Ring of Honor Review - June 29, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Allysin Kay, Veda Scott and Amber Gallows def. ThunderKitty, Sumie Sakai and Crazy Mary Dobson

Kay is Sienna from TNA (this must have been filmed before she signed with them a few months ago), Scott does managing for Ring of Honor, I saw Sakai in action at an independent wrestling last month, and Dobson made a one-off appearance in NXT not too long ago. Thus, I was familiar with two-thirds of the competitors in this match, and ThunderKitty and Gallows quickly impressed me with their respective performances. I honestly expected this to be a train wreck given how many women were involved, but each of them played their role well and it ended up being a pleasant surprise of a bout.


ODB def. Faye Jackson

I liked the idea of a pre-match video package on the debuting Jackson, but she seemed fairly generic to me. By that I mean, nothing about her stood out. No real backstory, nothing. She wasn't awful in her premier appearance in ROH, so that was at least something, but on the other hand, I'll likely forget all about her by next week. In working with an established veteran such as ODB, she was carried to a competent contest.

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Hania def. Mandy Leon

The video package that aired beforehand recapping the feud these two have had was extremely effective in catching a casual viewer such as myself up to date with their bad blood. I've been aware of Leon for a while now and have even seen her wrestle in person, but I had never heard of Hania until now. I didn't think Leon was as good in the ring as she actually is, and Hania is an absolute star herself. They produced a great match and Hania avenging her previous loss to Leon was wise booking.


Kelly Klein def. Taeler Hendrix

It never ceases to amaze me how TNA completely dropped the ball with Taeler Hendrix. In addition to being a gorgeous girl, she is vastly underrated in the ring. By the way, can someone explain the relationship between Klein and BJ Whitmer to me? Are they dating/married outside the ring or something? At any rate, I'm not sure who the crowd was supposed to cheer for since both women are apparently heels, but from an in-ring standpoint, this was a solid match and Hendrix looked good in defeat.


Overall Show

I assumed we were in for a filler edition of ROH TV considering the Best in the World pay-per-view was just last Friday, but this was a vast improvement over airing replays of old footage from past months (which I believe they'll be doing next week for the 250th episode). I had yet to be exposed to Women of Honor, so this was an awesome introduction. As noted, the next few weeks will mainly be recaps, so I'll be back with ROH coverage when first-run content starts airing again.