Apologies for my tardiness on this one, as computer issues combined with work prevented me from getting this out sooner. Moving on, it's the go-home show to G1 SuperCard, and we've got what should be a fantastic main event as The Kingdom defends their World 6-Man Tag Titles against Villain Enterprises. I'm already hooked, but let's get into the rest of the meal before we dine on the main course.
Mark Haskins vs. Rush
It's a technical bout at the start as the two wrestlers trade a series of quick holds and counters in an effort to gain leverage. It then transitions into a brawl, with hard elbow strikes thrown between the two. Rush then shrugs off several rapid chops from Haskins before grounding him with a hard chop of his own. Haskins gets back up and delivers several more chops before the action spills outside the ring. Rush throws more hard chops at Haskins before tossing him into the barricade.
Back in the ring, Rush is in control for the moment, but Haskins fights backs with a series of shoot kicks before sending Rush to the outside with a dropkick. He then goes for a suicide dive; attempts an evasion, only for Haskins to swing through the ropes and drill him with one on the other side of the ring. Haskins hits Rush with a diving double stomp, but fails to connect with his signature pumphandle driver; Rush responds to this with a rebound german suplex, then a TKO cutter.
Rush teases his finisher and hits the "Tranquilo" pose, a signature move from his CMLL stable Los Ingobernables. Haskins interrupts the taunt with a bridging armbar attempt. Rush counters into a crossface attempt and Haskins counters with a triangle choke attempt. Rush then counters that with a bucklebomb, but is slow to pinfall. Haskins capitalizes on Rush's tardiness with penalty kick, then a Samoan driver.
Rush kick out of the pinfall attempt, and the two trade kicks and counters and everything in between. After tossing Haskins into the corner with a belly-to-belly suplex, Rush finally connects with his Bull's Horns finisher and picks up the W.
A great match and damn fine way to start the show off. It was everything I expected it to be: fast-paced, hard-hitting, and lots of counters. It was really impressive how quickly they transitioned the match; at first, it was a fluid technical exchange, before turning into a 100 MPH brawl as both men threw out their strongest strikes while simultaneously pulling off smooth-as-butter counters (I especially loved the trading of submissions before Haskins' PK/Samoan driver combo). This match was a excellent mish-mash of styles, and ultimately a fantastic showing from both men.
Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO and Brody King) vs. The Kingdom (c) (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan and Vinny Marsegila)
The match starts with Scurll and Taven in the ring as the rest of their respective teams brawl on the outside. The two soon make their way to the outside as the match turns into an all-out battle. The teams scuffle some more before King hits a picture-perfect somersault tope onto The Kingdom. It all eventually settles down as Scurll and Taven end up back in the ring as they started. Following a referee distraction, The Kingdom work quick to isolate Scurll from his teammates and pick him apart.
After being worked over for a brief respite, Scurll fights back with a sunset flip/enzuguiri combo to Taven. PCO gets the hot tag and he starts destroying The Kingdom, planting O'Ryan with a pop-up powerbomb and spiking Taven with a package piledriver. Marseglia gets back and throws chops with PCO, actually managing to ground him with his variation of Sliced Bread #2. Marseglia misses a swanton bomb attempt, and Villain Enterprises take advantage.
Scurll teases a crossface chickenwing attempt, leaving Marseglia enough time to make a quick tag to O'Ryan. The Kingdom hit Scurll with a spinebuster/diving headbutt/frog splash combo, only for King to break up the pinfall. The royal trio bust more tandem offense as they isolate Scurll once again. This doesn't last long as Scurll manages to send Marseglia and Taven to the outside before PCO barrels onto them with a Scurll-assisted somersault tope.
VE gets some more tag-team offense before The Kingdom once again halt their momentum, blocking a PCO moonsault attempt and hitting King with a russian legsweep/running knee strike combo courtesy of Marseglia and Taven. After further damaging King with their Rock Star Supernova powerbomb, The Kingdom continue their previous breakdown of Scurll. PCO interjects and counters respective suicide dives from O'Ryan and Marseglia. Taven manages to connect with his attempt, only PCO to jump back in the ring and deliver a somersault tope through the second rope to Taven.
Back in the ring, O'Ryan and Scurll are the legal men. Marseglia powerbombs PCO off the ring apron onto the entrance ramp, then does it again once PCO tries to fight back. After O'Ryan accidentally knocks Marseglia off the apron, Scurll locks in the crossface chickenwing on him while King holds Taven back; O'Ryan taps and Scurll gets the victory for Villain Enterprises as a new team is crowned champion.
A fantastic match from bell to bell, with a rather surprising ending. It was the very definition of a clash of styles as two polar opposite teams merged to create a wild, spontaneous affair: The Kingdom, with their expert tag-team precision and Villain Enterprises with their penchant for chaotic brawling. To say the very least, it was an absolute treat to see them mesh together. Add a surprise (and a welcome one, at that) finish, and you've got an excellent match and a damn good main event. While I don't know what this means for Scurll's fate at SuperCard, it's nice to see him going into the match with some added momentum, as well as holding ROH title gold in what seems like forever.
A damn good go-home show, if I do say so myself. While it was only a two-match card, both matches were excellent, with a shocking title change in the process. I was already hype for SuperCard, and the well-produced promo packages did a good job reaffirming it. A great episode from top to bottom. Even if the SuperCard-hyping segments took up a fair chunk of the show, we still had Haskins/Rush and VE/Kingdom, and that's most certainly nothing to complain about.
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