Last week: The Foundation alongside Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta showed what ROH is about with a six-man tag bout that saw Rhett Titus, Jay Lethal & Wheeler Yuta overcome Jonathan Gresham, Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams.
ROH TV Episode 492
February 13, 2021
Baltimore, MD
#1 Contender’s Match: La Faccion Ingobernable (ROH World Television champion Dragon Lee & Kenny King) vs. The Briscoes
It was Mark Briscoe and Kenny King kicking this off with King going after the head of his opponent before switching to the left arm after Mark tried pry Kenny’s nose from his face. Mark chopped his way to his feet, landing a springboard forearm as a follow up. King rolled to his corner to tag out. Dragon Lee found himself grappling with Jay Briscoe, only for the TV champion to snap him over with the hurricarana. Jay actually tagged out so Mark and Dragon could trade strikes. Lee shoved Mark into King’s clutches, setting up some ground & pound on Mark as Jay demanded the referee do his job and reprimand the now legal King. Blind tag by Jay allowed for Dem Boys to cutoff King’s next attack and put him on the floor on The Briscoes’ side of ringside. After slamming King, Jay got out of his brother’s way to allow Mark to drop the big Cactus elbow topped by a suplex across the ring’s edge prior to the commercial break.
Mark had that Cutthroat Driver in mind, only for King to block the maneuver and hit the ropes. Both men were thinking clotheslines to cause a double down. Jay and Dragon tagged in to start a clubberin’ again. Dragon pulled off a double underhook neck breaker over the knee to stun Jay. Dragon came off the ropes, running into a Death Valley driver. Mark followed by executing his iconoclast on Lee to gain a two count. King stopped the double team superplex attempt by shoving Mark to the floor. Double stomp on Jay in the tree of woe set up Lee’s double stomp from the top on Jay.
Though Jay kicked out of Lee’s follow up pin, he was still in a terrible way & prone to King’s modified STF. Froggy Bow by Mark broke up a sure submission on his brother. All four men found themselves slugging it out until Lee dropped Mark on his head with a poisonrana. Mark stopped another hurricarana attempt to power bomb Lee on the apron. Amy Rose jumped onto the apron as Flip Gordon ran out to Kinder Surprise kick Mark. Stunned, Jay was cradled and held down by King to give Kenny the pin fall; thus making them the next in line to challenge for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
EC3’s music suddenly hit to signal the arrival of Jay’s nemesis. With microphone in hand, EC3 stated that honor can be bought even in an industry that has become gluttonous. But Jay Briscoe isn’t a lapdog to the industry that ravages honor – causing EC3 to become jealous. EC3 informed Jay he could either go forth and reclaim championship glory, or give into his anger & rage and come after EC3. It’s all up to a “free” Jay Briscoe.
Mike Bennett vs. Bateman w/ Vita Von Starr
Big spear from Mike Bennett at the bell allowed the very vocal former “Prodigy” to stomp a mudhole into his opponent. Stiff exchange between the two on the floor resulted in Bennett demanding Von Starr stay away. Rushing Bateman, Bennett hit nothing but the barricades before being slammed face first against the floor. Using the bottom off the ring’s frame, Bateman sent Bennett throat first into the steel prior to the commercial.
Big Saito suplex from Bateman didn’t stop Bennett as he landed a super kick topped by the lariat. Bennett demanded Bateman show him some fight; leading to a forearm exchange that dropped both men. Avoiding a second spear allowed Bateman to drill him with the northern lights bomb to gain another two count. Stopping This is a Kill allowed Bennett to execute the piledriver to pin Bateman.
Matt Taven rushed the ring to set up that “Misery” wood block between Bateman’s legs just like The Righteous did to Bennett at “Final Battle”. Before they bashed Bateman’s legs, Taven demanded Vincent to give him his match with Matt. Vincent simply declared he wouldn’t fight Taven right now. So Taven bashed Bateman’s legs with a chair to send Bateman screaming in agony.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: MexiSquad (Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & The Soldiers of Savagery)
Code of Honor followed before the challengers pounced their opponents to bring the fight to the floor. Avoiding Kaun in the ring by slipping underneath a big boot, Flamita started kicking & flipping to put Kaun off his feet. Bandido tagged in after Moses became the legal man. Moses showcased incredible agility by leapfrogging Bandido before using a standing seated senton to squash Bandido. The masked man had to flip & roll his way to a tag to Rey Horus. Horus was confronted by Shane Taylor with the latter missing every shot before stopping a hurricarana. Flapjack by Shane bounced Horus into a shoulder block that had him spinning leading into the commercial break.
Horus had to hit & run to stop Moses’ assault, executing a tornado DDT that allowed the champion to make it to Bandido so he could go fist to fist with Taylor. Taylor caught Bandido during the corkscrew crossbody press attempt, only for Flamita to run off Bandido’s body for a hurricarana on Taylor. The champions put their opponents on the floor for a trio of dives. Flamita executed a 450 splash on Taylor, but it didn’t end this one thanks to Kaun. Kaun found himself being triple teamed including feeling a helicopter press splash. Taylor reentered, avoiding a tornado DDT so Horus executed the maneuver on Flamita by accident. Moses came off the apron to wipe out Bandido & Horus on the floor as Taylor splashed Flamita for a two count. Taylor quickly picked up Flamita to pull off Welcome to the Land … for the three count. New champions!
Overall: Another strong episode from ROH that reached must-see territory thanks to the main event. Not only was the Tag title bout very exciting, it also featured a monumental title change as MexiSquad’s reign came to an end at the hands of one of the most consistent forces in ROH since the show’s change in format last year. Taylor is coming into his World title match with a ton of momentum and has never looked stronger. It’ll be interesting where MexiSquad goes from here as all three are incredible singles competitors and the company’s Six-Man division is definitely lacking since the pandemic for obvious reasons. Bandido is someone with obvious main event potential and a rivalry between him and RUSH or Taylor would be fantastic.
The opener was, arguably, the Match of the Night with a surprise of an ending as Gordon helped LFI win after a couple of weeks ago they pretty much left Gordon to die at their opponents’ hands in an eight-man tag bout that also featured The Briscoes. EC3’s return also marked the temporary end of The Briscoes because Jay has never been one to let an issue die without a lot of violence or a definitive defeat.
The bitter feud between Taven & Bennett and The Righteous also continued here with Bateman taking his rivals’ wrath for his leader. While Vincent not saving Bateman definitely shows that he will sacrifice anyone for his cause, one must believe the likes of Beer City Bruiser (who attacked Taven & Bennett at Vincent’s behest a few weeks ago) will step up to replace Bateman when the time comes. Definitely an episode worthy of any wrestling fan’s time and a great precursor to next week’s “Championship Edition” episode.
