Ring of Honor has a new intro.
Quinn McKay welcomes us to ROH TV and breaks down the ROH semi finals for the Pure Championship.
We see “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams advance last week. He cuts a promo backstage saying that he missed wrestling, missed ROH, and puts over his opponent Rust Taylor. He says Taylor was just the beginning. He acknowledges his past with his next opponent, Fred Yehi.
We see the final moments of PJ Black versus Tony Deppen, which Black won via pinfall. Backstage, Black says he loves that people only get three rope breaks, because he has a 1,000 submissions that no one has ever seen, so three won’t be enough. Black puts over Deppen as someone he shouldn’t have blown off so easily.
We get a video package for Jay Lethal and his journey into the Pure tournament so far. We see David Finlay’s victory as well. Their match begins next.
Semi-Final Match: Jay Lethal vs. David Finlay
Code of Honor is adhered to. The commentating team breaks down the rules of the Pure title.
Finlay immediately takes Lethal down, but Lethal manages to roll him up into a submission. Finlay escapes. After leap frogging each other, Finlay hiptosses Lethal outside of the ring. Lethal stalls on the outside before rolling back in. Back in the ring, Lethal knocks Finlay outside the ring with an enziguri. Lethal goes for a Suicide dive, but stops himself just before leaving the ring. Finlay runs off. Lethal checks on his knee while Finlay waits on the outside, Lethal signals that he’s fine and Finlay re-enters the ring.
They lock up. Lethal hits a hiptoss and then a dropkick to Finlay’s face. We cut to commercial.
Back from break, Finlay tries a piledriver, but Lethal flips him over. Finlay goes to attack, but Lethal pops up with the Lethal Combination. Unfortunately, Lethal’s knee is tweaked and he remains down as well. Lethal slowly goes for a pin, but Finlay kicks out at 2 thanks to having so much time to recover. Lethal picks him up and slams him back down. Finlay ducks Lethal and spears him to the mat. Finlay applies a leglock that puts pressure on Lethal’s bad knee. Lethal is screaming in pain while Finlay yells for him to just give up. Lethal makes it to the rope, and he’s used his first rope break of the match.
Lethal counters an attack from Finlay and sends him to the outside. Lethal goes for his second suicide dive now and nails it. Finlay rolls into the ring and lays down. Lethal goes off the top rope for the Heil To The King Elbow Drop, but Finlay gets a foot up. Lethal scouts it and stops being connecting. Finlay gets to his feet, but Lethal comes off the ropes with the Lethal Injection for the win.
Winner and Advancing: Jay Lethal
Both men shake hands in a show of respect. We go to commercial.
-Back from break, Vincent is in the ring. He says that even though ROH is going through some changes, he still brings chaos. He calls himself the face of Ring of Horror. He tells everyone to look into his eyes, and listen to what he’s saying. He says that if you want to be successful in ROH, you have to have friends. But if you want to be even more successful, you need to make enemies.
The lights go out and we get an anonymous vignette for Matt Taven. The camera cuts back to Vince and Taven is behind him. He knocks him down and starts pummeling him. Taven uncovers the mat and hits a running knee into Vincent’s face. Taven drags him to the exposed wood. Taven tells him that he made him do this. Taven plants him with a reverse DDT into the wood. He says he’s not even done yet.
Outside the ring, Taven sets up a table. Taven says he’d never forget what he did to him, the face plants him into the turnbuckle. Taven lays him out on the table. Taven climbs up the turnbuckle and flies off with a frogsplash that sends them both through the table. Taven reminds him that this is just the beginning.
-We get another vignette for EC3.
-We see video package for Jonathan Gresham and Matt Sydal.
Semi-Final Match: Jonathan Gresham vs. Matt Sydal
This time, Jonathan Gresham made his entrance with the ROH World Tag Team title.
Code of honor is adhered to.
Gresham has the control to start the match. Gresham rolls Sydal around. He applies an ankle lock on Sydal on his injured foot. Sydal is able to escape after a few different submissions and applies his own leglock. Gresham escapes.
They trade submissions. Gresham applies a submission that flips Sydal into the ropes. The referee breaks up the hold but does not consider it a rope break. We go to break.
Back from break, Sydal nails a spinning heel kick. Sydal nails chops to the chest repeatedly. The announcer lets us know that 10 minutes have passed. Sydal hits a spinning kick and goes for a pin. Gresham kicks out. Sydal locks in a chokehold that won him the first round, but Gresham fights it off. Sydal trips him, then hits a standing moonsault. Sydal goes for a pin, but Gresham reverses it into his own pin. Sydal escapes.
Gresham chops Sydal in the chest, but it doesn’t seem to phase him. Sydal knocks him down. He reapplies that chokehold, but Gresham fights it off once again. Gresham nails a backpack stunner out of nowhere, springs to his feet, and nails an enziguri. Gresham rolls him up, but Sydal flips over and rolls him up. They repeat twice until both men escape. Gresham locks in a submission and Sydal has nowhere to go. Gresham extends it with a surfboard maneuver. Sydal taps.
Winner and Advancing: Jonathan Gresham
They shake hands.
-We get one more vignette for EC3 as the show goes off the air.
