ROH 17th Anniversary Review

Matches
1.Scurll vs King **3/4
2.ROH TV Title: Cobb(c) vs Taylor ***1/4
3.WOH Title: Mayu(c) vs Klein ***
4.ROH World Title: Lethal(c) vs Taven ***1/2
5.Rush vs Bandido ***1/4
6.ROH Tag Titles, Street Fight: Briscoes(c) vs VE ***3/4

Thoughts:
Ring of Honor's 17th Anniversary event admittedly looked like a filler show more than anything else, and that's kind of what it was. Despite that, it was still largely enjoyable.

The opener was decent, with Marty getting some momentum ahead of his title shot. King was about as good as usual. They're going to use Scurll as much as possible before his contract expires.

The second match was one of the best of the night, and a fairly good big man clash in general. This was one of the best Shane Taylor matches I've seen. Cobb retaining was the right call, but I like that he got a real challenge here.

The women's match of the night was good, but not as much so as I had hoped. Mayu is a top class worker and her holding the belt is a good call but they should let her work her style. The division continues to kind of just be there, which sucks because I want it to succeed.

The World Championship match was pretty good, as well, but they tried too hard to make this an epic encounter and it still came off as a bloated angle by the end. The antics hurt the match, too. All of this build up and we just got a draw in the end to set up a three way ladder match on a different show? Like I said, this show is mainly filler.

The semi was good. I said on Twitter that it was the most interesting match of the card (Rush even retweeted me) and I stand by that. Both are set to be big parts of the brand's future and neither really should be taking a clean fall right now, but they booked it either way. Rush winning was the more obvious call, and they went with it. To me, it suggests Rush is set to be a main event player sooner than later. Bandido will likely remain a bit player who might get a TV or Tag Title by the end of the year, but is largely there to put on a show. Good stuff, regardless of the significance.

The main event was my MOTN. Villain Enterprises winning was a bit of a surprise, but a fun choice. With Marty leaving soon, I wonder if the two will remain together, or is all of this just meant to position themselves nicely on the card before the trio falls apart. Either way, check this one out for sure.

This show isn't required viewing by any means, but it was a good show if you look past some booking issues. At the very least go watch Cobb's defense and the main if you are tight on time.

Overall Rating: 70/100%