Ring of Honor Review - May 15, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Bouncers def. Shinobi Shadow Squad and Coast to Coast in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

Cheeseburger and Ryan Nova represented Shinobi Shadow Squad here. I like how Ring of Honor's is in the process of being built back up again, which couldn't have happened at a better time with several notable teams such as The Young Bucks, SoCal Uncensored and Best Friends leaving the promotion in the past five months. The Bouncers were easily the best choice to go over here, as they have been on a winning streak as of late. Coast to Coast, on the other hand, haven't had much success since returning to the ring and have been teasing a heel turn as a result. This was a well-wrestled opening match while it lasted.

Kenny King Addressed ROH World Champion Matt Taven and Jay Lethal

King was "misted" by The Great Muta following the Honor Rumble at G1 Supercard over a month ago, but King still came out here acting like he was blind. I got a kick out of that. He went on to address his Honor Rumble victory as well as how he has the ROH World Championship in his sights. King vs. Taven does nothing for me, personally, but I don't mind the idea of a King vs. Lethal feud in the meantime if that's where they're going with this.

Josh "The Goods" Woods def. Flex Simmons

This marked Woods' first appearance on ROH TV since late last year. I don't think the commentators mentioned the reason behind his absence, but I could be wrong. Either way, this was a short and sweet squash win for him, or in other words, exactly what it needed to be. His character wasn't really clicking the last time we saw him, so hopefully this is a sign he'll be booked to look more dominant going forward.

Bandido def. Shane Taylor

It's worth noting that Taylor recently won the ROH World Television Championship on the War of the Worlds tour, but because this was taped last month, he didn't come out with the belt here. At any rate, this was a very fun main event. Taylor has been delivering the goods against all of his opponents lately and Bandido was no exception. Afterward, Bully Ray attempted to attack Bandido before Lifeblood the save. Then, Soldiers of Savagery made their debut and laid out Lifeblood. Bully and Taylor didn't appear to be aligned with them, but I could see that changing soon.

Overall Show

I found this to be an enjoyable edition of ROH TV on the whole. The war between Lifeblood and Bully Ray and his cronies continued, Woods returned with a bang, King established his motives to become ROH World Champion, and The Bouncers picked up another victory. Next week's 400th episode will be even bigger as it will feature Villain Enterprises defending the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship against the trio of Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb and Rush as well as Flip Gordon contending for Matt Taven's ROH World Championship.