Ring of Honor Review - July 11, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai and Stella Grey def. Riley Shepard and Gabby Ortiz

I'm not at all familiar with Shepard and Ortiz, and Grey is still relatively new to wrestling, but all three had solid showings and it was a good match on the whole. That said, Sakai was clearly the star here and the crowd reacted to her the most out of anyone. I was hoping this would lead to one of Sakai's opponents winning to set them up as the next challenger to the championship, but apparently not.

Bully Ray def. Cheeseburger in a Street Fight

This was honestly one of the best bouts of the night at the television taping in New York City. I remember everyone in attendance (including yours truly) being on their feet for this and being behind Cheeseburger from the get-go. It was an excellently executed matchup with Bully on offense for a majority of it and the crowd going crazy for Cheeseburger's hope spots, especially once Colt Cabana got involved on Cheeseburger's behalf. We saw the same thing happen at Best in the World, so all signs point to Bully vs. Cabana eventually. I realize the reason this ended so abruptly was to make it look like a fluke win for Bully, but it still felt slightly flat.

Caprice Coleman Hosted Coleman's Pulpit with ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom

Well, this was a waste of time. I understand a six-man tag team Gauntlet match is being held next week to determine the new No. 1 contenders to The Kingdom's tag titles, and this hyped that up to an extent, but everything about it was just cringe-worthy. The acting was atrocious, the "comedy" wasn't funny and the stalled camera shots were awkward in the wrong way. I usually enjoy The Kingdom, but this was a poorly produced segment all around.

Cody def. Titan

I was sad yet not too surprised that Cody's glorious pre-match promo teasing All In 2 for NYC before bashing the fans was cut from the broadcast. It was probably done to get heat on him considering how beloved he was when he made his entrance. Anyway, I thought Ultimo Guerrero did a better job than Titan of getting the audience on his side during his match last week against Matt Taven (that was simply a better matchup in general), but this was still well-wrestled and entertaining at various points. Of course, this was taped before Best in the World, so it remains to be seen what's next for Cody after falling to regain the ROH World Championship on multiple occasions (I believe he might be taking time off).

Overall Show

It will be another two weeks at least until we see fallout from Best in the World because next week's six-man tag team Gauntlet match was taped in NYC when I was there, but it was a blast, so it's not too bad. Besides, this was another enjoyable hour of ROH TV. Definitely skip over the awful Coleman's Pulpit segment, but beyond that, this show is well worth your time I'd say.