Ring of Honor Review - December 9, 2015

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

reDRAGON def. Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser

Was it ever addressed on TV why The Boys have suddenly been brainwashed by Young or am I missing something? Even if they aren't acting, it will mean more why they eventually reunite with Dalton Castle, which could happen as soon as Final Battle. As for the match, it was an entertaining opener, but I didn't understand why it happened. Adam Cole was excellent on commentary, but in no other way was their feud furthered. Bobby Fish was behind the booth later in the night, and Young and Bruiser are feuding with Castle. Again, fun match, but what was the point?
 

Alex Shelley Confronted Chris Sabin

The red mask storyline has been eating at me for months, so it was cool for it finally to be blown off on this show. That said, the reveal felt slightly anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, I popped for Alex Shelley being under the mask and what it might mean between him and Sabin going forward, but for Shelley to enter the ring and simply unmask himself was strange. If nothing else, I'm anticipating the aftermath.

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ROH World Television Champion Roderick Strong def. Samson Walker

I knew next to nothing about Walker before this bout, so I had zero incentive to think he would be winning. Despite that, he had an impressive outing against Strong here and I was surprised by the ample amount of offense he scored against Strong. It was a fine title defense for Strong, but Fish was completely ineffective on commentary. I didn't think he was a heel and this feud with Strong feels forced because they don't have much history.


The Young Bucks def. The Briscoes

It's amazing when you take a second to think about how loaded ROH's tag team division is right now. In addition to these two tremendous teams, they have The All Night Express, reDRAGON, The Kingdom, The Addiction and War Machine. Incredible. This was every bit as great as you'd expect it to be from the exceptional action to the fast pace, but it was wondering why it was happening in the first place. Are they along with The All Night Express facing off in a Triple Threat No. 1 Contender's match at Final Battle? A little build would have gone a long way in making this match feel more special.


Overall Show

The wrestling on this show was once again off the charts, but the build for Final Battle left a lot to be desired. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole was decently hyped as well as Castle vs. Young, but the other matches didn't pack as much of a punch. It was an enjoyable hour of ROH TV per usual, but it didn't leave me as excited for the pending pay-per-view as last week's episode did.