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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 26, 2017 5:53:58 GMT -5
Decent tag match. I really wish that New Japan would just unify the junior and Heavyweight tag titles and just have the division openweight. It would give them so many more options.
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魔界5号
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Post by 魔界5号 on Feb 26, 2017 6:06:45 GMT -5
Me irl
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metylerca
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Post by metylerca on Feb 26, 2017 6:14:12 GMT -5
Popping in to express my love for Tana and Taguchi as Dalton's Boys
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Post by Emmet Russell on Feb 26, 2017 6:18:16 GMT -5
Taguchi using his tongue to freak people out is something we can all relate to.
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Post by 魔界5号 on Feb 26, 2017 6:28:09 GMT -5
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 26, 2017 9:10:16 GMT -5
I'm finishing up Evolve 79 right now, but once that's done, I'll check out Honor Rising and have a review up.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 26, 2017 13:34:03 GMT -5
ROH/NJPW Honor Rising Night One February 26th, 2017 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,636
Last year, the two Honor Rising events were solid but didn’t blow me away. Only one match from those shows (Ishii/Strong) made my year-end list. I don’t expect better this time around. ROH is in shambles, losing star after star on a consistent basis. It’s honestly in the worst shape I’ve seen it in. Still, I’m an “expect the worst, but hope for the best” kind of guy and would love to see this shows deliver despite their cards. The shows mark the return of Kenny Omega after missing every show since New Year Dash.
To gain a better understanding of the state of ROH, Silas Young was the fourth highest billed ROH guy in the show’s intro. Side note, I watched this show with the English commentary team of Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero.
David Finlay, Juice Robinson and KUSHIDA def. Gedo, Jado and Silas Young in 9:59 Silas Young’s team came out with shirts that said “REAL MAN” on them. Silas cut a promo before the bell saying the real men like his team have been disrespected. They jumped the faces but ended up taking a powder. Finlay got in trouble, taking the heat. They did a lot of standard heel work on Finlay. KUSHIDA came in hot and did his thing for a bit. Young tried his signature moonsault spot but he didn’t seem to account for the different turnbuckles in Japan and messed it up, falling badly. Juice came in next and got most of the final run. He might’ve broken his nose at one point but still put away Gedo with Pulp Friction. Fine opener. I wish KUSHIDA got to do more but Juice again impressed. He’s been strong in 2017 so far. **½
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Los Ingobernables de Japon (c) (BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA) def. Delirious, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV in 10:34 I appreciate a random NEVER Six Man Tag Title match to spice up an undercard. If only they were booked better. EVIL mostly no sold Delirious’ bell ringing antics. He went nuts as usual and tagged Liger before tagging back in, which got a chuckle from the crowd. LIDJ slowed things down and beat up the challengers in and around the ring. They continued to get heat by going after the masks. Liger took the heat which was kind of a double edged sword. On one hand, he’s the best guy to get sympathy but he’s also the best guy period on his team. The very mild tag went to Tiger Mask before Delirious got a slightly warmer one. He escaped Skull End and got several flash pins for near falls. Delirious took a chair shot behind the referee’s back and Skull End made him tap. Horrible finish. Why protect Delirious? He barely wrestles anymore and LIDJ should’ve ran through these fools (not counting Liger, who rules). **¼
CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay and YOSHI-HASHI) def. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, The Guerillas of Destiny and Yujiro Takahashi) in 11:05 I didn’t miss the Bullet Club (except Omega) at all. I definitely didn’t miss the never ending CHAOS/Bullet Club matches. It’s the Bullet Club B-Team. Commentary discussed Okada’s bruised leg after the Suzuki match, which only served to remind me of that debacle. Bullet Club jumped them before the bell and the teams brawled around the ring for a while. Inside, Ospreay took the heat, being the smallest guy on his team. Tanga Loa didn’t curse enough in this match to be entertaining. It was a good idea to let YOSHI-HAHSI be the guy who did his thing down the stretch considering his title match tomorrow. There was a cool spot where Okada launched Ospreay over and out onto Fale. YOSHI pinned Yujiro with Karma. Another fine match. About what I’ve come to expect from CHAOS/Bullet Club matches. YOSHI looked good though. I’d be totally cool with YOSHI beating Cole tomorrow. **½
War Machine def. The Young Bucks in 12:05 I like one of these tag teams. The other are the Young Bucks. Anyway, they hold the ROH Tag Team Titles. War Machine controlled early by throwing the Bucks around. I like it. After taking a beating for a bit more, the Bucks responded with a flurry of offense. Nick hit a rather impressive springboard rana, followed by more high flying offense. More Bang for Your Buck was cut off and Hanson came in, squashing both Bucks in the corner. The Bucks hit two 450 splashes on Hanson but only got two. The Meltzer Drive was cut off, leading to Hanson telling them to SUCK IT! The Bucks survived a popup powerslam, leading to “this is awesome” chants. Nick got in some kicks but was taken out with a splash and powerbomb. Matt was left alone and fought both guys. He showed fire but ate a knee strike and fallout to take the pin. Best match so far, with the Bucks fitting in War Machine’s type of match well. They were less grating than usual, while War Machine continued to impress in Japan. I think they’re the most valuable thing NJPW could use from ROH, since they’ll bolster the dull tag division. ***¼
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, Punisher Martinez and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito def. Dalton Castle, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi in 11:46 Tanahashi and Taguchi came out dressed as the “boys’, which was damn funny. Naito spit at Rocky Romero on commentary and they nearly fought. Kelly almost made mention of Cody having strong words for Naito in an interview. Also, Kelly kept calling him “Punishment Martinez.” Martinez refused to join the LIDJ fist bump. Martinez looks like a big Uso. He and Castle started off with some uninteresting back and forth. The entertainment picked up when Tanahashi did Castle like mannerisms against Naito. Naito and Takahashi took over, wearing down Tanahashi and refusing to tag Punisher. Taguchi got the tag and came in hot. They previewed the upcoming Hiromu/Taguchi match. Punisher tagged himself in and it came down to he and Castle. Punisher won with a chokeslam. I’d call this my least favorite Naito worked multi-man tag in a long time. He and Takahashi were fine and the faces had fun but Martinez is just so bland. His win was to give intrigue to his match with Goto tomorrow but I’m not feeling it. **¼
Post-match, Naito flipped off Punisher.
RPW British Heavyweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata and Jay Lethal def. Cody and Hangman Page in 14:06 Lethal wanted Cody for what went down at Final Battle but Cody demanded Shibata. Cody hyped up stuff with Shibata but their interactions here fell way flat. Page took over and Cody only wanted Lethal when he was already down. That led to Lethal taking the heat segment. It was a lengthy segment highlighted by Page’s apron shooting star press. Cody and Shibata tagged in at the same time and Cody met him with a dropkick. Shibata sat up like nothing and brushed it off. He spent the next bit kicking Cody’s ass. Cody applied the American Nightmare submission but Shibata obviously didn’t tap. While Cody went at it with Lethal, Shibata came in with a vicious Penalty Kick. Lethal Injection connected on Page to score the pinfall. I believe they wanted to set up Cody/Shibata but their interactions didn’t do much for me. If anything, I’d more interested in Hangman/Shibata. Lethal was kind of just there too. **¾
ROH World Champion Adam Cole and Kenny Omega def. The Briscoes in 22:00 It’s good to see Kenny Omega back. He had a great 2016 and went from a guy I hated watching as a Jr. Heavyweight, to a highlight on a lot of shows. Cole doesn’t impress me much though. Cole and Mark started, doing a lot of nothing. The fans wanted Kenny and got him within the first two minutes. Things progressed into a brawl outside and through the crowd. Omega hit a moonsault off the guardrail, which was cool. Jay got worked over the Bullet Club for a while. Omega cut off the tag, so Jay had to stay in a bit longer. Mark’s hot tag saw him go redneck wild. The teams traded back and forth for the next portion of the match, with Kenny easily getting the best pop. Both teams teased winning until the Doomsday Device got cut off. Jay slipped free of the One Winged Angel but Omega countered the Doomsday Device with a powerslam. V-Trigger and Last Shot kept Mark down for the count. Pretty good main event that went too long. It felt like they were mostly going through the motions. That might be fine for Kenny, who could still be taking it easy before ramping up for the New Japan Cup, but the ROH guys needed to perform big time and they didn’t. There was no drama and it was kind of just there. **¾
After the match, Kenny Omega got on the mic and said 2017 would be his year. Adam Cole cut him off, saying Omega forgot about him and that it’ll be the year of Cole. Omega backed off, leaving him to celebrate. It sets up Cole leaving the Bullet Club later but I pray Gedo doesn’t plan on wasting Omega on a Cole feud.
Overall: 5/10. About what I expected from this show. ROH is in rough shape and that was clear at times here. Parts of the show were fun (Castle’s boys being a highlight), but only one match got three stars. War Machine/Bucks was good tag wrestling but the two main events lacked. They weren’t technically bad but they were missing something to make them stand out. Like a lot of ROH stuff these days, this was a painfully average event.
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Post by Mayonnaise on Feb 26, 2017 14:06:12 GMT -5
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, Punisher Martinez and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito def. Dalton Castle, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi in 11:46 Tanahashi and Taguchi came out dressed as the “boys’, which was damn funny. Naito spit at Rocky Romero on commentary and they nearly fought. Kelly almost made mention of Cody having strong words for Naito in an interview. Also, Kelly kept calling him “Punishment Martinez.” Martinez refused to join the LIDJ fist bump. Martinez looks like a big Uso. He and Castle started off with some uninteresting back and forth. The entertainment picked up when Tanahashi did Castle like mannerisms against Naito. Naito and Takahashi took over, wearing down Tanahashi and refusing to tag Punisher. Taguchi got the tag and came in hot. They previewed the upcoming Hiromu/Taguchi match. Punisher tagged himself in and it came down to he and Castle. Punisher won with a chokeslam. I’d call this my least favorite Naito worked multi-man tag in a long time. He and Takahashi were fine and the faces had fun but Martinez is just so bland. His win was to give intrigue to his match with Goto tomorrow but I’m not feeling it. **¼
Post-match, Naito flipped off Punisher.
In ROH, he is Damien "Punishment" Martinez, thus Kelly's call.
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Post by 魔界5号 on Feb 26, 2017 17:41:03 GMT -5
God, I really do not like Punisher Martinez one bit. He just does nothing for me.
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Post by Emmet Russell on Feb 26, 2017 20:05:03 GMT -5
Well... that was kinda a nothing show, haha.
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Post by 魔界5号 on Feb 27, 2017 6:21:49 GMT -5
I see Adam Cole and his vestigial twin are here to defend the ROH World Championship against YOSHI-HASHI in a 2 on 1 handicap match
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chrom
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Post by chrom on Feb 27, 2017 8:25:01 GMT -5
I'd like War Machine to stay with New Japan and compete for the IWGP Tag Titles, but odds are they're heading for Orlando soon.
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Post by 魔界5号 on Feb 27, 2017 15:28:34 GMT -5
I'd like War Machine to stay with New Japan and compete for the IWGP Tag Titles, but odds are they're heading for Orlando soon. They made the challenge to Yano and Ishii earlier today so they'll probably have a match pretty soon. Maybe on the later 45th Anniversary show.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 27, 2017 16:43:28 GMT -5
ROH/NJPW Honor Rising Night Two February 27th, 2017 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,271
After a mediocre at best night one, the ROH/NJPW joint production is back for night two. Admittedly, this card looks better. It features what should be a wild eight-man tag main event and two title matches. This was not a sellout. Apparently, tickets for this show were as expensive as G1 Climax shows in Korakuen, which is laughable considering ROH’s huge lack of star power.
Jado and Silas Young def. David Finlay and KUSHIDA in 8:16 We got another generic “real man” promo from Young about a lack of respect. They got the early jump on their opponents in typical fashion. Jado is just horrible. I continue to watch him and just never find him even remotely entertaining. KUSHIDA surprisingly took the heat for his guys. I’d expect him to be the hot tag guy, but he did fine in drawing sympathy. KUSHIDA hit a handspring double back elbow on his opponents and got the tag to Finlay. His string of offense was fun and went toe to toe with Silas. Silas’ moonsault worked this time around. Young then planted Finlay with Misery and won. Like a lot of night one, this was fine. Silas looked better here and got a round of applause before leaving. **½
Los Ingobernables de Japon (NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito) def. Dalton Castle, Delirious, Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask IV in 10:32 Some of the Young Lions dressed as the Boys tonight. Taguchi did the Castle entrance, complete with peacock cape. Naito and Rocky got into it before the match again. I’d be all for a Rocky/Naito IC Title match on a smaller “Road to” card or something like that. Delirious ran wild early but tagged to Castle, who was rather over. LIDJ took over with their usual tactics. That included Naito tying Delirious’ mask to a railing and beating him up. Tiger Mask got worked over by the heels for a while. Taguchi got the hot tag and worked Takahashi to build their upcoming title match. We usually can’t understand Delirious but as he picked up EVIL, he clearly said “HE’S HEAVY AS HELL”, which made me laugh. He tried using a chair as revenge for night one but got stopped by the official. He fell to the STO shortly after. Fun match where almost everyone brought something to the table and it built towards Taguchi/Takahashi well. ***
After the match, Taguchi and Takahashi continued to brawl. Tiger Mask has his mask removed and had to be covered up.
War Machine def. The Guerillas of Destiny in 9:21 Tama and Rowe started things out. Tama knocked Hanson off the apron, so Rowe did the same to Tonga. GOD took over and busted out some fast paced tandem offense on Rowe. Hanson came in hot and did a bunch of corner clotheslines. Rocky said he did them wrong because he wasn’t screaming “FOREVER.” War Machine hit their popup powerslam for a close near fall. The fans seemed way into War Machine. GOD cut off Fallout and Tama nailed Veleno. Things broke down into a wild brawl with all four men trading offense. The finish came Rowe blocked Gun Stun and hoisted Tama up for Fallout. Easily my favorite Guerillas match besides the one against Ishii and YOSHI. It was hard hitting, had a hot crowd and was intense. War Machine are great in Japan and I do see improvement from GOD. ***½
War Machine cut a short promo saying they want the IWGP Tag Team Titles, regardless of who the champions are.
The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal and Juice Robinson in 9:10 Fale attacked the ring announcer during his introductions again. After some standard stuff early on, Juice took the beating for his team. Most of it was Fale before he let Page and Yujiro handle it when he got tired. Juice’s tag eventually saw Lethal and Tanahashi do their thing to a healthy pop. An assisted slingblade got two for the babyfaces. With Juice and Tanahashi outside, Page took out Lethal with a big lariat for the win. Considering he’s pinned Jay Briscoe and Lethal in the past six months, ROH should certainly push Page. They could use another star or six. This was as solid as it could be with not much Tanahashi involvement and guys like Yujiro and Fale involved. **
NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) def. Punisher Martinez in 10:49 Punisher did a lot of campy villain stuff early. He laughed and taunted to show he wasn’t intimidated. Goto taunted back, showing he wasn’t intimidated either. His size allowed him to go toe to toe with the hard hitting champion. At one point, they just traded forearm strikes before Martinez wiped him out with a big lariat. Knowing he was in trouble, Goto slid outside to avoid his challenge but Martinez met him with a big diver over the top. It was a way less impressive version of Undertaker’s signature dive. He got two on a super spin kick before trying a chokeslam. Goto countered and they traded more strikes before Goto again countered a chokeslam into GTR. This was better than I expected. I’m not sold on Martinez but he looked better here than in the tag on night one. Good, hard hitting back and forth work from both men. ***
ROH World Championship: Adam Cole (c) def. YOSHI-HASHI in 16:27 YOSHI-HASHI had a great 2016 and continues to impress. Adam Cole is just there. YOSHI earned this shot by pinning Cole in a tag at New Year Dash. The crowd seems to enjoy the “BAY BAY” part of Adam Cole’s taunt. YOSHI got a slight advantage, so Cole took things outside and swung the momentum in his favor. Inside, Cole cut off any YOSHI rally attempts. Even when it looked like YOSHI finally got going, Cole slipped free and hit a shining wizard for two. YOSHI countered the next one into a roll up for two. That got him going, getting another near fall on a powerbomb. Cole brought the smack talk, only to get pulled into a butterfly lock. Cole survived the submission and a swanton bomb. He hit the Destroyer but only two, which angered him. He tried Last Shot but YOSHI turned it into another roll up for two. It two some superkicks, shining wizard, another near fall and finally the Last Shot for Cole to retain. Best match of Cole’s two most recent ROH World Title reigns. He looked good early and YOSHI brought a ton of fire. The near falls down the stretch stopped just shy of overdoing it. ***¼
Bullet Club (Cody, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) def. The Briscoes, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay in 20:16 Omega and Okada went to start but Okada wanted Cody instead. The crowd was pro-Kenny, though that’s not surprising as a lot of Okada opponents are more popular. Omega declined, so Okada tagged out himself. Ospreay got the first real shine, overwhelming the Bucks with his athleticism. He got in trouble though and took offense from all four BC members. They did a funny spot where they kept sending Ospreay into their boots in the corner, but it backfired on them eventually. Ospreay nearly got the hot tag but all his partners were pulled off the apron. They kept finding innovative ways to their signature spots, which I appreciate. Ospreay finally broke free with a stunner and tornado DDT and tagged Okada as Cody got tagged in. They traded stuff, while Okada also took out the Bucks. The Briscoes got the tag and came in on fire. Ospreay hit a great dive outside before Cody tried to superplex Okada onto the pile. Okada isn’t taking that kind of bump on a show like this, so Ospreay intervened and took the move instead. This led to the Okada/Omega battle. Omega still couldn’t hit the One Winged Angel. The Bucks broke up their fight with superkicks and Okada took a triple superkick. Everybody got shine in a crazy fast paced stretch near the end. Jay hit a superplex, Mark hit froggy bow and Okada hit his elbow. The Rainmaker pose was met with boos. Omega countered with a knee but got caught with a Spanish fly by Ospreay. Cody and Will became the legal men and after a fun exchange, Cody caught the Oscutter into the Cross Rhodes for the win. Exactly the wild, chaotic match I was hoping for. Each guy brought something to the table. The result was a match that never stopped, had some fun comedy moments, Ospreay taking the heat in front of a hot crowd, teases of Okada/Omega and more. The best thing on these shows. ****
Kenny Omega cut a short promo about them being the elite and that 2017 would be their year. Adam Cole did not come out to celebrate with them.
Overall: 7/10. A much better outing on night two. The main event is genuinely great and an absolute blast. I say this despite not being a fan of a few guys involved. Goto/Martinez is better than expected and I enjoyed Cole/YOSHI. The undercard is mostly enjoyable and accomplishes the goal of building the matches it should. I also really enjoyed War Machine/GOD and am hoping to see more War Machine in NJPW in 2017. I’m still not going back to watching ROH consistently though.
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Feb 28, 2017 11:50:10 GMT -5
I don't see why so many people think Page is no good. He's no Dean Malenko, certainly, but he's a better hand than some of the guys that ROH has been focusing on lately. And Adam Cole is likely going to have his ceremonial photo with Triple H soon so ROH is going to need to elevate someone to fill the void if they're not going to do that with Silas Young, who may be one of the most underrated guys in wrestling right now.
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Post by corndog on Mar 2, 2017 15:46:56 GMT -5
I finally watched night two, gotta say it was actually pretty good and I had pretty low expectations of this show after night one. Didn't watch the Bullet Club B-team match because I can't stand them, but I was pretty happy with most of the show.
I heard War Machine had an NXT tryout, but I would love to see them stick around in Japan.
Haven't seen much of Punisher Martinez before this, but he seems to have potential. That dive over the turnbuckle was insane and some good hard hitting action with Goto.
YOSHI-HASHI's look honestly bothers me, it's the hair and the pants, but man is he winning me over with his work as of late.
The main event was incredibly entertaining. Interesting to see the crowd turn on Okada and cheering Omega.
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Post by HMARK Center on Mar 2, 2017 23:15:20 GMT -5
I finally watched night two, gotta say it was actually pretty good and I had pretty low expectations of this show after night one. Didn't watch the Bullet Club B-team match because I can't stand them, but I was pretty happy with most of the show. I heard War Machine had an NXT tryout, but I would love to see them stick around in Japan. Haven't seen much of Punisher Martinez before this, but he seems to have potential. That dive over the turnbuckle was insane and some good hard hitting action with Goto. YOSHI-HASHI's look honestly bothers me, it's the hair and the pants, but man is he winning me over with his work as of late. The main event was incredibly entertaining. Interesting to see the crowd turn on Okada and cheering Omega. That's definitely a fun aspect of when NJPW runs shows with other companies; it's clear that the Korakuen crowd for the Honor shows is not exactly the same crowd as the typical NJPW show there, so it was definitely very partisan for Kenny and Bullet Club. Fun to hear a different type of puro audience than usual. Watched the two nights over the past couple of days, and yeah, night one was meh, but night two was legitimately very fun. War Machine/GoD was fun; their match in World Tag League 2016 was the match that made me come around on Guerillas, they really seemed to find their niche there, and this time the two teams had a good match without having to brawl around the arena, so they can clearly mix up the style. Goto/Martinez was good stuff; not sure I took to Martinez that much, but he does seem to have legitimate potential, and I enjoyed his evil laugh early in the match; Goto just knows how to work his reversal-based style with a whole range of opponents and make it look great. Cole and YOSHI HASHI put on a solid showing; would really be nice for YOSHI to find just the right spot to break through on, though I can't predict where that'll be despite the fact that it's clear they like him and want to push him more. And yeah, the 8 man was a blast, enough said. Loved Kenny's "THIS IS VALHALLA" at the end. Big takeaway for me was how much they put War Machine over. Obviously they want to build them up as IWGP Tag challengers, but man, going over the Bucks AND GoD back to back? That feels like a move to do with a team you have designs on signing before WWE can. Maybe it's just to set up the Ishii/Yano match down the road, but that all gave me the vibe that War Machine may be Shin Nihon-bound. We shall see. Really hope ROH can fully rebound its roster, though; I had so much fun at Final Battle in December, but already since then it feels like so much has changed.
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