McXal's Reviews

This episode fascinates me. I'm curious to see whether ROH were able to hastily put together any acknowledgement that the Coronavirus pandemic forced them to cancel the 18th Anniversary, I'm curious to see whether they announced any plans for their show going forward whilst live events and TV tapings were put on hold...and it's also the only episode where any content taped during Bound By Honor/Gateway To Honor weekend is broadcast. Quinn McKay is our host, with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman in Nashville, TN for commentary.

Cobb and Maff beat the Tag Champions at Free Enterprise, so are technically #1 contenders to the Tag Titles. Jay and Mark are desperate to get back into the hunt to face the current champions, who won the belts by defeating them at Final Battle. Therefore a win over Cobb and Maff instantly re-establishes them among the top contenders. Seeing them in the ring with Maff (another man who was on the first ever ROH show) will be fun...

Mark tries to control Cobb with a side headlock only to be easily dismissed with a dropkick. Maff and Jay circle each other ominously before laying into each other with some fierce strikes. The Briscoes realise that one-on-one they are out-matched, so join forces to beat Jeff down. That lasts until Mark is left alone and tries an ill-advised suplex on the Olympian. Cobb launches Mark into the air and makes a hot tag to Maff. The match quickly shifts as the size and power of the heavyweight duo leads them to dominate Jay Briscoe. He scurries away and makes a vital tag to his younger brother, who tosses Cobb skyward with an Iconoclasm. Jay feeds him a chair so he can hit the STEP-UP PLANCHA to the floor! Jay hits a somersault plancha as well! Maff saves his partner from the Redneck Boogie and wipes Mark out with a Pounce. Cannonball/Athletic-Plex/step-up senton splash sequence by Cobb and Maff for 2! Redneck Kung Fu by Mark, saving his brother from the Burning Hammer. SICK KICK/DRAGON SUPLEX COMBO! Cobb decimates Mark with a lariat seconds after to leave everyone out on the mat. POP-UP CUTTER COMBO from Maff & Cobb to Jay! Tour Of The Islands blocked, into the JAY DRILLER! Froggy Bow scores well, allowing Jay to pin Cobb at 14:49

Rating - *** - I've read a few reviews which were incredibly positive about this match, so to be frank I possibly had my expectations elevated a little too high, but even though I watched with a tinge of disappointment as they clearly have a MUCH better match within their capabilities this absolutely was entertaining in an uncompromising, albeit sometimes rather basic manner. My biggest problem stems from how disjointed it felt. The second half of the match with them all decking one another with lively, fast-paced big boy brawler spots was great. Similarly the more circumspect, methodical opening half as the power of the super-heavyweight duo caused problems for even the ultra-experienced Briscoes was intriguing as well. But those two acts felt like they didn't belong in the same match. I know I'm normally one to call for ROH matches to go longer  - but they'd have been better off going ten minutes and beating the sh*t out of each other from the opening bell

Alex said he returned to ROH in 2019 (after taking a hiatus from professional wrestling) because he was looking to face some of the best wrestlers from all over the world. He has faced Matt Taven, he has battled Jon Gresham and now he faces a spectacular luchador; one third of MexiSquad (the current Six-Man Champions) in Rey Horus. Shelley had recently been announced as part of the 2020 Pure Title Tournament (the cancelled, pre-pandemic version), so Horus will eye up a win here that would put him in contention for a spot in that as well.

Shelley spends the first minute locking up with the luchador and trying to keep him down, then spends the next minute making a real statement by repeatedly repelling Rey's lucha-attacks with brilliant, effortless counters. Horus is forced to wrestle Shelley's match and although he is a competent grappler, he can't compete at Alex's level on the canvas. He drives Shelley to the floor...but then out there Shelley starts using his momentum against. He tries to shimmy off the ringpost, to which Alex almost counters with a Shiranui then DOES counter with an armdrag...and when Horus gets up from that Shelley catches him again with a tilta-whirl backbreaker to the floor. Rey decides it's time to throw strikes - right in front of the front row fans. They gasp in horror as Shelley BRUTALLY tackles him into the guardrail! We go back to the ring where the former ROH Tag Champion runs through a series of submissions, systematically picking apart Horus' body. Almost eight minutes in and Shelley finally makes a mistake - trying a crossbody off the top for a second time. Horus capitalises and blasts him with a dropkick to the sternum. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD lucha armdrag! TOPE ATOMICO OVER THE TURNBUCKLES! Rey is first back into the ring and drills Shelley with a Flam Fly for 2! Turnbuckle belly to belly suplex gets 2 as well. Back to the top rope goes Horus, to miss a 450 splash - and Shelley capitalises with a standing Shiranui. Shellshock...into the Border City Stretch! Horus taps, giving Shelley the win at 12:39

Rating - *** - Shelley was awesome in this. The opening two thirds of this match were essentially him completely dominating Horus, showcasing all his skills from technical wrestling, to counters, to pseudo-lucha, striking, even brawling on the floor. Getting to watch him do his thing for ten minutes, then Horus hit a few exciting high spots as well, made this a likeable match. 

An 'order the replay' commercial for 18th Anniversary airs at this point in the show, which suggests that this episode is airing just as it would have, had the PPV not been cancelled. Quinn in the studio also shills the 'full replays' available on Honor Club, and starts listing matches for Supercard Of Honor 13. The scheduled matches she lists are Rush vs Flip for the World Title, Dragon Lee vs El Phantasmo (who Marty later revealed had been planned to debut at the PPV) for the TV Title, MexiSquad defending the Six-Man Titles against Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero and Amazing Red (holy sh*t!), PCO vs Nick Aldis (which Marty announced at Free Enterprise), Marty Scurll vs Jay White (I believe Scurll invaded an NJPW USA show to challenge Switchblade), Bullet Club's Taiji Ishomori and KENTA (making a LONG-awaited return to ROH) facing Jeff Cobb & Dan Maff...and Tag Title Ladder War with Lethal & Gresham defending against the Briscoes. 

This is Lethal and Gresham's first title defence, but at Free Enterprise they lost in a Proving Ground Match to Jeff Cobb and Dan Maff so they aren't entering this with heaps of momentum. Perhaps more concerning is that 2 Guys 1 Tag are undefeated - and already have a win over Lethal and Gresham on their record from the Global Wars Espectacular Tour last year.

The champions attack the challengers during their entrance; Lethal charging out behind his old rival Silas and blasting him in the knee with his title belt! Before the bell rings the champions have hobbled Silas, and laid both challengers out with tope suicidas. Young trips Gresham in front of another tope from Lethal though, as Woods recovers and hits a capture suplex on the floor to The Franchise! By the time the bell rings Lethal and Gresh are back on top and dominating the Last Real Man though. They work over the injured leg, always remaining right on the cusp of illegality but ultimately remaining within the rules. Figure 4 Leglock blocked though and that allows Woods to tag in for the first time. Much like their last match Woods dominates - almost pinning Lethal from his version of the GTS. DIVING KNEE STRIKE knocks Gresham out of the sky as he tries to fly in with a save! Seismic Toss blocked setting up the Lethal Combination for 2. Woods POWERBOMBS Gresham onto Silas' knees, which of course injures Silas' leg still more...but doesn't stop The Goods from violently booting Lethal out of the ring. Leg kick/folding powerbomb/Figure 4 Leglock sequence from the champs to Young! Woods breaks by powerbombing Gresh onto his own partner. STRIKE DUEL between Gresham and Woods! Young levels Lethal with a pescado whilst in the ring Josh Doctor Bombs Gresham into an anklelock. Everest German gets 2! Gresham evades Misery with a kick to Silas' injured leg. LETHAL INJECTION! SHOOTING STAR PRESS...for 2! Silas small packages Gresham for three, but Todd Sinclair misses it because he's trying to get Lethal and Woods out of the ring. Jay flips the pin on his way out, and Gresham pins Silas to retain at 10:18

Rating - *** - Part of me is disappointed that we didn't get a true sequel to their classic from the Global Wars Espectacular Tour. That was seventeen minutes of smooth, engaging and impeccably performed tag team wrestling - and this match was an entirely different clash. I understand the concept, since Lethal and Gresham are supposed to be rule-pushing tweener heels it makes sense that this match would be different. Last time they lost but played nicely - this time they were aggressive, they cheated, and despite Woods' individual dominance over them they won the match. The ten minutes of action we got were undeniably heated and dramatic though - even if the match wasn't the one I personally wanted to see.  

Tape Rating - N/A - It is clearly unfair to expect Ring Of Honor to have rushed any acknowledgement of the pandemic straight onto television, for an episode already in the can, on less than a week's notice after cancelling the 18th Anniversary. I must confess I was a little surprised they hadn't even put any overlay text or graphics something though! From a historical perspective that meant this was actually a pretty interesting episode however, with most of the cancelled Supercard Of Honor 13 line-up announced...and it sounded REALLY good.