Ring of Honor Review - June 22, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo, Komander and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers def. Serpentico, Kip Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade

Tony Khan decided to put the four luchadors together for no real reason other than he probably thought they'd work well together. They did, but why not start having Lucha Brothers defend their ROH World Tag Team Championship more? They haven't had a single title defense on ROH since they became champs back in early April. This was a fun showcase for the babyfaces with the heels selling well for their aerial offense.

Gringo Loco def. Willie Mack

Loco has been impressive any time I've seen him compete on ROH TV since the relaunch, while Mack can always be counted on for a quality contest. However, as I've mentioned before, it's gradually getting harder to care about Mack because he's just having matches for the sake of having matches. There's rarely setup and we don't hear from him often. That's fine for a few weeks, but if that's all his run in Ring of Honor is going to be, then I don't see him doing anything of note, especially if he loses more than he wins. This was an enjoyable outing but nothing more.

Trish Adora def. Allysin Kay

Is Adora officially under a deal to ROH? If not, she should be. She's appeared enough to where she deserves to be a permanent addition to the women's division, and the fact she won here makes me think that she already is. Kay would be a welcome addition as well if she's not signed anywhere else right now. This was well wrestled, but the quiet crowd reaction wasn't too shocking.

Kyle Fletcher def. Silas Young

I don't understand the sudden singles showcases for Fletcher. He's very good and I know he challenged Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship prior to Double or Nothing, but is he really going to be doing much of note on his own in ROH? If not, what's the point of these matches other than to keep him busy until Mark Davis returns from injuries? I'd rather see Young win some matches, but that's just me. This was good stuff, though.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony) def. Trenton Storm, AJZ and Luke Kurtis (Non-Title)

Okay, so The Embassy are apparently known as The Mogul Embassy when they're with Swerve Strickland, who can't be bothered to show up with his stablemates in ROH. Got it. This was more of the same from The Embassy in that it was complete destruction. Reportedly, Cage re-signed with AEW/ROH for five years. If this is going to be his ceiling, I'm not sure he made the right decision. Hey, at least he's actually on TV (er, streaming service) unlike in 2022.

Dalton Castle def. Josh Woods

These are two ROH regulars from the old regime. Castle remains a fan favorite while Woods is just another goof in an undercard faction. That said, he had a hell of a performance in this match and showed what he can do. They gave it a great effort and the crowd was into the action. I don't know why this match happened, but I'm glad we got it because it turned into a real treat.

The Infantry def. The Kingdom

This came about after The Kingdom demanded a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship from Stokely Hathaway and instead got The Infantry. Both teams interacted with Hathaway backstage in separate segments. You'd think The Kingdom would win to get them closer to tag title contention, but I actually liked that The Infantry scored the upset win instead. There's something there with The Infantry and Adora joining them is a smart move.

Big Bill and Lee Moriarty def. Blake Christian and Matt Sydal

I'm going to assume The Firm is officially no more despite Bill and Moriarty teaming with Ethan Page recently on Rampage. I continue to hope these two would go their separate ways so Bill can get his own spotlight. They have nice chemistry as partners, but they're just not very exciting as a duo. This was a cool clash of styles. Sydal is already back to being an enhancement talent after failing to beat Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship last week.

The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. Davey Bang and August Matthews

With Dark Order feuding with Stu Grayson and The Righteous, it makes sense for them to win a few matches before they face off again soon. These were two jobbers that they thankfully make quick work of. Post-match, The Righteous and Grayson popped up on the big screen and taunted them so Silver and Reynolds took out their frustration on their opponents. This was short and sweet, but Dark Order vs. Righteous still isn't a program I'm all that invested in.

Leila Grey def. Diamante

It'll be interesting to see if Grey continues to make consistent appearances on ROH TV with Jade Cargill off television for the time being. She needs more reps and Diamante's a perfect person for her to be working with given her level of experience. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the bout and Grey winning surprised me. I assumed Grey was being built up for a ROH Women's World Championship opportunity, but instead, it looks like these two might be feuding for now.

AR Fox, Action Andretti and Darius Martin def. Shane Taylor and The Workhorsemen

This was much shorter than I was expecting. We got a nicely-paced sprint, but this would have benefited from there being less matches on the show so it got more time. Fox, Andretti and Martin just lost to Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki on Wednesday's Dynamite, so this served as a rebound win for them, but considering they've already unsuccessfully challenged for both the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship and the AEW World Trios Championship, I'm not sure what more there is for them to do as a trio.

Daniel Garcia def. Rocky Romero in a Pure Rules Match

Garcia has made it quite clear in recent weeks on Dynamite that he has his sights set on Katsuyori Shibata's ROH Pure Championship, so it was logical for him to win a Pure Rules match before then against an opponent familiar with Pure Rules. It was a well-worked match with Garcia's dumb dancing making it more interesting than it may have been otherwise. Garcia will first vie for the AEW International Championship at Forbidden Door in a four-way also involving Shibata, which is why Cassidy saved Romero from Garcia afterward.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Kiera Hogan in a Chicago Street Fight

This has been Athena's first real feud as ROH Women's World Champion and it's been well done. These two have had their fair share of brawls in recent weeks, so it was a worthy stipulation. It started out slow and wasn't entirely smooth (Hogan's selling was suspect at points), but it ended up being an entertaining hardcore brawl. I could've done without the thumbtacks because that crap is so overdone, and not all of the table spots came off all that well, but they put forth a strong effort overall and the crowd reacted accordingly. Athena has been undefeated since All Out last September, and with it being announced she'll be taking part in the women's Owen Hart Cup starting at Sunday's Forbidden Door event (she has a first-round match against Billie Starkz), I'm curious if she'll suffer her first loss as champ during the tournament.

Overall Show

Samoa Joe was presented with a new ROH World Television Championship belt at the start of the show. The only other eventful aspect of this lengthy episode was the Chicago Street Fight main event, which is worth seeking out despite some shaky moments. Over two and a half hours is just too damn long and 13 matches are too many. The wrestling was solid on the whole and there were less squashes than usual, but I can't help but feel like AEW did away with Dark and Elevation just to turn them into ROH TV. There are some storylines, but not enough to make for a compelling weekly program.

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