The new era in ROH being taped before Collision started, goodbye Orlando you were good to us. There are 13 matches on this week’s episode and a woman’s Chicago Street Fight for the first time ever. Let’s dive in!
Samoa Joe Gets Presented a New Title: We kick off tonight’s episode at Collision, where Joe is presented as a new Television Champion after holding the title for over a year. Hathaway steals Lynn’s title, saying this was all his idea, and gives it to Joe. Joe says he is honored and he is ready to beat down anyone that steps in his way. I still hate the Board of Directors, but it was nice to see the new title is pretty.
Butcher, Blade, Kip Sabin, & Serpentico vs Komander, El Hijo Del Vikingo, & The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix): Multi-man matches in the first match, hooray. This match flowed really nicely and there were bodies flying everywhere. Not sure what is next for our tag team champions since they have been in multi-man matches or singles matches over the last couple of weeks. Also, keep Vikingo around, he is so good.
Winners: Komander, El Hijo Del Vikingo, & The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix)
Gringo Loco vs Willie Mack: Loco picks up his first win in ROH! This match was awesome. Mack is someone that you can not mess with on the ROH roster as he is producing very good matches every single time he is on TV. Loco has also shown out a lot in recent weeks so to finally see him pick up a big win in front of his hometown was really cool to see.
Winner: Gringo Loco
Trish Adora vs Allysin Kay: This is a repeat match from two years ago in the ROH Women’s Championship Tournament where Adora also got the win over Kay. ROH has been building up Adora nicely over the last couple of weeks as she has been gaining a lot of wins. If Hogan is not the one to re-challenge Athena at Death Before Dishonor, do not be surprised if Adora is the one to get a shot at the gold.
Winner: Trish Adora
Silas Young vs Kyle Fletcher: Fletcher is now 4-0 in singles competition as Young is still looking for a win in this new era of ROH. Fletcher pulled out a new fancy finisher to put Young away, the crowd was really into this and it also got a lot of time. Fletcher seems to be making a name for himself as a singles star, his United Empire friends should be proud.
Winner: Kyle Fletcher
Trenton Storm, ASJ, & Luke Kurtis vs The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun, & Toa Liona): No one is beating the Embassy anytime soon, They squashed these three men as they are looking more dominant than ever. Whoever is the next team to challenge these three, good luck!
Winners: The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun, & Toa Liona)
Dalton Castle vs Josh Woods: This match got a lot of time and was the best Woods has looked since the new era of ROH started. Castle and Woods had good chemistry and there were multiple points throughout the match where it looked like Woods was going to get the upset victory over Castle. In true Castle fashion, he was able to get the job done and get a huge win.
Winner: Dalton Castle
The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) vs The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean): As much as I love the integration of social media in wrestling feuds, I would have loved to see the interactions with both teams and Hathaway on last week’s ROH episode. This is how you make storylines, and for those very few people who do not have social media and did not see these videos until this episode, it’s unfortunate. The interesting thing about this match is not only the fact the Infantry won their first match, but Trish Adora came out to even out the odds against Maria. Does this mean she will possibly be stepping back into the ring?
Winners: The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean)
Blake Christian & Matt Sydal vs Lee Moriarty & Big Bill: Honestly, this match was way too long. Although Christian and Sydal do make a very entertaining team, this match merely lasted 12-15 minutes when it did not have to be. Sydal also continues his losing streak as of late as Big Bill picks up the win here!
Winners: Big Bill & Lee Moriarty
Kingdom Promo:Matt Taven calls Hathaway a liar and says that what happened in their match was not honorable. Bennett says that Hathaway and he were close friends and he seemed to forget everything, and he will now go to Jerry Lynn and say he loved ECW so they get everything they want. Maria ends the promo by saying she gave Adora her first opportunity in ROH and she will make sure she will get her last. Looks like we may be getting Maria back in the ring after all!
Davey Bang & August Matthews vs Alex Reynolds & John Silver: Negative One has made his ROH debut! How exciting! The Dark Order win in quick fashion as they are looking to gain momentum after losing Stu Grayson a couple of weeks ago. Dark Order looking good in ROH!
Winners: Alex Reynolds & John Silver
The Righteous Promo: Dutch is happy with the Dark Order’s win and Grayson says that the Dark Order will never bleed for him like The Righteous would bleed for him. Vincent is loving the new aggression in the Dark Order, but he wants to see more next week. Reynolds and Silver continue to beat down their opponents to show their new aggression.
Diamante Promo: Diamante does not want to concern herself with the baddies, so Sterling comes in and offers to split the winning purse if the match does not happen. Diamante refuses and says she will win the match herself and get 100% of the earnings herself.
Diamante vs Leila Grey: Welcome to ROH Leila Grey! Diamante fools Grey in the beginning and claims she will lie down where she quickly kicks out at one. Grey has definitely come into her own now that Jade has gone on vacation after losing at Double or Nothing. Sterling continued to get involved and that led Grey to pick up the victory. The number one baddie gets her very first victory within ROH!
Winner: Leila Grey
AR Fox, Action Andretti, & Darius Martin vs Shane Taylor and The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry): This was another match that went a little long in my opinion, but the right team won. Andretti, Martin, and Fox have been very successful on all AEW programming and it seems that Tony Khan sees a lot in all three of them. This may be the team to defeat the Embassy after all.
Winners: AR Fox, Action Andretti, & Darius Martin
Leila Grey Promo: Grey and Sterling say Grey won fair and square and she is the baddest person within ROH. Diamante says that this wasn’t fair and she challenges Grey to another match, where Grey assures Diamante that she will be victorious again.
Pure Rules Rocky Romero vs Daniel Garcia: This is all leading toward the Pure Championship match between Garcia and Shibata next month in Trenton. Garcia has been showing out as of late, and I expect him to have another strong showing this weekend at Forbidden Door. This was brutal, as both men used both of their rope breaks and the match went halfway through the 20-minute time limit. After the match was over Garcia goes to beat down Romero when Cassidy comes out to save the day.
Winner: Daniel Garcia
Chicago Street Fight ROH Women’s Championship: Athena vs Kiera Hogan: This match was good but it also had its moments where it was rough (Hogan not breaking the table on the first try). Both women used every weapon imaginable from tables, ladders, trash cans, and kendo sticks. Of course any no dq match has to have thumbtacks involved so to see that here was also exciting. Athena moves to 27-0 in a historic way to end this episode.
Winner: “And Still” Athena
Athena Promo: Athena wants her appreciation after being 27-0 and being the most dominant ROH Women’s Champion of all time. She claims she is done with Kiera Hogan and wants all the women to recognize how great Athena truly is. Athena closes the show by saying step up or close out… interesting.
Overall: Now that these tapings are not in Orlando, you would think they would be shorter. Some of the matches were a lot longer than they needed to be and towards the end of the show, you can tell the crowd was getting tired. Although the wrestling never fails to disappoint, I do think you need to shorten the length of the show.
ROH TV Episode 17 can be streamed on Honor Club.
