Ring of Honor Review - January 1, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Champion Bandido and Jay Lethal vs. The Swirl Ended in a No Contest

This started out as the quality contest you'd expect from those involved that took an unexpected turn, and I'm not complaining at all. Lethal has been spinning his wheels for a while now and this heel turn makes him infinitely more interesting. I don't see the point of aligning him with The Swirl, but it's better than him continuing to be utilized as an irrelevant stepping stone. For the record, I'm going to assume this was deemed a no contest, though it's possible Bandido and Lethal were technically awarded the win by disqualification despite Lethal attacking Bandido.

Bryan Keith def. Serpentico

I've ranted enough about AEW doing nothing with Keith and Big Bill after their partnership with Chris Jericho went nowhere, so I won't bother doing so again here. I have no hopes of him getting a singles push of any kind, so while this was a solid showcase for him, I doubt it actually amounts to anything. The match itself was fine, but it would have benefited from being slightly shorter. Being there in attendance, I can tell you firsthand the crowd did not care about this.

Billie Starkz and Diamante def. Madison Rayne and ROH Women's Pure Champion Deonna Purrazzo

We saw a version of this match right after Final Battle but with the opposite outcome. With Rayne subsequently announcing her retirement from the ring in a backstage segment, it was logical for her to be the one to eat the loss here. It was a well-worked bout and I'm glad Rayne got a formal sendoff, though maybe probably would've assumed she was already retired because she hasn't been full-time in years.

Lance Archer def. Steve Gibki

You can take practically anything I've said about any Archer match in recent years and apply it here because it probably won't be all that different. I like Archer, but he's been such an afterthought for so long now that it's difficult to care about anything he's a part of. Thus, matches like this don't matter, but the best thing I can say is that it was kept short and sweet.

Top Flight and Komander def. Shane Taylor Promotions (ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Infantry)

No word on where Scorpio Sky was (unless I missed something), but Komander didn't miss a beat filling in for him. Komander just failed to win the ROH Pure Championship from Moriarty, but I'm curious if this means he'll go after the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Top Flight next? This was an enjoyable outing for the time it was allotted and had a good pace.

Hechicero def. Aaron Solo

It makes more sense to build up a guy like Hechicero than Archer because at least Hechicero has been booked like a top talent in Ring of Honor, having challenged for the ROH World Championship a few times in the last year. He's also a blast to watch. This was a standard squash with the outcome never being in doubt, so like Keith vs. Serpentico, this didn't need to be as long as it was.

Dalton Castle and The Outrunners def. MxM TV (Johnny TV and MxM Collection) in a Fight Without Honor

I'm always a sucker for Christmas-themed Street Fights during the holidays, but the problem is I've seen several of them in recent weeks, so this really wasn't anything new, not to mention this aired on New Year's Day (a full week after Christmas). Nonetheless, they made the most of the stipulation and the crowd had fun with it. Props to MxM TV for their Grinch gear as well.

Overall Show

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I don't know why doing two editions of ROH TV in the same week is necessary unless they taped too much content at the Hammerstein Ballroom that they just want to get out of the way. At least the episode was a little over an hour and was more significant than usual with a Fight Without Honor main event, Rayne retiring and Lethal betraying Bandido.

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