McXal's Reviews

After the lawlessness and chaos of La Faccion Ingobernable in the main event last week, The Foundation are in the top slot this week and are looking to present their vision of professional wrestling and the future of Ring Of Honor. The foursome split into pairs and lead a six-man squad into battle; Jay Lethal and Rhett Titus partner Wheeler Yuta whilst Jon Gresham and Tracy Williams are joined by Fred Yehi. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Quinn McKay are in Baltimore, MD.

Jay Lethal addresses The Foundation, Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta. Together they compete tonight with the shared goal to demonstrate and promote the principles upon which ROH was built. Lethal calls on them all to 'lead by example' before they all break off, and asks that he starts with Tracy - who in turn reminds him of what happened when they met in the Pure Tournament...

Quinn McKay frames this as Deppen returning after receiving crowd support as part of the 'Choose Your Honor'/The Experience social media campaign. Deppen talks about Final Battle, where nobody gave him a shot but he came in so motivated that he was able to pin LSG and earn a TV Title shot. He goes back a long way with St. Giovanni, and thinks LSG is now a little bitter at the fan support and opportunities he is receiving - after years grinding in ROH with only limited success. LSG calls him 'flavour of the month' and doesn't think 'being tough' is enough for Deppen to keep up with him. 

Deppen can't help but smile as Leon tries to get on the mat with him, clearly aware that being on the ground negates LSG's speed and power. St. Giovanni realises it too and acts quickly to increase the pace - only to find that Tony is no slouch and can indeed 'keep up' with him. Deppen dodges an attempted dropkick through the ropes to the floor...and instead they just stand on the outside popping each other in the mouth. Deppen makes an early play at the slingshot roll-up be won with at Final Battle, then hits a springboard dropkick to the apron when Leon blocks it. ROLLING NECKBREAKER ON THE FLOOR by St. Giovanni! Deppen is near-motionless after that and its made worse when LSG dumps him into the guardrail too. He only just beats the twenty-count and rolls into a barrage of aggressive stomps and strikes. Tony gets desperate but is happy throwing strikes with his foe - striking his way into position for a flying crossbody. Double knee smash in the corner gets 2. Unable to separate themselves they instead stand in the middle of the ring and start SLAPPING THE SH*T out of each other. Saint-splosion nailed, followed by a springboard elbow for 2. St. Giovanni hits that dropkick to the floor second time of asking, but can't put Deppen down before he blasts him with a Brainbuster. Deppen goes upstairs but misses a double stomp only to recover quickly and hit a German suplex. Final Battle pin blocked! They battle valiantly over pinning combinations until LSG converts to a wild Gory Special flip powerbomb. St. Giovanni wins at 11:09

Rating - ** - They were given a decent time allowance and certainly worked hard, but this felt rather disjointed to me. I'm not sure I identify with either 'character' all that much. Deppen's presentation has veered too far from 'skilled wrestler' and too close to 'scrappy weirdo', which I don't think is the most productive use of his time. Meanwhile LSG has gone from 'plucky youngster coming of age' as he was against Lethal to a rather deluded oddball thinking he could be considered a measuring stick for ROH. Ring Of Honor have been very good on character, motivation and presentation since the pandemic relaunch - but sadly this felt like a miss on all of the above. It was spirited and contained moments of genuine excitement, but didn't provide much of a reason to get behind either guy.

Quinn joins up with the Briscoes, who are still trying to get their partnership back on track. There is a prolonged 'boat' metaphor which is really is very funny, and ends with them seemingly repairing their relationship...

TWO WEEKS - Rush vs Shane Taylor for the World Title on a 'Championship Edition' of ROH TV. 

The Foundation are here with a promise to uphold the core values and principles of Ring Of Honor in a top notch TV main event. That isn't to say this combination of men isn't without intrigue though. It puts Tag Champions Jay Lethal and Jon Gresham on opposing sides; a position they are familiar with going back to their superb trio of matches in 2018. It brings former stable-mates and Evolve Tag Champions Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi back together. It gives Yuta another chance to 'decode' Gresham, after losing to him in the first round of the Pure Tournament. Perhaps most interestingly, Tracy and Lethal are starting - with Williams' shock defeat of 'The Franchise' during that Pure Tournament at the forefront of both their minds...

The promised opening duel between Tracy and Jay is really good. There are points where Williams threatens to get the best of the former World Champion, but at this point Lethal is good enough to thwart him. Tracy finds some time to work the mat with Titus as well before vacating for his old Catch Point stable-mate to get a piece. His combination of power and speed means he quickly overwhelms Rhett on the ground. Yuta tags...and he has the speed and agility to escape Fred's attacks that Titus lacks. Enter The Octopus, and he trades holds with Wheeler at breakneck speed. Yuta starts decoding Gresh again; his speed and height giving him leverage on counters and forcing the Pure Champion to start using rope-breaks. Lethal makes fun of Gresh for needing to use those breaks and then tags in to face his tag partner for the first time. Jay actually gets the edge over his partner, securing the first real advantage of the match for his team and setting them up to work Gresham's arm. The Octopus is momentarily in real danger - but mounts a fightback by leapfrogging Lethal causing him to drive a spear into Rhett's midsection. Lethal tries to wheelbarrow Gresham next, but Gresh is such a wizard he actually counters into the set-up for the ROCKET LAUNCHER CUTTER double team spot that he and Lethal do! Yehi and Yuta tag, Fred unloading with a brainbuster/Koji Clutch combo. Wheeler makes the ropes to break it, but finds Tracy in the ring as well forcing him to eat a barrage of combo strikes and suplexes from the Catch Point duo. He rallies with a German suplex on Tracy for 2. Lethal Combination drops Tracy! Hail To The King gets 2. Figure 4 blocked though, with Williams mowing Jay down via a big lariat. Titus and Gresham tee off on each other...belly to belly by Rhett gets 2! Stunner by Gresham...only for Titus to decimate Yehi with a Yakuza Kick as soon as he tags! All Night Express atomic drop/lariat/bridging pin sequence by Titus and Yuta gets 2, as does an Olympic Slam by Wheeler. FLYING DDT BY WHEELER! Tracy has to break the pin there - the first time anyone has broken the rules in that manner. EXPLODER SUPLEXES BY YEHI! KOJI CLUTCH ON RHETT! Lethal breaks the hold by THROWING Gresham at them! Jay lines up his finish...but Gresham shoves Yehi (the legal man) aside. LETHAL INJECTION ON GRESHAM! Tits hits his knock-out Dropkick on Fred and grabs the victory at 17:04 (shown)

Rating - **** - Cards on the table, I did like the main event last week more. Nothing here was as compelling as Rush in full flow and that 8-Man felt like it had more plot and more to maintain your interest. That said, this was seriously fun - like a pure division version of a Young Bucks multi-man tag. For me Jay Lethal was the star - his exchanges with Tracy and Gresham were excellent, and built all the way to the finish when Lethal nailed his co-Tag Champion with his finishing move. If Yehi and Yuta don't already have contracts, they need to be signed immediately. They are exactly the kind of youthful talent and fresh faces ROH need right now and, as this demonstrates, they certainly have the chops inside the ropes. Impressive as it is, I'm still really not sold on the dropkick as Titus' finisher.

NEXT WEEK - Briscoes vs Dragon Lee & Kenny King, then the Six-Man Title Match postponed from Final Battle pitting Shane Taylor Promotions against the MexaSquad of Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus. How good does that line-up sound!?

Tape Rating - *** - The main event takes up half the show by itself and was certainly worth watching, making this another easy-to-consume episode. I will concede that the LSG/Deppen bout missed the mark for me, but in forty-five minutes I'm not sure how much more ROH can realistically achieve with their television show. This week they announced the 19th Anniversary Show PPV for the end of March, which should give a welcome focus to the product again, alongside the 'Championship Edition' taking place in two weeks, featuring the big Rush vs Taylor Title Match...