Tag: roh pure title tournament

The Pure Championship tournament rolled on this week with the ROH Tag Team Champions in singles action.

In one match, Jonathan Gresham took on the high flying Matt Sydal while ROH pioneer Jay Lethal battled David Finlay in the Block A and Block B semifinals.

This week started with a short video package of the final eight before Quinn McKay took us back to last week with post-match promos from winners Tracy Williams and PJ Black. McKay then took us back several weeks ago, recapping Lethal and Finlay’s victories.

Because these are second round matchups, the time limit increases to 20 minutes from 15.

Block A Semifinals: Jay Lethal pinned David Finlay (14:58)

Lethal and Finlay began with a series of arm locks. Both men broke the holds eventually, but Lethal began to target Finlay’s previously injured shoulder. Finlay eventually got control and sent Lethal to the outside where he took his time getting back in the ring. Lethal baited him to the apron which cost Finlay in a big way as Lethal dropkicked his left leg out from under him. Once Finlay made it back in, he took Lethal to the ground and the two men exchanged ground and pound offense. Once the competitors made their way back to their feet, Lethal hit a crucial hip toss followed by a flipping dropkick for a two count into the first commercial break.

During the break, Finlay countered a Lethal Injection with a backbreaker. Finlay tried to get a stronghold on Lethal’s back but the former ROH Champion hit a quick Lethal Combination. Lethal went to the top rope and missed a jump which impacted his already hurt knee. Finlay came out of nowhere with a great spear, followed up by a kneebar. The kneebar lasted for a solid 80 seconds before Lethal finally used his first rope break.

The two made their way to the apron which ended up being another bait by Lethal as he quickly turned it into a suicide dive. Finlay made his way back into the ring and Lethal hit a Lethal Injection out of nowhere to get the win. Lethal advances to the A Block finals to face the winner of Fred Yehi vs. Tracy Williams.

**********

– “The Horror King” Vincent did a in-ring promo where he talked about his past problems and learning to live with it, eventually accepting his misfortune. “To be successful, you need friends. If you want to be very successful, you need enemies,” he said. Then, the #FollowTheTrend video played and his old rival Matt Taven returned.

He beat up Vincent, choking him with a belt. Taven then exposed the hardwood underneath the ring, hitting the Just The Tip knee strike. He then dragged Vincent over and Climax into the exposed boards. He set up a table outside the ring, put Vincent on it, and delivered a crisp frog splash onto him as Vincent asked him to do it. Taven said this was just the beginning, said to “Follow The Trend” and walked off. 

– After the break, another “Control Your Narrative” vignette for EC3 aired.

Block B Semifinals: Jonathan Gresham defeated Matt Sydal (13:28)

They adhered to the Code Of Honor and immediately went to the mat to exchange holds. Gresham maneuvered a single leg takedown into a headlock. He later transitioned into a nasty leg bending maneuver, but Sydal kicked him in the face a few times to break it. The two exchanged holds on their feet for a while before Gresham knocked Sydal on to the mat and again focused on his quad and knee area. Sydal was able to shift the momentum in his favor as the men made their way back to their feet, but Sydal missed a standing moonsault going into the final break.

After rallying back from several minutes of Sydal offense, Gresham hit a backpack stunner, followed by an enziguri. Gresham rolled Sydal up, but Sydal reversed quickly into his own roll-up. Gresham quickly locked in the surfboard submission, putting torque on the lower knees. In a unique looking spot, he then dropped Sydal and transitioned into an ankle pick for the quick tap. He moves on to face the winner of PJ Black vs. Josh Woods in the B Block finals. 

Another EC3 vignette closed the show.

Next Week:

• PJ Black vs. Josh Woods
• Fred Yehi vs. Tracy Williams

Overall Thoughts:

This was the strongest episode of ROH’s return for me so far. Both matches were excellent and Gresham is so, so good. The Taven-Vincent angle was fun, too. EC3 promos are kinda wearing on me in both companies he is in.

This week’s ROH TV show featured the final two matches of the Pure Title Tournament’s first round as we are now down to the final eight.

The Big Takeaways:

This week’s show featured two promotional debuts and two losses in those debuts as PJ Black defeated Tony Deppen and Tracy Williams submitted Rust Taylor.

Show Recap:

The show began with a vague vignette that said, “‘When one trend dies, another will rise. The trend is coming. #FollowTheTrend”.

Quinn McKay ran down last week’s wins by Fred Yehi and Josh Woods, complete with post-match promos. Of note, Woods didn’t know how his partner/mentor Silas Young did and said he felt Young would be proud of him. While outside interference can get you “fired” in this tourney, that might be some seeding for a future break-up.

First Round Match: Tracy Williams defeated Rust Taylor (14:25)

Taylor has gone 1-1 in the New Japan Lion’s Break Collision series. In a good pre-match promo, he talked about fighting through a depression and almost quitting the business when he came close to being signed (by New Japan, I assume) and told no. He found his motivation and decided to keep on going. In his promo, Williams gave his background, how he got involved in various martial arts like BJJ and sambo, and how when he gets fired up, the “Hot Sauce” starts flowing. Alright, then.

This featured a lot of each man working over the other’s left arm. As it evolved, the story was that Williams used all of his rope breaks so when Taylor applied another arm lock, he took more damage than if he hadn’t used a break.

A very even match through the first ten minutes, Taylor got an advantage by landing a pendulum kick that forced one of the aforementioned rope breaks. Taylor later ensnared him in a Rings of Saturn, complete with his leg further wrapping Williams’ arm that resulted in the final rope break.

The end came when Taylor was laying in kicks and got that hot sauce flowing. Williams hit a big clothesline with a minute to go, followed by a piledriver into a crossface for the quick submission. He moves on to face Fred Yehi in the second round.

While the match featured a lot of skilled grappling, it didn’t do much for me. It felt like Taylor should have advanced, but given that Williams is an ROH mainstay, I can see why they made the decision.

First Round Match: PJ Black (w/ Brian Johnson) defeated Tony Deppen (12:06)

The pre-match promos really got over how different both men are. Deppen, making his ROH debut, comes from a skateboarding/punk rock lifestyle as a kid and said he’s a wrestling nomad with no home and doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. He’s doing this for his unborn child which is why he won’t fail. Conversely, Black is a veteran of the game and described his current style of metaphysical training, animal movements and trying to teach Brian Johnson his ways. 

Even in a loss, Deppen made a good accounting for himself and seems likely to return based on how Black beat him.

Black owned the first five minutes and was hurting Deppen with an abdominal stretch and a finger manipulation/armbar which he stepped into to injure Deppen’s shoulder. This looked awesome.

Deppen regained the advantage with a dropkick as Black showboated on a springboard into the ring. He took control, running double knees into a slumped Black in the corner. Later, he rolled through into an STP but Black got the ropes with five minutes to go. He rolled outside and called for a timeout and Deppen responded by hitting a tope somersault dive, rolling him back in for a double stomp from the top for a two count.

It wasn’t to be for Deppen through as Black did a pumphandle cutter that got a one count, an impressive looking hoisted DDT for two, and a crucifix driver that finally got three to finish a fun match. He moves on to face Josh Woods in the second round.

The show ended with an EC3 vignette.

Next Week:

• Jay Lethal vs. David Finlay
• Jonathan Gresham vs. Matt Sydal

The Big Takeaways:

The Pure Tournament continued with fourth generation wrestler David Finlay defeating Rocky Romero to advance while Matt Sydal submitted Delirious to move on to the second round.

Show Recap:

Quinn McKay (still great at her job) starts us off by recapping last week’s hard fought contest between Jay Lethal and Dalton Castle. They show an after match Lethal promo as he wants to claim his stake as the first ever 2x ROH Pure Champion, while running down his potential opponents next week, either Rocky Romero or David Finlay.

McKay then praised Yuta Wheeler for his amazing showcase of skills last week, followed by a Jonathan Gresham promo claiming he’s the best, he’s the man and he’ll beat anyone that’s put in front of him whether it’s Delirious or Matt Sydal.

McKay then ran down the history of Sydal and Delirious as both men had their first match in ROH together and trained together coming up.

After a commercial break, David Finlay did a promo recapping his injury history in ROH and says it’s his own time to shine and win singles gold. He claims he used to do Romero’s laundry while in the New Japan Dojo and claims he knows Romero like the back of his hand. 

We then went to Romero who said he’s been wrestling for ROH for over 15 years, and that he’s gone toe-to-toe with former Pure champions before. He insulted Finlay on how green he was back in the Dojo days and the experience levels between them. He finished by saying he just has to simply outsmart Finlay. 

For those new here, these are the tournament rules.

First Round: David Finlay pinned Rocky Romero (13:03)

Both guys started with a series of strong wristlocks. Finlay used his first of three rope breaks about 90 seconds in. Romero began to get some momentum by trying to work on the leg, but Finlay retaliated with a big brainbuster. Finlay then worked the neck of Romero as we went into a break.

Back from the constant, never-ending Frank Thomas commercials, Finlay and Romero traded head and neck submissions. Finlay got Romero down into a camel clutch at one point before Romero grasped the momentum back with a well-executed springboard tornado DDT. Finlay almost immediately regained his momentum by suplexing Romero into the corner and hitting his knee on the middle rope, which led into Finlay trying his new submission, a variation of a kneebar. As a result, Romero used his first rope break. 

Both competitors made it back to their feet and began a slugfest. Romero got the momentum and hit a running sliced bread, which only got him a two count. Out of frustration, Romero used a closed fist which got him a warning. Romero eventually ended up locking in the Diablo armbar which cost Finlay his second rope break.

Finlay quickly popped back up and countered a sliced bread into an astonishing backbreaker followed by a Last Shot for the three count. Finlay will face Lethal in the second round.

**********

A video package for Matt Sydal was next. I assume this was filmed before the AEW All Out incident as he seemed in good spirits. Sydal ran down his history in wrestling and said that without Delirious, he wouldn’t even have a career. He feels obligated to win the Pure Championship and he’s going to win it for all the fans counting on him. 

We then got a strange package from Delirious. He said that he is back to his former form and he’s going to do what he was always meant to do: win the ROH Pure Championship. He knows Sydal like the back of his hand, and he knows his weakness and strengths like nobody else does. 

First Round: Matt Sydal submitted Delirious (9:57)

Both competitors adhered to the Code Of Honor before the bell rings. They started with a combination of different types of holds. Delirious began to work on Sydal’s right leg in an effort to ground the high-flying Sydal. The pace picked up fast with a series of Sydal running armdrags, working Delirious to the ground. Delirious worked his way back up and jumped over the top rope with Sydal’s arm in tow, straining his arm extensively.

Referee Todd Sinclair called it as Delirious’ first rope break for some reason. Delirious ignored Sinclair and continued to heavily work on Sydal’s right arm, hammering his knee into the arm repeatedly. 

Following the commercial break, Delirious still had a stranglehold on Sydal’s arm. Sydal finally began to regain some momentum with some backhanded chops. Both men ran the ropes and hit double clotheslines, but immediately popped up. Sydal nailed Delirious with a great knee to the chin followed by a standing moonsault for a two count. Delirious tried to lock in a cobra clutch, but Sydal quickly fought out. Then, Delirious launched Sydal over his head. Sydal landed hard on his shoulder, but he regained his energy and transitioned to a quick cobra clutch/crossface submission, causing Delirious to submit.

With the win, Sydal moves on to face Gresham in the second round.

Overall Thoughts:

Last week’s episode was stronger, but this was still a good showing. Finlay and Romero had a great match, and I really hope Finlay becomes something big in the industry. He shouldn’t just be in tow of Juice Robinson. Romero is underappreciated as a worker, too. Delirious and Sydal was fun, too short for my liking, and I am quite excited to see Sydal and Gresham.

Next Week:

• Fred Yehi vs. Silas Young
• Kenny King vs. Josh Woods

By Skylar Russell for F4WOnline.com

The Big Takeaways:

Ring Of Honor returned for their first TV show since February 29th. Tonight’s episode featured the current Tag Team Champions in two first round matches of their Pure Championship tournament, the first time the title will be held in 14 years.

Dalton Castle vs. Jay Lethal was a great rehash of two old foes going at it again while Wheeler Yuta vs. Jonathan Gresham was a very hard, well fought showcase for Yuta.

The show was recorded at Baltimore, Maryland, in an empty arena with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman on commentary.

Show Recap:

The show starts off with Quinn McKay (who is absolutely phenomenal at her job btw) in the ROH Studio. She recapped the history of the Pure Championship title, naming off some big names who held the prestigious championship including CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, etc. She then ran through the 16-man tournament participants and explained the rules.

The first round matches are 15 minute time limits while the second round gets 20 minutes, the semifinals get 30 minutes, and the finals get a whole hour. There will be three judges for each match to help make a decision if the contest goes to a draw.

The rules for Pure matches are as follows:

• Every match begins and ends with the Code of Honor handshake.
• Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by his opponent are legal.
• Closed fist punches to the face are not permitted as only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning while the second will result in a disqualification.
• As in standard ROH matches, there will be a 20 count when a wrestler is on the floor.
• Outside interference will result in automatic termination from the roster for the wrestler that interferes. 

Lethal started us off with a sitdown promo about him being the franchise of Ring Of Honor and the way he learned the business. He brought up the ROH World title Match with Dalton Castle in Vegas a few years back as a way to prepare for him.

Castle did his own sitdown promo, also discussing the way he came up as a wrestler, running through his history from high school and college. He then talked up Lethal and his respect for him. He said he needs to win his first Pure Championship to establish himself as a true Ring Of Honor legend.

Pure Championship First Round: Jay Lethal defeated Dalton Castle (13:11)

Castle and Jay immediately locked up and Lethal threw Castle towards the ropes and issued a strong takedown, but Castle countered it with a headlock and Lethal immediately used his first rope break out of instinct. The two men traded holds on the ground for a while before Lethal trapped Castle in a headlock with his legs, which Castle escaped quickly. Castle then began a series of dump suplexes with the third one throwing Lethal into the turnbuckle.

We returned from break and Lethal was in firm control of Castle’s right leg, dropping repeated elbows and knees on it. Lethal brought Dalton back to his feet before hitting a single leg atomic drop to the other leg. Castle practically couldn’t stand at this point in the match, so Lethal continued to dominate the leg. Lethal tried to lock in a figure four twice, but Castle found a way out of it. Castle made his way to his feet and the two men began trading hard open palm strikes and elbows, Castle attempted a Bang-A-Rang but his legs gave out, which Jay took advantage of by hitting a Lethal Combination that got a two count.

Lethal followed up with a trip to the top, but Castle sprung up and made his way up there as well. The two athletes traded strikes and Lethal knocked Castle off the top and dove, but missed and rolled through to which Castle used to hit a Bang-A-Rang but didn’t get all of it. Castle hooked the leg, but Lethal put his foot on the rope at the very last moment and broke the count.

Castle tried to hit a Tiger Driver, but Lethal escaped and popped Dalton with a superkick, followed by a great enziguri. Lethal then capitalized with a Lethal Injection for the three count to close out a great match. They shook hands afterward, adhering to the Code Of Honor.

Lethal will face the winner of David Finlay vs. Rocky Romero in the second round.

**********

Wheeler Yuta did a promo, discussing his past as an athlete and coming up training with Drew Gulak. He has a broad range of experience across the world in wrestling including Germany and Japan and named Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles as inspirations. He admitted that Jonathan Gresham is the best technical wrestler on the planet, but he’s going to go hard early to try and slow him down.

Gresham talked about his upbringing, saying that he has always known he wanted to be in Ring Of Honor and that his goal has always been to be the best technical wrestler in the world. He complimented Lethal as a great tag partner, but knows what his own goals are. He complimented Yuta as he sees him as a fellow technical wrestler like himself. Gresham wants to bring the ROH Pure Title home to The Foundation and reclaim the company and the wrestling business as his own.

Pure Championship First Round: Jonathan Gresham defeated Wheeler Yuta (10:25)

They began with a strong knucklelock, but Yuta worked Gresham down to the ground and got a series of two counts while pinning his shoulders down. Gresham flipped Yuta over, but Yuta locked in a strong bodyscissors hold. Gresham rolled out quickly and Yuta wrenched in a reverse bodyscissors instead. Right as Gresham was slipping out of it, Wheeler sprung himself into Gresham for a quick two count. The two men separated themselves and locked up again, and Yuta sent Gresham to the mat immediately, targeting his leg. Gresham escaped quickly and trapped Yuta’s ankle between his knees instead.

We returned from a quick break and the two men exchanged arm drags with Gresham getting a bit cocky before being nailed with a great dropkick. Yuta tried to lock in a head submission, but Gresham countered with half of a Indian death lock. Wheeler tried to fight out of the pressure on his knee and instead, Gresham rolled out and applied the hold again, but in reverse. Yuta used both of his rope breaks while screaming in agony, but Gresham refused to break the hold. Wheeler responded with a closed fist punch for which he was given the one time warning. The referee broke the two men apart and separated them to their respective corners.

They both charged at each other and traded multiple open palm strikes before Wheeler sprinted towards the ropes and landed a beautiful springboard crossbody for a two count. Yuta then went to the top and nailed another crossbody for another two count. Gresham made his way to his feet and was gasping for air when Yuta went for an enziguri, but Gresham caught it and locked in a figure four.

Both men began rolling while the submission was still locked in, hitting the outside floor while the hold was still applied. Both men immediately grabbed their knees in pain, but after a 15 count, both rolled back in the ring filled with agony and pain. They exchanged quick roll ups for two counts before Gresham trapped Yuta’s knee and began slamming it into the mat aggressively, making Wheeler tap out. He will face the winner of Delirious vs. Matt Sydal in round two.

Next week:

We won’t have to wait long to see who Gresham and Lethal face as Delirious vs. Sydal and Finlay vs. Romero will be on next week’s show.