Cook’s ROH TV Review 11.19.21

Hey kids! Today features a match for the Television Championship featuring Dragon Lee against the man that’s been obsessed with making this show a bigger deal on Television, Dalton Castle. Can he be successful in doing such a thing? Let’s hook em up!

Cook’s ROH TV Review 11.19.21

Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling and three enormous matches. The main event will see Dragon Lee defend the Television Championship against Dalton Castle. A Women’s Championship Contenders 3-way puts Mandy Leon against Trish Adora & Allysin Kay. The winner faces Willow in “a couple of weeks”, and that winner will face Rok-C at Final Battle. Our opening match is a Pure Rules match between Brian Johnson & John Walters.

Ian & Caprice are on the call.

John Walters talks about how he’s been wrestling longer than Brian Johnson. The future looks like him regaining the Pure Championship. He might wanna hurry up on that!

Pure Rules Match: John Walters vs. Brian Johnson: Johnson has a microphone so he can say some disrespectful things about Walters. The problem with ROH is we’re talking about the history and not talking about the Mecca enough. He introduces himself and holds his flag up. Match starts and we get the ol headlock to headscissors exchange. Johnson with some strikes sending Walters into the corner. Walter catches Johnson in the opposite corner and hits the arm drag. Chop! That wakes Johnson up for a second, but he gets his arm drug again. Johnson with the monkey flip, but Walters holds on to the arm and is officially working it now. At least until he gets crotched on the top turnbuckle. Johnson hits the Tower of London for a two count. Vertial suplex gets two for Johnson. Modified cobra clutch by Johnson. He stomps Walters down and yells at the Watch Along Party as we go to commercial. I would say that goes over the casual viewer head, but it’s tough to say how many casual viewers any wrestling show has these days.

Sunset flip from Walters gets two. Johnson gets a near-fall of his own. Some elbows, but a stepover fist drop leads to a warning from Todd Sinclair. As much as Johnson likes the cheap shot towards the end of his matches that might be an issue later on. He hits a clothesline for two though. Johnson places Walters up top, Walters knocks him off, lands with all of his weight on Jonhson’s arm. Some clotheslines, hammerlock overhead bridging suplex gets two. Sharpshooter by Walters is blocked. He rolls Johnson into an omoplata, working that arm. There’s the first rope break, nine minutes into the match. That might be a record. Johnson goes for the rollup using the tights, Sinclair sees it. Ear clap by Walters, and he locks in the Sharpshooter. Johnson with the second rope break. Walters lowers one of Johnson’s kneepads, then goes for the Sharpshooter again. Another rope break for Johnson, but he pokes Walters in the eyes while Todd’s back is turned. Johnson knocks Walters down with a kick to the knee resulting in Walters’ face landing on Johnson’s knee, then hits the Trust the Process for the three count.

Winner: Brian Johnson (11:30 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***

Johnson forces the handshake from the downed Walters since he’s honorable.

Chelsea Green joins Ian & Caprice for the next match.

Allysin Kay (w/Marti Belle) vs. Mandy Leon (w/Angelina Love) vs. Trish Adora: Trish is the only one without a tag partner at ringside, but that probably doesn’t bother her much. Mandy exits the ring and allows Trish & Allysin to start, how nice. Kay with the early advantage on the mat, she works the headlock and hits a fireman’s carry. Samoan Drop near-fall broken up by Mandy. Mandy’s plan didn’t quite work, she went in a little too early. She goes back out, and Kay with another near-fall. Kay & Adora both go for the lariat and hit each other’s arms. Adora with a back suplex for two, Leon back in to break it up, and she’s working both over now. She runs Adora into a spear on Kay as we go to commercial.

Mandy with a running kick on Trish, but Trish catches her in an ankle lock. Allysin applies a butterfly Kimurs on Mandy, and the two are firing away on each other while Mandy’s stretched. They let her go and focus on each other. AK with a neckbreaker, places Adora up top. Mandy gets under Kay and we get the Tower of Doom. Mandy tries to pin both a few times and only gets two. Mandy suplexes Trish onto Allysin, tosses Trish outside. AK kicks Mandy, but Angelina comes in to nail Allysin while the referee is focused on Adora on the floor. Marti up on the apron, she gets knocked off, Mandy hits the Astral Projection on Allysin for the three count.

Winner: Mandy Leon (6:58 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/4

A little bit of an upset here on the surface given Kay’s in-ring experience elsewhere & Adora’s rise to prominence of late. Gotta remember that Mandy’s been with the company longer than any of the women at this point. Hell, she was doing the “Inside ROH” segments on the earliest episodes of this broadcast. Her winning the championship at Final Battle wouldn’t surprise me as a “You Deserve It” move for a longtime employee.

Dalton Castle talks about how hard he’s been working to get here. He’s got a long To-Do list, but on top is making magic with Dragon Lee. He’s made time to travel the world and climb mountains and climb the TV title rankings. He asks Dragon Lee to breathe on him, give the ROH audience everything they deserve and make it quick, as he’s busy.

Dak Draper joins Ian & Caprice for the next match.

ROH World Television Championship Match: Dalton Castle (w/the Baby Chickens) vs. Dragon Lee (c): Dalton did win the previous match between these two, back in 2019. Dragon Lee without his LFI buddies and wearing white, which he wears for his title matches a sign of respect for the title & his opponent. Castle begs off early to get some reassurance from his chickens. Some mat wrestling between the two. Castle goes for the Bangarang, Lee tosses him outside, sets up a dive, the chickens block but it doesn’t matter since Lee was just going to do the tranquilo pose anyway. He tosses Dalton out to the other side and does the dive that time around. Lee brings him back in the ring, hits the Falcon Arrow for two. Lee bites Castle on the face! Goes for the double stomp, gets blocked, Dalton takes him down. A splash gets one, they go outside and Castle tosses Lee over the barricade. Dalton wasn’t kidding about making it quick so far. He tosses Lee back towards the ring and a cover gets two. Castle with a body lock, rolls Lee around as we go to commercial.

Castle with the German suplex, kick to the head. T-Bone suplex by Castle. Castle misses in the corner & Lee fights back. Dropkick in the corner by Lee gets two. Elbow and a clothesline by Castle get two. Castle targets Lee’s ribs on the mat, drags him outside but it’s Castle who goes sailing over the barricade. The baby chickens block, but Lee thinks about it and takes them out anyway with a dive. Castle takes advantage, takes Lee back into the ring. Big suplex by Castle, but Lee answers with a German suplex and a clothesline for two. Lee puts the kneepad down for the Incinerator, but Castle hits a clothesline instead. Lee & Castle exchange shots. Lee with a big knee, but Castle blocks the Incinerator & hits the Bangarang! Castle is tired though, and here come Kenny King & Bestia del Ring! Moses & Kaun run out from the side though, they’ve got their own issues with LFI & keep them from intervening. Shane Taylor & O’Shay Edwards run down too, the referee runs outside to look at things while Dragon Lee reverses another Bangarang attempt into a rollup. Lee hits the Incinerator knee on Castle, but Dak Draper has made his way down to the ring and gets a shot on Lee. He pushes Lee into Castle, who hits the second Bangarang of the match for three!

Winner: Dalton Castle (11:34 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4

Things got a little crazy at the end there with too many people randomly popping up, but Dalton Castle is your new Television Champion!

Next Week: Rok-C vs. Gia Scott for the Women’s World Championship, Jay Lethal vs. EC3

EC3 talks about how all of our leaders have failed us, and we deserve more. He heard Lethal’s speech at Death Before Dishonor, and it’s the biggest cliche he’s ever heard. We need to move forward into the future, and we can’t because our upper echelon stays the same. Lethal leads & gives advice, and coaches people up, and he’s so…tired. He’s been doing this for so long, and that’s why ROH has been here for so long. ROH needs new leadership. ROH needs to control it’s narrative. When Lethal fights EC3, he will free himself to be the man he needs to be. Lethal has been warned.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Big events on this week's show as we had another title change hands heading into Final Battle. It'll be interesting to see if Dalton can hang onto the strap at the end of this era. Solid rasslin here.