Ring of Honor Review - May 30, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cheeseburger and Jushin "Thunder" Liger def. The Dawgs

It never ceases to amaze me how at the age of 53, Liger continues to have good matches. Granted, he isn't the athlete he once was, but he can still hang with the best of them and this was the perfect match for him to shine in with Cheeseburger doing most of the in-ring work. While this bout didn't have any storyline significance, it was fun for what it was and the crowd was hot for it.

ROH Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai def. Jenny Rose

First and foremost, I'd like to commend Ring of Honor for building up this bout the right way with some nice video packages over the last few weeks. The company hasn't devoted a ton of television time to their women's division in recent years, but it's been making strides lately, especially with this rivalry. I'd also go far as to say that this was the strongest women's match I've seen on ROH TV (that was contested in ROH and not in Japan) in some time. The crowd was invested in the action and both ladies had solid showings. Sakai just captured the championship at Supercard of Honor, so of course it was logical for her to retain her title.

SoCal Uncensored def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom by Disqualification

The Kingdom beat SoCal Uncensored for the six-man tag titles earlier this month at a live event in Lowell, MA for those who haven't been paying attention. This was a better main event than I expected it to be if only because both trios are heel and I wasn't sure if the crowd would be as into it as they were. Unfortunately, the finish was lame with the referee calling for the bell after seeing Frankie Kazarian was knocked out from a chair shot (in reality, he did it to himself by accident). I assume that sets up a rematch for Best in the World.

Overall Show

The lively atmosphere was a breath of fresh air and added to my enjoyment of this episode. On the whole, it was an entertaining hour of wrestling with three high-quality matches, two of which were championship clashes. There wasn't a ton of hype for Best in the World next month aside from the announcement of Dalton Castle vs. Cody vs. Marty Scurll for the ROH World Championship, but I get the sense that will be a show that will be built up at the last minute yet still be excellent.