Last week: After revealing a possible alliance between The Righteous & Jay Lethal, Vincent, Bateman & Dutch defeated The Foundation’s Jonathan Gresham, Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams.
ROH TV Episode 531
November 20, 2021
Philadelphia, PA
Pure Rules: John Walters vs. Brian Johnson
Former Pure champion John Walters remarked on how his time as a ROH champion came three years after being a part of the company. Though he’s been away for quadruple the time since his golden years, Walters is ready to reclaim his status as the king of the Pure Division.
Brian Johnson cut his usual promo on the way to the ring, stating how ROH is still talking about the past instead of talking about the present & future that is “The Mecca”. That changes tonight when he beats a man who represents the past ROH should move on from prior to doing his own in-ring introductions.
Stern collar & elbow tie-up resulted in Johnson getting caught in a tight head scissors that he only freed himself from second before the commercial break.
The pace had quickened with John Walters pulling off some deep arm drags. The former Pure champion leapt over the top rope, using it to whip the left arm of “The Mecca” backward. When Walters went to the top in an attempt to arm snap Johnson, his opponent tripped him into the Tower of London for a two count. Johnson recovered from the arm work and was bashing Walters on the head & abdomen – all the while making fun of people watching along with the episode.
With five minutes passed, Walters almost pinned Johnson off a sunset flip. “The Mecca” exploded off the mat to clothesline Walters prior to using a body slam-elbow drop-fist drop combination. The fist drop caused Johnson to gain a warning from the referee that could result in a disqualification if another is issued when he’s out of rope breaks. Walters stopped a superplex, coming off the top to execute an arm-focused body splash. Walters was on fire with arm-focused attacks including a hammerlock northern lights suplex. Countering a flash pin off the cradle, Walters cinched in the Rings of Saturn that forced Johnson to reach the bottom rope with his feet to stop the submission.
Johnson got up kicking, looking for a cradle with a handful of tights. The referee saw the illegal maneuver, leaving Johnson open to be tripped into the sharpshooter. At the ten-minute mark, “The Mecca” reached the bottom rope to lose his second rope break.
Leaving the ring was Brian Johnson. Walters approached his opponent on the apron, ducking a punch to grab his left leg & pull down his knee pad. A stunned Johnson got grabbed by his head & yanked into the ring; flailing to stop the sharpshooter again, resulting in him clipping Walters. The former Pure champion fell face first into Johnson’s exposed, elevated knee. Johnson, shocked, used the situation to his advantage to execute the Process for the pin.
ROH World Women’s Championship Contender Eliminator: Allysin Kay w/ Marti Belle vs. Mandy Leon w/ Angelina Love vs. Trish Adora
Chelsea Green joined the commentators’ table in support of Allysin Kay for this one. Mandy Leon decided to leave the ring instead of lock up with her opponents. Trish Adora and Allysin had no issues going hold for hold while Leon watched alongside her Allure stablemate. Kay’s tight side headlock kept Adora on her back & side for several moments until she unceremoniously utilized a Samoan drop. Leon ran in to stop a pin, only to get double clotheslined by her opponents when they realized what she was doing going forward. “AK-47” and Adora were thinking clotheslines, rattling each others’ right arm. Leon stopped a German suplex pin by Adora before clotheslining Kay. Leon had taken control head into another commercial break.
Adora stopped a running knee by sweeping Leon into the ankle lock. Kay grabbed Leon’s arm in a kimura. Kay and Adora suddenly started throwing forearms until they ended up just slugging it out between each other. Kay got underneath Trish, putting Adora on the top for a superplex. Leon grabbed Kay, yanking her off to power bomb Allysin while “AK-47” utilized the superplex on Trish. Leon couldn’t pin either woman, sending Trish to the floor. Before Kay could counter what Leon had in mind, Angelina Love ran in to bash Allysin in the back while the referee checked on Adora. Stunned, “AK-47” couldn’t stop Astral Projection or the three count in Mandy’s favor. Leon will face Willow for the top contender spot in the coming weeks.
– Dalton Castle was shivering from excitement after working so hard to get to this point. Castle was ready to bring some excitement & pizzazz to the Television Division; going as far as to reach many literal mountaintops to prepare his body to for the dragon’s breath.
ROH World Television Championship: Dragon Lee (c) vs. Dalton Castle
Dragon Lee wasn’t wasting any time, trying to press Dalton Castle down before his challenger scampered to the floor. Dak Draper was with the commentators, reminding everyone that “The Peacock” has one of the best win-loss records in ROH history. In the ring was Dalton pressing Lee against the ropes as a set up for the Bang-A-Rang. Lee stopped the maneuver, doing his dive feign into the ingobernable pose. An infuriated Castle rushed Lee, only to get sidestepped and pushed to the floor for an actual tope. Lee’s falcon arrow in the ring only earned him a two count.
Using a front suplex to put Castle on the top rope abdomen first, Lee had a flying knee drop in mind. Castle avoided the maneuver, hitting a big clothesline. The champion fell to the floor, getting whipped both against the barricades and over said guard-railing. “The Peacock” pushed Dragon back in, happily working over the titleholder’s abdomen. A deep waist lock by Castle had the champ clawing his way to the ropes prior to the commercial break.
Big German suplex from Castle had Lee out on his knees for a playful kick & standing atop the masked man’s chest. Another overhead suplex put Lee in the corner. Castle let too much distance get between himself & Lee, allowing Dragon to recover and trip him into Dragon’s Breath (Lee’s version of RUSH’s Bull’s Horns). Castle kicked out of Lee’s follow-up pin, only to run into a back elbow topped by the clothesline that turned him inside-out. “The Peacock” wanted to German suplex Lee to the floor when Dragon sent him careening over the barricade. The baby chicks guarded Castle, only to be taken down by Lee’s tope. Castle took advantage of the situation, using another t-bone suplex. Lee powered off the mat, landing a clothesline of his own with the intent of following up with the Incinerator. Instead, Lee, ran into a big clothesline.
The Bang-A-Rang connected for Castle when Shane Taylor Promotions and LFI came out fighting down the aisle, to ringside. The referee tried to stop the ringside brawl alongside security when Lee hit the Incinerator. With no referee to count Castle down, Lee decided to go for the Incinerator again. Instead, Lee ran into another Bang-A-Rang … for the three count! New champion!
– EC3 cut a promo to hype next week’s match with Jay Lethal where he stated people & leaders like Lethal have lied & failed this business. According to EC3, the business will never advance with people helping maintain the status quo. EC3 is ready to test Lethal’s beliefs as what it means to benefit wrestling.
Overall: With ROH’s “Final Battle” so close, one would expect things being mostly uncompromising in terms of title changes & champions. Instead, everything has been shaken up in the Television title scene as Dalton Castle pulled off what may be considered an upset as he dethroned Dragon Lee only a week after LFI lost the Tag Team title to OGK. This really shakes everything up because now Castle, who has been struggling until recently to get consistent wins, is entering “Final Battle” as the TV champ after a really good outing that had, unfortunately, a pretty messy ending sequence. There are now a lot of questions regarding the TV title match at “Final Battle”.
Also in regards to “Final Battle”, the Women’s Championship match is getting closer to being finalized after Leon got some help from Angelina. The match wasn’t as good as the previous Triple Threat where Willow won, but solid nonetheless. Like every title division right now, the Pure Division is also in an interesting position as Brian Johnson is picking up win after win even in the most unexpected ways, but he is winning. Overcoming a former Pure champion pretty much guarantees he’ll face Josh Woods at “Final Battle”. Thanks to the title change alone, this is a must-see episode that makes “Final Battle” more unpredictable than it already is heading into ROH’s upcoming hiatus.
