Last week: The main event of La Faccion Ingobernable & Flip Gordon fought to a no contest with The Briscoes, PCO & Brody King.
ROH TV Episode 491
February 13, 2021
Baltimore, MD
Tony Deppen reflected on last year’s “Final Battle” where he pinned LSG to earn a Television Championship match later in the night – a match that Deppen failed to win. But with the loss came experience and Deppen truly understanding what it takes to make it in ROH. Deppen looks to take that next step toward ROH stardom against the man he pinned last December to put him in TV title contention.
LSG reminded everyone how Tony Deppen stole his “Final Battle” moment from him last year by winning the top contender match that allowed Deppen to fall to Dragon Lee. LSG saw Deppen’s match with Lee and figured out that he could defeat him one on one. Considering the people LSG has faced in ROH alone, LSG sees himself as a gatekeeper to ensure people like Deppen don’t make it past him as LSG is rocketing to the top. LSG demanded that Deppen prove he’s deserving of being here.
LSG vs. Tony Deppen
After a quick exchange, LSG faked out Tony Deppen to set up a series of pin attempts. Pitching Deppen to the floor, LSG missed a dropkick to unintentionally start a forearm exchange on the floor. LSG stopped the forearm fight with a knee to Tony’s stomach before pushing Deppen back into the ring. Deppen recovered, sending LSG out of the ring following a failed pin attempt to set up a springboard dropkick that put LSG in position for running kick off the apron. LSG avoided the strike, sending Deppen face-first against the ring’s edge to set up a running neck breaker on the floor. Deppen was understandably hurt & stunned enough for LSG to almost win via count-out prior to the commercial break.
Deppen picked up the pace courtesy of an Irish whip against him that allowed Tony to start throwing hands again. LSG stopped a series of strikes to put him in a modified Gory special. Deppen refused to submit, forcing LSG to give up on the hold and put himself in position for a cross body block when he let Tony up. LSG kicked out of the pin attempt, only to eat a dropkick. Double knees in the corner connected for Deppen, but they didn’t end this one. A slap exchange broke out and they were swinging for the fences. Springboard forearm connected for LSG after he ducked a hit and executed a spinning sidewalk slam facebuster. Deppen fell to the floor, leaving himself open for that baseball dropkick LSG was looking for earlier. LSG had an apron attack in mind, but Deppen countered by tripping LSG to set up a rear naked choke he converted into the brain buster in the ring. LSG was out on his knees and prone to that running knee strike … to give Deppen a near fall!
Double stomp missed for Deppen; causing his legs to buckle. Deppen had a roll up in mind after he countered a running attack with the German suplex; leading to an exchange of pinning combinations until LSG caught him with that hangman’s bomb/“Event Horizon”. LSG made the cover to pin Deppen in the middle of the ring.
Quinn McKay plopped down between The Briscoes to ask what’s going on between the brothers. Jay Briscoe understood he missed the boat on regaining the ROH World Tag Team Championship by letting his issues with EC3 overwhelm his want to team with his brother for ROH gold. Mark Briscoe demanded Jay get back on the boat. Jay declared he swam back on the boat on his own and not because Mark told him to. No matter how Jay got back on the boat, Mark needed to know if they were on the boat together now. Jay agreed they were both on the boat before walking off in separate directions. Words can’t do this segment justice for being both informative & hilarious.
A dueling promo featuring ROH World champion RUSH and Shane Taylor was shown to promote their match in two weeks time.
ROH World Tag Team & Pure champion Jonathan Gresham, Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams vs. ROH World Tag Team champion Jay Lethal, Rhett Titus & Wheeler Yuta
Jay Lethal and Tracy Williams started off as they agreed upon. The opening grappling exchange was impressive as both had an answer for everything the other did until Lethal found himself grabbing the ropes to stop a modified surfboard. Rhett Titus tagged in, actually out-maneuvering Williams until “Hot Sauce” tagged out to Fred Yehi. Like Williams, Titus found himself overwhelmed by the latest man in the ring. Titus opted out so it would be former partners Yehi and Wheeler Yuta locking up. Yehi wanted to use the wrist lock slam, but Yuta floated over his opponent with ease before demanding another chance with Jonathan Gresham. They were incredibly even in their initial grappling with Yuta going for an arm bar off the Greco-Roman knucklelock. Lethal tagged in before the commercial to give us a tease of the partners clashing again.
It was a battle of the Tag Team champions as Gresham showed some incredible prowess including cartwheeling out of a side headlock. Lethal caught Gresham with his patented hip toss into the dropkick before dragging Gresham into the wrong part of town. The Pure champion was being worked over with his left arm targeted. Gresham caused a miscommunication between Lethal and Titus that caused a collision topped off by Lethal accidentally propelling “The Octopus” so he could execute a cutter on Titus. Gresham quickly tagged out to Yehi with “The Savageweight” throwing Yuta around before cinching the Koji clutch. Yuta made it to the ropes, but was still in the clutches of Yehi and eventually Williams as Catch Point road again heading into the commercial break.
Williams knocked Yuta out of the ring, only to walk into the Lethal Combination. Hail to the King connected for Lethal after he tagged in to almost pin Williams. “Hot Sauce” kicked out, unleashing a big clothesline that put both men down. It was Gresham and Titus tagging in for their respective teams, going forearm for forearm. Big belly to belly suplex worked for Titus, but didn’t end this one after he went for a pin on Gresham. The Pure champion made his way to Yehi after leg sweeping Rhett. Titus stopped a Yehi back body drop to yakuza kick Fred. Yuta became the legal man, executing the Right Angle Slam to gain a two count on Yehi. Williams had to break up a pin on Yehi after his partner felt Yuta’s diving DDT. Lethal grabbed Yehi as he attempted to tag, as did Titus. Rhett charged Yehi, running into the Koji clutch.
The only thing that saved Titus was Lethal pushing Gresham into them. As Lethal drilled Gresham with the Lethal Injection in Gresham’s attempt to prevent Yehi from taking the Lethal Injection, Fred stumbled to his feet. Unfortunately for Yehi, Titus was ready with that patented Dropkick to knockout Yehi for the three count. Code of Honor was followed before it was announced next week’s episode will be tag team-centric with The Briscoes taking on Dragon Lee & Kenny King, and Shane Taylor Promotions facing MexiSquad for the Six-Man Tag Team title.
Overall: Very interesting episode this week with the focus being on potential top contenders and The Foundation attempting to retain the purity of pro wrestling that Jonathan Gresham spearheaded with the return of the Pure Championship. The main event was essentially an exhibition with six excellent wrestlers going at it until Titus won for his team. Though there was some tension between Williams and Lethal, Titus defeated Yehi again, and Jay even used his finisher on his own fellow Tag Team champion; but it all was in the spirit of competition and didn’t seem like there any hard feelings.
While The Foundation & friends had something to prove to the other wrestlers on the roster about what ROH is really about, LSG and Tony Deppen wanted to prove they are worthy of being in the running for the TV title with both having strong performances that resulted in LSG getting one-step closer to a TV title opportunity. Not necessarily a must-see episode, but definitely a strong one that continues a brewing rivalry and potential future title contenders.
