Ecks Files: Dates Set For First Two Survival Of The Fittest Matches; Allysin Kay Guests On ROHStrong Podcast

Ecks Files: Dates Set For First Two Survival Of The Fittest Matches; Allysin Kay Guests On ROHStrong Podcast

May 29, 2021

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By Kevin Eck

The dates are set for the first two Survival of the Fittest matches.

The tournament kicks off on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” the weekend of June 5 with a match between former MexiSquad partners Flamita and Rey Horus. Then on “ROH Week By Week” on Tuesday, June 8, Sledge faces “The Mecca” Brian Johnson.

As revealed on “ROH Week By Week” this past Tuesday, the other matchups are as follows:

* Eli Isom vs. Dak Draper
* Bandido vs. Bateman
* Chris Dickinson vs. O’Shay Edwards
* Danhausen vs. Rhett Titus

The winners of the six bouts will meet in an elimination match to determine the overall winner, who will be rewarded with a future shot at the ROH World Championship.

The participants in the tournament have never held the ROH World Title and are not currently in the ROH World Title rankings.

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Allysin Kay was my guest on the latest episode of the “ROHStrong Podcast,” which drops Monday morning on ROHWrestling.com and most podcast platforms.

The multi-time former world champion talked about competing in the ROH Women’s World Title Tournament this summer; how the pandemic has affected her career; her health scare a few years ago that had her contemplating retirement; her history with frenemy Mia Yim; creating original online content, and much more.

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I don’t want to take anything away from ROH World Tag Team Champions Tracy Williams and Titus of The Foundation, but I can’t help but think The OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) would’ve won the belts from them on last weekend’s episode of “Ring of Honor Wrestling” had The Righteous not attacked Taven’s ankle backstage before the match.

Taven put on a gritty performance and he’ll never make excuses, but it’s asking a lot to defeat a team as good as Williams and Titus while dealing with such a painful injury.

Taven, who is rehabbing his ankle, has issued a challenge to Vincent or any other member of The Righteous.

As for Williams and Titus, they praised Taven for his toughness and said they know they’ll see OGK again down the road.

The champions also announced that the ROH Board of Directors has granted their request that all of their title defenses going forward be contested under Pure rules.

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Fred Yehi scored one of the biggest wins of his career when he knocked off highly decorated veteran Rocky Romero in a Pure Rules match last weekend. Yehi is now the No. 1 contender for Jonathan Gresham’s ROH Pure Title.

Yehi doesn’t have much time to enjoy the victory, however. He faces World Famous CB in a Pure Rules match on the next “ROH Week By Week,” which premieres this Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern.

WFCB, ranked No. 4 in the Pure Title division, is coming off an impressive win over Wheeler Yuta.

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Did you catch Dickinson’s match against Eric Martin on “ROH Week By Week?” If you blinked you missed it.

The Violence Unlimited star needed just 18 seconds to defeat Martin by submission with a kneebar. 

Martin has a bright future, but the ROH Dojo member just doesn’t have the experience yet to be a serious threat to a beast such as Dickinson.

Dickinson is going to be a tough out in Survival of the Fittest.

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Speaking of guys with bright futures, I loved what I saw from Edwards and Sledge in their ua-violent third encounter, which aired exclusively on YouTube. 

The two powerhouses beat the hell out of each other for nearly 20 minutes in a no-disqualification, no-countout match before Edwards ultimately prevailed.

On a side note, color analyst Caprice Coleman had a great line during the match. When Sledge laid a groggy Edwards on four chairs and prepared to hit a moonsault off the barricade, Coleman said: “O’Shay has the worst seat in the house.”

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This weekend’s episode of “Ring of Honor Wrestling” is headlined by a huge eight-man tag match between The Foundation (Jay Lethal, Gresham, Williams and Titus) and Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Tony Deppen, Homicide and Dickinson).

Also on the show, Joe Keys and LSG — who were the co-winners of the rankings battle royal a couple weeks ago — will square off. The winner earns the right to be ranked in either the Pure division or World Television Title division.

As first announced in last week’s Eck’s Files, a Pure Rules match between former tag team partners Silas Young and Josh Woods is the main event on ROH TV the weekend of June 5.

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The HonorClub members presale for the Best in the World pay-per-view at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena (previously known as UMBC Event Center) in Baltimore ends this Monday at midnight. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, June 7 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

In addition to getting the first opportunity to purchase tickets for ROH’s first show in front of a live crowd in nearly a year and a half, HonorClub members also receive a discount of $10 per ticket.

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Until next time, keep safe and stay #ROHStrong!

Kevin Eck is a veteran pro wrestling journalist who has worked for The Baltimore Sun, WWE and WCW before joining ROHWrestling.com. Eck’s Files appears every Friday.

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