McXal's Reviews

We are a week out from Glory By Honor 18, and this week we promote that double-header in Philadelphia by bringing back Champions vs All-Stars for 2021. And there's a twist this year; it's a ten-man tag rather than eight because the Pure Title is back (apparently the Six-Man Titles don't count). It will be Bandido, Jon Gresham, Dragon Lee, Chris Dickinson and Homicide as champions facing the 'All-Stars' of the Briscoes, EC3, Flip Gordon and Josh Woods. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman provide commentary; with Lenny Leonard also in position for our final Women's Tournament first round bout. This is taped in Baltimore, MD.

The winner here meets Angelina Love in the Quarter Finals, Love having received a first round bye. It is billed as a 'battle of the monsters' as the intimidating Holidead - veteran of top promotions all over the world - meets the imposing 'Impaler' Max. Holidead respects Max but thinks her experience will ensure victory. But it could be Max's representative Amy Rose who proves the difference-maker. Amy promises that nobody will stop Max from becoming the Women's division champion...

Holidead has a deranged smile on her face and seems to relish the challenge of getting in the ring with someone like Max. Even when Max batters her in the corner or launches her across the ring Holi still keeps getting back up grinning like a lunatic. She headbutts The Impaler hard...but Max sits up off the mat like the Undertaker and returns to bludgeoning their opponent. They start to work over Holidead's lower back, including a curb stomp with the boot buried deep in the small of the spine. Double arm DDT by Dead...yet it barely gets a one-count and Max gets right back up to split her in half with a spear. German suplex by Holidead, who throws caution to the wind and hits a wild tope suicida to knock The Impaler of their feet. Darkness Falls blocked so Holidead lands a spinebuster...and misses her attempt to finish it with a guillotine legdrop. Urinage backbreaker from Max, who finishes it off with The Wasteland at 09:10 (shown)

Rating - ** - By far the most character-driven match of the tournament. There was some good wrestling in patches, but the clear purpose here was to establish Max The Impaler's character. We've already seen them heavily featured in Women's Division Wednesday and it was obvious they would be a force in this tournament. This match was the next step in that process as ROH bring in a reputable, veteran name like Holidead to work with, promote and improve Max. Max vs Angelina should be an interesting one...

NEXT WEEK - The Quarter Finals begin with Rok-C vs Quinn McKay and Miranda Alize vs Nicole Savoy.

Matt Taven has a sit-down interview discussing his 'Last Stand' Cage Match with Vincent at Glory By Honor next weekend. It's a great piece; he talks about Vinny's betrayal ruining even the memories of his MSG title win and reminding Marseglia that Taven's ego is what made The Kingdom and therefore what Vinny owes his career to. It ends with Taven shaving his unkempt obsession beard and reminding himself of who he truly is...before vowing to win in the cage then go on to regain the World Title.

There is so much to unpick with this one. Bandido will once again be the 'Most Wanted Champion' since everyone wants a title shot...but Flip will be particularly focused since they meet at Glory By Honor. That's if Flip can coexist with EC3, who beat him at Best In The World. Speaking of EC3, can the Briscoes work with him after all they went through together in 2020 and early 2021? The Briscoes will have an eye on Dickinson and fellow Era Of Honor Begins survivor Homicide, since the VLNCE UNLTD duo now hold the Tag Championships that the Briscoes are synonymous with. Throw in Josh Woods' desire to get into the Pure Title picture (currently held by Gresham) and the fact that the Champions team contains members of all three warring factions (The Foundation, LFI and Violence Unlimited) and you see that this could very quickly get rather chaotic. 

Gresham and Woods start, shaking hands and seemingly committing to demonstrate to the rest of the line-up what Pure professional wrestling looks like. Woods pisses the Pure Champion off by being better than him on the canvas, before Dickinson tags in because things are 'too nice in there'. He tries to trap Josh in a kneebar but he too is put on his ass by the Technical Beast. Mark tags in looking for a piece of one of the Tag Champs only for Chris to annoy him by ducking out and setting Dragon Lee loose. Jay Briscoe and EC3 form an unlikely team and take control of Lee...which ends when Flip slaps Carter in the head by way of an enforced tag. Unfortunately for Gordon, he gets dominated by Dickinson so leaves with his tail between his legs. Homicide rakes Woods' eyes then turns and spits at the Briscoes to reignite a very old rivalry! He fights both Briscoes on the floor as inside the ring Gresham and Woods are going hold-for-hold in another Pure Wrestling exhibition. The Goods again wins out and allows EC3 in to get his shots in on The Octopus (as Flip drops off the apron in refusal to tag Carter). Ethan accidentally spears Flip causing their bickering to intensity - as Bandido tags and flattens Gordon with the Tornillo. All ten guys fly into the ring which essentially forces Todd Sinclair to crouch in the corner and duck for cover! The Briscoes and Violence Unlimited fight in the aisle, whilst in the ring Dragon and Bandido form another unlikely partnership as they get in formation for stereo topes. Exploder suplex from Cide to Gordon gets 2. Cop Killa blocked by The Mercenary, as is the Ace Crusher. FLIP-5! PUMPING PILEDRIVER! Flip pins Homicide at 13:13 (shown)

Rating - *** - It goes without saying that thirteen minutes very obviously isn't enough time for ten men of this calibre. The match was a decent TV main event, but amounted to little more than a series of fun, entertaining cameos or skits between various combinations of guys. Gresham and Woods presented themselves well as rivals in the Pure division. As an old school fan clearly I loved ANYTHING that had the Briscoes and Homicide coming back together. Flip and EC3 continued their rivalry and we finally got an attempt at preparing Gordon for his title shot (better late than never) as he won the match by beating the old warhorse Homicide (who in turn pinned Gresham at Best In The World). Ultimately this was just ROH giving a load of talented guys ten minutes to play with in an effort to provide a little bit of entertainment in what remains a pretty dark time. If you're ok with that and don't set your expectations too high then you'll like this.

The Briscoes and Violence Unlimited are still fighting on the floor, as in the ring Gordon makes a point of celebrating his victory in EC3's line of sight.

Because most of the roster haven't been on television since Best In The World, very little has been done to promote the next big live shows with fans; Glory By Honor weekend. It means the final two minutes of the episode are dedicated to splurging the cards for the two shows all over our screens. Stand-out matches include Bandido/Flip and Taven/Vincent that we knew about...but also Gresham/Rhett for the Pure Title, Violence Unlimited facing LFI and The Foundation in 8-Man Tag action across two nights, Incoherence challenging Shane Taylor Promotions for the Six-Man Title, the ROH debut of Chelsea Green, plus MexiSquad vs Rush & Dragon Lee.

Tape Rating - *** - Half the show was dedicated to honing the character of Max The Impaler, and I thought that was successful. The second half of the show was dedicated to Champions vs All-Stars and even if as a standalone match its value was limited, I did think it was successful in its attempt to throw a spotlight on certain pairings/feuds. The Taven promo to hype 'The Last Stand' at Glory By Honor was effective too. ROH feels a long way from the promotion it started out trying to be in 2002; it feels like a long time since the wrestling in ROH genuinely was 'the best wrestling on the planet'. But they have got their TV back on track in the sense that they provide a solid hour of escapist entertainment which casual and lapsed fans can jump in and out of - and still be entertained by - without much effort or forethought.