Ring of Honor
Date: February 17, 2021
Location: UMBC Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

I’m not sure what to expect from this show these days and I’m also not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. The show has been far from terrible but there is something about it that feels inconsistent. Sometimes you get a good show but at times you get a show that leaves me counting the minutes until it’s over. Let’s get to it.

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

The Foundation gives Wheeler Yuta and Fred Yehi a fired up promo about bringing honor back. Tonight they’re going to shake things up a bit by having parts of the Foundation on both sides of a six man. Everyone else leaves and Jay Lethal says he and Tracy Williams will start, which is cool with Williams, who reminds Jay what happened the last time they were in the ring together (Tracy won).

Opening sequence.

Quinn McKay runs down the card.

Tony Deppen talks about how important Final Battle was for him because he has a newborn to provide for every day. He beat LSG to get to his TV Title shot against Dragon Lee and now he is going to do it again. They took different paths to get here but Deppen has the momentum here.

LSG talks about his journey starting fifteen years ago and he isn’t letting the flavor of the month take him out of this company. He is here to hang with the best and he knows Deppen can’t beat him again. LSG is Ring of Honor, but what about Deppen?

LSG vs. Tony Deppen

Deppen is getting this match due to fan response (part of Ring of Honor trying to listen to the people more). Going to the mat doesn’t last long to start so they trade some quick rollups for a variety of results. They’re on the floor for the slugout in a hurry before they go back inside, with LSG’s O’Connor roll being kicked out to the apron. Deppen hits a triangle dropkick to the floor but LSG sends him hard into the barricade. Back in and LSG grabs a neck crank as we take a break.

We come back with LSG missing an elbow drop but nailing a knee to the jaw. Something like a Gory Stretch has Deppen in more trouble but he’s right back with some slaps to the face. A basement dropkick sends LSG into the corner and Deppen gets two off some running knees in the corner. They slap it out until LSG hits Rock In Bye Baby (spinning faceplant) into a springboard spinning forearm for two.

A dropkick through the ropes rocks Deppen again but Deppen sweeps the leg from the apron. Back in and a brainbuster into a running knee gets two on LSG but the top rope double stomp misses. Some rollups give Deppen two each but LSG grabs a Gory Stretch….and flips Deppen forward into a sitout powerbomb (cool) for the pin at 11:57. Ian Riccaboni names it the Event Horizon and Caprice likes it.

Rating: C+. The ending was the big deal here, but what mattered more was the fact that I wasn’t sure who was going to win until the end. You don’t get that kind of a feeling very often and I was surprised when LSG won. Granted that might have been because I hadn’t seen the finisher before and it was rather cool looking. Rather hart to believe that Deppen wasn’t helping with the flip, but it looked great.

The Briscoes are staring at each other with Mark being annoyed at Jay for going after EC3 instead of the Tag Team Titles. The whole thing is argued using a boat metaphor and….I think they make up?

Rush and Shane Taylor are ready for their World Title match in two weeks.

Jonathan Gresham/Tracy Williams/Fred Yehi vs. Jay Lethal/Wheeler Yuta/Rhett Titus

After an extended Code of Honor, Lethal and Williams start things off, as planned. The feeling out process begins until Williams takes him down into an armbar. They fight over half crabs with neither being able to get very far so Titus comes in to take Williams down. The mat grappling goes to another standoff so it’s off to Yehi. Titus gets wrestled to the mat and bails over to the ropes, meaning Yuta comes in for some arm battling of their own.

With that broken up, Gresham comes in and is taken to the mat by the leg. Gresham’s headscissors gets us to a standoff and Yuta’s armbar sends Gresham to the rope. It’s off to Lethal to face Gresham and they go straight to the mat as well. They spin around rather fast and that’s good for another standoff with commentary sounding out of breath. Lethal cartwheels out of a headlock and another one sets up a basement dropkick to Gresham.

Titus comes in to work on the arm and hands it back to Lethal. That doesn’t go so well for Titus as Lethal spears him down by mistake, allowing the hot tag to Yehi. A snap brainbuster gets two on Yuta, who has to go to the rope to break up the Koji Clutch. We take a break and come back with the Lethal Combination dropping Williams. Hail To The King gets two but Williams gets in a shot of his own for the double knockdown.

Gresham and Titus come in with Titus nailing a belly to belly for two. Gresham hands it back to Yehi, who is clotheslined into a jackknife rollup for two more. Everything breaks down and Lethal has to save Titus from the Koji Clutch. There’s the Lethal Injection to Gresham, who shoved Yehi out of the way since he isn’t legal. Titus dropkicks Yehi down for the pin at 17:47.

Rating: B. They had an idea here and then executed it, which is all you could want them to do. There was something nice about having a much more technically sound match and that is the kind of thing that could turn into a big feud with someone down the line. Mixing the lineups up a bit here helped too as you can only do the same kind of match so many times. Good storytelling and solid action so I’m rather pleased.

A lot of handshakes end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This would be on the higher end of their shows since the return and that is great to see. Both matches worked and while I still don’t need the minute and a half promos before the matches, they let some things build and had two good matches. Ring of Honor knows how to put together a good show but they need to work on their consistency. What we got here worked well and if they can even do most of this kind of thing again, they’re going to be in a great place.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Ring of Honor
Date: September 16, 2020
Location: UMBC Events Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

For the first time in nearly six months, we have a fresh show from Ring of Honor and they are starting with a bang. It’s the return of the Pure Title, a championship which has a special set of rules and hasn’t been around in nearly fifteen years. If nothing else it will be nice to see something other than Best Of lower level wrestlers for a change. Let’s get to it.

There’s a new opening sequence for the first time in years.

The opening video looks at the tournament, which will feature sixteen men and will focus on the principles the company was founded upon.

Quinn McKay gives us a quick history of the title.

We see the sixteen men in the tournament in no particular order:

Jay Lethal

Matt Sydal

Jonathan Gresham

Tracy Williams

PJ Black

David Finlay

Silas Young

Josh Woods

Kenny King

Rocky Romero

Delirious

Dalton Castle

Tony Deppen

Wheeler Yuta

Rust Taylor

Fred Yehi

There are alternates just in case someone can’t wrestle. In Block A, it’s Dak Draper and in Block B it’s Brian Johnson.

We’ve got brackets and it’s single elimination:

Block A

Jay Lethal

Dalton Castle

David Finlay

Rocky Romero

Silas Young

Fred Yehi

Tracy Williams

Rust Taylor

Block B

Jonathan Gresham

Wheeler Yuta

Delirious

Matt Sydal

Josh Woods

Kenny King

PJ Black

Tony Deppen

We’re not done with the rules.

First round matches have a fifteen minute time limit, second round is twenty, third is thirty and the finals are sixty.

Each match will have three judges in case of a time limit draw.

And now for the actual Pure Rules as they somehow haven’t been mentioned yet.

Each match begins and ends with a handshake.

You have three rope breaks per match. After they are gone, pins and submissions in the ropes count, but they still must take place in the ring.

Closed fist punches to the face are not allowed though open handed strikes are legal. Closed fists to other parts of the body, save for low blows, are legal. One closed fist to the face is a warning and the second is a DQ.

Standard 20 count.

Any interference means you are FIRED FROM THE COMPANY.

Jay Lethal talks about being around ROH for thirteen years and Samoa Joe giving him his first major break. He is the only former Pure Champion in the tournament and wants to be the first ever two time champion. We see some clips of Lethal defending his title against some legends and he isn’t changing anything up because it had gotten here this far. Dalton Castle has beaten him before and that is all that is in his head.

Dalton Castle talks about being a really good wrestler and how good he has been since he was eleven. Then he became the Ring of Honor World Champion and this is the perfect environment for him. No he hasn’t wrestled in five months but he has been wrestling for over twenty three years. You think he can’t just turn it on? The rules are different though and Castle is ready to suplex Lethal a lot. Castle worries that people are forgetting how dangerous he is because of all of the funny stuff he does. He is a dangerous man and he is showing it in the tournament. This was WAY different from Castle and I liked the new side.

Pure Title Tournament First Round: Dalton Castle vs. Jay Lethal

There are now graphics with some stats, including that Castle has won 85% of his matches with the Bang-A-Rang and that Lethal has won 88% of his matches in Baltimore. I love little things like that and they’re a nice touch that shows they have put in some effort during the time off. We also get a graphic showing that the judges (not shown) are Gary Juster, Will Ferrara and Sumie Sakai.

Castle gets a front facelock to start but Lethal rolls over into the ropes, with a voiceover saying that is his first rope break. There is even a clock on screen to show the match time. Dang there is some actual fresh effort around here. They go to the mat again with Castle working on the arm until Lethal spins out to pull on the arm. Castle stacks her up for two and it’s a standoff. Lethal misses a right hand and gets suplexed down and an overhead belly to belly sends Lethal hard into the corner.

Back from a break with Lethal working on the leg, including a shinbreaker. They trade forearms as Coleman talks about how this is real wrestling and not entertainment. The Figure Four is broken up and they’re both down for a bit. Back up and the Bang-A-Rang is countered into the Lethal Combination for two. Hail To The King is broken up and Castle pulls him down for the Bang-A-Rang, with Castle’s leg giving out in the middle. Lethal has to use his second rope break to save himself and comes back with some kicks to the head. The Lethal Injection connects for the pin at 13:11.

Rating: B-. Lethal was the safe pick here but that pre-match promo made me want to see Castle go forward here. That being said, if you want to make a new star, having them beat Lethal, perhaps in the finals, would be a great way to go. Lethal wasn’t wrestling like a heel here whatsoever, but if they’re going for just the basics, that is a little more acceptable.

Wheeler Yuta has been wrestling for six years now after turning pro at sixteen. He went to college in Philadelphia just so he could train in the city with Drew Gulak. Yuta trained in the Michinoku Pro dojo in Japan and trained in Germany as well. He is going to want to take people apart and find their weaknesses. Yuta praises Jonathan Gresham and knows Gresham isn’t worried about him, so Yuta can win.

Jonathan Gresham talks about being an amateur wrestler because he thought that’s what you had to do to become a pro. He saw Ring of Honor back in 2005 and knew it was where he wanted to go because of everything they combined. Gresham has wrestled around the world and his technique is winning the title. It’s time to reshape this company as the pure wrestlers see it.

Pure Title Tournament First Round: Jonathan Gresham vs. Wheeler Yuta

Gresham’s Tag Team Title is notably absent. They fight over a test of strength to start with the bigger Yuta taking him to the mat. Gresham bridges off the mat but gets caught in a bodyscissors. That is rolled into a rollup for two each but Gresham rolls over into a surfboard. The leg cranking takes us to a break and we come back with an exchange of head fakes until Yuta scores with a dropkick.

Gresham goes right back to the leg with an Indian deathlock (with Yuta’s eyes bugging out in fear). Yuta bails to the ropes for the break and then punches Lethal in the face, earning himself an official warning. Gresham is annoyed so the pace picks up as they slug it out (with legal open hand strikes). A quick arm trap cradle gives Yuta two and a springboard spinning crossbody gets the same.

There’s a high crossbody for the same but Gresham is right back on the leg. The Figure Four goes on but they roll over to the ropes (not announced as a break) and fall to the floor to bang them both up. They both beat the count and trade some rapid fire rollups for two each. Gresham stomps on the knee though and pounds it into the mat to make Yuta tap at 10:25.

Rating: C+. This was a different kind of match than the opener and that’s a good idea. Yuta frustrated Gresham here and it told an interesting story of Gresham fighting someone who is so similar to himself. Gresham finally just unloading on the knee to win was a good way to go and the match worked as a result. Yuta would be a nice addition if he’s sticking around, but Gresham wasn’t losing in the first round of this thing.

Overall Rating: B-. It’s nice to have this stuff back as the stakes are instantly higher when you don’t know who is going to win. The Best Of stuff was nice but when you have nothing more for over four months, there is only so much value. I could go for something other than the tournament going forward (as a supplement, not a replacement), but given how things are going, a tournament is the best idea for the time being and that’s understandable.

 

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:

http://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:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6