McXal's Reviews

Ring Of Honor's return to television following a prolonged hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was, on the whole, pretty well-received. Kick-starting the Pure Title Tournament, we saw current Tag Champions Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham advance in competitive, no-thrills matches which delivered on the promise to provide a back-to-basics return to ROH's traditional wrestling-focused ethos. We're back this week with the next two bouts in the tournament; an all-NJPW showdown between Rocky Romero and David Finlay, then a clash between perennial rivals Delirious and the returning Matt Sydal. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are in Baltimore, MD and Quinn McKay once again acts as our host.

LAST WEEK - Jay Lethal admits he found it tough to motivate himself in the ring without fans present, but he pushed through and is safely into the next round. He faces the winner of the Romero vs Finlay match tonight and is excited to face either one of them...

LAST WEEK - Jonathan Gresham calls it his 'destiny' to 'reshape this company from the ground up', and will use the Pure Title as a rallying cry for pure wrestlers like him to unite behind. He meets the winner of Sydal/Delirious in Round 2

This one is intriguing because it brings together two men who are more closely associated with the NJPW roster than ROH, yet both embody the very spirit of the Pure Championship stylistically. Finlay's history in the business goes back generations, which another great package documents well. He references his brief 2019 run in the ill-fated Lifeblood stable (albeit not by name) and the fact that the last time he saw ROH action was during the 2019 NJPW Honor Rising shows where he suffered a shoulder injury whilst challenging for the ROH Tag Title (which caused him to miss eight months). Apparently he has been working on a new leg submission to make him even more dangerous in the tournament as well. Rocky (who was Finlay's mentor in the New Japan dojo) discusses his history as a multi-time champion in ROH and NJPW, and thinks his skills and experience make him comfortably a better submission wrestler than his rival tonight. 

Romero was confident in the pre-match interviews, but quickly finds that Finlay's size and power are a real threat. The veteran JUMPS into a cross armbreaker though, which drives David into the ropes to use his first break with barely a minute gone. For a man who has struggled with shoulder injuries he is clearly extremely concerned about the armbar prowess of Romero. Finlay tries to stay on a vertical base and use his power...so Rocky grabs the arm and uses it to headscissors him back to the canvas. A big kick to the neck scores, then a vertical suplex to further punish that body part. During the back Rocky tries a flying knee off the apron, which is quickly used against him as David switches focus from the neck to start working over his leg as well. Camel clutch applied next, converted smoothly into a cobra clutch to pile more damage onto Romero's neck. Rocky takes a big risk to free himself; landing a springboard tornado DDT to leave them both on the canvas. He peppers the bad arm with kicks before coming off the second rope with a diving knee into the shoulder. Springboard missile dropkick TO THE SHOULDER BLADE gets 2! Shiranui blocked by Finlay, into a body slam WITH the legs tangled in the ropes. He follows it with a shinbreaker and a grounded deathlock looking to make the former ROH Tag Champion tap. He fights for all he is worth but has no choice but to utilise his first rope-break. Trash Panda blocked allowing Romero to dish out a jumping knee to the shoulder. He punches Finlay in the face (earning a formal warning) to set up a running Shiranui! Forever Clothelines blocked...CROSS ARMBREAKER! Finlay has no choice but to use his second break. Rocky has a pronounced limp as he pummels kick after kick into David's arm. Shiranui COUNTERED to an urinage backbreaker. TRASH PANDA! Finlay advances at 10:53 (shown).

Rating - *** - Much like last week the grounded, professional, stripped back athleticism really helped this match shine. Gimmicks and silliness were at a minimum (even Romero's 'Forever' Clotheslines were touched upon only briefly) and instead we got a mat-based match which emphasised the clear strengths of each performer. Finlay was big and strong and looked SUPERB in victory with a double-pronged attack on both the neck and leg. Romero put him over hard, rolling back the years with a vintage kick/submission heavy performance that I really enjoyed. It's a shame Finlay is an NJPW guy as I feel like ROH could really build him as a top star, but him going over is entirely in keeping with a company trying to rebrand and refocus on its core principles. The younger, fresher talent going over, aided by a capable, competent, skilled veteran feels very much like something you'd see in ROH's peak years....

I really like Matt Sydal's interview. He comes off as weird as f*ck, but shows bundles of personality. Of particular interest is the fact that the foot injury he has spent the latter years of his career troubled by has left him with a permanent limp, and a lump of 'calcified bone' on top of his foot which means his kicks are 'loaded'. The fondness with which he speaks about his history with Delirious - going back to the very earliest days of his career - is sincerely touching too. Delirious has subtitles for his sit-down interview and it is the absolute best thing Delirious has done since Age Of The Fall. He knows he has critics who think he is a comedy character and won't understand the Pure Rules - but he eschews that and says he is as dangerous as he has ever been. I cannot speak highly enough of this. Perfectly in keeping with the new vibe ROH has for post-pandemic 2020 - yet paying homage and reverence to the core values of his 'Lizard Man' character too. Not that it overly matters, but he looks in phenomenal shape too - the best he's looked in years.

Sydal's entrance music is horrifyingly bad. Delirious modifies his 'freak out' at the bell and dives at his opponent trying to drag him to the mat like a madman. He repeatedly grabs at Sydal's legs; body parts that he has struggled with so much in the latter years of his career. Every exchange is punctuated by an intense staredown, a few words exchanged and other layering interactions which really amplify the intensity even in an empty arena setting. Matt smartly quickens the pace where he believes he has an edge over the Lizard Man. Crucially it is used to set up ground submissions as well - including a version of Nigel McGuinness' London Dungeon. Delirious climbs up the ropes to break it, which Todd Sinclair judges as a ropebreak. Nevertheless Delirious snaps Matt's arm over the top rope, exacerbating a decade-old shoulder injury (as revealed by Riccaboni). It means that at the five minute mark Delirious is ruthlessly cranking and stretching at a clearly-injured Sydal. During the commercial break Matt forces Delirious to use another break by grabbing a half crab...but upon escape Delirious is quickly able to put him on the back foot again with a shortarm scissors. Things start to break down as they start beating on each other with strikes. Delirious tries to utilise that trick where he bounces off multiple ropes to confuse his opponents (as set up for the Leaping Lariat)...except Sydal has seen it a thousand times, knows it is coming and cuts him off with a lariat at the same time. JUMPING KNEE crumples Delirious for a 2-count. Somersault senton - with Delirious' legs folded up underneath his torso - gets 2. Sydal rocks his old rival with those leaden-footed kicks. COBRA CLUTCH-PLEX BY DELIRIOUS! COBRA CLUTCH! COUNTERED TO THE COBRA STRETCH BY SYDAL! DELIRIOUS TAPS! Sydal submits Delirious using his own move at 09:03 (shown). 

Rating - *** - I've seen these guys wrestle so many times in an ROH ring (let alone any other promotion they've worked each other that I've seen over the years). Therefore probably the biggest compliment I can pay these two guys is that this stood out and will remain memorable. Up until that incredible closing stretch it wasn't the most exciting. But it was gritty, it was hard-hitting and featured both men playing against type to deliver a serious and intense technical wrestling match. Delirious pre-match interview and updated character presentation was superb - but once they got inside the ropes it was Sydal who impressed. His experience on national television shone through as he counteracted the lack of fans with a big, expressive and at times vocal performance. If I were to be critical, I didn't quite feel like either man did enough to put over how injured they were therefore downplaying some of the drama they were able to create. And the limited amount of time ROH TV has meant the whole thing felt a little abrupt too...

NEXT WEEK - The debuting Fred Yehi vs Silas Young, plus Kenny King vs Josh Woods.

Tape Rating - *** - The tonal shift in Ring Of Honor's television product is stark, much-needed and very welcome. As much as I loved Gresham/Yuta last week I'm not sure any of the four matches seen thus far will set the world alight. But what they have all done is form part of a general reset and, for the first time in a long time, offered up the ROH product as a viable and genuine ALTERNATIVE to what the other major North American promotions are trying right now. WWE and, to a lesser extent, AEW have big budgets and big names on big talent rosters and have a radically different approach to tackling fan-free wrestling shows. ROH doesn't have those tools at its disposal so in seeking out a new niche for the promotion they have, in just two weeks, became as relevant on the pro-wrestling landscape as they were for the vast majority (i.e. everything after G1 Supercard) of 2019. Neither match here is must-see. But as a character-driven hour of wrestling television, with a focus on in-ring action, it was hard to fault. Long-time fans in particular will get a real kick out of Sydal/Delirious...