McXal's Reviews

This episode is the go-home show and last stop on the road to Final Battle 2020. The winners of the matches aren't necessarily in doubt as they feature athletes preparing to challenge for championships at the pay-per-view but as ever the pressure is on to deliver a solid forty five minutes of wrestling which also effectively sells ROH's first 'full show' since February. This episode also features the first in-ring action since the pandemic for PCO, The Bouncers and Flip Gordon. Once again Quinn McKay is our host, alongside Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman for commentary in Baltimore, MD.

LAST WEEK - Vincent and Mike Bennett brawled to a violent non-finish in their match, before ugly post-match scenes saw Matt Taven and Bateman get involved too. New footage shows Taven helping a wounded Bennett back to the locker room. Mike didn't come back to ROH to let The Righteous decide his fate, and Taven thinks Vinny has 'always feared' Bennett coming back and proving that the OG Kingdom was better...

As this is the first time we've seen Bruiser and Milonas since ROH's reboot, it is really interesting to see how they'll fit into the new presentational style. The shift is immediately clear as they talk about not wanting to be 'fun drunks' who toast their opponents after losses anymore. Instead they discuss carrying the heritage of having trained with Harley Race (BCB) or Killer Kowalski (Milonas) and plan to use their size to steamroll to the ROH Tag Titles. Which brings Briscoe and PCO into focus. They team up for the first time before challenging for the Tag Championship at Final Battle; Mark having recruited PCO to replace Jay since his brother is distracted by EC3. The mental state of PCO is always questionable - but this is the first time he has been in an ROH ring since losing the World Championship back to Rush at Gateway To Honor 2020. He has a lot of frustration to let out...

Mark and PCO appear to communicate through each other through grunting which is pretty fun. Bruiser appears almost giddy just to be wrestling again; smiling broadly as he and Mark tee off on each other. Milonas tags and gets into PCO's face...as Ian reveals that The Monster has been training in jiu-jitsu! Kingpin absolutely flattens him with a running crossbody though. He misses a diving splash and eats a roaring elbow from PCO which knocks him to the floor. Crazy old bastard tope suicida nailed! CANNONBALL by Bruiser before he can celebrate...but in turn BCB turns straight into the blockbuster from the apron to the floor by Mark. When we return from commercials we see Bruiser and PCO relentlessly battering each other with elbows...ending when PCO hits a spinning chop to the neck. Briscoe yells at PCO to 'do his thing'...PSYCHO CANNONBALL SENTON TO THE APRON MISSES! Why on earth would he do that in an empty arena?! He really isn't human. Beer City capitalises on him being removed from the equation by drilling Briscoe with a spinebuster. Without a partner to tag to Briscoe really suffers at the hands of his huge opponents. Vader Bomb Elbow misses for Bruiser...as PCO returns to the apron. The former World Champion gets a tag and lays Bruiser out with something between The Stroke and The Climax. Milonas clonks his head against the ringpost as punishment, whilst Mark opens up a chair in the corner of the ring to use as a springboard for a SOMERSAULT SENTON OVER THE RINGPOST! Froggy Bow misses...Urinage instead. PCO-SAULT wins it at 08:49 (shown)

Rating - ** - The first thing I'll say is that The Bouncers are a lot more interesting as a motivated monster team than as big comedy drunks. Their more serious presentation was arguably the highlight of the match here, albeit alongside PCO's complete insanity. As there can be with PCO matches though, some of the clumsiness here was quite off-putting, and I was disappointed that this didn't do much to show any real 'dynamic' or team-work between Briscoe and PCO. It really felt like they just ploughed their standard routine without much interaction. I have no clue how they will mesh with Jay Lethal and Jon Gresham at Final Battle!

Quinn McKay catches up with Mark and PCO on their return to the locker room. Mark calls them the 'most insane' duo in ROH history and believes they are destined to win the Tag Titles...

The Final Battle card gets a run through, with a blend of new and old interview footage to add to the hype. Of particular interest are Brian Johnson's curmudgeonly words for Danhausen and Gresham promising that Final Battle will see the last defence of the Tag Titles which isn't under Pure Rules.

It is a welcome return to ROH for Flip Gordon; someone who feels like he should be a cornerstone of the promotion rather than a part-time attraction. He acknowledges that he is a natural high flyer and an adrenaline junkie - but his 'foundation' (interesting choice of words) is in amateur wrestling and martial arts...and now is the time to incorporate that into his ring-style. He was offended at being left out of the Pure Tournament (and the buzz it created) and wants the Pure Championship at Final Battle to go alongside the guaranteed World Title shot that he won before the pandemic shut-down. But tonight he faces a fired up Josh Woods who comes in with piles of momentum after a strong Pure Tournament showing and a win over Jay Lethal two weeks ago.

The first serious action sees Gordon attempt a leapfrog - the kind of thing high flyers do - and get snagged into an Anklelock instantly. He scurries to the ropes and uses his first break within the first minute of the bout. Recognising his mistake; Flip locks up with Woods and goes hold for hold with him...albeit almost falling victim to the same pinning hold that beat Lethal a couple of weeks earlier. It comes to Flip quite literally holding The Goods down in a headlock and fighting to evade counter after counter. Tope suicida by Flip! That jarred Josh's back against the guardrails, and Flip looks to capitalise on that with a flurry of kicks. Rather than hitting the Falcon Arrow he instead delivers a gourdbuster to drop the injured midsection over the ropes...and follows with a springboard knee drop into the spine. But fate takes an unkind twist as Woods grips him around the waist...lunges him backwards causing him to involuntarily grab the ropes, costing him his second rope-break. Flip is furious at referee Joe Mandak...and eats strikes and suplexes from The Goods as punishment. Almost on instinct Flip tries the Samoan Pop and heads to the top rope...but in this environment that's a dangerous idea and Woods meets him up there with elbows, headbutts and a superplex! Both men now fight wounded and start laying into each other with strikes - Josh hitting harder but Flip moving faster. Doctor Bomb by Woods! MOONSAULT by Flip...gets 2! Curb Stomp nailed - delivering a decisive victory for Flip at 09:33

Rating - *** - Welcome back Flip Gordon. This is a man who ROH signed as a talented rookie a few years ago and has had trouble booking consistently ever since. His time as a recurring cast-member on Being The Elite made him a hit with the fans and at the end of 2017 he seemed poised for great things. Indeed, when The Elite left ROH at the end of 2018 he SHOULD have been one of the standard-bearers and box office attractions for the company in their wake. But a disastrous 2018 feud with Bully Ray derailed him...then 2019 saw him REALLY struggle with injuries meaning he couldn't appear consistently and even a run with fellow former Elite cast-member Marty Scurll in Villain Enterprises fell flat. Now a solo act, still a 'Mercenary' and a guy who has become as well-known for some oddball social media posts as he is for his work in the ring...this was a timely reminder that he is a f*cking GREAT wrestler. Putting him in the Pure division is pretty twisted but really clever too. Like Flip himself said, the Pure Tournament created genuine 'buzz' around ROH for the first time in ages - so that's where he needs to be. Watching him at times brilliantly modify and adapt his approach to account for and counteract Josh's threat was great. But more interesting was watching him battle his demons; his 'adrenaline junkie' tendencies...and wrestle with going for big high spots, flips and his signature spectacular moves rather than getting the job done. Woods was as good here as he has been in previous Pure Rules matches...but he wasn't the story at all. Indeed, this actually traded in a lot of the credibility his performances have built up in order to put Flip over. In my opinion though, Flip is a gamble worth taking. Assuming ROH continues to run regularly - 2021 is a big year for Flip Gordon in ROH. Flip himself needs to stay healthy enough to work...but ROH needs to correctly manage him like the top tier asset that he is. This was a good start.

Tape Rating - ** - Flip vs Woods was worth checking out and it is impossible not to admire PCO's courage and love of the sport that he continues to do these insane things to his body even at his age in an empty arena. But this show didn't really resonate with me as a 'great' wrestling broadcast or as a 'great' advert for Final Battle. The Pure division continues to set ROH apart and make it a product worth watching though. Join me on Friday night (through the night to Saturday morning here in the UK) when I'll be checking in with a 'live' review of Final Battle 2020 (stream permitting)...