Ring of Honor Review - February 20, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Shane Taylor def. Flip Gordon, Luchasaurus, Rhett Titus, Chris Sabin and Kenny King in a Six-Man Mayhem Match

While I don't think there was anything on the line here, this was still a highly enjoyable multi-man match with everyone getting enough time to shine. It was all action from bell to bell and the crowd ate up everything they did. King was booted halfway through due to getting himself disqualified, only to resurface at the end to hit Gordon with a chair and cost him the victory. Gordon and King recently teased feuding, so it made sense for that storyline to progress here.

The Bouncers def. Marcus Kross and Giff Garrison

The Bouncers have grown on me as a tandem in recent months and I find their act to be a lot of fun. This was a simple squash that allowed them to shine and get over with the audience. I don't know if they'll ever be believable threats to the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but it doesn't hurt to build them up, anyway. If they can continue stacking up victories like this one, a title shot may be in their future.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes def. Chuckie T. and Colt Cabana

Best Friends were originally slated to vie for the titles, but for whatever reason, Trent Beretta couldn't make it and was instead replaced by Cabana, who Chuckie referred to as his "good friend." That got a chuckle out of me. Granted, I never once expected the titles to change hands here, but it was an entertaining affair, nonetheless. I'm interested to see who The Briscoes' next big feud will be with now that they've beaten almost everyone in the division. I'd put my money on them defending against two members of Lifeblood at some point.

Lifeblood Confronted ROH World Champion Jay Lethal

Lethal's promo was very similar to the promo Juice Robinson cut last week when he revealed the formation of Lifeblood, a stable looking to restore honor to Ring of Honor. Lethal is on a mission to do the same, so after praising each member of the group, Robinson challenged him to a 10-man tag team match that will remind fans what the company was built on. This was a successful segment all around that put over the entire Lifeblood group as a credible entity right off the bat and set up a big main event (presumably) for next week.

Overall Show

This was a great edition of ROH TV I thought, as there was a lot to like about it. It's clear the company is headed in a new direction, and they're already off solid start. The idea of Lifeblood is exciting, but hopefully they can tone down on the talking going forward and focus more on the wrestling. The rest of the episode was a blast between the tag titles being defended, The Bouncers picking up a victory, and the Six-Man Mayhem match.