Ring Of Honor TV – September 2, 2020 (Best Of Tracy Williams): They Need To Work On Their Best Of Skills
IMG Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling
Ring Of Honor
Date: September 2, 2020
We’re going with another of the up and comers around here with Tracy Williams. That could make for an interesting show as I’m not entirely familiar with his singles work. These things can be all over the place but Williams has done well enough in the limited amount of stuff that I have seen from him. Let’s get to it.
Video on Williams to start.
Williams, with his dog, talks about living in New York during the pandemic, but he misses wrestling a lot. We’ll go to a match to make him feel better, starting with Survival of the Fittest 2018.
Survival of the Fittest First Round: Tracy Williams vs. Jonathan Gresham
This is Williams’ ROH debut and he has a banged up shoulder. Williams charges at him to start but gets pulled to the mat as the technical work begins in a hurry. Gresham reverses into a headscissors on the mat but Williams switches over into a leg crank. That’s reverses into a crank on the leg until Williams takes him down to work on the knee. A rollup looks to set up a Crossface but Gresham reverses and they go into the corner.
They grapple against the ropes until Williams catches a boot to the ribs and chops away. Williams suplexes him down and we take a break. Back with Gresham not being able to hit a suplex and getting driven hard into the corner again. Gresham hits some chops of his own and muscles him over with a suplex for two. The Octopus is blocked and Williams goes up for a DDT onto the turnbuckle (cool) followed by a middle rope DDT for two.
Gresham’s hurricanrana is countered into a sunset flip for two and there’s a Death Valley Driver for the same. They trade the forearms for a good while until Williams hits a discus clothesline into a piledriver for two more. Gresham dropkicks him off the apron, followed by a high crossbody back inside, with Williams rolling through for the next near fall. Back up and Gresham gets in a shot to the shoulder and Octopuses him for the tap at 12:19.
Rating: B. Good stuff here as they didn’t stop for the entire match and it made for a very entertaining match. Williams is someone who can do some great things in the ring and Gresham is the kind of technical guy who can wrestle with anyone. I liked this a lot and hopefully Williams is around a lot longer and in some bigger spots.
Respect is shown post match.
Williams wanted to show catch as catch can on the big stage. Like this, from ROH TV, January 16, 2019.
Tracy Williams vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
They’re certainly starting fast. Williams is named Hot Sauce, which should tell you everything you need to know about him. I mean it doesn’t, but a nickname is supposed to do that. Sabre goes straight for the heavily taped shoulder but gets taken down into an armbar. That’s quickly broken with a nip up and it’s back to a cravate from Tracy before he stomps on Sabre’s ankles over and over.
Sabre can’t get up and Williams pulls on a leglock of his own. A rollup gives Williams two but Sabre gets hold on his head, which isn’t likely to go well. Sabre takes him down by the leg and spins the foot around, much to the fans’ cringing delight. Williams goes for a cross armbreaker but they get up for a standoff as we take a break. Back with Sabre starting in on the arm but Williams crushes his chest to put Sabre down. Sabre’s kicks to the chest set up another armbar, only to have Williams take him down with a suplex.
Williams scores with some forearms until Sabre takes him down into another leglock that probably has an awesome name. That’s reversed into a cross armbreaker on Sabre and then a Texas Cloverleaf. Sabre slips out and gets a small package for two, followed by a heck of a shot to Williams’ face.
A kick to the arm keeps Williams in trouble but he blocks another one and gets two off a discus lariat. Sabre is fine enough to slap on the Octopus Hold and pull on both arms (also known as Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All To Happiness”.) at once for the tap at 12:33.
Rating: B-. It was quite the display of technical submission skills and hard strikes, but one of the reasons Sabre’s best matches work so well is having him face someone who wrestles a different style. Williams is very similar to Sabre and it took away some of the interest. What we got was good, but Sabre can do a lot more.
Post match Sabre says anything Jonathan Gresham can do, he can do better.
Williams talks about joining Lifeblood, but Bully Ray didn’t like it. That set up this, at State Of The Art.
Bully Ray comes to the ring and tells everyone to get out. He wants someone to come out and fight him and I think you know where this is going.
Bully Ray vs. Tracy Williams
Williams says he wants Ray to just go home so he’s accepting his challenge. And let’s make it anything goes. As luck would have it, Williams has brought a trashcan full of weapons so we’re ready to go. Ray kicks him low and accepts, meaning it’s the bell and then a break fifteen seconds later. Back with the beatdown on in full, including the punches in the corner.
Williams gets sent through the trashcan as Ray doesn’t seem to be taking this very seriously. A suplex gets two and Ray shouts at the referee for the count. Some release German suplexes let Ray shout about SUPLEX CITY but Williams gets in an armbar over the ropes. That’s broken up so Ray throws him through the trashcan again for the big crash and two.
Ray grabs a table and we take another break. Back again with Ray hitting a kendo stick shot and loading up the table, complete with some shouting at Honor Club fans. The stick goes onto Williams’ throat, which is enough to bring Williams back up with a testicular claw. Williams takes him up top but Ray shoves him over the table. Not that it matters as Williams grabs a crucifix for the fast pin at 8:17.
Rating: C-. This was playing completely against Williams’ strengths and I’m not sure why it would be included here. Is beating Ray really supposed to be that big of a deal? It seems like this is one of those required quests in Ring of Honor as every young wrestler has to face him in a violent match. At least Williams won though. That’s something, right?
Post match Ray shoves the referee down and goes after Williams again but here’s Mark Haskins for the save. Ray puts him through the table anyway and the fans seem to approve.
Williams talks about how his time here has felt like a failure but he’s coming for the Pure Title. He can be his own weapon in the tournament and he’ll showcase that in the tournament.
Overall Rating: C+. I really don’t get the ending to this show as they did a great job of making me think Bully Ray was a star, as he stood tall after Williams caught him with a fluke rollup. Other than that, Williams lost two matches and called his career in the company a failure. If this is the best that they had for Williams, who is incredibly talented, they really need to work on their Best Of skills.
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:
Recent Comments