Ring of Honor TV Episode #493 2/27/2021

Ring of Honor TV Episode #493 2/27/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/ring-of-honor-tv-episode-492-2192021.html

As always, ROH gets released and airs on different days depending on where you watch it. So don't go by dates, just episode counts. 

They did a nice little package on Taylor vs Rush with an old school voiceover. 

Rush and crew are talking in the back. Rush says the same thing will happen to Taylor tonight like it will anyone else. They said they will humiliate him and Bestia showed a chair. Kenny King walked in and basically said they didn't have to use any cheap tactics because he has a good history with Taylor. Rush said this is all about humiliation and they told King to "think".

Quinn McKay then welcomed us to the show like usual. She ran down the card.

Dragon Lee and King talked. Lee said his faction is the true foundation and faction. He said all that matters though is that he and King win the tag titles tonight. King says this is his house.

Lethal and Gresham do a promo. He said its great that they beat the Briscoes, but that was the easy part. He said this is under Pure Rules tonight and they are going to have to wrestle. Gresham said the world is watching and said they won't out-wrestle them.

ROH Tag Team Titles - Pure Rules - The Foundation (Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal) vs Dragon Lee and Kenny King with Amy Rose

King and Lee don't want to shake but end up doing a crappy fist bump. Gresham does a nice roll to evade a hammerlock reversal. Lee uses a ropebreak early and they do a nice armdrag sequence. Jay and King wrestle on the mat a little and King uses a second rope break. Then him and Lee strut outside. Lee uses a closed fist and gets a warning then he topes Jay as we go to break.

King gets sat on the top then is dragon screw leg whipped off of it at 11:15. Gresham and Lee trade forearms. King accidentally enzugiri's his own partner in the corner. Lee gets rolled up and King breaks it, which burns their last rope break. Lee hits a tombstone variation onto Gresham for 2. Lee does a flyinh knee to the back of Gresham's head and that burns a rope break. Lethal tries to dive on King on the outside but nails Rose instead. Lee then uses a closed fist to knock out Gresham and win while the ref's back was turned. 

Thoughts: They didn't do that much here for the 14 minutes they had and this match was mostly about Lee and King exploiting the Pure Rules.

Shane Taylor does a promo. He said he likes to talk about politics and people like him aren't supposed to be in ROH.

Ring of Honor World Title - Rush (c) vs Shane Taylor

Todd yells at both early to break up a collar and elbow tie-up. Taylor standing spinebusters Rush. Rush gets thrown into the barricades and takes a very hard forearm. Shane bridges Rush off the apron and ddt's him to the floor. We come back from break and Rush hits a dropkick and throwns Shane into the barricades. Then he slams the barricade door on him.

Rush and Todd Sinclair argue outside and Rush throws Shane hard into the barricade. Rush finds some cables under the ring and Todd tells him to "knock it off". Rush then whips him with the cables. I applaud the announcers for explaining that Todd didn't want to DQ Rush because then Shane will basically get screwed even if he wins.

Rush is pretty much squashing Shane at this point. We go to break and come back and Taylor is mounting a comeback with chops. shane knees him then Rush hits a jumping knee. Shane hits a nice lariat and gets bounced off the ropes into a german. Shane gets hung up on the middle rope and Rush legdrops him. Shane tries to pull himself up on the ropes but then is double stomped by Rush off the second rope.

They trade forearms and chest chop each other. they both fall down and then trade forearms and Shane hits chest headbutts. Shane then package piledrivers him for 1. Rush belly to belly suplexes Shane into the buckles. Rush stomps Shane's face in the corner and Todd tries to make himn stop but Rush nails Todd down. Bestia del Ring then brings a chair down. rush goes to use it but King jumps int othe ring from the commentary booth and stops him. They argue about it. King tries to hit Rush with a chair but Rush ducks and he nails Taylor. King then basically says that he meant to do it and Rush face dropkicks Shane in the corner to win.

Thoughts: I wasn't a fan of this one. Shane didn't get much offense in and Rush's offense wasn't that interesting. Shane oversold and I'm not into seeing shenanigans with interference and ref bumps, especially in ROH which is usually above that.

Shane reaches for King after as he yells over top of him and slaps him.

Overall thoughts: Wasn't a fan of this one. Both matches had shenanigans in them and neither were that interesting.