Ring of Honor Review - February 22, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

La Faccion Ingobernable (ROH World Television Champion Dragon Lee and Kenny King) def. The Briscoes in a ROH World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

This marked King's first match back in a while as he was unable to appear at Final Battle due to not passing the company's COVID-19 protocol. All four of these guys are great and The Briscoes never cease to deliver, so unsurprisingly, this was a very entertaining affair. King and Lee won after interference from Flip Gordon, so they're getting the tag title shot in two weeks. It was then hinted at that Gordan was paid off by EC3, who returned for the first time in a few months and cut a promo on Jay Briscoe. At least they're picking up where they left off there after their matchup had to be scrapped from Final Battle.

Mike Bennett def. Bateman

This was Bennett's shot at revenge after Bateman attempted to injure him back at Final Battle. I loved how he was intense right out of the gate and that this felt like a fight. Bateman held his own as well and it was enjoyable encounter on the whole. Matt Taven wasted no time afterward in going after Bateman, and despite OGK seemingly being babyfaces, they double-teamed Bateman with a chair shot to his ankle. The stipulation still stands that Taven and Vincent can't go after each other, so I'm wondering when that will be resolved.

Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor and Soldiers of Savagery) def. MexiSquad (Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus) to Win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship

It's been so long since we've seen the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship defended on ROH TV that I honestly forgot they still existed. To be fair, this championship clash was supposed to take place at the Final Battle pay-per-view in December before a member of MexiSquad had to be pulled due to testing positive for COVID-19. It ended up being a blast and worth the wait. MexiSquad are a terrific trio, but Taylor is getting the aggressive push at the moment and it's cool to see him holding gold again. I just hope this doesn't make it less likely that he'll beat Rush for the ROH World Championship on next week's show. Rush retaining would be fine, but I don't want Taylor being a tag champion to telegraph the finish.

Overall Show

It isn't often we get three matches on one edition of ROH TV, much less three matches of this caliber. This was a stacked show with three standout matches, and although ROH TV has been featuring above-average matches since the relaunch, it was nice that these matchups all had storyline significance and moved several storylines along. OGK are still going after Vincent and his group of freaks (I forgot the name of their faction), new number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship were crowned, Shane Taylor Promotions captured the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and there was hype for Rush vs. Taylor for the ROH World Championship next week. This was one of the best all-around episodes ROH has produced in a while and that's saying something given how strong the show has been for months now.