Ring of Honor Review - November 8, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Kingdom def. Coast to Coast and The Dawgs in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

I can't recall a single meaningful victory Coast to Coast have scored in Ring of Honor, but they are a ton of fun to watch and worked well with The Kingdom and The Dwags here. This was perfectly positioned as the opener to the show considering there was nothing at stake and didn't overstay its welcome. The Kingdom winning was smart in allowing them to maintain momentum ahead of their eventual shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

ROH World Champion Cody def. Ryan Nova

This was another one of Rhodes' open challenges for the world title where he handpicked his unknown opponent, and this time it was someone I've never heard of. Nova scored some offense over Rhodes during the brief bout, including one roll-up that was good for a nearfall, but it was over shortly after that. The crowd popped big for Dalton Castle appearing afterward and I enjoyed the verbal exchange he had with Cody. His comment about Cody having "lackluster" matches as champion was actually accurate to an extent, and Castle laying him out essentially confirms they'll be doing battle for the title at Final Battle.

ROH World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns def. IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine (IWGP Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

War Machine have been on a hell of a roll in Japan lately and have been as motivated as ever, so it was a blast to see them clash with an equally awesome team in Motor City Machine Guns. War Machine hitting their finisher literally 30 seconds or less into the bout was well done and kicked off the contest on a high note. In fact, I'd argue they shined more than the champions, though this was an excellent outing, nonetheless. I wasn't a fan of the finish with The Addiction distracting War Machine, especially if the plan isn't to turn Motor City Machine Guns heel.

Overall Show

This edition of ROH TV was just as long as every other episode, though it didn't feel like there was a ton of content and I mean that as a positive. Everything breezed by, and what we did see was not only entertaining but also set up quite a bit for the coming weeks of programmings as well as the Final Battle pay-per-view. The Addiction and Best Friends will square off next week to determine the new No. 1 contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship, while qualifying matches for the ROH World Television Championship Fatal 4-Way match will begin.