ROH 15th Anniversary PPV Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's ROH PPV.

- Daniels/Cole video:
They've really done a good job selling Daniels' journey. This is the angle ROH NEEDED. As great as Adam Cole is, he was hitting against a wall with winning the title a third time.

- Commentary:
But Colt's been a heel!! Also, why is he not wrestling on this show??? He's one of the few charismatic guys who can work left in the company.

- King vs. White:
It wouldn't be a celebration of all things ROH without a meaningless match to start things off.

I guess they just want to warm the crowd up with some athleticism.

NICE counter to Jay's dive.

Kenny's got charisma. I wish he was heading to NXT instead of working the PPV opener against one of the blandest wrestlers on the planet.

King's doing pretty well here.

NICE save by Caprice. The Rebellion are doing everything they can to save this from being just another ROH match.

White's definitely a skilled wrestler. He's a believable ass-kicker.

Solid work.

Not a bad ending sequence at all!

- Addiction breakup package:
Damn you, Kazarian! DAMN YOU!!!!!!!

- TV Title contendership match:
Who books this shit???? Why are Kazarian and Page suddenly opponents? Why did this get ZERO hype beforehand?

Fun enough start, I guess.

Glad the Bullet Clubbers are working together.

Random spot match to fill time. Yay.

I hate that EVERY. SINGLE. BIG GUY. in ROH has to do dives and flips. Jesus Christ.

That vertical drop on Sabin was SICK.

Martinez's acrobatic ability is pretty impressive.

I'm getting into this with the Clubbers working together.

Nice spots by Cheeseburger to combat the Club.

I'm getting behind Martinez.

Lots of counters here.

"Everyone get in there and do a spot!"

Moves on the apron are getting kind of passe.

HOLY SHIT with a German Suplex by Sabin. That was incredible!!

Nice enough ending. Kazarian as TV Champion and Daniels as World Champion could be a pretty interesting story. I mean, you know, by ROH standards.

- Lethal vs. Fish:
Fish is pretty good at what he does, and Lethal is really good at what he does (just not World Champion for a year material).

They're telling a pretty good story here.

God DAMN what a missed suicide dive. These guys go pretty hard.

I wish Fish would mostly stick to not doing cool flippy moves since pretty much everyone else in ROH does that. Focus on your strengths.

And more cool flippy moves. Too choreographed for me.

That was a really good anklelock spot. Fish is pretty good at being the submissions guy.

REALLY good Fish Hook spot. I would have been good with Fish winning there after sitting through so many wins by Lethal.

Aaaaaand more big moves.

Fish is pretty lethal himself here.

God, finally. I wasn't feeling even more finisher kickouts.

- Kingdom vs. Castle/Boys:
This is going to be a LONG night of flips.

This is weird with a serious act mixing with a comedy act.

Spots are impressive, but I'd like the Kingdom to have something more than that. They're just indie trio No. 457.

Dalton and the Boys are pretty entertaining for the most part. I'd like to see them on a bigger stage.

Castle just laying the champs out.

This is actually pretty fun! The faces are making it interesting.

OH MY GOD what a moonsault. That was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.

Fine for the time it had. That botched moonsault will be the lasting story.

- Post-match:
That's not good.

- Scurll vs. Lio:
Lio can definitely do cool things.

I'm a big fan of Scurll's meanness. A nice change of pace from heels who are just faces pretending to be bad guys while still doing cool moves.

Man. Marty's got him shut down.

Lio can move!

Rush doing every cool move he's got in what could be his last ROH PPV.

NICE counter of Rush's big kick.

This is really impressive! It feels more like a fight.

Both guys trying everything they can to steal the show, it looks like. Every match has to be a car crash with high-impact moves and superkicks.

I could never see another superkick in wrestling and probably be OK.

NICE counter of the handspring elbow.

WOW. I can't fault the effort here.

Clever for Rush to try to win with Marty's own move.

Kind of surprising for Lio to try to do the heel move of hitting Scurll with the championship since Marty's "the villain," but I guess if Scurll can hit a superkick because the fans want one more, nothing about heels and faces means anything anyway.

Rush with an audition tape of every sick spot he can pull off.

Oh no, another dangerous spot??

Yeah, it's about time for one of these big moves to end the match.

Pretty good ending sequence.

- Bully/Briscoes vs. Davey Boy/War Machine:
I'm very glad to see Davey Boy again.

NICE double suplex. Can he part of ROH regularly?

OK, the Briscoes doing the Wazzup spot got me good. Funny.

Wow, they got right through the signature Dudley spots.

I'm really feeling Davey Boy here.

Fine work from War Machine, too.

Oh, man. Davey's side already having issues.

Lots of chaos going on here. In a good way.

Pretty insane with all the big "take someone else out" spot.

MOVES. MOVES everywhere.

NICE ending. Bully was there without being the centerpiece.

- Post-match:
I'm all for more Davey Boy. Him vs. Bully could be quite the spectacle.

- Hardys vs. Bucks vs. Vice:
Ooh, interesting. Clearly ROH didn't want to risk running afoul of Impact legal by having the Hardys be full-on broken. No "Brother Nero" either. More on that later.

Haha good for Trent and Rocky to take advantage of the situation. They're definitely the underdogs here.

And spots and spots and spots.

I'm all for some crazy hardcore moves.

Good GAWD what a powerbomb on the ramp.

Haha. I did like the Bucks going for signature Hardy spots.

Pretty crazy stuff!

And some more really sick looking bumps.

Not much to say other than WOW a bunch of crazy shit is happening.

Hahahaha Rocky's thumbtack sleeve.

This is really wild stuff. Just chaos everywhere.

Face-first thumbtack bumps ALWAYS scare the hell out of me.

OH MY GOOOODDDDD thumbtacks in the mouth is just VILE. I cringed hard. He could have swallowed some!

Really insane. Just wild moves everywhere.

NICE ending, and the Bucks are protected for the Supercard match.

- Daniels interview:
Daniels has a really big opportunity here, one of the biggest in his career.

One hell of a babyface promo.

I'm really intrigued for this one. More than any ROH title match since at least Cabana vs. Lethal.

- Cole vs. Daniels:
Both men are really skilled, and they're showing it in the opening.

Cole's youth is really coming into play.

Nice sequence leading to Daniels firing back on the cocky heel.

I'm enjoying the story of the rude Bullet Club leader against the incredibly skilled veteran.

Oh man. The proverbial crimson mask!!

Great heel move to take advantage of the man bleeding.

Jesus. Cole's pretty savage here.

This is a much better story than "I'm a better wrestler than you." Cole's looking to hurt an ROH legend.

And that's why you don't turn your back on the Fallen Angel!

ALL THESE BOOTS TO THE FACE!!!

OH SHIT. Cole's taunting level is insane.

Daniels is fired up!

This is really solid. One of the best matches I've seen in ROH.

Daniels moving like he does at his age is insane.

This is wild. Both men delivering with big moves, but it feels like a battle that's more than "who's good enough to be champion."

GENIUS of Daniels to do the Styles Clash. That would have been a great win.

UH-OHHHHH. No ref.

THAT BASTARD KAZARIAN! HOW COULD HE????

WHAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?? Kazarian played us all!

That was INSANE. Big, big moment for Daniels. I'm very glad to see him get the big one.

Man. Great night for Chris. Congratulations!

More wrestling coming up.