Ring of Honor Review - September 25, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Champion and AEW World Tag Team Champion Bandido def. Dralistico in an ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match

I like that they're telling the story right now with Bandido spreading himself too thin as both the ROH World champ and one-half of the AEW World Tag Team champs, and that makes his matches more unpredictable. Granted, I didn't think he'd actually lose to Dralistico here, but it was a fun match while it lasted. Blake Christian and Lee Johnson attacked Bandido afterward before Hologram and Komander made the save.

Premier Athletes (Stori Denali, Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari) def. Rebecca Scott, JD Ink and El Magnifico

It's smart for Premier Athletes to really play up Denali as a big deal and put her over as a dominant force, especially since there's nothing else about the group currently that's remotely interesting. I don't think she'll make them a top act or anything, but she gives them a nice change of pace, if nothing else. This was a standard squash as it should have been with Denali winning quickly and decisively.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Viva Van in a Pure Rules Match

Purrazzo already advanced to the next round of the ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament, right? I honestly don't remember. I just know she's facing Trish Adora in a tourney match at some point. They're confusing me with all of these Pure Rules matches that aren't a part of it. Sure, they give the women a momentum boost, but it's not much of one. The best thing I can say about this is that it was on the shorter side.

ROH Interim Women's World Television Champion Mina Shirakawa def. Lacey Lane

Hey, Shirakawa actually defended her ROH Interim Women's World Championship! I'm shocked. In all seriousness, I haven't seen Lane at all since she was released from WWE earlier this year, so it was cool to see her get this opportunity in her Ring of Honor debut. She was impressive in there with Shirakawa and they had a quality contest despite it being brief. Time will tell if Lane will make more appearances for ROH going forward.

ROH World Tag Team Champions La Faccion Ingobernable (Sammy Guevara and Rush) def. The Von Erichs

Guevara is an official member of La Faccion Ingobernable, for what it's worth. I thought they might drag this feud out a bit, but they got this match out of the way early. It was a good match, but there was no way Guevara and Rush were losing the belts in their first defense. They're already gelling really well as partners, so hopefully they can inject some much-needed life into this tag team division.

Billie Starkz def. Olympia in an ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

I'm surprised this was slotted over Bandido vs. Dralistico and even the ROH World Tag Team Championship match. It's not like it was all that better than either bout, either. Nonetheless, they had a well-worked main event. Olympia had a stronger showing than Starkz, but the outcome was expected given Starkz' alliance with Athena and how prominently featured she is on ROH TV.

Overall Show

This turned out to be a slightly-above-average edition of ROH TV with more important matches than usual. The ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament is progressing at a snail's pace, but at least we got another tourney match. Additionally, there was more build for Bandido vs. Christian, Lane debuted and the ROH World Tag Team Championship was defended. None of the matches were amazing, mind you, but I'm glad the show felt somewhat significant this week.

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