Look
who's back with another review! This time we're venturing outside of
Japan and over the Pacific to the United States and Ring of Honor.
ROH was the first non WWE product I got into when I started watching
wrestling and it's still one of the staples of my wrestling fandom.
They do a lot of things right that I enjoy, and have in recent years
started mixing good ring work with just the right amount of
production for it to really be seen as professional. And their
advances as a business the last couple of years cannot be denied.
The
show we are looking at tonight is their recent house show from their
Conquest Tour, from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia PA.
Before
the matches start we get a promo from Dalton Castle (his boys in
tow), talking about his scheduled match with Kenny Omega being
canceled (rumor is Omega has visa issues). Dalton gets the crowd
going with an Oprah style spiel and out comes the All Night Express
to dampen the party. Banter between Castle and ANX sets up our first
match.
Dalton
Castle & The Boys vs ANX
Very entertaining handicap tag match is the easy way to describe this. Castle has quickly become a star in ROH and ANX has it easy when it comes to getting heat from the crowd (the right type of heat to boot), and all men in this match are good workers. The boys were more sidekicks than bonafide partners to Castle in this and it was obvious in the hierarchy of the match itself. ANX picks up the win by pinning one of the boys and Castle clears the ring after a post match beatdown.
Very entertaining handicap tag match is the easy way to describe this. Castle has quickly become a star in ROH and ANX has it easy when it comes to getting heat from the crowd (the right type of heat to boot), and all men in this match are good workers. The boys were more sidekicks than bonafide partners to Castle in this and it was obvious in the hierarchy of the match itself. ANX picks up the win by pinning one of the boys and Castle clears the ring after a post match beatdown.
Good
opener, got the crowd going and it was well put together considering
how quickly it was put together. Credit to all men for showcasing how
good they are in their respective roles.
Rating:
3.5
Adam
Page & Johnathan Gresham vs BJ Whitmer & Cedric Alexander
If the crowd got hot during the last match, they went nuclear for this one. I absolutely loved this match and it started off on fire with an extended brawl outside of the ring before the match even started. This match combines the Page vs Whitmer and Cedric vs Gresham feud into one segment and it was fantastic. The hate was flowing between all four men and they went to town on each other. Brawling like mad men and just trying to kick the shit out of each other. The match finally gets underway but the hate doesn't stop just because of a technicality like that. Gresham plays a fantastic babyface in peril for most of the legitimate match part of this and he has really showcased himself during his run with ROH this year, he deserves a contract if you ask me. Page gets the hot tag and shows us how you properly show hate in a blood feud, completely ignoring the legal Cedric and going straight for Whitmer. The violence and insanity goes on into a hot finishing stretch and Page finally puts Cedric away, staring at Whitmer the entire time and promising more violence when the two clash again.
If the crowd got hot during the last match, they went nuclear for this one. I absolutely loved this match and it started off on fire with an extended brawl outside of the ring before the match even started. This match combines the Page vs Whitmer and Cedric vs Gresham feud into one segment and it was fantastic. The hate was flowing between all four men and they went to town on each other. Brawling like mad men and just trying to kick the shit out of each other. The match finally gets underway but the hate doesn't stop just because of a technicality like that. Gresham plays a fantastic babyface in peril for most of the legitimate match part of this and he has really showcased himself during his run with ROH this year, he deserves a contract if you ask me. Page gets the hot tag and shows us how you properly show hate in a blood feud, completely ignoring the legal Cedric and going straight for Whitmer. The violence and insanity goes on into a hot finishing stretch and Page finally puts Cedric away, staring at Whitmer the entire time and promising more violence when the two clash again.
Fuck
I loved this. Gresham and Page looks like stars coming out of it and
Page would have been made in ROH almost had this been on TV or PPV.
And BJ Whitmer had a fantastic match in the year 2016. Good god.
Rating:
4.5
Six
Man Action: Moose & WarMachine w/ Stokely Hathaway vs The
Briscoes and Cheeseburger
The trend continues with another fun multiman match. This time pitting the hoss team of WarMachine and Moose vs the Briscoes and ROH's lovable underdog Cheeseburger. Even without Burger being on their team, the Briscoes are outclassed when it comes to pure mass, as neither Moose, Rowe or Hanson are small lads. Built into this match is the budding rivalry between the Briscoes and WarMachine, the Briscoes being 8 time tag team champions and the only team in ROH that WarMachine has not beat, so them finally doing that as tag champions would solidify them as arguably the top tag team in ROH. Moose and Burger are just along for the ride but neither of them are a slouch. Moose is one of the fastest improving rookies out there, who in the span of a year went from being awful to being perfectly serviceable in ring, playing to his strengths rather than his weaknesses. And the same can be said about the featherlight Cheeseburger. So you either get intense, hard hitting action between the Briscoes and their 3 opponents, or some lighthearted comedy when it is Cheeseburger trying to fight three men much bigger than him and getting thrown around like a baseball. This being enhanced by Mr. Wrestling 3 (rumor has it he is Steve Corino, but that's unconfirmed) and Matt Taven's banter on commentary, Taven actually being rather funny. Logically Burger eats the pin and puts this match to rest. I really enjoyed this one and the live Philly crowd did as well. The Briscoes almost cannot have a bad tag match at this point and all 3 men on the opposing team were perfect opponents in the form of big bruisers ready to clash with Dem Boys.
Rating: 3.8
The trend continues with another fun multiman match. This time pitting the hoss team of WarMachine and Moose vs the Briscoes and ROH's lovable underdog Cheeseburger. Even without Burger being on their team, the Briscoes are outclassed when it comes to pure mass, as neither Moose, Rowe or Hanson are small lads. Built into this match is the budding rivalry between the Briscoes and WarMachine, the Briscoes being 8 time tag team champions and the only team in ROH that WarMachine has not beat, so them finally doing that as tag champions would solidify them as arguably the top tag team in ROH. Moose and Burger are just along for the ride but neither of them are a slouch. Moose is one of the fastest improving rookies out there, who in the span of a year went from being awful to being perfectly serviceable in ring, playing to his strengths rather than his weaknesses. And the same can be said about the featherlight Cheeseburger. So you either get intense, hard hitting action between the Briscoes and their 3 opponents, or some lighthearted comedy when it is Cheeseburger trying to fight three men much bigger than him and getting thrown around like a baseball. This being enhanced by Mr. Wrestling 3 (rumor has it he is Steve Corino, but that's unconfirmed) and Matt Taven's banter on commentary, Taven actually being rather funny. Logically Burger eats the pin and puts this match to rest. I really enjoyed this one and the live Philly crowd did as well. The Briscoes almost cannot have a bad tag match at this point and all 3 men on the opposing team were perfect opponents in the form of big bruisers ready to clash with Dem Boys.
Rating: 3.8
IWGP
Junior Heavyweight Title Match: ACH vs Kushida (c)
Another result of Omega being unable to make it. This is the first singles match on the main card and neither man wanted to drop the ball after the last two matches. I absolutely love Kushida as a worker and talent and the crowd obviously did as well. And while I tend to flip flop on ACH, this was one of his on nights for me. And he brought it. He stepped up and worked his damndest to prove that he is on Kushida's level. This was a fun spotfest between two top ranked high flyers and Kushida brought the ground game that he is known for as well. Maybe not a perfect match in my opinion but pretty damn close. Kushida gets the win by submission after a hot finishing stretch that had the crowd on their feet. If ACH has not earned a spot in either the Best of the Super Juniors or the Super J Cup this summer I don't know what he has to do.
Another result of Omega being unable to make it. This is the first singles match on the main card and neither man wanted to drop the ball after the last two matches. I absolutely love Kushida as a worker and talent and the crowd obviously did as well. And while I tend to flip flop on ACH, this was one of his on nights for me. And he brought it. He stepped up and worked his damndest to prove that he is on Kushida's level. This was a fun spotfest between two top ranked high flyers and Kushida brought the ground game that he is known for as well. Maybe not a perfect match in my opinion but pretty damn close. Kushida gets the win by submission after a hot finishing stretch that had the crowd on their feet. If ACH has not earned a spot in either the Best of the Super Juniors or the Super J Cup this summer I don't know what he has to do.
Rating:
3.9
Will
Ferrara vs Joey “Diesel” Daddiego w/ Taeler Hendrix
This match is in the periphery of the current world title scene. Daddiego is the bodyguard for the House of truth faction (which features world champ Jay Lethal), and Ferrara is linked to Prince Nana's new Embassy faction, which is being built around fired H.O.T member Donovan Dijak. Who attacked Truth Martini on ROH TV and made his intentions clear for the world title. Keep this in mind.
If the previous match was a cruiserweight match, then this was a “bruiserweight” match. Both these men are on the smaller side, but neither are high flyers, rather these two just punch the shit out of each other, and boy did they. Both Ferrara and Daddiego have been staples in the undercard for a while and both seemed to jump on the opportunity to step it up here. Both men went clubbing all over the ring, Ferrara being pretty impressive here. And this was the best I have ever seen Daddiego, but he is still haunted by his straight up punches looking a bit weak at times. Which stems from his boxing background. He holds back a bit too much since he instinctively probably punches pretty hard. The crowd kept up their fine form and ate this match up.
This match is in the periphery of the current world title scene. Daddiego is the bodyguard for the House of truth faction (which features world champ Jay Lethal), and Ferrara is linked to Prince Nana's new Embassy faction, which is being built around fired H.O.T member Donovan Dijak. Who attacked Truth Martini on ROH TV and made his intentions clear for the world title. Keep this in mind.
If the previous match was a cruiserweight match, then this was a “bruiserweight” match. Both these men are on the smaller side, but neither are high flyers, rather these two just punch the shit out of each other, and boy did they. Both Ferrara and Daddiego have been staples in the undercard for a while and both seemed to jump on the opportunity to step it up here. Both men went clubbing all over the ring, Ferrara being pretty impressive here. And this was the best I have ever seen Daddiego, but he is still haunted by his straight up punches looking a bit weak at times. Which stems from his boxing background. He holds back a bit too much since he instinctively probably punches pretty hard. The crowd kept up their fine form and ate this match up.
Ferrara
gets the win and gets attacked post match, with leads to Dijak with
Prince Nana in tow coming out and starting to brawl with Daddiego and
a ton of security trying to separate the two. Ferrara also gets
involved in this. The H.O.T bail and Dijak lays out the security with
his finisher. Crowd enjoyed the match and was really on fire for
Dijak. I'm looking forward to the eventual H.O.T vs Embassy feud in
the future.
Rating:
3.7
Adam
Cole & Roderick Strong vs ReDragon
Honestly
probably the least impressive match on this card. All these men are
top guys in the company, and all these men can wrestle good matches,
and all these men are feuding. But it felt kinda flat. I was
expecting more from them. It was a perfectly fine match, but I kinda
expected more out of it. Granted the bar for this show was set pretty
high with the previous matches, and I have no doubt that the eventual
Adam Cole vs O'Reilly match or the Fish vs Strong match will rule
come Dallas, and possibly the next PPV.
Rating:
3.5
The
Young Bucks vs The Addiction vs The Motor City Machineguns
One of the best things ROH has done this year is salvage the old KRD angle and using it to re-unite Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin as the Motor City Machineguns.
One of the best things ROH has done this year is salvage the old KRD angle and using it to re-unite Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin as the Motor City Machineguns.
This
was the match of the night. All three of these teams brought their
working boots tonight and showcased themselves. And the crowd ate it
all up. There was a bit of everything here with the feud between the
MCMG and the Addiction being center stage and the Bucks refusing to
be shown up. If you like superkicks this is for you. The perfect way
to describe this match is as a better version of the multi-team tag
match New Japan have on all their big shows. We also got the Best
Meltzer ever which was a sight to behold.
Rating:
3.9
Main
event: Jay Lethal (c) vs Matt Sydal for the ROH World title
Talk about being put on the spot. Both Jay and Matt are good wrestlers, Jay being on the best run of his career. But being forced to follow that previous match is a thankless job. The crowd was burned out by the time this match rolled in and it hurt it. Lethal and Sydal still went out and worked hard, which is commendable, rather than phoning it in both men went out there and worked a good house show main event. Lethal going over was kind of a given but Sydal in a main event is always a hoot.
Talk about being put on the spot. Both Jay and Matt are good wrestlers, Jay being on the best run of his career. But being forced to follow that previous match is a thankless job. The crowd was burned out by the time this match rolled in and it hurt it. Lethal and Sydal still went out and worked hard, which is commendable, rather than phoning it in both men went out there and worked a good house show main event. Lethal going over was kind of a given but Sydal in a main event is always a hoot.
Rating:
3.7
All
in all. This was a fun house show. Probably the best ROH show this
year so far top to bottom. Its only sin was not making the three way
tag the main event. Having a match try and follow it and not fall
sorta flat was nigh impossible.
I
definitely do recommend that you check this one out. This show has a
little bit of everything and went like a breeze to watch. Well worth
checking out if you have the time and money to spare.
Until
next time.
Agreed, Stoppy. Definitely the best ROH show this year in my opinion. Still marking out for the BME.
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