McXal's Reviews

This episode goes up against the Best In The World 2018 pay-per-view, so technically last week was the go-home show. I'm not entirely clear how much reference to the PPV we'll see here, but as I said last week - if ROH wants to run TV out of the Hammerstein then they really need to make sure they have home run content for each episode. Last week produced a quite stunning, MOTYC six-man tag. This week we'll see CMLL veteran luchador Ultimo Guerrero in action. He was scheduled to be challenging for the World Title at this taping but given the state of Castle during the Honor United Tour that has been cancelled and instead Guerrero faces Matt Taven. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are at the announce table in Manhattan, NY.

These two were rivals last year during the feud between The Rebellion and Search & Destroy, and renew hostilities this year with each looking for a new direction within their singles careers after high profile defeats. Gresham in particular is looking for a definitive singles win after losing MOTYC-standard bouts earlier in the year against Jay Lethal.

King starts by visibly using his power to stop Gresham clinging to a wristlock. He continues to use his size and - as Riccaboni points out - reach advantage to control Gresham and keep him off the canvas. Gresham has a pronounced stamina edge though and as we go to commercials we see him wearing Kenny down by repeatedly forcing him to counter out of headlocks and headscissors. That continues when we come back - with Gresh on King's back wearing him down with a sleeper. Kenny counters with a high velocity snapmare...and almost KO's The Octopus with a corkscrew enzi. The former TV Champion starts going after the back of his opponent, quickly doing sufficient damage to render Jon unable to deliver a German suplex. Shotgun Knees miss, allowing Gresh to hit REPEATED Yakuza kicks in the corner, followed by a Sabin-style Hesitation Dropkick. Capo kick in response by King, followed by a spinebuster right onto Gresham's injured back. Royal Flush blocked, sending both athletes into a prolonged rolling cradle sequence with neither able to force the victory. Quebrada nailed by The Octopus...taking so much out of his own injuries that he struggles to capitalise. Kenny tries to put him down with rugged strikes...only for Gresham to NIP UP into an enziguri. NECK DROP hurricanrana! King rolls through...ROYAL FLUSH! King wins at 09:14 (shown).

Rating - *** - Like last week, here we had a really competitive and enjoyable match to open the episode. This was probably better than Lethal/Chuckie T from Lethal last week in all honesty, with all of the earnest back and forth action and far less goofing off. Gresham is so unbelievably good. In less than ten minutes here he elevated Kenny and made King seem as dangerous and skilled a technical wrestler as anyone else in King's entire ROH career. At what point does Delirious pull the trigger on Gresham and start letting him win matches? After the Lethal MOTYC's and the unrelenting consistency of his work the time must surely be approaching.

TWO WEEKS - A Six-Man Tag Gauntlet takes place to determine the next contenders to The Kingdom and the Six-Man Championship

Facade is colourful, has a striking/memorable look and chemistry with his valet character. None of that necessarily makes him a good worker of course, but I would argue it gives him the edge over a number of these 'Future Of Honor' talents; far too many of whom look either painfully generic, totally out of shape or like an ageing journeyman. His opponent is Josh Woods, looking to progress up the card after struggling to cement himself following his 2017 Top Prospect victory. He is embroiled in a mini-feud with Shane Taylor - who watches this one from the commentary table.

Woods quickly locks onto his high-flying opponent and starts throwing him around with rolling suplexes. Facade dodges a knee strike though, hitting the ropes to drop Josh with a quebrada. He teases a tope suicida but is cut off with a strike by Woods (that spot looked terrible), but inside the ring nips under a roundhouse kick from The Goods; scrambling up the turnbuckles for a TIGHTROPE WALK missile dropkick. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD 450 Splash to the floor nailed! He follows that with a springboard outside-in bulldog for 2. Woods catches Facade in a Chaos Theory and a standing DVD to pick up a big win at 04:10

Rating - * - I like Facade. He isn't particularly smooth, but I like the dreadlocked, graffiti-artist look and he has plenty of fun highspots. However, he certainly isn't an opponent I'd put in the ring to put Josh Woods over. Josh has good matches with seasoned workers who help him incorporate his MMA-influenced gimmick into worked matches properly and cover up his rough edges. Facade is a world away from being that guy. Both men looked ok on offence, but the transitions between the two were awfully cumbersome and the end result was that the fans popped for a few of Facade's spots, then finish the match chanting 'please don't talk' at Woods when he tries to address his feud with Taylor.

Josh tries to talk to Shane Taylor, against a cacophony of 'What' chants, 'Delete' chants and general heckling. Taylor offers him a rematch anytime he wants (with a large portion of the audience groaning and yelling 'no' at the prospect of it taking place in New York)...but not right now. He'll only do it when he is getting paid...

EARLIER TODAY - The Dawgs go into Shane Taylor's locker room trying to recruit him for the Six-Man Gauntlet in two weeks...but since they can only pay him with an 'I-O-U' he emphatically declines.

NEXT WEEK - Cody vs Titan, plus Bully Ray vs Cheeseburger in a No DQ Match

This is the renewal of a mini-rivalry which took place in CMLL. Taven unsuccessfully challenged for Ultimo's NWA Historic Middleweight Championship (which Guerrero has held since 2015), but enters this rematch as the reigning NWA Welterweight Champion instead - a belt he beat Volador Jr for. Bragging rights are up for grabs, and Taven will be keen to ensure he doesn't lose to the veteran luchador in his 'home promotion'. 

Taven goes straight to the mat with Guerrero, keenly aware of the threat his Lucha Libre offence poses. Ultimo escapes his clutches then leaves the ring to chase TK O'Ryan around a little. TK quickly gets his own back by choking and taking a few cheap-shots at the Mexican veteran behind the referee's back. IRISH WHIP INTO THE CROWD by Guerrero! He takes his frustration out on O'Ryan too, whacking his head against the guardrails. TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Taven moved, leaving O'Ryan to take the full impact of that, before mugging Ultimo and beating him down to the arena floor. TKO over the top rope nailed, setting up a Kick Of The King. AIR TAVEN! But Guerrero moves, meaning once again O'Ryan is wiped out by a dive! The luchador stacks both members of The Kingdom up an open chair...then runs through them like a bowling ball! He has some fun chopping the sh*t out of Taven in the corner with the Hammerstein crowd going crazy for him. Avalanche gourdbuster gets 2 and sets the stage for him to hit the Guerrero Special later in the match. Senton de la Muerte gets 2. But Matt shows his fortitude by countering a powerbomb into Just The Tip for his own nearfall. Rolling neckbreaker scores - as does the Lionsault. There is a brilliant, big fight atmosphere in the building with sections of the crowd vocally supporting both men. Taven tries to hit a frankensteiner on Guerrero...COUNTERED TO AN AWESOMEBOMB for 2! Kick Of The King by Taven, setting him up to climb the ropes again. He tries to set up the Guerrero Special...but red balloons start popping up from under the ring. Vinny Marseglia appears and stops the Guerrero Special by popping a balloon in Ultimo's ear. CLIMAX scores, giving Taven the win at 12:15 (shown).

Rating - **** - For the second week running I was actually a little caught off guard by how fun this TV main event actually was. The New York crowd gave a real demonstration of why they remain ROH's top market because they absolutely MADE this one. The action was fun for sure, but it was the deafening, bipartisan audience which took it to the next level. It really felt like a gruelling battle as the two warriors emptied the tanks dropping bombs on each other. As usual, Marseglia's appearance was disappointing and entirely predictable, but I can live with it as a compromise finish to CMLL in order to protect one of their champions and top stars. O'Ryan was actually really fun as an outside personality, providing decent comedy in his exchanges with Ultimo and playing his part in an entertaining tit-for-tat dive sequence too.

Tape Rating - *** - Nothing reached the heights of the trios tag main event last week, but on the whole this was another strong episode. Taven/Ultimo really entertained me as a back and forth slug-fest between two equally matched competitors, which definitely made Taven come off like a real star. Gresham/King was fun as an opener too, and the Woods/Facade match was short enough that you could skip it rather than get too offended. Hopefully we get more of this high quality content from ROH at this special New York taping...