Ring of Honor Review - May 3, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Flamita def. Bandido

I think it's safe to say that MexiSquad are officially no more. Bandido believed they would still be friends no matter what, but Flamita hitting him with a low blow to win indicated otherwise. Unsurprisingly, this was a very entertaining match given who was involved. I've been digging the MexiSquad split so far and hope all three guys can be used well on their own coming out of it. Needless to say, I wouldn't be opposed to more matches between these two.

The OGK def. Ken Dixon and Beer City Bruiser

Mike Bennett mentioned beforehand that he and Matt Taven were at the top of the tag team rankings, which must mean that there aren't many teams in the mix because they had only won two matches together prior to this. They're clearly being groomed for a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but I liked how Taven addressed his unfinished business with Vincent, Rush and Beer City Bruiser. Hopefully ROH takes a break from the Taven vs. Vincent feud and goes back to it down the road. He got back at Bruiser here by smashing a beer bottle over his head afterward and that led to the reunion of The Bouncers because Brian Milonas felt bad for him. The match was solid and the story with Dixon costing his team the win was well done. This was a wise way of turning The Bouncers heel without having Milonas immediately turn along with Bruiser.

Tony Deppen def. ROH World Tag Team Champion Tracy Williams to Win the ROH World Television Championship

Because this started so late in the show, I was worried it would turn into an angle and not actually happen, but they made the most of the time they were allotted and had a hell of a hard-hitting affair. I haven't seen a ton of Deppen's work (and he still feels like an odd fit for Violence Unlimited to me), but he's impressed me every time I've seen him in action. Obviously, Williams is terrific and can get a great match out of almost anyone. I figured this would be an easy win for Williams considering he just won the title at the 19th Anniversary Show, so Deppen scoring the upset was really surprising. I wish Williams had a longer reign, and Deppen needs to be established a bit more, but I suppose it makes sense with Williams already being one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions and Violence Unlimited needing a title to give them some credibility.

Overall Show

ROH TV is usually a two-match show, but they managed to squeeze three matches in there this week and all of them were enjoyable. The TV title change was obviously notable and it was an above-average main event to boot. Also on the show, The OGK got one step closer to contending for the tag titles, The Bouncers reunited, and Flamita cemented his heel turn. Strong stuff from Ring of Honor this week as the weekly product continues to be a lot of fun to follow. My only complaint is that, unless I missed something, nothing was advertised for next week.