McXal's Reviews

The premiere date for this episode is April 5th; the eve of G1 Supercard. But since ROH doesn't air on a fix day or time, and is instead used as content filler on various timeslots across various Sinclair local networks, in many markets this show won't make air until during or after the big ROH/NJPW extravaganza in the 'world's most famous arena'. It means last week served as the go-home show and we'll send the rest of this post-17YA TV taping spinning the wheels. That starts tonight with a match we had been scheduled to see at the 17th Anniversary until circumstances conspired to prevent it; 'The Octopus' Jonathan Gresham faces 'Last Real Man' Silas Young. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and NWA Champion Nick Aldis provide commentary in Las Vegas, NV.

NEXT WEEK - Ian announces that CMLL's Caristico (aka the original Sin Cara in WWE, formerly Mistico) makes his ROH debut at Masters Of The Craft 2019, streaming exclusively on Honor Club. El Soberano Jr. also returns at that show

We'll generously say that this show airs before G1 Supercard, which will therefore explain why some rather significant developments in Dalton's career won't be referenced tonight. On this episode he once again finds himself right at the bottom of the card thanks to an atrocious record since Final Battle 2018. He and The Boys, former ROH Six-Man Tag Champions, look to jump-start his career with a win over New Japan's US Dojo Young Lions - who train under Katsuyori Shibata and looked extremely competent when they debuted at the Road To G1 Supercard Texas triple-shot.

The Boys both want to start with Connors, and their hooting appears to annoy Dalton. Clark effortlessly despatches Boy #1 and calls out Castle soon after. He wants the chance to get on the mat with Dalton...and his reward is getting gutwrenched right onto his face. Coughlin tags, as do both Boys at the same time. They team up to confuse the US Lion; planting him with a dropkick and getting so confident that #1 actually tells Dalton to wait on the apron so he can get more of his sh*t on. Coughlin, of course, pounces on that moment of hesitancy to deck #1 with strikes. When we return we see Boy #1 having to overcome all three members of the NJPW LA Dojo crew and make a hot tag to Dalton. Saito suplex on Coughlin, leaving him alone in the ring with Fredericks...and dropping him on his head with a German suplex. With all the Young Lions scattered around the ring he starts throwing The Boys over the top rope into repeated suicide dives. Doctor Bomb on Connors gets 2, only because Fredericks was on hand to break the pin. Meanwhile Coughlin almost breaks Boy #1's FACE on the ringpost outside the ring. Karl looks to capitalise with the Boston Crab, but Dalton breaks it up. Boy #2 switches places with his injured twin brother illegally...and that allows him to grab an unsuspecting Fredericks for a small package. Boy #2 wins at 07:37 (shown)

Rating - ** - I liked the fire and intensity on display from the LA Dojo Young Lions and actually thought that their individual performances were better here than on any of the Texas 'Road To...' shows. Some of Castle's curmudgeonly character work with The Boys was entertaining too. Unfortunately this just felt a little too lacking in significant content for me to go higher on the rating. There was lots of action; lots of things 'happened'...but nothing really struck me as memorable or significant considering how much TV time it got.

Ian and Caprice ponder whether The Boys winning will give Dalton confidence going into G1 Supercard, or if he'll be concerned that his Boys had to help him out...

After clips from his loss to Bandido at Honor Reigns Supreme are shown, PJ Black gets some sit-down interview time. He admits he came into ROH with the 'wrong mindset' and tried to cheat or take short-cuts. But the loss to Bandido and the actions of Lifeblood have forced him into a rethink and he now wants to act with honour and respect. In two weeks time he gets a rematch with Bandido...

It seems an odd booking decision to have back-to-back matches featuring goofy comedy wrestling sets of twins. Chris & Patrick Voros wrestle out of Canada and make their TV debut for ROH, facing a stern test against two beefy dudes...

The utter disdain with which Nick Aldis discusses the Voros Twins is genuinely very funny. Between their dorky entrance and Bruiser almost falling over his own beer keg during his, this all feels rather bush league. This also feels like a TERRIBLE time for Riccaboni to tell me that the ROH tag division is 'hotter than ever'. The Voros' team up to stomp Bruiser down and actually enjoy a minute or so on offence. Milonas tags and smears one twin into the ground with a Pounce. Bruiser almost snaps one of them in half ramming him over the top rope, then grabs the other for Last Call. Bouncers win at 03:21

Rating - DUD - I have nothing against any of the four involved, but this felt like a mess and certainly isn't the kind of product I think ROH should be putting on television. Thankfully it didn't go long, but that is as much praise as I can give this. Watching The Voros Twins spend most of the match on offence at Bruiser's expense was completely nonsensical.

NEXT WEEK - The Briscoes face Jeff Cobb and Willie Mack in a qualification bout for the 2019 Crockett Cup. Jay and Mark demand to know why they aren't automatically included in the tournament since they are the best team in the world...

This match was originally scheduled to take place during the 17th Anniversary Show. However, after Jon Gresham got involved in the World Title Match, trying to save his tag partner Jay Lethal from a gang attack at the hands of The Kingdom and having his knee attacked with a chair as punishment he needed medical help backstage. Once in the back Silas confronted him, then attacked the bad knee without provocation. It meant the match was cancelled, but didn't stop Silas going onto commentary in the PPV main event and calling The Octopus a coward. There is now some real heat on this, our main event for the evening...

Young tries to intimidate Gresham, as you'd expect given his size advantage. Gresham retaliates with some signature technical wrestling, but that ends up with them both on the ground trying to gouge each other's eyes out. They keep countering with increasing aggression, spilling to the floor and still going hold for hold. Strikes are thrown each way and only stop when they realise they are both about to be counted out. Back in the ring with another endless flurry of counters...which Silas ends with the Killer Combo. It forces Gresh to take the fight to the outside now; knocking the wind out of his own sails as he lands a big pescado. Any wind he has left is duly lost when he MISSES a flying crossbody back into the ring. Young openly calls out that he intends to target the ribs, and starts doing so with ruthless precision. He knocks Gresham to the floor with a thudding shot into the kidneys...then stomps on the midsection again when The Octopus crawls back inside. STERNUM-FIRST Irish whip almost rockets Gresh through the turnbuckles and leaves him gasping for air. Silas tries to capitalise with another Killer Combo, but this time Gresham ducks it and lands a sliding DDT. He can't get Silas up for a suplex, but can fling his entire body in the air to pelt the Last Real Man with a basement dropkick. Dive off the apron misses...slingshot stomp by Silas misses too! HEADBUTT DUEL! They start launching themselves off the ropes and butting heads like rams...which Silas finally puts an end to by dropping Jonathan straight on his injured ribs with a clothesline. DVD/double stomp combo in the ribs by Silas, then the slingshot swinging neckbreaker for 2. Full Nelson applied (didn't he used to call that the 'Stock Lock'?), but swiftly broken as Gresham savages Young's knee. Silas protects himself with clubbing strikes to the ribs, knowing that The Octopus doesn't have the fire-power to hang with him in a punching contest. SNAP GERMAN BY GRESHAM! RUNNING ELBOWS GET 2! GERMAN AGAIN! ELBOWS AGAIN! Young kicks out again! Quebrada nailed, then a TOPE CON HILO when Silas tries to bail! SHOOTING STAR PRESS! YOUNG KICKS OUT! ANKLELOCK! Silas is bleeding all over the f*cking ring! He escapes and delivers a low blow out of sight of referee Todd Sinclair, to score a tainted victory at 19:48 (shown)

Rating - **** - TV match of the year so far from ROH. They got a lot of time and filled it with a thrilling technical battle. When the main event started so early into the episode I expected another segment to come after, and so was delighted to see this go almost twenty minutes - which really doesn't happen often on ROH TV. There was so much going on here and plenty to like. Silas working the ribs might not have been what you'd expected given that Gresham came in carrying a knee injury from the PPV - but he has set a precedent because he almost tore Bandido apart working his ribs in Dallas. The intensity of their opening exchanges meant that, even within the confines of a Gresham-style technical encounter, you were left in no doubt that this was still a grudge match. Indeed, and as Nick Aldis so brilliantly pointed out, Silas was able to dominate Gresh for long periods precisely because The Octopus couldn't control his emotions and kept trying to get into striking exchanges and fights, as opposed to the cerebral, calculating foe he normally presents as. The finish sucked, although Young suddenly gushing blood all over the place did add an unexpected level of drama. One would hope there would be a rematch; after Silas' classic feud with Lethal a couple of years ago he'd make a great foil for Gresham too...

Silas is so bloody that his entire face has to be blurred out during his celebrations...

Tape Rating - *** - Everything outside of the main event was poor...but luckily the main event was more than half the show by itself. Gresham/Silas is the current TV MOTY, so this is an easy episode to recommend. It was actually better than most of ROH's contributions to G1 Supercard in all honesty!