wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s ROH TV Review 3.25.22
Image Credit: ROH
Loading...Hey kids! Today concludes a 2-part look at the ROH Original World Championship reign of Jonathan Gresham. He’s been keeping busy defending his title in other places, and today we get clips of some of his title defenses.
Cook’s ROH TV Review 3.25.22
Jonathan Gresham: A Champion’s Journey
Cody Chhun is someone that possesses the fire & spirit of the originals, like Gresham does. Gresham defended the ROH Championship against Chhun in Seattle for DEFY Wrestling.
DEFY 5th Anniversary Show: Gresham vs. Cody Chhun: Chhun’s a local boy so he gets plenty of support. Gresham gets a nice response as well. Tieup into the corner, Gresham with a seemingly inadvertent elbow to the face. Gresham offers a handshake, it’s accepted, the crowd claps and we move on. Chhun with a wristlock, Gresham eggs him on and they go through a series of reversals. Gresham with a World of Sport style counter but Chhun hits the hammerlock. Gresham takes Chhun down with a hammerlock of his own and targets the knees. Headlock takeover, Chhun headscissors his way out. Clip to Gresham manipulating the fingers of Chhun. Arm drag, Gresham continues to target those fingers. He starts a clap along with Chhun’s hand and does a Pentagon style armbreaker. He then starts a clap along with Chhun’s boot and stretches the leg for a two count. Chhun fights back with an arm drag of his own. Clip to another arm drag from Chhun. Slam by Gresham rolled through into an armbar by Chhun. Gresham misses the chop and there’s another arm drag. Shoulderblock sends both men reeling. Clip into a rollup by Chhun for two, then a series of near-falls to blow up the referee. Clip to a forearm exchange. Chhun slaps Gresham down for two. Lots of slapping going on these days. Gresham blocks Chhun in the corner, off the ropes, Chunn with a hip toss that gets reversed into a cradle pin by Gresham.
About seven minutes aired out of the twenty this apparently went. Lots of reversals & evenly matched grappling.
BODYSLAM! Scandi Foundation: Gresham vs. Emeritus: Gresham went over to Denmark for this match, putting the World in ROH World Championship. Emeritus’s Twitter profile describes him as the ABBA-metal of pro-wrestling. Gresham with the wristlock, which Emertius fights out of of. Clip to Emeritus hitting Diamond Dust on Gresham. Gresham with a German suplex, Emeritus with a clotheline that gets a two count. Clip to Emeritus punching Gresham down. Gresham blocks a move and hits a backslide for two. Then a sunset flip for two. Another backslide, then a knee to the face from Emeritus. Gresham goes outside, so Emeritus follows him with a swinging DDT. Springboard clothesline back in the ring, and a Jigintonic seemingly gets three, but Gresham’s left foot was under the ropes. A shame. Clip to the forearm exchange. Gresham hits a stepup enziguri, blocks a suplex and rolls up Emeritus for two. Another twisting rollup gets two. Gresham gets nearfalls with rollups of various stripes, then locks in the Octopus. Some elbows take Emeritus down and the referee stops it.
About six minutes of this one aired. I appreciated there being a couple of high spots.
ROH Pure Tournament Finals: Gresham vs. Tracy Williams: We’re now going back in time to when Gresham won the Pure Championship. From my original review:
We get off to a blazing start with the combatants rushing out of their respective corners. Quick headlock into a headscissors reversal and both men back up. Standing switches, hip toss blocked, blocked, blocked, and Gresham sent to the floor! Chain wrestling on the floor! Hip toss by Gresham! There’s a 20 count and Todd Sinclair’s counts are always slow, so there’s no reason to hurry back into the ring. Williams holds the ropes open for Gresham. Tieup, Williams gets the advantage until Gresham works into a leglock, Williams already trying to weaken the shoulder for a latter Crossface. Gresham with an interesting leglock, using his own neck pushing down on the ankle of Williams. Quick break. Gresham now going after that injured shoulder with the deep arm drag. Double axehandle just gets a glare from Williams. Williams uses his first rope break rather casually. No big deal. He sends Gresham down with a suplex. Cravate! He holds onto it for over a minute in various positions, and Gresham has to go to the ropes. Williams sends Gresham into the corner, who bounces out with a spear! Gresham removes his own wrist tape and doesn’t choke his opponent in the process. First time I’ve seen that. Williams sends Gresham down with a chop. Clothesline in the corner, Gresham slides out of the suplex attempt, into the other corner, Gresham caught on the spear attempt, hits a suplex but Williams suplexes him down! Gresham tries to go after that shoulder, but Williams with another chop! Kip up, leads to a German for two, Williams clotheslines him down for two. Commercial, we return to a bodyscissors by Gresham sending both men to the floor! Back into the ring, Williams tries a swinging DDT, Gresham reverses but eats a brainbuster and a two count for his troubles. Williams locks in that Crossface! Gresham nearly taps, he has no choice but to reach the ropes. Williams trying to get some feeling back in that shoulder. German suplex by Gresham & a couple of big strikes get two counts. Shot to the back of the head gets two! Gresham going for a Kimura, Williams gets out, teases a piledriver, reversal to a teased Octopus stretch, finally Williams hits the piledriver! Gresham had to use his third rope break there or the match was going to be over. Williams knew that, why he focused his pin attempt on the shoulders & outside leg. Williams takes his shoulder guard down, fires up, Gresham blocks the chop, works Williams into the Octopus stretch! Dang, Tracy picked the wrong time to take that shoulder guard off. He taps out!
Winner and New ROH Pure Champion: Jonathan Gresham (14:14 via submission)
Star Rating: ****1/4
Then we go to the Gresham vs. Lethal match from Final Battle we saw part of last week. This week it’s in full!
Gresham will not allow Honor to go on hiatus. Does he ever feel like he’s not the real ROH Champion? He holds the original ROH World Championship belt because that belt symbolizes the heart & soul of what the company was built on. Since winning the championship, he’s put Honor on his back and taken it all over the world. Bandido is one of those once in a lifetime athletes. He’s young, very strong & passionate. A lot of people might think Gresham will attack an arm or a leg on Bandido, but what he has to attack isn’t a body part. It’s the heart, which is Bandido’s strongest asset. He dethroned Rush, so anything might be possible. Gresham’s spent his life listening to his destiny. Because of that he’s the champion. His destiny tells him that he’s the only one that can lead the company into the future. He is the foundation.
