ROH on Sinclair - Episode 449 - 24th April 2020
Our character profile subject for the week is Flip Gordon. I like this one, as he is someone who has been entirely 'made' within the modern-day ROH system. Of course he worked independents before ROH, and obviously it was his recurring role on 'Being The Elite' which really helped him break out, but Flip is a young kid that ROH signed as a project within a couple of years became a viable top star for them. That makes him at least some-way unique to many on the current roster.
We open with Flip hanging out with his dog, but quickly gets personal when he talks about his childhood and dealing with various mental health and behavioural issues. He actually credits professional wrestling with helping him break out of a cycle of behavioural problems too. Flip learned to tumble in college, where he gravitated towards gymnastics and cheerleading - and believes the skills he learned there are what makes him 'so good' in the ring today.
Of course his history with the military is touched upon (it used to be mentioned on ROH TV every time he appeared). But he is honest enough to say that he didn't like his job in the armed forces, and that the end of his time there was what convinced him to take the plunge and start wrestling training in Boston.
A TV edit of Flip's debut match, versus Matt Sydal on ROH TV Episode 293, is shown.
A TV edit of Flip Gordon vs Bully Ray from Final Battle 2018 is shown.
In another refreshingly honest interview clip, Gordon admits that spending 2019 battling a succession of injuries convinced him that he needed to change and tone down his style, giving birth to 'The Mercenary'. Weirdly, they then skip to one of the few matches he had in 2019 when he wasn't injured - that also pre-dates 'The Mercenary' character...
A TV edit of Flip Gordon vs Bandido from War Of The Worlds 2019: Buffalo is shown.
The episode ends with a nice music video showing highlights of his ROH career so far.
Tape Rating - N/A - This was a fascinating broadcast. It was shot entirely out of character, making it tonally different to any of the other profile episodes we've seen so far. It also managed to hold my interest without even once mentioning the Young Bucks, Cody or Being The Elite - which is a HUGE part of how he really broke-out. I have a hard time placing the footage, as it appears to have been shot in the run-up to the 18th Anniversary Show as he prepared to travel to Las Vegas for those cancelled events...but I can't for the life of me recall why they would have been capturing 'out of character' footage of Flip in that time frame. Either way, this was a refreshingly honest - if brief - retrospective on Flip's ROH career to date and one of the best of these 'pandemic special' shows so far.