McXal's Reviews

Our last trip to Free Enterprise premieres on a rather significant weekend for Ring Of Honor. It was supposed to be the 18th Anniversary Show, a pay-per-view celebration of eighteen years of ROH history - followed by Past vs Present where some past stars from that eighteen year run were invited back to pit their wits against the current roster. Instead it wound up being the weekend that Ring Of Honor forever changed as we knew it - as Covid-19 forced them into a hibernation from which they'd never entirely emerge, at least in the format as we recognised in 2020. This week we are checking out the final portion of Free Enterprise that we've not yet seen on TV - including the #1 Contendership Battle Royal and the Lethal/Gresham vs Cobb/Maff Proving Ground Match. Quinn McKay is our host, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman call the action in Baltimore, MD.

This is a twenty person Battle Royal, with the winner earning a World Title shot at a date to be determined. The participants are Brian Johnson and his mentor PJ Black, Cheeseburger and Eli Isom of Shinobi Shadow Squad, partners-turned-rivals Kenny King and Rhett Titus, 2 Guys 1 Tag, The Bouncers, Delirious, Tracy Williams, Leon St. Giovanni, Danhausen, Dak Draper, Maria Manic (making this a rare inter-gender match for ROH), plus left-field guest stars Crowbar, Gangrel and Blue Meanie. Perhaps the biggest surprise entrant is Dragon Lee; a surprise because just hours earlier he was competing for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Hiromu Takahashi in Osaka...

Maria is competing in Dudley Boyz-inspired gear as a dig at Bully Ray. Kenny looks surprised to see Dragon, which is odd considering they are in LFI together, but doesn't long to think about it because Gangrel spits his goblet of blood in his face - a great callback to what happened to King at G1 Supercard. Delirious runs laps of the ring, whilst the likes of Brian Johnson and 2G1T opt against getting into the ring immediately. Danhausen tries to make friends with Gangrel which is quite funny - and is immediately drilled with the inverted tiger suplex. Implant DDT on Johnson! Dak Draper then powers the Vampire Warrior out of the ring as the first elimination. Draper throws LSG, Crowbar and Isom out seconds later as he goes on a complete tear. Cheeseburger eliminates him as payback for Eli. Blue Meanie tries to befriend The Bouncers...and they all do the Meanie dance together until Brian Johnson tosses Meanie out like an asshole. PJ comes to his student's aid before The Bouncers can eliminate him though. JOHNSON TOSSES PJ! That was a great moment! Maria Manic PRESS SLAMS JOHNSON TO THE FLOOR moments later! She hiptosses Rhett Titus out as well. MARIA ELIMINATES THE BOUNCERS! And in doing so she saves Danhausen, who is absolutely delighted. Silas finally enters the match, looking to show the Maneater what a 'Real Man' looks like. She willingly trade strikes with Young...until he lays her out with the Killer Combo. Bully Ray sprints to the ring and drags Maria over the top rope and smacks her with a steel chair. POWERBOMB THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE! Bully just decimated Manic, and the camera cuts inside the ring as Delirious and Danhausen come face to face. Dan apparently understands Delirious...and gives him teeth to drink? Obviously he then stabs his new Lizard friend in the back (by kicking him in the head then throwing him out of the match). Silas then eliminates Danhausen...but has to be rescued by Josh Woods when Burger almost tosses him. Silas knocks CB to the floor with his springboard lariat, giving us a 'final four' of Woods, Young, Williams and 'Dragon Lee'. Tracy hits the turnbuckle DDT on Silas, but then Josh dives in front of Hot Sauce to take the rest of the hits in Young's place. Silas saves Josh from being eliminated! He screwed Josh over in a Battle Royal at Glory By Honor, so that shows real progression for their team. They toss Tracy to the floor and round on Dragon Lee...who promptly ducks an attempted mafia kick from Josh, causing him to boot Silas off the apron! KENNY KING IS BACK! Just like G1 Supercard he had been hiding under the ring, and he sneaks up behind the final two (Woods and Lee) looking to eliminate them both. Josh falls...but 'Lee' skins the cat back in as Kenny celebrates. He then pulls his mask off to reveal that it is Flip Gordon! He eliminates King, to win the match and the title shot at 17:35

Rating - *** - Battle Royals are rarely my thing, but I'll gladly offer up praise where one proves to be an exception to the rule and in my opinion this fell into that bracket. The key to it was smart pacing, and great moments scattered throughout the run-time. We started with Gangrel repeating the Muta/Kenny King MSG spot (which I loved) we had Dak Draper looking strong with a few eliminations, Johnson stabbing PJ in the back was really well done, Maria Manic tearing through the field then getting f*cked up by Bully Ray at least advances that storyline (if you're into that), Delirious and Danhausen shared a comedic beat, 2 Guys 1 Tag riffed off their interactions from the last ROH Battle Royal to great impact...and we ended with Kenny King trying to pull the same trick he used at the 2019 Honor Rumble, only to be thwarted by a member of LFI's rival group - Flip Gordon of Villain Enterprises. The one thing I would say is that a lot of the entertainment value of this match could only be found if you were familiar with ROH's storylines and have watched a lot of ROH's shows over the last year. I don't know that this had the same mass appeal that something like the 'Over Budget' Battle Royal at All In had for instance.

Quinn McKay catches up with Flip Gordon, reminding everyone that this is the second time he has won an ROH World Title Match by using a mask in a Battle Royal (I'd completely forgotten he won the Over Budget Battle Royal at All In by donning the 'Chico El Luchador' mask). He was going to challenge for the title at Supercard Of Honor 13.

Highlights are shown of Session Moth Martina's debut, in a wining effort against Sumie Sakai. This is pretty much the only match from Free Enterprise which was aired in highlights form (rather than a full TV edit) and with good reason. It was REALLY bad live, and genuinely comes off much better as a few minutes of scattergun clips. Afterwards Quinn McKay tries to interview Sumie, but is threatened and told to 'shut up' by the angry Japanese veteran...

This is a Proving Ground Match, meaning if Cobb and Maff can win or draw they will earn a title shot. Cobb and Maff formed a team after finding mutual respect between them when they kicked the sh*t out of each other at Final Battle - then clashed with Lethal and Gresham when teaming with them at Honor Reigns Supreme. They are big dudes and major threats to the new Tag Champions...

Gresham and Cobb start and its The Octopus dipping into his bag of tricks to ensure he remains out of the clutches of the former Olympian. As soon as Cobb actually does grab him he easily tosses Gresh all the way across the ring and back into his corner. Lethal tags and calls out Maff, lighting him up with chops until the big man slaps him in the face and steamrolls him with a Pounce. Even joining forces the champions aren't able to get Maff off his feet. Dan hauls Lethal to his corner and brings in Cobb to start picking apart the Franchise. Gresham intervenes and targets Jeff's leg, quickly levelling the playing field on a man Cobb's size by rendering him unable to walk. Cobb collapses into a tag...but due to the antics of the champions Todd Sinclair misses it. Gresham delights in making fun of Maff as he is ordered out...and Cobb hits him with the most effortless belly to belly suplex you'll ever see. Cannonball/Athletic-Plex combo on Lethal gets 2. Gresham kicks the leg out from under Cobb when he tries another suplex though, setting Jay up to hit an Ace Crusher. TOPE SUICIDA FLURRY on Maff - who won't go down! Gresham topes into a rear naked choke, whilst inside the ring Lethal applies the Figure 4 to Cobb's bad leg. Maff is SO big that he breaks it by walking into the ring with Gresham on his back...then DVD-ing him down on top of Lethal. Cornette Cutter COUNTERED to the Hawaiian Stampede! As Maff drops Lethal with a spear as well. Lethal Injection blocked, only for Gresh to save Jay from the Burning Hammer by hitting a quebrada. Lethal Injection again...this time COUNTERED TO THE BURNING HAMMER! Maff pins Lethal to win at 12:42

Rating - *** - At less than thirteen minutes it didn't have the opportunity to really get into the higher gears...and it also deprived them of the time to really explore areas which would have taken this match to the next level. We didn't get enough of Gresham being a little prick with guys the size of Maff and Cobb, nor was there time for Cobb to bother selling the leg at all. Lethal and Maff worked a lot of the same promotions together back in the early 00's...yet their history was barely explored either. It was a functional, effective bout with flashes of excitement and an intriguing finish...albeit a fruitless one as the pandemic would ensure we'd never see the Lethal/Gresham vs Cobb/Maff title match.

Tape Rating - N/A - Its hard to take issue with this episode. We know it was due to run against ROH's 18th Anniversary pay-per-view, so on that level it was a fun show without doing anything to deter potential buyers from purchasing the show Ring Of Honor actually wants you to watch. But after the pandemic cancelled that, it's also hard to now begrudge Sinclair filling ROH's spots in their schedules with whatever footage they can cobble together. The Battle Royal really is more fun than many gave it credit for, and the main event has wrestlers the quality of Gresham, Lethal and Cobb in - so one can't criticise this broadcast too much.