McXal's Reviews

This is the TV broadcast which runs opposite ROH's own pay-per-view. It is always a tough spot, so this week ROH pull out their trump card - they are putting The Elite in the main event. The Young Bucks and Cody defend the Six-Man Tag Titles against Silas Young and The Bouncers - which should be unique if nothing else. Punishment Martinez is also in action; defending the TV Title against Aaron Solow. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary in Philadelphia, PA.

This is quite a collection of individuals. Taylor is in the cold and not featured on the Death Before Dishonor card. Despite some strong performances in 2018, and a decisive win over Josh Woods in Atlanta, he finds himself in a position where he needs to start gathering wins if he wants to climb the card. Flip is now an international star, in-demand around the world in part due to his feature guest star role on Being The Elite. In ROH terms he is trying to set aside his issues with Bully Ray to concentrate on climbing the ladder. At the time they were taping Sabin was preparing for his TV Title shot in Las Vegas against Punishment Martinez, and still coming to terms with his new status as a singles wrestler following Alex Shelley's decision to take a hiatus from wrestling. Isom is the odd man out, but not a man to be overlooked as he demonstrated by pinning Chris Daniels at the NYC Excellence TV taping earlier in the year.

Sabin has a new haircut, new music and a new ring entrance from Bobby Cruise to illustrate his transition to the singles division. He starts with Flip - all guns blazing, strikes flying and both men striking themselves into oblivion. Taylor tags...and Isom has no hesitation in getting in there with him. Pop-up chokeslam quickly puts him on his ass though! Sabin and Gordon team up to drive Shane to the floor. Eli goes for a pescado and is CAUGHT by Taylor! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA by Flip! He tries another springboard only to be shoved off the ropes to the floor by Taylor! CANNONBALL OFF THE APRON by Taylor! After the commercial break we see Gordon in the air again, lunging at Shane with a springboard dropkick. Samoan Pop blocked...Star Spangled Stunner blocked...SPRINGBOARD SPEAR nailed! That sequence was a lot of fun! Greetings From 216 countered...so Taylor decimates Gordon with a lariat. Unfortunately for him Sabin is locked and loaded with a missile dropkick and a tornado DDT for 2. ST-Joe from Taylor to Sabin! Eli voluntarily tags in with Taylor again and actually hits the big man with a Samoan drop. DDT/flatliner combo from Sabin to Isom and Gordon. Cradle Shock blocked into a tilta-whirl backbreaker by the ultra-game Isom! TOPE SUICIDA UP THE AISLE! Even the cynical Philly crowd is starting to buy into the kid. POP-UP DEATH PUNCH by Taylor! Pele by Flip...NO SOLD into a knock-out knee by Taylor. He roars triumphantly in Flip's face, and therefore doesn't see Isom sneaking up behind him for a schoolboy pin. Against all the odds, Isom scores another shock win at 07:58 (shown).

Rating - *** - Ring Of Honor really are going in heavily on Isom being the ROH Dojo graduate they push from the outset aren't they?! A lot of guys have come through ROH's training school over the years with only a few achieving genuine career longevity, and even fewer obtaining a huge amount of success in ROH. He looks to be a natural athlete - but I'm not quite so sure I'm as sold on him just yet. To his credit, in recent TV tapings he has been put in a high profile spot in front of two of the most unforgiving crowds ROH has (Philly and New York) - and has delivered on both occasions. Despite Eli's win the real quality in this one (in my opinion) came from Flip and Taylor. Individually they were excellent, and when they worked with each other some of their sequences were outstanding. 

Unsurprisingly, Taylor takes losing to a rookie badly. He lays Eli out with Greetings From 216, and does the same to Sabin as well. He isn't even allowed to get his heat back though because Flip sends him backing with a Superkick...

NEXT WEEK - It's Scurll vs Helms, Villain vs Hero Round II. Marty 'relishes' the opportunity to 'vanquish the Hurricane'...

'Dojo Pro' was a short-lived Amazon-streamed wrestling concept where thirteen wrestlers would compete in a serialised, gauntlet style tournament. The winner would win the 'Black Belt' Championship, and also a shot at the ROH TV Title. Each week the winner would be crowned the 'White Belt' Champion, and defend until defeated, or until the end of the season. Solow was the winner, defeating Jeff Cobb in the final - although since Cobb is now also in ROH and getting a monster push, they show footage of Solow beating MJF instead. Solow is a trainee of Tony Kozina, has worked enhancement matches for NXT, has done spots here and there with FIP/WWN promotions, Progress and more. As of 2020 he'd also made appearances on AEW Dark and NJPW's US side-project shows. This isn't actually his ROH debut either. According to Cagematch he was working dark matches as far back as 2013, but made his TV debut in 2014 on Episode 167 - where he lost a short squash match to Adam Page and I referred to him in my review as 'Stupid Haircut Jobber' because he wasn't even named on camera. 

The Dojo Pro 'Black Belt' Championship belt is among the ugliest titles I've ever seen. Punisher tries to intimidate Solow from the bell but is met by a big slap from the challenger. Pescado blocked...but so is a chokeslam. Instead Martinez stomps through his skull! On the outside the champ lifts Solow onto his shoulders and launches him spine and neck-first into the guardrail. After commercials Aaron manages to get a kick into Punisher's face, knocking him back far enough to allow him to land a somersault plancha. South Of Heaven COUNTERED to the Bayley To Belly! Cradle DDT blocked though, setting up the Curb Stomp. South Of Heaven wins it for Martinez at 05:14 (shown).

Rating - ** - As a match this was fine, but it is a worrying indication of the alarmingly over-inflated opinion ROH and their officials had of the company at this point. Solow was the survivor of as 12/13 episode web series to earn this opportunity. ROH are in no way big enough - even on the back of an MSG sell-out (which cynics would say had more to do with NJPW and The Elite than it did ROH) - to justify squashing him in such a manner...

In the locker room Bully approaches Silas Young and calls his decision to team with The Bouncers a 'step backwards' after main eventing with him last week. 

NEXT WEEK - Coast 2 Coast return to action against The Kingdom, before a Fight Without Honor main event bringing together Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara

This is the first title defence for Cody and the Bucks. They face, in Silas and Bruiser, men who have coveted the Six-Man Championship since its inception back in 2016. In Milonas, Bruiser believes they finally have a like-minded third to bring the belts home to Milwaukee. But where is Silas Young's head? As we just saw, his complex relationship with Bully continues to develop. Bubba thinks it is a step backwards for Silas to team with his old friend the Bruiser. Does the Last Real Man agree? Any uncertainty will almost certainly derail any chance they have of toppling the all-conquering Bullet Club

'Lose some weight' - Philadelphia to Milonas as he starts out with Matt. But its that size which sees him dominate even an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champion like Matt Jackson. Bruiser tags and demands that Nick ditch the pretty sh*t and 'fight' him. In the end it takes all three champions to drive The Bouncers out of the ring...but that in turn sets them up for a few triple team combos on Young. On the outside Silas starts yelling at his burly partners, then tries to bring them together in a huddle as Riccaboni and Coleman speculate whether we are already seeing the influence of Bully Ray. His next move is to trip Nick as he tries to run the ropes, toppling him into a running powerslam by BCB. Cody manages to get Bruiser up for a body slam...but turns his back on Silas in the process and doesn't see the Last Real Man come in to chopblock his knee from under him. Cody tries to throw Bruiser out of the ring...only for Beer City to convert the throw into a tope which cleans out Burnard The Business Bear instead. Meanwhile in the ring Milonas flattens Rhodes with a running crossbody too. Cody gets a big tag to Nick Jackson, who levels Silas and BCB with a bulldog/neckbreaker drop combo. Even both Young Bucks at the same time are struggling to get Kingpin off his feet. Plunge by Silas COUNTERED WITH A SUPERKICK! Frog splash/standing moonsault combo gets 2. ROPE RUN suicide dive by Cody! SUPERKICKS ON THE FLOOR by the Bucks! With everyone brawling on the floor they lose Bruiser...who climbs up to the top rope for a DIVING CROSSBODY TO THE FLOOR! ELEVATED LEG DROP COMBO from The Bouncers to Cody gets 2. Last Call COUNTERED WITH A MID-AIR DOUBLE SUPERKICK ON BRUISER! SUPERKICK/DISASTER KICK COMBO on Milonas! Young walks away and heads up the aisle, watching on as the champs hit a Superkick/Cross Rhodes combo. Cody pins Milonas to retain at 13:32 (shown).

Rating - *** - Probably the best match from what has, thus far at least, been a pretty underwhelming TV taping as far as match quality is concerned. Sure it was a filler defence and it felt a little bland before the commercial break...but the second half of the match was electric. Perhaps more importantly, it was just outright FUN to watch the Young Bucks (and Cody) have to mess around with their usual formula just to work with a guy the size of Milonas. As discussed previously, I'm not a big fan of how ROH are f*cking with Silas' long-established character just for the sake of a Bully Ray sub-plot, so the finish fell rather flat with me...but all credit to The Bouncers, who went from being described as 'schmucks' by Bubba earlier to legitimately holding their own in a Young Bucks-style trios spotfest. It is a shame to see Bruiser relegated back into the role of slovenly undercard lout after the quality of his matches with Goto, Naito and the Castle/Beretta triple threat in Tokyo earlier in the year though...

Tape Rating - *** - This was very much a filler episode, so thankfully they ensured it was heavy on in-ring content and - for the most part - it was all the better for it. The main event may surprise people if, like me, you have at times heavily criticised Milonas and Bruiser. The opening fourway was decent, and in the middle Martinez/Solow was a spirited squash - as long as you weren't a fan of the Dojo Pro series since it took a steaming dump all over that show.