Ring of Honor Review - April 20, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Kingdom def. Darius Martin and Action Andretti

Based on what we saw from them here, I'm fully in favor of Andretti being Darius' new tag partner while Dante is out injured. They work really well together and had good chemistry with The Kingdom. That said, The Kingdom are the established team and thus them winning was the right call. I expect they'll eventually challenge The Lucha Brothers for the ROH World Tag Team Championship and I'm looking forward to that.

Willow Nightingale def. Robyn Renegade

Nightingale just keeps winning, unless it's on Dynamite and she's facing The Outcasts, at which point she's a loser. She's been a stepping stone on that show lately and I don't agree with that, but at least she's been on a roll in Ring of Honor. This was another win for her in a nice little match, though it looks like she's not done with The Renegades yet given they attacked her afterward. On a side note, I liked that The Renegades attempted to do the twin magic crap toward this match and that the referee didn't fall for it like a moron because they aren't actually twins.

Lance Archer def. JAH-C

Is Archer really headed to ROH? If so, I'm not totally against it because it's not like AEW has had any plans for him since he resurfaced a few months ago as it's instead been relegated to Dark shows for the most part. I've been an Archer fan since he signed with AEW three years ago, but Tony Khan can never quite figure out what to do with him. We'll see what his ceiling is in ROH, but this was a quick squash to get him going.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage def. Joey Jett

Cage's squashes tend to be a lot like Archer's, so I wouldn't have put them back-to-back on this show. That said, this was more competitive than it needed to be with Jett getting some offense in on Cage. I don't know if that was necessary, but whatever. Per reports, Cage has re-signed with AEW/ROH for five years, so hopefully he'll get used better than he has been the past three years. It's easy to forget he's one-third of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions because I feel like we barely see The Embassy appear as a unit on this show.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Heather Reckless in an ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match

Similar to Cage vs. Jett, this wasn't a total squash as Reckless scored a little bit of offense, but with the outcome never being in doubt, I don't think this needed to be long as it was (though it wasn't that long, anyway). I understand giving Athena's opponents some shine, but if they're not even signed, what's the point? Athena's doing excellent work as a heel, but she wrestles practically the same match every week with no real threat on the horizon.

The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. Cole Karter and Lee Johnson

Karter and Johnson have remained partners despite The Factory parting ways, in case you haven't been keeping up with the Dark shows (and I wouldn't blame you if you haven't been). It's clear they're just an enhancement team at this point, leaving me to wonder how long Karter signed with AEW for because maybe he can head back to WWE NXT if his deal is up in the next few months. Dark Order appear to be ROH guys going forward. This was every Dark Order showcase I've ever seen them have on Dark.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Penta El Zero Miedo def. Nick Comoroto

The Lucha Brothers just go done feuding with Powerhouse Hobbs and QT Marshall, but that has nothing to do with Comoroto because, as noted, The Factory is no more. In other words, I have no idea what this match was supposed to accomplish other than getting Penta in the ring and killing time. Comoroto feels like a lost cause at this point, so booking him in a competitive match with Penta felt pointless. Fans love Penta, so this was basically an excuse to get him out there.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Lee Moriarty

This was a quality contest given the talent involved, but again, I question what the point was. They were two directionless guys having a match for hell of it. Yes, it was very well wrestled, but more of a reason to care would have been appreciated seeing as how Moriarty as lost way more matches than he's won whenever he faces someone that matters. I know Takeshita just linked up with The Elite on Dynamite, but what's his role in ROH? The commentators teased it, but I wish we'd hear from Takeshita announcing his intentions for being on the brand.

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo def. Gringo Loco (Non-Title)

The one word that always comes to mind during Vikingo's matches is "spectacle." This was no exception. He's capable of some incredible stuff that you won't see in most promotions. He's been a breath of fresh air in AEW and ROH, but my guess is that Khan enjoys having him around and getting great matches out of him but doesn't have any long-term plan in place for him. That's why his matches have been so random, but it's hard to complain about getting a match of this caliber on free TV. Okay, so Honor Club is a paid streaming service, but you get my point.

Iron Savages def. Ren Jones and Logan Lynch

Iron Savages were accompanied by a guy named Jameson Ryan. Didn't they have an actual manager who spoke before their matches many months ago? Regardless, this only existed to bring the crowd down before the main event. Their feats of strength are impressive, but Iron Savages/Bear Country have been spinning their wheels in AEW for years and have yet to reach that next level. Hopefully they'll have better luck in ROH.

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe def. Colt Cabana

It was cool that Cabana mentioned during a backstage interview earlier in the episode that throughout his career, he has (unsuccessfully) challenged Joe for the ROH World Championship, the ROH Pure Championship, and now the ROH World Television Championship. I don't think we've seen Cabana on ROH TV at all since it relaunched, and we may not see him again for a while. There wasn't much to this match, but it was decent enough. Like Claudio Castagnoli, hopefully we don't have to wait long to find out who Joe's next real rival will be. It does look like they're moving away from this feud with Mark Brisoce for the time being, unfortunately.

Overall Show

For whatever reason, it felt like there were more extended squashes than usual this week, even though the show was closer to 90 minutes than two hours. All of the matches were well worked, but when a majority of them are more or less squashes, the episode feels inconsequential. That was the case this week with nothing super special happening outside of Vikingo vs. Loco. You'd think more would be happening with ROH coming off the positive buzz Supercard of Honor received, but the last few shows have been fairly tame and uneventful.

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