McXal's Reviews

I ended my Episode 399 review in a rather downbeat mood. After the creative failures of G1 Supercard, the last two weeks of TV haven't done much to restore my confidence in the booking forces behind ROH's product. One thing they have done, though, is sacrifice the last two weeks of TV to overload this landmark Episode 400. We have two championship matches on the card, and basically all of ROH's most over acts on one broadcast. Flip Gordon challenges Matt Taven for the World Title in the main event, after a dream team of Jay Lethal, Rush and (now former) TV Champion Jeff Cobb face Villain Enterprises for the Six-Man Championship. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary in Pittsburgh, PA.

Cobb comes out still wearing the TV Title, which makes you think that ROH either got their schedules messed up or the title switch to Taylor during the War Of The Worlds Tour wasn't a long-term plan. Either way it doesn't look great. He is part of a dream-team of challengers in what was chronologically a first defence for the Villains (although it airs after their Street Fight with The Kingdom from Masters Of The Craft, and another defence against Cobb and the New Japan Dads at WOTW Buffalo). This is the first time Lethal and Marty have appeared on television since the Ladder Match at G1 Supercard. What will their mood be? Will they be out for each other, or can they focus on the task at hand; namely securing the Trios Championship?

We begin with PCO and Lethal; The Monster shambling around the ring and insisting that Lethal take a free swing at him. The ensuing chop is duly no sold, to the delight of the crowd. Jay KEEPS hitting his hiptoss/dropkick combo, but PCO repeatedly ignores it. Even a springboard dropkick to the apron has no impact - it just leaves PCO standing on the floor screaming like a maniac in such an intimidating manner that Lethal hesitates on a big dive. He is punished by getting attacked from behind by Marty. Rush and Scurll in next (which the crowd are REALLY into), but unfortunately their intense exchange is rather detracted from by Amy Rose leading 'blind' Kenny King to the announce table. Cobb and Brody replace them and bit some beefy hoss lucha spots! RUNNING RANA from Brody to Jeff! Scurll attacks Lethal from behind again, so Jay dropkicks him off the apron and hits a tope suicida. He tries the same dive on King, who catches him and joins Scurll for a SUPERKICK/BRAINBUSTER COMBO ON THE FLOOR! The Franchise replies with an Ace Crusher to Brody which leaves both men looking for a tag. Rush enters the ring with such intensity that he blasts through all three champions...then pauses for a Tranquilo pose too! Just Kidding from Marty to Rush! HEADBUTT by Rush to block the Chickenwing! GERMAN SUPLEX FLURRY from Cobb to PCO and Brody! Samoan drop/standing moonsault combo on Marty gets 2. Kenny King keeps loudly reacting to what is going on in the ring by the way. Jeff is still on fire, grabbing both Scurll and King for a DOUBLE WRIST CLUTCH SUPLEX! PCO tosses the Olympian out of the ring so King can hit a TOPE ATOMICO! BACK DROP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR by Marty and PCO! SLINGSHOT GERMAN SUPLEX COMBO by Brody and Marty! King hits a cannonball senton to the floor as well! 619/cannonball combo to a rope-hung Cobb gets 2. Rush SLAPS THE SH*T out of Brody! Hail To The King on PCO...who no sells! TURNBUCKLE BELLY TO BELLY BY RUSH! Hail To The King again, and this time Marty has to break the pin. LETHAL INJECTION on Scurll! He tries it on Brody who COUNTERS TO A BLUE THUNDER DRIVER! PCO-SAULT! PCO pins Lethal, meaning the Villains retain at 12:45 (shown)

Rating - **** - A crazy spot-fest which really delivered all I wanted to see from the match. PCO was whacky and took crazy risks with his own body, Brody and Cobb were ultra-athletic big lads, Rush produced some incredibly violent cameos, Scurll was the devious lead 'Villain' and it ends with Lethal staring at the lights to put a member of Villain Enterprises over. The Scurll/Brody/PCO trio have produced a succession of incredibly fun trios matches in 2019. 

After commercials we see a heated confrontation between Jay Lethal and Kenny King on the stage. Kenny pretends to be helped to the back by Amy Rose, but then charges at Lethal and uses his white cane to choke him out. 

This is billed as (and was, at time of taping), Taven's first defence of his newly won World Title. He ended up defending it a couple of times on the War Of The Worlds Tour however, so it isn't the first defence to be broadcast. Flip earned this championship opportunity back in 2018 on board the Chris Jericho Cruise. He won the Sea Of Honor Tournament, a somewhat light-hearted tournament set across multiple nights of the cruise (only some of which aired as part of the 'Streaming For Vengeance' compilation VOD). His run to the final included wins over Silas Young, Marty Scurll and Dalton Castle, culminating in a huge win over Jay Briscoe in the final itself. Taven has dismissed the tournament as a drunken joke, but the prize of a World Title shot is very real. Flip made a surprise return from his knee injury to defeat Bully Ray again at G1 Supercard. If his knee is truly 100% then he is an extremely dangerous opponent for the new champion...

TK O'Ryan accompanies Taven to the ring, all but guaranteeing Vinny will pop up from under the ring later. Matt starts by swatting and grabbing at Gordon's injured knee...until Flip explodes and almost breaks him in half with a shotgun dropkick. Slingshot monkey flip demonstrates Flip's knee is ok...but he tries it again and sees it countered by Taven launching him straight over the top rope to the floor. Just The Tip misses, and Gordon FLIES into a tope suicida! But he nurses the knee upon landing, and soon has to hurdle O'Ryan when Taven's second comes at him with a baseball bat. Taven capitalises by tackling he challenger into the guardrail then body slamming him onto one of the sheet metal covers. BRUTAL ringpost shot by Taven! Flip's knee bothers him again as he leapfrogs Matt, but recovers strongly to hit a ONE-LEGGED standing moonsault! To the apron, where Gordon's knee buckles again allowing Taven to clobber him to the floor once more. TAVEN HIPTOSSES HIM KNEE-FIRST INTO THE GUARDRAILS! That is one of the most spectacular 'work a body part' spots I've ever seen! Back in the ring Taven hits a shinbreaker and methodically drops into a succession of submission holds. Great call from Riccaboni, reminding everyone that Taven has come back from catastrophic knee injuries before so knows exactly how to pick Gordon apart. He lands a dragon screw and a rolling knee breaker, then tosses him out of the ring where O'Ryan can lay in a few cheap shots. Purple Thunder Driver gets 2, with Taven maintaining hold of his opponent to float him into a half crab. Springboard Spear by Gordon, but like the match where he injured himself against Tracy Williams, he crumples to the canvas and can't capitalise. INVERTED ALABAMASLAM to the turnbuckles! Then an inverted Unprettier gets 2! Gordon to the top, but right into ideal punching and kicking height for the champion. Superplex nailed by Taven...PELE KICK by Flip! SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE by Taven! Kick Of The King COUNTERED to a springboard Russian legsweep! Falcon Arrow gets 2 for Flip. Flip-5 blocked into a POP-UP POWERBOMB! Just The Tip gets 2. Climax COUNTERED to the Flip-5! Red balloons rise up from under the ring distracting Gordon as he stands on the cusp of victory. Taven capitalises and hits a SUPER CLIMAX for the win at 13:36 (shown)

Rating - **** - Had this match taken place behind the Honor Club pay-wall or on PPV I don't think my rating would have been as generous. But this was an exciting and action-packed match to give a way for free on television. It felt like the stakes were high and the drama around Flip's knee felt relatively authentic. Clearly I'd have preferred a little less interference from the rest of The Kingdom and, truth be told, Flip's selling of the leg could best be described as 'patchy'. But this had energy from the start, told a great story and did some really innovative things. That guardrail/hiptoss spot will stay with me for a long time. If you view this as Taven's first defence (as I do), personally I felt it came off like a solid start to his reign, whilst closing off the 'Sea Of Honor Tournament' loose end as well. As will become a theme for Taven's reign, this could have been better - but it is impossible to deny that he (and Flip) busted his ass TRYING to make it as good as possible.

As expected, Marseglia slithers out from under the ring with a broad smile on his face. Taven proudly proclaims that challengers will need to beat 'an entire Kingdom' to take the World Title from him...

Tape Rating - **** - Ring Of Honor loaded the card for Episode 400 and lived up to billing. Neither match will go down as an all-time classic, but I personally felt they reached a commendably high standard and represent incredible value to the viewer when given away for free on television. The Six-Man Title Match was a spot-filled, aggressive and frantic encounter which brought together six gifted and completely different performers. Then the main event produced a surprising amount of drama for a filler championship match with a predictable conclusion. If you weren't totally turned away by G1 Supercard and can tolerate watching Taven/Scurll/Flip matches (all controversial subjects for different reasons!) then this is one of the best episodes of 2019 so far.

5) Bandido vs Shane Taylor (*** - Episode 399)

4) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Caristico/Soberano Jr. (*** - Episode 397)

3) Tracy Williams/Mark Haskins vs Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan (*** - Episode 398)

2) Matt Taven vs Flip Gordon (**** - Episode 400)

1) Marty Scurll/Brody King/PCO vs Jay Lethal/Jeff Cobb/Rush (**** - Episode 400)