Ring of Honor Review - March 30, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Aussie Open def. Varsity Athletes (Tony Nese and Ari Daivari)

Is Daivari officially a part of Varsity Athletes? I assume The Trustbusters are still a thing, and if so, that's confusing. Either way, they weren't the focus here. Aussie Open was. They'll be a part of the Reach for the Sky Ladder match for the vacant ROH World Tag Team Championship at Supercard of Honor, so this was a warm-up of sorts for them. I would've preferred for Aussie Open to completely squash the boring Varsity Athletes, but that's just me.

Miyu Yamashita def. Shazza McKenzie

It's quite the Thursday for Yamashita, who will also have matches air on IMPACT! Wrestling and on IMPACT and New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Multiverse United joint show Multiverse United. I didn't know much about her before recently, but she deserves the exposure because she's super talented. McKenzie is skilled in her own right, and hopefully we'll be seeing more of her in Ring of Honor now that she's officially moved to the United States. This was a nice little match while it lasted.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cages and The Gates of Agony) def. JD Griffey, Dak Draper and Arjun Singh (Non-Title)

Cage's contract has been a hot topic of conversation for a few months now, and the last I heard, he hadn't re-signed with AEW/ROH. All signs point to him dropping the six-man tag titles to AR Fox, Metalik and Blake Christian at Supercard of Honor on Friday night, but we'll see what happens. This was designed to be a quick reminder of how dominant they can be. It was wise to keep this short and sweet to illustrate that.

AR Fox and Metalik def. The Infantry

As previously noted, Fox and Metalik will challenge for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship at Supercard of Honor, so I don't know what the point of this tag team match was if they weren't going to be teaming with Christian (who I understand was busy with El Hijo del Vikingo) later on. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun sprint and The Infantry had a chance to show they're more than a jobber tag team in ROH, but this was a weird place for that and I don't know if the match was necessary.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Emi Sakura

This was set up on Monday's edition of Elevation following Athena's win over Tootie Lynn. I don't think anyone thought the title would change hands with Athena defending against Yuka Sakazaki, but Sakura did give Athena more of a fight than most challengers. It wasn't a totally smooth encounter, but it was enjoyable enough and one of Athena's more competitive matches. I expect the same when she faces Sakazaki.

The Kingdom and La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush and Dralistico) def. Top Flight and The Lucha Brothers

In addition to Aussie Open, these four teams will be participating in the Reach for the Sky Ladder match and thus this served as a preview of what to expect when they collide with ladders thrown in the mix. I'm a fan of all five teams, so I'm looking forward to it. This was a blast. It was all action and the crowd was into it as well. The heels winning here virtually guarantees one of the other teams competing will be taking the titles instead.

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe Interrupted ROH World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe

On a show filled with so many matches, I appreciate that there was at least one promo segment hyping a top match at Supercard of Honor. Briscoe is so damn likable and I'm stoked he's been all over the shows lately. He said it was his destiny to ROH World Television Champion before Joe interrupted and provided a brief rebuttal. This was exactly what it needed to be as it got the point across effectively and left me excited for their championship clash.

ROH Pure Championship Wheeler Yuta def. Leon Ruffin

Similar to Athena, Yuta already has a title defense set for Supercard of Honor against Katsuyori Shibata, so I didn't get why the ROH Pure Championship needed to be on the line here. I guess it was a cute little attraction to make the match worthwhile, but Ruffin never stood a chance. On the bright side, it was largely booked as a squash for Yuta. Shibata emerged afterward and the crowd gave him a favorable reaction. He'll be beloved in Los Angeles, I'm sure.

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo def. Blake Christian (Non-Title)

If you dug Vikingo vs. Kenny Omega on AEW Dynamite last week, you probably dug this as well. It was yet another spot-fest featuring insane moves and unbelievable athleticism. I probably would have had Vikingo win a bit faster here following his loss to Omega, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. This was wild, and your enjoyment will vary depending on how much you like this sort of style. To me, it's special once in a while, and I would've preferred they held off on putting Vikingo in an ROH ring until Supercard of Honor when he defends against Komander, but I understand why they did it.

Eddie Kingston def. Christopher Daniels

It's pretty cool that Kingston went up against a former ROH World Champion and an ROH original in Daniels before he challenges for the ROH World Championship at Supercard of Honor. This wasn't a barn burner by any means (especially compared to Vikingo vs. Christian), but it was a solid main event with the right result. We got one final face-off between Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli ahead of Friday as well.

Overall Show

This felt more like a Dark version of ROH TV due to not having the same setup from the last few weeks. Ironically, it didn't emanate from Universal Studios, and that's typically where Dark is taped. There were once again too many matches and I still think ROH TV should follow a one-hour format, but the in-ring action was entertaining on the whole and the build for Supercard of Honor was well done. It's a stacked show on paper that I'm excited to be in attendance for.

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