McXal's Reviews

I didn't review last week's 'Best Of 2020' episode but it is good to be back with the first fresh content of 2021. The format seems to be the same as the one which served ROH well in the latter portion of 2020, meaning we have two strong matches lined up for the evening. Flip Gordon faces The Foundation's Rhett Titus, hot on the heels of his Pure Title loss to Jon Gresham at Final Battle. That goes on before our main event - Dragon Lee putting the TV Title on the line against MexaSquad's Rey Horus. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman plus host Quinn McKay are ready to welcome us back to Baltimore, MD.

Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and introduces a new ranking system for each of the championships. Rey Horus is #1 contender for the TV Title via his victory over Dalton Castle at Final Battle (ahead of Tony Deppen, Dak Draper, Kenny King and LSG). Apparently wrestlers can only be in one singles division at a time and have to 'submit a written request' to the Board Of Directors to 'evaluate' should they want to switch. Anyone from the top three in rankings for the championships may be offered a title shot. In the Pure Division, Flip is ranked at #2 - behind Tracy Williams but ahead of Josh Woods at 3, Fred Yehi at 5 and his opponent this evening, Rhett Titus, at 4. 

Quinn also announces that Vincent and Bateman of The Righteous are 'banned' from appearing together for the foreseeable future due to things like 'rule breaking' and 'property damage'...

Final Battle was a successful evening for The Foundation. Rhett is proud of their efforts, but left disappointed in Flip's refusal to follow the Code Of Honor after his loss to Gresham. He says he has learned from his mistakes and dishonourable actions in the past (clips from his time in SCUM are shown) and brings all of that experience into The Foundation's quest to change ROH. He is going to 'beat the honour' into Flip tonight and shake hands afterwards. Meanwhile the bitter Flip points out that even after losing to Gresham he is still #1 contender for the World Title...and has a 100% success rate in matches versus Rhett. Even if people are happy for Titus finally getting a chance to shine in The Foundation, as 'The Mercenary' he doesn't care and will beat him tonight.

Flip refuses to shake hands, telling Titus that he needs to 'earn it'. Rhett tries to earn it early by grounding the match and using his leg strength to grind into a grounded headscissors. Abdominal stretch next; another move clearly designed to wear down his athletic foe. Flip needs his first rope break to escape that hold, then leaves the ring to regroup. Once he returns Titus catches him in a bearhug which again targets the midsection and makes it difficult for Gordon to breathe. Half crab locked in after that, driving Flip into the ropes for his second break at the five minute mark. Sensing the danger he tries to engage Rhett in a strike battle instead...only for Titus to absolutely BATTER him into the turnbuckles and stomp on the ribs some more. Flip snaps him against the ropes and hits a sweet wind-up 'inverted Unprettier' version of a neckbreaker - finally getting in some substantial offence for the first time. He attacks Rhett's leg; a smart strategy both as a potential route to victory but also to negate Titus' signature dropkick. A Figure 4 Leglock forces Titus to use his first rope break. That hold is barely relinquished before he cranks in a neck vice. During the break Titus counters an attempted springboard move with the big dropkick...but both are so hurt afterwards that they struggle to recover. ROLLING Yakuza Kicks by Titus, snapping Gordon's head back so he can hit a shinbreaker/half crab combo! Flip kicks his way out so Rhett dumps him with a German suplex as well. LEG SELLING Kinder Surprise knocks Titus out of the ring though. FISHERMAN BUSTER ON THE FLOOR! And when Rhett tries to get up from that Flip tries to knock him out with a Superkick. He may well have won via count-out there, but Flip launches Titus back into the ring and starts talking trash. Half Crab again by Titus! Flip has to use his final rope-break to escape, but sees Titus unleash a barrage of stomps on his injured leg. Superkicks by Gordon, into the Springboard Sling Blade for 2. His knee buckles preventing him from hitting the Flip-5 though. We go into the final minute of the time limit with them frantically battling over pinfalls. CLOSED FIST PUNCH BY FLIP! CURB STOMP! FLIP-5! Gordon wins at 13:49 (shown)

Rating - *** - The new post-pandemic presentation of both men is such a vast improvement on what they were doing previously. This new aggressive and slightly eccentric version of Flip has made his matches considerably more interesting...enabling him to work a toned down style meaning he'll hopefully be injured less and allowing him to demonstrate what a great wrestler he is. His angry, uncomfortable and violent portrayal of a man under pressure here was really gripping to watch. Rhett, looking rejuvenated, motivated and highly skilled (as this new character direction requires him to be) used his power and technical skill to pick Flip apart for long periods. After losing at Final Battle, Gordon was, as mentioned, under intense pressure in the Pure division once again...but responded with the kind of violence you'd expect from a 'Mercenary'. He kicked Rhett in the head repeatedly, he dropped him on his head on the floor, he taunted him...and finally won via an illegal punch. After nearly fifteen minutes of build, that moment when he exploded and unleashed the punch was really rewarding. It wasn't a perfect match by any means; some of the offence seemed unfocused and at times it felt like their great character work was hiding a real lack of substance to the actual wrestling...but this was nevertheless a solid start to 2021 and certainly the kind of performances I want to see more of from Flip and Rhett.

Flip shakes the floored Titus' hand on the way out...then heads backstage to be interviewed by Quinn. He reminds her that one closed fist is 'within the rules', but nevertheless she informs him that the Board Of Directors have 'indefinitely suspended' him from the Pure division. Gordon says he doesn't care and is fed up of the Pure division being presented as the only one that matters. He has a World Title shot in his pocket...and he also contemplates going after the TV Title, or getting a partner and pursuing Tag Championship gold too.

Now this could be extremely interesting. Lee has been TV Champion for a year, but the pandemic and exile in Mexico has made title defences relatively infrequent. He returned with an emphatic match against Tony Deppen at Final Battle, and now returns to television with a defence against a fellow masked luchador. Rey Horus was the only member of MexaSquad to make it past Covid testing and into the 'ROH Bubble' for these tapings...and in singles action defeated former World Champion Dalton Castle. It was a performance so impressive that he has immediately been granted this opportunity. In his interview he discusses training with Rey Misterio Sr., taking influence from prominent luchadors like Rey Mysterio, Konnan, Psicosis and more...but also incorporating different styles from his travels all over the world. He has faced Dragon multiple times in other companies and can't wait to renew that rivalry in ROH. On the other hand, Dragon refuses to have a sit-down interview, tells Horus he is going to hurt him and leaves after calling LFI the 'past, present and future' of ROH.

TOPE SUICIDA UP THE AISLE by Horus! He ambushes Lee during his entrance and hits the TORNADO DDT for a close nearfall inside thirty seconds. Dragon tries to escape, so Rey chucks him into the guardrails. RUNNING INSIDE-OUT RANA TO THE FLOOR by Lee! The two luchadors are so fired up they can barely stop trying to punch each other's lights out to beat the 20-count back into the ring. Dragon cartwheels out of a rana attempt, knees Rey in the face...only for Horus to NO SELL INTO A STANDING C-4! Brainbuster blocked by Dragon, sweeping Horus' legs from under him and booting him down into the corner. Dragon's Fire (Lee's version of Bull's Horns) gets 2! Lee is visibly less interested in pulling out lucha spots with Rey and is just trying to beat the sh*t out of him...until Horus DROPS HIM ON HIS HEAD with a belly to belly into the turnbuckles. SPANISH FLY GETS 2 for Horus. Lee blocks the Tornado DDT a second time and almost breaks his neck with a snap German suplex. NO SOLD! LIGERBOMB gets 2 for Lee. Ripcord knee smash nailed, but when he tries another powerbomb REY COUNTERS TO A MEXICAN DESTROYER! He hauls Dragon up to the top to finish him off. Super Victory Roll blocked! GHETTO STOMP TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD BY DRAGON! INCINERATION! BARE KNEE INCINERATION! Lee retains at 11:07 (shown)

Rating - **** - Great stuff. This felt like a Lucha Underground match in all the best ways, which isn't that surprising given that Horus excelled during his time with that company too. They came out of the gate hot and never really let up, throwing their bodies all over ringside in a quite stunning offensive display for television. Dragon Lee is absolutely world class. The way he worked aggression, stiff striking and a more violent character even into a high octane spot-fest like this was incredibly skillful. I'd love to see LFI vs MexaSquad for the Six-Man Titles if the pandemic permits. I'd love it even more if they could get Mistico (the current version, Rush and Lee's brother) across the border to swap in for Kenny King so we could get an all-out lucha war for those belts...

Just as he did with Tony Deppen at Final Battle, Lee's celebrations take on a disrespectful edge as he stands on his fallen opponent.

Tape Rating - *** - Exactly the kind of episode which saw Ring Of Honor earn plenty of praise when they returned from hiatus in 2020. Two great matches occupy most of the show's run-time with a main event which is well worth spending ten minutes of your life checking out. As I said, Dragon Lee is a phenomenal worker, and I am a huge fan of Rey Horus too - the man is wildly under-rated. Considering the rate at which WWE and AEW hoover up talent, and the competition from MLW and Impact as well...prominently promoting high quality lucha libre is certainly something ROH could do to set them apart considering they have top quality luchadors like Rush, Dragon Lee, Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus on the roster (not to mention a relationship with CMLL should the pandemic ever allow talent exchanges to take place again). I'm not really a fan of the introduction of the ranking system as it feels both gimmicky and an unnecessary, self-inflicted challenge to Delirious' skills as a booker...but that really is a minor criticism of this 45-minute TV broadcast.