ROH TV
Episode 482
#ROH
Original Air Date: December 11, 2020
Event Date: ?
City: Baltimore, MD
Venue: UMBC Event Center (empty arena)
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
Ring Announcer: Bobby Cruise
Pure Rules Judges: Will Ferrara, Sumie Sakai, Gary Juster
Intro Video
Video
Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and goes over tonight’s matches.
Backstage
Last week after Mike Bennett and Matt Taven brawled with Vincent and Bateman, Quinn McKay asked Bennett and Taven for a few words. Bennett says he came back to ROH to protect his family, and The Kingdom will decide when this rivalry ends. Taven says he and Bennett will end things with The Righteous (Vincent and Bateman) at Final Battle.
Video
The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas) talk about getting more serious in the ring and focuing on the ROH World Tag Team Titles.
Backstage
Mark Briscoe says he respects The Bouncers as fighters, and he’s happy to throw down with them tonight. PCO says The Bouncers will “rest in hell.”
Match 1
The Bouncers vs Mark Briscoe & PCO
(referee: Todd Sinclair)
Result: PCO pins the Beer City Bruiser after a moonsault
Time: 11:04 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. This could have been just a warm-up match since Mark and PCO have a title match coming up at Final Battle, and I suppose it was a warm-up match in a lot of ways, but it was still a fun match on its own that served a few purposes. First, it established the chaos and unpredictability of Mark Briscoe and PCO as a team. They were all over the place, and they took a lot of big risks that didn’t always pay off. The match also established The Bouncers as a serious tag team. Bruiser and Milonas had trouble controlling Mark and PCO as most people would, but The Bouncers did well to hang in the match and even come up with a few good counters to some of their opponents’ bigger moves. This was pretty fun.
Backstage
Quinn McKay welcomes Mark Briscoe and PCO. Mark vows that he and PCO will be victorious over Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal at Final Battle.
Video
Matt Taven explains Honor Club’s new chapter feature.
Video
Short promos for matches taking place at Final Battle including Deppen vs Draper vs LSG vs Woods with the winner getting a TV Title shot later in the night, Shane Taylor Promotions vs Mexisquad, Danhausen vs Brian Johnson, Yehi & Yuta vs The Foundation (Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus) in a Pure Rules tag team match, The Righteous vs Matt Taven & Mike Bennett, PCO & Mark Briscoe vs The Foundation (Gresham & Lethal) in a tag title match, EC3 vs Jay Briscoe, Flip Gordon vs Jonathan Gresham for the Pure Title, and Brody King vs Rush for the ROH World Title.
Video
Flip Gordon is striving for ROH gold.
Video
Josh Woods thinks Flip Gordon is a good high flyer, but that’s not going to help him in a Pure Rules match.
Match 2
Pure Rules Match
“The Mercenary” Flip Gordon vs Josh “The Goods” Woods
(referee: Joe Mandak)
Result: Flip Gordon wins via pinfall after a curb stomp
Time: 9:34 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. Flip Gordon has a Pure Title match coming up at Final Battle, so by all accounts this was his warm-up since he hasn’t been in a match on ROH TV since the Pure Title returned. Does he deserve a title shot? That’s debatable, and that mad this match interesting. Josh Woods failed to win the Pure Title Tournament, but he progressed to the semi-finals and beat Jay Lethal along the way. Woods has been one of the best wrestlers in all the Pure matches recently, so if Gordon could beat Woods, that would do a lot for Gordon’s credibility in this type of match. This match also opens up an even more interesting scenario if Woods could get the victory over Gordon.
Woods dominated the first portion of the match with relative ease. Woods was calm and in-control, and he out-maneuvered Gordon on the match. After a while Gordon began to adjust his style, and there was a lot more standing and striking. Gordon, of course, climbed the ropes, but he did keep the flying to a minimum (which I was happy to see). The finish to the match was well done, but it did leave me wanting more. They went with the slightly less interesting of the two scenarios I mentioned above, but that’s probably better for the title match at Final Battle anyway.
Show Impressions
This was a fun show. This show spent its time building up a couple of Final Battle’s big title matches, and I think it did that job pretty well. I think both the Tag Title challengers and the Pure Title challenger definitely needed a little ring time before the PPV since we haven’t seen Mark Broscoe and PCO team before, and we haven’t seen Flip Gordon wrestle in ROH for a very long time. As a build-up show I though it was good, and it did make me want to watch Final Battle.
Match of the Night
Flip Gordon vs Josh Woods
The tag match was wacky and fun, but Woods was the best wrestler of the night tonight (despite not winning the match).