Ring of Honor Review - July 20, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Jay White def. Kamaitachi

Kamaitachi really impressed me with his debut match in ROH at Best in the World against Kyle O'Reilly, but I'm still stumped as to why he's aligned with The Addiction. Was that explained and I just happened to miss it? At any rate, this was a very fun opening match and White immediately won me over with his incredible athleticism. I wish I knew more about him, though, because he came across as an enhancement talent at first without the commentators presenting viewers with his backstory. White's win took me by surprise, and of course the post-match attack from The Addiction and subsequent save from The Motor City Machine Guns set up the six-man tag team match nicely.


Jay White and The Motor City Machine Guns def. ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction and Kamaitachi

The feud between The Motor City Machine Guns and The Addiction seems to be never-ending, but I can't complain given their matches are always entertaining. This was an enjoyable outing from all six competitors and another chance for White to showcase his skills. I assumed this match would be used to give the heels their win back, but apparently not. Kamaitachi doesn't come off too credible (has he won a match yet?), but at least they didn't take the predictable route with 50/50 booking.

---

Shane Taylor and Keith Lee def. Victor Andrews and James Anthony

Taylor and Lee are new blood on the ROH roster and caught my attention from the get-go with their immense size. According to the commentators, they are the largest tag team in ROH history, and I honestly wouldn't be shocked if that was accurate simply because there aren't a ton of big men in the company. This was a short and sweet squash match, but the most memorable moment occurred afterward with one of two leaping over the top rope and on top of War Machine. I've never been too invested in War Machine, but I hope this program is designed to get the new heel duo over.


BJ Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan Addressed Steve Corino

Ugh. I can't believe the feud between Whitmer and Corino is continuing. I thought their hardcore match from Best in the World was one of the best bouts on the entire show, but it really should have ended there. Sullivan's one-off at the event was interesting, but I have no desire to see him regularly appear on TV going forward. Please, ROH, just put this program out of its misery already.


Dalton Castle def. Roderick Strong

It's been public knowledge for just about a month now that Strong has since left ROH, so while the ending outcome of this matchup was never in doubt, that didn't at all hinder my enjoyment of it. Strong is an exceptional wrestler, and while Castle has always been a blast of a character, it's good to see him finally proving his worth as a wrestler as well. He can hang with the best of them, and if anyone could have benefited from beating Strong on his way out of the company, it was certainly Castle.


Overall Show

I don't know if this was the intent or not, but I appreciated how the fresh faces took center stage on this edition of ROH TV. White was put over in a major way with back-to-back victories in his first two ROH matches, Taylor and Keith made their mark on the tag team division with their dominant performance, and Strong put over the up-and-coming Castle in what I believe was his final ROH match. The Whitmer and Sullivan segment was the only awful part about this episode, because everything else was a refreshing change of pace and seemed to serve a purpose.