Cook’s ROH TV Review 12.14.20

Hey kids! It’s the last episode of Ring of Honor television before Final Battle, so I’m expecting a lot of things setting that up.

Cook’s ROH TV Review 12.14.20

– Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling and sets up our matches for tonight. The main event will be a Pure Rules match pitting Flip Gordon against Josh Woods. Also, we see the Bouncers making their return against Mark Briscoe & PCO in a match I’ll wager won’t feature much in the way of pure wrestling. Last week, Vincent got disqualified against Mike Bennett. We see the Pier-4 brawl, and then hear some words from Bennett & Matt Taven. Quinn asks if there’s a way this can all be settled. Bennett says he came back to defend his family, and the Kingdom will decide when this ends. Taven says they’ll face off at Final Battle.

– The Bouncers have each been wrestling for twenty years. They were broken in by Harley Race & Killer Kowalski. They fought at first, people noticed, and they thought they would make a good team. They love to have fun, but they’re not toasting losses or settling for second place anymore. This is going to be a literal fight. They like to get hit back, they don’t think a lot of guys in ROH like getting hit back. Their goal is to hold the ROH Tag Team Championship.

– Mark Briscoe points out there’s no more crowd for the Bouncers to drink beer & have fun with. He respects them as fighters and is happy to throw down with them. PCO says they’ll rest in hell.

– Ian & Caprice on commentary.

Tag Team Match: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) vs. Mark Briscoe & PCO: Beer City Bruiser drank 42 beers during his hotel quarantine week. Like I’ve always said: a six pack a day keeps the doctor away! Mark pretty much owns these guys in singles or tag team matches, has found mixed success in the past teaming without his brother. Mark & the Bruiser start things out. Bruiser approves of Mark beating him up in the corner and wants some more. BCB with some shots of his own, they exchange chops. Mark tries to warm up that kung fu, but Bruiser hits the cross-body, tears Mark’s shirt and brings him into the corner. Tag to PCO, he clotheslines BCB down, who tags in Milonas. PCO with a DDT, Milonas comes back with a crossbody of his own. Up to the middle rope, misses the 747 splash. Spinning forearm sends Milonas outside, PCO hits the tope suicida! PCO staggers into the cannonball from BCB, Mark comes over and hits a Blockbuster as we head to commercial. PCO & BCB facing off with forearms in the ring. Mark with the blind tag, PCO keeps chopping away, Mark brings BCB down from the opposite side and sets him up for PCO’s crazy apron drive! Sure enough, BCB moves and PCO eats apron. BCB with the spinebuster on Mark, tags Milonas. Milonas gets the upper hand on Mark, big overhead suplex sends Mark rolling into the corner. Milonas stands on the man’s head, tag back to BCB, he misses a Vader Bomb elbow, so Mark tags in PCO. PCO is relatively fresh, lands some offense on BCB including a front Russian legsweep for two. Milonas drags PCO outside, Mark’s in the ring with a chair, which he uses as a launch pad to jump outside. BCB rolled back into the ring, Mark misses the frog splash elbow, but lands the urinagi on BCB. PCO goes up top, hits the moonsault! Mark dives onto Milonas, and that’s it for the Bouncers.

Winners: Mark Briscoe & PCO (11:04 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/2

– Lots of stuff going on there, and some of it even made a little sense. The two crazy men chop each other afterwards. The Bouncers don’t drink beer with them but they will shake their hands.

– Quinn talks to Mark & PCO afterwards. The two craziest people in ROH history have joined forces and will win the tag team championship.

– Hype for a Four Corner Survival match at Final Battle with Tony Deppen, Dak Draper, LSG & Josh Woods. Winner faces Dragon Lee for the TV Championship later in the show.

– Hype for Shane Taylor Promotions facing Mexisquad for the 6-Man Championship. Pretty sure one or two of Mexisquad tested positive for the covid though, so stay tuned.

– Hype for Danhausen vs. Brian Johnson. Never seen this Danhausen fella before, guess I will at some point.

– Hype for Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus taking on Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta.

– Hype for a Grudge Match between the Righteous & the Kingdom.

– Hype for Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham defending the Tag Team Championship against Mark Briscoe & PCO.

– Hype for EC3 vs. Jay Briscoe, which also won’t be happening.

– Hype for Jonathan Gresham defending the Pure Championship against Flip Gordon.

– Hype for Rush defending the World Championship against Brody King.

– Flip Gordon has always been competitive. He loves grappling because life is a struggle. He’s yet to accomplish his goal of winning ROH gold. He loves flipping and flying, but his foundation was always grappling. He got a guaranteed opportunity at the ROH Championship, but now he wants the Pure Championship. He’s impressed with Josh Woods. He’s wrestled all across the world, including an ROH World Championship match at All In. Gordon’s been wrestling in New Japan and training hard in the gym. He’s more than just a high flyer.

– Josh Woods can’t find words to describe beating Jay Lethal. Flip Gordon is a talented individual that’s faced a lot of top people. Flip likes doing fancy tricks that don’t belong in a pure match. Josh says he’s more versatile, and won’t be a stepping stone for Flip. He won’t look past Flip, but after beating Flip, he’ll definitely get a title shot.

Pure Rules: Flip Gordon vs. Josh Woods: Woods with the 15 pound weight advantage. Code of Honor followed. Woods with the early advantage, Gordon going for his first rope break about thirty seconds into the match. Josh continues with the upperhand, Flip finally gets something with a side headlock. Woods headscissors his way out, Gordon back to the headlock, then dropkicks Woods outside, then the dive! Spinal tap kick gets a near fall as we go to commercial. We’re back without missing a second, and Gordon chops Woods in the corner. Clothesline in the corner, knee, suplex on the rope, knee to the back of the head gets two. Neck vice! Woods fights out, drives Gordon into the ropes, Woods gets a hold on Gordon right by the ropes, without thinking Flip uses that second rope break. Well then. Knee to the gut by Woods, series of forearms, overhead belly to belly, knee in the corner gets two. Flip with a moonsault Samoan drop, goes up top but Woods follows him. Superplex! Both men up to their feet and exchanging shots. Doctor bomb gets two for Woods, reversals, shouldeblock by Gordon, rollup into a rollthrough, kicks Woods’ head off, hits the moonsault for 2.45. Front suplex, followed by a stomp! It gets 3!

Winner: Flip Gordon (9:34 via pin)
Match Rating: **3/4

– Code of honor followed afterwards. Flip looked ok here, but I’m still not all in on him as top contender for both championships. We shall see.

– One more Final Battle commercial closes us out.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight's show was all about setting up top contenders for secondary titles at Final Battle. Flip Gordon got a win as the #1 contender for the Pure Title. Mark Briscoe & PCO got a win as the #1 contenders for the Tag Team Title. None of these matches really feel like Final Battle matches from back in the day, but 2020 has been far from a typical ROH year. So it's nice they're having the show! Decent enough action but nothing must-see this week.