Ring of Honor Review - July 17, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor def. Rhett Titus (Non-Title)

I thought Taylor facing a fellow heel in Titus was strange at first, but it became clearer afterward that Titus might be turning babyface. The match itself was nothing special and was designed to be a glorified squash win for Taylor coming off his successful title defense at Best in the World. Kenny King choosing to belittle his former tag team partner Rhett Titus of all people following his huge victory over Jay Lethal is certainly questionable, but we'll see where it goes. Titus has never done anything for me, so I'm hoping it leads to a one-off match on ROH TV and King can move on.

Tasha Steelz def. Stella Grey, Jenny Rose and Angelina Love in a WOH World Championship No. 1 Contender's Four Corner Survival Match

I'd never heard of Steelz before, which is why I'm surprised she ending up winning this and earning the future title shot. It's a good way to get her noticed, if nothing else. I thought for sure Love had this in the bag after pinning Kelly Klein in that tag team match at Best in the World, but apparently not. From an in-ring standpoint, this was pretty decent and everyone got their time to shine. Klein also did well on commentary taking about her potential challengers.

Jay Lethal and The Bouncers def. The Kingdom

The Bouncers suffered their first loss of 2019 against The Kingdom last week and it was nice to see that followed up on here. I maintain that The Kingdom beating them in the first place ahead of their shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship this weekend was unnecessary, but at least they were able to avenge the defeat (and in an entertaining main event at that). Plus, Lethal and Matt Taven were able to further their feud before they collide for the ROH World Championship at Saturday's Manhattan Mayhem event, so this was a successful piece of business all around.

Overall Show

This was first edition of ROH TV since Best in the World almost three weeks ago to feature fallout from the pay-per-view. I'd argue that any momentum they had from the event is gone because it's been so long, but there wasn't much buzz surrounding the show to begin with. I've read that there will be tweaks made to Ring of Honor's post-PPV taping schedule soon, so fingers crossed something is done about that. As for this episode, it was enjoyable albeit slightly uneventful. Manhattan Mayhem should be a fun show (even though I'm disappointed I won't be able to attend).