Ring of Honor Review - November 23, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata def. Trent Beretta

I don't know how much of a threat the audience viewed Beretta to the ROH Pure Championship, but he's obviously a very talented singles competitor, so they had an enjoyable opener. They worked well together and made the most of the time they had. I like how most matches Shibata has are title defenses, so it makes every match he has matter. I assume he'll have another random defense at Final Battle unless he starts a storyline before then.

Willow Nightingale def. Diamante, Trish Adora and Kiera Hogan in a Four-Corner Survival Match

Ring of Honor's women's division has a ton of talent, but the problem is that all of these women have been built up over the last year only to lose to Athena when the ROH Women's World Championship has been on the line, so they're all left with nothing to do until Athena gets dethroned. That's probably why this wasn't a number one contender's match, but at least it was well worked and Nightingale picked up a much-needed win.

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Tony Nese

This was part of the program they've had over the last month. Page has lost to both Nese and Josh Woods in that time, so this was a necessary victory for Page. They had the quality contest you'd expect from them. Although Page went over decisively, their backstage promos later on in the episode indicated their feud isn't over with Page ultimately wanting a Code of Honor handshake from Nese.

The Workhorsemen def. The West Coast Wrecking Crew, The Infantry and Iron Savages (Boulder and Bronson) in a Four-Corner Survival Tag Team Match

We've seen a lot of multi-team matches on ROH TV over the last two months and this was probably the weakest of the bunch. There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with it, but this are all enhancement teams and I doubt we see any of them get a meaningful push in the near future. That said, it was refreshing to see The Workhorsemen win for a change. This was a fun sprint while it lasted.

Wheeler Yuta def. Lee Moriarty in a Pure Rules Match

Yuta appeared a lot on ROH TV shortly after its relaunch on HonorClub earlier this year, but this marked his first match on the show in over six months. With this being a Pure Rules match, could it be a sign that he'll be facing Shibata at Final Battle in a rematch for the title from Supercard of Honor? This was very well-wrestled, but I would've preferred Moriarty not eat a loss after joining Shane Taylor Promotions.

Lee Johnson def. Fred Rosser, Willie Mack and Jack Cartwheel in a Four-Corner Survival Match

Yet another Four-Corner Survival match without stakes. Why would anyone care about the outcome in that case? The action carried this one, but it would help if there was a reason for why these matches were being booked. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable outing with solid showings from all involved. I'm honestly stunned Cartwheel hasn't been signed anywhere yet (to my knowledge). His shtick isn't my cup of tea, personally, but he almost always gets over with the crowd whenever I see him wrestle. Johnson is the only one under a deal to ROH/AEW to my knowledge, so he had to win here.

Ronda Rousey and Marina Shafir def. ROH Women's World Champion Athena and Billie Starkz

Rousey's ROH debut here was not treated like a surprise on the show. It was for the live crowd, but there was a graphic advertising this main event as soon as the show started. Unfortunately, "Bad Reputation" played in the arena but not on HonorClub, probably for licensing reasons, so the crowd pop for her entrance was altered. The match itself was very good and you can tell Rousey was having a blast. Rousey winning would seem to suggest that she'll be next in line for a title shot at Final Battle, but I honestly don't see her having much worth to ROH or AEW long-term. Needless to say, she's automatically a bigger star than anyone else on the brand, but her recent run in WWE didn't leave me wanting more from her and having her dethrone Athena would be the wrong call.

Overall Show

For a holiday episode, this exceeded my expectations. Rousey's debut obviously made it newsworthy and we'll see if she sticks around for Final Battle and beyond, but the rest of the show held my interest and featured plenty of entertaining action. The three multi-person matches were a tad excessive considering they lacked stakes, and the build for Final Battle has largely been nonexistent so far, but in a vacuum, this was a thumbs-up episode.

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