McXal's Reviews

Two weeks out from the 19th Anniversary Show and the card is starting to take shape. We know it will be Rush vs Jay Lethal in the main event, with the World Title on the line. Happenings last week also made it clear that we'll be seeing Jay Briscoe vs EC3 and Taven vs Vincent in at least some form too. I believe TV and Six-Man Title Matches were also announced through social media channels this week as well. As the PPV is finalised it makes the scramble for the final remaining spots and the rush to build momentum going into the big show even more fervent, and that will be in evidence tonight. It's a three-match broadcast (which is always a gamble in less than forty five minutes of TV time) and they all look good. Dak Draper faces Fred Yehi in the Pure Division, Tony Deppen looks to put a black-eye on La Faccion Ingobernable by defeating new Tag Champion Kenny King, before a main event which sees Flamita take on Flip Gordon. Quinn McKay, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are our broadcast team in Baltimore, MD.

LAST WEEK - Jay Lethal blames himself for losing the Tag Titles for The Foundation and was therefore thrilled to earn an immediately opportunity to hit back at LFI. He wants to take the World Championship so he can lead the 'purification' of ROH from the very top.

Quinn announces Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus of The Foundation as challengers to LFI's Kenny King and Dragon Lee for the Tag Titles at the 19th Anniversary...

I believe this is Draper's first match since formally completing his transfer to the Pure Division. He accuses Fred of being 'happy to be here'. Fred's interview finds him in reflective mood; acknowledging that a string of losses have put his spot in ROH in jeopardy. Will Ferrara makes a guest appearance on commentary due to his knowledge of Draper.

Both men are apparently comfortable on the ground so quickly start to work the canvas. Dak's range and height clearly make him a formidable opponent but Fred always looks composed and sets about probing the 2019 TPT winner for weaknesses. Draper misses a knee drop, leaving his jaw exposed for a big elbow strike. The task of keeping the Mile High Magnum down appears too great though and Yehi soon finds himself in the corner getting hammered with big chops. SPINNING THROAT CHOP by Fred in response, then an absolute flurry of knee strikes bludgeon his taller foe into the mat. Yehi starts hitting unique, short-range suplexes - staying close and dropping Dak on his neck repeatedly. But getting close to the big man leaves him vulnerable and Draper retorts with a rough swinging bearhug hold. Back from commercials (having lost three minutes on the cutting room floor) we see that Draper really weakened the Savageweight with a multi-faceted attack. As we return he levels Yehi with a powerslam. Yehi kicks at the vertical base and on instinct floats into the Koji Clutch. He is too weak to hold Dak down though! Draper recognises the danger and punches Fred in the face! That's his formal warning...but Yehi is rocked. Draper batters the head with kicks, elbows and a lariat. Magnum KO wins it for Draper at 08:10 (shown)

Rating - ** - Good stuff, but it never felt like it got out of the lower gears. I'm a huge fan of Fred Yehi. If I were booking ROH he'd have been a regular long ago, and he'd certainly have been given a far bigger role after his performances in the Pure Tournament. Unfortunately he's sort of become a Pure Division jobber since then, which feels like a colossal waste of his talents sadly. As always he was great here, and he worked really well with Dak too. Some of the best parts of the match were the unique ways they found to incorporate Draper's height into Pure Division-style grappling sequences. Dak more than played his part, but sadly his best stuff seemed to have been cut out to make room for a car finance commercial. This didn't feel like the finest example rejuvenated Pure Division, and I'm confident it isn't reflective of the best work these guys could produce with each other either...

After winning, Draper hands Yehi a disrespectful 'participation ribbon'. Yehi refuses to shake his hand as a result and walks out...

Quinn is roaming the halls backstage and finds Tony Deppen pulling on his kickpads. She informs him that the Board Of Directors still consider him a top contender to TV Champion Dragon Lee, meaning he needs to beat Kenny King to earn a shot. 

Elsewhere, Kenny calls him 'stupid' for messing with La Faccion Ingobernable, then calls Amy Rose 'crazy' before storming off. ROH social media this week had a longer version of this segment, where Amy cut a promo first, then yelled at King for not being focused, if you're wondering why his outburst didn't make much sense...

At Final Battle Deppen won lots of fans with his gutsy performance against Dragon Lee. But ultimately he failed to take the TV Title and fell back into the line of contenders. As Quinn just announced, he is still a 'top contender' even though his last TV appearance was a loss to LSG, meaning he potentially gets a shot at Lee if he can find a way past his LFI stable-mate and co-Tag Champion Kenny King tonight. Kenny's relationship with the rest of LFI is an interesting one. He screwed over Shane Taylor to fall in line behind Rush, and has once again claimed Tag Team Championship gold. But there are clear tensions between he and Amy Rose, and with Rush and Lee controlling the top singles belts his options as a solo competitor are limited. He needs a statement win against an irritant like Deppen here. King has Amy, Dragon Lee and La Bestia del Ring in his corner...

Kenny cheap-shots Tony during the Code Of Honor, which he'd offered with the left hand because that's how they do it 'in Mexico'. Tony shows his own lucha influences with a springboard armdrag, but he tries to go to the air again and gets dropped with a gutbuster. A ribbreaker follows that and leaves Deppen grimacing in pain. It becomes outright bullying next as Kenny works an abdominal stretch whilst outright clawing at the face. Screen-in-screen shows that during the break the rest of LFI helped King further attack the midsection on the outside, and we return with King levelling him with a spinebuster for 2. La Bestia wants him to finish it...but Kenny mugs to the camera and gets punished with a few big strikes from Deppen. He double stomps King's back then lands an outside-in springboard senton for 2. Top rope double stomp misses...Royal Flush countered with a jumping knee strike! Kenny tries to leave the ring, so Tony chases for a SATELLITE DDT ON THE FLOOR! Diving double stomp gets a close-nearfall on the Tag Champion. Tony slips trying to springboard off the ropes and walks into a Chin Checker, followed by a Tiger Driver. The match is over, but King pulls the shoulders up! Royal Flush countered from nowhere to an inside cradle, giving Deppen a shock victory in a time of 07:24 (shown)

Rating - ** - Thus far Deppen's ROH work isn't at all representative of the kind of quality he produces in other promotions. Last time we saw him I said that ROH's presentation of him had veered too far from skilled wrestler and too close to 'scrappy weirdo'. That was absolutely the case here as well. Don't get me wrong, he is GREAT as a scrappy weirdo. His facial reactions and body language mean he is really good at fighting from behind. But sadly this, as with most of his ROH matches thus far, gave off the impression that he was totally out-matched and got lucky. King's performance actually became the most interesting part of the whole segment; cocky and laid back to the point of insanity, even ignoring the advice of his stable-mates at ringside. It had me genuinely curious to see where this angle is going.

No time for Deppen to celebrate. La Bestia ambushes him, then tosses him to the Tag Champs for a Royal Flush/Incineration combo. CRADLE TOMBSTONE by La Bestia! Brody King makes his return from injuries caused by La Faccion Ingobernable...and makes a beeline for La Bestia, the man who cost him the World Title at Final Battle. Rush arrives and quickly the numbers overwhelm Brody and it becomes a four-on-one beatdown. JUMPING SENTON THROUGH A TABLE from Bestia to Brody!

This is our main event, and an interesting battle between two skilled athletes looking to get their ROH careers back on track. Flip revealed his true Mercenary tendencies a few weeks ago on television, when he took a pay-off from LFI to help them beat the Briscoes on their way to becoming Tag Champions. That came after LFI picked on and beat up Flip when he was on their team in an 8-man tag! Flamita returned to ROH three weeks ago, and promptly lost the Six-Man Titles that MexiSquad had held for a year without defending due to the pandemic. He'll be looking for an immediate rebound. He is a proud, high-flying and acrobatic luchador; a style which Gordon has started to eschew in favour of a more focused and violent style. We'll see which approach is best tonight it seems. Before the pandemic Flip and Flamita had something of a rivalry too (Flam pinning Flip to win the Trios belts from Villain Enterprises, Gordon going after his mask at Free Enterprise in response)...

The verbal exchanges between them are tense and they open up with plenty of crisp strikes. Flamita quickens the pace with a couple of somersaults...but as he sets up a dive Gordon ducks to the floor and SPEARS him into the guardrails. They keep chain-wrestling and countering in the arena floor too, until Flip absolutely blasts Flam with a Superkick. Handspring elbow by Flamita upon his return to the ring, and when Flip tries another guardrail Spear this time Flam simply leapfrogs it and lands a big thrust kick of his own. BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! But Flamita tries one aerial move too many and soars straight into a dropkick to the ribs. BIG SLAP DUEL! Flip-5 blocked, setting up a Tiger Driver for Flamita which gets 2. Once again Gordon blocks Flam before he can hit a big high spot though. He crotches the luchador in the corner, only to walk into a tumbling palm strike. They battle over a superplex, until Flip slips away and delivers a FOLDING POWERBOMB for 2. He stands imposingly over Flamita, talking trash and slapping the sh*t out of him...but it into serves to fire the masked man up until he springs back into a REVERSE RANA! Even at the brink of exhaustion they are still taunting each other and throwing strikes. Frog Splash gets 2 for Flamita! Matrix-dodge by Gordon, setting up the Springboard Sling Blade. Flip-5...but Flamita spins out onto his feet. 619 blocked, Flip-5 blocked...then Mark Briscoe appears under the ring to toss a chair into the ring. It distracts referee Joe Mandak, Mark pops Flip in the head with another chair...and Flamita pounces to win at 08:56 (shown)

Rating - *** - The finish was more of the same tedious, played out, uninspired nonsense from a booker who was burned out a long time ago. But rather than dwell on that for too long, I thought the match that came before it was fantastic. They really couldn't have packed much more into less than nine-minutes of ring-time. The idea of Flip being a 'reformed' high-flyer using his knowledge of that style to continually undermine, counter and suppress Flamita's highspots was really fun. It was such a strong central premise to hang the match around, even before you throw in some stunning strike exchanges and the CONSTANT verbals from both men which ensured this came off like a really heated grudge match. It was a crisp, fantastically executed TV match which deserved a clean finish. Flip's controversial politics and social media errors in judgement are masking the fact that inside the ring he has been excellent since returning post-pandemic, and this whole bout served as a reminder that in Flamita ROH have one of the best junior heavyweights in the world...

Flip is enraged and rips Flamita's mask off again. Bandido and Rey Horus come out to save their partner in a show of unity as they prepare for their rematch with Shane Taylor Promotions on PPV

NEXT WEEK - Rey Horus faces the returning Eli Isom, before a huge 8-man tag main event pitting The Foundation against La Faccion Ingobernable. That is DEFINITELY a match I'd have built up to for much longer before giving a way for free...

Tape Rating - ** - Unfortunately much of the 'reformed' ROH we were promised with the Pure Tournament last year is now starting to fade away. BS finishes seem as common as clean ones, ROH Dojo pet projects pushed at the expense of better wrestlers, creative consistently demonstrating an inability to get the best out of the talents at their disposal, repeat ad infinitum. This wasn't a bad show at all. The main event in particular is worth checking out, I thought Kenny King's character in his match was interesting, Brody King's return to continue battling LFI was memorable and the 19th Anniversary card looks good. Unfortunately we are back to where we've been for a long time with this company; it feels like the decent in-ring content comes from a talented roster being booked in a manner which handicaps them rather than helps them in any way...