Ring Of Honor TV – October 14, 2020: Maybe The Best TV Show Going Today
IMG Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date: October 14, 2020
Location: UMBC Events Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
It’s time to start the quarterfinals and that’s a nice thing to see. The Pure Title tournament is such a pallet cleanser after so many things are so bad around here and I could go for a lot more of it. Thankfully that seems to be what we are going to be getting for a long time to come and I can’t say I’m complaining. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with a look at the tournament, as we should.
Opening sequence.
Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and runs down the quarterfinal participants.
We look at Tracy Williams advancing last week.
Williams says that was round one and he’s here for the best competition. He thanks Rust Taylor for knocking the rust off and hopes he never has to wrestle someone that tough again. Now he has Fred Yehi, who was part of Catch Point with him. So bring it on, because Yehi was what Catch Point was all about.
PJ Black beat Tony Deppen and knows he can use enough moves to make people burn through his rope breaks. Now he’s ready for round two.
We look at Jay Lethal beating Dalton Castle to advance to the second round. He’s ready for David Finlay.
We look at David Finlay beating Rocky Romero to advance to the second round. He’s ready for Jay Lethal.
Pure Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Jay Lethal vs. David Finlay
The time limits are extended to twenty minutes in the second round. They fight over wristlocks to start with Finlay knocking him to the mat but having to fight out of a cross armbreaker attempt. Lethal takes over on the arm and then drives him down into something close to a Fujiwara armbar. Back up and they fight over a hiptoss with Lethal being sent out to the floor in a crash.
They switch places with Finlay hurting his knee on the landing but still being able to get away before Lethal can dive. Back in and Finlay uses a headscissors to escape a headlock, only to get pulled into another headlock. With the holds not working, Lethal hits the hiptoss into the basement dropkick as we take a break. We come back with Lethal in trouble thanks to a backbreaker (with commentary calmly explaining the main point of what we missed during the break, because this show is treated as an actual sport).
Lethal escapes but can’t get a Figure Four as his knee is banged up, instead settling for the Lethal Combination for a double knockdown. That gets a very delayed two but Lethal takes way too long going up top because of the knee. Finlay pulls him down into something close to an Indian deathlock. Lethal is smart enough to use his first rope break and they fight out to the apron. Finlay is left on the apron and it’s a springboard dropkick to put him on the floor. The bad knee means Lethal can only hit one dive but the Lethal Injection connects for the pin to eliminate Finlay at 14:58.
Rating: B-. Lethal’s knee was banged up throughout the second half but it only held him back so much as he was still hitting almost all of his usual stuff. Finlay was a bit more interesting so far but I completely get why it’s Lethal moving on. He’s the biggest star Ring of Honor has at the moment and there is no reason to have him eliminated early on. Good match, but not quite as good as I was expecting.
We actually get an in-ring promo with Vincent coming to the ring to talk about how everyone is talking about change. He doesn’t need to change though because he is righteous. At one time, he stood there in the shadows and almost needed someone to bring him in. Now though, he’s here as the face of horror and it tastes so good man. He wants us to get closer and dig what he is saying. If you want to be successful you need friends, but if you want to be even more successful, you need to have some enemies.
Cue Matt Taven to take Vincent out and the beatdown is on in a hurry. Taven rips the canvas up and hits a knee to the face, followed by the Climax onto the exposed wood. That’s not enough as Taven whips out a table and drives Vincent through it at ringside before walking away. Face Taven is still a mile better than the heel version and this is a good way to build things up aside from the tournament.
We get a vignette on the importance of freedom. Three lines come up and we see the words YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
We look at Jonathan Gresham moving on by defeating Wheeler Yuta. He’s ready for Matt Sydal.
We look at Matt Sydal moving on by defeating Delirious. He’s ready for Jonathan Gresham.
Pure Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Jonathan Gresham vs. Matt Sydal
The break takes place before the bell for a nice relief. Sydal takes him down by the leg to start and cranks away before switching to an armbar. You know Gresham is fine on the mat and starts pulling on Sydal’s foot but Sydal gets in a kick to the face for the escape. Sydal puts on an ankle lock, only to get taken down into Gresham’s hammerlock. Gresham ties the arm around his leg and pulls back on Sydal’s leg at the same time for a bonus. That’s broken up so they trade some headscissors.
With that going nowhere, Sydal takes him down and starts working on the arm some more. This time they stumble into the ropes for a break, which is somehow not a rope break. We take a break and come back with Sydal striking away but not being able to get the cobra stretch. Sydal takes him down by the leg instead and kicks away at the knee. A big kick to the chest drops Gresham but it’s quickly off to a pinfall reversal sequence. Gresham’s knee is fine enough to pull Sydal into a surfboard but drops Sydal down to horribly bend the ankle and Sydal taps at 13:27.
Rating: B. This was more like it and the kind of thing that made the time worth it. The whole point here was two guys being technical masters with Gresham being just that much better. If nothing else, it’s great to see the two of them trying various methods of destroying the other’s limbs and Gresham’s big finishing hold was awesome. Really good stuff here and that’s what I was hoping to see.
We get another CONTROL YOUR NARRATIVE video and it’s confirmed to be EC3.
Overall Rating: B+. Seriously what else could you want from an hour long show? They had two good to very good matches, a surprise at the end and a story being brought back after several months away. Ring of Honor is doing the most basic stuff right now but they’re doing it well, and I’ll take that every single time.
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