As we close in on the present day of Ring of Honor, you can see the influence of their partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling begin to take over the product. This crossover would bring ROH back to relevance, as their heavy association with the Bullet Club helped bring in an influx of new fans, with that faction slowly developing into the most influential group of wrestlers outside of the WWE. ROH produced a number of great matches during this timeframe, most of which featured the Young Bucks, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, who were establishing themselves as the defining tag team of this era in wrestling, especially with the WWE less focused on tag team competition as the years went on. The large-scale takeover of ROH by the Bullet Club also allowed for the much anticipated return of AJ Styles to the promotion, almost a decade after he first departed. Styles had finally made his exodus from TNA, quickly rocketing to IWGP championship contention in New Japan, continuing to steal the show with a brand new generation of wrestlers. This trio played a vital role in revitalizing Ring of Honor, as the promotion looked to build itself into a viable contender in the American scene.
- We start at the sixth ROH All-Star Extravaganza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the main event was a 2 out of 3 falls match, with ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) defending against the Young Bucks. This was all the fun of the fair for a Bucks match, with flips and superkicks galore, which meshed very well go against the straight-ahead brutality of Fish and O'Reilly. Nick Jackson puts on a show early, nailing a gorgeous moonsault to both champions with a handheld assist by Matt, then later fighting off the double team and hitting a tornado DDT off the apron to the floor, but he can't hold Fish and O'Reilly off forever, as the champions get the first fall with Chasing the Dragon. If I have one major complaint for this match, it was the runtime, as both teams were given just under 20 minutes to work, not nearly enough space to properly structure out a match with three separate falls. This results in a very rushed feel, as all four guys routinely shake off damage to get to their next spot, and everything starts to blend together. The flow started to feel a little off after the first fall, and while the Bucks' comeback was exciting, it didn't quite hook me because I felt it happened too quickly, this match needed a few extra minutes to breathe and properly build towards the finish. The closing stretch was still exciting even if it didn't quite feel earned, with Matt and Nick going ham with the superkicks, gaining a fall after a kick by Nick into a Package Piledriver by Matt. The Bucks break out the Meltzer Driver for the very first time, but it doesn't end the match, as Bobby Fish creates chaos by pulling the referee out of the ring to stop the count, then pushing the official into harm's way of a suicide dive. O'Reilly is still in trouble despite this chicanery, as the Jackson boys go further into their past to bring out More Bang for Your Buck, but Matt gets caught on the top rope by Fish, who totally loses his mind, grabbing Matt and leaping off the top rope to crash through a table. Bobby Fish, ladies and gentlemen, the absolute madman. Nick then looks to put O'Reilly away with a 450, but Kyle catches him into a Triangle Choke, which he then releases to apply an armbar and kneebar, and Nick quickly taps. This didn't quite reach the level I thought it could, but it was still a lot of fun to watch, with the Bucks over like rover in front of the rowdy Canadians, and Kevin Kelly going wild on commentary.
- AJ Styles might be closing in on jumping ship to the WWE for the first time in his career, but he still has time for one last marquee match in Ring of Honor, challenging top heel Jay Lethal for the world title in the main event of Final Battle 2015. On paper, this would seem like an excellent top flight encounter, with Lethal in the midst of a dominant run atop the card, and Styles having absolutely stolen the show at events all over the world in his globe-trotting tour of the independent scene. In execution, something didn't quite feel right with this match, Lethal and Styles seem to be missing that last little bit of chemistry needed for a true classic. But even though this wasn't at the level it possibly could have been, it was still entertaining and shocking in equal measure, mostly thanks to the efforts of AJ, who will always be willing to put his body on the line to make a good match great. Styles takes a boatload of punishment in this match, mostly all focused around his back, getting launched into the turnbuckle with a release Northern Lights and spiked into the barricade twice with topes from Lethal. AJ then perfectly times a counter to a third Lethal dive, leaping off the apron to meet him in the air with a forearm, this man literally can't put a foot wrong. I loved the sequence where AJ counters a Lethal Injection with a back drop, then follows up with a Pele Kick, by far the best these two meshed in this match. That's all the offense AJ's getting in this one, as it's time for him to take another massive bump, this time getting straight up launched to the floor by Lethal as a counter to the Styles Clash, the fall made a little bit softer as AJ goes through a table. The crowd is brought to their feet by a show of resilience from AJ, who narrowly beats the 20 count, and somehow kicks out of the Lethal Injection, a near fall I bit heavily on, it just seemed like an obvious finish. The actual ending comes when Lethal wriggles free of a Styles Clash, planting AJ on his dome with a Gotch Piledriver, before finishing him off with a second Lethal Injection. Without Styles being absolutely on his game, this stood a chance of being fairly boring, but AJ once again proved why he is perhaps the most reliable big match performer on the planet.
- The final match of this post comes for ROH's All-Star Extravaganza 8, where the main event was a Ladder Wars matches, with the Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) defending the ROH tag titles against the Young Bucks and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin). The best part of this match, by quite some distance, is the work of Daniels, who is still willing to put his body through quite a beating despite his age (46) and all the wear he had gone through after multiple decades spent touring the world. Daniels gets busted open by a ladder shot to the face from the Young Bucks, sandwiched into a ladder and dropped by the Guns, and falls backwards onto a contraption of metal barricades after being superkicked by the Bucks, and yet, he's still scrambling to his feet and staying in the match. An awesome piece of visual storytelling comes when Daniels makes a comeback, nailing a BME on Matt Jackson, then posing, face coated in blood, with one foot on Matt's chest, snarling defiantly at the camera, an absolute work of art by Ring of Honor there. Because good things just aren't destined for Daniels in this match, he then gets back dropped off a ladder and through a ladder while attempting to claim the gold, one last spectacle of a bump to end his involvement. There was more to this match than just Daniels; the sequence where everyone took a table bump, ending with Nick Jackson's incredible 450 splash, was great, and Nick also took a stunning plunge off a ladder that was lifted by both the Guns and Addiction through a single table on the outside, that must've killed. Outside of just the action, you can also marvel at Shelley and Sabin's awesomely bad tracksuit pants, no clue who thought that would be good wrestling garb. The finish of the match sees Nick Jackson fully embrace his inner Jeff Hardy, choosing not to go for the tag belts, instead diving off the ladder for an Indytaker through a table, before he and Matt scale to the top and become champions. This would stack up extremely well against just about any wild tag team match in wrestling history, which I never doubted given the talent involved, but what these six men delivered exceeded my expectations by a long shot, this one comes highly recommend from me.
Next time on my dive into Ring of Honor, the Young Bucks again star, squaring off with fellow teams of brothers, the Briscoes and the Hardys, the latter of which being another Ladder Wars match. Jay and Mark will then finish out that post with a hoss fight against New Japan's Guerrillas of Destiny.
- Henry
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