Ring of Honor Review - June 6, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Queen Aminata def. Mazzerati

Aminata is clearly next in line for a shot at the ROH Women's World Television Championship, so this was designed to give her a win before then and make her look like a threat. I'd say mission accomplished. Those kicks she was dishing out looked and sounded devastating. Props to Mazzerati for her selling, too. This didn't overstay its welcome and was exactly what it needed to be.

Marina Shafir def. Amira

There's been at least one video package that's aired for Shafir in the recent weeks on ROH TV. It was well produced, but I can't say it did much to make me care any more about Shafir than I did previously. I'm sorry but I always have and always will find her to be boring. There's no denying her legitimacy in the ring and that was on full display here, but I simply have no desire to see where this renewed push is going (if anywhere).

ROH World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher def. Dalton Castle

It's egregious that this wasn't the main event. This was one of the better bouts I've seen on ROH TV in some time, which I realize isn't saying much because ROH TV mostly consists of squash matches these days. Nonetheless, this was a great match and I loved the character work from Castle early on where he tried to act calmer than usual. It didn't pay off, but he came close. Fletcher is a total afterthought on AEW TV at the moment, but at least his title defenses on ROH TV never cease to deliver and now we have a two-out-of-three falls match to look forward to between him and Lee Johnson.

The Infantry def. Nick Comoroto and Jacoby Watts

The fact Comoroto and Watts didn't get a televised entrance pretty much told you from the get-go they weren't winning. They lost their last match and they lost again here, so the story is that this pairing with Watts isn't exactly working out for Comoroto so far. Comoroto feels like damaged goods at this point (you can thank The Factory for that), so the angle does nothing for me, but the match was fine for what it was and it gave The Infantry a win.

ROH Women's World Television Champion Billie Starkz def. Zamaya in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Proving Ground Match

This was pretty straightforward stuff for Starkz. It was a basic bout and she scored the decisive win. Red Velvet emerged to attack her afterward and Queen Aminata helped out as well, so it looks like we don't have a clear-cut contender to the ROH Women's World Television Championship after all. Velvet and Aminata walked out together, so it's not as if they're at odds. Maybe we get a three-way for the title soon?

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno) def. Iron Savages (Jacked Jameson, Boulder and Bronson) and Johnny TV, Cole Karter & Griff Garrison in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

We rarely see three-way trios matches in wrestling and there's a reason for that. They're simply too convoluted and not necessary. Granted, this was less of a mess than I thought it would be, but I'm still not sure what purpose this was supposed to serve since none of these guys are feuding with each other at the moment, not to mention Ring of Honor no longer has six-man tag team titles. This was a decent match, but it didn't need to be the main event over Fletcher vs. Castle.

Overall Show

As I've said before, the hour-long editions of ROH TV have been so much more tolerable. Not worth seeking out necessarily, but tolerable. Perhaps Tony Khan finally learned his lesson, though I'd hate to have spoken too soon and the show goes back to being 90 minutes or two hours next week. In all seriousness, this was an adequate episode. Most of the matches were whatever, but we didn't get many of them, and I thoroughly enjoyed Fletcher vs. Castle. That really should have been the main event.

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