Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Ring of Honor - 2023


Matt D

Recommended Posts

That was a great couple weeks of shows so far.  It not only has a healthy mix of squashes and competitive matches but also a mix of ROH veterans/legends and newer stars making a name for themselves.  And by keeping storyline stuff to brief backstage bits or a minute of post-match it helps keep things at a great pace.  If Dynamite or even Rampage some weeks doesn't do it for people that week this show seems like a guaranteed way to have a good time.

As for last night the more I see of Aussie Open minus Ospreay it makes me appreciate more what they bring.  That was a pretty damn fun match.  Now I can see them going for the tag belts and Sydal/Daniels are looking at it also.  But while I hate to ask I can't help but wonder what they'll eventually do with the tag belts.  Will Mark find another partner?  Will he forfeit the title?  Or will some heel team beat him in a handicap match and be the ultimate jerks (I really don't want this one to happen)  It's hard to fathom right now but once they further establish existing tag teams something will have to be done.

Oh, and it was obvious before they even started that Yuta/Thatcher and Willow/Athena would rule six ways 'til Sunday.  Man, were those a delight to watch.  And I've been on the Trish Adora train so I'm hoping the more she's on ROH TV the better chance she'll have of being a viable contender.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

But while I hate to ask I can't help but wonder what they'll eventually do with the tag belts.  

They are having a "Reach for the Sky" ladder match to determine new champions while Mark goes after the TV title.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Joe vs Deppen was a nice little sprint. Deppen could match him on strikes, could hit him from odd angles, and could make his goofy faces as Joe killed him. They went around nicely on the finish with the RNC escape. You have to put Briscoe over at the PPV but Joe can have a lot of utility as that midcard heel that can be beat and stay credible that AEW desperately needs another of.
  • I would have liked to see some spark out of C4(that's them right?) and Kross. Kross seems like a guy who should have broken through somehow and just hasn't yet. How were the 2021 Dalton vs Josh Woods matches? Those sound fun. I wouldn't mind seeing Dalton/Boys vs Woods/Nese/Davari at some point. I liked the little leg cradle on the pin after the Bangarang. Oh, iffy agenting on two missed stomps off the top in two matches in a row.
  • SAP's theme reminds me of something...and I think it's the 80s He-Man theme. Which is pretty funny. Like everything else about them. Talk about four guys who know exactly who they are and lean into it without restraint or remorse or hesitation (Well, Dralistico..). RUSH is totally willing to get mildly stooged by Angelico and Serpentico is willing to have his big comeback cut off so quickly by flying into RUSH's fist. Just fun stuff all around.
  • Starkz has made her career so far on fighting from underneath and taking beatings so her skillset is going to be selling, especially cumulative selling, especially after a hold. She's done it mostly on the indies so she's going to drop it a little as she hits stuff and hopefully she keeps working on that. But this both felt good and fresh for ROH/AEW TV. Starkz needs to keep the Bunny mask on for more of her entrance though.
  • Davari wearing matching gear with Slim J despite being rich was pretty funny, even more so when he tried to pull it off. Crist made the most of his minute.
  • Took a big break before the Pure match. I wasn't feeling the early "your hold/my hold" stuff but it settled well into the armwork. Pure title matches when both parties use the rope breaks feels like a sudden death overtime. First team to make it to the ropes to use a submission wins. That's a pretty neat approach.
  • Thought Williams looked quite good in the tag. He matched up well against Davis and then was a strong hot tag just wrecking everyone. They could team him with Thatcher (and bring in Garrini/Ku!) and that'd be a hell of an addition. The match felt like it should have ended after the big double team on Williams and it just went around two or three more rotations after that. I kind of tuned out after that. Not my thing. I would have cut five minutes off of this match. I didn't realize Fletcher was quite so young.
  • Yeah, that's as far as I'm getting for now. This is a lot of wrestling!
Edited by Matt D
  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ROHTV2023 goes 2 for 2 with another fun show. The King of Television was on point and Deppen did a nice job of showcasing him. Briscoe-Joe sounds like a hoot! Dalton Castle provided on the mic and in ring this week. Terrific promo. Nice battle with C4 and Kross. I wonder if they might consider putting the Kross-Garrison team back together when Griff’s ready to go. Kross is an outstanding hand. Very much enjoyed seeing Roosh and his brother Dralistico beat the shit out of Angelico/Serpentico. This match suggests a Roosh-Angelico singles could be a lot of fun. Trish Adora v Billie Starks was pretty solid. Adora looked a bit lost a couple times. And applied a strong then incredibly weak looking Cattle Mutilation, but there was some good stuff to suggest she could be a player. Starks is already really good, and just getting better. I suspect legendary status at some point. Nice to see Slim J on the winning side. Ari Davari is a good hand, but his character work is total cornball. Speaking of which, Man Scout’s midly amusing act might be better left on the Indies. All Heart and Metalik could prove to be a neat duo. Yuta-Thatcher was excellent, no surprise. Other than Mike Posey completely ignoring Yuta’s biting of Thatcher’s forehead. Just admonish him a little for fuck sake. Thatcher is such a nice fit for this promotion. I hope they find a way to keep him around. I suspect ‘The Wild Rhino’ Clark Connors isn’t getting a lot of mic reps at the LA Dojo. What the heck is Matt Sydal’s excuse? What a rotten promo from the wily vet. I’m hoping Daniels turns on him, and situates himself with a couple of arrogant blue chippers. Daniels as a babyface, and without a Prophetic faction, feels like a missed opportunity, but let’s just wait and see where this goes. Maybe Maria can help teach some of these boys how to work the stick? Nice promo from the First Lady and the Kingdom. The Aussies looked great here. ‘Hot Sauce’ is another good hand. Titus less so, but still good too. I loved seeing the Aussies tear into these guys with their proficient double teaming. I hope Davis and Fletcher can stick around. Let’s build to the Aussies winning the titles, and FTR coming down for a PPV to challenge them. Yeah? Can we WILL this one fellow posters? So, Serp worked twice!? His ‘Ben Dejo’ took a nice quick beating from Main Event Eddie. Very much into Claudio and the King! Lastly, Athena and Willow was as terrific as expected. I suspect the next will be even better. Willow’s theme music is fantastic! I gotta get one of those LED screen jackets. Athena’s fashion catalog is ever expanding. Also, Riccaboni and especially Caprice have been fantastic thus far. This is such a fun well paced show.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to give an idea of where Billie Starkz is in her career, she has wrestled more matches than Darby Allin, Brody King, Britt Baker, Jungle Boy, and Sammy Guevara, just to name a few 

Edited by elizium
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First two matches felt like this was going to be Paywall Dark, but the show justified itself as it went on. Less bullshit than is on his TV shows, nobody interrupting interview segments, positive changes. Still feels a lot like AEW, largely because so many of these people have been on AEW shows and they're taping out of the same soundstage with the same setup. Hope it develops more of its own identity eventually. The main event this week is definitely what I'm looking for when I have notes about the main roster women's stuff. And it wasn't the only women's match either. He's trying! 

Edited by John from Cincinnati
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel like they missed a great opportunity to sell the ROH weekly streaming show with the tag titles. Instead of a huge ladder match at the PPV, they could’ve run a tournament with 8 teams spread out over 2-3 weeks with the final match at the PPV.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, JLowe said:

I feel like they missed a great opportunity to sell the ROH weekly streaming show with the tag titles. Instead of a huge ladder match at the PPV, they could’ve run a tournament with 8 teams spread out over 2-3 weeks with the final match at the PPV.

Issue is the tapings were done in a batch so the finals would be spoiled and known ahead of time. If the ROH shows were live you'd be 100% right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/10/2023 at 10:18 AM, Octopus said:

Athena vs Willow is another Yuta vs Garcia lifetime feud I hope we see on and off revisited. Watch them grow and kill each other as rivals. 

These were my favorite two matches.  Holy fuck what a fun show.  More of this, please.  God damn.

 

I’m working hard to be “unlimited white tank tops” rich

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/10/2023 at 5:10 PM, elizium said:

Just to give an idea of where Billie Starkz is in her career, she has wrestled more matches than Darby Allin, Brody King, Britt Baker, Jungle Boy, and Sammy Guevara, just to name a few 

More matches than Jamie Hayter, too.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even more impressive when you consider she's still a fulltime high school student, and also has a part time job that's not wrestling-related.

I've watched about half of her The Life Of on IWTV. It's interesting.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I commented in the Dynamite thread how BCC isn't doing it for me because they're now just being booked as bullies and assholes and how that doesn't work if they're supposed to be faces.  Well this episode definitely put some credence to the idea that they're supposed to be heels now.  Yuta cheated to beat Thatcher and Claudio was an arrogant prick about possibly not defending against Kingston.  More real heeling, please and thanks!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

ROH TV Episode 003 Line-up:
* Eddie Kingston vs. Jeeves Kay
* Blake Christian & Gran Metalik vs. Ari Daivari & Slim J
* Madison Rayne vs. Trish Adora
* Silas Young vs. Marcus Kross
* ROH Women’s World Championship Proving Ground Match: Athena vs. Hyan
* Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd)
* Dante Martin vs. Mike Bennett
* La Faccion Ingobernable In Action
* ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships Match: The Embassy (c) (Brian Cage, Kaun, Toa Liona) vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate)
* ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Willie Mack
* ROH Pure Title: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Clark Connors

Silas Young and Marcus Kross are both total underdogs and two of my absolute favorites. Kross is a fantastic bumper. Young's a presentation tweak and a manager/mouthpiece away from being a star. Needless to say I'm stoked for this match. I'm also hoping, tho not expecting, Jeeves Kay to get a chance to showcase his talents with Kingston. This isn't going off a whole lot, but what I've seen of Jeeves (Impact and Dark) makes me think he could be a player. He has really great in ring movement and snap, like a young Cash Wheeler. Christian/Metalik-Slim J/Davari sounds like a showstealer. I love seeing Slim J getting time. Christian seems to prove everytime out what a terrific babyface he is. And I sense there's a great heel there too. Digging Metalik's showings thus far in ROH/Dark. So much of this card feels booked for my own personal entertainment. So happy Willie Mack is getting some play in TK promotions. And I think we're all falling in love with the Outrunners. Roosh 'in action' is an enhancement match to look forward to. Also, love that he was using some dirty orange extension chord on the last episode rather than the bright neon chord - 'here's the one Unmistakably for you to use Roosh') neon chord. Who's this Hyan? Hoping for an Athena squash as well. Who's the better Squash Artist - Athena or Roosh?

P.s. Dante-Bennett might end up being the best match on the show. Also, the Embassy squash on episode 1 was fucking awesome, and the best I've seen Toa/Kaun look as a team. Dalton! Castle! Clap clap clap-clap-clap!

Edited by HarryArchieGus
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Silas Young and Marcus Kross are both total underdogs and two of my absolute favorites. Kross is a fantastic bumper. Young's a presentation tweak and a manager/mouthpiece away from being a star.

I’ve said the same thing about Silas. I think him with a female like Woman coming out in an old school robe could be fantastic in the right feud. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, DEAN said:

FUCK YEAH!  Hyan was in the ROH women's tournament and is one of the best unsigned women in wrestling.  HOUSTON!

FrJZBxnWcAASWNb?format=jpg&name=large

I had to double-check and I did in fact see Hyan vs. Raychelle Rose LIVE at the free Inspire A.D. show back in December. They had the best match of the afternoon.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JLowe said:

I had to double-check and I did in fact see Hyan vs. Raychelle Rose LIVE at the free Inspire A.D. show back in December. They had the best match of the afternoon.

Raychell is equally awesome, so I hope she pops up again here too

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...