Ring Of Honor TV – August 26, 2020 (Best Of The Allure): Say Their Names
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date: August 26, 2020
The bottom of the barrel continues to be scraped as this time around we have the Allure. Yes the Allure, which is totally not the Beautiful People even though they have some of the same people involved doing the same things. Yes it’s totally different and yes you are supposed to buy that. Let’s get to it.
Video on the Allure.
Mandy Leon talks about her career, including being in the first Women Of Honor match, first women’s No DQ match and first women’s 2/3 falls match. One of her matches was against Jenny Rose from Global Wars: Buffalo 2017.
Jenny Rose vs. Mandy Leon
The bell rings and…we look at Deonna Purrazzo on commentary. Rose fireman’s carries her down to start but gets armdragged down. Another flip takes Leon down as well and we take a break. Back with Rose grabbing a test of strength but Leon fights up and grabs a top wristlock. They’re sticking with the pure technical stuff so far and that might be for the best. Mandy’s front facelock doesn’t last long as Jenny takes her down into a leglock, dances a bit, and then drops backwards to crank the leg.
We’ll make it a Muta Lock, which doesn’t last long again. Mandy is back with a majistral cradle into a full nelson with the legs but Rose rolls out into a surfboard. Back up and Mandy hits some running knees in the corner to set up a facewash. As Deonna talks about how awesome it is that Leon picked that up in Japan, Mandy sends Rose outside for a running flip dive off the apron.
Some boot choking on the apron sets up a chop off until Rose spears her down. Back from a break with Rose hitting a suplex on the floor and taking it back inside for a clothesline. They slug it out until Mandy snaps off a headscissors out of the corner. A Hennig necksnap gets two but Rose is back with a spinning side slam. There’s a bridging fisherman’s suplex for two more but Leon grabs a pumphandle driver for the pin at 13:29.
Rating: C-. This got better near the ending but the first half felt like a choreographed performance rather than a match. Rose has gotten better but it still isn’t the easiest thing to watch. At the end of the day, the Women of Honor have never been a strong suit and have regularly felt like something there for the sake of having it there, which is rarely a good idea.
They shake hands post match.
Mandy talks about how she has done the honorable things for years and it got her nowhere. That’s what led her to the G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden.
Post match Angelina Love and Velvet Sky (the Beautiful People, who Madison Rayne wanted to team with and then left anyway) debut and Leon comes to the ring. The three of them beat Klein down and do the same to an invading Stella Gray and Jenny Rose. A graphic pops up on screen dubbing them The Allure. Good. They’re already the most interesting thing in the division’s history because they’re known characters with personalities and the ability to talk. Now DO SOMETHING WITH THEM.
Angelina Love welcomes us to the show and talks about working for Ring of Honor in 2004 as part of the Embassy. She talks about coming back in Madison Square Garden and talks about how the Allure has dominated the division since then. One such match took place at Saturday Night At Center Stage in 2019.
Angelina Love vs. Sumie Sakai
Angelina jumps her before the bell and stomps away as commentary wonders how Angelina can have so little respect. Mandy gets in some choking from the floor and there’s a hair pull for the knockdown. We take a break and come back with Angelina charging into some boots in the corner but charging into a side slam for two. Lights Out (jumping Downward Spiral) into a Koji Clutch has Sakai in more trouble and Leon pulling the bottom rope away makes it even worse.
Back up and Smash Mouth gets two on Angelina but Sakai gets caught going up. Love hits a Samoan drop for two of her own but Sakai pulls her down into a blocked cross armbreaker attempt. Sakai won’t let go and even pulls Love back out of the ropes. A second reach of the ropes breaks things up but Mandy uses the distraction to blast Sakai with the hairspray. The Botox Injection (bicycle kick) finishes Sakai at 9:18.
Rating: D+. I know ROH loves Sakai but Love is going to need someone better to get a good match. This wasn’t the best way of going about things and it was rather obvious that it wasn’t the strongest effort from the division. Also, I know the official response is that it isn’t the Beautiful People but…come on already.
Angelina and Mandy get together (via split screen of course) to talk about how great they are. They brag about their wins over Rose and Sakai and now it’s time for a tag match. From Unauthorized.
Allure vs. Sumie Sakai/Jenny Rose
No DQ so Sakai and Rose jump them on the way to the ring. The beating continues at ringside as Ian Riccaboni can’t remember the difference between Kanye West and Humpty Dumpty. Leon is knocked down inside and we take a break. Back with a double suplex getting two on Leon as Ian wants to start a band with Joe Hendry and Caprice Coleman. Leon whips out a chain to choke Rose on the apron to put her on the floor.
Back in and Sakai is sat in a chair for a bad looking running double dropkick and Allure gets two pose. Back up and Sakai grabs a stuffed cat to hit both of them in the head. A good looking fisherman’s buster onto the chair plants Love for two as Rose suplexes Leon on the stage. Sakai’s moonsault only hits chair but Angelina can’t cover. Instead they fight over the chair until Love hits Botox Injection for the pin at 6:45.
Rating: C-. The violence helped a bit and that’s about all there is to say here. The Allure is more interesting than most of the division, but it doesn’t help when they’re up against Rose and Sakai. They’re both talented in the ring but they aren’t the most interesting, which brought them down here quite a bit. Not a terrible match, but it wasn’t exactly good either.
Post match Love cuts a promo in a Hulk Hogan style voice but here’s Maria Manic to cut her off. The Final Battle challenge is on and Angelina looks terrified.
The Allure reaffirms their awesomeness one more time.
We get a vignette saying Follow The Trend to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. Yeah they’re out of ideas here as they are now featuring something from the Women of Honor division. It has been a big problem since they first started and it hasn’t gotten any better since. The Allure is just the Beautiful People with a different name and that is hardly something all that appealing in 2020. These new TV shows can’t start fast enough, because this is getting rough in a hurry.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Just curious if you saw where ROH will start back up with empty arena T.V. tapings again? I read it in the Torch a few weeks ago. I think they have already begun, so it would stand to reason they should be airing soon.