McXal's Reviews

Death Before Dishonor is in the books, a new Pure Champion was crowned and this week the Pure Division takes centre stage. The main event sees The Foundation's Rhett Titus take on Mike Bennett under Pure Wrestling Rules, and the episode also features another Pure Gauntlet. I'll also be checking out former Pure Champion Doug Williams' return to Pure Rules; taped in the UK at Wrestle Carnival's 'Carnival Of Honor' show but airing on Week By Week. Quinn McKay is our host with Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Brian Milonas providing in-arena commentary from Baltimore, MD.

Quinn informs us that these Pure Gauntlets have been a 'hit' with fans, so they are bringing back the concept this week in an episode that celebrates the anniversary of the Pure Division's return. Six men will do battle, they are allotted three total rope-breaks for the match and do not reset after eliminating an opponent. The entrants are Eric Martin, Joe Keys, World Famous CB, LSG, 'The Mecca' Brian Johnson and Delirious.

Martin and Cheeseburger are the first two entrants. CB quickly highlights Martin's inexperience, causing him to burn all three of his rope-breaks cheaply inside ninety seconds. Eric recovers well by booting CB off the apron then delivering an underhook suplex. Burger pops up and applies a stranglehold - and since he is out of breaks Martin taps out at 03:15. Entrant #3 is Delirious, a trainer and mentor to Cheeseburger. He freaks out at the bell but since it's Pure Rules his freak-out involves repeatedly taking WFCB down whilst Lizard-groaning at him. Again Burger shows is skill by applying a hold within striking distance of the ropes which causes Delirious to take a rope-break. Cobra Stretch blocked into a HEAD DROP DRAGON SUPLEX by Burger! Delirious blocks the Shotei and lands a COBRA CLUTCH-PLEX! They start attempting pinfalls, ending when Delirious hits a Cobra Clutch backbreaker....into a triangle choke, from which he tries to snap CB's arm. Burger taps to his trainer at 05:32 (shown - 08:47 total shown). LSG is #4, quickly into a big strike battle with the Lizard Man. Delirious forces LSG to take his first rope-break to escape another Cobra Clutch and stays on the neck by winding into a neckbreaker moments later. St. Giovanni finds himself unable to lift his opponent for a suplex so uses forearm smashes from a variety of positions instead. Delirious missile dropkicks the neck, which LSG defies to apply a stranglehold MutaLock. Delirious taps at 05:20 (14:07 total). #5 is Joe Keys...who counters a bulldog into a backbreaker to further injure LSG's back and neck. Abdominal stretch applied, weakening him so much that the back gives way entirely when he looks for the Saint-splosion. Half crab locked in, forcing St. Giovanni to utilise his second rope-break - from which Keys simply scoops him up and delivers rolling German suplexes. LSG takes a rope-break to bring a halt to those, meaning he has no breaks remaining. He desperately counters a superplex into a crossbody though - and manages to hold Keys down for the pin at 04:37 (18:44 total). #6 is Brian Johnson, apparently heralding his arrival into the Pure Division. LSG slips on the ropes due to injury but still manages to hit Johnson in the face, setting up the Saint-splosion for 2 - Mecca using a rope-break to escape. Johnson then punches LSG in the face, taking a warning but allowing him to pin him using the ropes. With no breaks left, he is counted down meaning Johnson wins at 01:05 (19:49 total).

Rating - ** - I wasn't impressed with his use of a bridging submission on Cheeseburger after CB had worked his neck and back, but outside of that I was impressed by LSG here. It wasn't the most exciting Pure Gauntlet we've had but he anchored it with a solid tiring babyface performance, to the point where I felt genuine sympathy for him when he was left out of rope-breaks and punched in the face by the cheating Brian Johnson to win in barely more than a minute. Delirious had a fun little cameo too. Too much of the rest was rather generic for me - both in terms of identity (Keys and Martin have none) and wrestling quality.

In the run-up to Best In The World we learned what the Pure Division means to Mike Bennett. But The Foundation hasn't always believed in his integrity and Gresham was very vocal about him not belonging in the division itself. That may have changed somewhat at the PPV when Bennett pushed Gresham to his limit. Now Mike is back in Pure Rules action - against another member of The Foundation - and once again trying to earn their respect and advance in the Pure Title rankings.

Two minutes in and its incredibly evenly matched; they can't be separated. Rhett goes to Gresham's Cobra Twist in an effort to force a rope-break only for Mike to resist and counter him down to the canvas. Boston Crab by Titus instead and this time Bennett does take his first break. He uses his second shortly after to block Rhett's Belly to Belly Suplex. Rhett's response is to apply a front facelock near the rope and start verbally encouraging Bennett to take his last rope-break. Bennett fights out...and forearms his opponent in the face that Titus basically falls backwards into the ropes, and uses his first break to escape the subsequent pin. He spots Titus' bandaged knee and SAVAGELY attacks it; dropkicking the leg out then hitting a veritable flurry of dragon screws as Rhett scrambles to get up. Knee-DT scores, and during the break we see that the leg was so injured that after hitting the Big Dawg Dropkick Titus collapses in pain. He makes a desperate lunge at Mike and manages to lure the last rope-break out of him...and instantly starts choking him in the now-legal ropes. Anklelock by Bennett, and Titus utilises his second break to escape. The leg crumples underneath him when trying the Belly To Belly, cueing up Bennett for another kick to the injury. One minute left in the time limit, with Mike still clawing at the bad leg to stay ahead. As the seconds tick down they frantically try to pin each other; eventually collapsing to the ground as the fifteen minute time limit expires (13:10 shown)

Rating - *** - A pretty decent example of what made the Pure Tournament such easily absorbed, enjoyable television a year ago. Neither of these two are overly beloved by ROH's live crowds and neither have outrageous movesets...but this kind of compact, physical, focused story-telling works incredibly well in the closed-set TV taping setting. And this was a smart encounter, as well as being a nice companion bout to the well-received Gresham/Bennett Pure Title bout. When he faced Gresham we were told that Bennett wasn't a worthy Purist and didn't have Gresham's respect. That was hinted at early on as Titus got the better of a competitive start and started ticking off Bennett's rope-breaks. After losing to Gresham and losing the 'first half' of this one, Bennett 'snapped' and went wild in the second half. He showed his skill as a pure wrestler by taking apart Rhett's leg, leaving him barely hanging on by the end of the match. After his performance at Best In The World and after his dismantling of Rhett's leg here, surely Bennett has proven he 'belongs'...

Bobby Cruise announces that the judges panel (Gary Juster, Sumie Sakai and Will Ferrara) have awarded the victory to Mike Bennett by split decision.

NEXT WEEK - PJ Black vs Brian Johnson and a 'faction warfare' four-way as members of VU, LFI, STP and The Foundation collide...

Tape Rating - ** - The Pure Division has niche appeal, and I don't think that the 'Pure Gauntlets' make for good enough television for ROH to have gone to that gimmick/stipulation quite as many times as they have over the past year. But what a full episode of Pure Wrestling Rules bouts does do is ensure that we will get an hour of solid, hard-working wrestling with an intensive focus on the quality within the ropes - which is just what a fan like me wants to see. If you like methodical, ground-based 'pure' matches then the Bennett/Titus main event may be a worthy watch for you.

Wrestle Carnival (12th September 2021) - This is taped at Wrestle Carnival's 'Carnival Of Honor' show, ROH partnering with the UK promotion to get their contracted talent stuck in the UK some work and allowing them to use the 'Pure Rules'. They aired a 'UK Stars Return' special of Week By Week, with Session Moth Martina and Joe Hendry bouts also available on ROH's YouTube channel. One of the more random pieces of news that came out in 2020 was when Doug Williams revealed he was actually signed to something of a contract/agreement with ROH. He had been announced as part of the first attempt at the Pure Tournament (which the pandemic cancelled) but most weren't aware he'd actually signed with them, and it's a real shame that the 'Ambassador' of British wrestling wasn't able to make a long overdue return. On this evening he was back in Pure Rules competition though, for the first time since losing the Pure Championship to John Walters at Scramble Cage Melee in 2004. His opponent is Dean Allmark, a veteran of the UK scene so well-travelled that if you are a BritWres fan who attends shows with any kind of regularity I'm pretty confident you'd have seen him at least once. We are taped in Nottingham, UK - with a 30-minute time-limit rather than ROH's TV fifteen...

Doug had only recently returned from retirement at this stage so is understandably tentative from the bell meaning Allmark probably has a little more success on the mat than he might have expected. Dean looks to work the neck, which is a historic problem spot for the Ambassador. Stranglehold surfboard applied by Williams...which is smartly countered into his own stranglehold by Allmark. Chaos Theory blocked, leaving Dean in such confident spirits that he does a head-stand in the corner. But the ref decides to call that a rope-break when Williams looks to haul him down into a hold. It's a controversial call, and Allmark reacts angrily - punching Doug in the face to draw himself an official warning as well. Recognising he is in danger, he starts attacking Williams' arm which is covered in brightly-covered athletic tape. Cross armbreaker locked in, leaving Williams with no choice but to utilise his first rope-break. He looks to come back with a sunset flip and as Allmark grabs the ropes to block it, the official immediately spots it and rightly deducts a second break from Dean. Allmark feels aggrieved and applies a sleeper hold on Williams basically in the ropes...which the ref calls as a second rope-break for Doug. He spikes the Ambassador with a DDT, going back to the neck he'd singled out earlier in the match. The Anarchist quickens the pace, clobbering Dean in the corner before tossing him skyward in a belly to belly suplex. Exploder suplex follows...into a Tiger Driver for 2. Doug has a superplex blocked - and Allmark lands a top rope leg drop right across the bad neck! Last Chancery applied - and Doug has no choice but to use his final break. Allmark superkicks the neck and drops into a camel clutch knowing Williams can't use the ropes to escape. Doug counters to a pin with his feet on the ropes and wins at 15:17.

Rating - *** - This was a fun inclusion on Week By Week, offering a glimpse of two wily old foxes of the UK independent scene having some fun and making a fifteen minute match look almost effortless. The finish was insanely bad - Allmark still had a rope-break remaining, and just because Doug has run out of breaks shouldn't mean that Dean is penalised - but if you're willing to make allowances for the fact that this is a new UK promotion using ROH's Pure Rules for the first time (so are liable to make some mistakes, it's a pretty complex gimmick) then you may have some fun with this. Allmark going after Doug's historically bad neck, or his bandaged arm was smart strategy - as was Doug trying to use his bulk and power to effectively blow Allmark away with big offensive bombs.