Ring of Honor Review - July 20, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Daniel Garcia def. Jason Geiger in a Pure Rules Match

Apparently it was made official at an impromptu press conference last weekend that Garcia will challenge Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship at Death Before Dishonor. It's been obvious for weeks, but they should've announced it earlier than that. This Pure Rules match served as a preview of what viewers can expect when he faces Shibata, but I don't know why Geiger needed to score as much offense as he did considering he's not even on the roster.

Utami Hayashishita def. Trish Adora

Although I knew nothing about her coming into this contest, the commentators played up Hayashishita as a big deal, so it would've been weird for her to lose her Ring of Honor debut. Adora was a good first opponent for her and they had a well-worked match. I'd like to see Adora built up at some point, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards right now. Hayashishita was impressive, though.

Dalton Castle def. Shane Taylor in the Finals of the ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament

As much as I wanted to see Taylor and Samoa Joe have a hard-hitting hoss fight for the TV title, I figured Castle would win this thing because he's a popular babyface. I'm still looking forward to Joe vs. Castle, though. This was a pretty good match from these two as they had quality chemistry. Joe showing up afterward to confront Castle would have been a nice touch to hype the Death Before Dishonor match, but he was nowhere to be found.

Josh Woods def. James Stone in a Pure Rules Match

Were two Pure Rules matches on the same show really necessary? Garcia getting a Pure Rules win made sense considering he'll be contending for the ROH Pure Championship on Friday night, but this was rather random. Maybe Woods will be next in line for an opportunity at the title he once held. Either way, this was pretty pointless on the go-home show for Death Before Dishonor. At least it was kept short and sweet.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Nikita in an ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match

Athena found out right before this that she'll defend the ROH Women's World Championship against Willow Nightingale at Death Before Dishonor as a result of Nightingale beating her last week on Rampage. If I'm Tony Khan, I'm putting that on last at the pay-per-view because it's bound to be a barn burner and has the strongest story of anything else on the card. She "wrestled" this match in her street clothes and put Nikita away immediately. I liked that this was different than your average Athena squash.

The Righteous def. The Boys

It was revealed that The Righteous and Stu Grayson will again battle The Dark Order at Death Before Dishonor. As I've said before, it's not a story I find overly compelling, but it's a story, nonetheless, and ROH just doesn't have many of those these days. This existed to give The Righteous a dominant win before Friday. I feared this would be more competitive and I'm glad it wasn't. Evil Uno popped up on the stage afterward to send them a quick message.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Nicole Matthews

Hirsch is in total destruction mode now that she's returned to the ring and you love to see it. She's "legit" as her nickname suggests and is an excellent addition to the ROH women's division. It was noted on commentary that this marked Matthews' first ROH match since 2009, but this wasn't about her. Hirsch won decisively in a matter of minutes and thus it was exactly what it needed to be to keep Hirsch's momentum going.

The Kingdom def. The Bollywood Boyz, The Workhorsemen, and Darius Martin & Action Andretti in a Four-Corner Survival Tag Team Match

In the laziest of all lazy announcements, it was confirmed right before this match that there will be a Four-Corner Survival tag team match at Death Before Dishonor with The Lucha Brothers defending the ROH World Tag Team Championship against The Kingdom, Best Friends and Aussie Open. Basically, it's the same match from Supercard of Honor, just with no ladders and Best Friends replacing Top Flight. That made the outcome to this four-way tag extremely predictable and rendered it irrelevant. This was a fun little spot-fest that ultimately meant nothing.

Overall Show

It looks like ROH TV is done being filmed at Universal Studios for the foreseeable future, and instead it will be taped before or after AEW Collision on Saturday nights. If that means these shows will continue to be on the shorter side, that's a significant plus in my book. Meanwhile, the Death Before Dishonor build has been nearly nonexistent. Khan's booking of ROH has been extremely questionable and Death Before Dishonor is shaping up to be the most missable event under the AEW banner yet despite having potential on paper. This show, while a breeze to get through, didn't change my mind much, especially with everything coming together at the last minute.

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