Ring of Honor Review - November 15, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Punishment Martinez def. Josh "The Goods" Woods in a ROH World Television Championship Qualifying Match

Both of these guys are rookies on the rise and are heels, so I wasn't sure how well they would work together, but this turned into a nice match between them. Martinez has always impressed me with what he can do for a guy of his size, but Woods is a prospect as well and had a good performance. Of the two, Martinez was the better choice to advance considering Woods had his shot at the strap last month and failed.

Marty Scurll Confronted Jay Lethal

This promo was needed from Lethal because I assumed last year that he would set his sights back on the ROH World Championship once he overcame Cody (before he won the world title), and he did, but then he was placed in a program with Silas Young and he hadn't said anything about the gold in recent months. He talked about wanting to get back to that level, and I loved the role Scurll played here by discussing what the "villainous" Lethal would have done and why he was so successful. Seeing as how I'll be in attendance for Final Battle this year, I am very much looking forward to this match coming to fruition in person.

ROH World Television Champion Kenny King def. Mark Briscoe by Referee Stoppage

Despite being injured, Mark said last week in a backstage interview that he would contend for the championship anyway. I didn't think the match would actually happen given his condition, but the way they booked this was well done with Jay throwing in the towel for him, furthering their recent tension. Afterward, King was ambushed by all of his potential opponents at Final Battle, so that was a cool way of pushing the importance of those qualifying matches.

Caprice Coleman Hosted Coleman's Pulpit with Shane Taylor

As I've said before, Coleman's Pulpit is quickly becoming a great outlet for wrestlers who don't receive a ton of TV time to develop their characters. This week, it was Taylor talking about what motivates him, and this was a side of him we have never seen before with him bringing up his daughter and doing it for her. What's weird is that he's a heel, so unless he's turning face, this wasn't too effective.

Best Friends def. The Addiction in a No. 1 Contender's ROH World Tag Team Championship Match

The duo of Chuckie T and Trent Barreta are so much damn fun and they had an awesome dynamic with The Addiction here. From an in-ring standpoint, this was a very entertaining main event and the crowd was engaged in the action. ROH has relied far too heavily on interference in their television main events lately, but it made sense in this matchup with War Machine giving The Addiction a taste of their own medicine and costing them the win. I can certainly see them facing off at Final Battle while The Motor City Machine Guns and Best Friends battle for the tag titles.

Overall Show

The card for Final Battle is slowly but surely coming together and on this show alone, we found out that Lethal vs. Scurll is happening at the event, The Motor City Machine Guns will defend their ROH World Tag Team Championship against Best Friends, and Martinez will be one of the wrestlers vying for the ROH World Television Championship. Coleman's Pulpit was a fine use of time as well, so this was a very productive hour of TV.