Ring of Honor Review - June 29, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

La Faccion Ingobernable (Preston Vance and Dralistico) def. Mark Wheeler and Vikram Prashar

I believe Rush is going to be inactive for a bit, so I'm all for Vance and Dralistico being built up as a threat in the tag team division in the meantime. They work well together but need to team more consistently. This was a pretty standard showcase for them to establish what they can do. It wasn't the most exciting way to start the show (I would've swapped this with The Righteous vs. The Dark Order), but it was what it needed to be.

The Righteous def. The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds)

I've mentioned before that I haven't found this feud between the two factions all that interesting, but at least it's a story and Ring of Honor doesn't have many of them at the moment. This was a nice match while it lasted and thee crowd was into Dark Order, which still amazes me given how far they've fallen in the last two years.

Diamante def. Leila Grey

This was a rematch from last week's show where Grey handed Diamante her first loss in a while. I'm glad Diamante was able to get her win back here in what was a decent match. Grey is still green, but she'll improve working with experienced opponents like Diamante. A rubber match might be coming, but I'd rather see Diamante continue racking up wins against other people ahead of an eventual shot at the ROH Women's World Championship.

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo, Komander and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers def. Gringo Loco, Shane Taylor and The Workhorsemen

This was a hell of a sprint as you'd expect given who was involved. Vikingo, Komander and Lucha Brothers made for a terrific team last week and they had an even stronger showing together this week. What a fun match. A total spot-fest, sure, but the crowd obviously enjoyed it and so did I. Vikingo's offense will never cease to impress and Komander is also very talented, but when can Lucha Brothers become fighting champions?

Lee Moriarty and Big Bill def. Karou and Tariq

Karou and Tariq weren't squashed like your average enhancement wrestlers because Karou was a big dude and scored some offense before losing, but Moriarty and Bill went over decisively as they should have. Moriarty and Bill are such a strange fit for ROH, by the way. I can see Moriarty being relegated to ROH on his own, but Bill really should be doing more in singles competition. He's being wasted in this tag team.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI)

This came out of nowhere, but I realize LIJ were in town for Forbidden Door weekend and Tony Khan figured he'd may as well use them on the ROH tapings. I wish this had been built up or advanced in advance because it could have made for a special main event instead of being thrown out in the middle of this show with zero fanfare. It's a bummer the outcome was so predictable because LIJ are easily the biggest trio The Embassy have faced yet, but it was an enjoyable outing, nonetheless.

El Desperado def. Willie Mack

Another week, another Willie Mack match that meant nothing. I'm convinced Khan sees him as someone he can put in the ring with anyone and have a top-notch performance, but if he's never going to have a feud or challenge for a championship, it's hard to care about his matches. Some direction or character development would be nice, but hey, that's just me. This was a well-wrestled match the crowd was into but didn't serve much of a purpose in the grand scheme of things, especially with Mack losing yet again.

Roppongi Vice def. House of Torture (SHO and Yujiro Takahashi)

I don't follow NJPW regularly, but from what I've watched of the product myself and what I've seen others say, House of Torture is terrible. SHO and Takahashi looked good, though, and it was quite the competitive contest. They got plenty of time and made the most of it by having a solid match. I prefer Roppongi Vice to Best Friends at this point. House of Torture attacked them afterward but fled the ring once Orange Cassidy made the save.

Action Andretti, Darius Martin and Christopher Daniels def. United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion TJP)

Much like LIJ, these same members of United Empire were in six-man tag team action on the Forbidden Door pre-show. I'm glad they got promo time backstage as well. This was complete chaos with all six stars holding their own and standing out one way or another. I'm almost positive the finish was botched based on the wrestlers' reactions and how it came across. Plus, why the hell would United Empire lose to this random trio?

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. KC Spinelli in an ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match

I've seen Spinelli on a number of Canadian shows in the past, but she's always been utilized as a jobber and this was no different. She didn't have much of a chance to shine because it was all Athena as it should have been. They kept it short and sweet like every other Athena squash. They've been done to death in ROH, but at least she's simultaneously competing in the women's Owen Hart Cup over on AEW TV, so it's possible her next feud will stem from that.

ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli def. Chuck Taylor in an ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match

Taylor told Castagnoli during their interaction backstage earlier in the episode that he has a winning record against him. Needless to say, that was a long time ago, and while I'm all for revisiting history, Taylor is simply not on Castagnoli's level and thus this was not worthy of the main event spot. That's why I was content with this lasting less than 10 minutes because Taylor shouldn't be in there with Castagnoli longer than that. That match was perfectly fine albeit unspectacular.

Overall Show

I appreciated that ROH TV stuck to the two-hour timeframe this week. There's no need for this show to exceed that. I mean, there's no need for it to be two hours, either, but I'll settle for what we got on this episode over the norm. The Forbidden Door vibe carried over into ROH this week and the inclusion of NJPW stars made it a more entertaining edition of ROH TV than usual. I just don't know why they closed with Castagnoli vs. Taylor because it was basically a glorified squash and moved nothing forward.

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