Ring of Honor TV – June 9, 2021: Tournaments Are Fun

Ring of Honor
Date: June 9, 2021
Location: UMBC Events Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

We are well on the way to Best in the World and the return of fans to the shows. That can make for some interesting changes around here, which might not be the best thing at the moment. Ring of Honor has been going along pretty well as of late and hopefully they can continue that when fans return. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

The Survival of the Fittest Tournament is back. Cool.

Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and runs down the card, including the first Survival of the Fittest qualifying match.

We hear about the Survival of the Fittest Tournament, which is a bunch of qualifying matches to set up a six way elimination. The winner gets a future World Title shot and none of the entrants have been World Champion before.

Here are the qualifying matches:

Rey Horus
Flamita

Eli Isom
Dak Draper

Bandido
Bateman

Brian Johnson
Sledge

Chris Dickinson
O’Shay Edwards

Danhausen
Rhett Titus

Demonic Flamita (yes DEMONIC Flamita) is ready to take out Flamita and show the world that DEMONIC Flamita is here.

Rey Horus is ready to take out Flamita for the honor of Mexisquad and then win the World Title.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Demonic Flamita vs. Rey Horus

Flamita now has a zombie/ghost/demon entrance, but then he just walks out in a black cloak to take away some of the impact. He even slaps Horus’ hand before the match, which is not very demonic. Horus gets driven into the corner to start so Flamita is back with some stomping. Back up and Horus wins a forearm off, setting up a bodyscissors into the ropes. Horus is sent to the apron though and that means a big running spear to drive him to the floor.

They get back in and Flamita throws him outside again, this time setting up a chair to the back. Horus is sat in the chair but comes right back up onto the apron. Flamita misses a backsplash though and is sat in the chair. Horus knocks him right back out of it and now is willing to try for a countout. Actually scratch that as Horus goes back to the floor, where Flamita grabs a standing Spanish Fly.

We take a break and come back with Horus getting two off a Code Red but Flamita hits a heck of a slingshot DDT. They both go up top with Horus snapping off an armdrag to send him down. The jumping very spinning DDT gets two on Flamita but he catches Horus on top again. A MuscleBuster is dropped into a gutbuster followed by a superkick is enough to put Horus away at 11:02.

Rating: B-. This was all about flying around and doing the fast paced spots, including the Spanish Fly on the floor. The other important part was having Flamita be all evil for the first time and it only kind of worked. He’s certainly a villain now, but I would hope for something a little more evil than a superkick for a finisher.

Sledge is ready for Brian Johnson in the Survival of the Fittest. Johnson better stare him in the eye because Johnson is going to crawl and beg for mercy.

Brian Johnson talks about Sledge being a hero outside of the ring for overcoming his addictions. Johnson is addicted to wrestling though so he is going to win the Survival of the Fittest.

Silas Young vs. Josh Woods

Pure Rules with a special thirty minute time limit. Both guys say they’re ready to win because they’re better. Woods armdrags him down to start and then grabs a standing armbar. With that broken up, they go to the mat for an exchange of holds. Young grabs a short armscissors into an armbar but has to flip away after Woods grabs his foot. Woods puts on a waistlock and rolls him around, only to get caught in a headlock.

Back up and Woods’ headlock takeover is countered into a headscissors, which happens two more times in a row to give us a standoff. They shake hands….with Young pulling him into a headlock. Woods throws him down and then BLASTS Young with a right hand to the floor. That’s good for a warning and an armbar keeps Young in trouble back inside. Young is able to come back with a one armed hot shot and the abdominal stretch goes on.

Woods breaks that up so it’s a bodyscissors to keep him down. That’s broken up with some weird ankle hold, which allows Woods to backflip out again. We take a break and come back with Young driving shoulders in the corner. Some clotheslines can’t set up a superplex as Woods reverses into a twisting superplex ala Kevin Owens. Woods pulls him into a rear naked choke but Young gets his feet in the ropes (and pushes off of them for two) for the break.

They head to the apron with Woods getting dropped with a DDT. Back in and they trade fireman’s carry attempts, with Young hitting the Regal Roll. The moonsault is broken up but Young has to grab the rope for his last break. Young is fine enough to hit the anarchist suplex for two, with Woods using his own first rope break. Woods is back up with a suplex into the corner and pulls him into the Beast Lock. The rope break doesn’t mean anything and Young has to tap at 21:29.

Rating: B. This was a match with a story coming in and then a story that was told throughout. They did a good job of having Young use one rope break after another because he needed to escape some holds. It was a good match as well and Young having to admit defeat in the end worked well.

Begrudging respect is shown post match.

Overall Rating: B. Pretty solid show here with back to back good matches and DEMONIC Flamita being enough to put it over the top. I’m curious to see where the tournament goes and that is going to be enough to carry the show for a few weeks to come. As has been the case in recent weeks, Ring of Honor is one of if not the best weekly TV show going at the moment.

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