BRM Reviews the 10/30/2020 ROH (Pure Title Tournament Finals)

[Big Red Machine]

Hey, look! They finally got Quinn McKay and real microphone!

MATT TAVEN & VINCENT HAVE BOTH BEEN FINED FOR THEIR RECENT ATTACKS ON EACH OTHER- See… THIS is how you “restore honor.” You ACTUALLY F*CKING DO IT! Not just pay it lip-service. Now let’s see if they can keep this going for a while.

EC3 & THE BRISCOES vs. SHANE TAYLOR & THE SOLIDERS OF SAVAGERY- 6.75/10
You mean they’re not giving the tournament finals the whole show? BOOOO!
The match was very good for the time it got, and I liked that they let the Soldiers of Savagery look very competitive against the Briscoes. EC3 wasn’t bad or anything, but he was definitely the guy who impressed me the least here. Taylor pinning Mark Briscoe definitely seems like it’s the right call here, as you want to give him more verbal ammo to use against EC3 without beating EC3, and ROH has made it pretty clear that they will always protect Jay at Mark’s expense.

TRACY WILLIAMS AND JONATHAN GRESHAM VIDEO PACKAGES- These were both great, but it was hard for to enjoy them because all I could see was time for this match slipping off the clock.

ROH PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT FINAL: Jonathan Gresham vs. Tracy Williams- 6.5/10
Ian mistakenly cited CM Punk as a for ROH Pure Champion.
I marked out so hard when they wound up on the floor and just kept going for basic stuff like hip-tosses. They told a fine story with Tracy once again getting his opponent to use all of his rope-breaks, but this time Gresham was able to pull out the win.
I’m not sure how much I like the booking here. Yes, it does delay a potential Lethal vs. Gresham rematch, but I think them being tag champs does that for you. This was a big moment for Gresham, but in some ways he already got that big moment first when he beat Lethal and then again when they won the tag titles.
Tracy, on the other hand, really hasn’t gotten that. He’s this guy who we know is really good but never wins enough to break out of the midcard. This would have done that for him. It would have also meant that he had just beaten both tag champs in singles competition, which you could use to justify him getting a title shot… but he’d need a partner first, so he goes to someone- the natural choice being Yehi and asks him to be his partner, but Yehi wants a Pure Title shot in exchange, and now you’ve got two titles matches booked for two different shows to buy you time to build up more challengers.


My overall feelings on this tournament are an odd mix. It was enjoyable to watch, but the matches (especially once you got out of the first round) often didn’t feel like the delivered to the level they could have, and in the later rounds especially, when we were told there were thirty and sixty-minute time limits, it felt like the matches didn’t get anywhere near the amount of time they could have. It would have been better to do the semifinals on separate weeks, maybe with a short undercard match like the one we got tonight (or, even better, instead of an undercard match, have that go on after the tournament one week as a “standby match”), and then give the finals it’s own show wholly devoted to it. I guess I’m optimistic about the direction of things, but I’m worried that the direction won’t bear as much fruit as it could because the matches won’t get enough time.

[cero2k]

ROH PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT FINAL: Jonathan Gresham vs. Tracy Williams- 6.5/10
Ian mistakenly cited CM Punk as a for ROH Pure Champion.
I marked out so hard when they wound up on the floor and just kept going for basic stuff like hip-tosses. They told a fine story with Tracy once again getting his opponent to use all of his rope-breaks, but this time Gresham was able to pull out the win.
I’m not sure how much I like the booking here. Yes, it does delay a potential Lethal vs. Gresham rematch, but I think them being tag champs does that for you. This was a big moment for Gresham, but in some ways he already got that big moment first when he beat Lethal and then again when they won the tag titles.
Tracy, on the other hand, really hasn’t gotten that. He’s this guy who we know is really good but never wins enough to break out of the midcard. This would have done that for him. It would have also meant that he had just beaten both tag champs in singles competition, which you could use to justify him getting a title shot… but he’d need a partner first, so he goes to someone- the natural choice being Yehi and asks him to be his partner, but Yehi wants a Pure Title shot in exchange, and now you’ve got two titles matches booked for two different shows to buy you time to build up more challengers.

what kinda bothers me with this is that Gresham should lose the title to anyone that was in the tournament in order to validate that he is INDEED the best of them all. But that means that they would need to bring in someone credible, new, and that would be getting a push out of the box, and I doubt they will. Either that, or let Gresham keep the title for a long time, enough for us to really think and see that Hot Sauce has actually improved his game.

[Big Red Machine]

ROH PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT FINAL: Jonathan Gresham vs. Tracy Williams- 6.5/10
Ian mistakenly cited CM Punk as a for ROH Pure Champion.
I marked out so hard when they wound up on the floor and just kept going for basic stuff like hip-tosses. They told a fine story with Tracy once again getting his opponent to use all of his rope-breaks, but this time Gresham was able to pull out the win.
I’m not sure how much I like the booking here. Yes, it does delay a potential Lethal vs. Gresham rematch, but I think them being tag champs does that for you. This was a big moment for Gresham, but in some ways he already got that big moment first when he beat Lethal and then again when they won the tag titles.
Tracy, on the other hand, really hasn’t gotten that. He’s this guy who we know is really good but never wins enough to break out of the midcard. This would have done that for him. It would have also meant that he had just beaten both tag champs in singles competition, which you could use to justify him getting a title shot… but he’d need a partner first, so he goes to someone- the natural choice being Yehi and asks him to be his partner, but Yehi wants a Pure Title shot in exchange, and now you’ve got two titles matches booked for two different shows to buy you time to build up more challengers.

what kinda bothers me with this is that Gresham should lose the title to anyone that was in the tournament in order to validate that he is INDEED the best of them all. But that means that they would need to bring in someone credible, new, and that would be getting a push out of the box, and I doubt they will. Either that, or let Gresham keep the title for a long time, enough for us to really think and see that Hot Sauce has actually improved his game.

Yeah.
I was thinking they could maybe by time not just with the Lethal match but by using a guy like John Walters (who had been booked for the cancelled Past vs. Present for some continuity with the belt before doing the Lethal match. I'm not totally sure who the guy would be that could be brought in to beat Gresham eventually. The one name that popped into my head was Tim Donst, but I don't know how much he has been wrestling over the past few years since he came back from that kidney injury.
Also, Chris Dickinson would be an interesting person for a Pure division. He and Jaka would also be fine additions to the main roster, both as singles guys and in a tag feud.

[cero2k]

Yeah.
I was thinking they could maybe by time not just with the Lethal match but by using a guy like John Walters (who had been booked for the cancelled Past vs. Present for some continuity with the belt before doing the Lethal match. I'm not totally sure who the guy would be that could be brought in to beat Gresham eventually. The one name that popped into my head was Tim Donst, but I don't know how much he has been wrestling over the past few years since he came back from that kidney injury.
Also, Chris Dickinson would be an interesting person for a Pure division. He and Jaka would also be fine additions to the main roster, both as singles guys and in a tag feud.

Dirty daddy would be interesting, could be a great thing they could do with the title before trying cheating heels and such, just go for a powerhouse that doesn't rely on submission or rope breaks or anything of the such, just a wrecking ball of a wrestler that could take down Gresham.

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah.
I was thinking they could maybe by time not just with the Lethal match but by using a guy like John Walters (who had been booked for the cancelled Past vs. Present for some continuity with the belt before doing the Lethal match. I'm not totally sure who the guy would be that could be brought in to beat Gresham eventually. The one name that popped into my head was Tim Donst, but I don't know how much he has been wrestling over the past few years since he came back from that kidney injury.
Also, Chris Dickinson would be an interesting person for a Pure division. He and Jaka would also be fine additions to the main roster, both as singles guys and in a tag feud.

Dirty daddy would be interesting, could be a great thing they could do with the title before trying cheating heels and such, just go for a powerhouse that doesn't rely on submission or rope breaks or anything of the such, just a wrecking ball of a wrestler that could take down Gresham.

I was actually thinking of him more as the hot-head who has to avoid getting DQed.