Ring of Honor Review - October 12, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Champion and NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston def. Serpentico in an ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match

It's about damn time Kingston appeared on ROH TV as ROH World Champion. Granted, it was only for a Proving Ground match and not for the title (nor should it have been), but it's better than nothing. Serpentico shouldn't have been competitive with the ROH World Champion, but it was a well-worked match for what it was. Kingston got in Angelico's face afterward, so that looks to be Kingston's next defense. Here's hoping it happens on ROH TV and not an AEW show.

The Gates of Agony def. Fresco and Watson

Apparently Gates of Agony and Brian Cage aren't too concerned with getting the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship back because they haven't said a single thing since dropping them to The Elite last month. However, I can't say I'm bothered by that because the last thing they need is to get back the belts they weren't doing anything with in the first place. I'd rather see Gates of Agony transition into the tag team ranks and this served as a simple squash for them.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Mazzerati in an ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match

I feel like we haven't seen as many Athena matches as of late and that's a positive. That's not a knock on Athena (who's doing fantastic work, of course) but rather the overexposure of her storyline with Billie Starkz. They don't need two matches and a backstage segment on every show because it will start to drag a lot quicker. This was a nice little match, though, and Mazzerati looked good in there for as long as this lasted.

AAA Latin American Champion QT Marshall def. Daga

Marshall was getting some television time in AEW as AAA Latin American Champion several weeks ago, but I'm glad the gimmick is being relegated to ROH TV apparently. I'm not his biggest fan, but to his credit, this was pretty enjoyable. I haven't seen Daga since his IMPACT run three years ago and he's almost unrecognizable now (not in a negative way), but he's still terrific and scored a ton of offense before eating defeat. ROH and AEW have too many titles as it is, but this shtick for Marshall is a vast improvement over the QTV crap.

Shane Taylor and Lee Moriarty def. The Infantry

Taylor and Moriarty aren't officially being billed as Shane Taylor Promotions, but I assume that's where their alliance is headed once they add at least one more member. It could end up being Lee Johnson, who both of them have beaten one-on-one before and confronted backstage earlier in this episode. They had a quality contest with The Infantry here and racked up another win. The question is if they'll actually be able to challenge for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at some point.

Angelico def. Martin Casaus

Angelico already appeared at the start of the show in Serpentico's corner and confronted Kingston. It would have been better for this to occur next week so whatever program we're getting with them isn't rushed. Angelico hasn't been important since the early days of AEW, so it's going to be near impossible to take the guy seriously, but at least he's a treat to watch work. My bigger takeaway from this match was the appearance of Casaus, who made a name for himself on WWE Tough Enough over a decade ago as well as Lucha Underground years later where he wrestled as Marty "The Moth" Martinez.

Mercedes Martinez def. Lady Frost

I have a lot of criticisms about ROH TV these days, but the women's division is certainly stacked. It was reported recently that Frost has been signed for a while and that's wonderful news. The experienced Martinez is also the perfect person to lend credibility to the rest of the division. As I've mentioned before, I'm also digging her current alliance with Diamante as it gives them both something to do. This was a solid match.

Willow Nightingale def. "Legit" Leyla Hirsch

Now that Hirsch's undefeated streak is no more after failing to win the ROH Women's World Championship from Athena, I guess it's okay that she lost here. I'd prefer she not start losing consistently, but I get the feeling she'll lose to Skye Blue (who's sporting a darker look) based on what went down afterward. That said, this was a very good match from these two, and I'm glad Nightingale beat someone of note for a change.

Action Andretti def. Gringo Loco

This was the wild sprint you'd expect from Andretti and Loco and the crowd was into the action. But (stop me if you've heard this before) why it did happen? Loco doesn't win many matches in Ring of Honor, so it's not like Andretti beating him means much, and we haven't heard from Andretti as far as what his goals are on his own. ROH TV has had a lot more backstage interviews in between the matches in recent months, so Andretti can easily be given the time to explain his aspirations in singles competition. It was never explained why he and Darius Martin stopped working tag matches.

Billie Starkz def. Rachelle Riveter

​As is the case most weeks, we didn't need an Athena match and a Starkz match on the same show. They both accomplished the same thing. On the bright side, I assume Starkz has embarked on a winning streak because she'll be Athena's ultimate opponent for the title. Will she be the one to dethrone her? It seems too soon for that. Nonetheless, this was over almost immediately and didn't overstay its welcome.

Kip Sabian def. Anthony Henry

Of all the random matches on this show, this felt the most pointless. Sabian hasn't done anything of note in quite some time, so I have no idea why he's being built up. Maybe for a shot at the ROH Pure Championship (even though this wasn't contested under Pure Rules)? This was the epitome of an AEW Dark match, but that's not to say it was bad by any means. They made the most of the time they had, which is always expected of Henry (no matter how often he loses).

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Christopher Daniels

Page demanded competition in a backstage interview last week and got it in the form of a former ROH World Champion here. Daniels wins enough on ROH TV that beating him isn't completely meaningless and I thought they had an entertaining outing. Mark Sterling and Tony Nese offered Page a spot in their group afterward, so Page feuding with them appears to be what's next for him. They've largely been positioned as enhancement talent, so it feels like a step backward for him.

Scorpio Sky def. Darius Martin

Both of these guys need wins right now, so I don't understand the decision to have them face off at this stage. It was more of a main event than most "main events" we've gotten on this show lately (despite its lack of storyline significance/buildup) and they worked well together, but it felt like a step backward to waste Martin's recent win over Daniels by having him lose here. It could be nothing more than a small setback for Martin, and hopefully this amounts to something for Sky, but this could have been avoided had it been saved for another time.

Overall Show

For those keeping score at home, that's 12 matches in two hours. Last week's show was also two hours, so I hope that isn't the new norm because it's vastly unnecessary. Final Battle isn't until December I would imagine, so these shows aren't building to anything in the meantime. Kingston defended his ROH World Championship on Collision last week and Samoa Joe is defending his ROH World Television Championship on Collision this week, so I am genuinely curious what purpose ROH TV is supposed to serve. It's basically the an updated Dark with a new name. The wrestling is standard quality, but most of the matches don't typically matter and the same can be said for ROH on the whole right now. This was your usual middle-of-the-road episode.

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