Ring of Honor Review - December 20, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rayo def. Eric Martin, Adrian Soriano and Joe Keys in a Four Corner Survival Match

Keys was the only member of this match I was familiar with going into it, though I do remember Primal Fear from the few times they've appeared on ROH TV. This was a fun four-way while it lasted, though it would have benefited from more time. Everyone got their time to shine and Rayo in particular stood out the most I thought. It would have helped if we got to learn a little bit about each competitor before this started so viewers had a reason to want to see one of them win.

Matt Makowski def. Dante Caballero

The commentators freaked out over Makowski being introduced as Caballero's opponent. I've never heard for him personally, but apparently he spent some time in Bellator years ago, so he has a legitimate background. He did well and it was a quality match, but I'm not sure why this match had to be as long as it was. I would rather see the time go to the opener, which featured more people. Caballero has been a constant in the ROH Dojo for years, but if they wanted to establish Makowski as dominant, he probably should have won quicker than he did.

ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods def. Dak Draper

Woods won the Top Prospect Tournament in 2017 while Draper won it in 2019. I liked that we were shown highlights of so many other people winning it throughout the last decade including Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, Hanson, Donovan Dijak and Lio Rush. Draper has impressed me over the last year and I thought he had a solid showing here. Woods has been the perfect fit as ROH Pure Champion and I thought this was a nice final title defense for him to have. He recently popped up on AEW Dark, so I'd love if it ultimately wound up there.

Overall Show

This was billed as a Top Prospect Special. We got a look at plenty of fresh faces from the ROH Dojo, which was fitting with the hiatus Ring of Honor is about to go on. These guys may be the future, just not in ROH if they don't stick around. It wasn't the most exciting episode, but the matches were well wrestled and I enjoyed the main event. I'm glad the final fresh edition of ROH TV for the foreseeable future will be next week's Christmas episode featuring Rok-C vs. Holidead for the ROH Women's World Championship and the annual Christmas Surprise tag team match.

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