The ROH Women’s World Championship tournament finalists are set

ROH has whittled the Women’s World Championship tournament down to the finalists as two new stars are on the rise. Let’s hit the quarterfinals and semifinals. Be sure to check out the opening round results if you missed it.

Episode 518 of ROH Wrestling (here) featured a pair of quarterfinal tournament matchups and a luchador grudge match.

Rok-C defeated Quinn McKay. Both women were all smiles with sunshine and lollipops. Once the bell rang, the two competitors tussled on the mat. The intensity sassed up when Rok-C bowed after a knee drop. McKay returned the favor after a fancy bridging roll-up. The punches became a little stiffer, and the smiles turned to serious expressions after a double kip up stalemate. The turning point occurred when McKay tweaked her knee. McKay still competed hard, but she was at less than 100%. Rok-C took advantage to outsmart McKay in the end. Rok-C ran the ropes but halted her progress. McKay jumped for a leapfrog in anticipation. As she stumbled with knee pain on the landing, Rok-C pounced for the Code Red and victory at 10:14.

Miranda Alize defeated Nicole Savoy. Action spilled outside with a sliding dropkick by Alize and a suplex by Savoy on the floor. Savoy took charge with repeated knee strikes, Three Amigos with double underhook suplexes, and an armbar. Alize stacked up to escape for a crossface. Savoy came back with a Michinoku Driver. The turning point was Savoy trying to get too fancy on the ropes. The result was jumping into a thrust kick from Alize. Alize followed up with a DDT out of the corner and a Drive-by running knee to win at 13:04.

The main event saw Demonic Flamita battle Rey Horus in No DQ (highlights). Chairs were the primary object of destruction. The kill spot was a Spanish Fly by Flamita though a table. Horus managed to kick out on the cover, so Flamita ended it with a corkscrew moonsault at 12:08.

Episode 519 (here) featured the second pair of quarterfinal tournament matchups and Dragon Lee defending the ROH World Television Championship.

Angelina Love defeated Max the Impaler. Max has been an unstoppable monster since arriving in ROH. Love was completely ineffective as Max absorbed all her offense. Max smashed Love from pillar to post. Unfortunately for Max, her overzealousness to dish out pain caused a disqualification. Max locked in a sleeper hold over the ropes. Since she ignored the referee’s instruction to break, Love was declared winner at 5:53.

Trish Adora defeated Allysin Kay. Both women flowed toward submissions early on. Kay made a strategic error playing mind games when in control. Her trash-talk fired up Adora to find her second wind. At first, Kay was using Adora’s aggression against her, but Adora kept coming with no quit. Kay jumped on Adora’s back in a crucifix position to unleash hammering elbows. Adora collapsed to the mat. Kay went for a powerbomb finish, however, Adora escaped to club Kay with a running lariat for victory at 13:50.

In the main event, Dragon Lee retained the TV title against Eli Isom (highlights). Down the stretch, Isom exploded for his brainbuster finisher. Lee kicked out then turned up the heat with knee strikes and the Desnucadora driver. Isom dramatically kicked out, so Lee lowered his knee pad to thrash Isom in the face with a running knee to win at 12:25.

Episode 520 (here) featured both semifinal tournament matchups and an eight-man tag between Los Ingobernables and Shane Taylor Promotions.

Miranda Alize defeated Trish Adora. Back and forth action led to a riveting conclusion. Alize was trapped in the Cattle Mutilation submission, but she managed to keep her cool, roll through, and rise to her feet. Alize broke free then fired up for a ripcord knee strike, cutter, running knee, and a headscissors takedown into the crossface submission. Adora inched toward the ropes, so Alize reset in the center of the ring to earn the tap at 12:16.

Rok-C defeated Angelina Love. Love nursed a shoulder injury due to that beating from Max. Despite the pain, Love dominated early. Rok-C had spurts of offense only to be stifled by Love’s experience to regain control. For the climax, Love grabbed an arm, then Rok-C swiftly countered into a crossface. Love rolled through for the break. Rok-C regained top position to crank a deep armbar and win at 6:44.

The headliner was a slugfest between Los Ingobernables and Shane Taylor Promotions (highlights). Both squads brawled before the opening bell, and the action never let up. Taylor connected on a package piledriver to Dragon Lee, but Los Ingobernables pulled the referee out of the ring to prevent a three-count. That allowed Kenny King to kick Taylor in a low blow for the sneaky win at 7:28.

The tournament quarterfinals were very, very good. Three of the four matchups reminded me of the Pure tournament style, even though, they didn’t use Pure rules. The mix of known stars and young wrestlers on the rise provided for surprising results. ROH did a great job using those veterans to put over the next class coming in. Before the tournament was announced, I’d never heard of Rok-C and Max the Impaler. I was only mildly aware of Miranda Alize, Quinn McKay, and Trish Adora. All of those women put on entertaining performances to position themselves as future stars in ROH. Since the division is not very deep, their future is now.

Rok-C and Alize will meet in the tournament final with the ROH Women’s World Championship on the line at the Death Before Dishonor PPV on September 12.

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Are you excited for the final two contestants in the women’s tournament? Which wrestlers impressed you most throughout the tournament?