McXal's Reviews

It is Halloween weekend, so of course Danhausen has to be in the main event. He leads his oddball alliance into battle against Shane Taylor Promotions in a Six-Man Championship main event. We also have a 'Trick Or Treat' wildcard four-way tag bout, as well as Miranda Alize looking to avenge her Women's Title Tournament loss to Rok-C by partnering with Max The Impaler against her in tag team competition. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are our broadcast team in Philadelphia, PA.

Delirious (and Mandy Leon's dog) replaces Quinn McKay as host this week. His Lizard Speak opening monologue ends with him chewing the microphone. Ian Riccaboni is dressed as a Teletubby...

Alize put up a hell of a fight in the finals of the Women's Title Tournament, but ultimately came up short as Rok-C defeated her to win the belt. The Lucha Baddie was furious and attacked her on television a couple of weeks ago as contenders queued up to stake their claim for a shot at The Prodigy. She has now gone out and recruited some hard-hitting back up in the form of Max The Impaler. Rok hasn't found the same stature of partner, but we know McKay is feisty and extremely motivated to succeed in the Women's Division. Will their match against each other in the tournament help them as partners tonight?

Tempers flare between Miranda and Rok-C before the bell even rings, forcing Quinn to pull her partner away. During the commercial break we see that Alize is still antagonising the champion though, meaning for a second time Rok needs McKay to come to her aid. Miranda gives her an armbreaker over the top rope and rakes Quinn's eyes too. With both women down she tags Max in. True to their plan, Quinn and Rok-C try to double-up on The Impaler...who starts throwing them around with ease! Double stalling pumphandle suplex by Max. The Wasteland drops Quinn...and Alize then tags in to pin her for the win at 05:37 (shown)

Rating - ** - Really good character work from Alize was the highlight of this match. She was excellent in how she antagonised Rok-C, acted incredibly cocky around Quinn and used her hired gun Max The Impaler to her advantage. It was a step down from some Women's division matches of late, but as a way to progress the Rok-C/Alize rivalry after Death Before Dishonor it was fine.

This is our 'Trick Or Treat' wildcard match, with the teams drawn out of a hat by Quinn at the start of the show. We have a number of intriguing pairings contained within this, none more so than Silas and Horus who don't get on at all. EC3 and Flip had issues leading to a match at Best In The World too, although Flip has been acting strange since being knocked out by Mark Briscoe at Glory By Honor. Flamita and Horus are former stable-mates in MexiSquad, but their relationship fell apart earlier in 2021 as well. PJ Black provides guest commentary, having been trying to help Flip recover from his amnesia. 

World Famous starts with Silas, applying La Escalara inside the first minute. CB seems to earn Silas' respect with his pure wrestling skill, but is ejected from the match after Flamita attacks him from behind. Rey steps in with his ex-partner for some rapid-fire lucha spots. Horus sends him packing only to be immediately attacked by Flip. EC3 tags to get at Flip, who has no recollection of their previous issues so marks out at EC3 being in ROH and welcomes him to the company! Taven ends up having to take over from Gordon and dropkicks Carter to the floor. Edwards grabs the opportunity to work a former World Champion and is impressive in how he manhandles The Trend during his time in the ring. Kick Of The King on Demonic! Samoan Pop by Flip! He hits the Kinder Surprise on EC3, leaving him in position for the Aurora Borealis from Taven as well. Flamita laughs at Carter, reminding him of how he got him disqualified from the World Title Match at Death Before Dishonor. AIR TAVEN from Taven to O'Shay - followed by a somersault plancha by Horus. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT to the outside by Demonic! ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD SWANTON TO THE FLOOR by Gordon! 450 Splash by Horus...but his own partner (Silas) throws him out of the ring! Silas steals his pin, beating CB at 10:50

Rating - *** - A little bit silly, but packed with lots of spots and moments of real comedy. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I'm quite enjoying this Flip amnesia angle. His delivery of it is SO earnest and lovable, typified here by how he marked out at seeing EC3 in ROH, or his comedic interactions with Taven at various points. 

Once again the Six-Man belts are on the line against a group who have done nothing to earn a title shot, although Danhausen and PCO are a good fit for a Halloween special. Shane Taylor Promotions are preoccupied with La Faccion Ingobernable, with Taylor desperate for a match with Kenny King at the earliest opportunity. Will that lack of focus on their opponents tonight haunt them?

Danhausen begins with Kaun, who throws him to the ground with ease. Since that doesn't go well Dan calls out Taylor instead (since he has 'defeated' him before). Shane absolutely sends him packing with a big punch...and is then confronted by a far bigger opponent in the form of Sledge. Shane T strikes the f*ck out of the 'Metalhead Maniac'! Sledge keeps him at bay with a Spear, and gets into a shoving match with PCO when the former World Champion forcibly blind-tags him out. He rips one of the turnbuckle covers off and bashes all three champions' heads into it. Is PCO Yano now? He has an electrical malfunction and hits a tope con hilo on nobody. Sledge takes over and hits an exploder suplex on Moses, but is KO'd with a knee strike by Taylor seconds later. Danhausen hits a ludicrous flying headscissors on Taylor...and turns into a Death By Kaun! PCO is freaking out again, this time diving into Sledge's lap with another wayward tope. Poor Danhausen is left alone - and fed into the Package Piledriver. Taylor pins Hausen to retain at 08:17 (shown)

Rating - * - I don't get what this match was supposed to be. The comedy in it wasn't funny, the wrestling in it wasn't particularly high quality nor exciting, and we saw so much offence from the challengers that it definitely doesn't count as a squash match either. PCO malfunctioning is a gimmick which was played out a few weeks after he started doing it in 2019 and flat out sucks in 2021. Sledge may be a lovely, admirable man but he doesn't belong anywhere near a Ring Of Honor main event, and having to bump around and act like these challengers were a threat felt incredibly damaging to the credibility Shane Taylor Promotions have been building.

Sledge attacks PCO and the show ends with them fighting like children...

NEXT WEEK - Championship Edition; Woods vs LSG and Bandido vs Zayne

Tape Rating - * - Your mileage may vary and you may get more out of this show than I do. I'm not an enormous fan of Danhausen or PCO so their antics in the main event were not entertaining to me at all. The opening match was as much about progressing the Alize/Rok-C rivalry as it was providing any in-ring quality...and I'm not sure a flashy, pseudo-comedy spot-fest 'Trick Or Treat' match which lasts ten minutes is enough quality content to recommend an episode. This episode was broadcast the weekend that ROH announced the news that they were 'pivoting' to a new model and taking a hiatus after Final Battle to 're-imagine' the company...although Sinclair were hacked and ROH were forced to air a Jay Lethal compilation episode instead of this in most markets, putting this episode on YouTube for free instead.

Wrestle Carnival (9th October 2021) - We return to the UK for another Wrestle Carnival exclusive match aired on Week By Week for ROH's YouTube page. Last time we checked in with this promotion they were letting them use the Pure Rules gimmick, plus ROH's UK-based talent. This time they have sent over their premier pure wrestler and leader of The Foundation. Jonathan Gresham is taking his message international, taking on highly skilled UK wrestler Chris Ridgeway. Ridgeway has worked for most major independent promotions in Europe and has multiple tours of Japan with Pro-Wrestling NOAH on his resume as well.

The opening period is tense and evenly matched with neither able to identify a weakness early on. Ridgeway has no problem matching the former Pure Champion, which seems to be irritating The Octopus. He has both knees bandaged, which Ridgeway notices and looks to exploit. Gresh escapes and drives a dropkick into the back and shoulder which knocks his opponent to the outside. Chris hits the ground and comes up nursing his arm...which Gresham immediately targets. He hits armdrags, he strikes at the arm and, most crucially, he applies multiple submission holds on the ground - contorting Ridgeway's arm and body into unnatural positions. He can barely whip Gresham now...so instead starts using knee strikes to hammer him in the stomach. SLAP DUEL! Both men go down having knocked lumps out of each other...but Gresh calls backwards onto the apron and snaps the arm in the ropes. Dragon screw in the ropes by Ridgeway, once again pursuing the bandaged knees of The Foundation's leader. He forces Gresh to utilise his first rope-break to escape an STF, and Gresh takes his second just moments later to stop his knee being picked apart further in a half crab. Fisherman suplex gets 2 whilst inflicting more damage to Gresham's legs. As we approach the twenty minute mark both men are fatigued and battling through injury. The Octopus punts the arm, and Ridgeway quickly uses his first rope-break to ensure he can't apply the Octopus Stretch. The Englishman converts to an Anklelock, then a German suplex when Gresh threatens to escape. He tries a bridging German as well only for the arm to give way so he fails to maintain the pin. Anklelock again, leaving Gresh with no choice but to utilise his final rope-break. PK by Ridgeway! Gresham is pissed off now; peeling off his wrist tape and engaging his opponent in a frantic battle of elbow strikes. They go NUTS with counters, throwing in multiple near-falls as well. Punt to the injured arm by Gresham, and now he climbs into the Octopus Stretch! WITH FACE PUNCHES! COUNTERED TO THE ANKLE LOCK! Gresham has no rope-breaks left...so crawls out of the ring, but Ridgeway refuses to let go! ANKLELOCK ON THE FLOOR! Gresham taps, but it doesn't matter outside the ring! He tries to slap his foe as well as throwing strikes at the arm...and neither man has noticed that the referee is still counting. He reaches twenty, meaning it's a double count-out at 26:31

Rating - **** - This is available for free on YouTube, so there's no reason not to go and check out. Nearly half an hour of top class technical wrestling. It may not have been the most exciting bout - certainly in the first half - but it was enthralling viewing. It was actually quite accessible too as the premise wasn't particularly complex. Gresham targeted the arm, Ridgeway counteracted that by going after Gresham's bandaged knees...leading them to a stalemate from which they could not be separated. If you have the patience for a methodical but skilfully paced mat battle then you'll get a kick out of this. If I were to nitpick I'd say that I felt both Ridgeway and Gresham could have done a little more to sell their respective injuries, if only to amplify the drama in the closing stages. This is what can be achieved when matches get decent time allocations and aren't forced to condense all the drama into twelve to fifteen minutes.

'The Hex' are Allysin Kay and Marti Belle, whom we saw in the Women's Title Tournament but are now NWA Women's Tag Champions as well. They confronted The Allure a few weeks ago when they tried to attack Chelsea Green during her match with Ashley Vox. Now Angelina and Mandy want to make them pay for interfering in their business, by taking the NWA Tag Title from them...

Kay and Love start, with Angelina trying to keep her bigger adversary grounded and unable to utilise her strikes or lariats. But Allysin is dangerous on the ground as well and works her way to an advantage on the mat. Love shoves Belle back into The Allure's corner...where she clocks Leon with a big elbow before getting worked over 2-on-1. Through fair means and foul they cut the ring in half and keep Marti away from her corner...and even when she does make it back Angelina makes sure she distracts the ref so he misses the tag. Everyone starts fighting outside the ring, The Hex firing up and laying both challengers out with lariats to the floor. Marti at last makes the tag to Allysin, and chaos breaks out again with all four in the ring now. Havana Dreams on Belle! Love applies a grounded headscissors on Kay, only for Marti to break free and hit a running punt on Love. Fisherman Buster on Kay gets 2! HEX MARKS THE SPOT! Kay pins Love to retain at 11:17

Rating - *** - I had fun with this. It wasn't the most smooth or well-executed match we've seen on Women's Division Wednesday recently but they worked the tag team formula well, kept things moving at a really brisk pace meaning it never felt dull and ends with the rare sight of Angelina putting someone over clean (she hasn't done that in ROH often). The Allure are obvious pantomime villains in Ring Of Honor, and their act is wholly more palatable when they get better talent to work with - like Kay and Belle - and when their matches aren't full of the same old overbooked bullsh*t.