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Ring of Honor - 2023


Matt D

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Loooool Riccaboni saying Sky Blue fell “5-6 feet” from the stage while 4 foot something Athena is standing in front of it, head and shoulders over it, was something.

It was clunky in parts but overall, that main event was one hell of a match!  Check it out if you haven’t yet.  Three times now, I’ve started to write a sentence about the unfairness of Jade as secondary women’s champ when this kind of talent is relegated to the streaming-only show, but it keeps coming off negative and not constructive, so I’ll leave it.

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1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

Loooool Riccaboni saying Sky Blue fell “5-6 feet” from the stage while 4 foot something Athena is standing in front of it, head and shoulders over it, was something.

It was clunky in parts but overall, that main event was one hell of a match!  Check it out if you haven’t yet.  Three times now, I’ve started to write a sentence about the unfairness of Jade as secondary women’s champ when this kind of talent is relegated to the streaming-only show, but it keeps coming off negative and not constructive, so I’ll leave it.

I don’t want to totally defend it, but it wasn’t the bottom of her feet going from the stage to the ground, but theoretically her upper back/head falling to the ground that impacted. I’d agree if sounds like an oversell , which is counterproductive, but not just some gross over exaggeration like a crowd size or something like that. 

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Round 2

  • Embassy vs Ali/Benjamin/Priest: Ali got good hangtime on his bumps. Priest is very Benoit-y but we're almost to the point where it's a little bit fresh to have ONE guy like that, maybe? Benjamin got to show a bit but not enough to tell me anything. Got to love the "Open the Gate" which is a finisher where they use one opponent to crush another.
  • Fletcher vs Deppen: Deppen made Fletcher look huge, like an absolute young beast. I kind of want to see United Empire vs Cole/Strong now and I don't even like Cole! Deppen chipped away at him though. He's fun to watch because he's got that almost TerryFunk-ian "ants in the pants" quality of always being moving and reacting. Again, Deppen put him over big just by not being able to put him away. And then the finish was something we should see just a little more of, a kickout just a moment too late.
  • Fox vs Henry: If there is a Taylor/Workhorsemen alliance coming, I'm all for it. Lots of flip dives on this show. The 20 count put over the apron piledriver, so that was nice, and then I loved how Henry just goaded him in for the one in the ring. Fox dropping the neck selling as the match went on (even as he was rolling all around the ring on his neck!) was kind of bullshit. It's would have been one thing after the first and even the second pile driver, even if I wouldn't have loved it, but Henry kept the focus on and it felt like Fox was in real kayfabe danger of permanent damage, etc. It's also ok for him to mount a comeback, but when that comeback has him rolling around on his neck like it's nothing, that's just bad pro wrestling, sorry. Find some other way to work out a comeback or find ways to show the price of what you're doing. You lose nothing except for having to be a little more creative/thoughtful and the match becomes more impactful and meaningful. Despite everything I just said, and despite the fact I think it was just to pop the crowd and set up Eddie but I'd like to see FTR/Fox vs Shane Taylor/Workhorsemen at the next ROH PPV.
  • And out of time for now. Will hit the rest later.
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3 hours ago, evanknight said:

I don’t want to totally defend it, but it wasn’t the bottom of her feet going from the stage to the ground, but theoretically her upper back/head falling to the ground that impacted. I’d agree if sounds like an oversell , which is counterproductive, but not just some gross over exaggeration like a crowd size or something like that. 

Oh for sure.  If he’d have said it as they were walking away and the stage wasn’t in view, it would have been fine.  It was just a hilarious visual hearing that call but seeing Athena easily being way taller than that “5-6 foot” platform 😄

Also, god damn I keep confusing Anthony Henry and Kevin Blackwood.  Young white guys with weird hair color, tattoos, and similar gear.

I’m sad nobody calls Fox’s corner flip Spanish Fly the “Lo Mein Pain” anymore.

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On 5/12/2023 at 3:52 PM, Matt D said:
  • The early layout of Joe vs Christian was so good, with Christian absolutely dogged at getting back to the leg no matter how much Joe pushed him off or swatted him away. Until he made one mistake too many and Joe squashed him. I could have honestly gone for another couple of minutes here with him going back to the leg one more time for hope. As it was, they did do a clever bit with Christian dodging the catch out of the corner. Good little match

Finally got a good solid viewing in of this. What an excellent TV bout! Not long enough to make the hype train, but a little bit of perfection for what it was. Totally hit the mark, and both look better coming out of it.

On 5/13/2023 at 12:11 PM, Matt D said:
  • Fletcher vs Deppen: Deppen made Fletcher look huge, like an absolute young beast. I kind of want to see United Empire vs Cole/Strong now and I don't even like Cole! Deppen chipped away at him though. He's fun to watch because he's got that almost TerryFunk-ian "ants in the pants" quality of always being moving and reacting. Again, Deppen put him over big just by not being able to put him away. And then the finish was something we should see just a little more of, a kickout just a moment too late.

Best wishes to Tony Deppen. ROH needs his good hands back ASAP. Liked this one even better on the encore viewing. Fletcher is poised to be a huge star.

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Didn't realize we were getting a Fight WITHOUT Honor tonight! The nice little video package building it up and the commentary added to things, pointing out this was only the 13th match of it's kind. Bennett brought the blood and there were lots of wild spots and bumps. The attempted spike piledriver off the chairs was nuts, the springboard 450 not quite through the table, and the Ladder doomsday finish looked killer, plus the knockout of Maria was a nice touch.  Great big fight feel main event.

Fenix/Gringo very good opener as would be expected. Thought Madi Wrenkowski looked great against Willow for a short 3 minute match, she has some of the best expressions/reactions anywhere. Happy to see some of THE Reality Zack Clayton in ROH. 

Welcome back Mercedes Martinez! Didn't know she was coming back tonight but love to see it. Thought Ashley D'Amboise looked fantastic in there with her and almost thought there would be an upset for a moment.

Sabre/Fox was great. Loved the post-match tease of Joe/Sabre in the Battle of Television along with the setup of next week's tag match.

Frost/Alize was short and solid. Both looked good but another great showcase for Frost and her finishers. 

I guess they're sticking with Shane Taylor & The Work Horsemen as more of a regular unit. I dig them together, but still want JD Griffey to get included back into things like it was. 

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Here we go.

  • Gringo Loco vs Rey Fenix was a series of amazing spots. To their credit, the fans weren't chanting Fight Forever or ROH, but were pretty soundly behind Fenix. With Cesaro, there was a sense that Fenix could do the impossible. With Gringo Loco, he was doing the incredibly well trained and honed. Everything was polished and professional. They would do massive bumps with huge lead-ups and then barely sell them, so that wasn't great. It was exciting and impressive and not the sort of thing I feel like I ever need to see again. That's just me though.
  • Madi vs Willow made me sad for the loss of Dark. I guess Caprice and Ian won the war by default. I liked Madi's first burst of offense here but didn't quite buy her second after Willow just crushed her on the comeback. There shouldn't have been anything left after the spinebuster. The doctor bomb looked particularly good here.
  • Iron Savages' call and repeat stuff might actually get over. Maybe. I was about to say that Bronson fit the gimmick better than Boulder but then Boulder did the hip swivel and I rescind that point. Avalon's splash is beautiful. I'd never seen the press up spot out of a pin done quite like that and it was fun. Having a really vocal hype man on the outside is different from anything else in AEW (Alex is ineffectual). I don't know. This might get over?
  • It's a good idea to have Carter/Clayton work with Daniels/Sydal. Get the reps in. The bit where Carter rocket launched Sydal off the top right into Clayton's power slam was a quietly great spot. Carter has upside but it's going to be so hard for him to break out. He feels like a guy who could be HOOK's rival for a decade if he just develops right.
  • We really need a Frost vignette or an Alize promo or something. Give them a couple of minutes to help get over. Frost's cartwheel transition move is great but needs to be worked into the moment a little bit better. I'm glad Frost is there as she's one of the new pickups that makes this reboot feel fresh.
  • I love the SAP Masters of the Universe theme but Angelico's chill theme is so good too. They had to switch up the tag formats given all the tags on the show and this kept Eli out until it was time for the comeback/finishing stretch. I wanted to see a little more of Angelico working holds but I always do and it doesn't always serve the match. One thing I liked about the last couple of matches is that on a hierarchy standpoint, it really could have gone either way.
  • Hey, I feel like last time we saw Sabre, he didn't have the fun Undertones style TMDK theme. Now he does. That's another band I probably would have never learned about without the board and DEAN, by the way. We carry on. Having this right after the Angelico match is another reason not to have Angelico show off too much. Keep it varied. This is more important. Sabre is very good at shifting gears when one thing doesn't work. I loved his little press up repositioning of Fox; other than Sabre, no one really ever does that but Fujiwara (and usually against Super Tiger). Fox drops selling when he's getting his stuff in too much. Part of the problem is that his stuff involves a lot of rolling and twisting, etc. It wasn't super egregious here but it's always relative to the limbwork and Sabre's limbwork was good, so.... Post-match was fun if not smooth. I wonder if the Joe vs Zack endgame is at Forbidden Door or the next ROH PPV.

I'll hit the rest of the show later. These guys are long!

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Let's see if I can finish strong.

  • Gates vs Dalton vs a boy was the tag match with heavy heat (lots of tags on this show!). I have absolutely no idea how Toa and Kaun didn't absolutely crack up as Dalton was berating them during the handshake at the start. The comeback was fun. I'm not too sure where they're going on the finish, but it's not like Dalton wasn't protected. I like when they do the Open the Gates finisher slamming one guy on the other. Just saying.
  • Not much to say about the Workhorsemen/Taylor squash. I liked Drake's sentons here as he sort of soared past the guy and landed on a skid. I remember Midnight Heat having a good showing during the PNW shows so good on them to get a trip to Universal. Ending felt weirdly abrupt as it Taylor just asserted himself. I'd love to see these guys against the Embassy but I doubt they'll do heel vs heel like that, even if Workhorsemen could certainly be tweeners.
  • Great to see Martinez back. Hits hard, very emotive, good layouts, etc. Just a great wrestler. D'amboise does well when she's playing to her strengths and flexibility but she really needs to hit harder when in there against someone like Martiniez.
  • Main was good. Nice bit of variety now and again. And the build was definitely there, especially with Dante's injury. Obviously this would have been better with Dante. In fact, after the Maria bump I'm kind of sad that they didn't escalate things even further, even if they went away from it until Dante came back. I would have put the Kingdom over here and then had Dante and Darius get the big win in the future, but we'll see where it goes from here. Bennett was the glue. For instance, when the table didn't break and they had to do a suplex, you have to imagine that was Bennett calling the spot and Andretti not missing a beat. Andretti looked fine in general but Darius shined more with offense. I liked the dives being a hope spot, really, which would normally bug me but wrestling isn't one size fits all (I don't think that even if you might think I think that!) It's situational and based on the story and the match and the moment. Here, it made sense given the carnage that they'd get some distance and get some hope off dives but then get cut off until the proton pack spot. It wouldn't work in a lot of matches but it worked here. Some really brutal bumps through chairs. Good main event and hipefully they keep referencing it as time goes on so it's jnot just forgotten next month.
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Ninja and Willie Mack promo leads off, and I dig that. Nothing but love for Willie and looking forward to seeing what this pairing has to offer. Strong opening bout from Fenix v Loco. Gringo Loco has been such a great pick-up. I’m always pleased to see Fenix in singles action, but the Lucha Bros need some title defenses already. Wingmen promo was fine. Dasha’s doing a terrific job in the interviewer role.  Shibata v Coughlin in two weeks from Vegas, huh? Rumour has it ROH will be taped after Collision. Let’s hope that’s not a bummer (crowd). Willow v Madi Wrenkowski was solid. Madi looked good. Iron Savages v Wingmen was fine. Beefcake Boulder, huh? Clearly that guy has great hoss-like-size, but he often seems confused in there. The Bears don’t seem any closer to getting over. I kinda hope ‘Bulk’ Bronson finds his way away from these two – not that there isn’t an amusing bush league quality to all this. Zack Clayton/Cole Karter v Matt Sydal/Daniels nearly brings out the ffwd button as this episode is getting real ‘Dark’. That said, the match was fine. Entertaining even. Sydal seems oblivious to his babyface act being pretty heelish. Cole Karter looked good here. Daniels and Sydal both have such tacky looking ring gear.  Good Action/Martin v Kingdom video package. Miranda Alize v Lady Frost was solid stuff. I dig seeing thee thus far impressive Lady Frost pick up a deserved win. Alize looked really good in loss. Eli Isom/Burger v Angelico/Serpentico continues the Dark-ness. Maybe they should let somebody from the AEW Dark commentary team join to give us some Dark roster insight? Man, I really miss Daddy Magic? Fingers crossed he gets in on Collision. This match was fine, but I’m not sure the SAP need to be winning anything. Angelico solo maybe. Maybe. Okay, let’s get serious with our $10 subscriptions and have a look at Zack Sabre Jr v AR Fox! I absolutely loved this. Nice seeing such a terrific gelling of styles. Sabre’s star is ready to explode! What an incredible all around performer. Further love for the positioning of Joe v Sabre. Daniels’ little brother Sydal calling for a title shot he has no business receiving nor any conceivable chance of winning is amusing. I'll take Joe/Sabre tearing up the elder statesmen before squaring off - good solid booking there. Dalton Castle/Boy v Gates of Agony was a fine competitive bout. I’m cool with Dalton Castle in the lower part of the card, but I'd love to see him get a stronger cast surrounding him. Especially in his own corner. No offense to the Boy, who did his part well here. Give Dalton a luchadore maybe? I hear Laredo Kid's looking for a gig. I wonder how Kaun and Toa might look after a few Japanese tours? Taylor/the Workhorsemen v Midnight Heat/Shaft was a nice little bout. If this win is building Taylor/Horses to a clash with the Embassy, Mid-south style, I’m game! Nice Righteous promo followed. They should let Stu talk more. I love that thick French Canadian accent. Mercedes v D’Amboise was solid. Martinez needs to naturally flow over to the heel column going forth. Nice to see her back. Kingdom v Action/Darius was pretty fun. Such hellacious bumps. That finish looked like it killed poor Bennett. The Mikey miscue on Maria felt fucking shocking, and I kinda loved it. Maria was awesome fucking around there. Also, the Kingdom chair piledriver on Darius, despite the miscue, looked awesomely brutal. I’d have preferred a Kingdom win, but I get it. Action’s charisma reeks of heel. The early part of this match could’ve done without some of the plunder. Call a fucking moratorium on flimsy goddamn trashcans. Really nice main event there. I always want a few more promos on these shows, but thankful for the ones they delivered which were tight and incrementally progressed those involved. Continued kudos to Dasha. And as always, Nigel is so fucking great! Caprice is so fucking great! And Riccaboni is steering the ship inbetween. So grateful for the terrific commentary. Still happy with my $10 monthly purchase, but I wonder if a ‘premium live event’ here and there might benefit viewership?

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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Partly due to me not knowing what they do with Mercedes Martinez, I think they should introduce ROH Women's Tag belts. They have endless time to fill. They have a fairly big roster. Athena shouldn't lose anytime soon. You have..

  • Mercedes Martinez
  • Willow Nightengale
  • Diamante
  • Miranda Alize
  • Lady Frost
  • Renegade Twins
  • Skye Blue
  • Kiera Hogan
  • Trish Adora
  • Ashley D'Ambiose

With a secondary group including

  • Madi Wrenkowski
  • Steph De Lander
  • Vert Vixen
  • Dream Girl Ellie
  • Danielle Kamella

There are a bunch of interesting potential pairings in there. Martinez/Diamante seem natural, but why not team Kiera Hogan and Diamante since they're real life partners and have an built-in contrast. Likewise, Willow/Mercedes would be a good contrast, or Willow/Frost. Skye's said she wanted to team with Hogan at some point too since they both have the blue thing going, etc.

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23 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Partly due to me not knowing what they do with Mercedes Martinez, I think they should introduce ROH Women's Tag belts. They have endless time to fill. They have a fairly big roster. Athena shouldn't lose anytime soon. You have..

  • Mercedes Martinez
  • Willow Nightengale
  • Diamante
  • Miranda Alize
  • Lady Frost
  • Renegade Twins
  • Skye Blue
  • Kiera Hogan
  • Trish Adora
  • Ashley D'Ambiose

With a secondary group including

  • Madi Wrenkowski
  • Steph De Lander
  • Vert Vixen
  • Dream Girl Ellie
  • Danielle Kamella

There are a bunch of interesting potential pairings in there. Martinez/Diamante seem natural, but why not team Kiera Hogan and Diamante since they're real life partners and have an built-in contrast. Likewise, Willow/Mercedes would be a good contrast, or Willow/Frost. Skye's said she wanted to team with Hogan at some point too since they both have the blue thing going, etc.

Based on her social media, Skye's best friend in wrestling is Queen Aminata, so maybe bring her back in and make them a team?

I like the ideas of having contrasts/complementary pieces, sort of like the Hart Foundation. In that sense, Diamante/Hogan works well even though they're pretty close to the same stature. Unfortunately, I haven't really seen enough to remember how to place a lot of these pieces.

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I'm eager for the on camera pairing of Kiera Hogan and Diamante. I've always dug Kiera. More so as a heel. She was a great Baddie - sad that ended. Diamante's last bout with Skye Blue proved she's a better hand than I previous considered. At the very least, they could provide competitive fodder the way of Mark Sterling's troops or the Workhorsemen.

Curious, does anybody know what happened to Red Velvet? Really hoping when or if she resurfaces that it's in the heel role again. Loved that original Baddies unit.

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They're dropping two episodes worth of tapings tonight for some reason. On a PPV weekend. I look forward to it but I have no idea when I'll get through it all!

I will say this: there are two types of people in this world, those who get excited about the idea of a Claudio vs Serpentico match and those who complain about too much wrestling. I have no time for the second group. 

Edited by Matt D
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It's SUPER SIZED! Three Hours of Honor!

Mark Briscoe's always a great opener, gets the crowd rocking. Nice to see Ashley D'Amboise get her first victory in a solid match. Willie & Ninja Mack make a fun team.

Athena vs. Promise ruled, loved Athena's head scissor in to the buckles. Thought Kiera looked awesome in the post-match (and in her earlier match), her mocking Athena's taunt was hilarious. Very nice set up for Kiera as Athena's next challenger.

Skye vs Alize was short but solid, always enjoy more Skye matches. Same with more Zack Clayton even in a short tag loss. Dug Adora/Diamante as a match that could've gone either way.

Liked all the little backstage bits and promos throughout, Dasha stands out as excellent in her role. 

Loved the main event, great stuff from all. I was sure Joe & Sabre wouldn't lose but almost bought a couple near falls, loved the meteora/powerbomb combo and the double submissions spot. Dug the competitiveness between Joe & Sabre, feels like a potential Forbidden Door battle of TV champs.

Definitely a marathon of wrestling at 19 matches but good stuff throughout

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Coming into this, I pretty much want to see everything except for the Karter/Clayton vs Andretti/Martin, and considering that means I want to see 18 matches, that's impressive. I mean I could probably take or leave D'Amboise vs Kamela too but I kind of like the occasional match between two people so low on the card. But I anticipate doing this in batches. This isn't 1995 or anything. We can watch wrestling on our own terms. I think a lot of the whining about this was solely a twitter thing. On twitter, you have to stay up with the most recent thing to be part of the immediate discourse. On Twitter, you watch wrestling no necessarily because you love wrestling but because you crave being part of something immediate and live and bigger than you. You derive part of your identity from it and therefore you have to consume it as soon as possible so you don't fall behind the curve, because the curve is only going to last a few hours. ROH is made for a message board crowd by a message board poster.

  • Mark Briscoe vs JD Drake: Great way to start things off. Big chops. Mark and JD colluded to make JD look like a million bucks, especially witht he beil/beale/beal but also with the Blockbuster counter into the push up hammer later (with a bit of help from Henry). Tons of character in this too between Mark wanting to go chop-for-chop with Drake, the redneck kung fu as a transition/hope spot, and then Drake blowing his advantage by wanting to go for the J-driller. Nigel was great on commentary riding Caprice after the Moonsault kickout. Really good opener.
  • Serpentico vs Claudio: Loved this. Everything I wanted. A bit of goofiness to start. A lot of Serpentico being a plucky babyface and sneaking shots in with Claudio just crushing him the second he caught him. Unconventional finish that gets over how dangerous Claudio is but with a beautiful bit of defiance from Serpentico. I'm sure Serp absolutely loved being in that match.
  • Kiera Hogan vs Vertvixen: Vertvixen needs to do way more "Get Over Here" stuff to help her stand out on this stage. Did she do it on WOW? If I was promoting Defy, I'd book her in a dog collar match based literally just on that. Athena was doing a similar thing to Jade on Dynamite but she portrays this wild sense of danger Jade doesn't. It also worked better than Taya vs Frost from a layout perspective as the distraction let Vertvixen take a lot more of the match. Of course, Hogan's better working from underneath and is less of a physical force, but still. And of course, Athena doesn't go hyperviolent but just basic bullying at the end. You never know where she's going to land.
  • AR Fox vs Kyle Fletcher: Big week for Fletcher obviously, including the frustrating promo in the ring when he had to relinquish the belts. AR Fox's theme says he's going to hit a 450 from the moon. Fletcher is really into the specific beats of his theme in this intimate setting. The USA chants were funny. I like Fletcher's bodyslam. It's almost like a "snap" slam like I haven't seen anyone do. I see Fox kind of like RVD. If you work over his leg and try to work a match around that, you're doing yourself and the match a disservice since he's going to get all of his shit in on the comeback and his shit involves rolling and bounding. Wrestling would be better overall if something like the running knee into the corner/brainbuster just finished a match like this now and again. It looked incredibly credible. Just sometimes, you know? Or the Falcon Arrow off the top..... I do like the reverse headlock with the arms locked set up for his hammerlock driver though.
  • Willow vs Hyan: I'm sure the crowd will get burned out eventually but they're still hot and chanting (ROH in the last match and Let's Go Willow here). I liked the covering on why she didn't have the title yet. Obviously Ian was there so he could speak to it but calling back to the match with Mercedes was good announcing too. Willow's been good since she came in but given the slightly shifted hierarchy she's able to assert herself more and it's really working well. It did over the weekend and it did here too
  • Mack Attack vs Kingdom: I'd like to see Kingdom vs Silver/Reynolds (they did it back in 2015 but I don't want to track that down). Two teams that can chain together offense in a way that isn't overly irritating. Taven IS irritating but i do kind of like his jawing and both Bennett and Taven's stooging. He matched up well with Willie for opening match stuff too (but I wouldn't have wanted to see that later in the match). I got a kick over Nigel pointing out how the Mack Attack should be the lowest ranked in the company. Ventura stuff there. W.Mack is obviously a great hot tag. Fans still hot for the Ninja Rap. Good for them. Kingdom needed their win back but they did a good job of protecting the Macks with a bit of "new team" miscommunication on who the legal man was.

And I'm through hour #1. It was a good hour!

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Only an hour in, but thus far this is my Favorite show of this round of Universal tapings. Mark Briscoe v JD, Fox v Fletcher and Kingdom v the fantastic Mack Attack all highlighted a killer first hour. 

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Hour #2!

  • Mercedes Martinez vs Dream Girl Ellie: Yeah, this was pretty awesome actually. Great competitive squash. Ellie proclaiming she was sorry was great stuff. Martinez just absolutely killed her once she took over for good. Brutal stuff. I want them to run back Athena vs Martinez somewhere other than Boston. Dreamgirl Ellie should team with Vickie Dreamboat.
  • Amboise vs Kamela: This was one of the two I wasn't quite looking forward to. Kamela looked good. Intense. She made use of Amboise's flexibility. Amboise has a lot of work ahead of her though. She's pretty good selling/bumping but some of her offense/timing was rough and I don't think she should be doing Hobbs' finish to set up a rock bottom.
  • Rocky Romero vs Titus Alexander: I had thought this was Rhett Titus at first but Alexander is pretty promising in his own way. Great dropkick, was able to keep up with Rocky and feed right into his stuff. This, more than anything on the show so far, was wrestling for the sake of wrestling, but it was fun. There are a bunch of guys not dissimilar to Alexander in AEW but he's only 22 and he could be a guy to develop.
  • Righteous/Stu vs Vary/LSG/Kross was the plot progression we've been looking for. Stu looked like a star out there and that bossman slam from Dutch was just insane.
  • Shane Taylor vs Tracy Williams: As someone who wasn't into 2010s ROH, Shane Taylor is a guy that I missed completely. And he's probably the guy I am most interested in on this roster. I want to see him against a ton of ROH and AEW guys. He's got size, power, presence, timing. All of his stuff looks credible. Williams is another really credible guy, though entirely different and I liked the little bits of struggle in the midst of this. Williams was dangerous but this still felt inevitable.
  • Athena vs Promise Braxton: A little sloppier than I'm used to with an Athena match but she's so in the moment and so into her matches that it still worked and came off as competitiveness and violence to a degree. I liked how she used the big boot instead of the forearm on the handshake which let her just crush Braxton with the magic forearm later. Finishing submission was gruesome and different than other things she's done lately. Post match with Hogan was a good watch to set things up. Inversion of the theme.
  • Dralistico vs Deppen: Exhausting match. They had a bunch of different stuff here, strike exchanges, bomb exchanges, dives, fast sequences. It would have made the permanent tape in 2002. How was Mox vs Deppen? Did I see that. I feel like I have to go back and see that. I did see Casas vs Deppen and that was a lot of fun. He's a really good hand (like Williams; like so many guys in ROH) but I'm not sure where he'd fit in if they really wanted to use him. That inversion dive was nuts too. Dralistico, on the other hand, really wants to be RUSH and I think it's time to build to a mask match. Either do Danielson vs Dralistico Hair vs Mask or someone like Vikingo. He'd probably be better at the act he wants to do without the mask, weirdly enough. Ian should have been able to call La Mistica. He can call La Casita after all! Ah well.

And I have exactly an hour left to go. I know things were filmed a little out of order but I think the fans were starting to weaken by this point. I know I was a bit. More later!

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5/25 was in my estimation one of the best broadcasts of the 2023 campaign. Terrific JD Drake v Briscoe opener to get things rolling. Briscoe let Drake shine more his usual Dark fare. Hard hits a plenty, but I do kinda wish Mark would save the nastier stuff, like back bumps to the floor for bigger bouts. To be clear, that’s not a complaint. Mark’s putting it all out there in every match ‘tude is fucking awesome. Daniels-Sydal promo nicely breaks up the matches, thank you ROH, and it provides a bit more fuel for the already attractive main event. Claudio v Serpentico was even better than I expected. Okay, no sense holding back any longer, heel Claudio is on a really fun run, and probably my favorite wrestler under the Khan umbrella. His work with all these Juniors should be studied by all. That's how you look strong while still telling a story! Vertvixen v Kiera was solid and a good showcase for Hogan. I like seeing a little booking team effort behind the deserving Kiera. She’s a good hand. Kyle Fletcher v AR Fox was fantastic. A much stronger pairing than the slightly disappointing (tho I love them both) OC v Fletcher Dynamite bout. Funny seeing the Aussies with the double straps and post commentary explaining that they're allowed to showcase them one more time. Haha, nice one Riccaboni. BTW the post commentary sounded really good, and live (that hasn't always been the case). Willow v Hyan was a good showcase for the rising star. The Kingdom v The Mack Attack was a real highlight on this show, and clearly underrated by the lack of talk surrounding it (as are all things ROH). Great debut from the Macks. Ninja looked a lot better here than the one on one with Willie. I hope this team has some legs. The Kingdom were terrific as well. I dug this more than the plunder-filled (tho pretty good) main event against Darius/Action. Mercedes v Ellie was solid. Let’s get Mercedes full on heeling again, yeah? I love that Ninja Mack and Willie Mack promo. Not like it was an all time classic, but it was good, and I’ve always loved the simple (but beautiful) concept of losing wrestlers getting some mic time following their loss. They should do it more across the Khan brands. D’Amboise v Kamela was a bit clumsy at points, but alright. D’Amboise is good, but needs to get more comfortable out there. Rocky Romero v Titus Alexander made me wanna see more of this Titus character. Romero wasn’t somebody I looked forward to seeing in New Japan a few years ago, but he’s been fun in ROH/AEDub. The Righteous/Stu v Enahancers was good. This was the best the Righteous have looked. Stu was solid as a rock here. If  Dutch and Vincent can tighten things up and find some consistency, well, they might have something here. Yeah, I think I could get behind this trio. Always great to see Marcus Kross eat some offense. Love him. Nice Zach Sabre JR/Samoa Joe promo. Sabre’s a fun promo. I hope to see Sabre more consistently in the future. Shane Taylor v Tracy Williams was good. Not Williams best match, but good. I love what Williams has done thus far, and Taylor’s making good on the opportunity. He’s got some really nice offense, and a pretty strong all around game. But for fuck sake, get him a pair of loose shorts to accentuate the presentation. Please! The Workhorsemen and Taylor are a nice trio. I’d love to see them get the straps. It’s about time they moved the titles from Cage and Nana’s green machines. I dig Cage, but dying for Kaun and Toa to go away on some Japanese tours. Athena v Braxton was fun. I always dig Athena’s more competitive matches, but I sorta maybe kinda prefer the squashes. Dralistico v Tony Deppen was fun. Deppen is another great hand who has fun matches every time out. Get well soon Tony Deppen! Fucking Nick Comoroto promo! Let that guy speak more. Miranda Alize v Skye Blue was solid. Alize has been consistent and it’s neat seeing Blue progress. Athena promo nicely breaks things up. Very grateful for all the promos. Not trying to be greedy, but these promos help and would be great to see even MORE of. Athena is bonkers enough that her promos always seem to work even if they are sometimes kinda, well, shitty (but in sort of a good way). Karter/Clayton v Action/Darius was solid fun. Man, I think Andretti is quietly getting better and better. He looked really good here. He's gonna be a fun heel at some point. Tho not as flashy as his bro, Darius is consistently really good. I think Karter is getting better too. I’m not sure Clayton has it, but I’m fine with watching him work as enhancement. Blake Christian v Commoroto was fun. Glad to see Christian getting some build up, he’s been great throughout this ROH run. I like the role Commoroto provides as a fun big man enhancement guy. I kinda skimmed Diamante v Adora. Looked solid. Penta v Slim J met the excitement I felt seeing it on paper. Slim J fucking rules. Penta/Rey need some more title defenses already. Sabre/Joe v Daniels/Sydal was a nice TV main event. I liked the tensions between Sabre and Joe and how they didn’t boil over. A little restraint goes a long way. Man, Joe has kinda quietly been fucking great in ROH. Everything he’s done has been fun. Looking forward to seeing Joe kill Sydal, and the inevitable Joe v Zach TV v TV title bout. Book that shit for the Forbidden door please!

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I'm not going to bullet point the last hour but basically everything was solid and fun, though Skye vs Alize felt just a little off. If interested, people should check out Christian vs Comoroto and Penta vs Slim J.

The main was very good, like a prize for people who made it to the end. I thought ZSJ and Sydal, though not matched up a ton, were so fluid and unique when they were in there together. There was a good bit of oneupsmanship with Joe and ZSJ dismantling Daniels. Exciting finishing stretch. Good stuff. What a journey.

This week looks very solid again btw, even if it's not a studio show.

  • ZSJ vs Rocky
  • Athena vs Kiera
  • Shibata vs Coughlin
  • Cage vs Willie Mack
  • Vikingo/Bandido/Komander vs Cartwheel/Serpentico/Angelico
  • Dark Order vs Righteous/Stu
  • Kingdom vs Infantry
  • Skye vs Adora
  • Andretti/Darius vs Workhoresemen
  • Diamante vs Promise Braxton
  • Kip/Butcher/Blade squash

Should be fun.

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Skye/Adora was great, continuing to always love the Skye ROH matches, one of my top favorites. Her Code Blue always looks excellent.

Cage/Mack turned out an awesome match. They were throwing bombs and hitting each other with everything. Commentary added a ton to it, bringing up all the different companies that these two have faced off in, making it seem like it could go either way. Great stuff.

Sabre/Romero was fun, Zack's matches always rule and stand out.

Love the team of Bandido/Vikingo/Komander. Thought Jack Cartwheel looked great in there along with them. 

Shibata continues to kill it as pure champ. Forcing his opponents to use up all their rope breaks while never using one of his own remains my favorite thing here as Shibata just keeps on kicking ass.

Was thrilled to see Athena/Kiera was getting the main event spot after the superb build up for it throughout last week's show and they delivered the goods. Real good match with a finish that protected Kiera and then I really loved the chaotic post-match brawl as it put over this rivalry being far from over. Athena's reign is the best. Great stuff from both and look forward to more. 

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I've got an extra project I need to work on in the margins (the way to watch wrestling is "projects"), and was behind on New Footage Friday this week due to having to catch up on the PPV, but ROH somehow feels more pressing, especially with such a buzzy Rampage on the way. No Nigel this week and a live crowd instead of the studio one. They're back in the studio on Sunday at least.

  • Kingdom vs Infantry: Now that Shida's music has been destroyed, Kingdom might have the best theme in the company even if it's basically three songs in one. Bennett is sort of the Arn Anderson of contrived double team spots. I didn't love Bravo's recovery after the DVD to make the tag. He was a little too spry. Infantry is a good act, but as it is, they're exactly where they should be on the card. Very much a mid-90s WCW Saturday Night mid card team that doesn't really make it to Nitro often but can have a fun match with Tough Tom and Mean Mike. Maria's great at being in the moment as a manager.
  • Skye Blue vs Trish Adora: It's funny that Skye had blue tape for her elbow. Anyway, I think she has to vary the signature spots a bit. There's the float over counter on the O'Connor Roll and the caught kick spinout second kick. The thing is, they're not exactly Panama Sunrise level egregious. In most matches you could expect an opponent to go for an O'Connor Roll if they have a waistlock. Catching a kick is logical. But for it to happen every match is the problem. Anything that's reliant upon your opponent doing something should be done a little more sparingly and with care. It'd be one thing if she was giving the opponent the waistlock by the ropes to lure them into the float over but it's not that big a spot for her for that to really make sense. She never wins with it, for instance. I'm torn on the finish. I like how abrupt it was but at the same time, it was sort of a perfect finish for these two (Lariat Tubman avoided into the Skyfall) and they could have milked it a little more.
  • Righteous/Stu vs Dark Order: I think the ship has sailed for the Dark Order. There was a moment where they (with Silver as a mid-card centerpiece) could have been huge merch sellers. Now they're probably better off as Don Callis' "Menard and Parker" for whatever group he's going to make now. The initial Stu vs Uno stuff was kind of compelling. Just a tease of it. Dutch catching Reynolds on the outside was cool in theory and impressive despite itself, but didn't entirely work. I've come a long way on Reynolds. I think it's almost a shame he's here in this role because he could be a #2 or #3 babyface in NWA or MLW or IMPACT, but he's probably better off in AEW. Everything built to the hot tag to Evil Uno and then, after some fun stuff (including the German on dutch and the Stu cut off) to Uno vs Stu. This does feel a little rushed. They could have stopped things after Stu cut off Reynolds/Silver's tandem stuff and had the Stu vs Uno encounter next match. But let's see where it goes.
  • Braxton vs Diamante: Not a lot to say about this. It was a well balanced competitive squash. Braxton looked fine in there. Diamante's stuff looked good, especially in the corner.

Day's getting away from me. More later.

 

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