We are back in Orlando for these tapings which is amazing. There is something more electric about having the Orlando crowd rather than the crowd before Dynamite. This article is a combination of both ROH TV Episodes 11 & 12, so we have a lot to cover. Let’s get into it.
ROH Episode 11 Review: Skye’s The Limit 5/11/23:
Shane Taylor vs Mark Briscoe: When Shane Taylor said at the beginning of this match, “I am going to kick your ass just like I kicked your brother’s ass,” you knew this was going to be a fight. This is the first time these two have wrestled against each other and this was the perfect way to open up this episode of ROH. This was a great back-and-forth match and either one of these men could have picked up the win. In the end, Briscoe gets the win and he calls out Samoa Joe for a future ROH TV Championship match. Winner: Mark Briscoe
Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli vs Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus: This match took a lot of time, which compared to recent weeks where there were a bunch of short matches, was nice to see. Although Williams and Titus have been on a very long losing streak in this ROH they make a good addition to the roster and had a great showing in this match. BCC gets the win. Winners: Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli
ROH Television Championship: Samoa Joe vs Blake Christian: This was a very dominant showing by Joe. He continues to prove that he is one of the most dominant Television Champions in ROH history. Joe is approaching 400 days as champion as he grows closer to Jay Lethal’s 700+ day reign. Winner: “And Still” Samoa Joe
Mark Sterling Promo: Sterling says the Dark Order is the biggest problem in the ROH locker room. He claims they are affecting his varsity athletes and brags about how his team is better than the Dark Order.
The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) vs The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch):The Righteous make their in-ring return in this episode! How exciting they even did the code of honor, which was even more shocking. Stu Grayson pays back the mind games the Righteous has played with him the last couple of weeks and stood on the ramp and watched their match. The Righteous pick up the win as both of them and Stu Grayson have a staredown as we still await Grayson’s intentions. Winners: The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)
Promo Package: The Kingdom vs Action Andretti & Darius Martin – The hype package they did for this match was amazing. The video featured everything you needed to know about this feud and also honed in on the fact that The Kingdom were the veterans in this match compared to Martin and Andretti who are newer to the ROH game. This match will take place next week in a fight without honor match.
Vertvixen vs Robyn Renegade: Vertvixen had a great showing in her ROH debut. She has made her name known within AEW over the last couple of months so seeing her get the time to shine in singles competition was cool to see. Renegade gets her first win in ROH! Winner: Robyn Renegade
Gates of Agony Promo: Prince Nana says that the Boys are not worthy of competition and they will easily win. Dalton comes in saying they beat up one of the boys and now he is covered in bruises, and Nana swears they did no such thing. Castle says they are going to have to pay for what they did.
Ninja Mack vs Willie Mack: Battle of the Macks! This is the first time we have seen Ninja Mack in ROH since Supercard of Honor last year. This was a fun match. These two knew exactly what they needed to do to entertain a crowd. This could have been anyone’s match as this was a great back-and-forth that got plenty of time. In the end, Willie Mack gets the win. Winner: Willie Mack
Adam Priest, Victor Benjamin & Lucky Ali vs The Embassy (Brian Cage, Tao Liona, & Kaun): Cage looks to keep his winning streak going in this match as he has been the most dominant singles competitor on ROH TV in recent weeks. The Embassy continues to prove why they are the six-man champions as they easily win this match. Winners: The Embassy (Brian Cage, Toa Liona, & Kaun)
Tony Deppen vs Kyle Fletcher: Fletcher made his presence known this past week on Dynamite, didn’t he? Aussie Open has been very dominant over the last couple of months and has had a strong presence on AEW programming as well. Deppen is another one of those competitors that although having a losing streak over the last couple of weeks continues to prove himself as a great singles competitor. He always has amazing matches and can deliver in any circumstance. Fletcher continues his dominant 2023 by picking up the W. Winner: Kyle Fletcher
Anthony Henry vs AR Fox: Fox is such a fan favorite and a talented individual, this was a great singing for AEW. This match was great. Henry proved himself in this match and Fox is just great at everything. There were plenty of moments where it seemed like Henry was going to get the win, but Fox is superior. Winner: AR Fox
After the match Henry, JD Drake, and Shane Taylor beat down AR Fox. FTR comes out to make the save for Fox. FTR and Fox are left standing tall. As Eddie Kingston makes sure that Henry delivers a shatter machine before he goes back to the locker room.
Sonny Kiss Slim J Jeeves Kay & Josh Woods vs The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Stu Grayson, & Evil Uno): More multi-man matches that are more than six people go extremely well, said no one ever. This match was fine and truly all about what was going to happen at the end of the match more so than what was going to happen during the match. As Dark Order was celebrating their win Grayson stood on the outside confused, he was going to join the Righteous. Winners: Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Stu Grayson, & Evil Uno)
ROH Women’s Championship: Athena vs Skye Blue: The match I have been wanting for the past month! This was by far Blue’s best match in AEW and a fantastic match overall. They went all around the arena, used steel stairs, and it was a valiant effort by Blue to attempt to dethrone the most dominant ROH Women’s Champion. Although she did not win the title she proved why she is the future of ROH. Go watch this one, these two killed it. Winner: “And Still” Athena
Overall: Compared to recent weeks, this episode was really good. The matches flew by and a lot of the matches made sense. Being back in Orlando just seems more fitting for ROH. The crowd is more into the matches and the episodes flow a lot better. Keep doing this TK!
ROH Episode 12: Fight Without Honor 5/18/23:
Backstage Interview with Ninja Mack and Willie Mack: Willie Mack says that he has been impressed with Ninja Mack and the crowd was behind them in their match last week. He asks Ninja if he would be open to being a tag team down the line and he agrees. The Mack Attack is back folks.
Gringo Loco vs Rey Fenix: Gringo Loco is back and he showed out as always! Loco and Fenix had a rivalry on the indies for some time before the Lucha Bros signed to AEW so these two are no strangers to each other. This was the perfect opening for this episode because the crowd was so into this match. These two went back and forth and it could have been anyone’s game. Unfortunately, Loco continues his losing streak as one-half of the ROH Tag Team Champions picks up the W to kick us off in action on this episode. Winner: Rey Fenix
Wingmen Interview: Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth say that they are going to teach the Iron Savages a lesson and show that they are going to be a tag team to reckon with in ROH.
Madi Wrenkowski vs Willow Nightingale: Madi Wrenkowski made her ROH debut! This was very deserving as she has had a tremendous couple of years on the independent scene. Wrenkowski also got a lot of offense in this match, but in the end, the babe with the power continued her winning streak within ROH. Winner: Willow Nightingale
Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth vs Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson): This match got a lot more time than I thought it was going to get. Avalon and Nemeth had an extremely good showing here as they were able to hold their own against a team that has a large size advantage. Iron Savages continue their winning streak of 2-0 in ROH competition. Winners: Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson)
Cole Karter & Zack Clayton vs Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels: Nice to see the former ROH Tag Team Champions in competition in the year 2023. Sydal and Daniels have really good chemistry and they are an excellent tag team. This episode is very geared towards the future of the ROH Tag Team division, so don’t be shocked if ROH uses Sydal and Daniels in that division in the future. Winners: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
Lady Frost vs Miranda Alize: These two are the future of the ROH Women’s Division. Alize was in the finals of the ROH Women’s Championship Tournament in 2021, and Lady Frost has an impressive resume on the independent scene. The Lucha Baddie puts up an impressive fight, but at the end of the day, Lady Frost picks up the win. Don’t be surprised if you see that Lady Frost has signed with ROH in the near future. They seem to like her a lot. Winner: Lady Frost
Angelico & Serpentico vs Eli Isom & Cheeseburger: Angelico and Serpentico have been gaining a lot of momentum as a tag team in recent weeks. ROH is the perfect place for them because now they can be used more often as one of the perks of ROH is giving more people on the AEW an opportunity to wrestle. They get the win over Isom and Cheeseburger. Winners: Angelico & Serpentico
New Japan Pro Wrestling Television Championship: AR Fox vs Zack Sabre Jr: AR Fox is due some singles gold in ROH because he keeps delivering every single week. He took Sabre to his limit as he almost made it all the way to the 15-minute time limit. The interesting thing about Sabre is if AEW plans to keep him around for Forbidden Door and All In as these are two shows that need a big name. Maybe we will get the Bryan Danielson Zack Sabre JR match after all. Winner: “And Still” Zack Sabre Jr.
After the match, Sabre Jr says that he has made the TV championship what it is today and he is the most successful TV champion in wrestling today. Samoa Joe interrupts him and says that there can only be one TV champion in ROH and calls out Sabre for a match when Daniels and Sydal interrupt them. Daniels says that he has been a TV Champion in the past, but he wants Sydal to get an opportunity at singles gold. Sydal agrees and calls both of them out and Sabre makes a tag team match for next week. Sydal and Daniels vs Joe and Sabre, if Sydal and Daniels win they get a TV title shot down the line, and after the tag team matches Joe and Sabre will have their one on one match to prove who the best TV champion in wrestling is.
Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) vs Brandon Tate & Dalton Castle: This is the first week in a long time where we do not see Brian Cage competing in some form or fashion, interesting. There was controversy at the end of this match because the Gates of Agony pinned Tate when Castle was the legal man. This feud is not over between all four of these men plus Brian Cage and Brent Tate. Winners: Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona)
Schaff, Ricky Gibson, & Eddie Pearl vs Shane Taylor, JD Drake, and Anthony Henry: This was a quick match to put over the new trio of Taylor, Drake, and Henry. If ROH needs a new trio team to eventually take the titles off of The Embassy, this might be your team right here. Winners: Shane Taylor, JD Drake, & Anthony Henry
The Righteous Interview: Vincent and Dutch say that Stu Grayson is inspiring and that the Dark Order is holding him back. As Evil Uno goes to defend Grayson he says that no one speaks for him and the Righteous have one chance to prove themselves to Stu and how this partnership can be a good thing. The Dark Order is left stunned as they can’t believe Grayson might be leaving them.
Ashley D’Amboise vs Mercedes Martinez: Welcome back, Mercedes Martinez! Martinez has been injured for a while and now she is trying to build herself back up to a future ROH Women’s Championship match. D’Amboise has been rather impressive on ROH over the last couple of weeks as she gave Martinez a fight in this match. Unfortunately, the veteran gets the win here as she climbs back up the ranks in the women’s division. Winner: Mercedes Martinez
“Fight Without Honor”: The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) vs Action Andretti & Darius Martin: I had heard great things about this match since it was taped and man this was delivered. There was every type of weapon you can think of in this match, from tables and ladders to chairs and trash cans. This stipulation was the perfect way to end this feud because it has gone back and forth for so long. Maria helping out in any way possible before Mike accidentally knocked her out was a nice touch. The young ones get the win and prove there may be a new kingdom in ROH. Winners: Action Andretti & Darius Martin
Overall: The tapings in Orlando are better paced. Matches were a lot longer and did not feel rushed like in weeks past. This episode was heavily focused on the tag team division, so it seems as if that is what ROH wants to focus on as we are heading toward the next pay-per-view during the summer.
ROH TV Episode 11&12 is streaming now on Honor Club.
