ROH x Stardom: Global Wars: Cincinnati Review - June 18, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lio Rush def. Action Andretti and AR Fox in a 3-Way Match to Win the ROH World Television Championship

​Wow! This certainly came out of nowhere. We don't get title changes on ROH TV too often, let alone in the opener. While I'm disappointed that Fox's fantastic run as ROH World Television Champion was cut short, I'm happy Rush finally got his moment. He's been getting over with this new character of his, so I guess this was Tony Khan's way of rewarding him. It was an entertaining three-way and the crowd popped big for Rush winning.

Thunder Rosa and ROH Women's World Television Champion Red Velvet def. Viva Van and Lacey Lane

I don't believe Rosa has appeared in Ring of Honor since failing to beat Athena for the ROH Women's World Championship at Supercard of Honor last year. She's barely done anything of note in AEW this year, so I'd have no issue with her continuing to make appearances on ROH TV. That said, this was random and I have no idea why Rosa and Velvet would've joined forces. The match was well worked, but it felt inconsequential, unless it's leading to Rosa challenging Velvet for the ROH Women's World Television Championship.

Maika def. Diamante

Maika is one of the Stardom talents I'm not familiar with whatsoever but was impressed by what I saw from her here. Diamante was the perfect person to put her in the ring with because she's always reliable and can bring the best out of her opponents. This didn't have anything at stake, but it didn't need to. It successfully served as a showcase for Maika and I hope we see more of her going forward.

ROH World Tag Team Champions La Faccion Ingobernable (The Beast Mortos and Sammy Guevara) def. Los Villanos (El Hijo del Villano III and Villano III Jr.)

This was filmed at a recent CMLL event. I haven't seen Mortos on an AEW or ROH show in some time, so I have to imagine he's dealing with some sort of visa issues that are preventing him from wrestling on AEW TV and ROH TV in the United States. This was a smart way to work around that for now. This was a fun match, but I do wish LFI would drop the tag titles already because they've barely been defending them.

AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita def. Lee Johnson

I have to imagine this spot would have gone to Mark Davis defending the AEW National Championship if he was around at the moment (he's probably dealing with visa issues like Mortos), but getting Takeshita was honestly even better. Of course, Johnson wasn't winning the AEW International Championship, but they had a nice match that didn't overstay its welcome.

Takumi Iroha def. Hyan

I thought Iroha was a Stardom talent, but apparently not. I must be missing something because otherwise I'm not sure why she'd be on this show. I assume Hyan would win because she's pretty prominently featured on ROH TV, but again, apparently not. There was nothing wrong with the match itself, but a bit more background on Iroha would have helped give this more context.

"Speedball" Mike Bailey, Mistico and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Outrunners def. RPG Vice and The Swirl

Mistico and Bailey briefly held the AEW World Trios Championship earlier this year, so there was that connection. While it was a random match, the action was enjoyable and the crowd was into it. With The Swirl still involved with The Outrunners, I assume this is leading to them setting their sights on the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, despite their loss here.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. IWGP Women's Champion Syuri (IWGP Women's Championship Was Not Defended)

I appreciate them raising the stakes by putting one of the titles on the line, but that actually made it more predictable because it was hard to believe that Athena's lengthy title reign would end at the hands of the IWGP Women's champ. Nonetheless, this was the usual top-notch title defense from Athena as well as a strong showing from Syuri. I'm surprised they didn't save this for an ROH pay-per-view, but it was a great get for this show.

Overall Show

As dreadfully boring as ROH TV can be most weeks, this lived up to the hype in feeling like an important episode. It stayed true to the Global Wars branding by delivering plenty of interpromotional matches, including multiple title matches. Between the main event and Rush winning the TV title, this had to be the most eventful edition of ROH TV of the year to date.

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