Ring of Honor Review - March 8, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom def. The Rebellion

As strange as it was to see Lio Rush join The Rebellion for no apparent reason (obviously he eventually turned on them during the match but why was he the legal man at one point?), it added excitement to this match, so I can't complain. Prior to that point, this was a pretty dull match, which wasn't surprising considering it featured two heel trios. This was an effective way of injecting new life into Rush's rivalry with The Rebellion while also setting up The Kingdom vs. Dalton Castle and The Boys for the 15th Anniversary Show.

"Kingpin" Brian Milonas def. Raphael King in a Top Prospect Tournament Round 1 Match

Milonas looked familiar when I first saw him and then it struck me that I remembered him from when I attended a Chaotic Wrestling show last April. He can move really well for a guy his size and is definitely one of the more athletic big men I've seen in some time. The commentators told a cool story about how he's waited 15 years to make his mark on the televised wrestling scene. Although this was a brief bout, both competitors had solid showings and I'm glad Milonas advanced.

The Bullet Club def. Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish and The Briscoes

There was a ton of star power involved in this match and all eight wrestlers played their parts to perfection. No real rivalries that will be featured at the 15th Anniversary Show were furthered here other than Fish vs. Lethal, but most of these guys do have history. And of course, the in-ring action was extremely entertaining. I liked the post-match brawl between Christopher Daniels and Adam Cole as it gave viewers an incentive to believe that he could capture the championship. I read about Frankie Kazarian turning on Daniels weeks ago and it shocked the hell out of my then, so maybe that's why this moment didn't pack much of a punch for me a month later, but it was an interesting cliffhanger going into the pay-per-view to say the least. On a side note, I can't really blame Ring of Honor for not acknowledging how The Young Bucks have since dropped the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Broken Hardyz because it happened so suddenly over this past weekend, actually the same night this show originally aired on Sinclair.

Overall Show

This wasn't the best go-home show ROH could have produced, but they did do a decent job of running down the advertised card for the event and specifically hyping up the world title match in the main event and the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship match. Furthermore, the main event on this show was excellent, so I'd chalk this up to being an enjoyable hour of wrestling on the whole. The 15th Anniversary Show has a loaded lineup and I'm looking forward to it on Friday night.