Ring of Honor Review - July 31, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Silas Young def. Josh "The Goods" Woods

Woods was really starting to catch fire since returning to the ring about a month or so ago. He looked super dominant when he first came back and then had a bit of a dud of a match with Brian Johnson (but still won). Here, he looked like a complete goof by falling for Young's tricks, getting hit with a low blow, and being beaten within seconds. It was in line with what Young's character has been doing for a while now, but this did Woods no favors. The feud will obviously continue and maybe Woods will win in the end, but a longer match would have helped protect him in defeat I think.

Shinobi Shadow Squad def. Joe Keys, Brian Johnson and Dante Caballero

As seen at Mass Hysteria, I think Eli Isom has real potential on his own. He, Cheeseburger and Ryan Nova seem to be having fun together as Shinobi Shadow Squad, but even though they won here, they come across like a jobber trio to me and I can't possibly take them seriously as threats to the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. This was a perfectly fine match with a nice pace, but Shinobi Shadow Squad continues to feel like it's holding Isom back in my opinion.

Karissa Rivera def. Sumie Sakai

Sukai has been out of action for the better part of 2019, I believe with an injury, but it was nice to see her return here. I fully expected this to be a showcase for her in her first bout back, but it ended up being a competitive contest and a good one at that. Rivera didn't have the most amazing showing, but she held her own and her upset victory over the inaugural WOH World Champion was a genuine surprise. I'm curious if this means Ring of Honor has plans for Rivera or if this was done simply to tell a story with Sakai losing and potentially turning heel at some point.

Rush and Dragon Lee def. The Briscoes

The Briscoes recently regained the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Manhattan Mayhem, but this was taped before that, so they didn't come out with the titles here. I can't remember the last time Rush and Lee teamed up in ROH (if ever), so this was a real treat. It was a match I didn't know I wanted to see until it happened. The two pairs of brothers worked wonderfully together and produced a hell of a main event that the crowd was electric for. This was tag team wrestling at its finest as the action was electric and their chemistry was tremendous. Rush and Lee picked up the big win, and now that The Briscoes are the new tag champs, I'm wondering if this puts them in contention for the twin titles.

Overall Show

I'm looking forward to the fresh content from Manhattan Mayhem and Mass Hysteria airing on ROH TV because more has happened since Best in the World over a month ago (including new tag team champs being crowned). As for this edition of ROH TV, it was a solid show with an absolutely exceptional main event that you need to put some time aside to check out. The rest of the episode was decent but didn't feature anything too memorable.