McXal's Reviews

I've noticed a pattern developing in the last five months that I've been reviewing the current ROH product. When the show is bad, average or passable I will make it to the Monday - when the episode is placed onto ROHWrestling.com - without a single spoiler. When the show is good, or noteworthy, my social media is awash with spoilers from those in Sinclair Broadcast markets who saw the episode over the weekend. This week I've seen spoilers for every segment, make of that what you will. The card is stacked for a forty five minute wrestling show. Six-Man Title gold is on the line in the main event; Bandido and Flamita making a long-awaited return to defend them alongside Rey Horus against Shane Taylor Promotions (a bout originally scheduled for Final Battle). Beneath that the Briscoes face La Faccion Ingobernable of Dragon Lee and Kenny King with #1 contendership to the Tag Titles at stake. Sandwiched between those is a grudge match between The OGK's Mike Bennett and Righteous' Bateman. Quinn McKay, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are in Baltimore, MD.

NEXT WEEK - A reminder that it will be Shane Taylor in back-to-back championship main events. It will be him vs Rush for the World Title next week...

The winners of this get a Tag Title shot against The Foundation next week. The Briscoes are back seemingly back on the same 'ship', reconciled after Jay allowed his focus to stray from the Tag Titles and onto the confusion caused by EC3. They were part of a chaotic 8-man brawl two weeks ago on television, going toe-to-toe with LFI. 

Mark starts with King, who's rivalry with the Briscoes stretches back for the best part of a decade. Is Mark wrestling with a Dalton Castle-esque back brace? He certainly seems to be, and as a result seems very keen to work a slower, more grounded style than usual. Lee is one of the best wrestlers in the world and his mere presence in the ring with a former World Champion like Jay Briscoe feels major. Jay uses his power early on...but isn't in the same league as the TV Champ when the pace quickens. Jay has no choice but to retreat when Lee starts to dominate. Mark blind-tags in, which Jay doesn't look completely on-board with. Dragon drives knees to Mark's braced mid-section and is soon joined by Kenny doing the exact same thing. Camel clutch applied by King now forcing Jay to make a blind-tag to his brother. Together they swarm King, taking him to the floor for a mugging out there. CACTUS ELBOW by Mark, even with the braced back. APRON BRAINBUSTER NAILED! Cut-Throat Driver blocked, but so is the Royal Flush. Eventually King and Mark collide in the middle of the ring, leaving them in a rush for their respective corners. Lee and Jay tear into each other with frenzied strikes; Dragon not backing up an inch from a seasoned brawler like Briscoe. He rolls through Jay's running lariat...INTO A DOUBLE UNDERHOOK BACKBREAKER! Jay survives that, spikes Lee with a DVD then collapses alongside him. Iconoclasm by Mark gets 2. The Briscoes go for a double superplex, but Kenny makes the save and eats the GHETTO STOMP BY LEE! TOPE ATOMICO NAILED! FLYING DOUBLE STOMP! Jay kicks out! Bridging cradle suplex by Kenny, but still just 2 as LFI look to press home their dominance. FROGGY BOW to save his brother, but hitting that does considerable damage to Mark's injured back. The two teams stand in the middle of the ring laying into each other. GERMAN SUPLEX! INVERTED RANA! Dragon Lee once again gains the upper hand with a moment of real quality. RIPCORD KNEE SMASH! He lines up Mark for the running, rope-hurdle hurricanrana to the floor...BUT MARK POWERBOMBS HIM ON THE APRON! Day One Neckbreaker lays out Kenny. Amy Rose buzzes around on the apron in a panic as the Briscoes look poised to win...then out through the (empty) crowd comes Flip Gordon! KINDER SURPRISE ON MARK! King rolls up Jay to win at 11:07 (shown)

Rating - **** - The finish was frustrating given how good the match was before it, but I won't deny that I'm not intrigued as to how Flip fits into this given his treatment at the hands of LFI a couple of weeks ago. Crucially, before that the match was an absolute blockbuster. I've seen a few rumblings on various social media sites which suggests the Briscoes are stale. I can't pretend they are as fresh or as revolutionary as they were in their glorious 2006-2008 period, but this was a timely reminder of how GREAT they still are at tag team wrestling. This was a near-perfect ten minute TV sprint (minus the finish), accentuating the strengths of all four combatants. Dragon Lee is a star, maybe even the best worker on the entire roster and he looked every bit the world class talent that he is. King was devious and antagonistic. Jay, as always, was at his best as a slightly deranged mauler. Meanwhile Mark was surprisingly compelling working a blend of his high risk style whilst subtly selling the back that LFI worked over too. If you can get past a slightly uninspiring finish, this is really good.

NEXT WEEK - Lethal and Gresham defend the Tag Titles against King and Lee. Riccaboni implies it will be under Pure Rules as well - which is very interesting...

Jay and Mark are still at ringside analysing their loss when EC3's music starts to play - he is back after missing Final Battle with Covid-19. He puts Jay over as someone who has resisted the temptation and financial gain of bigger promotions to remain a loyal, hard-working family man...but now wants to know what is next. Does he want to follow his championship ambitions, or does he want to get sidetracked by EC3?

There is currently an ROH management mandate preventing Vincent and Matt Taven from being in physical contact with each other. That doesn't exist between Bateman and Bennett though. Mike is still carrying the ankle injury The Righteous inflicted at Final Battle, and plans to extract revenge from Vincent's right-hand man tonight...

Riccaboni tells a fun story about Katsuyori Shibata telling Bateman that he is too violent and hard-hitting. We don't see any of that from the bell because Bennett almost Spears him out of the ring. The brawl spills to the floor, where Bennett starts hitting Kobashi chops against the barricades! Spear against the guardrail MISSES though! Mike is still reeling from that when Bateman picks him up for a press slam onto the arena floor. Bennett actually tries to get some respite by crawling under the ring, so Bateman grabs his legs and catapults him throat-first into the steel ring support beam. When we come back from commercials Bateman is still on Bennett, giving him REPEATED back drop drivers. Somehow Bennett survives those and lands a frantic discus lariat for 2. Feeling the pace of the contest, both men are now breathing heavily as they pelt each other with hard strikes. Vita Von Starr tells Bateman to 'just murder him' which seems rather excessive! He responds with a big rebound elbow smash and a small package driver for 2. This Is A Kill blocked with another Spear, before Mike hits the jumping piledriver. He wins at 06:29 (shown)

Rating - *** - Too short to mean much, but they worked extremely hard and extremely fast meaning this never felt dull. I loved Ian's story about Bateman being too violent even for someone like Shibata. It's a little touch which tells us more about Bateman's style or character than almost anything else we've seen during his time in ROH. Performances like this suggest he is more than equipped to step up as and when he is ready to step out of Vincent's shadow too...

Matt Taven sprints to the ring almost as soon as the bell rings to start beating on Bateman. He has brought a wooden block with him, meaning he and Bennett set him up to repeat the treatment that they received at the hands of The Righteous over consecutive Final Battles. Taven gets on the mic and demands that Marseglia agree to match he wants (which according to social media posts appears to be a Fight Without Honor)...before being confronted by Vincent himself on the Cary-tron. He refuses the match...so Taven SHATTERS Bateman's ankle using the wooden block and a steel chair. 

This was originally scheduled for Final Battle 2020, and when both Bandido and Flamita were forced to miss that show due to Covid-19 diagnoses ROH officials wanted to award the belts to Shane Taylor Promotions via forfeit. Taylor refused, because he and his proteges don't want or need charity. He stated then he wanted to beat the MexiSquad in a match when they returned - and here we are. Bandido, Flamita and Horus have held these belts for more than a year (making them the longest reigning champions ever) but the pandemic means that they are yet to notch a successful title defence since taking the belts from Villain Enterprises. With Taylor just a week out from facing Rush for the World Title, first defences don't come much tougher. Maria Kanellis-Bennett joins commentary for this.

Taylor and the SOS charge the champs from the bell, and are far too big for the luchadors to handle. They drag the champs out of the ring for a brawl on the floor where they know they have an edge. Kaun gives Flamita a Stunner in the ropes...but in doing so lets Flam back into the ring where he is able to crank up the speed and completely bewitch his foes. Moses steps in with Bandido...who tries to run some speed drills with him only to get FLATTENED! Bandido's response is to start doing handstands, then work Moses into an Ace Crusher. Horus puts the boots to Taylor, flips off the top rope and guillotines the #1 contender. Flying headscissors blocked...but Rey escapes! Big tackle by Taylor puts him down though, setting SOS up to work him over. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD TORNADO DDT on Moses! Bandido and Taylor come to blows, but Taylor plucks the luchador out of the sky when he tries the Tornillo. FLAMITA JUMPS OFF BANDIDO INTO A FLYING HEADSCISSORS! Tope suicida flurry by the champs, which don't have much effect. STEREO TOPE ATOMICO/ASAI MOONSAULT FLURRY! That scatters STP all over ringside. 450 Splash by Flamita, requiring Moses to make the save. TRIPLE powerbomb on Kaun, then Bandido satellites around Flamita into a killer legsweep. POP-UP SPLASH by Bandido and Flamita gets 2! Then Bandido tries to catapult Horus into the Tornado Dragon DDT, but Taylor moves meaning Rey accidentally nails Flam with it. Moses takes out Bandido and Horus with a cannonball off the apron as Taylor almost breaks the ring giving Flamita a Warrior Splash. Welcome To The Land! Taylor pins Flamita to win the belts at 08:58 (shown)

Rating - *** - Like Bennett/Bateman, this was too short to produce much of any real substance sadly. At times the clash of styles entertained, but at others it did feel a little clumsy and close to going off the rails. Part of me is a little disappointed they pulled the trigger on a title change here too. I won't deny that it feels like the right time to legitimise Shane Taylor Promotions with the gold, but it is such a shame that the pandemic deprived us of a run of killer trios matches from the MexiSquad. The return of Bandido is significant though. He is someone who, with some work, could be built up as a major challenger to Rush in future and is one of the brightest young stars in the company. Given that he reportedly really struggled with Covid-19, it is really pleasing that he is back, healthy and looking REALLY good despite the ring-rust. Flamita and Horus were as silky-smooth as ever too - and I really hope Delirious has something substantial planned for the MexiSquad after this. Shane Taylor is someone who has really put his shoulder to the grind during the pandemic. He has been good for years; a great promo and one of the most authentic characters on the roster, but so inconsistently booked fans have never gotten into him. Without the pressure to appease a live crowd, it is that authenticity is what has made him one of ROH's biggest hidden gems during the Covid era. 

The show ends with Taylor staring into the camera and delivering a warning to Rush...

Tape Rating - **** - Even with time restraints meaning the main event didn't quite live up to my expectations, this was a strong show. A tight, forty-five minute episode heavy on in-ring content with some really beefy moments of storyline or character advancement too. After a really great tag team opener, EC3 returned, once again seemingly poised to drive a wedge between the Briscoe brothers thanks to his psychological hold over Jay Briscoe. There is intrigue around what the hell Flip Gordon does next thrown into that mix too. Mike Bennett and Bateman beat the sh*t out of each other, culminating in an intriguing angle where Vincent refused to face Taven, effectively sacrificing his own henchman to force Taven to confront his own inner darkness. Then the main event saw a big title change, the legitimisation of the rising stars of Shane Taylor promotions, plus the welcome returns of Bandido and Flamita. The realities of trying to cram all of this into such a short time period did mean that the main event in particular got shafted for time. If ROH plan to run empty arena shows deep into 2021 then they really do need to look at an extra hour (or at least an extra half hour), or a second show because they have too much talent to cram into less than fifty minutes per week.