McXal's Reviews

We'll be spending the next four episodes featuring content from the Free Enterprise show. It feels like a slightly strange choice to spend that much time airing content on TV that you already gave away for free and that presumably most of your fanbase has already checked out if they were so inclined to do so. But from a Sinclair perspective, being able to use the show to fill ROH's slot on the schedule for an entire month does soften the no doubt enormous financial cost of running Free Enterprise. Our feature bout this week is Australian star Slex's debut, taking on Flip Gordon of Villain Enterprises. Quinn McKay is our host, with in Baltimore, MD coming from Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman.

Haskins has stated his intention to challenge for the World Title once again in 2020, and has been slotted into a World Title triple threat at Gateway To Honor later in the month. To prepare for that he is looking for a win over an experienced, established name like Shelley.

Haskins makes a statement early by countering every approach Shelley makes and leaving him flat on his face. Alex isn't thrown off at all and starts ensnaring Haskins in an assortment of whacky pinning situations. Big kicks from the Englishman, followed by a tope suicida; using high impact, higher stakes moves after Alex threatened to overwhelm him on the canvas. He goes after the arm of the former Tag Champion - vicious stomps and nasty submission holds are utilised in quick succession putting Haskins in control. It's Shelley's turn to try big strikes to break up the momentum of his adversary - the pace quickening so suddenly that they end up simultaneously laying each other out with clotheslines. Armbreaker by Haskins, even whilst Shelley hammers him with chops! Turnbuckle flatliner by Shelley, but he is slow to get up as he tries to nurse the feeling back into his injured arm. Finally he tries a suplex only for his arm to give out on him again and Mark balls him up into the Soldier Roll for 2. Stomp Boy misses...and Alex delivers a standing Shiranui! BORDER CITY STRETCH! Haskins counters to a pinfall, perhaps because of the arm injury. Sliced Bread #2 countered to the Haskins Sharpshooter! He reaches back and wrenches the bad arm as well! Shelley taps at 11:50

Rating - *** - Meant in the most positive sense, this was exactly the kind of match I expected to see from them. It was technical, ground-based, exciting, progressively paced and incredibly easy to watch. What I hadn't necessarily expected was how great a job this did as a primer for Haskins entering the main event scene. The lay-out was particularly effective; it showed Haskins first out-wrestle Shelley, then it showed his use of powerful strikes to get ahead...then he inflicted a critical injury on his opponent which directly played into the finish. They could have used some more time to really sell Shelley's arm injury and build a greater degree of drama into the closing stages, but this stands as a crisp and enjoyable start to the show. 

Quinn catches up with Joe Hendry and Dalton Castle ahead of their match. Joe wants to talk about their synergy as a team, Dalton wants to do face massages and discuss his 'spooky powers'...

Later Quinn interviews Lifeblood, with an eye on Haskins' upcoming World Title shot. Mark says the World Title is 'the only thing that matters to him' as Tracy is once again left in the background to brood.

Marseglia and Bateman are introduced as 'The Righteous' for the first time here. Vincent's demented 'Ring Of Horror' has come together quickly since his win over Matt Taven at Final Battle; the impressive and enigmatic Bateman now his partner, plus Vita VonStarr and 'Chuckles The Clown' in their entourage. The only thing less predictable than The Righteous is trying to guess which version of the Hendry/Castle team will show up. Some nights they look like a slick unit, others they struggle to get on the same page. They defeated Master & Machine for TV in Atlanta though, which they are hoping is the start of a winning streak. Castle is also a friend of Matt Taven, so he'll be looking for a measure of his revenge for his injured buddy too.

As we saw in Atlanta, Vincent has Bateman start the match...and watches as he struggles to overcome some fluent and effective tag team work from Castle and Hendry. Even when he tries to get his big strike game going, Castle is able to evade his best shots and dump him to the canvas with a suplex. Vincent helps his partner out - distracting Castle by waving a crutch in his face. Ian explains that it's one of Matt Taven's crutches that The Righteous stole during a violent altercation with the injured former champion at an autograph signing. Why the hell isn't footage of that on this show? Bateman snaps Joe's neck over the top rope, whilst Vincent launches Dalton shoulder-first into the ringpost. The Righteous isolate Hendry, keeping him firmly in their corner where Marseglia's deviousness and Bateman's potent strikes come to the fore. End Time by Vincent...but he gets a little too enthusiastic about it and stops concentrating, allowing Joe to power out into a suplex. Hot tag to Dalton who sends his opponents spiralling through the air with suplex after suplex of his own. EVEREST GERMAN on Vincent! He recovers to lariat Castle onto the apron whilst the Peacock is preoccupied trying to knee Bateman. DOUBLE Freak Of Nature by Hendry to save his partner! Codebreaker/bulldog combo on Bateman! But Chuckles The Clown hauls Castle to the floor - distracting Joe for just long enough to allow Vincent to hit the Acid Drop. He wins at 12:21

Rating - ** - The basic premise of this was solid. It allowed Vincent to showcase his character, Bateman to be weird and hit people hard, Castle and Hendry to show what great wrestlers they are...but also show that they are not a flawless team which left them vulnerable to the loss. But they could have accomplished all of that in less time, making this feel a lot more concise and enjoyable (rather than a good 6-8 minute match stretched out for more than 12). This was, however, a better platform for Vincent and Bateman to demonstrate what they are all about as workers and performers - as opposed to last time where they came off like generic, cheating heels relying on outside interference.

Slex gets some interview time next. He says 'business' a lot...

In the locker rooms after their match The Righteous talk in riddles, but seem generally triumphant after their victory at Free Enterprise.

NEXT WEEK - Briscoes vs MexaBlood in the main event.

The Australian star 'Slex' makes his debut tonight, having been hyped with video packages since the start of the year. He is billed as a 'main event talent' and steps straight into the ring with one of ROH's bigger names. Flip is a member of the Villain Enterprises faction which is accumulating feuds on an almost hourly basis currently; ongoing issues with Lifeblood, MexiSquad, La Faccion Ingobernable, Nick Aldis and his NWA stable etc. 

We start with an explosive near-miss kick sequence which is a lot of fun. Slingshot backbreaker by Slex, delivering the first significant offence of the match. He immediately follows it with a perfect elbow suicida then a release suplex onto the apron for 2. Ligerbomb gets 2...but he can't keep Flip down. Gordon no-sells a wheelbarrow suplex and ploughs through the debutant with a clothesline. Spinning falcon arrow scores a nearfall for Flip...but Slex dodges the springboard spear and delivers a springboard enziguri. Business Bomb gets 2. Kinder Surprise knocks Slex to the floor...and Gordon leaps out on top of him with a second rope moonsault out of the ring! Springboard spear scores and sets up the Flip-5! Curb Stomp wins it for Gordon at 10:27

Rating - ** - This was a completely solid, passable ten minute wrestling match. I vaguely enjoyed what I was watching, but it never really felt like they found a rhythm or were giving me any kind of hook to emotionally invest in what they were doing. It was essentially a nifty strike sequence to start, a few minutes of Slex showing off his moveset (which is fine, but hardly revolutionary) then Gordon beating him. Having Ian Riccaboni going all in on the hyperbole and insist that this was a 'main event match' and that Slex is a 'main eventer anywhere in the world' when both statements are so obviously false actually detracted from the match too. It almost felt like they put this in the TV main event slot solely to make those ludicrous statements appear more truthful

Flip shakes Slex's hand and leaves...as Soldiers Of Savagery come out and intimidate the Australian. Shane Taylor arrives and KO's Slex with the Package Piledriver. He's pissed off that ROH's new recruits like Slex are getting all the attention...and is here to announce that Joe Koff has caved in to his demands, so he has officially signed a new contract.

Tape Rating - N/A - Other than a couple of interviews this broadcast offers nothing ROH haven't already given away for free already. As I said during my introductory paragraph, I understand Sinclair maximising their return on investment in the free show by using it to fill their TV schedule for a month...but the value this broadcast offers to anyone loyal enough to support the promotion with an Honor Club membership, or even anyone who watched Free Enterprise and is now looking to give ROH TV a shot, is minimal. Imagine you watched Free Enterprise, thought you'd check out the TV show and were then confronted with a month of them airing the show you'd already watched once - you'd immediately tune out and not bother with the company! The quality of the in-ring content (after Haskins/Shelley) is hardly outrageously high either.