Last week: The Pure Championship Tournament’s semifinals came to an end with Tracy Williams submitting Fred Yehi, and Josh Woods forcing PJ Black to tap out; all the while EC3 made his ROH debut.
ROH TV Episode 475
October 24, 2020
Baltimore, MD
Like the last few weeks, the winners from the previous episode had some thoughts on their victory & their upcoming tournament matches. Tracy Williams was excited to see someone like Fred Yehi showcase his talents against himself as he is looking to prove himself like never before; promising they’ll meet again. Williams then focused on Jay Lethal – a man he believed didn’t recognize the abilities of his opponent tonight. Proclaiming Lethal will learn his name, Williams stated he will pull off nothing short of an upset.
Josh Woods also had some words following his win over PJ Black, only for Silas Young to take the spotlight to put over his tag team partner as a man with no reservations about his upcoming match. Hearing “reservations” made Woods think it was time for food and a hug – both he didn’t get courtesy of Silas.
Block B Final Match: Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods
With a smile on his face, Josh Woods approached his opposition; only for Jonathan Gresham to go for the single leg takedown. Woods easily blocked the maneuver, forcing Gresham to take a powder. “The Octopus” had the arm in mind, going after both until “The Goods” locked him around the waist. Gresham shockingly grabbed the ropes to save himself from taking a gut-wrench slam to lose a rope break in the process. When Gresham approached Woods he ended up taking a big dead-lift gut-wrench suplex. Sending Gresham to the floor nonchalantly, Woods was in complete control as the show entered a commercial break.
Gresham’s plan of attack going by going after the shoulder worked during the break, but Jonathan found himself getting his knee twisted upon landing off a suplex. Gresham began climbing the ropes for something big, only to get caught by the wrist. Yanking Gresham off the top, Woods executed a big arm drag for a near fall due to Jonathan getting his foot on the bottom rope. Gresham had only one rope break left. Woods, with one arm, pulled off two gut-wrench suplexes. Gresham blocked the third, cinching in the Octopus Stretch for the first time in the tournament.
Silas Young demanded Woods reach the ropes. Hooking the free arm was Gresham to hammerfist Woods. “The Goods” muscled out of the submission predicament to Samoan drop Gresham without losing a rope break. Woods tried to block a drop toe hold, only to get his leg clipped and pulled into a figure four attempt. Woods countered a submission attempt by pulling him into the small package. They were trading small packages until Gresham kicked out and hit the ropes. Gresham jumped over a bent Woods with the sunset flip while hooking his hands Gotch style to hold down “The Goods” for those precious three seconds.
Before Matt Taven could make his way to the ring for their match, Vincent attacked him from behind to execute his version of Sliced Bread on the floor. Pulling out a table and setting it up at ringside, Vincent’s plan of putting Taven through the wood would be accented by jumping off a purple ladder. Security ran out, but Vincent couldn’t be stopped. Vincent climbed the ladder, using the Redrum swanton bomb to put Taven through the table!
A recap of EC3’s ROH debut was shown that was capped off by a confrontation between himself and Shane Taylor. EC3 talked about understanding Taylor’s reason to fight, but didn’t feel Taylor has done enough to earn the right to be named among the elite of ROH; unlike The Briscoes. Taylor, on the other hand, felt disrespected by EC3 doesn’t know what Shane – a person who had to become a man at nine-years-old – has been through and declared the Soldiers of Savagery & himself will make EC3 understand why Shane is the baddest champion in the land.
Block A Final Match: Tracy Williams vs. Jay Lethal
Backing Jay Lethal into the corner, Tracy Williams began dictating the match’s pace early with the Tag champion finding himself taken down & his legs cranked. Williams got a little too comfortable; being yanked into a modified surfboard. Williams countered, forcing Lethal to use his first rope break. The champ seemed a little frustrated over the situation. Turning a failed pinning combination into the crossface, Williams forced his opponent to use his second rope break; much to the dismay of Lethal when he realized what he just did. Lethal got up chopping and looking for the figure four leg lock. “Hot Sauce” used his first rope break before the commercial break.
Williams was complete control; chopping & kicking Lethal down while working over the former World champion’s neck in the process. Back dropping Williams over the top rope, Lethal pulled off that springboard dropkick with the plan of diving on his opponent. Williams avoided the dive, dropkicking Lethal when he rose from the floor. Unfortunately for Williams, his left shoulder took the brunt of his fall after the dropkick. The referee demanded Lethal reenter the ring as Williams tried to follow. Seeing the Pure Championship belt, Williams fought through the pain to confront Lethal in the ring. Williams dared Lethal to come at him and took a dropkick for his trouble. Lethal pulled off a marvelous shoulder breaker to set up the Fujiwara arm bar. Williams used his legs to make it to the ropes. With both men having a single rope break left, Lethal kept attacking Williams’ shoulder until “Hot Sauce” landed a shot to the neck. Stunned, Lethal felt a blistering array of strikes until Lethal unleashed an enzuguri that connected with his shoulder.
That turnbuckle DDT allowed Williams to execute the cradle piledriver. Unfortunately for Williams, Lethal was too close to the ropes. Not deterred, Williams went for the crossface. Lethal fought out of the hold, pulling off an ace crusher. Williams stumbled to his feet into the Lethal Injection. Williams was close enough to the ropes to save himself, but lost his final rope break. Nearly twenty minutes had elapsed when both men got up swinging for the fences. Lethal’s aim for Williams’ arm worked to perfection. Using an arm wringer, Lethal whipped Williams left shoulder first into the mat before pulling off Hail to the King. Lethal signaled for the end, coming off the ropes. Lethal propelled himself into the sleeper instead of doing his finisher. Lethal tried to counter with a pinning combination a la Bret Hart, but ended up putting himself in the crossface. With no rope breaks and stuck in the middle of the ring, Lethal had no choice but to tap out. The finals are now set: Gresham vs. Williams.
Overall: There’s a lot to unpack with this episode. First of all the official action was nothing short of phenomenal. Like any great tournament as it moves deeper into the field the better the matches are due to the crème de la crème advancing; that’s exactly what we got here with two exceptional matches. Josh Woods had nothing short of a coming out during this tournament; becoming an undenmibale grappling machine that, hopefully, is able to do more of the same post-tournament. Jonathan Gresham’s penchant for winning out of nowhere has been a wonderful treat and shows just how resourceful he is no matter the situation.
Like Woods, this tournament has done nothing but make Tracy Williams look like a star with his overcoming Jay Lethal being the most incredible thing he’s done thus far in ROH – a feat that turned him from a sure runner-up into a potential new Pure champion. In the middle of these two fantastic matches was another confrontation between Matt Taven and Vincent that just feels so out of place with what’s going on with the Pure Tournament. It’s not bad or even out of the ordinary, but feels like something they may have been better saved for the post-tournament tapings. Once again, a true must-see episode if there ever was one thanks to the expectational tournament bouts.
