Cook’s ROH TV Review 3.5.21

Hey kids! Two big matches for us this week! Turns out that “Number One Contenders” match winner gets a shot at Rush at the 19th Anniversary Show, so that’s a pretty big deal. Let’s get to it!

Cook’s ROH TV Review 3.5.21

Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling! Two world class matches you won’t want to miss! The main event will determine the challenger to Rush at the Anniversary Show: Matt Taven, Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal or EC3. We look at the ending of last week’s main event, where Kenny King shocked Ian & Caprice by hitting Shane Taylor with a chair.

Kenny King asks if we thought for one second that he would betray LFI. He game Shane Taylor one last lesson: don’t trust anybody and keep your head on a swivel. Here’s Rush! His daddy Bestia del Ring is with him. This is what will happen to any bastard they put in front of him. He’ll be champion for a long time, and he’s here to destroy everyone. Bestia says they’s about discipline & humiliation. Nothing happens unless Rush says so.

Quinn runs down the Pure Championship Rankings: Josh Woods, Dak Draper, Rhett Titus, Wheeler Yuta & Fred Yehi. Today, Woods takes on Dalton Castle in a Pure Rules rematch, as Castle is desperate to be ranked.

Josh Woods is all about wrestling Dalton Castle again. It wasn’t a fluke or an accident the first time he won. He can beat Dalton any number of ways. Dalton has lingering injuries, which is tough, but no excuse. Woods has defeated three former ROH World Champions in the past year, and is ready for his shot at Jonathan Gresham’s Pure Championship.

Dalton Castle says he isn’t thinking about that loss all the time. He’s a busy man! But apparently Josh has found a hole in his offense. He’s had a lot of blemishes on his record over the past couple of years. Where does he fit in? He’s nowhere in the rankings, and that’s a big problem. He’s better than this! Better than Josh Woods and better than everybody in the rankings. He talks & walks like a champion, but the results in the ring aren’t bearing it out. He wants this match to correct the previous result. He’s got a lot of things going on, but it’s not like he doesn’t care! He’s sick of failing all of the time. If he can’t beat Josh Woods, maybe he doesn’t belong here.

Ian & Caprice are on the call as usual.

Pure Rules Match: Josh Woods vs. Dalton Castle: Woods is 2-1 against Castle & 4-2 in Pure matches. Dalton seems happy he has pyro. Handshake! Castle trying to get in Woods’ head early with some yapping. Some mat wrestling, Woods with a headlock, Castle works through some holds & reverses. Woods with an armbar. Off the ropes, Castle gets dropped and Woods locks in the same hold he beat Castle with the first time. Now known as the Gorilla Lock according to the announcers. Castle uses rope break number one. Castle goes to Woods’ face, but Woods kicks Castle outside. Castle drives Woods into the apron and tosses him over the barricade as we go to commercial! Woods was upset the last match turned into a fight, so he won’t be happy about this either.

Castle maintained the advantage during the commercial with an exploder suplex on the floor. Back in the ring, Woods hits a disaster kick to swing the momentum. Drives Castle into the corner, big forearms. Kick, double underhook swinging suplex gets two. Goes for the Gorilla Lock again, and Castle has to reach the ropes again. Open hand shots exchanged, Woods wins that battle. Castle reverses a move, goes for the Bangarang, Woods reverses, Castle turns it into a two count. Out of that, Castle seems to tweak his back. Woods lets up for a second at the behest of the referee, Castle small packages him for the three count! Ha!

Winner: Dalton Castle (9:44 via pinfall)
Star Rating: ***

Woods is in a bit of shock, and Silas Young appears in a suit! He looks displeased, but that’s nothing new. Woods asks where the hell he’s been. Silas tells him to remember who he’s talking to. Woods was feeling good about himself after winning a couple of matches. Told Silas he wanted to put the tag thing on hold. Since then, it’s been going downhill for Woods. Woods should be able to beat Castle every day of the week, but Dalton beat him with the oldest trick in the book. Woods still has a lot of learn, and his best option right now is to get back to tag teaming with Silas and kicking some ass.

Maria Kanellis-Bennett joins Ian & Caprice on commentary for the main event.

Winner Gets a Shot at the ROH World Championship at the 19th Anniversary Show: EC3 vs. Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Briscoe: Each man gets an inset promo before the match. EC3 asks if honor is a championship. Lethal talks about how the Foundation must be champions of all divisions to purify ROH, and they will rebuild the compant brick by brick. Taven says it’s been 16 months since he’s held the ROH Championship. He’s lost all focus due to Vincent, and needs to win here to get back on track. Apparently Taven’s still got a title shot in his back pocket too. Briscoe explains the rules of the match, and how the people want to see Rush vs. Jay Briscoe.

Handshakes are exchanged between all except Briscoe & EC3. Jay’s still a little salty about their issue. Apparently this is being contested under lucha rules, so when Briscoe & EC3 battle to the floor, Taven & Lethal are legal. So they start the match officially. Lethal counters the hip toss, hits the dropkick for 1. Taven with a dropkick of his own sends Lethal outside, Lethal avoids the dive and now they’re both outside. Briscoe double clotheslines them while EC3 crawls into the ring, and now they’re the legal men. Maria talks about how EC3 was a more jovial character during their days in Impact, but now he’s got the advantage over Lethal. Taven up top, dropkick on EC3. Lethal with the Combination, Taven rolls outside. Lethal & EC3 go outside on the other side, once Taven’s recuperated enough he can do a dive! Briscoe & Taven in the ring, Briscoe with a rana, big boot sends Taven down. Briscoe with the snap suplex as we go to commercial.

We return and Taven & Lethal sent into the corner. Briscoe covers Taven for two. Taven with a neckbreaker on Briscoe, EC3 sends Taven outside & focuses on Briscoe. Thesz press and those piston like right hands on Briscoe. Taven keeps trying to get back in, keeps getting knocked off the apron. Headbutt! EC3 knocked himself silly on Briscoe’s hard head. They exchange strikes. Lethal comes in with a big boot, Taven back in, we’re exchanging kicks and all four men go down. Taven up, he sets Lethal up for a frog splash but Lethal’s already back up to follow Taven up there. Briscoe knocks Lethal out of the way, Lethal returns, it’s a scrum over whoever’s going to suplex Taven off the top. They decide they can both do it, but EC3 takes the opportunity to make it a Tower of Doom! Maria is terrified. EC3 yells at Lethal to hit Briscoe, Lethal opts to hit EC3 instead. Briscoe gets up, Lethal puts him in the figure four, but that’s broken up by an EC3 powerbomb on Taven.

We return from commercial, and EC3 has Lethal isolated while Briscoe looks on from outside. Looked like EC3 was going to set up the Jaydriller, and that makes Briscoe go crazier than usual. He & EC3 brawl to the back. Back at ringside, Vita Von Starr appears! Taven hits the running knee strike for two. DDT on Lethal, Taven goes up top, and that’s when he notices Von Starr. Lethal avoids the top rope move, but Taven still has the advantage, hits another running knee strike for two. Now Vita tries to enter the ring, runs around for the distraction. Lethal hits the cutter! Followed up by the Lethal Injection & the three count!

Winner: Jay Lethal (14:04 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2

I gotta say, that’s not a very honorable victory for Lethal. What happened to purifying the company, huh? Lethal will face Rush at the 19th Anniversary Show, and he celebrates as the show closes.

Next Week: Fred Yehi vs. Dak Draper, Tonny Deppen vs. Kenny King & Flamita vs. Flip Gordon!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Two pretty solid matches this week, but they didn't quite hit that next level taking them to great. I kind of get the feeling we'll be seeing Josh Woods wrestle against Silas Young instead of team with him. As for Lethal vs. Rush, it should be a good match but feels like a successful defense for Rush. Perfectly fine wrestling!