Ring of Honor Review - July 6, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Komander def. Gringo Loco

I'd complain about this being a random match, but that hasn't stopped ROH TV from being largely filled with random matches in recent months, so I shouldn't be surprised. On the bright side, it was a well-wrestled opener. Komander is going to be facing Chris Jericho next week on Dynamite (no idea why), so it was logical to give him a momentum boost before then. Meanwhile, Loco continues to impress.

Daniel Garcia def. Christopher Daniels

If you didn't see it on Being The Elite this week, Daniels' black eye from two years ago has apparently cleared up. Awesome! He and Garcia had a solid match and it gives Garcia a notable victory before he seemingly challenges for the ROH Pure Championship soon. Based on what we saw on Wednesday's Dynamite, Jericho Appreciation Society might be wining down soon, which should be a positive sign for Garcia. He could easily get lost in the AEW shuffle on his own right now, but it's worth a shot. Anything is better than the Jericho Appreciation Society crap.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Gates of Agony def. Action Andretti and Darius Martin

The commentators played up how Gates of Agony haven't lost a match in many months (in two-on-two or six-man tag team action, that is), so I figured this would led to Andretti and Martin picking up a win and earning themselves another shot at the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Thankfully, that did not happen. Why not build them up for a ROH World Tag Team Championship opportunity instead? This was a nice sprint while it lasted.

Stu Grayson and The Righteous def. Zak Patterson, Macrae Martin and Rip Impact

This was your average squash for Grayson and The Righteous. On one hand, ROH TV doesn't have many stories and The Righteous and Grayson's feud with The Dark Order is a story, but it hasn't been all that compelling. Dark Order is a dead act, yet that hasn't stopped AEW from booking them in matches with The Elite on Dynamite and Rampage. The sooner they blow off this storyline, the better. The Righteous are winning matches, so at least there's that.

Lee Moriarty and Big Bill def. The Boys

I remain completely uninterested in the duo of Moriarty and Big Bill. As I've said before, they've formed quality chemistry as partners, but ROH has actual teams that should be focused on and Bill should be getting the singles spotlight. I guess it doesn't matter anyway since The Lucha Brothers never defend their damn tag titles. At any rate, The Boys scored more offense than I thought they would. The heels probably should have been more dominant.

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

This was every Athena squash we've seen during her title run. She's an awesome heel, but these matches would mean more if she didn't wrestle on an almost weekly basis. Sparx was hardly a threat and thus I can't say I cared about this. I was hoping Willow Nightingale would make the save for Sparx afterward to build toward their semifinal match in the women's Owen Hart Cup coming up on Saturday's Rampage, but no such luck.

Mark Briscoe def. JD Drake and Tony Nese in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Drake and Nese were supposed to go one-on-one, but it turned into a Handicap match once Briscoe came out. I'm typically not a fan of Handicap matches, but this was an improvement. Otherwise, I don't know who would have cared about Drake vs. Nese. Briscoe was great fighting from underneath before going over. It was established pretty quickly afterward, but Briscoe will challenge Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor later this month? Where was this build weeks ago?

Diamante def. Vanessa Kraven

Diamante continued her winning ways here, this time against a bigger opponent in Kraven. It was a different dynamic than what we normally see in Diamante's matches, but it was a refreshing change of pace. I assume she's a babyface, especially if she's headed for an ROH Women's World Championship clash with Athena eventually, but I wish that was established. This wasn't super smooth, but it was a means to an end.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage def. Willie Mack, Shane Taylor, Josh Woods, Dalton Castle and Trent Seven in a 6-Way Mayhem Match

$25,000 was on the line in this match. Why? I'm not sure, nor do I know why anyone would care about any of these guys winning money. Ring of Honor has three men's singles titles these guys can challenge for. Why wasn't a title shot for one of those championships up for grabs instead? The actual match was entertaining and everyone got a chance to shine. Seven being in there with a cool surprise. Will he be sticking around in ROH for the foreseeable future?

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch and The Kingdom def. Trish Adora and The Infantry

Maria Kanellis-Bennett was supposed to make her in-ring return here to team with the rest of The Kingdom, but I didn't think that was big enough to justify going on last. It then became clear why this was given the main event spot when Maria said she wasn't "medically cleared" to compete and introduced the returning Hirsh instead. I believe it's been over a year since we last saw Hirsh in action due to injury and I'm happy she's back. It was a well-worked main event and Hirsh winning for her team was the right call. She mentioned during a post-match promo backstage that she'll be exclusive to ROH going forward.

Overall Show

This edition of ROH TV clocked in at around 90 minutes and that automatically earns it a thumbs-up in my book. Normalize shorter shows! In all seriousness, this was a more efficient episode than usual with a really good six-way match and a notable return in the main event. The rest of the show was serviceable. ROH TV could use more storylines and better advancement of stuff from week to week (for example, Castagnoli vs. Briscoe was announced out of nowhere), but filming the show in front of bigger crowds (before Collision if I'm not mistaken) instead of at Universal Studios has helped.

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