Ring of Honor Review - February 10, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Alex Shelley def. Kazarian

I continue to be intrigued by the ongoing storyline with Shelley and Chris Sabin, but I'm hoping it doesn't get dragged out to the point where I no longer care to see the payoff (I'll talk about that with Dalton Castle and Silas Young momentarily). Shelley and Kazarian contested a good match and although it was a backdrop to what was going on with Shelley and Sabin, I enjoyed it while it lasted and it was well placed in the opening slot.


Dalton Castle def. Joey "Daddy" Diego

I'm not too familiar with Diego, but despite an endorsement from Truth Martini, he felt like just another guy. That was reinforced in this match when it was all about Castle, so having him pick up the victory was logical. As noted in the previous paragraph, the Castle vs. Young jumped the shark for me at Final Battle and I'm shocked it's still going on. There's a cool dynamic there, but they exhausted that program many months ago and I'm ready for both guys to move on to something new.

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Action Ortiz def. Leon St. Giovanni in a Top Prospect Tournament Round 1 Match

These Top Prospect Tournament matches have been hit or miss so far, but I thought this match was half-decent all things considered. Both guys had solid showings, but Ortiz impressed me more than Giovanni by the end of the bout and I especially liked his finisher. The crowd wasn't as quiet for this match as I thought they would be, but it was evident they were awaiting the main event and just wanted to get through this contest.


All Night Express def. ROH World Tag Team Champions War Machine by Disqualification

War Marchine didn't feel special to me as tag team champs coming into this matchup, but that changed with their awesome performance here. They had great opponents in All Night Express, but they seemed to take more risks than usual and they paid off as the crowd was very much behind them. It was more of a brawl than it was a match, but it came across more personal as a result and the audience ate up the table spot at the end. A rematch between the two tandems down the line should be fun.


Overall Show

Entertaining main event aside, nothing stood out from this show for me, so I'd say it was a middle-of-the-road episode on the whole. You wouldn't be wasting your time if you checked this show out in its entirety, but I'd suggest watching solely the tag team title match and holding out until next week. Speaking of next week, I was slightly disappointed there wasn't more of a sell for The Young Bucks vs. Matt Sydal and ACH.