ROH 10th Anniversary: Young Wolves Rising Review

Match 1: The All Night Express vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team
Before I get into this, it should be noted that the overall visual quality has improved dramatically and it looks fantastic. Good too see The All Night Express back and the crowd is really loving this one. Great action to start off the show with just a little bit of ring rust shown by Rhett Titus who had his leg being targeted. Good psychology, fun action, and just a fitting match to open up the night as The All Night Express pick up a win in their big return.
Winners: The All Night Express
Rating: ***

Match 2: Mike Bennett vs. Homicide
Mike Bennett is like a WWE wrestler wrestling in an ROH ring, his style is methodical and isn’t really flashy. With that being said, going against someone like Homicide isn’t exactly going to set the world on fire. The action definitely slowed down from the past match and it was just hard to get into the action. Homicide is just all over the place these days and his sluggish wrestling abilities didn’t tie well with Bennett. Maria causes a distraction which leads to Bennett rolling up Homicide for the win.
Winner: Mike Bennett
Rating: *¾

Match 3: The House of Truth vs. TJ Perkins & Amazing Red
The heat between The House is starting to shape up and it’s becoming more intriguing each time. This is a battle between two teams of strength against speed. They managed to work their styles together nicely and the action was nonstop and relentless from the beginning. The announcers did a great job of putting over the two teams as the match never really had a clear winner. However, The House get a big win and hopefully for them, things have become a bit more stable.
Winners: The House of Truth
Rating: ***

Match 4: ROH World Television Championship - Jay Lethal © vs. Tommaso Ciampa
ROH has done a nice job of building up both these guys and the match as a whole. They’re finally making the title feel important and having these two go at it is a great representation of it. The announcers quickly note that there is a 15 minute time limit to the match which basically spoils where this match is headed. Slow and decent action to start things off until the final few minutes where both men finally turn it up a notch and end on a strong note as the bell tolls for an expiration on the time. Good match, nothing out of the ordinary. Things definitely dragged from the start and when they finally got going, it all just seemed too late. However, this was a nice way to build up for bigger things in the future.
Winner: n/a
Rating: **¾

Match 5: ROH World Tag Team Championships - The Briscoes © vs. The Young Bucks
It’s almost as if we’ve seen every combination of that tag teams in Ring of Honor. And it’s almost as if we’ve seen this match tons of times. A good tag match to say the least, standard action we’ve become accustomed to seeing from these guys. Even still, the action was fast and furious and it was fitting for The Briscoes to pick up the big win. They both give hugs to Cary Silkin afterwards. Just completely underwhelming and with the stage that this is, I was really hoping for a much better battle. The crowd, the announcers, and even the wrestlers for that matter didn’t manage to give this match the credibility it needed.
Winners: The Briscoes
Rating: **¾

Match 6: No Disqualification - Kevin Steen vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Kevin Steen is quickly increasing himself in the ranks in Ring of Honor and he looks to take care of Jimmy Jacobs with Steve Corino pleading him to stop. Jacobs sets the mood early on by revealing that he will be fighting Steen in his Age of the Fall outfit, a nice touch. As expected, this was a nasty brawl but thankfully, the violence was taken down a notch from Steen’s last matches against the likes of Generico and Corino. However, blood still played a crucial factor in the match when Jacobs stabbed Steen in the latter stages of the match. This prompts Steen to smile and retaliate with a spike of his own to Jacobs and finally, tossing him onto two chairs for the finish. I really hope they end these types of matches. As much as I enjoy them, I just can’t watch them anymore knowing the risks they are going through. The blood was cool but I don’t think it was justified, a good match and a good way to further the storyline.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Rating: ***¼

Match 7: Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole
There has been much controversy over this particular match and it closing out the show. However, I think it’s a perfect fit as we get to see a mix of two veterans and two young guys on the rise. This match was exactly what you could simply imagine it to be, four guys going at it full speed with tons of kicks, chops, and cool submissions. Oh, and a bunch a kicking out. Did I mention there was a ton of kicking out? Because this match was nearly more than half an hour long and while the action was fun, it just seemed unnecessarily long. The crowd didn’t really seem too interested in this match closing out the show and particularly gave heat to Davey Richards. The exchanges between Richards and Edwards was very entertaining and only increased the heat between them that had been seemingly lost. With that being said, the biggest highlight of the match was definitely Adam Cole pinning the champ! After all the kicking out and all the big spots, Adam Cole getting an upset pin on Richards was a cool sight. The crowd was definitely surprised and it was definitely a fitting way to end the match. While I enjoyed the match, the action got repetitive and the match just got hurt through its long duration.
Winners: Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole
Rating: ****

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Another good effort from Ring of Honor on iPPV. Still, not a strong show that the company needs badly. The flow to the show worked and the main gripes simply come from the variety and strength of the matches. In some ways, it felt as if I was watching the same thing over again and it becomes a huge reason for me to switch over to another wrestling promotion. While the main event was a great way to celebrate the company’s anniversary, it definitely overstayed its welcome and in some sense, diminished the quality of the match itself. With all this being said, I am very happy that the company has lasted this long and I am hopeful to see it around for another ten years.
Rating: 6.5/10