wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.19.21
Loading...Hey kids! We’ve got THREE MATCHES this week, so it’s going to be a pretty crazy week of the pro wrestling. I like a little change of pace from the usual two, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.19.21
– Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling, today is a jam packed episode that you don’t want to miss. The main event has Mexisquad defending the Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Shane Taylor Promotions. It’s a big two-week stretch for Taylor, as he’ll be taking on Rush for the World Championship next week. The opening contest between Jay & Mark Briscoe and Dragon Lee & Kenny King will determine who challenges Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham for the Tag Team Championship next week. We’ll also see Mike Bennett take on Bateman.
– Ian & Caprice are on the call.
Dragon Lee & Kenny King (w/Amy Rose) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe: Lee & King are undefeated as a tag team, which is nothing to sneeze at. The Briscoes have lost as a tag team, but not since February 2019. King & Mark start things off here, King’s met these guys in tag team action a time or two. King works the headlock, gets out of a hammerlock, Japanese hip toss and an arm drag! Now he’s going for the beard, which doesn’t seem sporting. Mark fights back, both men end up in their corners & tag their partners. Dragon Lee & Jay Briscoe go at it. Jay’s got the power advantage on the shoulderblock, and shows off his bicep after forcing Lee into the corner. Lee forces Jay into the opposite corner and chops him! Flying headscissors, and Jay tags Mark in. I don’t think Dragon Lee wants to try & match karate with Mark. They chop each other in the corner, Lee drags Mark over to his corner and tags Kenny in. Kenny with a brief advantage, but Jay tags in and Briscoes stomp a mudhole in the man. Kenny sent into the barricade & slammed on the outside! Mark with the Cactus Jack-style elbow. Vertical suplex bounces King off the apron, maybe Dragon Lee will help his partner during the commercial break.
Mark sets up the cutthroat driver on Kenny, but Kenny elbows out, series of reversals & rope-running leads to a double clothesline. Tags to Lee & Jay, and Lee is the fresher of the two. Lee flips out of a clothesline attempt by Jay and maneuvers him into a backbreaker, which is pretty nifty. Lee puts down one of his knee pads, but gets hit with a DVD. Tag to Mark. Lee placed up top and an Iconoclasm gets two. Jay not looking fresh but he’s tagged back in for a double team anyway. King breaks up the superplex attempt, Jay gets double stomped in the corner & Mark eats a dive on the outside. Lee with the double stomp off the top on Jay gets a 2.5. King tgged back in, bridging t-bone suplex gets two, then he locks in…not sure what it is, doesn’t matter since Mark breaks it up with the Froggybow. Mark tells them to “come on” like he’s Nakamura or something, and there’s fisticuffs. Mark with the missile dropkick to Kenny, but Lee with a series of moves ended with a poison rana. Jay eating some strikes from both. Turning point might be now, as Dragon Lee goes for a rana to Mark while Mark stands on the apron, but Mark blocks and Lee gets powerbombed on said apron. Hangman’s neckbreaker by Jay, Mark heading up top..uh oh, Amy Rose distracts our young referee while Flip Gordon appears to kick Mark off the top rope! Jay gets rolled up by Kenny during the distraction, referee sees nothing except the three count!
Winners: Dragon Lee & Kenny King (approximately 11 minutes shown via pin)
Match Rating: ***1/2
– Flip runs off like a thief in the night. Pretty solid action throughout as you’d expect from the wrestlers involved.
– After LFI leaves, EC3 appears! He talks about how Honor can be bought, so it is not real. Jay Briscoe is one of the few men he actually respects in this industry. He’s never bent the knee, he works hard & fights harder. He has a legacy within ROH that transcends the very name. EC3 envies Jay, and wonders where his honor will take him. EC3 says Jay is a free man, and he controls his narrative. The announcers speculate that EC3 paid Flip Gordon off to interfere in the match, but I wouldn’t immediately jump to that conclusion since Flip’s teamed with LFI recently. We’ll have to see how that plays out.
Relaxed Rules: Bateman (w/Vita Von Starr) vs. Mike Bennett: Not to get all old school Steve Cook on you guys, but if all this results in Vita & Maria Kanellis-Bennett having an altercation at some point, I’m all about that. Believe it or not, both of these guys have been wrestling since the early 2000s. Bell rings, and Bennett spears Bateman right away. He doesn’t seem happy about the Righteous targeting his leg recently. Bennett goes after Bateman on the outside and now they’re exchanging chops. Apparently there are countouts in Relaxed Rules matches, as Todd Sinclair is counting. Bennett tells Von Starr to back up, who wants to know who he thinks he’s talking to. The brief distraction gives Bateman time to move out of the way of a charging Bennett, who meets nothing but barricade. Bateman with the gorilla press dumps Bennett face first on the floor. Vita mentioned his wife, so now I really want to see that matchup. Bennett seems to be reaching under the ring for something, but Bateman grabs his legs and does the catapult gimmick with Bennett’s upper chest hitting the ring frame! Ian says “larynx”, and we’ll go with that as we go to commercial.
Bennett fighting back as we return, but Bateman delivers a back suplex. Superkick & a clothesline by Bennett get a two count. The two men exchange shots in the middle of the ring, culminating in a double forearm sending each man down. Vita delivering instructions to Bateman…”Just murder him.” Seems excessive to me, and that’s probably not even allowed in Relaxed Rules. They charge at each other, series of reversals. Roaring forearm by Bateman and a suplex get two. Big boot by Bateman, spear by Bennett leads to a piledriver and a three count!
Winner: Mike Bennett (approximately 8 minutes via pin)
Match Rating: ***
– Fun little fight here. More Vita please and thank you.
– Matt Taven appears to assist Bennett in a post-match attack! Vincent’s not allowed to touch Taven, so this could end poorly for Bateman. They’ve got the wood block between Bateman’s legs, and Taven commandeers a chair from Von Starr! She runs off and Taven grabs the microphone. He says he’ll stop this right now if Vincent gives him the match he knows he deserves. Vincent & Vita appear on the CaryTron. Taven’s used to hearing everybody tell him yes, but Vincent’s not going to give Taven the match. Taven gives Bateman the chair to the ankle instead, which Bateman should have seen coming since evil leaders never care too much about their henchmen.
– Speaking of Maria Kanellis-Bennett, she joins Ian & Caprice to call the main event.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match: Challengers Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Kaun & Moses) vs. Champions Mexisquad (Bandido, Flamita, Rey Horus): Maria is a big fan of Shane Taylor, and wants to make sure the fans’ voices are heard. Shane & SOS extend their hands, much to Mexisquad’s surprise, and the Code of Honor is adhered to. 40:25 SHP attack right after the bell though, and its craziness to start! Everybody goes outside! Bandido gets his bell rung by a Taylor forearm. Kaun & Flamita take to the ring, Flamita gains the advantage there with some kicks. Standing rana and a dropkick send Kaun over to the corner and a tag to Moses. Bandido tags in, he wants some of that. Big dropkick, but Moses kinda shrugs that off. Leapfrog and a body attack by Moses! The big man getting loose, but Bandido avoids another attack with a headstand. Cutter sends Moses down, he tags in Taylor & Bandido tags Horus. Horus doing a good job avoiding Taylor, up top, Taylor catches the rana attempt, but Horus avoids the powerbomb. Taylor runs Horus over as we go to commercial.
SOS working Horus over as we return. Horus gets the better of the exchange, a springboard DDT gives him the chance to tag Bandido. Bandido & Taylor going at it! Taylor catches the flip, but Bandido gets out of his grasp, tag to Flamita, rana off of Bandido’s shoulders! They dropkick SOS to the ground. Trifecta of dives to Shane Taylor Promotions! More dives by Mexisquad! Flip dives and a springboard moonsault! They’ve lost their minds! 450 by Flamita to Taylor gets two! Mexisquad isolates Kaun in the ring. Triple powerbomb, then some kicks! Bandido uses Flamita to sweep the leg! Helicopter splash by Flamita after being tossed in the air! Man, I can’t call these guys. Mexisquad isolates Taylor now. A malfunction at the junction leads to Horus DDTing Flamita! Taylor uses Mexisquad against each other, dims Bandido’s lights with a knee. Moses clotheslines Bandido & Horus to the floor! Cannonball! Shane Taylor splashes Flamita for a two count. Picks him up…Welcome to the Land, and welcome to the new Six-Man Tag Team Champions!
Winners AND NEW Champions: Shane Taylor Promotions (approximately 9 minutes via pin)
Match Rating: ****1/4
– Yeah, that was fun! Go watch it. Taylor tells the camera he’s on too big of a roll to be stopped now. Will he become a double champion next week?
