Last week: Shane Taylor Promotions defeated MexiSquad to become the new ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
ROH TV Episode 493
February 27, 2021
Baltimore, MD
La Faccion Ingobernable were in their locker room, promising to humiliate Shane Taylor tonight. Kenny King & Amy Rose arrived to warn RUSH about Taylor’s skills. Rose spoke up to demand that they do whatever it takes to ensure RUSH retains including La Bestia using a steel chair. King talked Rose down, but RUSH confronted his ally to remind King that LFI is all about humiliation through any means possible.
Dragon Lee & Kenny King were so happy to be one win away from gaining another piece of gold and even if they have to do it through Pure Rules they will remain ungovernable. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham were surprised their opponents defeated The Briscoes to earn their title shot, but the rules are in the champs’ favor and they’ll force LFI to wrestle like they’ve never wrestled before if they think they have a chance of winning.
ROH World Tag Team Championship (Pure Rules): Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee & Kenny King) w/ Amy Rose
LFI weren’t too pleased about following the Code of Honor before Jonathan Gresham faced off with Dragon Lee. Lee found himself using a rope break incredibly early when he got caught in a hammerlock. A quick exchange broke out soon after with both looking for pins that resulted in a stalemate and both tagging out. Lie his partner, Lethal used the hammerlock masterfully to set up the figure four leg lock. King slapped the taste out of Lethal’s mouth to stop the submission. Lethal took the strike in stride, cinching in the figure four. King made it to the ropes, immediately leaving the ring to do a little Beyonce style dancing. Lee became the legal man again, landing a punch that both caused a warning on the challengers’ side and knocked Lethal out of the ring for a dive as the show entered a commercial break.
During the break, King almost ended this one with a tiger driver. But King put himself in a bad position as he climbed the ropes and took a dropkick to the knee that left him prone to a super dragon screw from Lethal. Both men tagged out to let Gresham unleash a slew of strikes on his masked opponent. Gresham avoided a kick from King to cause him to hit Lee. Looking to take advantage of the situation, “The Octopus” went for the arm bar after a stomp on Lee’s left arm. King saved his partner, but breaking up a pin or submission meant losing a rope break; their last rope break. Lee stopped the Cornette Cutter, unleashing the Incineration … for a near fall thanks to Lethal breaking up the pin!
Lethal dove through the ropes looking to take out King when Kenny moved and caused Jay to wipe out Amy Rose! With the referee and Lethal checking on Amy, Dragon cold-cocked Gresham with an illegal punch. The referee turned around as Lee small packaged Gresham to count down the champion … for the three count! New champions!
Shane Taylor spoke on his ROH World Championship opportunity, remarking on his time in ROH thus far and him being a very vocal minority both in race & as a person with his own mind; not being afraid of speaking said mind. Taylor looks to break the stigma of what it takes to be a ROH World champion by overcoming one of the most dominant forces in ROH history.
ROH World Championship: RUSH (c) vs. Shane Taylor
No Code of Honor with RUSH getting bleeped for his comments afterward. RUSH actually outmaneuvered his challenger after taking him down, playfully letting him to his feet. The champions were shockingly evenly matched in the strength department. Shane Taylor missed a haymaker after they got some distance, only for him to roll through with the shoulder block. RUSH powered his way off the mat, running into a huge spine buster that put the champion down for the first time significantly in this one. RUSH fell out of the ring, getting whipped into the barricades. Taylor landed a knockout right hand near the barricades, having to break the ref’s count to ensure he could win the title. Taylor was landing right fist & forearm after right fist & forearm while on the outside; periodically breaking up the ref’s count before executing a DDT on the floor prior to the commercial break.
RUSH caught Taylor running in the ring to sling him into the turnbuckles. Taylor fell out of the ring, getting his head slammed into the barricade door. The referee wanted RUSH to bring the action back into the ring, but he was enjoying giving Taylor a taste of his own medicine by tossing him against the barricades. Grabbing some cables from underneath the ring, RUSH began whipping the challenger in preparation for a rope-assisted crossface. The referee got between RUSH and Taylor to stop this illegal act. The commentators including guest Kenny King noted how the ref wouldn’t want to take away Shane’s chance by disqualifying RUSH for his actions. The action finally reentered the ring with RUSH feigning the Bull’s Horns to playfully kick Taylor in the face before posing as the show entered another commercial break.
Taylor caught an incoming kick to push RUSH into a knee strike topped by a sick lariat for a two count. Sit-out power bomb connected for Taylor, but no three count was had. Sidestepping Taylor, RUSH used his momentum & the ropes against Taylor with a snap German suplex topped by the knee strike that only ended in a two count. Taylor found himself stuck in the ropes and prone to a flying double stomp. Taylor kicked out of RUSH’s follow up pin attempt, getting up ready to swing for the fences. Taylor’s shots actually connected and stunned the ROH World champion until RUSH landed a head-butt. Taylor responded with a head-butt of his own before executing the Marcus Garvey Driver … to gain a one count!
RUSH caught Taylor coming in with an overhead belly to belly suplex against the turnbuckles. RUSH got up to see Taylor in position for Bull’s Horns. RUSH was so energetic he ran into the referee. La Bestia came out with a chair, handing it to RUSH. Kenny King ran out to stop RUSH from using the chair; threatening his faction leader with the chair. RUSH ducked King’s chair swing so King cracked Taylor. King wanted RUSH to understand what he’s really about now. The referee started coming to as RUSH unleashed Bull’s Horns to knock out Taylor. RUSH made the cover to pin his latest cheated challenger.
Overall: The “Championship Edition” definitely delivered mostly thanks to the surprising Tag title change. LFI found themselves at a distinct disadvantage due to the Pure Rules. But similar to the greatest Pure champion in ROH history in Nigel McGuinness, the new champs used the rules to their advantage via referee positioning. With LFI winning the Tag title, it’ll be interesting to see what is next for Lethal & Gresham considering “The Octopus” is the Pure champion and could start focusing on defending his title over being a team with Lethal.
The main event was, as expected, a brawl from start to finish. With the previous match featuring a title change it actually added a layer of unpredictability that wasn’t there; a feeling that hit its peak when Taylor hit the Marcus Garvey Driver. Unfortunately, this match saw another RUSH title defense end due to interference. While the way Taylor loss kept him strong in defeat similar to what happened with Brody King, it still left a sour taste considering how predictable it was when Kenny King arrived and how ROH has been handling its title matches since the company’s return during the pandemic. Hopefully this (RUSH’s title matches ending due to interference) doesn’t continue to be the norm in ROH World title bouts. With that being stated it was still a very fun episode that deserves to be seen.
