Last week: The OGK overcame MexaBlood of ROH World champion Bandido & Rey Horus after Willow stamped her ticket in facing another woman for the right to fight Rok-C for the Women’s Championship at “Final Battle”.
ROH TV Episode 526
October 16, 2021
Baltimore, MD
ROH World Tag Team Championship La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee & Kenny King) (c) vs. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team champions The Soldiers of Savagery
The ROH World Tag Team champs cut a re-taped promo where Dragon Lee declared they’d be the best tag team in a world forever. Kenny King stated he actually played S.O.S. like fools to set them up for exactly where he wants them to ensure victory.
But it was the challengers actually attacking at the bell, sending LFI out of the ring as Kenny King said, “We came to wrestle!” Dragon Lee confronted Moses in the ring, using his speed & agility to pull down the top rope to send the big man over the top rope. King joined his partner after Kaunun used a shoulder block to knock down the masked man, putting Kaun on the floor with Moses. The champions opted to feign dives so they could pose. This proved unwise as S.O.S. rushed the ring to attack, isolating King on their side of the ring while pulling of some impressive double team maneuvers heading into the commercial break.
During the break, King failed to turn the momentum for his team; opting to tag out so his partner would unexpectedly get dominated as well. Saving his partner from taking a suplex into the ring from the apron by tripping Kaun didn’t end in a pin fall, but did allow Kenny to yank Kaun out of the ring so he could whip him against the barricades. Lee joined in slinging Kaun against the barriers until the referee demanded they return to the ring. Some ground & pound from King set up a series of splashes in the corner topped by stereo dropkicks on a seated Kaun. King’s running kick in the corner on a seated Kaun allowed Lee to follow up with his slingshot dropkick. Instead of going for the pin, LFI pleased themselves by posing and mocking Kaun in his attempt to make it to Moses. Reversing a sunset flip against King didn’t work as Kaun was swept into a single-leg Boston crab. Though Kaun made it to the ropes, the pain going through the challenger was excruciating in sight prior to another commercial break.
Kaun fired off some back elbows to stop a running Kenny; unleashing a snap belly-to-back suplex that put both men down. Both tagged out with Moses going wild; turning Lee inside-out with the clothesline. As if that wasn’t enough, Moses pulled off a dead-lift power bomb on Lee that only gave the big man a two count thanks to King intervening. Kenny tagged himself in, dumping Kaun out of the ring prior to getting Lee to help him set up the warrior’s way double stomp out of the tree of woe. King opted to flying clothesline Kaun as Lee pulled off the warrior’s way. Lee continued moving, diving on Kaun as Moses stopped a three count following King’s blue thunder bomb. King couldn’t pull off the Royal Flush on Moses, giving Kaun the chance to tag in and head-butt Lee off his feet as Bestia del Ring arrived. King walked into the S.O.S.’s double team deadly DDT when Bestia jumped onto the apron. The referee attempted to remove Bestia, but it was Shane Taylor who stopped the distraction. Unfortunately for the challengers, King raked Kaun’s eyes to stun him for the Royal Flush. Lee’s Incinerator followed, as did the three count on Kaun to allow LFI to retain.
A lot of jaw-jacking post match between Taylor and King with the prior actually getting in a fistfight with Bestia until the referee got between them.
– Next week will see an entire episode focusing on The Foundation taking on VLNCE UNLTD – Homicide vs. Jay Lethal; Rhett Titus vs. Tony Deppen; Chris Dickinson & Brody King vs. Jonathan Gresham & Tracy Williams.
The Foundation (Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus) vs. World Famous CB, Eli Isom, Joe Keys & Taylor Rust
Eli Isom spoke for his quartet, stating that he heard Jay Lethal’s call to pure arms. Isom sees tonight as a way to prove that ROH is pure.
Jay Lethal took the spotlight initially, putting over The Foundation’s opponents for the evening. Tracy Williams declared The Foundation is the measure stick in regards to pure wrestling, and they’d showcase that tonight against like-minded individuals coming together for action.
It was Tracy Williams and Taylor Rust starting off for their respective teams with the latter actually getting out-maneuvered and reminded how quickly Taylor failed in the Pure Championship tournament. The comments apparently fired up Rust as he took “Hot Sauce” down and forcing him to tag out to Rhett Titus. Instead of leaving the ring, Williams hooked Rust with Titus to pull off a double team butterfly suplex. Backing Titus into the corner, Rust allowed World Famous CB to become the legal man. During the confrontation between Rhett and Taylor, Titus suffered a cut over his left eye. Tripping a running Rhett, CB landed a super kick that further cut Titus’ face. It was Titus feeling a bulldog from CB as Eli Isom held Rhett’s legs. Isom was now the legal man, almost pinning Titus off the cradle. Isom was honorable and let Titus tag out to Jay Lethal. Isom showed how good he is by going hold for hold with “The Franchise of ROH”, actually catching Lethal during his cartwheel before Lethal could dropkick him off the hip toss. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker connected for Isom prior to the commercial.
Lethal left the ring to regroup, actually opting to tag in Jonathan Gresham. Joe Keys, Gresham’s protege, wanted in and Gresham had no issue with schooling his student. Shoulder block exchange turned into the pair struggling over headlocks until Keys sent Gresham into the hotshot. Just when Keys thought he had the momentum in his favor, Gresham tripped him on the apron prior to dropkicking him to to the floor. Keys found himself on the wrong part of town. Titus’ face had stopped bleeding as he wanted to squeeze Keys’ head. Both Rust and Lethal tagged in with the latter missing his springboard dropkick after knocking Taylor onto the apron. Taylor yanking Lethal left shoulder against the ring’s edge caused The Foundation to come check on their ally. Rust stayed on top of Lethal leading into the commercial.
Isom dropping all of his weight across Lethal’s arm had him bellowing in pain. Flipping out of a suplex didn’t save Lethal, nor did avoiding the Promise. What did help the former ROH World champ was Isom running into the Lethal Combination. Williams tagged in, kicking CB’s incoming Shotei palm strike away to set up the doctor bomb that ended in a two count for “Hot Sauce”. The Foundation’s Titus & Williams were pitching CB around the ring with Rust having to make saves to stop pin attempts. Rust got the tag after CB knocked Rhett backward. Titus was bleeding again as he hit with the Perfect Circle … that gave Taylor a near fall thanks to Williams’ interference!
Titus got up swinging for the fences, kicking Rust into Isom’s tag. Isom came kicking at the now-legal Lethal, breaking him down with arm-aimed strikes. Lethal couldn’t pull off his finisher, but used a desperation ace crusher to give himself a chance to tag in Williams. Keys also got a tag as Williams came in like a house of fire. Big clothesline from Williams on Joe convinced Gresham to come in and fight his student. Unfortunately for Gresham, he ran into a pair of clotheslines. Hooking Keys’ left leg after Lethal saved Gresham from a sure pin, “The Octopus” hyper-extended Joe’s knee. Knee bar by Gresham forced Keys to tap out.
A Righteous promo aired with the faction deck in white. Stating his past has purified him, Vincent now wears the crown.
Overall: Very similar to the last few episodes where the stories & major developments take a backseat to some amazing action – the main event was a great example of this with a rather stellar eight-man tag where Taylor Rust really shined. Though united, the Isom-led foursome couldn’t overcome the tenacity of The Foundation – a great way to prepare viewers of what VU will have to outdo next week. The Tag Team title bout got a great amount of time and the challengers looked as good as they always do with LFI’s “win by any means” costing them in the end. It’s interesting how the warring factions of have paired off with Shane Taylor Promotions becoming LFI’s biggest problem, while VU and The Foundation are greatly at odds. Next week’s episode will be very interesting as it could really dictate what faction between The Foundation and VU are close to winning the war.
