ROH TV Episode 35: The Goddess Suffers Her First Loss
Another week, another ROH episode. We are officially eight weeks away from Final Battle and this could shape up to be one of the best ROH shows this year. Sadly, we do not have any championship matches on this episode, but we do have a fun women’s tornado tag, a three-way tag team match, and great wrestling as we see every week. With all of that out of the way let’s review episode 35!
Angelico Promo: Angelico says that he and Kingston are good friends and he does not want this title match to hurt their friendship. He says that he crossed the line of what he did to Serpentico a couple of weeks ago and now he has a vengeance. He says he is ready for his championship match and he is waiting on Kingston to give him the time and place.
Angelico vs Metalik: Great way to start the episode. I am going to assume this will be the ROH World Championship match at Final Battle, and ROH is doing a great job building up Angelico for that match-up. The match with Metalik was fun and fast-paced and both men looked great!
Winner: Angelico
Kyle Fletcher Promo: Fletcher says that even though he has lost in his matches with Omega and Danielson the major thing he took away is that he is 24 years old and he has his whole career ahead of him. He says that they barely beat him and the next time he faces them it will be a different outcome.
The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo) vs Terrence and Terrell Hughes: Devon’s sons have made their way to ROH! Sadly this was a squash… sigh. The worst part was the commentary team hyped up the Hughes brothers so much and they lost in less than a minute.
Winners: The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo)
Maria Kanellis Promo: Kanellis says that they are going to win their match tonight and now they have a goal to win the ROH Tag Team Championship. Leyla Hersch interrupts and says that Kanellis should be happy she lost to Athena. Kanellis said all she wanted was help, Hersch says that in the beginning she was tough on her but now she is considering help from Kanellis. Kanellis says to have her help she needs to earn it.
Anthony Henry vs Dalton Castle: Dalton Castle is one of the most entertaining things on ROH TV right now. He knows how to get the crowd in the palm of his hands, a skill few wrestlers can possess. This match was a lot better than I expected and it showed that Henry can go as a singles competitor as well as a tag team competitor. Castle was able to get the crowd into the whole match as he looks to raise the ratings for ROH TV, can he be the one to dethrone Samoa Joe?
Winner: Dalton Castle
Mark Sterling, Tony Nese, and Josh Woods Promo: Sterling says that both of his talents are on a roll and he is celebrating. Ethan Page interrupts and says that he called the number on the business card and no one has answered him. Page wants Sterling’s advice, but Nese says he is moving on to big and better things. Page says that he cheated and it wasn’t fair. Woods tells him to move along and Sterling lays down the challenge for next week between him and Page and says after next week they will be done with Ethan Page.
Tornado Tag Team Match: Mercedes Martinez and Diamante vs Athena and Billie Starkz: The commentary team was very quick to point out the fact that Starkz was wearing all black in this match compared to her usual rainbow gear. This match was fantastic, it was hard-hitting right off the bat and these four women went all over the place. The program these four are putting on has been one of the most enjoyable parts of ROH TV and they proved that in this match. Athena gets her first loss in ROH TV as Starkz takes the pin. Athena will not be happy about this one.
Winners: Diamante and Mercedes Martinez
Kyle Fletcher vs Willie Mack: When it was first announced that Mark Davis was injured I did not exactly know what they were going to do with Fletcher, but they have proved me wrong in every way. Fletcher has been on Dynamite, Rampage, Collision, and ROH almost every single week proving that he is the future of professional wrestling. I would love to see Willie Mack on TV every week as he is just so talented. The match was great Fletcher keeps racking up win after win on ROH TV.
Winner: Kyle Fletcher
Athena Promo: Athena starts screaming at Starkz saying that she cost her first loss in ROH. She says that Starkz sucks and if it wasn’t for Athena she’d be losing every week on Dynamite. Now she has to defend her title against Martinez who at this point should be retired. She screams Starkz sucks and she walks away as Starkz starts crying in Lexy Nair’s arms.
Slim J vs Gringo Loco vs Blake Christian vs Gravity: This match was straight-fire. Honestly, you couldn’t even blink during this match because the action was going by so fast. If we had a TV Champion that would show up on the show I would say any of these four can be next in line for a shot at that title, we have not seen Joe in so long. Gravity however picks up the win, go watch this one it’s fun.
Winner: Gravity
Leyla Hersch vs Nyxx:
Another squash… sigh.
Winner: Leyla Hersch
Darius Martin vs Lee Moriarty:
This match was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. Shane Taylor helped Moriarty get the win, as Moriarty would not let go of his submission move. Action Andretti came out with a chair to make a save for his tag team partner. Future tag match incoming?
Winner: Lee Moriarty
Rachael Ellering vs Robyn Renegade: I love Rachael, the interesting thing about this is that she had an entrance song and a titan tron. That makes me wonder if we are going to see her more on ROH TV. The match was okay, nothing special but I am confused as to what we are doing with the Renegade Twins. They keep on losing every week with little to no direction. Ellering gets the big win here, like I said do not be surprised if she is signed to a tier three deal.
Winner: Rachael Ellering
Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun) vs Iron Savages (Bronson and Boulder ) vs Cole Karter and Griff Garrison: The main event was two minutes and forty-two seconds… sigh. Please stop doing this Ring of Honor.
Winners: Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun)
Overall: In all honesty, I liked this week’s episode. I think we are building some strong feuds heading into Final Battle as well as some smaller feuds to get us through TV such as Woods Nese and Page. I did not like that for the second week in a row we had a main event that was under five minutes long. Please do better ROH.
ROH TV Episode 35 is streaming now on watchroh.com
ROH TV Episode 36: Our Champion is Suspended
Since the women’s title match is the main event of this episode I have high hopes that the match will be more than five minutes, which is such an improvement from the last two weeks! There is a lot of action in this week’s episode and even though we may not have a lot of storylines our wrestling is top-notch. So let’s see what we have in store this week.
Stokley Hathaway Promo: Hathaway says that Kingston is suspended for threatening to beat up Hathaway and threatening his life. Hathaway says if he tries to touch him again he is fired. He then tells us to enjoy the show…
Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal vs The Righteous (Dutch and Vincent): This match was a lot longer than I thought it would be. The Righteous mostly dominated this match-up as they were looking to climb up the ranks to get another shot at the ROH Tag Team Championships. I still do not understand why we are constantly putting Daniels in matches if we are trying to build up younger talent on the roster, but maybe that is just me.
Winners: The Righteous (Dutch and Vincent)
Ethan Page Promo: Page says he is still upset about what happened between him and Tony Nese. He says the old Ethan Page would cheat in his match tonight, but he has vowed to turn over a new leaf in ROH. He hopes Nese is watching closely so he knows what is going to come his way in the future. He says if it was not for Nese he would be standing here with the ROH World title. He says even though he is upset he is still excited for his match tonight.
Robyn Renegade vs Leyla Hersch: Both Renegade Twins are in singles action tonight! That’s exciting. Quick match Hersch gets the win. After the match, Charlette beats up Hersch when Rachael Ellering comes and makes the save! Hersch pushed Ellering away while exiting the ring, but that is certainly interesting please give me this team!!
Winner: Leyla Hersch
Lee Moriarty vs Darius Martin: A rematch from last week, with Shane Taylor banned from ringside. These two truly are the future of the wrestling business. I would not be shocked by this time next year if either one of these two are champion. This was a true back-and-forth match and either man could have won. Martin gets the win he should have gotten last week since Taylor was not involved. Very impressed fantastic match.
Winner: Darius Martin
Josh Woods vs Ethan Page: Mark Sterling’s crew outsmarted Page again. Sterling had the ref distracted while Nese got involved in the match. This helped Woods take advantage and pin Page for the win. Page was not happy about being outsmarted yet again. Before everyone got involved this was a great match. I say it every week, Page has come into his own in ROH I hope he is the one to beat Eddie Kingston for the title.
Winner: Josh Woods
*ROH showed a highlight video of the Mongol Embassy regaining the six-man championships. Congratulations to them.*
Silm J vs Gringo Loco vs Metalik vs Angelico: Do not blink while you are watching this match, you may miss something. All four of these wrestlers are a great addition to the ROH roster as they are showing out every week. Angelico picks up the huge win as he heads into his title match with Kingston sometime down the line. Serpentico comes out to celebrate with his friend
Sonjay Dutt Promo: Dutt says that 20 years ago he met his best friend Jay Lethal and Eddie Kingston. He says that they are two very different people as Kingston is a garbage wrestler while Lethal is a class act. Hathaway interrupts and says he agrees with everything Dutt has said. They celebrate Jeff’s win and Dutt asks when Jay’s title match is. Hathaway says his assistant will email Dutt as Dutt chases Hathaway back to his office.
Rachael Ellering vs LMK: I can’t say this was a squash LMK got some offense in throughout the match. Ellering got the win in a dominant performance.
Winner: Rachael Ellering
The Wingmen (Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth) vs Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) vs The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo) vs Iron Savages (Bronson and Boulder): Throughout everyone’s entrance, the Wingemen were trying to cut a promo but sadly kept getting interrupted by the rest of the tag teams. This match was must longer than our tag team main events that we have seen over the last two weeks and that was delightful to see. The Wingmen shined in this match, I do hope we see more of them throughout the next coming weeks on ROH TV. The crowd also really got into this match, probably the match the crowd got into the most on this episode. Just like the last two weeks, Gates of Agony got the win, and they are now 3-0 in ROH Tag Team Competition.
Winners: Gates of Agony
*Next, they showed a highlight video of Mark Briscoe returning to TV on last week’s Rampage episode. I was there for that live, The crowd was so excited to see him and glad to see him healthy again just in time for ROH’s biggest show of the year*
Nick Comoroto vs Action Andretti vs Lee Johnson: It was on this episode that I found out that Comoroto does not have a titantron for his entrance. Very shocking turn of events. Shane Taylor was watching this match from the back, it looks like he is continuing to scout out Johnson to join Shane Taylor Promotions. Andretti gets the win by pinning Comoroto as Shane Taylor is frustrated by the outcome of the match. This match was fine nothing special.
Winner: Action Andretti
Charlette Renegade vs Kiera Hogan: Both Renegade Twins saw a lot of offense in both of their matches on this episode of ROH. Hogan was trying to get the crowd into this match, but unfortunately, they were not invested. Hogan gets the win.
Winner: Kiera Hogan
Leyla Hersch Promo: Ellering checks in on Hersch and she replies who are you? Hersch says she has had a bad day and the last thing she needed was someone getting involved in her match. Ellering says the reason she got involved was because the person who was supposed to be out there was not. Hersch says even though Maria was not there for her on this episode does not mean she will not be there for her in the future. Ellering continues to say the only reason she got involved was because she thought it was the honorable thing to do. Hersch screams it wasn’t as she storms away.
The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake and Anthony Henry), Cole Karter, and Griff Garrison vs Gravity, Dalton Castle, and The Boys (Brandon and Brent Tate): If you have been following my ROH reviews for a while you know how much I love multi-man tag team matches…Gravity had a peacock mask on in honor of him teaming with Dalton Castle and The Boys, that was wonderful to see. Castle is honestly the most entertaining part of ROH every week. You can tell he is having so much fun and he loves what he is doing. Castle, The Boys, and Gravity get the win in a highly entertaining eight-man tag team match.
Winners: Dalton Castle, Gravity, and The Boys (Brent and Brandon Tate)
ROH Women’s Championship: Athena vs Mercedes Martinez: As Athena was making her entrance she kept looking for Starkz to join her, but she did not come out. This is how you plant seeds in a feud. This match was much better than their Final Battle match last year. Both of these women went to the outside and took it to each other. It also helps that they have been building this feud on ROH TV for the last month. Near the end of the match, there were a lot of close calls, including Athena taking a shot to the head with the exposed turnbuckle and she still kicked out at two. The match ends with a hooded figure hitting Mercedes in the face with the Women’s Championship. The hooded figure is revealed to be Billie Starkz! It looks like she has finally graduated Minion in Training!
Winner: “And Still” Athena
Overall: There were way too many multi-person matches on this episode. I understand we are trying to get more people on the ROH weekly episodes, but this is not how you do it. I also do not understand how we went weeks without bringing up the Board of Directors and now we are bringing them up only in this Eddie Kingston storyline. Also, it was heartbreaking to see the crowd size for this episode was only a couple hundred people surrounding ringside. Oh well, until next week.
