PCO confirmed he has signed a one-year deal with the company through Pat Laprade of Lutte Quebec. His new contract will run through October 31, 2023.
“I am very happy to sign a new agreement with IMPACT. The company really pulled out all the stops to keep me with them for another year,” he told Laprade.
Following ROH Final Battle last December, PCO has made frequent appearances in Impact as part of Honor No More, a faction consisting of wrestlers who were part of ROH prior to their shutdown. He most recently competed at Impact’s Bound for Glory event, participating in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match that was won by Bully Ray.
PCO, 54, has made a career resurgence in recent years. He was previously known as Pierre Carl Ouellet, one half of the Quebecers. In addition to his appearances in Impact, PCO has also made appearances for Game Changer Wrestling and Black Label Pro in the last year.
PCO vs. Steve Maclin has been booked for Impact Wrestling.
The promotion announced on Monday that the match has been added to the lineup for Thursday’s show. The two were on opposing sides of a tag team match on last week’s episode. Maclin teamed with Moose and defeated PCO and his partner, W. Morrissey.
PCO vs. Maclin was filmed on night two of Impact Wrestling Citrus Brawl from Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The promotion held tapings in the venue on May 13 & 14.
This will be the first time the two have faced off in singles competition.
Impact Wrestling airs Thursday evenings at 8 p.m Eastern time. The updated lineup for this week’s show is as follows:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander vs. Joe Doering non-title match
Tenille Dashwood vs. Rosemary
Frankie Kazarian & Motor City Machine Guns vs. Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett
WrestleCon has added a ten-man tag team match to Thursday’s Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow lineup with Atsushi Onita captaining one team and PCO captaining the other.
Their teammates will be announced the day of the show.
Team Onita v. Team PCO in a 10 Man Tag Match at the Supershow. We like surprises, so you'll have to wait til Thursday to see who else is in the match! This should be the most #WTF match of the weekend pic.twitter.com/FoXmWyBX0E
The show is set for the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas, airing live on FITE.tv.
WrestleCon announced last week that fans at the show will be given the opportunity to vote for the best match of the night with the participants receiving a $5000 bonus.
The updated lineup for the WrestleCon SuperShow is listed below:
Team Onita vs. Team PCO ten-man tag team match
Minoru Suzuki vs. Biff Busick
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. The Rottweilers (Low Ki & Homicide)
Bandido vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Timothy Thatcher
Mia Yim vs. Athena (fka WWE’s Ember Moon)
Jonathan Gresham, Black Taurus & Ace Austin vs. Michael Oku, Rey Horus & Laredo Kid
The Rock N’ Roll Express have also been announced for the show
Pat Laprade reported on his “Les Anti-Pods de la Lutte” podcast that PCO has signed a contract with Impact Wrestling. Laprade noted that the deal allows PCO to work indie shows, but he has to prioritize dates for Impact.
The 54-year-old PCO appeared at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view last Saturday as part of what was presented as a Ring of Honor invasion angle. Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, Matt Taven, and Vincent Marseglia were also involved in the angle. The group laid out Rhino, Heath, Rich Swann, and Willie Mack.
PCO was a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion as part of The Quebecers in the 1990s. Following a career resurgence, he signed with ROH in 2018. PCO went on to win the ROH World Championship once during his time with the company.
It was revealed last September that PCO gave notice to ROH that he would be departing the promotion when his contract expired at the end of November. ROH announced in October that it would be going on hiatus at the end of the year and taking the first quarter of 2022 to “reimagine” the company.
After his departure from ROH, PCO returned to Game Changer Wrestling.
Four Ring of Honor wrestlers, along with Maria Kanellis, appeared on tonight’s Impact Hard to Kill event, laying out members of the Impact Wrestling roster.
Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Vincent, and PCO appeared following the Hardcore War match and attacked Rhino and Heath. Willie Mack and Rich Swann attempted to help, but were then jumped by PCO and Vincent. The Impact wrestlers were then laid out by the Ring of Honor wrestlers as Bennett brought in Maria Kanellis. All five then posed as the announcers suggested this may be an invasion from Ring of Honor.
Backstage, Gia Miller attempted to interview Scott D’Amore about the situation. D’Amore told Miller that he had to call Baltimore (the location of ROH’s headquarters) to figure out what was going on.
ROH has been on hiatus since December’s Final Battle, with the company planning resuming shows in April. Jonathan Gresham, the ROH World Champion, successfully defended the ROH title against Impact’s Chris Sabin earlier in the show.
Rok-C, the ROH Women’s Champion, appeared at ringside for the main event between Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo.
The Briscoes’ GCW Tag Team titles will be on the line at Blood on the Hills.
Game Changer Wrestling announced today that Jay & Mark Briscoe will defend their Tag Team titles against Brody King & PCO at Blood on the Hills on Friday, December 17. The show is taking place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles and will be available live via Fite TV.
The Briscoes made their surprise GCW debut this October, setting up a Tag Team title match against Mance Warner & Matthew Justice. The Briscoes defeated Warner & Justice at War Ready later that month to win the titles.
The Briscoes’ first GCW Tag Team title defense took place at ROH’s Honor for All show last month. They retained against Effy & AJ Gray.
Before Blood on the Hills, The Briscoes will defend their titles against Ninja Mack & Dante Leon at GCW’s So Alive this Saturday.
King and PCO are both returning to GCW at Blood on the Hills.
Matt Cardona & Chelsea Green vs. Bussy (Effy & Allie Katch), Bandido vs. Blake Christian, Jonathan Gresham vs. AJ Gray, Tony Deppen vs. Jigsaw, and Jacob Fatu vs. Dark Sheik are also set for Blood on the Hills.
Quinn McKay revealed she was out of her usual hosting duties due to her match that is scheduled tonight, meaning Delirious is the guest host. Before Delirious came in, McKay drew names out of a pumpkin to decide wildcard tag teams to compete in a special Halloween four-corner tag team bout later on in the night.
Delirious came in and spat out a bunch of inaudible words as the match cards ran across the screen, including a ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship bout between the current champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Taylor, Moses, and Kaun) and the trio of PCO, Danhausen, and Sledge. Also, ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C teams up with Quinn McKay to face Miranda Alize and Max The Impaler.
Max The Impaler & Miranda Alize (w/ Amy Rose) defeated Quinn McKay & Rok-C (6:37)
This match was ok, but suffered from a lack of a real rhythm and never felt like it hit its full stride.
Rok-C and Alize started off the match, but went to blows immediately. Both women showed fierce striking abilities as they spilled into the corner, prompting McKay to tag in. McKay tried to separate the women and let cooler heads prevail, but would go blow for blow with Alize as the first commercial break ensued.
When the break returned, Alize began to get weary due to the amount of time she’d been in the match. Although weary, she was constantly distracted by Rok-C and took her off the apron at one point. After McKay had missed a few moves, Alize was able to tag in Max.
Max came in and lifted McKay on their shoulders, while also picking up Rok-C with their hands. Both were slammed on top of each other, but Alize tagged herself in and went to pick the bones. After nailing McKay with a go to sleep and only warranting a two count, Alize tagged out to Max. Max lifted both McKay and Rok-C on their shoulders, dumping them on the mat. Max would lift McKay back up and hit her signature backbreaker, as Alize tagged in one last time and made the pinfall herself.
Rey Horus & Silas Young defeated Demonic Flamita & O’Shay Edwards, Flip Gordon & Matt Taven, and EC3 & World Famous CB in a Wildcard Trick Or Treat Halloween Tag Team Four-Corner Survival Match (11:29)
Despite being a very gimmicky-type match, I enjoyed this match for what it was. Maybe a bit too long, but it was still largely fine.
CB and Young started off the bout. After exchanging a few pinfall attempts, Young seemed impressed with CB and tagged out to Horus. Flamita stormed the ring and threw CB out, meaning Flamita and Horus were the legal men. Horus sent Flamita packing after a sweet head scissors takedown, meaning Gordon would springboard off his turnbuckle and take down Horus. Gordon hit a series of moves from his 2018 persona, including a dropkick that sent Flamita to the hills.
EC3 got in the ring, prompting Gordon to introduce himself like it was 2018. Gordon dodged a few clotheslines from EC3 before tagging out to his partner, Matt Taven. Taven got the advantage over EC3 and drop kicked him as a commercial ensued.
When the break returned, Edwards was beating down Taven. Edwards tagged out to Flamita, who asked Horus to come help him double-team Taven. After the duo hit a few moves together, Flamita superkicked Horus.
The match broke down at this point, with nearly everyone in the match getting in the ring. Taven dove onto Edwards at ringside, who had CB in his hands. Horus would then dive onto Taven and CB, followed by Flamita diving onto all three of them.
The finish of the match saw Horus and CB have a small exchange, but Horus was able to nail a 450 splash. Horus’ partner, Young, came in the ring and disposed of Horus, before making the successful pinfall himself.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses, Kaun) defeated PCO, Danhausen and Sledge in a title match (8:33)
Although this was extremely entertaining, I would have preferred the match to be extended by a few minutes to give it more meaning and purpose.
Danhausen and Moses started out. Danhausen tried to take the big man off his feet, but was met with a shoulder block. Before Moses could inflict any more pain, Danhausen requested him to tag out to Taylor. Taylor came in, wrenched the arm of Danhausen, and delivered a flush strike to the jaw that sent him rolling out of the ring. Sledge and Taylor went face to face and traded strikes into a commercial break.
PCO did his shtick as the match returned from break, hitting everybody in sight. He removed the turnbuckle cover and threw all three members of STP into it head first, before diving head-first onto the hard floor at ringside. After PCO regained his composure, he tagged out to Sledge who was met with a right knee from Taylor. Danhausen came in and had some success against Taylor, hitting a standing pump.
The finish of the match saw PCO dive onto Sledge, while Danhausen was attacked 3-on-1. Moses and Kaun hit a double team move on Danhausen that was followed up by a piledriver from Taylor, which secured the pinfall victory.
Final Thoughts:
With the ROH hiatus news, it’s hard to be super invested in the product given that it’s all coming to an end very soon. It’ll be interesting to see if the company pivots to a non-storyline focused show in the coming weeks and just puts on really good matches. Overall though, this was a fine edition of TV that had three fun matches heading into Final Battle. This wasn’t a can’t miss show by any means, but if you’re looking for just an easy to watch one hour show. this should be on your list.
This week’s episode of ROH TV gets a grade of: Recommended Viewing
The ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles will be on the line on a special Halloween edition of ROH TV.
Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) will put their Six-Man Tag Team titles on the line against Danhausen, PCO & Sledge on the episode, which premieres the weekend of Saturday, October 30. The announcement of the match was made on the latest edition of ROH Week By Week.
It was also announced that the Halloween episode will feature a Wildcard Trick or Treat Halloween four corner survival tag team match where all of the teams will be drawn at random out of a jack-o’-lantern. Plus, ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C will team with Quinn McKay against Miranda Alize & Max The Impaler.
Before the Halloween episode, this weekend’s ROH TV will be a Violence vs. Pure edition of the show pitting members of Violence Unlimited against members of The Foundation. Homicide vs. Jay Lethal, Brody King & Chris Dickinson vs. Jonathan Gresham & Tracy Williams, and Tony Deppen vs. Rhett Titus are set for the show.
The Big Takeaway: As the journey to Final Battle begins, two tag matches take place and ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C makes an appearance.
The Briscoes defeated Alex Zayne & Taylor Rust (11:16)
Rust and Mark started the match. Rust showed his technical prowess early on, working down Mark and keeping him from hitting any big moves. Rust and Mark continued to exchange holds and strikes as the match transitioned into a commercial break.
When the bout returned from break, Zayne and Jay became the legal men. Zayne tried to pull some of his usual tricks on Jay, but was instead met with a clothesline from the former World Champion.
There was a point in the bout where Mark and Jay isolated Zayne, keeping him away from Rust. The two brothers took turns beating down Zayne before he eventually reversed a few moves and made a tag to Rust.
Rust came in and he thought he took out Jay, then shifted his attention to Mark and locked in an arm-based submission. Jay came back and immediately broke up the submission as the match went into a second commercial break.
As the match returned, Zayne hit an inside-out springboard moonsault to both Briscoe brothers who were standing on the outside of the ring. This wouldn’t keep either brother down for long, as the finishing sequence saw Jay hit a Jay-Driller on Rust followed by a Froggy Bow elbow drop from Mark for the win.
Rok-C interview
Brian Zane was joined by the ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C for an in-ring interview. Rok-C explained what winning the title meant for her, before being interrupted by The Allure.
Leon and Love ran down Rok-C and expressed that the “C” in her name stands for a word that can’t be said on television. Miranda Alize, Trish Adora, Willow, Allysin Kay, and Maria Kanellis-Bennett all trotted their way down to the ring shortly after.
Bennett made two three way matches that will lead to a number one contender’s match which will determine Rok-C’s challenger for Final Battle.
VLNCE UNLTD (Brody King, Chris Dickinson, Homicide & Tony Deppen) defeated Danhausen, Demonic Flamita, PCO & Sledge (15:05)
Danhausen and Homicide shared the ring to start the bout. They squabbled back and forth for a bit before going to a commercial break.
As the match returned, Flamita and Deppen became legal. Flamita took Deppen lightly, which caused him to tag out to Dickinson. Dickinson didn’t last for long either, as he hit a few moves on Flamita and tagged out to faction leader, Brody King.
Sledge became the center of attention, as VLNCE UNLTD isolated him and kept him from tagging out. Sledge was beat down for what felt like forever, but eventually made the tag to PCO.
PCO cleared the ring into a commercial break. When the break returned, he squared up with King. After King nailed PCO with a piledriver, he did his usual “malfunction” shtick and began targeting members of his own team, including hitting a chokeslam on Danhausen and a moonsault on Sledge.
The finish of the match saw a ton of tags being exchanged, but Sledge took the pin after King delivered a Ganso bomb.
Final Thoughts:
This week’s edition of ROH TV was rather uneventful and skippable.
The show featured two good matches, but nothing was advanced in terms of storylines other than Rok-C’s title challengers being teased. Nothing on the show was bad, just uneventful.
In recent weeks I’ve introduced a scale in order to let you know if the current week of TV is worth your while. The scale is as followed:
Must Watch TV
Go Out Of Your Way
Recommend Viewing
Watch YouTube Clips
Avoid At All Costs
This week’s episode of ROH TV is: Watch YouTube Clips
Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole (Austin Jenkins), Ruby Soho (Dori Prange) and Minoru Suzuki were all unannounced surprises on AEW’s All Out on 9/5 from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL.
The show may end up historical and certainly felt like it was historic in the building. It felt it just as much if not more watching on television with the announcers soundtrack. In the days that have passed, many have talked about it as the best U.S.-based PPV show in history and it has to be in the discussion. There have been a few better shows judged strictly by match quality, and it’s too soon to ascertain anything long-term of what it means. Short-term it led to Dynamite beating Raw for the first time ever same day in the same week.
But when you consider atmosphere, news value, crowd, announcing match depth and creativity, it’s a hard one to beat.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV and the rest of the week’s news. We have a show up today with Garrett Gonzalez talking about all the week’s news including maximizing the value of the AEW title and its acquisitions, what is and isn’t significant about the ratings and AEW PPV number, the Triller show and more.
As far as Google trends for the week, Belfort vs. Holyfield did 500,000 searches for third place last night which is much lower than the freak show fights have been doing so this probably didn’t do the freak show numbers the other shows have done. Tito Ortiz for getting knocked out was No 8 with 200,000 searches. The only other top 20 number of the week related to combat sports was HHH on Wednesday due to his health issue being No. 15 with 50,000.
Sean Gannon, a Boston police officer who had short-term notoriety from winning a brutal PPV street fight with Kimbo Slice, passed away this weekend. He fought one fight for the UFC, losing to Brandon Lee Hinkle. Gannon vs. Kimbo, which Gannon won via knockout when they did a 30 count for a knockout in an unsanctioned real bare knuckle boxing street fight, was one of the most debated topics on the MMA internet years ago.
ROH Death Before Dishonor tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern tonight on Honor Club and FITE
Honor Rumble (Danhausen,Beer City Bruiser, PJ Black, Dak Draper, Rey Horus, Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, Brawler Milonas, Sledge, Silas Young plus five others to be announced for an ROH title shot.
Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom
Tony Deppen & Homicide & Chris Dickson vs. LSG & Lee Moriarty & John Walters
Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust
Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven
Shane Taylor & Kaun & Moses vs. Kenny King & Dragon Lee & Bestia del Ring for six-man titles
Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods for Pure title
Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize for women’s title
Bandido vs. Demonic Flamita vs. Brody King vs. EC 3 in an elimination match for the ROH title
PCO gave notice to ROH that he wouldn’t be returning after his contract ends on 11/30. He will work through the end of his current contract. (thanks to Betrand Hebert)
Jake Shannon is promoting competitive actual wrestling or grappling by using pro wrestling rules as was the dream of Billy Robinson and Karl Gotch, on 9/24 at the Watering Bowl in Denver. There will be a tag team match and singles matches on the show. For more info go to www.scientificwrestling.com
In a nice political move, AAA gave permission for La Hiedra to appear at the 9/17 CMLL ceremony honoring Sangre Chicana at Arena Mexico.
WWE
At the Madison Square Garden show on Friday night, they played the NXT 30 second commercial for the rebranding and the crowd booed.
They also aired a promo for WWE on Peacock which included a new season of the WWE Ruthless Aggression video and promotion for more documentaries that had been on hold, so they are going back to finishing them.
AEW
The company has opened up more sections at Arthur Ashe Stadium so they should be above 19,000 fans at the show. They aren’t there yet but have topped 18,000.
UFC
An update on International Fight Week. On 9/23, the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place at the Park Theater inside the MGM Grand Hotel hosted by Jon Anik. The Park and Toshiba Plaza will host the two-day Fan Experience on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be official parties at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday. There will be a pool party at Ayu Dayclub at 11a.m..There will be a closed-circuit viewing party for UFC 266 at Redtail at 5:30 p.m. and an after show party at 10:30 p.m.. at Zouk Nightclub.
Jim Miller tested positive for COVID-19 and has pulled out of this coming Saturday’s fight with Nikolas Motta. He hopes to fight in early October. Miller noted he’s had 50 fights and this is the first time he’s ever pulled out.
Josh Parisian vs. Don’Tale Mayes has been added to a 12/18 show.
OTHER NOTES
Jake Atlas made a surprise appearance on Friday’s West Coast Pro show in South San Francisco, saving his friend Starboy Charlie who was being double-teamed by the father-and-son duo of Big Ugly JD Bishop & Titus Alexander. This leads to Atlas & Charlie vs. Bishop & Alexander on 10/8, a show headlined by Minoru Suzuki vs. Daniel Garcia. Yuya Uemura wrestled Vinny Massaro on Friday’s show. AJ Gray pinned Hammerstone to win the West Coast Pro title and Levi Shapiro pinned Jacob Fatu after a lariat.
Stardom Grand Prix results from today in Sendai: Utami Hayashishita b Lady C (non-tourney), Mina Shirakawa b Waka Tsukiyama (non-tourney), Natsupoi b Mai Sakurai (non-tourney), Takumi Iroha b Ruaka (blue block), Momo Watanabe b Koguma (red block), Tam Nakano b AZM (blue), Syuri b Unagi Sayaka (blue), Saya Kamitani b Maika (blue)
Atsushi Onita vs. Matt Tremont for H2O Wrestling, Tremont’s promotion, is set for Halloween night in Trenton, NJ at the Trenton Thunder baseball stadium.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships, the promotion that C.M. Punk announces for, returns to Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA on 10.2 with Jonathan Piersma (3-0) vs. Kris Vereen (5-0) at the Xcite Center.
Defy Wrestling runs 9/29 in Seattle at Washington Hall, 10/9 in Portland, OR at the Kliever Armory, 10/14 in Los Angeles,and The Lodge Room in Highland Parks. Eddie Kingston will be the headliner on all three shows
Benson Henderson vs Brent Primus has been added to the 10/16 Showtime card The card also features Vadim Nemkov vs Anthony Rumble Johnson for the light heavyweight title in the Grand Prix tournament and Ryan Bader vs. Corey Anderson in a light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament semifinal match.
StocktonCon in Stockton, CA is taking place today with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Booker T, Jerry Lawler and Lisa Varon at the Stockton Arena. There will be panel discussion as well.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Thursday night in Omaha, NE: Pat Powers b Omar Pacheco-DQ, Preston Maxwell b Kit Sackett, Moonshine Russell b Xander McIntosh, Seto Kobara & Tim Boston b Paul Daniels & Joey Daniels and Brandon Nytroe & Tommy Douglas, Pat Powers b Manford Zablinski, Nino Hachet b Purple, El Bigote b Logan Ocean, Brett Bishop b Pat Powers-COR. Next show is 10/14 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
EPW from last night in Perth, Western Australia: Taylor King b Lucas Fantasia, James Hartness b Great George, Ryan Ellen & Jordan Bishop b Mr Thompson & Antonio Corrado, Joel Hagan b Steve Norsk, Joel Hagan b Cameraman, Joel Hagan b Edith Night, Jesse Lambert & Gavin McGavin b Dux Brothers, Chris Target won three-way over Stella Nyx and Matthew Pace, Callum Collins b Blake Walker, Aaron Hawk b Bruno Nitro to keep the EPW Coastal title. EPW runs four shows a day at the Perth Royal show from 9/25 to 10/2. They next major show is 10/16.
Wrestle Pro on 10/16 in Rahway, NJ has Eddie Edwards vs. TJ Crawford vs.; Aaron Rourke vs. Kevin Blackwood vs. Zach Gowen vs ? plus Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mercedes Martinez.
Gouge from last night in Raleigh, NC: Air Time Rockers b Victor Andrews & Bobby Wohlfert, Waylon Maze b Chet Sterling, Seymour Snort b TKO Teddy Ireland, Kaitlyn Marie b Chet Sterling, T.I.M. b Snooty Fox to win the Gouge title. Next show is 9/19 in Raleigh at Clouds Taproom at 4 p.m. with T.I.M. vs. Snott.
Two matches will be taking place as part of ROH Best in the World Hour One.
At 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, July 11, Best in the World Hour One will stream live for free on platforms including HonorClub, YouTube, and pay-per-view channels carrying Best in the World. Best in the World will then begin on HonorClub and PPV starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.
PCO & Danhausen vs. The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) and Demonic Flamita vs. Rey Horus are the two matches that have been announced for Best in the World Hour One.
Flamita and Horus were stablemates in MexiSquad prior to Flamita turning heel. Flamita defeated Horus when they faced off in a Survival of the Fittest tournament first round match on ROH TV last month. In the six-way Survival of the Fittest finals, Bandido won despite being attacked by Flamita and put through a table after eliminating him. Horus came out to make the save for Bandido.
Bandido will challenge for Rush’s ROH World Championship in the main event of Best in the World. The PPV is taking place at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland and will feature ROH’s first live crowd since February 2020. Here’s the updated card for the event:
ROH World Champion Rush defends against Bandido
ROH Television Champion Tony Deppen defends against Dragon Lee
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Mike Bennett
Brody King vs. Jay Lethal
EC3 vs. Flip Gordon
Last Man Standing match: Josh Woods vs. Silas Young
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against Dalton Castle, Eli Isom & Dak Draper
Demonic Flamita vs. Rey Horus (Best in the World Hour One)
PCO & Danhausen vs. The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) (Best in the World Hour One)
The Big Takeaway: A 15 man battle royale took place with a spot in the rankings on the line. Also, Shane Taylor Promotions defended their tag team titles against up and coming trio Primal Fear. And in the main event, Josh Woods looked to settle the score with former tag team partner and mentor Silas Young
Ian Riccaboni checked in from ROH Studio again, subbing in for Quinn McKay. Riccaboni ran down the card for the evening, including a “Rankings Battle Royale”. It was noted that any ROH wrestlers who are not currently ranked in any division may participate in this battle royale. The last two men remaining will face off in a future singles match. The winner of that match is guaranteed to be ranked in either the Pure Championship division or the Television Championship division, whichever they may choose.
****
LSG and Joe Keys were the last two men remaining in the Rankings Battle Royale
This seems like a harmless idea to propel someone to a future championship match. I like the idea.
Notable people in this battle royale included Danhausen, Mike Bennett, PCO, Mark Briscoe, LSG, World Famous CB, and O’Shay Edwards.
PCO and Mike Bennett were the only two competitors that got entrances. Bennett was jumped by Bateman while making his entrance. Dutch assisted Bateman shortly after and they dragged Bennett to the back. Ryan Mooney was the first one eliminated, by Mark Briscoe. PCO eliminated Eric Martin. Danhausen tried to double-chokeslam PCO and Briscoe but was thrown out quickly. The camera cut to Danhausen at ringside, who then put on a El Generico mask. Once GenericoHausen got back in the ring, he was immediately dumped out again by Briscoe.
Dante Caballero was eliminated by LSG a few moments later. Briscoe and O’Shay Edwards had a good standoff. While Briscoe was on the ropes, Joe Keys came in and eliminated him. Keys also eliminated World Famous CB prior in the match, a good showing for him. Sledge eliminated O’Shay Edwards, who he’s been feuding with on ROH Week By Week.
The final four competitors in the match were Sledge, Joe Keys, PCO, and Joe Keys. Sledge and PCO traded a few forearms and chops, which led to PCO tossing out Sledge with one hand. LSG and Keys were plotting to toss out PCO immediately after, to which they did. LSG and Joe Keys will compete on a future episode of ROH TV.
*****
Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses, and Kaun) defeated Primal Fear (Matthew Omen, Adrien Soriano, and Gabriel Hodder) to retain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team titles
Moses and Omen began the match. Omen was cocky after landing a leg kick but Moses bulldozed him quickly. Omen tagged out to Hodder while Moses tagged out to Kaun. Kaun bulldozed Hodder immediately which caused Hodder to tag out to Soriano. Soriano demanded that he wanted to fight Shane Taylor. Kaun tagged out to allow that.
Taylor and Soriano locked up, but Taylor pushed him to the mat. Soriano popped right back up and slapped Taylor and taunted his catchphrase. Taylor responded by clocking Soriano with a forearm, making him crumble in the corner. This sent us into a commercial break.
Back from the break and Soriano is back on his feet. Taylor folded him with a forearm again and tried to hit a cannonball in the corner, but Soriano dodged the move at the last second. Soriano made a tag to Hodder, who came in with Omen and double-teamed Taylor in the corner for a minute. Soriano eventually tagged back in and was clotheslined by Taylor.
Both Taylor and Soriano used this opportunity to get the hot tag to each respective partner: Moses and Omen. Moses took down Omen a few times before getting on the apron. Moses attempted to cannonball onto Primal Fear at ringside, but they all moved in separate directions causing Moses to hit the floor.
In the ring meanwhile, Kaun hit a brainbuster on Soriano from the top rope. Moses had recovered at ringside and dumped Omen over the barricade. Moses joined Kaun in the ring and they hit their tag finisher “Victory Lap” for the win.
*****
Silas Young defeated Josh Woods
Young attacked Woods before the bell. Young threw him into the barricade and then grabbed a chair. Woods sprung up quickly and kicked the chair into Young’s face.
After some more outside brawling, the match finally began on the inside. Woods had an early advantage when he rushed Young in the corner, but Young turned the momentum in his favor rather quickly. Young kept Woods grounded for a good portion of the match early, locking in various holds. Young had his foot on Woods’ throat as a commercial break ensued.
Back from the break and Woods powered Young across the ring with a hip toss. Woods wasted no time and followed it up with a beautiful butterfly suplex. Young recovered quickly and hit a final cut that took both men out of it for a good bit.
Later in the match, Woods almost hit an O’Connor roll German suplex, but Young reversed it into a pin for a two count. Young is insanely athletic for being 41 years old. Woods and Young eventually both made their way out on the apron, where they traded strikes. Woods eventually clotheslined Young back in the ring and followed it up with a modified armbar. Young rolled it over into a pinning maneuver with his feet on the ropes and scored the victory.
*****
Next Week:
OGK vs The Foundation (Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus) for the ROH Tag Team Championship
Fred Yehi vs Rocky Romero in a Pure Rules match
Final Thoughts: Another very eventful episode of ROH TV. I always love a good battle royale, and despite not being a giant fan of either LSG or Joe Keys, the match was entertaining enough. The Danhausen/El Generico thing might be my favorite thing in wrestling history, definitely not an overreaction.
Shane Taylor Promotions continue to be my favorite promotion in wrestling, let alone the company. Their presentation is phenomenal and they are all really great wrestlers. Silas Young and Josh Woods put on a match similar to last week’s Quinn McKay vs. Angelina Love, where they didn’t give away too much offense and had the heel win in a heel way to set up an eventual rematch, potentially in front of fans.
The Big Takeaway: Flip Gordon and EC3 took on The Briscoe Brothers in a fun TV match, while PCO answered Brian Johnson’s open challenge. Also, Quinn McKay made her ROH debut.
The broadcast began with Ian Riccaboni checking in from the ROH Studio, rather than Quinn McKay. This is obviously because McKay headlines tonight’s show against Angelina Love. Riccaboni also notes that the ROH board of directors teamed up Flip Gordon and EC3 to take on The Briscoes for tonight’s show.
****
Flip Gordon and EC3 defeated The Briscoes (12:38)
Note: This match was filmed before EC3 was hospitalized with an infection. Best wishes go out to Ethan and I hope recovery is going well for him.
EC3 and Jay started the match out. Commentary put this over because of their phenomenal encounter at the 19th Anniversary show, which is currently in my top 5 matches of the year.
Both men grappled for a minute and exchanged a few head scissors, eventually coming to a stalemate. EC3 sent Jay to the other side of the ring where Gordon cheap shotted him. EC3 questioned Gordon’s antics, to which Gordon responded by tagging himself in.
Jay came in on a blind tag and sent Gordon to the mat with a headbutt. The Briscoes did a great job keeping in the fresh man in this match. Mark came in and started choking Gordon with his bandana. Gordon eventually was able to tag out to EC3, which sent us into a commercial break.
Back from the break and EC3 was in control of Jay until Gordon tagged himself in. EC3 stared him down for a few moments before stepping out of the ring. Gordon tried a springboard stunner but Jay shoved him down in mid air. Mark got a hot tag and demolished Gordon with the help of Jay. EC3 tagged himself in and got hit with the redneck boogie, but Gordon broke up the pin.
In the final sequence of the match, referee Joe Mandak was distracted by a chair that Mark Briscoe had introduced to the match. Gordon took advantage of this and punched Mark with a chain, letting EC3 hit his inverted DDT for the win. EC3 didn’t see Gordon hit Mark with the chain.
****
Brian Johnson had his best promo of his career before his open challenge. Johnson touched on how faction heavy ROH is, and boasted himself for standing alone. Johnson whined about not getting talked about and said he would do whatever it takes to get noticed, even if it included “bankrupting the Mercenary, mocking the narrative, cooking the Octopus into calamari, lassoing the Bull, ending the Purple Reign or making The Franchise fall.”
Another great quote from the promo: “Before you say the names Danielson, Punk, Nigel or Joe, Aries, Black, Richards, Cole, Lethal, Briscoe, Cabana or Steen; you better clear your throat and say the M.E.C.C.A. Because i don’t care who you are or who you align with, it’ll always be Mecca vs Everybody.”
PCO defeated Brian Johnson (6:57)
PCO accepted Johnson’t open challenge. Danhausen came out and said since he’s beaten Johnson multiple times, he has a gift for him. PCO came out.
Johnson tried to jump PCO before the bell but to no avail. PCO came back with fiery chops and sent Johnson over his head with a back body drop into a commercial break.
Back from the break and PCO back body drops Brian Johnson over the barricade. PCO started to “malfunction” as commentary put it and ran around ringside before launching himself into a barricade. Johnson took advantage of this and threw PCO into the barricade himself.
Johnson slid PCO back in the ring and went to the top rope. Johnson hit a great splash, but PCO sat up immediately after and “malfunctioned” again. Johnson was sent to the mat with a few punches while PCO climbed to the top rope and hit a PCOsault. Johnson surprisingly kicked out.
PCO chased referee Joe Mandak out of the ring and then returned to the ring, where he started ripping Johnson’s jaw apart. It was played off as a submission and Johnson submitted.
****
Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leon) defeated Quinn McKay (8:01)
Love and McKay started the match with a lock up, which is a weird choice after having a almost year long feud. Love sent McKay to the mat with a wrist lock and then walked on her back. This sent us into a commercial break.
Back from the break and Love is bashing McKay’s head into the mat. Love eventually picked up McKay and nailed her with a flat liner, followed by locking in a Koji Clutch. McKay fought to get a rope break but was on the verge of passing out when Love let her go. Leon exclaimed at ringside that it wasn’t gonna end like that.
Love was showboating when McKay took advantage of an opportunity and hit a stunner. McKay followed it up with a great running powerslam that opened the door for her to get back in the match. McKay then locked in a standing cobra clutch, which Love didn’t really sell at all.
McKay still had the clutch cinched in when Leon stood on the apron and started yelling at McKay. McKay let go of the hold and entertained Leon’s bickering, allowing Love to recover and nail McKay with the “Botox Injection” kick for the win. As a stipulation of her winning, Love will get a first-round bye in ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament this summer.
****
Final Thoughts: A lot to unpack here on a very eventful and newsworthy episode of ROH TV. The Briscoes and EC3/Flip Gordon had a great match. Briscoes lost again though, and I’m sticking with my theory that they are headed for a split.
Brian Johnson had the best promo I’ve ever heard from him personally and the best promo on ROH TV in some time. But then he loses to a 53 year old PCO. that hasn’t been on TV in months and has no general direction. It was an awful decision in my opinion, and had the results been reversed could have done a lot for Johnson.
Quinn McKay and Angelina Love was short, but sweet. In roughly 8 minutes they told a great story without giving away too much action. With the distraction finish, it’s clearly a story ROH wants to continue and have a bigger payoff for in the future, which is great, if it ends with McKay standing tall.
Tracy Williams put down the newly reinvented World Famous CB in a Pure Rules match. In the main event, La Faccion Ingobernable fought to a brutal no contest with Brody King, PCO & The Briscoes.
**********
Quinn McKay welcomed us to the show, per usual. She revealed the stacked main event, pitting La Faccion Ingobernable & Flip Gordon against Brody King, PCO & The Briscoes. McKay also announced the opening match on the card: Tracy Williams vs. The World Famous CB (formerly known as Cheeseburger). It seems as though Cheeseburger has been repackaged which is a good move on ROH’s part.
McKay then shifted the focus to last week’s broadcast. We got a recap of the Vincent/Beer City Bruiser incident where Bruiser seemingly turned heel after smashing a bottle over Matt Taven’s head.
Some post-match comments aired from Beer City Bruiser as well. Bruiser essentially said he was tired of being second and being everybody’s bitch. Brian Milonas approached him and questioned his actions, but Bruiser walked away.
**********
Tracy Williams had a pre-match promo. He said that The Foundation’s goal is to take underutilized professional wrestlers and show them the light of being a Pure wrestler. Williams pointed to stablemate Rhett Titus as an example of this. Williams also noted that he realizes the talent of “World Famous CB” and he won’t be taking him lightly.
The World Famous CB also had some pre-match comments. CB said that the Cheeseburger gimmick is in the past — and that it was the best and worst thing to ever happen to him. He also said that joining the Pure division will help him break through the glass ceiling that the Cheeseburger gimmick set for him.
**********
Tracy Williams defeated The World Famous CB in a Pure Rules match (13:04)
CB and Williams tangled up early with Williams getting the advantage, locking in multiple headlocks. As commentary noted, Williams had a great reach advantage over CB and it showed.
After a commercial break, CB began to regain some control in the match as he worked on the arm of Williams. CB jumped on Williams’ back and instead of using a sleeper hold, he cinched both arms behind Williams’ back. Williams bit down on the rope, causing him to use his first rope break.
Williams regained his position quickly after, hitting a series of suplexes and then attempting his crossface. CB got his foot on the rope before Williams could lock it in, costing CB his first rope break. CB tried to submit Williams with an armbar, but he used his second rope break. The match sped up after that, with CB getting in some signature offense including a standing superkick. Williams ended up regaining his composure and spiking CB with a piledriver for the win
**********
La Faccion Ingobernable (ROH World Champion Rush, ROH Television Champion Dragon Lee & La Bestia Del Ring) & Flip Gordon vs. Brody King, PCO & The Briscoes ended in a no contest (14:23)
Amy Rose joined the commentary team for this match.
An interesting note before the match: Mark and Jay Briscoe came out separately.
Mark Briscoe and Gordon began the match. Gordon had the advantage early on, but Mark turned it around and powerslammed Gordon. LFI jumped off the apron while Gordon was getting beat down and began admiring each other’s hair. Jay Briscoe tagged in and stomped on Gordon in the corner. He threw Gordon out of the ring, but LFI tossed him right back in and laughed.
King tagged in and chucked Gordon out of the ring, but LFI again tossed him right back in and taunted. Jay Briscoe tagged back in and ran into a flying Gordon. Gordon tried to extend his arm for a tag, but all three members of LFI jumped off the apron instead. Mark Briscoe came in and hit the Redneck Boogie on Gordon and tried to pin him, but LFI came in and all hell broke loose.
Rush took a chair and drove it into King’s knee and followed that up with taking an extension cord and whipping it into King’s knee as well. LFI positioned King on the apron and draped him while Lee stomped on him and sent him to the floor. Lee and PCO were the legal men after the chaos. But when PCO went to dive on LFI on the outside, they shoved Gordon in harm’s way.
In the final moments of the match, King and Lee had an exchange in the ring that saw Lee get the best of King with help from LFI. Mark Briscoe set up a chair in the ring and dove onto a pile of practically everybody in the match. King positioned Rush on a table and instructed PCO to go to the top rope, which he did. PCO then crashed into the table by himself after Rush moved out of the way. Finally, referee Todd Sinclair called the match a no contest as all hell continued to break loose.
After security and multiple ROH officials rushed the ring to put a stop to the chaos, the cameras cut backstage to The Foundation. Jonathan Gresham and company shook their heads as the broadcast went off the air.
**********
Final Thoughts —
Another Monday and another great showing for ROH. Seeing Cheeseburger repackaged was something i didn’t expect, but it was for the better. CB put up a great fight against Tracy Williams and i hope he is a future player in the Pure division.
I’m also glad we saw the return of ROH World Champion Rush and his faction. They’re absolutely phenomenal heels and do a lot for the ROH product. They just need to be on TV more. The dynamic of the match with them letting Flip Gordon getting beat up by himself early was brilliant. The match was an absolute war and one of my favorites so far this year. The no contest finish was the right move, as well. All in all, this was my favorite ROH TV episode of 2021 so far.
– An eight-man tag match will headline Ring of Honor television the first weekend of February.
ROH has announced that Brody King, PCO & The Briscoes will face La Faccion Ingobernable (ROH World Champion Rush, ROH Television Champion Dragon Lee & La Bestia del Ring) & Flip Gordon in an eight-man tag match on the ROH TV episode that premieres the weekend of February 6.
“LFI member Kenny King is unable to appear, so the ROH Board of Directors named Gordon to be his replacement. RUSH, Lee and Bestia are said to be less than thrilled about the board’s decision. Their reaction is understandable considering Gordon, Brody King and PCO were associates not all that long ago,” ROH’s Kevin Eck wrote.
Rush retained his ROH World Championship against King in the main event of December’s Final Battle pay-per-view. Rush won that match after interference by Lee and Bestia del Ring.
– In an interview with PWinsider, The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) revealed that they’ve come to terms with ROH on new contracts. Beer City Bruiser & Milonas are facing The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) on the episode of ROH TV that premieres this weekend.
ROH announced earlier this month that Mark Haskins, Bandido, Amy Rose, Bateman, Brian Johnson, Sumie Sakai, and Tracy Williams have also re-signed with the promotion.
