UMBC Event Center – Baltimore, MD – Friday, July 9, 2021
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are on commentary, joined at various points by Brian Johnson, Brian Zane, and Maria Kanellis-Bennett. Quinn McKay is the host.
~Results and Star Ratings~
- The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) defeat Joe Keys & Dante Caballero at 6:06. **
- Flip Gordon defeats PJ Black at 13:05. **½
- La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee & Kenny King) defeat VLNCE UNLTD (Brody King & ROH World Television Champion Tony Deppen) and The Foundation (Jay Lethal & ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham) at 10:42 in a Triple Threat match. ***
- Week by Week, 7/13: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) & Ken Dixon defeat Primal Fear (Adrien Soriano, Matthew Omen & Gabriel Hodder) in a Trios Match at 6:50. **¼
JZ Says
This is a bit of an odd episode, functioning as both a lead-in and a follow-up to Best in the World because it aired in syndication starting Friday, the pay-per-view was on Sunday, and then the episode became available on ROH’s website on Monday. It’s still better than the previous timeline issues that came from running live events, PPVs, and TV tapings all at the same time.
The matches were fine this week, but nothing really stood out. Jay and Mark Briscoe are back together and fighting their way from the bottom up, getting their first win over the dojo tag team of Joe Keys & Dante Caballero. This was mostly a squash, and that’s totally fine given where the two teams are on the depth chart.
Speaking of a depth chart, two of the guys lower on my list faced off in the second match – Flip Gordon and PJ Black. With Gordon scheduled to face EC3 on the PPV and the World Champion in August, and Black scheduled to play second fiddle to Brian Johnson in a tag team match, it definitely made sense to have Gordon go over fairly strong here. The match was pretty pedestrian, though not terrible or anything.
Faction warfare took over the main event, as LFI (King & Lee), VLNCE UNTLD (King & Deppen), and The Foundation (Lethal & Gresham) did battle in a fun triple threat match. Not much of consequence happened, but it was a fun little preview for the various PPV matches the participants were scheduled for.
Over on Week by Week, Primal Fear was back to take on the trio of The Bouncers & Ken Dixon. Milonas and Bruiser were so confident that they had Keys sit outside the ring (in the stands where fans would be) and went at it in what amounted to a handicap match. I’m digging the new edge on the Bouncers, and if they go for the Six-Man Titles (and why wouldn’t they?), Bouncers & Dixon v Shane Taylor Promotions is fine by me.
JZ Says 