Ring of Honor Review - January 18, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Flip Gordon def. Rhett Titus in a Pure Rules Match

Both of these guys seem to be on the ascent at the moment, so this could have easily gone either way. The Pure Rules matches have turned out to be a lot of fun and this was well-worked. Titus has typically bored me in the past, but he's been a lot more interesting as a character since joining The Foundation while Gordon continues to be a loner looking for a title opportunity. I liked the finish with Gordon hitting Titus with a closed punch (which you're only allowed one of in this type of match) before hitting his finisher for victory for the victory. He was subsequently suspended from the Pure division for his antics, but as he said himself, he can always move on to a different division and chase that championship instead.

ROH World Television Champion Dragon Lee def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Rey Horas

You had to know this was going to be a great match coming in and they did not disappoint. I've missed seeing Lee on ROH TV, and between this and his title defense at Final Battle last month, he came back with a bang. Granted, I never really bought into the idea of Horus capturing the championship, but he put in a hell of an effort and had a strong showing. Meanwhile, Lee was excellent as always. This was a hot main event for ROH TV and hopefully we can see more matches like this involving Lee more often going forward.

Overall Show

I can't stress enough how effective the pre-match interviews are with the talent. It helped both bouts tremendously to hear from Gordon, Titus, Lee and Horas before to give their backstory, motivations and more. Both of the matches delivered to boot, making this a straightforward and strong show. I just wish we got the fallout from Final Battle a little sooner because that pay-per-view feels like forever ago at this point.