Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Ring of Honor - 2023


Matt D

Recommended Posts

I need to find time to catch up on some of this. Reading the Athena-RUSH comparison was one of those eye-opening "that's so obvious how did I not think of that" things. But I did enjoy the shotgun dropkick exchange between Athena and Billie because that move isn't done enough in AEW. I also am trying to remember if that's where Billie might have gotten broken ribs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Technico Support said:

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.

The only problem with the Infantry angle is that is nearly identical to what they just did with Martin & Andretti. 
 

and while they are focusing on Embassy and Athena, they aren’t really building either to a PPV blow off

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, evanknight said:

The only problem with the Infantry angle is that is nearly identical to what they just did with Martin & Andretti. 
 

and while they are focusing on Embassy and Athena, they aren’t really building either to a PPV blow off

Right!  They probably should have built the Athena/Hogan streetfight for the PPV. 

I guess they're building Eddie/Claudio 2 on AEW TV now, and I understand the point of trying to get AEW viewers into ROH, but I feel like ROH angles should be built on ROH TV as well.

Edited by Technico Support
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1st hour this week felt like mostly filler, though the 8 man tag was fun and had some wild stuff. Things picked up in hour 2 with Willie Mack vs El Desperado being pretty awesome. Cool to have the NJPW inclusion this week. United Empire vs Andretti/Darius/Daniels finish felt sudden. Roppongi Vice vs SHO & Yujiro was pretty good. Was thrilled to see KC Spinelli, longtime favorite, always an underrated gem of Canada, and loved when she was semi-regular on Impact few years back, but sad it was only a 2 minute squash rather than one of the more competitive Athena matches. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/28/2023 at 7:29 AM, Technico Support said:

Athena is essentially THE face of ROH right now and it's working.  If Claudio is going to be in the main storylines in AEW, they seriously need to get the belt off him in ROH.

Make it official that ROH is the developmental B-league and feeder league. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vance/Dralistico vs Two Guys (Wheeler/Prasher): I miss RUSH but I think he's been off for the birth of his new kid and I'm glad AEW is giving him time if that's the case. It's going to be a real shot in the arm when he comes back. Los Ingobernables can't play together in the same matches but the same card, I guess. Ethan Page beat Vance in Hamilton as a Dark Match and I need to see if anyone fancammed that just for Page's reactions. Look, mainly I just miss RUSH. Good for 10 here getting Preston sucks chants. Dralistico's strike flurry looked good. Vance maybe sort of needs to work on his emoting? Him shouting out "hermano!" when he wants Dralistico to do something is kind of funny. Why did I write so many words about this?

Dark Order vs Righteous: It's a shame Excalibur couldn't have slipped in the idea that Stu had left them too into the stuff on Dynamite? Just a throw away line. Hype up ROH a bit and give them even more reasoning for turning on Page? I like Stu's jacket and especially liked the chess to get Uno out of there. I'd like to see Dutch in a singles match to really get a sense of him. I like how he matched up vs Silver though. His random double stomp off the apron was awesome and i've never seen him do that. Reynolds and Nese are probably the two AEW guys I've come around on the most vs my initial mindset. Finish was clever but I'm curious where this is going especially as Dark Order are becoming heels on AEW TV maybe.

Diamante vs Grey: Ian joking about a litigation mode in Fight Forever was kind of funny since they do run a ton of legal/contractual angles (Tony writes what he knows). Fans were a little more into this than last week but they were more into everything. I'd say some of it is tricky since Diamante's always been a tweener but she's low enough on the card that it doesn't really matter I guess. In some ways it's nice that she's just consistently who she is.  And hey, she hit a pretty great Chaos Theory off the ropes. And Grey hit Danny Doring's Bareback basically, which is always a move i liked more than I should (It did not look great here).

Lucha Guys vs Shane Taylor/Workhorsemen/Gringo Loco: I hated when Fenix just walked into the ring at the beginning like nothing mattered but really liked when Shane Taylor punched Vikingo in the face. Also when it took Komander's head off with a clothesline. God, Drake/Loco/Taylor ... that's like the greatest base team imaginable. Drake just killing Komander was so fun. (And yeah, I liked when Vikingo landed on GL's shoulders. That was cool).

Bill/Moriarty kill some vaguely over local guys: I'm not sure about Bill's staggering. Part of being a giant is knowing when and how t give and when not to. Mark Henry was amazing at that by the end, for instance. I didn't love Bill's choices here. But his cut off was good. Moriarty got nailed and then shouted "You crazy?!" before killing a guy. Just pointing that out. Of course I love Lee's Reinera into the Border City Stretch.

That brings us to the Forbidden Door section of the show.

Embassy vs LIJ: Bushi's mask is quite the thing. Hiromu has star power. Shame they couldn't find more for Shingo over the weekend. I don't know about these guys all getting their own theme. Hiromu was pretty hilarious against Cage. This felt like an important match for the Embassy. Shingo is not a guy I've seen much of and his timing is interesting. I wish we had seen the Toa corner post bum better.

El Desperado vs Willie Mack: I'm glad Ian told me some about this guy. I like his social media presence. How is that Moxley match? Love the fans being so excited for this. Mack punching out of the deathlock looked great. I thought they worked well with each other for two guys who had never wrestled before. As strike exchanges go, this one was better than most as they made every shot meaningful. Mack had some great counters using his size here. I liked Mack's selling overall but I would have liked to see just a little more on those times that Desperado went for the double underhook but couldn't get him. It was a hugely impressive visual when he did.

House of Torture vs Roppongi Vice: Rocky was taking this seriously and didn't have the eyepatch. Yojiro has fun expressions. Sho is properly vocal. I liked some of the heel BS here.

United Empire vs Andretti/Martin/Daniels: Did TJP get cancelled? He did a good job running circles around Andretti and Martin so that Fletcher could be the one clowned by them. I liked Fletcher just going low and slamming Daniels. Imagine Cobb as the partner to Taylor and co. instead of Henry. TJP looks like he should be the villain in a Blade sequel. Andretti's deadlift falcon arrow was neat but he can maybe do it to TJP and Serpentico and that's it without giving himself a hernia. I wanted to see a little more of Daniels working with these guys We just got a bit at the end. UE probably should have went over here?

Athena vs Spinelli: Spinelli got in a little more than I was expecting early until Athena just started clubbering. Got to love the magic forearm. Who the heck is Athena going to wrestle at the PPV? There's the person who redebuted last night and I'd like to see that match but it doesn't seem quite big enough (and not just because they're both short).

Claudio vs Taylor: Taylor is a guy that I think I like but the Best Friends sometimes buy me in tag matches. Here he showed resilience and familiarity and Claudio just got to be a tank. He based as well as always for the big dive. I would have liked the time limit to play into this somehow but it's also a bit of a waste to run that angle on Taylor unfortunately. Maybe they can do it again with Claudio's next challenger, where he goes past the Proving Ground time limit but doesn't beat Claudio and they build from there. Chuck really shouldn't be allowed to do Toni Storm's finisher as a nearfall. 

This one didn't have anything nearly as good as Joe vs Sydal, Athena vs Hogan, or Romero vs Garcia unfortunately. And what the heck are they even doing with this PPV?

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony can always bring in someone from GLEAT or whatever but there’s no trajectory for anyone to challenge for the ROH title at the PPV with Eddie away.

The most viable match right now that can carry a lower tier PPV actually feels like Claudio vs Adam Page.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Matt D said:

Tony can always bring in someone from GLEAT or whatever but there’s no trajectory for anyone to challenge for the ROH title at the PPV with Eddie away.

The most viable match right now that can carry a lower tier PPV actually feels like Claudio vs Adam Page.

I'd be all for this.  I think Claudio is the only one in the BCC Hangman doesn't have a "W" over as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really liked Riccaboni pointing out Chuck and Claudio’s IWA-MS history.  That’s something I enjoy about AEW/ROH: the idea that this is a sport with history outside your company, and you’re not somehow giving some other company free advertising by admitting they exist.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I really liked Riccaboni pointing out Chuck and Claudio’s IWA-MS history.  That’s something I enjoy about AEW/ROH: the idea that this is a sport with history outside your company, and you’re not somehow giving some other company free advertising by admitting they exist.

Things have come a long way. The only retake I had to do for ROH commentary was for Night of the Butcher when I was mentioning Punk and Cabana's work in IWA-MS.

"Cut!"

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Matt D said:

Tony can always bring in someone from GLEAT or whatever but there’s no trajectory for anyone to challenge for the ROH title at the PPV with Eddie away.

The most viable match right now that can carry a lower tier PPV actually feels like Claudio vs Adam Page.

I may be in the minority, but I will buy an ROH PPV, but I have no interest in an AEW B show PPV. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, evanknight said:

I may be in the minority, but I will buy an ROH PPV, but I have no interest in an AEW B show PPV. 

I mean, this is fair enough.

Who's the challenger then?

No one's been built up enough on ROH TV. The closest is Brian Cage maybe? Does anyone really want to pay for that? Vikingo maybe? Your other honest choices would be Penta or Mark Briscoe and neither of them are great given circumstances. I'm honestly curious who you think a good ROH challenger at the PPV would be.

You'd be better off just paying the money and bringing in Low Ki.

Edited by Matt D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will Death Before Dishonor'23 be available through WatchROH.com? I tried looking for it on FITE a week ago and came up empty. One would imagine it would be available for purchase there already, if it's ever going to be!

...yeah, nevermind. It's up there on FITE now. I'll get it from there.

Edited by Shartnado
Found it...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought Death Before Dishonor 2023 on FITE,  got 4 credits to make the full 20 again and immediately used those to get Revolution 2021. With the summer vacation looming within days, I shall be stacked with things to watch, even with disappearing episodes of Collision and whatnot on DAZN!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/2/2023 at 9:21 PM, Matt D said:

I mean, this is fair enough.

Who's the challenger then?

No one's been built up enough on ROH TV. The closest is Brian Cage maybe? Does anyone really want to pay for that? Vikingo maybe? Your other honest choices would be Penta or Mark Briscoe and neither of them are great given circumstances. I'm honestly curious who you think a good ROH challenger at the PPV would be.

You'd be better off just paying the money and bringing in Low Ki.

I don’t think they have a good challenger option at this point, which is kind of crazy given the talent they have available and the freedom with the brand who will generally get on board with a good match and straightforward story. 
 

At this point I’ll probably skip ordering the PPV and just watch it later when it hits HonorClub. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eddie Kingston ordered Mark Briscoe to challenge Claudio on Death Before Dishonour. And also, to win the title.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty fun episode of Honor this week. Gringo Loco/Komander was a blast of an opener.

Garcia/Daniels was shorter but solid. Nice to see Daniels' getting his eye back to normal after 2 years or so. Huge pop for Daniels responding to the Garcia Dance with the Curry Man Dance, classic.

Athena smashed Seleziya Sparx but I liked the commentary bringing up this being Sparx' return to ROH after 9 years since her House of Truth days.

Briscoe vs JD vs Nese was entertaining. Mark challenging Claudio for the title at DBD seemed sudden and abrupt but the little backstage seg between them after did a ton to put it over and make it feel special. Really looking forward to that now.

Six Man Mayhem was a fun big dudes sprint. Liked the old school "competing for $25,000" stip. 

Welcome BACK Legit Leyla Hirsch! Main event was pretty short but great to see Leyla back in the mix and I loved that she got a quick little promo in at the end.

Kinda surprised they didn't set up more stuff for DBD since it's 2 week away but I figure it'll come together nicely either way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I first saw Leyla walk down the ring I thought she still had a noticeable limp.  Never mind a knee brace that would make Steve Austin jealous.  So I wonder if she rushed too quickly  But she got to the ring and looked fine.   

The major problem I have with Mark Briscoe vs Claudio is that I am not overly confident that he will win the title.  Not sure how good it is that the most sympathetic and popular face in the company not named Eddie Kingston loses 2 in a row PPV

Edited by hammerva
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eddie Kingston only has two WINS on PPV on AEW.

  • Lost to Moxley at Full Gear 2020
  • With Moxley, lost to the Young Bucks at Double or Nothing 2021
  • Lost to Miro at All Out 2021
  • Lost to Punk at Full Gear 2021
  • Beat Jericho at Revolution 2022
  • Beat Ishii at All Out 2022 (pre-show, not PPV)
  • Beat Akiyama at Full Gear 2022 (pre-show, not PPV)
  • Won the ten-person tag at Forbidden Door 2023
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, AxB said:

Eddie Kingston only has two WINS on PPV on AEW.

  • Lost to Moxley at Full Gear 2020
  • With Moxley, lost to the Young Bucks at Double or Nothing 2021
  • Lost to Miro at All Out 2021
  • Lost to Punk at Full Gear 2021
  • Beat Jericho at Revolution 2022
  • Beat Ishii at All Out 2022 (pre-show, not PPV)
  • Beat Akiyama at Full Gear 2022 (pre-show, not PPV)
  • Won the ten-person tag at Forbidden Door 2023

He's trending upward though! Hasn't had a PPV loss preshow or otherwise since 2021.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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