Ring of Honor Review - February 21, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jay Lethal def. Flip Gordon

Gordon has impressed me in every outing he's had in Ring of Honor over the last year, and although he falls short of victory more often than not, he always looks great in defeat. He definitely proved his worth against a top-tier talent here in Lethal and the two had a very entertaining match. Lethal continues to not only deliver the goods and have awesome matches but pick up wins as well, so it comes as no surprise that it was officially announced afterward that he will be vying for the ROH World Championship at the 16th Anniversary Show next month.

Brandi Rhodes def. Karen Q in a Women of Honor Championship Tournament First Round Match

I didn't see one Brandi Rhodes match during her time in IMPACT that I thought was passable, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by what I saw here. It was by no means outstanding, mind you, but both women had solid showings and kept the pace consistent throughout. Karen Q was clearly positioned as the heel coming in while Brandi was the babyface, so it was weird that Brandi feigned an injury to beat her. Then again, Cody is a heel in ROH, so it wasn't completely illogical.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club def. So Cal Uncensored

You had to know these guys would go all out, and that's exactly what they did. The in-ring action was excellent and was a ton of fun from start to finish. The crowd was flat for the finish with So Cal Uncensored cheating to win the titles, but Bully Ray then emerged, declared himself the new Matchmaker of Ring of Honor, and restarted the matchup. That's a nice role for him now that he's seemingly done with wrestling, and I appreciate that all of the shenanigans from So Cal Uncensored from recent months finally led somewhere. I'm interested to see if a rematch will be booked for the pay-per-view coming up or if this was the end of the line for this feud.

Overall Show

ROH's 16th Anniversary is quickly approaching, and while nearly nothing is confirmed for the card as of now (as far as I know), at least the world title match is set in stone. This show was enjoyable on the whole between the above-average opening, decent women's match in the ongoing tourney, and a high quality main event. Here's hoping the next few editions of ROH TV give us a better idea of what the 16th Anniversary Show card will consist of.