Considering the line up on this show, I made sure to go out of my way to catch the first airing available of it and right off the bat I'll say that I'm certainly glad I did. The Wrestler of the Year thus far, Roderick Strong battles Shinsuke Nakamura while The Young Bucks & AJ Styles face off in trios action with RPG Vice & Okada. Everything on this show was filmed on Night Two of the Global Wars event in Toronto.
1) Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
What a way to start the show! This was pretty much everything you'd expect it to be. They start off slow with some mat work and such, but once the strikes start flying, MAN! The King of Strong Style took it to the Elite Athlete and Roddy proved he could more than hang with the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion. This bout reminded me alot of the infamous Steen/Nakamura match from last year's ROH/NJPW shows and for me personally, this match is right up there with it in terms of quality. The closing sequence was where things really turned epic as they had some awesome counter exchanges for their respective finishers that are both based around kicks as Nakamura has the Boma Knee and Roddy has the sick kick. The finish was perfect with Roddy kicking out of the knee at one, only for Nakamura to pounce back up and nail him with two more for the win. This is definitely worth seeing. It's not a MOTY candidate although it will honestly be remembered as one of my personal favorites from these set of shows.
Match rating - ****
2) Michael Elgin vs. Gedo
Well, friends, this was what it was. Elgin got a semi-decent reaction for the first time in awhile which was nice to see since I didn't join the bandwagon in hating on him in the past year. Other than that, there's not really much to talk about here. Elgin's signature finishing combination with the sit out powerbomb gets him the victory in pretty quick fashion.
Match rating - **1/4
3) The Young Bucks & AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada & RPG Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta)
I..I..I honestly don't know where to start. This Bucks/Styles trio is going to be the death of me because they put on so many amazing matches. I haven't been able to get enough of the Young Bucks in the past two years and adding AJ to the mix just made it even better. Alot of people say these six man tags are the same, but I highly disagree. Yeah, they're spotfests. However, they aren't the same spots over and over in the same order, etc. They always switch things up and often do call backs to previous matches. I've said it before and I feel the need to say it again in defense of this style of tag team wrestling, The Young Bucks do it better than anyone else. It's crisp, it's fun to watch, and it's what gotten them as popular as they are (more popular than they've ever been). It's what they do best, along with their gimmick, and everyone loves it, including myself. So, why should they "stop and learn how to work"? I'm getting onto a whole nother argument so I'm gonna go ahead and slide back on track. This ruled as you could have probably guessed. As said before, they always do things to keep these matches fresh and one moment that signifies this was when I was in the midst of marking out for Beretta's stalling moonsault when out of nowhere he gets superkicked off the ring apron. I didn't see it coming whatsoever and I flipped my shit. That was just one notable mark out moment in this match. In fact, there were so many others that I can't even begin to name them. Awesome match that makes this episode of ROH TV a must see. This was every bit as good as the much talked about January six man where The Bucks & AJ teamed up for the first time.
Match rating - ****1/4
Overall thoughts: Simply put, this was the best show since ROH got the Destination America deal. It didn't have much talk regarding storylines, but that's not what ROH is known for. They're known for shows like this. Pure, awesome wrestling from start to finish like no one else. Don't get me wrong, I love the storyline stuff they've been running. I just feel like the generic outweighed the awesome in the most recent episodes. If they mix a show like this with the past few week's shows, I think they'll have an all around perfect wrestling show that appeals to all fanbases. So, if you tune in solely for action and great wrestling, this is a must see. And even if you prefer storylines and such, I think if you give this a watch, you'll really enjoy yourself.
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