McXal's Reviews

A week out from Death Before Dishonor, Ring Of Honor has a big week of TV on hand as the stars prepare for a pay-per-view showdown in Las Vegas. The World Champion is in our main event this evening. Jay Lethal teams with his rival-turned-ally Jon Gresham to face Bully Ray and Silas Young. On the undercard Kenny King looks to make it two wins in a row over Bullet Club members when he faces Hangman Page...as well as ROH trying to restart the 2018 Top Prospect Tournament which has thus far been decimated by one Jeff Cobb. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are on commentary at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.

Am I missing something with The Boys? I really don't get why they keep getting booked in regular matches like this. I could sort of rationalise it whilst Dalton was World Champion and out injured as it kept him relevant - but on the go-home episode for a major PPV I'm completely unclear on why they are getting TV time? The Best Friends are preparing to participate in one of the feature matches at Death Before Dishonor though - both forming part of the five-man CHAOS team to take on Bullet Club. 

The Boys enjoy a quick start which scatters the Friends around ringside. They hug on the floor...and don't see Boy #2 flying through the air into a tope atomico! #1 tries a dive as well but is tied up in the ropes for a SNAP GERMAN by Trent! LAWN DART ON THE FLOOR! Ligerbomb by Taylor gets 2. Back from commercials with the Best Friends smearing #1 into the mat with a double chokeslam. Springboard crossbody by Boy #2, before joining his brother for a lungblower/Codebreaker combo on Beretta. NECK DROP LARIAT from Trent to #2! Gobstopper! AWFUL WAFFLE! DUDEBUSTER! Best Friends win at 04:50 (shown)

Rating - ** - I'm still not entirely clear on why this needed to be on the show, but in all fairness it was plenty of fun as a silly, brief spot-match. The Boys didn't outstay their welcome, they bumped like crazy to make Trent and Chuck look good and the name team come out with an emphatic victory. As far as squash matches go it was very decent.

On Episode 461 we saw Kenny King rebound in a major way. In a year which has saw him get cheated out of the TV Title at Supercard Of Honor, betrayed by his former friend Austin Aries at War Of The Worlds Chicago, then cheated out of a victory over A-Double at Best In The World too - King realised he needed to become more villainous. He cheated to beat Marty Scurll in a hell of a match, and now comes for another high profile win over a Bullet Club member in Philly. 

Kenny comes out carrying a load of inflatable pool toys for no reason whatsoever. It is mutually beneficial to work the mat and trade holds early; Page looking to nullify King's speed, whilst Kenny is fearful of Hangman's strength. Gradually Kenny creates distance and drives his opponent of the ring with a dropkick...before tiger feinting off the apron into an elbow to the jaw. SHOOTING STAR TACKLE OFF THE APRON! Page starts throwing King's inflatables into the ring...and gives him a suplex onto an inflatable champagne bottle. Chin Checker, then a lariat, then a spinning heel kick put King on top...and he drives home his advantage with a spinebuster. Page flips out of a German and elbows Kenny into a bridging German of his own for 2. JUMPING ENZI to block a tope suicida! Page is almost unconscious after that yet somehow drags himself up for the Buckshot Lariat. Kenny grabs the ropes to block the Rite Of Passage - but can't pin Hangman using them; referee Paul Turner is aware of what happened against Marty Scurll so spot it and refuses to count. Royal Flush blocked...so King rolls Page up with a handful of trunks to grab another controversial victory at 09:23 (shown).

Rating - *** - Not at the same level as King/Scurll from a few weeks ago, but good enough for an SBG TV midcard filler match. There was some smart wrestling in here, and if we are going down the 'Kenny needs to cheat to win' route I certainly liked the fact that they referenced and built upon the Scurll finish to do something different this time. The comedy skits with inflatable pool toys and fan selfies was less to my taste...

This is ROH's third attempt at starting the 2018 Top Prospect Tournament. The previous two bouts were both in Atlanta and both destroyed by the emergence of Jeff Cobb. Two more Future Of Honor talents take to the ring tonight, hoping that no former Olympic wrestlers are lurking behind the curtain waiting to ruin their aspirations...

The bell rings, they lock up, Dante smacks Johnson in the back of the head...then the crowd erupt because Jeff Cobb is already marching down the aisle. He stands ominously in the ring as Johnson tries to hide! SWINGING back suplex lays out Caballero! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS on Johnson! Another Top Prospect Tournament match is decimated at 00:58!

Rating - N/A - I feel like ROH could have gotten more ambitious with Cobb's debut and immediately pushed him further up the card. BUT, having him steamroll over the Top Prospect Tournament - which few ROH fans really single out as the highlight of the year - has been a lot of fun. 

Jeff gets a microphone and announces that the Top Prospect Tournament is over. He doesn't need a tournament to tell people that he is the top prospect to enter ROH!

There are some interesting dynamics in play here. Lethal and Gresham have been adversaries all year, but after three MOTYC's now have a mutual respect which has seen them team up - and they come in having won their first match as a duo, against the Young Bucks no less. Gresham insulted curmudgeonly, sour old-timer Bully Ray last week, and Jay came to his aid; himself fed up at Bully's antics and personally slighted given the glowing testimony Lethal gave Bully during his prolonged 'retirement tour'. Lethal and Silas have almost two years worth of rivalry behind them, and last week that was reignited when Young attacked the World Champion from behind. Does Silas want a title shot? Or was he trying to send a message to Bully Ray, with whom he has an odd chemistry. They've teamed up, but we've seen Bully have a strange power over him - almost emasculating the 'Last Real Man'. Lethal can't afford an injury here with a PPV main event over Will Ospreay to prepare for...

Bubba hurls abuse at Gresham and demands to start the match with him. The size between these two is absolutely vast...but we don't see it for long because Bully turns on his heels, walks away and makes Silas do the work. The Octopus makes Silas look foolish...earning him a telling off from Bubba. Gresh isn't done either; he SLAPS BUBBA IN THE FACE! He keeps calling out the Hall Of Famer, who teases walking out instead of facing him. Finally Bully and Gresham lock up...and after some moments of hope for Jon he is launched skyward with an emphatic back body drop. Lethal tags and actually gets Bubba to trade holds with him...and even throw a dropkick too! They can't be settled there so Jay challenges Bully to a chop duel. BRUTAL chops exchanged! Lethal doesn't back down but gets flattened by a body avalanche instead. He crotches Gresham on the top rope and, with Lethal out of commission, Bubba and Silas go to work on The Octopus. That is until Gresh comes out of nowhere and traps Bully in the Octopus Stretch! Young has to break that up. Still Gresham keeps fighting; getting up repeatedly even though he is being brutalised. He makes the hot tag to the World Champion, who drops Silas with the Lethal Combination. Double suplex drops Ray, before Lethal sends Gresham upstairs for a Wassup flying headbutt! HAIL TO THE KING/SHOOTING STAR PRESS COMBO! Bubba breaks the pin! He low blows Gresh into Misery. Young wins at 13:09 (shown)

Rating - *** - Probably the best match Bully Ray has featured in since Final Battle and the Briscoes. Putting aside the argument about whether I want to see Bully in a TV main event that should be giving a major PPV event the hard sell, in isolation this is a good match. For all the criticism that flies Bully's way, he did a lot in this one match to put over all three of his fellow participants. The fiery exchanges with Lethal were tremendous, he didn't completely squash Gresham and he didn't wholly neuter Silas either. As I said last week, Silas winning and potentially setting up a World Title Match with Jay Lethal is an enticing prospect too. Bubba Ray Dudley should NOT be in this spot. But whether he should be there or not, this was an exciting main event.

Tape Rating - ** - I called Episode 365 clumsy; it spent the entire hour hastily throwing out match after match for a PPV which ROH is struggling to promote due to its proximity to All In. If I were to offer up a single(ish) word summation for Episode 366 it would be 'ill-judged'. We got some good wrestling, the least objectionable Bully Ray match of the year and another appearance from Jeff Cobb. But - and its a pretty big issue for a go-home episode - Death Before Dishonor was hardly mentioned. Sure we got some graphics and the commentators mentioned it from time-to-time...but what we actually saw unfold within the 2300 Arena had minimal relevance to the big event in Vegas. It was a succession of matches and a perfectly decent episode...but floating PPV buyers will have found precious little to tempt them.