Ring of Honor Review - January 23, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Eli Isom def. Facade in an ROH World Television Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Isom has been quietly on the rise in recent months, and although he's a perfectly solid in-ring competitor, nothing about him has stood out as special to me yet. Viewers will need to know more about him before they can fully invest in him. As for Facade, I don't believe he's under contract to Ring of Honor, so the outcome to this contest was never in doubt. Despite that, it was a nice little opener and the crowd wasn't as dead for it as I feared they would be.

Rush def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion TK O'Ryan

To be honest, I had never seen Rush in action before this bout, though I have heard a lot about him lately and how big of a signing he is for ROH. Well, he certainly lived up to the hype (and then some) in this awesome outing with O'Ryan, which was a ton of fun from start to finish. The Kingdom brutally laid him out afterward, so it looks like his first feud in ROH will be with Matt Taven. I like how the company has wasted no time in positioning him as a top star on the roster.

Silas Young def. Beer City Bruiser in a No Disqualification ROH World Television Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Young and Bruiser were buddies for a long time, but their alliance eventually faded once Young ditched him for Bully Ray. I was wondering whether they'd ever blow off their angle, so I was happy to see that happen here. Previously, Bruiser had no desire to face Young (hoping he could still salvage their friendship), but they were forced to go one-on-one here as part of the tourney. It turned into an entertaining main event that definitely benefited from having a No Disqualification stipulation. Young advanced as he should have and now he'll face Isom for a shot at the ROH TV title.

Overall Show

The influx of new talent continues on ROH TV with Rush being introduced on this edition, and he was the star of the show. His match with O'Ryan was easily the best thing on this entire episode, though the main event exceeded my expectations and Isom vs. Facade was decent as well. Next week, PJ Black will battle Juice Robinson while The Kingdom defend the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship against the newly-formed Villain Enterprises faction.