McXal's Reviews

When this show was announced, fans were pretty pleased. Clearly the preference would be for fans to be in attendance, but even in the empty arena setting ROH's audience were clamouring for the return of more feature-length events to give the roster more chances to work and provide a higher quantity of longer, superior quality matches than we usually get on the TV show. Unfortunately, with the news that ROH were effectively releasing their entire roster from their contracts having now broken, what could have been seen as another step in the pandemic 'recovery' for the company now appears to be the first real step on the slow march towards the end of this once-great promotion instead. We do have six big matches signed for this two hour 'Honor Club exclusive' VOD event though and some of them look really good - no more so than the main event which will see Bandido take on arch-enemy Demonic Flamita in a No DQ Match. His World Championship is on the minds of other competitors too, such as Brody King and Jonathan Gresham who meet in a #1 contendership match. Tag Title gold is on the line twice over as well; The OGK challenging Kenny King and Dragon Lee of LFI for ROH's Tag Championship, whilst the Briscoes defend their newly won GCW Tag Titles against the debuting Second Gear Crew of Effy and AJ Gray. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary from Baltimore, MD.

The last time these two met was one of the sleeper matches of the entire Pure Tournament. Rust was one of the new faces recruited to enter the first ever 'ROH Bubble' and participate in the Pure Title Tournament which ROH used to kick-start operations following a Covid-enforced break. Hot Sauce got the win on that occasion, with Taylor departing to a brief stint in WWE developmental. He returned following his release at Death Before Dishonor, with victory over Jake Atlas. Now he wants to avenge his 2020 loss to Williams and forge ahead in the race to get a shot at Pure Champion Josh Woods. Woods himself is now seemingly a full member of The Foundation and comes out with Gresham and Titus to applaud Tracy through the curtain for the match. Brian Johnson is #1 contender to the Pure Title and is on commentary scouting the competition.

The initial lock-ups are fraught with tension, with tempers flaring early and big strikes being thrown in either direction. Rust keeps throwing big shots at Williams even as Tracy cranks his leg in an anklelock. He counters to a Trailer Hitch...which in turn Williams counters to a leg grapevine. Their grappling takes them so close to the ropes that Tracy inadvertently reaches out to them whilst in a hold, cheaply costing him a rope-break. He retorts with a cross armbreaker, immediately causing Taylor to use his first break as well (then walk out of the ring in an effort to buy some recovery time). Tracy piles in, drilling him with elbows and a knee strike to open the door to another attempted arm submission. Shades of Jon Gresham next as he applies an abdominal stretch, which draws a second rope-break out of Rust. With Taylor reeling, Hot Sauce looks to capitalise with a flurry of strikes in the ropes. Taylor hits a gutwrench slam...but can't convert it to a powerbomb because of the pain in his arm which I really like. Tracy briefly locks in his Crossface, but Taylor utilises his final rope-break to escape. With the ropes now in play Tracy grabs his arm for a HANGING ARMBAR! Taylor escapes by dropping Williams to the ground...then brings him back in for the Gaia Lock! Williams needs a rope-break to escape. Taylor strikes repeatedly at Tracy's permanently-injured shoulder...and applies the Gaia Lock again to submit him at 11:47

Rating - *** - I loved this. Pure Rules Matches work so much better in an unabbreviated format than they do on television when they get understandably broken up for commercials. It played out like a game of chess between two master tacticians; constantly probing each other for weaknesses, then finding unique and sadistic methods of maximising the damage they were inflicting on any injuries they were able to open up. This didn't tell quite such a neat, coherent, self-contained narrative as their TV match (which I thought was better), and I could have lived with this getting more time so they could actually have the breathing room to build some tension by actually selling and playing with the respective injuries they were able to establish. None of those things stop it from being a fun opener though, particularly on a closed set when there are no fans to be alienated by this somewhat niche style.

We cut to Ian and Caprice, who acknowledge that 'this era' of ROH is coming to an end at Final Battle. 

The winner of this match gets a Women's Title Match on one of the Christmas episodes of ROH television. In her promo Quinn directly references the pending end of ROH, saying that she is 'running out of time' to accomplish a dream she has been working towards for years of being a champion in Ring Of Honor. Vita is the odd woman out as the only one who did not participate in the Quest For Gold Tournament, albeit that was her own fault after her spot was removed when she broke Maria Kanellis' rule around interfering in The Righteous' matches. Will her luck change now that The Righteous have been 'purified'? Miranda Alize joins commentary and is incredibly annoyed that she hasn't been included since she wants a rematch with Rok-C.

Holi and Adora start, Trish showing no fear and looking to utilise her technical skill to take the fight to her unorthodox foe. McKay and VonStarr replace them, producing an energetic, spirited but lower quality exchange than their predecessors. Holidead calls Quinn 'Mighty Mouse' and carries her around the ring bashing her into turnbuckles whilst she frantically tries to work a sleeper hold. The veteran dominates McKay, who has no choice but to tag out to Adora. Dead hits a pumphandle slam on her, not letting Trish get on the mat and start grappling like she had done earlier. Vita sneaks up behind Adora to bash her face into the canvas then apply a Last Chancery. Michinoku Driver gets 2 as well when Trish escapes the hold. Headstand frankensteiner scores as VonStarr continues to impress. Quinn tags, and actually manages to out-wrestle Adora on the ground which perhaps indicates just how much damage Vita was able to inflict. Holidead picks up both Vita and Trish at the same time, but turns just in time to see Quinn fly right at them with a missile dropkick knocking them all down. TKO on Vita gets 2; the fall broken by Holidead. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE from McKay to Adora! Inside the ring Vita misses a Vita Bomb...and Holi lands Darkness Falls to win at 13:52

Rating - ** - This is actually the longest match on the entire show, so kudos to ROH for actually giving their women's division enough time to express themselves. Unfortunately Quinn and Vita aren't at the same level as some of the higher tier competitors in the division and that was probably shown in some of the disjointed segments we saw here, particularly in the first half of the bout. It felt strange to have Alize in the building and not let her wrestle in this match. Holidead is an interesting choice to win since she isn't a 'regular' like the other three, and her challenging Rok-C on the Christmas episode doesn't feel particularly festive.  

Effy gloats about the 'outlaws' invading ROH's arena, and says they are looking for their belts back after the Briscoes came to GCW looking for the 'clout' they weren't getting in Ring Of Honor. He subtly references some of Jay Briscoe's unacceptable historic Twitter comments by saying that his issues with Jay (as an openly homosexual wrestler) run a lot deeper than just the titles. This was a GREAT promo, which accomplished an incredible amount to hype the bout in barely a minute.

Game Changer Wrestling is one of the hottest product on the independents right now. Stylistically it isn't for everyone, but the buzz they currently have has led many people to compare it to Ring Of Honor in the mid-00's. And since ROH is terminating all contracts at the end of 2021, the Briscoes are looking for work and decided to fly to LA and get themselves a piece of the action. They defeated Mance Warner and Matthew Justice of the Second Gear Crew in their debut, taking the GCW Tag Titles home with them, having backed up their claim that they've been wrestling the notoriously violent 'GCW style' their whole lives anyway. Their opponents tonight are stable-mates of Warner and Justice in Second Gear Crew, and they are coming to ROH to get the belts that the Briscoes took from them. As Effy alluded to earlier, given some of Jay's history with the LGBTQIA community on Twitter, he also has a VERY personal axe to grind with the former ROH Champion too.

Effy starts with Jay and actually strikes him out of the ring to start the match. The Briscoes double up on AJ instead, only for Effy to drag Mark out for a brawl on the floor. Mark tries to set up a chair for his big dive to the floor...but AJ intercepts him and gives him an EXPLODER THROUGH THE CHAIR! The Briscoes get some payback by tossing simultaneous chairs into the challengers' respective faces. Effy opens up a table...and dives off the top for a BLOCKBUSTER THROUGH THE TABLE on Jay! Mark breaks the pin to save the match and the titles. Frog splash from Gray to a bleeding Mark gets 2. The challengers set another table up on the floor, but are prevented from using it by Jay and another steel chair. He belts AJ in the back then drapes Effy over the table. TOP ROPE FROGGY BOW THROUGH THE TABLE ON THE FLOOR! Jay Driller on AJ sees the Briscoes retain at 08:33

Rating - *** - Working matches like this in front of no fans must really suck. It must be terrible even with a crowd, but to have to work this match cold with absolutely nobody to pop for the big bumps or cheer the wrestlers on as they put their bodies through such anguish must be a dreadful task. It wasn't a particularly remarkable match and it certainly wasn't violent in the way that GCW can sometimes get violent - but for an eight minute plunder-filled tag team brawl I thought it was decent. I loved the presentation of Effy, out-striking Jay Briscoe in the first minute and generally coming off like a crazy tough bastard at all times - necessitating an insane top rope dive from Mark just to incapacitate him. Brett Lauderdale gave some fascinating interviews about the brief working relationship GCW had with ROH. Had Sinclair not enforced a 'hiatus' onto ROH at the end of 2021, it does seem like there could have been more cross-promotional stuff with the two companies. There was nothing wrong with this at all. It wasn't an 'authentic GCW experience' but within the confines of ROH's closed set product it felt organically chaotic. It's a shame we couldn't have seen more of Effy in an ROH ring.

This is a World Title #1 contendership match with the winner going on to receive a title shot at Final Battle. Brody acknowledges that a year's worth 'VLNCE vs PURE' battles now seem meaningless (presumably due to the pending demise of the company), but that means that all that matters is being left standing with the World Title when the dust settles on Final Battle. Gresham is more dramatic, calling this battle between the frontmen of their respective stables the decisive battle in the 'VLNCE vs PURE' war and says he has to win because he IS The Foundation...

GONZO BOMB BY BRODY! Gresham grabs the ropes to escape! King is looking to blitz The Octopus just like he did to Lethal at Best In The World. Jon scurries to the floor...with King in pursuit to drill him with a body slam. STALLING SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Gresham sells it with his entire body too! He manages to duck a chop by Brody causing VU's leader to clobber the ringpost with his arm. Brody has an injured hand now but it doesn't stop him catching Gresham trying a tope suicida and ramming him spine-first into the post repeatedly. CROSSBODY INTO THE GUARDRAILS by King! The hand is still bothering him though - he injures it again trying to get back into the ring and is instantly hit with a Tope Trilogy by Gresh, pulling a move from the repertoire of his tag partner. It leaves Brody in the empty crowd area, and The Octopus is happy to win by count-out! Brody beats the count though and starts ignoring his opponent's offence. He hurts his bad hand again throwing chops at Gresham, meaning he can't get him up for a chokeslam either. Turnbuckle belly to belly suplex nailed instead! Cannonball senton nailed, and for a second time Jon needs the ropes to escape. King's hand is too injured to pull off the Gonzo Bomb...so he hits a ONE-ARM PILEDRIVER instead! Gresham survives and hops onto Brody's back looking for a sleeper hold. He has used this effectively against Shane Taylor in the past, but King is able escape using the ropes. Gresham tries to hit a Finger Snap on Brody (shades of his former Villain Enterprise leader Marty Scurll)! Repeated head shots...into the Bayonet running elbow! Gresham wins at 10:51

Rating - **** - This had a lot of the same qualities that I really liked about Brody/Lethal at Best In The World. Like that match I would obviously have preferred they got more time and could have worked a more effective, longer-form match, but that doesn't change the fact that this ten minute sprint was packed with quality. From Brody trying to reprise his annihilation of Lethal at Best In The World from the opening bell, Gresham attacking the hand, or utilising the sleeper hold he's successfully used on other big men in ROH over the years, to even trying to use Marty Scurll moves on one of his former henchmen in Villain Enterprises - it was a great match. On commentary Riccaboni says that Gresham is the man who has embodied the 'Ring Of Honor style' since the Pure Tournament and it felt like a fitting celebration of his skill to watch him pummel a man a foot taller and 100lbs heavier to unconsciousness. If this was the climactic battle of 'VLNCE vs PURE' then the purity of The Foundation wins - but only by getting as violent as Gresham could possibly get within the confines of the rules.

Gresham and Brody shake hands after the match, before Gresh walks out to start planning for Final Battle 2021.

Ian Riccaboni announces that Shane Taylor vs Kenny King has been officially booked for Final Battle. Shane T himself joins commentary to watch Kenny defend the Tag Titles up next...

The OGK deliver an emotional promo ahead of their match. Bennett says this is the match that they have been waiting five years for, and will win for The Kingdom to celebrate the legacy of guys like Adam Cole, Matt Hardy, TK O'Ryan, Maria Kanellis and even Vinny Marseglia. Taven is tearful as he talks about ROH closing, ignores his long feud with Rush to say that he 'loves' Kenny and Dragon Lee, but wants to be the last ROH Tag Champions so he can put the belts on his mantle and always remember the good times he had and history he made in Ring Of Honor.

Bennett and Taven have been talking in abstract terms about getting the Tag Titles back ever since Bennett returned to the company last year. But the war with Vincent and The Righteous completely derailed those plans. The only salvation for Taven as he tried to pick through the wreckage in the aftermath of his decisive Steel Cage loss to Vincent at Glory By Honor was that he and Mike were now free to pursue the Tag Titles. To win them they need to go through La Faccion Ingobernable, a group they go way back with. Matt Taven's main show debut was actually in a tag match against Kenny King's All Night Express at Fade To Black in 2010. He lost the World Title to Lee's brother Rush at Death Before Dishonor 17 back in 2019...and has to deal with that World Title reign now becoming synonymous with Ring Of Honor's fall from prominence (somewhat unfairly). King, Bennett and Taven in particular have spent a long time in ROH...and are well aware they are vying for the honour of potentially being the last ever Tag Champions.

Taven has toured CMLL multiple times and proves his lucha credentials by instantly dropping Lee with a lucha armdrag. Dragon reacts by hauling him into the LFI corner for a 2-on-1 attack. The OGK do the same in return to King, before Matt launches himself up the aisle into a tope suicida on Lee. AIR TAVEN wipes out Kenny! Lee manages to toss Matt off the ropes before they can hit the Hail Mary though. He lands on his neck in the turnbuckles, which LFI quickly start attacking. Even La Bestia gets in on the act; blasting his head and neck into the guardrails as the defending champions distract the ref. Even when Taven lands a rolling neckbreaker on Kenny he is still so injured himself that he can barely move after hitting it. Bennett gets a crucial tag and lays Dragon out with a brainbuster immediately. He no-sells a German supelx and absolutely blasts Lee with a rolling elbow smash for 2 as well. Kenny blocks Bennett's spinebuster into a dragon suplex/Tiger Driver combo. That's how he defeated Bennett on Week By Week recently - but this time Taven is on hand to break it with Just The Tip! Purple Thunder Driver on Kenny, although Matt isn't legal so can't make a pin. Capo Kick/Incinerator combo by LFI! Spinebuster by Bennett! Heel kick by King to block Mike's Spear! CLIMAX on Lee! La Bestia is on the apron distracting the referee so he can't count the pin though. Amy Rose and Max The Impaler come out. Amy hasn't forgotten how Kenny and Bestia ejected her from LFI it seems. Proton Pack on Lee...gives OGK the win (whilst Max is on the outside stopping Kenny from making the save). 11:59 is your time and we have new champions

Rating - *** - Perhaps more than any other match tonight, this is the one which really had an 'ROH is ending' vibe. Taven's tearful promo set the tone, but everything about this felt like positioning chess pieces to get to Final Battle, or close outstanding storyline threads before the shutdown. Amy Rose gets revenge on Kenny King for her being thrown out of LFI earlier in the year, and the Tag Titles move to The OGK, closing their 'quest' for the belts that they've been on since Bennett returned. I've complained about the TV and Tag Titles being bounced around all year - but given the circumstances these guys are working under it is hard to begrudge loyal company men like Taven getting title reigns as a 'thank you'. Matt Taven's run in 2019 is notorious, but the infamy around it eclipses a remarkable body of work that year - delivered whilst his body became increasingly injured. He even stuck around to launch the feud with Vincent when he should have taken time off. The OGK's win here means he gets another run with his friend - and will now be featured in a marquee championship match at Final Battle. If you're being unkind, the match was decent but no more. Twelve minutes wasn't enough time for them to deliver anything particularly special, so they settled for a feisty but very safe run through of their favourite spots and a few nifty counter sequences. It wasn't an example of either team's best work.

Kenny argues with Amy Rose on the floor, and in doing so walks into a spear from Max. Meanwhile Taven is in tears again as he celebrates, and vows that The OGK will be the 'last' champions...

The World Title isn't on the line here, this is a personal issue between two bitter enemies. They used to be partners, even before the formation of the MexiSquad they were a semi-regular team in multiple promotions...but somewhere along the way Flamita became jealous of Bandido. At the 19th Anniversary they failed to win back the Six-Man Championship from Shane Taylor Promotions, and the relationship between them dissolved. In 2021 we've seen Flamita morph into this dark, 'Demonic' form - sadistically pursuing both Bandido and Rey Horus. He apparently wants to take Bandido's mask and his title, but Bandido says he has to prove he's worthy of a title match by winning here. EC3 is on commentary talking more utter nonsense...

EC3 calls the match 'polishing brass on the Titanic', which is a novel way to put over a main event grudge match. Flamita starts smashing the champion's leg into the ringpost, hobbling him inside the first minute. He works a half crab, which he doesn't have to break even though Bandido is in the ropes. It is a dominant start by Demonic who next uses a chair to exacerbate Bandido's leg injury. The champ hits a military press driver, but collapses in pain. Running moonsault to the floor next - effectively now sacrificing his injured leg to take the fight to his nemesis. He basically has to crawl between spots yet somehow finds more strength to scoop Flamita up for a slam into the ringpost, now targeting Flam's back it seems. The injury means it takes him too long to set up a table on the floor, allowing Demonic time to recover. Crucifix Driver by the champ, into a pop-up cutter. NO SOLD into the Flam Fly before both men collapse! 450 SPLASH OFF THE APRON BY FLAMITA! He celebrates too long and too hard though, allowing Bandido back up to hit a back suplex (kind of) through the table! The table not giving way caused Flamita's bad back to bounce awkwardly into the floor too. They go to the ropes where Bandido defies his knee injury to roll out of the ropes into a frankensteiner. 21-Plex blocked with a low blow...for 2! Bandido smacks Flamita in the dick right back - then levels him with a bridging German suplex to win at 13:32

Rating - **** - This would have been an even better match if either man could have been bothered to sell their injuries with any kind of consistency, and better still if somebody had cut EC3's microphone. His commentary felt like someone was actually paying him to ruin the match. He's been incredibly annoying to listen to ever since he showed up in ROH, and this was a new low. Luckily, even if they weren't up for selling a leg or a back, these two make diving around the arena with incredible speed and precision look sensationally easy. To their credit, this FELT like a grudge match as well. Sure it was silly at times and obviously loaded with lucha-inspired highspots, but tonally it really stood out from their usual work - particularly Bandido. It is a match which closes another story line as Final Battle approaches, and was a fine end to the Bandido/Flamita rivalry.

Tape Rating - *** - I'm completely at a loss to explain why - having seen the few fans they have clamour for MORE ROH, more shows, more content etc - Ring Of Honor thought the best approach was a two hour show full of mostly decent but completely unsubstantial matches was the way to go. Excluding the women's match, I could probably summarise the rest of the card with the same sentence; 'talented wrestlers, match was fine, needed more time'. And in truth that's a distilled microcosm of why ROH finds itself in a position where it needs to "reimagine" itself in the first place. The wrestling was decent, the roster are talented and care about what they do - but everything about the presentation remains complacent and continues to wilfully refuse to treat the product with the kind of reverence and AMBITION that they should. Why wasn't this show three hours? Why could they only find  eleven minutes for matches like LFI/OGK? These aren't difficult problems to fix, which is what makes them all the more annoying. Worth checking out from this are Gresham/Brody (the show-stealer in my opinion), Bandido/Flamita, Effy kicking ass in ROH and Matt Taven's overwhelming outpouring of emotion both before and after his match. But if you skip it...I don't honestly think you'd be missing all that much either.

3) Taylor Rust vs Tracy Williams (***)

2) Bandido vs Demonic Flamita (****)

1) Jonathan Gresham vs Brody King (****)