Ring of Honor - 2023

[DEAN]

I had to move to different parts of the hospital tonight and tomorrow they are sending me to a different hospital, so who can be sure when I'll get home.  But hopefully I can cram ROH, IMPACT! and giant wads of other wrestling tomorrow.

[DEAN]

Got in some time to watch ROH!  Rocky Romero and Lee Moriarty taking it to the mat edges out Gringo Loco vs Blake Christian- though both were pretty great.  Skye Blue taking an assbeating from ATHENA will good.  Skye Blue is a lovable babyface!  Lady Ice versus ATHENA was good. Why isn't Lady Ice signed?  ROH RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD!

[HarryArchieGus]

I get the impression that Frosty is being tested by management after her shakey relationship with TNA. That said, in-ring, she's passing with flying colors. This is the best I've seen from her. This bout with (top 5 in the world?) Athena was really solid. I liked Skye Blue in this match with Diamnate as well. Have I underestimated Diamante's value as a really good hand? They should let Diamante and Kiera Hogan play the women's division version of the Sterling crew. I'm totally with @DEAN on Romero-Moriarty edging out Gringo-Christian, but la-la-loving both. All four of these generals are fucking awesome! I'm looking forward to the Moriarty-Romero Pure Rules rematch. Nice promo from Romero. I wish Tony trusted more in this Simple 'wrestler challenging a wrestler in a promo' formula with the 'Elite brand'. Not every feud/build needs clauses and other bullshit. The Daniels promo was good too. I get the impression CD doesn't want to involve himself much more than as a simple wrestler challenging other wrestlers as a plucky old babyface. That said, this show could really benefit from him as a manager/wrestler leading some charges (and as a HEEL!!!). Maybe he's too involved in the production to want to do that. The best of the promos was the Kingdom set. This is the kind of video package/promo they should do more. Especially with some of the lesser inclined mic workers. It's an easy and effective edit. Damn man, the Kingdom rules. Again, simple set-up here from Taven/Bennett/Maria, they're going to beat all the teams who stood in their way of capturing the 'silver'. Love it! I look forward to their eventual title win. This show nicely set-up a pretty solid tag division. Best Frenz looked like the Roadies murdering those 'youngsters'. That's how ya run a fun squash. And nice simple squash from the Vance/Rush team. Vance came off really well in his Unrestricted interview this week. He's doing well fitting into this odd pairing with a Mexican family gang. Dark Order v Trustbusters was also fun. The Righteous interjections come off a bit awkward, but I like the try. And look forward to the match(es). I hope they go all Fantastics-Sheepherders with this one. Righteous have fun music. Dark Order could use a switch up with theirs. Keep the familiar Intro and then hit the crowd with some beats or licks to get excited about. As is, it would work fine for a far more ominous pairing than what Uno and Grayson are. I'd love it if they and Silver/Reynolds had their own distinctive entrance music. Again, keep the opening part if the Dark Order must live as a stable. Oh, and really enjoyed the Brian Cage-Leon Ruffin match. Ruffin is one of my favorite wrestlers right now. So entertaining. I'd love to see him go on a run of upsets and become the new 1-2-3 Kid-of-sorts. But I'm also cool with just watching him duck, dodge and get murdered. What a talent! Brian Cage in ROH continues to be very good. Many thanks to Prince Nana.

So, Interesting production with this show. They were piping the music in over top, I assume to help against the tired Pittsburgh audience. They can't get to Universal Studios soon enough. These pre-Dynamite taping crowds seem to have such little interest in this product . The muted atmosphere unfortunately has an effect. Nonetheless, this talented roster is delivering. Lastly, the interplay between Nigel McGuinness and Caprice Coleman is absolutely outstanding. This is easily the best trio under the Khan brands umbrella. 

[JLowe]

12 hours ago, DEAN said:

I had to move to different parts of the hospital tonight and tomorrow they are sending me to a different hospital, so who can be sure when I'll get home.  But hopefully I can cram ROH, IMPACT! and giant wads of other wrestling tomorrow.

Good luck to you, DEAN~! We're all rooting for you.

[The Natural]

For, @DEAN xxx.

Edited April 28, 2023 by The Natural

[JLowe]

I swear I’m going to pay for this soon.

Loved the Athena match, she made Lady Frost look great while still beating the shit out of her. I think Matt D pointed out how Athena will mix up ways to hit her big moves and today she did a nice reversal to hit her massive forearm.

I loved the Kingdom segment. Did a great job of establishing their history and their ambitions. I hope Maria is working with the younger women on promos.

Best Friends have a squash which I’m not sure is the best use of them.

Evil Uno-Stu vs. Trustbusters was fine, nice to see Sonny Kiss. Some nice double-team moves from Dark Order and I appreciated the announcers (the best in the business) telling the history of Uno-Stu as a tag team in RoH because to me they’re comedy jobbers who all of the sudden are killers. I don’t really care for The Righteous from what I’ve seen and I’m done with cult factions for the rest of my life.

My girl Skye Blue vs. Diamanté was easily Skye’s best AEW match. Stiff, competitive, some nice moves, and a good flash pin. Wonder if Skye could learn a Shining Wizard. Athena-Skye should be a good match and a good learning experience.

I didn’t hate a Brian Cage match. Some nice hope spots for Ruffin.

Rocky-Lee was great, pretty similar wrestlers that matched well and I wasn’t sure who was going to win. A Pure match will be a lot of fun.

Main was a lot of fun, made both Gringo Loco and Blake Christian look like lucha stars. The open mirror/duck/reversal sequence was well paced and not overdone. GL is a fantastic base who can also bust out some wild stuff, and Blake was able to do lots of rope work and lucha shit.

I think I’m going with Rocky-Lee as MOTN.

[Brandon Bones]

This commentary group should be the envy of the business.  They do everything I want a team to do.  Effortlessly, shifting from a serious sports presentation, to expository stats, character development and analysis.  Also three likable guys.  I’m so glad to have Nigel back.  
 

I’ve been overly critical of Cage.  But he was fantastic here.  The crowd ate it up.

I think there definitely some meat left on the bone for The Dark Order gimmick overall.  They still carry a sympathetic vibe that connected to Hangman can often be relied upon to get good audience investment.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Brandon Bones
Watching and typing.

[HarryArchieGus]

17 hours ago, JLowe said:

Evil Uno-Stu vs. Trustbusters was fine, nice to see Sonny Kiss. Some nice double-team moves from Dark Order and I appreciated the announcers (the best in the business) telling the history of Uno-Stu as a tag team in RoH because to me they’re comedy jobbers who all of the sudden are killers. I don’t really care for The Righteous from what I’ve seen and I’m done with cult factions for the rest of my life.

Stu and Uno have had some nice bouts in AEW where they've been given time. Vincent of the Righteous impressed me the little I saw of him in Impact. And this Dutch is an interesting character. I'm with the sentiment of no more Cult factions, but I think these guys are worth having some patience with. Could be wrong. 

Watching that Dark Order-Trustbusters bout I kept thinking how great it would be to see Sonny take her talents to the Women's Division. She'd be one of the better workers on that side, and a helluva challenge for Athena. Regardless hoping they let her go babyface again. She's a good heel, but I prefer her plucky underdog babyface act. That said, the silly Splits Legdrop works better as a cocky heel move.

Edited April 30, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[evanknight]

Just got finished with last week’s episode, so glad they have announced the return to the Universal tapings, they last few weeks aren’t the same as the first batch of tapings, and aren’t something I can see myself paying for long term. 
 

There are definitely matches worth going out of your way to see, but for me paying needs to be must see. 
 

I liked some of the Iron Savages stuff on Dark, so was excited to see them here, but I disliked literally everything about their segment. 

[Curt McGirt]

Hey ho! I just realized I got free ROH anytime I want it, because I are slow and me not think rights. It airs on Thursdays, correct? 

That Athena match was pretty gnarly. Lady Frost, who I've never seen before, is pretty Cibernetico -- but you didn't hear that from me. Diamante and Skye Blue had a little corker of a match too! ROH being an outlet for the AEW female wrestlers is a choice but at least there is one. Caprice and Riccaboni are still the best commentary team in wrestling and putting Nigel with them is just a plus. The main event was fine. Gringo Loco had one of the worst matches I've seen ever in MLW but he was a solid player here. This feels like the show Tony should and would book instead of AEW? AEW is like his version of WWE and ROH feels more his wheelhouse. I dunno. That's getting a little naval-gazer so I'll stop there.

[JLowe]

1 minute ago, Curt McGirt said:

This feels like the show Tony should and would book instead of AEW? AEW is like his version of WWE and ROH feels more his wheelhouse. I dunno. That's getting a little naval-gazer so I'll stop there.

I have been thinking the same thing the last couple of weeks but didn't say it because I wasn't watching AEW during the early days to compare.

[Curt McGirt]

You know I haven't thought about it until now, but AEW is basically WWF, ECW, and ROH mashed together. Him leaning towards the latter two is definitely better. 

NAVAL GAZING

[zendragon]

Any word on what happened to Mercedes Martinez? 

[DreamBroken]

Interesting setup with all three champs one after the other in the middle of the show. Athena squashes are always a blast. Joe/Daniels was short but fun while it lasted. Robbie Eagles looked good against Claudio, awesome Ricola Bomb finish.

Skye/Robyn was solid. Liked the separate promos from Skye and Athena, setting up their match for next week, that should be good. Best Friends, Andretti, Darius, and Stu Grayson made a unique team of faces.

Nice showcase for Komander to get the main event spot, dug the post-match surprise save from Orange & Bandido. Next time it's back to Universal. 

[Technico Support]

Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome from watching too much “we can’t have two Steve’s or two Shawns, pal!” WWE in my younger days, but putting a “Fallen Angel” match right after a “Fallen Goddess” match rubbed my OCD wrong.

[writeradam84]

I really liked the Universal shows. They were fun and full of energy. The Dynamite crowds could care less about the ROH crew unfortunately. I'm like way behind on ROH but the last episode I saw had The Righteous come out for a squash match and the crowd was on their hands. No reaction. I'll probably pick up watching the ROH show again this weekend because I'm curious about the Claudio/Robbie Eagles match. Hopefully the next batch of shows are from the Universal tapings.

Side note...I cancelled my Honor Club subscription too just because I know where I can get the show for free a day or two later. If they ever get to the point where they start doing live Honor Club exclusive events again then I might reconsider subscribing. The TV show with a dead crowd just wasn't worth it for me.

[writeradam84]

Update ... watched ROH from last night. Pretty fun show although it still felt a bit long with all the matches even if it was only an hour and a half this week.

Really liked Joe vs. Daniels because well, it's Joe vs. Daniels and it's hard to go wrong with that. Claudio vs. Robbie Eagles was a blast. Never seen much of Robbie Eagles but he and Claudio worked well together. I really liked the Athena vs. Angelica Risk proving ground match too. There was one spot where Athena just kneed poor Angelica full force right in the face! I wouldn't mind if they kept doing a storyline where Athena keeps doing these proving ground matches and eventually someone upsets her randomly in one, thus forcing a title match. 10-man tag was fun and I absolutely love The Kingdom. Even though it seems their feud with Top Flight has been going on forever, I like that they threw in Action Andretti to fill in the Dante Martin spot. That backstage beatdown of Darius and Andretti was fantastic. Bennett grabbed a payphone (seriously, what arena still has a payphone?) and said "Hello? Dante? Oh yeah, you're still injured!" and slammed it down and kicked Andretti really damn hard. Also, the Righteous coming for Stu Grayson is interesting. I'm totally up for a Righteous vs Dark Order feud. They just need to get Bateman involved with the Righteous again if possible.

I still have a ton to catch up but ROH will be one of those things that I'll watch occasionally as time allows but this was a fun episode and I'm glad I watched it. Helped pass the time during an extremely dead work from home day today.

[HarryArchieGus]

This may be the thread where I'll miss Dean the most. Watched this week's episode thinking about what he would've loved. Tho, that's not new. I think that tends to happen when one brilliant person opens your eyes to such a far greater spectrum of beauty. Moriarty v Rocky was spot on like last week. I really enjoy seeing the Pure Rules used in a non-title associated match, and hope we get more (like somebody building up to take down Shibata for example). How does Lee and Rock settle the score in Match 3!? Moriarty is quietly becoming a real player and I love Big Bill watching his back. To no surprise, another great Athena squash. Dean would certainly have been posting the tweeted highlights from this. Risk took a nice beating. Joe v Daniels was terrific. Every week I wish for Daniels to finally build a new Prophecy, but I think I best ready to just accept him as the solid hand he is. Joe continues to absolutely fucking rule as 'the true King of Television' (why am I not hearing him promo this weekly!). Joe nailed it on Dean too. Castignoli v Eagles was a lot of fun. I love this 'Claudio: working boots championship' run. Eagles nicely tested the Big (Swiss) Cheese. I really enjoyed the 10 Man tag up until the dumb finish. I like the Righteous, and I'm up for them interrupting things (with their kinda terrific TV theme music), and setting up a feud with Stu/Uno. That said, we already had 3 previous heatless awkward Righteous try's to learn from. This was the most awkward of all. And it's a taped show, I mean, at least cut around it, Andretti and Stu looked like idiots here. Not to mention their opponents. Oh, oh, and how bout Andretti's hilariously bad 'Lights, camera, Action!' early in the match topping Taven's 'I'm' (a) shitty catchphrase! That isn't to say Matt Taven and the Kingdom aren't awesome. I dug their later attack later on. Bennett got a little too dime-store-Grandson-Maivia, but it worked. The heels had nice camaraderie coming out - as I think Nigel or Caprice called. This commentary trio continues to rule. Also, Action and Darius were looking slick in tandem during this. I got this sorta notion of Andretti going heel and finding another partner when Dante returns. Action feels like a natural heel to me. I could see Jericho bringing him into the Society down the line. That thought reminded me of Bret bringing Owen and Davey back together and uniting the Harts 97. Just a nice stream of thoughts and memories. I sorta half watched the next run of bouts. Barely saw the Vance squash. Just not interested. Did I miss something? Skye Blue v Renegade looked solid from what I saw. Cage v Brock from a sideglance looked a bit rough. Willow v Steph De Lander I saw a bit more of. I like De Lander's size, but it was hard to gauge her abilities in this. Kommander v Angelico was everything I wanted to see. I continue to love Kommander's antics and Angelico gave him a nice showcase here. Strange to see Bandido and OC make the post match save to this dead and half empty building. So, so, so fucking happy for the return to Universal Studios this weekend. I hope they never eeee-ver tape another episode in front of a pre-Dynamite crowd A-gain. This show and nearly every show since the first few weeks has also suffered greatly from lack of promos in between the bouts. Enough match, match, match already. Glad to at least see Skye Blue and Athena get some promo time, but c'mon! Gimme Joe's thoughts on his match with Daniels, and who he'll fight next. Gimme his next challenger talking. Gimme anybody on the roster not on this week's show. Gimme injured Eddie every fucking week. It's just such a waste having a weekly show with such little talking. Clearly, they need to get some of this talent over to a wider audience - judging from these dead crowds in the AEW buildings. Complaints aside, it should be noted that Dasha has been really solid in the interviewer role. Anyway, still very much enjoying the show each week. And again, really looking forward to the return to Universal. 

[Matt D]

I'm going to get there for this week's over the next few days. I really liked the look of the lineup. And I'm going to work hard to get bullet points on all the shows I watch moving forward. This week was a lapse. If one of you gets their first, I'll do my best to engage with you and what you've said too. No man is an island and all that.

[JLowe]

@HarryArchieGusi hope they keep taping some matches before Dynamites because I want to see Athena break some porcelain hussy live, dammit!

[TheVileOne]

AEW is going to have to overhaul its current model with ROH because this current version is not sustainable. ROH does not have its own roster. It's the AEW roster. If you want to make it your developmental, make it your developmental. 

[Dog]

I've been joking around, but after months of "too much ROH in AEW," you really did just turn around and say "too much AEW in ROH."

[TheVileOne]

10 minutes ago, Dog said:

I've been joking around, but after months of "too much ROH in AEW," you really did just turn around and say "too much AEW in ROH."

ROH was a waste of money and the decline of the company can be traced back to its purchase.  

And yes there is too much AEW in ROH. All the ROH champions are guys signed to the AEW roster and are supposed to be wrestling for AEW. 

[Dog]

2 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

ROH was a waste of money and the decline of the company can be traced back to its purchase. 

You're gonna tell Tony what to do with his money?

You insisted that the decline in AEW's ratings was due to the presence of ROH titles. There are no more ROH titles on AEW television, yet the decline continues. Do you admit you were wrong?

[TheVileOne]

6 hours ago, Dog said:

You're gonna tell Tony what to do with his money?

You insisted that the decline in AEW's ratings was due to the presence of ROH titles. There are no more ROH titles on AEW television, yet the decline continues. Do you admit you were wrong?

1. Yes.

2. No.