ROH HITS & MISSES 8/21: Women’s quarterfinal tournament matches deliver, a miss for Bouncers promo, more

Hits

– As has been the case for ROH, their pre-match video promos are total hits. They provide insight into the wrestlers even if we have seen the wrestlers many times and allows the promotion to add flavor to the upcoming matches. ROH is so far ahead of other promotions with these and they have to keep them up.

– QUINN MCKAY vs. ROK-C

We are now moving into the quarterfinals of the women’s tournament. This match continued the story line of underdog Quinn trying to get respect even though she is just “an interviewer.” The match started out a bit slow with several minutes of “technical” wrestling with both women showing skill. The announcers even mentioned that the match did not have any animosity behind it they way many of Quinn’s matches have before. Quinn was built up as the somewhat stronger wrestler while Rok-C has the training and wrestling skill advantage despite her only being 19. As I have said before about ROH right now, the absence of a crowd hurt this match. There were some clunky moves and obvious set-ups of moves that crowd enthusiasm would have covered. After coming out of a break Quinn sold a knee problem and the action picked up as Rok-C showed some compassion for Quinn but received a punch in response.

The “third” act of the match picked up with more power moves by both women and several near falls and the knee injury coming back into play. Rok-C got the win with a code red, and Quinn was cast as the valiant loser who will get another chance something down the road. As I noted there was some bad spots in this match, but the women were obviously working hard and the match was a pretty good watch, but again I need that audience. An okay match and a qualified hit.

– MIRANDA ALIZE vs. NICOLE SAVOY

The second match of the night and the second of the women’s quarterfinals matches was set up of a match between friends and even former roommates, but the match quickly showed that despite this they were all out for the win (Alize bit Savoy’s fingers). Their experience and familiarity with each other were evident as they worked really well together with smooth moves and transitions that kept the viewer in the match. At the 10-minute mark both wresters were down, and they both came up swinging haymakers at each other. Savoy is known for here suplexes and she definitely showed off their abilities as the suplexes looked brutal and Alize sold them well. At this point in the match, a crowd would probably be shouting “This is awesome” as both wrestlers hit huge moves with several near falls.

– Alize won with a vicious looking drive by knee strike that would have gotten a huge pop and nailed a HIT designation for this match.

– A note for the men of ROH, watch out men of ROH, the women are coming for you.

– REY HORUS vs. DEMONIC FLAMITA

– This was a rubber match between these two and they immediately went into heavy striking combined with typical Lucha high flying moves. Billed as a “no disqualification” match the assumption was that bad things were going to happen and happen they did as quickly chairs became involved and Flamita started taking Horus apart. Quickly, the table came out as well as Flamita set one up at ring side, gee I wonder who will go through that? There was very little let up in the brutality as Flamita kept up the attack, squashing any attempts by Horus at a comeback. After the break, Horus was in control and dealt out his share of punishment with various chairs and ring posts. While there was no blood, this match was brutal and enjoyable in its brutality.

– In typical pro wrestling style, there were several near falls and kickouts of huge moves. I know and you know that if there men actually were hitting these moves on each other they would both be out cold, but because we are fans, we love it. As with the previous women’s match, I can imagine a live audience screaming “fight forever” and “this is awesome”. These guys have worked together for quite a while, and it shows.

– After a few more near falls (including a table spot on the outside), Flamita finally gets the win with a flipping move off the turn buckle. I can hear the crowd booing. A really fun match, these guys worked their butts off and deserve a great bit HIT!!!!

MISSES

– THE BOUNCERS & KEN DICKSON PROMO

Shot with a strange upward facing camera angle, this promo really didn’t hit the mark. Their whole point was to “win.” Okay, isn’t that the point anyway? They mentioned the tag team gold and the six-man gold, but they did not make it specific who they were going after, thus making it hard to care and get into the angle. This was a miss guys, hope you don’t get “bounced.”

CATCH-UP: 8/21 RING OF HONOR TV REPORT: Demonic Flamita vs. Rey Horus, Rok-C vs. Quinn McKay, Miranda Alize vs. Nicole Savoy, more