Ring of Honor Review - September 23, 2015

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Michael Elgin def. Silas Young

The crowd was thoroughly behind Elgin throughout the bout, something that hasn't been the case for him in the past when I've watched him wrestle. He's always been an excellent athlete, but he had a problem at one point connecting with the crowd, but it looks like he's overcome that as of late. Prior to All Star Extravaganza, he was a heel the last televised match I watched him work, so when he did he turn babyface? Or was he a heel here? That aside, he and Young worked a hard-hitting matchup, but both guys should have been protected, so it would have helped it Elgin went up against something who could have taken the loss. This was taped before the PPV last weekend, hence why Young didn't have Dalton Castle's "boys" with him.


ACH def. Caprice Coleman

This was another match that had weird character development. To my knowledge, both ACH and Coleman are babyfaces, so the crowd didn't have any incentive to cheer for one guy over the other. That said, the crowd reacted to many of the big moves and appreciated the competitiveness of the contest. There wasn't anything in the way of storyline significance during this match, but the post-match interview between Steve Corino and Coleman referencing the letter Coleman received last week was interesting.

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IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto and The Briscoes def. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi Vice

While they're random as all hell, the mutli-man/interpromotional matches that are contested whenever the New Japan Pro Wrestling talent is brought in never cease to entertain me. This was another quality televised main event with all six competitors shining at various points and the interaction between Goto and Okada, two of NJPW's biggest stars, was the best part and made me want to see more from them. The Briscoes and RPG Vice also worked well together, making this a strong six-man tag team main event.


Overall Show

I was disappointed there wasn't any follow-up from the hot All Star Extravaganza PPV from last weekend, but I suppose that was to be expected due to this show being taped before the event. Thus, no storylines were progressed in any of the three matches, but if you're a wrestling fan, you'll enjoy this hour of exceptional in-ring action. Plus, there was plenty of hype for next week's main event between Adam Cole and Shinsuke Nakamura and that has the potential to be one hell of a matchup, so get excited for that.