Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena – Baltimore, MD – Friday, September 17, 2021
Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, Brian Milonas (match #1), Tracy Williams (match #2), and Lenny Leonard (WDW match) are on commentary. Quinn McKay is the host.
~Results and Star Ratings~
- Brian Johnson defeats LSG, Joe Keys, Delirious, World Famous CB, and Eric Martin at 19:47 in a Pure Rules Gauntlet Match. **½
- Mike Bennett defeats Rhett Titus via judge’s decision at 15:00. ***
- Week by Week, 9/21: Joe Hendry defeats Leyton Buzzard at 12:20. **½
- Week by Week, 9/21: Session Moth Martina defeats Alexxis Falcon and Heidi Katrina at 10:13 in a Three-Way Match. **
- Week by Week, 9/21: Doug Williams defeats Dean Allmark in a Pure Rules Match at 15:19. ***¼
- Women’s Division Wednesday, 9/22: Laynie Luck defeats Brandi Lauren at 9:02.
~JZ Says~
This was a special “Pure Edition” of Ring of Honor Wrestling, featuring nothing but Pure Matches. First up was a gauntlet, featuring six top competitors of the Pure Division, starting off with World Famous CB and ROH Dojo student Eric Martin. It was a quick win for CB, as he forced a submission with a knee-assisted chinlock at 3:13. Delirious was out next for a teacher v student battle that was won by the teacher for some reason. The second straight fall was decided by submission when Delirious twisted CB’s arm into an extremely unnatural position at 5:32 (8:45 total). I’m not sure why Delirious is beating anyone in 2021, plus I like CB and I wanted to see him advance. LSG got the honors of defeating Delirious, using a choke to defeat the lizard man at 5:20 (14:05 total). Someone finally got more than one win when LSG got by dojo student Joe Keys. They were up on the top rope and Keys went for a superplex, but LSG fell on top of him to get the pin at 4:37 (18:42 total). The last competitor was Brian Johnson for some reason. Johnson hasn’t been active in the Pure Division but smartly used the rules to his advantage when he punched LSG in the face and pinned him with his foot on the ropes at 1:05 (19:47 total match time). Gauntlets are hard to do well, and this one had some good stuff sprinkled throughout but never really caught fire at any given time. Also, having Johnson come out and win the whole thing with a minute of work seems antithetical to the spirt of the division. Plus, I just don’t enjoy seeing him and I don’t understand why he keeps getting pushed.
Rhett Titus and Mike Bennett squared off in the main event. Both men are solid, I just find them amongst the least interesting guys on the roster. They had an enjoyable match that went all the way to the 15-minute time limit, and Bennett won via the judges in a split decision. I guess this moves Bennett up in the rankings, but he just had a shot against Gresham, and I’d rather see some fresh challengers for Woods as his title reign gets going.
NEXT WEEK – PJ Black v Brian Johnson, and Brody King v Jay Lethal v Kenny King v Shane Taylor in a four corner survival match!
Quinn McKay hosted a very special edition of Week by Week, featuring three matches from the Wrestle Carnival show Carnival of Honor over in England. This is a nice change of pace to see matches held in a distinctly different environment than the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena. The first match saw Joe Hendry (whom I still believe in) defeat Leyton Buzzard with a pop-up powerbomb. Hendry is a treat to see, and I hope he can make it back stateside soon. Next up was the first Session Moth Martina match since the 10-person tag match in Las Vegas that aired back in January. She brought the energy (and the beer) to the match and got the win after a lungblower on Katrina. The crowd enjoyed that, and I think Martina will play well inf front of ROH fans when that eventually happens. Finally, the first ROH Pure Champion Doug Williams returned to ROH (sort of) to face Dean Allmark in a Pure Rules match. I’ve always loved Williams and was stoked to see him in action. He and Allmark (who I’m much less familiar with) put on a very good match that definitely fit the spirit of the Pure Division. After he had used all his rope breaks, Williams trapped Allmark in a cradle and smartly used the ropes for extra leverage to get the pin. Obviously, Williams should come back to ROH proper, and why not give Allmark a shot too?
Finally, the week concluded with Women’s Division Wednesday, which saw the two alternates of the Quest for Gold Women’s Title Tournament facing off in singles action. Laynie Luck and Brandi Lauren have been seen sporadically in ROH over the years, and both put in the effort to try and impress here. The end result was okay, with Luck getting the win after a Uni-Cutter, but ultimately, I think ROH was right to have them as alternates.
Kind of an odd week for ROH, with a weird “Pure Edition” of the show that failed to highlight what is good about the division, three matches from overseas, and a sub-par women’s match. Coming off a strong Death Before Dishonor, I expected more.