THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS & DONOVAN DIJAK vs. THE REBELLION (12:22): This is, apparently, Ring of Honor's biggest show of the year. It was a good one, thanks mostly to their pact with New Japan (The Young Bucks, Liger, Kushida, and Ospreay also wrestle over there). This opener was one of the night's best. I haven't seen the MCMG's in a long time. They were in TNA for awhile and popped up in NJPW a few times since then. I guess they're back for good? Thank God. They're one of the most exciting tag teams out there. The Rebellion has Kenny King, who did some cool high-flying leaps and dives. It was just a fun, fast opener that the crowd (at the awesome Hammerstein Ballroom) ate up. *** (out of ****)
SILAS YOUNG vs. JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER (11:04): Liger is fun but too old to still be doing this, as sad as that is to admit. Silas Young is a brute bore. This was fairly forgettable. *
DALTON CASTLE vs. COLT CABANA (10:22): Castle has two King Kong-esque native boys that accompany him to the ring and jump around at ringside during the match. They're the highlight. This was average stuff. *1/2
CODY vs. JAY LETHAL (13:15): Cody Rhodes turned heel and kicked Lethal in the balls when the ref wasn't looking then scored the pin. He then flipped off Lethal, threw a drink at the ref, turned over the ring bell table, and smiled at the crowd. That stuff was cool. This match was pretty pedestrian, though. **
THE KINGDOM vs. KUSHIDA, JAY WHITE & LIO RUSH (15:25): The Kingdom won the new 6-man tag titles. NJPW did have a 6-man tag title awhile back but kind of forgot about it. Kushida was awesome as always here. There was some cool dives and flips from the ring to the floor. It heated up at the end but early going it was average stuff. **1/2
MARTY SCURLL vs. DRAGON LEE vs. WILL OSPREAY (10:46): Excellent match. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi had such brutal, ridiculously insane matches in CMLL in 2015 and early this year that both guys got picked up by other companies. Kamaitachi is wrestling Kushida at NJPW's big Dome show on Jan. 4th and Dragon Lee is now in ROH. This match, for the TV title, originally had Bobby Fish as the 4th competitor. He had to go home for his mom's funeral. Ospreay ended up being the star of the match and the entire show. He's the top high-flyer in the world at the moment, and tonight he was on top of his game. This was fast-paced and crazy and a lot of fun. ***1/2
THE BRISCOE'S vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (15:37): These two teams wrestled each other a few month's ago in NJPW and it wasn't that good. The Bucks usually work better in a comedy type of match whereas The Briscoe's are more hard-hitting and brutal. But this match, for the tag titles, was great. It didn't have the funny, typical Bucks component, but it was entertaining and wild and there were a ton of near falls until the Super Kick extravaganza at the end that culminated in The Bucks winning. After the match, "Broken" Matt Hardy came on the entrance screen to challenge both teams to a match. The crowd went ape shit when they saw Hardy. ***
KYLE O'REILLY vs. ADAM COLE "NO DQ MATCH" (18:48): Good main event, thanks mostly to the blood, the tables, the thumbtacks, and the trash cans (the chain came in the ring but wasn't used). O'Reilly is really good at just wrestling so it was kind of a surprise that they went the hardcore rout. Cole belongs in the WWE. He just has that cocky, heel feel that would work well there. O'Reilly cinched on his submission hold on Cole on top of the tacks (he wanted the win that bad that he didn't care about the pain!) and won the title. ***
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