Ring of Honor - 2023

[DreamBroken]

Athena vs Leyla was awesome! Definitely lived up to expectations and delivered big time. Hot opener for sure. Athena was busting out some new stuff, Leyla looked great. Loved the crossface into cross armbreaker sequence. Excellent stuff. One of my favorite matches of this Honor Club era.

Romero/Daniels was solid. Scorpio/Rosser was a pretty good five mins.  I love the Skye/Kiera/Willow babyface trio back for another match, this time all 3 had the blue color coordination. 

TMDK/Infantry was fun. Kojima/Nese was a lot of fun, laughed at Nese hurting his own hand by chopping Kojima. 

Billie/Adora was short but good while it lasted, two of my favorites. Plus we get more Minion Training! Always fantastic. 

Darius vs Big Shotty was another solid match. 4 way tag was chaos with a nice look at the ROH tag division, the Work Horsemen continue to look great. 

Main event was a nice little trios showcase for Komander/Metalik/Gravity. 

[HarryArchieGus]

21 hours ago, DreamBroken said:

Athena vs Leyla was awesome! Definitely lived up to expectations and delivered big time. Hot opener for sure. Athena was busting out some new stuff, Leyla looked great. Loved the crossface into cross armbreaker sequence. Excellent stuff. One of my favorite matches of this Honor Club era.

At this point, it feels kinda criminal that so few are seeing Athena. From what I've gleaned, it was at least in part her decision to go full time with ROH. It was clearly a smart decision as she's been having a banner year working regularly. That said, it's time for arguably the top two women, outside of Toni Storm and Willow, under AEW/ROH contract, Athena and Billie, to be featured on Television. And so too Willow-mania. Why they haven't strapped a rocket to her yesterday I do not understand? The Women's Division roster is nowhere near deep enough to be sleeping on these three. It'd be great to see them post that Leyla-Athena match to Youtube for free, so ppl actually see it. Or how about if they replayed it in it's entirety on Rampage? Fucking awesome match! Leyla's generally good, but that was by far the strongest match I've seen from her.

Neat to see Ethan Page following Athena's playbook by going to ROH. I do wonder if he might be smart to stop with that pointing to the smile shit as a babyface. That's worse than Guevara's attempt at being a tongue waggling babyface. Er not worse, on par. Also, dude, find a finisher that's not a Cutter, nor a brutal version of the Razor's Edge that nobody would ever want to take. Still, I applaud Ego Page. Also, Invictus Khash is an excellent pro wrestler whom deserves to be signed. 

This was a fun show and a bit of rebound for ROH on Honor Club. Romero/Daniels, Scorp/Rosser, TDMK/Infantry and Kojima/Nese were all pretty terrific. Lady Frost looked especially impressive in that trios. She's been a bit inconsistent, but I'd like to see them push her. I tend to think the Renegades would be far better off at say the performance center. I'm not seeing a whole lot of improvement in their extended time in AEW/ROH. Willow felt wasted there. 

Lee Johnson v Darius was kind of the middling usual for ROHTV as of late. Darius is special, and will be a star in due time, but Lee proved again that he badly needs to go on excursion immediately. He too does not seem to be improving a whole lot with his extended time. I sense that contract will not be renewed. Still, I think he has some upside that might be realized on the Indies, overseas, etc. 

It seemed like Billie really had to compensate for Adora's poor timing. The result looked like a routine every time Trish was on offense. I'm not sure I see the potential upside with Adora, but I felt the same about the Infantry tag team kinda until this week. Not great, but kinda fun promo, and excellent bout with TMDK.

I wasn't crazy about the Trios Main Event, but I really liked what the Workhorsemen did in that 4 way. I sense a confidence boost coming off the FTR bout. Drake seemed more fierce, like he should be. And Anthony Henry looked pretty fucking great. Oh man, god bless Shane Taylor for changing up the presentation. He looks so much better in the loose shorts. I like he and Moriarty running together. Why not just throw Keith Lee in the mix and reform the team with Taylor? A nice hoss team. Shane Taylor might be my favorite hoss on the AEW/ROH roster. 

I really appreciated the amount of promos they're slotting in now. It really helps the flow. It's helped Lexi greatly improve. I think it's been great for all the developing talent as well. The Daniels promo here reminded me how much I wish he'd go heel and form a new Prophecy. I was never a huge Rocky Romero fan prior to this ROH/AEW run, but he's been consistently solid every time out. 

p.s. saw Stu Grayson take an awful looking piledriver from Alexia Nicole in a shitty 4 way from a C4 show earlier today, and I wonder if he may have been injured from it. 


 

[Matt D]

Seconding Athena vs Leyla as tremendous. They matched up really well. It’s the most impressively athletic Athena has seemed in a while too. You take the character and add on that execution and it’s a hell of a thing.

[DreamBroken]

Tons of wrestling! Lots of short but good matches this week.  

Kingston kills Serpentico. Obvious outcome aside, I really dug the setup for Kingston vs Angelico afterwards.

Athena absolutely destroyed Mazzerati in a killer squash. The powerbomb on the floor was brutal. I was surprised Mazzerati kicked out of the KO forearm. Didn't love the finish since it seemed she was so close to the ropes, but did like Athena busting out a different submission for the win. Bilile remains the best as usual. Billie hiding Mazzerati under the ring afterwards to keep her from getting a post-match attack was hilarious. 

QT vs Daga was one of the best matches of the night. QT's finishing sequence looked killer and then seemingly a tease of QT vs Negro Casas in the future. 

shane Taylor/Lee Moriarty vs The Infantry was good, nice knockout blow finish. STP trying to recruit Big Shotty could be interesting.

We get a little Lucha Underground! with Angelico vs Marty the Moth, fun little match for sure.

Lexi has been excellent for awhile now, but thought Dasha also stood out in this episode as really good in the backstage interviews. Nice switch up between the two. Liked Pat Buck suddenly standing up to challenge Josh Woods next week. 

Legit Leyla vs Willow was awesome, but I was disappointed that Leyla had to take another loss coming off last week's classic with Athena. Really thought she could use this win to bounce back. Loved her eventually hitting the German suplex after a few tries.  Post-match setting up a potential Leyla vs Skye Blue sounds great to me, two of my top favorites.

Andretti/Gringo was solid.  Billie Starkz with surprisingly the quickest squash of the night, liked her using the crossface to be like Athena. Mercedes & Diamante are great together, enjoying the seeming build to Mercedes/Athena rematch with almost a role reversal of sorts going on 1 year later, Mercedes being a vicious heel this time around. 

Kip Sabian's a good fit back in ROH. Different to see him more in the babyface role here against Anthony Henry, good match.

Ethan vs Daniels was solid and the longest of the night at just over 7 mins. Ethan's win streak being built up. Nice set up for Ethan vs Tony Nese next week.

Scorpio Sky vs Darius Martin was a rather random feeling main event after everything else but a solid match overall. 

 

[Shartnado]

When did Lexi become a Minion in Training? That shit was amazing! She showed the killer instinct Starkz seems to be lacking, because she's too nice!

[DreamBroken]

Final Battle confirmed for December 15 in Garland TX.  Interesting that it says Exclusively on Honor Club this time.

[DreamBroken]

Awesome opener from Angelico vs Gravity this week, maybe match of the night. Nice job building up Angelico a little bit considering it feels like it's been years.

The weekly highlight with Athena and Billie continue the greatness. Billie/Diamante was a fun little match with Mercedes and Athena excellent in their roles at ringside. The post-match chaos ruled, great visual with all the refs. Billie always having the greatest expressions/reactions to everything. 

Tony Nese actually beating Ethan Page shocked me, didn't see that one coming so it made for a nice surprise upset for a change.

Pat Buck looked good in his brief showing against Josh Woods, stood out as unique and digging the theme music too.

Surprisingly quick squash from Cole Karter & Griff Garrison as they become more on the same page. 

Always love to see Kiera Hogan in action, nice short match vs Allysin Kay. Good to see Marti Belle again as well. Only disappointed that one of my favs Zoey Lynn/sky got the shortest squash of them against Lady Frost. 

Komander/Metalik was an epic spotfest with non stop action for just under 5 mins. The triple threat tag team main event came and went almost just as quick. 

[Matt D]

Komander vs Metalik was a permanent tape Worldwide match. I haven't seen Komander look so good. Metalik didn't have much offense but he took everything clean. The week to week progression in ROH is the best storytelling AEW's doing. You have Page's redemption story, Angelico building himself up as a contender, Griff (face-coded) and Cole (heel-coded) coming together with Maria. Woods wanting challengers. Obviously the Athena/Billie (vs Mercedes/Diamante) stuff. It's a weird promotion right now since most of the champions never show up, and there's a lot of wrestling for wrestling's sake too. But it has a few solid throughlines holding it together.

[DreamBroken]

Another nice win for Angelico against Metalik in tonight's opener.  Dalton Castle vs. Anthony Henry was good stuff. 

the Mercedes/Diamante vs Athena/Billie tornado tag was an obvious highlight. Fun match for sure, gotta feel bad for Billie when Athena berates her afterwards. 

Kyle Fletcher vs Willie Mack was short but solid. 

This week's wild quick spotfest is Gravity vs Blake Christian vs Slim J vs Gringo Loco.  Nice to see Slim J back, now with his own music with no more Trustbusters, he always shines.

Good to see Rachael Ellering back as well, now with full entrance and picking up a win.  Killer Legit Leyla squash is always good.

Moriarty vs. Darius Martin was shockingly short but more angle advancement than anything. 

Like last week, the main event is another super quick triple threat tag match. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

16 hours ago, DreamBroken said:

Nice to see Slim J back, now with his own music with no more Trustbusters, he always shines.

This legit saddened me to read - I really loved their Jane's Addiction sound-alike

[Shartnado]

I think the newly found confidence that Lexi has been showing during the Minion Empowerment is definitely showing during her backstage interviewing duties as well. The "Absolutely not"-deadpan in response to Nementh's request for a good luck hug on AEW tv last week was 100% proof of it working!

[Matt D]

The addition of Collision has really made it hard for me to write up any AEW here. I am cognizant of that, especially because some of my recent commentary was more negative. I think one some level we all have been trying to fill the hole created earlier this year though none of us can. For ROH I tend to watch the first 30 mins-hour on Friday and then I catch the rest on my commute into work. Before that was Tuesday but I'm in Weds-Thurs for the rest of the year. Starting January I have to pick up a third day in the office so that'll probably be Monday. But it doesn't facilitate me writing this stuff up in any meaningful way. 

I really did like the Starkz/Athena vs Diamante/Mercedes tag though. It was a tornado tag so it was all action but they made the momentum shifts make sense and the characters were entirely at play. It was just very well put together for something that's generally quite difficult along those lines. I like that Athena and Billie have tandem offense worked out already. I think Ellering has looked ok so far and if they did tag belts (and they should, specifically attached to ROH while maybe sunsetting the trios titles), her and Willow would make a ton of sense as a team. Karter and Griff are starting to come together a bit though it's crazy that tag only got 3 minutes or so. The 4 way, on the other hand, was all spots and didn't wear out its welcome. It felt like one of those Nitro Spotfests. Gringo Loco having Blake to work off of helped too, I think. And yeah, great to see Slim J in there. I'd add him to Toni Storm's act as her Peter Lorre. And everything else I saw on Friday so it's all totally gone from my head.

[DreamBroken]

All the women's matches before the main event were super short but nice while they lasted. Leyla squashing Robyn Renegade in a minute, Rachael Ellering over Little Mean Kathleen in 2 and Kiera beating Charlette Renegade in 3. Liked the post-match with Leyla not wanting Rachael's help and their later backstage bit setting something up. 

Darius Martin vs Lee Moriarty was a nice longer rematch from last week. Josh Woods vs Ethan Page was solid. 

this week's 4 way spot guys match was another nice win to build Angelico up. Slim J rules.  this week's Gates of Agony multi-team match stood out more from the last few with the other teams getting a little shine.

Andretti vs. Comoroto vs. Big Shotty was a quick battle of three guys with underrated good theme songs.  Gravity with Dalton & The Boys made for a fun team.

Athena vs. Mercedes delivered and lived up to expectations in an epic main event. Awesome work and spots throughout. GREAT near fall off the exposed buckle spot in to the fishermans buster. In the end, Billie finally cheats to win! Loved the little post-match with Billie getting back in to Athena's good graces again. 

[Matt D]

Athena vs Mercedes was really good.

• Athena is currently just this generational mix of character and athleticism. She's 35. We could have her at this level for another ten years+ if she stays healthy.
• Great early transitions:
  • Athena leads off with the magic forearm off the handshake.
  • Mercedes takes over after Athena rips her sister's sign on the floor
  • Athena comes back by blocking the spider German
• Superplex on the floor was a crazy big spot but it transitioned into a back half where they really sold and let things sink in. They worked the 20 count after it and then after a strike exchange sold big.
• Even though they survived bombs the first time around, Athena blocked the Brass City Sleeper by biting the first time and Athena used a wigsplitter variation on Diamante instead of the Despicable Knee on the floor so both were still in play (plus Athena's crossface) for the finish. I like that much more than a repeated finisher and both women have the established moveset for it.
• Finish was exactly what it should have been for the ongoing story. My hope is that they keep milking it until March and then have Billie beat Athena for the title at Supercard of Honor and not hotshot things over the next month.

[Godfrey]

It's frustrating that the Athena/Martinez feud is on ROH and us TV-watchers just get Shida vs Challenger A and the Mist Chronicles. Not to take away from your ROH viewing pleasure but I hope there's a shuffle of the roster soon so we can get some fresh faces and feuds on the main shows

[evanknight]

On 11/3/2023 at 4:13 PM, Godfrey said:

It's frustrating that the Athena/Martinez feud is on ROH and us TV-watchers just get Shida vs Challenger A and the Mist Chronicles. Not to take away from your ROH viewing pleasure but I hope there's a shuffle of the roster soon so we can get some fresh faces and feuds on the main shows

I could not disagree with that more. You have to keep some reasons for people to pay for the product 

[Matt D]

On 11/3/2023 at 4:13 PM, Godfrey said:

It's frustrating that the Athena/Martinez feud is on ROH and us TV-watchers just get Shida vs Challenger A and the Mist Chronicles. Not to take away from your ROH viewing pleasure but I hope there's a shuffle of the roster soon so we can get some fresh faces and feuds on the main shows

If Athena wasn’t on ROH, she’d be facing QT Marshall on Rampage every week.

[Godfrey]

11 hours ago, evanknight said:

I could not disagree with that more. You have to keep some reasons for people to pay for the product 

I see what you're saying but their main show is suffering to keep ROH alive and I think that's kind of backwards. Not only that, Mercedes and Athena are good veteran wrestlers and I thought ROH was supposed to be where folks like Julia Hart and Skye Blue can get more reps (which they still need). I wouldn't think switching those 2 for 2 is going to make anyone get or cancel an ROH subscription but I could be wrong

[Matt D]

Decided to double down on Athena vs Mercedes with way too many words:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2023/11/aew-five-fingers-of-death-1030-115-bonus.html

[Zimbra]

This is a genuinely amazing spot and props to John Silver for selling it like he got maced.

https://x.com/BranCutler/status/1721970836222165119?s=20

[DreamBroken]

the Athena/Billie stuff intertwining in to the Leyla/Ellering angle was interesting. Athena destroys Heidi Howitzer,  Leyla v. Charlette Renegade was short but good, then Billie vs Ellering was very good. Liked the post-match stuff with Ellering saving Leyla from the Renegades, then Leyla saving Rachel from Athena & Billie but saying she only did so that they're even now while Leyla still wants back on Maria's good side.  Cool mix of stories/angles.

Kyle Fletcher vs Big Shotty was good with a lot of time, a highlight of this week. Surprised the Iron Savages went over Cole & Griff as I thought it'd go the other way for sure. 

I thought Shane Taylor/Moriarty teaming with the Wingmen was an odd choice and then they end up walking out on them not long after. Dralistico vs. Gravity was fun.

Glad to see Kingston vs Angelico get a nice 10 minute main event after a solid several weeks of building up Angelico for this challenge. I like Eddie having like 3 or 4 different regular finishes. Solid closing promo from Dalton Castle setting up Castle vs Kingston next week which should be good stuff.

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

Iron Savages are such a fun team. 

[Curt McGirt]

Hey hey! I go find ROH and who are the first people I see? 

- Athena

- Tony Nese

- Ethan Page

YAY! And then the totally-forgotten-about-by-me Leyla Hirsch who I always liked is right there, too. She's still great. The Iron Savages match was entertainingly goofy ("I'M GONNA BUST!!!") and the Cole dude had a wicked 450 where it looked like he almost pinned in the air before slamming down hard AF. Josh Woods with that beard now looks a whole lot like another wrestler who I can't remember the name of. Somebody who was like, Wade Barrett level, I think a tag guy? Anyway. He's still a killer. Angelico (with his "mom told the Supercuts lady what she wanted my hair to look like" 'do) was a good opponent for King. He had great reaction to the machine gun chops, and Caprice said "tearing his flesh" like Eddie had a fork in his head. It was funny. Good show! I need to remember Thursdays don't just have to be Impact and NJ. 

Oh, and Dalton's promo was the limit. "I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN DAYS" I expected to be followed by "BECAUSE THAT CRANK JUST WON'T LET ME GO!!!" "I WENT TO MY FAVORITE FONDUE RESTAURANT, I WANTED SOME CHEEEEESE" 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[HarryArchieGus]

I've found it challenging to drum up any interest in ROH over the past month. So many issues with this current product, not least of which is the atmosphere of empty arenas. That said, the Athena-Mercedes video package to begin was terrific. I'd like to see that bout. Billie/Athena promo was fine. The MIT nonsense is dragging. I skipped passed Nese v Serpentico: 'That'll put butts in the seats'. Really tho, both are great hands, but let them be just that, and do what they do wonderfully - put over upward mobile performers. The Ethan Page bit to end was embarrassing. Page is really struggling to put the pieces together. That said, great place for him to try things out no matter how embarrassing. Martin/Andretti/Infantry promo was fine. No interest in seeing another Athena squash. But then finally a match appears to my liking in the form of Fletcher v Lee Johnson. And no surprise it was very good. Lee's a good hand/enhancement talent, and that's a fair and respectable spot. Skipped Leyla v Renegades and the Iron Savages v Griff/Karter. The Savages cheesewhiz act seems to have plateaued pretty low in the card. Not sure they oughtta be going over any teams at this stage. I often wonder what a repackaged solo Bronson could do? I also wonder if Boulder repackaged and presented like a real true (sorta) Giant would work. He's a bit clumsy, but doing way more than he should. And he's essentially a comedy wrestler. Ugh, Not really into the ass-eating taunt. Might be beneficially to the optics of the product not to have guys doing ass-eating taunts. I'm not seeing Griff's chances of success increasing with this middling unit beside Karter and foxy Maria. Nice Samoa Joe video showcasing how meaningless the TV title is. Sounds like Tony's got an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Rachel Ellering v Billie Starks was sloppy not unlike a lot of the Rachel matches I've seen. Billie is clearly so destined for the top of the card. She's already too good to be only on this little viewed show. The Leyla-Maria angle just goes on and on, and I don't sense many if any care. It was fine for a month long arc. Then, move the fuck on. Long term storytelling is not for every story and it's also not carrying out the same shit week after week after week. The current crop of onnnnn-going stories are have lost me. I'm very okay with more focus on characters than stories, always and forever. Josh Woods squash was fine. I skipped Infantry/Andretti/Martin v STP/Nemeth/Avalon. Just go to the Andretti/Martin v STP match already. Maybe even have a re-match. Adding job guys to the mix for an 8 man makes the match that much more unnecessary. Shane Taylor had improved his look greatly with the loose short, but why improve your look when you can wear a generic ill-fitting spandex? Presentation is vital Shane, especially with your degree of talent. I liked what I saw of Dralistico v Gravity. Dralistico was looking fierce like his lunatic bruv. Gravity seems to be improving and finding his way a little. Kingston v Angelico was an excellent Main Event. They even had a decent portion of the Collision crowd. Angelico could really use a fresh coat of paint. Drop the neon, the shitty entrance music, goofy dancing, goofy name even? His skillset is tremendous and feels completely under utilized in this low card semi-comedy gimmick. That said, maybe he's more valuable backstage as a coach or something? Eddie was great here as per usual. Hearing Riccaboni talk about Kingston's NJPWStrong title defenses makes me wonder why NJPW and AEW don't have a deal to regularly share footage. A couple highlights of Eddie defending that title would do nothing but help build the Champ's aura. I trimmed this episode down and enjoyed most of the things I took the time to view. I'll continue to be interested in Kingston's title defenses (against worthy opponents), but not much else.

Edited November 11, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[HarryArchieGus]

I long for the day when the ROH budget affords this show it's own tapings. At much more reasonably sized venues. With crowds who would see value in paying to see guys one would expect to be on the loose ROH roster. The original TV shows in Florida were far better pre-Collision, but they could be even more thrilling taped in front of sub-1200 sized venues in all the major East and West Coast centers. '...the dreamer who dreams and then lives inside the dream'.