Cook’s ROH TV: The Allure Review 8.22.20

Hey kids! This week, Ring of Honor television is spotlighting The Allure! Mandy Leon & Angelina Love, and once upon a time, Velvet Sky. Let’s be honest, Larry was never the biggest Allure fan. Me? I’m willing to give them a chance because of Mandy Leon. What can I say? I’m a fan. Let’s hook em up!

Cook’s ROH TV Review 8.22.20

– We open with a video showcasing some of the best in-ring moments of the Allure!

– What’s up kings & queens? Here’s Mandy Leon, and this week is all about the Allure. She started training in 2013 at the ROH Dojo, started wrestling in 2014. In 2015 she had the very first WOH match that relaunched the division. She had an epic match with Taeler Hendrix, a great feud with Hania the Howling Huntress. ROH gave her a ton of great opportunities. Before she left for a tour with STARDOM in 2017, Jenny Rose challenged her to her first match back in the States.

ROH Global Wars 2017 Buffalo: Mandy Leon vs. Jenny Rose: Ian & DEONNA PURRAZO are on commentary. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaas queen! Mandy beat Toni Storm & Io Shirai during that tour, nothing to sneeze at there. Exchange of bridges. Reversals, Jenny gets the upper hand, works the Indian Deathlock, into a Muta Lock. Mandy gets out of it. Clothesline by Mandy gets 2, she keeps working near-falls, gets a submission move, Rose reverses into a surfboard. Mandy fights out. Now she gonna wash that dirty face of Jenny’s! Somersault senton on the floor! Some boot choking on the apron, Rose fires back, spear on the apron! HARDEST PART OF THE RING! COMMERCIAL! Back, Rose snap suplexing Leon on the floor. Back into the ring. Rose & Leon firing forearm shots at each other. Leon with the Trishcanrana off the top, a Perfect neckbreaker gets 2. Side slam, Perfectplex by Rose gets 2. Don’t mind namedropping Mr. Perfect 2 times in a match. Victory Roll by Leon gets 2. Mandy hits a pumphandle driver and gets a 3 count!

Winner: Mandy Leon (8:19 via pin)
Star Rating: **1/4

– Fine piece of business here. At this point J-Ro (wth Ian) & Mandy still had respect for each other. That apparently changed.

– Pretty good match, huh? Mandy’s had honor running through her veins forever. She had honor & respect for everybody in the company forever. What did it get her? Not much. Now we’re going back to G1 Supercard, where good girls went bad.

– Velvet Sky & Angelina Love make their way to the ring after Kelly Klein won a match for the Women of Honor Championship. Kelly doesn’t seem interested in what they’re selling, but here comes Mandy Leon. She attacks Kelly from behind, Angelina hits the pump kick. We got girls running in to be taken out. Colt Cabana puts Mandy over for DDTing somebody while in heels. Kelly gets an A put on her face. Ian saying “We don’t need this in Women of Honor”, Kevin Kelly saying “Well guess what, you’ve got it.” KK loving all this since he doesn’t work for ROH anymore. Ian doesn’t know how they got that “The Allure” graphic up on the screen. Somebody should have smartened him up.

– Angelina Love is here now. She tells us how she was part of the Embassy in 2004. Fast-forward to MSG, and Velvet Sky & her left a stamp. They dominated the division over the last year, and have been the focal point. They’re a group, and have each other’s back. She’s proud of the matches she’s had in ROH this year, and here’s one.

ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage 2019: Angelina Love vs. Sumie Sakai: Angelina doesn’t follow that code of honor, which you think she would considering she was around in 2004. Gets the advantage early. Side slam by Angelina gets 2. Koji Clutch by Angelina. Sumie fights out. Series of near-falls for Sumi. Samoan drop by Angelina gets a near-fall. Sumie going for the armbar, doesn’t get it locked in before Angelina makes the ropes. HAIRSPRAY! Botox injection kick, and that is all! Kelly Klein on commentary is not impressed. What did Mandy do to celebrate? Well, she won the match for Angelina.

Winner: Angelina Love (6:50 via pin)
Larry’s Star Rating: *3/4

– Angelina hopes we enjoyed that match, and she brings Mandy in to chat about it. Mandy is not offended by Angelina’s Southern US saying of her name. Mandy mentions Jenny Rose’s jealousy towards them, which led to a match with special stipulations, a no-DQ match at the Unauthorized PPV in Flavortown, Ohio.

ROH Unauthorized: Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose vs. The Allure: Sakai & Rose attack on the entrance! Sakai on Love, Rose on Leon. Some clubberin going on! Leon & Love whipped into each other. Leon isolated in the ring for a beating. Double clothesline as we head to commercial. Double suplex on Mandy gets 2. Now Love is back in and choking Sakai with a chair in the corner. Leon starts choking Rose with a chain. This lady has a mean streak! Sakai sitting on the chair, double dropkick by the Allure. Sakai has Daryl Takahaski! Daryl hits both Allure members! A shoutout to Hiromu, who returned around this time. Brainbusrter to Angelina on the chair only gets 2 while Rose & Leon fight on the stage. Unforgiving wood! Sumie misses the moonsault, hits the chair. Rose spears Leon on that stage. Sumie has Daryl again, misses, Love hits the Botox injection kick and that’s it. Love with no respect for Daryl afterward.

Winners: The Allure (5:55 via pin)
Larry’s Star Rating: **

– Angelina wants to tell us something brother, and here comes Maria Manic. Maria tells Angelina she’s dead at Final Battle. I assume that happened. At least Mandy wasn’t dumb enough to try and attack Maria from behind there.

– Mandy & Angelina chat about how they can’t want to be out of quarantine and continue dominating the women’s division like they’ve been doing. With that said, thanks for tuning in, byeee.

– #FollowTheTrend ?

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

To be perfectly honest, ROH has always had a problem presenting a proper women's division. A good bit of it has to do with their fans not being interested, but we can't ignore that most of Impact Wrestling's solid Knockouts Division consists of women that ROH could have signed if they wanted to. ROH did not, so they went elsewhere. I'm not sure this will ever change. ROH will always be a lesser option for women looking to make names for themselves, unless they make some big moves real quick. ROH fans have always been about workrate, so it seems to me that ROH's best move would be bringing in the best female workers. That's never appeared to be ROH's priority when bringing in female workers. If you look at ROH's history when it comes to women's wrestling, you can figure out their priority, and I'll leave it at that. The Allure is a fine heel act. They get their job done. They need some competition in the form of the best female workers in the world. Other companies have them now, but ROH needs to find the next wave. Maybe their partnership with STARDOM will help? This particular episode of ROH TV was fine for me, but I am an admitted Mandy Leon fan. Is what it is.