McXal's Reviews

After the big title match double-header last week, championship matches keep coming. Our main event this evening will see The Kingdom defend the Six-Man Titles against the winners of the #1 contenders gauntlet in New York - the unlikely trio of Kenny King, Chuck Taylor and rookie Eli Isom. The rest of the card brings us more Stardom action as Oedo Tai's Kagetsu and Hana Kimura face Mayu Iwatani and Jenny Rose too. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Fairfax, VA.

This is a big match for both gentlemen. Kushida suffered a loss to Jay Lethal at Best In The World so needs to rebound from the loss - but few men are more familiar with the need to rebound from a 2018 loss to Lethal than Gresham. He has played his part in two MOTYC's with the new World Champion and lost both of them. He continues to seek a signature victory over a high-ranking competitor and would love Kushida to be that scalp...

Gresham is so good even Kushida can't keep up with him as they trade holds on the mat. He actually leaves the ring to interrupt the dominance his opponent has enjoyed. He returns...straight into a bridging chickenwing from The Octopus. Kushida makes it more of an amateur grappling contest - where he is far more comfortable. For the first time he makes Gresham look foolish. Both try to work arm submissions, leading to a prolonged sequence which lasts more than a minute where they incessantly counter each other. PELE KICK by Kushida, abandoning the pleasantries and going on the attack. When we come back from commercials they are still going relentlessly back and forth - Gresh dodging an attack from Kushida to hit a quebrada then knee drop the arm. Kushida immediately retaliates with a cartwheel kick to Gresham's arm then a tumbling DDT. Back To The Future blocked, so Kushida looks for the Hoverboard Lock instead! Gresham shows all his experience by fighting the hold and making it as difficult as possible for Kushida to maintain it. Duelling arm drags next...then they decide to just start slapping each other in the face! Kushida lures Gresh into an exchange of strikes, until Jon bows out of that and drops him with a German suplex (with arm-selling) for 2. They go counter-for-counter again...right into the Hoverboard! BACK TO THE FUTURE! Kushida wins in a compelling 09:27 (shown).

Rating - *** - An easy ***1/2 match if I used such a rating system. This was a gorgeous, flowing technical masterclass. These two fine workers complemented each other wonderfully, and actually helped showcase capabilities that we don't normally see from each of them. Kushida demonstrated how technically skilled he truly is, whilst at times Gresham stepped out of his catch-style bunker/comfort-zone and moved to a more traditional Japanese junior heavyweight approach. 

NEXT WEEK - Marty Scurll vs Shane Helms has been signed. Marty accuses Hurricane of trying to 'make a name for himself' on the back of The Villain, and calls him a 'cos-play' superhero...

SoCal Uncensored explain why they decided to help out the Young Bucks by attacking the Briscoes at Best In The World. Rather than beg Joe Koff for their spot, they have decided make themselves indispensable to ROH by targeting the Briscoes. Unsurprisingly Christopher Daniels was completely fantastic in this segment...

It has been a rough trip for Oedo Tai so far. They dropped the big 8-woman tag bout at Best In The World, then last week Hazuki failed to capture Sumie Sakai with the Women Of Honor Title on the line. It is now up to World Of Stardom Champion, Kagetsu, and her prodigious young partner Hana Kimura to restore their pride with a victory. Pride isn't the only thing at stake here either. Mayu is known as the 'Icon Of Stardom'. Kagetsu needs wins over Iwatani to legitimise herself as the top star in the company - whilst Mayu wants victories over Kagetsu to earn a title shot...

Kagetsu and Rose trade tackles at the bell, with Jenny proving to be the stronger of the two. She and Iwatani use quick tags to swiftly beat down the World Of Stardom Champion. In the end Hana has to trip Rose and pull her out of the ring to rescue her partner. She beats Jenny into position for Kagetsu to land a flying tope suicida. Oedo Tai try to isolate Rose...except she blasts through both of them and tags Mayu in. Kimura starts swatting aside Iwatani's signature offensive strikes, so Mayu grabs both opponents for a DOUBLE SOMERSAULT LUCHA ARMDRAG! BRUTAL DROPKICK in the ropes almost snaps Kimura in half! Frog Splash misses though, allowing Hana to drop Iwatani to the deck with an Octopus Stretch. Jenny stomps on the back of her head to break that. BRAINBUSTER on Iwatani, leaving both women down. Kagetsu tags and rakes Jenny's eyes...so Rose gives her a blinded sidewalk slam! Diving lariat off the top gets 2 - with Hana having to lunge in and break the pin. Codebreaker/cross armbreaker combo from Kagetsu to Jenny - with Kimura tying Mayu in the ropes to stop her interfering. Rose escapes to trade forearm strikes with Kagetsu...superkick/lariat flurry by Iwatani and Rose scores 2. Hana lays out both opponents with the Oedo Tai wooden sign - only for Jenny to bridge out of a pin! Kagetsu is irate! Double boot by Oedo Tai! Iwatani breaks the pin! Ebisu Otoshi gets Kagetsu a pin on Rose at 07:26 (shown)

Rating - *** - All I can do is echo the sentiments I made in my review of Sumie/Hazuki last week, plus the Best In The World 8-woman tag. The Stardom talents are SO good and bring legitimately world class women's professional wrestling into an ROH ring whenever they show up.  Mayu Iwatani is phenomenal, Kagetsu is incredibly fun as a villainous heel, whilst Hana Kimura was obscenely talented given her age. The three Stardom talents did all the heavy lifting here, therefore ensuring a brisk tempo, spectacular demonstrations of athleticism and a hot finishing sequence which made Jenny look great even in defeat. 

LAST WEEK - After Jay Lethal comes through the curtain following his World Title win he bemoans the two years he has spent without the belt. Now he has it back it affirms his spot as 'the greatest', and he welcomes all challengers.

Austin Aries joins commentary to watch Kenny King in the main event - demanding thanks for the 'ratings boost' his appearance will deliver...

Two weeks ago we saw a Gauntlet Match to determine the next challengers for the Six-Man Championship. It was something of a strange affair with lots of makeshift teams - but there were genuine trio teams in the line-up too, such as SCU or Silas, Bruiser and Milonas. King and Taylor found some mutual respect after competing as opponents and decided to enter, but since Chuckie's usual partner Trent Beretta is still out injured they needed a third man - recruiting young ROH Dojo trainee Eli Isom to their ranks. They were considerable outsiders and their Gauntlet victory was a real upset. Their prize was this opportunity - can they pull off another upset and claim the gold?

The camera misses The Kingdom jumping the challengers because they are filming Aries at the announce table...which feels sort of inexcusable on a pre-taped wrestling broadcast. They try to capture Isom but the young man stands defiant and unleashes Taylor to hit Sole Food on Vinny. The challengers share a three-man hug with the champs sprawling...which Taven ends by booting Eli in the face. Again Isom tries to stand up to The Kingdom, but this time the numbers are too great. Marseglia sweeps him out of the corner into a backbreaker for 2. King tags and scatters all three opponents. Corkscrew pescado wipes out Taven, whilst Chuck blind-tags him on the way past. He belly to belly suplexes TK into Vinny...and does The Deal for 2 on TK. Kick Of The King by Taven! Pele by O'Ryan! Spinebuster by Kenny! All six men are down. It comes down to Taven and Isom - with Matt visibly aggrieved by Eli's heart! Fallaway slam by Isom! Marseglia pops a balloon in his ear, causing him to stumble into Rock Star Supernova. But Taylor and King block it, setting up Isom to counter with a backdrop; almost pinning Taven the exact same way he pinned Daniels in the Hammerstein. Taven muscles the kid up into a SUPER mis-timed Rock Star Supernova (even heavily edited in post-production that looked bad - all The Kingdom's fault) to retain at 06:52 (shown).

Rating - *** - I was gearing up to bury this match. I didn't think it should main event over Kushida/Gresham and in truth I didn't quite get why ROH went with this random King/Taylor/Isom trio as challengers in the first place. Nor am I sure why Aries was on commentary randomly burying everyone with his Impact World Title belt on display. But to defend the match itself, in isolation it was bright and breezy fun. Taven in particular was great as an asshole, jock captain of the team. The core of the match was a competent, courageous underdog performance from Eli Isom however. Clearly ROH have decided he is someone from their developmental system that they think has a real shot at making it. This angle has been the first steps on that journey and he certainly didn't drop the ball...

NEXT WEEK - Hung Bucks vs Los Ingobernables vs SCU

Tape Rating - *** - You can skip this show and you won't miss much, but for completists I think there is real value in this episode. Gresham/Kushida was technically flawless, the Stardom girls brought the goods to the Women Of Honor division once again, and the Six-Man Title bout - which could have really bombed - turned out rather well too. Decent promo segments from Scurll and SCU, both of which set up future matches and long-term angles round out a wholly decent episode.