McXal's Reviews

Just two shows to go until we reach Death Before Dishonor and, as always, since ROH doesn't have a timeslot and various Sinclair stations air the show across the weekend dependent on region, it will be this episode which serves as the go-home broadcast for the pay-per-view. That means we'll be seeing both of the Semi-Finals in the Women's Championship Tournament this evening; Angelina Love vs Rok-C in one, Miranda Alize vs Trish Adora in the other. After the success of the 'Faction Warfare' eight-man tags at Glory By Honor we have another one tonight in our main event - La Faccion Ingobernable take on Shane Taylor Promotions. Quinn McKay is back to host, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are on commentary with guest slots for Lenny Leonard and Chelsea Green for the Women's Tournament bouts once again. We are taped in Baltimore, MD.

Thankfully they have pre-match interviews for this, because I'd totally forgotten that Alize defeated Adora on Women's Division Wednesday in her ROH debut. She is completely confident she'll do it again because she believes she is too fast for Trish to be able to catch her in a submission. Adora is composed, focused and using her love of chess to strategise the right gameplan to take down the Lucha Baddie. Both women survived incredibly tough Quarter Finals where they weren't necessarily the favourites (versus Allysin Kay and Nicole Savoy respectively) so tournament fatigue could start to play a factor. The winner advances to the finals next weekend at Death Before Dishonor.

It feels like we JIP, with Alize having been put on her ass by Trish. The same thing happens again moments later when she looks for a lucha armdrag but Adora counters by dropping her on her face. Trish notices athletic tape on Alize's shoulder and instantly starts looking for the Cattle Mutilation. Alize gets to the ropes, then steps off them into a hurricanrana. She gets dirty as well; biting Adora's hand in the corner then peppering her with body shots. Lungblower nailed, immediately erasing the look of confidence which has been etched on her opponent's face since she came through the curtain. Hanging implant DDT out of the corner gets 2 as Alize continues to go through the gears. Adora tries to fight with her on the outside...but the Lucha Baddie is happy to brawl on the floor and demonstrates that with a Rush-esque charge to the guardrails. The fight continues inside the ring; Adora smearing her opponent into the mat with a running crossbody. Back to the arm she goes with a big kick - then grabbing it for a full nelson slam into a Katahajime. Alize makes the ropes and as Trish tries to press home her advantage she finds herself trapped in the Miranda Rights. The weakened arm means Trish is able to escape...right into a fisherman neckbreaker. Cattle Mutilation, but Miranda locks her fingers to reduce the impact! It's great wrestling, enabling her to battle back to her feet. PUNCH TO THE FACE! Ripcord knee into an Ace Crusher. DRIVE-BY! Adora gets up! MIRANDA RIGHTS! Adora's facial selling on the hold is AMAZING, conveying all the emotion of a woman realising she has no choice but to tap out and give her away her dream of winning the title. She finally does tap at 10:03 (shown).

Rating - *** - These two are among the most consistent performers of the tournament and they absolutely met expectations here. It was the best match so far, acting as a terrific showcase for their talents and also an incredibly dramatic bout in its own right. In her interview Trish said she was working on a strategy to slow down and tap out Alize and it nearly worked. She went after the arm early and often and nearly did enough to secure the win. And in surviving that we were given a glimpse into how tenacious and talented the Lucha Baddie is. She proved she could wrestle with a technician like Adora, she overpowered her on the floor and when it came to crunch-time it was her mean streak (the punch to the face and the Drive-By) which were the decisive blows from which Adora couldn't recover. 

For Rok-C it must feel like she is back at square one in this Women's Title Tournament. She began by facing Sumie Sakai, a veteran wrestler and former Women Of Honor Champion - and both of those definitions also fit Angelina Love. But Love enters this match with an injured shoulder after being attacked by Max The Impaler in the last round. In her sit-down interview (during which she does an awesome job selling the arm) she accuses Maria Kanellis of rigging the tournament, and calls a semi-final against someone who wasn't even born when she started wrestling is like handing her a spot in the final 'on a silver platter'. She plans to teach Rok-C a lesson tonight and expects The Prodigy to be grateful for it.

Love can't even move her shoulder or arm during her entrance. Instead she uses her feet and punts the teenager in the stomach to start the match. She goes for immediate pinfall attempts, trying to get out of the match with a win as quickly as possible. Rok-C throws a kick at the shoulder and lands her back flip knee drop for 2 seconds later. Angelina literally sprints for the ropes as The Prodigy tries to lock in an arm submission. She tries to even things up by bashing Rok's shoulder into the ringpost, but back inside the ring Rok-C pivots onto Love's bad arm again and uses it to haul her down into a Russian legsweep. An eye poke from Angelina comes next as she keeps dipping into her bag of tricks. Botox Injection ducked! Thesz Press by Rok-C, so Love drags her around by the hair into a DDT. Rok grabs the bad arm and uses it to apply a Crossface! Love escapes...but Rok-C clings on for a BRIDGING Fujiwara Armbar! Love taps! The teenage Prodigy is going to the finals at 06:32 (shown)

Rating - ** - I loved Angelina's selling of the arm here. She was so committed to it, completely adjusting how she wrestles and even how she moved around the ring in order to put over the pain she was in. Of course it benefits her as it gives her an 'out' for her loss here, but I couldn't help but admire it. I'm glad they had Rok-C go after it too, rather than play nice and not attack it like a typical cookie-cutter babyface. One of the best parts about Rok-C's debut way back at the start of the new Women's Division was that she has a touch of arrogance and aggression to go with her baby-face and obvious in-ring talent. By attacking the arm she showed her killer instinct and making her a far more formidable prospect in the finals next weekend.

Miranda Alize comes back out onto the stage and shares an intense stare-down with her fellow finalist

Graphics confirm that Dalton Castle vs Eli Isom and the Briscoes vs The OGK has been added to the Death Before Dishonor card, and another advises that La Bestia del Ring now replaces Rush when LFI challenge Shane Taylor Promotions for the Six-Man Title. 

LFI challenge for the Six-Man Championship at Death Before Dishonor, so have the chance to both lay down a marker in Faction Warfare whilst also launching a pre-emptive strike on the champions before they get to that title match. Kenny King reminds us that they've beaten STP before, and that is significant since we know Taylor still harbours a grudge against his former stable-mate in The Rebellion for ending their friendship and costing him the World Title in a match against Rush earlier in 2021. 

STP are here for a fight; blocking the aisle and forcing LFI to come straight through the curtain into a fist fight. The guardrails collapse under the weight of the bodies brawling all over the arena and security desperately tries to separate them so we can start the match. The match begins with Kenny suckerpunching Moses then hurling a volley of abuse at Taylor in his corner. Lee tries (and spectacularly fails) to intimidate Kaun. It's his quickness which gets him ahead - tossing Kaun out and hitting a spectacular tope suicida. The rest of STP assault him on the floor though, giving them the advantage even though Kaun is still reeling. Spear from Bestia to Edwards, coming to his son's rescue! He physically hauls O'Shay into the LFI corner and throws him out of the ring so they can gang up on him as a receipt for Lee. Atlanta Stampede by Edwards...but he is jumped by Rush. He calls out Taylor, who smacks the sh*t out of him against the ropes. GERMAN SUPLEX BY RUSH! La Bestia shows his experience by tripping up STP and ensuring a Moses cannonball off the apron only connects with his own team-mates. Ripcord Incinerator from Lee to Taylor! Incineration blocked into the PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! Rush pulls Todd Sinclair out to break the pin, and Kenny slithers in to give Shane a low blow. He pins Taylor to win at 07:27

Rating - ** - This was fine as a prelude to the Six-Man Title Match at Death Before Dishonor, but a lot of the hype was given to exchanges between Rush and Shane Taylor and that is a match-up that will ultimately go unfulfilled because of Rush's knee injury. That is a shame because the brief strike battle between them in this match was completely electric and by far the highlight of the match. Losing Rush kills LFI as a meaningful faction and there is no doubt that putting Shane Taylor into a feud with Kenny King is a big step down from El Toro Blanco.

La Faccion Ingobernable all put the boots to the fallen Shane Taylor as the show fades out.

NEXT WEEK - La Faccion Ingobernable (Lee and King) challenge Homicide and Chris Dickinson for the ROH Tag Championship.

Tape Rating - ** - There were things I liked about all three segments within this episode. Adora/Alize was a great match, Angelina's selling in her match with Rok-C was really good, and the teases of a Shane Taylor vs Rush showdown in the main event were fantastic. I don't think this works particularly well as a go-home show for a pay-per-view though. The World Champion and Pure Champion aren't here, the card is spoken about only in graphics form and the only real preview action we saw was the main event - taped in Baltimore before Rush got injured therefore a little bit redundant by the time it was broadcast. Check out the Trish vs Miranda match if nothing else though; all that held it back from a higher rating was having to be rushed into ten minutes of TV time...