McXal's Reviews

For Jonathan Gresham, the demise of Ring Of Honor into a[n at least temporary] hiatus could have become an existential dilemma. This is a company to which he has dedicated his life to for much of the last five years, during which time his skillset has become so finely honed that many now recognise him as one of the best on the planet. He became The Foundation; a beacon of hope for pure, technical professional wrestlers all over the world and had hoped to 'save' ROH by restoring it to those values. At Final Battle 2021 his ROH journey culminated with a World Title victory - The Foundation had won, they held the World Title. But the company closed, the wrestlers were released...and the question has been asked what would come next. For Gresham he has spent the weeks since becoming a touring World Champion, taking the 'Original ROH Title' around the US and defending it in multiple promotions...but his main focus has been Terminus. He has founded this promotion with close friend and fellow wrestler Baron Black and hopes to continue to promote and uphold those values. It becomes an eclectic melting pot of some of the finest talent in the US; there are few promotions with the connections to pull off a roster for a debut show like this. Gresham is in the main event, defending the 'Original' ROH Title in a Pure Rules Match against Josh Alexander of Impact. But Bandido is recovered from Covid-19 and back in the US, still in possession of the 2021-version ROH World Title belt - and he is defending that too! He faces Baron Black. Elsewhere Jordynne Grace defends the Impact Digital Media Title against AEW's Kiera Hogan, Fred Yehi and Tracy Williams reform Catch Point to face Joe Keys and Dante Caballero (men who trained under Gresham in ROH's 'Future Of Honor' set-up), Mike Bennett - replacing New Japan's Alex Coughlin - faces Impact World Champion Moose, and AEW's Lee Moriarty takes on Josh Woods (himself a late replacement for Jay Lethal). The show went ahead despite a winter storm making travel in the US extremely difficult, but we go to Atlanta, GA (where Gresham, Grace and Black all live I believe) to join our commentary team. Long-time ROH fans like myself will be delighted to hear the welcome tones of veteran announcers Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard...

Originally this was scheduled to be an all-AEW affair as Lee Moriarty was due to face Jay Lethal. There was some back-story to that as well, since Lethal put Lee over hard back at ROH's Death Before Dishonor event right around the time Moriarty signed his AEW contract. But travel issues prevented Lethal from getting to the show, and it is impossible to deny that losing someone of his calibre does hurt the show. Alex Coughlin and Liiza Hall also dropped out of the show in the weeks leading up to the event, but they aren't of the stature and reputation of Lethal. Replacing Lethal, just as he replaced Lethal in The Foundation in ROH, is 'Technical Beast' Josh Woods. He has appeared a number of times on AEW Dark since ROH announced its hiatus and was the final Pure Champion before the 'End Of An Era'. 

Josh no longer carries the Pure Title with him, but does still follow the Code Of Honor. As you might expect we go straight to ground, but neither are able to get a successful pin. Moriarty backs himself to hang with Josh as a grappler so willingly engages him; probing him for weaknesses using his long limbs. They battle over armbars relentlessly and it is Woods who gradually works his way into the ascendancy. Lee starts to nurse his arm - and Josh immediately makes it worse by wrapping it in the ropes and striking violently at it. Moriarty defends himself with a rebound knee drop across Woods' arm - then uses his legs to hit an armbar takedown too! Crossface applied, but since his own arm is injured Moriarty can't hold Woods down. They work back to their feet and simultaneously BOOT each other in their injured arms. Chaos Theory blocked...so Josh hits a slingshot German suplex instead for 2. Lee kicks out and hauls Woods down into a bridging pinfall - managing to keep his shoulders down for three. Moriarty wins at 08:54

Rating - *** - By the design of their rules, with most matches only getting fifteen minutes, this was largely a stylistic statement of the kind of competition you can expect to see with the Terminus promotion. It was crisp, intensely mat-based but contested at a fast pace and with an accessible tone which will serve the company well. I don't know how different this would have been from the planned Moriarty/Lethal match (Lethal is a very different wrestler to Josh), but I thought both guys did a fine job showcasing the style, ethos and tone for a new company.

This is dubbed a 'Terminal' Elimination Match, which in effect means two men will be in the ring whilst the other two await tags on the apron and elimination rules apply until one is left standing. Garcia is the obvious star here, having enjoyed a sensational 2021 on the independent circuit and  enhancing his reputation on the national stage with some superb performances in AEW as well. Both JDX and Khash have worked multiple AEW Dark matches, with Khash also spending time in companies like Defy and Zero-One. Priest is more of an unknown having mostly worked regional independents - but comes into this fresh from an unsuccessful (but by all reports impressive) challenge for Gresham's ROH World Title before Christmas 2021. I think he has also done some WWE squash matches in his time as well.

JDX and Khash start, but JDX is quickly forced out by a blind-tag from Garcia. In turn Daniel quickly vacates and it's Priest who actually gets to lock up with Khash. Invictus has a pronounced power advantage but tries to hang with Priest when it comes to running the ropes at pace...and is duly decked with a high octane dropkick. It prompts Khash to step right back into his wheel-house and lay out Priest with a backbreaker. Garcia blind-tags again looking to profit, only to eat a German suplex! JDX wants in and duly enters with real grace and athleticism as he repeatedly puts Priest on the canvas. Khash tags though and almost KO's JDX with a rolling elbow. Daniel capitalises with a knee drop to the spine, but is preventing from inflicting more damage by Priest forcibly tagging his way back in. All three take turns working JDX over, with Garcia and Khash tagging each other in and out with aggressive chops to the chest. JDX uses their dissension to hook them up and hit a running STO/DDT combo on both of them. JDX is pinned after Garcia inadvertently low-blows him in the tenth minute (although it's all a bit confusing because nobody actually saw the official's hand hit the mat for the third time). Garcia hits a running knee on Khash next...only to walk into an Alabamaslam from Priest for 2. He drops Invictus with a German suplex, and in doing so turns his back on Garcia. The AEW star pounces and dives into a somersault roll-up on Priest, eliminating him at 11:12. With less than four minutes to go we are down to Khash and Garcia. Electric chair German suplex by Khash gets 2. BIG slap duel! Garcia KNOCKS KHASH OUT with a palm strike to win at 12:23

Rating - ** - Garcia has an unreal amount of potential. I think most people can agree on that and it was on display here. He was, by design, the centrepiece of the match, but even allowing for that he did look a step ahead of the other three talents. Having to cram three falls into just twelve minutes didn't do them any favours here though; leaving them barely enough time to establish a few themes like Khash being the powerhouse, Garcia being the antagonist and JDX being an athletic babyface. Both the first and third fall weren't particularly well executed by the referee which left fans a little confused too.

'The Wrestling God' Moose makes his way to Terminus as Impact World Champion (and wears the belt to the ring). This show comes hot on the heels of Impact's 'Hard To Kill' event where a faction of former ROH wrestlers (including Mike Bennett, his wife Maria and long-time friend Matt Taven - who provides guest commentary for this) 'invaded' the pay-per-view. Moose will be coming in to defend the reputation of Impact against the invaders.

Moose teases following the Code Of Honor, only to throw middle fingers into Bennett's face as the bell rings. Mike looks to use his size against him, tripping him as Moose runs the ropes and climbing all over him with strikes. It only lasts so long before the Impact Champion catches up and almost blasts him out of the ring with a shoulder tackle. He then LAUNCHES Bennett over the top rope, which in Terminus constitutes a 'technical foul'. The ref administers it, whilst Bennett returns to the ring right into a chokeslam. The OGK member is now having to deal with major back issues after being bounced all around the ring by the big man. Ace Crusher by Bennett, which only gets 2 because he simply hasn't inflicted enough damage. Mike leapfrogs over an attempt at the Hitstick and blasts Moose with a superkick. Moose defensively tosses Bennett over the top rope again...and is disqualified at 06:39

Rating - *** - The mantra of Terminus is 'styles make fights', which really stood out here. Stylistically it was completely different to what we've seen from the first two matches. Bennett wrestles a more traditional, sports-entertainment style whilst Moose is a big powerhouse...and together they produced a dynamic little sprint with a clear purpose to showcase the unique Terminus rules. Moose dominated with his power, Bennett was courageous and took the fight to him in limited bursts - with the end result being that Moose leaves looking unlucky, powerful and thwarted only by the niche rules of the company, Bennett leaves with a win over the Impact Champion at the same time as he is making a splash in that company, and Terminus sets an example of their 'technical foul' rules in full effect. This was deceptively clever, I felt. 

Alex Coughlin (who missed the show through injury) confronts Moose in the aisle as he returns to the locker rooms...

Originally Kai was scheduled to face Liiza Hall, who also had to pull out of the show at relatively short notice. AEW provided her replacement in the form of Diamante. In truth Diamante has wrestled considerably more on Dark and Elevation than she has on Dynamite but she remains a solid, pugnacious talent and a worthy foe for the skilled martial artist Kai.

Diamante is keen to ground Kai, understandably looking to steer clear of her dangerous strikes. Janai duly mounts her and unleashes a flurry of palm strikes as a warning of her potency. There's a great exchange at this point where Diamante tries to trade strikes with Kai but is completely overwhelmed and blitzed in the corner. Kai tries to wear her down though, and in going back to the mat it opens things up for Diamante who escapes her clutches and lands a couple of violent elbow smashes. She goes back to trying to work Kai over on the deck - but Janai explosively escapes again with more kicks. Dia tries to stand and trade blows with her opponent, but just can't and has her head taken off. Bodyscissors stranglehold applied...so Kai batters her way out and lands an Eye Of The Hurricane for 2. Diamante blocks yet another kick and almost DIVES into a half crab, trying to snap one of Janai's legs! Kai escapes that...but Diamante grabs her again with a stranglehold abdominal stretch variant. This time Janai has to tap, giving the AEW star the win at 07:25

Rating - *** - MOTN up to this point in the show. This was incredibly entertaining; a straight-up style battle between two completely different but equally tough fighters. Diamante took a hell of a beating and absorbed some vicious looking strikes from Kai. But one thing Diamante herself is exceptionally skilled at is delivering a smash-mouth and aggressive in-ring style. The contrast of Kai's precise, highly-skilled and well-practiced kicks to Diamante's ragged, tenacious and wild strikes was wonderful to watch. I could have lived with this going longer...

Grace is the inaugural Digital Media Champion at Impact Wrestling, and puts her title on the line tonight even though Hogan is no longer on the Impact roster and is now working for AEW (plus NWA and a couple of others). 

Grace has a pronounced power edge, which she demonstrates by muscling Kiera into the corner. The Girl On Fire fires back with speed and almost decapitates the champion with a missed roundhouse kick. She does land a big slap seconds later, which tees up a leg drop to the back of the head. Jordynne goes to her power again and lands a stalling vertical suplex. Hogan knocks her back with a missile dropkick and follows it with a running punt into Grace's ribs. DEAD-LIFT powerbomb by Jordynne, into the MUSCLEBUSTER for 2! Hogan retaliates by delivering a hanging neckbreaker out of the corner and a tree of woe dropkick into the side of the head. EVEREST GERMAN by Jordynne! Hogan meets her with a kick flurry, so Grace rocks her with a back fist. GRACE DRIVER! Jordynne retains at 08:18

Rating - *** - There was a basic and relatable premise here pitting the power of Grace against the speed and strikes of Hogan. They used that to hold it all together, but actually the charm of this was that they pretty much just bombed on each other from the outset. The second half in particular was just the two woman trying to bludgeon the other into defeat, which made for a very entertaining spectacle. 

Ring Of Honor's website recognises Gresham as their World Champion, not Bandido. Therefore the official lineage of the belt presumably indicates that Bandido was stripped of the belt due to his inability to appear at Final Battle 2021 due to suffering from Covid. But he is still in possession of the physical belt itself and he still proclaims himself to be the champion as he never lost it. Gresham and Terminus acknowledge that claim and as such he is defending the belt tonight. Black is one of the co-founders of Terminus, and one of the men who celebrated in the ring with Gresham at Final Battle when he won the title. He is a regular on AEW Dark, and is now looking to secure ROH World Title gold for himself

Black is a technician and quickly starts snaring the champion in his clutches. He is also smart enough to grab the ropes before Bandido can mount any kind of fight-back. Bandido quickens the pace and tosses Baron to the ropes with a lucha armdrag...then almost catches him with an early 21-Plex. Black blocks the 21-Plex, evades the X-Knee and battles to a stalemate. Three Amigos scores for the luchador, who starts showing his big match experience and controlling proceedings. Baron catches him coming off the ropes and hits an atomic drop though, and goes to an abdominal stretch in an effort to slow the match down. A back suplex; making it harder for Bandido - a man who has suffered from Covid on two documented occasions - to catch his breath. The effects are seen as Bandido wobbles extremely unsteadily on his feet before eventually dropping Baron with a DVD. He hunches over catching his breath; far from the ball of energy he usually presents himself with...and Black capitalises with a German suplex and a Dr Bomb for 2. Texas Cloverleaf applied, piling more pressure onto the midsection. Bandido makes the ropes, then flies back in with a scrappy flying headscissors...and is still reeling as he tries to pin Black despite the ref repeatedly telling him Black's feet are in the ropes. Double underhook superplex by the challenger. X-Knee by Bandido, which sets up the 21-Plex! Bandido retains at 14:06

Rating - *** - Live reviews were mixed on this one, but I liked it. It certainly was a little untidy in places, but I'd argue there are some mitigating circumstances. It is one of Black's highest profile career matches to date, on a show which he has also been involved in booking, promoting and presumably financing as well. Having never been in any situation like that before, one can understand why he might not have delivered his finest performance. Likewise it was Bandido's first match in more than a month, having only recently covered from another bout of Covid (and having reportedly been pretty seriously ill with it the first time around in 2020). Against that back drop this was a smart styles clash. Black looked to ground Bandido and tried to work the core; which makes absolute sense when you consider Covid probably meant Bandido didn't enter this match in peak aerobic condition. It was rough around the edges, but for me the core story in play here was a good one.

Lenny Leonard points out that we haven't seen Tracy and Fred team up for some time, since their Catch Point days in Evolve (although they were on the same team in a trios match on ROH TV last year). They renew their partnership as Tracy joins other members of ROH's 'The Foundation' stable in debuting with the promotion tonight. Their opponents are the team of Keys and Caballero. Gresham has been a trainer and mentor to both of these men during their time in the ROH Dojo/Future Of Honor set-up, and he has presented them with a huge opportunity in the semi-main event...

Williams hurts Dante's arm inside the first minute then lets Yehi loose with a savage flurry of powerful strikes in the corner. It is to his credit that Caballero survives that opening salvo, eventually aided by Keys and a bug running lariat on Fred. Joe starts bouncing Fred's head off the canvas too. Yehi reacts badly and dumps him with an exploder suplex. Hot Sauce tagged, dumping Caballero with a back suplex...but then walking into a spear from Keys for 2. PALM STRIKE by Tracy, rattling Joe's jaw and putting Catch Point back on top. Williams targets Keys' legs, but Joe staves off the attack by hitting a Gory Bomb. Dante flies in, blocking Williams turnbuckle DDT with a rope run avalanche armdrag for 2. He clotheslines Yehi over the top rope...which earns his team a technical foul as we enter the final five minutes of the time-limit. Michinoku Driver/tilta-whirl backbreaker combo by Keys and Dante! Tracy blocks another Gory Bomb, sending Joe into the flatliner/Koji Clutch combo by Yehi. CROSSFACE on Caballero as he tries to make the save! Dante manages to flip Williams into his own partner to break the hold. Fred injured his leg in there, so swaps his knee bad to the injured leg which is a great little touch. He and Keys BATTER each other with strikes! Turnbuckle DDT/German suplex combo by Catch Point! Dante clobbers Yehi off the apron as we go into the final minute. Running DVD/flying headbutt combo on Williams...and Keys pins him for an upset win at 14:26

Rating - *** - Keys and Caballero showed more ability, fire and personality in this match than they ever did in their ROH cameos. The reason for that is the quality of the wrestling. Ultimately they never really got over in ROH because they were never in a position to have good matches or showcase to fans that they are worth investing in. This was a terrific exhibition of how to get your opponents over from Tracy and Yehi. At various times throughout the match Catch Point were on FIRE; masterful in their hybrid technical/striking/fighting style. In turn that meant that Keys and Dante appear even more resilient and credible by surviving it, then even better wrestlers when they are able to overcome and win clean. This rarely got particularly exciting but it was detailed, hard-fought and earnest in the style Terminus is looking to present. It was another contest I wasn't ready to see end when it did.

Whilst ROH recognises Gresham as their World Champion, at Final Battle they did note that he and Lethal were competing for the 'original' championship. As Terminus recognises the continued reign of Bandido, it directly refers to Gresham's title as the 'Original World Championship', which he defends in a dream match against Alexander of Impact Wrestling. Josh was so desperate to be a part of this show that he actually drove fourteen hours to be part of it after his flight was cancelled. Gresham comes into this having settled into the role of a touring World Champion. Since defeating Jay Lethal in Baltimore he has defended the belt twice in Impact (against Chris Sabin and Steve Maclin), twice in GCW (against AJ Gray and 2 Cold Scorpio the previous evening), plus Adrian Priest as well. Will that schedule catch up with him, or will be continue to spread the message of the ROH originals with another 'pure professional wrestling' masterclass?

A lot of the wrestlers are out on the balcony overlooking the ring to watch the action, which tells you how much of a draw these guys working together is. Inside the ropes their opening exchanges are extremely cagey as they probe for weaknesses and wrestle defensively to avoid mistakes. Alexander is taller and more powerful so tries to control the champion with headlocks, forcing Gresh to dip into his bag of tricks and bust out a few lucha takedowns. Now fearing the champion's speed, Josh starts to target the ankle - and draws a first rope-break out of Gresh when he locks in the Ankle Lock. Next he applies a half crab and almost instantly has The Octopus reaching to utilise his second rope-break. Gresham's response is to dropkick the knee from under Alexander, and scurry right into a Figure 4 Leglock. It hurts his own leg of course - but injures Josh as well causing him to take his first break. PUNCH by Alexander! It earns him a warning but stops Gresham in his tracks just when he looks to start picking apart limbs. Piledriver blocked with a dragon screw by Gresh! Both men stay down tending to their injured legs after that. The champ comes up CHOPPING THE LEG, before moonsaulting into the bad arm of the Walking Weapon as well. He tries another quebrada though - which is a mistake as Josh hits a SPINNING TOMBSTONE! But it hurts his leg to hit it and the momentary pause to sell means he only gets 2. Gresham nips up but crumples due to the pain in his own leg and is trapped into an ANKLE LOCK! Kicks to the bad arm break the hold! DIVINE INTERVENTION! Gresham has his feet on the ropes, taking his last rope-break to avoid defeat there. Ankle Lock immediately applied only for the hobbling Gresham to escape and go for the Figure 4. Alexander COUNTERS back to the Ankle Lock brilliantly. Gresham makes the ropes to no avail - and uses them to snap into Josh's face! DEAD-LIFT superplex by Alexander, and as they land both men hook each other's injured legs in pinning position. The ref administers a double pin draw at 16:52

Rating - **** - The undeniable show-stealer, and quite frighteningly this didn't even feel like they'd scratched the surface of how good they could be in the ring together. You see plenty of matches where limb work is a central plot point, but these guys took it to the next level with some lovely nuanced selling and Gresham's ability to simultaneously work over multiple body parts. Perhaps politics played a part in the result (although Gresham is on Impact TV defeating their talent for the title right now) but I would much rather see these men in a match of this quality - even if it means tacking a slightly bogus finish on the end. Check this one out if you can, it delivers exactly the kind of in-ring brilliance we've come to expect from two men who genuinely are among the best in the world right now.

As Gresham looks frustrated at his failure to win in the first main event of his very own promotion, Bandido comes down the aisle with his own ROH Title belt over his shoulder. They argue for a while, but when they look set to shake hands they are interrupted by music over the PA. It is AEW's Santana, who puts over the 'DIY attitude' of Terminus. The poor sound quality makes it difficult to understand what he is saying, but he reminds Gresham that they have history...and challenges him to a match at Terminus 2 in February.

Tape Rating - *** - A really enjoyable, lively debut outing from the Terminus promotion. The unique rules immediately set the promotion apart and I thought the lay-out of the card really helped emphasise the strength of those core values the promotion promises to uphold. Inside the ring the quality of the wrestling was consistently strong all night. It isn't a long show and as per the design of the rules no match goes particularly long either - but that ensures a breezy, easily-consumable show is provided. The mantra of Terminus is 'styles make fights', and ultimately this was a night where all manner of styles came together in some pretty unique battles, building to a rousing finale and a couple of great defences set up for Gresham in future (Bandido and Santana). The fact that we got a card which pulled together talents from AEW, Impact and ROH also gave this a really special vibe; all narrated by the familiar, comfortable and still exceptional broadcast duo of Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak. It certainly wasn't a flawless debut. Like many first shows there were plenty of technical issues, the strict time limits feel somewhat restrictive (particularly for fans like me who are craving longer matches to really sink our teeth into) and although the whole show was entertaining it was only the main event which jumped out and felt like a 'must-see' event. None of those issues prevented this from being a smart debut which absolutely left me wanting to see more - and thankfully that conclusion does confirm we'll be getting more Terminus in the future

3) Diamante vs Janai Kai (***)

2) Dante Caballero/Joe Keys vs Tracy Williams/Fred Yehi (***)

1) Jonathan Gresham vs Josh Alexander (****)