BRM Reviews the 11/6/2020 ROH

[Big Red Machine]

JONATHAN GRESHAM PROMO AFTER WINNING THE PURE TITLE- good
I’m sure some people won’t like him calling Rush out already, but the way Gresham framed it here made it feel like a necessary part of the story. Rush is very good, but he leans a lot more towards the brawling side, and that’s not what ROH is about. If you don’t want the Pure Title to feel like a secondary title, you’ve got to have Gresham point this out and say that this means that his belt is the top belt, not Rush’s.

DAK DRAPER VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- GREAT!

BRIAN JOHNSON VIDEO PACKAGE PROMO- This was also GREAT… but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to like Johnson or not. Despite Draper being the arrogant one Johnson came off more like the heel to me.

PURE RULES MATCH: Dak Draper vs. Brian Johnson- 6/10
Yeah. Okay. Johnson is definitely the heel. The first thing he did in this match was throw a closed-fist punch to the face. Or maybe they’re both heels, because Draper threw one as revenge, and was very nonchalant about receiving his warning. This was a fine match. Both played their roles well, and I liked the way they had Johnson’s punch in the beginning come back to cost him the match without actually having a DQ.
I also like that they’re having Pure Rules matches to build up a contender for the Pure Title. It’s a little silly to have the contendership matches contested under different rules that the title match will have.

BRODY KING VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- This was a good character piece, but Brody was not very charismatic.

DALTON CASTLE VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- awesome!

DALTON CASTLE vs. BRODY KING- 6.25/10
This was… not inspiring, when you consider that Brody is soon to be the #1 contender. He’s fine mechanically, but he really just doesn’t grip me. Also, every time the camera drifts away from the ring to show us the video board, it makes me want to punch the cameraperson in the stomach.


This was a meh episode of ROH. I love that they kept the new format past the pure tournament, but now we need to see the wrestling and the storylines really step up.