Last week: It was a Top Prospects showcase episode with the main event featuring two TPT winners as Josh Woods successfully defended the Pure Championship against Dak Draper.
ROH TV Episode 536
December 25, 2021
Baltimore, MD
– Josh Woods was happy about picking his teams for the annual holiday wildcard tag team bout (this year it’s twelve men). On the other hand, fellow captain Brian Johnson spent his entire time complaining & reacting negatively to his choices.
ROH World Women’s Championship: Rok-C (c) vs. Holidead
Holidead could feel it in the air that her time to start the dark reign was here. The champ remarked about Holidead’s success throughout the world, as well as her physical advantages over Rok-C. But, according to “The Prodigy”, her latest challenger doesn’t have the heart of a champion that will lead her to retaining the title.
Code of Honor resulted in Holidead attempting to scare her opponent. When that method didn’t work, the challenger enjoyed shoving Rok-C around the ring off the collar & elbow tie-up or by freeing herself from a waist-lock. Rok-C showed incredible agility to avoid a choke bomb by yanking Holidead into the side headlock. Holidead countered the hold with a body scissors that ended with Rok countering with the crossface. The challenger quickly pulled herself to the ropes, resetting the match and the champion catching Holidead’s arms to set up a springboard hurricarana. Holidead rolled to the floor, catching “The Prodigy” flying through the ropes to slam the titleholder against the steel ring post prior to the commercial break.
During the commercial, Holidead continued working over the champ’s back by slamming her across the ring’s edge. Turning her attention to Rok’s head saw Holidead ram her cranium-first against the top turnbuckle from a fireman’s carry position. Holidead went for another slam, only to be yanked into a knee strike topped by the Lou Thesz press followed up with a series of punches. Moonsault double knee drop connected for Rok, but didn’t end in a pin fall. Holidead muscled Rok out of the crossface, swinging her into a big slam that also resulted into a two count. Blocking the double underhook driver, Rok landed another big knee to the face with Holidead refusing to stay down for the three count afterward.
“The Prodigy” was landing knee after knee until she got caught with a spine buster. The challenger was looking for the end when Rok elbowed her way off Holidead’s shoulders. Before Holidead could stop her, Rok jumped onto her back to pull her challenger down with Code Rok to pin Holidead for another successful defense.
– Dalton Castle was lounging with his Honor Pal with the promise of delivering a wonderful gift for the viewer. With the baby chicks & Dak Draper, Castle put on a musical performance that ended abruptly when one of the baby chicks stepped into a box of Christmas ornaments. Draper went off, breaking stuff nearby because his fury now overwhelmed him. Castle declared the segment was now ruined.
ROH Pure champion Josh Woods, Silas Young, Matt Taven, Bandido & The Briscoes vs. Brian Johnson, Rhett Titus, Kenny King, Homicide, Rey Horus & Flip Gordon
As expected, Brian Johnson cut a promo on the way to the ring to insult Santa, his opponents & his own partners.
Former ROH World champions Jay Briscoe and Homicide kicked this one off for their respective teams with Homicide not breaking clean when they ended up in the corner. They started slugging it out until Josh Woods tagged and snatched Homicide in a rear naked choke. Homicide bit his way out of the hold, going after a hold of his own that the Pure champion wouldn’t allow him to get. So Homicide flipped off Woods and tagged out to Rhett Titus. Titus had no issues being honorable, using the head scissors on the ground to keep the Pure champion off center. The stalemate that came from their grappling led to a playfully handshake prior to the commercial break.
Brian Johnson failed to help his team during the commercial, with Silas Young doing the same. Flip Gordon and Matt Taven were now the legal men with Gordon using a head scissors to force Taven for a tag out. Bandido replaced Taven. Gordon was showing his agility early, taking a super kick when he did the handstand reversal off the Irish whip. Rey Horus tagged in, starting a lucha series of counters between the two former Six-Man Tag Team champions together. Ending in a stalemate brought, “Lucha!” chants from everyone watching at ringside.
Mark Briscoe and Kenny King tagged in, re-igniting their old feud with Mark giving King some redneck kung fu. Blind tag from Rhett allowed King & Titus to pull off a big double team like they were the All Night Express again. Jay Briscoe gave Titus a taste of his own medicine, leading to a standoff where The Briscoes and The ANX were brawling in the ring as fights broke out around ringside. Before the commercial, people were either diving on wrestlers at ringside, or being pitched over the ropes atop other fighting stars.
Woods and Young were working together again with the prior getting tossed over the top by the latter for a plancha. Horus knocked Silas to the floor for a dive on “The Last Real Man”, as Flip joined the commentators to watch. Gordon returned to the action by diving off the stage as everyone fought their way up aisle. Homicide and Silas were the first men back in with Homicide hitting the ace crusher off an avoidance of Young’s Peegee Waja Plunge. Taven reentered, giving Homicide Just the Tip, as well as that float-over neck breaker. Before Taven could follow up with the frog splash, Gordon caught him with Kinder Surprise.
Bandido propelled Gordon into the ace crusher, only for Rey to execute that satellite DDT on “The Most Wanted”. Beast Slam to Horus courtesy of Woods. Titus stopped Woods from going for the pin with his Hydraulic Dropkick. Jay Driller connected on Titus, but King saved his partner from a sure pin. Mark found himself pulled into a cradle by Johnson after downing King via his Froggy Bow. Mark kicked “The Mecca” into the Cutthroat Driver. Johnson was out of it as Jay hoisted him up for the Doomsday Device that allowed Jay to pin Johnson in the final match of this era in ROH.
Emotional hugs & handshakes all around including Homicide embracing Todd Sinclair after abusing him for years.
Overall: And so here is the end of an era of ROH TV that didn’t end with a boom, but a collective exhale of positivity and two very fun matches. The David versus Goliath bout for the Women’s Championship saw a dominant Holidead fall to the champ similar to Rok’s former challengers where she’s able to chip away at someone’s figurative armor before catching them with Code Rok.
The twelve-man tag paid so many odes to the past from the obvious reunion of The ANX to Jay fighting Homicide like it’s 2004. It really didn’t matter what team won, though it only felt appropriate Jay Briscoe was involved in the deciding fall as the man who officially kicked off the first ROH event ends this era with the win. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next April, but for now here’s to over ten years of ROH TV – the ups, the downs, and the unexpected like that time Charlie Haas called out a member of the ring crew and dubbed him, “Cheeseburger.”
