Ring of Honor Review - March 18, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Flip Gordon Won a ROH World Championship No. 1 Contender's 20-Man Battle Royal

(From my Free Enterprise review...) ​I like Battle Royals that tell stories and feature fun moments and this excelled at both of those things. Granted, it wasn't the most amazing Battle Royal I've ever seen and it may have lasted a little longer than it needed to, but it had a solid layout on the whole. Danhausen was in there for a bit before being eliminated, Maria Manic and Bully Ray furthered their feud (ugh), Gangel and Blue Meanie had their time to shine, Brian Johnson predictably turned on his partner PJ Black, and Gordon shocked everyone by tossing out Kenny King to win while dressed as Dragon Lee. Gordon technically can't challenge for the ROH World Championship for a few more months (he lost a match to Matt Taven last year that forced him out of the title picture for one year), but maybe this was their way of working around that.

​Session Moth Martina def. Sumie Sakai

(From my Free Enterprise review...) I've heard of Martina before and I was interested to see what she'd bring to the table, but now I'm hoping this was a one-off and she won't be brought back. Holy shit, this was an embarrassment. I thought she was known for her wrestling ability, but apparently not. She instead spent the match grinding against the referee and spanking Sakai. I can't believe they had Sakai lose so soon after turning her heel and giving her a win over Nicole Savoy. If this is what we're going to be getting from Women of Honor, then they might as well cancel the division all together.​

Jeff Cobb and Dan Maff def. ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham in a Proving Ground Match (Non-Title)

(From my Free Enterprise review...) ​Originally, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of Cobb joining the tag team ranks, just because I think there's so much more that can be done with him on his own. However, much like Castle and Hendry, his pairing with Maff has grown on me and they've become an awesome unit over the last few months. Lethal and Gresham are exceptional in their own right and thus this was an above-average affair. As a result of their victory, Cobb and Maff have earned themselves a future shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

Overall Show

Much like the last few weeks, this edition of ROH TV consisted entirely of full matches from Free Enterprise last month, which feels incredibly outdated at this point. The action was average on the whole, but nothing worth going out of your way to see, especially if you already watched Free Enterprise. Martina vs. Sakai was atrocious, it's unknown when Cobb and Maff will receive their rightful shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship, and Gordon earned a title opportunity he may not be getting any time soon due to the coronavirus situation. Speaking of which, the 18th Anniversary Show and Past vs. Present events were canceled this past week, and even though Supercard of Honor is in jeopardy of happening at this point, they have plenty of content to fill upcoming episodes of the show between Bound by Honor and Gateway to Honor from late last month.