Apologies for the tardiness on this one, as I've had a busy work schedule and other engagements to attend to. Anyways, this should hopefully prove to be an excellent show, as the card is stacked from top to bottom. With the pleasantries out of the way, let's not waste any more time and get right into the show.
Kenny King vs. Marty Scurll
The match starts fast-paced as Scurll delivers charging uppercut to King, then hits him with his trademark apron superkick on the outside. Back in the ring, it's a battle of leverage back in the ring as the two trade a series of knife-edged chops. Scurll seems to have the upper hand until King hits him with a spinning enzuguiri, then a springboard blockbuster. The tides seemingly shift to King's favor as he uses his size and power advantage to work Scurll over.
Scurll evades a corkscrew dive attempt from King and plants him with a tornado DDT off the ring apron, perhaps taking the advantage back; King shows off his resiliency after being hit with a half-nelson/enzuguiri/folding powerbomb combination from Scurll. They trade strikes for a brief respite before Scurll hits King with a 619, then rolls him up in a pin attempt; King kicks out. The action goes back to the outside as the two trade counters and pin attempts; King is irish-whipped into the ring apron, but steps up and hits Scurll with an impressive corkscrew somersault dive.
Back in the ring, Scurll hits King a superplex, then tries to roll into another suplex attempt; King blocks and hits him with his Royal Flush finisher. However, he's unable to capitalize as Scurll rolls to the outside. King brings a chair into the mix, hoping to put Scurll; the referee takes it away and during the distraction, Scurll nails King with the umbrella, pinning him and taking home the first victory of the show.
A great match and a solid way to kick the show off. Both wrestlers are more-than-capable performers and they definitely showed it here, pulling from their bag of tricks and displaying an impressive repertoire of moves (holy 619, Marty). It was also a nice battle of egos as King and Scurll took turns capitalizing on the other's showmanship and grandstanding. A fun start to the show from two superb competitors.
Shane Taylor vs. Jeff Cobb (C), ROH World Television Championship match
It's a heavy-hitting affair from the beginning as the two big men exchange clubbing strikes and suplexes, both competitors instantly getting right back up from the other's suplex attempt. Taylor takes the advantage for a brief respite after a devastating shoulder block to Cobb, who tries to fight back, but to no avail; Taylor baits him on the ring apron and hits him with a cannonball senton to the outside.
Back in the ring, Cobb dodges another cannonball attempt from Taylor, peppering in more strikes before tossing him with a delayed pumphandle suplex. Clubbing blows are exchanged once more; Taylor nails Cobb with a brutal knee strike and Cobb grounds Taylor with a thunderous lariat off the ropes, the sheer force of it sending Cobb to the outside. Cobb gets back in the ring and the two men are back at it again with a brutal exchange of strikes; Taylor seems to get the better of Cobb and goes to the second rope, but Cobb counters with a dropkick, then tosses Taylor off the top rope following a superplex attempt.
Taylor gets back to his feet and plants Cobb with a pop-up spinebuster, then hits him with a uranage/second-rope splash combination; Cobb kicks out. Taylor busts out more impressive offense, including his own version of a Canadian Destroyer; despite this, Cobb kicks out yet again. Taylor pulls down his knee pad and jaw jacks Cobb, who catches him with his Tour Of The Islands finisher. Taylor powers out of it and Cobb hits him with another, picking up the W and retaining his title.
Goddamn, what an excellent match. A nice throwback to the hoss battles of yore with a new-school twist. Both displayed superb resiliency and stamina through such a hard-hitting affair; each strike they threw was more brutal than the next. And the athleticism on display from both men here was incredible as well, doing things wrestlers their size shouldn't be able to do (you already know I saw that Canadian Destroyer, Shane Taylor). Cobb remains one of the best big men in wrestling here, while Taylor builds his momentum up that much more, continuing to impress with his underrated talent and ability. A great showing of power, athletics and endurance from both men in this match. Couldn't ask for more of a bout like this one.
Kelly Klein vs. Mayu Iwatani (C), Women Of Honor Championship match
Klein is the aggressor from the beginning, dishing out clubbing strikes and stomps to Iwatani, then tossing her around the ring. She then slows the pace down and begins working Iwatani over, tightly securing the advantage for the time being. Iwatani fights back with a series of sling blades, kicks and a bridging northern lights suplex, breaking down Klein's advantage. Frustrated, Klein tosses Iwatani to the outside.
A -self-detrimental move by Klein as it allows Iwatani to collect her stamina and hit Klein with a german suplex. But Klein quickly recovers and answers back with a german suplex of her own. After a brief ground exchange, Iwatani hits Klein with a side kick and a snapmare, then a second-rope moonsault. She then goes to the top rope for another moonsault, but Klein manages to block this attempts and gets her knees up.
She plants Iwatani with her variation of a samoan driver (dubbed the K-Power), but Iwatani kicks out of the pinfall attempt. Frustration growing, Klein starts smacking Iwatani around and talking trash. Iwatani takes advantage of the situation and cradles Klein in a small package pin to get the victory and retain her title.
A decent match and a nice build to what hopefully should be an interesting rivalry in Women Of Honor. The two continuously display good in-ring chemistry, as Iwatani's speed and agility meshes well with Klein's power and strength. They also told a fine story here; from Iwatani's perspective, it's a tale of overcoming the odds and outsmarting the powerhouse. And from Klein's perspective, it's a tale of frustration and desperation; her title reign was cut short and she's desperate to reclaim it. The hatred of her opponent for usurping her throne ultimately seemed to outweigh her focus of getting her title back, and that's what cost her in the end. I'm probably reading into this way too much, but whatever. A good match that builds up another feud in the women's division.
Lifeblood (Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins) vs. The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan)
Before the match even starts, Matt Taven comes out to lament the state of his title and beckons Jay Lethal to come out to the ring immediately and start their World Title match, which Lethal obliges. With Lifeblood/Kingdom now thrown out, this leads into...
Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal (C), ROH World Championship match
In a surprising turn of events, we get our World Title match sooner than expected. The Code Of Honor is ignored at the start of this match, signifying the blood feud these two have developed in recent time. Both men come out of the gate swinging, going blow-for-blow and trying to gain the advantage. It's a methodical, evenly-matched contest so far as neither competitor holds the advantage for very long, no doubt turning into a game of chess.
After a few evasions, Taven takes down Lethal and begins working him over, slowing the pace down to his liking. Lethal fights back and hits Taven with a dragon screw leg-whip; after teasing each others' finisher (Taven teasing Lethal's Figure-Four in the process) for a while, Taven hits Lethal with a spin kick and starts to break down Lethal, taking advantage of his hurt shoulder. Lethal fights back and comes up with a gameplan of his own, targeting Taven's back with a series of backbreakers and grounded knee strikes.
Lethal continues his advantage up until Taven answers back with a dropkick to his injured shoulder. Lethal responds with a snap powerslam, then an inverted cloverleaf attempt, turning into a modified surfboard, but not getting the full effect due to the shoulder. Despite this, Lethal still remains in control; Taven tries to mount a comeback, but his past knee issues come into play and his momentum is halted. Lethal then back-body-drops Taven out of the ring and nailing a suicide dive. Lethal uppercuts Taven, then delivers another suicide dive.
Lethal then hits another suicide dive, completing his trademark trio of dives. Following another suicide dive, the action gets back in the ring as Lethal shifts his focus from Taven's back to his bum knee, attempting to break it down further in a variety of ways. After a referee distraction, Taven tosses Lethal shoulder-first into the turnbuckle and begins working over Lethal's injury, furthering the game of chess these two have played so far. Lethal fights out of a cross armbreaker attempt, but Taven answers back with a reverse russian leg sweep into a crossface.
Lethal seeks for the bottom rope as Taven transitions into a Rings Of Saturn attempt. Despite Lethal finally grabbing that bottom rope, Taven is still in full control and as he continues his attempt at absolute obliteration of Lethal's left shoulder. Lethal continues to fight back, rolling out of a frog splash attempt from Taven and hitting him with his signature Lethal Combination. He attempts his Hail To The King finisher, but Taven blocks it and attempts a superplex; Lethal blocks that and attempts it once again, only to be distracted then subsequently jumped by Taven's Kingdom constituents Marseglia and O'Ryan.
Jonathan Gresham comes down to fight them, but the numbers advantage works to his detriment. Marseglia and O'Ryan try to further damage Gresham, but Haskins and Williams come to his aid, evening the odds. They chase Marseglia and O'Ryan out and while the referee is distracted, Taven low-blows Lethal and hits him with his Climax finisher; surprisingly, Lethal kicks out. Both shocked and frustrated, Taven snaps off a rolling neckbreaker on Lethal then connects with a frog splash; Lethal still kicks out.
Lethal gets the knees up on another frog splash attempt then connects with a cutter. The two throw punches for a spell before Lethal catches Taven's springboard attempt into a torture rack/rolling slam combo. He then plants Taven with a death valley driver before attempting Hail To The King once again; Taven counters with a crucifix pin attempt, but Lethal answers back by cinching in the figure-four leglock. Taven breaks out of it, but not before enduring excruciating pain during the hold. On the ring apron, the two exchange suplex attempts before Taven connects, driving Lethal through the table Marseglia and O'Ryan set up earlier.
After some time elapses, Taven gets Lethal back into the ring and onto the top rope, connecting with a series of rope-assisted enzuguiris then a backpack stunner. After a back suplex slam, Taven tries to follow up with another one; Lethal counters this with Taven's own Climax finisher. He then takes another page out of Taven's playbook by hitting him with a running knee strike before hitting him a Lethal Injection; much to everyone's surprise, Taven kicks out. Lethal responds with a cutter on the ring apron, then another cutter on the outside.
Taven somehow manages to get back into the ring, and Lethal's frustration increases, leading him to set up a table of his own on the outside. Lethal gets Taven on the table and slowly climbs the ropes; Taven manages to spring back up and DDT Lethal onto the ring apron. Taven then introduces a ladder into the match, forming a makeshift bridge between the table and the ring. Lethal blocks a powerbomb attempt and connects with a springboard dropkick, then a sliding dropkick. With Taven draped upon the ladder, Lethal calls for Hail To The King one more time, which Taven evades.
After going through the ladder, the ringside crew rush to Lethal's aid and Taven responds to this with an over-the-top rope dive onto all three men. Back in the ring, Taven hits Lethal with a cutter of his own, then his signature Just The Tip running knee strike, which Lethal kicks out of. Frustrated, Taven responds by hitting Lethal with three more running knees; rather than cover him, Taven smack-talks Lethal, slaps him and spits in his face before connecting with another Just The Tip. Lethal kicks out and Taven goes up to the top rope, once again attempting the frog splash, which Lethal counters with a cutter.
With a brief respite to somewhat recover, the two slowly rise up as they trade trash talk and slaps. Lethal first connects with an enzuguiri, then a series of superkicks before hitting Taven with another Lethal Injection; much to everyone's shock, Taven once again kicks out. Having gone the full 60 minutes, the match ends in a time limit draw as Marty Scurll comes out to take the belt and leave with it.
Wow. Just. Fucking. Wow. It really is a struggle for me to collect my thoughts as I'm still trying to process everything that went down, but for the sake of this article, I'll power through. To say this was a great match would be a gross, perverted understatement. This match was beyond excellent and should no doubt set a top-tier standard for ROH matches from here on out, which is saying something given ROH's stigma.
Everything came together here and then some. The ring work was SSS+ tier as both men pulled out all the stops and reached deep into their bag of tricks (sometimes even stealing tricks from the opposing side) to create something remarkable. The storytelling was pitch-perfect and both competitors handled it with the utmost grace and plumb. It took Lethal's determination to be the standard-bearer of ROH, Taven's quest for validation and combined it with a deep-seated hatred five years in the making. And the fact they managed to blend the narrative throughout the match really speaks to the talents of both men.
Lethal continues his reputation as an elite performer and one of the best world champions in wrestling today, Taven's stock rises as he builds his credibility as a world-class talent, and Scurll benefits by having two absolute stars for opponents in the G1 Supercard main event. Really, the only person who loses is whoever has to follow it, as far as crowd reaction is concerned. But jumping off that, this was just an absolutely beautiful match from beginning to end, and might I say a Match Of The Year candidate. Oof. Okay, moving on.
Bandido vs. Rush
It's quick, evenly-matched bout from the beginning as both competitors trade holds and counters in a rapid, succinct fashion as per the lucha libre style. Bandido takes Rush down with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors, then attempts a hurricanrana off the apron; Rush blocks it and powerbombs him through the time keeper's table. Rush gets Bandido back in the ring firmly in control for the time being. After further punishment, Bandido dodges Rush's corner dropkick finisher and hits him with a corkscrew corkscrew crossbody.
After a dropkick then a suicide dive, Bandido follows it all up with a Fosbury flop onto Rush, seemingly shifting the advantage to his side. However, Rush instantaneously shifts it to his favor following a rebound german suplex. He stomps on Bandido in the corner and then teases his finisher before hitting the Tranquilo pose. The two trade strikes before Rush hits his variation of the Canadian Destroyer; Bandido responds with a tilt-a-whirl hurricanrana driver.
As both men get to their feet, Rush ascends to the top rope. Bandido hits him with a series of rope-assisted kicks and Rush responds by sending him to the ring apron and planting him with a deadlift second-rope superplex. Bandido answers back with a deadlift suplex of his own, then hangs Rush up in the ropes and hits him with a 450 splash. Rush kicks out, counters a springboard crossbody then hits Bandido with a tope con hilo. He gets Bandido up on the ring apron for a double underhook piledriver, which Bandido fights out of and answers back with a running hurricanrana off the ring apron.
Back in the ring, Bandido hits an inverted flipping Go 2 Sleep and Rush answers back with a belly-to-belly suplex into the turnbuckle. Rush sweeps the leg and stomps on Bandido for a spell before hitting him with that running corner dropkick to pick up the W.
An excellent match that was evenly contested from bell to bell. It was 100 MPH from the get-go as both competitors put on a fantastic display of speed and agility, apropos of the lucha libre style, no doubt. The counters and sequences were so fluid, you would've sworn this was a real-life video game. The chemistry these two have is absolutely remarkable, as both seem to match in both strength and quickness. Imagine a chess match at 2x speed and that's what you have with this match. Did it have to live up to Taven/Lethal? No. It accomplished all it needed to be, and that was be a necessary shot of adrenaline to the show, which has already gone through so much and was in desperate need of one.
Villain Enterprises (Brody King & PCO) vs. The Briscoes (C) (Mark & Jay), ROH World Tag Team Championship match
As the bell ring, both teams immediately take advantage of the no disqualification stipulation and toss any and every chair they can find into the ring. The four competitors engage in a chair duel with Mark coming out on top over King, then taking the chair to PCO. Mark takes King further out of the equation with a top-rope corkscrew senton to the outside. The brothers take turns isolating and working over the team of King and PCO. King fights back with a step-up twisting crossbody as PCO and Mark trade chops on the ring apron.
PCO drives Mark through a table with a michinoku driver, taking him out of the match for time being and allowing King & PCO to gang up on Jay; following a body avalanche/cannonball combo, the team then hit Jay with a chair-on-chair groin shot. Mark eventually gets back up and gets PCO's attention with a kendo stick, then flapjacks him onto the ring barricade. The brothers seemingly the advantage back and double-team King, who fights back; he irish whips Jay into a chair set up in the corner then hits Mark with a death valley driver through a corner table.
The advantage now sways to King & PCO's favor as they go to work on the brothers on the outside. The brothers fight back, first with kendo sticks to King and a back body drop to PCO on the ring apron, then onto the chair-elevated entrance ramp. The brothers (with Jay donning the proverbial crimson mask) get King back into the ring, but not for long as Mark puts himself and King through two table with a top-rope blockbuster. Following a Jay Driller kick-out from King, the brothers punish him with repeated kendo stick shots, PCO doing his best to get back into the ring.
The brothers try to double team a now-bloodied PCO, who tries to fight back by breaking their kendo sticks and hitting them with a double clothesline. It's no avail, however, as the brothers make good use of the broken kendo sticks, taking down King & PCO. On the outside, King attempts to mount a comeback for his team by chokeslamming Jay on the ring apron and tossing Mark from the top rope onto a stack of chairs. He then blocks a Jay Driller attempt and piledrives Jay off the ring apron through another table.
Back in the ring, King places a chair onto Jay and PCO hits him with the moonsault to secure the victory and winning the tag titles for his team.
Hot damn. An excellent way to end the show, if I do say so myself. This wasn't a poetic epic like Lethal/Taven, nor was it the epitomized slobberknocker that was Cobb/Taylor, and it definitely wasn't the high-speed chess match that was Rush/Bandido. This was a war; an absolute knockdown, drag-out, ultraviolent clash, and I loved every second of it. Both teams went through absolute hell, pushing each other's limits and going above and beyond the call of duty to bring us an absolutely brutal yet beautiful spotfest.
But even though it was essentially "just a spotfest," they told a good story in the process as well. The brothers were desperate and willing to go through whatever means necessary to keep their titles, and King & PCO played their role perfectly as resilient challengers who took all the punishment and went the distance in order to secure gold. It was bloody, it was savage, it was wicked. Above all else, it was a damn good fight and a excellent way to end the show with King & PCO on top.
Time will tell what the G1 Supercard brings us, but for now, this was the best show ROH has put out in 2019 so far. Granted, we're only three months in, but it has to be said. Top to bottom, everything was either good or excellent, with no in-between. Am I perturbed we didn't get Lifeblood vs. The Kingdom? Somewhat. Am I distraught over not getting Young/Gresham? A little. But given how the show as a whole came together without them, I think I adjusted quite well, so to speak. Match Of The Night is obviously Lethal/Taven, but we should give some consideration to Cobb/Taylor and The Briscoes/King & PCO.
An excellent PPV through and through. If you haven't already, put this at the top of your Must Watch list, because it's absolutely worth it.
