on SBG Episode 351)

4) Cody/Marty Scurll/Adam Page/Young Bucks vs Tetsuya Naito/Hiromu Takahashi/EVIL/SANADA/BUSHI (**** - ROH on SBG Episode 352)

3) Silas Young vs Austin Aries (**** - ROH on SBG Episode 350) 

2) Young Bucks vs Hiromu Takahashi/BUSHI (**** - Lowell)

1) Young Bucks vs Super Smash Bros (**** - Toronto)