McXal's Reviews

It's our last episode from this round of tapings, with the biggest matches saved for last. First up is the fourth (and fingers crossed, the last) match in the Villain vs Superhero/Scurll vs Helms rivalry. It's no NQ rules for that, and I'll be reviewing the 'Honor Club Exclusive' version of it. That comes before a big Tag Title main event as the Briscoes defend against the Young Bucks and The Addiction...although a question mark hangs over that after the champs seemingly injured Christopher Daniels last week. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Colt Cabana are in Philadelphia, PA.

Dalton Castle re-enters the 2300 Arena, one week removed from his return to ROH in the main event last week. He keeps his words short - he's back and he wants 'the champ'. Of course he is referring to Jay Lethal, but onto the stage comes the 'Real World Champion' Matt Taven. He says Dalton couldn't handle 'the pressure' of carrying the company...so Castle calls him a 'gangly, uncoordinated idiot'. Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan run in and assault The Boys so Taven can lay Castle out with the purple championship belt. TRIPLE CON-CHAIR-TO on Castle! The Kingdom make an emphatic, brutal statement.

Ian Riccaboni provides an update on the main event, namely that the injuries sustained by Christopher Daniels have ruled him out of the main event. He says the 'Board Of Directors' are still deciding on a suitable replacement, although a graphic at the top of the show already confirmed that Scorpio Sky would be stepping in...

The score between these two is 1-1-1. Scurll was victorious in the first bout, after breaking 'Ace Reporter' Gregory Helms' fingers in Fairfax. The Hurricane demanded to be brought back for a rematch, which took place in Philadelphia and saw him take a win back over The Villain. The rubber match was supposed to be at Glory By Honor 16, but there they went to a messy non-finish with no winner determined. After that one Marty committed the ultimate villainous crime by de-masking The Hurricane in the middle of the ring. This is, therefore, now intensely personal and the rules have been thrown out to ensure we get a winner. I'm reviewing the Honor Club Exclusive version FYI...

Marty brings Hurricane's mask to the ring with him like a trophy, and comes out wearing street clothes. In a fun callback to Glory By Honor, Helms has Delirious come out onto the stage dressed like him so that he can come out through the crowd (without his mask) and give Scurll a Hurri-Chokeslam before the bell rings. When the match does formally start it sees Hurricane lobbing Marty into the guardrails and clothesline him through an open chair. The Villain cracks his arm against the ringpost when trying to fight back to make matters even worse. He has more success with a Superkick from the apron when Helms tries to reclaim his mask though. Scurll fills the ring with umbrellas, grabbing them one at a time and smashing them across the torso of the veteran. He then bends one around Hurricane's throat in a demented version of a camel clutch as well. Somehow Shane escapes...by donning the mask and becoming The Hurricane! He snaps an umbrella symbolically over his knee and unleashes the Mortifyer for 2.The Superhero opens a series of steel chairs in the ring...only for Marty to kick him in the head and take over chair-setting duties. PRESS SLAM OFF THE TOP THROUGH THE CHAIRS from Helms to Scurll! Eye Of The Hurricane gets 2! Brainbuster by a bedraggled and desperate Villain draws a nearfall as well. Marty sets a table up at ringside and rakes the eyes to block an attempted chokeslam. Both men are on the apron, where Marty delivers a DVD THROUGH THE TABLE! The Hurricane looks dead and buried yet still finds a way to kick out. Marty is furious and dumps tacks all over the canvas in response. He teases a Rock Bottom, referencing Hurricane's notorious mini-feud with Dwayne Johnson...and snaps the finger when he blocks it. HURRI-CHOKESLAM IN THE TACKS! SCURLL KICKS OUT! Low blow on Helms, another staple of this rivalry...before he stuffs tacks into Helms' mouth. TACK-LOADED SUPERKICK! GRADUATION IN THE TACKS! Marty gets the win at 14:21

Rating - **** - Putting aside my general insistence that this rivalry shouldn't have existed beyond that one match on television, and has derailed the work ROH had done in rebuilding Scurll in the second half of 2018...this was a great pay-off to their feud. There were a few too many occasions when the match completely stopped so one of the participants (usually Marty) could ferret around under the ring looking for weaponry, but both men took some really brutal bumps and went considerably above and beyond what most expected of them in terms of violence. They also did a terrific job weaving in references to the previous matches, starting early with Helms and Delirious getting payback for Scurll and Hangman's entrance fake-out trick in Baltimore. If you can get past the fact that ROH have stretched this angle that shouldn't even exist to FOUR matches, there was a lot to enjoy here. It surprised me with both the violence and the quality on display.

Up next we have a sit-down interview with Brandi Rhodes, discussing her horrific double clavicle break whilst touring with Stardom and subsequent surgery and recovery. Whoever made the decision to put cheap, late-night infomercial music over the whole thing should be fired. It lowered the tone and lessened the impact of Brandi's words quite a bit.

Since winning the belts from the Motor City Machine Guns at the Anniversary Show, the bulk of 2018 for the Briscoes has been spent in two major rivalries. The first went to Best In The World where they overcame the Bucks, the second to Death Before Dishonor where they bested The Addiction. But all three of those teams retain elite level tag teams and very much in the championship hunt. SCU have publicly stated that they want to beat the 'Day One' veterans to become Tag Champions and re-enter negotiations over new contracts with ROH COO Joe Koff who wants to release them when their existing deals expire next month. Things got more personal last week when the Briscoes put Christopher Daniels out of action with a Jay Driller on the stage...but he is now replaced by Scorpio Sky. That is signficant; Kaz and Scorpio defeated the Briscoes during All In: Zero Hour...

Sky and Nick start the match since the Briscoes don't want to stop antagonising fans in the front row. TOPE ATOMICO by Scorpio to clean out the champs! Kazarian follows that with the slingshot rana to the floor as well! Soon enough SCU and the Bucks are joining forces to assault the aggressive champions, which only further pisses them off. Jay eventually shakes them off and almost breaks Frankie's neck with a running lariat. Mark starts ramming the back of Frankie's head into the guardrails, potentially trying to re-open cuts he sustained at Death Before Dishonor. Kaz's neck and head become focal points for Briscoe offence...to the extent that even after he drops Mark with a lungblower he can't peel himself off the mat and Jay has time to storm the ring and knock his partner to the floor. TURNBUCKLE GERMAN SUPLEX from Frankie to Mark! The Briscoes go right to Matt Jackson's bad back in an attempt to quell his momentum. FLIPPING ACE CRUSHER TO THE FLOOR by Matt! Sharpshooter on Jay...broken by Sky. POP-UP SPEAR on him by the Bucks. They follow that with a springboard double stomp on Jay for 2. Nick has to peel Jay off the ropes when the Briscoes try to set up the avalanche Redneck Boogie...and Mark doesn't see a running frankensteiner from Scorpio coming. Dropkick/powerbomb combo by SCU for 2...then they break for stereo slingshot cutters and Dragon Clutches. SUPERKICKS by Nick and Jay to break it! Nick goes nuts kicking everyone in his way...including referee Paul Turner! Mark NAILS him with a chair as soon as the ref hits the mat. JAY DRILLER ON A CHAIR for Kazarian! MATT BREAKS THE PIN! He came from nowhere to break that one. He drops Mark with a Spear...but turns into a BACKBREAKER ON THE CHAIR! The coast seems clear for the Doomsday Device on Kazarian...but Mark doesn't see Sky toss one of the Tag Title belts to his partner! Frankie waffles Jay with the belt before countering the Doomsday into the FLUX CAPACITOR! MARK KICKS OUT! That's how SCU beat them at All In too! Jay reacts by trying to throw a chair...but accidentally KO's his own brother! ACE CRUSHER ON THE APRON by Sky! He charges the ring and hits a urinage/lungblower combo with Kaz. NEW CHAMPS! SCU bring home the Tag Titles at 13:35 (shown) and might have just saved their ROH careers...

Rating - **** - The names involved should tell you exactly what kind of match you can expect. All I can say is that they live up to those expectations and delivered a great TV main event which did so much more than rely on high spots to get over. The intricacy of some of the beats here was quite spectacular. Teams weren't just running through elaborate sequences and/or countering signature spots, they were switching partners around and hitting their trademark sh*t with other people. Being cruel to Delirious, I didn't feel like the title switch was completely necessary; the Briscoes have been GREAT as redneck destroyers all year, SCU are leaving with the Bucks and the drama over whether Joe Koff will 'give them a new contract' or not didn't hinge on an SCU win here. It was a fun moment though...

Tape Rating - **** - One of the best episodes of ROH TV all year. The Castle/Taven segment which opened the show was short, effective and sets up a big match at Final Battle, the main event delivered in spades with a significant title change to boot...and Scurll/Helms 4 provided one of the most surprisingly enjoyable matches of 2018. Definitely use your Honor Club membership to go back and revisit this show.

5) Silas Young vs The Sandman (*** - Episode 372)

4) Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham/Dalton Castle vs The Kingdom (*** - Episode 373)

3) Jeff Cobb vs Shane Taylor (*** - Episode 373)

2) Marty Scurll vs Shane Helms (**** - Episode 374)

1) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Frankie Kazarian/Scorpio Sky vs Young Bucks (**** - Episode 374)