ROH 12/30/17 TV Review: War of the Worlds UK Tour Highlights
War of the Worlds Tour
London/Liverpool/London
8/18/17-8/19/17
Happy New Year Everyone! This week’s episode was a highlight shoe, featuring some of the best of the War of the Worlds UK tour from this August.
First Match: ROH War Of The Worlds UK London Review
War Of The Worlds UK: Night 1
London, England
8/18/17
ROH World Television Championship match
KUSHIDA (c) vs. Titan
Kushida took control early, tossing Titan to the outside before grabbing a seat from the audience and dropkicking the CMLL star into the barricade. KUSHIDA brought the action back inside and continually worked the arm over. KUSHIDA’s game planning reminds me of creating a wrestler moveset in WWE games and assuring that every move damages the limb that the finisher focuses on; it’s believable and makes for a great story. Titan was able to gain control and hit an unbelievable moonsault to KUSHIDA on the outside, actually landing on the guardrail and falling over into the crowd, but still managed to get up. Eventually KUSHIDA hit Back to the Future for the win in what was easily the best match on the card and one of the better ROH TV matches that I have seen in awhile.
Winner: KUSHIDA
Second Match:
ROH War Of The Worlds UK Liverpool Review
War Of The Worlds UK: Night 2 (iPPV)
Liverpool Olympia – Liverpool, England
8/19/17
Non-Title-Jay Lethal vs. British Cruiserweight Champion Josh Bodom
Wristlock exchanges to start here, with Lethal gaining the advantage and flooring Bodom with a shoulder block and a spinning neckbreaker, setting himself up for his trademark triple suicide dives. Bodom showed that he Lethal scouted multiple times and denied Lethal’s attempts three times. The two showed some good chemistry here-Bodom is certainly someone who could to add to ROH and he showed here against Lethal. Just as Lethal seemed to be in the home stretch, Silas Young came out and distracted him, allowed Bodom to attempt a roll up. Lethal was able to roll through and got a two count before hitting the Lethal Injection. Young came in and beat Lethal down a bit before leaving and then he and Bodom shook hands before departing themselves. I enjoyed seeing this match and Young’s interaction did put the end in doubt.
Winner: Jay Lethal
Main Event: ROH War Of The Worlds UK London
War Of The Worlds UK: Night 1
London, England
8/18/17
Ten Man Tag Team match
Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi &, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI) vs. Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes,The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll & Adam Page)
Takahashi and Scurll to start, with Scurll grabbing his umbrella, which Takahashi threatened to lick. They finally locked up and Scurll hit his bird pose before Takahashi floored him with a hurricanrana and hit his own version of the pose. Daryl joined commentary and Ian tried asking hard-hitting questions, but Daryl’s shock prevented him from responding. The match had some really great moments, some expected, like a full Bullet Club Rise of the Terminators, but there was also a five way figure four from Bullet Club to LIJ as a tribute to Flair which was a great moment. All the BC members then went for a moonsault and Scurll was last to go, albeit with a great deal of trepidation. The hits continued with a 5 star Meltzer driver on Daryl, though thankfully he was okay, despite Takahashi’s histrionics to the contrary. The end came after a 5 way super kick to Takahashi, but a Bushi mist, an EVIL clothesline and Destino later led to the win for LIJ in what was a seriously fun romp.
Winners: LIJ
Final Reaction: B-
This was a fun collection of three of the best matches from the War of the Worlds UK tour. Titan and Kushida had an excellent singles match, with a different style than ROH fans are normally accustomed to. Jay Lethal and Josh Bodum’s match was one of the better matches from the tour, with a finish that helped build the Letha/Silas Young feud and perhaps could have been replaced with a different match because of that. The main event 10 man tag had a little bit of everything and was really entertaining. If you haven’t seen the War of the Worlds tour shows, this is definitely a great glimpse into some of the best the tour had to offer. For a filler episode during the holidays, this was well done.
Thanks for stopping by again this week and look for more Ring of Honor coverage the same time next week. Until then, please go over to Running Wild Podcast and take a listen to a show that covers oodles of wrestling news and ridiculous conversations. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud