McXal's Reviews

Their first two matches together this year were 2018 MOTYC's. Now Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham bring their rivalry to television - with the added sweetener that Lethal's newly-won ROH World Title is on the line. And it will be an ROH television first, as it will be a 30-Minute Iron Man Match. Inexplicably, given how little TV time ROH episodes actually have, they are also trying to cram in a Briscoe/Kazarian singles match tonight too. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Colt Cabana form a three-man announce team in Atlanta, GA.

These two are in the ring, already swinging punches as the episode opens. In a bid to prolong their ROH careers - which CEO Joe Koff is planning to end after Final Battle 2018 - SCU have targeted ROH originals and reigning Tag Champions the Briscoes. As you might expect, Jay and Mark haven't taken kindly to that - and this week we see these two do battle in bitter singles action...

As stated, we are JIP with the two men teeing off on each other. Riccaboni spots that Kazarian tries to make it more of a wrestling match because he doesn't want to brawl with a Briscoe. He hits the Jerry Lynn leg drop then goes to the floor with the slingshot rana over the top rope. Mark kicks the middle rope into Kazarian's balls and dives off the apron with a blockbuster to the floor. He sends Frankie back up to the apron with a back suplex into the side of the ring. Kaz comes up swinging though and drops his opponent with a lungblower/springboard Codebreaker combo. Electric chair suplex gets 2 for Frankie. Jay Briscoe shows up to distract Kaz as he lines up the Tomikaze...so Frankie boots Jay in the head. Froggy Bow misses and Kaz crucifix pins Mark for the win at 05:25 (shown)

Rating - ** - This was fine for a short, feud-building TV match. I liked the JIP vibe in the sense that starting an episode right into an all-guns-blazing fist fight certainly made an impact. The match itself didn't amount to much more than a successful of these two experienced guys hitting their signature spots but it was all crisp - with Kaz in particular looking great.

The Briscoes mug Kazarian 2-on-1, inevitably bringing Christopher Daniels and Scorpio Sky out to help out. Punishment Martinez shows up to get some payback for Sky helping the Motor City Machine Guns a couple of weeks ago - feeding him into a Jay Driller. Jay repays the favour by sending Daniels into a South Of Heaven.

The aftermath of an Honor Club exclusive bout featuring The Dawgs, Cheeseburger and Ryan Nova is shown. Titus makes Burger watch as Ferrara lays out Nova with his own Shotei...before Will lays out Burger too. Their feud continues...

LAST WEEK - Silas and Bully have a heated exchange in the locker room after their main event loss to the Best Friends...

The new World Champion is 2-0 over Gresham for 2018. Their matches at Honor Reigns Supreme and Masters Of The Craft were classics. Indeed, they were so enjoyable for Lethal that he was willing to put his title on the line to ensure that they could do it all over again. Gresham knows his win/loss record doesn't warrant this title shot - but the strength of his performances this year will be enough to convince him that he has the tools to defeat the Franchise tonight. He has the additional boost of competing in his home town too. I'm reviewing the Honor Club Exclusive version of this one - which I believe is the full, uncut match rather than the version edited down for broadcast television.

Cabana provides some interesting commentary from the bell, talking about his experience of Lethal's endurance in their 2016 Ringmaster's Challenge. The tentative grappling of the first minute quickly gives way to heated shoves - and Gresham refuses to give an inch to the champ. Lethal looks to make a statement by working arm submissions on Gresh - the strategy which has worked so well for The Octopus in their previous encounters...so Jon counters by attacking the leg like Lethal did in Concord and Columbus. Then they swap, Gresham literally offering Lethal a limb to grab so he can lure the champion in and start attacking the arm. He keeps going back to the arm soon after to block some of Jay's signature offensive combinations. An agitated Lethal lunges on the bandaged knee of Gresham, unsuccessfully looking for a Boston Crab. He tries to use his size and power advantage by muscling Gresh to the ground with a knucklelock...only to find Jon's core strength too much and the Octopus countering into a roll-up for 2. Anklelock by Gresham! Lethal escapes and desperately grabs at headlocks; admitting defeat in his attempts to out-work Gresham on the canvas. Even then Jon finds a way to counter into another arm submission. Ten minutes in and the champ is stuck in Gresham's ideal match and battling to stay in contention. Riccaboni recognises that he needs to step it up - and he responds with his signature hiptoss/dropkick sequence. THROAT PUNCH! Gresham retreats to the ropes, only to be dumped on his head with a cradle back suplex out of the corner. Gresham is pissed off - but makes a mistake of trying to engage the champ in a strike battle. Jay chops him so hard that he actually falls down on his haunches before dumping him on his back again with a snap suplex. Realising he is starting to inflict damage on The Octopus for the first time Lethal puts all his weight into a chinlock, cranking that neck and back again. He shakes off Gresham's strikes like they don't exist...then DESTROYS him with a knee to the stomach. RUNNING PUNT to the arm in response by Gresh, setting up a satellite armbreaker. Taking heavy damage from Lethal, Jon realised it was his turn to up the pace and he just delivered. He launches a significant onslaught on the arm now and finds multiple ways to crank it in the ropes. Jay tries to leave the ring...only for Gresham to stay on him and hammerlock his arm for a slam into the apron. Next he stops the injured arm into the solid floor - using it once they get back into the ring to crucifix pin him for 2. Bridging chickenwing applied at twenty minutes WITH a half crab on leg he targeted earlier as well. Holy sh*t Gresham is incredible! Jay looks to pummel his way free, except this time Gresham is able to exploit the injured arm to make those strike exchanges a little more evenly matched. 

They threaten to go Kobashi/Sasaki with a never-ending chop war...until Jay ducks out and tries to hit the Lethal Combination. His arm gives out though and Gresh puts his shoulders down for a two-count. Quebrada nailed, knocking the champion to the floor. Jay refuses to stay out there and tags Gresh with a springboard dropkick. He wearily looks to climb the ropes...and when Gresh puts a boot up to block the elbow he looks to switch into the Figure 4 as he's done in their previous matches! But this time Gresham blocks! ARM-SELLING LETHAL COMBO INSTEAD! The Octopus lands in the ropes, wrenches the bad arm for an ARM CAPTURE STUNNER! BRIDGING GERMAN GETS 2! Snap German follows...CROSS ARMBREAKER! KICK TO THE ARM to block the Figure 4! NO SOLD! LETHAL INJECTION BLOCKED WITH AN ARM KICK! OCTOPUS STRETCH! WITH REPEATED FACE PUNCHES! LETHAL TAPS! Gresham goes 1-0 up at 26:15! He is less than four minutes from becoming World Champion. Lethal freaks out and charges him. Knee strike flurry at three minutes! FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! Less than 150 seconds to go! Can Gresham hold on!? CHOPS BY LETHAL! KICK TO THE FACE! HE WON'T QUIT! 90 seconds left on the clock...GRESHAM TAPS! He almost has tears in his eyes as he comes so close to becoming World Champion before conceding the fall. We are 1-1 at 28:41! With a minute left both men are down on the canvas nursing serious injuries. Desperation pins by Gresham - without getting back to his feet to sell the leg - but Jay keeps kicking out. The 30:00 time limit expires at one fall apiece! Gresham gets on the microphone immediately to petition for five more minutes. Lethal grabs the microphone and simply says...'START THE CLOCK'! Todd Sinclair agrees to five minutes of sudden death overtime and here we go! They swing wild punches and elbows at each other! JUMPING ENZI by Gresh! His knee gives way so he can't capitalise though. He stomps the arm to set up the bridging La Magistral variance for a HOT nearfall. Octopus Stretch countered to the Lethal Express! HAIL TO THE KING! He loses precious seconds due to his arm injury and can't get the pin. They give up trying to bomb on each other and quite literally writhe back and forth on the canvas trying to pin each other. Gresham hops onto Lethal's back with the same Sleeper which choked out Shane Taylor in Nashville! COUNTERED TO THE ACE CRUSHER! LETHAL INJECTION! LETHAL WINS! He wins sudden death, takes the match 2-1 and retains the title at 33:49 (total).

Rating - ****1/2 - Absolutely stunning stuff. I haven't found the time to watch the version that they cropped down to fit TV time restraints, so can't comment on that - but the uncut version was completely gripping. If you are being honest the crowd weren't fantastic early on, with audible heckles and cat-calls. But they bravely stuck to their work...and by the end of a gruelling half hour war they had the place rocking. There was a definitive three-act structure (plus overtime) in place here, and for long periods it was Jon Gresham taking his place as the aggressor. For the majority of the first ten minutes he successfully lured and trapped the champ into pitting his wits against him on the canvas. It was intensely technical stuff, if a little slow-going for the live crowd they were playing to; noticeably referencing and flipping some of the formulas that worked for them in the first two matches - like Lethal attempting to work an arm and Gresham hinting at targeting the leg. They didn't dive as deeply into that as I'd like - but it did mean that when they finally did started bombing on the respective arm/leg injuries from Concord and Columbus in the last ten minutes you really felt like they'd earned it - and gone through hell to get to the opportunity to target their preferred limb. There were two intriguing points of transition here which I absolutely loved. At ten minutes the announcers basically called out Lethal for letting himself get trapped in a Gresham-style grap-fest. He knew he needed to step it up - and he delivered with a throat punch and some really violent striking. Now The Octopus knew the pressure was on him to respond, and as the second 'act' progressed he too proved he had the ability to step it up; by decimating Lethal's arm as we saw him do in the previous matches. It set up a frenetic final ten minutes, a BRUTAL submission victory for Gresham - who sold the disbelief and elation that he could be World Champion, followed by the crushing disappointment of having to tap his lead away a couple of minutes later, stupendously well. I don't think this flowed as smoothly as Concord - but by design it was far more substantial. Your appetite for longer, more methodically-paced encounters may determine which you liked better. This is the best of the three for me though, and one of ROH's best matches on Sinclair television EVER. 

Tape Rating - **** - If I'm being critical I feel like the entire episode should have been dedicated to the main event (so they could show more of it), with all other content from this broadcast squeezed into the other three episodes taped. But Lethal/Gresham takes up the vast majority of the show and is, without question, one of the best ROH on SBG matches around. If you have Honor Club check out the full, uncut version in the 'Honor Club Exclusives' section...

5) Shane Taylor vs Josh Woods (*** - Episode 363)

4) Flip Gordon vs Silas Young (*** - Episode 362)

3) Kenny King vs Marty Scurll (**** - Episode 361)

2) Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan vs Cody/Young Bucks (**** - Episode 362)

1) Jay Lethal vs Jonathan Gresham (****1/2 - Episode 364)