Ring of Honor Review - December 11, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Flip Gordon and Bully Ray Attacked Mark Haskins

I was wondering what Bully's relentless attacks on Lifeblood in 2019 were leading to, so it's nice to know that Bully vs. Haskins is the endgame. Haskins cut a great, passionate promo here calling out Bully, but before he could get his hands on him, Gordon (who has been referring to himself as The Mercenary since turning heel a few months ago) ambushed him from behind. Bully then put Hawkins through a table and did what he does best by running down Haskins on the mic, challenging him to a match at Final Battle. I appreciated that the commentators acknowledged the extensive history between Bully and Gordon from last year.

Bateman def. PJ Black

I saw Bateman in action for the first time on an HonorClub-exclusive event a few months ago. He's a good hand and he worked well with Black here. There were a few awkward spots where it looked like they were wrestling in slow motion, but this was a decent match otherwise. Black won that random four-way on last week's episode (taped at The Experience), so I guess this victory does mean something for Bateman.

ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor def. Danhausen

Soldiers of Savagery seemed to fall off the face of the earth when their teased partnership with Bully went nowhere, but it looks like they've officially aligned with Taylor considering they accompanied him to ringside. Meanwhile, I'm not overly familiar with Danhausen, but it's clear he's popular with the fans and that people dig his gimmick (whatever it is). He put up a hell of a fight, but Taylor ultimately went over decisive fashion as he should have. He spoke beforehand about being one of the most dominant ROH World Television Champions of all-time, and as awesome as Dragon Lee is, I'd like to see his reign continue past their match at Final Battle. For what's worth, Dak Draper was shown watching from the stage, as he is owed a shot at the ROH World Television Championship at some point for winning the 2019 Top Prospect Tournament.

Overall Show

As a go-home show for Final Battle, this edition of ROH TV was a colossal failure. I realize there were a handful of video packages that promoted multiple matches on the card, but it was all stuff we've seen before here on the show. The two matches we got were solid, but only the angle with Haskins, Gordon and Bully served a purpose as Bully vs. Haskins is happening at Final Battle. I can safely say that this episode did absolutely nothing to get me more excited for the event than I was previously. Here's hoping they can deliver a strong pay-per-view, but it's no surprise the buzz surrounding the company is at an all-time low with shows like this.