Ring Of Honor TV Results – September 23, 2020: They Have A Point

IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling

Ring of Honor
Date: September 23, 2020
Location: UMBC Events Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Caprice Coleman, Ian Riccaboni

It’s the second week of both the return and the Pure Title tournament and things have gone pretty well so far. Having a tournament under these circumstances is one of the smartest (and only) thing that they can do but it’s better than nothing. If it lives up to last week, they’re going to be just fine. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Quick look at the tournament.

Opening sequence.

Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and throws us to a clip of Jay Lethal defeating Dalton Castle last week.

Lethal says that’s the first step towards becoming the first ever two time champion. He doesn’t care who he faces next week because he wants the best.

We look at the end of Jonathan Gresham defeating Wheeler Yuta.

Gresham says no one is stopping him and it doesn’t matter who he is facing next week.

David Finlay talks about being part of a big wrestling family but he was never forced to stay in the business. Then he went into the New Japan Dojo and was started from scratch because they break you down. He hasn’t been in Ring of Honor since January 2019 because he hurt his shoulder against the Briscoes and missed eight months. Finlay has been working on a variety of offense, including a leg submission.

Rocky Romero talks about everything he has done in Ring of Honor and everyone he has shared the ring with over the years. He loves the idea of the Pure Title tournament because it is everything he loves about wrestling. Romero has wrestled Finlay because and knows all of his weaknesses and strengths. The experience is what is going to matter here though because he has done this for a lot longer than Finlay. Romero is going to win the tournament and put it on his resume, but Finlay is just going to be a footnote.

Pure Title Tournament First Round: Rocky Romero vs. David Finlay

They trade standing switches to start and that’s an early standoff. Finlay headlock takeovers him down but Romero is back up with a headscissors. They go to the corner where Finlay gets in a kick to the ribs, setting up the chinlock. We take a break and come back with Finlay getting two off a dropkick and faceplanting him down. The camel clutch goes on, with Finlay switching it into a cobra clutch for a change.

Rocky fights up into a springboard tornado DDT for the break though and it’s time to kick away at Finlay’s shoulder. Romero goes up and drives a middle rope knee into the arm. Sliced Bread is broken up and Finlay slams him into the ropes, with Romero’s knee getting banged up.

The leglock goes on but Romero reaches over to use his first rope break. The slugout goes to Finlay but Romero is right back with Sliced Bread for two, plus a warning for a closed fist. Romero slaps on the armbar with kicks on the face but Finlay gets his feet on the rope for the break. Another Sliced Bread is countered into a backbreaker and Finlay hits a Last Shot for the pin at 13:03.

Rating: C+. I’m not much of a fan of either of these two but they had a rather nice match here. This was more what the idea of the tournament was supposed to be and they made it work out rather well. It’s nice to see someone younger get the win and Finlay will probably get something from a match against Jay Lethal in the next round.

Matt Sydal talks about having a mind, heart and soul advantage over everyone here. He took Tae Kwan Do and his foot has a big calcified growth on his foot thanks to an injury to make his kicks even worse. When he was starting with wrestling, Delirious was the first person to open his eyes to see how much more there was to this world. They had a match in 2004 and it meant so much to him. Now he needs to win the title to honor those who came before him.

Delirious, with subtitles, talks about being in Ring of Honor for sixteen years but never winning a title. He is a completely different breed and now things are going to change. This is a different Delirious because there is no crowd to make laugh so he is coming in as a beast. He and Sydal first met in 2004 and they have both won over the years. They are different but they are the same and there is no Delirious without Sydal. Delirious is in the tournament because he is bored and wants to be the best in the world.

Pure Title Tournament First Round: Delirious vs. Matt Sydal

The more muscular than usual Delirious dives after Sydal’s leg to start and it’s time to grapple. With that broken up in a hurry, it’s off to a test of strength for a change of pace. They go back to the mat with Delirious’ leglock being countered into a headscissors, which is countered right back into the leg hold. Sydal reverses into another headscissors but Delirious snaps the arm over the top rope, which counts as a rope break. Delirious is smart enough to stay on the arm and we take a break.

Back with Delirious holding a short armscissors but having used a rope break while we were away. They run the ropes into a double clothesline, followed by some kicks to the face to give Sydal two. Sydal kicks him in the legs and head for two more but Delirious is back with a cobra clutch suplex. They go into a pinfall reversal sequence until Sydal slaps on Delirious’ cobra stretch for the tap at 9:57.

Rating: C. This was a bit shorter than I was expecting but you don’t have to stretch things out a long way to get nice results. Sydal winning is fine as Delirious is kind of the designated wrestler if Ring of Honor is in need of a name. It works out well enough and the match was completely watchable, even with a surprise ending as Sydal is now in AEW.

Overall Rating: C+. They have something nice going on with this tournament and we could be in for a nice long run of matches as a result. It’s very structured and given ROH’s history with storylines, that is hardly the worst idea. As has been the case for most promotions restarting, it’s much more about getting ANYTHING out there so while the tournament may not be for everyone, it’s a lot better than nothing.

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