BRM Reviews the 1/29/2021 ROH

[Big Red Machine]

Right off the bat, they explained to us why this Joe Keys fellow is getting a title shot even though he isn’t ranked. ROH Dojo trainer (and ROH Pure Champion) Jonathan Gresham wanted to reward one of his students, so he set up a gauntlet match which aired on YouTube, and asked the Board of Directors that the winner be allowed to challenge for his title, and they agreed. Fine. That all makes sense. Just… tell me that when you announce the match so that it doesn’t feel like you already forgot your own rules and are pulling this out of your ass a week later to save face.

JOE KEYS VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- decent
Keys was good here, but the way this was cut together made the changes in his emotion feel very abrupt. He dedicated this match to his original trainer, The Bruiser, who died from Leukemia a few months ago. He was also complementary of Gresham as someone who really believes in his students.

JONATHAN GRESHAM VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- very good

ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Jonathan Gresham(c) vs. Joe Keys- 6.5/10
Dak Draper did guest commentary for this match. I zoned out so I didn’t actually hear much of what he said, but he did emphasize that he was “undefeated” in Pure Rules matches. The announcers pointed out hat he was just 1-0.
Keys worked the midsection and got Gresham in rope-break trouble. Gresham worked the arm and got the clean win.

MATT TAVEN VISITS MICHAEL BENNETT AS HE IS GETTING HIS INJURED ANKLE TAPED UP- good
Taven tries to give Bennet an out and tell him he doesn’t have to wrestle injured and says he feels bad that Bennett was attacked for supporting him. Bennett insists that he is good to go. I would have liked an explanation for why the camera was there.

DANHAUSEN PROMO- terrible
He’s a delusional comedy goof loser dork who outright says that he only wants to be a wrestler so he can be rich and famous and then wants to take over the world. He also tells us that he is evil. Why would ROH hire this man?

BRIAN JOHNSON PROMO- GREAT!
He hates Danhausen for logical reasons that all thinking beings of any species should hate Danhausen for. He did a great job of being dislikable, even to someone like me who hates Danhausen (because I am a thinking being). I’m still going to root for him because I hate Danhausen, but Johnson did a good job making sure that I won’t get behind him afterwards.
Apparently the Brian Johnson vs. Dorkhausen match they had advertised for this week’s TV show will be airing next week on YouTube. Well… at least l don’t have to see Danhausen wrestle on my TV.

BOUNCERS PROMO- passable

OGK PROMO- good
This was a much better version of the segment they did in the trainer’s room.

THE BOUNCERS vs. THE OGK (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett)- 6.5/10
The story here was Bennett’s injured ankle, which he sold extremely well. I loved that instead of the usual “injured body part is worked over,” they sold the injury by having it be so debilitating that Bennett spent most of the match sitting on the corner and Taven had to do most of the work. Given that situation, I probably would have used the injured ankle as an excuse to give the Bouncers a big win, but ROH gave the win to Taven instead.
There was also a bit of a thing where Beer City Bruiser had to convince Brian Milonas to not take it so easy on Bennett, who he broke in with.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- decent
The Righteous came out, even though Taven and Vincent aren’t allowed to be in the same place. Yes, there was security warning him to stay back, but it still felt like a clear violation of the rules as they had been set out. Vincent tried to convince the Bouncers to attack the OGK, arguing that BCB needed someone to give him direction, and that Milonas should have Taven and Bennett for not trying to get him into ROH sooner, considering that they’ve all know each other for a long time.
After Vincent left, Bruiser did decide to turn, hitting Taven with a Beer Bottle and laying Bennett out with his finisher. Milonas was shocked, and he went to check on the OGK while Bruiser walked out.
I’m meh on this. I don’t see the Bouncers as anything more than an undercard team, but I also don’t see them contributing much as the third man in either of these factions, and even less as singles competitors.



This was an okay episode of ROH. Stuff is moving along at an okay pace. Not knowing when the next big show is makes it hard to evaluate pace, but I have the little inkling that something about ROH’s pace is off. I’m hoping to be able to flesh that thought out more as I catch up on February’s TV shows.