Ring of Honor Review - April 11, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Punishment Martinez def. Shane Taylor

Martinez and Taylor are two of the better big men Ring of Honor has on its roster, so I was interested to see how they would fare against each other. Sure enough, this turned out to be a nice little match with a great pace. I thought it might on the slower side, but this was certainly more fun than it was boring or plodding. Martinez almost always impresses and is protected more often than not, so I was happy he emerged victorious here.

Jay Lethal def. Caprice Coleman

Before the bout, Coleman hosted Coleman's Pulpit with Lethal and it was... interesting. Coleman was over-the-top obnoxious in an attempt to infuriate Lethal so he could garner "ratings." Well, it worked, or at least in getting Lethal mad, not the ratings part. That then led to a match where Lethal was aggressive throughout as a result of Coleman pissing him off. Lethal was mostly on offense, which was nice, but this didn't need to last as long as it did because Coleman is a non-player.

Matt Taven def. Christopher Daniels and Cody in a Three-Way Match

All three of these men have established issues, so I liked the combination of talent here. They worked a rather straightforward albeit entertaining three-way match where they made good use of the time they were allotted. Taven winning definitely surprised me, but in a good way. Cody is already a star and Daniels has been a world champion as well, so Taven needed this win more than they did and he's clearly on his way up the card. He's currently dabbling in the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship picture, but look for him to break back out into singles competition soon enough.

Overall Show

Coleman's Pulpit was cringe-worthy, but the rest of the show was solid. It wasn't must-see by any stretch, mind you, but the in-ring action was enjoyable. I'm not sure if this was the last show from this batch of tapings from Las Vegas, but I suppose we'll find out next week, because I'm anxious to see the fallout from Supercard of Honor. Advertised for next week's show is Frankie Kazarian vs. Hiromu Takahashi and a ROH World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Tag Team Gauntlet match.