Ring of Honor Review - July 8, 2015

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dalton Castle def. Watanabe

Although Watanabe was intended to be the babyface and Castle the heel, the crowd definitely took to Castle more than they did to Watanabe, which wasn't too surprising given how over Castle's gimmick has been as of late. It might be only a matter of time before he they officially turn him because he's become so beloved by the audience. The match wasn't really much of note, but Castle's mannerisms were entertaining. I'm glad to see his feud with Silas Young from Best in the World continue because the drastic difference in their characters makes for great television.


Roderick Strong Interrupted ROH World and Television Champion Jay Lethal

Lethal deserved all the cheers he received from the crowd when he made his entrance after his huge win at Best in the World, but like any great heel, he turned the crowd against him, which was great. He cut a strong promo on his historic victory and I liked how he didn't give up the Television title like anyone else would because he feels he deserved the right to maintain it. Thus, him defending both belts going forward should be fun. Strong didn't say much, but his promo was effective albeit brief. The quick transition to the graphic was odd, and the same was done after Young came out following the previous match as well.

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reDRAGON and Michael Elgin def. The Kingdom

You'd think the six-man tag team matches would have grown stale by now because we see them often in ROH, but that has yet to be the case. The in-ring action was incredibly entertaining and per usual, they never seemed to be a dull moment. The Kingdom just might be my favorite faction in wrestling right now because all of them have such awesome chemistry with each other and never fail to have an above average match. Throw in three quality opponents in Elgin and reDRAGON and you have yourself one hell of a match. Adam Cole teasing dissension with The Kingdom was interesting and a nice hook for next week (if that's when the plan on addressing it). By the way, sine when did Elgin turn face? The commentators said earlier in the broadcast that he had "turned a new leaf," but I can't remember an exact moment when he officially turned.


Overall Show

With this being the first taped show since ROH's move to Destination America, I was hoping they would do more to establish the various personalities to the new viewers, but no such luck. How else do they expect to hook fans who are on the edge of tuning in regularly? That aside, this was still an enjoyable hour of wrestling with an entertaining appearance from Dalton, a very good talking segment with Lethal and Strong, and then an excellent six-man tag main event.