SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
AUGUST 16, 2021
AIRED ON ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
Opening theme.
-Video recap of Miranda Alize, Nicole Savoy, Rok-C, Quinn McKay, and Trish Adora advancing in the opening round of the Women’s Championship tournament. (Allysin Kay also advanced but her victory wasn’t shown here for some reason.)
-Ian Riccaboni was at the backstage news desk and ran down tonight’s card.
-Video package on Holidead. She boasted about being trained by Gangrel and spoke about wrestling around the world for promotions like Eve and Stardom. Footage aired of Max The Impaler wrecking people on the Wednesday YouTube show. Holidead admitted to not knowing much about them but said she wasn’t a pushover. Amy Rose narrated some brief shots of Max looking creepy and intimidating.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Rose referred to Max as them so it appears the early misgendering that Max faced on the YouTube show has been addressed. That said, will Max ever be allowed to wrestle men? They’re nonbinary, so having them shunted into just one division is awkward at best and offensive at worst.)
-Lenny Leonard joined commentary for the tournament match. [C]
(1) MAX THE IMPALER (w/Amy Rose) vs. HOLIDEAD – ROH WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT: OPENING ROUND
Lock-up. Break. Holidead was excited about the challenge while Max looked like a wild animal. Holidead clubbed Max into the corner but Max tossed her across the ring. Body slam. Holidead tried one of her own but Max blocked and slammed her again. Holidead managed to body slam Max on the next try. Max sat up, looking enraged. They traded clotheslines but neither fell. A lariat dazed Holidead and she fell into the ropes. Max wrapped her around the ropes and yanked back on both arms. Holidead squashed in the corner. She managed some shoulders to the gut in the corner but Max came right back with clubbing blows. They tossed Holidead across the ring again. [C]
Curb stomp to Holidead. Double arm DDT to Max for the first pinfall attempt of the match. Spear to Holidead. Max charged in the corner but Holidead dodged and dropped them with a German suplex. Max rolled to ringside and ate a suicide dive from Holidead. Spinebuster to Max in the ring. Holidead up top for a leg drop but Max moved. Backbreaker to Holidead. Wasteland for the win.
WINNER: Max The Impaler in 10:14. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: Max has been featured heavily on the YouTube show and was just paired up with Amy Rose so this outcome was expected. Nothing has really been elaborated on yet as to why they’re kayfabe affiliated, though. The commentators talked up Rose managing multiple champions in the past but Max is being portrayed as the stereotypical big silent monster so there’s of course the question of why this dominant ass-kicker would choose to align with someone like Rose instead of going it on their own. There’s also the question of why we’re getting Max vs. Angelina Love in the next round. With Rose in her corner they seem to be trying to establish Max as a monster heel and she’ll almost assuredly be cheered against the top heel in the division when she faces Love. Credit to all three commentators for staying on top of Max’s pronouns here, though. I know it’s not always easy and you can sometimes get tripped up in your head but they were great with the they/them uses and finding ungendered terms for both of them like “people” and “competitors” instead of “women.”)
-Promo video from a bearded Matt Taven recapping his year-long feud with Vincent. Lots of footage of The Kingdom in their heyday and Vincent wandering around a farm today looking like if Bray Wyatt grew up with The Briscoes. Their final blow-off match is in a steel cage at Glory By Honor on August 21st. Taven fondled an electric razor and began shaving his beard off.
-Flip Gordon was out first team all-stars in the ten-man tag main event. He spit into the camera. The Briscoes were second. They traded words with Gordon. Woods shook hands with the Briscoes while Gordon paced alone at ringside. EC3 was out last for his team and stared down Gordon. [C]
TV champ Dragon Lee was out first for the champions. Tag champs Vlnce Unltd were out second. They have bad blood with Lee and La Facción Ingobernable. Pure champion Jonathan Gresham was out next. World champ Bandido was last. [C]
(2) ROH WORLD CHAMPION BANDIDO, ROH PURE CHAMPION JONATHAN GRESHAM, ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPION HOMICIDE, ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPION CHRIS DICKINSON, & ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION DRAGON LEE vs. EC3, JOSH WOODS, JAY BRISCOE, MARK BRISCOE, & FLIP GORDON
Gresham and Woods started. They rolled around on the mat, pure-style, until Dickinson tagged in. He and Woods also had some amateur wrestling exchanges and submission trades. Woods offered a tag to EC3 who blank faced him. Mark Briscoe was happy to tag in, though. Dragon Lee in for the other team and Lee and Mark traded shots. The camera caught Gordon standing on the floor, the sole member of the match not on the apron. Mark boxed Lee into his corner and the Briscoes worked him over. EC3 tagged in and hit a neckbreaker on Lee. Gordon slapped him on the back to tag himself in. Standing moonsault to Lee as Gordon and EC3 continued to stare at each other. [C]
Lee with a dropkick to Gordon and he staggered back into his corner. Dickinson tagged himself in. Woods back in. Homicide in illegally. He tossed Woods to the floor and spat at the Briscoes. Things broke down between the tag champs and the Briscoes. Gresham tagged in, resetting to him and Woods. Back and forth pure action. Tag to EC3. Suplex to Gresham. The Briscoes tagged in and out on Gresham. Shot to the throat from Mark. EC3 tagged in but Gordon again tagged himself in, forcing EC3 out. EC3 looked for a spear but Gresham moved and he took out Gordon. It was ostensibly an accident but he smiled at dropping Gordon.
Bandido in for the first time. He took out Gordon for a two-count but everything broke down with all ten wrestlers brawling across and around the ring. The Briscoes and Vlnce Unltd paired off at ringside. Bandido and Lee worked seamlessly together against Woods and Gordon. Mark caught the world champ with a dropkick out of nowhere. Homicide in. Everything broke down again in a waterfall. Homicide and Gordon were left standing. Gordon tried to steal a pin with some tights but Homicide kicked out. Cop Killa blocked by Gordon. Superkick from Gordon. Flip-5 but Homicide kicked out. Piledriver from Gordon to Homicide for the win.
WINNERS: Team All-Stars in 14:47.
-More staring between Gordon and EC3. The Briscoes double-teamed Dickinson on the floor.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Hurt by the lack of fans, assuredly, but they managed to further three stories here. Those being EC3 vs. Gordon, The Briscoes going after the tag titles, and Lee and Bandido’s friendship despite being on opposing teams. Gordon challenges for the world title at Glory By Honor hence the win here, even though he and Bandido didn’t cross paths at all.)
-Next week: it’s Rey Horus vs. Demonic Flamita and the quarter-finals of the Women’s Championship tournament kick off with Rok-C vs. Quinn McKay and Miranda Alize vs. Nicole Savoy.
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