After nine weeks Ring of Honor TV reviews are back! There has been a lot that has changed since our last review including new champions, better storylines, and the use of more members of the AEW roster. So for the first time in nine weeks let’s review ROH TV!
ROH World Heavyweight Championship: Claudio Castagnoli vs Rocky Romero: If there is one thing that ROH has listened to me about since Death Before Dishonor is the champion being on the programming. Although there was no chance Romero was winning this match due to the heated feud between Eddie Kingston and Casatgnoli, he put up a good fight nonetheless. This was a great opener for the episode as the fans were invested from start to finish and Castagnoli proves why he is one of the most dominant ROH Champions in the history of ROH.
Winner: “And Still” Claudio Castagnoli
The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum) and Kevin Ku vs The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) and Willie Mack: The members of the Outrunners have the best names in wrestling right now and no one can disagree with me on that one. This match was a lot longer than I expected meaning that I figured this was going to be a dominant performance by The Infantry and Mack. Mack picks up the win for his team as the match ends with the three of them standing tall. Don’t sleep on the Infantry, they could be your future ROH Tag Team Champions.
Winners: The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) and Willie Mack
Ethan Page Promo: Page talks about how ROH is the perfect place for him right now. He feels as if his ego has taken advantage of him and he was only chasing the money and not the wrestling side of the business. He knows what he is capable of and he wants to prove why he is one of the best wrestlers on the roster.
Merecdes Martinez vs Zoey Lynn: This was a total squash match. Martinez recently returned earlier this year from an injury and she has been on a tear in the ROH Women’s division ever since. Nice to see her maintain some dominance since returning.
Winner: Mercedes Martinez
Matt Brannigan and Cole Radrick vs Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona): Back-to-back squash matches… Please stop doing this.
Winners: Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona)
Billie Starkz Minion Training: I love everything about the pairing between Billie Starkz and Athena. This will eventually lead to Starkz turning on Athena and taking the ROH Women’s Championship from her. Until then, Lexi serves Starkz her minion training packet, as Starkz begins to refuse to go through the training Lexi says if she doesn’t do everything on the list in a two-week span it will not be good for either one of them. Starkz gets gifted with the Minion in Training shirt and she is off to complete the training.
Christopher Daniels vs Darius Martin: As much as I do love Daniels putting over the younger talent every week maybe we should try to focus on the current ROH roster. Don’t get me wrong Daniels is extremely talented and after the match, he looked into the camera and said maybe he is the past of ROH, I just think we should focus on other members of the ROH roster who are not getting utilized as much. Nonetheless, Martin wins.
Winner: Darius Martin
Lee Johnson vs Shane Taylor: This was a battle. Johnson has been extremely underrated and I am glad that he is finally getting the shine he deserves in ROH. After the match, Lee Moriarty and Shane Taylor shook hands hinting at a partnership between the two men down the line. This match was really good as both Taylor and Johnson proved that they are two forces to be reckoned with in ROH.
Winner: Shane Taylor
Lady Frost vs Willow Nightingale: This match was really fun. Lady Frost remains to prove why she fits right in with the ROH Women’s Division and Willow proves why she is one of the best on the AEW/ROH roster. The babe with the power picks up the impressive win as she starts to move up the ranks in the ROH Women’s Division.
Winner: Willow Nightingale
Shane Taylor and Lee Moriarty Promo: Taylor talks about how Shane Taylor Promotions has been carrying ROH for three years and he is done waiting around for opportunities. He also introduces Lee Moriarty as the newest member of STP.
Josh Woods vs Dominic Garrini: I do like the difference between when Sterling is managing Woods compared to Nese. When he is managing Woods he is a lot more serious whereas in Nese he can joke around and lead a whole audience into group exercise. Even though Woods has challenged Shibata for the Pure Championship and he came up short I still believe eventually he is the one to take the title from Shibata later down the line. Woods dominated most of the match to pick up the win.
Winner: Josh Woods
Griff Garrison vs Ethan Page: Ethan Page found himself! I do think Page can really shine in ROH and become the top star we all know he can be. The interesting thing here is with Maria’s new army. Although she has been recruiting Griff Garrison for a couple of weeks she seemed to take an interest in Ethan Page. Can this be the start of a partnership between Maria and Page?
Winner: Ethan Page
The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry) vs The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate): Wow, the WorkHorsemen actually can get the job done! Another great thing that has changed since the last time I watched ROH! This match was really good and it is nice to finally see WorkHorsemen get some well-deserved wins on ROH programming.
Winners: The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry)
Griff Garrison Promo: Garrison says he feels as if he lost a step since being out of action for so long. Maria interrupts and says that maybe having some friends can help turn his luck around. Cole Karter compliments Maria’s necklace and she tells Karter to Google what having a pearl necklace means. Marias’ new army is almost off and running!
Tony Nese vs AR Fox: Always start every Tony Nese match with group exercising… Glad to see Fox back on ROH programming as since the TV series started he has been one of the main focus of the program. Nice way to end ROH with Fox picking up the win to close out the show.
Winner: AR Fox
Overall: Although there are still some things that ROH can improve on, this episode was really fun. There are now multiple storylines going on throughout the episode and they are building up talent as they should have been doing from the start. Now if only the ROH titles can be defended on ROH programming…
ROH TV Episode 29 is now streaming on Watchroh.com
30 episodes of ROH TV! Wow. We have some new champions in ROH including a new heavyweight champion and new six-man champions. Seems as if we are coming into a new era of ROH towards the end of the year. So, let’s go through episode 30!
Eddie Kingston Promo: We start the episode off with Eddie Kingston saying how he respects Claudio Castagnoli after everything he has done for the ROH Brand. He says that he respects Castagnoli and he hopes he can see that he has grown up. He dedicates his win to the second-ever ROH Champion Xavier and he goes off to celebrate his huge win with his parents.
ROH Pure Championship: Katsuyori Shibata vs Nick Wayne: Nick Wayne has such a future in AEW/ROH, so I was excited to see him get such a big opportunity to face the Pure Champion Shibata. The match was good as Wayne proved himself, but commentary made sure to state the fact that he was not used to Pure Rules matches as he used his rope breaks really quickly. Shibata retains but shows respect towards Wayne with the code of honor.
Winner: “And Still” Katsuyori Shibata
Lee Johnson Promo: Johnson says he is ready to face Lee Moriarity when he and Shane Taylor interrupt him saying that there are no hard feelings from last week when he interrupted his match. Moriarty says he is going to beat Johnson quickly in the ring tonight.
Diamante vs Catie Brite: Very happy Diamante is getting more TV time on ROH in recent weeks. This was also a total squash, but maybe this is leading to a match down the line against Athena.
Winner: Diamante
Heavy Infantry and Willie Mack Promo: The Heavy Infantry say that they are one of the hottest teams in ROH and Willie Mack is helping them remain dominant. They are ready for war and ready to take on the Mongol Embassy.
Lee Moriarty vs Lee Johnson: The battle of Lee’s! This was a great back-and-forth between both men and I would not be surprised if this leads to Lee Johnson getting placed in Shane Taylor Promotions down the line. I am also glad Lee Moriarty is able to show just how great of a wrestler he is on ROH TV every week.
Winner: Lee Moriarty
Minion Training: As a fellow minion, this was amazing. The character work Athena is doing in ROH is some of the best work in ROH at the moment. This storyline is great, please do more of these.
Trish Adora vs Mercedes Martinez: The future of the ROH Women’s division is in this match! Seems as if Trish Adora may need a friend after this match though because Martinez and Diamante had the upper hand throughout the entire match. The commentary team did a great job playing up the fact that Martinez never got her guaranteed rematch for the ROH Women’s Championship. Maybe that will be the match at Final Battle?
Winner: Mercedes Martinez
ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena vs Angelina Love: So nice to see former ROH Women’s Champion Angelina Love back into the fold. This match was playing into the minion training as Starkz was trying to help Athena win but kept distracting her instead. After a hard fought battle Athena goes 39-0 and tells Starkz to get rid of the pom poms when accompanying her to ringside.
Winner: “And Still” Athena
Maria’s Army Promo: Maria asks Griff if he is ready for their match tonight. Garrison assures Maria he will be there and that this tag team is just a trial-and-era thing to see if this is going to help him get his head back into the game after his return from injury.
Leyla Hirsch & The Renegade Twins (Charlotte and Robyn Renegade) vs Skye Blue, Willow Nightingale, & Kiera Hogan: Maria Kanellis did not look happy after this one as Leyla Hirsch was on the losing side of the ring rather than the winning side. I enjoyed Kiera Hogan coming out with a Birthday Bitch shirt as the tapings took place on her actual birthday. This match was fine, a good win for the faces in this one.
Winners: Skye Blue, Kiera Hogan, and Willow Nightingale
Tony Nese, Angelico, and Serpentico Promo: Mark Sterling says that Tony Nese wants to give opportunities to smaller athletes to be able to team with him. Nese says that if they win tonight then he will give Angelico and Serpentico free group workouts and he also tells them not to come out to the ring until he says so.
Ethan Page vs VSK: One of the other big things I am a fan of in ROH right now is the reconstruction of Ethan Page, in fact, I can eventually see him being the one down the line to defeat Eddie Kingston for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. Page wins in another fast match.
Winner: Ethan Page
El Hijo Del Vikingo, Gran Metalik & Gravity vs Tony Nese, Angelico, & Serpentico: Every time Vikingo is on TV you know that he is going to show out and prove why he is one of the best in the world. Nese tried to get everyone to do group exercises to start the match, but as usual, that did not go as planned. It seems as if Nese needs to go find new tag partners because the Spanish Announce Project did not get the job done for the true athlete.
Winners: El Hijo Del Vikingo, Gran Metalik & Gravity
Ethan Page Promo: He says he is looking for three wins in a row and he wants to be more competitive. He knows what it is like to go all the way towards a main event and lose it all. He emphasizes that ROH is the place to be and he can not wait to see what he does in the coming weeks.
Cole Karter & Griff Garrison vs Action Andretti & Darius Martin: Maria Kanellis was not having a very good night on this episode. At one point in the match, Karter had the win, but he had his feet on the rope so he could cheat to get the win. Garrison knocked his feet off the ropes and exclaimed this is ROH we do not cheat here. Andretti and Martin get the win as Kanellis and Karter look at Garrison disappointed.
Winners: Action Andretti & Darius Martin
ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships: Mogul Embassy (Kaun, Toa Liona, & Brian Cage) vs The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) and Willie Mack: This match got a lot of time, which is shocking because usually, the ROH main event is only 5-10 minutes, whereas this match was 15-20 minutes long. The Mogul Embassy has been extremely dominant on ROH TV, as this match led them to become 34-0 which is why I was even more shocked that they lost the Six Man Titles on Rampage to The Hungbucks. However, The Infantry has really grown on me, they are a great team that definitely has a future in becoming ROH Tag Team Champions down the line, just not any time soon bay bay.
Winners: “And Still” Mogul Embassy (Kaun, Toa Liona, & Brian Cage)
Overall: There were way too many backstage promos on this episode. It seemed as if every match we had a different backstage segment, and some of them were unnecessary. I personally also do not like the amount of ROH Champions we have on AEW TV. Why didn’t the Hungbucks defeat the Mogul Embassy on ROH TV? Wouldn’t that have made more sense? Oh well, until next week.
