McXal's Reviews

The premier date on this episode is May 10th, which conveniently slides it right in on the 'rest day' for the War Of The Worlds 2019 Tour. Content-wise this still comes from the 'Steel City Excellence 2019' taping from just over a month prior though. ROH hadn't actually announced any of this card on TV last week, so I had to do some research to find out what we have in store. Josh Woods returns after months in exile which is interesting. There's also a three-way tag team scrap with all the lower-card tag teams as Coast 2 Coast face The Bouncers and Shinobi Shadow Squad. That all comes before a main event which sees Lifeblood's Bandido take on Shane Taylor. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary from Pittsburgh, PA. 

Clearly this match throws together three of the lowest ranked teams in ROH's tag division. What is interesting that all three have had some upward mobility at points. Shinobi Shadow Squad have picked up a few wins in 2019 in six-man action, C2C had an impressive unbeaten run in 2018, whilst The Bouncers are two big dudes and have used their sheer size and power to rack up a few wins themselves. They all know they are miles off championship opportunities right now and will therefore recognise the importance of consistent victories to start climbing the ladder. Video clips show that C2C are starting to get frustrated at their recent losses...

Caprice informs me that tickets are 'selling out fast' for forthcoming ROH events, which just comes off as outrageously absurd considering how many empty seats we've seen everywhere they've gone in 2019. Nova drops St. Giovanni with a tumbling neckbreaker; part of a successful start for 3-S which sees them tear through C2C. Bruiser and Milonas duly squash them before they can build momentum though. Beer City bites every opponent he can find...and so gets booted out of the ring by LSG and Ali. Stereo pescados by the Shinobis...which are easily caught by The Bouncers. TOPE ATOMICO by Shaheem! Back in the ring Leon gets 2 with a double underhook suplex on Burger. Cheese slithers away from Ali and tags out to Milonas...who MASSACRES Shaheem! Samoan drop/senton splash combo from The Bouncers to LSG. Bossman Slam on Ali, with Nova diving in to break the pin. Bruiser press slams LSG into a flipping senton on his own partner! Nova blind-tags, flanked by Cheese to rock Milonas with a few kicks. Burger gets distracted by diving to the floor at C2C though. Elevated guillotine leg drop combo wins it for The Bouncers at 07:23 (shown)

Rating - ** - I thought about going lower on my ranking, but I felt like that wouldn't have been fair. The match may have been forgettable, but it was mostly easy to follow and competently wrestled. The Bouncers hit a few fun big boy spots and I found myself vaguely interested in a new more edgy attitude for Coast 2 Coast. Probably not the kind of content I'd want on my TV show when I only get 45 minutes per week though...

The Bouncers think about post-match beers, but see Coast 2 Coast and Shinobi Shadow Squad angrily pushing and shoving each other on the outside...

NEXT WEEK - Episode 400 is headlined by Taven vs Flip for the World Championship. We'll also see a dream-team of Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb and Rush challenge Villain Enterprises for the Six-Man Titles.

Kenny King comes out for some interview time. He wears shades, uses a white cane and has recruited Amy Rose from her time-keeping/Future Of Honor position to assist him, implying that Great Muta's mist at G1 Supercard has blinded him. He congratulates himself for making history in the Honor Rumble and for eliminating the '700 year old, Japanese, wrinkly asses' of Jushin Liger and Muta. The Red Mist means he needs eye surgery apparently, meaning he cannot yet challenge his 'friend' Matt Taven for the World Championship. But his first target when his eyes are fixed is Jay Lethal...aiming to destroy the myth that Jay is a 'great wrestler' and make him humble.

Flip Gordon has a sit-down interview and talks about the knee injury he suffered against Tracy Williams at Honor Reigns Supreme. They also show some shady ass footage of his knee being checked out in the locker room by some guy poking at it under the light of an iPhone. He worked hard to rehab the knee, and admits he was surprised that Taven was the man who won the title at G1 Supercard. He intends to make it a short reign though...

Flex actually gets an entrance, and his entrance theme sounds like the generic dramatic music they play around the ticket booths at a theme park, which I kind of love! His opponent is the returning Josh 'The Goods' Woods. The 2017 Top Prospect Tournament winner has struggled to find a niche and after finishing up his brief mini-feud with Shane Taylor in July, then getting destroyed by Jeff Cobb in November he took a hiatus from pro-wrestling to pursue his MMA interests once again. Since that squash defeat to Cobb, Cagematch only lists two matches that he has worked anywhere. He returns apparently ready to re-dedicate himself to ROH so cannot afford a big shock defeat on his big comeback...

Woods has a big bushy beard now and appears much less smiley and goofy than before. He starts with a vicious spear then throws Simmons around the ring with a succession of suplexes. He hits the 'Seismic Toss' for a convincing victory at 00:36

Rating - N/A - As I said in 2017 and 2018 with Josh, I do understand why ROH are persisting with him. He is young enough, has a great look and if he can find a niche for himself as a hybrid-style wrestler then he has so much room to develop and improve. But 2018 was a bad year. I actually quite liked his matches with Shane Taylor, but they absolutely tanked in terms of fan engagement and the honest reality is that nobody has missed him or been calling to seem him back. Here's hoping this run is where he starts putting it together. A dominant squash is an obvious, uninventive but solid place to start

Quinn McKay is here! I believe this is her first TV appearance as backstage interviewer, and she catches up with Josh Woods after he returns from the ring. He says that he is 'down to fight' anyone...

These two wrestlers could not be more different. Taylor is part of the loose alliance of guys that includes the Briscoes, Silas and Bully who have been calling their own shots and causing chaos in ROH since the Farewell To The Elite. Lifeblood formed to stand against such dishonourable actions. We saw Juice Robinson and Mark Haskins as part of the team that fought Bully, Silas and Taylor in MSG - and now Bandido steps up looking to stand up for the 'Honor' in ROH...

Taylor spits at Bandido, who gets one of the biggest pops of the taping. The luchador quickly recognises he needs to move quickly and stay out of his opponent's clutches. He pops Shane in the mouth with a superkick then boots him out of the ring to give him a high velocity tope suicida. RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! His offence just doesn't feel like it is doing enough damage though, and back in the ring Shane T is able to drop him with simple, rugged strikes. An optimistic attempt at the X-Knee is COUNTERED with a big chokeslam. A colossal biel sends Bandido on a rough ride across the ring from which he struggles to recover...and it is made worse when Taylor starts swinging him around by the hair. And when Bandido even tries to start running or moving at speed again Shane hammers him back down with a lariat. He tries a second rope dive...straight into the KNOCK-OUT PUNCH by Taylor for 2! That is followed by his thudding knee strike as well, yet still Bandido refuses to be pinned. Taylor hits another lariat...but Bandido NO SELLS it and hits some rapid-fire strikes. POP-UP CHOKESLAM NAILED! Shane T shut that comeback down hard. But he looks annoyed when the masked man again gets back up...so gives him a headbutt and a ripcord flatliner. And still Lifeblood's Bandido kicks out. Another big punch lands, then the TOWER OF LONDON! Bandido will not die! Tornillo nailed, X-KNEE ON TAYLOR! 21-PLEX! HOLY SH*T! Bandido wins at 10:55 (shown)

Rating - *** - A tight, punchy and extremely solid bout with a clear narrative and a strong babyface performance from Bandido which leaves him looking like a million dollars in victory. Which wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, except this airs the same week that Taylor comes from nowhere to win the TV Title. The match is enjoyable, Bandido was an awesome punching bag for some of Taylor's biggest shots, and his strength to hit his big spots at the end was almost unbelievable. But from a long-term booking perspective this felt weird

Bully Ray tries to attack Bandido from behind...only for Bandido to BACK FLIP OVER HIM! That was awesome! Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins rush out to flank Bandido...but all three are blind-sided by the TV debut of the Soldiers Of Savagery. Bully and Taylor are left confused as Kaun and Moses lay waste to Lifeblood...

Tape Rating - * - This was a big TV taping for Ring Of Honor. After all the controversy of G1 Supercard they needed to come out swinging. They needed a strong set of TV episodes which turned around some of the backlash and explained their big decisions like Taven winning, The Allure debuting, Kenny King going bell to bell in the Honor Rumble, Dalton's heel turn or Enzo & Cass. Instead they've gone back to business as usual - and that simply isn't good enough. The most over guy on the roster - Marty Scurll - has barely been mentioned. The fallen former World Champion hasn't been on TV once and they overloaded Episode 400 with so much talent that episodes 398/399 have been substantially weaker as a result. This episode isn't appalling, and the Bandido/Taylor main event is very entertaining. But nothing about this episode made you want to see more of ROH. If you were channel-surfing and stumbled across that tag team triple threat you wouldn't stick around. Kenny King doing a goofy fake blindness angle makes his G1 Supercard win worse, not better. Having Taylor put over Bandido in the same week ROH randomly decided to make him TV Champion makes no sense. I don't want to give the impression this is a terrible wrestling show, but it is one which highlights a total and crippling creative void at the heart of the promotion.