Friday, January 7, 2022
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are on commentary. Quinn McKay is the host, and she introduces this Best of episode, which will feature three of the best matches from 2021.
~Results and Star Ratings~
- Death Before Dishonor, 9/12/21: Rok-C defeats Miranda Alize at 18:13 in a tournament final to win the ROH Women’s World Title. ****
- ROH TV EP521, 9/10/21: The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) defeat MexiSquad (ROH World Champion Bandido & Rey Horus) at 12:10. ***
- Best in the World, 7/11/21: ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defeats Mike Bennett at 19:21 to retain the title. Gresham has been the Champion since 10.30.20, and this was his sixth defense. ***¼
- IMPACT Wrestling Hard to Kill, 1/8/22: ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham defeats Chris Sabin in a Pure Rules Match to retain the title at 12:41. ****
~JZ Says~
From my Death Before Dishonor 2021 review:
“The Quest for Gold Tournament concluded with Rok-C facing Miranda Alize for the ROH World Women’s Championship. Rok-C beat Sumie Sakai, Quinn McKay, and Angelina Love. Alize defeated Alex Gracia, Nicole Savoy, and Trish Adora, so neither of them had it easy. The match was terrific, with both wrestlers playing their part to perfection. Alize was the confident heel and spent a good part of the match on offense. Rok-C played the plucky babyface who would never say die to perfection. In the end, Alize went for the Drive-by, but Rok-C blocked it and hit the Code-Rok to get the pin.”
From my ROH TV EP521 review:
“This was the final push before Death Before Dishonor, and they did a good job hyping up that show. The opener was very enjoyable, as are most things involving Bandido. Jay and Mark got ready for their upcoming PPV match with the OGK by defeating Horus with the Doomsday Device. I did find it a little strange that the ROH World Champion was on the losing team, even if he himself didn’t take the fall. Were there no other teams the Briscoes could’ve defeated instead?”
From my Best in the World 2021 review:
“Jonathan Gresham once again successfully defended his Pure Championship, this time against Mike Bennett. The match was hastily thrown together, and I never really bought Bennett as a threat to the title, but they really worked hard trying to make me believe, and I appreciate that. I would’ve cut a few minutes out.”
Ring of Honor made its way over to IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view event, as Chris Sabin was finally granted the ROH World Title match he earned back in 2018. Tom Hannifan, D-Lo Brown, and ROH’s own Ian Riccaboni were on commentary, and Bobby Cruise handled the ring announcing. Sabin and Gresham used to be in a faction together called Search & Destroy. This is Sabin’s second shot at the ROH World Title, his last coming against Bryan Danielson in 2005 (I was there!). After the initial feeling-out process, Gresham targets Sabin’s arm and meticulously wears Sabin down. Hannifan impressed me on commentary with his knowledge of ROH and the Pure Title rules, he clearly did his homework. Sabin had to fight from underneath, and he grabbed Gresham in a Cradle Shock and thought he got a pin, but Gresham had his foot under the bottom rope. From there, both men kicked it up several notches and built to Gresham trapping Sabin in an O’Connor Roll with a bridge to get the pin. Hot match that did a great job introducing Ring of Honor, Jonathan Gresham, and the Pure Rules to the IMPACT audience. Gresham wrestled like he had something to prove, and Sabin was the perfect opponent for him here.
JZ Says 