McXal's Reviews

It's summer in Sandy Fork and we are ready for a 'Fight On The Farm'! As we said back at Episode 500, singles matches between the Briscoes are relatively rare commodities despite them having started in ROH as rivals and having been part of the roster for all but a small period of the nineteen year existence of the company. The Pure Title is also on the line tonight - Gresham defending against Fred Yehi - and the countdown to the return of the ROH fans is very much on as we are just two weeks away from Best In The World. Quinn McKay is your host, and commentary from Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman (on the Pure Title Match at least) is taped in Baltimore, MD.

LAST WEEK - Bandido won Survival Of The Fittest 2021, and he celebrates in the back with Quinn McKay like they are Ross and Phoebe in Ugly Naked Guy's Apartment (it's quite a sweet moment). He leaves saying he'll see Rush at Best In The World.

If I were booking ROH I'd have had this match on the pay-per-view (or at the very least saved it for Glory By Honor weekend) rather than on TV - but that's simply because I'm such a big fan of both guys. Yehi has been quietly awesome since debuting in ROH during the Pure Tournament and has racked up a slew of victories in the Pure division to earn this opportunity. He points out that he and Gresham share a training influence (former ROH/FIP wrestler Jay Fury) and that he feels he knows Gresh as well as anyone to challenge him for the belt thus far. Gresham cuts a superb promo in response; lambasting Yehi for not joining with The Foundation in the fight to restore purity and honour to ROH...and even questioning the integrity of his place in the division that Gresham has worked so hard to rebuild. He plans to beat Fred tonight, then tells him he needs to align with The Foundation in the fight against the forces of chaos (LFI) and violence (VLNCE UNLTD)...or get the hell out of his way. Mike Bennett joins commentary as he meets the winner of this match at Best In The World.

Yehi spends the opening minute easily repelling every one of Gresham's mat attacks, as Caprice makes the point that the champion won't be able to effortless out-grapple Fred as he has done to so many of his opponents. Yehi works his way into the ascendancy and almost forces Gresham to utilise his first rope-break as he cranks onto a surfboard. Next he grabs a wristlock and uses it for leverage as he rips the champ to the canvas, forcing Gresham to work incredibly hard to protect his arm from serious injury. Next the challenger tries to hiptoss Gresham...but The Octopus holds on causing them both to ricochet over the top rope. They are so committed to wrestling that they actually start trading headlock takedowns on the floor! Fred starts getting frustrated and almost takes a cheap-shot at Gresham, who vocally chastises him for not respecting the rules. But as Yehi continues to frustrate him, Gresh too lashes out - slapping childishly at him when they grapple to a stalemate. Stomps to the head and neck by Yehi; quickening the pace and trying to surprise the champing with a flurry of pinning combinations. Koji Clutch countered...Octopus Stretch blocked too! Yehi looks to utilise a potential strength advantage by forcing The Octopus to the ground, and now Gresham declines to give Yehi a clean break so he can take the fight to him. He armdrags Fred to the ground and chickenwings him into a pin...to win at 11:57 (shown)

Rating - *** - I'm torn on this. I loved what we saw as the quality was incredibly high - as you'd expect with wrestlers of this calibre. They did a terrific job of establishing the premise that this was a completely different title match because Yehi is one of the few wrestlers who Gresham can't easily out-class on the canvas. But it is incredibly disappointing that they barely got more than ten minutes. It is frustrating that they could find twenty minutes on a pay-per-view for Dak Draper to wrestle Gresham, but Yehi gets far less. This actually felt like the first ten minutes of a world class thirty to forty minute bout in truth. 

Quinn McKay interviews Gresham in the back. He points out that he is 10-0 in the Pure division, and says that he doesn't respect Mike Bennett; challenging Bennett to earn his respect at Best In The World.

This is a fight which has been brewing since the Briscoes lost the Tag Titles at Final Battle 2019. They weren't able to get back into the Tag Title picture before the pandemic broke out, and they've not gotten on the same page since either. First Jay was obsessed with EC3 (whilst Mark burned their contractual championship rematch teaming with PCO instead), then they failed to win #1 contenders matches. A match between them was signed for Episode 500, the first time they'd met in an ROH singles match since the Sea Of Honor Tournament, and the most important match between them since they met for the World Title at Best In The World 2013. Mark won by count-out on that evening but rather than heal wounds it exacerbated them. Mark is more bitter than ever, Jay remains certain that as a two-time World Champion he has always been superior to his little brother. A brilliant video montage airs, splicing together footage from their incredible ROH careers with grainy footage of them backyard wrestling against each other on the same farm in their youth. Papa Briscoe has called for drastic measures to repair their relationship and has ordered them to 'fight on the farm'...and also appears to be in position to referee.

Jay pie-faces his brother, so Mark gives him a slap and the fight is underway. It starts in a rickety old ring they've set up in their barn but quickly spills outside where Jay tries to swing a shovel into Mark's head. Mark dodges and decides to try a moonsault...only for Jay to SHOVE HIM OFF THE TOP THROUGH A TABLE! Mark crawls away and before long we are brawling in the fields of the Briscoe farm! Jay belts his brother in the head with a rusty old metal trough, then uses it to set up a wooden board against a nearby vehicle. That delays him for just long enough to allow Mark to recover - then hit his big brother in the balls before suplexing him through the wooden board. 'You know I'm crazy' yells Mark  as he climbs a ladder to the roof of the Briscoe family RV...and challenges Jay to come up with him. He tries to choke his brother out...but Jay escapes and throws Mark OFF THE ROOF through a conveniently placed stack of boxes and tarp. Jay tosses his brother into the back of his truck, and drags a camera man into the cab with him as well...then drives off! He wants to dump Mark in the compost heap - but Mark vanishes into the shrubbery before he can do so...then returns with a rope to try and strangle Jay again! It turns out that Jay was driving another table in the back of his truck as well, which Mark finds and sets up on the grass. He drapes Jay across it...then shins up a tree onto the roof of an abandoned old barn! DIVING SPLASH OFF THE ROOF OF THE BARN THROUGH A TABLE! Papa Briscoe has to help both his sons back onto their feet - and he hauls both their ailing bodies back towards their barnyard ring. Barely able to stand, they basically start throwing punches at each other from their knees. Mark throws one last lariat before they both collapse, each muttering that they are 'good now'. Papa Briscoe nods in agreement then walks off, leaving them to peel their bodies off the dirty old canvas. Time was approx. sixteen minutes (shown) although there were no bells of course...

Rating - *** - As far as pandemic-era 'cinematic' matches go, I really enjoyed this. It was weird and different, and of course extremely gimmicky to capitalise on the Covid-times penchant for such match types. But there was a storyline angle created to justify the existence of this match. It wasn't a cinematic match for the sake of trying one (which the Taven/Vincent match at 19th Anniversary felt like), this was two brothers going right back to the very start of their relationship in an attempt to repair and rebuild it. They actually told something of a story inside the bout as well; Jay superior as a brawler but never able to really put him away before his younger brother would do something 'crazy' (in his own words) to even them up. In addition, and unlike Taven/Vincent, the non-finish here did feel like it provided a sense of finality and closure to the rivalry. The action was zany enough to be fun, but never veered off into anything silly, camp or excessively theatrical. It was, for the most part, a well-filmed, grimy pseudo-backyard match. 

NEXT WEEK - Flip Gordon vs PJ Black and a triple threat tag team main event featuring members of Violence Unlimited, LFI and The Foundation.

Tape Rating - *** - I was tempted to go higher on my rating, because I really liked this episode. Watching two of my favourite wrestlers right now (Gresham and Yehi) effortlessly grapple for ten minutes was incredibly entertaining, whilst the Fight On The Farm blew my personal expectations out of the water and wound up being rather good. But, looking at the product objectively, I can't help but feel like this episode only has a very niche appeal. Gresham and Yehi is a great technical wrestling exhibition, but it isn't a great match because it got deprived of the chance to amount to anything substantive by its paltry time allocation. Similarly the Briscoe/Briscoe Farm Fight is another one of those post-pandemic 'cinematic' matches which have divided critics across every promotion. Approach this episode with caution if neither of the above sound like they cater to your personal tastes in professional wrestling. 

We've seen Gracia before, and she has impressed not only with her wrestling skill - but also her infectious positivity and courageous in-ring style. She is desperate to secure a Ticket To Gold, so will be eying up a win over young Gia Scott in order to make her case to Maria Kanellis indisputable. Scott competes in the Baltimore area and has been in and around the Future Of Honor set-up for some time - but I believe this marks her in-ring debut for ROH.

Scott is tall and powerful, and begins by dumping Gracia on her face. Alex shows her smarts by taking Scott's leg out; working a leg lock whilst driving close-range strikes into the same limb. It weakens Gia's vertical base, and now Gracia can start hitting some of her more athletic moves - including a springboard headscissors then the SPRINGBOARD SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Gia smartly returns to the ring and drops Alex with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. She traps Gracia in the corner; refusing to let her out as she delivers repeated Irish whips to the buckles and lunging tackles into the midsection. An STO jars the back and neck again, perhaps putting Scott on the brink of victory. Gracia hits a jawbreaker to block another neckbreaker...but just can't knock the bigger woman off her feet. Alex tries to build momentum with a flurry of big strikes...then climbs to the top to hit a somersault senton for 2! Gia tries another STO, but Gracia counters into a diving neckbreaker - which she calls the Beautiful Nightmare. Gracia wins at 08:53

Rating - *** - Among my favourite matches from the ten weeks of Women's Division Wednesday thus far. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I thought they had chemistry as opponents and there were certain elements to both individual's performances which made them really likeable. Scott looks to be a really strong prospect; tall, powerful, eloquent, athletic...and delivering everything with an air of gritty authenticity which really enhances her work in the ring. We definitely need to see more of her. Gracia proved that her performance against Willow wasn't a fluke either as she attacked this match with the same energy, courage and tenacity that we saw in the Gracia/Willow bout. Neither of these two are the biggest names in the rebuilding Women's division but they just produced an incredibly solid match here.

A great week for Alex Gracia is capped off by Maria awarding her with the latest Ticket To Gold.