McXal's Reviews

We are two days away from Best In The World 2021, with anticipation for that show even higher this year as it will be the first ROH show with fans in attendance since February 2020. The stars of The Foundation, La Faccion Ingobernable and Violence Unlimited are all jostling for position looking for superiority going into the pay-per-view, and they will meet tonight in a triple threat tag team main event. Quinn McKay hosts the episode, with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman providing the commentary in Baltimore, MD.

With the rift between the Briscoes perhaps now healed after their wild Fight On The Farm last week, they now re-enter the tag division at the very bottom. Papa Briscoe has instructed them to go back to basics and work their way back into championship contention, starting tonight against two of the impressive Future Of Honor system graduates. Joe and Dante aren't thrilled about the match since they think they are going to get their asses kicked...

Keys tries to get on the canvas and wrestle with Mark, but in less than a minute he sees his partner hammered off the apron and finds himself on the receiving end of a 2-on-1 beating from the Briscoes. After a couple of minutes of punishment Joe manages to lay Jay out with a back suplex and makes a critical tag to Caballero. Jay quickly dismisses Dante with a hurricanrana, followed by the Urinage by Mark. Yakuza kick on the floor lays Keys out! Redneck Boogie gets 2, so they give Keys the Day One Neckbreaker/Froggy Bow combo instead. Briscoes win at 05:02 (shown)

Rating - * - An almost total squash, which means that at five minutes this was too long. I wasn't looking for Keys and Caballero to magically become a tag team on the same level as the Briscoes, but ROH have spent the whole pandemic putting them over (especially Keys) as highly skilled technical wrestlers endorsed by Jon Gresham etc. Having them as cowardly jobbers here felt very jarring.

Brian Johnson is on commentary to watch his 'mentor' back in action against the aloof, distant and surly Flip Gordon. PJ is a veteran but since his appearance in the Pure Tournament has missed a lot of ring-time through injury. It means we haven't seen much of the relationship between the Darewolf and the Mecca...which began as something a joke between PJ and Silas Young back in early 2020.

Johnson draws three genuine laughs from me with his quick wit on commentary inside the first minute. Flip cheap-shots Black to get ahead, so PJ ejects him from the ring and takes him down with a pescado. Gordon is left with an injured shoulder after that but is still able to retaliate by tossing the Darewolf into the guardrail. Black tries to crawl away forcing Gordon to take evasive action on an attempted dive, but instead Gordon hops to the floor and blasts his opponent with a superkick. Tilta-whirl DDT blocked though, allowing Black to hit a vertical suplex. The South African hauls The Mercenary to the top and delivers the rope-run frankensteiner. PJ then almost lands on his own f*cking head trying a moonsault press...but just about lands it for 2. Samoan Pop gets 2 in response for Gordon...but when he looks for his springboard spear BLACK COUNTERS WITH A SPRINGBOARD SPANISH FLY! Flip starts pulling at PJ's beard, then rakes the eyes so he can hit the Flip-5. STF applied, forcing Black to tap out at 12:02 (shown)

Rating - ** - Twelve minutes (plus entrances/exits) is a long time in the context of ROH's one hour weekly timeslot. This match was solid, competitive and the right man won...but I don't think it even approached the kind of quality which would have justified the time investment Delirious made in them. PJ can still go with the right opponents, but he really is such a different wrestler from his absolute prime and I don't see that he adds much value to Ring Of Honor's product in 2021. And how have we made it to July 2021 and Delirious still hasn't given Flip Gordon any real direction after Villain Enterprises disbanded?

Flip refuses to release the STF, so Brian Johnson leaves commentary and runs to the ring to rescue PJ.

La Faccion Ingobernable don't want to compete in this match since no championships are at stake, but even they would be forced to admit that there are several scores to be settled between these warring factions on the eve of Best In The World. At the PPV Lee challenges Tony Deppen for the TV Title, looking to win back the belt he never lost. Brody King faces Jay Lethal, and it's worth remembering that Lethal and Kenny King have an immense amount of history together too.

Kenny and Dragon walk off and take a seat at the timekeeping table, leaving Gresham and Deppen to start the match. The Octopus belittles the TV Champion, even though Tony is more than capable of going hold-for-hold with him on the canvas. Lee and Kenny swoop from the apron to pull Gresham out of the ring and give him a double suplex on the floor, but then vanish again rather than legally get involved in the contest. Lethal and Brody tag in for a Best In The World preview...albeit only briefly because LFI once again drag The Foundation member out of the ring and suplex him on the floor. Brody capitalises by throwing his own partner into an emphatic senton splash across Lethal's chest. Deppen is next to be ambushed by La Faccion; once again Kenny and Dragon deliver a suplex on the outside without legally tagging in. Gresham profits - kicking out Deppen's arm then landing him with a quebrada! Tope on LFI...then a springboard crossbody back in! Brody plucks Gresh off the canvas, and when LFI try to suplex him he refuses to budge - laying out both Lee and Kenny with a double suplex of his own. The Foundation take out Brody, but get tossed out by La Faccion Ingobernable as Dragon tags in for the first time. ONE-ARM LIGERBOMB from Lee to Gresham gets 2! Tiger Driver by Kenny gets the same result, before Brody marches in and tosses LFI to the floor. POWERBOMB from Gresham to Brody! CORNETTE CUTTER on Lee! But Deppen saves the match and knocks Gresham out with a sliding knee strike. Kenny tosses Tony...and pins Gresh to win at 10:37 (shown)

Rating - ** - This didn't feel like a heated grudge main event. This didn't feel like The Foundation fighting a 'war' to restore honour and purity to ROH, nor did it feel like Violence Unlimited trying to prove there is 'honour in violence'. It felt like six guys going through the motions, content that the one fun idea they had (LFI refusing to get involved but constantly attacking people on the floor) was enough to carry them through a ten minute filler main event. A match with talents as capable as these six men really should be better than this.

NEXT WEEK - The Foundation vs Shane Taylor Promotions in 8-man tag team action.

Tape Rating - * - I thought this was a pretty lousy show. It wasn't really a go-home show for the pay-per-view so failed in that regard, but it wasn't a great isolated episode either. It was little more than a succession of bland matches featuring performers treading water or spinning their wheels without much momentum or forward progress.

Host Lenny Leonard reveals that we'll be seeing two more Tickets To Gold handed out this evening and that both he and Maria Kanellis-Bennett will be at Best In The World to reveal the Women's Title tournament brackets in full. 

Maria Skype calls Sumie Sakai and, to the surprise of nobody, offers the first ever Women Of Honor Champion a Ticket To Gold into the tournament to crown the new champion...

With Sumie's place in the tournament now finally confirmed, this match is officially a clash between two women who are in the field, and two promising young stars still vying for a spot. Recks debuted a couple of weeks ago but was played for a fool by The Allure and wound up taking an ass-kicking from Max The Impaler. Gia's debut was more successful, but still a losing effort as she was beaten by Alex Gracia (who was then awarded a Ticket To Gold herself)...

Willow begins with Allie, but doesn't get much of an opportunity to work her over before Gia jumps in and attacks her from behind. Sakai comes to Willow's aid with a double missile dropkick though! Nightingale then scoops Sumie up and bodyslams her into a senton on Gia for 2. Scott goes down having seemingly blown out her knee...and when Sakai shows some sympathy Gia boots her in the face. Recks can't capitalise though and finds herself on her back fighting to escape Sumie's cross armbreaker. When she does escape she bridges into a headscissors...only for Scott to forcibly tag her out before she gets to do anything else. TJ Neckbreaker gets 2 on Gia, who immediately retaliates with back suplex on the former WOH Champion. Gia tries to convince Recks to take a cheap-shot at Sumie - and when Allie hesitates Sakai immediately escapes and makes the hot tag to Nightingale. POUNCE on Recks! Powerbomb from Scott to Willow gets 2...only for Nightingale to pick up both opponents to deliver a Samoan drop/fallaway slam combo. Recks and Scott argue furiously on the floor...until Sakai climbs the ropes and hits a SUICIDE DIVE on top of them. But as the ref tries to organise the ensuing melee from that, Gia delivers an illegal boot to Willow's head. It dazes her and sets up Allie's 'Rexecution' Spear for the win at 09:29

Rating - ** - This was a lot more ambitious than the Scott/Gracia match we saw last week. That made it arguably more exciting, but the downside was that this was also a lot more disjointed and messy. There was lots to enjoy though - Willow is awesome, Gia is full of potential and Allie has a likeable babyface underdog charisma - but this started to feel every second of it's nine-and-a-half minute run-time because they didn't seem to have enough good/relevant content to fill it. 

Maria Kanellis-Bennett offers the second Ticket To Gold to Allie Recks as a reward for the tenacity and heart she has showed in recent weeks on Women's Division Wednesday. Unfortunately she has to decline as she reveals she needed knee surgery after her violent encounter with Max The Impaler. 

Instead, the following evening on ROH's social media channels Maria offered tournament spots to Holidead (who spends the entirety of her Zoom call with Maria waving a knife around like a maniac) and Marti Belle.