Ring of Honor Review - September 14, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jay Lethal, Michael Elgin and Kyle O'Reilly def. The Bullet Club

Why would Lethal enlist the help Los Ingobernables against The Bullet Club if he knew they couldn't be trusted? I'm not a regular viewer of New Japan Pro Wrestling, so I'm not sure if they're established as heels over there or not, but Lethal did say afterward he was once friends with them. Either way, I loved how the match was given a ton of time and was divided up into three separate sections with Lethal and Los Ingobernables facing Bullet Club, them ditching him, and then Elgin and O'Reilly making the save. The final stretch was fun as the babyfaces shined and the crowd was engaged once Adam Cole and O'Reilly were going at it. I questioned why Elgin would join the babyface team, but apparently he'll be challenging for the ROH World Championship at All Star Extravaganza. Since when? However, I do like the idea of a Lethal vs. Naito match at the event given it was set up nicely here.


ROH World Television Champion Bobby Fish def. Katsuyori Shibata

I'm still waiting for Fish to flip the switch and become a full-fledged heel. Perhaps he already is one, but I don't remember seeing an official turn. He's a really good wrestler, but I have yet to see a truly great match from him. This was well-wrestled and had a solid pace, but the crowd wasn't nearly as hot for this match as they were for the opener. Maybe they were quiet because they didn't know who to root for or because they were too busy appreciating the action, but I credit Shibata for keeping me interested in the match. I look forward to Donovan Dijak getting his rightful title shot at All Star Extravaganza and I would love for him to be the one who unseats Fish as champ in his native Massachusetts.

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Overall Show

As I have said in the past, I'm a huge fan of when wrestling shows take the "less is more" approach, and I thought this edition of ROH TV did that very effectively with great back-to-back matches as well as strong hype for All Star Extravaganza. I have thoroughly enjoyed the build to the pending pay-per-view and hope it lives up to the hype, especially since I will be there in attendance.