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BALTIMORE — ROH welcomed fans back into the arena for the first time in nearly a year and a half, and Bandido made sure it was a night the people will never forget.
Bandido beat the nearly unbeatable RUSH to capture the ROH World Championship in a thrilling main event at the Best in the World pay-per-view at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
Unfortunately, the new world champion wasn’t able to properly celebrate his victory, as RUSH and fellow La Faccion Ingobernable members Kenny King and Bestia del Ring attacked Bandido after the match. Interestingly, RUSH’s brother, Dragon Lee, came to the ring with Bestia and King but did not participate in the beatdown.
RUSH’s second title reign ended at 498 days, the third-longest in ROH history (although RUSH made only two title defenses in 2020 due to the pandemic). This was just the second time RUSH had been pinned since making his ROH debut in December 2018.
Earlier in the show, Lee regained the ROH World Television Title from Violence Unlimited’s Tony Deppen. Violence Unlimited did not leave without gold, however, as Chris Dickinson and Homicide won the ROH World Tag Team Title from The Foundation’s Rhett Titus and Jonathan Gresham. Gresham was substituting for Tracy Williams, who wasn’t medically cleared to compete.
There was a surprise debut, as Chelsea Green, one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling, was welcomed to ROH by Board of Directors member Maria Kanellis-Bennett during the reveal of the ROH Women’s World Title Tournament bracket.
Green, who was wearing a cast on her left arm, said she wasn’t medically cleared to compete in the tournament but she will be watching every match and studying the competitors. Green said she will take ROH to the forefront of women’s wrestling when she’s cleared.
Here are the complete results from the action-packed, four-hour extravaganza:
Rey Horus defeated Demonic Flamita
In a battle of former MexiSquad teammates, Horus pinned Demonic Flamita after slipping out of a powerbomb attempt and rolling him up.
Demonic Flamita attacked Horus after the match.
Trending With Taven
Matt Taven called out Vincent to the ring and said he’d give Vincent what he wants. A distraught Taven said ROH isn’t big enough for both of them. He said he wanted another match with Vincent to settle the score once and for all, and if Vincent gives him the match, he’ll leave ROH regardless of the outcome.
Vincent said he doesn’t want Taven to leave ROH because that would take all the fun out of things; he said he wants the ROH World Title shot that Taven is owed. Taven agreed to put his title shot on the line.
Vincent said he wants the match to be contested inside a steel cage because Taven had him metaphorically locked in a cage when they were in The Kingdom. Taven accepted, and the match will take place at Glory By Honor Night 2 on Aug. 21 at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.
After the match was official, Taven nailed Vincent in the head with a table. The Righteous’ Bateman, Dutch and Vita Von Starr came to Vincent’s rescue. Taven briefly held his own before succumbing to the numbers game.
Dutch lawn-darted Taven into the “Trending with Taven” sign and through the ropes to the floor.
PCO & Danhausen defeated The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas w/Ken Dixon)
ROH’s oddest couple gained their first victory as a team after PCO hit a moonsault on Bruiser.
During the match, Sledge came out and stared at PCO.
Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated PJ Black & Brian Johnson
The recently reunited Briscoes scored an impressive win after Jay hit the Jay Driller on Black, and Mark followed with Froggy Bow.
EC3 defeated Flip Gordon
Gordon controlled the majority of the match by working over EC3’s knee. EC3 eventually planted Gordon with a butterfly facebuster and applied a crossface, forcing Gordon to tap out.
After the match, EC3 twice offered to shake Gordon’s hand, but Gordon slapped him. On EC3’s third attempt, Gordon spit in his face.
It was a big win for EC3, as Gordon entered the match ranked No. 3 in the World Title rankings and will face new champion Bandido in a title match at Glory By Honor Night 1 in Philadelphia on Aug. 20.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & Soldiers of Savagery’s Moses and Kaun) defeated Dalton Castle, Eli Isom & Dak Draper
Not surprisingly, the challengers did not get along, but they still gave the champions some anxious moments. In the end, Taylor hit Welcome to the Land on Draper for the win.
Josh Woods defeated Silas Young in a Last Man Standing Match
The former tag partners punished each other with tables, chairs and a ladder. With two tables set up on the floor, Woods German-suplexed his former mentor through the tables. Woods got to his feet just before the count of 10, but Young did not.
Brody King defeated Jay Lethal
Lethal hit Lethal Injection early in the match but King kicked out at one. King eventually seized the advantage and punished Lethal with heavy blows before finishing off the two-time former ROH World Champion with two Gonzo Bombs.
This was arguably the biggest win of King’s career.
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defeated Mike Bennett
Bennett did not win the title but he earned Gresham’s respect by going hold for hold with him for nearly 20 minutes. Bennett hit a powerbomb followed by a piledriver and made the cover. The referee counted to three, but then waved off the pin because he saw that Gresham’s foot was under the bottom rope.
Having dodged a bullet, Gresham caught Bennett in a leglock and forced him to tap out.
Dragon Lee defeated ROH World Television Champion Tony Deppen to win the title
These two went at each other right from the start in a hard-hitting, back-and-forth bout. Early in the match, Deppen sent Lee outside the ring and hit an awesome suicide dive into a Canadian Destroyer.
In the end, Lee lowered his knee pad and hit the Incinerator knee strike to regain the title he technically was never defeated for.
Violence Unlimited (Chris Dickinson & Homicide) defeated ROH World Tag Team Champions The Foundation (Rhett Titus & Jonathan Gresham) in a Fight Without Honor to win the title
With Williams not medically cleared to compete, Lethal was originally going to take his place in the match. However, Lethal was banged up from his match against Brody King, so Gresham replaced Lethal.
This was an all-out war, which played to the strengths of Dickinson and Homicide. Dickinson delivered a low blow to Titus and then hit a Razor’s Edge off the second rope that sent Titus crashing through a table. Then Homicide planted Gresham with the Cop Killa for the win.
Bandido defeated ROH World Champion RUSH to win the title
RUSH attacked Bandido at the opening bell and hit Bull’s Horns. He placed his foot on Bandido’s chest but removed it after a one count and signaled that he wasn’t ready to beat the challenger yet.
RUSH punished Bandido throughout the match, but Bandido continued to fight back. Bandido rallied and hit 21 Plex, but RUSH kicked out just in time. RUSH ripped off the top half of Bandido’s mask and then shoved down the referee. Bandido took advantage of RUSH’s preoccupation with the referee and rolled him up for the three count.
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