ROH Honor for All Review - August 25, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Bouncers def. Coast to Coast and Okumura & Felino in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

I thought Coast to Coast teasing a heel turn a while ago would lead to them gaining steam again, but that has yet to be the case, unfortunately. Instead, they've been treading water and continue to lose whenever they're in action. Okumura and Felino competed at Saturday Night at Center Stage and had another solid showing here. The Bouncers have momentum as babyfaces at the moment, so it made sense for them to win.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion PCO Attacked Security

They're trying to tell the story that PCO got concussed (or something along those lines) at the Saturday Night at Center Stage event the night prior and now he's officially lost his mind. He randomly came out and starting attacking security (nearly putting one of them through a table) before Flip Gordon convinced him to stop. I have no clue where this is going, but I'm mildly curious to find out.

Joe Hendry and Dalton Castle def. Shinobi Shadow Squad

This was originally supposed to be Castle and Eli Isom going one-on-one before Isom convinced Castle and Hendry to team up against himself and Cheeseburger. Castle and Hendry obviously played the reluctant partners throughout, but honestly, I think I like them more as allies than as rivals. Ring of Honor could use some more teams in their tag division anyway, so here's hoping this is more than a one-off (and I believe it will be based off how they won here). The match was whatsoever, but I'm interested to see if their partnership persists.

Angelina Love def. Damaris Dawkins, Jenny Rose and Sumie Sakai in a Four-Way Match

If this matchup was any indication, the Women of Honor division desperately needs some work. Kelly Klein once again sat in on commentary to scout her potential challengers, and in predictable fashion, Love won to further build to her challenging for the WOH World Championship. She pinned Klein months ago, so I'm not sure why ROH has waited this long to have them face off. This was pretty bad and just a total waste of time. Maria Maniac continues to wreck fools, but when is she going to finally wrestle a match?

PJ Black def. Silas Young

This rematch was initially booked for Summer Supercard, but Marty Scurll replaced Young at the last minute. As seen at Saturday Night at Center Stage, Josh "The Goods" Woods and Young are officially allies, which is why Goods accompanied Young to ringside here. The match was well wrestled, but the focus was largely on Young and Woods and how they couldn't coexist. I'm actually surprised Young lost and that their partnership already seems on the skids. Is Woods playing the long-game with Young?

Rush def. Vinny Marseglia

I feel like I've seen Rush decimate Marseglia and TK O'Ryan in singles competition a handful of times since Rush's ROH debut, so this wasn't anything new. Although it was a good match, there was no need for it to be as competitive as it was or last as long as it did. Rush should really be running through his opponents with ease as he prepares to vie for the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor next month.

ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor def. Chase Owens

Personally, I never took Owens seriously as a threat to the title, but I applaud the effort he put forth here, nonetheless. This was a highly physical affair, so although the outcome was predictable, it was still a solid match. I liked the story they told with Owens trying to hit his finisher on Taylor but failing to do so because of Taylor being so big. Taylor has been booked to look incredibly dominant throughout his reign as ROH World Television Champion and feels like much more of a player in the promotion than he did previously.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes def. The Rock 'N' Roll Express

To be completely honest, I had no idea Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton could still go at the rate that they can at their age. That's crazy impressive, so props to them for keeping up with The Briscoes here. The Briscoes also did a terrific job of selling for their signature offense and making it seem like they haven't missed a beat. Similar to the TV title matchup, The Briscoes holding onto the gold was never in doubt, but it was fun for what it was and the post-match show of respect from the two teams was a nice touch.

Lifeblood def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises in a ROH World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Mark Haskins and Bandido represented Lifeblood here while Marty Scurll and Brody King represented Villain Enterprises. If you've been keeping up with ROH lately, you'd know that these factions have been embroiled in a heated rivalry this summer and have been producing banger after banger in singles, tag team and six-man tag team competition. Scurll and Bandido killed it against each other at Saturday Night at Center Stage, so I was happy that they were able to rekindle that magic in this outing. Haskins and Bandido made for a tremendous team at Summer Supercard, so it was hardly a shocker that they once again stole the show. Hawkins submitting Scurll for the victory is huge for him and now Lifeblood will challenge for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Death Before Dishonor.

Jeff Cobb def. ROH World Champion Matt Taven, Kenny King and Jay Lethal in a Defy or Deny Match (Non-Title)

This carried an elimination stipulation where if Taven won, the person he pinned last wouldn't have been able to challenge for his championship for as long as he holds it. That didn't end up being the case because despite this being a four-way match, apparently disqualifications were still in play as that was how Taven was taken out. King then pinned Lethal to play off their feud from earlier this year and finally Cobb beat King to earn himself a future shot at the ROH World title. This was executed excellently and the crowd was into the action. Here's hoping Cobb can back on track following his win here. I assume Rush will take the title from Taven before he does, but Rush vs. Cobb for the championship would be even better.

Overall Show

The first four or five matches on this show were mostly mediocre and aren't worth seeking out whatsoever, but things picked up starting with Taylor vs. Owens. I thought everything from there ranged from good to great, and the last two matchups in particular were wonderful. Plus, there was some build for the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, so this was a worthwhile event to a certain degree. ROH would be in much worse shape right now without Lifeblood, Villain Enterprises, Rush, Cobb and Lethal. They have been the biggest MVPs for the company this year by far.