Ring of Honor Review - July 23, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Television Champion Lio Rush def. "Main Man" Oro

Oro picked up a win on last week's episode, so I'm glad it actually amounted to something, even though it should have taken him more than that to earn himself a shot at the ROH World Television Championship. Nonetheless, this was a nice opener between two talented performers. Rush continues to be bizarrely entertaining with this creepy character of his and Oro is always a reliable hand in the ring.

"The Bounty Hunter" Bryan Keith def. Alan Angels

Keith is back on his own following Big Bill's official departure (we now know he has returned to WWE). I don't know where the hell he goes after unsuccessfully challenging for the ROH World Championship recently, but I guess this win was a step in the right direction, and it wasn't against someone completely random as Angels obviously is a familiar face. This was the well-wrestled affair you'd expect from these two.

Billie Starkz def. B3CCA

Starkz and Athena were leaning heavily into their tension coming out of Supercard of Honor, but that was two months ago and there hasn't been much development on that front since. Don't tell me they're going to put it on hold for the millionth time so they can run it back again at Final Battle. She's racking up victories in the meantime and that seemed to be the only reason why this existed. It was fine.

Premier Athletes (Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari) def. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno)

Wow, a win for Premier Athletes! That's a surprise. Yes, they've won plenty of matches since Stori Denali joined the group many months ago, but not against anyone who matters. Sure, Dark Order haven't mattered in years, but at least they're under contract to the company. It was a decent match that was exactly what it needed to be. It was probably meant to kill time more than anything, though.

RPG Vice def. Alex Zayne and Mance Warner

RPG Vice came out to cut a promo saying that Don Callis secured them an "open contract" for a match (basically an open challenge), which led to Zayne and Warner emerging as their opponents. Zayne and Warner have no history as partners as far as I know, so it made sense for them to lose to an established team here. It was a solid match. Eddie Kingston and Ortiz fended off RPG Vice afterward.

Satnam Singh def. Jacked Jameson

This match surprised me as much as Premier Athletes' win did in that Singh usually faces "local athletes," whereas here he took on someone from the roster. Huzzah! That automatically made this more interesting than it would have been otherwise, and Singh endured more offense as a result. Of course, the outcome was never in doubt and it was still a glorified squash, but Singh hitting a midair cutter on Jameson was cool.

Caprice Coleman Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with ROH Women's Pure Champion Deonna Purrazzo

Coleman's sit-down interviews consistently deliver, but this was one of his better ones in recent memory. It's no secret that Purrazzo is underutilized in Ring of Honor and especially in AEW, so it was refreshing to hear from her for a change. She talked about how much being the Women's Pure champ means to her and building a life outside of wrestling. This was strong stuff.

Hyan def. Lacey Lane

There's been so much shine on Maya World as of late that Hyan has been overshadowed. While I do think World has the higher ceiling of the two, Hyan should be getting more opportunities as well. Thus, I appreciated that she had this match with Lane and went over. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, mind you, but Hyan winning was the correct result.

Adam Brooks def. Nathan Cruz

I loved the backstage promos Brooks and Cruz cut at earlier points in the show. They came off extremely well and it made me more invested in this match. Mission accomplished. I was impressed with Brooks in his Collision outing against Will Ospreay last week as well as when he fought Mustafa Ali for the TNA International Championship not too long ago, so I hope he gets another chance with ROH. This was a quality contest that left me wanting to see more from both men.

Komander def. "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington

Komander is a treat to watch and Billington works well with just about everyone, so this was virtually guaranteed to be good. They didn't disappoint. It was a battle between two babyfaces with nothing at stake, but they made the most of the time they had and produced some enjoyable action. Komander largely flounders in ROH, but on the bright side, he's featured regularly.

SkyFlight (Matt Sydal, Top Flight and Scorpio Sky) def. Shane Taylor Promotions (Anthony Ogogo, The Infantry and Shane Taylor)

Sydal is confirmed to be the newest member of SkyFlight. Given his history with Top Flight and Christopher Daniels, he's a logical addition, and it's not like he'd be doing anything of note if he was by himself. Seeing as how this had a bit of buildup behind it, I have no idea why it was so short. What we got was entertaining enough, but it didn't have a chance to hit that next gear.

Overall Show

SkyFlight vs. Shane Taylor Promotions was the only match advertised for this episode in advance (I don't remember if they set it up on Tuesday's special edition of ROH TV or last Thursday), yet it was given less than 10 minutes I believe... on a two-hour show, no less! The runtime wasn't quite as egregious this week, but two hours certainly aren't ideal. Once again, there were too many matches, but there were a fair amount of highlights, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

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