McXal's Reviews

It's a strong line-up this week, with championship implications across multiple divisions. Josh Woods, a high ranking contender in the Pure Title division faces former World Champion Dalton Castle in a Pure Rules bout. That is before our main event as Shane Taylor Promotions face The Foundation; the winners clearly becoming high ranking contenders for the Six-Man Titles and with the spectre of La Faccion Ingobernable (featuring TV Champion Dragon Lee and World Champion Rush) hanging over both groups. Quinn McKay, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are in Baltimore, MD.

FINAL BATTLE 2020 - We go back to Quinn McKay informing Shane Taylor Promotions that ROH officials want to award the Six-Man Titles to them via forfeit; an offer which STP emphatically refused. 

LAST WEEK - Dragon Lee retained the TV Title against Rey Horus in an excellent, ultra-athletic match. After the match Quinn tries to interview him...but is interrupted by Brody King, who dwarfs the TV Champion and delivers an ominous warning to Lee, Rush and their father.

'The Goods' cuts a frustrated figure during his pre-match interview. After the highs of his impressive run in the Pure Tournament and subsequent victory over Jay Lethal, he admits he got over-confident and under-estimated Flip Gordon in their Pure Rules Match...then all three of his opponents in the TV Title contendership eliminator at Final Battle. He is looking forward to facing Dalton - who is a decorated amateur wrestler just like him -and he plans to regain his momentum with a win over the former World Champion. He also guarantees that he'll hold ROH championship gold in 2021. Dalton says that he has let factors 'outside of wrestling' affect his performances inside the ring, leading to a number of high profile defeats. He generally comes across as a distracted figure, and is very open that he doesn't know what will happen with him after the upcoming bout. Victory would certainly clarify things somewhat - since Woods is in the Pure Title Top 5 Rankings, Castle will go right into the Top 5 as well with a win.

Dalton tries to grapple with Woods but has to hop out of the ring to regroup after failing to get to grips with him. The pace quickens when he returns and still we see Josh continue to end up in the ascendancy. Josh smiles at his early success...before walking right into a big elbow to the back of the head. His response is to catch Castle in the corner and drop him midsection-first over the top rope. His back is notoriously fragile so Castle can ill-afford more injuries to his sternum, and he screams in pain as Josh throws him ribs-first to the turnbuckles. The Goods peppers the ribs with strikes and starts stretching him in the ropes; attempting to force referee Joe Mandak to deduct a rope-break (he refuses). GROTESQUE exploder suplex crushes the ribs (and almost drops Dalton on his head first) for 2. Abdominal stretch has Castle screaming - and this time leaving him with no choice but to take a rope-break. As soon as Woods breaks Dalton HIPTOSSES him straight over the top to the floor. During the break Castle frantically beats on his opponent and forces him to take his first rope-break via an armbar. Josh is dazed and confused...but keeps smiling and when Castle gets too close he back body drops him to the floor. SPEAR INTO THE GUARDRAIL by Castle! Not content with that he rams Josh straight into the ringpost as well. SPINEBUSTER TO THE GUARDRAILS! Three minutes left in the time limit as Castle almost caves Josh' skull in with a running knee for 2. Woods retaliates by crushing the ribs with a gourdbuster, leaving them both struggling to get back up. Hanging backbreaker/slingshot German suplex by The Goods. BICYCLE KICK TO THE RIBS! ELBOW STRIKES! Castle tries to knock Woods out as we enter the final minute, but Josh stops him with a knee to the ribs. Bang-A-Rang COUNTERED TO A BODYSCISSORS DEENDA BAR! Castle taps at 11:55 (shown)

Rating - **** - This is up there with my favourite Dalton Castle matches since his World Title run in 2018. Authentic, hard-hitting and hard-fought; this felt completely different to some of the other Pure Rules Matches we've seen since the format was brought back. It still incorporated elements of grappling and wearing down body parts...but this time with a healthy dose of 'strong style' as well. Castle's strategy to counteract Josh's early superiority was simply to get outright violent; brutalising him on the floor and straight-up trying to knock him out as the time limit grew closer. The last few minutes in particular were thrilling to watch. Woods has really flourished in the empty arena/Pure Rules setting which Covid-19 has forced ROH into. There's no way he'd get the opportunity to work a match like this in front of a live audience pre-pandemic, simply because before the pandemic the ROH crowd simply wouldn't have tolerated it. Rumours are swirling about the future of Dalton Castle too, with speculation being that his ROH contract has now expired and he is weighing up his options. If this is his ROH swansong, it was a worthy way to go out...

Backstage Josh Woods is happy about beating another World Champion, but is disappointed that his match became more of a brawl than a wrestling match. He wants to prove his dominance as a wrestler next time he's in a Pure Rules Match.

The Foundation offer respect to Shane Taylor Promotions for being honourable and refusing the Six-Man Championships by forfeit at Final Battle. But Tracy hasn't forgotten their dishonourable conduct in the past, so suggests that they prove their worth against the reigning Tag Champions Lethal and Gresham (along with himself). 

In response Taylor calls out The Foundation for trying to 'gentrify' ROH (great analogy) and exclude all other styles of wrestling that they don't deem worthy. And he thinks their ethics make them jealous of STP and their outspoken, unapologetic honesty about the problems in the company around them. He doesn't feel like he has anything to prove to The Foundation...but is happy to accept an opportunity to 'whoop their asses' anyway.

As we've heard, Shane Taylor Promotions could be entering this match as Six-Man Champions having been offered the belts via forfeit when Covid-19 prevented Bandido and Flamita making it into the ROH Bubble for the Final Battle 2020 taping. They refused because they believe they are already the top dogs in ROH and are happy to earn what they get. It's an attitude which saw 'The Experience' fans on Facebook apparently vote for Taylor to get a future World Title shot against Rush, and a mantra which means they will be highly motivated to take down the multi-title holding, critically acclaimed 'Foundation' in a TV main event. Lethal and Gresh are the Tag Champions, Gresham is the Pure Champion, Tracy was the MVP of the Pure Tournament and has been one of the most consistent performers on the roster since he first signed. They are a trio scalps for STP to take...and also a trio potentially distracted by the dishonourable actions of Rush, Dragon Lee and their father La Bestia del Ring at Final Battle.

Kaun and Lethal start; the big man throwing Jay aside when The Franchise promises to 'take him to school'. The aggression and power of Kaun has Lethal rattled...so Jay shows his smarts by going to ground and trying to negate those advantages. KNOCK-OUT PUNCH smears Lethal through the ropes to the floor and has The Foundation chirping from the outside about the lack of Pure Rules. Hot Sauce tags, joined by Taylor...who he quickly puts in a hanging armbar in the ropes after dodging a flurry of attempted punches. Shane shrugs off another armbar and knocks Tracy's lights out with a 'forearm'. Moses steps in and looks absolutely huge compared to Gresham who tags in to face him. The Octopus uses all of his speed and skill to keep out of the big man's clutches, but is only delaying the inevitable and finally runs into a thumping shoulder tackle. The Foundation regroup on the outside as tempers fray; Williams wants to fight them but Lethal maintains his composure and encourages them to stick to their plan. He goes in and picks apart Moses' arm, before diving out so Tracy can crank it further with a Fujiwara armbar. In turn he leaps to the floor so Gresh can deliver a nasty kick to the same arm. The Foundation can barely contain their excitement; tagging in and out frequently and relishing the chance to work a body part in this manner. Moses eventually drops Tracy with a Samoan drop, but is so hurt he curls up in the foetal position and hardly moves. Kaun gets a tag at last and unloads a flurry of lariats and strikes at Lethal. WILD pescado nailed, followed by a fireman carry gutbuster (Death By Roderick) for 2. Lethal Injection blocked...so Gresh sneaks in from behind and dumps Kaun with a stalling German suplex. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER from Taylor to Gresham gets 2! APRON CANNONBALL by Moses! Tope suicida flurry by Lethal! SHOOTING STAR PRESS from Gresh to Taylor gets 2! He flies up the aisle with a tope suicida...as inside the ring Taylor COUNTERS the Lethal Injection into WELCOME TO THE LAND! STP win at 11:53 (shown)

Rating - *** - A fun main event, full of energy and lively performances from everyone involved. All six guys were very vocal too, which really added an atmosphere and a sense of tension that is sometimes missing from these empty arena shows. What I particularly enjoyed was how we saw more of the dynamics and interplay between the members of The Foundation here. Lethal was, at times, team captain; The Franchise, the former World Champion and the man trying to hold it together. Gresham was the irritant, looking to use his speed and small stature to unsettle their beefy opponents. Tracy was the hot-head; ROH have referenced his temper previously and we saw it here as he was willing to jettison their love of the Pure Rules first and get into a fight with STP. The contrast in styles between them and Shane Taylor Promotions made for some effective sequences, accentuating the strengths of all involved. I'm curious as to what the 'strategy' is for the booking of Jay Lethal right now. He has now put a LOT of guys over since the relaunch; I'm intrigued as to where Delirious is going with that. That Lethal Injection counter finish by Taylor was AWESOME though...

NEXT WEEK - Gresham is back in action, defending the Pure Title against ROH Dojo graduate Joe Keys. We also have a Danhausen/Brian Johnson Final Battle rematch, and The Bouncers facing the 'OGK' of Bennett and Taven.

Tape Rating - *** - Two 'new' TV episodes into ROH in 2021, and thus far they've continued with a lot of what made their post-pandemic reboot so enjoyable. A rejuvenated focus on the Pure division and in-ring competition was once again at the heart of everything we saw here. Woods/Castle wasn't as overtly spectacular as Dragon Lee vs Rey Horus last week. But it was extremely engaging as a smash-mouth and at times legitimately violent bout, proving that the Pure division doesn't just have to be about wristlocks and that ROH refocusing on in-ring athletics doesn't solely mean they have to present one singular 'style' of wrestling - an ethos which dates back to ROH's very beginnings. The main event was as much functional as it was enjoyable in its own right (in that the focus was clearly positioning Taylor for a World Title shot and setting STP up for their eventual clash with Mexa-Squad) but even that was full of intriguing character-dynamic play. I do think ROH are still lacking substance or coherent long-term story-telling, but that has been the case for years. It is a lot easier to look past that shortcoming when you feel like they are making real efforts to give fans an in-ring product worth watching.