Ring of Honor Review - October 5, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. "Legit" Leyla Hirsch

This could have easily headlined the show and definitely should have, but as I've said before, I understand that they closer with lesser-important matches because these shows are taped in front of a dead crowd after Collision. Then again, they could have taped this first and aired it later. Regardless, this was great stuff. Athena continues to kill it against all of her opponents and Hirsch is excellent in her own right. This was Hirsch's best bout since returning to the ring and another gem from Athena.

Josh Woods def. Tyler Payne

Another week, another showcase for Josh Woods. This was more of the same from him. I'm a fan of the guy and it's nice to see him racking up wins, but he's beating no-namers instead of people on the roster. As I've said before, the issue is that this appears to be building toward him getting another opportunity at the ROH Pure Championship. He already lost to Katsuyori Shibata once before and it's not like he's any more of a threat to the title now, so these matches feel like a waste of time.

Rocky Romero def. Christopher Daniels

Both Romero and Daniels are obviously seasoned and don't have much to gain or lose at this stage of their respective careers, so that actually added some suspense to the outcome because either guy could have realistically won. They had the well-wrestled television match you'd expect from them. This had no stakes and didn't serve much of a purpose, but they made the most of the time they had at least.

Scorpio Sky def. Fred Rosser

Rosser not getting a televised entrance was disappointing considering the success he's had in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in recent years. He's a completely different competitor from his WWE days. This is will probably end up being a one-off, but I'd love to see more of Rosser in ROH. As for Sky, is whatever push he was getting on Collision already over? This was a quality contest with solid showings from both men.

Willow Nightingale, Skye Blue and Kiera Hogan def. Lady Frost and The Renegades

Nightingale, Blue and Hogan all play the same role in ROH and AEW in that they're fan favorites that have lost a lot of matches that matter on television as of late. ROH has dropped the ball with Nightingale in particular as I maintain she should have unseated Athena as ROH Women's World Championship at Death Before Dishonor. This was fine while it lasted, but I'm not sure what it was supposed to accomplish other than giving the babyfaces a win.

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Invictus Khash

The character development with Page has been one of the best parts of ROH TV in recent weeks, which I understand isn't saying much because there's so few storylines on the show from week to week that are actually interesting. He's winning his matches and getting consistent mic time in the form of backstage interviews. This was a standard squash for him, but I'd like to see him set his sights on some gold soon.

TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) def. The Infantry

I believe this marked the ROH debut of TMDK. Yes, this was random, but TMDK appeared in a backstage interview on Collision the same night this was taped, so it was logical that they'd be used for a match on ROH TV. Unfortunately, they already failed to beat The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn for the AEW World Trios Championship last Sunday, but I guess this got them back on track. They had an average outing. I would've preferred to see The Infantry win since they'll be sticking around as the ROH regulars.

Satoshi Kojima def. Tony Nese

Kojima was another talent in town for WrestleDream last weekend, competing on the Zero Hour pre-show. Hey, may as well get him on ROH TV, too, right? He's a reliable hand and I enjoyed seeing him beat up on Nese. It's the same song and dance from Nese every week, and although I appreciate the attempt to make him more interesting, it has go-away heat with me, personally. I don't know what this needed to last as long as it did.

Billie Starkz def. Trish Adora

The ongoing angle with Athena and Starkz is one of the best things going in ROH right now, but I wish they wouldn't overexpose it. Starkz had two other appearances on this match, so the match was overkill. Don't get me wrong, this was perfectly passable (albeit brief), but it could have been saved for next week. On the bright side, I assume the idea is to give Starkz wins so she can eventually challenge Athena for the title.

Darius Martin def. Lee Johnson

Martin previously beat Daniels, so it would have been silly for him to lose to Lee Johnson of all people. No disrespect to Johnson, who is talented, but he's been booked like a stepping stone for a while now. I'm all for Martin getting some spotlight in singles competition while his brother Dante recovers from injury. He's someone I'd like to see challenge for the Pure title or Television title at some point.

Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty def. Cole Karter & Griff Garrison, Iron Savages, and The Workhorsemen in a Four-Way Tag Team Match

Ordinarily, this would be a wonderful opportunity to crown new contenders for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but Tony Khan knows ROH TV's audience doesn't compare to AEW's and thus he'd rather save such a match for one of the main shows. In other words, this was meaningless. It was also very rushed because they only had seven or eight minutes. I'm glad Taylor and Moriarty went over, though.

Komander, Gravity and Metalik def. Gringo Loco and Spanish Announce Table (Angelico and Serpentico)

If you love lucha wrestling, ROH TV is the show for you because there's quite a bit of it every week. That's not a bad thing as the matches tend to be chaotic and fun, but they also lack substance. If Komander, Gravity and Metalik don't go after the ROH World Trios Championship and them teaming doesn't amount to anything, then this becomes another forgettable ROH TV main event. I would have switched this and the opener to give the women the main event spot instead.

Overall Show

How can ROH TV not feel inconsequential when the new ROH World Champion hasn't appeared on the program yet? Sure, the brand has a star-studded lineup of champions, but that doesn't mean anything if very few of them actually show up. Funnily enough, Athena is the one ROH champ I've been begging to see more of on AEW TV, and her appearances are primarily relegated to the pay-per-view pre-shows. This was a mediocre episode with the usual good wrestling, but the two-hour runtime is vastly unnecessary.

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