Ring of Honor Review - May 9, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Atlantis Jr. def. Jay Lethal

With this episode emanating from Lethal's home state of New Jersey, I automatically assumed Lethal would win here. Apparently not. Atlantis is a bright star from CMLL's roster (from what I can gather as someone who isn't familiar with their product beyond what I see on AEW/ROH TV), so the commentary team treated his victory over Lethal as a big deal (though I do question what beating Lethal even means these days). It was a well-wrestled opener to boot.

Marina Shafir def. Leila Grey

Shafir has barely wrestled since joining The Death Riders and I'm not saying that's a bad thing since she's still extremely boring in almost every respect. She adds a somewhat intimidating presence to the group, but I definitely don't care about her matches. That includes this one as it was fine at best. On a side note, Shayna Baszler was released from WWE last week, so I'm interested if she ends up alongside Shafir in Ring of Honor and AEW.

Lee Johnson and Blake Christian def. Spanish Announce Project

Right before this bout, there was a replay of last week's interaction between Spanish Announce Project and The Frat House, which made me worried that Spanish Announce Project would win here. That wouldn't have made sense considering Johnson and Christian have been on AEW TV (specifically Collision) as of late and have more credibility than Spanish Announce Project. This was a fairly average outing.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Ashley Vox in a Pure Rules Match

Purrazzo is another New Jersey native, so it was cool to see her featured on this episode. However, you'd never know that based on how the crowd sat on their hands for a majority of this match. In a way, I don't necessarily blame them considering the outcome was obvious and Pure Rules matches can be tedious, but it is a shame Purrazzo feels so unimportant in AEW/ROH these days. This was a preview of the upcoming ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament, for which we still don't have a start date or a bracket.

ROH Women's World Television Champion Red Velvet def. Laynie Luck in an ROH Women's World Television Championship Proving Ground Match

This was much better than Purrazzo vs. Vox because even as a glorified squash, Luck scored way more offense that the crowd was into despite her having no chance of actually winning. This was short and sweet and exactly what it needed to be. However, Velvet hasn't had much direction since capturing the title, so I assume she'll continue to win matches that don't have much meaning.

Satnam Singh def. Lord Crewe

This part of the taping took place in Detroit, hence why Singh was cheered so heavily for wearing a Pistons jersey. Singh's buddies Lethal and Jeff Jarrett are babyfaces by this point, so Singh turning babyface as well isn't surprising in the slightest. This was a simple squash for Singh, who the crowd was solidly behind throughout. Singh has been around long enough that Tony Khan should start questioning what his ceiling/potential is seeing as how he's done nothing of note yet.

ROH World Champion Bandido def. Gringo Loco in an ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match

Loco has been on ROH TV plenty of times in the past, but similar to most Proving Ground matches on this show, it was pretty predictable Bandido was winning. That said, this was the correct choice as the main event as it was easily the best bout on the entire episode. Bandido's a blast to watch and he worked very well with Loco here. Props to Loco as well for his standout performance.

Overall Show

With Collision airing on Thursday night this week, ROH TV was bumped to Friday night. Aside from the fun main event, this was another inconsequential edition of ROH TV. Proving Ground matches don't make for the most eventual episodes, not to mention that the minimal storyline advancement that we get isn't remotely compelling. It was a serviceable show yet hardly worth seeking out if you missed it.

SEE MORE: ROH Reviews