Silas Young vs. Bobby Fish vs. Kushida vs. Dalton Castle (***)

This was a fun opener and a good fast paced match to start the show off. Not sure what the purpose of the match was other than getting everyone on the card. Maybe a future TV title shot will be given to Castle for winning. I may have missed if commentary said something about that.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page (**1/2)

Match had great intensity and you really believed that both of these guys hate each other and it's turning into a blood rivalry. Something that is truly lacking in a lot of feuds these days. They were really on their way to something very good here and it felt like the match was kicking into the next level then they had the abrupt ending that brought it all to a halt. I get that the feud will continue which is fine but it really felt like there was a lot more they could have done tonight.

EVIL and Sanada vs. Search and Destroy vs. War Machine (***)

Why the fuck is Shelly not teaming up with Sabin? He was there in his corner. Not sure why Sabin would want to team up with Jobberman Grisham instead of his long time partner who he's had success with. If Shelly was injured then fine but I don't recall it being mentioned. Another fun match with a lot of stuff going on and everyone getting a chance to shine a little. War Machine is much better tag team then the ROH fans want to give them credit for. Great old school bruiser team.

Jay White vs. Will Ospreay (**)

I liked the logic that White applied to this match. He was keeping Ospreay grounded so he couldn't do his ballerina shit and was dominating him because Ospreay doesn't know how to do anything else but flip. It was a decent, fast paced, hard hitting match but I don't see why the crowd was going so nuts and why people think this stole the show. Bottom line is this, come tomorrow I will not remember this match because the most forgettable man that ever lived Jay White was involved in it. I enjoyed Punishment Martinez's post match run in more than the match because Punishment rules.


Ring of Honor Six Man Tag Team Championships
Chaos vs. the Briscoes & Bully Ray (***1/2)

This was a really fun, chaotic brawl. The way any match involving The Briscoes and Bully should be. It was refreshing to see all the straight chair shots Mark Briscoe was taking to the head because this means the Briscoes are not leaving ROH anytime soon since there's no way Mark is gonna pass a concussion test for another company after this. I'm glad that Bully and The Briscoes are the six man champs. Giving it to the Kingdom made the titles DOA and if they want to make different titles like this feel relevant and special, they're the kind of trio that needs to have them. They shouldn't lose the title for a while yet.

World Television Championship
Matt Sydal vs. Marty Scurll (***)

This was a good solid match. With Scurll killing it this year as champ and being so over right now, there was really no way he was losing. Sydal was a good guy to put him over but that fact that he's now with Impact and is getting featured right away on that show meant that Scurll retaining was never in doubt.

World Tag Team Championships
Tetsuya Naito and Bushi vs. the Young Bucks (**1/2)

This was a decent match but I never bought the near falls since everyone knew the Bucks were retaining. I still hope to see the day where the Bucks have a really good match without better talent carrying them to it to justify the unworthy amount of hype they get. Obviously that didn't happen here since they weren't in the ring with top talent that can get them there. But I still hold out some hope that one day I will get it with them. I hated the Rock back during the attitude era but as the years went by I got what the hype was. Maybe that will be me with the Bucks in ten years.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole (**)

Wow, was this disappointing. Didn't really feel like either of these guys were into it. Tanahashi was just there to play the hits pretty much. Cole was good with his psychology as usual but I don't think he even got in all his signature stuff. The match certainly suffered from being short on time. Could have been so much better with an extra five minutes or so added. The post match angle was better than the match itself which should never happen in ROH where they pride themselves so much on having the best in ring product.

World Heavyweight Championship
Cody vs. Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels (**1/2)

Another match that suffered badly from being short on time at the end of the show. This was another solid match but nothing more. I thought Cody was a lock to win the title after Scurll joined the BC and they would have all the ROH gold. The finish was really good though. That was the most perfect pinfall I think i've ever seen. No way anybody can kick out of that.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As a whole this show was good. The six man title match was my favorite of the night. While the opening fourway and the triple threat tag were fun, they weren't needed. They were just there to get as many people as they could on the card. But that ended up costing the last two matches and that hurt the show overall. The undercard should get chopped to save time not the two main events. Do they not have someone who tries to estimate the time of the show before it starts to see if the main events are going to be hurt by it? I can only imagine how confused Tanahashi must have been when he was told his match would be under 15 mins. He was probably trying to tell them "no, no, I always wrestle 30 min"

Still, I never feel like I waste my money when getting an ROH show. They rarely have any "what the fuck is this shit?" moments on PPV and usually deliver a quality show.

Sounds like a decent show. But like previous encounters with NJPW it just sounds like a going through the motion event. With so much product out there hard to buy or watch a whole like this.



I will check out Ospreay vs White cause spot monkeys are fun and the Cole exit for sure. Probably an LIJ match with the bucks as well.

Also Sani and Clark some advice after reading this quality and other ROH/NJPW review. Rules of being a mark:

1)Everything Meltzer says is gospel.
2)NJPW can do no wrong ever. Especially LIJ.
3)Young Bucks Made Indy Wrestling Relevant Again.
4)Ro Ro sucks at everything. Period.

So yeah please respect that yo.

The whole show gets five stars but the omega appearance gets eleven.

They seem really intent on getting Johnathan Gresham over, I guess that's why he got to team with Chris Sabin...who's so over himself. But the commentators were really selling him hard. Funny thing was he didn't have a match in Toronto on Sunday but was there doing announcers booth soundchecks and other menial ring jobs and NO ONE knew who he was. He may as well have just been some ring crew guy, which he probably is. I just found it funny when the announcers were kinda jerking him off last night.

xdoomsayerx LIJ were much better this show than on Sunday. I guess it was jet lag. Cause Evil and Sanada especially may as well have not been there. I almost asked they lady beside me what she was squirting for Sunday because all I saw were two guys with cool masks who stood there.

I enjoyed this show from start to finish. A couple "filler" matches, but even those were entertaining and fun to watch. I think the weakest matches were the 3-way tag match and Sydal/Scurll, and six man tag titles..\ but that's not saying they were bad because I enjoyed them all.

Jay White vs Ospreay was my MOTN, really good match. Every Ospreay match feels the exact same, so it was great to finally see him do more than his spots... and Jay White is as bland as Blandy Orton, yet had a great showing.

It was an easy watch from beginning to end and I really wish their TV episodes even had a fraction of the energy that this had.

...and I'm cool with Scurll joining the Bullet Club... I guess.... obviously doing that since everyone needs a faction in NJPW and he'll be there for the Super Juniors tournament. His introduction to da club was good though.

ALSO! I really like how they played off the storyline of "Who poisoned Nick!?" from "Being The Elite". That was great. Way to keep kayfabe alive, Bucks

Yeah PPV as whole did not interest me so I just checked out parts of it. This was the must see for me.

Flip Ospreay vs Bland White: 8.5/10 Look Ospreay wrestles the typical flippy over the top style, yet has the shittiest finisher in an OsCutter. White is a technical wrestler with zero character. Like none at all. Hell he even wears white trunks. ANyways this was a smart wrestler match. They went back and forth and let every spot and sprint build. It great. It was just missing a story. Like why are these fools trying to kill each other? Hell commentary deemed this a dream match. To who? These guys have locked before in NJPW just not in a singles match. Anyway MOTN and more of this from Ospreay. He looks like 100% again.

LIJ (Naito/BUSHI) vs YOUNG BUCKS ROH Tag Titles: 8/10Naito is the best thing ever in NJPW. He has become a slick give no fucks heel. He shows up to win and that is it. Bushi is a fun luchador of LIJ. Sure it was a typical Bucks match with spotfest spams but the interactions with Naito were glorious. Damn fun match. Bucks continue to dominate the tag scene to establish they are the TAG TEAM GOATS!

Cole Farewell/ Scrull to Bullet Club I mean Scrull has always been a goofy heel, thus THE VILLAIN character. This fits and he has been ROH MVP so he can continue the Bullet Club prestige. I just wish BC was kept to Omega, Scrull, Rhodes, and The Bucks. This way they can just capture all the gold everywhere. Be a fun group but take names when need be. Cole write off was fine and better than the Tanahashi match itself. Cole has done all he could in ROH.

You see, I LIKED Ospreay v. White because it had no backstory. I liked seeing two guys just go out there and give it their all.

BUT EVERY MATCH NEEDS A STORYLINE, IT JUST DIDN'T MAKE SENSE! ZERO STARS.

*gives match a story*

UUUUGH! JUST LET THE GUYS GO OUT THERE AND HAVE A MATCH WITHOUT NEEDING A DAMN STORY ONCE IN A WHILE! 

<3

I've said many-a-time that storylines don't mean too much to me.  There have been ones here and there that I gave a rats ass about but I'm the guy that fast-forwarded the story bits on Lucha Underground and y'all shat on me.

That's because the storylines and characters is what drives LU. You're not getting the full effect of the show and why people like it so much by doing that.

Maybe it's because I grew up with wrestling from the 80s and early 90s but I've always felt good characters and stories enhance the match watching experience. Why care who wins a random match if you as a viewer have no reason to be invested in it?

Undertaker, Jericho and Austin aren't my favorites​ of all just because they had a bunch of classic matches. It's because of the great characters they are. Same with guys like Randy Savage, Jake Roberts and Piper. All would make my top 10 based on their great characters more than their ring work.

Yeah, I do agree. A little backstory goes a long way. I can watch a Raven verses Sandman match from ECW and all I really need to know is they don't like each other. At this point in my life I just like to see good action in the ring. Case in point, the best match I've watched recently: Samoa Joe verses Kenta Kobashi. Zero story. Just "these two guys destroy people". Or my favourite match of all-time: Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka at One Night Stand 2005. Yes, there was history from six years earlier but those two just came out and levelled each other then went back to their day jobs the next morning.

Maybe in a few years story lines will interest me more but right now I just want to see it in the ring.