ROH Best in the World 2015 review

ROH's Best in the World 2015 show started with a video package focusing on the main event, one of the most interesting matches they've presented in a long time, Jay Briscoe versus Jay Lethal. The chief reason this was an interesting match was that it was a champion versus champion scenario, Briscoe being the world champion and Lethal being the television champion, with both titles on the line. There was also the fact that Lethal had held the TV title for well over a year and Briscoe hadn't been pinned since March 2 2013. It felt like a big match because of how well the two wrestlers were presented and the video that kicked off the show only added to that. Everything from the promos the two men cut to the simple touch of listing the bigger names each man had made successful defences against drove home that the match was a big deal.

It was the main event I was most interested in. Whenever that's the case going into a wrestling show something's been done right. ROH did a great job promoting Lethal v Briscoe. Having said that the rest of the card did seen slightly underwhelming. Aside from the number one contender shop three-way nothing really stood out, and the three-way was mostly interesting because I wanted to see how a winner would be booked in a match involving guys who rarely lose in ROH.

The Addiction v reDRagon was a match I'd seen before and which had failed to grab me. The Bullet Club v Kingdom six man was a rematch. While the first encounter had been good I felt it had been slightly overhyped and so I wasn't as excited about this match as others may have been. Castle v Young sounded good mostly because I like the characters of both guys. And everything else looked like standard ROH fare: good but not necessarily the easiest stuff to engage with emotionally.

That last sentence perfectly summed up the first match, Mark Briscoe versus top prospect tournament winner and proud House of Truth member Donovan Dijak. It was a solid opener which didn't drag and saw both men get a turn in control but it didn't draw me in because I'm not the biggest fan of either guy and they did nothing to change that. Briscoe won after blocking Feast Your Eyes (a Burning Hammer into a knee strike) and hitting the Froggy Bow.

Pretty much the same thing can be said about match number two. It saw BJ Whitmer and Adam Page face off with ACH and Matt Sydal. Page and Whitmer had their Decade young boy Colby Corino with them. Colby's dad Steve (now inexplicably going exclusively by the title of King Corino) was on commentary for this match, as he is for all ROH shows, but he seemed reluctant to place any emphasis on his own personal feelings about Whitmer recruiting Colby to further their longstanding grudge. It's possible he doesn't feel comparable with the angle or, more likely, doesn't want to make it all about himself, preferring to keep The Decade in the spotlight. But if that's the case why bother doing it at all? Steve Corino's continued reaction to his son making a poor life choice is the entire story here and if he doesn't want to tell it, for whatever reason, it's not going to work. Which is a shame because there's a lot that could be done with it.

The match was entertaining enough. I like ACH a lot and couldn't help but feel he was a tad wasted here, especially considering how bland much of the rest of the card was (at least in terms of pairings). Page got the victory for his team after Colby pulled Sydal off a pin attempt from the Shooting Star press, distracting him long enough for Page to get the win with his Right of Passage finisher.

Young v Castle was a fun match that was surprising in how hard-hitting and back-and-forth it was. Although the approach they took made sense in terms of story: the match had come about because Castle had been the latest person to find himself accused of being "not a real man" by Silas. The two packed a lot in, including a Silas spear off the apron and a Castle deadlift German. Castle won off a rollup as Young was berating Todd Sinclair for not counting a pinfall, which Sinclair had refused because 'The Last Real Man' had shoved him into the ropes, crotching Castle, to get it. After the match Young hit his Misery TKO on one of Castle's lads. Castle was understandably distraught by this.

That was followed by the reformed C&C Wrestle Factory taking on War Machine. Alexander and Coleman got a nice welcome from the NYC crowd when they entered. Hanson and Rowe did not. They were mostly met with indifference, a worrying sign considering they've been in ROH for over a year.

This match was short and more about story than action. The story it was specifically concerned with was Cedric's continued edging towards the dark side. He tried using a wrench, the same weapon he'd used to hammer Moose and end his undefeated streak, but Caprice saw it in his hand and refused to tag him in. That allowed War Machine to grab Caprice and hit Fallout for the win. After the match Cedric teased using the wrench on Caprice but didn't. He did make it clear that their team was over though.

The first above average bout of the night was the number one contenders match. Michael Elgin, Moose and Roderick Strong had all been put in the match based on the strength of their performances and their win-loss records in 2015. It would be nice to think they were also selected because they're amongst the best guys Ring of Honor has. Elgin and Strong have both had their share of classic matches (and I'll say again that Elgin is a particularly fine finish man) and Moose has been constantly improving since I first saw him in EVOLVE. He understands how to work the role of the big man and doesn't go overboard on the bigger spots he's capable of.

There were plenty of highlights in this match. Amongst my favourites were: Elgin hitting a somersault tope on Moose, bowing afterwards and being jeered by the crowd; Roddy superplexing Elgin then Moose; Roddy performing another feat of strength by giving Moose a double knee gut buster; Elgin buckle bombing on Moose only to be immediately hit with a spear; Moose running across the ring, leaping to the top rope, and hitting a cross body to the outside on both guys; and the finish, which saw Elgin double power bomb Moose and being sick kicked as he tried for a third, with Strong pulling Moose to his feet to hot him with two jumping knees and a sick kick to put him down for three.

There was a handshake between Strong and Moose after the match. We were told Elgin shook Strong's hand but we weren't shown it. Veda Scott slapped Moose twice for daring to follow the Code of Honor, something she'd done before. This time it looked like she'd pushed Moose too far. He hunched down looking like he was setting up to spear Veda but before he could make a move Cedric Alexander ran out and smacked him and Stokeley Hathaway with the wrench. Veda smiled at him then Cedric screamed about how he should have been in the number one contenders match.

I liked this as a development. It creates a reason for Moose to not be in the title picture and freshens up Cedric's act by realigning him and giving him a manager. He and Veda seem promising together, and it neatly covers up his weakness on promos. Maybe caprice will go heel too and RD Evans will return to tag with Moose in a grudge match. Then again maybe not.

The Bullet Club trio of AJ Styles and the Young Bucks versus the Kingdom trio of Matt Taven, Michael Bennett and Adam Cole followed that. As pointed out earlier this was a rematch from the ROH and New Japan War of the Worlds show, one I felt was very enjoyable but mildly overhyped in the grand scheme of things. They did pretty much the same thing here, producing another spot-heavy match with way too many highlights to mention and too fast a pace to do a full write-up.

We got the opposite result to the original encounter. The Kingdom had won at War of the Worlds so it was Bullet Club's turn to go over here. They did so in memorable fashion, wiping out Maria with two super kicks and a Pele kick from Styles (what a southern gent he is) before isolating Cole as Bennett checked on his wife and Taven sold a beating at ringside. Cole fought back valiantly, going for a Destroyer only to be caught by AJ and hit with a buckle bomb-enziguri triple team and then 'The Phenomenal One's' Bloody Sunday, kicking out and fighting back again, but eventually it was too much for him. 'The One' was finally put down with an Indytaker followed by the Styles Clash.

After the match The Kingdom looked upset with Cole. This didn't really make sense. Taven had been lying at ringside for a while when the loss happened and could probably have mustered the strength to get back in the ring. Bennett had a right to look ticked off, yeah, but why would he when his wife had just been knocked unconscious by three pro wrestlers? Logic flaws aside the prospect of Cole splitting from The Kingdom is interesting. A face turn could work well for both him and ROH.

The Addiction's no disqualification match with reDRagon was not as enjoyable as the usual reDRagon effort. Their strength is having exciting strong style matches with plenty of tag work mixed in, not crowd brawling. The stip made sense, of course, because of the personal nature of the feud and because the two teams have already met under regular rules. This meeting needed something extra to give it a bit of variety and set it apart from previous meetings. But it was never going to be as good as a regular match.

They at least made full use of the stipulation. There was plenty of ringside brawling and chairs were used liberally. A table and a ladder were introduced after things had hotted up. The table was there because in 2015 these sorts of matches require a table to satisfy the punters. The use of a ladder was interesting though. It's possible it was done to tease Ladder War VI. Then again, it's possible it wasn't.

The finish saw reDRagon hit Chasing the Dragon on Daniels on for former TNA world champion Chris Sabin to appear and pull the referee from the ring. The Addiction then recovered, Frankie took out O'Reilly by shoving him off the apron and into the crowd barricade, and hit Fish with Celebrity Rehab. The champions retained. Hopefully another team will be added to this rivalry if it continues. Addiction v reDRagon matches haven't wowed me so far.

Then came the Lethal versus Briscoe main event. It's worth sopping for a moment here to point out that the two men both have a lot of history in Ring of Honor. Briscoe has never been shy about reminding people that he was on the promotion's very first show. He's been a two time world champion and a record setting eight times. Over the last few years he's become one of ROH's most reliable headliners, working pay-per-view main events, being involved in heavily featured stories, and being well protected in terms of booking.

Lethal's pedigree is less celebrated but still impressive. He joined ROH a month shy of the company's first anniversary as Hydro, a member of Special K, and went through stints as Samoa Joe's protégé and pure champion before leaving to work for the promising-at-the-time TNA. It was easy to overlook how much he'd improved when he rejoined ROH full time in 2011 but improve he had. In the four years since he's won the television championship twice and, like Briscoe, become one of the company's most reliable wrestlers. The last eighteen months have probably been the greatest stretch of his career as he's been given the TV championship and tasked with making it mean something, which he has, been pitted against leading outside talent, and gradually been positioned as ROH's lead heel.

Briscoe versus Lethal is a match that's been brewing for a long time. Both guys have been built up so well. The atmosphere at the start of this match demonstrated what a great job both men, as well as booker Delirious, have done and how established they are as top names.

Before the first lock-up had even taken place Diesel and Dijak were sent backstage before the after Dijak had swiped his hand at Briscoe's legs. A suspenseful feeling out process, during which the combatants were bombarded by duelling chants from the crowd, was followed by a fight around ringside. Briscoe yakuza kicked Lethal. Lethal suplexed Briscoe. They threw one another into the barricade a bit.

Back in the ring Truth grabbed Briscoe's foot, distracting him and letting Lethal knock Briscoe down. Briscoe recovered and they traded uppercuts. Lethal got the better of the exchange by switching to clotheslines to knock the world heavyweight champion down. Back on their feet they traded jabs before Briscoe hit a neckbreaker.

A Lethal Injection was countered into a full nelson slam. Briscoe went for a Jay Driller but Lethal escaped into the Lethal Combination. Lethal went to the top rope but got cut off by Briscoe, who went for a superplex. Lethal fought him off but Briscoe fired back with a drop kick and went for his superplex again. Lethal fought him off again, this time pushing him down to the mat and hitting the Macho Elbow. Briscoe kicked out and immediately got put in the Koji clutch by the TV champ.

Briscoe made the ropes and rolled onto the apron. Lethal followed him out only to be set up for a Jay Driller. He escaped as Truth leapt onto the opposite apron to distract the referee. Nigel got up and sent Truth backstage as Briscoe recovered and Jay Drillered Lethal through the timekeepers table. Both men sold for a while before making it back into the ring just shy of the twenty count.

Briscoe was first to his feet and lobbed jabs at Lethal. Lethal surprised him with a super kick and went for the Lethal Injection again. Briscoe dashed forward and floored him with a rolling elbow as he rebounded off the ropes, getting himself a two count. Briscoe went for the Jay Driller. Lethal escaped it but got hit with a lariat for another two count.

Only the second double champion in ROH history.

The pair dragged themselves back up again. This time it was Lethal who struck first with a springboard cutter. He connected with another Lethal Injection but Briscoe kicked out. The crowd erupted at that as 'The Greatest First Generation Wrestler' clutched at his head in disbelief. He recovered and tried to hit Briscoe with his own Jay Driller. Briscoe escaped and tried for the move himself. Lethal escaped too, hit the move and then hit another Lethal Injection for the victory, a successful title defence and the ROH world championship.

The crowd gave him a "You deserve it!" chant. After a bit of celebrating from the new champion Briscoe came out of the corner and offered a handshake. In a nice moment Lethal accepted it with gusto before he continued celebrating. It was a touching way to close the show, watching a man who first worked for the company twelve years ago celebrate his first world title win. He'd earned it and it was lovely to see.

***

Results summary:

Mark Briscoe defeated Donovan Dijak
The Decade defeated Matt Sydal and ACH
Dalton Castle defeated Silas Young
War Machine defeated C&C Wrestle Factory
Roderick Strong defeated Moose and Michael Elgin to earn an ROH world championship match
AJ Styles and the Young Bucks defeated The Kingdom
The Addiction defeated reDRagon to retain the ROH tag team championship
Jay Lethal defeated Jay Briscoe to retain the ROH TV championship and win the ROH world championship

ROH Final Battle 2014 review

It’s been a good year for Ring of Honor. They may have lost their top star, Kevin Steen, and seen one of their top prospects, Michael Elgin, misfire as a world champ but they’ve co-promoted shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling, made the move from internet streaming to traditional pay-per-view, and put on a number of high quality shows with world class matches. As such the pressure was on to score a hit with Final Battle, their last major show of the year. After such a strong year they didn’t want to go out on a low note.

I’m pleased to say they didn’t. The line-up that was put together looked good on paper, with reDRagon v Time Splitters, Cole v Briscoe, and the Young Bucks and ACH v Addiction and Cedric Alexander six man tag match all leaping out as potential matches of the night. On the night everyone put in their best effort. The show was great from start to finish.

The evening kicked off with a four corner survival match pitting Mark Briscoe, Caprice Coleman, Jimmy Jacobs and Hanson against one another. It was designed to do two things. The first was to start the show with something exciting. The second was to build up Hanson. It achieved both. Everyone got a moment or two to shine and Hanson muscled everyone around at one point or another and ended up with the win after he wiped out Briscoe and Jacobs with a suicide dive before pinning Caprice off a spinning heel kick.

Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer stuck around to introduce Adam Page. ‘The Zombie Princess’ started to give what probably would have been a rousing speech about it being a night for Page to step up in a match with Strong, win, lose or draw. He didn’t get very far though: Whitmer snatched the microphone and introduced Page himself. The idea was that Whitmer was ready to accept Page as an equal while Jacobs wasn’t.

The match was all Roddy to begin with. He outwrestled Page and gave him some of his famously stiff chops. Page only managed to gain control after a distraction from Whitmer. Roddy took a bit of offence then fired back with chops, a Sick kick and a back breaker on the apron (after Page had impressively landed on his feet off a Shooting Star Press). Page got a swinging neck breaker from the second rope. Roddy came back with a pair of knee strikes and a release suplex back breaker before locking in the Stronghold for the victory by referee stoppage.

Whitmer wasn’t happy. He showed his displeasure by grabbing Corino's headset and shouting about how Page was still better than Strong. Corino wasn’t impressed. Any time their apparent real-life animosity bleeds into the show (which, let’s be honest, is frequently) I enjoy it.

Michael Elgin and Tommaso Ciampa went on third. Elgin was met with apathy. Ciampa got some cheers but not as many as you may have expected. Once the bell rang and Elgers gave Ciampa a hammering he was booed. They worked a strong style match which, while good, never seemed to slick into gear, something I also felt with their Death Before Dishonor XII match.

The usual electric finishing sequence of Elgin matches was omitted here. Instead ‘The Sicilian Psycopath’ accidentally clotheslined the ref, prompting Nigel McGuinness to head backstage because he'd introduced a zero tolerance policy with regard to Ciampa attacking officials. This was an accident but the story was that McGuinness may have gone backstage to start filing the paperwork for Ciampa’s dismissal (because he’d totes do that in the middle of a show). Hether he did or not wasn’t revealed but the possibility was enough to distract Ciampa, allowing ‘Unbreakable’ to get in a boot to the face and an elevated double arm DDT to win the match.

To lighten the mood after the shady finish the all-babyface six man tag was up next: Cedric Alexander and The Addiction v ACH and The Young Bucks. It was a crazily fast match packed with great spots. Plus super kicks, obvs. Definitely a match worth watching if you get the opportunity. ACH and the Bucks won after a Meltzer driver from the Bucks and a 450 from ACH on Cedric.

The grudge match between Moose and RD Evans was billed as "The Revenge of The Streak." The story was that Moose, who had been rescued from his gig as a bodyguard for the Bravado brothers in EVOLVE and introduced as RD Evans’ tag partner, had turned on Evans and cost him his entirely fictitious 173-0 winning streak. Ramone had also turned on RD, changing his name to Stokely Hathaway and revealing that he was working for Prince Nana, who Evans had stolen some storyline dosh from several years earlier.

The important thing to note from that is Nana’s return. Because he’s always excellent entertainment.

Moose destroyed RD for a lot of the match, but not as much as you might think. Veda rocked up after a few minutes and the camera immediately started treating us to lingering shots of her looking concerned. RD managed to turn things around after a while, hitting a reverse DDT and slapping on a sharpshooter. Nana and Hathaway tried to interfere with a chair, which promoted the referee to get out of the ring and argue with them in the aisle. That was Veda’s cue to get in the ring and betray RD with a low blow. Moose then speared him for the win. It was a fun little match. Exactly how guys like Moose and Evans should be used.

Match six saw House of Truth centrepiece and TV champ Jay Lethal defend his belt against Matt Sydal. They had an enjoyable match. I could have done without the Truth Martini interference but at least it was included for a reason and they didn’t go overboard with it. It took the form of him pulling Todd Sinclair from the ring after Sydal hit a Shooting Star Press that was framed as a definite finish. So basically Trith definitely cost Sydal the TV championship. He was chased around the ring before finally being caught and laid out for an SSP. Sydal went for it and got it... but Lethal connected with an Ace crusher as he hit it. A Lethal Injection later and Sydal was a beaten man.

reDRagon's defence of the ROH tag team championship against Time Splitters took the semi-main event spot. Both teams were greeted passionately by the New York crowd. At this point I think ROH is doing the right thing with O’Reilly and Fish and basically using them as tweeners.

The match started out as a competent display of tag wrestling by both teams. O’Reilly was isolated by the challengers before turning the tide to eliminate Shelley, working over his arm in preparation for an armbar submission. Fish got in on the action there too, giving Shelley a well-executed arm wringer out on the apron.

Tags became less frequent as all four guys moved into the ring to begin running through double team spots. Kushida performed an Okana roll and German suplex on both members of reDRagon. Time Splitters hit a power bomb-Sliced Bread supermove. O’Reilly took a moonsault and before applying a triangle choke. Kushida lamped O’Reilly with a Pele kick and O’Reilly came back with the McGuinness lariat. The match ended with Kushida kicking out of Chasing the Dragon before tapping out to the armbar. It was a well laid out tag match and probably the best wrestled offering of the evening.

The video package that preceded the Cole v Briscoe Fight Without Honor world title match was very good. It recapped their feud from its start in September 2013 and provided a good recap of the characters and motivations of both guys. I thought that was particularly impressive considering how long they've been linked to one another and the fact that their rivalry felt concluded with Ladder War V at Supercard of Honor VIII. It could have been overly complex and laborious.

There were scattered chants of "Next world champ!" when Cole stepped into the ring. Briscoe's entrance elicited chants of "Man up!" The audience would be split for the pair throughout the match.

Cole kicked things off with middle fingers and a super kick. Briscoe responded with an elbow and a Jay Driller for two. They left the ring for the requisite brawling, making use of chairs, tables and a staple gun, which Cole used to staple a “Reversed for Mrs Briscoe” sign to Jay’s head. Back in the ring Cole sat on a chair to pull at Briscoe's face. He ended up getting booted off it by the champ. Seconds later he was thrown head-first into it.

Jay grabbed a table, an additional chair, and a Singapore cane from under the ring (because, y'know, people have expectations for these sorts of stipulation matches). Cole grabbed the chairs and set them up but ended up taking a Falcon Arrow onto and through them. He had more luck using the cane, smashing Briscoe repeatedly in the head with it.

Cole took a tumble to ringside and bladed under the ring. Briscoe, being Briscoe, immediately began head butting him. He didn't get to do much though, the state athletic commission (who are always booked as heels on wrestling shows) pulled Cole from the ring to give him medical attention. Briscoe attacked the security accompanying the doctor, pushed Cole back into the ring, and gave him a neck breaker. He tried to suplex him through a table at ringside but Cole escaped and super kicked Briscoe off the top rope through it instead.

That barely phased Briscoe. He staggered back into the ring a minute or so later to be met with a title belt shot, a super kick to the back of the head (a call-back to the night Cole won the title after Briscoe had vacated it) and a Florida Key. Briscoe fired back with a Death Valley driver through the table propped up in the corner then sprinkled some thumbtacks (with heads a variety of colours) in the ring. Before he could use them himself Cole grabbed a handful, stuffed them in Briscoe's mouth, and super kicked him. Naturally such an extreme move had to be kicked out of. Two yakuza kicks and a back body drop sent Cole into the tacks. A Jay Driller, not on the tacks followed immediately.

Cole kicked out. Briscoe sold exasperation for a second or two before grabbing Cole for another Jay Driller, the third of the match, on to the championship belt. That put Cole down for the three and ended a satisfying main event.

Final Battle was amongst ROH’s best shows of 2014, and considering the quality of their major events this year I think that says a great deal. No match disappointed, the title matches delivered on the (high) expectations for them, and Page v Strong and the opener were better than could have been reasonably expected. A strong end to a strong year from Ring of Honor.

*** 

Results summary:

Hanson def Mark Briscoe, Jimmy Jacobs and Caprice Coleman
Roderick Strong def Adam Page
Michael Elgin def Tommaso Ciampa
The Young Bucks and ACH def The Addiction and Cedric Alexander
Moose def RD Evans
Jay Lethal def Matt Sydal
reDRagon def Time Splitters
Jay Briscoe def Adam Cole

ROH All Star Extravaganza VI review

When I heard that ROH were holding All Star Extravaganza VI in Toronto I was pretty pleased. Over the last couple of years the city has gained a reputation as one of the best crowds the promotion attracts. The Toronto fans are enthusiastic, loud and appreciative. You can't really ask for much more from a wrestling audience. Putting them on iPPV for one of ROH's more significant shows of the year (the most significant between June's Best in the World and December's Final Battle) was a good call.

The crowd reacted as usual to the bigger matches on the show but they didn't feel as enthused for aspects of the undercard. They weren't quiet, just not as rambunctious as usual. But they were on form when it counted though, and it counted a few times on this show.

After an opening video package which looked at various members of the roster and (confusingly, I felt) referred to the company as a whole as "legendary" the show got underway with a House of Truth promo. The purpose of this was to announce that ACH hadn't shown up (he'd missed his flight to Toronto, which may have harmed his standing with the group), with Truth Martini announcing that Jay Lethal would have the night off and not have to defend his TV title. Truth also stated that ACH now stands for A Crack Head. Yeah, ACH's spot is definitely in jeopardy.

Cedric Alexander joined the gang and challenged Lethal to a title match in ACH's place. Lethal said no, Cedric commented that Selezia had bigger balls them him and Lethal, like a classic heel, immediately rose to the bait and granted Cedric a match. The segment ended with the men shoving one another and Lethal accidentally super kicking Selezia.

The opening match was Mark Briscoe versus Hanson, a match that stemmed from War Machine and the Briscoe brothers trying to outdo each other in terms toughness had having some pretty intense matches. It was a solid opener that excited the crowd and toured all around the ring. Briscoe won with his top rope frog elbow after avoiding a Hanson moonsault.

The commentary teams discussion of Elgin's desire to have a long title reign and make the most defences in the title's history was interrupted by Tommaso Ciampa. His desperate, unhinged gimmick is not terribly convincing. It could improve over time, but right now I'm sticking with my original belief that Ciampa is not a guy built for this sort of presentation or character. And depression, which we are told Ciampa is suffering from, is not a subject I feel is well suited to what is meant to be an escapist art form.

Match two was a four-way tag bout: Ethan Gabriel Owens and Josh Alexander v BJ Whitmer and Adam page (of The Decade) v Caprice Coleman and 'I've Misplaced My First Name' Watanabe v Moose and RD Evans. It felt a little random but there was a lot to like. Coleman and Watanabe, with similar heights and builds and wearing not entirely dissimilar entrance gear, looked good together, and they're making the effort to act like a unit. Alexander and Owens are a team I'd seen on an EVOLVE show and thought deserved a crack in the larger ROH environment, so it was nice to see them get it. Evans, Moose and their entourage were very over and Moose was (gasp!) showing a bit of personality. And The Decade pairing were there to further the overall gimmick of the group (respect them because they've been around for a while, yeah?) and a story about Page being Whitmer's handpicked young boy.

This was another good match well received by the audience. The large number of guys involved ensured a quick pace, with lots of high spots and pin breakups thrown in to keep us on our toes. Naturally The New Streak continued, Evans stealing the pin off a burning hammer into a power bomb combo manoeuvre by Owens and Alexander on Page. Everyone else stood around looking miffed as RD did his OTT celebration. It was enjoyable. I'm a big fan of RD Evans' shtick in the usually serious ROH.

After Bad Influence, now The Addiction, recapped their issues with The Decade (the heels interfered in a tag title match Daniels and Kazarian had at Field of Honor) the two teams faced off. The former TNA world tag team champions of the world won a slick but perhaps slightly too long match with total elimination and an assisted gut buster on Roddy Strong. The Addiction shook hands with Strong after the match, which led to Page shoving Strong and Whitmer interjecting on his boy's behalf. Whitmer and Strong had words before Jacobs talked them both around. A split is clearly on the way for The Decade. I think there are still things they could do together bit maybe the plan was only for them to remain affiliated for long enough to make a split and rivalry mean something.

A really good Adam Cole video preceded his match with AJ Styles. They started things slow and gradually upped the speed, setting up and attempting to lock in their Calf Killer and figure four leg submission holds. Cole, as the heel, would be the first man to get the advantage for an extended period, super kicking Styles' knee as he attempted a springboard and then applying the ring post figure four. In the ring Styles attempted to flip into a hurricanrana but instead found himself placed in a traditional figure four. There was a story going on: Cole was targeting his foe’s knee.

Styles dropped Cole with what Kevin Kelly described as a suplex (it was more of a brainbuster) on the ring apron, following up with a marvellous 450 splash back into the ring. The pair exchanged punches in the corners before Styles was dropped head first onto Cole's knee for two. Moments later Cole was floored with a Styles Clash. He didn't kick out but he did sling a foot onto the bottom rope to stop the count.

Top rope antics followed, Cole halting an AJ attempt at something or other and German suplexing him down into the ring. An immediate Florida Key earned him a two count. By this point AJ was selling some serious fatigue and Cole was the ruthless aggressor desperate for the kill. A right hand sent AJ down to his knees. So did a second, a third, and a fourth. 'The Phenomenal One' got an adrenalin burst for long enough to enter a spirited punch exchange which escalated to include super and Pele kicks and which, as the face, Styles naturally got the better of.

Once recovered Cole headed to the top rope and got waffled with a second Pele kick. Styles then hauled Cole off the top with a Bloody Sunday (which he’s adopted from former Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt in one of those lovely little touches you don’t get often enough in wrestling outside of Japan), a brutal and believable finishing move. It was a very good match. Cole was protected in defeat by having AJ really have to work to put him down. They avoided going overboard on false endings and finishing moves and had a decidedly old school match that built logically and saw both men show game plans. It could very well have been Cole's best ROH match.

After the match Styles helped Cole to his feet and proffered his hand for the Code of Honor. Cole spat on it and walked backstage. Lucky AJ wears gloves, eh?

After a short intermission during which viewers at home were "treated" to clips from previous Bucks v reDRagon encounters (I've always felt promos and ads for upcoming events are a better use of the time) Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis headed to the ring to fulfil their promise that they'd reveal what was underneath Maria's red trench coat. Both Steve Corino and Nigel McGuinness (who'd joined commentary for his now traditional second half stint) both put over Maria's looks. As the play-by-play man Kevin Kelly is not permitted to comment on things like this.

Maria announced that Matt Hardy would be returning to Ring of Honor. Then Michael Bennett peeled off Maria's coat to reveal the Iconic championship, originally Jay Briscoe's "real" world title, repurposed to become the Title of Love. It now has pink fur and a picture of Mike and Maria kissing on it. Bennett then suggested the pair "consummate" their marriage early on the title belt. Mark Briscoe, wearing a natty little do-rag around his head, ran out and chased the heels off, telling Bennett that when his brother found out about the disrespectful antics it would "be [his] ass."

The entire thing had a very Attitude Era vibe thanks to the sexual connotations, Bennett's love of cheap heat, and Mark Briscoe's do-rag. The marriage consummating that didn't happen had a tinge of Edge and Lita's 2006 sex celebration too.

Match five saw Jay Lethal defeat Cedric Alexander with his own Lethal Injection and Matt Taven's Climax. Because good lord it's not as though the Lethal versus Taven feud is utterly played out. It was a really good match, although the return Selezia made to get destroyed by more accidental Lethal offence wasn't entirely necessary. Hopefully they're going somewhere good with that and it wasn't just thrown in for the sake of things. If it's a bigger role for Selezia I'm all for it. She's great.

The ROH world championship match was prefaced by an excellent hype video. Both men made it clear they weren't intimidated by their opponent. They also talked about what their foe's claimed strengths. For Briscoe that was two years without a pinfall loss. Elgin said that was because Briscoe hadn't faced him in those two years. For Elgin it was his ascent to the top and a literal interpretation of his 'Unbreakable' moniker. There was also some nice stuff with Briscoe channeling Ric Flair, telling Elgin "to be the man, you've gotta the man." There are few wrestlers more unlike 1980s prime Flair than Jay Briscoe, which I think adds to the appeal of Jay becoming a modern day version of that character. I'd definitely be interested in Jay Briscoe's already lengthy winning streak continuing.

The match was a corker. It was filled, as most featured Elgin bouts are, with stiff offense, a bunch of lariats and some intense ringside brawling. These are, of course, thigns that Jay Briscoe is pretty familiar with too, so it felt like the natural direction for the pair to take the match in. It was great, everything we could have wanted. But the closing were… well, something of a surprise, to say the least.

The sequence began with Elgin being put through a table with a Jay Driller from the apron, raising his shoulder at the last moment to stay in the fight. Exhibiting disbelief Jay clambered back to his feet and belted Elgin with some fists. The champ fired himself up and blasted Briscoe with a spinning back fist as he attempted a clothesline, following up with a buckle bomb. He went for his follow-up of an Elgin bomb after that, only for Briscoe to slip out and spike him with a second Jay Driller for the victory and the championship.


ROH world champion Jay Briscoe there, looking a tiny bit awkward.

The title change was a massive shock. The build-up to the match, focusing on Jay’s two year winning streak, felt like it was intended to emphasise how significant an Elgin win would be. Plus Elgin’s a Canadian, and it seemed safe to assume ROH would want to have him win his first defence in his home country to build him up into a sort of “national treasure” role they could rely on in the future. More than that, ROH had been holding off on putting their world belt onto Elgin for an age (they waited too long in my opinion) and so it was a shock to see him lose the title after less than three months.

It felt like Elgin’s reign was cut short. In the last few days it’s not been hard to see a variety of reasons cited as to why he lost the championship, ranging from visa problems to off remarks he’d made in interviews. It’s a shame he lost the championship so quickly after having to wait so long, but on the plus side it got people talking about Ring of Honor and it could be the beginning of a far ranging storyline (although it probably isn’t). It also made me realise how my attitude towards Jay Briscoe has changed. I’m interested in him as a two time champion now, while last year I hated the idea of him as champion.

The main event as the two-out-of-three falls match for the ROH world tag team championships. reDRagon were defending against The Young Bucks. The two teams have faced off a few times now and the results have never been anything less than sensational. The most notable encounter was their show-stealing performance at the ROH and New Japan War of the Worlds crossover, which is a current frontrunner for match of the year. I mention this to illustrate the sort of level the units had been operating on and the expectations of fans for this match.

It was a great match (with the standard caveat that you have to overlook the lax attitude to selling from the Bucks), edging out Cole versus Styles and the world championship match for best of the night honours. Personally I feel it was slightly less good than their WOTW encounter, but I could fully understand people feeling the opposite. I could wake up tomorrow and feel the opposite myself, the quality of the bouts is that close. It was a fitting end to the evening and yet more proof that these two teams, particularly when working together, are both something special.

Fish and O’Reilly took the first fall with Chasing the Dragon, putting them in the advantageous position traditionally occupied by heels. The Bucks evened things up with a package piledriver-super kick combo before losing the third and deciding fall when Matt tapped out to the Fujiwara arm bar that O’Reilly applied as a counter to More Bang for Your Buck.

A standing ovation for the valiant losers was interrupted by a returning Tommaso Ciampa. He dropped Nick with a German suplex and Matt with a Project Ciampa. The final shot of the broadcast was Nick Jackson taking a neck breaker onto the exposed boards of the ring. I stand by what I said earlier: Ciampa is not a performer particularly well suited to this and the topic of depression (which Corino stated very clearly he was suffering from) is not something that wrestling should be tackling. At least not in this manner.

Even with the mood-killing closing angle I thought All Star Extravaganza VI was a very good show. It was obviously be most remembered as the show on which Michael Elgin lost the ROH championship but there was a lot more going on (and perhaps as a trivia note should it prove to be ACH's last official booking). Every match was watchable and enjoyable, with Cole v Styles and the top two title matches standing out as particularly impressive. That title change will always make this a curiosity but it’s a very watchable show in and of itself. The ROH crew turned out another good effort.