Last week: The ROH World Women’s Championship tournament began with Miranda Alize, Nicole Savoy, and Rok-C advancing after defeating Alex Gracia, Mazzerati, and Sumie Sakai respectively.
ROH TV Episode 516
August 7, 2021
Baltimore, MD
– Once again it was Ian Riccaboni substituting for Quinn McKay as the latter prepares for her rematch with Mandy Leon in the Women’s Championship tournament. During ROH “Week By Week”, Allysin Kay defeated Willow to advance to the second round. Also scheduled for the tournament is Trish Adora versus Marti Belle, which will happen tonight.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament 1st Round: Mandy Leon vs. Quinn McKay
Spear by Quinn at the bell! No Code of Honor here as McKay tried to cinch in the Tangerine Dream immediately. Mandy Leon avoided the submission, but not a big dropkick. Leon left the ring, dragging Quinn out of the ring when McKay reached for her. McKay took the abuse Leon was dishing out and responded in kind by pulling off a suplex on the floor. Pitching Leon back in cost her as Mandy recovered and turned an Irish whip into an illegal hair pull. Choking McKay in the corner, Leon set up a running double knee strike in the corner that ended in a two count in her favor before the commercial break.
Giving Mandy the badmouth, Leon used a PK followed by reverse neck breaker a la Curt Hennig to get another two count. Leon uncharacteristically climbed to the top rope, getting caught by an incoming McKay who hooked her for a superplex. Leon blocked the maneuver, going for a sunset bomb. Quinn didn’t go down in the manner Mandy wanted, but was still in Leon’s grip as she was shoved face-first against the turnbuckles. Hooking the staggered Quinn from behind, Leon pulled off a running Unprettier … to gain a near fall!
Leon went for the Unprettier again when McKay tripped her into the turnbuckles. Yanking Leon into a backbreaker-Side Effect combination didn’t end this one in Quinn’s favor, nor did a power slam. Leon found herself in position for the Tangerine Dream, using a jawbreaker to save herself from sure defeat. Quinn refused to stay down, stopping a pin attempt before countering Astral Projection with a roll up to pin & eliminate Leon from the tournament.
Leon claimed her right shoulder was up, almost getting in another fight with her victorious opponent.
– In her journey to be in one accord with her brothers & sisters, Trish Adora introduces herself as someone who has truly wanted to make her own history. The experienced Marti Belle knows what it means to be in the ring with someone like Adora – someone who can do everything from brawling to grappling. Trish states she in this tournament for her cancer-stricken mother – a woman who didn’t have the highest of self-esteems. For Adora, this latest journey is in honor of her mother.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament 1st Round: Marti Belle vs. Trish Adora
Chelsea Green joined the commentators for this one. Stern collar & elbow tie-up after the Code of Honor in this first-ever encounter. Adora effectively countered Belle’s holds at every given moment including rolling through a wrist lock, turning a side headlock against Marti by putting her in a pinning combination, and almost cinching in a full nelson off the Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Unfortunately for Adora she made a huge mistake before the commercial by going for the Lariat Tubman too early and getting caught with a rolling elbow for her trouble.
Running knee lift from Belle left Adora prone to several more attacks until Trish was stuck against the turnbuckles for an illegal boot choke. Reversing an Irish whip in the corner didn’t help Trish as she was taken down before she could follow up, and kicked in the face when knocked on her backside. Soup bones from Belle had Adora pinned against the turnbuckles. Marti came off the ropes, running into a pair of forearms topped by the cross body block. Adora was aiming for Belle’s left arm for pinning combinations including the la magistral. When the pins didn’t work, Adora locked in Cattle Mutilation. Stuck in the ring’s middle, Belle had no choice but to tap out.
– At “Best in the World” ’21, Bandido used RUSH’s anger against him by turning the disrespectful act of getting his mask torn partially off into a roll up that saw “The Most Wanted” pin “El Toro Blanco” to become the new ROH World champion. In several weeks it’ll be Bandido defending the gold against Flip Gordon.
MexaBlood (ROH World champion Bandido & Rey Horus) vs. VLNCE UNLTD (ROH World Tag Team champion Chris Dickinson & Brody King)
Brody King and Chris Dickinson, in their pre-taped promo, had King congratulate one-half of the new ROH World Tag Team champions. Giving the spotlight to Dickinson allowed the “Dirty Daddy” to state how well he and Brody have done in New Japan as a tandem. Through violence they will restore honor.
In MexaBlood’s promo, their excitement over Bandido being the new ROH World champion moved to proving tonight that this is the beginning of the “Most Wanted Era.”
Code of Honor was followed as Silas Young joined the commentators to watch his “Glory By Honor” opponent Rey Horus. VU immediately brought the fight to their opponents, sending Bandido to the floor before Horus felt a backbreaker-elbow drop double team. Horus found himself on the wrong part of town early as King laid in a big chop to Rey’s chest. Horus got whipped into a big right hand from Dickinson before “Dirty Daddy” tagged in to continue the onslaught that lasted until the commercial break.
Horus wasn’t in a much better position when the show returned than he was earlier. It would take some quick maneuvering before he could tag out as he caused King to hit Dickinson prior to pulling off a tornado DDT on Brody. Bandido was on fire, dropkicking King to the floor after clipping Dickinson with the corkscrew cross body. Bandido hoisted Dickinson overhead to gorilla press slam “Dirty Daddy” into his own partner. Dives from MexaBlood downed everyone at ringside.
MexaBlood double team kicked Dickinson until he was in position for Bandido’s standing shooting star press. Dickinson recovered thanks to King intervening and laying on Bandido. Horus got knocked out of the ring with Dickinson’s Death Valley driver before the Tag champ assisted King in putting Bandido in a Brody Boston crab. When Horus kicked King in hopes of stopping the submission, Brody refused to let go and Dickinson grabbed Horus for the STF. MexaBlood wouldn’t stop moving until Bandido made it to the ropes. Bandido survived the brain buster from Dickinson. Horus used a hurricarana off the apron to disable King. Horus got up, kicking a running Dickinson in the back to put him in position for Bandido’s 21-Plex and the three count in MexaBlood’s favor.
La Faccion Ingobernable quickly attacked Bandido with RUSH removing the World champ’s mask. An all out brawl was occurring as Homicide came to make the save; though everyone was fighting around ringside with referees & security unable to regain some semblance of order as the show came to a close.
– Next week will see the return of the “Champions vs. All-Stars” match, as well as the final first round Women’s tournament match between Holidead and Max the Impaler.
Overall: ROH’s World Women’s Championship tournament continued with two very good matches. It must be stated that Quinn looks better every time she’s in the ring and really has that unique intangible that can’t be taught. It’ll be interesting to see how fans react to her matches because she seems poised to be a pretty big fan favorite in the ROH landscape. Leon was no slouch in this one, as was Marti Belle. Belle and Adora had really good chemistry and, arguably, produced the match of the evening. Trish, like Quinn, is definitely special and someone ROH should build its new Women’s division around. The main event, as expected, was something of a sprint with VU doing a lot of damage before things broke down & bodies started flying or getting caught in submissions. Due to the time constrictions, the main event didn’t produce what could’ve been a classic, but still a strong showing overall.
The episode’s only real issue was the lack of emphasis on “Best in the World”. Four weeks removed from the big show and the only real highlight shown was Bandido winning the gold. They really should’ve visually emphasized how all four competitors got big wins during “BitW” especially King slaughtering Jay Lethal. Other than that issue, this was a wonderful episode that delivered with three really enjoyable encounters.
