‘Ring Of Honor’ Wrestling Review (Aug 14th 2021)
Welcome to this week’s Ring Of Honor review, right here on Breitbart. Gotcha! We’re here on Nerdly! I’m Nathan Favel and I’m so happy to pretend to be in a good mood in the name of wrestling. We got two matches here and… Alex Jones: The Russians invented food to kill us all! Me: No they didn’t! AJ: Damn it! I just wanted to be right one f–kin’ time! Me: Mustache on or off? AJ: Off? Me: Too bad! Pick a hand. AJ: That one? Ow! Me: Hey! Your face hit my hand! I’ll smash you…smash you good! AJ: Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Me: Well, while I tickle this pickle, let’s not be fickle with the trickle on this nickel of a good time. Ring Of Honor starts now!
Match #1: Max The Impaler (w/Amy Rose) b. Holidead
The following is courtesy of rohwrestling.com:
The final spot in the quarterfinal round of the tournament will be determined by this battle of the monsters. Max has been an intimidating presence in the women’s division since debuting in ROH in April. Max has scored dominant victories over Hyan and Allie Reks and also destroyed four competitors (as well as the timekeeper) in a post-match attack. What makes Max even more dangerous is that the shrewd and cunning Rose has signed on as Max’s manager.
Holidead, who describes herself as “Dr. Frankenstein meets Mr. Hyde,” is no stranger to ROH fans. Trained by Gangrel, Holidead made her ROH debut in 2017 and competed in the Women of Honor Title Tournament the following year. Holidead and Thunder Rosa went on to form a successful tag team known as Twisted Sisterz. In ROH, Twisted Sisterz defeated Britt Baker and Madison Rayne, and Sumie Sakai and Rayne. The two monsters each tried to assert their dominance at the start. Max slammed Holidead. Holidead tried to return the favor but couldn’t pick Max up, so Max slammed her again. Holidead stunned Max with a headbutt and then was able to pull off a slam. Max overpowered Holidead and began targeting her back. Max rocked Holidead with a series of clotheslines in the corner. Holidead landed a DDT but just got a one count.
Max speared Holidead, but Holidead answered with a German Suplex. Max rolled out of the ring and Holidead hit a suicide dive. Back inside the ring, Holidead hit a spinebuster. Holidead missed a leg drop off the top rope. Max landed a backbreaker and finished off Holidead with Wasteland at the 9:18 mark. Max will face Angelina Love in the quarterfinals.
The Verdict: 6 out of 10
Match #2: All-Stars (Jay and Mark Briscoe, EC3, Flip Gordon and Josh Woods) b. Champions (Bandido, Dragon Lee, Jonathan Gresham and Chris Dickinson/Homicide)
The following is courtesy of rohwrestling.com:
Champions vs. All-Stars, a popular ROH staple, pits ROH World Champion Bandido, World Television Champion Dragon Lee, Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham and World Tag Team Champions Chris Dickinson and Homicide against Jay and Mark Briscoe, EC3, Flip Gordon and Josh Woods. In addition to the fact that this match features 10 of the biggest stars in the sport, the bout is compelling for several other reasons. For one, the Champions team has members of warring factions La Faccion Ingobernable (Lee), The Foundation (Gresham) and Violence Unlimited (Dickinson and Homicide) fighting alongside one another instead of against each other.
On the All-Stars squad, Gordon has heat with EC3 and the Briscoes. “The Mercenary” spit in EC3’s face when EC3 extended his hand for the Code of Honor at Best in the World last month after he defeated Gordon, so one would think Gordon has a receipt coming his way. Mark Briscoe also has unfinished business with Gordon, who used a low blow to defeat him at the 19th Anniversary show in March. The previous month, Gordon’s interference caused the Briscoes to lose a No. 1 contender’s match. The 10-man tag match takes place a week before Gordon faces Bandido for the ROH World Title at Glory By Honor Night 1 on Aug. 20 in Philadelphia, so we could see a preview of that bout here. EC3 also has set his sights on the ROH World Title. This is the first time he and Bandido have been in the ring together. Josh Woods will challenge for the Pure Title at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on Sept. 12 in Philadelphia against the winner of the match between Gresham and Rhett Titus at Glory By Honor Night 1. Woods will have an opportunity in the 10-man tag match to show Gresham what he’s in store for at Death Before Dishonor if Gresham retains against Titus.
EC3 gained the advantage over Lee but Gordon blind-tagged himself in. Gordon hit a standing moonsault on Lee for a two count. Homicide tagged in and spit at the Briscoes. Homicide and the Briscoes have history as rivals that goes back to the early years of ROH. Homicide and Dickinson engaged in a slugfest with the Briscoes. Later, EC3 inadvertently speared Gordon and didn’t seem at all upset about it. Bandido, who will defend the ROH World Title against Gordon at Glory By Honor Night 1 this Friday in Philadelphia (streaming live for HonorClub), hit a corkscrew crossbody off the top onto Gordon, whose teammates broke up the pin. All 10 competitors began brawling inside and outside the ring. Bandido and Lee worked together against Gordon and Woods. Everybody started hitting high-impact moves in rapid succession. Homicide hit an overhead suplex on Gordon for a near fall and a belly to belly suplex on Gordon for another near fall. Gordon answered with a superkick and Flip-5 for a near fall. Gordon planted Homicide with a piledriver to win the match for his team in 13:29.
The Verdict: 7 out of 10
Final Verdict: 6/10
This was a restrained episode of ROH TV. The opener was just a lot of nice hitting, but not any sort of great wrestling to speak of. Max winning was the right call. That big tough gal has something great going on, besides looking like a viking-demon. Holidead did a fine job serving as a gourmet victim for Max. I wouldn’t call their match an outright slaughter, but it was a glorified squash in the long run. As for the main event, we got a solid jaunt through the second half of the show that featured enough swift action to deliver what can be called a safe yet thrilling main event. Gordon getting the win was a good call, as he needs to get some big victories to stay relevant as a contender. The All-Stars winning was also to my liking, despite it hanging the current champions out to dry. I’m not really too big on booking a bunch of champions to lose all at once, but this was inoffensive in comparison to how these things can go. There were spots and dives and kickouts, but it all stayed on the straight and narrow as far as logic was concerned, so it all works for me. Overall, this was a good main event and a decent show altogether. It could have used a little finesse, but a steak is still a steak and this was a steak. I’ll be back next time to have another big meal and I bet it will be pretty good.
