Ring of Honor Review - February 1, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Spanish Announce Project def. Kameron and Allen Russell

Just as I feared, Spanish Announce Project's feud with Cole Karter and Griff Garrison isn't over after Karter and Garrison beat them last week. The Russell brothers had a fine showing, but unless the idea is to sign them, I have no idea why they need to go over five minutes with Spanish Announce Project. What a waste of time. Karter and Garrison faced off with them afterward, so that rematch is inevitable.

Nyla Rose def. Emmy Camacho

I don't think Ring of Honor has the same rankings system in place that AEW recently brought back, so realistically, Rose could challenge Athena for the ROH Women's World Championship at any point because it's not like Rose needs to earn the opportunity. She's won enough squash matches and I'm ready for what's next in the feud, but it's possible Athena is injured and that's why she hasn't been around. On the bright side, this was short and sweet with Rose completely dominating Camacho.

Iron Savages (Boulder, Bronson and Jacked Jameson) def. KM, Braxton Hunter and Jon Cruz

Iron Savages' gimmick is lame as it is (in my opinion, anyway), but them being featured every single week does them no favors. Yes, they won here against a trio of losers, but they lose a majority of their matches. The only purpose I assume this served was getting them closer to a shot at the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Then again, title shots in ROH are given out like candy, so it'd hardly matter if they randomly contended for the titles. This was what it was.

Dalton Castle def. Aaron Solo

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the best thing about ROH TV these days is this Caste vs. Johnny TV feud. It's completely stupid, but I've gotten a kick out of lot of their backstage segments. This gave Caste a win before he eventually faces off with Johnny one-on-one again. It was a mediocre match, but it had the correct result. I'm surprised it wasn't more competitive considering Solo is a regular on the roster, but I'm not complaining.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) def. Fred Rosser and "Filthy" Tom Lawlor in an ROH World Tag Team Championship Proving Ground Match

Undisputed Kingdom as a whole are spinning their wheels while Adam Cole recovers from his injury. Unfortunately, I believe he's still a ways off from being cleared, so they might stuck in a holding pattern for a while. Taven and Bennett are winning these Proving Ground matches in the meantime, but they'll need some actual competition eventually. This was fairly formulaic, but it was cool seeing Rosser and Lawlor appear.

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Slim J

I absolutely loved the backstage promo Page cut earlier in the episode. He's always felt like a natural heel, but he's really excelled as a babyface in Ring of Honor. He comes across as genuinely wholesome and I commend his approach to racking up wins to earn himself a title opportunity. Of course, beating Slim J means virtually nothing, but a win is a win. They had a well-wrestled match in the time they were allotted.

Billie Starkz def. Killa Kate

Obviously, Starkz has to be considered one of the early favorites to become the inaugural ROH Women's World Television Champion, so giving her some wins ahead of the tournament is logical. What's interesting is that she's out there by herself with Athena, so she's basically in babyface mode despite being aligned with the heel Athena. Either way, this was a straightforward showcase for her.

The Righteous def. The Infantry

It was nice to see The Righteous in there with an actual team for a change. After they beat more established teams, the next step should be to give them more mic time again. I realize it's unlikely they'll be challenging for the ROH World Tag Team Championship any time soon, but giving them a string of wins is better than not using them at all. This was a quality contest while it lasted.

Queen Aminata def. Reiza Clarke

ROH TV is the only place Aminata can win, apparently. She's had a few matches so far on AEW programming but has lost every single one. These wins on ROH TV (that aren't being seen by the same amount of people who are watching the AEW shows) won't do much to boost her credibility. This was okay. Aminata has a presence about her and is skilled in the ring but needs some mic time (or at least a vignette) to establish who she is.

Bad Dude Tito def. Gringo Loco

Well, this came out of nowhere. Loco competes on ROH TV often but never wins anything of importance. As for Tito, he's appeared before but as part of TMDK. Why did this happen? Is Tito going to fight Kyle Fletcher for the ROH World Television Championship soon? You'd never know because we didn't hear from Tito on this show. The match itself was good and better than a majority of the matches on this episode, but some context would've been appreciated.

Red Velvet def. Trish Adora, Kiera Hogan and Diamante in a Four-Corner Survival Match

Velvet has had a handful of matches in AEW since returning from injury, but she still feels like a total afterthought. Simply put, there are many women in the AEW and ROH women's divisions who should be featured over her, including the three women in this match. It was well worked, but at only four minutes long, there wasn't much they could do. Announce the bracket for the ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament already!

Lee Johnson def. Alex Zayne, Jack Cartwheel and Blake Christian in a Four-Corner Survival Match

Doing Four-Corner Survival matches back-to-back was definitely not ideal, especially when neither of them had stakes. This was the better of the two, but not by much. It was spots, spots and more spots. All four of these guys are very talented and made the most of their time, I'll give them that. It virtually didn't matter who won, but Johnson wrestles in ROH more than the rest of them, so he was the most logical choice to go over.

Overall Show

This edition of ROH TV was an improvement over last week's with 12 matches total and the runtime not being as egregious, but it was still far from a great show. I'm aware I'm yelling into the void when I say this, but one hour would be perfectly serviceable for ROH TV. Cramming in as many matches as possible waters down the whole show. This episode was passable, but once it was over, I couldn't tell you a single match of the 12 we got that stood out and that's a problem.

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