BRM Reviews the 7/16/2021 ROH

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 7/16/2021 ROH

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 4th, '21, 00:51

DALTON CASTLE DECLINES AN INTERVIEW IN THE LOCKER ROOM, SO INSTEAD WE WATCH AN INTERACTION BETWEEN JOE KEYS AND THE FOUNDATION- fine
Keys is taping Gresham’s knee up. The rest of the Foundation ask what happened and if Gresham will be good to go for tonight’s main event. Gresham tells them that he tweaked his knee training with Keys, but he insists he’ll be good to go for the main event. Tracy Williams says that they need to keep Greham healthy because he is the Pure Champion, which he describes as the “crown jewel” and “all we have left.” He suggests that Gresham’s spot go to Keys in recognition of Keys’ hard work in the dojo. Everyone is okay with this. I didn’t like the unnecessary comedy of Keys patting Gresham on the knee and hurting him and then rushing back to apologize, but at least it serves to illustrate that Gresham probably really shouldn’t be wrestling tonight.
Tracy’s reasoning for pulling Gresham out of the match is interesting. It’s the sort of thing that I would say is revealing that at least some in the Foundation (Tracy here, Lethal in other places) seem to be willing to go against some of ROH’s core values (at least temporarily) in order to save it… if I had faith in the booker, but I really don’t at this point.

BRIAN JOHNSON HOSTS THE SHOW- very mixed feelings.
He’s got this job because Quinn is wrestling and Ian Riccaboni is giving a keynote speech. He was extremely entertaining as a heel (the “I wonder what hideous mask they’ll give him” line about the Foundation and Keys had me rolling, as did “I hope Fred doesn’t come up ye hi”), but with the kind of vibe that ROH is going for, Johnson went way too far to not get in trouble for it (he basically cut a promo on Quinn on the Allure’s behalf). At the very least, they can NEVER let him do this again, but I’d go farther and say he was fined.

FRED YEHI vs. REY HORUS- 5.5/10
I thought Riccaboni was elsewhere. Why is he on commentary? Isn’t the hosting desk supposed to be relatively close to live?
Yehi has switched from the Pure division to the regular male singles division. Rey Horus won clean in ten minutes. He could have done a better job selling his knee, though.

MANDY LEON FINISHES A PHONE CALL BEFORE DOING HER INTERVIEW- very good
What is it with the phone calls today? With Dalton at least him turning down the interview explained why there was a camera there to see the Foundation segment and the phone call was a convenient thing for him to have to do instead, but with Mandy there was no logical reason to include that on the tape.
Mandy cut a very good heel promo on Quinn. Angelina Love showed up at the end to insult Quinn as well. I’m sure other have been doing this and just hasn’t jumped out at me as much because Angelina- a former member of the Beautiful People- wasn’t involved, but I’m really loving the way that Angelina and Mandy have been able to cut promos on Quinn that feel completely natural to their characters without calling her a “bitch” or a “slut” or without even really calling her ugly. They are showing an equal amount of disdain by simply calling her a moron.

QUINN MCKAY VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- good, although it went on for too long (unless they’re actually going to have Mandy turn babyface, but that seems ludicrous).
Stop cutting from the front view to the side view in mid-sentence!
Well… at least she kind of admitted that she lost her match to Angelina Love because of her own stupidity. Talking about Mandy also having started as an interviewer was a great excuse to put footage of Adam Cole on TV.

IF QUINN MCKAY WINS, SHE EARNS A BERTH IN THE ROH WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT: Quinn McKay vs. Mandy Leon (w/Angelina Love)- 4.25/10
Maria Kanellis Bennett was on commentary for this match. Quinn offered a handshake, and Mandy accepted, then pulled her in for a forearm shot. Mandy then grabbed a mic and pointed out that Quinn has now fallen for that same trick twice. I’m starting to think that Mandy and Angelina aren’t wrong when they call her a moron.
Quinn had Mandy tapped but Angelina distracted the referee. Angelina then slid Mandy brass knuckles with which Mandy knocked Quinn out. If Maria is going to be a company executive, you can’t have her just sit on her as and watch someone distract the referee. She’s got to get up and do something about it. Maria assures us that she will “do what’s necessary” to rectify this, but like with all ROH booking decisions at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.

SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS PROMO- fine

FOUNDATION PROMO- meh
The lack of hyphen on their graphic when it was talking about Keys being “hand chosen” by Gresham is embarrassing.

SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS vs. JOE KEYS & THE FOUNDATION (Jay Lethal, Rhett Titus, & Tracy Williams)- 6.5/10
This was fine. It was not lost on me that Lethal was the babyface in peril, but I think having him in a match before giving him a sit-down interview to address his crushing defeat at the hands of Brody King at the PPV was at the very least a missed opportunity, if not an outright mistake, as it feels like it takes a bit away from King’s win to not have it effect Lethal.
O’Shay Edwards got the win for his team in STP’s debut as an eight-man unit, pinning Keys clean.


A meh show from ROH. I was particularly struck by the complete and total lack of follow-up to the PPV. Tracy’s comment that Gresham’s Pure Title is “all we have left” was pretty much the only thing not said by an announcer that referenced the PPV in any way. That makes both title changes feel less important, and having his title victory not feel very important is the last thing Bandido needs right now.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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