The final first round match in this tournament has arrived, and the field of sixteen will shrink to eight.
Tony Deppen is making his ROH debut finally, something which was only a matter of time. He is coming to win, and his influences run deep in the history books of ROH, pulling from guys like Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson & Kyle O’Reilly. Anyone who has seen him wrestle for Game Changer Wrestling knows just how good he is between those ropes, and how unsettling he can be at times.
His opponent is PJ Black (known to most as Justin Gabriel from his WWE days) has seen and done it all in his 23 years in professional wrestling. He’s trained with everyone from wrestlers and MMA fighters to shamans & witch doctors. PJ Black is a unique individual mentally, and in the ring he’s as deadly as they come. He’s a high flyer, he’s a hard striker, and he’s deadly on the mat, and has forgotten more about wrestling than Deppen has learned.
PJ Black Starts This One Off Hot
Code of Honor was adhered too, and Black would take Deppen to the mat with a wrist lock, before he’d break out and grab the legs, only to end up a headlock. He’d shove Black off, who’d come back with a shoulder tackle, and lock Deppen right back up. Black was showing how good of a pure wrestler he is, showing Deppen that he had a flawed picture. Deppen would get Black moving, before eating a kick to the face .Black would back off, and Deppen took advantage of this.
He’d ground Black, and force him to use a rope break after an STF attempt. Deppen was sent to the apron, Black would go after him and slip to the outside, with Deppen joining him only to eat a superkick. Back in the ring, Black came off the top rope with an axe handle, before going for an arm submission on the mat. Deppen got out and back to his feet, only to be dropped with a lariat.
A back suplex from PJ Black dropped Deppen, and the arm would be wrenched as he was trapped in the middle of the ring, before the arm would be stomped into the mat. Deppen would get back up and take refuge in the corner, before Black ran in with a stinger splash. He’d springboard right into a dropkick from Deppen, who finally would take some control in this match.
Tony Deppen Goes Nuts
Deppen would throw some hard strikes at Black, including a kick to the knees and a running double knee strike in the corner, getting a near fall. He’d take his time continuing the attack on Black, going for a double stomp off the top rope and missing. Black came back with a kick to the head, and won the resulting exchange of strikes.
Deppen came back with a headbutt, and applied the modified STF in the middle of the ring, forcing Black to crawl to the ropes for his second rope break of the match. Black went outside to catch his breath, and got wiped out with a flipping senton through the middle ropes. Deppen sent him back into the ring and nailed the double foot stomp off the top rope, getting a two count.
Black would come back with a pump handle cutter, before Deppen kicked out at one. A move similar to Will Ospreys Stormbreaker would follow, and Deppen kicked out at two. Black stayed focused and went for a third big move, planting Deppen on his neck with a Crucifix Driver to win this match.
This puts Black in the ring with Josh Woods for round two. Will the Dare-Wolf go all the way to the finals? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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