McXal's Reviews

After Episode 6 presented us with a disappointingly tepid follow-up to Supercard Of Honor, perhaps we'll see more substantive content from this instalment of Honor Club TV. Being completely honest, at first glance the card looks a tad underwhelming and thus far I'm not overly impressed with the format of these episodes being taped around AEW's flagship broadcasts Dynamite & Rampage. But if nothing else the one thing the new Honor Club show has done thus far is consistently surprise me; something the tedious and predictable Sinclair formatting rarely did. Tonight we have Claudio Castagnoli defending the World Title against Metalik in the main event (another challenger seemingly getting a World Title shot for absolutely no reason), Mark Briscoe continues his battles against the Varsity Athletes by facing Ari Daivari, Darius Martin's issues with The Kingdom rumble on as he meets Mike Bennett in singles action, and we'll also see Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata teaming with his NJPW LA Dojo student Alex Coughlin against the WorkHorsemen. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman (no Nigel this week) are in Kingston, RI.

Is it weird that Josh Woods is on ROH TV almost every week accompanying someone else to the ring, yet has only wrestled on the new show once so far (despite having more ROH history than the likes of Nese, Daivari and Smart Mark)? He, Nese and Sterling are in Daivari's corner tonight, as Briscoe looks to continue to inflict defeats in the Varsity Athletes who have made his introduction to AEW and the 'new ROH' so difficult...

Mark appears faster and more experienced, making him an extremely formidable foe for Daivari in the early exchanges. Ari is given little choice but to leave the ring...shifting focus so Nese can attack Mark from behind and bounce his head off the guardrails. Daivari quickly clamps on to a sleeper hold, looking to keep Briscoe on the ground. He stays on the neck with a neckbreaker then a hammerlock DDT for 2. He then starts distracting the referee so both Woods and Nese can lay in some cheap-shots. Frog Splash misses though, teeing up some vintage Briscoe Redneck Kung Fu. Day One Neckbreaker nailed, so again the Varsity Athletes jump Mark (as he starts setting up the Jay Driller). This time the referee spots it and ejects Woods, Nese and Smart Mark. Jay Driller on Daivari...giving Briscoe the win at 06:09

Rating - ** - Basic and a little too riddled with outside interference for my personal taste, but this told a clear story and executed its objectives more than adequately. Mark was presented like a real force here - always dominant and in control unless Daivari was given an assist by one of his colleagues at ringside. 

The Varsity Athletes quickly return and all charge into the ring to launch a gang assault on Mark. AEW Tag Champions FTR come out to make a save, to the delight of the live crowd...

We catch up with Eddie Kingston, who reveals he's been suffering with a hernia injury since last year but isn't using it as an excuse for losing to Claudio at Supercard Of Honor. He admits he got carried away brawling and punching the champ and strayed too far from his gameplan...and even concedes that Castagnoli beat him up so bad that he will need surgery. But he says he'll 'learn and move forward'...

We've seen Skye on ROH television before, and it is apparent that she is a talented youngster that AEW/ROH are keen on giving time to develop. She can't afford to waste that opportunity and will know she needs to be winning matches like this...

Blue teases an early superkick but finds Madan expecting it and prepared to counter or evade all of Blue's trademark strikes. Skye absorbs a suplex but hits back with a climbing knee strike in the ropes. Skyfall nailed giving Blue the win at 02:05

Rating - N/A - Brief, inoffensive and a continuation of what the commentary team point out is something of an undefeated streak for Blue. Given that she has had run-ins with Athena in the past it wouldn't be the worst idea for her to get another match with the outstanding Women's Champion. Madan looked entirely comfortable during her brief flashes of offence too.

Martin's issues with The Kingdom continue. They stem back to Top Flight's victory over The OGK at Final Battle, and haven't let up even though his brother Dante suffered a horrendous broken leg at Supercard. Last week Bennett and Taven cost Darius a match against former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, and he is coming for some vengeance this evening.

Martin levels Mike with an instant dropkick after the former Tag Champion tried to give him a cheap-shot. He keeps getting blasted with strikes by Darius...and even gets caught with a flying crossbody off the guardrails when he tries to leave the ring. Matt Taven distracts Darius before he can inflict further damage though, allowing Bennett to trip his opponent from the top rope to the canvas. Apron Piledriver blocked, so Bennett superkicks him and hits an APRON DVD instead! Martin dodges Bennett's rebound elbow smash on the floor though, and quickly charges into a Heat Seeking Missile dive. STANDING C4 gets 2! Taven has seen enough and dives into the ring to attach Darius from behind. That's an obvious DQ at 04:58

Rating - ** - Bennett has really fun chemistry with Top Flight. His match with Dante a few weeks ago was a banger, and this had a lot of the same qualities - albeit in a more condensed format with a wholly unsatisfactory conclusion. It's a shame they couldn't have found time for this to go a little longer before the non-finish because I really liked where they were going with the actual wrestling portion. Bennett really helped make Darius look great.

The OGK beat Martin down until Action Andretti runs in to make a save. I'd expected him to show up in Tony Khan's Ring Of Honor before long, and he is apparently here to help out his 'friend' in his battle with The Kingdom...

Although this won't be contested under Pure Rules it is fair to say that both men will have an eye on the Pure division and champion Shibata here. It is Yuta's first match since unexpectedly losing the title to Shibata in LA, and he looks to rebound by beating a man who went all the way to the finals of the 2020 Pure Tournament. Hot Sauce is short on wins in the 'new Era Of Honor' but has delivered commendable performances every time. A win over a high profile AEW/ROH performer like Wheeler would be significant for him.

These two have wrestled and teamed together plenty of times on the independents and looked fired up to be facing each other again. Tracy roars defiantly as he persistently out-wrestles Yuta. It is only Wheeler being a dick and stomping on his face that breaks up Tracy's momentum. German suplex into mounted strikes to the neck by Wheeler! He continues peppering Williams with strikes before dropping into a bridging deathlock (before facing any retaliatory strikes from Hot Sauce). Williams escapes to hit a Saito suplex, then lures Yuta up the ropes for the SUPER TURNBUCKLE DDT! Brainbuster gets 2! CROSSFACE! Yuta finds a really intelligent counter to escape that - then actually starts biting Tracy, who is understandably disorientated. Olympic Slam...MMA ELBOWS to the shoulder and neck! Dragon Sleeper (with the arm captured too) causes Williams to submit at 05:07

Rating - *** - I feel like I say the same thing every time Williams wrestles on this show, but the guy is an outstanding and incredibly under-rated worker who always makes the most out of whatever spot he is given. This was a fun little match, dripping with intensity and physicality even though a great deal of the match was spent on the canvas. I loved that a lot of what Tracy did targeted the head and neck to set-up his finishes. It was great that Yuta continually got an edge on Williams by doing something edgy and ultra-aggressive like biting him or stamping on the face too. These are little touches of detail which weren't necessary and could've been skipped in a five minute filler TV bout - but this was so much better because they didn't. Tracy Williams should be signed...

Darius Martin taunts The Kingdom by saying he wasn't going to let them keep jumping him. He hatched a plan and recruited Action to help him out. They challenge The Kingdom to a match next week...

Drake and Henry made their Honor Club TV debuts last week, on the losing end of a trios match against Mark Briscoe and the Lucha Bros. Having faced the reigning Tag Champions last week, they now square off with the current Pure Champion. Shibata has looked wholly comfortable in the Pure division, and now brings in one of his former students from the NJPW LA dojo to team with him. Coughlin has worked Ring Of Honor in the past and will obviously be keen to show how he has developed beyond the typical New Japan 'Young Lion' persona he had when he was last here...

Anthony Henry starts with Shibata, who tries to impose his will on the canvas. Henry is impressive and actually the aggressor in much of their early grapples, albeit without really seeming to trouble the Pure Champion. PK dodged early, so Shibata figure 4's the legs. Drake marches in and delivers a straight-up headbutt to the Pure Champ - causing him to instantly tag out given his injury history. Coughlin looks to use his speed and wrestling acumen to get ahead and drops JD with a back suplex. The WorkHorsemen team up to hit a big boot/legsweep combo; using their experience as a team to get ahead. They also find the time to poke fun at Shibata (who has recovered from the headbutt and watches pensively from the apron). Lots of offence targets the back of the Android, and Henry puts the exclamation point on that with a flying double stomp to the midection. Shane Taylor (who teamed with The WorkHorseman last week) is watching on a monitor in the back, and watches as Henry tries to tap Coughlin with his own figure 4. Shibata breaks it and gives Henry a Sleeper in the ropes. DEAD-LIFT SUPLEX FROM A SEATED POSITION by Coughlin! Shibata tagged; doling out big kicks to both opponents. JD saves Henry from the Sleeper by chopping Shibata's fragile neck. ENZI/FLATLINER COMBO on Shibata gets 2! Coughlin saves and gives Drake a GUTWRENCH SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Shibata encourages Henry to trade strikes, then KO's him with an elbow! Sleeper/PK combo sees Shibata pin Henry at 08:47

Rating - *** - Definitely the best Shibata match since his return to ROH at the last pay-per-view. Tag team wrestling feels like a much better way to present him, where we get to see all the stuff I've enjoyed about this return (his striking, his precision mat-work, his hugely watchable stoicism - as well as opponents looking to exploit his injury in a kayfabe sense to get ahead in matches) but he has three other guys who can bump for him and work with a faster pace and higher intensity. The WorkHorsemen are a great team and they really shone; particularly Drake who was brilliant in pretty much everything he did. One look at how bloody and bruised Coughlin's chest was after this will tell you how physical and destructive they can be.

Shibata and Coughlin share a victorious handshake, but as they do so Coughlin motions that he wants to challenge his trainer for the Pure Championship.

More enhancement action for the incessantly likeable Willow Nightingale here, as she recovers and rebuilds after her high profile defeat against Women's Champion Athena last month. 

Ian raps over Willow's entrance music. You didn't misread that. LMK decides her best chance is to start biting Willow's hands, and it certainly does unsettle her. Kathleen stomps her down in the corner...so Willow almost kicks her head off. Oklahoma Stampede by Nightingale, giving her the win at 01:48

Rating - N/A - Willow is one of my favourites so I have no objections to watching her in a squash match. I would rather we had less of these AEW Dark-esque squashes on a show we're effectively paying to watch though...and I'd certainly rather see Willow getting to show her wrestling skill in more high profile, longer bouts.

Grayson returned to ROH at the Supercard Of Honor Zero Hour pre-show (having only recently re-signed with AEW after some time away) and defeated Slim J, albeit he was then confronted with the bizarre sight of The Righteous returning to Ring Of Honor and seemingly targeting him. He faces another opponent under the 'Smart' Mark Sterling talent umbrella this evening and will be looking to go 2-0...

Nese hides in the ropes then cheap-shots Grayson, which only seems to fire his opponent up leading to Stu exploding back to hit a belly to belly suplex. Slingshot senton onto the apron lands, as does a somersault plancha to the floor...and after both moves Stu effortlessly landed on his feet as well. Grayson tries one more big move...and Nese SHOVES HIM OFF THE TOP into the guardrails! The Dark Order member understandably injures his ribs on that, which the Premier Athlete instantly spots and starts attacking. Stu blocks a superplex attempt...but eats a spinning heel kick to the face seconds later instead. Grayson refuses to stay down and defies another kick in the ribs to plant Nese with an urinage slam. Pumphandle Driver blocked, so Tony rolls to the apron to protect himself. He hangs Stu in the ropes, misses a moonsault, lands on his feet...and then lures Grayson in to ram him into the turnbuckles! What an awesome sequence! Pele Kick in response by Stu! Nightfall wins it for Grayson at 07:15

Rating - *** - An example of where ROH being taped around Dynamite/Rampage really hurts the quality of the show. It felt like these two experienced, dynamic, exciting professionals could have really stolen the show if ROH were running its own tapings and they were given 10-15 minutes in the ring. But when Tony is trying to cram ROH TV alongside AEW programming (which understandably has to take priority) these guys regrettably get downgraded to seven minutes. And it was an incredibly entertaining seven minutes too - full of fast-paced action, exciting moves and genuine drama which really had the crowd invested. I'd wager both of these two came off as considerably more exciting and interesting as WRESTLERS in this match than they have done on any of AEW's main shows for quite a while. It's just a shame they couldn't have had more time...

Once again Grayson gets almost no time to celebrate before Vincent and Dutch of The Righteous appear on the stage to taunt him. The Righteous say they have the 'keys' to free Stu...

This is a Proving Ground Match. Ashley isn't the most experienced but is generally praised for being a natural talent, and has quickly been amassing work with the likes of AEW, Women's Wrestling Army, NWA, Impact, SHINE and more. But she'll need to be at her very best if she is to stop the dominant run that the Fallen Goddess has been on recently...

Ashley is tall, strong and athletic so certainly isn't the kind of opponent that Athena can easily push around. In fact it's actually Ashley getting momentarily over-excited and posing to the crowd that presents the champ with an opportunity to get ahead. She takes it with a flurry of incredibly violent dropkicks. She chokes D'Amboise in the ropes next, and almost knocks her out entirely with a Superkick for 2. Even when Ashley tries to fight back she actually drops to her knees and struggles to catch her breath under the weight of Athena's punishing onslaught. Samoan drop by D'Amboise...which seemingly enrages the champ, who tosses her from the turnbuckles straight onto her ass on the apron. ELBOW SUICIDA by Athena! And she pops right back up to give Ashley another vicious elbow smash and a rough trip into the guardrails. RUNNING KNEE AGAINST THE RING STEPS! O-FACE! Athena wins at 05:13

Rating - *** - As far as squash matches go this was fascinating viewing. Athena has excelled with the quality of her matches in recent weeks. What I liked about this was that it was more of a stripped back exploration of what makes her character tick instead. She was violent and almost deranged in her desire to hurt her opponent, and every time D'Amboise actually did find a way to get in some offence, the response was almost always an increase in the ferocity coming back her way from the Fallen Goddess. That culminated in a remarkable flurry of violence outside the ring, then the always-impressive O-Face. I'm running out of superlatives to describe how good the ROH Women's Champion has been in 2023.

In a show of disrespect, Athena hurls Ashley out of the ring rather than follow the Code Of Honor. Lexy Nair tries to get D'Amboise's thoughts on the contest in the locker room moments later, only for Athena to again attack her. She threatens Lexy and says she is fed up of 'porcelain hussies'...

As I've said quite a few times recently, one of my biggest issues with Tony Khan's booking is the way he devalues championships by having arbitrary and completely unwarranted challengers in championship matches like this. This would have been so much more interesting as a non-title bout. After beating (and apparently injuring) arch-rival Eddie Kingston at Supercard, Castagnoli now refocuses his attention on being the standard bearer in the new Ring Of Honor. He says he welcomes all worthy challengers, and tonight faces a luchador renowned for his unorthodox ability to bring the ropes into play. Can he upset the dominant Swiss champion?

Metalik refuses to be intimidated and has enough lucha tricks in his arsenal to pose a few questions of the champion in the early-going. Commentary is great here as they point out Claudio's struggles in matches with the likes of Sammy Guevara and AR Fox in the past, implying that smaller high-flyers are a weakness. Metalik rebounds off the ropes into a flying headscissors to send the champion to the floor...but then tries a cannonball off the apron only to be caught and ALLEY-OOP'D INTO THE SIDE OF THE RING! With the challenger still reeling from that Claudio then hits a satellite backbreaker for 2. He tries the same move moments later and in an instant almost loses the World Title as Metalik counters to a fast-paced small package. Castagnoli's response is to angrily uppercut and stomp the luchador into the corner. Somehow Metalik bounces back, hitting a springboard hurricanrana. Claudio erroneously gets himself engaged in a protracted lucha-esque hold, which inevitably ends with Metalik acrobatically taking him down. STEP-UP TOPE ATOMICO TO THE FLOOR! Riccola Bomb countered to a sunset flip for 2. Metalik looks to polish him off with a moonsault...but sails straight into both of Castagnoli's boots, and the champ is right on him again seconds later with a lariat. Metalik fights a superplex and hits a ROPE-WALK SUPER RANA for 2. Rope-walk elbow drop to follow...but Double C plucks the luchador out of the air and right into a Crossface. Metalik won't tap, so Claudio hits the Neutralizer...and retains at 12:04

Rating - *** - Certainly not a top tier or must-see ROH World Title defence, but this was solid and contained enough sizzle to keep you interested. One of Claudio's great skills is how he works around more athletic, high-flying wrestlers and that was very much on display here. The title never felt in jeopardy but I liked how they used Metalik's unorthodox style to cause the imposing champion problems (with excellent commentary linking it back to previous championship matches as well). It is difficult with a mask on, but if you look at the charisma of some masked performers (El Generico immediately came to mind but others like Penta, Fenix, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, even Bandido are relevant names as well) I do think Metalik just doesn't connect with the audience in the way some of those great talents do. His facial expressions don't convey drama in the same way and it always feels like he is going through the motions. Actually, some of the best parts of the contest came when Claudio needed to convey emotion - like frustration or anger at how successful the lucha style of his opponent was. 

Tape Rating - ** - Although I've rated it in a similar way, I do think this was an improvement on Episode 6. It was the shortest episode of the show so far, which is welcome when Tony is giving us a line-up filled with short matches rather than longer bouts with more substance. This one moves at a brisk pace throughout and certainly didn't feel as lethargic as the previous week. It also packed in significantly more relevant storyline content: Eddie Kingston got some promo time to remove him from the picture for the time-being, The Righteous continued their weird fascination with Stu Grayson, Action Andretti came to ROH and effectively replaces Dante Martin so the Top Flight/OGK feud can continue, Shibata/Coughlin was set up for a future episode, FTR made a rare appearance and Athena is still the best thing in ROH right now. And although there are still too many short matches for my taste and I would much prefer the show concentrated on fewer, higher quality longer matches - I do think the second hour of the show was incredibly consistent. Nothing was particularly spectacular or necessarily worth going out of your way to see (which could be a problem when the whole show is behind a paywall), but the run of matches including Shibata/Coughlin vs WorkHorsemen, Yuta vs Williams, Grayson vs Nese, Athena vs D'Amboise and Claudio vs Metalik was really solid and enjoyable. As I've said, I don't like the show as much when taped around Dynamite/Rampage in this format and would rather ROH ran their own tapings. Long-term I don't think this ROH brand extension will be successful if Tony keeps giving us shows hampered by the time constraints of being crammed in around AEW's major broadcasts because the resultant ROH TV just doesn't feel good enough to keep convincing people to spend money to watch it...but in the short term I do understand it is cheaper to run like this. In the circumstances this was, at the very least, a step-up from last week so take the positives from that.