Ring of Honor Review - August 9, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Addiction Addressed the Audience

Cody has obviously been favored over Christopher Daniels throughout their feud, but I didn't think Daniels was receiving enough boos from the fans to warrant turning him back heel so soon. However, I don't have a major issue with it because both guys are better off as heels anyway and this was an excellent promo from them. Daniels bringing up how the crowd chanted "Thank you, Daniels" in that same building at All Star Extravaganza in that same building last fall (where I was in attendance) was a great touch. That said, the timing of this was weird heading into the title match with Cody unless a double turn is in the works, but I don't see Cody becoming a babyface just yet.

Jay Lethal Attacked Silas Young and The Beer City Bruiser

Young is talented on the mic and has been able to drag out this program for this long without Lethal being around, but the timing was just right to bring Lethal back and allow him to give Young and Beer City Bruiser their comeuppance. The crowd wasn't white-hot for the attack, but I assume that's because it took place so late in the tapings. I understand this was designed to kill time before the main event, but it wasn't smart to position this after the opening promo and go a full 20 minutes without wrestling.

ROH World Champion Cody def. Christopher Daniels in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match

Ring of Honor is known for its 2-out-of-3 Falls matches and I would certainly say this one lived up to the hype in being an absolute treat. Daniels' promo from the start of the show firmly established him as the heel in this match and the crowd was solidly behind Cody throughout, especially once Daniels began working over the injured Cody. The match started out slow, but they picked up the pace down the stretch in the first fall and I appreciated that the interference was gotten out of the way early on. Daniels attacking Cody in between falls was brilliant and something I've never seen that before. It isn't often that a match like this ends in two straight falls, so that was a pleasant surprise as well.

Overall Show

I figured the main event would take up the entire episode, and while that wasn't exactly the case, the build to the bout was well done on the whole and the match delivered. I just wish they would have taken the time to hype it better in the weeks preceding this show. Nevertheless, the opening segment was effective in officially turning The Addiction heel and Jay Lethal also returned, so this was a quality edition of ROH TV.