Ring of Honor Review - February 15, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Queen Aminata def. J-Rod in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament First-Round Match

Ring of Honor has a very deep women's division, especially if you include the AEW regulars as well. With that said, why include someone in the tournament who isn't even on the roster? Nothing against J-Rod, who had a perfectly solid showing, but she did not belong in this spot. I also wasn't a fan of this being as competitive as it was. Aminata should have won quickly and decisively. She's been incredibly impressive on AEW TV as of late but really needs to rack up more meaningful victories.

The Infantry def. Midnight Heat

As I've said several times, The Infantry are a talented team, but they lose too often to be taken seriously. They'll be thrown the occasional bone like they were here and score a squash win, but they'll never win when it matters most. That's what makes it difficult to care about their matches. This was serviceable, but the most interesting thing with The Infantry on this episode came later on during their backstage interaction with Lee Moriarty. They'll probably get beaten by Shane Taylor Promotions, but I wouldn't mind them joining the group, either.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Rachael Ellering in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament First-Round Match

The storyline with Hirsch and Ellering has been going on for a few months, so I was surprised we got their first one-on-one match out of nowhere. It's obviously a small part of a bigger part, but it would've been nice if it was advertised a week out. Regardless, they had a top-notch match. Ellering getting hurt halfway through was clearly kayfabe, but I'm curious if she'll ultimately resent Hirsch for that and costing her a chance to advance.

The Outrunners def. Jeaux Braxton and Ice Williams

The Outrunners rarely win in AEW or ROH (let's not count the NWA) as they've been firming established as an enhancement team. Much like The Infantry, their matches do nothing for me as a result. It doesn't help that they were recently decimated by both Brian Cage and Hook in separate Handicap matches. We found out that they're headed for a match with The Infantry, so this gave them a win before then.

"Bounty Hunter" Bryan Keith def. Slice Boogie

I was happy to see Keith get the "All Elite" graphic recently after wrestling a bunch of matches on AEW TV and ROH TV. Now let's see him involved in something significant. We didn't get that here, but this did serve as a showcase win for him and he looked good as always. It was also cool to see Boogie make an appearance. I'm familiar with his work from MLW, but it's been a while since I last saw him compete. I forgot he wasn't with MLW anymore.

Mercedes Martinez def. Trish Adora in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament First-Round Match

Adora has stood out in ROH's women's division over the last year and Martinez is a former ROH Women's World Champion, so I wouldn't have minded either of them making it to the next round. This tournament match also delivered in the time they were allotted. Adora gave Martinez quite the fight before falling, so she was made to look credible in defeat. Martinez is underrated and I'm happy she's gotten more opportunities to show what she can do in ROH.

Lance Archer and The Righteous def. James Blackheart, JC Valentine and Jon Cruz

Archer and The Righteous team up so inconsistently that I have very little faith that they'll amount to anything as a trio. Unfortunately for them, wins on ROH TV don't count toward AEW's power rankings (to my knowledge, anyway), and the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship are currently being held hostage by Bullet Club Gold. This was what it needed to be, but I have little confidence these three will enter title contention anytime soon.

Dalton Castle def. Kenny King

I was wondering why King didn't have any entrance graphics and didn't come out to his usual theme song, which is when I realized he's been gone for a few years and was in IMPACT until just recently. It looked like he never left and would be a great pickup for the ROH roster. This was the well-worked match you'd expect from them. Post-match, Johnny TV told Castle that he'd give him a match if he allowed him to have The Boys.

Diamante def. Kiera Hogan in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament First-Round Match

This didn't feel like a main event, but I assume it went on last over Hirsch and Ellering so they could do the backstage stuff with Hirsch and Ellering on this same show (even though it could have been saved for next week, but oh well). They had a quality contest. It could have gone either guy and I don't think it would have made much of a difference, but Diamante has been winning more as of late and was probably the better choice to advance.

Overall Show

If you want to know what the key to my heart is this Valentine's Day, it's an edition of ROH TV that's around 90 minutes long. In all seriousness, I appreciated the runtime being on the shorter side and it made for an enjoyable episode on the whole. The ROH Women's World Championship Tournament is officially underway and will give some matches more meaning in the coming weeks. That was the focal point of this show and the other stuff was fine, so by ROH TV standards, it was a thumbs-up episode.

SEE MORE: ROH Reviews