Ring of Honor Review - August 16, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Frankie Kazarian Addressed the Audience

Kazarian has never been known to be a strong mic worker, but similar to last week's episode, he cut a very good promo here that helped establish him as a heel. He claimed he was going to go against everything fans love about Ring of Honor, which is pretty basic stuff, but it was effective in eliciting him heat, nevertheless. It will be interesting to see what's next for his tag team partner Christopher Daniels following his latest loss to Cody.

Punishment Martinez def. Flip Gordon

I see Martinez as almost the equivalent to WWE's Baron Corbin, except Martinez is an exceptionally better athlete. I make that comparison because their characters seemingly both hate high-fliers, which is why this match worked so well. It was a classic case of Martinez looking like a beast with his impressive offense yet Gordon having an awesome outing and gaining a ton in defeat. I've said from the start that Gordon is one of the best the company has to offer at the moment and I strongly suggest keeping an eye on him for the future. Plus, Jay White brawled with Martinez afterward, so that feud was furthered as well.

Rhett Titus def. Cheeseburger

Titus is as directionless as can be right now following the demise of The Rebellion at Best in the World, and although he won this match, I don't see him doing too much of note any time soon. By himself, he's extremely bland, so I'm not complaining. Hell, even Cheeseburger is in a program! His rival Will Ferrara cost him this contest. The match was too short to be anything memorable.

ROH World Television Champion Kushida vs. Kenny King Ended in a Double Disqualification

ROH did a solid job of building up this bout over the last few weeks and I'm glad King was given the opportunity to shine. Kushida is rapidly growing on me, while I think King can be a standout singles star with the talent he has. I enjoyed this match before the interference from The Bullet Club, which is never a positive, but it did save Kushida vs. King for a later date, possibly on pay-per-view, and apparently turned King face in the process. On a side note, no official announcement was made as to what the final ruling of this match was, so I just assumed it was a double disqualification.

ROH World Television Champion Kushida and Kenny King def. The Bullet Club

I was worried Marty Scurll might spin his wheels after his loss of the TV title a few months ago, so I'm happy that won't be the case and he'll continue to chase the belt for the foreseeable future. He and Hangman Page are a nice duo by themselves and it didn't take long at all for Kushida and King to gel as partners. This was a really fun tag team match that showcased King and his skills in a big way (especially when he scored the pinfall victory) and I look forward to the eventual rematch between Kushida and King.

Overall Show

It's encouraging that ROH is slowly moving away from producing shows that have entertaining in-ring action yet feature nothing of significance. The wrestling is still above-average, but everything now serves a purpose as well. Between the unexpected gem that was Martinez vs. Gordon and the enjoyable main event(s), this edition of ROH was top notch. I'm digging a lot of what ROH is doing currently, so hopefully the upcoming episodes are equally excellent.