Ring of Honor Review - July 12, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Briscoes def. Joe Keys and Dante Caballero

The Briscoes had their fight on the farm just last week and they're already back to being a cohesive unit. I know they successfully teamed up against Brian Johnson and PJ Black at Best in the World, but this was obviously taped a while ago. Either way, it was nice to see The Briscoes back in action. As for Keys and Caballero, I feel like they've been in the Ring of Honor Dojo for ages. Their contracts (assuming they have one) must not be exclusive considering I saw Keys pop up on one of the AEW Dark shows recently. This was a well-wrestled match that served as a solid showcase for The Briscoes, who aim to return to ROH World Tag Team Championship contention.

Flip Gordon def. PJ Black

I thought Best in the World was Black's first bout back since the start of the pandemic, but apparently not considering this was taped and aired before the pay-per-view. I never really thought about the similarities between these two until Quinn McKay brought it up in a pre-match interview with Black. Both are known for being amazing aerial artists, but this wasn't the spot-fest you'd probably expect it to be. They've evolved their styles over the years, so this was a really fun clash that didn't go overboard with the high-flying stuff. Gordon winning was virtually guaranteed given he had a match with EC3 at Best in the World.

La Faccion Ingobernable (Kenny King and Dragon Lee) def. The Foundation (ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal) and Violence Unlimited (ROH World Television Champion Tony Deppen and Brody King) in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

This initially aired in most markets over the weekend, which is why Deppen came out with the TV title despite losing it to Lee at Sunday's Best in the World pay-per-view. I've said before that the faction wars don't do much for me at the moment in ROH, but this match made sense with Deppen and Lee facing off at the event as well as Lethal and King. It was all action and therefore very entertaining. King pinning Gresham for the win was weird, but maybe they're building to him challenging Gresham for the Pure title at some point.

Overall Show

This essentially served as a go-home show for Best in the World, even though I typically watch ROH TV on Mondays on their website or through FITE TV. I will say, though, it was a thumbs-up event with three notable title changes and a debut of a familiar face. You can check out my complete review of it here. Although this episode didn't really sell me on Best in the World seeing as how I already saw it, I still thought it was a quality show with three entertaining matches featuring some star power. Mandy Leon vs. Quinn McKay as well as The Foundation vs. all of Shane Taylor Promotions were advertised for next week.

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