Ring of Honor Review - December 7, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mike Bennett def. Vincent by Disqualification

Given that this was Bennett's first bout back in Ring of Honor in almost exactly five years (his last match was at Final Battle in December 2015), this was very good. Bennett and Matt Taven have been involved in a grudge feud with Vincent and Bateman for a while now and this was effective progression of that storyline. They were given an ample amount of time, brought the intensity, and the disqualification finish made sense to protect both guys. I'm fine with that as long as ROH doesn't do it too often because Jay Briscoe recently got disqualified against EC3. The tag team match between Taven and Bennet and The Righteous at Final Battle was officially announced at the end of the show.

Tracy Williams def. John Walters in a Pure Rules Match

I hate to sound like a broken record, but those pre-match interviews with Williams and Walters were excellent. Williams established that he hasn't forgotten about Walters (the third-ever ROH Pure Champion) and that Walters lost the title to Jay Lethal 15 years ago, the same man Williams recently defeated in the ROH Pure Championship Tournament. Walters then ran down his history with the promotion and why he felt he was a threat to Williams. These two are similar in many ways and thus it was no surprise that this was an incredibly well-wrestled and hard-hitting affair. Walters didn't miss a step and looked credible in defeat. I'm wondering if this was just a one-off for him or if he's back for another run, which I would be in full favor of coming off the performance he had here. On a side note, Flip Gordon sat in on commentary for this, as he is set to challenge Gordon for the ROH Pure title at Final Battle.

Overall Show

All things considered, this was a pretty newsworthy edition of ROH TV. Mike Bennett had his first match back and it was solid stuff. John Walters also returned and looked terrific in the main event against Williams. Additionally, there was a very well-produced video package hinting at Rhett Titus joining The Foundation (I couldn't care less about the guy but I'm willing to give it a chance) and Mark Briscoe announcing that his partner at Final Battle will PCO when they compete for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Random, yes, but it's better than PCO being back in the world title mix. By the way, Rush vs. Brody King for the ROH World Championship is now official for the event as well. Next week, Briscoe and PCO take on The Bouncers while Flip Gordon battles Josh "The Goods" Woods. This was an above-average episode and that's saying something given how great the product has been since its relaunch.