Ring of Honor Review - October 30, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dalton Castle and The Outrunners def. Leeroy Shogun, Logan Cruz and Tyson Malrick

While I didn't start out as the biggest Outrunners fan, they have grown on me over the last year and there's no denying how they've managed to organically get themselves over with the audience. That said, I'm amazed more hasn't been done with them this year, either in AEW or Ring of Honor. The ROH World Tag Team Championship means very little at this point, so the fact they haven't held those belts yet (let alone been in contention much for them) is wild. Nonetheless, this was a solid showcase for them and Castle. Surely they'll challenge for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship at some point, right?

Billie Starkz def. Aleah James

Starkz ditched James in their tag team match on last week's show, so I'm glad that was immediately followed up on and wasn't forgotten about. For someone I don't believe is signed to a deal by AEW/ROH, I was surprised that James scored as much offense as she did and this being such a competitive contest. It was a nice match. On a side note, if we're getting Athena vs. Starkz for a third time at Final Battle, Starkz isn't showing even the slightest signs of turning babyface.

The Don Callis Family (Rocky Romero and Lance Archer) def. Aaron Solo and QT Marshall

Archer and Romero's usual tag partners (Brian Cage and Trent Beretta, respectively) are out injured at the moment, so they've been paired up with each other until they're back. Apparently Marshall and Solo are babyfaces now? Okay, then. To their credit, the crowd got behind them here and the match exceeded my expectations. Post-match, Big Boom! A.J. came to Marshall's aid, setting up them against two members of The Don Callis Family (presumably Archer and Romero) for Full Gear.

ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty def. Alex Zayne in an ROH Pure Championship Proving Ground Match

Didn't Zayne recently lose to Sidney Akeem on ROH TV? Why would he get a Proving Ground match before Akeem? Putting that aside, this was the well-wrestled affair you'd expect from these two. Moriarty has had a record-setting reign as ROH Pure Champion, but it hasn't been all that impressive seeing as how the title itself doesn't feel important and the Pure Rules matches largely aren't exciting. With Moriarty winning here, I assume he just goes back to spinning his wheels.

Premier Athletes (Stori Denali, Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese) def. Isla Dawn and Grizzled Young Veterans

As I've said before, it was smart to build up to this a bit without doing it right away. The outcome still wasn't in much doubt, mind you, but the match was decent. I'm curious what the endgame is with this version of Premier Athletes and whether it's to get Daivari and Nese in contention for the ROH World Tag Team Championship or to ultimately elevate Denali. I'm guessing it's the latter.

Mascara Dorada and Komander def. The Swirl

I appreciated The Swirl saying in a pre-taped promo at the start of the show that their intention for this match was to weaken Dorada before he faces Bandido for the ROH World Championship on Saturday's Collision. That gave the match more meaning, even though there was zero chance the babyfaces were losing here. It was an enjoyable main event and easily the best thing on the entire episode.

Overall Show

Believe it or not, this show wasn't total throwaway like most of them tend to be. The main event was fun for what it was, but more importantly, there was actual build for A.J. and Marshall vs. The Don Callis Family at Full Gear. Okay, so it's virtually guaranteed to end up on the Zero Hour pre-show, but it was more significant than almost anything else we normally get on ROH TV.

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