Last week: The OGK of Matt Taven & Mike Bennett overcame the barbarity of The Bouncers before Beer City Bruiser made a ghastly decision at the behest of Vincent.
ROH TV Episode 490
February 7, 2021
Baltimore, MD
Following the OGK’s victory over The Bouncers, Vincent & The Righteous came out to confront all four men with Beer City Bruiser accepting Vincent’s invite to cast down what’s held him back as BCB struck Matt Taven with a beer bottle.
Brian Milonas confronted his partner about his actions, but Beer City Bruiser was tired of playing second fiddle – he’s ready to be more than a little wimp. Milonas was left dumbfounded as BCB stormed off.
Pure Rules Match: Tracy Williams vs. World Famous CB
The former Cheeseburger showcased what he stated in the pre-taped interview by utilizing his slim form to avoid punishing arm bars & headlocks. Showing incredible ingenuity, CB used oppressive situations like the Greco-Roman knucklelock to grab a hold before Tracy Williams was forced to reverse unsuccessfully prior to the commercial break.
CB dove through the ropes for a springboard arm drag that he looked to turn into a pinning combination. Williams found himself stuck in a rear naked choke soon after that CB converted into a high-angle double chicken wing. Williams bit his way to a rope break after walking with CB on his back. Williams immediately got up swinging for the fences before landing a big suplex. CB found himself stuck in a double arm lock that forced him to use his first rope break via his left foot touching the bottom rope.
CB got his arm locked & wrenched before he could get off the mat. Kicking to avoid a figure four leg lock, CB rolled Williams into a cross arm bar. Williams rolled through, only for CB to get the hold in deeper. “Hot Sauce” inched his way to the bottom rope for his second rope break. Almost immediately after getting hooked in a hammerlock, Williams grabbed the rope for his final rope break. Williams lured CB into a false sense of security and started unleashing suplexes when CB came near him. CB showed off his striking skills in hopes of turning the tides in his favor when Williams gave him some breathing room. Unfortunately for CB, he ran into a piledriver that put the returning CB down for the three count.
Brody King reminded everyone that it was RUSH’s family that cost him the ROH World title at “Final Battle” – setting the stage of a war where power is in numbers. With the likes of The Briscoes & PCO by his side, King was ready to get some revenge. RUSH spoke for La Faccion Ingobernable, stating that they are the present & future of ROH. PCO closed out this dueling promo by promising that their opponents will rest in hell!
The Briscoes, Brody King & PCO vs. La Faccion Ingobernable & Flip Gordon
It was Brody King starting off for his team and RUSH opting to let his father come in. Bestia forced Flip Gordon in with Gordon taking exception to the situation. Mark Briscoe tagged in to produce the first action of the match as they went toe-to-toe in regards to strikes. Landing a big dropkick was Gordon before putting Mark on the top rope for the Kinder Surprise kick. Mark stopped the kick from the top, allowing PCO to tag in so he could clobber & splash Flip. Jay Briscoe stomped a mudhole into Flip prior to pitching him into his partners. LFI rolled Gordon back in while laughing at their partner’s chances of survival.
King became the legal man again, landing a huge knife-edge chop that saw Flip looking for a tag. Instead, Flip was thrown back in, slammed and senton splashed by King. PCO was unleashing slams & head-butts that left Gordon writhing. No matter where Gordon went around ringside his partners were ready to toss Flip in for another series of attacks. It wasn’t until Gordon came off the ropes did he turn the tides with that springboard slingblade. A big brawl broke out as LFI stopped a sure pin and everyone started whipping one another with chairs and even a nearby camera cord heading into the commercial break.
King was being triple teamed by his opponents that included RUSH and Bestia holding King across the apron for a Dragon Lee dropkick that sent Brody careening to the floor. PCO found himself the new object of punishment … or so they thought as PCO started firing up after taking chops to unleash chops of his own. LFI left the ring with PCO in hot pursuit. PCO somersaulted through the ropes, taking out Gordon as LFI scattered. Bestia kicked Gordon out the ring to confront PCO. Dey was a clubbin’ until PCO got dropkicked by his fellow veteran. Jay rejoined the fray, knocking Bestia out with a discus forearm.
King’s short-arm lariat to Gordon didn’t take King’s attention on Lee as he executed a big sidewalk slam on the masked man. Dragon stopped King’s ascent up the ropes to take him down thanks to his partners. Bodies hit the floor as the dives began including Mark as he dove off a chair set up in the ring to somersault on top of his opponents. Putting RUSH on the timekeeper’s table, PCO came off the top rope with the somersault senton in mind; but RUSH moved to cause PCO to crash & burn. The referee had no choice but to call for the bell as both teams were counted-out.
As LFI assaulted their opponents with chairs, The Foundation watched in disgust. Pure champion Jonathan Gresham stated, “This is not Ring of Honor.”
Overall: Like last week’s episode there was some nice story & character progression here while delivering impressive action. Look no further than the main event. Though it didn’t have the most stultifying of endings, it was a wild brawl that displayed several potential futures regarding matches and title opportunities including The Foundation taking exception to LFI’s actions, King not being able to extract his revenge, and RUSH not caring for Gordon – who has a future World title shot waiting for him. This is not the type of match that can happen every week on ROH, but once in a while isn’t a problem especially when it will lead to something bigger in the near future.
Not to be outdone was the opener. The reformed Cheeseburger delivered one of, if not the best matches of his ROH career against Tracy Williams and really looked like someone who should be taken seriously going forward in the Pure division. Williams, of course, is more than worthy of a Pure title shot, but will he challenge his stablemate for the gold in the near future before someone bumps him in the rankings. Once again, some very entertaining stuff from ROH and its competitors with the intent of building to something big (hopefully for the inevitable “Anniversary” event).
