McXal's Reviews

Best In The World 2019 is in the books and Matt Taven is still the ROH World Champion. He doesn't get long to celebrate though, as he is back defending the belt this evening (albeit in a match taped a couple of weeks before the PPV) against Lifeblood's Tracy Williams. We also have an announced match between The Bouncers and The Kingdom (Marseglia & O'Ryan) to look forward to as well. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are in Kent, WA.

Both of these two teams are looking to break into the Tag Title picture. Milonas and Bruiser won a four corner tag also featuring The Kingdom, Coast 2 Coast and the NJPW US Young Lions so they have the edge right now, but Marseglia and O'Ryan will know a win here instantly elevates them back up in the contendership stakes.

Marseglia continues to develop his own look as 'The Horror King', no longer wears any purple and seems a more subdued presence than we're used to. He watches from the apron as Milonas easily throws TK around early on. O'Ryan tries to blow Milonas up by having him run around the ring, in the end so effectively that Brian collapses on top of TK! Bruiser dodges the Same Hane strike in the corner, blocks Vinny's Russian legsweep...then gets distracted by O'Ryan before he can take Marseglia down. Bossman Slam from Brawler to Vinny, into a mafia kick/sidewalk slam combo on O'Ryan. As The Kingdom try to flee BCB dives off the apron at them with a cannonbell senton. Vinny welcomes Bruiser's arrival on the floor though; it's the Horror King's domain and he takes advantage by bashing BCB's face against the ringpost as cut for commercials. The Kingdom isolate the wounded Bruiser, getting 2 after Marseglia's Acid Drop. Tag to Milonas who steamrolls his adversaries then drags TK to the top rope. Last Call blocked when Vinny trips Milonas off the top rope - and O'Ryan lands on top of him in a pinning position. The Kingdom win at 08:00 (shown)

Rating - * - This match wasn't for me, although I didn't think it was completely terrible. Marseglia is starting to change up his appearance and gimmick and now looks completely different to the branding of 'The Kingdom'; something which will become increasingly significant. I also liked that it was his intelligence and ability to brawl on the floor which actually won the match for The Kingdom; first when he found a way to soften Bruiser up by fighting him outside the ring, then by opportunistically tripping Milonas off the ropes causing him to lose. Given that The Bouncers won a Tag Title shot at State Of The Art 2019, it seemed strange not to have them win here to build them up even a little...

The Bouncers try to share a post-match toast with The Kingdom, but O'Ryan calls them 'big fat losers' and pours their beer away. 

In the back Matt Taven says he isn't satisfied with all the success in his career thus far. He has more to achieve and doesn't plan on losing to 'the quiet man' Tracy Williams tonight...

In another corridor Tracy calls tonight one of the biggest matches of his career. He knows he can out-wrestle Taven and just has to prove it...

Last week we saw Johnson approach Woods in the locker room and belittle his lack of success since winning the Top Prospect Tournament in 2017. 'The Goods' has taken offence and now looks to beat some respect into Johnson. Brian is still working his 'Number One' gimmick and isn't yet 'The Mecca'. If wants to prove himself to be a realistic 2019 TPT winner then a big win over Woods is crucial...

Johnson continues yelling that Josh is a failure even after the bell rings...and Woods effortlessly grapples him to the canvas. Brian lays in a few elbows, provoking Woods into dropping him on his neck with a capture suplex. Woods gets over-confident and misses a tackle causing him to collide shoulder-first with the turnbuckles. During commercials Johnson continues to attack the shoulder and when we return he has the bad arm captured for a submission. Josh is so injured he can't even send Johnson for an Irish whip at this stage. Number One fights to maintain control of Woods' injured arm but can't stave him off and ends up being tossed with a belly to belly suplex. Johnson gets spotted trying to pin The Goods with his feet on the ropes...and as he argues with the ref Woods picks him up for the Seismic Toss and wins at 05:48 (shown)

Rating - ** - A good showing for Johnson, who has charisma and demonstrated some impressive precision and tenacity in how he worked Woods' arm. Unfortunately the positive showing for Johnson came at the expense of Josh, who sold the shoulder well in patches but ultimately loses a little credibility for not being able to put an enhancement talent like Johnson away more quickly.

Jay Lethal joins commentary, accompanied by the announcement that he will face the winner of this for the World Title at Manhattan Mayhem.

It would be easy to write Williams off and he is almost certainly an underdog. Despite being new on the roster, and part of the now-floundering Lifeblood stable, in 2019 he has been one of ROH's most reliable and consistent performers. Like his stable-mate Mark Haskins he has produced a slew of superb matches this year and demonstrated his immense technical skill time after time. He will have watched Haskins seem on the cusp of taking Taven's title in Grand Rapids and therefore knows where the champion may be most vulnerable...

Taven immediately grabs Williams braced shoulder, only to find Tracy able to easily counter and take him to the ground. Williams starts working the leg, knowing full well that Taven has a history of knee injures - eventually having him crawl desperately to the ropes as he cranks on an anklelock. Leg capture suplex nailed next just seconds after Matt tried a cheap shot to get ahead. The champ tries to bail, with Hot Sauce in pursuit to dish out a strike flurry on the floor. Taven counters by smashing the braced shoulder against first the ringpost then the guardrail. He grabs the belt and tries to walk out only to be caught on the stage and hammered with more strikes. Diving elbow OFF THE STAGE by Williams! Sensibly Taven heads back towards the ring...grabbing Williams to hit an AVALANCHE RUSSIAN LEGSWEEP TO THE APRON! It jars Tracy's shoulder again and is made worse when Matt dropkicks him into the barricades. Rocker Dropper by Tracy, moments after Taven exposes one of the turnbuckle bolts. Matt deposits him on the top rope, kicks him in the shoulder...then fails to hit the Proton Pack Stunner. SUPER TURNBUCKLE DDT NAILED by Hot Sauce! Followed by a diving DDT into the middle of the ring for 2. Piledriver blocked by the champion, who rounds on his foe to deliver Just The Tip. Purple Thunder Driver countered to the discus lariat by Williams though! Crossface! But the shoulder means Tracy can't retain the hold...ANKLELOCK INSTEAD! STF! It's not enough to force a submission in Williams' weakened state though. CLIMAX NAILED! But Taven is too beaten up and loses valuable seconds before pinning, therefore only gets a two-count. Aurora Borealis gets knees! ONE-ARM PILEDRIVER! GETS 2! Tracy desperately looks for the Crossface again, with Taven grabbing Todd Sinclair to escape. With the ref in a spin, Taven crashes Williams' injured shoulder into the exposed turnbuckle bolt...then hits an ARM-CAPTURE CLIMAX to retain at 14:43 (shown)

Rating - **** - A super TV main event, and right up there as one of Taven's best World Title Matches thus far. It was crisp, concise, both men worked body parts well and sold their respective injuries effectively - and it all built to a legitimately exciting crescendo even though the result was never really in doubt. I much preferred the finish here which, although hokey, did at least portray Taven as a smart and resourceful villainous champion - rather than a putz who can only win when his goons help him. Chalk up another under-rated Taven title match, and another classy bout from Williams' exceptional 2019.

Tape Rating - *** - Perhaps the weakest episode of the three captured at this taping, but it also contained the best match of the lot. Taven/Williams is high quality and incredibly easy to watch so is an easy recommendation from me. The entire 'State Of The Art 2019' TV taping has felt different to me - in a positive way. The lethargy of the WOTW Chicago taping was gone. Condensing the schedule down to just three episodes worked. This batch of shows felt a lot more like a GOOD Ring Of Honor show broken down for TV. Matches like Taven/Tracy, Cobb/Haskins, Cabana/Mark and PCO/Jay felt like authentic ROH matches. I've said a few times that the energy coming out of this taping was a significant improvement - and by the looks of things this format is one we'll see more moving forward which is good news

This match aired as an Honor Club exclusive, separate from the TV taping and brings together quite the eclectic mix of talent. Black is the world-travelled, experienced veteran. Rush is the firebrand luchador currently undefeated in ROH. He is embroiled in a rivalry with Dalton Castle, with this airing before Dalton would face his brother - Dragon Lee - at Best In The World. The final entrant is Flip Gordon; a man tipped for big things in 2019 but thus far enduring a stop-start year thanks to a mix of injuries and high profile defeats at vital times (such as his World Title loss to Matt Taven). Flip was preparing to face Rush at Best In The World too...

Rush kicks out at Black, a man he has already beaten in his growing undefeated streak. Castle sneakily throws Flip at Rush to piss his nemesis off...but it's PJ who feels the brunt of Rush's reaction as he levels him with a knee strike. Dalton is visibly making a point of keeping well away from Rush in the early stages. Rush actually tries to chase him...so Castle trips him over the top rope. Somersault plancha by Gordon to wipe them both out! Pele on PJ...who responds quickly to level Flip with a discus clothesline. ROPE RUN frankensteiner by the Darewolf! He then lays out Rush and Castle with a tope suicida...and charges back in for a ROPE RUN SPANISH FLY! Asai Moonsault gets 2! Corkscrew plancha by the fired up Black, thwarted by a capture suplex from Dalton. Cannonball senton off the apron from Gordon to Rush! Flip re-enters with an outside-in hanging blockbuster on Black as well. Kinder Surprise! PJ tries to superplex Rush...as Castle approaches the Darewolf and tries to powerbomb him. FLIP CLIMBS ONTO EVERYONE FOR A GERMAN SUPERPLEX TOWER OF DOOM! Dalton comes out best on that and opportunistically clears the ring so he can beat on the fallen Rush. SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK/FROG SPLASH COMBO by Gordon! SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASH by PJ! NECK DROP SNAP GERMAN from Rush to Dalton! He then picks up both Flip and PJ at the same time for a double German suplex too. BULL'S HORNS on Black...only for Castle to toss Rush out before he can pin. Flip takes out Dalton and levels PJ with the FLIP-5! Flip wins at 09:22

Rating - *** - Not on the same level of the blistering four corner match at Masters Of The Craft (also featuring Flip and PJ coincidentally), but this was a whole heap of fun. Cagematch suggests it was taped at the start of the night, so I understand not wanting to go too crazy and burn the fans out before the TV taping - but they really did pack a whole lot of offence into such a short time period. I thought the Rush/Dalton segments were really well done too, culminating with Castle costing Rush the match when he seemingly had it won. As I've said a couple of times recently, Dalton may not be the wrestler he once was - but he is still a charismatic performer who has a lot to offer. This mini-feud with Rush has been fun so far.

Dalton attacks Flip from behind and gets on the microphone to complain about how disrespected he currently feels. He calls Rush a 'big, beefy moron'...then bails before Rush can lay a hand on him. Dalton leaves saying Rush cheated at MSG and plans to take out his brother Dragon Lee at Best In The World. Rush wants to speak...but gets the mic stolen by Flip who says he's going to kick Rush's ass at the PPV too!

5) Colt Cabana vs Mark Briscoe (*** - Episode 405)

4) Flip Gordon vs PJ Black vs Dalton Castle vs Rush (*** - Honor Club Exclusive)

3) PCO vs Jay Briscoe (*** - Episode 406)

2) Jeff Cobb vs Mark Haskins (**** - Episode 406)

1) Matt Taven vs Tracy Williams (**** - Episode 407)