Ring of Honor - 2023

[The Natural]

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by The Natural

[HarryArchieGus]

Daniels v Fletcher was a nice competitive bout to showcase the rising young Aussie star. I skipped Sydal v Zack Clayton. Not particularly interested in Sydal v Joe. Dralistico v Willie Mack was excellent. Mack is on a real nice run, and Dralistico seems to be getting better everytime out. I wonder if he might find greater success without the hood? A Roosh 2 if you Wheel. Ugh, not at all into Board of Directors segments taking time on this show. That said, I am always fascinated by Tony’s awkward promos. There's an entire roster of ppl in need of any allotted promo time more than these three and these unnecessary time-eaters. How will this factor in when re-upping on the $10 Club subscription? Willow v Ellering was solid. Interesting to hear commentary put over Hero during the match. I like to think he’s getting himself into shape for a run here. Embassy v Burger/Eli/Kross was fine. This was a lot smoother than previous Embassy squashes. Toa and Kaun are starting to find some chemistry. Marcus Kross fucking rules. Mercedes v Vertvixen was solid. I like seeing Martinez in these competitive enhancement bouts. She’s looked really strong over the last couple weeks. Griff Garrison v Lee Moriarty was solid. Nice to see the returning Griff. I'd love to see them run this back and give Lee a more convincing win in match 2. Robyn Renegade v Kiera I skipped passed. Kiera Hogan is one of many who could use some mic time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't she a pretty solid talker during her Impact run? Dark Order v Workhorsemen was terrific fun. Shane Taylor is fucking awesome. I was kinda hoping some shenanigans might help the Horses take a victory. The previously stale Dark Order have been a lot of fun in ROH. Kinda hoping to see Reynolds/Silver get a title run. They’re so fucking good. Righteous promo was good stuff. I dig this trio. It’s bringing the best out of Stu, and his former mates on the otherside. Dutch is a neat character. He's overusing the gross tongue thing, but he’ll figure that out. So thankful for a promo. AR/Andretti/Darius v Trustbusters was fun. Not into that Darius/Action finisher at all, but they've both been solid in this pairing. Action continues to be quietly elevating his game each week. The Busters are a great team. Slim J continues to be amongst the most thrilling performers every week. Sonny Kiss has been looking really good lately too. Something about Jeeves Kay always reminds of Cash Wheeler. Kingdom v Dragon/Cobarde was solid. After the heavy bloodletting, I really wanted to see Bennett get a bit stiff with these Luchadores. But fair enough. This was competitive, but nonetheless a nice showcase for the excellent Taven/Bennett team. Maria is an incredibly sexy woman. My partner was watching along here. She's no prude. I wouldn't share this if she were, but if she is any indication of the female viewing audience, perhaps the insistent on performers wearing lingerie, or costumes that look like lingerie, might-maybe-sorta-kinda-possibly turning off some potential female viewers. All that said, I’m not quite complaining there. Rey Fenix v Gravity didn't quite keep my attention. Some nice spots and great ‘athleticism’. On first view here, Gravity has potential. That said, his tap out non-finish nonsense was really awful and jarring. They rebounded tho and it was a nice win for Fenix. I liked the interplay post-match with this LSG character at ringside. What was up with that? LSG has thus far been nothing but enhancement talent. Ya know, Fenix/Penta really oughtta start defending the tag titles. Maybe this silly Board can help with that?

Unfortunately... these shows are getting Dark(er) each week. The wrestling is still a notch or two higher and consistently better. And the terrific and focused commentary from Caprice/Nigel/Ian really elevates the action. But the match, match, match formula is wearing thin. It's a bit mindboggling why they're refusing to spend any time giving these guys and gals the Mic. Just look to those better balanced early episodes for the example here. It's a bit frustrating as these shows would really benefit from the variety. All that said, I mostly enjoyed this show, but I sense it may become non-essential viewing very soon. I find the current 5 hours (Dynamite, ROH, Rampage) a bit heavier than I’m capable of. 7 takes me back to the short period of time when on top of AEW, I was tuning in twice weekly for the early HHHWWE run. Even if I can pull off 7 I'm not sure I enjoy wrestling as much on such heavy rotation. Curious how others are feeling about their ROH subscriptions and the upcoming addition of 2 Saturday night (er Sunday morning for me) hours?

Edited June 13, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Matt D]

I was a lot happier with Monday - Friday wrestling than with Wednesday-Saturday wrestling. It just worked for my schedule better. That said, I finished ROH and it was good even if I probably would have rather Taylor/Workhorsemen and even Kiss/VSK/Slim J had gone over than their opponents. Fenix vs Gravity didn't quite keep my intention either but it did feel more like a 98 WCW SN luchador match than most things in AEW so I didn't mind it for one time out. It was nice to see some different spots from Gravity but I imagine they might get old quick. Why the heck did Bennett bleed against two random lucha guys?! I want to see Kingdom vs Mox/Yuta in a serious match now. I liked Kiera vs Robyn ok especially how she cut off the twin magic at the end. Anyway, there's no reason why Taylor/Workhorsemen shouldn't be the six-man champs. Basically every division in ROH is super deep so the show has that going for it. 

[HarryArchieGus]

13 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Why the heck did Bennett bleed against two random lucha guys?! I want to see Kingdom vs Mox/Yuta in a serious match now. I liked Kiera vs Robyn ok especially how she cut off the twin magic at the end. Anyway, there's no reason why Taylor/Workhorsemen shouldn't be the six-man champs. Basically every division in ROH is super deep so the show has that going for it. 

There's one reason why not on a Workhorsemen/Taylor title run - their presentation is absolutely awful! How has nobody gotten in the ear of Shane Taylor about that unflattering spandex? He should be a huge star with his ability. Drake and Henry look goofier than ever in that rotten teal/gold bullshit. But other than that they're all so fucking awesome! Yeah, strap those motherfuckers immediately. I back that play! Ha, I assumed the Bennett juice was unintentional. Is it possible he bladed himself for a showcase bout? I love the idea of Kingdom-BCC, and could we also get the FTR match that was teased on their debut? I wonder if that feud is being penned by the writers of Keith Lee v Swerve? 

[DreamBroken]

Some good stuff in mostly shorter matches this week.  Sydal/Joe was a nice solid opener.  Enjoyed seeing Teal Piper both as a manager and a wrestler, thought she looked pretty good.  I dig Nick Comoroto's theme. 

Always great seeing more Skye Blue. Another good Athena match, Trish Adora looked good in with her and the usual goods from Mark Briscoe. A bit bizarre to switch broadcast for the Garcia/DKC match that was taped separately from the rest.

More Coach Tony K! Fun trios main event, almost thought a title change was possible. Very much look forward to the Athena/Kiera Chicago Street Fight next week, loving their feud. 

[hammerva]

So since ROH tapings are happening after Collision now how often are they still doing tapings?  Is it going to be weekly or bi-weekly?  I ask because running on Saturday's could cause some headaches for indies.  Specifically GCW with their champion Blake Christian working both places. 

[dragonzombie]

Chris Hero producing matches for ROH 

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1317525/chris-hero-working-behind-the-scenes-roh-aew-collision/

[Technico Support]

I liked ROH starting with some promos.  If they could do a few quick hit promos for maybe their top matches on the show, then segue to the opening, SNME style, that would be awesome.  Really, anything to make me more interested in the show instead of just making it the new version of AEW Dark with two hours of cold, meaningless matches.  If taping after Collision causes them to trim the show a bit, that'd be great.  I like ROH, but now AEW is producing 7 hours of TV per week and it's feeling like a chore.

Fuck it, throw some of that Elton John money at Animotion.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Technico Support

[Technico Support]

I forgot to mention…Nigel stumbling while trying to put over Cage vs Fox’s past wrestling each other in “Los Angeles….unmmm…Los Angeles Gorilla!”   was amazing.  If there’s another Fire Pro, “Los Angeles Gorilla” has to be that game’s PWG stand-in.

[Matt D]

The new normal has me watching ROH on my Tuesday commute and that is not conducive to me commenting a lot. I think my favorite bit in the whole show was Sydal hitting the meteora to the outside, selling his knee huge, and then pointing to his head like he was a genius. That's good stuff right there.

 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 6/19/2023 at 2:08 PM, Technico Support said:

I liked ROH starting with some promos.  If they could do a few quick hit promos for maybe their top matches on the show, then segue to the opening, SNME style, that would be awesome.  Really, anything to make me more interested in the show instead of just making it the new version of AEW Dark with two hours of cold, meaningless matches.  If taping after Collision causes them to trim the show a bit, that'd be great.  I like ROH, but now AEW is producing 7 hours of TV per week and it's feeling like a chore.

Fuck it, throw some of that Elton John money at Animotion.

100% with you on that. I’ve long longed for the SNME style openings. So to the ‘Pulp Fiction’ style montage. Miserlou. Obsession. So many great songs to choose. I can get down with a single Sydal promo to open as well. He did a fine job setting up the bout. I underestimated how much fun a Sydal v Joe bout could be. I really liked this showcase. Joe has gotten himself into a nice position with seemingly the best yet to come. Comoroto v Deimos was fine, but why on earth is big huge fucking Nick Comoroto having to cheat, in the slightest, to beat a physically impressive enhancement talent? Mark Sterling/Tony Nese promo was good. I loathed much of Mark Sterling's pre-ROH AEW run, but I like what he's been offering here. Iron Savages v Hot Wheels was that rare occasion where I was actually cheering for one side. I really wanted a deserved win for Titus and the dark horse ROH MVP Tracy Williams. They're a good team, and Williams needs to be thrown a bone here. Nice to see a Workhorsemen Promo. So Drake can talk a little too! I'm game for a Workhorsemen tag title run, or six man title run with Taylor. Teal Piper v Diamante I sorta skimmed. Diamante is better than I remember her. Not sure I see much in Piper. Nice Nese v Serpentico battle. The pre-match stuff was a bit long, but I like where they're going with Tony. Glad to see him get the win. Athena/Kiera promo was a bit shitty, but still - better than no promo. I'd have preferred Kiera to just have some mic time. Mimi v Alize was fine. Alize would be better served with a stronger finish, but I do like her fire. Castle/Boys v Righteous was a nice TV match. I'm a bit worried Dalton's in a rinse repeat cycle, but I always enjoy his segments, so maybe that's fine. Stu Grayson has been really good. This trio with the Righteous probably oughtta be rewarded some trio gold at some point. Dark Order promo was terrific. Reynolds, Silver and Uno are doing some fun stuff in ROH. Uno's promo here in particular was fucking awesome. Athena v Adora was good. I like Athena showcases maybe more than her overly competitive matches. Briscoe v Henry was very good. Khan/Stokely promo was a bit shitty. Maybe this stuff will get good? Or maybe Tony will just get it out of his system? DKC v Garcia was fine, but at this point the show has been steady-heavy on competitive showcases. Seemingly multiple weeks worth. The Pure rules brought me back in. I liked that they switched from the Universal Studios commentary team to the road team. They need to get Daddy Magic back in the booth. Maybe with Nigel on Collision he could take his spot on this show - tho, this commentary trio is so good. Or swap out one of the Rampage dudes. Just get Daddy Magic behind the mic weekly. I skipped Viva Van v Skye. I'm happy Skye is getting the reps, but do we need to see it every week? Mogul Embassy v Action Andretti/AR Fox/Darius Martin was fun, but I can't recall much at this point. Two weeks in a row of slightly better than Dark shows. I did enjoy this, but I'm not sure it's worth subscribing for. Tho, at $10 that's $2.50 a show, maybe it is still worth two dollars and fifty cents. I am thankful for more promos this week. I'd just like for the shows to have at least one memorable competitive match each hour. That's not asking too much, is it? Curious to see how the combined tapings with Collision go. Can't be worse heat or visually than the Dynamite/Rampage tapings, can it?

Edited June 23, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[DreamBroken]

Athena/Kiera in the Chicago Street Fight absolutely delivered for my high hopes and expectations. They beat the hell out of each other and absolutely went all out with tables, ladders, thumbtacks, and kendo sticks. Awesome match from what's been my favorite feud going as of late. Lots of great spots and near falls. Thought for sure the super bomb through the table would be it, then the tacks and had forgot about the whole chair setup by the time they got back to it which ruled.  Athena is the best and Kiera looked amazing so I hope she sticks around the top mix while Athena moves on to whatever is next.

Fun 8 man tag opener. Gringo/Mack was good stuff, surprised me when Gringo got the win as I thought for sure this was Mack's to take. Great finish though. Always dig seeing Silas Young and this time he got his entrance/theme! 

Nice Embassy squash. Dalton/Woods was great. Dalton's catch into the finish looked awesome. 

The Infantry win! A shocker there. Thought Trish Adora was the perfect choice to counteract Maria. Adora continues to shine, looking great in against Allysin Kay earlier. 

Sydal/Blake vs. Moriarty & Big Bill was solid and a somewhat longer match. Thought going in that no way Sydal/Blake would win but they had some really good near falls before going down. 

Dug the mini feud setup for Diamante/Leila Grey. Short match but both looked good and I'd like seeing more Leila here.

Shane Taylor & The Work Horsemen vs Andretti/AR/Darius was surprisingly short.  Garcia/Romero in pure rules was great as would be expected. Liked the used up rope breaks coming into play for the finish.

[The Natural]

I don't like the new ROH 2023 titles at all. Only good thing I can say is how the tag titles side plates pay tribute to the Briscoe Brothers.

Edited June 23, 2023 by The Natural

[dragonzombie]

I've seen a pic of the new ROH TV title up close. Matches up better with the newer 2023 ROH men's belts theme. I'm fine with silver, I used to do the WCW nWo Revenge code to get silver belts.

Only the 6 Man tags are left to change up.

[Matt D]

• 8 Man Tag: Interesting structure with Vikingo doing the shine, Komander eating the heat, and Penta and Fenix only coming in for the comeback. After that they did the fun multi-man spots (Estrella!) the dives and the finish. It was a bit of a mess mind you. I think it's good Komander is getting ring time with guys like Butcher. He needs it. There was one point where things got so botched they had to cut to Penta instead of the action. So yeah, fun but a mess. But a fun mess!
• Gringo Loco vs Willie Mack: Gringo Loco is a guy who has put in the ring time and he got to play de facto babyface here vs an actual babyface in Mack. I half wonder if they called an audible on the finish because the fans were into him, but only half. It was fun to see him against a bigger guy and in this role. Sometimes I think he's a little too showy against pure tecnicos but in a sort of tweener role it really works. Fun stuff so far.
• Adora vs Kay: I don't have a great sense of Kay yet. Some of the move-to-move stuff looks a little wonky but I like how she interacts with the crowd. Adora put her dues in with a couple of key losses and now they're letting her climb up the ladder maybe? If she hadn't lost to Athena last week she could have had the Owen match as easily as Starkz (since she's at the NJPW Dojo especially). Finish was nice and abrupt and took Kay's head off.
• Fletcher vs Silas: Great ovation for Fletcher and he knew it. Fletcher is deceptively big. Young is not. They were playing around with the idea Fletcher might challenge Joe and I'd like to see that. Young still makes no sense to me. He's just such a weird hybrid with some wrestling, some 00s indy spots, some unique things that don't seem to fit his persona, etc. Still, there were good bits of vet vs young phenom here. I love Fletcher's hammerlock set up because it's based on leverage and no one does it and he can do a lot with it without it seeming too contrived.

And that's it for now. This is a long show!

[The Natural]

 

[AverageKong]

Trish Adora is becoming one of my favorites. Something hasn't clicked on in the ring just yet, but you can tell it's coming. Trish and Kay have had some matches in the past and the battle of Lariats is always an interesting dynamic to their story. Character wise, you cant have a better finisher name than Trish's Lariat Tubman.

The Chicago Street Fight was pretty bad ass. I thought Kiera was touch and go here, but when she was on "GO" she looked like a star. Easily one of Hogan's best performances. I hope this angle elevates her into a better position with booking. Athena was gold by letting Kiera get so much in and not trying to outshine her with the acrobatics she could have pulled out in this setting. What spots Athena did take for herself were BRUTAL. Idk, in the replay it seems like Kieras leg may have got caught up or her timing was off on that superplex to the chairs so her spine got completely disrespected. Either way I bought that finish no questions. 

[HarryArchieGus]

Loved the Recap Opening. I know it's silly to say, but I like getting a report of an ROH guy on AEW TV. The Samoa Joe belt presentation was very good. Joe's such a fun heel. Vikingo/Kommander/Penta/Fenix v Butcher/Blade/Kip/Serpentico was a bit... shitty. My fuzzy memory tells me Butch/Blade and the Lucha Bros are always a rotten pairing, but maybe I'm forgetting something. Not to say he should be any higher on the card, but I kinda wish they'd repackage Serpentico into something less comedic. And I'd really love for Kip Sabian to go on an International excursion - for as long as he needs (minimum 12 months). Kommander/Vikingo were completely wasted in this match. I do hope as he goes along Vikingo develops better spot set-ups - less time and awkwardness. Lastly, Angelico should've be in this match, not a cornerman. Calling out the 'Matchmakers'. Gringo v Mack are two guys I very much dig, but this bout didn't quite work. Certainly it had some moments, but for reason these two didn't gel. Trish Adora v Allison Kay was fine. Silas Young v Kyle Fletcher was good if a bit underwhelming. The otherside of @MattD's argument on Silas is his style is kinda unique and fun. I dig it. I certainly don't mind seeing Silas lose, but I'd welcome a bit more time on the clock when he's in there. Embassy squash just solidifies the argument of how repetitive this weekly show is becoming. I wish I could ask DEAN 'what this AJZ is all about?' That dude looked really good in his limited role. Dalton Castle v Josh Woods thankfully saves this monotonous show from me shutting my eyes. Nice win for Dalton. The talented Josh Woods really oughtta be built up at some point. The Kingdom video was a welcome shift from match-match-match. Tho, this felt like consistently poor Impact storytelling. The Infantry v Kingdom match was fine. The Kingdom were excellent in defeat. Carlie Bravo seems far, far too green to be winning or featured in even a minor way. I suppose it gives the Kingdom something to do for a bit, but it also seems so beneath their excellence to be losing to such a poor tag team. I mean that with all due respect, the Captain is a good hand. The Trish Adora-Maria bit was poorly timed, and made Bennett look silly. Damn, I like seeing a good upset, but the Infantry needs a lot of improvement before deserving any sorta push. Blake Christian/Matt Sydal v Bill/Lee was fine for what it was. I sense Bill's on a sort of probationary period before they go all in. On camera, he's showing the goods. If the tag belts ever get defended again, hello matchmaking team, Bill/Lee are worthy contenders. Kingdom post-match promo was kinda fun. I liked Bennett trying to center himself. Vivacious Maria's pride-ful swimsuit was something else this week. The Dark Order squash was fun. I like a squash/showcase when done well. Reynolds and Silver also deserve a tag title shot. What the fuck is up with the tag titles? I know Fenix was injured after the title win, but he's been back for weeks. Athena defends weekly yet they've given us nothing with the tag titles. The Righteous promo was excellent. The Righteous have been building up nicely with Stu in the fold. Diamante/Sterling promo wasn't great, but very much welcomed. I like seeing a promo to put something/anything into one of the forthcoming matches. Diamante v Leila Grey served it's purpose well til the lameduck finish. Just let Grey beat the low card hand. Holding tights or ropes for leverage is barely a heel move at the point - 'Hey bookerman, stop pretending ppl give a shit!'  Grey has nice heel charisma and is getting better and better. She's come a long way from where she began. I now look forward to seeing her. Post-match Leila/Sterling/Diamante promo was also nice to see. Diamante sounded like an idiot here, but what can you do (uh, a second take?). AR/Action/Darius v Taylor/Workhorsemen was good for what it was, but seemed cut short. Not that JD looked good in that corny singlet, but at least they dropped the awful looking teal/gold ensemble. Rocky v Garcia was good. Garcia is a star and Romero's been consistently solid in ROH. I loved Garcia's post match attack on Rock. This match probably would've meant more on a less exhausting sub 2 hour show.  I'm always happy to see Orange, but (enough of the Greatest Hits) he needs to work a match on an ROHTV show if he's gonna keep crashing the party. Kiera v Athena was challenging to begin. I watched this show in portions, but I still found myself burned out at the start of this 'Main Event'. In part because there's so little reason why this Athena dominated feud would require another match. Further, they gave Kiera zero mic time during the many weeks of this. Then on top of this feeling, I saw the ladders. I hate seeing ladders at this point. I struggled to connect early, but I'm glad I pushed thru. These ladies worked hard. Other than the time consuming plunder set-ups this was fun. Now... move Athena along, and don't exile Kiera for weeks on end after this gutty performance. Please!

This show ought not be two and a half hours. Do they need to broadcast all of their greenhorn reps?  Maybe Trish Adora could just work an actual 'Dark' match some weeks. Do we need weekly Embassy squashes? Also, can the Tag Champions have a title defense already? I hope they find a way to get Riccaboni/Caprice regularly in the building, and do only the necessary overdubs. It's a small detail, but seeing the team at ringside, and running down the card or previous angles could help establish a more 'Live' vibe. Complaints aside, there were more promos this week - a welcome choice. The In ring action on this episode was very underwhelming. You could entirely skip this episode with little consequence. That seems to generally be the case recently. All that to say, the ROH brand is starting to challenge my interest. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Matt D]

I'm putting the PPV aside for now as I care more about ROH TV apparently.

• Embassy squash: Fun Toa showcase. The guy who broke up the tag post belly to belly shouting "I did my part!" when he refused to tag out was funny. Kaun balanced vulnerable vs dominant better. Toa shouldn't give much of anything against these guys. Honestly, this went on too long overall. Probably don't need to see Toa's senton on the apron in every squash. Love seeing Kaun taking Jimmy Rave's finish too.
• Castle vs Woods: Good to see that Dalton's ok after the scare a couple of weeks ago. Really looking forward to this one. Woods is a guy who should get some Collision rub. The yank into the ropes by Woods was lovely. I really want to see Castle vs MJF too. I liked the idea behind Woods' combo in the ropes (kick to back, backbreaker, German) but execution could be better. This was a little sluggish at times but it sort of built because of it to the suplexes being so tortured and strenuous. It set the mood. Lots of results on this show that I thought might go the other way.
• Big fan of Stokely skits.
• Kingdom vs Infantry: Speaking of that, surprise finish here. Pretty solid tag overall. Infantry need something to get to the next level and maybe it's an alliance with Adora. I think it might be a bit more polish on the double teams instead though. It comes off as very 2002 local indy. Kingdom are nothing but polish, maybe too polished though modern day Bennett has just enough grit to power it through. So many zigs instead of zags on finishes for this show. That should lead to the next ones being interesting theoretically.
• Sydal/Christian vs Bill/Moriarty: Very good tag match. Like how long everything had to breathe and how much effort everything took. The Sydal/Moriarty mat segment to start was high end stuff and Christian was solid fighting from underneath. Some particularly clever bits like him diving in, missing, and moving right into the handspring off the ropes. I like his little snappy heel kicks. Bill imposing himself at the end was everything it should have been. I like his finisher in theory but he needs to press up before doing the switch to make the turn work.

That's all I've got for now. I'm never finishing this stuff this week. It's all pretty good though.

[Technico Support]

Watching old ROH starting at the beginning:

Man, they did not have the technical stuff down at all, were using cheap equipment, or both.  On the early shows, the hard cam looks washed out while the ringside cam looks sharp.  It's really obvious when you watch something like Xavier/Ki from Unscripted and Xavier's tights are this desaturated yellow color in the wide shot and vibrant yellow in closeup. 

What happened to Boogalou in ROH?  He was in a team with Homicide on a handful of shows, but then he was "jumped in the back" by The Carnage Crew and then the announcers were talking about how he was "so injured you'll probably never see him again."  Then, checking Cagematch, I see he in fact never worked ROH again.

[Gorman]

42 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Watching old ROH starting at the beginning:

Man, they did not have the technical stuff down at all, were using cheap equipment, or both.  On the early shows, the hard cam looks washed out while the ringside cam looks sharp.  It's really obvious when you watch something like Xavier/Ki from Unscripted and Xavier's tights are this desaturated yellow color in the wide shot and vibrant yellow in closeup. 

What happened to Boogalou in ROH?  He was in a team with Homicide on a handful of shows, but then he was "jumped in the back" by The Carnage Crew and then the announcers were talking about how he was "so injured you'll probably never see him again."  Then, checking Cagematch, I see he in fact never worked ROH again.

Boogalou had a falling-out with the company, so Gabe wrote him off like that. He was supposed to be in that Scramble match (my first one!) at Glory By Honor, which Homicide won by himself. ROH eventually invested in better lights and cameras, but unfortunately, they had to take me out of the budget to accomplish this goal.

[evanknight]

There’s an ROH PPV in what, 3 weeks, and I have no real idea how it’s going to shape up, but if you aren’t flying in international talent for dream matches, you have to have some stories to sell shows. 
 

Champ hasn’t been involved in anything on the show since the last PPV, tag champs have just showed up last two weeks out of no where for 8-man matches. 

The tag titles have to come off of Lucha Bros if they aren’t actually working ROH  I half thought they reunited Daniels and Sydal for another run, looks like they may be heading to a match with Viking and Komander? If so, I still hope they do a title change  

Last weeks show felt like the least “ROH” (probably produced by the same people that made Collision the least “AEW” show). It’s been trending more towards “Dark” recently and I think this PPV will be important. I can see a lot of fans sitting this one out at this rate. 

 

 

[Technico Support]

13 hours ago, evanknight said:

There’s an ROH PPV in what, 3 weeks, and I have no real idea how it’s going to shape up, but if you aren’t flying in international talent for dream matches, you have to have some stories to sell shows. 
 

Champ hasn’t been involved in anything on the show since the last PPV, tag champs have just showed up last two weeks out of no where for 8-man matches. 

The tag titles have to come off of Lucha Bros if they aren’t actually working ROH  I half thought they reunited Daniels and Sydal for another run, looks like they may be heading to a match with Viking and Komander? If so, I still hope they do a title change  

Last weeks show felt like the least “ROH” (probably produced by the same people that made Collision the least “AEW” show). It’s been trending more towards “Dark” recently and I think this PPV will be important. I can see a lot of fans sitting this one out at this rate. 

 

 

All very good points.  I like ROH but it's definitely aimless.  The only champions on the show full time are Joe, Athena and the Embassy.  All secondary belts.  The Tag and World belts are on AEW full timers (I believe one Lucha Bro is hurt) and the Pure belt is on a part timer.  I'd rather they build up the people who are on the show more and build around them, give ROH its own identity instead of "Dark with some angles, the occasional championship match, and AEW people who show up at random."  They're doing a fun angle with The Infantry turning things around and beating The Kingdom.  Build one of those teams coming out of that angle and let them beat Lucha Bros for the tag belts.  Do something.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Technico Support

[Matt D]

Finished up the show. STRONGLY suggest people go back for the last two matches:

Reynolds/Silver squash: Got the story across. Bang (I think) went up for everything well, to the point that I wish he took the closing stuff instead of his partner. Good intensity from Silver/Reynolds, Reynolds especially. He has a really good heel run in him but with a low ceiling. I didn't buy it quite as much with Silver. Maybe this wasn't the moment to bring out -1?

Leila Grey vs Diamante: Again, these little backstage bits help. I too, like Sterling, love the gun thing in Diamante's theme. Then the lay down gimmick with just the world's most casual kick. Pretty funny stuff. Grey's good at constantly engaging the crowd. Except for that I don't think the crowd actually ends up engaged, so.. you know, B+ for effort. Another match where the person I thought was going to win didn't, but at least Sterling got his hands stomped on?

Fox/Andretti/Martin vs Taylor/Workshorsemen: The babyfaces really have a big 1991 WCW 6 Man Tag Champs feel. That's not a great thing. One thing I noted when I first started watching AEW was how valuable Dark Order, Kaz, Sydal were in being mid card faces that could lose. So I am glad these guys are around. They're probably going to win this one though, which is a shame. The tranition where Martin tried his bulldog bottom rope choke and ended up right in Drake's arms on the outside was wonderful stuff. Let me check something actually. Ah. So the fact that the transition there was so good probably wasn't an accident. It went right into more back and forth stuff soon after but all that did was put Taylor over huge when he started to dominate. I'm glad that it was a banana peel win for the babyfaces after a clear necessary break up.

Garcia vs Romero: Ha! Stoke's a judge. I wish they had a Stokely reaction cam. Garcia tricking the rope break by putting Rocky's leg over the rope was a great bit. Then Rocky followed up by just forcing one out of spite. I'm a strong believer that any match with unique rules lets you tell a more interesting story by using them than ignoring them. Great transition with Garcia pulling the ref in, getting the advantage, and then shouting "SPORTS ENTERTAINMEEEEEEENT!" which then got the crowd on him which led him to dancing. All lovely stuff which then led into the two trying to grind each other more (for the second rope breaks), and then Garcia almost subconsciously responding to the announcers praising his pro wrestling by taking the sports entertainment to the extreme (and taking the fan's response out on Rocky). Which, of course, led to him running into a knee. This was more of a Garcia match than a Rocky one but Rocky still made for a great foil. It was just really well put together how and when they used up the rope breaks. How well did it work? When they used up the last of them, the fans started chanting "No More Rope Breaks." Which led to the great finish. Permanent tape match.

Athena vs Hogan: Athena lives in the moment as well as anyone in the company (AEW or ROH). She's able to just catch Hogan out of the air with a short Bossman Slam in a way that I've never seen her do but leans into her bullying strengths so well. This was a mix of planned spots where the wrestlers really threw themselves and awesomely awkward looking trips and stumbles. I love that they just started randomly comparing Athena to RUSH. Hogan's fisherman's neckbreaker on the no-give trashcan was super nasty. Likewise the splash when the table didn't break. Yikes. I love that she Sabu'd it and tried again. This had a little too much Ultrahand Construction sequences but they did all pay off at least. I'll take the kendo stick strike exchange over the Billie Starkz shotgun dropkick strike exchange we saw on Sunday. The Hogan kick out after the power bomb through the table off the top worked because it was the first real pin attempt of the match. And nastiest of all was Kiera's cradle back suplex onto the thumbtacks. What a thing to do in front of so few viewers! And then of course the chekhov's gun of the chair lego set superplex. Great that it was the finish without any extra moves too. I kind of hate that this thing was lost in the Forbidden Door/Collision hype. Hell of a notch in the belt for Athena. She and Orange Cassidy are having all time runs simultaneously.

[HarryArchieGus]

Big takeaway from the weekend. ROH tapings need to be promoted far, far better than they currently are. The start time for ROH/AEW Collision was presented as 730pm on some of the promotional materials. When I arrived at the arena at 730 they were taping their 4th match. A bit of a bummer to have needlessly missed a bunch of interesting stuff. Further, during Collision there is zero mention of ROH tapings following the show. Dasha talks with the crowd and is fishing for stuff to talk about (who do you like? look at that sign) - why not use the time to discuss what ROH matches are coming up? No blame to Dasha there. After Collision the spill out was huge, and I assume this is going to happen regularly with this lack of promotion. By the time Chuck Taylor and Claudio main evented the building was at 15-20% capacity. Such a waste!  This is a clear reason why the bigger arena tapings come off so poorly. Also, no Caprice or Ian at the tapings. I get that there's a need for overdubs, but it really loses the atmosphere of a taping without them at the desk. Smaller complaint there, keep costs down if you must.

Please AEW promote these worthy shows before, at the very least on the Honor Club shows, with proper times. And use the Collision breaks to inform the live audience what's on the way.