Ring of Honor Review - April 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Lady Frost in an ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match

Frost is always impressive and I was happy she was able to have a competitive match with Athena here, especially since a majority of Athena's matches are squashes (a formula that got old a while ago). She even came close to securing the win here, only to fall short in the end. If Frost isn't already signed to a deal, she should be. I continue to wish Athena wasn't so overexposed on ROH TV and the Dark shows. She wrestles weekly but doesn't do much that's new until an actual threat to her title emerges.

La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush and Preston Vance) def. The Infantry

Rush has largely been teaming with Dralistico recently, but Vance filled into for Dralistico here. Vance dominated most of the match and looked good doing so, but as I've said before, he's lost whatever momentum he had upon turning heel late last year. We barley see the guy in matches that matter, but maybe this is the start of him and Rush building toward a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The Infantry are a quality team, but they pulled jobber duty here.

Best Friends def. Joe Ocasio and Mookie Summers

I believe this marked the first match Best Friends have had in Ring of Honor since the relaunch. I'm curious if they'll be a permanent addition to the ROH tag team ranks or if this was merely a one-off. I remember them contending for the ROH World Tag Team Championship once back at the 15th Anniversary Show pay-per-view in 2017, so they have ties to the brand. This was a simple, short squash to get them going.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage def. Leon Ruffin

Yes, this was yet another squash. Could Tony Khan not space these out better? That said, I actually enjoyed this one more than the other ones. Cage killing dudes is a guilty pleasure of mine and Ruffin always plays the underdog role exceptionally well. He got a few hope spots in, but Cage was in total destruction mode and it was a blast. I still find it bizarre that we see way more of Cage on his own than we do of The Embassy. What's the point of them being ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions in that case?

The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) def. The Trustbusters (Sonny Kiss and Jeeves Kay)

Grayson has been over with the audience since returning to AEW and debuting in ROH, which is why I'd like to see him get more of a singles spotlight than being paired back in Dark Order. However, it looks like they're headed for a tag team match with The Righteous, so that's what purpose this served. It was okay, but the fact we've gotten this much Trustbusters so far in the new ROH is not a positive. Keep that crap on Dark.

Skye Blue def. Diamante

Blue suffers from the same issue as Athena in that she wrestles on AEW/ROH programming once or twice a week and a lot of her matches are the same. She's likable and it's a little more acceptable for her because she's getting reps (being not nearly as experienced as Athena), but I've been ready for what's next for her for some time. Thankfully, Athena vs. Blue for the belt appears to be on the horizon based on Athena taunting Blue afterward. This was a nice match from Blue and Diamante.

Lee Moriarty def. Rocky Romero

Romero has been wrestling for ROH on and off for years, so it was cool to see him back on this show. It was even cooler to see Moriarty beating a somewhat-notable name for a change and for it to happen on a show other than Dark or Elevation. This was a very good match from these two and a welcome change of pace after so many damn squashes. I could see Moriarty soon challenging Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship.

Blake Christian def. Gringo Loco

Loco is coming off an awesome match with El Hijo del Vikingo on last week's episode. I don't know how often he'll be appearing for ROH, but he's definitely been impressive these past two weeks and I'd like to see more of him. As for Christian, he unsuccessfully for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship at Supercard of Honor, so it was interesting he scored a singles win here. I'm curious what they might be building him up for. This was a fun sprint.

Overall Show

This was the most "Dark" edition of ROH TV so far on HonorClub. Almost the entire episode consisted of squashes, and as entertaining as the main event was, this was a very forgettable and inconsequential show on the whole. Honestly, my favorite part of the episode was the extended look at The Kingdom with the group talking about their history and goals going forward. More stuff like that would be appreciated. This was also the shortest episode yet with the last 30 minutes being devoted to an old Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson match, so at least it was a quick watch.

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