McXal's Reviews

This week we have a much more manageable eight matches booked for the episode. Claudio Castagnoli wrestles on ROH TV for the first time in more than two months, but he isn't in the main event spot. That will see Zack Sabre Jr. return to defend the NJPW TV Title against Christopher Daniels. Lower down there's also the Athena/Billie vs Renegades tag match that Starkz wanted last week only to be shouted down by the Fallen Goddess. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman call the action taped in Nashville, TN.

Just how aggressive and violent are the 'new' Dark Order prepared to be? After winning a brutal Fight Without Honor against The Righteous at Death Before Dishonor, it appears their former comrade Stu Grayson approves of their apparent new mean streak. It is put to the test tonight against the lovable former ROH Six-Man Champions Dalton & The Boys. The Tate Twins are licking their wounds after a beating at the hands of Samoa Joe last week, whilst Dalton still wants into the TV Title picture...

Silver starts for Dark Order and says he 'want[s] a Boy', so he kicks off with Brandon - and press slams him into the top rope in short order. The Boys team up on him to send him packing though, and do the same thing to Reynolds seconds later. Evil Uno shows his mean-streak by illegally grabbing Brent from behind, setting them up to trap him in the Dark Order corner for a beatdown. Silver absolutely DUMPS him with a German suplex within that segment too, and they nearly win the match after Uno lands an emphatic shortarm clothesline. Brent defiantly keeps throwing forearms though and eventually slithers away from Uno into a hot tag to Dalton. He scatters Dark Order with a suplex flurry, then starts launching Boys into planchas all around the ring. Brent tries to climb the ropes...but Uno uses Castle's body to drop him into the turnbuckles. TORNADO DDT OFF THE APRON from Reynolds to Castle! Dark Order pin Brent to win at 10:10

Rating - ** - The way this one showcased the new attitude of Dark Order was effective. In an era when ten minutes is a long-time for a TV match however, this really wasn't particularly interesting and wasn't a great use of that extra time. They actually wasted almost two minutes of it right off the bat when Silver demanded to wrestle one of The Boys. If the Dalton & The Boys gimmick is still fresh to you (i.e. you haven't spent most of the last decade watching it) then your mileage may differ to mine.

Athena, Billie Starkz and Lexy Nair are backstage. Athena says she's noticed some tension between Billie and Lexy so has made them shirts. Lexy's says 'Athena's Bestie', whilst Billie's says 'Minion # 200,237 3/4'. They are one 'happy family' apparently and to celebrate that Athena has agreed to Billie's request to wrestle The Renegades later...

Frost returned to ROH last week with an impressive victory over Trish Adora. She was immediately called out by Hogan, who has gone by the moniker 'Girl On Fire' in the past. Apparently fire and ice don't mix...

Lady F flies out of the starting blocks, almost rolling Kiera up then rocking her with a big kick. Handspring kick knocks Hogan off the apron...but we know she watched Frost's match last week and whilst on the floor she counters the same cartwheel/cannonball senton sequence Frost successfully hit against Adora on Episode #25. They take turns teeing off on each other with strikes in the corner, before Frost hits a handspring senton. Kiera ducks a roundhouse kick and hits Face The Music to win at 02:52

Rating - * - For less than three minutes the match was decent, and this rating isn't a knock on the performance of either woman. But the booking here sucks. Why did Lady Frost beat Trish Adora last week if you were going to have Hogan beat her in less than three minutes this week? This one piece of lousy booking simultaneously makes both Frost and Adora look like complete jokes. 

Riccaboni points out that Serpentico's record in ROH is better than his record in AEW. That is put to the test tonight as he takes on a Ring Of Honor veteran in Sydal.

Sydal dominates the early going, even when Serpentico tries to get in cheap shots. But Serp hangs in there then strikes back with a headscissors and a sliding DDT for 2. Double stomp misses though, allowing Matt to tag him with a flurry of kicks. Fisherman Buster nailed, but Serpentico again stays in the match and kicks out of repeated pins. Jumping frankensteiner by Sydal, then a version of Ghana-rea to win at 04:32

Rating - * - I praised last week's episode for keeping the amount of obvious AEW Dark replacement filler to a minimum. Unfortunately this absolutely falls into that category (as most of Serpentico's matches do). It was nice to see Sydal get a victory but there is really nothing that merits spending five minutes of your life watching this.

Stokely Hathaway has his arm in a sling after sustaining an 'injury' in his match last week. Lexy Nair says nobody respects him and walks out on the interview!

'Legit' Leyla remains unbeaten, and came through another test set for her by Maria Kanellis-Bennett when she defeated Rachael Ellering last week. She is very much one of the top contenders to Athena's ROH Women's World Championship and will be looking to keep her momentum rolling tonight.

Hirsch grapples Leila instantly and Grey just can't shake her off for most of the first minute. She knows she needs a faster pace and more distance...but just can't maintain it as Hirsch hits a German suplex. Maria Kanellis is once again on the apron watching Legit Leyla and she sees her continue to maul Grey. Leila breaks her grip on a rugged bearhug to finally create some space - and capitalises with a knee strike in the corner then a DVD for 2. Hirsch hits a pretty ugly Olympic Slam then slaps on the Cross Armbreaker to score a submission victory at 03:50

Rating - N/A - A resounding squash win for Hirsch and more intrigue surrounds Maria's involvement in her affairs. This probably could've done with being shorter, but given that Grey has had plenty of exposure on AEW programming this did feel like an impressive win for Leyla.

Next week The Embassy defend the Six-Man Titles against Action Andretti, Darius Martin and Lee Johnson. Prince Nana scoffs at the announcement, whilst Kaun and Cage poke fun at how many times they've beaten Andretti and Darius. 

Blake hasn't been on ROH TV for a couple of months, but has been racking up successful defences as GCW Heavyweight Champion and returns with a unique match against Cutler (who now has another ROH staple - Colt Cabana - in his corner). Cabana has beaten Christian in ROH before...

Cutler wrestles in his ridiculous tracksuit and seems more interested in posing and prancing than he does in actually wrestling the GCW Champion. When they do actually lock up Blake's athleticism and innovative offence sees him well on top, driving Cutler to the apron. A springboard dropkick from Christian knocks him to the floor - into the path of a running moonsault over the ropes. Brandon evades the springboard 450 though and lands a Michinoku Driver. A couple of goofball dancing elbow drops find the mark soon after and get Cutler a nearfall. Standing C-4 by Christian in response...but Brandon is on a roll and he rips out a pumphandle slam to get back on top. Superman Pin gets 2 (and delights Colt Cabana at ringside). Blake knocks Cutler away though and delivers the Springboard 450 splash to win at 07:03

Rating - ** - As an exhibition of Christian's skills this was solid, and I really enjoyed seeing Colt Cabana (who is usually off limits since ROH tapes with Collision which is 'CM Punk's show') as this episode is being taped alongside Dynamite due to clashing with All In weekend. Cutler's schtick isn't my thing but plenty of people in the crowd enjoyed it, meaning this was a relatively entertaining seven minutes of filler.

Tony Nese and Mark Sterling are here to protest Jerry Lynn, who stopped them from doing 'group training' last week. Tony balls out a staff-member for drinking soda and assures everyone his plans to improve the health of the ROH fanbase remain...

The Renegades tried to bully Starkz a couple of weeks ago, but were thwarted somewhat surprisingly by the Women's Champion Athena. Billie has picked up consecutive singles victories over Robyn and Charlette - but she, Athena and The Renegades have continued to brawl meaning the bad blood between them has escalated. Athena and Billie's relationship is a strange one (Billie comes out wearing her new 'Minion' shirt) but they have a common enemy and the Fallen Goddess has agreed to this tag encounter which Starkz laid out the challenge for last week.

The Renegades try to take cheap-shots but are sent out of the ring by stereo dropkicks from Athena and Billie. Starkz tries a Heat Seeking Missile (thinking Athena will do it too)...and when The Renegades catch her the Fallen Goddess helps out by diving off the apron into a cannonball to the floor. Robyn and Charlette capture Starkz in their corner and try to work on her in a 2-on-1 situation, getting a nearfall with a double fisherman suplex. A sidewalk slam gets a nearfall as well, with the commentators spotting that referee Mike Posey is struggling to keep up with which of the similarly attired Renegades is actually legal. They hardly let Billie out of their corner for several minutes, leaving her looking growingly fatigued. Finally she kicks through her adversaries though and makes a crucial tag to Athena...who uses Starkz as a weapon to throw at The Renegades! She starts hitting ROLLING POWERBOMBS ON STARKZ, using her as a battering ram to blast the fallen Robyn and Charlette with each one! Alabamaslam on Billie, causing her to splash Charlette for 2! MAFIA KICK/TKO COMBO by The Renegades drops Billie on her f*cking head! SHE KICKS OUT! Double chokeslam on Athena gets 2! RUNNING ELBOW on Robyn! Billie wants a tag, but Athena ignores her to hit the O-FACE! SPEAR on Charlette! But Athena didn't see Starkz make a blind tag, and she hits a SWANTON BOMB on Robyn to win at 08:40

Rating - *** - On a particularly poor week as far as in-ring quality goes, this match really popped and was a breath of fresh air. The dynamic between Athena and Billie was hugely entertaining and absolutely carried things. The Renegades looked a little ropey at times (that spot where they dropped Billie right on her neck and shoulder looked rough) but are definitely improving by getting to work with a world class talent like Athena and a super-likeable babyface like Starkz.

Athena isn't happy at Billie nabbing the win for their team and tries to vent her frustration by making Starkz stomp Charlette's head into the Women's Title belt. Robyn rescues her before they can do so (and isn't clear whether Billie would have done it or not).

This is a Proving Ground Match, and a rare sighting of the ROH World Champion on Honor Club TV. Nemeth has only appeared on the show once before (teaming with Peter Avalon in a losing effort against the Iron Savages) so it would be an outrageous upset if he were to earn a title shot at the end of this.

Claudio doesn't even unfasten the World Title belt...and instantly grabs Nemeth for the Big Swing, which lasts more than 45 seconds. Ryan is done, and Claudio delivers a final uppercut to win at 01:17

Rating - N/A - A resounding squash which would be more effective if it didn't feel like such a waste of Claudio's first Honor Club TV match in about two months. It was quite funny seeing him absolutely obliterate Nemeth I suppose.

It feels like New Japan's version of the Television Championship has been defended on Honor Club TV almost as often as Ring Of Honor's version (and Zack's matches on this show have been of a much higher standard than the occasional Samoa Joe squash). Daniels will pose a unique challenge for ZSJ in that his three decades of experience should give him plenty of tools to counteract Zack's almost unparalleled technical skill. It is announced that Metalik will face the winner of this one, also with the NJPW TV Title on the line, next week.

Daniels tries to put an early hold on Zack, but the champion easily counters it and has a dismissive smirk on his face as he locks up with the veteran. The challenger isn't put off and continues to probe, putting Sabre in headlocks repeatedly. Inevitably Zack escapes though - and stomps the wrist into the canvas, setting up the oh-so-familiar onslaught onto an opponent's arm. Daniels recognises his vulnerability and goes to the head and neck again; delivering a series of neckbreakers then a cravat, pausing to nurse his arm momentarily. The attack on the neck continues but it only keeps Sabre at bay for so long before the Englishman again snaps at the injured arm. He hammerlocks and stomps the injury again leaving the challenger in such pain that he can only slither away towards the ropes. Daniels drills him with a Saito suplex which rattles the neck again...but this time the Fallen Angel can barely get up to capitalise. He delivers a DVD for 2, although his arm continues to hang limply by his side. PELE KICK TO THE ARM by Zack! Fujiwara Armbar blocked, as is Article 50...with Daniels sweeping ZSJ down for the Koji Clutch. Zack grabs the wrist to escape...then blocks Angel's Wings into a version of the Rings Of Saturn (I'm sure he has a bonkers name for it) to submit Daniels at 09:34

Rating - *** - This was a joy to watch. I can't do my usual and complain they didn't get twenty minutes because NJPW TV Title Matches only have fifteen minute time-limits, but I do wish they'd gotten longer as it was wonderful viewing. We were treated to two masters of their craft going to work. Neither strayed too far from their comfort zone, but effortlessly delivered ten minutes of high quality wrestling. An extra few minutes was needed to really flesh out some of the drama and story-telling around those injuries...but this was still simply on another level to so much of what we've been seeing in recent weeks on Honor Club in terms of technical skill.

Tape Rating - ** - It isn't a good situation to be in when one of the nicest things I can say about this episode was that it was at least SHORTER than some of the 2+ hour Dark-style slogs we've sat through recently. Taping alongside Dynamite rather than Collision also meant we got access to some talents we've not been able to regularly watch as of late - with the likes of Daniels and Colt Cabana reportedly barred from Collision tapings. Most of the 80-minute run time passes by in a blur of inoffensive, forgettable filler. The World Champion shows up for a laughably pointless cameo, TK's rubbish booking DESTROYS the credibility of both Lady Frost and Trish Adora in a single three minute match and Brandon bloody Cutler works one of the longest matches on the show. But there are two clear positives here; Athena & Billie against The Renegades was a lot of fun, and we actually got a worthwhile main event this week.