BRM Reviews the 6/11/2021 ROH

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 6/11/2021 ROH

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 25th, '21, 17:10

QUINN MCKAY OPENS THE SHOW- good
We got an explanation and recap of Survival of the Fittest so far, some hype for our matches, and then a recap of the tag team Pure Rules.

ELI ISOM VS. DAK DRAPER VIDEO PACKAGE & PROMOS- good
Isom was decent. Draper was good, with the caveat that he’s going to look kind of stupid if he and Isom don’t become the generational rivals he was saying he expects them to become.
They both reminded us that the went to a time-limit draw the last time they faced off. Draper said he would have won within the time limit if he hadn’t taken Isom lightly. Isom is certain he would have won if he had gotten the extra five minutes he asked for.
Their previous match was also the one where Dalton Castle made his return afterwards and attacked them both for as-of-yet unexplained reasons. Dalton came out to watch this match as well. He insisted that he was “just here to look at you,” which was a phenomenal Dalton Castle line. Draper said “that’s what you said last time!” to which Dalton responded “but this time I mean it.” This Dalton Castle is much more entertaining than the usual liar heel.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Dak Draper vs. Eli Isom- 6/10
They did an admirable job of letting Dalton’s presence and distracting both guys with his cheering antics be the story of the match, but in a way where it didn’t feel like it was smothering it. I think the key was that Dalton felt more like a Sword of Damocles who could change demeanors and attack either guy (or both) at any time, rather than someone who was out there to try to screw someone via a distraction finish. It was almost important that when the distraction finish did eventually come, it was Draper distracting himself by paying attention to Dalton and the Boys leaving, rather than Dalton running in to bother him. Isom won with his brainbuster finish, which he had tried to hit twice earlier but couldn’t quite get Draper up for until then.

CHRIS DICKINSON VS. O’SHEA EDWARDS VIDEO PACKAGE- fine

PURE RULES MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Foundation (Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams)(c) vs. La Faccion Ingobernable (Kenny King & Dragon Lee)- 7/10
Those masks Rhett and Tracy have need to go. Gresham can get away with it because of his Octopus nickname and because he was doing it before the group formed, but you can’t be the group that claims to be about everyone ROH was supposed to be about, and then come out in these random masks that look like they’re intended to be creepy, and doubly so when there is no connection to your character at all! It’s like someone saw Gresham doing it and thought it was cool, so they decided that they’d do it, too. I also put Kenny King in this category, though his is just a normal Lucha mask. I don’t care that he’s a faction with a bunch of luchadores. He’s not a luchador, so he shouldn’t randomly wear a Lucha mask to the ring!
I like this match a lot, and I don’t even hate the DQ finish in principle. Someone getting DQed before he forgot his team had no breaks left is something you should probably do once just to get the rules over, and it also pushes the idea that these Pure Rules that the Foundation favor are different, giving them something more distinct that they want to move ROH towards. It also sets up for a rematch with different rules, as LFI will surely complain about this.
That being said, I’m not in love with the Foundation’s focus on Pure Rules in particular, and the idea that the champs get to pick their preferred rule-set isn’t something I really like, either.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- snore
Bestia del Ring runs in and attacks the Foundation. The rest of the Foundation run in to help their buddies. More brawling happened. Rush’s absence was strange, considering that his side was down four to three because he was not there. VLNCE UNLTD came out to watch from the stage just because.
This whole story needs to start moving forward. At this point it feels like we’re just getting a series of post-match brawl. Hell, I’m hard-pressed to think of something that feels particularly important that has happened since the 19th Anniversary Show other than Dalton Castle’s return, Brian Milonas’ heel turn, and the Mexi-Squad break-up, and none of those are involved in the three-way top program. Even Deppen winning the TV Title from Tracy Willims doesn’t feel that important.

This was a decent episode of ROH, but like I said in my review of last week’s show, my optimism is quickly fading.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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