McXal's Reviews

This could well be a tough episode to review. I don't believe we are getting any match content at all - the episode is billed as a documentary delving deeper into the lives and stories of some of the competitors involved in making that (and by extension, the 2021 relaunch of the ROH Women's division) a success. I believe it aired the same week as Deonna Purrazzo defeated Rok-C on Impact television to take the ROH Women's Championship which is a little unfortunate, but in the weeks preceding this show Ring Of Honor had Maria Kanellis and Bobby Cruise do a fair few interviews, all of which promoted this episode as a real labour of love - so I'm keen to check it out.

We open in the ROH Dojo during pre-tapes for the tournament; Maria Kanellis setting the scene and admitting to taking inspiration from the success of the Pure Tournament in 2020. This includes a really neat shot as they switch between handheld footage of her getting ready to tape a promo - seamlessly into the promo itself. You so rarely to get to see that *switch* moment when the performer goes into 'performance mode' like that. Most of the competitors then put over Maria, and what it meant to have her belief and faith in them by putting them in the tournament. The first segment ends with an incredibly touching moment which shows Maria Kanellis encouraging Sumie Sakai who - even as a veteran - was doubting her style and credentials to be in the tournament.

The Allure are entirely in character, so they splice their interviews with some backstage shots of people like Maria, Bobby Cruise, Lenny Leonard and Jon Gresham going through notes or talking to the talent. 

The rest of the cast talk about their backgrounds; many of whom breaking down in tears as they talk about how much wrestling means to them and what success on the platform provided by ROH would mean for them too. Willow talks about people judging her by her size, Rok-C credits her break in ROH with helping heal her relationship with her mother, whilst Trish Adora talks about her own mother battling cancer. 

Fast forward to Best In The World as Maria prepares to reveal the tournament brackets, the new belt itself and also bring out Chelsea Green. In the back after the segment Chelsea admits she was shaking the whole time, but is congratulated by Maria (and Lenny Leonard) for doing a great job. 

Next we're backstage at the TV tapings for the tournament matches themselves. We see Maria legitimately watching all the matches with the production team, along with some interesting hand-held footage shot within the arena during the bouts themselves giving a different perspective on proceedings.

At the semi-final stage the Alize/Adora match reduces Maria to tears, particularly talking to the emotional Trish Adora herself as she comes through the curtain after the match. She talks about her pride at the team effort to pull the tournament off.

The final segment is, of course, at Death Before Dishonor 18. Bobby Cruise's involvement in the women's division relaunch is hinted at, but for the most part we go through some of the stars of ROH talking about their excitement for the tournament final and struggling to pick a winner. The show ends with highlights of the final itself, spliced with crowd shots of the families of both Rok-C and Alize.

Tape Rating - N/A - It was clear that a lot of care and attention was put into this episode. I hope if they release a DVD of the complete Women's Title Tournament (as they did with the Pure Tournament) then this is included because it is a lovely - and at times legitimately emotional - retrospective on what was a remarkable accomplishment. If you reflect back to 2019 and just how bad the state of ROH's women's division was; with The Allure absolutely tanking, matches featuring stale wrestlers who just weren't good enough or popular enough, and a women's champion in Kelly Klein who typified the mess everything had become by leaving whilst still champion - released from her contract after going public with a slew of inflammatory home truths about how lacking some of ROH's safety protocols were. To go from that, to the consistent women's division we got in 2021, jam-packed full of hot and exciting new stars (along with some experienced hands), is almost unbelievable. It really is a shame that it ultimately counted for very little as Sinclair pulled the plug on Ring Of Honor in this form. Who knows what it will look like if/when they return. The episode itself is one of the best 'filler' episodes (i.e. not new in-ring content) ROH have done in the decade of ROH on SBG TV.