McXal's Reviews

It's another Championship Edition of Ring Of Honor wrestling. Two matches are lined up for the episode, and both will have titles on the line. Josh Woods makes the first defence of his Pure Championship when he faces Leon St. Giovanni, then our main event will see the undefeated Alex Zayne face Bandido - a man he has beaten in ROH last year - for the World Title. Quinn McKay hosts the broadcast with commentary coming from Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman in Philadelphia, PA.

This is Woods' first defence of the Pure Title that he won from Jon Gresham at Death Before Dishonor. He has vowed to uphold the values, beliefs and traditions embodies by Gresham and The Foundation, and begins his reign against a man who Ian informs us is also a friend of his. LSG has been quietly improving and increasing his stature in ROH all year but it still feels like it would be a remarkable upset if he were to topple the 'Technical Beast' in his first title defence. Brian Johnson is a guest on commentary.

The friendship between the two is emphasised as they smile broadly whilst trading pinning combinations in the first minute. LSG in particularly looks to be going for flash pins, perhaps because he knows he can't out-grapple The Goods on the ground. That is proven when LSG needs a rapid rope-break to escape a cravat from the champion. Woods goes back to the cravat and clings onto it even when St. Giovanni drops him with a back suplex. Finally he frees himself with a swinging front slam and quickly locks Josh in a MutaLock...which forces him to use his first break. They go to the outside, where LSG tries to springboard off the guardrail into a lucha armdrag...but is caught and tossed with a belly to belly on the floor! Woods goes back to the cravat inside the ring - and this time LSG works even harder to keep a fast pace and stay out of his clutches. That culminates in the Rolling Thunder lariat for 2. Saint-splosion follows, and that draws a nearfall as well. Woods tries to retaliate with that sadistic Tombstone ocean cyclone suplex...but Leon counters to Rocket Bye Baby. Woods counters the springboard forearm back to the cravat! Tombstone suplex (called the 'Beast Slam' apparently) nailed, into the Gorilla Lock. LSG taps out at 10:32 (shown)

Rating - *** - I wish matches like this were non-title. I enjoyed it, but ten minute filler matches which don't reach the standards you've set for a championship like the Pure Title do much to devalue your belt. Woods and LSG have improved so much in 2020/2021 and from the little we saw here I've no doubt they could have had a kickass title match. Sadly all we got was a ten minute abbreviated version, which didn't do them any favours (particularly LSG, for whom this felt like a pretty crushing defeat). Woods dominated almost the entire match with his skills as the 'Technical Beast' and LSG simply wasn't able to stay out of his clutches and hit him with enough speed/aerial moves to stand a realistic chance of winning. Ten minutes of near total Woods dominance don't help or elevate him much.

LAST WEEK - Highlights of the Halloween Special episode are broadcast, presumably to catch up any Sinclair markets who didn't get the show due to SBG's technical problems.

Quinn McKay interviews Josh Woods after his victory. He says he is '1-0' then walks off...

Meanwhile at the announce desk The Bouncers and Ken Dixon show up to bully Riccaboni and protest at Caprice eliminating Bruiser from the Honor Rumble. Bruiser challenges Caprice to a match...

Zayne defeated Bandido in his ROH debut back at Honor Reigns Supreme 2020. He was set for a decent run with the company that year, but that was curtailed when the pandemic hit and he wounded up signing with WWE instead. He appeared sporadically as Ari Sterling but was released having achieved relatively little - but returned to some of his old stomping grounds on the indies quickly. One of those returns was at Death Before Dishonor as a surprise entrant in the 2021 Honor Rumble - which he duly won to earn this title match. Bandido is coming to avenge his loss in January 2020, Zayne knows a repeat of that will ensure Bandido's reign goes down as one of the shortest in ROH history. Jonathan Gresham provides guest commentary, having thrown his hat into the World Title division.

Zayne flies out of the blocks trying to immediately pin Bandido...who keeps kicking out then eventually drills the challenger with a Code Red. X-Knee blocked though, into Zayne's flipping sidewalk facebuster for 2. A somersault axe kick rocks Bandido in the back of the head as well. ONE ARM MILITARY PRESS DRIVER by Bandido! Zayne blocks Revolution Fly to hit a RUNNING SOMERSAULT FRANKENSTEINER! Unable to separated when it comes to high impact moves, the two men instead start teeing off with ferocious overhand chops. Zayne tries to take Bandido up the turnbuckles only for the Most Wanted Champion to counter him with a sit-out powerbomb out of the corner. Still Alex blocks Revolution Fly - hitting the somersault sidewalk facebuster off the second rope for 2. Crunch Wrap misses...Taco Driver countered into a roll-up by Bandido for 2. X-Knee scores! 21-Plex...rolled into a second German suplex, giving Bandido the win at 09:49 (shown)

Rating - *** - In many ways this was better than their Honor Reigns Supreme 2020 match. It was shorter and more limited in scope or ambition, but their 2020 bout was strewn with errors and mishaps. I'm not saying this was the cleanest match you'll ever see, but it was heaps better than last year, which contributed to a brisk and exciting ten minute sprint. As with the Pure Title, this was wholly insufficient for a big time championship match, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun to watch two exciting, athletic wrestlers trade spots for ten minutes

Bandido and Gresham point and stare at each other as the episode ends

NEXT WEEK - Caprice Coleman returns to the ring to face Beer City Bruiser, The OGK face PJ Black and Flip Gordon, before a main event which sees The Righteous take on The Foundation in trios action.

Tape Rating - ** - Woods/LSG and Bandido/Zayne were good matches, but this was an episode which typified everything wrong with ROH in 2021. Ring Of Honor and its World Title used to draw on name and reputation alone, regardless of the wrestlers on the card, because this company and that belt were synonymous with world class wrestling. That legacy no longer exists, thanks in no small part to championship bouts like these which barely get ten minutes ring-time and absolutely no scope to create any real drama or suspense. On their own the matches are fine...but as championship matches they are completely unremarkable. I'm at a loss to explain how, on a forty five minute broadcast, ROH found time for barely twenty minutes of wrestling between these two big matches. 

I'm quite sure this match has happened before, as between them they go back a long way in this promotion (albeit both taking time away to work in TNA/Impact/WWE). King represents La Faccion Ingobernable and now holds the Tag Championship - which is being chased by The OGK. The two teams meet at Honor For All, so the opportunity that presents itself here is to do some pre-emptive damage before the championship showdown.

Bennett has been competing regularly in the Pure Division so tries to start the match on the ground - even when King hits a dragon screw and goes after his leg. Mike's response is to work the arm, implying that both are looking to inflict injury ahead of Honor For All. Kenny takes the first cheap-shot of course, and drops his opponent with a powerslam. Spinebuster blocked, so King sweeps the leg and delivers a roundhouse kick to the head. Brainbuster by Bennett, who clings onto the arm so he can keep targeting that body part as well. They go to the outside which favours Kenny, who has spent lots of time under the wing of Rush; a master in this environment. He drops Bennett with a suplex on the hard floor...only for Mike to hit back by ricocheting off the ring ropes and pinging back outside with a forearm to the face. Running dropkick to the shoulder knocks King off the apron...and Kenny has to bite his opponent to stay out of a kimura. Hammerlock DDT instead, getting a nearfall for the Kingdom member. London Dungeon applied to inflict more damage although King is quick to make the bottom rope. Kenny goes back to the leg and counters the advancing Bennett into a half crab...and refuses to let go for as long as possible even after Mike makes the ropes. Shotgun Knees blocked...spinebuster blocked too (with a punch to the shoulder!). Chin Checker nailed for 2 instead. Bennett's leg is really bothering him now, but he uses elbows to the neck and shoulder to make sure he stays out of the Royal Flush. Capo Kick nailed - but King goes down afterwards too because it hurt his arm! That's awesome! La Bestia comes out and tries to give Kenny a chair...but Bennett tosses out and hits a rolling forearm on the shoulder...into the London Dungeon! King taps...but it isn't seen because Bestia is distracting the ref. Bennett punches La Bestia to the ground, as Kenny gets up to hit a dragon suplex, rolled into a Tiger Driver for the win at 13:42

Rating - *** - This was a really smart wrestling match, going into remarkable amounts of detail in terms of selling and limb work considering it was nothing more than a filler YouTube match. When Kenny went down selling the arm after hitting his Gordo Kick I couldn't help but be taken aback by quite how good it was. Unfortunately that was the also the point at which it started going downhill. As this was being given away for free on YouTube it is hard to be overly critical, but this would have been a better match with a clean finish rather than crap involving La Bestia. I completely understand why they did it, and I still had a lot of fun with this (not something that can always be said about these Week By Week 'exclusive bouts'), but just to put some context around why I didn't rate it higher. I'd also have preferred if Kenny's finish had involved the leg, given how hard Bennett was selling that injury earlier in the match.

Dragon Lee shows up, and all of LFI start putting the boots to King. Matt Taven comes out for the save...and challenges Lee to a match right now.

A former World Champion in Taven, against the current TV/Tag Champion (as well as being one of the best junior heavyweights on the planet) in Lee. This a huge match to put out for free on YouTube! Like King/Bennett, both men will wrestle this match with one eye on Honor For All and the LFI vs OGK Tag Title showdown...

Taven hits a tope suicida into the laps of LFI, who absorb the blow and start stomping the sh*t out of him. Lee starts the match by hitting Rush's Bulls Horns fake-out spot in the corner and choking Taven using his discarded hoodie. Taven retaliates with a suplex and a big dropkick, even though half of his attention is focused on King and La Bestia, who have remained at ringside. Purple Thunder Driver gets 2. Climax blocked, Lee shoving Taven into the corner to hit Dragon's Fire for 2. Dragon goes after the leg, with Riccaboni and Caprice supplementing that by cataloguing Matt's history of knee problems. Kenny and La Bestia throw Bennett into the guardrails - as Dragon wipes out Taven with a somersault plancha. Double stomp into the ribs gets a close nearfall, from which Matt pops up and lands a springboard moonsault. Russian legsweep/rolling neckbreaker combo scores - as does the Kick Of The King. Just The Tip gets 2; Taven now bombing on Lee's head and neck. Incinerator knee strikes by Lee! Taven fights it, but finally eats the Ghetto Stomp. Ripcord Incinerator COUNTERED to The Climax...but King pulls the ref out before he can count the pin. As he argues with the referee, Lee arms himself with a chair. But he then tosses it to Taven then goes down selling an imaginary injury as the ref returns to the ring. Taven protests his innocence, and as he does so Dragon small packages him for a three-count at 09:58

Rating - *** - The wrestling was better in the Bennett/King match, but grading this generously because it is being given away entirely for free on YouTube, I thought this was another lively encounter which did a lot to promote the LFI/OGK Tag Title Match at Honor For All. LFI were total rudos from first bell to last, Taven almost won anyway by throwing countless offensive bombs aimed and Lee's head and neck...but ultimately the shenanigans of LFI were too much. Once again I'd obviously have preferred to watch these guys in a twenty minute, marquee match - but ROH shouldn't be giving that away for free. As a match designed to increase awareness and anticipation of a high profile match (that will be behind a pay-wall) I thought this was effective however.

'I'm very smart' - Dragon Lee to Kenny King as he celebrates. The OGK walk away furious at the cheating that cost them both matches on this episode of Week By Week, and as they do so Shane Taylor Promotions storm past them. Taylor gets into the ring and stares down Kenny King - making it clear a showdown between them somewhere is inevitable...