After two weeks of steady work, I am almost through the 9 and a half hours in this anthology, with only four more matches left to review. Three of them are tag affairs, prominently featuring the Young Bucks and the Briscoes, two of the greatest duos in ROH history, and we'll end this journey off with the revival of the Pure Championship, the finals of a fantastic tournament that put the promotion back on the map while under the specter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Modern day ROH may not have the big names and cutting edge appeal that it possessed during it's early days, but the promotion is still capable of producing some of the best damn wrestling on the planet when it tries, so hopefully, this long trek throughout 19 years of history ends with a bang today.
- We start this run of three tag matches with a highly anticipated clash of generations at Supercard of Honor 11, as Jeff and Matt Hardy, in the midst of their eclectic "Broken" phase, defend the ROH tag titles in a "Ladder Wars" match against the Young Bucks. Obviously, expecting the Hardys to be able to keep pace with the insane workrate of the Bucks, especially with both Jeff and Matt approaching or past the age of 40, would be silly, and this match ably demonstrates how much wear and tear the Hardys have gone through over the years, as Matt and Nick Jackson are forced to slow way down to ensure the action looks competitive. But although the Hardys may not be able to put on an absolute showcase in the ring anymore, they can still bump, and this match is stuffed full of carnage, with broken tables and ladders strewn all around ringside by the finish. The Young Bucks create most of the highlights, just like the Hardys used to do in the TLC matches of decades past, with Nick Jackson taking flight for two jaw-dropping table spots, putting Jeff Hardy through some wood with a 450 splash and a springboard swanton off the top rope. Matt Jackson takes more of the serious punishment, going through a ladder thanks to an inverted wheelbarrow toss by the Hardys, before later taking the biggest bump of the match, going off a ladder through an assortment of tables. All things considered, it's only right that the torch gets passed on this night, with Jeff and Matt getting beaten out by the end, thwarted from retaining their titles after a couple well-timed superkicks, as the Young Bucks are truly solidified as best duo in the business. This match only really flirted with classic status, and was realistically about as good as you could get out of Jeff and Matt as this stage of their careers in a non-cinematic setting. It was excellent as yet another showcase for just how entertaining the Bucks can be, especially when ladders are involved, and the post-match promo when the Hardys put over the Jacksons as the best they had ever faced briefly lit the internet on fire as to what the future would hold for Jeff and Matt, leading to an ear-splitting ovation when they returned to the WWE one night later at WrestleMania 33.
- Ring of Honor would go fully national in late 2018, when Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks, spurred on by a tweet from Dave Meltzer, would put together a supercard involving stars from across America, Mexico, and Japan, naming the event All In. This created a fundamental shift in power in the professional wrestling scene here in the States, with Cody and the Bucks eventually leaving ROH to form All Elite Wrestling, providing genuine competition to the WWE's monopoly for the first time since the heyday of WCW. At Best in the World 2018, just a few months prior to All In, the Young Bucks put on one of their last true classics in Ring of Honor, failing to take the tag titles away from the Briscoes in the semi main event of the show. This follows the old school formula of tag matches, with the Briscoes in control throughout, isolating a Buck and holding off hot tags, but these two teams are able to execute that fatigued match structure to perfection. I loved the intensity and aggressiveness displayed by Jay and Mark, who can sell absolute bitterness better than just about any other team. You can truly buy into the pure hatred they have for the Bucks, and it makes it even better when Matt and Nick string together their brief spurts of offense. But the Briscoes batter their way through the Bucks on this night, introducing a chair into the proceedings and attacking referee Paul Turner to ensure pure chaos. Matt Jackson, who had been an absolute workhorse in this match, gets a huge pop for kicking out of a J-Driller on the chair, a stunning near fall, but that only delays the inevitable, as the Briscoes flatten him with a Redneck Boogie (combined powerbomb/neckbreaker) off the top rope, an emphatic finish to an awesome match. These two teams meshed perfectly, I absolutely recommend checking this one out.
- Our third and final tag match for this post comes from ROH's Manhattan Mayhem 2019, where the Guerrillas of Destiny, the two battering rams of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, defend the ROH tag belts against the Briscoes in a Street Fight. These four men have figured out the secret to making a hardcore match convincing in front of a more jaded modern audience; just use the weapons like you're actually trying to kill each other, and hopefully everyone can still stand afterward. There are some wicked chair and kendo stick shots in this match, as you can tell that nothing is being held back here. Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa largely have the upper hand in this brawling format, and provide the biggest highlight of the match when Loa slams Jay Briscoe through Mark and a table with a hellacious powerbomb. The GOD nearly win it with a Magic Killer onto a bed of chairs, and the match crescendos in a bit of a weird spot, where Mark Briscoe starts climbing a ladder for seemingly no reason. It does lead to a thrilling leap from Mark, off the ladder to drive Tama Tonga through a table with a Doomsday Device-esque diving clothesline, which seals the victory for "Dem Boys". No gorgeous sequences of offense or graceful dives will be found in this one, but if you like four big men throwing chairs at each other, this is your jam.
- This trek through Ring of Honor's history finally concludes with the finale of their tournament to crown a new Pure Champion, which ran from August through to October in 2020, contested on ROH's weekly TV show from their "bubble" in the UMBC Events Center. Pandemic wrestling is weird to get used to after watching so many of these matches take place in front of fervent and boisterous crowds, but this tournament proved to be an excellent fit for the reserved atmosphere, as it led to increased attention to crisp in-ring work. The finals of the tournament are between "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, who I don't know a ton about, and Jonathan Gresham, the tag partner of Jay Lethal. Gresham is a fantastic technician, I love the ferocity with which he fights for holds, and he sells the overwhelming power of the bigger Williams brilliantly in this match, collapsing in a heap while taking vicious chops to the chest. Though I did enjoy Gresham's performance, the match on the whole was extremely disappointing, as it's clear that these two men don't have much chemistry, as their chain wrestling and mat work was too slow and it felt obvious that they were struggling to get from spot to spot. They do build up some drama near the finish, with Gresham seemingly in trouble after utilizing his third rope break to save himself after a vicious piledriver. From out of nowhere, Gresham gets in his trademark Octopus Stretch, and Williams taps quickly, a bit of a deflating ending. I would've liked to see Gresham is more peril without the aid of the ropes, just to really draw out the tension and make the finish a little more cathartic, but oh well, at least the right man won.
So that's it, I've now reviewed 19 classic Ring of Honor matches, and while that was no means the only 19 matches worth watching in their history, I think that's going to be it for me for a little while, I need to do something different. Luckily, I have an intriguing idea for what to do next while waiting for the AEW archive to make it's way to Bleacher Report, I think you might like. Let's just say that what comes next for this blog might be a little.....magical. Grab your broomsticks and Latin textbooks, ladies and gentlemen. I'll see you soon.
- Henry
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