Yep, we’re here tonight for a look at the Ring of Honor/New Japan supercard set to take place tonight. No New Japan vs. ROH matches tonight, but both are represented on tonights shows with next week seeing some big matches including AJ Styles vs. Micheal Elgin for the IWGP championship. However, tonight’s big bout is for the ROH title when Kevin Steen takes on champion Adam Cole in the main event. Will Steen regain the title? Only way to find out is to check below! In fact, that’s what the show opens with- highlights for tonight’s main event, Kevin Steen vs. Adam Cole.
Michael Bennett vs. ACH
Nice little back and forth to start. Bennett bails to the outside and ACH tries to go for something but Maria is in the way. Bennett takes him and gives him a spinebuster. A lot of the focus seems to be on Bennett’s knee. ACH works on it throughout. ACH gets distracted by Maria but Bennett charges, only to get slapped. Bennett retaliates with superkick and tries to follow with a spear but gets MAria instead. Oops! Big dive to the outside by ACH. Goes for a 450 but Bennett dodges hits a spear for a nearfall. ACH gets caught in a tree of woe position and Bennett follows with a dominator for the pinfall. Perfectly fine. ***
Takakai Watanabe vs. Michael Elgin
Well, Watanabe looks different from the last time I saw him so looks like things are going well on his excursion. Loooong vertical suplex by Elgin on Watanabe. WAtanabe mounts a comeback but it doesn’t last long as Elgin lifts him up with a german and executes it. Buckle bomb followed by a sitout powerbomb and that’s it. Entirely designed to put over Elgin and it worked. **3/4
The Decade vs. The Briscoe Brothers vs. reDRagon
I think that’s how the last team’s name is spelled, anyway. The Briscoes and reDRagon start things off with the Briscoes getting the better of it. Jay finally tags in Mark and he runs wild on both teams. Turns into a big melee. Whitmer and Jacobs hit their finish but Mark breaks it up. Mark goes to hit a big dive on the outside but the camera completely misses it. Um? Doomsday device from the Briscoes and that’s it. Pretty fun tag team match, the Briscoes stood out here. ***1/2
Cedric Alexander/Roderick Strong video package. The Decade has been a thorn on this side for a while now, with Roderick Strong being his prime focus for tonight. This is a personal feud, it seems.
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
Strong is already in the ring and calls out Cedric. He sprints down to the ring and the match begins immediately. Cedric hits a big dive to the outside. Strong uses the referee to gain advantage and take out Cedrick, putting him in a tree of woe position and kicking him in the face. Roderick is in control for a good while, but Cedric cuts him off with a 540 and starts pummeling him with headbutts. Strong cuts him off with another backbreaker and hits a superplex for a nearfall. Boston crab locked in. Roderick slaps Cedric and responds by spitting at him. Good back and forth from here Cedric hitting a kick to the back of the head from the middle rope for a nearfall. Roderick catches him and hits a backbreaker but Cedric counters and hits his finish for a nearfall, as Roderick has his foot on the ropes. Roderick goes for a suplex but Cedric small packages him and gets the pinfall. This was a great match both from a storyline sense and overall work. Crowd seemed kind of not into it until the end, though. ***3/4
The Decade run in after the match and Cedric gets laid out again. They set up a row of table and slam him through them.
Forever Hooligans vs. Young Bucks vs. Timesplitters for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
“Welcome back” chants for Shelley as he and Matt start things off. Some good action throughout. KUSHIDA is tagged in and is totally over, looking good throughout. Kozlov gets the hat on and starts doing kicks and the footstomp for the nearfall. Bucks tag themselve sin and start running wild on both teams. KUSHIDA is tagged in again and knocks off the Hooligans including a huge dive to the outside. KUSHIDA gets a nearfall after a moonsault and a senton by Shelley. Battering ram by the Hooligans. Quebara to the outside by one of the Young Bucks onto the TimeSplitters. Kozlov follows with another dive. Moves a plenty here. Bucks and Hooligans exchange punches, but eventually they eat superkicks by the Young Bucks. They hit the More Bang For Your Buck on Kozlov for the nearfall. Great match that finally woke this crowd up. ****
Back from intermission, RD Evans arrives. He’s 104-0. He hands the announcer an envelope and to read it. He opens the envelope and it’s none other than Bobby Cruise, the announcer. He gets rolled up and now it’s 105-0. The streak continues.
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Jado and Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura and Tanahashi starts things off. Kelly tries to compare Tanahashi to John Cena. Maybe that they’re the most popular guy on the roster, I guess. Liger is the most over guy in this match. Pretty basic match. Nakamura goes for the boma ye but Tanahashi dodges it. Nakamura tags in Jado and Tanahashi gets locked into the crossface for a bit. He manages to get out as Liger hits a crossbody off the apron to the floor. Tanahashi hits the high fly flow and that’s it. Extremely basic, but still a fun, heated match. ***
Silas Young vs. Tomasso Chiampa vs. Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven for the ROH Television championship
Taven and Chiama jump Lethal at the bell. Story is that Lethal sold out to Truth Martini to win the TV championship, and since they’re both former champions they want their belt back. Chiampa with a running knee to the barricade but Young counters by superplexing him off the apron to the floor. Lots and lots of action throughout. Martini runs in and to interfere, but Taven has his hands on him…only for Lethal to follow with the Lethal Injection on Taven to score the pinfall. Pretty hot match with some cool stuff. ***1/4
Kazuchika Okada and Gedo vs. Karl Anderson and AJ Styles
AJ and Okada start things off and they have a great exchange. This feels miles better than their match a few weeks ago for the IWGP championship. Probably because it’s way more heated. Elgin is on commentary since next week he’ll be facing AJ Styles for the IWGP championship. He really didn’t have much to say. Anderson gets heat on Gedo forever until he finally makes the hot to tag to Okada who runs wild. He and Gedo work over AJ but Anderson keeps Okada on the outside where AJ hits the brainbuster and styles clash for the victory. Really good when AJ and Okada were in there, fine when other people were win. ***1/4
Kevin Steen vs. Adam Cole for the ROH Championship
They shake hands per the code of honor, but Steen kisses his hand to taunt him. They brawl outside the ring early. Steen crotches Cole into the ring posts multiple times. Punches to the corner but Cole escapes and superkicks Steen’s knee sending him crashing to the floor. Cole wraps Steen’s knee to the apron and locks in a figure four leglock. Steens not out, however, and comes back after Cole poses in the ring. Two powerbombs to the apron by Steen. Make it three. Four. Senton off the top by Steen for a nearfall. Steen hits a brainbuster off the top rope for another nearfall. Steen goes for the package piledriver but the knee’s bothering him. Figure four by Cole. Cole keeps working on the knee but Steen gets in a sharpshooter…only to let go because of the knee pain. Sleeper suplex but still only two. Bennett runs in but gets a package piledriver for his troubles. Cole hits a german and then the Florida key but only two. Steen locks in the sharpshooter again but Cole grabs the ropes. Brainbuster off the top rope, nope. Steen goes for a package piledriver again, but Cole rolls through and hits a superkick to end the match. That finish felt extremely flat, but this was a good bout regardless. ***3/4
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a good iPPV event. Nothing out of this world, but a lot of good stuff that warranted at $15 purchase. Seeing the New Japan guys there was cool and it was nice to see some of the ROH stuff as well since I don’t normally tune into their programing. A lot of the focus was on next week’s show, and they built up to that as best as they could. Pretty good show.
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