Ring of Honor Review - September 26, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Best Friends def. The Boys

The Boys have been off ROH TV since Dalton Castle took time off to heal some injuries in late June, so it was nice to see them back (I'm not sure how much longer Castle will be out for). Granted, this match didn't serve much of a purpose, but it was fun and well-wrestled while it lasted. The win gave Best Friends bit of a momentum boost ahead of their huge 10-man tag team matchup at Death Before Dishonor.

Kenny King def. Adam Page

King has been teasing a heel turn in recent weeks, so the story here was whether he could beat Page without having to resort to underhanded tactics. Well, he did for the second straight time (after cheating to defeat Marty Scurll), essentially solidifying his status as a heel (especially because Page is so beloved by the audience). As a match, this was great. Both of these guys are two of the brightest up-and-comers in the company and can always be counted on for a quality contest like we saw here.

Dante Caballero vs. Brian Johnson in a Top Prospect Tournament First Round Match Ended in a No Contest

Since it has happened on three other occasions, it should have been academic for fans to expect Jeff Cobb to crash the festivities once again here. The match barely went 30 seconds before Cobb made his presence felt and laid both men out. The only thing that made this different from his last three appearances is that he finally cut a promo about how he has arrived in Ring of Honor and did what he did because he is the true top prospect. I'm looking forward to him being a part of the roster and the amount of awesome matches he can have.

Silas Young and Bully Ray def. ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham

I loved the build this bout received last week and it was refreshing for the follow-up to take place the very next week instead of a month later (which is usually the case with Ring of Honor). It was a solid main event where the crowd was invested in the action and everyone played their roles well. Young and Bully are set to take on Flip Gordon and Colt Cabana in a tag team match at Death Before Dishonor, so it made sense for them to win here. However, I appreciated that Gresham was able to get so much offense in before being defeated and maintaining momentum in the process.

Overall Show

This was basically the go-home show for Death Before Dishonor this Friday night, and as such, I thought it did an excellent job of hyping up multiple matches on the card with everything serving a purpose. The final rundown of the lineup at the end was a nice touch and all three matches are worth checking out (aside from the Top Prospect Tournament bout, of course, but even Cobb's annihilation of those two fools was amusing).