May 11th, 2018
Opening Match: IWGP United States Title: Jay White © vs. Punishment Martinez
White connects with a series of chops and clotheslines Martinez to the floor. He comes off the apron with a forearm smash. Martinez hurls him into the guardrail and then connects with a flying spin kick back in the ring. Martinez takes control as Adam Page joins commentary to discuss his recent issues with him. White comes back with a dropkick and hits a saito suplex. He follows by suplexing Martinez into the turnbuckles. Martinez comes off the middle rope with a spear and lands his step-up dive to the floor. In the ring, Martinez hits a psycho driver for a nearfall. White fires back with a flatliner and a dead-lift german suplex. Martinez connects with a nice curb stomp for a two count. He goes to the floor and grabs a chair. Page runs down to ringside to take the chair away. White hits Blade Runner to retain his title at 10:55. These two have shown that they have solid chemistry together, making this the right choice for the opener. Their exchanges got the crowd excited and although Page’s interference put a damper on the proceedings, they delivered an energetic opener. ***
Match #2: Bully Ray vs. Cheeseburger
I assume this match will be happening on every ROH undercard moving forward. Ray hits a wheelbarrow german suplex. Cheeseburger finds life with a low blow but falls victim to a powerbomb. Ray hits Cheeseburger with his chain, drawing a disqualification at 3:15. After Lowell, I have no idea why we needed to run this back again. I’m genuinely curious as to what is going to spark inside Cheeseburger to suddenly make him competitive against Ray.
Match #3: Tetsuya Naito vs. Beer City Bruiser
Naito must be curious as to why he’s even here. Naito frustrates Bruiser early on with antics. Bruiser pulls him to the floor and sends him into the guardrail. He takes control back in the ring until Naito fights back with a hurricanrana. Naito follows with a slingshot dropkick and lays in repeated stomps. They battle on the apron and Bruiser hits a death valley driver. He keeps up the offense with a cannonball and side slam. Naito counters a powerbomb into a tornado DDT. Bruiser connects with a lariat but misses a frog splash. Naito hits two Destinos for the victory at 12:16. This showcase actually ended up being worse than I expected. I thought they might structure this as a small coming-out party for Bruiser. However, Bruiser being on offense for most of the match did him no favors and there weren’t enough back and forth exchanges to even attempt to make them seem like equals. The crowd loved Naito. **
Match #4: The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Super Smash Brothers (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson)
These two teams have quite the history together. Uno goes after Matt’s nose to begin. Matt snaps off a headscissors and connects with a dropkick. Nick runs up the ropes and snaps off an armdrag on Grayson. The Young Bucks take control and bring back some old school offense. Uno back suplexes Matt onto the apron and SSB isolate him. He hits a spear on Grayson and finally makes the tag. Nick cleans house with strikes and hits a bulldog-clothesline combination on SSB. He springboard dropkicks Uno off the apron and takes him out with a moonsault. Nick lands a flying crossbody onto Grayson. The Young Bucks apply stereo sharpshooters. Uno hits a neckbreaker on Nick and biels Grayson to the floor onto the Young Bucks. Back in, SSB hit an enzuigiri-brainbuster combination on Matt for a nearfall. Grayson connects with a nice pele kick on Nick. SSB follow with Fatality! on Nick for a close two count. Grayson walks across Nick and Uno’s shoulders to hurricanrana Matt. SSB hit Get Over Here! on the Young Bucks. Grayson lands a 450 splash onto Nick for a nearfall. The Young Bucks find life with superkicks. The Bucks follow with the Meltzer Driver on Grayson for the win at 17:40. The Briscoes attack both teams after the match. It’s no surprise that SSB made a fantastic impression in their return to the promotion and the Young Bucks are the clear MVPs of this tour so far. The Bucks bringing back some old offense we haven’t seen in some time was a nice homage to their history with SSB. If you watched any PWG around the time when SSB were there, you’ll want to check out this match. ***¾
Match #5: Tenille Dashwood and Jenny Rose vs. Alexia Nicole and Xandra Bale
Rose snaps off a few armdrags on Nicole and hits a side slam. Bale snaps Rose’s neck across the top rope and Nicole adds a knockout kick. They isolate Rose until she takes advantage of some miscommunication and makes the tag. Dashwood connects with a series of clotheslines. She applies a tarantula on Nicole in the ropes. Rose hits a uranagi on Bale for the victory at 6:35. Yeah, I don’t know, this was not good. Nicole and Bale seemed confused most of the time. For some reason, they thought having Sumie Sakai on commentary was a productive idea. ½*
Match #6: SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) vs. Roppongi 3k (Rocky Romero, Sho, and Yoh)
Before the match, they show Daniels arguing with a fan at ringside. Daniels actually says “I’ll f**k your wife on your dead body” to the fan, which seems a bit much. Romero and Kazarian wrestle to a stalemate. Romero snaps off a hurricanrana on Sky. Yoh takes over Daniels with a satellite headscissors and Sho adds a flash kick. SoCal Uncensored find an opening to isolate Sho. He fights off Daniels and Kazarian with lungblowers and makes the tag. Yoh cleans house with dragon screw leg whips of all things. Romero comes off the top rope with a hurricanrana on Kazarian. He follows with his forever clotheslines. Roppongi 3k land stereo dives to the floor. Back in, Kazarian hits an assisted DDT on Romero. Roppongi 3k triple team Kazarian. Sky interrupts with a dive onto Sho and Yoh. Daniels and Kazarian hit Celebrity Rehab on Romero for the win at 12:35. The action alternated between being fun and dragging. SoCal Uncensored are much better as faces in my opinion and the finish felt deflating. I think the crowd just wants to see Roppongi 3k win at some point on this tour. I wouldn’t be surprised if most enjoyed this one more than me. **¾
Match #7: ROH World Television Title: Silas Young © vs. Adam Page
Punishment Martinez attacks Page before the match and curb stomps him into a chair. Young demands the referee start the match. Young hits a back suplex and DDTs Page onto the apron. He follows with a slingshot double stomp. Page fires back with a desperation lariat. Young slows him down with a rope-assisted neckbreaker. Commentary freaks out as though that was a nearfall but the crowd doesn’t care. Page sends Young to the floor and follows out with a moonsault. In the ring, Page connects with his buckshot lariat but gets caught by a knee strike. Young hits Misery to retain his title at 7:10. This match was reasonable evidence that Page could be an effective babyface. The pre-match stuff with Martinez was fine and I think it helped the crowd get to the point where they actively wanted to see Page dethrone Young. They very likely have a better rematch in them. **½
Match #8: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cody
A quick surfboard sends Cody to regroup at ringside. They engage in a pushup battle. Bernard the Business Bear claps for Liger and Cody scolds him. Cody connects with a cheap shot but Liger gets him in another surfboard. Cody has to go to the eyes to break the hold. A distraction by Bernard allows Cody to take control. Liger comes back with a superplex and both men are down. Liger snaps off a hurricanrana from the middle rope. He baseball slides Bernard, which enrages Cody. Cody lands a dive to the floor but misses a Disaster Kick. Liger hits a basement powerbomb for a nearfall. Cody shoves Liger into Todd Sinclair and introduces chairs into the match. Liger lands a chair shot and tries a quick small package for a nearfall. Cody hits Cross Rhodes for the victory at 12:12. They were having a charming match until the referee bump, which seemingly took the wind out of everyone’s sails. Some amount of shenanigans in Cody’s matches is tolerable (Bear antics), but he usually goes too far. Much like Naito’s outing on this show, the crowd was just happy to see Liger. **½
Match #9: EVIL, SANADA, and Hiromu Takahashi (w/ BUSHI) vs. Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Colt Cabana
SANADA and Lethal have a nice exchange to begin. He ties up Lethal but Cabana saves his partner from more punishment. EVIL and King have a shoulder block battle. Cabana takes down EVIL with a satellite headscissors. Takahashi and Cabana have fun with Daryl Jr., Takahashi’s stuffed animal. Team ROH keep Takahashi in a delayed vertical suplex, tagging in and out. BUSHI attacks Lethal at ringside and he’s isolated. Lethal catches EVIL with the Lethal Combination and makes the tag. King connects with a spin kick on SANADA and a spinning gamengiri on Takahashi. He hits a spinebuster on SANADA, who responds with a hurricanrana. Cabana lands a springboard moonsault onto Takahashi and SANADA and connects with bionic elbows. Takahashi slows down Cabana with a superkick. EVIL and SANADA hit the Manic Killer on Cabana for a nearfall. King catches EVIL with an exploder but runs into a TKO from SANADA. Lethal springboard dropkicks Takahashi off the apron and follows out with consecutive dives. Takahashi sunset bombs Lethal to the floor. BUSHI sprays mist into Cabana’s eyes and EVIL hits Everything is Evil for the win at 22:15. They delivered an entertaining six-man tag which featured unique interactions that we may never see again such as Cabana and Takahashi playing with Daryl Jr. This was the right mix of ROH and New Japan, as opposed to something like Naito vs. Bruiser. They didn’t steal the show or anything, but this was a crowd-pleasing main event. ***
-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Bucks/SSB, main event, White/Martinez
–You Should Avoid: