Last week: After a recap of what happened at “Final Battle”, unseen bouts featuring Flip Gordon defeating Bandido, and Mark Haskins making Jay Lethal submit were shown during a special episode focusing on ROH’s handling of the pandemic.
ROH TV Episode 486
January 9, 2021
Battle Royal For a Future ROH World Title Shot: ROH World Television champion Dragon Lee vs. Brian Johnson vs. Cheeseburger vs. Crowbar vs. Dak Draper vs. Danhausen vs. Delirious vs. Eli Isom a vs. Gangrel vs. Josh Woods vs. Kenny King vs. LSG vs. Maria Manic vs. PJ Black vs. Brian Milonas vs. Rhett Titus vs. Silas Young vs. Beer City Bruiser vs. The Blue Meanie vs. Tracy Williams (“Free Enterprise” – February 9, 2020)
When the bell sounded Delirious went crazy, running around the ring like a madman. Kenny King – who was blinded by Gangrel’s blood mist during his entrance – Silas Young, Josh Woods & Brian Johnson stayed on the outside for the first few minutes while Gangrel and Beer City Bruiser had a bite-off. Johnson attempted to get the jump on Gangrel, but took the Implant DDT. Dak Draper blocked Gangrel’s DDT, dumping Gangrel over the top rope for the first elimination. LSG soon followed as Draper stopped a cross body block to slam him over the top rope. Crowbar & Eli Isom attempted to double team Draper, only to be double back dropped out of the ring for a pair of eliminations. Cheeseburger was next on the menu, only to drop down alongside the top rope to send Dak careening into elimination to a big ovation. Blue Meanie stopped The Bouncers’ onslaught on everyone so the three could dance. Brian Johnson snuck up behind Meanie to push the former ECW star out of the ring.
PJ Black saved his protege Johnson from an elimination, only for “The Mecca” to send PJ to the floor for another elimination. Johnson turned around into Maria Manic’s testicular claw. Maria easily pitched Johnson out of the ring for her first elimination. Rhett Titus saw the stature of Maria and was impressed. What Titus wasn’t impressed with was Maria hip tossing the former ROH World Tag Team champion out of the ring to eliminate Rhett. Maria turned around, grabbing The Bouncers from underneath as they double choked Danhausen near the ropes, bouncing Brian Milonas and BCB out of the match. So happy was Danhausen that Maria saved him, asking for a hug. Maria gave Danhausen a hug & a forearm. Silas Young confronted Manic, leading to a strike exchange that ended with Young switching gears by executing his Last Real Combo. Bully Ray ran out, yanking Manic over the top rope as Young had her draped to eliminate Maria.
Bully topped off his interference by power bombing Manic through a table at ringside. In the ring, Danhausen and Delirious were having a meeting with Delirious drinking those teeth Danhausen always carries around. Distracted, Delirious was grabbed and thrown to the floor by Danhausen. Silas was a proponent of karma by pitching Danhausen out of the match soon after. Woods saved Young from being eliminated by Cheeseburger, setting up Silas’ springboard clothesline to send Cheeseburger out of the ring for another elimination. Tracy Williams found himself fighting both Young and Woods, taking double teams until they threw him over the top for an elimination.
Young & Woods looked to do the same thing to Dragon Lee, but the masked man caused a miscommunication that saw Woods bicycle kick Young off the apron for an elimination after Lee back dropped “The Last Real Man” over the top. Before a stunned Woods could turn around, Lee threw Josh out of the ring as well. It seemed Dragon Lee had won when Kenny King ran in to push him over the top before celebrating. Unbeknownst to King, Lee held on; skinning the cat back in before unleashing a roundhouse kick. Removing the mask, Flip Gordon unveiled himself as faux Dragon Lee. An infuriated King rushed Gordon, only for Flip to drop down alongside the top rope and send Kenny out of the ring for the final elimination to earn a future World title shot.
ROH World Championship: PCO (c) vs. RUSH vs. Mark Haskins (“Gateway to Honor” – February 29, 2020)
No Code of Honor as RUSH confronted PCO immediately, using a flying knee strike to put him on the floor. Mark Haskins soon followed by taking a dropkick from RUSH. PCO reentered, knocking RUSH out of the ring for a tope. When Haskins tried to tope PCO, he got caught in the goozle for a chokeslam across the apron. PCO went for the dangerous dive off the top, hitting nothing by the ring’s edge as RUSH moved Haskins out of the way. RUSH’s focus was on the champ, slamming him into the barricades & standing atop the champ after bashing his face into the timekeeper’s table. RUSH hadn’t forgotten about Haskins, beating his fellow challenger around ringside before bring him into the ring for a rope-assisted triangle choke. RUSH feigned Bull’s Horns, insultingly kicking “Overkill” in the face. Haskins pulled himself up, landing a hard left hand topped by the dropkick.
Haskins picked up the steam, diving on both opponents at ringside before double stomping RUSH after shoving him into the ring. PCO missed a dropkick on Haskins, but not the clothesline after stopping a pin from Haskins. PCO rushed RUSH, taking a snap German suplex. PCO stumbled to his feet, feeling a pair of super kicks before retaliating with a double clothesline that left all three men downed. PCO got up to discover RUSH too standing. RUSH caught the incoming champion with an overhead belly to belly suplex into the turnbuckles. RUSH had Bull’s Horns in mind when PCO exploded out of the corner with a spear. Before PCO could cover RUSH for the three count, Haskins came sailing off the top to double stomp PCO … for a near fall thanks to RUSH breaking up the pin!
Soldier Roll didn’t put RUSH away courtesy of Haskins. PCO got up, chokeslamming Haskins in position for the PCOSault. The maneuver connected perfectly, only for RUSH to pull the referee out of the ring before he could count Haskins down. NWA World’s champion Nick Aldis entered the ring, clobbering PCO with the NWA title belt. RUSH saw his opportunity, kneeing PCO in position for Bull’s Horns. RUSH made the cover, pinning PCO to become the NEW ROH WORLD CHAMPION!
Pure Championship Tournament Final Match: Tracy Williams vs. Jonathan Gresham (“Ring of Honor Wrestling” Episode 476 – October 31, 2020)
An immediate tie-up saw them go for pinning combinations so quickly stopped the referee couldn’t get off his feet. When they locked up again it was Tracy Williams hip tossing his opponent to the floor. Williams followed with the two trading holds until they ended up in a stalemate at ringside. Williams invited Jonathan Gresham back in where Gresham had to survive several submission holds without using a rope break. “Hot Sauce’s” attention was on the left arm of his opponent until “The Octopus” got underneath and then on top of Tracy to work over Williams’ legs. Williams rolled out of the submission attempt heading into the commercial break.
Williams blocked a pair of boots in the corner, only to get his arm yanked. Big double ax handle to Williams’ arm left him prone to having his arms twisted to Gresham’s pleasure. Williams had to use a rope break to save himself from the Octopus Stretch set up. Slipping behind his opponent, Williams executed a big belly to back suplex. Gresham had to use a rope break himself when “Hot Sauce” started attacking his arm & back with the intent of making him submit. Spear from Williams did more damage to him than it did “The Octopus”. Williams was firing himself up, blocking submissions and executing a big clothesline after getting his arm wrenched. Gresham’s left leg was giving him trouble after landing on his feet, but he refused to be stopped as they traded strikes heading into the commercial.
They were battling in the corner with Gresham hooking “Hot Sauce’s” arm pits to pull his opponent & himself over the top rope. Williams was able to reenter the ring before Gresham; catching the Tag Team champion coming in with the brain buster when that rope-assisted DDT didn’t work. Williams immediately converted the buster into a crossface that had Gresham squealing in agony. Gresham had to use another rope break to save himself from the crossface as commentators Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman noted this is the exact total of rope breaks Gresham used during the entire tournament thus far. Gresham fired himself up, executing a trio of running forearm strikes after he was unsuccessful with the German suplex pinning combination. Williams stopped the Octopus Stretch, executing the piledriver … for a near fall thanks to the ropes!
Gresham had used all of his rope breaks. Williams removed his shoulder guard with the plan of knocking Gresham out. Instead, Gresham caught the incoming arm to cinch in the Octopus Stretch. Williams had no choice but to verbally submit. We have a NEW CHAMPION!
Jay Lethal came out to celebrate with his partner as Gresham was awarded the championship belt and a trophy. Code of Honor followed by the competitors.
Overall: As expected from any “best of” episode, the milage of this episode will vary depending on how much the viewer has seen beforehand. In regards to match selection, ROH did a great job in reminding fans of some of the few big moments and potential stories the company was setting up and, in the case of the Pure Championship Tournament, completed. Gordon’s ROH World title opportunity was reemphasized after his win over Bandido from last week, while they how RUSH regained the ROH World title. The only odd decisions was showcasing Bully Ray eliminate Maria Manic when, by all accounts, Bully is gone from ROH and Maria hasn’t been on ROH TV since the company returned to tape new footage during the pandemic. Though it also made sense to show RUSH’s title win, Nick Aldis’ interference has to be explained to those who didn’t know what was happening during that time and whether or not we’ll ever get that ROH vs. NWA champion match they were building toward during “Wrestlemania” weekend last year. Good stuff for those not in the know, but nothing to see for consistent viewers.
