McXal's Reviews

The card for this week is a strange one in that it seems to combine the lowest ranked competitors on the entire roster alongside a host of bigger names who have basically been forgotten about since the Anniversary Show (almost two months ago) simply because ROH doesn't have enough TV time to accommodate them. By that I mean we'll be seeing big names like Mike Bennett and Shane Taylor, or an ongoing 'feud' like the Silas Young/Josh Woods angle all appear for the first time in weeks...but in an episode which features Future Of Honor/ROH Dojo talent as far as the eye can see. We'll begin with a 14-man 'Rankings Battle Royal', from there we move to FOH trio Primal Fear challenging Shane Taylor Promotions for the Six-Man Championship...before a main event which sees Josh Woods gunning for revenge at the expense of the Last Real Man, who attacked him way back at the aforementioned 19th Anniversary. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are on commentary in Baltimore, MD

Fourteen men start in the ring for this, and with over-the-top-rope eliminations in effect will fight until only two are left standing. The criteria for entry is that all competitors are not currently in the Top 5 rankings for any singles championship - the last two standing meet down the road with a Top 5 Ranking spot in either the Pure or TV Title division at stake. Competitors range from former champions like PCO, Mike Bennett or Mark Briscoe to cult heroes like Danhausen or World Famous CB, rising stars like Leon St. Giovanni or Bateman and a whole host of guys from the ROH Dojo/Future Of Honor system: Sledge, O'Shay Edwards, Joe Keys, Ken Dixon, Dante Caballero, Ryan Mooney (formerly Ryan Nova) and Eric Martin. Dalton Castle is a special guest at the commentary table and remains completely mysterious and illusive about his new look and current objectives. 

Bateman jumps Bennett during his entrance, and they brawl on the floor whilst everyone else bundles into the ring. Sledge and O'Shay make a beeline for each other to continue their rivalry which has played out on the Week By Week YouTube show. Dutch has arrived at ringside and gives Bennett a BOSSMAN SLAM ON THE FLOOR! The Righteous walk out without Bateman ever having entered the ring, and after commercials Matt Taven comes out and carries Bennett out with him unable to compete too. Riccaboni and Caprice point out that the ROH Dojo crew are all working together and eliminate Dixon as a result. Mark Briscoe spots that too and eliminates Mooney. PCO clobbers Martin to the floor to send him packing too. Danhausen tries an ill-advised chokeslam on both PCO and Briscoe...and they throw him out of the ring. Dan then puts on an El Generico mask and returns! Sadly the Generic Luchador's shock return to ROH is brief as PCO and Mark toss him straight out. LSG eliminates Caballero, as on the other side of the ring CB and Keys battle on the apron. Keys knocks Burger to the floor, which counts as something of an upset. Briscoe and O'Shay trade big strikes, and since they have their backs turned to Keys Mark doesn't see the youngster charge up behind and eliminate him too! Sledge tosses O'Shay as their rivalry rumbles on. PCO malfunctions and TOPE SUICIDAS through the ropes onto nobody! He returns soon after and almost murders St. Giovanni with an exploder suplex to the turnbuckles. Sledge thinks he can trade strikes with the Monster, but it turns out he can't and he gets chucked out by PCO. Before his feet even hit the floor Keys and LSG sneak up behind PCO, eliminating him and crowning themselves the winners at 09:05 (shown)

Rating - ** - It was essentially a jobber Battle Royal, but if you adjust your expectations accordingly this was rather interesting and the whole package felt very tight and well-booked. The OGK vs Righteous feud gave us a hot start with Bennett, Bateman and Dutch on the floor. Danhausen provided some comedy in the middle, and also continued his bizarre interactions with PCO. Sledge and O'Shay Edwards aren't pretty to watch but do have an ongoing rivalry on Week By Week so it was nice to see that acknowledged and spill over onto the main show. The whole match was punctuated by flashes of resilience, athleticism and signs of growth as performers from Keys and LSG, leading to them going over and providing a fresh match for a future episode.

Shane Taylor Promotions have vowed to be fighting champions and Riccaboni informed us at the top of the hour that they also want to help promote young, deserving fighters. Their challengers tonight - a trio dubbed 'Primal Fear' - are another group out of the Dojo/FOH system and enter this on the back of a Week By Week victory over the trio of Will Ferrara, Eric Martin and Dante Caballero. After almost taking the World Title from Rush in early 2021, Taylor has not been as prominent for the last few months and will be eyeing up the kind of dominant victory which ensures his group get more TV time.

Moses and Omen start, with Taylor smiling on the apron and describing the latter as 'kicking like a little bitch'. Moses is too big, too strong and too quick leaving Omen scurrying for his corner. Hodder and Kaun in next; with the same dynamic in play and another member of Primal Fear dismissed. Soriano tags and loudly calls out Taylor to face him...then slaps him in the face when Shane disrespectfully dismisses him. KNOCKOUT PUNCH puts Adrien on his ass! When he gets back up Taylor simply lays him out again with a headbutt. Cannonball senton misses though, and in a flash both Hodder and Omen are in to gang up on Taylor. Primal Fear back Shane right up into their corner and don't let him out; tagging in one after another to overwhelm him with strikes. Shane T tries to fight out and levels Soriano with a knee strike...but he NO SELLS! Lariat instead setting up a tag to Moses. CANNONBALL OFF THE APRON MISSES! Moses crashes hard on the floor! Two members of Primal Fear are still mugging Taylor on the floor, but have to break that and rush in to prevent defeat after Kaun hits a version of Death By Roderick on Omen. STEP-UP TOPE ATOMICO TO THE FLOOR Soriano! Hodder tries to jump off the guardrails at Moses, who catches him for a FALLAWAY SLAM INTO THE CROWD. AVALANCHE JACKHAMMER BY KAUN! Soldiers Of Savagery win it for their team at 09:39 (shown)

Rating - *** - The match itself was decent with plenty of verbals and fun strike exchanges - but it was the red hot finishing sequence which really sold this one to me. I didn't quite 'get' Primal Fear as an act though. They wear the same gear, they all come out wearing black masks and two of them look really similar - but despite getting some decent time on offence (against Taylor of all people) I don't feel like I learned much about them even though they more than held their own. Taylor felt like a much bigger star than everyone else he was in the ring with, which makes his relegation out of the spotlight since losing his title match to Rush even more mystifying.

These two go back a long way. They were opponents on multiple occasions, but after Woods returned to ROH following a brief hiatus in 2019 he latched onto the Last Real Man as a mentor and the two became partners. Young was constantly frustrated by the goofball personality of his new protege, but as '2 Guys 1 Tag' they enjoyed real success and beat some of the biggest hitters in the ROH tag division through 2019 and into pre-pandemic 2020. It seems that the Covid shut-down caused them to re-evaluate their positions though. Josh refocused on the Pure Division and emerged from quarantine as a dangerous purist; as good in the ring as he ever has been. Silas fell in the first round of the Pure Tournament and disappeared for a time...before coming back claiming he had one more lesson for Josh. At 19th Anniversary we found out that the lesson was stabbing his former partner in the back, costing him a match against Dalton Castle and sending him tumbling down the rankings. Tonight 2 Guys 1 Tag explode and look to see who the better man really is.

Woods has a new entrance with some nifty new graphics and lighting, which is a really nice touch. Sadly we don't get to see much of it because Silas jumps him from behind during it...which feels kind of dumb. He assaults Josh against the guardrails and tries to use a chair as a weapon, only for The Goods to rally and boot it into his face. He smashes Young against the rails but then takes the match into the ring and looks to grapple his way to dominance over his former mentor. Silas has seen it before though and uses his own momentum to throttle him over the top rope. No fans mean we can hear Woods gasping for air after that - and Young can too. He starts working over the midsection making it even harder for his opponent to catch his breath. Codebreaker driven deep into the ribs gets 2. Woods tries to suplex Silas, but is so injured he can't get his foe up and Young drops him to the mat again with a big boot. Abdominal stretch applied next...except that is a submission hold and Woods still has enough about him to counter and take the fight to Silas when it comes to grappling. RUNNING TURNBUCKLE FISHMERMAN BUSTER BY WOODS! He peppers Silas in the corner with strikes then at last finds the energy to get him up - scoring 2 with a double underhook suplex. SLINGSHOT GERMAN gets 2, with the ribs preventing him from bridging properly. Silas blocks the Gorilla Lock too before dropping Josh on those ribs again with the slingshot swinging neckbreaker. Plunge blocked...Chaos Theory blocked too, so Young jerks Woods onto the apron by the hair. Both men sound totally gassed but keep swinging fists at each other whilst using the ropes to hold themselves up. Woods rolls back into the ring with an armbar, so Silas counters with his feet on the ropes and uses that leverage for an illegal pin victory over his former protege at 11:29 (shown)

Rating - *** - Tough and physical; for the most part I enjoyed this. Silas Young has been a favourite of mine in ROH for a long time and even though he is slowing down now he remains such a savvy veteran and some of the ways he worked the midsection in this match were particularly entertaining. In isolation I didn't even mind the goofy finish as it fits well with the story they are telling, providing another example of Young using his experience to steal a victory over the skilled, well-intentioned but naive Woods. The problem is that ROH gives us so many of these lousy 'heel cheats to win' finishes that they blur together and lose their impact. I also didn't like that they debuted a flash new entrance for Woods, then had Silas jump him during it. Criticisms aside, there was enough here to demonstrate that they have chemistry together and a better match in them should ROH be so inclined to book one...

NEXT WEEK - Fred Yehi vs Rocky Romero in a Pure Rules Match (yes please) and The OGK challenge The Foundation's Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus for the Tag Championship.

Tape Rating - ** - This felt like a filler episode to me. It wasn't bad at all - indeed the quality of the wrestling from Young/Woods and STP/Primal Fear actually surprised me - but there was nothing must-see about this show at all. We were presented with a collection of talent whom ROH has told us we don't need to care about because they aren't on TV very often, having decent matches but otherwise not doing a great deal to make you think that you need to see more of them. I didn't learn a great deal new here either. I already knew Shane Taylor was awesome, authentic and violent. I already knew Silas was a consummate pro and a skilled heel worker. I already knew Josh is a hell of a grappler but susceptible to occasional errors in judgement. Unless you're big fans of (or related to) Joe Keys or Primal Fear, who did have break-out weeks for various reasons, I'm not sure how much value this episode offers...or whether you were given reasons to tune in again. In an era where WWE churns out unprecedented amounts of content every week and AEW throws EVERYTHING at the wall on a weeky basis with Dynamite (with two weekly spill-over shows for free on the internet too) plus countless other promotions running - competition for the attention of the wrestling fan is fierce and I'm not sure there was enough of merit here.

Last week Sumie Sakai won her return match, but was made to work hard for it during an impressive in-ring debut for The Righteous' Vita VonStarr. We also saw the first Women's Title Tournament participant confirmed as teenage 'Prodigy' Rok-C was awarded her spot by Maria Kanellis-Bennett. Following the events of ROH TV Episode 503 we also know that Angelina Love has a first round bye as a prize for beating Quinn McKay. This week we have two more women's ROH in-ring debuts; Miranda Alize battles Trish Adora...and more spots to be determined for the Women's Championship Tournament coming this summer.

Alize is perhaps the more recognisable of the two debutants this week. Another product of Booker T's school in Texas, before moving to Mexico to train under the likes of Daga and Tessa Blanchard - the 'Lucha Baddie' has worked across multiple major promotions all over the world. She was a participant in the 2017 WWE Mae Young Classic, has appeared in Stardom, SHIMMER, RISE, Impact, UWN and has recently been working for AEW too. She was scheduled to be part of the cancelled 2020 Women Of Honor Title Tournament too, so this is a long time coming. Adora's path to her ROH debut is a little different. After spending eight years in the US armed forces, she trained at the Team 3D Academy under the Dudley Boyz and has been busting her ass on the independent scene - popping up in the likes of Beyond, GCW, Pro-Wrestling EVE, Evolve or SHINE and has worked as enhancement talent on WWE NXT TV too...

Adora is quick to close the gap on Alize, recognising her speed as a problem and actually driving her out of the ring. In turn Miranda knows what she needs to do; quickening the pace and unleashing a flurry of lucha inspired takedowns which Adora isn't equipped to deal with and gets dumped to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA BY ALIZE! Trish fights back into the ring and hits a Pele Kick on the arm then starts stretching it out in the ropes. She continues to work the arm and leaves Alize looking increasingly desperate. She tries to run the ropes only for Trish to shut her down with a HARD arm wrench to the mat. Judo throw nailed, into a wristlock to apply more pressure to the injury. Swinging neckbreaker out of nothing for Alize...but she needs time to recover and doesn't capitalise. WILD strikes from Miranda...met with big elbows from Adora and a Kawada-esque jumping enzi kick for 2. Alize creates some distance and unleashes a satellite Crossface...but her injured arm weakens its impact and allows Trish to make the ropes. Diving front slam for 2 by Adora. Ripcord Cutter by Alize, into her version of a Shining Wizard (called the 'Drive By' apparently). Alize wins at 09:54

Rating - *** - An impressive and confident match from both performers. Neither are the finished article, but they have relevant characters which were instantly identifiable (unlike Primal Fear for instance) and both represent fresh, vibrant and relatable talent whom could be placed at the heart of a women's division being built from scratch after other promotions have already hoovered up the vast majority of the talent. Alize is obviously exciting; her look is great and her fearless style reminded me of what made Ivelisse so entertaining in Lucha Underground. But Adora (who I'd not seen before) really made an impression too with some solid work on the arm and spirited striking. 

It is of little surprise that after the quality of that match, Maria Kanellis-Bennett informs both women via Zoom calls that they are entrants #3 and #4 into the Women's Title Tournament this summer...