Last week: Mike Bennett made his return to save Matt Taven from a thrashing from Righteous after LSG unsuccessfully took Jay Lethal to the limit in a Pure Rules match.
ROH TV Episode 480
November 28, 2020
Baltimore, MD
The Foundation was here to explain their goal: to restore purity to ROH by winning all the gold. Jay Lethal emphasized that himself, Pure champion Jonathan Gresham, Tracy Williams and the man underneath the octopus mask Rhett Titus were the best the world had to offer. Lethal wanted Titus to remove the mask, but Williams stopped Rhett because the people didn’t care about his face for fifteen years and now will only see him as a symbol for what’s to come courtesy of The Foundation.
Pure Rules: ROH World Tag Team champion Jay Lethal vs. Josh Woods
The initial collar & elbow tie up resulted in a stalemate with Josh Woods actually grinning at the Tag Team champion as if he had his number in the grappling department. When they tied up again it was Lethal looking for any body part to gain an advantage. Woods was ready for anything Lethal had in mind; staying calm as he countered holds while even offering the champ other parts of his body to potentially set him up for something more devastating. Those teases resulted in Lethal being yanked into a cross arm bar that had the champ rolling until he ended up grabbing the ropes for his first rope break.
Lethal found himself both physically & verbally insulted before being swept into a triangle choke. Lethal got out of the submission, but ended up getting rolled in various unsuccessful pinning combinations. At the five minute mark, Lethal countered an Irish whip to connect with that cartwheel-dropkick combo prior to the commercial break.
During the commercial it was Lethal in control while focusing on the back of “The Goods”. The camel clutch had Woods reaching for and eventually grabbing the bottom rope after Lethal wisely positioned his opponent near the corner. Attempting to counter a suplex failed due to Woods’ hurt back, but the kicks were able to connect enough that Lethal tumbled to the floor. Woods didn’t want the count-out, rolling the Tag Team titleholder back in for a two count off the lateral press. Woods gave Lethal a taste of his own medicine by striking Jay’s back before executing a German suplex for another two count. With four minutes remaining in the time limit, Woods lit Lethal up with forearms with the intent of whipping him across the ring.
Lethal dumped an incoming Woods onto the apron for a dropkick that put his opposition at ringside for that tope. Hail to the King was in Lethal’s mind, only for Woods to catch the descending body in the cross arm bar again. Lethal stacked Woods until his shoulders were on the canvas. Woods let go, hooking Lethal in a rear naked choke after countering the Lethal Injection. Lethal rolled into the submission for a pinning combination. Woods relinquished one hold to cinch in another with the ankle lock. Lethal held on long enough to counter the hold with the figure four attempt. Before Lethal could lock in the figure four, Woods swept him into a modified crucifix known as a “Spladle” in amateur wrestling to shockingly pin one-half of the ROH World Tag Team champions.
Mark Briscoe was in front of a tractor to tell the world he wants that twelfth ROH World Tag Team title reign. But Dem Boys can’t get their shot because Jay Briscoe is worried about EC3 – questioning if the mask Jay’s been wearing during the pandemic has cut off the air to his brain. Mark has decided that he will get that twelfth reign even if it means having another partner to do so.
Shane Taylor vs. Brody King
After the announcement of John Walters’ return against Tracy Williams and Mike Bennett vs. Vincent for next week’s show, the two bruisers did just that by exchanging chops. Brody King won the early battle by using Violence Party to knock Taylor out of the ring for a somersault senton off the apron when Shane turned around. Taylor found himself backing up in an effort to add some distance to recover, but King was right on him the entire time. Whipping Taylor into the barricades, King proclaimed, “Just violence!” Taylor found himself in a bad way as the show entered a commercial break.
Stopping a big boot from the apron, Taylor yanked King into a DDT on the floor! The referee demanded Taylor reenter the ring, but Shane had time on his side thanks to King breaking the count moments earlier. Taylor was now mouthing off as he clubbed King with sickening forearms. King felt the cold steel barricade. With Brody stuck by the barricade, Taylor unleashed a knee strike that put Brody through the barricade! Taylor was fine with winning via count-out as he watched King attempt to make his way back in after the count restarted again. Barely making it before the twenty count, King found himself getting stomped into oblivion. Pop-up spine buster connected for Taylor, but didn’t end this one in Shane’s favor. Taylor came off the ropes for something, but ran into a forearm that dropped him across the middle rope. Cannonball connected for King, but no pin fall for Brody. Hoisting Taylor onto his shoulder, King executed the Death Valley driver in the corner that caused Taylor to land directly on his head. The show went to a commercial before King could go for what should be the match-ending pin.
Returning to the show both men were attempting to get up throwing forearms. A pair of punches to Shane’s chest was topped by a thunderous slap. Taylor responded with the lariat for a two count. Taylor was frustrated by the lack of a pin fall, running into the Boss Man Slam. Taylor stopped the subsequent pin attempt, but not the piledriver … that gave King a near fall!
King had the Ganso Bomb in mind, but Taylor countered with the package piledriver … to gain a near fall as well!
Slipping being Taylor to stop Welcome to the Land, King used a German suplex to set up the lariat. Taylor stopped King’s follow up pin at one. King pulled Taylor to his feet for not one, but three clubbing short-arm lariats to finally put Shane down for the three count.
Overall: What a perfect example of two completely different styles of matches encompassing a single episode that epitomizes the talent’s abilities. The opening contest was another star-making performance from Jay Lethal’s opponent with Woods looking better than he did even in the Pure Tournament where he really shined. Woods is similar to guys like Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness during the first era of the Pure Championship in ROH as he is just made for the division and makes every Pure Rules match that much better. Lethal also played a fantastic foil before falling to the man who has to be regarded as the top contender to Gresham’s Pure title.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was King vs. Taylor with the two big men just beating the snot out of each other for over ten minutes. They just never let up and it really delivered one of the better hoss battles in recent ROH history. King winning potentially sets up himself vs. RUSH for the World title and considering RUSH’s style that match should be fantastic. Though this episode didn’t have a lot of story moments or the like, the action was so stellar it definitely is something that must be seen for any wrestling fan.
