Ring of Honor Review - August 30, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine def. Jay White and Jonathon Gresham (Non-title)

Although this was a battle between two babyface tag teams, the crowd didn't seem to mind and was electric for all the action. The two tandems worked wonderfully together and kicked off the night on a high note. White has awesome chemistry with Gresham, but I really wish ROH was doing more with White in singles competition while they have him on excursion from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Meanwhile, Punisher Martinez attacking White afterward furthered their feud. On a side note, is War Machine still NXT bound? I forgot if I read whether they had re-signed with ROH or NJPW.

Josh "The Goods" Woods def. Shane Taylor

I originally assumed Woods was supposed to be a heel, but it looks like he's currently a babyface given how he was portrayed in this match, which is weird. Taylor is talented for a guy of his massive size (kudos to him for losing a significant amount of weight), but he is pretty directionless at the moment and thus it was hard to care about this match. It was fine while it lasted, but nothing special. It got even more confusing afterward when QT Marshall (no idea who he is by the way) came down to the ring and paid off Taylor for laying out Woods. I guess the intent was for viewers to question why he apparently put a hit out on Woods, but I can't say I'm too intrigued.

ROH World Tag Team Champions and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. The Motor City Machine Guns Ended in a No Contest (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

I have fond memories of watching (and enjoying) the stellar series of matches The Motor City Machine Guns had with The Young Bucks (then known as Generation Me) in TNA back in 2009, and I can't believe that they haven't crossed paths since then, at least two-on-two. That said, I liked this match a lot and unsurprisingly, it was a ton of fun thanks to its chaotic pace and the lively atmosphere. The Addiction ultimately interfered and forced the match to be thrown out, but this was an awesome match prior to that point.

Overall Show

Between the opener and the main event, it's hard to give this edition of ROH TV anything less than two thumbs up. Sure, Woods vs. Taylor was rather forgettable, but that didn't take away from the excellence of this show. In addition to the two terrific matchups, it was officially announced that Cody will defend his ROH World Championship against Minoru Suzuki at Death Before Dishonor next month and a nice video package on Kenny King also aired, so this was an above-average episode all things considered.