Another good week of ROH TV with the Pure Tournament in full swing. Here are some more thoughts on that and the outlook of ROH.

Fred Yehi vs Silas Young: Very good match and perhaps my favorite. Silas and Yehi are a good pairing. Both big guys were ready to put on a beating. I think the physicality of the bout is what got me over Romero and Finlay. Still the Finlay backbreaker and brainbuster to knee still was great. I think Fred Yehi would be a great permanent addition to ROH. I'm going to try and catch this on the re-braodcast if I can. I can see them having Fred vs Hot Sauce in Round #2. 

Kenny King vs Josh Woods: Woods is I guy that I like but, does need some polishing still. Nevertheless Kenny & he have a good match. The finish wasn't exactly as I envisioned it. It did put the Pure Rules to good use and was clever in doing so. Fantastic neckbreaker suplex thing off the top rope. It has to be one of the more spectacular moves of the tournament thus far. 

Another thing of note, I believe ROH has changed their opening title video. I only caught a little bit but, I was glad to see that. This whole tournment really should be about Ring of Honor changing their direction even if that is going back to what made them the best wrestling company in the States. I really value the athletic combat sport presentation that this Pure Tournament has. I frankly think it should spread to the company as a whole. The empty seats plays up to that aesthetic as well. This is sport for the sake of sport. In that regard, ROH has the best fanless show amongst those I've watched during the pandemic (Smackdown & Impact). They are using the interviews to really build the matches up beforehand and disregarding unnecessary gimmickery. Same with the post match interviews we see (on the following week's show). ROH TV really has a good formula going and I hope sticks to it. Its a fantastic use of an hour. I've been watching Impact and while the matches are pretty good there's a lot of goofy fluff that doesn't really need to be there because they're trying to fill 2 hours of TV. They could really learn a lesson with what ROH is doing. But perhaps that's just my preference...

I think I also really enjoy that this Pure Tournament is in a bubble from the rest of the promotion. That thought came about when they showed Rush and Dragon Lee during Kenny King's interview. That stuff just looked so out of place from what the last few weeks has been. So, I'm glad its been in a bubble. I was not really psyched on where 2020 Ring of Honor was headed. And I think the whole 'lucha thing' in ROH doesn't really work for me. I made pretty clear my opinion of Rush as World Champ last post. Dragon Lee as TV champ is OK but, really neither guy needs to the belts to help them get over. Los Ingobernables doesn't need to "hold all of the belts" to get over. I, as a long time ROH fan, don't see either guy as an ROH wrestler OR Los Ingobernales as an ROH faction trying to run the company or anything. They aren't Generation Next, The Embassy, The Prophecy, Age of the Fall, or even The Kingdom. They are just blue chippers brought in to drum up interest in ROH. I think that is the case with all of the lucha guys like Bandido & Flamita...is Rey Horus there too? They don't need storylines or belts. Just put them in TV matches with guys that you do want to build the company around. You'll get exciting live & TV matches and that's all the fans want out of them. Have them win some-lose some matches in the tag & six man division. Do some flips, do some dives and we'll be happy. 

The wrestlers in the Pure Title Tournament is the bulk talent that ROH should be using to push their company along in all regards. Hopefully that is WHY we are seeing them here (and not just dumb luck). Haskins should be in that picture as well as Taven & Scurll (not sure what's going on with him as ROH's roster page is not updated as it shows Alex Shelley and Jeff Cobb still with them).  Having Sydal in that mix as well as Yehi, I could see ROH doing something good. I'm going to be honest the guys that I care about in ROH, the guys whose matches I want to see, the guys that put on good athletic matches, that tell good stories in the ring or have characters that I can love or hate are the guys I've mentioned. Lethal, Gresham, Castle, Sydal, Yehi, Silas, Kenny King, Hot Sauce, Haskins, Taven, Scurll are those guys I want to see rep ROH. You've got the Briscoes in the tag division which is where Dragon Lee and Rush should be having great matches with them. Shane Taylor should be TV champ duking it out with Brody King, PJ Black, Flip Gordon some of the lucha guys now and again. Josh Woods is a good guy to put in this division. Then, you've got the 6 man which should kinda be the waiting area for the tag division where you've got the lucha guys, Vinny's crew with Bateman, you can form a group around PCO there, visiting CMLL guys etc. But at the core of the promotion should be the World Title and the Pure Title and the guys who are constantly in the hunt for one of those two belts. Those are guys who every TV episode should feature. Those are the guys stories that should be told week in and week out. They've only got one hour a week to tell it so, why not keep it simple? Make it about wins & losses. Make it about being the best...about being the champion...

Thanks for reading!