McXal's Reviews

Just a week to go until 'this era of Ring Of Honor comes to an end' (as they've made poor Ian say on commentary repeatedly over the last couple of weeks). The World Champion will see action this week as he makes final preparations for (what should have been) a title defence against Jonathan Gresham at Final Battle by taking on old friend/rival PJ Black in the main event. We will also see the #1 contender for the Women's Title confirmed as Mandy Leon and Willow meet with a Final Battle title shot up for grabs. Quinn McKay, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are our broadcast team in Baltimore, MD.

The winner of this challenges Rok-C for the Women's Championship at Final Battle, having both already won individual triple threat matches to make it this far. Maybe if they'd heard that Maria will just dole out title shots if you complain enough (which was all the explanation they could muster for Gia Scott getting a title shot last week)? Mandy was at the forefront of the return of the Women Of Honor division and has doggedly clung onto her spot on the roster. Can she end this 'era' of ROH with an unlikely title shot at Final Battle? If she does it will mean she's survived a huge challenge tonight in the form of high quality, well-travelled, 'Babe With The Power' - Willow. Rok-C is on commentary to check out her Final Battle opponent...

Mandy tries to get on the mat with Willow, presumably looking to negate her obvious power advantage. Nightingale is so strong though; powering her into a body slam then putting Leon into a version of the STF. Mandy flees the ring, talks strategy with Angelina on the floor...then catches Willow going for a kick to dump her face-first on the apron. Suplex on the floor scores, followed by a missile dropkick back into the ring. Panic Attack nailed (although it looked absolutely AWFUL - Mandy is not having a great match so far) for 2. A neckbreaker scores as well, and is significant since Nightingale has broken her neck in the past. Willow counters to a grounded abdominal stretch...only for Love to appear on the apron and distract the ref, allowing Leon to escape and start bashing Willow's head into the canvas. Simultaneous big boots leave both women floored...but the distance it creates suits Willow. She goes back to that power and drills Mandy with a spinebuster, then a DVD. Leon shows her courage by blocking the Dangerous Babe Bomb and absolutely flattening her opponent with a suplex. Cannonball by Willow...MOONSAULT MISSES! Dropkick right to the neck by Mandy, into the Astral Projection! But she is too injured to pin right away. Mandy asks Angelina for a chair - but they are stopped as Quinn McKay runs out! Chaos ensues as the heels of the women's division - Miranda Alize and Vita VonStarr - inexplicably come out to try to help The Allure, whilst Quinn, Chelsea Green and Trish Adora try to stop them. Max The Impaler arrives - and they hate The Allure! Max tosses Angelina at all the heels! Dangerous Babe Bomb by Willow, making her the #1 contender at 11:16 (shown)

Rating - ** - The first thing I'd like to say is that whilst this lacked a little in quality, it certainly wasn't lacking in workrate and ambition. The first half of the match was pretty rough; Leon was having a bad night and Willow was visibly having to slow way down just to help execute moves with any kind of finesse. But once we got into The Allure's wheelhouse (i.e. cheating and brawling at a slow pace) Mandy found her feet - and Willow is an awesome babyface. Mandy working the neck was a nice touch of detail and, even if the finish with most of the Women's Division showing up felt a little random, I do think that seeing them all there was a testament to how hard they've all worked and the quality/personality ROH have managed to inject into that division. Credit to ROH for letting them have almost a third of the entire episode run-time for this as well. 

Mandy Leon shakes hands with and hugs Willow after the match. In the back Willow tells Brian Zane that she is a genuine threat for the Women's Title at Final Battle...

Brian Johnson talks about growing up in Philadelphia, ROH's legacy and his plan to make history of his own by becoming Pure Champion at Final Battle.

Highlights of the Dickinson vs Rust Week By Week Match are shown (I'll be checking it out at the end of this review), along with an announcement that at Final Battle will see 'VLNCE vs PURE' one more time as Violence Unlimited of Brody King, Tony Deppen and Homicide face Tracy Williams of The Foundation, along with Taylor Rust and Eli Isom.

ROAD TO FINAL BATTLE SERIES - In the week leading up to Final Battle, Ring Of Honor will release a series of special matches on YouTube to prepare for the pay-per-view. I'll be doing a separate review of the whole series, but it will be Gresham vs Dragon Lee on 12/6, Castle/Draper vs PJ/Flip on 12/7, Bruiser vs Caprice on 12/8, STP vs VLNCE UNLTD for the Six-Man Title on 12/9 and EC3 vs Flamita on 12/10.

The Briscoes forlornly discussing the end of Ring Of Honor makes for a sombre interview. Jay reflects on wrestling on the very first show, and tells their fans that they don't want to miss what they do at potentially the very last ROH show...

There is a lot of history between these two. PJ was one of Bandido's first opponents after signing with the company in 2019. It was a match Bandido won, and in doing so he produced a performance so memorable that it convinced Black to change his ways. PJ entered ROH with an arrogant superiority complex, but after seeing how good Bandido was, decided to fight honourably. He became an ally of Bandido's Lifeblood stable in 2019 and has been a staple on the roster ever since. Now they come back together with Bandido as World Champion, preparing for Final Battle and the possibility that he could be the LAST champion. Black will be looking to avenge the losses he suffered to Bandido in 2019, whilst the Most Wanted Champion will feel he can't afford to sustain losses as he prepares for Gresham. Flip Gordon is in PJ's corner, Rey Horus comes out with Bandido...and Jon Gresham himself guests on commentary.

The bout begins at a relatively slow pace as they probe each other for weaknesses. PJ is a well-versed technical wrestler and it suits him to keep Bandido grounded, but still struggles with the liquid lucha libre attacks of the champion. Black tosses the champ to the floor, and hops out after him - trying to convince Flip to help him attack Bandido! Gordon refuses to be dishonourable...but Black has used his amnesia to hypnotise him; clapping his hands to convert Flip back to being 'The Mercenary'. He angrily punches Bandido's lights out - and the match duly ends in a DQ at 06:03 (shown).

Rating - * - Bandido and PJ have had great matches in the past. They had a kick ass TV main event back in 2019 that I was looking forward to seeing a reprise of. If they wanted to do a non-finish gimmick to flesh out the Flip/PJ doctor/patient dynamic then this should have been MUCH shorter. Six minutes is way too much TV time to waste simply as a set-up to swerve into a different main event.

Rey Horus isn't impressed and hits a somersault plancha over Todd Sinclair to wipe out PJ and Flip! Bandido demands a tag match - and Todd Sinclair consents.

Flip was actually Bandido's first challenger for his World Title at Glory By Honor, in one of Gordon's last matches before sustaining the concussion which led to the amnesia that now causes him to believe it is still 2018. Will we see 2018 Flip in this match, or The Mercenary which 'Doctor Black' is now seemingly able to call on whenever he chooses?

We begin with a brawl on the floor, with Gordon soon dragging Rey into the ring for a springboard dropkick. Springboard Sling Blade scores, which I guess means he's back to being 2018 Flip (since The Mercenary never did that). Kinder Surprise rattles Horus' jaw for a two-count. Rey tricks Gordon into accidentally laying out Flip and dives into a hot tag to Bandido. He picks Gordon up and PRESS SLAMS him over the top rope! POP-UP TOPE ATOMICO by Bandido and Horus! Frog Splash gets 2 on Flip. PJ dives in to save his partner, hoisting Rey up for a powerbomb/blockbuster combo. DOOMSDAY DESTROYER! Bandido breaks the pin! He hauls Black up the ropes and hits a Spanish Fly for 2. 21-Plex nailed, giving Bandido the win at 06:53 (shown)

Rating - *** - I've rated this one generously. The premise of it annoyed me since I'd rather have seen Bandido vs Flip or PJ in a feature length singles bout OR this booked as a tag match in the first place. However, this was incredibly fun for a seven minute spot-fest. It was basically just dives and high spots from start to finish, and I can't deny that I had fun watching it. Given the looming hiatus, it isn't that much of a problem if ROH's wrestlers just want to have some fun chucking themselves around for six or seven minutes.

The show ends with impassioned interviews from both Gresham and Bandido, talking about what leaving Final Battle as World Champion would mean to both of them. Gresham ends by saying he 'won't allow honor to go on hiatus'.

Tape Rating - ** - One thing you couldn't accuse this episode of is a lack of effort. ROH is on its last legs here, so they could be excused for trotting out a procession of straight-faced wrestling matches with limited stakes - just to churn out content and fill the block on Sinclair's schedules. But in both the Women's Division bout and the main event they were TRYING things to make it interesting. Personally I didn't think it made much sense to have half of the division make an appearance in the Willow/Mandy match, and my personal preference would be that we didn't abort the Bandido/PJ match to show a six minute pseudo-Scramble instead. But they were done in the name of trying to make things entertaining. We closed story-line threads in the opener as Max ended her issues with The Allure (and Mandy got to shake hands, meaning she doesn't have to work heel at Final Battle). And the show retained a keen eye on Final Battle with every segment building anticipation to the 'End Of An Era' blow-out. So whilst the episode was entirely unnecessary and completely skippable, I do think completists who check out every show will at least be able to appreciate the effort on display. I certainly could.

Week By Week (30th November 2021) - At Glory By Honor Dickinson issued a challenge to pure wrestlers from all over the world to come and face Violence Unlimited. And by 'Violence Unlimited', he was specifically referring to himself as he has repeatedly stated that he is one of the best wrestlers on the planet. He now faces Rust - an entrant into the 2020 Pure Tournament, a respected grappler and a man who appears to subscribe to some of the 'pure' values upheld by The Foundation.

No handshake from Dickinson, who instead throws his arms around Rust's waist and hauls him straight to the canvas. Figure 4 blocked, then countered to a spinning toehold by Rust! Taylor's pure credentials continue to cause Dickinson problems, and he starts to limp following a series of leg submissions. Rust tries to mount his opponent for some strikes...which is obviously Dickinson's domain, and he aggressively counters to another figure 4 attempt. Armbreaker by Rust to block! Chris boots the ropes into Rust's leg and hits a dragon screw, causing him to fall out of the ring where he nurses his injury. Trailer Hitch applied next, again damaging Rust's leg. Half crab locked in, and when Taylor escapes Dickinson simply shoots the leg again and starts kicking it! LIMPING judo throw by Taylor, setting up a German suplex! Gaia Lock...WITH Anklelock! But since Rust's leg is injured Dickinson is able to free his arms and grab a rope. Leg kicks by the Dirty Daddy, which Rust looks to negate with a cross armbreaker. COUNTERED to a kimura by Dickinson! Rust blocks the Pazuzu Bomb with a suplex, causing veins to pop out of Dickinson's head in fury! He dead-lifts Rust into a German suplex then steamrolls him with a lariat to win at 11:52

Rating - *** - This was better than anything on Episode 533 of the TV show. I wish they were allowed more time (and there's no reason why they couldn't have been given that this was taped for YouTube) since some of the drama felt rushed at the end, but I really like this style. These two are very different wrestlers and it was incredibly entertaining to see the diverse ways that they approached the contest, despite each effectively trying to weaken a body part and force a submission victory. Dickinson is a great fit for Violence Unlimited too; absolutely brilliant in the way he portrays his demented, laser-focused grappler character. It's such a shame he couldn't have become a regular in ROH sooner.

The rest of VLNCE UNLTD show up and circle Rust ominously. Taylor tries to fight them all at once - and The Foundation (Gresham, Titus and Tracy) come to his aid!

'Kick Demon' Janai Kai makes her debut in ROH here, in a crowded end to 2021 which also saw her make debuts for SHIMMER and AEW too. She has trained under the likes of Santana Garrett and Thunder Rosa (as well as being a skilled martial artist) and has been cultivating a blossoming reputation on the independents as an exciting future star. Adora is more 'established' in ROH's Women's Division and has impressed Shane Taylor Promotions with her strong performances in 2021.

Adora tries to wrestle and grapple with Kai...who demonstrates her strike power simply by smacking Trish's hand as she tries to lock-up. Trish ducks a roundhouse kick and tackles her to the ground, grabbing a wristlock in an effort to keep Kai down. Janai lands a kick to the ribs, causing her opponent to bend double in pain. Adora makes sure she doesn't land a second - and hauls her to the mat again with a waistlock. Cattle Mutilation blocked, and for the first time Kai is able to string a series of kicks and palm strikes together. Judo suplex lands, as do a flurry of knee strikes to block an attempted DVD by Adora. Instead Trish loads up the arm for a wristlock takedown; trying to injure a body part in an attempt to reduce Kai's strike power. This time when Janai tries to throw kicks Adora is able to maintain a hold of the injured arm and pumphandle her into the ground with such force that Kai's mouth-guard flies out. Arm-selling kick flurry by Kai! Trish delivers a running punt to the injured arm - only for Kai to duck the Lariat Tubman. Cravat knee strikes by Adora...spinning heel kick by Kai misses! Lariat Tubman nailed - giving Adora the win at 11:35

Rating - *** - This was really good, and immediately sits among my favourite Women's Division Wednesday Matches. The story was a simple one, but I thought they told it really efficiently for the time they were given - and in doing so made Adora's win feel significant and Kai's debut a strong one. It was the wrestling skill of Adora versus the unrelenting strike power of Kai. Some of the subtle ways Trish found to sell the impact of Janai's kicks were really cool. I definitely could have lived with this going longer.