Supercard Review: ROH All Star Extravaganza VIII – The Motor City Machine Guns v The Young Bucks v The Addiction - Ladder War VI

ROH brought the 8th incarnation of All Star Extravaganza to Lowell, Massachusetts as The Motor City Machine Guns, The Young Bucks and The Addiction went did battle over the World Tag Team Championships in a Ladder War and CMLL World Lightweight Champion Dragon Lee made his ROH debut opposite old rival Kamaitachi. With IWGP Tag Team Champions The Briscoes, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, ROH World Champion Adam Cole, Colt Cabana and KUSHIDA also in major places on the card, this was going to be fantastic, right? 

The main event was arguably the best Ladder War that ROH has ever presented as Nick and Matt Jackson, The Young Bucks recaptured the World Tag Team Championships in a stuntacular bout with The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian). From start to finish all six guys worked their collective arses off, keeping things ridiculously pacy and marvellously silly throughout. Like imagine what these three teams could do in a normal six man tag and then throw all the madness of Ladders and Tables and Chairs and barricades and what have you and then like double your expectations and then some more expectations on top. That's what these three teams some how managed to produce. I sat and watched with my mouth open for pretty much the entire 25 minutes. 

Moves off the top of the Ladder, a superb sequence with four daft bumps coming within the space of a bout twenty seconds, Superkicks, Daniels' face becoming the proverbial crimson mask, Superkicks, Kaimtachi and Jay White getting involved, superkicks, superkicks, two ridiculous Indy Takers, more daft bumps onto ladders and guard rails and a couple more superkicks. That list barely covers it to be quite honest, it doesn't even cover the amount of superkicks. Superkicks. ROH has produced some marvellous Ladder War in the past, with Steenerico's clash with The Briscoes in 2007 and Kevin Steen and El Generico's 2012 epic both springing immediately to mind, but this may have been the best of bunch, especially in terms of sheer mental spots per second. However, this wasn't just the best Ladder War in ROH history, this was arguably the best match that ROH has produced in the last seven or eight years. 

Outside the main event, the biggest match on the card was the debut of CMLL World Lightweight Champion Dragon Lee as he collided with old rival Kamaitachi for a brilliant semi-main that wowed the Lowell crowd. This was a completely different contest to everything else on the show as Lee and Kamaitachi went straight at each other from the opening bell, running through a lightning quick sequence before Lee would pull out a tasty suicide dive. It was clear that this was two guys who were very familar with each other as they appeared to be hand picking their best spots, almost as a sampler of what the pair could do in there. The action was mostly smooth, although with any match that decides to go at such a pace for almost twenty minutes there were a couple of botches, including an awkward Standing Spanish Fly spot, that held this one back from being as good as it could have been. 

The last stretch of the match may have gotten a little bit too silly, as Lee and Kamaitachi seemed to want to cram all of their false finish ideas into the bout, which included Lee kicking out of two Candian Destroyers. The two reversals of Lee's Phoenix Plex looked incredible, but I feel like one would have been enough as Lee's second kick out made it a little difficult to suspend my disbelief, instead of the intended purprose of making Lee look good. However, the actual finish where Lee finally hit the Phoenix Plex, after catching Kamaitachi with a series of knees after rallying from a Death Valley Driver into the corner, was a lot more satisfying because of the previous attempts, even if the move was a bit scrappier than it could have been! This was easily the best match outside the main event and I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing a lot more of Dragon Lee in ROH heading into next year as their relationship with CMLL develops. 

The tournament for the new World Six Man Tag Team Championship began as ACH, Jay White and KUSHIDA went over The Briscoes and Toru Yano in a Quarter Final bout, that was a lot of fun, but probably went a little too long. Things played out quite nicely from the beginning with the more experienced Briscoes & Yano trio controlling the pace after an early flurry and plenty of cheeky antics from Yano, whilst hot tags from ACH and KUSHIDA provided the bulk of the excitement. The finish was a great moment as KUSHIDA dove off the top rope to take out the Briscoes on the floor, before ACH hit a 450 splash to pin Yano in the ring, that swerved the crowd and got a nice pop. I feel like they could have potentially shaved a couple of minutes of it and improved the bout, but this was still a decent start to what could prove an interesting concept for ROH. The thrown together team of ACH, White and KUSHIDA are yet to come completely together, but they've got enough talent to wing it for the time being. 

The first match between Michael Elgin and Adam Cole, since Elgin took Cole's World title from him in June 2014, saw Big Mike once again chasing the prize around Cole's waist. For me, whilst being a fairly good match, this match was definitely missing something and didn't really live up to expectations. It seemed to end up as a mish mash of ideas, that involved Cole working the leg, which Elgin sold fairly well when called upon, to build towards a Figure Four, but also the injury didn't get woven into the match as it could have been with Elgin perfectly capable to hit all his usual offence and on occassion seemed to forget to sell the injury entirely. The injury did play into the finish as Cole would deliver a kick to the injured knee before hitting a couple of shining wizards and about the twentieth Last Shot of the match for the win. This was a good match, that got somewhat lost in the mix on the card and definitely struggled to find it's identity on the show. 

In another case of a match not living up to my expectations, Tetsuya Naito and Jay Lethal had a grudge bout that didn't come close to what the pair could do together inside the ring. There was nothing particularly wrong with this match, but there wasn't anything that wowed me on the level that I know Naito and Lethal could do. Lethal appeared to hit his big moves quite early on, and after the Lethal Combination and Hail to the King had been hit, the contest sort of devolved into various Lethal Injection attempts being thwarted and Lethal having to fight of both Naito and his second EVIL on the outside. It was a big victory for The Greatest First Generation Wrestling, after many have claimed that the ROH relationship with NJPW hasn't benefitted their performers enough, but it would have felt even more important if the pair had put on a higher quality encounter. Perhaps, with the EVIL interference ROH and perhaps also NJPW are building to a bigger rematch over the IWGP Intercontinental belt and didn't want to give away too much, but again that match will probably take place on an NJPW show, so ROH won't even get the best out of it! The majority of this was another easy watch, but lacked the fire or gear change that would have made it memorable. 

Dononvan Dijak getting a World Television title shot in his hometown presented an mildly interesting story for his bout with Bobby Fish. The Lowell crowd cheering for the usually heel Dijak gave the match an interesting dynamic, whilst the main story of the bout was a better put together version of the World title match as Fish zeroed in on Dijak's leg and went to work. All though Dijak's selling was a little too much, too soon, leaving him little space to go, the injured knee did produce some strong moments, including a great near fall as Dijak hit Feast Your Eyes, a move that sees him drive his knee into his opponent's face, then couldn't make it to the cover quick enough because of using the bad knee. This was perhaps the wrong choice as the opener as the hometown hero passing out in a rear naked choke isn't the best way to get the crowd hyped for the rest of the show and was also like most of the show overcrowded with ideas. 

The weakest bout on the card was a heatless encounter between Hangman Page and Kyle O'Reilly, that didn't show any real spark until the post-match angle. The highlight was a clever spot on the apron that saw O'Reilly rebuff a number of hard strikes from Page, only for Page to remove O'Reilly's mouth guard before hammering in the face again! It was a shame then however that Page went for a shooting star press off the apron, that felt completely jarring for the style of the match and Page's heel character and seemed to have been thrown into the contest just because. The lack of audience attention hurt this one a lot as Lowell was pretty much silent throughout, showing very little affection or distaste for either competitor. The finish saw Page tapping quickly to an armbar, before attacking O'Reilly with a chair post-match, with the commentators putting this over as Page attempting to help Bullet Club stablemate Adam Cole by removing one of the contenders for his World Title. 

One of the best undercard matches was a Four Way Tag for a shot at the Tag Team Championships were Colt Cabana & Dalton Castle would overcome The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus), Shane Taylor & Keith Lee and War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) in a fun scramble style contest. The contest was well structured with War Machine and Taylor & Lee keeping most of their focus on each other as their feud continues, including a nice moment where the other two teams would start arguing inside the ring, so War Machine hopped off the apron to fight Taylor & Lee on the other side of the ring. The final stretch saw Taylor & Lee impress with a series of power moves, before the action spilled to the outside as Lee hit a ridiculous dive for a man of almost 300lbs and Hanson replied with a similar jump to the floor. This was a much better candidate for the opener, as it featured a lot of exciting action over a short period of time and also had a feel good moment when Castle pinned Titus following Bangarang to give his team the win. Cabana and Castle as #1 Contender's might seem an odd decision, but with War Machine and Taylor and Lee still feuding and The Cabinet looking to be a big part of the Six Man Title tournament this makes a lot of sense at this point in time. Also when you consider that they'll get to face The Young Bucks it gets a little more interesting.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.68/10 

This show was carried by the amazing main event and perhaps also the Dragon Lee v Kamaitachi match, because everything outside of those two matches was average to good, but none of it looked to stand out. The show get's a close to very good rating on the strength of those two matches, with the Ladder War especially being must-see viewing for any wrestling fan. The event lived up to it's billing as there was a cavalade of stars across the event, but a lot of those bonafide stars (Naito, Cole, Elgin, Lethal etc.) seemed happy to coast by on their star power alone. This could have been a must-see show from top to bottom as the card was particularly strong, but in fact if you skipped to the main event you really wouldn't have missed anything in terms of top quality action or storyline advancement. With ROH only producing six PPVs a year, these are the event when the top stars should be looking to really make a name for themselves and help the company grow and whilst the likes of The Young Bucks, The Addiction and The Motor City Machine Guns were putting on a classic, it seems like too many of ROH's top stars aren't grasping at these opportunities with as much vigour as they used to. 

All Star Extravaganza was a good show, that should have been a great show. 

Words - James Marston 

All images our property of their respective owners.

ROH Death Before Dishonor XIII iPPV Review

Just five weeks after Best in the World, Ring of Honor was back with another offering, this time available on iPPV, this time for the thirteenth incarnation of Death Before Dishonor from the William J Myers Pavillion in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. With Jay Lethal defending the ROH World Champion against Roderick Strong in the main event and The Briscoes, The Addiction, reDRagon, Adam Cole, ACH and more all on hand for the show, how did things turn for the companies fourth PPV event of the year? Let's find out.

An opening package for the show, mainly focused entirely on the main event between Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong, neglecting that there was six other matches on the card. Luckily, commentary team Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino were on hard to run down the card, with a look at the two title matches, the No Disqualification bout and Cedric Alexander vs. Moose.

One Fall Match

Will Ferrera

vs.

"Professional Wrestling's Last Real Man" Silas Young

This worked as a nice opening bout for the show and whilst no one will be claiming that it was a Match of the Year candidate there was plenty to enjoy. Silas Young especially looked good here, with his Last Real Man gimmick working a charm against the pace of Will Ferrara. While the match was pretty basic in it's storytelling, what was done was done well, with a ambitious closing sequence that saw the momentum change numerous times before Young was able to hit Misery (Airplane Spin into a Cutter) to pick up the victory. With Dalton Castle's Boys turning up after the match, that wouldn't be the last we'd see of The Last Real Man.

A decent promo package for Moose vs. Cedric Alexander worked as a sound catch-up for anyone not fully up to date with ROH storylines.

One Fall Match

Moose 

with Stoke Hathaway

vs.

Cedric Alexander 

with Veda Scott

This was the only match on the show that I just couldn't get into and I'm not sure why. The Baltimore crowd seemed unsure about Moose, with smattering of "Moose" chants, but no real support, whilst Alexander's fledgling heel run doesn't seem to have gathered much steam yet either. So the crowd was neither fully behind Moose or against Alexander, and ended up for the most part being rather quiet, with them perhaps on the whole being more into the stuff that Alexander was doing. This wasn't helped by Alexander pulling out a beautiful Tope Conhilo towards the closing stages of the match. 

Whilst the two never seemed to click in the ring, there were a couple of nice near falls, inclduing a Michonoku Driver from Alexander. The conclusion of the match also worked well, bringing together a number of different storyline elements, with Prince Nana (who was doing guest commentary) ended up getting a right hand from Alexander, as did Stokely Hathaway, but after Moose managed to gain a modicum of revenge with a powerbomb onto the apron, Alexander was able to pick up the victory after blocking Moose's spear attempt with his trusty wrench. Whilst the majority of the contest didn't tickle my pickle, I have to say the closing stages were well structured and left room for development for both characters heading into Field of Honor in August.

One Fall Tag Team Match

The Briscoes

vs.

RPG Vice

What this match lacked in consequence, it made up for in action. Whilst this was essentially a thrown together tag team match (which was a little bit disapointing for a Jay Briscoe just five weeks removed from being World Champion) the content of the bout was entertaining throughout, picking up the pace of the show with blistering, balls to the wall tag team outing. Roppongi Vice cleverly took the role of heels for the match, as they were always going to struggle to pick up crowd support opposite the perennial favourites, The Briscoes, with the pair throwing in a number of sneaky tactics in order to take control of the bout. This gave the match a nice dynamic, and built the groundwork for the later stages of the contest.

The skirmish built towards it's conclusion well with a series of near falls for both teams, including a Superkick into a Destroyer combo from the Briscoes to escape Roppongi Vice's Strong Zero. Whilst the final end sequence went a little bit too long for me, due to the match having no real build, it was thrilling to watch the two teams got back and forth with a number of big moves before Jay was eventually able to hit a Jay Driller on Berreta, followed with a Froggy Bow from Mark to give the Briscoes the victory. Following the result of the Four Way tag bout later in the night, one would assume that The Briscoes would be next in line for a shot at the titles, with ROH seemingly keeping the duo in the tag division for the time being.

One Fall Match

Dalton Castle 

with The Boys

vs.

Adam Cole

I absolutely adored this match. Dalton Castle's character has been a breath of fresh air since debuting on ROH television and he stepped up his game here opposite one of ROH's premier competitors to create a thoroughly entertaining match. Both men put in terrific character based performances, with the crowd being the hottest it had been so far, with dueling chants for almost the entirety of the bout. For someone who has only been wrestling regularly for ROH since March to be getting this kind of reaction against one of the current corner stones of the promotion, says a lot about the strength of Castle's character and how quickly the ROH fans have taken to it. 

It would have been easy for this contest to descend into a straight up comedy bout, with Cole more than capable of working that kind of style, as evidence by some superb facial expressions throughout, the wrestling content here was also of a high quality. The pair seemed to connect quickly in the ring, creating some nice sequences, like Castle managing to turn Cole's Panama Sunrise attempt into a Northern Light's Suplex. If I didn't like the Peacock already his selling following a lengthy spell in Cole's Figure Four Leglock had me absolutely sold, as it could have been something that had been easily forgotten but instead added an extra layer to the match. Obviously Cole was eventually able to pick the victory with a Brainbuster onto the knee, but Castle certainly had his star raised thanks to his performance here. The only real criticism I'd have here it that like the previous match, there really was no reason for these two be fighting on PPV, meaning the match lacked a sense of purpose and consequence.

A promo for the upcoming ACH and Adam Page bout, was mainly focused on a promo from Adam Page, that didn't quite hit the spot for me. Before the match could get under way BJ Whitmer limped to the ring revealing that he had undergone knee surgery, whilst Steve Corino on commentary wished that he had been hit by a car, which was nice.

One Fall No Disqualifcation Match

ACH

vs.

Adam Page 

with Colby Corino

If the two previous matches had been lacking on purpose then this match had it in spades, as the feud between ACH and Adam Page that has been raging across ROH TV for months continued. From the very start of this match, even without the prior video package, it was clear that these two had a dislike for each other, thanks to the way ACH went straight after Page and how things quickly escalated throughout the match. With both guys being over in their respective roles, the crowd added an extra dimension to their grudge bout, lifting the near falls and seemingly pushing the men in their violent activities towards each other.

The No Disqualification gimmick was used strongly with all sorts of weapons getting involved chairs, a ladder, tables and even a workout club (I have no idea what a workout club is, or what in fact it was doing underneath the ring). The ladder especially saw a lot of action, with Page taking a pumphandle thing onto it, before replying with a German Suplex that saw ACH taking a truly horrible looking bump after attempting to flip over during the move and landing on his shoulder. It would seem that this feud isn't over yet either, after Colby Corino caused the distraction that allowed Page to get the win with his Right of Passage reverse piledriver off the apron through a table on the outside. The finish got a great reaction out of the crowd, but unfortunately the chosen camera angle showed just how far ACH's head was away from the table, which is the fault of the production team who should have known what was about to happen. With ACH still to pick up a win over Adam Page, I'd like to think that this feud is still not over yet.

One Fall Four Corner's Survival Tag Team Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship

The Addiction (C)

vs.

reDRagon

vs.

War Machine

vs.

The Kingdom (Bennett/Taven) 

with Maria Kanellis

This match was everything that you'd have expected it to be. Eight men going nuts, with plenty of big moves and spots and a break-neck pace. There really wasn't time to get bored with this one, as the match made full use of having so many bodies in and around the ring. A section that stands out here saw three or four dives to the outside, of different variations, as the mass of humanity built up on the outside of the ring. The pay-off saw War Machines' Hanson climb to the top rope and hit a senton onto pretty much everyone on the outside, as the big man continues to stand out with his mixture of power and agility.

Whilst the bout was mainly focused on spots and ridiculous moves, there was some nice story also involved in the bout, mainly focused around the clear crowd favourites, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish, reDRagon. We saw a good length sequence with O'Reilly into the ring as he looked for a tag, whilst both The Kingdom and The Addiction both cut off O'Reilly's attempts to get a tag to his partner. Eventually this lead to O'Reilly having to tag in War Machine, took advantage of the gimmick for a nice twist on the traditional hot tag and was also the catalyst for the competitors taking things to the next level.

War Machine came off a particular impressive in this one, with a number of stunning double teams move that defy their size and look. Both men worked hard to keep up with their opponents in the ring and matched them move for move, their finisher Fall Out working as a nice near fall in a match full of near falls. The Addiction stealing the win from under reDRagon's nose after O'Reilly and Fish seemed to have the match won after hitting Chasing the Dragon, only for Fish to walk straight into Celebrity Rehab (Release belly-to-back suplex into Double Knee Facebreaker) and allow The Addiction to hang onto the tag team titles, was a fitting conclusion to an thrilling bout that showcased the strength and variety of ROH's tag division.

It was almost time for the main event, with a superb promo package featuring promos from both champion and challenger acting as the lead in.

One Fall Match for the ROH World Championship

"The Greatest 1st Generation Wrestler" Jay Lethal (C) 

with Truth Martini, Donovan Dijak & J. Diesel 

vs.

Roderick Strong

The first thing anyone would have noticed when scanning the results of the show would surely have been that this match went the full sixty minutes and ended up in a draw. This isn't something the modern wrestling fan is used to, especially one with WWE-centric viewing schedule. In fact, even in ROH, there hasn't been a 60-minute broadway since Austin Aries and Tyler Black went to the limit back at Final Battle 2009. Which probably why the reactions to it have lurched from "one of the best ROH World title matches ever" to "one of the most boring matches I have ever seen" across social media. People just aren't used to watch a sixty minute match anymore, so the reaction is either that of utter amazement or utter indifference.

It was a rather interesting decision by ROH to go with the sixty minute Broadway here, why after so many years was this match the one that was chosen to be the one to go the distance. It would seem that ROH had either booked themselves into a corner, with Lethal only just winning the title after a lengthy build-up and Strong's renaissance storyline also still with plenty of steam, neither man could really come out of this match on the losing side. I'll give ROH the benefit of the doubt and say that they knew exactly what they were doing and that this is leading to something bigger and better, with Strong slipping back down the pack, giving Lethal more heat as the heel champion, and allowing Strong more time to continue his storyline before eventually winning back the title.

After all that, shall we talk about the actual content of the match? Yeah, lets do that. I'm not sure whether I was the only one (maybe because I had a timer going on the bout) but from about ten minutes into the match it was clear that if this match wasn't going the distance then it was going to be close. The pace was curious to say the least, not quite what I'd call slow, but it was clear that the two were taking their time in the early stages, with plenty of stalling from Lethal, and a lot of technical wrestling as the two tried to out do one another, with Strong often coming out on top of the exchanges. 

Outside of the early technical section of the match, the pair spent a lot of time on the outside of the ring. The pair would end up out of the ring for what felt like the majority of the match, because it happened so often. This would be my main criticism of the match, as whilst the clash called for some brawling, this did feel like overkill, with a number of times that the pair would go to the outside offering nothing new to proceedings. The commentary team did spend a long time trying to get over just how hot it was in the building, as a reason for why the pair were on the outside so often, with the idea being they were attempting to escape the  The two were absolutely dripping in sweat from fairly early on, but the commentary team didn't have to mention the heat for any other match on the card.

Woven into the fabric of the match was the interference from Lethal's cohorts in the House of Truth, with both Donovan Dijak and J. Diesel taking turns to lay the punches into Strong when the referees back was turned. This gave the match somewhere to go whilst trying to kill time in the sixty minutes, without knackering out both Lethal and Strong. Dijak and Diesel work well in their roles as Lethal's enforcers, with the idea that everyone knows Lethal doesn't need them to win a match adding to the gimmick's strength. The pay-off for Dijak and Diesel's interference came when Strong was finally able to take the pair out with a beautiful corkscrew plancha. Truth Martini would also get himself involved in the match, causing a distraction to allow Lethal to use the Book of Truth for a superb near fall. 

Whilst the reaction online was mixed, the Baltimore crowd seemed to absolutely eat up everything that Lethal and Strong put together. When Strong seemed to fire up, asking Lethal to hit him with more chops, the audience went nuts. It was at this point (as the commentary team seemed intent on getting over) that the fans seemed to begin to believe that Strong could potentially win the title. Perhaps this wouldn't have been possible in a 15 or 20 minute match, but the reactions that the pair were able to get following this moment were some of loudest I've heard in ROH for a long time. 

The last ten minutes or so of the bout were truly fantastic stuff, with both men somehow being able to find something else in the tank despite wrestling for 50 minutes already. With Strong hitting the majority of his offence on Lethal's back, the Strong Hold got the reaction of a legitimate finish, although perhaps if Lethal had sold the back it would have been an even better moment. The highlight of the match for me saw Strong hit a Superplex, Double Knee Gutbuster and then a Sick Kick for an amazing false finish that had the Baltimore crowd convinced Strong had captured the title. Lethal redeemed his earlier no-selling, by appearing to almost throw up after failing to get the win with a Lethal Injection, which sold the moment fantastically. With the clock running out with Strong seemingly taking control after a brilliant strike sequence, and the crowd completely into the match, it left the PPV without a real finish with the show simply going of the air.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating: 6.79

Just like the opening package suggested this PPV was all about the main event. I can see why the bout wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it. Do I think it was worthy of Kevin Kelly's claims (and bloody annoying shouting)...maybe not...but I still thought it was a great contest, that both Strong and Lethal should be commended for putting on. In a wrestling world where the main company is often afraid to take risks, it was good to see Ring of Honor attempting something different.

The rest of the show (with the exception of Alexander vs. Moose which did nothing for me) ranged for decent to very good, with the Fourway tag team bout and the No Disqualification matches working as strong contrasts to the main event, both showing something different and showcasing the variety that ROH can offer. Other bouts suffered from having no real reason to be going ahead, and whilst they were entertaining, it would have been nice to have seen a little build on TV or a live events.

ROH A Night of Hoopla DVD Review

ROH A Night of Hoopla is available now on DVD from www.rohwrestling.com priced at $19.99 (about £13 plus shipping). The show was taped at 115 Bourbon Street in Chicago, Illinois, USA, with the gimmick of the show being that it is booked by leader of the House of Truth, Truth Martini. Main evented by an Inter Gender Six Person Tag Team match, pitting BJ Whitmer, Michael Elgin & MsChif against Adrenaline Rush & Athena, alongside reDRagon defending the World Tag Team Championships against Roderick Strong & Cheeseburger and Jay Lethal taking on Delirious, this is Ring of Honor like you have never seen before.

Content Listing

The H.O.T. National Anthem

Three Way Match: Eddie Edwards vs. Adam Cole vs. World Television Champion Matt Taven (9:41)

Jimmy Jacobs performs Gypsy Soul

Sore High With The Eagles and Slither With The Snakes: Jay Lethal vs. Delirious (Special Guest Referee: Maria Kanellis) (17:02)

The Pants Off Dance Off

Lumberjill Match: Davey Richards vs. Silas Young (10:05)

A lapdance for one lucky fan

World Tag Team Championship Match: Roderick Strong & Cheeseburger vs. reDRagon (C) (21:01)

Hoopla Uncut with The Devil

Six Person Intergender Tag Team Match: Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer & MsChif vs. Adrenaline Rush & Athena (25:53)

Special Features

Hoopla Roll Part 1

Hoopla Roll Part 2

Hoopla Uncut with Delirious

Beach Bum Alcoholics concert

Review

Similiar to what TNA have been doing with the One Night Only series of PPV's this show sits outside of the regular continuity of Ring of Honor, and feels completely different because of it. The main event however could fit quite comfortably onto any ROH card and not look out of place. All six competitors put forward a very strong outing, with Adrenaline Rush continuing to impress as a duo. The comedy in this one is also played very nicely, centering around Elgin and MsChif's relationship. The match builds really nicely towards the finish, that will have you questioning how you didn't think of it earlier. ,

The World Tag Team Championship match with reDRagon defending against Roderick Strong & Cheeseburger is more entertaining than it should have been. That's not saying that I don't respect the talents of the wrestlers in the ring, it's just the story for this one seemed so simply with the younger smaller Cheeseburger involved that you'll think you'll know where it's going and it will take you in a completely different direction, helped by the fact that Chicago absolutely loved Cheeseburger. The concept of the show allows reDRagon and Strong to be a little freer in their performance and once again there are some nice comedy moments that complement the action in the ring.

Jay Lethal vs. Delirious is an absolute gem of a contest. At times it will had me in stitches as the two run through Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior from Wrestlemania VII, with Lethal, of course, playing Savage and Delirious presenting us with an parallel universe version of Ultimate Warrior. Complete with spot on pre-match promo from Lethal in the style of Savage and Lethal's manager Sister Sherri, this bout had me in stitches from start to finish, with Delirious' impression of Warrior bordering on the ridiculous. With a shock ending and closing segment with Special Guest Referee Maria Kanellis, this is a new look at a classic.

Davey Richards taking on Silas Young is a decent enough contest, that is hampered by a Lumberjill gimmick where all the Lumberjills are in fact men. It's a very surreal outing, when I much rather would have seen Young and Richards just have a straight up wrestling match. The three way opener between World Television Champion Matt Taven, Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole is a solid three way bout, with some nice fan interaction, and interesting "Eiffel Tower" spot, but probably could have done with a bit more time. The segments also presented on the show are mixed bag with Jimmy Jacobs performing "Gypsy Soul" as well snippets from other songs including "Ballad of Lacey" is a nice nostalgia hit for old school ROH fans, whilst Hoopla Uncut with The Devil is a severe waste of time, alongside a fan getting a lapdance whilst blindfolded, in a segment that is so outdated it was painful to watch.

Special Features include two parts of the special "Hoopla Roll" with Truth Martini attempted to gain talent for the show, with some very entertaining segments with the likes of Jimmy Jacobs and Kevin Steen standing out, Hoopla Uncut with Delirious is a similarly entertaining affair. Elsewhere, however a concert from Beach Bum Alcoholics concert during intermission of the show is deservedly rubbished by the Chicago crowd, it really isn't very good, in either a musical or comedic sense.

Overall, this is an enjoyable show, with some nice matches that are easy to watch, but it let's it's self down with some pretty rotten segments. Some other little things also let the show down for me, mainly the camera work, which is poor throughout, with the stage meaning that the cameras after often at awkward angles to the ring. There is also no commentary on the set, and whilst that didn't effect my enjoyment of the show, I know that certain people will find it difficult to adjust to.

Top Three Matches from a Night of Hoopla

1. Six Person Intergender Tag Team Match: Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer & MsChif vs. Adrenaline Rush & Athena

2. Sore High With The Eagles and Slither With The Snakes: Jay Lethal vs. Delirious (Special Guest Referee: Maria Kanellis) (17:02)

World Tag Team Championship Match: Roderick Strong & Cheeseburger vs. reDRagon (C) (21:01)

ROH TV 31st August 2013 Review

This week's edition of Ring of Honor TV saw the World Championship Tournament get into full swing, with two first round matches taking place. ROH's product seems to be reinvigorated as of late, with a real purpose behind what is shown on television. After the strong and some time over powering SCUM storyline, it's great to get back to what Ring of Honor does best, wrestling.

World Championship Tournament First Round Match: 

Mark Briscoe 

vs. 

Adam Cole

The main event this week pitted Adam Cole against a returning Mark Briscoe. We haven't seen Briscoe in the ring since his World Championship loss, to brother Jay Briscoe, at June's Best in the World. Briscoe later suffered a storyline concussion after multiple con-chair-tos at the hands of SCUM's Rhino, as a way to explain Briscoe's absense from the company after his contract ran out. Therefore, I was surprised when they announced that Briscoe would be part of this tournament. Cole has been put forward as one of the favourites for the tournament, down to having a couple of title shots recently, as well as a strong story, that has seen Cole almost turn heel on numerous occasion.

This was the first one on one meeting between Briscoe and Cole, and at points it showed. The early part of the match lacked flow and was difficult to follow, with no real story being put into the match. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness did a good job on commentary putting over the idea of Briscoe's concussion and noting that Cole was delivering a number of blows to Briscoe's head, but with Briscoe not really selling the injury until later on in the match, audio didn't really match the images that were coming up on the screen. The most entertaining part of the match, for me, was when Briscoe launched into his “Redneck Kung-Fu” with numerous chops to Cole's head, and this is where the match really got going. With some well worked near falls, one off of a huge knee from Cole and the other off of Briscoe's Froggy-Bo, I was beginning to get into the contest, with Briscoe finally selling the head injury and beginning to look tired in the ring.

The finish saw referee Todd Sinclair check over Briscoe, for quite some time, holding Cole back, only for Cole to superkick Briscoe in the head and finish him off with his brother's finishing move, The Jay Driller for the pinfall victory and to advance to face Jay Lethal in the Quarter Finals of the tournament. I thought this was a very strong ending, that played off of the concussion angle well, as well as furthering momentum for Cole's heel turn. It was a shame that the earlier part of the match felt so disjointed from the rest of the bout, as the final couple of minutes were very strong. It made sense for Cole to go over here with Briscoe no longer under contract for the company, and to have Briscoe put Cole over gives him a ton of momentum in the tournament.

So, how far do I think Adam Cole can go in this tournament? Pretty far, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make at least the Semi Final stage. I would imagine that at some point during the tournament, we will see the pay-off and Cole will finally turn heel, supposedly with some help from Steve Corino who continues to be referenced as a “friend” of Adam Cole, and from last week's Inside Ring of Honor, we know that Corino is not completely gone from the company. Corino and Cole could make a good on screen duo, with Corino in more of an advisory role than we've seen him in before, but I can't help but thinking that it is way to close to the end of SCUM to bring back Corino on television. Personally, I'd rather see Cole go it alone for sometime, before revealing Corino as the mastermind of it all, maybe even having Cole turn on Corino to really put him over as a heel.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on ROH TV, we got a confrontation between four of the wrestlers scheduled to take part in the World Championship Tournament. First out was tournament favourite Michael Elgin, who cut a decent promo about not wanting to have to the title handed to him, and not being scared of anyone in the tournament. This brought out former World Champion Kevin Steen, who had a few things to say to Elgin, about when Steen retained his title against Elgin at last October's Glory By Honor. Steen's charisma clashes nicely with Elgin's more serious delivery. Out next was Mike Bennett, accompanied by Maria Kanellis, with Bennett once again looking strong on the microphone, proclaiming himself the future of ROH, whilst the other two were the past. The whole Mike Bennett/Michael Bennett thing though is a bit silly. Last out was Tommaso Ciampa, who went head to head with each of the three men in the ring, before looking straight into the camera and declaring himself the next World Champion to close the segment. Ciampa's entry was refreshing after hearing so much talk from the other three, Ciampa's attitude certainly stands out. It was a good little segment, that was reminiscent of a WWE Raw or Smackdown opening that were common place a few years back.

Elgin, Steen and Ciampa would all have to be considered favourites in the tournament, due to the way they have been booked over the last two years or so. But the really interesting participant in this segment for me was Michael Bennett. Bennett has shuffled around the mid-card for ROH for the last few years, with a couple of World Television title shots, and being chosen to take on veterans like Lance Storm and Jerry Lynn, so this tournament could be used to reposition Bennett higher up the card, this segment was a good start let's see if ROH continue this way for Bennett. The tournament could be used to help a number of talents at the same time, Bennett being one of them, whilst giving new purpose to wrestlers like Roderick Strong.

In another World Championship First Round Match, Karl Anderson took on ACH. The bout was an exciting encounter, taking the form of a David vs. Goliath contest. With Anderson's using power moves and precision to keep ACH grounded throughout the opening part of the match, we were treated to a number of fast paced comebacks from ACH, with a plethora of highflying moves, including a great springboard to the outside. The match built up well with a number of near falls for ACH including one off of The Best 450 Ever, where it seemed like ACH might have pulled off the upset victory. But it wasn't enough for ACH, as after he went for another Best 450 Ever, but missed, Anderson capitalised with an Ace Crusher to pick up the pinfall victory and advance to the quarter finals, where he'll face either Michael Elgin or Paul London. I enjoyed the finish, it quick and pacy with a number of near falls to keep things interesting, with ACH looking competitive until the end. ACH is certainly one to watch in the next few years for Ring of Honor.

Matt Taven was also in action defending his title against Brian Fury. The match was essentially there to get the H.O.T over, with a lot of interference from the group throughout. Fury, at times, looked sloppy with a number of awkward looking moves, including a bridging pinfall attempt that went woefully wrong, which was a shame after Fury put in an impressive performance in the four way match last week. There were two nice false finishes, the first saw Truth Martini distracting the referee, giving Kaycee Ray the opportunity to hit a diving hurracanrana on Fury, with Taven following up with a Frog Splash for a near fall, the other saw Fury use the same move he used to finish Vinny Marseglia last week but to no avail. The finish actually saw Taven win cleanly after hitting Climax for the pinfall victory and to retain his World Television Championship. It was good to see Taven win clean here, as I've mentioned before the best heels are the ones that can win cleanly, but choose not to, therefore this win showing that Taven can win clean, can only be a good thing for the World Television Champion.  

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's ROH TV.

1. Adam Cole vs. Mark Briscoe could have been a lot better than it was.

2. Michael Bennett is someone who could gain a lot in the ROH World Championship Tournament.

3. ACH is definitely someone to look out for within ROH and Independent wrestler. 

ROH TV 13th July 2013 Review

Another strong showing from Ring of Honor this week in terms of in ring action, with two solid matches, one rounding off a long running feud, the other for the World Tag Team Championships. However, as we get closer to Jay Briscoe’s World Championship defense against Matt Hardy next week on television, it just makes it even more frustrating that ROH let their World Champions contract expire and that these tapings take place long before the footage actually airs. 

World Tag Team Championship Match: 

C&C Wrestle Factory 

vs. 

reDRagon ©

This match was originally scheduled for June’s Best in the World iPPV, before Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton of SCUM were added to the mix, making the bout a three way. Now, I was a particularly big fan of that original match, feeling the three teams didn’t quite gel together, at time making for an awkward match to watch. However, I believed that any combination of three teams would have worked well in a regular tag team match, therefore I was pleased to see these two cross paths here. It’s been great to watch C&C develop as a tag team over the last year and half, as they have progressed their way up the tag team division, whilst reDRagon have managed to hold the division up when it’s looked pretty poor over the last six months.

The match was a decent affair with some hard hitting and fast flowing action, with Coleman, Alexander, O’Reilly and Fish all bringing something to the match. Unfortunately, the match was harmed by a number of factors. Firstly, time, the match only received around ten minutes of television time, which didn’t really allow the match to tell the story it needed to tell in order to get the correct end result, maybe if we’d have seen an extra five or ten minutes of action, the match would have been able to breath and the story unravel correctly. The other element that hurt the match for me, was the amount of outside influence that was included, with American Wolves, SCUM’s Titus & Compton and Adrenaline Rush all involved in a mass brawl at ringside which at time detracted from the action that was going on in the ring.

Now, I understand that reDRagon have an ongoing feud with The American Wolves, and it looks like C&C might be moving into a series with Adrenaline Rush, and SCUM were there because they are SCUM and have a big match to build up to in two weeks, but it certainly removed any feeling off importance that this match had before they came out, which was a real shame. Having said that the action in the ring was always exciting and imaginative, including a crazy frontkick from the apron from Kyle O’Reilly with Caprice Coleman propped up against a chair, which looked to crush Coleman against the barricade. The ending saw Alexander take a dive frontflip springboard to outside onto all the brawling tag teams, which allowing reDRagon to take advantage of Coleman finishing him off with their Chasing the Dragon double team move for a pinfall victory. It was decent finish, and makes sense to keep the titles on reDRagon it their heading into a final showdown with the American Wolves, if only to give the Wolves one more tag team title reign.

Overall, this match was a good display of technical and highflying wrestling, but with the outside interference and time constraints, I did come away feeling a little disappointed, as I know these two teams could do a hell of a lot better, given the chance. As previously mentioned, it looks like reDRagon are heading towards a final showdown with the American Wolves after the two had seemingly been kept on separate paths for a long time, it’s been a nice slow build for these two teams and I’m excited to see the pay off when it finally comes. C&C Wrestlefactory seem to be heading into a rivalry with Adrenaline Rush, both teams have similar styles and should mold well together, and hopefully sooner rather than later we’ll be seeing C&C and Adrenaline Rush feuding over the tag title belts.

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere, ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe came to the ring to discuss his title defense on next week’s show against Matt Hardy. It was quick effective promo with Jay saying his shoulder injury, sustained in his match at Best in the World against his brother, Mark Briscoe, would not stop him from beating Hardy next week. I expect next week’s match to be pretty similar in the nature to this promo, nothing particularly pretty and tell a succinct and exciting story.

It’s a shame then, that this match doesn’t really mean a lot. Yes, it is for the World Championship, but we know from ROH themselves that the ROH World Championship is now vacant, with a 16-Man Tournament featuring some of the top names in ROH and elsewhere, commencing shortly. Therefore, the good work that ROH have done in building to Matt Hardy’s title match which has been a pretty big focus on television over the last few months has been pretty much thrown out of the window, because ROH decided to keep the title on someone who was about to leave the company.

Tommasso Ciampa and QT Marshall seemed to put an end to their feud this week, in surprisingly lengthy contest. I expected Ciampa to basically squash Marshall, however this bout turned into so much more than that, telling a good story and with some nice psycology surrounding Ciampa’s previous knee injury as well as on screen return for Prince Nana, there was a lot going on, but it all seemed to fit together well. The end saw Marshall’s manager RD Evans run into a Project Ciampa after being scared by Prince Nana, before Ciampa eventually hit the Bionic Knee on Marshall for the pinfall victory, after a fantastic contest. I’m interested to see how Ciampa fits in with Prince Nana now, it would be nice to see them reunited as a face duo, with Nana helping Ciampa finally reach the heights that he deserves in Ring of Honor.

Mike Bennett was also in action against Nick Merriman, in what should be the definition of a squash match. Bennett suckered Barrowman in for a Code of Honor handshake, only to hit a Box Office Smash, followed up by Photo Finish for the pinfall victory. It was what happened after the match that was the interesting part, with Bennett deciding where his future in wrestling lied. It turned out that Bennett would be signing for Ring of Honor, however he offered ring crew member and long time rival, Cheeseburger, the contract instead. Of course this was only to sucker Cheeseburger in, as he got struck with a Super Kick from Bennett, with Brutal Bob Evans eventually taking a Box Office Smash. Bennett went on to cut a fantastic promo on the break up of he and Evans’ partnership. It’s surprising that ROH hasn’t pushed Bennett harder over the last three years, as it’s difficult to see what he’s lacking to perform at a higher level.

On Inside Ring of Honor, both Steve Corino, flanked by SCUM member Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton and Michael Elgin gave their thoughts on upcoming ROH event. Corino did a good job talking up the next two weeks of ROH television, main evented by Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Hardy and the SCUM vs. ROH steel cage warfare match respectively. Whilst Elgin spoke about ROH’s debut in the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formely Maple Leaf Gardens) and why he should main event that show in his hometown. I really like these sorts of promos, as they bring an old school feel to the show, that feels fresh when compared to WWE and TNA’s approach to programming. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's ROH on Sinclair?

1. ROH have the same ability as WWE and TNA to ruin what should be a good match, with over complication.

2. It's difficult to care about next week's World Championship Match, when we know there is no longer a World Champion.

3. Mike Bennett and Tommaso Ciampa deserve to be positioned higher within the Ring of Honor ranks.