Ring of Honor Review - November 28, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lee Johnson and EJ Nduka def. Anthony Gangone and Kubes

Johnson and Nduka continue to develop strong chemistry as partners and gel really well together. Granted, they've mostly beaten no-name teams so far, so hopefully they start facing actual competition soon. This was no different than any of their other wins, but at least it was kept short and sweet with Johnson and Nduka winning decisively (with a pretty cool team finisher, might I add).

Queen Aminata def. Christina Marie

Aminata is consistently a standout on ROH TV and I'm glad she's been getting more opportunities to shine on AEW TV, but she has yet to have that one defining feud that gets her to that next level. I thought that feud would've been with Serena Deeb, but that didn't seem to amount to anything. At the very least, these enhancement wins on ROH TV won't hurt her and keep her busy for now.

MxM Collection def. Iron Savages (Boulder and Bronson)

MxM Collection have been an admittedly fun act since coming to AEW and Ring of Honor, but I can't say the same for Iron Savages. Their shtick is unbearable and they're featured far more than they should be. There was a lot of stupid shenanigans in this match as you'd expect, so while this wasn't my cup of tea, it was mostly fine and gave MxM Collection their first win in almost two months.

Matt Taven def. Josh Woods in a Pure Rules Match

Taven has been well on his way to challenging for the ROH Pure Championship, so it makes sense for him to be having Pure Rules matches even if they aren't the most interesting. Woods has spent a considerable amount of time in the Pure division, so he was a good opponent for Taven here and they had a quality contest. Current ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty emerging afterward to stare down Taven means that matchup is imminent, likely at Final Battle.

The Righteous def. JD Drake and BEEF

BEEF has shockingly won a handful of tag team matches on ROH TV, so he actually does have some credibility. Between him and Drake, though, BEEF should be the one eating the pinfall losses. Drake losing here was unnecessary, but the key was that The Righteous won to maintain their momentum before they face Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. They may as well save that for Final Battle at this point, too.

AR Fox def. John Silver

Fox recently failed to dethrone Brian Cage for the ROH World Television Championship, so it was logical to give him a rebound win this week. For as little as I care about The Dark Order these days, there's no denying that Silver is a skilled competitor, so this was an enjoyable little sprint for as long as it lasted. Any chance to see Fox in action is a treat in my book.

The Conglomeration (Kyle O'Reilly, Mark Briscoe and Rocky Romero) def. Pat Buck and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans

I legitimately had no idea Grizzled Young Veterans won gold in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. They went from being featured pretty prominently upon arriving in AEW and feuding with FTR to largely being relegated to Rampage and ROH TV. It's disappointing but not surprising. Nonetheless, this was a nice main event, especially by ROH TV standards. Buck was a random partner for Grizzled Young Veterans, but at least he took the loss for their team.

Overall Show

Ideally, I wish they hadn't aired an episode on Thanksgiving at all, but that aside, this was an above-average edition of ROH TV compared to what we've largely been getting since the show started up again last year. There's an obvious attempt to do more storylines and make the matches matter, probably because Tony Khan wants to secure a television deal for the brand (which is why Chris Jericho is the top champion). There was also the announcement that Red Velvet will defend the ROH Women's World Television Championship at Final Battle, so that was notable. The matches we got breezed by as well.

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