Last week: La Faccion Ingobernable picked up a big win in their faction warfare with The Foundation and VLCNE UNLTD.
ROH TV Episode 513
July 17, 2021
Baltimore, MD
A busy Dalton Castle halted his potential interview because his busy schedule. Right behind Castle was Joe Keys wrapping up Jonathan Gresham’s left knee. The Foundation arrived with an offer: Joe Keys fight in place of Gresham during tonight’s main event. Of course Keys accepted the opportunity.
Brian Johnson was the host of ROH TV this week, putting over his gift for gab while putting over tonight’s card including mocking The Foundation picking Joe Keys. Johnson also insulted Quinn McKay (“ungrateful brat”) and Fred Yehi (“he only comes up yay-high”).
Fred Yehi vs. Rey Horus
The opening minutes were as expected with Fred Yehi stopping a head lock with a snap dragon screw that almost debilitated Rey Horus. When they tied up again, Yehi swept Horus into the Koji Clutch. Thankfully for Rey he was aware enough to quickly avoid the submission and reset the bout before the commercial break.
During the break, Yehi controlled the match by going after Horus’ legs. The damage wasn’t enough to stop Rey from pulling off a counter springboard press topped by a crazy plancha over the turnbuckles when Yehi left the ring. High Fly Flow from Horus didn’t keep down Yehi. Horus wasn’t deterred mentally, landing attacks after attacks in rapid succession. “The Savageweight” kept his composure, looking for pinning combinations when Rey got close to him. Horus used a 2 Cold Scorpio-style twisting splash from the second rope, only for Yehi to grab his mask and yank him into a series of clobbering strikes. Collapsing, Horus got caught in the Koji Clutch. Horus made it to the ropes to save himself, but Yehi refused to let up on the blistering onslaught. When Yehi climbed the ropes, Horus rushed him to pull Fred to the canvas with that super the victory roll for the pin fall.
Mandy Leon w/ Angelina Love vs. Quinn McKay
No Code of Honor from Mandy Leon as she blindsided Quinn McKay. Grabbing a microphone from Angelina Love, Leon mocked Quinn’s lack of experience proving itself early. Quinn took several strikes and responded with a clothesline that sent Leon scurrying to the outside. When McKay followed she got dropped throat first across the second rope. Leon had Quinn pinned against the ropes, prone to a leg choke topped by a simple whip that sent her opposition careening to the canvas. Leon’s running attack in the corner resulted in a double leg takedown into some ground & pound from Quinn. Mandy turned the tables, almost choking Quinn out before McKay countered with a pinning combination. Leon used a leg sweep to stop the neck breaker follow up, just slamming Quinn backwards by her hair leading into the commercial break.
Stopping a back drop over the top by landing on the apron on her feet, McKay couldn’t avoid the illegal trip from Angelina that left McKay prone to a running dropkick off the apron by her Allure ally. As if that wasn’t enough, Leon pulled off a suplex on the floor that had McKay rightfully reeling. Running knee strike in the corner connected for Leon, only for her run into a power slam that Quinn couldn’t capitalize upon. Though Leon took the fall, she was the first to recover & start throwing hands. Kicking Quinn away proved detrimental for Leon as she got kicked down before taking a neck breaker not once, but three times … to give McKay a near fall!
Quinn cinched in her version of the Cobra Clutch known as the “Tangerine Dream”. Love jumped on the apron to distract the referee as Leon tapped out. When Quinn approached Love, Angelina threw Leon some brass knuckles. McKay rushed the rising Leon, grabbing her with a waist lock from behind. Spinning around, Leon clobbered Quinn to knock her out for the three count.
The Foundation (Tracy Williams, Jay Lethal & Rhett Titus) & Joe Keys vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Kaun, Moses & O’Shay Edwards)
In their pre-match promo, each member of Shane Taylor Promotions formally introduced themselves before warning ROH Dojo graduate Joe Keys that The Foundation has led him to slaughter. The Foundation had Joe Keys by their side for their promo, but it was the young boy who stood forward to speak as he promised to show why he’s not the weak-link of their team tonight.
To live up to his words, Joe Keys started this one off by trying to takedown O’Shay Edwards. After being muscled around the ring, Keys felt a body block in the corner that crushed Joe. Edwards’ second body block attempt resulted in him running into a dragon screw legs whip. O’Shay recovered quickly, dumping Keys over the top rope. Keys landed on his feet, coming off the top with a cross body block-running forearm combo that put Edwards in his corner for a tag out to Shane Taylor. Taylor almost took Keys’ head off with a clothesline before ordering The Foundation to, “Get your rookie outta here!” heading into the commercial break.
Taylor was pushing around Jay Lethal when the show returned, only for the former World champion to respond with right hands. Lethal went for the bicycle kick, but Taylor was ready with Billy Knee Williams that Jay barely avoided. It was Tracy Williams and Moses tagging in to swing it out with forearms galore. Moses won the battle, only for Williams to slip behind him and cinch in the arm boar while near the ropes. Rhett Titus tagged in, helping Williams perform a double team focusing on knocking the wind out of the big man while keeping Moses’ left arm in their grip. Lethal almost pinned Moses off the cartwheel dropkick, but Kaun stopped the pin. Lethal got a little angry and left himself open for a Moses body block when Lethal went after Kaun. Kaun became the legal man, just pounding away on the former World champion Edwards followed suit, as did Taylor. STP were in complete control of Lethal with Shane landing a knockout of a forearm; laying Jay out of the ring prior to the commercial break.
Lethal attempted to kick Kaun away, only for his opponent to lose focus due to how close he was to the wrong side of the ring. Jay took advantage of the situation, hitting the Lethal Combination before tagging out to Titus. Rhett was on fire, taking it to both Soldiers of Savagery. Edwards took a big headbutt for his trouble, then a belly-to-belly suplex. Titus exploded out of the corner with the knee drop on Moses, but couldn’t get the three count. Titus tagged in Keys, dropkicking Moses into Joe’s German suplex. Things were breaking down after Kaun saved his partner from a sure pin.
STP took the ring during an all-out brawl. Keys was left alone after STP evicted The Foundation out of the ring, fighting off Taylor, Edwards & Kaun until he ran into a Shane headbutt. Williams & Titus stopped the pin attempt on Keys, double clotheslining Taylor out of the ring before executing a double team butterfly suplex on Kaun. Taylor returned, taking out Williams & Titus. Lethal dove through the ropes to wipe out Moses on the floor after Lethal Injection failed against Shane and he had to duck a clothesline from Taylor. Shane turned around, taking a missile dropkick from Keys. Before Keys could follow up, Edwards caught him coming off the ropes with a sit-out power bomb for the three count in STP’s favor.
Overall: The first episode of ROH TV following “Best in the World”, as per the norm, didn’t have the immediate fallout from the event, but did offer some information about what occurred like during Rey Horus’ entrance the information block that appears with each wrestler’s name showed he defeated Demonic Flamita at the event. Instead this episode focused on showcasing the rise of STP and Horus continuing the momentum started at the pay-per-view. Though The Foundation was done one man, STP worked like an unstoppable force united just as strongly as any other faction in ROH; if not more. It was also great to see O’Shay Edwards get some ROH TV time and he used it to greatly display the skills many have been praising during his time on the indies.
The opening contest didn’t last too long, but left a great lasting impression as the viciousness of Yehi couldn’t hinder Rey’s tenacity that allowed him to survive the abuse Fred dished out; an aggressive side that really made the match that much more enjoyable to watch thanks to Yehi. Quinn McKay’s second ROH match was definitely more story driven thanks to Leon’s verbal assaults and Love’s interference. Once again, McKay gets robbed and it’ll be interesting if she gets a third opportunity at entering the Women’s Championship tournament. While not featuring a lot of storyline advancements or significance from “Best in the World”, this was another highly entertaining hour of ROH action that definitely sets the stage for some big career advancements in the near future.
