McXal's Reviews

This would be the last time until the Covid-19 pandemic that Ring Of Honor would run a set of TV tapings in their 'traditional' format. This batch of three episodes is taped the night after Best In The World and after this taping ROH announced that they'd be broadcasting all live events on Honor Club and chopping them up for TV (whilst also filming special unseen content/interviews etc which would be exclusive to the TV show) - a format which as a completist I prefer and I think is a realistic move considering the state ROH finds itself in by mid-2019. As ever, for this first episode we haven't had much announced, but it is the first time we'll see any on-air acknowledgement of the events of Best In The World. Matt Taven will be feeling grand after taking just ten minutes to end Jeff Cobb's unbeaten streak, but his attention will already be turning to Manhattan Mayhem and a rematch with Jay Lethal. Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana and special guest Kenny King are in Philadelphia, PA.

We open with a video montage of all the key moments from Best In The World; Taven's victory, Flip joining Villain Enterprises, Maria Manic debuting and so on.

It's a rare TV match for ROH veteran Rhett Titus, and intriguing because he faces a former stable-mate of his in The Rebellion. Since that group was disbanded their career trajectories have travelled in vastly different directions. Taylor now stands as the TV Champion, hell-bent on becoming the most dominant athlete ever to hold that title. Meanwhile Titus has plummeted down the card and is now all but an extra - wheeled out every now and then to provide some commentary or flex his muscles. Beating the TV Champion could be the spark that reignites his entire career...

Kenny's history with both men gives him an extremely interesting commentary perspective. Taylor spits at Rhett to make it clear that any friendship between them has long-since expired. Rhett tries to use his muscles and control the champ with headlocks and actually rocks him with the Dropkick...but his momentum is instantly shut down via a headbutt from Shane T. We go to the floor where Taylor rocks him again with a thunderous elbow strike and a crushing leg drop on the apron. Stinger Splash into a Yakuza Kick by Titus...and he POWERS Taylor into a Samoan drop for 2. Shane is so irritated that he almost knocks Titus out with a knee strike. Another violent headbutt follows, giving Taylor the victory at 05:15 (shown)

Rating - ** - Having Kenny King on commentary for this really helped. It could have been awkward with Taylor trying to establish himself as a 'dominant' champion but struggling to get past Titus, who at this stage was essentially reduced to little more than a comedy act. But King reminded us repeatedly how good Titus was. He cut through the gimmick to point out that Rhett's immaculate body is walking proof of what a dedicated athlete he actually is. Against that back drop the action was pretty interesting. It won't steal the show, but watching Taylor brutalise Rhett only for the veteran to occasionally retaliate with these little bursts of offence took on a scope and significance they simply wouldn't have had without Kenny's commentary.

Kenny King walks out on commentary and marches down the aisle to join Rhett in the ring. He says he is 'disgusted' by what Titus has become and questions why Joe Koff hasn't torn up his contract. He even points out Rhett's pregnant wife in the front row. Titus walks away rather than fight King...

Backstage Kelly Klein says she is excited about all the talent coming into Women Of Honor. She reminds us that she'll continue to defend her WOH Title against all comers...and will therefore be an interested spectator of the Women Of Honour four-way up next.

Clips of an in-ring confrontation between Jay Lethal and Matt Taven are shown. Lethal says he's going to New York to become a 3-time ROH Champion, whilst Matt denies that and says they are living in the 'Time Of Taven'. Both are interrupted by the returning Alex Shelley. He reminds everyone he never said he was retired and says that all of his years contributing to pro-wrestling entitle him to a World Title shot. He wants to face the winner of Taven/Lethal (which takes place at Manhattan Mayhem). 

The winner of this earns a shot at the Women Of Honor World Title at Summer Supercard, and Klein herself joins Ian and Colt for commentary. None of these women are new to ROH, albeit we've had more exposure to Rose and Love than to Steelz and Grey. Stella has been something of a protege of Sumie Sakai but is looking to strike out in her own right. Jenny has issues with The Allure, but won't forget her history with Kelly Klein either and would love another title shot. Angelina will argue that she shouldn't have to qualify for this having pinned Kelly at Best In The World. The rest of The Allure are at ringside, including Mandy Leon's dog...

Jenny tackles Angelina to the ground with such force that they roll straight out of the ring trading blows. Love returns to jerk Stella to the ground by her hair...but again with Jenny in hit pursuit to level her again with a spear. She recovers to drop Steelz with a sidewalk slam for 2. Steelz refuses to be intimidated and peppers Angelina with elbows...so Mandy and Velvet trip her from behind. Referee Brian Hebner (yes, still him) ejects the rest of The Allure from ringside as we got to commercials. When we return we see all four women taking turns trying to successfully execute a pinning combination but falling short. Rose sends Love into the ringpost, before Tasha winds up and lays out both Jenny and Stella with a pescado. SUICIDE DIVE by Angelina! She celebrates that by climbing the turnbuckles and gesturing in the direction of Kelly Klein at the announce desk. The Gatekeeper marches down the aisle, distracting Love allowing Rose and Grey to dump her with a double powerbomb. Koji Clutch on Jenny, whilst Stella traps Tasha in a sleeper hold. Neither hold yields a submission so the match goes on. Botox Injection on Jenny! But Grey breaks the pin. Botox Injection on her! But Tasha shoves Love out, hits the OKURRR! on Stella and grabs the win at 07:54 (shown)!

Rating - ** - If nothing else, this was certainly all-action. It felt well laid out too - allowing plenty of time for Rose and Love to go at it, minimising the exposure on Stella's inexperience and setting up some big moments for Steelz to get herself over. It seems odd that ROH would want to delay the only 'money' match they have for the belt at this point (Klein/Angelina) and run the left-field choice of Klein/Steelz for their Summer 'Supercard'. However, I've complained about the lack of depth in the Women Of Honor division for some time, so it seems unkind to criticise when they at least TRY to make a new star too...

Once again the lights go out and Maria Manic's music hits. She 'appears' in the middle of the ring again and for a second time Angelina quickly runs away before Maria can get near her. Tasha, on the other hand, gets in Manic's face for a stare-down before she too leaves. For a second time security personnel tries to eject Maria from the ring...and Maria beats the sh*t out of them.

Rush says he is 'sick and tired' of Dalton Castle, and is furious at Dalton for trying to 'pick on [his] family'. The 'grudge' rematch between Rush and Castle has been signed for Mass Hysteria.

With Manhattan Mayhem on the horizon this represents a chance for Taven and Lethal to soften each other up before their World Title showdown. They aren't the only ones with scores to settle either. The Bouncers have traded wins with Vinny and TK, with Bruiser and Milonas currently standing as #1 contenders to the Tag Titles - meeting the winners of Briscoes/GOD at Mass Hysteria.

Jay Lethal angrily has timekeeper Amy Rose ejected from ringside during his entrance, apparently still annoyed at her association with rival Kenny King. Taven backs out of starting with Jay, leaving Marseglia to face the fury of The Franchise. Milonas and O'Ryan in next, albeit only briefly because Brian pretty much throws TK on his ass back into The Kingdom corner. He decides he'd rather face Lethal, who quickly sends him packing as well. Bruiser calls out Taven...which is enough for Matt to decide that he wants to face Lethal too. He has his goons attack Lethal on the floor, setting him up for Taven to mow him down against the guardrails. The Kingdom completely isolate Lethal, Taven at the helm looking to incapacitate his challenger before they make it to Manhattan. Unfortunately his henchmen let him down, losing control of Jay and allowing him to tag BCB in. Beer City DDT on O'Ryan gets 2, and he then starts biting Marseglia for good measure. Milonas tags and flattens the champ with a senton splash, then Vinny seconds later with a running crossbody. Samoan drop/fallaway slam on Taven and O'Ryan! Tope Trilogy by Lethal! The Bouncers hit Closing Time on TK to take the victory at 08:54 (shown)

Rating - ** - A functional main event, in the sense that it progressed the simmering undercard rivalry between The Kingdom and The Bouncers and gave us a little more build for the big Taven/Lethal rematch at Manhattan Mayhem. I thought it was interesting that they maintained the aggressive edge that Lethal demonstrated during the last match of his Best Of 3 with Kenny. It's been a rough year for Lethal; losing the World Title at MSG, losing the Best Of 3, failing to win the Tag Titles with Gresham etc, so it absolutely makes sense that the gloss is starting to come off his shiny 'Franchise' persona and the cracks are starting to show. Beyond that, sadly the match was pretty flat and uneventful. Coming after two weeks of high quality TV main events (Cobb/Haskins and Taven/Tracy) this was a major step down

Tape Rating - ** - I understand what ROH were going for with this show. With Manhattan Mayhem, Mass Hysteria and Summer Supercard all fast approaching, and with everything now airing on VOD for Honor Club they need to build matches up for all of those shows. It meant this episode whizzed past in a blur of angles, matches and announcements. Often when that happens, it comes at the expense of quality in-ring content and that was the case here. None of the three bouts we saw were bad...they just weren't particularly good or memorable either. It also seemed extremely strange that they taped an entire segment setting up challengers for the World Title, including a big return for Alex Shelley, yet only put very abbreviated clips of it on television.