Ring of Honor Review - October 9, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Rush def. Barbaro Cavernario

This was obviously taped weeks before Rush became ROH World Champion at Death Before Dishonor, so this allowed him to build momentum heading into that big match with Matt Taven. He just screams star with everything he does in the ring and how he carries himself, so although I had no idea who Cavernario was, I liked the matchup. At only eight minutes long, they were able to make every second count and never let there be a dull moment. 

Villain Enterprises def. Okumura, Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero and Rey Bucanero

I don't think I've seen one below-average match with Villain Enterprises in Ring of Honor. They never cease to bring the goods in their matches and this was no exception. They went out there and killed it once again with three of CMLL's finest. They worked an exciting and frantic pace and kept the crowd hot the entire time. It's going to be a sad day when Marty Scurll inevitably leaves ROH, just because Villain Enterprises (and the entire company for the matter) won't be the same without him.

Volador Jr., Stuka Jr. and Caristico def. Rey Bucanero, Okumura and Hechicero

Although this was a solid match, I questioned why ROH decided to put it on last on it. I guess fans got familiar with them through other matches that aired earlier in the episode, but since no ROH wrestlers were involved, a casual viewer would have no reason to care about this. Nonetheless, the action was entertaining (even though the first few minutes were a bit rough) and the crowd was into it for the most part.

Overall Show

All of these matches were taped during ROH's Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL in early September, and since I didn't watch any of those events, this was fresh content for me. I'm almost positive that the three matches I wrote about above were shown in their entirety, but if not, they did a great job of making it look like they were. We were also shown highlights of Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham and Jeff Cobb beating Stuka Jr., Triton and Caristico during the same tour and that was a fun match as well from what I saw. Needless to say, if you've already seen these matchups, then this edition of ROH TV is nothing new, but I enjoyed it for what it was because I hadn't. The backstage interviews with Dalton Castle and Marty Scurll heading into the semifinals of the Final Battle No. 1 Contender's Tournament were also excellent.