Ring of Honor Review - July 18, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH Women's World Champion Athena and ROH Women's World Television Champion Billie Starkz Addressed the Audience​

Despite having a title defense against Queen Aminata advertised for Death Before Dishonor next Friday, Athena is still playing up the bit that she's injured, which is why she was on crutches here. She and Starkz cut solid promos here ahead of their upcoming matches at the pay-per-view, but we've heard better from them. I'm just ready for Athena to move on from this brand. She's been in Ring of Honor purgatory for long enough.

Lance Archer and The Righteous def. Dalton Castle and The Outrunners

Castle and The Outrunners are apparently a trio now with The Outrunners taking the place The Boys used to have, or at least they were supposed to be a trio before Castle got hurt last Saturday on Collision. This was obviously taped before that and Tony Khan has since said that Castle will be sidelined for the remainder of 2024, which is unfortunate. At least Archer and The Righteous were able to beat them in a decent match, but I don't think this win will amount to much for them.

Red Velvet def. Maya World

This was a straightforward showcase for Velvet before she challenges Starkz for the ROH Women's World Television Championship at Death Before Dishonor. I'm still stunned Velvet hasn't gotten that much better since she started with AEW, but at least she's doing her thing in ROH. Maybe Starkz can get a good match out of her? I believe Velvet debuted a new finisher here and it's automatically an improvement over the old one.

Katsuyori Shibata def. Evil Uno by Referee Stoppage

This whole thing was weird. Uno came out in business-esque clothes and issued an open challenge for some reason. Shibata has been a regular on AEW TV this year, so it was nice to get him back in ROH for a one-off, but this felt like an extended squash and then ended abruptly. I assume Uno got legitimately hurt because the way this went down was bizarre. None of it needed to happen, to be honest.

Cage of Agony (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony) def. Austin Mulitalo, Cappuccino Jones and Carson Hutcheson

Cage of Agony are back to being ROH guys now that they've split away from Swerve Strickland and have no direction. To be fair, they've had a handful of matches on AEW TV in recent months, but it's clear there are no meaningful plans in place for them. I don't know what they do in ROH either unless Cage gets featured as a singles act. Thankfully, this was kept short and sweet with Cage of Agony destroying their unknown opponents.

Queen Aminata def. Mackenzie Morgan

This served the same purpose the Velvet match did earlier in that it gave Aminata a minor momentum boost ahead of Death Before Dishonor, where she'll challenge Athena for the ROH Women's World Championship. I'm glad Aminata has become much more featured on ROH TV this year as she's very talented and has a presence about her. This was exactly what it needed to be at just under two minutes long.

Diamante def. "Legit" Leyla Hirsch in a Lights Out Match

As I've said before, I've been digging this undercard feud in the women's division between Hirsch and Diamante, but a Lights Out match? Isn't it a little early in the rivalry for that? Nonetheless, to their credit, they put forth a hell of an effort and had an entertaining brawl. I wish it was saved for Death Before Dishonor, but on the bright side, they got the main event spot because it was put on ROH TV.

Overall Show

The Lights Out main event is obviously the only thing worth noting about this edition of ROH TV. Everything else was serviceable and there was some hype for Death Before Dishonor, but really only the two women's title matches. I'm sure Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH World Championship will deliver, but it's had zero buildup on ROH TV. If nothing else, I'm relieved they've cut back on the runtimes for ROH TV instead of doing the marathon of matches that would last anywhere from 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours.

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