ROH Pure Championship tourney results: Matt Sydal vs. Delirious
The Big Takeaways:
The Pure Tournament continued with fourth generation wrestler David Finlay defeating Rocky Romero to advance while Matt Sydal submitted Delirious to move on to the second round.
Show Recap:
Quinn McKay (still great at her job) starts us off by recapping last week’s hard fought contest between Jay Lethal and Dalton Castle. They show an after match Lethal promo as he wants to claim his stake as the first ever 2x ROH Pure Champion, while running down his potential opponents next week, either Rocky Romero or David Finlay.
McKay then praised Yuta Wheeler for his amazing showcase of skills last week, followed by a Jonathan Gresham promo claiming he’s the best, he’s the man and he’ll beat anyone that’s put in front of him whether it’s Delirious or Matt Sydal.
McKay then ran down the history of Sydal and Delirious as both men had their first match in ROH together and trained together coming up.
After a commercial break, David Finlay did a promo recapping his injury history in ROH and says it’s his own time to shine and win singles gold. He claims he used to do Romero’s laundry while in the New Japan Dojo and claims he knows Romero like the back of his hand.
We then went to Romero who said he’s been wrestling for ROH for over 15 years, and that he’s gone toe-to-toe with former Pure champions before. He insulted Finlay on how green he was back in the Dojo days and the experience levels between them. He finished by saying he just has to simply outsmart Finlay.
For those new here, these are the tournament rules.
First Round: David Finlay pinned Rocky Romero (13:03)
Both guys started with a series of strong wristlocks. Finlay used his first of three rope breaks about 90 seconds in. Romero began to get some momentum by trying to work on the leg, but Finlay retaliated with a big brainbuster. Finlay then worked the neck of Romero as we went into a break.
Back from the constant, never-ending Frank Thomas commercials, Finlay and Romero traded head and neck submissions. Finlay got Romero down into a camel clutch at one point before Romero grasped the momentum back with a well-executed springboard tornado DDT. Finlay almost immediately regained his momentum by suplexing Romero into the corner and hitting his knee on the middle rope, which led into Finlay trying his new submission, a variation of a kneebar. As a result, Romero used his first rope break.
Both competitors made it back to their feet and began a slugfest. Romero got the momentum and hit a running sliced bread, which only got him a two count. Out of frustration, Romero used a closed fist which got him a warning. Romero eventually ended up locking in the Diablo armbar which cost Finlay his second rope break.
Finlay quickly popped back up and countered a sliced bread into an astonishing backbreaker followed by a Last Shot for the three count. Finlay will face Lethal in the second round.
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A video package for Matt Sydal was next. I assume this was filmed before the AEW All Out incident as he seemed in good spirits. Sydal ran down his history in wrestling and said that without Delirious, he wouldn’t even have a career. He feels obligated to win the Pure Championship and he’s going to win it for all the fans counting on him.
We then got a strange package from Delirious. He said that he is back to his former form and he’s going to do what he was always meant to do: win the ROH Pure Championship. He knows Sydal like the back of his hand, and he knows his weakness and strengths like nobody else does.
First Round: Matt Sydal submitted Delirious (9:57)
Both competitors adhered to the Code Of Honor before the bell rings. They started with a combination of different types of holds. Delirious began to work on Sydal’s right leg in an effort to ground the high-flying Sydal. The pace picked up fast with a series of Sydal running armdrags, working Delirious to the ground. Delirious worked his way back up and jumped over the top rope with Sydal’s arm in tow, straining his arm extensively.
Referee Todd Sinclair called it as Delirious’ first rope break for some reason. Delirious ignored Sinclair and continued to heavily work on Sydal’s right arm, hammering his knee into the arm repeatedly.
Following the commercial break, Delirious still had a stranglehold on Sydal’s arm. Sydal finally began to regain some momentum with some backhanded chops. Both men ran the ropes and hit double clotheslines, but immediately popped up. Sydal nailed Delirious with a great knee to the chin followed by a standing moonsault for a two count. Delirious tried to lock in a cobra clutch, but Sydal quickly fought out. Then, Delirious launched Sydal over his head. Sydal landed hard on his shoulder, but he regained his energy and transitioned to a quick cobra clutch/crossface submission, causing Delirious to submit.
With the win, Sydal moves on to face Gresham in the second round.
Overall Thoughts:
Last week’s episode was stronger, but this was still a good showing. Finlay and Romero had a great match, and I really hope Finlay becomes something big in the industry. He shouldn’t just be in tow of Juice Robinson. Romero is underappreciated as a worker, too. Delirious and Sydal was fun, too short for my liking, and I am quite excited to see Sydal and Gresham.
Next Week:
- Fred Yehi vs. Silas Young
- Kenny King vs. Josh Woods