Finally.... The Rock has come back, to Raw

This Monday saw the return of the Rock in one of the best surprises WWE has brought out in years. Showing just how much WWE has missed the great one over the past 3 years, he cut a promo giving his predictions on the winner of the battle of the billionaires. Unsurprisingly he sided with Trump. However it was very telling that he cut his promo from his home rather than in the ring, reminding the fans that this isn;t the return we have all been hoping for, but rather a cameo from a former wrestler, who is now a movie star.

ROH in Liverpool Night 2

To sum up Samoa Joe's importance to ROH is nigh on impossible. For 3 years he has been the heart and soul of Ring of Honor, a true ROH icon and the man who has carried the company on his shoulders and made it into the force that it is become today. However all great journeys must come to an end and the fans of Liverpool were fortunate enough to witness the final steps of Joe's ROH journey this past weekend and it more than lived up to expectations and will hopefully leave a lasting memory for all fans of ROH as the original ROH icon moves on to pastures new.

It is certainly testament to ROH's perceived importance of the UK market that they not only gave us the final night of their 5 Year Anniversary Celebrations, but also the final appearance from one of their company's biggest stars. As a result, the usually fanatical UK crowds managed to step it up another gear not wanting to ruin the occasion by showing any British reserve. Despite a phenomenal show on Saturday this one topped the previous night if only for sheer emotion and ROH put on one of the best cards in company history and you could not ask for a better epitaph for Joe's ROH career.

The evening began on a lighter note with Colt Cabana taking on Delirious in what was always guaranteed to be a comedy classic. Cabana, playing up to his UK fan base, came to the ring dressed as UK wrestling legend 'Big Daddy' complete with his 'We shall not be moved' entrance theme. Big Daddy Colt even emulated Big Daddy's trademark of carrying a young fan to the ring by bringing out a plastic baby before attempting to pick up various members of the front row crowd and attempt to carry them into the ring. Delirious was his usual crazy self, but Cabana had something up his sleeve for every one of the masked man's mad-capped moments. Whether it was freaking out at the sound of the bell, turning Delirious' mask around so he could not see or just the usual Colt Cabana European style shenanigans. This was simply a fantastic opening match which will fast become a firm fan favourite when it comes out on DVD I am sure and really set the tone for the evening and got the crowd into the ROH spirit from the offset.

Next up it was SHIMMER Women's Athletes action as the Dangerous Angels of Sara Del Ray and Allison Danger took on the British pairing of Jetta and Jezebel who had challenged them to a match the night before. After the previous night's awkward crowd reactions to Del Ray and Danger, tonight there was much more defined heel/face dynamic and the crowd could boo and cheer accordingly. The two Brits looked very ordinary and 'girl next door' when in the ring (especially next to the Amazon that is Sara Del Ray) but they worked a decent match and took some stiff hits from Del Ray who picked up the win with the same reverse sleeper suplex that she beat Danger with the night before.

Not wanting the crowd to catch their breath, the show hurtled along with BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs beginning their Falls Count Anywhere match in the balcony. The two had brawled out into the arena before the show had even started, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see them decide to not bother with a ring entrance. As they brawled up and down the stairs the spotlight tried it's hardest to follow the action, but from the other side of the building it was hard to know what the hell was going on. At one point Jacobs appeared to dive on Whitmer from the balcony and earlier he appeared to hit him with a hurricanrana from the stairs, however the ringside crowd were left guessing for much of the early part of the match which lead to the infamous 'we can't see s**t" chant which was followed by a 'BJ's winning' reply from those fans in the know. (Any reports of the ringside fans replying with a thank you chant may well be an urban myth as I can't recall hearing anything like that!).

As the match reached the ring, Jimmy would produce his trademark metal spike and bust Whitmer wide open before smearing his blood all over his body. The two would continue laying into each other before brawling up the entrance ramp and BJ teased throwing Jimmy into the crowd as he had in New York at a previous show. Instead, Whitmer relied on a sick brainbuster to the ramp to get the pin and the bloody BJ was victorious, leaving the battered Jacobs in a heap on the ramp way to be carried out by referees.

After this blood letting, it was time for a change of pace as Matt Sydal took on UK high-flyer PAC. After wowing the crowd the night before against Roderick Strong, PAC had another superb performance against Sydal and certainly earned the admiration of his home crowd. Once again busting out all kinds of crazy highflying moves like corkscrew moonsaults and even a spiral tap to the floor, PAC balanced this out with some stiff kicks and forearms which elevated him above being just another flippy guy. Sydal was heeling it up again superbly and although things did not gel quite as well with PAC as he had against Roderick Strong the night before it was still a really enjoyable match and this guy looks like he could be a really interesting addition to the ROH roster in the coming months

Already this show was better than the previous nights, as was evident by the lack of high pitched chants from the now infamous 'Liverpool balcony kids' however it was set to step up yet another notch as Jay and Mark Briscoe took each other on in a one night only challenge match. After stealing the show with the tag match the night before, these two crazy redneck brothers set out to take the spotlight once again with an absolutely brutal, stiff, crazy match that is without a shadow of a doubt an early match of the year candidate. It has been 4 years since the Briscoe’s last faced each other in an ROH ring (and it was pretty darn good back then). But they have improved so much in that time period. Their arsenal of moves is so diverse that it feels like they never hit the same move twice in a weekend. They built the match slowly but surely, putting in just enough crazy high spots to keep the crowd simmering, but not so many that they would boil over and so by then end when they resorted to simply punching each other in the face the crowd was at fever pitch chanting for both men. Although some may criticize the double knockout ending, it made perfect sense. The way these two unloaded all their offensive moves on each other it felt like neither man was going to give an inch and so by having a draw (but not a time limit draw) it meant both men could leave with their heads held high having given their all. They would also be safe in the knowledge that neither man was better or worse off than they were before the match (in fact they managed to raise their stock which was already sky-high) and teased the fans with just how exciting a Briscoe vs. Briscoe feud could end up being.

By this point intermission could not come soon enough as this show was hurtling along at 1000 miles an hour and we needed a breather. We had had everything from comedy to blood to high flying to hard hitting wrestling of the highest calibre and there was still a little matter of a Fight Without Honor and Farewell to Joe to get to before this show was over.

Before we got to those though it was time for tag team action. The shock win by Doi and Shingo the night before had sent the crowd into frenzy and coming after the amazing Briscoe vs. Briscoe match it was always going to be a tough act to follow. The challengers, Strong and Richards seem to be relishing their new heel personas and the crowd turned a complete 180 from the previous night and were firmly behind the new tag champs going against the No Remorse Corps. Unfortunately the match did not quite have the same fast paced dynamic as the previous match and, although Strong and Richards are gelling well as a team (and both suit tag work better than singles work in my opinion), it lacked the thrill ride of the night before. I don't think it's any disrespect to say Davey and Roddy aren't as good as the Briscoes, (because very few are) and as such this match lacked the polish of the previous night's match, but n DVD this will probably be a much better match. That being said, the fact that they didn't move the tag straps straight to Richards and Strong was a pleasant surprise and meant that Doi and Shingo left the UK as ROH Tag Champs which makes life very interesting now that both major ROH titles are held by Japanese talent.

Next up was the weekend's superstar performer Nigel McGuinness in a Fight Without Honor against Jimmy Rave. After last year's Unified show Nigel had been made a star with his match with Bryan Danielson, however this weekend was all bout making him a superstar in front of his home crowd. In the same way that ROH always booked CM Punk and Colt Cabana strong in their home town of Chicago, Nigel has been give the task of headlining the UK shows and now was his time to deliver. Coming off an amazing match with Samoa Joe the night before, his feud with Jimmy Rave felt like it could have been a let down compared to other Fight Without Honor s- especially with it being so high on an already stacked card. Many of the UK fans had also not seen the matches leading up to this feud closing match due to the [relatively] slow turn around of shows to DVD and so some of the heat for the match seemed like it was missing. This match though will be seen as a career high for both men involved as they put it all on the line here and put on a fantastic match. Instead of relying on the usual collection of weapons, they simply used a chair and a guardrail and did more with them than they ever could have with a bucket full of plunder both men worked a painfully stiff style which was even more amazing considering the heavy strapping on Nigel's hamstring and the shoulder injury he was carrying before last night's match. Brawling all over the ringside area, Nigel hit Rave with stiff clotheslines and forearms while Rave hit back with stiff chop after chop as well as working over the injured leg of McGuinness. The finish came after Nigel had kicked out of the Greetings From Ghana and Jimmy from the Tower of London DDT when Nigel arranged the already bent guardrail at ringside (bent as a result of both men having gone through it previously in the evening) and hit Rave with a deadly looking Tower of London through the guardrail which looked dangerously close to doing both men permanent injury. One more viciously stiff lariat for good measure and the match was over and Nigel's position as a bonafide ROH main eventer was secure (as was Rave's!). Forget the result though; both came out of this like superstars and a rightfully earned a standing ovation from the fans (including a 'thank you Jimmy' chant for the fallen Rave). Rave has come a long way from his Embassy days and his new serious persona has done more for his career than any amount of toilet paper could have and he is set to be an important part of the ROH roster (alongside McGuinness) over the next year and beyond.

After this amazing evening of wrestling drama it was time for the part of the evening we had all been waiting for. When it came to the decision of who Joe would face in his final ROH match it was no surprise when it was announced as Homicide. These two had a storied rivalry in 2003/4 and have been linked together in ROH legend perhaps even more than even Joe and Punk (they certainly had more matches). It is always a bit unfair to critique matches when the occasion over shadows them - certainly Punk vs. Cabana at Punk: The Final Chapter was not a patch on some of their previous encounters but the overall atmosphere of the match makes it a must-see. The same is true of this match as it is far from their best match (mostly because of the lack of heat involved) but it was a really good main event and a more than worthy bout to bring Joe's ROH career to a close.

As soon as the opening chords of Joe's music hit, the Liverpool crowd were on their feet and chanting Joe's name, which was soon eclipsed by the bellowing of 'the champ is here'. Instead of the tearful CM Punk style entrance, which was milked forever, Joe, was his usual fired up self, saluting the crowd before being barraged with streamers once he hit the ring. It was then that the emotion seemed to hit him as the crowd chanted his name and he was once again greeted with yet more streamers for his ring announcement. The match that followed featured some early fooling around (Joe bailing from the ring to go to the bar at the back, much to the chagrin of Homicide) but soon settled into your 'average' Joe/Homicide match (which is still a pretty good match in anyone's book!) Julius Smokes interfered (as you'd expect) and Joe hit the ole ole kicks on him on the outside. Spot of the match came as Joe lined Smokes up for second ole ole kick only to be countered mid-run by Homicide's top con helo (which he hit as much by luck as he did by judgment!). Joe would eventually get the win (something of a shock, but he had lost to Homicide in January) and the ROH career of Samoa Joe was over. As Joe made his speech in the ring, the locker-room gathered on the entrance ramp. Thanking the fans and putting the company and the roster over, Joe was treated to more adoring chants from the Liverpool fans than I can even remember. He was then greeted on the entrance ramp by the Briscoes, BJ Whitmer, Allison Danger and even booker Gabe Sapolsky (who's head had been poking out of the curtain all night long!), he saluted the crowd along with the roster and then he was gone. An emotional, but fitting end to the career of an ROH legend and icon. We will miss you Joe.

Overall verdict: A+
"One of the best shows ROH has ever put on. The emotional farewell of Joe was backed up with some fantastic wrestling and some star making performances (particularly from Nigel and Rave). This show will be remembered forever as Joe's last night, but it so much more than that. A must-see for the main event, but the rest of the show will make it worth getting on DVD to be watched from start to finish, not just the final match."

ROH in Liverpool Night 1

Ring of Honor returned to the UK this weekend with a pair of phenomenal shows from the Liverpool Olympia. After last year's sold out shows in Liverpool and Broxbourne (which included 2 match of the year candidates), ROH returned to the UK to not only bring to a close it's 5th Anniversary Festival, but also to give the fans a real treat with the final two matches from ROH legend Samoa Joe.

With Takeshi Morishima capturing the belt and returning to Japan to defend it against Kenta in Pro Wrestling NOAH, this meant some shuffling of the advertised line-up was in order. Therefore, the show started with, what until a week or two before, was supposed to be one of the main events as former ROH champion Homicide took on Davey Richards in a special challenge match. Despite being humbled by the big man from Japan, Homicide was hugely over with the UK faithful and the fact he was accompanied by Julius Smokes (making his UK debut) only made the fan reaction even louder. Even if he hadn't turned heel and joined forces with Roderick Strong in the No Remorse Corps, Davey Richards would have been far from a fan favourite in this one, but fortunately his new cocky heel demeanour gave the fans a real good vs. evil encounter with the fans really getting on the case of Richards. As a monotone chant of 'Davey, Davey' filled the Olympia the two men in the ring could only look around in bemusement at the fans reaction to Richards - something must be working if he is getting this amount of heat already. As far as the match itself was concerned, it was fine for what it was, but Richards looked especially awkward at times nearly blowing several spots, however Homicide picked up the clean win in relatively quick fashion with a cop killer as he got ready for his match Joe the following night.

Next up was a SHIMMER showcase match featuring Allison Danger and Sara Del Ray. After a particularly heated opener, the fans weren't quite sure what to make of these 2 women but, despite a few disparaging comments from a few fans at the beginning, these two won the fans over with some great athletic wrestling. Del Ray looked especially impressive, kicking Danger around the ring with some vicious boots to the chest. Not to mention an impressive feat of strength where she lifted Danger up from the mat and into a reverse suplex for the pin.

Following this was tag team action featuring the Jimmys (Rave and Jacobs) taking on BJ Whitmer and UK favourite, Colt Cabana. With all 4 men being involved in more heated matches the following night, this match was probably the only real filler of the whole weekend, but it was still a lot of fun. Rave and Jacobs attacked Cabana and Whitmer before the bell, throwing them to the outside and brawling on the floor. Rave and Whitmer brawled up the stairs towards the balcony section and BJ teased throwing Jimmy off the stairs while Rave and Jacobs continued to brawl around the ring. Eventually the match would return to the ring and Team Jimmy would pick up the win with a contra code on BJ Whitmer. A decent match where everyone worked hard, but all 4 men would be in much better matches the next night.

It was then time for the UK debut of Delirious as he took on Matt Sydal in a 2/3 falls match. This feud has been simmering nicely in ROH with these two having some really strong matches towards the end of last year. However because this has not boiled down into a blood feud just yet, it was good to see a match-up based on good old-fashioned athletic competition and so made for a really great contest. I've never quite got the hype about Delirious, however from watching him this weekend I think I am beginning to understand. Everything he does is so well thought out and his 'gibberish' talking is balanced perfectly to include just enough real words to make you make sense of what he is saying. He and Sydal also work so well in the ring together and with Sydal debuting a new, cocky heel attitude, it made for a really fun match, which could well get lost in amongst the other great matches of this weekend. With Delirious claiming he would take the match 2 straight falls, Sydal would win the first with a low blow, before Delirious could tie it up at 1-1 by making Sydal tap to the Cobra Stretch. With Sydal beginning to heel it by pulling the strands off Delirious' mask this looked it could be the moment when Sydal went fully fledged heel, however he reigned it in and, despite winning the match with a ref bump into the ropes, hit Delirious with flux capacitor off the top rope to get the pin and win the match. Again, it was nice to see Sydal working as a heel without having to resort to a blood soaked heel turn to get that over. ROH fans are so anti-ref bumps and cheating that even a fan favourite like Sydal can get over as a heel just by going against the top babyfaces and bending the rules to his advantage. (One interesting this to note during this match was that Sydal came out carrying his Enter The Brave Gate title from Dragongate, and at some point in the journey over to the UK he managed to break it and so bits of the front of the belt kept falling off. Lets hope he isn't in too much trouble in Japan for breaking their title belt!!)

This led us to intermission and we were welcomed back by British female worker Jetta and Jezebel who challenged Sara Del Ray and Allison Danger to a match the following night. As I said earlier, the UK fans were unsure of what to make of the SHIMMER girls earlier in the night, however with these two British girls heeling it up, they were in much more familiar water and were quite willing to give the girls plenty of grief.

The theme of British talent continued from here as UK high-flyer PAC took on FIP champ Roderick Strong. This was a lot of fans first exposure to PAC and by god did he deliver. Roderick is really coming into his role as the bullying heel since he broke off from tagging with Austin Aries. The story of the match was the bullying champ Strong taking on the plucky young up-and-comer PAC and it made for a great dynamic for the match Roddy is so great at working with lighter high flyers (see his match in FIP with Jack Evans) and so he was able to throw PAC around as well as work as a springboard for PAC's more athletic moves, some of which were just breath-taking! The highlight of which had to be a sick corkscrew shooting star press on to Roddy on the floor. However, unlike other British highfliers like Spud and Johnny Storm (who have also been give a chance in ROH) PAC works much more of an ROH style with some stiff offence worked into his arsenal and as such he was able to build a really fantastic match with Roddy and not just rely on a few crazy dives to get him over. By the time Roddy hit him with the Gibson driver for the pin, Pac was black and blue from the beating he had received, however his performance was enough to earn a 'Bring back PAC' chant from the UK fans. Now this may have seemed like a partisan crowd giving one of their own the thumbs up, but this was much more than just the Brits sticking up for one of their own. This was PAC winning over one of the most fickle wrestling crowds in the world and (hopefully) earning him more ROH bookings, because he sure as hell deserves it!

After a solid, but unspectacular opening half, the show really started kicking into high gear at this point as newly crowned ROH tag champs, the Briscoes, took on Shingo and Doi from the Dragon Gate promotion. The Briscoes had a classic against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries last year that I rated as my match of the year, and if such a thing is possible, I think they surpassed that here. In a simply outstanding tag team contest, Shingo and Doi defeated the Briscoes after 20+ minutes of some of the most high impact athletic wrestling I have ever seen. These guys just tore the roof off the Olympia with some jaw dropping double teams move as well as Mark Briscoe hitting a shooting star press off the top turnbuckle after running the ropes a la Kurt Angle which was just staggering. The shock of the title change after a 1-week reign for the Briscoes helped make a great match even more spectacular as no one in the crowd believed they would lose the belts so soon. However lose them they did and this open up a whole new chapter for the tag division. After the match, Jay got on the mic and it looked like we might be seeing a break up angle as he reminded his brother about their poor record of losing tag titles (bringing up their short run as NOAH Jr tag champs from last year). But instead of the break-up it was time for the brothers to 'Man Up' and so for one night only on Sunday, it would be Jay vs. Mark to try and get the Briscoe Brothers back to winning ways.

This left only one match to finish the show as ROH legend Samoa Joe (in his penultimate ROH match) went up against the UK's favourite son, Nigel McGuinness. If last year's Liverpool show was all about making McGuinness a star, tonight's show was about making him a superstar, as Nigel went toe-to-toe with Joe and put on a fantastic match. Despite both men being such crowd favourites, the match turned on one moment of pure emotional drama as Joe hit Nigel with a muscle buster on to the ring apron and it looked like Nigel was out of the match. As Joe got on the mic and explained to the crowd the dangers of being a pro-wrestler, the referees carried out Nigel, however Joe would not let him leave without a handshake. At this point Joe went full-on heel calling Nigel a 'pussy' for not shaking his hand and the crowd turned on Joe for his actions. Holding his head and neck, Nigel limped to the ring to shake shoes hand but slapped Joe full in the face as the crowd erupted. Joe unloaded all his offence on Nigel, including a vicious lariat and a muscle buster, however Nigel continued to kick out. Ultimately Joe would get Nigel in the choke for the win, however Nigel was the real winner in this match. After the victory Joe got on the mic and put over ROH and Nigel as being one of the guys who could carry the torch when he leaves. As the crowd chanted for Joe, Nigel and ROH, the two left together and a fantastic night of wrestling drew to a close.

Overall verdict: A-
"A much stronger show top to bottom than Unified with the top 4 matches all being very good to excellent. The tag match and main event were off the charts with great work and phenomenal drama made even more intense by a red-hot crowd!"