Last week: The ROH World Women’s Championship tournament continued with Angelina Love and Trish Adora advancing after defeating Max the Impaler and Allysin Kay respectively, before Dragon Lee successfully defended the ROH World Television Championship against Eli Isom.
ROH TV Episode 520
September 4, 2021
Baltimore, MD
Quinn McKay is back with hosting duties and she rattles off tonight’s action including the semifinal matches in the World Women’s Championship tournament, and the main event featuring La Faccion Ingobernable taking on Shane Taylor Promotions.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament Semifinal: Miranda Alize vs. Trish Adora
It seemed like their match was already in progress after the show returned from the commercial break as Trish Adora had Miranda Alize cowering in the corner. When they locked up, Adora started shoving Alize around the ring until “The Lucha Baddie” left the ring in hopes of luring her into a sneak attack in the ring. Instead, Adora took Miranda over with the side headlock to set up Cattle Mutilation. Alize blocked the submission, going through the ropes before springing off said ropes to hurricarana Trish. Trish successfully blocked a head scissors, only to take a stiff kick to the face. Alize had this match going in her favor when she decided to get a little dirty by biting Adora’s hands. Trish’s hands were still functional as she countered an attack with a series of failed pinning combinations. Hoisting Alize into the air resulted in Adora being pulled down into a lung blower that almost ended this one in Miranda’s favor.
Alize kept the pressure on Adora, even taking a pair of big boots to set up a rope-assisted DDT that gave her a two count. Adora felt the Miranda Rights coming, pitching Alize out of the ring for a series of strikes on the grounded opposition. Before Adora could take advantage of her position, Alize came up swinging prior to slinging Trish against the barricades heading into the commercial break.
Both women slid into the ring before being counted out when the show returned. Dey started a clubberin’ in da middle, Tony! Adora won the battle, sending Alize left arm-first against the canvas before going for a rear naked choke. Alize made it to the ropes to save herself. “The Lucha Baddie” turned an arm drop against her into Miranda Rights. Adora pushed off the mat to put Alize’s shoulders to the mat. Miranda let go of her submission to kick out and drill Adora with another DDT. Catching Alize running saw Adora squat & Samoan drop Miranda for a two count of her own. Adora didn’t let up, cinching in Cattle Mutilation. Alize kept squirming until Trish lost her grip. Rushing Adora into the corner allowed Alize to snap her opponent over for another kick to the head. Ripcord knee into the ace crusher saw Alize follow up with the Drive By. Adora stumbled to her feet, walking into Miranda Rights off of Dusk Till Dawn. Adora struggled, only for Alize to drag her opponent back to the middle. Trish had no choice but to submit; putting “The Lucha Baddie” in the final.
ROH World Women’s Championship Tournament Quarterfinal: Angelina Love vs. Rok-C
No Code of Honor before Angelina Love kicked her ready opposition in the stomach. Love was noticeably keeping her taped-up left arm close to her body – an arm that was hurt last week by Max the Impaler. After hitting a clothesline-sidewalk slam combo, Love was determined to pin Rok-C. Unfortunately for Love, Rok was able to not only kick out, but also trip her into a back handspring double knee drop. Love used the ropes to block an arm wrench, luring Rok into a toss to the floor where Rok-C’s back slammed against the ring’s edge. Love was ruthless as she whipped Rok against the barricades and the steel ring post; mouthing off the entire time. Turning an Irish whip against Love allowed “The Prodigy” to pull off a satellite side Russian leg sweep prior to the commercial break.
Love was the first to make it to her knees, throwing a big right forearm. They were going back & forth with forearms until Love raked Rok in the eyes. Ducking Botox Injection saw Rok unleash a series of clotheslines topped by the Lou Thesz press. When Rok waited for Angelina to get up, “The Prodigy” got her head yanked into a DDT as she began to run. Love couldn’t follow up as Rok-C swept her into the crossface after a failed pin attempt by The Allure member. Love countered the submission by rolling into a pinning combination, only for Rok-C to reverse the counter by putting the former Women of Honor champion in a Fujiwara arm bar to submit Angelina. Rok-C is in the finale for the gold. Chelsea Green made her declaration that Rok-C is her pick to win it all.
La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH, Dragon Lee, Kenny King & La Bestia del Ring) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Kaun, Moses & O’Shay Edwards)
La Faccion Ingobernable were in the promo area where Kenny King talked for the faction, stating that the last time STP were in the ring LFI proved they were superior to Shane Taylor Promotions; and that won’t change tonight.
Shane Taylor remarked on how he had to deal with the numbers of LFI for over a year, but that changes tonight with STP dominating LFI.
STP left the ring, waiting for LFI to come down the aisle during RUSH & Co’s entrance. When the two factions met, they started brawling around ringside including Kenny King taking Moses through a barricade. Security came out in hopes of gaining some order during a commercial break.
Apparently security did their job as Moses and Kenny King were in the ring as their respective partners stood on the aisle. RUSH and Bestia slapped King to get him fired up to take down Moses. The bell sounded and King ended up using the Code of Honor as a way to cheap shot Moses. Moses paid King back by shoving & squashing Kenny in the corner. King bailed out of the ring following an inverted atomic drop. Moses wanted a piece of Dragon Lee, with the masked man spitting at Kaun instead. Kaun entered, shoulder blocking Lee off his feet. Lee got up throwing forearms. Kaun retaliated in the same way, wearing out the TV champion. Reversing an Irish whip allowed Lee to land that slingshot dropkick on Kaun in the corner. Kaun grabbed an incoming foot, paying Lee back in kind until Dragon back dropped him to the floor for a tope. Lee landed on the wrong part of town as STP left their corner to pounce Lee. O’Shay Edwards entered the ring, slamming Lee until Bestia speared “The Big Bad Kaiju”. Edwards and Bestia were slugging it out with Bestia rocking the big man with a clothesline. But it wasn’t until Bestia landed a suplex did O’Shay go down.
Edwards slipped underneath Bestia, hitting an Oklahoma stampede. RUSH ran in, landing the Superman forearm to knock Edwards out of the ring so Shane had no choice but to fight the former ROH World champion. Taylor actually punched RUSH until he was down by the ropes. When Shane attempted to follow up, he ran into a snap German suplex. Taylor rolled out of the ring as SOS tried to take control. Bestia saved his eldest son from taking a Moses dive on the floor as Lee went for the Incinerator on Taylor in the ring after landing a flying knee. Taylor countered the intended attack with the Marcus Garvey Driver Dragon. When Taylor went for the pin, RUSH & Bestia pulled the ref out of the ring. The referee never saw King kicking Taylor low. King demanded the referee count down Taylor after he rolled up the Six-Man champ. With Taylor unable to kick out in time, King pinned STP’s founder and LFI were able to stand tall over Shane.
Overall: That was one surprising episode especially in regards to the main event. After a wild start, the heated bout that featured two prominent four-man teams colliding yet again in a ROH ring saw them throw the proverbial kitchen sink at each other until the other fell. One of the best things about these faction fights in ROH is how intense they are – like angry, hungry dogs constantly coming after each other over some fresh food. The ending definitely shows how dishonorable LFI can be in hopes of winning and could mean the difference come their rematch at “Death Before Dishonor” when the Six-Man title is on the line.
The Women’s title tournament now has its finalists and ROH has placed two fresh faces with the potential of establishing themselves as true stars synonymous with ROH in the future. Alize has been the tournament’s dark horse even though she has the experience to make it as far as she has. Miranda and Adora fought valiantly and, hopefully, Trish is a constant sight in the division after the champion is crowned. Sentimental, though talented favorite Rok-C is only one win away from making this tournament a true underdog-turned-overachiever story. Though Love was hurt coming into her bout, she pushed Rok to the limit and “The Prodigy” overcame in another match that, hopefully, gets a rematch when the division has its first champion. Once again, another fantastic episode from the women & men of ROH that has perfectly set the stage for “Death Before Dishonor”.
