wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s ROH TV Review 6.11.21
Image Credit: ROH
Loading...Hey kids! ROH’s Survival of the Fittest qualifying matches roll on this week, and we’ve got a Tag Team Championship match as well. It’s under Pure Rules, which consist of the typical Pure Rules for singles matches and three additional rules for Tag Team Matches:
* A legal tag requires the wrestler on the apron to reach over the top rope and tag his partner hand-to-hand while holding the tag rope with his other hand.
* Each wrestler has five seconds to exit the ring after a tag is made.
* Each time a team breaks up a pinfall or submission, that team will lose a rope break. Breaking up a pinfall or submission when a team is out of rope breaks will result in a disqualification.
Not to spoil anything, but one of these rules will play a role in today’s match. Let’s hook em up!
Cook’s ROH TV Review 6.11.21
Quinn McKay welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling! Survival of the Fittest continues this week, last week we saw DEMONIC Flamita advance on TV while Brian Johnson defeated Sledge on the Week by Week YouTube show to advance. Today, Eli Isom faces Dak Draper in Round 1 action. They went to a 15 minute draw last time they wrestled. In the main event, Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus defend the Tag Team Championship against Dragon Lee & Kenny King. The match will be contested under Pure Tag Team rules. Lee & King won the titles under these rules, and never actually lost the Championship since Lee was out of action at the time.
Eli Isom talks about how prestigious Survival of the Fittest is & how sweet it will be when he qualifies and defeats Dak Draper. Meanwhile, Dak Draper explains how Survival of the Fittest works, and how he’s the tallest & fittest of the group. He overlooked Eli the first time, but he expects to wrestle Eli a bunch in bigger & bigger matches over the next decade.
Ian & Caprice are on the call as usual.
Survival of the Fittest Qualification Match: Dak Draper vs. Eli Isom: Only one small shirt for Draper this week, you can tell he means business. Draper has the advantage in every category on the Tale of the Tape. As they shake hands, the lights go out. Here’s Dalton Castle! He’s got his boys eating out of his hands! Dalton says he’s just here to look at them. They’ll be great! He loves what they’ve got and he wants to see more. Anywho, Draper kicks Isom on the handshake but then gets tossed outside. Dive by Isom, tosses Draper into the ring and delivers some forearms in the corner. Draper pushes Isom off, delivers a backdrom, Isom hangs on for a sunset flip attempt. Isom eventually gets one for two, hits a dropkick & Draper rolls outside. The boys distract Isom while attempting a springboard dive, and Draper takes advantage. Draper with the deadlift superplex, gets a two count. The boys are impressed as Draper stomps away. Mounted punches as Isom tries to cover up. Dalton & the boys walk around the ring, causing Draper to hesitate before continuing the offense. Big clothesline by Draper as we go to commercial.
Draper with a twisting double axehandle and a two count as we return. Crossbody takes Isom over the top rope and they both tumble to the floor. They fight on the outside in front of Dalton & the boys, and Draper sends Isom flying in their direction! Dalton bails out over the barricade, and he’s impressed. He tells Draper to finish Isom off. So Draper goes right to a bodylock on the mat. Probably not gonna finish Isom off, but I guess you never know. Isom with a schoolboy for two. Goes for the brainbuster, but Draper blocks & turns it into a small package for two. Both men throw a punch, doesn’t matter since it isn’t pure rules. Draper hits the Doctor Bomb, which gets a 2.74. Dalton tells Draper that he wants something bigger. Draper gets kicked out of a Mile High Muffler attempt and monkey flipped into the opposite corner. Splash in the corner by Isom, series of reversals leads to a sidewinder suplex for two. Draper blocks another suplex attempt, hits the Denver stampede for a two count. Dalton walks over to check the time, he’s a busy man and wants to see something bigger. Draper has Isom up for the Magnum Drop, but opts to go up top. Dalton’s time is up, he & the boys head on out. They’re busy! Isom uses some momentum to hit the Promise brainbuster for the three count!
Winner: Eli Isom (11:17 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Solid match here, the Dalton distractions worked for me but I can see some not being too amused by them.
O’Shay Edwards talks about how he took Sledge to the limit twice and beat him the third time, proving he belongs here. He talks some smack about Chris Dickinson, who everybody knows. Nobody knows who Edwards is, the pressure is on Dickinson. Beating him will impress two companies. Chris Dickinson thinks he’s the fittest. He’s survived plenty of adversity, and wonders if the other people in the field can do what he’s done. Edwards has the size advantage, but he’s just the first one in Dickinson’s path. He can’t think of a better way to put an exclamation point on what he’s done than by winning the ROH Championship, and it doesn’t mattter who’s in his way.
Their match takes place on Tuesday’s Week by Week YouTube show.
ROH World Tag Team Championship Match under Pure Rules: Challengers Dragon Lee & Kenny King vs. Champions Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus: Dragon Lee is the only guy that usually wears a mask, but the three other guys have them for their entrances too. Kinda odd. Titus & King start, two men with quite the history as tag team partners & as opponents. They exchange holds on the mat for the first minute or so before Williams tags in and the double teams start. King has to use his team’s first rope break on a cloverleaf by Williams. Williams gets away with using the ropes to get out of a hold, Todd Sinclair asleep at the wheel as usual. Dragon Lee tags in, he & Williams exchange some hard shots. Williams even removes his shoulder sling for the proceedings. Lee ranas Williams outside, Williams avoids a dive attempt, Lee lands on his feet, Williams sent shoulder-first into the barricade. Back in the ring, a double stomp off the top gets two.
We return from commercial & it’s still Lee & Williams in there. Williams gets two with a back suplex. Lee & King start taking the advantage now. King goes for the crossface chicken wing, doesn’t have it completely locked in though. The domination continues as Lee tags in, letting the announcers note how the tags have to be conducted with the tag rope being held. Constant tags now as Williams’ shoulder takes some punishment. Now Titus tags in, neckbreaker into a suplex into a neckbreaker into a neckbreaker on King. Belly to belly, but King’s foot is on the ropes for LFI’s second rope break. King kicks Williams off the apron, off the top with the blockbuster for two. Lee tags in, they set up a double team but it ends with Titus suplexing Lee off of King’s shoulders. Tags to Williams & King, Williams with the DDT on the top turnbuckle followed by the clothesline for two. Williams goes for the facelock, and King has to use the third & final rope break. Poor Dragon Lee didn’t even get to use one!
Back from commercial, Williams goes for the piledriver but gets sent into the corner instead. Dragonscrew by King, who locks in an Indian deathlock variation. Titus breaks it up with a knee off the top, and that counts as a rope break. Not a bad way to use one. Boot in the corner by Titus, the second one misses, Lee tags in. He stomps a mudhole in the corner, corner dropkick gets two. Titus fights back, forearm exchange. Suplex by Lee, clothesline by Titus gets two. Lee placed up top, tag to Williams, who gets knocked off the corner. Titus put in the Treee of Woe, double stomp to him. Dive onto Williams on the outside. King hits the Royal Flush, Lee covers and Titus breaks up the pin for rope break number two. Dropkick from Titus to King. Williams & Lee exchange shots, Lee gets placed up top, but Williams has a hard time taking advantage. Eventually he gets control, and hits a piledriver off the middle rope! King breaks it up, but the LFI team is out of rope breaks! Todd Sinclair calls for the bell.
Winners: Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus (16:09 via disqualification)
Match Rating: ***1/2
Bestia Del Ring comes down and attacks Williams & Titus! Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham come down, and LFI are at the disadvantage in this numbers game. Doesn’t seem to matter too much though. We got people choking each other with TV cables while VLNCE UNLTD look on from the stage. They seem pleased that the Foundation has been reduced to using the type of roughhouse tactics they claim to look down on.
Next Week: Bandido vs. Bateman, Tony Deppen vs. Dragon Lee vs. Tracy Williams!
