Ring of Honor Review - March 28, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

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

This was only the third match Athena has had on ROH TV this year and I'm not complaining. Don't get me wrong, Athena is obviously awesome, but she had so many squashes last year that it got to the point of pure ridiculousness. Less is more with that sort of stuff. This was what it needed to be and it was cool how she used a different submission than usual to finish off Nikita. Hikaru Shida showed up to fend her off afterward ahead of their championship clash at Supercard of Honor.

Griff Garrison and Cole Karter def. Kaz Jordan and Victor Castella

As I've said countless times before, the duo of Garrison and Karter aren't interesting in the slightest. Maria Kanellis-Bennett is the only thing that stands out about their act, but she feels wasted in this role. This was a match that happened, that's pretty much all I can say about it. They're still feuding with Chaos Project, right? Why bother dragging it out for so long? Does anyone actually give a shit?

Dalton Castle def. Nick Comoroto

Comoroto looks like a completely different person with the shaved beard. He even trimmed down his chest hair. Amazingly, he looks even more generic than he did previously. I'm glad this didn't last long and that Castle won decisively. The match was decent but hardly anything worth writing home about. On a side note, The Boys aren't with Johnny TV and Taya Valkyrie anymore, that was short-lived. How lame.

Brandon Cutler and Colt Cabana def. Rex Lawless and Bryce Donovan

I understand this is ROH TV and not AEW programming, but it should be explained on-screen at some point for what their standing in The Elite is with The Young Bucks now heels. I don't want them in the group, but there should be explanation for why they're still coming out to the Being The Elite entrance music. As a match, this was completely pointless. Relegate this crap to the dark matches.

Action Andretti and Top Flight def. KPK

Andretti and Top Flight are floating around in the trios division both in Ring of Honor and AEW while both the AEW World Trios Championship and the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship are being held hostage. As a result, they're stuck doing meaningless matches like this one. It served as a solid showcase for them and it didn't overstay its welcome, but there really wasn't a need for it to exist.

Kiera Hogan def. Diamante

I liked how there was some back-and-forth between these two in promos leading up to this rematch so it wasn't random. Both have fallen short of unseating Athena as ROH Women's World Championship and were unsuccessful in the ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament, but this mini-feud between them can keep them busy for a bit (assuming there's a rubber match eventually). This was well worked, but the crowd didn't seem to care.

Evil Uno def. JD Drake

I have no idea what purpose this was supposed to serve as I can't recall any interaction these two have had as of late, including in backstage segments. It's not as if The Dark Order and The Workhorsemen are entrenched in a heated feud or anything like that. That said, this was a pretty good match that the crowd was surprisingly somewhat into, likely thanks to the hard-hitting action. The outcome was irrelevant, but they made the most of their time.

ROH World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher def. Blake Christian

Fletcher's been gone for a while, so it was weird that his first title defense was against someone who has done nothing to deserve an opportunity. I know Lee Johnson is being saved for Supercard of Honor, but why not give Johnson the title shot here and Ethan Page can get his shot at the event instead? Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable outing. Fletcher retaining was predictable, but Christian had a nice showing before losing.

Overall Show

The fact that this show was roughly around 90 minutes long and featured more matches being announced for Supercard of Honor earns it a thumbs-up in my book. The main event was fun and the rest of the episode was serviceable. There was also a great video package for Mark Briscoe with him addressing Eddie Kingston ahead of their ROH World Championship match. It feels like an afterthought of a pay-per-view, but I have no doubt it'll deliver.

SEE MORE: ROH Reviews