McXal's Reviews

Honor Club's blurb on this episode suggests that our main event tonight is the Proving Ground Match between Tag Champions Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham and the hard-hitting, heavyweight tag team of Jeff Cobb and Dan Maff. That would make sense given that ROH is essentially airing Free Enterprise in full across four episodes of television, and that would link into where we left off last time. But Cagematch, as well as Honor Club's graphic, suggests we'll actually be seeing the Free Enterprise main event (Scurll/PCO vs Rush/Aldis) as our feature bout this week - so lets see how that plays out on what was scheduled to be the 'go home' episode before the 18th Anniversary. Quinn McKay hosts, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman call the action in Baltimore, MD.

This match pits a member of the reigning Six-Man Champions MexiSquad, against one of the dethroned former champions in Villain Enterprises. For all of King's success in Ring Of Honor, he doesn't actually have a singles victory to his name as yet (in all fairness he hasn't wrestled many) - so he'll be desperate both to avenge that championship loss but also to register a singles win.

The size discrepancy between these two is vast. It means Horus doesn't waste any time in darting around the ring trying to keep away from the big fists of his opponent. That lasts a minute...then Brody clobbers him with a clothesline and the match immediately shifts. Rey tries to escape to the floor but finds King pursuing him sadistically around ringside with more cringe-inducing shots. SLINGSHOT RANA TO THE FLOOR! Rey has a window of opportunity...and seizes it with the somersault plancha OVER THE RINGPOST! Satellite DDT blocked into another thunderous lariat. JUMPING PILEDRIVER by Brody gets 2. Horus crawls away to the corner, but comes out with the SPRINGBOARD 720 DDT for 2! For a third time King kills his momentum with a lariat and this time drills him with the Gonzo Bomb to win at 06:30

Rating - *** - This was great. I initially typed out a rant about how ridiculous it is that certain other matches at Free Enterprise got considerably more time than these guys - but to dwell on that would be a slant on the quality of the work. This was a six minute nugget of absolute, unbridled fun. Horus was fast, exciting and evasive...Brody was a monster who beat the f*ck out of him every time he managed to catch him. It was a joy to watch, but entirely too brief

An awesome montage of Homicide, Delirious, Matt Sydal, Havana Pitbulls and Doug Williams highlights airs as a preview to Past vs Present which would have taken place on March 14th in Las Vegas.

Inspired by 2 Guys 1 Tag, Joe Hendry & Dalton Castle and PJ Black/Brian Johnson - Brian Zane decides to rank his Top 5 favourite 'odd couple' tag teams in ROH history. That Kevin Steen and El Generico don't even make the list, and his #1 pick is Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger tells you all you need to know about how terrible these Top 5's are. 

Quinn McKay wants Rush's thoughts on teaming with Nick Aldis tonight. He isn't impressed, and lets Kenny King (in a delightful heavy knit cardigan) talk down 'The National Treasure'...

There is a lot to unpick here. Aldis and Scurll have been best friends for years, and after they memorably did battle at the Crockett Cup in 2019 (where Aldis won) they seemed to have repaired their relationship...albeit whilst ROH and the NWA mutually parted ways on their working arrangement. But having signed a new ROH contract with a lot more clout, Scurll invaded the NWA for another showdown with their World Heavyweight Champion Aldis - and the National Treasure is furious. He returned the favour by invading ROH at both Center Stage and Honor Reigns Supreme, picking a fight with Villain Enterprises on both occasions. Tonight he teams with the former ROH World Champion (whom he as described as a 'means to an end') in his quest to get at Marty. Rush leads La Faccion Ingobernable, a stable formed as a direct reaction to PCO defeating Rush for the title at Final Battle. LFI left Villain Enterprises in tatters in both Atlanta and Concord...

Rush jumps PCO from behind and gets him on the canvas, but he expends a lot of effort and it appears to be having minimal effect on the champion. The Villains start double-teaming Rush in a manner entirely in keeping with a pair of Villains. Rush lets Aldis in with Scurll for the first time and Marty instantly starts trying to get his much taller former friend on the mat where his height advantage is negated. He sets Nick up on the apron...but PCO MISSES THE QUEBEC CANNONBALL! It was a high risk move, but just when Aldis thinks PCO is done the crazy old bastard NO SELLS AND GETS UP! It's only for a moment before Rush jumps him from behind for a second time however. Aldis and Rush work together to wear down PCO, making Scurll increasingly frustrated and taking it out on the ref which allows even more opportunities to beat up the Monster. Just Kidding on Aldis after he finally receives a tag...only for Nick to clobber him in the face as he sets up the Chickenwing. Thanks to more surprisingly effective illicit tag team work by Rush and Aldis, they now take a turn at isolating The Villain. Marty takes his time but starts crawling into a hot tag to a rejuvenated PCO. Spear on Rush by the World Champion as he lumbers to the ring. Their opponents vanish, so Marty fires PCO up with a chop before back body dropping him into a somersault plancha to the floor! Tombstone from Aldis to Scurll! But when he thinks about the top rope elbow he finds PCO waiting to crotch him on the ropes and Marty climbing to deliver a colossal superplex. Quebec Cannonball off Scurll's shoulders gets 2. Nick tries to take PCO's legs from under him; working a leg grapevine whilst Rush lays in a senton splash too. Rush tries to hold PCO down so Nick can hit his top rope elbow drop...but PCO pulls Rush into the path of the move. El Toro Blanco angrily shoves Aldis then walks out on the match. Nick tries to use his title belt as a weapon on PCO but Marty saves with the Finger Snap. Chokeslam by PCO, setting up the PCO-Sault! The ROH Champion pins the NWA Champion at 14:43

Rating - *** - There was clearly a point to all of this. We were building towards Rush getting another crack at PCO and the ROH World Title, Marty Scurll and Nick Aldis having a rematch for the NWA Heavyweight Championship at the Crockett Cup, and also PCO vs Nick Aldis at Supercard Of Honor in 2020 too (more on that momentarily). To that end, I liked this match. It was functional rather than exciting, but it really did make me interested in seeing some of those matches (albeit mostly Aldis/Scurll, which is the only one not in ROH). Nothing here screamed 'pay-per-view quality main event'. Nothing here felt like a 'can't miss' product - but it was fine for TV (if not as a main event for a show designed to regain lapsed/lost fans).

Marty Scurll gets on the microphone and offers up $500k of his big fat new contract money if he can't beat Nick Aldis for the NWA Championship. He also books Aldis vs PCO for Supercard Of Honor...

In the last five minutes of the episode Ring Of Honor suddenly remembers they have a pay-per-view to promote...so ejaculates the entire card at us along with a few video packages and interview snippets. It literally feels like Sinclair shrugging their shoulders and saying 'since only our most loyal fans will buy the damn PPV anyway, we can't be arsed to properly promote it'...

Tape Rating - N/A - As a go-home episode for a pay-per-view this was pretty terrible. They put more effort into promoting Past vs Present than they did into promoting the 18th Anniversary (which had a really strong card). Although this aired in March 2020 (which we know saw global society as we know it change inexorably), this show was presumably edited together before Ring Of Honor understood that the pandemic would force them to cease operations for a prolonged period - so you can't even give them an 'out' that they didn't focus on the PPV because Coronavirus cancelled it. This was just a lazy episode, put together with minimal effort in an effort to recoup costs incurred running Free Enterprise. Even for casual fans (who care so little that they hadn't already watched Free Enterprise for free) the match content here was passable at best.