Cook’s ROH TV Review 1.7.22

Hey kids! Along with some classic matches, Ring of Honor is presenting the 2021 ROH Awards this week. Should be a hoot! Almost as much of a hoot as some of the shenanigans former ROH wrestlers are getting themselves into in Impact Wrestling. If you’d like to see the continuing exploits of Jonathan Gresham, Rok-C, the OGK, Vincent, PCO & Maria Kanellis-Bennett, that seems to be a pretty good place for now.

We also have an update on ROH’s next scheduled event…

ROH PRESENTS SUPERCARD OF HONOR ON APRIL 1 IN DALLAS-FORT WORTH https://t.co/ETnoc5BUWr

Tickets for the annual PPV extravaganza go on sale Jan. 21 at 11 AM Eastern/10 AM Central for HonorClub members, and Jan. 28 at 11 AM Eastern/10 AM Central for the general public. pic.twitter.com/oG6VeSnWgD

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) January 10, 2022

Stay tuned. For now, here’s this week’s show!

Cook’s ROH TV Review 1.7.22

Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling. Various ROH Awards will be presented as voted by the fans.

Death Before Dishonor: Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize: This, the finals of the ROH Women’s Championship Tournament, was voted as a Top 5 Match of the Year. Rok-C was voted as the Female Wrestler of the Year, and Miranda shrugs off the opening handshake. She’s got the mind games going early here, takes Rok-C down and shows that she’s supremely confident. Rok-C with a headlock, Alize gets out of it. Rok-C with the hammerlock into a takedown and a bridge. Back up, Alize gets out of it, but Rok-C takes her down and goes to the ankle. Back up and a headlock by Alize. Arm wringer reversals and back down to the mat where neither woman gets an advantage. Off the ropes, Alize with a headscissors that Rok-C rolls out of. Rok-C & Alize keep countering each other as we go to the Ric Flair commercial.

We return and it’s still pretty much 50/50. Rok-C urges on the crowd before delivering an uppercut in the corner. Double knees to a seated Alize. Rok-C gets 2 with a Thesz press from the second rope. Rok-C with the side Russian leg sweep and the Rok-knees for two. Alize fights back, hits a knee for two. G2S from Alize gets two. Fans get behind Rok-C as Alize berates her. Rok-C with a slap to the face, boots in the corner, but then she gets crotched on the middle rope and DDTed down to the mat for two. Alize locks in the Miranda Rights crossface. She gets Rok-C to the center of the ring, Rok-C teases tapping but reaches the bottom rope. Alize looks troubled at this point as Rok-C rolls to the floor. Alize re-engages, and Rok-C fights back, hitting a dive to the floor as we head to commercial.

Rok-C rolls Miranda back in to the ring, but Miranda recovers quickly, landing a dive of her own onto Rok-C. That, as somebody used to say, was DANGEROUS. They both roll back in right before the twenty count. Back & forth, Miranda hits a cutter, Rok-C responds with a running knee. Miranda goes for the crucifix pin and back to the Miranda Rights. Rok-C rolls out of it and locks in a crossface of her own. Miranda gets out, hits two superkicks and sets up for the Drive-By, but runs into a superkick. Code Rok gets the three count for Rok-C!

Winner: Rok-C (18:13 via pinfall, approximately 14 minutes shown)
Match Rating: ***3/4

I continue to be more impressed with Rok-C each time I see her. That girl will be a huuuuuuuuuuuge star.

Maria Kanellis-Bennett enters the ring and presents the championship to Rok-C. Both of these women will feature in this week’s Impact Wrestling episode from what sources are telling me.

Shane Taylor vs. Kenny King at Final Battle & Jay & Mark Briscoe’s Fight at the Farm were voted as Top 5 Matches of the Year, and we see brief clips.

ROH TV 9.10.21: Bandido & Rey Horus vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe: The Briscoes were voted ROH Tag Team of the Year for approximately the fifteenth straight year. Here’s my review from four months ago:

I have to disagree with Caprice’s premise that there’s no better best friend to have than the World Champion. If you want a title shot, which most wrestlers do, you pretty much have to stab your best friend in the back. Sure, the champion will say “All you had to do was ask, brother!”, but we know things don’t work that way in the real world. Handshakes all around. Jay & Horus start. Well, no they don’t, Bandido tags in instead. Jay takes the early advantage, but Bandido gets out of the armbar & poses. Pose met with a kick. Bandido with some gymnastics, Jay with a rana, Bandido with a rana, dropkicks, and the indy standoff as we go to commercial.

During the break, the Briscoes took control on Rey Horus. Briscoes double team Horus and knock Bandido to the floor too. Bandido gets sent into the barricade. Horus sent back into the ring, Todd Sinclair not doing much to stop the Briscoes double teaming here. Blind tag, Bandido crossbodies both Briscoes, sends Horus into a rana. Running shooting star gets two. Big boot by Jay. He starts working Bandido’s mask like he’s a Young Buck or something. Mark tags in, utilizes his redneck Kung Fu on Bandido. Tag to Horus, forearm exchange. Horus wins with kicks. Hogan legdrop gets two. Bandido gonna come in for the double team since Todd’s allowing it. Jay tosses Bandido outside. We got kicks & strikes all around and all four men are down. Chops & strikes exchanged between Horus & Mark. Iconoclasm from Mark gets a two count. Bandido’s in and he’s going ham on the Briscoes. Big dive to Jay on the floor. Horus on Mark in the ring, hits his quesadora driver for two. Bandido knocked off the top rope. Jay gets Horus on the shoulders, they hit the Doomsday Device for the three count.

Winners: Jay & Mark Briscoe (12:10 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4

The OGK vs. The Briscoes from Final Battle was voted as a Top 5 Match of the Year, and we see clips.

Best in the World: Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike Bennett: Gresham was voted ROH Male Wrestler of the Year. This was for the ROH Pure Championship, so all the fun Pure Rules are in effect here. Jushin Liger in attendance for this one, I’d think he could have gotten better than third row seats. Gresham tries to lock Bennett in the Octopus early, but Bennett easily fights out and hits a wristlock. Shoulderblock by Bennett. Back to the tieup, Gresham with a waistlock, Bennett hip tosses Gresham over and goes for an armbar. Gresham uses his first rope break much earlier than he has in his previous Pure matches. Gresham takes control, focusing his efforts on trying to break Bennett’s right arm. Some people really like this joint manipulation stuff, not really for me but y’all do you. Gresham goes to the left arm now, and sets up the Pentagon armbreaker. Little cockiness from Gresham as he encourages the fans to clap along. He claps with Bennett’s right foot as he converts Bennett into a pretzel.

After a commercial we return to Gresham working Bennett over. Bennett hits a slam, but Gresham holds on to the arm and looks to lock in a Kimura. Bennett has to go to the ropes. Gresham gets tossed outside as Bennett continues to favor his arm. Gresham tosses Bennett outside, goes for a dive but Bennett manages to catch him. Gresham goes to the Kimura though, and Bennett’s tapping, but that doesn’t count outside the ring. Gresham’s got a 20-count to keep this thing on, and he rolls Bennett onto the apron and into the ropes for Bennett’s second rope break. Well he had no choice there. Bennett goes for a rollup and locks in the London Dungeon for Gresham’s second rope break. Gresham goes back to Bennett’s arm, Bennett goes for the piledriver, Gresham blocks it and we’ve got a series of reversals. DVD gets a 2 count for Bennett, and he goes back to the London Dungeon. Gresham rolls out, Bennett clotheslines him. Goes for the piledriver again, but he can’t lift Gresham. Gresham with the backdrop. Gresham blocks Bennett’s shots, but doesn’t block the clothesline for two.

Back from commercial, Gresham with the springboard moonsault, then the fancy pinning combination for two. He kicks Bennett’s arm. Gresham tries to twist Bennett up and that leads to Bennett’s final rope break. Gresham goes back to the left wrist. Bennett tries to fight back. Gresham takes the wrist tape off, which means he means business. Forearm exchange. Gresham with the enziguri. Springboard moonsault by Gresham, dive on the outside, then Gresham jumps into the superkick from Bennett. Powerbomb & clothesline both get two counts for Bennett. Gresham locks in the crossface. Bennett goes for the ropes but that doesn’t matter for him at this point. Gresham starts with some elbows to the neck. Gresham goes for the sleeperhold, but Bennett cannonballs into the corner! Powerbomb & clothesline from Bennett, then the piledriver! The referee counts three, but Gresham’s foot was under the ropes! Bennett is dismayed. He goes for another piledriver, but Gresham slips out. Bennett blocks La Magistral, but Gresham hits a modified ankle lock/knee bar.

Winner: Jonathan Gresham (19:21 via submission)
Match Rating: ****

Handshake afterwards, as Bennett at least gained some respect for his wrestling skills on this evening if not the Pure Championship.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

A good cross-section of pro wrestling was displayed this week, with the Women's, Tag Team & Pure divisions represented. The top wrestlers got a chance to shine. Smart clip show booking here.