McXal's Reviews

This is just the second PPV/Honor Club VOD show that Ring Of Honor have produced since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first - Final Battle 2020 - wasn't a perfect show but received mostly solid reviews and continued to showcase much of what ROH has done very well during the pandemic. It ended with a staredown between La Faccion Ingobernable and The Foundation, and the growing rivalry between those two factions is at the heart of this event with three championship matches between them including Rush vs Jay Lethal in a hotly anticipated main event. All championships are on the line, we have the big Briscoe/EC3 and Taven/Vincent grudge matches plus plenty more. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary from the Covid-secure closed-set in Baltimore, MD.

We know very well that Johnson and Danhausen don't like each other. Danhausen scored a sneaky victory over The Mecca at Final Battle to secure his ROH contract, much to the delight of his ever-growing cult following. Johnson though comes in with some momentum having bested the mysterious vampire in a rematch, then produced a commendable performance even in defeat to Dragon Lee in a YouTube exclusive match. LSG and Eli are scrapping for their place on the roster in 2021. In fact, Isom returned on TV this week for his first appearance since the pandemic broke out. LSG has wins over Tony Deppen and Bandido recently so is arguably the most in-form wrestler in the match.

Johnson starts (because it's 'Mecca vs Everybody'), and walks into a big dropkick from Isom. The Mecca quickly rolls out, allowing LSG to enter the ring and look to grapple Eli from behind. Johnson blind-tags Isom out so he can resume his place in the ring...and quickly eats the Rolling Thunder lariat from St. Giovanni then gets back dropped to the floor. Springboard moonsault to the floor by Isom! Danhausen declines the opportunity to hit a dive and instead decides to kick Brian in the face. Isom and LSG clobber him for being ridiculous then hit the ring to settle it amongst themselves. Saint-splosion countered to a northern lights suplex by Eli. Johnson hits a diving lariat to knock Danhausen out before throttling Isom against the middle rope. Eli tries to hit back with a top rope dive only for Mecca to crotch him and deliver a Tower Of London. Springboard forearm by LSG, followed by a frog crossbody from Isom to St. Giovanni! He, Eli and Johnson collide in the middle of the ring...as Danhausen slithers in looking to capitalise. He hits a SLINGSHOT GERMAN on Isom, which in turn flips him into a MOONSAULT SPLASH ON LSG! Snap German on Johnson, before Dan starts reaching for his jar of teeth. He fills Mecca's mouth with teeth...TRIPLE SUPERKICK on him! Gutwrench DDT on Danhausen from Isom. Leon blocks The Promise...GOODNIGHTHAUSEN on him! Johnson pulls LSG out of the ring to break the pin. He pokes Danhausen in the eyes, hits his wind-up neckbreaker (called 'The Process') and wins at 10:52

Rating - ** - What this match did very well was selectively use Danhausen. He is a real cult hero with big sections of ROH's fanbase right now - clearly a good thing, but stylistically he is so opposed to much of what ROH's post-pandemic relaunch has been built upon. In this match we got to see heaps of his personality, some fun spots from him...but outside of that he largely stayed out of the way so the other three could carry it, with varying degrees of success. LSG looked smooth and explosive, Johnson is undoubtedly watchable for his character-work if nothing else, and Isom is full of potential...but I didn't really think they clicked together. It was only the explosive second half of the match, with Danhausen woven into the fabric of the action, where I found myself particularly interested. And I don't say that as someone who is a particularly big Danhausen fan...

Jay Lethal is literally flying the flag of The Foundation. He reminds everyone that the 'soul' of ROH is at stake tonight and The Foundation plan to bring home all the belts to purify the company.

In the LFI locker room Rush, La Bestia and Kenny King are warming up. The Foundation look more relaxed and appear to be discussing strategy in their changing area....

Flip Gordon reminds everyone that he is still owed a World Title shot, but has decided to wait until LFI and The Foundation have 'destroyed each other'. He says he didn't have a personal issue with Mark Briscoe until Mark cost him a match against Flamita. He plans to end Mark's nineteen year ROH career tonight as a result...

Mike Bennett declines to comment on what will happen in the Taven/Vincent Unsanctioned Match. Brian Milonas walks in and neither one of them seems to know what to expect. Beer City Bruiser berates Milonas for worrying about Taven...

Dak Draper contrasts Gresham's life as a perpetual underdog with his own as a 'constant favourite'. He says it means Gresham has it easier as he has never had to deal with the pressure of 'expectation'. Draper also admits to being envious of the success and attention Gresham has received as Pure Champion. Tonight is the night he finally becomes a champion apparently...

Josh Woods is back under the tutelage of Silas Young, with the Last Real Man criticising his outlandish outfit. Young constantly talks over Josh, praises his recent singles success and reminds him of how he took his eye off the ball in his TV loss to Dalton Castle. The Goods assures everyone he won't be made a fool of again.

Meanwhile Dalton calls Woods a 'meathead' who was easy to outwit, and isn't concerned that Silas Young (a man with whom he shares a long history) is back in Josh's corner. He talks about their match tonight as potentially his last in ROH if he fails to win - meaning he doesn't need any motivating.

This was originally scheduled for Final Battle 2020, only to be cancelled when Bandido and Flamita were forced to miss the event. The 'Board Of Directors' moved to strip the Mexi-Squad of the Six-Man Titles and hand them to Shane Taylor Promotions via forfeit - an offer which Taylor refused. True to his word, his team wrestled the luchadors when they returned to ROH action and won the Trios Titles fair and square inside the ring. So keen are STP to cement their legacy that they sought out this rematch apparently, wanting to face MexiSquad again now they have shaken the ring-rust. They've even agreed that this should be contested under Lucha rules!

The challengers attack STP during their entrance, knocking them all to the floor. CRISS-CROSS PLANCHAS OVER THE RINGPOST by Horus and Flamita! RUNNING MOONSAULT BY BANDIDO! They incapacitate the Soldiers Of Savagery against the guardrails so they can work-over Taylor 3-on-1. Frog Splash by Flamita gets 2. Kaun tags, right into a Dream Sequence by Bandido and Flamita. It seems like Horus and Bandido are having to calm Flam down...and the time they take doing that leads to them all getting flattened by Moses. Swinging flatliner from Taylor to Flamita gets 2, before he misses a big splash. Bandido and Flamita are still arguing, but get it together so Flam can clamber onto Bandido's shoulders on the top rope. Rey Horus climbs on as well and they hit a TRIPLE SPLASH for 2! Moses launches Bandido into the ringpost, then joins his tag partner for their version of a 3-D (the 'Victory Lap'). 619 by Flamita! Bandido and Flam bicker again, with Flamita seeingly trying to convince his partner to set up a double-team. Bandido agrees to try a wheelbarrow suplex, but winds up dumping Flamita on his head. Knock Out Punch from Taylor to Bandido! He throws Bandido into Flamita, then knocks him out of the ring. TORNADO DRAGON DDT from Horus to Taylor! SUPER JACKHAMMER BY KAUN! Problem Solver on Flamita, giving STP the win at 07:51

Rating - *** - The whole match had a weird vibe, but also packed in enough great action to make it worth checking out. The arguing and lack of cohesion between Bandido, Horus and Flamita wasn't explained very well so felt entirely random, albeit I did think some of the ways they incorporated that into the match were really unique. At times Taylor felt like a whipping boy for the Mexi-Squad too, which isn't ideal for someone who felt like a credible World Champion candidate a couple of weeks ago. The big positive were the SOS, who were the stars of the show for me. Their size and power contrasted brilliantly with the athletic pyrotechnics of their opponents.

Flamita looks furious and is visibly arguing with Bandido. Horus almost walks out, but instead grabs a microphone and proposes they settle their differences in a triple threat match later tonight...

Rocky Romero brings 'Hour One' to a close by arriving at the announce table, representing New Japan Pro-Wrestling apparently, and ready to provide guest commentary on ROH's big birthday bash...

A ruptured ear-drum has forced TV Champion Dragon Lee to miss the PPV. Rather than pull the TV Title Match (as they probably should have done) ROH have decided to make good on their promise to have all the belts up for grabs tonight, meaning they are forcing La Faccion Ingobernable to find replacements for Lee in both of his scheduled defences. First up Kenny King, Lee's tag partner and co-Tag Champion and himself a former TV Champion in his own right, defends the belt on his behalf against The Foundation's Tracy Williams. It is the first of three LFI vs Foundation title matches this evening, and 'Hot Sauce' has a chance to leave with two belts around his waist.

Kenny appears to argue with Amy Rose on the way to the ring, with Caprice saying he doesn't want her at ringside and doesn't want to be in a TV Title Match. King carries that disgruntlement into the opening exchanges which see him getting comprehensively out-wrestled. It is only when King gets the chance to land a few cheap-shots that he finally takes control for the first time. He uses a flurry of closed-fist strikes to agitate the proud purist challenger before going to ground and probing Tracy's notorious shoulder-injury for weakness. Tiger Driver gets 2 and leaves Williams in the foetal position on the mat. Jumping enzi in the corner nailed, but Tracy no-sells and hits the TURNBUCKLE DDT! Discus lariat nailed, into a diving DVD for 2. He doesn't let King get up off the ground before piling into him with ferocious strikes then dives onto him looking for the Crossface. Amy Rose creates something of a distraction to assist her client...which he almost profits from as he gets 2 from a low blow. Amy feeds him the TV Title belt next, but that distracts him as much as his opponent. Tracy hits the Piledriver and wins the match at 07:15 to become the new TV Champion

Rating - * - I hated the entire premise of this match. The Foundation/LFI feud would lose nothing by simply cancelling the match, giving the rest of the card more time and rescheduling the TV Title Match for a later date. Indeed, the entire set-up felt hugely devaluing for the TV Championship in general. Having it be defended without the champion felt like gimmicky BS, then to have it change hands in a forgettable seven minute fluff match sucks. I love Tracy Williams. He was one of the best parts of a very bleak 2019, and was the MVP of the Pure Tournament too so deserves this success. But he deserves it to be when it actually means something, rather than feels like the kind of forced, over-booked nonsense with an illogical hot-potatoing of a championship used to replace actual drama or decent story-telling. 

Ian R explains that it was EC3 that paid 'The Mercenary' Flip Gordon, instructing him to cost the Briscoes a Tag Title #1 contendership bout. I'm sure LFI have already been attributed with paying Flip for that haven't they? Anyway, Mark got some revenge on Gordon by costing him a match against Flamita a couple of weeks ago. Flip was so angry he ripped Flamita's mask off, and now plans to end Mark's career on the 19th anniversary of his first appearance at Era Of Honor Begins...

Flip opens up with a volley of big strikes and Briscoe is happy to respond in kind. There appears to be a visible edit and when we come back Briscoe drills Gordon with a vertical suplex for 2. Kinder Surprise by Flip, knocking Mark to the floor. In a clear change from his previous character, rather than hit a dive to the floor Gordon loudly taunts his opponent from the ring and calls for a count-out. Briscoe crawls back in but is battered with more strikes and given a fisherman suplex for 2. Eventually he does go for a springboard move...and gets shoved TO THE FLOOR! Apron blockbuster nailed by Mark! They shown replays of those spots, suggesting another edit, and come back with Flip hitting a Pele Kick to block the Froggy Bow. Briscoe tries to set up a top rope powerbomb but Gordon is able to block and convert to a big superplex. Chops and strikes are thrown, with Mark kicking his foe so hard that Flip collapses through the ropes to the floor. Mark opens up a chair ready for a dive, but Todd Sinclair quickly confiscates it. Gordon low blows him and hits the Flip-5 to win at 07:44 (shown).

Rating - ** - The presentation made this feel like it had been edited down to fit the PPV time. As a match it was ok, but never really got out of the lower gears and isn't really the best example of either man's work. I've said it a couple of times already, but I really do like Flip's new ring-style. He remains a great athlete and loses very little by toning his act down and getting more aggressive, and I really hope it means he becomes less injury-prone as a result. Him getting violent, throwing strikes and looking to outright beat Mark up was by far my favourite aspect to this bout.

This is a rubber match between two men tied at 1-1 in recent weeks. Josh won a Pure Rules Match back in January, a stunning performance and great win to back up a strong Pure Tournament showing and a recent Pure Rules victory over another former World Champion in the form of Jay Lethal. It left Dalton contemplating his future in ROH. He acknowledges that injuries have caught up with him, his focus isn't what it was and he is a long way from the athlete who defeated Cody Rhodes to become ROH Champion at Final Battle 2017. He petitioned for a rematch and openly stated he'd end his ROH career if he lost...but devised a crafty plan to capitalise on the ebullient Woods' naivety, tricking him and beating him just a couple of weeks ago. It was a loss which saw Silas Young re-emerge after a couple of months off TV, seemingly ready to resume his role as mentor to 'The Goods' even though Josh has enjoyed such success without him...

Both are happy to grapple from the bell, Woods so confident in fact that he offers limbs to Castle in order to lure him into range. Dalton retreats to the ropes...so Woods hammers his bad back with strikes and delivers a slingshot German suplex. The Peacock leaves the ring to recover, argues with Silas on the outside...until it distracts Woods and allows Castle to blindside him. Springboard knee smash misses, allowing Dalton to take the fight to the floor and brain him against the guardrails; a strategy he has used successfully in their previous matches. He works Woods' lower back and midsection over, so Josh balls up his first and NAILS Castle. He angrily drills the injured back of his opponent into the guardrails; Silas barking orders to do the same thing over and over to press home his advantage. Castle tries his tiger-feint rana to the floor...COUNTERED WITH AN APRON BOMB by Woods! Young wants Josh to use a chair, but The Goods refuses. His good nature is rewarded with an exploder suplex by Castle. No sold...GERMAN SUPLEX by Woods! But Dalton shakes it off and hits a German of his own. BUTTERFLY BRAINBUSTER gets a 2-count for Josh. Silas NAILS Woods with a chair, out of sight of referee Joe Mandak, causing him to lose as Dalton pins him at 10:17

Rating - ** - I really do like the chemistry these two share as opponents. This felt like the worst match in their 2021 trilogy though as, despite some good work it felt a little bogged down by having to incorporate Silas into proceedings. Silas turning on Woods is certainly interesting, and I am more interested in both men as singles wrestlers than I am in '2 Guys 1 Tag'...but this definitely isn't the way I'd have pulled the trigger on splitting them up. 

Silas stands over Josh's unconscious body. He bemoans the years of his career he lost trying to mentor 'The Goods' and calls this his final lesson - teaching Woods what it means to be a 'real man'.

Briscoe goes back to his old singles music, which is excellent news since the theme the Briscoes have used since late-2018 was horrible. This is another contest which was cancelled at Final Battle 2020 due to Covid-19. EC3 came into ROH questioning what the true meaning of the 'Honor' in ROH was and with a desire to test himself against the biggest names the company has to offer. They don't come much bigger than Jay Briscoe, a man who competed in the very first ever official ROH match. EC3 has played mindgames with Jay to such an extent that even his tag team with his brother has fallen on hard times; pointedly refusing to look Jay in the eyes and urging him to 'control his narrative'. Briscoe in response has belittled EC3's message and has thrown down a challenge of his own. He has shaken hands with the likes of legends of professional wrestling and won't do the same for EC3 until he earns it. Their first match on TV ended in a disqualification in mere seconds - so is tonight the night these two settle the score?

EC3 is wrestling in trunks, having previously competed in skinny jeans. Jay refuses to shake his hand again, whilst Carter is still refusing to look Briscoe in the eye. EC3 tries to control the explosive ROH veteran with headlocks, which makes sense because he's in the ring with an accomplished brawler and fighter. When Jay breaks free he immediately quickens the pace and lands a few tackles...until EC3 explodes into a Thesz Press and absolutely mauls him with clubbing forearm smashes. His methodical, punishing and unrelenting combination of headlocks and striking makes Ethan a really tough opponent at this point. Jay goes for a risky and wild dropkick, misses and is DEAD-LIFTED into a powerbomb right onto his neck. TK3 nailed, again wrenching Briscoe's neck. Jay retaliates with a turnbuckle flatliner but can do little more than lie on the ground alongside his adversary. Carter seeks shelter in the corner but is punched and booted in the face until he retreats from the ring altogether. Diving elbow off the apron by Jay...but he seemingly injures his knee upon landing. It delays him just long enough for Ethan to recover and drive his skull into the ringpost. They fight on the top rope; EC3 smiling and laughing every time Jay hits him then ripping him off the turnbuckles into a superplex. And with the knee making it difficult for Briscoe to get back up, EC3 tackles the leg from under him and cruelly punishes the injury on the canvas. When Jay blocks a spinning toehold, Carter nails him with a lariat across the throat then an Olympic Slam. BRAINBUSTER NAILED! EC3 thinks about one more superplex only for the hobbling Briscoe to slither away and hit a LEG-SELLING DVD ON THE APRON! It leaves Carter's head and neck clearly injured and Jay capitalises with ROLLING Day One Neckbreakers! Even when he tries to cover up in the ropes, Ethan finds Briscoe on top of him choking him in the ropes. And despite that he finds a way to DDT Jay down onto his own damaged neck too. TK3 blocked when Jay grabs at Carter's neck...and he counters to a big DVD, but then can't follow-up right away because his leg is bothering him. EC3 starts smiling and laughing again as Briscoe pummels him with repeated kicks and knees to the head!? Carter goes back to the Thesz Press that he used right the way back at the start of the match, except this time Jay rakes the eyes to escape and clobbers him with a roaring elbow. EC3 can barely make it to his knees now, yet is still playing mindgames with Jay and taunts him by requesting a handshake. Jay uses the outstretched arm to pull him up into the JAY DRILLER! Briscoe wins at 20:55

Rating - **** - This match felt every bit of its twenty one minute run-time. It was methodically-paced from start to finish and I imagine some will find this a tough watch as a result. Personally, though, I really enjoyed it. They put together a solid wrestling match which also bounced off the inherent ridiculousness of EC3's character extremely well. He spouts off incoherent nonsense like a lunatic, and he was superb from first bell to last as total weirdo. He ranted and raved about honour, he played mind-games with Jay constantly and even when Briscoe was beating the sh*t out of him at the end he was still cackling like a madman. And it was particularly effective because for the first half of the match he was so utterly dominant. Physically the guy looks astonishing, and it is legitimately intimidating to watch a big, jacked and totally unhinged psycho dissect a respected tough guy like Jay. In the end it felt as if he lost because he is such an oddball that messing with Jay's head became more important than actually winning. Indeed, it was deep into the match before either competitor looked remotely interesting in even trying to get a pinfall. I really liked how both guys tried to f*ck each other's necks up, given their respective movesets and the extra work around Jay's knee was a great detail which was very well-sold too. I didn't have enormously high expectations for this and was pleasantly surprised by both the quality of the wrestling and how much they sucked me into the complexities of EC3's bizarre gimmick...

Jay Briscoe extends a hand to EC3, who accepts and they share a respectful handshake. 

The MexiSquad failed to win back the Six-Man Championship from Shane Taylor Promotions during the first hour of the show. After losing those belts then having his mask ripped off by Flip Gordon on television, it felt like Flamita was already disgruntled and he looked at odds with his partners throughout the match earlier - particularly Bandido. After being pinned by the Soldiers Of Savagery to lose, he and Bandido argued furiously prompting Horus to suggest they all get in the ring together and settle their differences...

Bandido and Rey shake hands and hug, whilst Flamita refuses - even kicking Bandido's hand away. He actually vacates the ring and watches as his partners fight back and forth at incredible speed showcasing Lucha Libre with relish. Eventually Flam runs in and dropkicks them both to the mat, then stops off Rey's face into a tornado DDT on Bandido. SLINGSHOT RANA TO THE FLOOR by Horus! And as he celebrates Flamita DESTROYS him with a step-up somersault plancha! On commentary Romero is translating Flamita, informing us that he blames Bandido for losing the Six-Man Titles...right before Bandido drops him on his face to counter a headscissors. Flamita tries to electric chair him, but as he does so Bandido grabs Horus by the head...ELECTRIC CHAIR INTO A SUPERPLEX OF FLAMITA'S SHOULDERS! It incapacitates Horus, leaving the other too alone to slap lumps out of each other. Spinning powerbomb by Flamita gets 2 before Rey returns and stomps on his face to break the pin. SLINGSHOT DDT from Flamita to Bandido! MUSCLEBUSTER LUNGBLOWER/JUMPING SENTON COMBO on both guys as Flamita innovates some absolutely whacky sh*t for 2! Flamita says 'no more Mexisquad' as he pie-faces his partners. Horus responds by throwing Bandido at him into a RANA FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! POP-UP CUTTER on Rey! FROG SPLASH by Flamita! Unable to determine a winner, they all charge the ring and simultaneously all boot each other in the head before going down in a pile. TORNADO DRAGON DDT from Horus to Bandido. SUPER INVERTED CODE RED on Flamita - the move Rey used to beat Dalton Castle at the last PPV - gets 2 before Bandido breaks it up. Flam tries to electric chair Bandido again...as Rey sets up on the top rope. Horus dives hoping to make it a Doomsday Device but BANDIDO COUNTERS INTO A REVOLUTION FLY/POISON RANA COMBO! HOLY SH*T! RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR ON HORUS! DRAGON-RANA ON FLAMITA GETS 2! X-KNEE! 21-PLEX! BANDIDO WINS! 10:47 is your time...

Rating - **** - In Bandido, Flamita and Horus Ring Of Honor are lucky enough to have three insanely talented luchadors. Bandido is one of the most exciting young workers on the planet in fact. Every time they are on TV I put them over hard, but if you were being really critical the disruption caused by Covid-19 and ROH's focus on 'Pure' wrestling has pushed the 'MexiSquad' to the side. In 2019 when they signed him, Bandido was arguably the most over guy on the roster. In 2021 I'd still argue he is someone ROH should be positioning as a potential candidate to dethrone Rush when the time comes. If anything this bout, brief though it was, felt more like a statement than a match. Ian even said it on commentary 'Bandido is back'. Not only is Bandido back, he has a new enemy in Flamita (who was EXCELLENT as the antagonist here, which I hadn't necessarily expected) and still has a supremely skilled ally in Horus. If Delirious doesn't have plans to get these guys into the various title pictures any-time soon he could do far worse than book a three-way feud between these guys and give us multiple variants of this. Some of the innovation on display here was totally bonkers...

Bandido and Horus try to help Flamita up and get him to shake hands. He barely shakes Rey's hand, outright shoves Bandido away then walks out...

This is 'unsanctioned', and is broadcast via a tape 'sent in' to ROH from the competitors themselves. Taven and Vinny have a feud going back to 2019 when Marseglia turned on Taven. At Final Battle 2019 the leader of The Righteous put Taven on the shelf, then even went so far as to show up at his house during the pandemic quarantine to attack him again. Matt went off-grid, returning as 'The Trend' and continuing his war with Vincent and his associates...bringing Mike Bennett back into ROH and reuniting the 'OG' Kingdom in the process. With ROH officials banning them from having any contact, Matt has been trying to lure Vincent into accepting a match, and broke Bateman's (Vinny's henchman) ankle when he refused. Vincent sent Vita VonStarr to distract Taven causing him to lose a World Title #1 contendership match, then issued a bizarre challenge. He agreed to Taven's demands for a match, but only if it could take place if it could take place in the PAL Hall in Fall River, MA - where they trained and worked their first matches together. This is unsanctioned by ROH, has no officials present and will presumably be ROH's attempt at the 'cinematic' style of match popularised by Lucha Underground and utilised heavily by all promotions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taven arrives at the building, instructs a camera crew to 'film everything' and makes them responsible for 'calling the ambulance'. He enters the 'arena' and finds a ring set-up and Marseglia standing in the second tier of seats behind a 'Welcome Back Taven' banner. Matt runs up a flight of stairs and enters a training school with another ring set-up and finds Vincent waiting to pounce. They brawl violently in and out of the training ring until Vinny counters an attempt at a tope suicida by throwing Taven head-first into a ladder. Briefly having the upper hand, Vincent rants like a madman and gets a steel chair thrown into his face. Taven throws him down a flight of stairs...then JUMPS DOWN THE STAIRS AFTER HIM WITH AN ELBOW DROP! That looked unbelievably painful. Vinny runs for some time to recover - and re-emerges to slam a door into Taven's face. The fight spills back into the main auditorium, and when Vinny sets up an Acid Drop off the wall Matt COUNTERS by dropping him into a stack of chairs! He flogs Marseglia with his belt but Vincent cuts it short by giving him a nut-shot and ripping up the ring apron just like Taven did on TV when he returned from injury last year. ACID DROP on the exposed wood! Next the fight continues up another flight of the stairs towards the same second tier seating where Vinny started off. Marseglia tries to throw Taven off the balcony and in the end they both brawl hanging perilously over the edge. A bearded man wearing dirty overalls comes out of nowhere and clobbers them both OFF THE BALCONY through a table on the floor! It is Beyond regular, one half of Team Tremendous and former WWE NXT worker Bill Carr. He walks down the steps, surveys the wreckage, picks Vincent out of the broken table and carries him away cradling him like a child as the screen fades to black. There is no winner, there was no bell either - but Cagematch has it at 13:40 if you're interested in a time.

Rating - N/A - Opinion appears to be very much divided on this and personally I'm not quite sure where I stand - I even went back and watched it a second time and still couldn't make my mind up. There were elements I really liked though and it is absolutely right to credit all involved for TRYING something different. As I've said before - you can go back and read my reviews to confirm that I've never really rated Vinny Marseglia. I've never particularly been interested in him as a singles worker, found him tolerable/serviceable at best during his run with The Kingdom and am very clearly not a long-time fan of the guy. But I really think he has found his niche in 'The Righteous'. Whilst I don't think the gimmick is particularly original, he is GOOD at it. At times he is compelling to watch and some of his rhetoric, body language and phrasing genuinely makes me interested in watching him perform. In the Covid era where it seems every company needs to have a bash at a 'cinematic match', it was absolutely the right call to select a feud which has raged since 2019 for ROH's candidate. But in turn that's where I have an issue - was this the blow-off? If so this falls really flat for me. It was violent for sure (those bumps on the stairs looked awful for instance) and this can't have been at all 'fun' to film as they beat the crap out of each other. But I didn't identify with much of what they were doing and, even being filmed in a setting with such rich history for them, struggled to identify with this as much more than a token cinematic match for the sake of trying it. The random appearance of Bill Carr and non-descript ending did nothing for them either. My hope is that Delirious sits down with these guys and maps out a clear plan for how to keep this feud going; my feeling is that Taven and Vincent really deserve the opportunity to work a proper 'Fight Without Honor' centrepiece grudge match...but only when at least SOME fans can be in the building to see it and justify the toll taken on their bodies. And ultimately that was my real 'problem' with this whole segment; I don't think the pay-off was worth the punishment their bodies were taken and it therefore becomes quite uncomfortable to watch. 

In the backstage area Jay Lethal begs Todd Sinclair not to allow La Faccion Ingonerable and Rush escape the main event with a cheap DQ. Todd tells him he'll be using his 'better judgement' like always...

Quinn McKay is in the ring to interview the newest member of the 'ROH Board Of Directors', introducing Maria Kanellis-Bennett. She has a big announcement regarding the Women Of Honor; that being that 'this summer' there will be a tournament to crown a new ROH Women's Champion. She invites women from all over to compete, but doesn't get any further before being interrupted by The Allure. They are back from suspension after attacking Quinn on the 'Week By Week' set last year to voice their objection to her interference in the Women's division that they have 'built' (i.e. non-existent?)...and question her qualifications to be on the Board Of Directors in a rather tasteless manner. Maria informs them they have to earn their respect. She offers Angelina Love a bye in the first round of the tournament - if she can beat Quinn McKay in a future match on TV

Whilst the rest of The Foundation are in direct combat with La Faccion Ingobernable for control of the destiny of ROH, the founder of the group Jonathan Gresham has a different mission for the evening. He steps into the ring in defence of his beloved Pure Championship looking to 'purify' ROH's very existence and produce the kind of technical wrestling excellence which he believes the entire company should be built around. His opponent for the evening poses a particularly unique threat too. Although he lacks massively in experience Draper is so big, so powerful and so athletic that he may be too much for The Octopus. He has proven his skill in multiple Pure Rules Matches and earned this shot by overpowering respected grappler Fred Yehi. The difference in stature alone between the two combatants makes this an extremely interesting match. 

The size difference is such that from the hard-cam you can't even see Gresh when he stands behind his challenger for the evening. It quickly becomes apparent that Draper's height makes all of Gresham's favoured techniques almost redundant. He almost ignores the champ's attempts to grapple him and busts his mouth early by grinding a forearm into it. Even though Gresham keeps finding ways to unsettle Draper by kicking him in his long legs, the challenger forces him to use his first rope-break very early through the sheer power and intimidatory nature of his rear waistlock. More leg kicks follow, so Draper gets Gresham on the mat and starts gator-rolling him in a bearhug. BRIDGING bearhug by Dak! When The Octopus gets back to his feet Draper simply maintains his grip and drives the champ sternum-first into the canvas. His leg is starting to bruise up thanks to Gresham's relentless kicks, but doesn't stop him hoisting the champion into the air for an elevated bearhug. We now see Gresham visibly panting and gasping for breath; he has no choice but to take his second rope-break just for some respite. He comes back with a stomp flurry to the leg before dropkicking the exposed knee as Draper slumps in the corner...so Dak DROPS him with a savage body blow. Swinging 'Mile High Muffler' (Stretch Muffler) forces Gresham to take his third rope-break and the match isn't even nine minutes old. Again Gresh comes out of the ropes and targets a leg - hitting a clever 619 on the bottom rope to kick the skins and finally taking the challenger off his feet with a quebrada. Anklelock applied, but Draper escapes with kicks to the ribs. RUNNING CROSSBODY by the enormous Draper, crushing Gresham's midsection once more. More kicks punish the bruised leg of the Mile High Magnum, this time dropping him to his knees where Gresh can nail him with VIOLENT running elbows. Draper expends two rope-breaks in quick succession kicking out of those! Anklelock again, forcing Dak to utilise his last break. Gresham basically just forced him to burn all his allocated breaks in less than a minute! PUNCH by Draper! He accepts the warning, just as he did in his match with Fred Yehi, as the closed-fist gives him a clear advantage. It nearly knocks Gresham out; he lies limp and can do little more than roll to the apron. DEAD-LIFT SUPERPLEX back in! DRAPER BOMB gets 2 - both moves destroying Jonathan's injured midsection again. Magnum KO blocked, Gresham dropping to the mat and SNAPPING Draper's leg from under him. Draper tries it again only to find it countered with a hurricanrana. BIG BOOT into Gresham's face! Draper then launches him chest-first into the turnbuckles with horrific force. AVALANCHE DRAPER BOMB...STILL 2! Dak struggles to get back up due to the damage to his leg though. He dumps Gresham on his chest and bludgeons him with repeated chest stomps. Swinging Mile High Muffler again...but the knee gives out! TOPE SUICIDA INTO A SLEEPER HOLD ON THE FLOOR BY GRESHAM! HE WON'T LET GO! Draper rams his ribs into the guardrail and still The Octopus clings on. DRAPER CLIMBS BACK INTO THE RING WITH GRESHAM ON HIS BACK! But he doesn't have any rope-breaks left, and his damaged leg buckles beneath him! Draper is choked out and Todd Sinclair has to stop it. Gresh retains at 20:29

Rating - **** - These two just stole the show; Gresham going full Danielson and proving his ability to get great matches out of any opponent, in the ring with a motivated Draper determined to produce a strong performance in the highest profile match of his career. The result was one of the best Pure Rules Matches since the Pure Title was brought back and a completely unique match if only because of the staggering height difference between them. It was so extreme that all of Gresham's usual tricks didn't work and the most basic of holds from Draper became potentially lethal - opening up a serious injury to Gresham's midsection which nearly cost him his beloved championship. The ways Gresh found to combat that were innovative and outright violent; visibly brutalising Draper's leg with strikes (it was purple by the end) then choking him out on the floor when nothing else worked. The final image of this superb match; the desperate Draper somehow climbing back into the ring from the floor, trying to keep fighting even with another adult male on his back, was a fitting finale. Draper has been ROH's 'project' since 2019 and they will be thrilled with how he carried himself tonight.

Delirious ambles towards the announce desk and whispers lizard-speak in Rocky Romero's ear. Rocky interprets it as a challenge...

Dragon Lee missing the show dealt La Faccion Ingobernable an early blow as they prepared to go to war with The Foundation. Kenny King defended the TV Title on his behalf, and wound up losing it to 'Hot Sauce' Tracy Williams earlier in the show. Now his father, La Bestia, replaces him in his scheduled Tag Title defence, with The Foundation hoping to ensure he loses two titles on the same evening without even being present. LFI took the Tag Championship from Jon Gresham and Jay Lethal (in a Pure Rules match of all things) back in February, so The Foundation would love to take them back immediately - and regain the championship edge on the ROH landscape. This is a match which also fascinatingly throws together former partners in the All Night Express - King and Titus - themselves former ROH Tag Champions.

King and Bestia jump the challengers before the bell; The Beast taking the new TV Champion straight to the outside and hammering him into the guardrails and ringpost. King pounds on Rhett too, whilst verbally burying him. La Bestia crushes Titus with a somersault senton from the top and is so confident that he actually lets him tag out to Tracy. Bestia and Williams revisit their powerful strike battles from the 8-man tag we saw on TV to lead-in to the PPV. King takes a cheap-shot to Tracy's back handing 'Papa' Bestia the upper hand, allowing him to dump the TV Champ to the floor...where King mows him down with the corkscrew pescado. Tags all round meaning King and Titus come face to face as legal men for the first time...and Rhett is here to fight! He takes off his wrist tape, balls up his fists and starts punching King in the head! La Bestia has to come to Kenny's aid, but he too is quickly swatted aside. Titus and Tracy hit an old ANX strike combo, this time culminating in a Cloverleaf from Hot Sauce - which he refuses to break even when Bestia starts smashing him in the face! King escapes and hits a leg capture suplex for 2, holding on to the leg to roll Williams into a bow and arrow. BOMBS AWAY KNEE by Titus to break it! DROPKICK/PILEDRIVER COMBO on King! Master Lock on King, but Bestia saves and gives Tracy the CRADLE TOMBSTONE! The Beast tags and gives Titus a hanging lungblower out of the corner. He calls for a chair  from Amy Rose, but she does a horrible job tossing it to him, allowing Joe Mandak to confiscate it and for Titus to blast Bestia with the Dropkick. Master Lock on Bestia, who submits. Rhett brings the Tag Titles home to The Foundation at 10:34

Rating - *** - As I expressed after the King/Williams TV Title Match, I absolutely despise the set-up here. I do not believe that all the titles need to be on the line at every pay-per-view, particularly when one of the champions is out injured. That said, it is more acceptable to have a replacement partner in a tag setting - and I actually liked this match a lot. It felt like they packed a lot into just ten minutes and in my opinion it felt like a heated grudge match throughout. La Bestia was probably in the ring a little too often, and the finish did look weak - but on the whole this felt energetic and acted as a solid building block in a larger feud. I really hope they take one of the belts off Tracy quickly though, because this whole 'double champion defending both belts at a PPV' gimmick has gotten old after just two pay-per-views.

La Bestia is furious at Amy Rose for botching throwing the chair, and after pulling him away Kenny King too berates her; irate that she cost them the titles to Rhett Titus of all people. Amy throws a middle finger in their direction...so Kenny orders La Bestia to DESTROY her with a Spear. King stands over her fallen body and tells her she is 'done'.

El Toro Blanco, defeated by just one man in singles competition since debuting (PCO), retains his iron grip on the World Championship. The pandemic means Mark Haskins still waits for his shot, and he has used nefarious means to survive the challenges of Brody King and Shane Taylor. But his actions have been interpreted by The Foundation as a black mark upon the ROH Championship. His belt is one that Jay Lethal has held proudly twice before; a title that 'The Franchise' carried into Madison Square Garden and one that he now covets again so desperately NOT to become a 3-time champion, but so The Foundation can 'purify' ROH from the very top. The Foundation have had a great night, but Jay knows that the only way to truly rid Ring Of Honor of La Faccion Ingobernable is to prize the World Championship from Rush's grasp. Can he follow in the footsteps of Tracy, Rhett and Gresh by ensuring he too leaves the 19th Anniversary with gold around his waist?

Rush's ring jacket is a spectacular sight, and he even follows the Code Of Honor as a sign of how seriously he is taking this one. He instigates an exchange of holds, evidently trying to take on Lethal at his own game. Next he drops to the mat and actively encourages Jay to go amateur-style with him...but then abandons that to spit in the challenger's face. The intensity picks up immediately and they start dropping bombs on each other. Rush is driven to the floor with a springboard dropkick to the apron and appears to sustain a knee injury on the way down - and Lethal shows no mercy by repeatedly diving through him with tope suicidas. He starts attacking the injured leg, and when Rush tries to retaliate with a jumping knee strike he immediately collapses in pain. Still limping, Rush takes the match to the floor and SLAMS THE HEAD IN THE GUARDRAIL DOOR just like he has done in multiple high profile matches recently. As he did against Brody and Taylor, he once again pulls out electrical cables and starts throttling his challenger with them...then back drops Jay on the arena floor before speaking directly into the camera that he intends to be the longest reigning ROH champion ever. Back in the ring he delivers repeated stomps to the head and neck...but spurns the chance to put Lethal away to instead pull out 'Tranquilo' poses. TURNBUCKLE BELLY TO BELLY when Lethal tries to fire back! NO SOLD! LETHAL COMBINATION! Both men go down after that; Lethal in particular struggling with neck injuries sustained in combat. They get back to their feet and chop lumps out of each other, then switch to savage kicks...and eventually once again collapse in a heap. Hail To The King nailed for 2, straight into the Figure 4 Leglock! Having suffered a knee injury earlier Rush is in real trouble now and screams desperately before finally finding a rope. Snap German suplex into an Incineration knee strike by Rush for 2. He hangs Lethal in the ropes, kicks him in the injured neck and then hits a MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE NECK for 2. Calf Killer by Rush, apparently trying to injure Lethal's leg just as he has battled...but he gets too confident and goes for a senton bomb instead - which misses. Figure 4 by Lethal - only to be interrupted by Kenny King and La Bestia running in. Lethal beats them back but gets a CHAIR IN THE BACK from La Bestia when he attempts the Lethal Injection. Todd Sinclair wants to disqualify Rush, but doesn't as per Lethal's request earlier in the show. I'm so sick of this bullsh*t in every World Title Match. The Foundation come out to chase LFI away (Gresham is so f*cking good he's still selling Draper's attack on his ribs). Bull's Horns COUNTERED WITH A SPEAR! Lethal Injection COUNTERED with a dropkick to the neck! ACE CRUSHER! LETHAL INJECTION...GETS 2! Rush looks to be in a frenzy and almost takes Jay's head off with a running elbow strike. BULL'S HORNS! But Lethal falls out of the ring. Rush simply drags him back into the ring. BULL'S HORNS AGAIN! Rush retains at 18:31

Rating - **** - For the most part this lived up to billing. It felt like a big deal, it felt like a big match and it stands as one of Rush's best ROH bouts yet. Unfortunately once again we have to suffer the same BS run-in from Rush's henchmen meaning to a certain degree it was once again wrecked. The increased stakes and the feeling that the championship was in real jeopardy do make this stand out from Rush/Brody and Rush/Taylor though. Those matches felt like tough, game fighters giving it all they had but being outclassed by El Toro Blanco. Lethal was different, and felt like he was a real threat to Rush from the early stages. He was in the champion's head - as proven by Rush shaking hands and trying to wrestle - and from the moment he inflicted the leg injury (which Rush didn't put a great deal of effort into selling) it was clear he had more layers to his game and more tools at his disposal than the more one-dimensional heavy hitters Rush has faced recently. I'm trying to be positive here, because it was a great match; the quality of the wrestling did eclipse the frustration felt by the lack of imagination displayed by the booking. I really do want to see Rush off the leash and allowed to just WRESTLE a great match one of these days though...

Kenny and Bestia return to celebrate with Rush, with The Foundation in hot pursuit. Kenny uses a chair to take out Tracy and Rhett, whilst Rush lays out Gresham with the World Title belt. Brody King comes down the aisle and berates Rush for constantly cheating...and says he now has numbers of his own. Tony Deppen appears alongside him, prompting LFI to laugh hysterically. But they haven't looked behind them where Chris Dickinson AND HOMICIDE have appeared! Brody, Deppen, Dickinson and Homicide charge the ring and take out everyone! Rush and Bestia flee, leaving Kenny to eat a Brainbuster from Dickinson. Brody helps Lethal to his feet...then feeds him to Homicide for a COP KILLAAAAAAAAAA!!!! 

Tape Rating - *** - A mixed bag of a pay-per-view. I've seen some gushingly positive reviews for this show, and also some really negative ones, and I'm not sure I identify with either in all honesty. It is right to point out first that there was some great stuff on this show. As a package I felt like I got more good wrestling and more memorable moments here than I did from Final Battle 2020 for instance, i.e. I preferred 19YA to Final Battle, even if no singular match was as good as Gresham/Flip from that PPV. Losing Dragon Lee for this show did hurt it (as did losing EC3, Bandido and Flamita for Final Battle), and I'm utterly enraged at how ROH chose to deal with his loss - namely subbing someone in for his TV Title defence and actually dropping the belt. I feel awful for Tracy Williams that his first big singles title in ROH, which he SO deserves for being a pillar of consistency over the past two years, is completely overshadowed by how incredibly dumb the circumstances of his victory are. I'm also annoyed that another enjoyable Rush title defence was hampered by another unimaginative, lazily booked run-in (albeit Rush/Lethal was a step up in quality from most of Rush's previous title defences). But on the positive front: Jon Gresham stole the show again, this time elevating Dak Draper to by far his best ROH match thus far. Flamita, Bandido and Rey Horus produced an electrifying triple threat which on another show could have been MOTN and hopefully marks the return of Bandido to the upper reaches of the singles ranks. EC3 delivered the goods in a surprisingly effective bout with Jay Briscoe (which I liked more than many it seems)...and even the Taven/Vincent 'cinematic match' was a tolerable, if bafflingly weird and wildly unnecessary, detour in their long-running feud. And I haven't even mentioned the cliff-hanger; the debut of Brody King's new 'Violence Unlimited' faction. I don't think I've ever seen a more ill-fitting, mismatched bunch of misfits than Brody, Deppen, Dickinson and Homicide...but in some ways that is part of the charm. ANYTHING that gets Homicide back into ROH on even a semi-regular basis works for me (his original ROH logo, Doug Gentry tribute shirt should tell you all you need to know about what he has meant to this promotion). I really hope Delirious goes all in on making them a legitimately tweener, violent group; one with the anarchic brawling skill to lock horns with LFI and the technical wrestling chops to step up to The Foundation too. Three-way feuds are notoriously difficult to manage, even more so three-way gang warfare feuds. I'd be lying if I said I had full confidence in ROH to pull it off - but I'd love to be proven wrong!

3) Rush vs Jay Lethal (****)

2) Bandido vs Flamita vs Rey Horus (****)

1) Jonathan Gresham vs Dak Draper (****)