Last week: Dragon Lee successfully defended the ROH World Television Championship against Rey Horus after Flip Gordon overcame Rhett Titus in a Pure Rules match.
ROH TV Episode 488
January 23, 2021
Baltimore, MD
Dragon Lee overtook his interview with Quinn McKay to ask who is his next opponent. Brody King came onto the screen, confronting Lee while reminding him that King’s problems with La Faccion Ingobernables. Lee left in a huff without a response.
McKay also noted that Flip Gordon was suspended from the Pure Division with Tracy Williams now overtaking the top spot in the rankings.
Pure Rules Match: Dalton Castle vs. Josh Woods
Dalton Castle wasn’t having the grappling confrontation that started this one. Castle noted that he should’ve stayed out of the ring longer after being grabbed and almost pinned after he exited and then reentered the ring following a failed collar & elbow tie-up. “The Peacock” found himself backing Woods into the ropes before landing a sick back elbow to his opponent’s head. Woods caught Castle incoming, dropping him across the top rope abdomen first. “The Goods” was focusing on the mid-section of his opponent. Castle got up swinging & kicking until Woods forced him through the ropes for a series of uppercuts topped by the flying knee strike. Woods executed an overhead suplex before locking in the abdomen stretch. Woods inched Dalton toward the ropes, luring Castle into using his first rope break. Woods approached a rising Dalton when he got up, only for Dalton to yank Josh out of the ring to collide with ring’s edge. The show entered a commercial break as Woods lay on the floor, motionless.
Castle was still in control, putting Woods through the ringer including landing a DDT for a two count and Woods using a rope break. Taking a backdrop to the floor, Castle somehow turned the tables by sending Woods into the barricades and then the ring post left shoulder first. Big suplex by Castle saw him slam Woods against the barricade. Running knee strike landed for Dalton, giving him the chance to set up something big when the action returned in the ring. Woods countered a suplex with the gourd buster to finally start a wave of momentum via suplexes. With less than two minutes in the time limit, Woods found himself initiating a fistfight that ended with Castle landing a forearm that stunned his opponent. Woods stopped the Bang-A-Rang by yanking Dalton into his modified Texas cloverleaf to force a submission from Castle.
Quinn McKay caught up with Josh Woods and he found himself disappointed with his performance. Knowing that he almost took another loss because he took someone too lightly isn’t what’s going to get him to complete his goal of becoming the next Pure champion.
The Foundation (ROH World Tag Team & Pure champion Jonathan Gresham, ROH World Tag Team champion Jay Lethal & Tracy Williams) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & The Soldiers of Savagery)
Kaun started off for his team, pitching Jay Lethal across the ring when they locked up for the first time. The second tie-up found Lethal being muscled around the ring again. Lethal had no answer for Kaun’s power, so he started going to the grappling well by grabbing his head. Kaun countered by sending Lethal into the ropes for a big punch to the jaw. Lethal fell out of the ring as The Foundation complained about the closed fist as if this was a Pure Rules match as well. Tracy Williams wanted in, coming face to face with Shane Taylor. Taylor backed Williams into the corner and even put him on the top rope. Williams avoided Shane’s strikes to lock Taylor in an arm bar. Since Taylor was in the rope, Williams had to break the hold.
When Tracy reentered the ring, Taylor landed a sick forearm that forced Williams to tag out to an awaiting Jonathan Gresham. The Pure champion found himself trying to hit & run when he found himself in the ring with the much larger Moses. Though Gresham impressively took Moses over with a side headlock, the bigger man countered and practically reset this match. Lethal had to reenter so he could push the pace against Moses. Blind tag by Williams allowed himself to takedown & arm bar Moses after the latter pitched Lethal out of the ring. Gresham tagged in, kicking Moses’ arm before going for a cross body. Gresham bounced off Moses’ body, only for the Pure champion to quickly recover and dropkick Moses into The Foundation’s corner. Moses was on the wrong part of town as the show entered a commercial.
Moses was getting his left arm worked over by The Foundation. Catching Williams running, Moses executed a Samoan drop. Both tagged out with Lethal and Kaun colliding again. Kicking Lethal to the floor, Kaun pulled off a perfect cross body. Kaun was on fire, landing a sick kick to earn a two count. Gresham tagged himself in, grabbing Kaun from behind for a double team that ended with Kaun getting tossed on his head. Taylor tagged himself in after landing a missile dropkick on Kaun. Knee strike into the Marcus Garvey Driver wasn’t enough to put Gresham away thanks to interference from Lethal. The SOS pitched Williams to the floor. Lethal followed, but only because he was ready to dive on Shane. Rolling Taylor in, Lethal watched as Gresham hit a shooting star press on Shane … for a near fall!
Taylor blocked the Lethal Injection, executing Welcome to the Land to pin Lethal.
Overall: A very strong episode of ROH TV with some wonderful storytelling from an in-ring & character perspective. Josh Woods rebounded from two losses after admitting to becoming overconfident in his abilities after defeating Jay Lethal pre-“Final Battle”. Castle, however, seems flustered & somewhat mentally lost as he struggles to come to grips with being unable to consistently win as of late – a frustration that played out in his match with Woods and almost resulted in him winning, but ultimately failed again.
The main event showcased The Foundation’s biggest strength and, currently, their greatest weakness is one in the same: their obsession with Pure Rules. STP came for a fight & delivered with The SOS really having a standout performance before Taylor ultimately pinned another former ROH World champion (having defeated Jay Briscoe at “Final Battle”). This sets up a few possibilities including Taylor moving to the top of the ROH World title rankings, The SOS challenging for the ROH World Tag Team title, and The Foundation having to reassess their strategy in non-Pure Rules matches. Add that to the fact Brody King made his presence known to Dragon Lee and you have a must-see episode of ROH TV.
