Ring of Honor Review - August 3, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Shane Taylor def. Christopher Daniels in an ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament Semifinal Match

As I mentioned last week, Daniels already challenged Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship not too long ago and lost, so Taylor had to win here. Both guys have obviously been around the block and unsurprisingly had an enjoyable outing to open the show. Daniels is a good hand to have in Ring o Honor right now while Taylor should be doing more. A hoss fight with Joe would be a step in the right direction.

ROH World Tag Team Champions Aussie Open def. Iron Savages (Non-Title)

Aussie Open didn't come out with the ROH World Tag Team Championship when this was taped because their title match against El Hiko del Vikingo and Komander hadn't happened yet. Iron Savages didn't have a chance of winning either way, but props to them for the strong effort they put forth here. There weren't a ton of people in the building when this was taped (everything aired out of order), but they got the fans into the action and had a fun, hard-hitting affair.

ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata def. Josh Woods in a Pure Rules Match

As the only match advertised one week out, you'd think this would have been the main event. I'm not complaining, though, as I can't say I found this overly interesting. Of course, it was very well wrestled and Woods proved he can hang with Shibata, but the crowd was largely quiet for this one. Woods said afterward in a backstage promo that something had to change coming off his recent string of losses.

Dalton Castle def. Zack Clayton

I'm Castle acknowledged during a backstage segment on this show that he was left out of the tournament to crown a number one contender to the Television title despite Joe cheating to beat him at Death Before Dishonor. Hopefully means they're going back to Joe vs. Castle eventually and maybe Castle will be the one to ultimately dethrone him. This was a quick showcase to get him back on track.

The Infantry def. Jora Johl and Nick Comoroto

Johl and Comoroto were a really random duo. It would have been nice if it was explained beforehand why they joined forces. Otherwise, it would've been more logical to put an enhancement team in their spot instead, but at least The Infantry were able to beat two people on the roster for a change. This was a decent match while it lasted. I'm all for The Infantry being more than ROH's go-to jobber tag team.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Miranda Vionette

Hirsch is racking up win after win. She beat Trish Adora on the Zero Hour pre-show at Death Before Dishonor and will continue to dominating the competition before she inevitably challenges for the ROH Women's World Championship. The question is if it happens while Athena is still champion. Also, I'm curious why Maria Kanellis-Bennett was shown scouting Hirsch from the stage. This was a straightforward squash for Hirsch as it should have been.

Gravity def. Tony Nese in an ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament Semifinal Match

Gravity has certainly been making the rounds recently, though seeing him get destroyed by Samoa Joe on Collision last week pretty much foreshadowed the ending to this tourney. Why would get another shot at Joe after that? That means Taylor is winning the whole thing and that's what I wanted to see, anyway. The Varsity Athletes have go-away heat with me, but these two had a nice match in the time they were allotted.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Diamante

I believe this was the last match I stayed for at last Saturday's Collision/ROH TV taping and it was well worth it. They had a great match and it was easily Diamante's best, at least to my memory. That should've been expected given the roll Athena is on right now. I never bought into the idea that Diamante could win, but she had a strong showing and looked credible in defeat. My only nitpick is that they didn't bother to build this up at all in advance.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Gates of Agony def. The Boys

Mogul Embassy have beaten Castle and The Boys on multiple occasions, so I don't think this was supposed to indicate that there's more to come between the two factions. Rather, The Boys were put in there because Gates of Agony needed an enhancement team to beat. They had a few hope spots, but this was largely about Gates of Agony and further establishing them as a dominant duo.

Cole Karter def. LSG

Part of me stupidly thought Karter might have been the mystery partner of The Family on Tuesday's WWE NXT, completely forgetting that there was never any word on Karter leaving AEW/ROH. He'd probably be better back with The Family at this point because it's clear he's treading water at the moment. He remains generic and this win didn't change my mind at all. The match was rather forgettable. Maria was shown again on the stage, but why? Please don't tell me he's joining The Kingdom.

Robyn Renegade def. Christina Marie

I have no interest in The Renegades getting spotlight matches (both tag team and singles) on ROH TV when we haven't been given a reason to care about them yet, but I suppose this is what happens when Dark and Elevation go away and AEW doesn't have anywhere else for these newer talents to improve. I would assume that was the sole reason why this existed because it's not like the match itself was anything special.

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo and Komander def. The Workhorsemen

It would've made more sense for this match to take place last week to give Vikingo and Komander at least one win as a tandem before they challenged Aussie Open for the ROH World Tag Team Championship on the 200th edition of Dynamite. That said, they have wonderful chemistry as partners and I'm in full favor of them teaming more often (especially doesn't have more meaningful plans for either of them on their own). The Workhorsemen, to their credit, consistently deliver and thus this was an entertaining sprint.

Overall Show

There were two title matches on this show, and neither of them were slotted as the main event. One of them was even advertised a week out, but instead, we got a pointless tag team match with no stakes in the main event instead. ROH TV continues to feature quality wrestling, but a better job needs to be done of making it more important. I watched half of these matches in person at least week's AEW Collision taping and more and more people left as the taping progressed. They really need to trim the show down to one hour and film it before Collision if they insist on taping these shows the same night as Collision for the time being. This episode was all over the place but did have a few standout matches.

SEE MORE: ROH Reviews