McXal's Reviews

It's a week of returns for ROH. Mike Bennett steps back into an ROH ring for the first time since the end of 2016, right into a grudge match with Vincent; one of the men who replaced him in The Kingdom after he left. You have to go back further for the second return - John Walters returns to ROH for the first time since 2006 (and even that was a one-off, you need to go back to early-2005 for the last time he was a regular), making a return to wrestling which coincides with the rebirth of the Pure Title that he once held. He faces The Foundation's Tracy Williams in the main event. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman, along with host Quinn McKay, are in Baltimore, MD.

LAST WEEK - Brody King bested Shane Taylor in a brutal heavyweight clash to position himself as the top contender for the World Title. He calls out Rush for Final Battle...

LAST WEEK - Josh Woods defeated former World, TV and Pure Champion (and current Tag Champion) Jay Lethal in a Pure Rules Match. Interestingly, his post-match comments echo many of the words we've heard from The Foundation...

Bennett is back to being 'Mike' Bennett it seems, after spending the second half of his previous ROH run as 'Michael'. Most of his interview footage comes from his appearance on 'Trending With Taven'. He talks about Marseglia always being part of their group coming out of the New England scene. He had no problem with Vincent and TK O'Ryan replacing him to form the 'New' Kingdom after he left for Impact (then WWE) because he considered those guys like family...but then says that 'when you let someone borrow something you expect it to be treated with respect'. He is back to help his friend Taven, and also to beat some respect into Vincent for tarnishing a legacy which he helped build. Marseglia is far more cerebral and engaging in sit-down interview form than he is with a live mic. He points out that he is only in ROH because Taven had nobody else to turn to after Bennett abandoned him whilst he was injured. Indeed, his entry into The Kingdom directly mirrors the way Bennett recruited Matt Taven into The Kingdom to begin with. As leader of The Righteous he is out to prove that opposing him is the worst mistake Bennett has made...since recruiting Taven all those years ago.

The bell rings...and Marseglia skips out of the ring, talking trash as he goes. Eventually he sneaks back in and takes a couple of cheap-shots on the way to beating Bennett down into the corner. They start viciously chopping each other, with Mike going full Kobashi with some Machine Gun chops against the buckles. Vincent leaves the ring again, this time luring his opponent into putting his head through the ropes and giving him an Ace Crusher on the apron. BACK DROP DRIVER ON THE FLOOR! That is a brutal blow as we go to commercials, and upon our return it's clear that the former Prodigy is still struggling to recover. He crawls away to avoid Redrum, but gets dropped on his head with a German instead. NO SOLD! Superkick/DVD combo by Bennett, leaving both men down. Sam Hane strikes from Vincent, rocking his opponent into a Side Effect for 2. Bennett is visibly nursing his neck and shoulder after all the punishment he has absorbed already. With Marseglia taking the time to trash-talk again Mike sees a window to give him an exploder suplex and another big Superkick. Vinny blocks the Proton Pack, because he knows all of Bennett's moves apparently, and jumps into a guillotine choke. Spear by Bennett COUNTERED back to the guillotine choke! Bodyscissors applied too as the leader of The Righteous tries to decimate the neck. Bennett breaks that hold with a brainbuster. Even whilst feeling the effects of that Vincent starts laughing maniacally and slapping Mike around. Spear nailed this time...so Marseglia drives him into the corner; clawing and punching at him like he's in a bar-fight. Referee Joe Mandak tries to pull him away but when Vincent refuses he calls for the bell. Bennett wins by DQ at 10:13 (shown)

Rating - *** - Good match, where they ditched the formalities and went straight into an all-action slug-fest, dropping huge bombs on each other. Vincent did a good job targeting the neck, Bennett sold it well and made a good impression on his return to ROH. I am far from a Vincent Marseglia fan, but it really should be said that since this turn and new gimmick as the leader of his own group he has really produced some strong in-ring performances. It has to be said the finish sucked though. I understand that this is just an early building block in this feud, but repeating basically the same thing that they did with Jay Briscoe and EC3 like two episodes ago was incredibly lazy...and the kind of crap that ROH had been doing a good job at steering away from since the relaunch.

Marseglia doesn't care that the match is over and drags Bennett out of the ring to throw him into the guardrails too. The attack continues during the next break and we come back with Vincent taunting an unconscious Bennett on the entrance steps. Matt Taven appears and DIVES OFF THE STAGE with Air Taven! Bateman shows up too - and it takes a hoard of security guards acting in an entirely non-Covid secure manner to separate the four of them.

More from The Foundation next. Red Octopus/Rhett Titus stands motionless as Gresham, Lethal and Tracy all circle him. Gresham narrates, telling the story of a man who worked a job for fifteen years whilst going totally unappreciated (including clips of Romantic Touch - the first time ROH has somewhat acknowledged that gimmick as Rhett). They fire him up, repeatedly telling him that he IS The Foundation. Titus finally removes his Red Octopus masks and echoes their statement...

Mark Briscoe is happy that the holiday season is here, and just like a typical holiday season, he has family issues. Since his brother Jay doesn't want to accept a Tag Title opportunity at Final Battle he has recruited a new partner. He now has his 'own personal monster' in the form of PCO...

'Hot Sauce' always speaks well and his interview is fascinating. It is apparent that his disappointment at failing to win the Pure Tournament still burns, but he takes comfort in the bond he has formed with Jon Gresham and their singular mission to rebuild ROH on 'The Foundation' of Pure Wrestling. Whilst many list names like Samoa Joe and CM Punk as 'all-time ROH greats', he considers Walters to be on that list after his run as Pure Champion in 2004/5. Clearly that is hyperbole, but I love the points he makes around both of them having a variety of holds to finish matches meaning fans will know that the end of the bout could happen at any time. Walters is 40+ years old, and Cagematch lists his most recent match as 2018 so, even as a former Pure Champion, he is an underdog. But his interview is better than anything he ever delivered during his time on the regular roster more than a decade ago. In essence, he's back because the Pure Title is back. He isn't just here to wrestle - he thinks he has the skills and gas left in the tank to sit at the very top of the Pure division once again. That makes Tracy his first stepping stone en-route to Gresham. Flip Gordon is on TV for the first time since the pandemic, with breaking news that he will challenge for the Pure Title at Final Battle...

Williams grinds onto a headlock, wasting no time in going after the neck to set up his Crossface. Walters has counters and answers to it but still gets dumped through the ropes by Hot Sauce. Next the veteran tries to dominate Tracy on the ground...but finds Williams lined up to counter with an armbreaker, then a shortarm scissors. Tracy actually seems to angle his opponent towards the ropes and Walters has no choice but to use his first rope-break. Rattled by his poor start, Walters drills Tracy's bad shoulder into the canvas. Next he blocks Tracy's Piledriver, hits the ropes and FLIES into a chop-block on the leg. Williams collapses in pain and John is on it instantly. 'Hurricane' uses the ropes to inflict more damage...so Tracy counters into another armbar. Todd Sinclair makes a judgement call in not deducting a second rope-break from Walters there! He dragon screws Williams into the Sharpshooter - a move he has beaten ROH legends with in the past. Hot Sauce goes straight to the ropes and uses his first break to escape. Williams goes to a Heel Hook (signature move of Jimmy Rave, a man who was briefly an ally of Walters in The Embassy) to block another Sharpshooter attempt. Walters needs his second rope-break to escape. Back suplex by Tracy to drop his opponent on his neck - even though Williams is still badly limping. CROSSFACE! Walters uses his third and final break to save himself. Tracy's knee prevents him from unleashing the Piledriver...so Walters locks the leg and uses it to explode into a flurry of pinfall attempts. SUPER TURNBUCKLE DDT! DISCUS LARIAT! JUMPING PILEDRIVER! Williams wins at 10:39 (shown)

Rating - *** - A strong main event and a great follow-up victory for Williams after he emerged as the MVP of the Pure Tournament. Bringing Walters in to put Tracy over was a smart idea since he isn't a regular but carries name value to the most hardcore of ROH fans and gives Williams' win extra impact. I did think this was a little too one-sided and structurally having Walters chasing the match for almost the full duration didn't necessarily make for the best drama (even if it was realistic given John's age and inactivity). Offensively Tracy was REALLY good here though, setting up his finishers with every move he made and approach he attempted. After their performances in the Pure Tournament I'd suggest that in 2020 names like Fred Yehi, Tony Deppen or Wheeler Yuta (I'd have listed Rust Taylor too, but he just signed with WWE this week) are better talents to recruit than Walters, but his performance was commendable here. He certainly didn't look a spent force...

NEXT WEEK - Flip Gordon vs Josh Woods in a Pure Rules Match, plus Mark Briscoe and PCO warm up for Final Battle with a tag match against The Bouncers.

Tape Rating - *** - Nothing touched the quality of Lethal/Woods or King/Taylor from last week, but with Final Battle now firmly in sight this was definitely a solid building episode. An OG Kingdom vs The Righteous tag was inevitable for the PPV after Bennett and Vincent beat the sh*t out of each other in the opener then brawled all over ringside with Matt Taven and Tyler Bateman entering the fray. We have Tag Title and Pure Title bouts in place with conformation that it will be Mark Briscoe and PCO challenging Lethal and Gresham for the Tag, and the returning Flip Gordon facing Gresh (pulling double duty) for the Pure belt. I could have done with a better finish for Vincent/Bennett, and I didn't necessarily love the structure or pacing of Williams/Walters - but nevertheless this show married decent in-ring content with competent storyline progression. A forty-ish minute wrestling show which breezed by.