Ring of Honor Review - May 10, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

EC3 and Flip Gordon def. The Briscoes

EC3 and Gordan faced The Briscoes in singles matches at the 19th Anniversary Show back in March. I'm glad it doesn't appear that EC3's bad blood with Jay Briscoe is over yet because I've enjoyed their feud. We haven't seen too much of EC3 in the ring since he debuted in Ring of Honor, so it was cool seeing him in action a bit more here and he did well. It was a good match that gave the heels heat and teased something between EC3 and Gordon with Gordon cheating when EC3 wasn't looking.

PCO def. Brian Johnson

This was as open challenge issued by Johnson. The person who issues the open challenge usually loses, and although that was the case here as well, Johnson deserves credit for his sit-down, pre-match promo which was absolutely fantastic. He has excellent intensity and has quickly become one of my favorite talkers in the company. He's pretty good in the ring to boot, but he's booked like a stepping stone for other people more often than not. That said, he had a strong showing here and even kicked out of PCO's patented moonsault at one point, so it wasn't like he was completely squashed. Still, he should be spotlighted more often.

Angelina Love def. Quinn McKay

McKay has been serving as a backstage correspondent for ROH for a few years now, but what most people may not know is that she was a wrestler on the independent scene prior to that. She finally got her opportunity here and I thought she made the most of it. They told a solid story with McKay fighting from underneath and even coming close to securing the victory at one point had it not been for Mandy Leon's interference. Per the stipulation, Love now has a bye in the upcoming ROH Women's Championship Tournament, whereas McKay would have qualified for it had she won. I'm curious if this was designed to be a one-off for her or if we'll be seeing more of her in the ring in the future.

Overall Show

It's been almost two years since we last had a women's match on ROH TV if I recall correctly, so seeing them in the main event spot (especially with how well McKay vs. Love has been built up over the last year) was really cool. The other two matches were equally enjoyable and served a purpose, so this was a rock solid show on the whole. Hopefully the women's tournament is another bright spot for ROH TV like the ROH Pure Championship Tournament was late last year. This was the usual quality stuff viewers have come to expect from ROH since the relaunch.