By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor Wrestling TV (Episode 514)
Taped in Baltimore, Maryland at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena
Aired July 24, 2021 in syndication and on SBG regional sports networks, available Mondays on FITE.TV
The show opened with footage from last week’s show of Quinn McKay forcing Mandy Leon to tap out while the referee was distracted by Angelina Love, which was followed by Leon hitting McKay with brass knuckles and pinning her…
Brian Zane interviewed Love and Leon in the backstage area. Leon said it was embarrassing that McKay had two opportunities to qualify for the ROH Women’s Championship tournament and blew them both…
Quinn McKay checked in from the studio and said being punched in the head with brass knuckles was a pain second only to knowing it was her last chance to qualify for the tournament. She hyped that next week’s show would feature the start of the tournament on the weekly television show. McKay touted this week’s matches…
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman checked in on commentary during the entrances for the opening match, and Bobby Cruise served as the ring announcer. Footage aired of Flip Gordon blowing off Zane’s attempts to get pre-match comments. A World Famous CB promo aired. He spoke about reinventing himself and said he would tap out Gordon…
1. Flip Gordon vs. World Famous CB. Gordon blew off the Code of Honor handshake. CB called for a test of strength, which Gordon seemed amused by. CB got the better of it by rolling under Gordon, but Gordon came back with a pin attempt heading into a break. [C]
Gordon took offensive control and dumped CB over the barricade. Gordon stood on the apron and then performed a double axe-handle. Back inside the ring, CB came back briefly, but Gordon eventually applied an STF and got the submission win…
Flip Gordon defeated World Famous CB.
Riccaboni and Coleman were talking as Gordon left the ring when Beer City Bruiser, Brian Milonas, and Ken Dixon harassed them at their podium. Bruiser took Riccaboni’s headset and said they would win the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles, and he and Milonas would win the tag titles…
Powell’s POV: A good opening match with the expected outcome. The Bouncers and Dixon tormenting the broadcast team is new. We don’t see ROH wrestlers mess with the broadcast team very often. Coleman stood up for himself, but it didn’t seem like they were building toward him returning to the ring, but I can’t rule it out either.
A graphic listed PCO vs. Sledge for after the break… An ROH Week By Week ad aired for the weekly YouTube show… [C]
Zane interviewed Flip Gordon, who said the only thing he had to say was that he had nothing to say until he gets his ROH World Title shot… A graphic touted the ROH Women’s Championship tournament for next week. The brackets were shown for the tournament…
Powell’s POV: I’m not a big fan of the brackets they keep showing on ROH programming for the tournament because it only lists a single name for each entrant. Hopefully this will improve once the tournament starts airing on next week’s show. If nothing else, they are doing a much better job of hyping the tournament than they have done on previous episodes.
Entrances for the second match took place. Sledge had a pre-taped promo that aired during his entrance. He asked what to do when a man runs on electricity, then said you ground his ass. PCO also delivered a promo while Danhausen stood in the background…
2. PCO vs. Sledge. Danhausen sat in on commentary. Coleman said Sledge not being intimidated by PCO meant this match had to happen (presumably referring to their pay-per-view angle that actually took place after this show was taped). Sledge bodyslammed PCO and then dropped an elbow on him before covering him for a two count. [C]
PCO eventually performed his dive from the ropes onto Sledge, who was lying over the apron. Sledge came back with a big boot that sent PCO over the barricade. Both men traded shots from opposite sides of the barricade. Sledge shoved the referee aside for the DQ finish.
PCO defeated Sledge by DQ.
After the match, Sledge ran PCO into the barricade. Several security guards ran out to keep both men apart… A graphic listed the three-way main event… An ad aired for HonorClub… [C]
Powell’s POV: This was a solid way to start the feud and keep it alive without having a definitive finish. They really need to establish Sledge in the ring and as a personality. He could have used a series of television squash matches and more mic time heading into this feud, but hopefully he can get over while working with PCO.
Zane interviewed Sledge in the backstage area. Sledge boasted that he was able to hang with a former ROH Champion. He said it’s not over between them… The ROH Women’s World Championship graphic and brackets were shown again… Entrances for the main event took place. All three had promos air while they make their entrance. The most notable promo came from Isom, who spoke of being fed up by the other two and stating that Castle and Draper both wore pink gear when they all teamed up at the pay-per-view and didn’t give him the heads up… [C]
Powell’s POV: I like that ROH is trying to make this seem like show was taped after Best in the World. It makes it a little odd that they’re not mentioning any of the major moments or results from the show, but it’s better than nothing.
Castle had his Boys tear his t-shirt off and then rushed into the ring and punched Draper to start the match…
3. Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom vs. Dak Draper in a three-way. Isom performed a nice flip dive onto Draper at ringside early in the match, Castle hit Isom with a big knee and threw him back inside the ring and hit him with another knee in the corner. Castle suplexed Isom. Draper pulled Castle to ringside and ran him into the ring post. The Boys (not the real Boys) tended to Castle while Draper worked over Isom inside the ring.
Castle returned to the ring and suplexed Isom, then motioned for the Boys to stop applauding, which they immediately did. Castle and Draper ended up bickering at ringside. Draper threw Castle over the barricade and returned to the ring. Isom put Draper down with a spinning side suplex for a two count. [C]
Isom performed a moonsault onto Draper at ringside. Castle stood up behind the barricade and threw a chair at the face of Isom (he put his hands up). Castle rolled Isom back inside the ring. Draper threw Castle to the mat. “Do something good, you idiot,” Castle told Draper. “This is our moment.” Draper entered the ring. The Boys stood on the ring and mimicked Draper while he performed the Magnum Drop on Isom and pinned him…
Dak Draper defeated Eli Isom and Dalton Castle in a three-way.
After the match, Castle and The Boys headed right to the back while Draper pulled out a participation ribbon. Rather than present it to Isom, Draper threw it aside and shook his hand before leaving the ring. Isom picked up the participation ribbon and looked confused before he pounded on the mat…
Graphics listed the following ROH Women’s Championship Tournament entrants: Sumie Sakai, Rok-C, Mandy Leon, Max The Impaler, Holidead, Angelina Love, Miranda Alize, Alex Gracia, Mazzerati, Nicole Savoy, Allysin Kay, Willow, Marti Belle, and Trish Adora. A graphic noted that the tournament will start next week on ROH Wrestling TV…
Powell’s POV: The main event was interesting with Castle acting like he was in cahoots with Draper, who didn’t seem to be down with that. Hopefully Draper and Isom will get something out of this program. It’s off to a strange start, but it has my interest.
That was more like it with the graphics showing the tournament entrants at the end. I assume that Quinn McKay will end up in the final spot given that Maria Kanellis indicated last week that she had the power to do something about the way Mandy Leon stole the win last week. I’m surprised there wasn’t any follow-up with Kanellis on this week’s show, especially given that they opened with a video recap of the match. Overall, this was a decent hour, yet it’s also a fairly missable episode of ROH television if you are pressed for time. My audio review of this will be available later today.
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