ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Reax

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

- KUSHIDA vs. Dalton vs. Fish vs. Silas:
Good start to things. I like Silas actually being a heel.

I hope Castle and Fish have better things going on in their future. They got pushed aside for the NJPW names as usual.

This is a pretty fun combination of workers.

The first of 50,000 dives tonight. Actually, there were probably some in the dark matches.

Fish has something worth keeping an eye on. It's no secret I pretty much want to see all the good ROH wrestlers head to WWE or Impact.

Jesus Christ I'm already at my "that's enough dives" limit. It's going to be a long show.

KUSHIDA's pretty good. Glad he's here.

Really, Silas? You're the one guy I was hoping wouldn't pull out some flippy bullshit.

I'd be fine with a car crash match here and there if it was just one per show, but we're in for a lot more I'm sure.

I'm glad an ROH guy got a win in a match with someone from NJPW, although Castle pinned a fellow ROH guy.

- Page/Kazarian video:
This has been built pretty well, I think.

- Page vs. Kazarian:
OH MY GOD IT'S A DIVE BEFORE THEY EVEN GET IN THE RING.

Please stick to brawling.

Oh yay more dives. It takes away from the "we're out to kill each other for betrayal" angle to have fancy flippy shit.

And NOW it's something serious with the spitting in the face. But I'm sure they'll go back to ridiculous moves soon.

I did like that cutter move. That was pretty sick.

OK, this is improving with the heel tactics.

That was a good enough ending, but it felt like they crammed two kinds of matches together because you can't do a match an ROH show without innovative MOVES and dives. Ugghhh.

- War Machine vs. EVIL/SANADA vs. Gresham/Sabin:
Not a bad start. I like EVIL so far.

Hanson and Rowe could be SO much better if they worked like serious big guys. Crazy that Joe Koff said ROH is more sport than entertainment when they've got people doing cartwheels and ridiculous choreographed moves.

Hanson and Rowe are fun sometimes as monsters. I just can't take them as seriously as the Authors of Pain or the Wyatts.

This has potential with the big guys being big guys and the quick guys being quick guys.

OH MY GOD EVIL DAMN NEAR KILLED HANSON *AND* THE REF!!

What I HATE about ROH is they follow up awesome brawling/intense stuff like that sick chair spot with dives. It's tonally inconsistent for the big guys to work like hosses then fly, and EVIL going from wanting to kill people to just being the last in a line of people doing cool MOVES.

That Rowe knee strike to Sabin was pretty sick.

Meh. That had its moments.

- Ospreay vs. White:
Oh, joy.

Pretty impressive so far. Ospreay definitely has impressive agility. Like, in his own league more or less.

GOOD GOD WHAT A DIVE COUNTER.

This is pretty intense. They're not "wasting time" with feeling each other out. This is how you get those *****, brother.

This is pretty awesome.

Lots of hard work here. They're making the most of a match with ZERO TV hype.

I mean, my God. Ospreay's taking some insane bumps out there.

Lots of fancy MOVES here.

How does Ospreay do it????

That was definitely something memorable.

- Post-match:
I could never hear an awesome chant again and be perfectly fine with that. That was really insane, though.

I definitely wouldn't have called Punishment attacking.

HAHAHA Punishment destroying both of them to cut off the momentum of all the MOVES. Great job.

- Bully promo:
Glad Bully has worked someone into doing the ECW nostalgia shit in 2017. He's going to get every last penny out of something that died sixteen years ago.

Well maybe that stipulation will mean we get a big war.

- Bully/Briscoes vs. Goto/Vice:
Yaaayyyyy dives.

Bully basically going to let everyone else do the work and just do a few signature spots.

ROH does go pretty hard with weapons matches.

This is mostly pretty fun.

I'm mostly OK with this just being a lot of fun moves since there's no real heat to it other than "you teams are fighting tonight."

Ha. Bully's going to milk that ECW cow for all it's worth.

They did some fun stuff there. I liked it being hardcore.

- Scurll vs. Sydal:
I do like the psychology here. Scurll brings something good to what we usually see in ROH.

I hope we see Scurll in WWE or Impact someday. He's special.

Sydal does what he does pretty well. He's been in the business a good while now.

I love Scurll having a strategy to win with his submission move.

NICE ending. I wouldn't mind seeing a longer match between these two, which is something I rarely say about ROH.

- Bucks vs. Naito/BUSHI:
OK, deep breath. Let's see if I can make it through this without wanting to throw my computer.

You know what you're getting from one side of this match.

Glad to see someone actually decide NOT to do a flippy move.

I think I'd prefer to see NJPW featuring ROH talents.

I'm always blown away by the things the Bucks do. For that style, they keep on innovating.

I like BUSHI. He stands out on this show.

OK, the spot with Matt superkicking everyone while misted was a lot of fun. They can crack me up sometimes.

I'm enjoying Naito, too.

The Bucks do things I wouldn't have thought possible in a wrestling match.

Hey, hats off to Matt and Nick. They work really hard to give people something special.

- Cole vs. Tanahashi:
I've been looking forward to seeing these two face off.

Man, I hope we see more great Cole matches in 2017.

Cole having fun in what could be his last ROH PPV.

This is solid!

Oh, man. I'm liking this battle. Two top guys showing how it's done.

Both men really going all out here.

Some serious kicks here.

Not bad at all! I really like both men.

- Post-match:
Oh, yeah. The fans know Cole's not planning on staying here.

Oh, joy. More Bullet Club stuff.

Hahahahaha Omega too big time for ROH now.

Honestly, I'm fine with all this. I'd rather see some story progression than silly stunts.

That was pretty cool. Scurll should be a fun addition to Bullet Club ROH.

Nice sendoff (?) for Cole. He's advertised for the TV taping this weekend.

- Daniels vs. Cody vs. Lethal:
Based Cody. I wouldn't mind him winning the title here.

Good to see a face not fall for the "you two fight while I chill" thing.

I'm liking this in the early going. Nice psychology.

Glad to see Cody motivated after him having to sit through being Stardust for so long.

Always impressed by what Daniels pulls off at his age.

This is pretty fun.

I'm enjoying this. Most ROH main events go too long with too many big moves.

This is a good combination of styles. Cody really adds something fresh to ROH.

NICE move by Cody to avoid the elbow.

Uh-oh! The champ is out!!

Oh, man. We could be in for some Bullet Club shenanigans. I'd be OK with that. Cody could be just the guy to make Bullet Club ROH more than a meme.

NICE cutter.

Cody might just have it here!

That ending was a LITTLE flat. Why take the time to do a BME to break up the submission? Lethal could have tapped before you hit it! But a solid match and a pretty good show in places.

More wrestling coming more.