McXal's Reviews

Another week of ROH television and three big matches on tap. Jay Briscoe facing EC3 will grab the most attention, but the rest of the show packs a punch too. We'll see more Pure Wrestling Rules action as Jay Lethal, now acknowledged as a member of The Foundation, faces Leon St. Giovanni plus a grudge showdown between Matt Taven and Bateman which actually main events. We join Quinn McKay, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman in Baltimore, MD.

No hanging around this week, we go straight in to the biggest match of the show at the top of the hour. EC3 has arrived in ROH looking to fight the best and 'find out if honour is real'. He admits to respecting Briscoe for staying loyal to one company whilst he 'chased bright lights and big paychecks' - but his uneasy presence has raised the ire of the Era Of Honor Begins veteran. Jay confesses that his focus has slipped from the Briscoe Brothers team; but he can't get EC3 out of his head and is desperate to 'honour him with an ass whipping'. Both have something to prove in this big-time clash...

Riccaboni earns double points from me during the intros; firstly by outright stating that EC3 is a former Impact Wrestling World Champion (to further the point about what a huge match this is), and secondly by pointing that EC3 is 'kind of creepy and wordy' and 'doesn't actually say a whole lot' with any of his 'Control Your Narrative' promos. Carter wants to follow the Code Of Honor, which Jay pointedly refuses. Briscoe tries to mark his turf with some intense mat wrestling...which EC3 breaks with a straight-up elbow to the face and keeps asking for a handshake. Jay snaps and starts choking him in the corner...refusing to break and forcing Todd Sinclair to disqualify him at 01:57

Rating - N/A - ROH put enough credit in the bank to earn some patience on this one. Clearly they are building to something significant with Briscoe and EC3, possibly even Final Battle. With a PPV looming it doesn't necessarily make sense to give away the farm on free television. It is only right to point out that swerving fans and making uninspired choices like this is exactly what drove fans of the product away - fans they won back with the Pure Tournament - though.

EC3 is apparently enraged that Jay Briscoe didn't show any honour, so takes him down and starts trying to punch his lights out. They brawl until security personnel separate them...at which point Carter gets down on his knees and tries to convince Briscoe to voluntarily give him a Jay Driller. 

In the back Quinn McKay challenges Jay Briscoe on why he acted dishonourably in his match. Jay keeps his response short: 'because f*ck him...that's why'...

The interview piece for this match is really interesting. LSG talks about Lethal, another wrestler from New Jersey, being an inspiration to him after attending an ROH show as a teenager and watching him. He discusses his time in Coast 2 Coast; a team which had some success but was thrown together, entirely unplanned and not something he felt was his long-term career goal...particularly after their unsuccessful 2019. Now he wants to prove that he isn't a young kid on the roster anymore, he wants to be one of the standard-bearers...much like Jay Lethal. 'The boy who wanted to beat you is now the man who is going to beat you' - LSG.

Lethal is very vocal in the opening seconds; encouraging LSG to step up but in a manner which very clearly pulls rank. St. Giovanni's response is to counter the hiptoss/dropkick sequence multiple times - backing up what he said in his interview about watching Lethal for years. Jay once again tries to pull rank and control his quicker opponent on the canvas...but still finds that LSG has an answer. Leon does need to use his first rope-break as the Tag Champ makes an early play for the Figure 4. St. Giovanni comes back with extra aggression - but in doing so makes mistakes, plays into Jay's hands and sees the veteran start working over his back. LSG throws strikes with Lethal but now with his back clearly hurting him. But when Lethal tries to climb the ropes for the Macho Elbow Leon THROWS HIM TO THE FLOOR! Not only does that inflict real damage to his opponent, it also buys LSG time to recover. During the break it becomes clear that Lethal's neck is vulnerable, particularly after Leon once again counters the hiptoss/dropkick spot into a diving neckbreaker. When we rejoin he is frantically trying to wear Jay down with a cravat...which Lethal escapes using repeated strikes to the wounded midsection. Russian Legsweep nailed by Lethal, inflicting real damage to both of their respective injuries. At last he successfully executes the hiptoss/dropkick, driving St. Giovanni to the outside for a TOPE SUICIDA! His back collided violently with the guardrail on that. LSG is in trouble but stays mobile to avoid Hail To The King...so Lethal drops him with an inverted DDT for 2 instead. Rolling Thunder lariat by Leon! He hammers at Jay's neck to daze him then counters the Lethal Injection INTO the Saint-splosion for 2! CROSSFACE! This is the move that Tracy Williams used so effectively against Jay! And when Lethal counters Leon steps into a MutaLock. Just seconds left in the time limit! LETHAL MAKES THE ROPES! The 15:00 time limit expires (13:43 shown)!

Rating - **** - Being completely honest, I didn't necessarily think LSG would be the guy to break-out as a singles star from Coast 2 Coast. Shaheem always had a relaxed, effortless watchability and seemed a natural athlete, whilst LSG always seemed like the heart and highspots of the team. But he blew that erroneous presumption out of the water here. The real brilliance of this match is that ALL of it set St. Giovanni up for a credible singles run. Even with Lethal the 'aggressor' for long periods LSG always had a counter, always asked a question and always felt like a threat. With a few minutes left I was enjoying the action but still waiting for them to make me believe LSG actually had a shot at winning...then came that finishing sequence. The counter to the Lethal Injection, Leon's use of Tracy's Crossface and submission holds ripping apart Jay's neck as the time limit expired. It was a red hot conclusion to the match and one that absolutely had me believing LSG had a shot at winning. Superb performances from both men, resulting in genuine drama even in the sterile, empty arena setting. I really do recommend checking this out. And it now becomes CRUCIAL that ROH follow up on this and maintain LSG's momentum if they want to make him a viable, upwardly mobile member of the singles division.

We go to judges Sumie Sakai, Gary Juster and Will Ferrara for their decision. Lethal is awarded the victory via split-decision. Great commentary by Caprice to point out that he was able to force a rope break whilst Leon didn't which most likely became the determining factor in deciding the winner. Neither man appears convinced that the correct decision was made.

A package of grainy, early-00's ROH footage airs...heralding the return of John Walters to Ring Of Honor. The former Pure Champion will be back soon!

This is another grudge match as the war between Taven and The Righteous continues. His former partner Vincent Marseglia turned on him, left him a mess at Final Battle and even attacked him at his house during the pandemic. But Taven, adopting a new moniker as 'The Trend', returned at the first Covid-secure relaunch tapings for a violent attack on Vincent. Bateman, Vinny's henchman in The Righteous, has called than an error and suggested Matt should have quit ROH after Final Battle. He is here for payback and to put Taven out of ROH before Vincent has to get his hands dirty again...

Taven practically sprints to the ring and into a fist fight. Bateman puts an elbow through his face to block the Kick Of The King though. Taven doesn't let it kill his momentum; battering his neck with kicks and a lariat, before a diving DDT gets 2. Climax blocked, so Taven flatliners him into 'The Trendsetter' submission instead. Bateman crawls out of the ring to escape...AIR TAVEN nailed! But Matt's knee immediately starts bothering him, a reminder that he now has chronic knee problems. Bateman dodges the Five Star Frog Splash...only for Taven to roll through in a pin, grabbing the win at 04:08 (shown). 

Rating - ** - According to the on-screen graphic this match went nine-plus minutes, so more than half of it was left on the cutting room floor. I liked what we did see in that Taven looked really impressive, however the negative was that this also felt like a total hatchet-job on Bateman's credibility. The guy has decent size and can work, but this match made him seem completely ineffective.

Bateman, of course, jumps Taven as soon as he turns his back. Vincent arrives and smiles as Bateman drops his arch-rival with This Is A Kill. He mocks Matt for having nobody to help and nobody to give him 'the approval he craves' then looks set to assault him with a dart. That is until the lights go out and some familiar theme music starts to play. Mike Bennett is back in ROH! Vincent and Bateman flee, as inside the ring old friends Taven and Bennett hug before the show fades out...

Tape Rating - *** - This was a more uneven show than last week...but undeniably better too. ROH only has 45-minutes of television a week right now, so their ability to make an impact or create memories is limited. The fact that this show packed in a super wrestling match in Lethal/LSG and a genuine feel-good moment in the form of Bennett's return and reunion with Taven makes it easy to recommend. I could criticise them for not giving us the advertised Briscoe/EC3 match, but that will clearly come and ROH has done enough in the last couple of months to earn our patience as that plays out. I can (and did) complain about how much of Taven/Bateman was cut, and how weak it made Bateman look as a result. But when it was very clearly cut to allow for the Briscoe/EC3 angle, to show Lethal/LSG almost in full and for the Bennett return angle it really does become justifiable to cut the main event right down. Within the confines of what is possible using ROH's TV set-up this was a really strong episode.