McXal's Reviews

As the Global Wars Espectacular Tour gets underway, on television we'll now spend a few weeks checking out content taped at the 'Saturday Night At Center Stage' and 'Honor For All 2019' events as we build towards Death Before Dishonor. That begins tonight as we check out Champions vs All-Stars; Taven, Taylor and the Briscoes face Lethal, Cobb, Kenny King and Rush. Ian Riccaboni and Quinn McKay are our hosts; Caprice Coleman is on commentary with Ian in Atlanta, GA.

We begin by checking out Dalton Castle's in-ring promo segment in Center Stage, where he called himself the most entertaining man in the company and vowed to get the World Title back. Shortly after he was interrupted by Joe Hendry, now in the US having signed a full-time contract. It's clear we haven't seen the last of those two.

Quinn McKay interviews all the champions ahead of the main event. Taven makes fun of Quinn's interview technique, and says they'll prevail this evening 'because we are champions for a reason'...

NEXT WEEK - Shaheem Ali faces Rhett Titus, and is pumped up in the locker room by C2C partner LSG. Kenny King interrupts and encourages Shaheem to put a beating on Rhett. In scenes reminiscent of how Austin Aries took the young All Night Express under his wing, Kenny says he is impressed with Coast 2 Coast's new attitude...

We check in with the 2019 Top Prospect Tournament, since the semi-finals will take place over Global Wars Espectacular weekend. It will be Dante Caballero facing Austin Gunn in Chicago and Haitian Sensation facing Dak Draper in Dearborn.

NEXT WEEK - Our feature bout from Saturday Night At Center Stage will be Marty Scurll vs Bandido

Ian and Quinn preview the Global Wars card, including Matt Taven defending the World Title against Volador Jr. in Chicago. 

Elimination Rules have been brought back for Champions vs All-Stars 2019, which always throws up some interesting possibilities as we see active champions pinned; something that doesn't happen often. There is a lot going on between these eight men as well. Lethal, King and Cobb have all failed to take the World Title from Taven, whilst Rush made it clear at Summer Supercard he wants a title shot as well. For any of those four, a pin over Taven would cement a championship match fairly quickly. Cobb will also have eyes on Shane Taylor, the man who took his TV Title from him (without beating him specifically) back at War Of The Worlds Toronto. Kenny is also a former TV Champion, and another man who has plenty of history with Taylor (as well as a lengthy blood-feud with the Briscoes back in his ANX days). Can King coexist with his bitter rival Jay Lethal? The same could be said for Taven and the Briscoes though, as those three men have battled multiple times down the years. This match also brings Rush and the Briscoes back into the same match for the first time since their bloodbath TV match in Philadelphia as well. Amy Rose accompanies Kenny King as a manager for the first time tonight.

Before the champions even get out to the ring Lethal and Kenny are arguing about Amy Rose's presence at ringside and start fighting among themselves. Taven calls out Rush (who is by far the most popular of the eight men here), steals his catchphrase, then walks away to make Jay face El Toro Blanco. Just like in Philly they don't waste any time in absolutely beating the sh*t out of each other, only really breaking so Rush can spit at Taven. Lethal gets the better of Mark next, but is forcibly tagged out by King...who enters and starts doing Lethal's signature moves on Mark! That leaves Cobb and Taylor, who butt heads in the middle of the ring like battering rams. Jeff's speed ensures he can see off the TV Champion...then his power means he can toss the World Champion around too! He drags Matt into the All-Star corner, where they take turns lighting him up with strikes. Rush and King demonstrate some real chemistry as a team, even doing Rush's 'Ingobernable' taunt together. That comes to an end when Lethal pretty much punches Kenny in the face to tag himself in. He looks for the Lethal Injection on Jay Briscoe, who blocks it triggering a frantic near-miss/counter sequence between those two long-time rivals. It ends with Lethal down in the Champions' corner eating a barrage of cheap-shots from Taven. The champ orchestrates his team to take turns moving in and out of the ring to strike at Lethal, getting payback for his own treatment minutes earlier. In the end it's actually Kenny King who comes to Lethal's aid by jumping Mark. The Briscoes quickly hit him with a flurry of their signature double-team moves. All eight men spill into the ring as referee Todd Sinclair loses all control. Mark opens up a chair in the ring and uses it for a STEP-UP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA to the floor! Redneck Boogie on King...with Cobb having to dive in and break the ensuing pin. Amy Rose tries to offer Kenny some water, which both distracts and annoys Jay Briscoe. As he remonstrates with Amy, King rolls him up for the three, eliminating Jay at 17:21. Amy heads to the locker room having been doused in water, whilst Kenny celebrates another win over a former World Champion. 

He is so thrilled he doesn't see Lethal ready to forcibly blind-tag him out of the match in fact. Lethal Combination gets 2 on Taven, and he slithers back into his corner to avoid any further interaction with The Franchise. On the other side of the ring Kenny and Lethal exchange another unwilling tag. CORKSCREW PLANCHA from King to Taylor! Blue Thunder Driver on Taven to counter The Climax! Spinebuster on Mark too! GREETINGS FROM 216! Taylor eliminates Kenny at 22:28! Shane T looks composed and determined to seize this main event opportunity; going to work on Lethal's midsection - which the rest of the Champions' Team picks up on and utilises too. Lethal desperately dodges a mafia kick from Taven...causing him to lay out the TV Champion in error. LETHAL INJECTION on Mark! He is eliminated by Lethal at 27:54...only for Taven to jump Jay and continue the savage beating on his injured midsection. The clock ticks past the 30-minute mark, which is a LONG match for Shane Taylor, who relies on distractions from Matt Taven to avoid losing Lethal to a hot tag. Matt also punts Lethal in the balls on the way back to his corner as well! AIR TAVEN wipes out Cobb and Rush! Taylor COUNTERS the Lethal Injection into Greetings From 216, meaning the TV Champion secures a memorable victory over The Franchise at 32:19. The final four all pile into the ring trading strikes. ATHLETIC-PLEX from Cobb to Taven gets 2. But Taven counters Tour Of The Islands and lands a rolling neckbreaker in response. Climax blocked by Jeff, who quite literally LAUNCHES Taven spinning through the air! Rush has had enough of Taven; getting in his face even without being the legal man. So Taylor f*cking BELTS him with an elbow strike! Jumping elbow by Rush...but as he lines up the Bull's Horns Taven nails him with a steel chair! The World Champion is eliminated by disqualification at 36:35. The match continues, but Taven remains in the ring beating on El Toro Blanco with a chair. Somehow Rush GETS BACK UP...so Taven leaves in a hurry. HAWAIIAN STAMPEDE from Cobb to Taylor! BULL'S HORNS! Rush pins Taylor to win at 38:57

Rating - **** - At times they sacrificed the kind of high-octane, spot-heavy mayhem these matches usually degenerate into to play with the chemistry between them all. Taylor came off particularly strongly, lasting the full duration, racking up both eliminations for his team and only losing because two of the top heavyweights in the company were beating him up simultaneously. Kenny's rivalry with Lethal was highlighted in more detail, we were given more build to Rush/Taven, Lethal pinning Mark sets up the Tag Title shot he's been vocal about wanting, and there were even some teases for the future La Faccion Ingobernable as Kenny King and Rush hinted at an alliance between them. It wasn't the most thrilling longer form match you'll see, and I also found Lanny Poffo's commentary quite off-putting, but as an exploration of the dynamics between most of the top guys in ROH's main event scene I thought this was really interesting. The main job of a Champions vs All-Stars match is to promote current feuds and generate some interesting future title matches; I think it delivered on that front

Cobb offers to shake hands with Rush, who shoves him aside and storms off still laser-focused on Matt Taven and the World Title.

Tape Rating - N/A - Champions vs All-Stars wasn't quite enjoyable in a curtailed, TV-edit format as it was on the full VOD show, so check that out rather than this version. That said this was a competent hour of television. The feature match is really good, some of the storyline content (like Kenny King's backstage interaction with Coast 2 Coast) was intriguing and I thought they did a solid job providing some backstory to some of the things we'll see at Global Wars Espectacular too (i.e. the Top Prospect Tournament first round results and announcing Taven/Volador whilst explaining the significance of that match). Not everyone is on board with this new TV format - but I like it.