Last week: Dalton Castle let drama overwhelm him as he helped Dak Draper defeat himself and Eli Isom in a triple threat encounter.
ROH TV Episode 515
July 31, 2021
Baltimore, MD
– After getting a highlight package from “Best in the World” where the ROH World Women’s Championship brackets were revealed, as well as the ROH debut of Chelsea Green where she promised to face the new champion once she’s medically cleared, host & tournament entry Quinn McKay promised to not let the fans down with them voting her into the tournament this past week. Remarking on the way paved by the likes of Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze and Mickie James, Quinn talked about tonight’s tournament matches with Alex Gracia versus Miranda Alize starting it off.
– The Texas natives of Miranda Alize and Alex Gracia both noted how they are explosive wrestlers who know each other very well. Alize declared Gracia only knows her opponent’s strengths, not her weaknesses. Gracia promised not to be stopped even by a good friend.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament 1st Round: Miranda Alize vs. Alex Gracia
As promised, Chelsea Green was at the commentators’ table for this one. Miranda Alize quickly knocked “The Pink Dream” down just as a way to prove her superiority early. Alex Gracia wasn’t deterred, muscling Alize with the waist-lock before giving her a good slap. “The Lucha Baddie” picked up the pace, trying to hit & move. Instead, Alize got taken down by an arm drag, then a head scissors. They were trading head scissors until they followed the Code of Honor again as if to show just how impressed they were with each other. Dropkicking Alize out of the ring, Gracia had a dive in mind. The asai cross body hit nothing but the ringside floor as Alize moved to avoid Alex. Alize was whipping Gracia against the barricades while breaking the count in-between whips leading into the commercial break.
They were trading forearms when the show returned with Gracia winning the battle via a lung blower when Alize attempted to pick her up. Thesz press followed by a slew of punches were just the beginning of Alex’s comeback topped by a stiff kick to the mouth on her kneeling opposition. Gracia climbed to the top, barely hitting the blockbuster to gain a two count. Alize slipped behind her incoming opponent, spinning her into a knee strike that earned her a two count as well. A roundhouse kick into the ace crusher set up Alize’s Drive By shining wizard for the three count.
– Mazzerati promoted herself as the future of ROH’s Women’s division and someone who has all eyes on her. In the dueling promo, Nicole Savoy saw this as an opportunity to finally break out after finding success in other promotions, yet never getting to that next level like her contemporaries. Mazzerati countered by stating that maybe someone in the shadows of wrestling like Savoy should stay hidden.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament 1st Round: Nicole Savoy vs. Mazzerati
Mazzerati pulled Nicole Savoy in following the Code of Honor before taking “The Queen of Suplexes” to the gun show. As if that wasn’t enough, Mazzerati stepped on Savoy’s boots – she’s an habitual line stepper! Savoy quickly took her opposition down with the top wrist lock that forced Mazzerati to reach for the ropes with her legs. When the match reset, Nicole called for a test of strength. Mazzerati actually muscled Savoy down after getting pressed against the mat. Stomping Savoy to break the bridge Nicole had to stop her from being pinned to the mat didn’t help Mazzerati as she was swept into an arm bar attempt prior to the commercial break.
Mazzerati was being picked apart with holds focusing on her left wrist & arm. Working her way off the mat, Mazzerati slapped the taste out of Savoy’s mouth. When Mazzerati went for another slap, Savoy kicked her in the stomach. Mazzerati stopped herself from rebounding off an Irish whip, sweeping Savoy into Eat Defeat from the apron while Nicole was stuck in the ropes. Savoy quickly recovered, catching an incoming Mazzerati with the fall away slam. Mazzerati was doing everything to stop a rear naked choke, falling backward into the ropes while pressing as hard as she could to crack Nicole’s neck via the bottom rope.
Mazzerati rushed Savoy in the corner, only to get caught in the Royal Butterfly a la Sara Del Rey. Mazzerati kicked out of the pinning combination from Nicole, using a northern lights suplex when Savoy went for a clothesline soon after. Mazzerati’s failed pin attempt angered her, but she stayed on Savoy by landing big shots like a kneeling DDT all the while running off at the mouth. Coming off the ropes, Mazzerati ran into a TKO, but refused to stay down. Mazzerati elbowed her way out of the half-nelson dragon suplex. Throwing a haymaker, Mazzerati missed her punch and ended up taking that half-nelson dragon suplex to give Nicole the pin fall. Savoy will face Alize in the second round.
– Rok-C sees this tournament as a way to make those who have seen so much in her to dub her “The Prodigy” proud. Former Women of Honor champion Sumie Sakai understands what it takes to win gold via a tournament. Sakai’s experience is what will guide her against someone who wants to do her trainers & supporters proud and live a dream started when she was eight years old.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament 1st Round: Sumie Sakai vs. Rok-C
After a stern collar & elbow tie-up, Sumie Sakai took Rok-C down and mounted her. Rok couldn’t get up until Sakai let her off the canvas. Rok had to use the ropes to stop an arm bar when they locked up again. When Sumie went to grab her again, Rok used the arm drag to put her in position for a moonsault double knee drop on the prone former Women of Honor champion. “The Prodigy” unwisely posed instead of going for a pin, allowing Sakai to get up. Rok was on fire, using lucha style arm drags that had her in complete control heading into the commercial break.
The momentum had swung in Sumie’s favor as she cinched in the single-leg Boston crab. When Rok tried to claw her way to the ropes, Sakai grabbed the reaching arm to pull back that limb. Rok eventually grabbed the bottom rope, countering a Boston crab follow-up with the roll up. Sakai kicked out, starting a strike exchange until Rok was on her knees & prone to a flying knee strike that gave her a two count. Sakai had a Texas cloverleaf in mind, dropping down to execute a modified backbreaker instead of turning Rok over into the submission. Rok was in the ring’s middle when Sakai locked her in a Boston crab.
“The Prodigy” shifting her body made Sumie lose her footing and allowed Rok-C to reach the ropes yet again. Sumie went for the Boston crab again, but Rok punched her way out of the predicament before unleashing a Thesz press. Knee strike from a rising Rok-C set up the Dusk Till Dawn side Russian leg sweep. Sakai kicked out before the three count, picking up Rok when “The Prodigy” went for a follow up attack. Sakai dropped Rok with the belly-to-back suplex prior to putting her opposition on the top rope. Rok dropped from her perch while Sumie was still on the middle rope. Huge roundhouse kick from Rok left Sumie loopy while seated on the rope. Tight super hurricarana from Rok only saw Sumie turn it into a pinning combination on her opponent. Rok-C kicked out, walking into the fisherman’s buster … that gave Sakai a near fall!
Going after Rok’s legs for another Boston crab, Sumie got swept into a victory roll that allowed Rok-C to pin the former champion in something of an upset.
– Next week it’ll be Trish Adora versus Marti Belle, and Quinn McKay taking on Mandy Leon in the tournament’s first round. New ROH World champion Bandido will also team with Rey Horus to face VLNCE UNLTD’s Brody King & ROH World Tag Team champion Chris Dickinson.
Overall: ROH’s World Women’s Championship tournament is finally underway after being postponed for over a year due to the pandemic. The match listing for this episode was wisely structure with all three bouts offering something different. The opener was a lucha-infused sprint with some American style brawling mixed in. Unfortunately when Alize and Gracia tried to go to fast things fell apart.
Thankfully they understood to slow it down a notch or two following the commercial break and the match was better for it. On the opposite end of the spectrum was the more grounded Savoy-Mazzerati. Mazzerati really impressed against one of the favorites to win this tournament by being both a solid grappler, as well as a character you’d love to hate for the simple fact she wouldn’t stop bad mouthing Savoy. In the last few years Savoy has really evolved her in-ring style by focusing on her grappling acumen and in doing so came across as the Women’s division’s equivalent of Jonathan Gresham.
The main event stole the episode with a wonderful youth versus experience battle. Sakai’s focus on Rok-C’s back changed the match’s dynamic and forced “The Prodigy” to fight from underneath a majority of the time. Rok displayed technique well beyond her years and eventually won because of her will to fight through the pain dished out by someone who’s had a career longer than Rok has been alive. A really strong start to the tournament with Rok definitely becoming that underdog story that should have many people pulling for her to make it far in the tournament.
