McXal's Reviews

Putting it simply, ROH's Honor Club TV show has not been good for quite some time. Unless your definition of 'good' is a mix of AEW Dark and WWECW. But in stark contrast to that, we're coming into this episode on the back of the excellent Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, continuing the 'new' ROH's streak of delivering incredible value for money when it comes to its marquee events. Unfortunately, a lot of the big names who made the PPV so special have now retreated back to AEW. TV Champion Samoa Joe isn't wrestling. Nor is World Champion Claudio Castagnoli. Nor Tag Champions Aussie Open. Nor Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata. Star power like Pac, Daniel Garcia, the Lucha Bros or Willow Nightingale are all gone too. Instead we've got another ludicrous, bumper-sized THIRTEEN match line-up to slog through, including the start of another TV Title Eliminator Tournament even though one just finished last week - as if you needed yet another indication that ROH's TV show could not be booked like anymore of an afterthought. We do have a clash of former Tag Champions as The Kingdom face Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus, whilst the Six-Man Titles are on the line as The Embassy defend against the Iron Savages & Jacked Jameson. I really need to end this introductory paragraph and get going because there just isn't much more 'positive' I can eek out here. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman call the action taped in Newark, NJ.

He isn't wrestling, but Shibata is sitting ringside as one of the judges. He'll be keeping a keen eye on former Pure Champion Josh Woods as the Technical Beast continues to angle for a title shot. It's an ROH return for Isom; marked for stardom under Sinclair's ownership but somewhat cast aside in the Khan era. 

Woods grapples Isom and basically barges him back towards the ropes, forcing him to take a cheap rope-break in the opening seconds (a strategy we've seen Woods use before). Eli needs to quicken the pace, and enjoys greater success when he creates some space to get in a couple of armdrags. He tries to hit the ropes once too often though, and springs himself right into a big boot from the Technical Beast. Josh tears into the arm, wrenching it in the ropes then repeatedly smashing an exposed shoulder into the turnbuckles. Isom is so hurt on that he basically clings to the ropes and uses a rope-break just to get Woods away from him. The respite is fleeting as Josh jerks him back in using the bad arm and goes back to work. Eli tries to keep him at bay with forearms, but has to deal with Woods pummelling his injured arm with strikes. He can't hit The Promise (Brainbuster) either because of the injury, putting him at a severe disadvantage. He manages to hit a spinning back suplex but slumps to the mat in pain afterwards. He tries The Promise once more, only for Josh to counter into a cross armbreaker - drawing Eli's final rope-break from him. Josh gestures towards Shibata at ringside before slapping on one of his signature Sleeper holds in the ropes. PK by Woods! Gorilla Lock applied and Isom taps out at 07:55

Rating - *** - Josh had a good Pure Rules Match with another Sinclair-era ROH guy in Tracy Williams at the PPV Zero Hour, and he backed it up with this performance here. This certainly wasn't groundbreaking, but it was a solid wrestling match that did a lot to promote Woods as a credible challenger for Shibata. He largely dominated Isom (although Eli showed the same plucky underdog energy that made him likeable during the Covid-era ROH studio tapings), and ended the match by making a pointed statement to Shibata, promoting a future championship showdown. 

Mark Sterling grabs the microphone and formally challenges Shibata on behalf of Josh Woods for next week. Shibata gets in the ring and gestures that he accepts.

In a brief interview Adora references her disappointment at her defeat to Leyla Hirsch at Death Before Dishonor (on the heels of another high profile defeat to Utami Hayashishita on TV). She admits previously it would have dented her confidence, but with newfound faith in herself instilled by The Infantry she is ready to begin a redemption arc tonight. Her opponent is another ex-Sinclair era talent in Vita VonStarr. She was a prominent part of the previous incarnation of The Righteous (and took some absolutely crazy bumps in the climactic Taven/Vincent Steel Cage Match at Glory By Honor 18 in 2021). Sadly her part in The Righteous is only given a fleeting mention by Riccaboni and she is 'going it on her own' now...

No Code Of Honor from VonStarr, who is all business as she engages Adora in a competitive lock-up. Trish retaliates with a body slam and goes to work targeting the arm, quickly doing significant damage. Vita's unusual flexibility keeps Trish at bay and enables her to mount her into an abdominal stretch. Adora powers out with a backbreaker though then mows through Vita with a flurry of axehandles and kicks. Michinoku Driver by Vita gets 2, but Adora shakes it off and hits the Lariat Tubman to win at 04:19

Rating - * - For me this was too long to be a competitive squash, too even to be an effective showcase for Adora and too aimless to be a good match standing on its own. There was arm work that went nowhere, minimal selling for anything (because they were so rushed for time) and whilst it was important Adora win after consecutive high profile losses, this didn't feel like much of a step forward for her. 

It is pretty well established that this championship doesn't mean a great deal and there is no need to ever earn a title shot. That is proved once again as Jameson gets a title shot in what is his first ROH/AEW match of the year. Being more generous, there is little doubt that in tag team competition the Iron Savages have looked comparably dominant to The Embassy's vice-like grip over the trios division so there is genuine interest in watching these brute forces square off. Are they the ones to finally end the reign of Nana's men?

Bronson actually overpowers Cage from the bell and drags The Machine back into the Iron Savages' corner where they can work him over early. Brian needs to tag out, and does so to Kaun who quickly dissects a rather hapless-looking Jameson. Tope suicida from Bronson to Cage! SO TOA POWERBOMBS HIM FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! The Embassy isolate Bronson after that unsurprisingly with his now-injured midsection taking plenty of punishment. Bronson manages to hit an ass drop on Cage after several minutes of abuse though, then tags in a fresh Boulder for the first time. He hits a double flapjack on both Kaun and Cage, sending them packing and leaving Liona alone in the ring with him. Football tackle by Boulder, followed by an effortless powerslam on Kaun for 2. Boulder MISSES a moonsault though and walks into an elbow strike from Toa. F'n'5 from Cage to Jameson...before Bronson levels The Machine with a chokebomb. Air Raid Crash from Kaun to Bronson, whilst Toa drops Jacked with a belly to belly suplex. Discus Lariat from Cage to Bronson, and he feeds Jameson to Kaun to hit Greetings From Ghana for the win at 10:11

Rating - ** - This certainly wasn't bad by any stretch. Lots of beefy dudes smashing each other around rarely fails to entertain on some level. Unfortunately there wasn't much connective tissue to hold it all together and it felt like it lurched between one action sequence to the next quite clumsily. And speaking of clumsy, I wasn't particularly enamoured with Jameson's contributions to proceedings. I suspect he'll feel like he could've done better here.

Am I alone in thinking that Leyla's entrance theme is a jam? She is undefeated since returning to ROH and looks to continue that against the debuting B3CCA, who has been wrestling for a few years and has experience in domestic promotions like MLW, GCW, AEW, Beyond, SHIMMER and internationally with the likes of EVE and WXW

B3cca is popular in the north-east apparently so Hirsch gets jeered as she tackles her opponent down and stomps her in the corner. Leyla continues to swarm B3cca, barely letting her up or out of the corner at any time before grabbing her for further punishment. B3cca hits a couple of forearms and a dropkick, to the delight of the New Jersey crowd. Yakuza Kick in the corner follows...but Hirsch shakes it off and evades a missile dropkick. German suplex then a knee strike wins it for Leyla at 03:39

Rating - N/A - Just about on the limits for how long I can accept a squash match being. I hadn't necessarily expected the live audience to rally behind B3CCA as much as they did though, and the whole match taking place in front of a pretty heated and lively atmosphere really helped. I'm curious to see how long they keep building Hirsch's momentum like this before they do finally pull the trigger on Athena/Leyla...

Speaking of Athena, she is backstage and somewhat intimidating to Lexy Nair as she tries to interview her in the aftermath of her PPV victory over Willow. Athena says she's bored of beating 'local jobbers, porcelain hussies and talentless hacks'...and threatens Lexy on her way out.

Charlette and Robyn Renegade haven't been in tag team action together for some-time, but return now looking for immediate tag team success in Ring Of Honor.

Caprice informs me that Charlette starts for the Renegades, albeit with Robyn quickly getting involved and tripping JC up from the outside. They punt James off the apron, but then need a couple of attempts to get JC up for a stalling vertical suplex. They try the same spot again for a second time, hesitate on it again and this time JC is able to escape for a tag to Tiara. She tries to fire up on both Renegades, but soon gets attacked from behind. Double superkick wipes out JC, then a Slingblade Hart Attack variant to finish off Tiara at 03:57

Rating - DUD - I didn't love this. The pace was quite sedate, I thought some of The Renegades' work could have been a lot more fluent...and I didn't feel like I was given much reason to get behind their opponents either. Four minutes of bland which didn't leave me particularly keen to see much more of anyone in the match based on this showing.

After successfully overcoming the challenge of Willow at Death Before Dishonor, Athena is straight back on the grind and back in Proving Ground action tonight. How much did that gruelling pay-per-view title defence take out of her and will it present an opportunity for the debuting Christina tonight?

Athena tries to intimidate her opponent, who doesn't back up an inch and starts socking the champ with forearms and uppercuts. Backflip body avalanche lands in the corner too, then a flipping neckbreaker as she continues to put the pressure on Athena. Eventually the Fallen Goddess snaps and rattles off some brutal kicks and elbows. She then starts hitting baseball slide dropkicks on repeat until Marie collapses out of the ring in a heap. Back in the ring she remorselessly chokes Christina in the ropes whilst continuing to hammer away at her with forearms and kicks. RUNNING ELBOW knocks her out, and Athena pins for the win at 03:24

Rating - N/A - There have been a quite ridiculous SIX matches in less than an hour of the show so far. Four of them have been squashes from the women's division. This was easily the best of that quartet. It started in a whirlwind of activity with Christina trying to take it to Athena, but ended in brutal fashion as the champ violently despatched her to make a real statement coming out of Death Before Dishonor.

Former Tag Champions collide as Titus and Williams - once of The Foundation - yet again look to lockdown a regular spot in Khan-era ROH, this time by defeating Bennett and Taven. The Kingdom are salty that they still haven't got a 2-on-2 rematch for the ROH Tag Titles that they lost at Final Battle 2021, so a win over former champs here would certainly push them up the ranks.

All four men show respect to each other in recognition of their combined tenure in ROH which is a nice touch. Bennett and Tracy then absolutely RIP into each other with big chops! The OGK need double team combo moves to gain an advantage over Hot Sauce, and that is fleeting since Rhett is soon on the scene to overpower Taven. Again The Kingdom have to team up to get ahead, albeit with some really neat touches as Titus COUNTERS the double-teams they used on Tracy only to get clocked with something else right after. Rhett gets the knees up on a springboard moonsault by Taven though, and in comes Williams to hit a back suplex on Mike. TURNBUCKLE DDT ON TAVEN! Shinbreaker nailed, then rolled into a Texas Cloverleaf! Bennett makes the save...so Titus wipes him out with a belly to belly suplex. Dropkick/discus lariat combo gets 2 for The Foundation! Taven blocks Williams' Piledriver and we go right back to where we started with Bennett and Tracy chopping lumps out of each other. Half crab from Tracy to Taven. LONDON DUNGEON from Bennett to Rhett! AND STILL THEY STRIKE EACH OTHER! PILEDRIVER BY TRACY! PILEDRIVER BY BENNETT! Tracy shakes off a superkick from Mike and lunges into another lariat for 2. Maria freaks out at ringside as her husband crawls away from the mayhem, then watches as Taven EATS another Titus Dropkick. DVD/Just The Tip combo! PROTON PACK! Kingdom win at 07:40

Rating - *** - If ROH was based solely around being a great worker, Tracy Williams would be here every week. The guy always over-delivers regardless of what situation he's put into. Despite always losing, he and Rhett can generally be relied upon to play their part in really solid tag team action whenever they are booked together and so it proved again here. The 'match within a match' constant showdowns between Tracy and Bennett were so much fun too. If you enjoyed these guys together, check out Episode 505 of the Sinclair show from the Covid-era studio tapings in 2021 where they got much more time and contested an under-rated banger of a Tag Title Match that more people really should see.

Lexy Nair is ready to interview Samoa Joe and Stokely Hathaway. Stoke formally announces another Eliminator Tournament to determine a #1 contender to the TV Title. Lexy gently implies that Joe is intimidating Hathaway into getting preferential treatment...

This is the first match in said Eliminator Tournament, with the hugely decorated Ring Of Honor veteran (and former TV Champion) Daniels going up against JD Drake of The WorkHorsemen. The Fallen Angel is short on wins in the new ROH...

Henry has plenty of experience himself and immediately tries to exploit his size to brawl with the former World Champion. Daniels is smart enough to expect it of course, and constantly has an illusive counter lined up for JD's attacks. But Drake keeps trying to maul him and Daniels can only stave him off for so long. He chops, slams and stretches the veteran repeatedly causing him to quickly weaken. Even when Daniels is able to strike back, the announcers spot that he is so fatigued he isn't able to float into the Koji Clutch from that position as he normally would. A clothesline to the neck lands, as does a tornado flatliner for 2. Angel's Wings blocked though and Drake mows him down again with a wild cannonball senton in the corner. Moonsault misses for JD (as it does almost every week), and he walks into an urinage slam. Best Moonsault Ever by Daniels...and he advances in the tournament. My feed was so choppy I didn't get a time but it was circa six minutes.

Rating - ** - I'm a fan of both men so I absolutely enjoyed this. I'd have enjoyed it more if some of the Dark-style squash matches were cut from this episode and more time given to matches I actually care about and that feel important like this one...but what we got here was ok. The basic premise of Drake trying to brawl and maul Daniels, but the veteran former World Champion just being too smart and resilient for that tactic made a lot of sense.

Bill and Lee are unbeaten in tag action in the new ROH and want that streak to continue tonight. Their opponents made a few appearances right at the end of Sinclair's regime without much success, so will hope for better this time around.

Moriarty tries to make short work of this by going right for the Border City Stretch, but Soriano scrambles to the ropes at this stage. He pummels Hodder as well, then tags in Bill when his opponents try to team up on him. Chokeslam on Soriano, giving his team the win at 03:10

Rating - N/A - The Moriarty/Bill team are fun to watch in this squash match environment. I'd be more invested in them if I had any faith that it would progress to ANYTHING more meaningful in Ring Of Honor, which under the current booker it will not.

This is our second TV Title Contendership Tournament bout. Nese was in the previous version as well but was defeated by Dalton Castle in the semi-final stage. He faces another familiar face to long-time ROH fans tonight in the returning 'World Famous CB'. 

Burger is from New Jersey so would've gotten a big reaction even before Nese did his customary fat-shaming attempt at group exercise before the bell. Burger tries to use his chain-wrestling proficiency to outsmart the emotional and agitated Nese. He uses an assortment of submission holds to work the arm, but that doesn't incapacitate Tony's lethal feet and soon Nese levels CB with a big punt to the ribs. That is followed with a gutbuster, then the Ab Day boots in the corner. Cheese battles out of a bodyscissors and hits a suplex to create some distance between them. Shotei nailed...but Nese kicks out at 2. Smart Mark distracts CB before he can hit the Shotei though and Nese hits the Pumphandle Piledriver to win at 05:56

Rating - ** - If they canned a load of the unnecessary crap from this episode and gave these guys some more this could have been something decent. Cheeseburger deserves so much credit for how skilled he has become as a professional wrestler and it was enjoyable watching him run through his arsenal of complex technical/lucha moves in an attempt to overcome the bigger, more powerful and harder hitting Nese. 

We've already seen JD Drake of The WorkHorsemen eliminated from the TV Title contendership tournament and Henry will be looking to avoid a similar fate. Gravity defeated Komander at Death Before Dishonor and has been an unpredictable opponent for whomever he has stepped into an ROH ring with thus far. 

Henry barely waits for the bell to ring before tripping the legs and instantly trying to trap the luchador on the canvas. It is a tactic he repeatedly goes back to, but constantly finds Gravity using Lucha Libre trickery to escape his clutches. The masked man knocks Henry to the floor then takes flight with a SUICIDE DIVE up the aisle! He tries a handspring off the apron too, but Anthony intercepts him with a superkick then a back suplex on the apron! Henry starts targeting the neck, snapping it between his legs and delivering an Air Raid Crash for 2. Gravity tries a Bandido-esque press slam, but Anthony goes to the neck again to block it. Somersault lucha armdrag instead, then a handspring elbow by Gravity! PRESS SLAM DROPKICK gets 2 for Gravity. The luchador tries to climb the ropes but just can't get up there quickly enough for a dive. But instead when Henry pulls him away he snares The Workhorseman into an abdominal stretch. Henry counters to a horse collar then hits a CROSS-LEGGED PILEDRIVER for 2. Double stomp misses...but Henry cracks Gravity across the neck again anyway then hits an implant DDT. Henry throws more kicks to the neck, only for the luchador to counter one last kick into a snap powerslam. Top rope splash from Gravity gets the win at 08:04

Rating - *** - Technical prowess and strikes taking on lucha skills and high-flying. It is a tried and trusted formula and these two pulled it off well here. Gravity really is quite a strange worker but I really liked how Henry held this together with a solid ground game. Having put Gravity over Komander on PPV it makes sense that he would advance in the tournament, but it is a shame we won't get to see more of Henry given some shine in singles action because he is so talented.

This is the final TV Title Contendership Tournament bout; determining who joins Gravity, Tony Nese and Christopher Daniels in the semi-finals. Taylor went to the finals of the previous Eliminator Tournament before falling to something of an upset defeat to Dalton Castle. He is here to avenge that loss and move a step closer to regaining the ROH TV Title he once held so proudly.

Serpentico tries to hit and run with the big man and in doing so spends much of the first minute getting strikes in on Taylor. But it comes to a crashing halt soon after when Shane T crunches him with an elbow smash then biels him way across the ring. A big lariat almost ends things extremely quickly. Welcome To The Land blocked, so Shane strikes Serpentico so hard in the chest that the ref actually checks if he needs to stop the match. The defiant Serpentico flips Taylor off and makes one last dart at him with a flurry of kicks. Shane headbutts him, chokeslams him then flattens him with the Warrior Splash to win at 04:22

Rating - ** - A decent little bout here which probably entertained me more than I'd expected. I thought they worked in ways to let Serpentico get in some offence completely organically and in a way which didn't make Taylor look weak really quite creatively. And in turn when Shane was on top he was, as always, extremely intimidating. The finish was great too, with Taylor not using his usual finishing moves instead utilising the big splash in an attempt to exploit injuries he'd inflicted on Serpentico during the contest.

Why are The Trust Busters back? Why the hell is this the main event of a pre-taped TV show when they could literally move any one of about four matches ahead of it? Castle & The Boys are former Six Man Tag Champions in ROH, whilst the Trust Busters' record in ROH isn't the strongest. After failing to take the TV Title from Samoa Joe at Death Before Dishonor Dalton certainly won't want to take another loss so quickly.

The TB's team up to work over one of The Boys early, prompting Castle to demand a tag meaning he comes face to face with Kiss. After a prolonged sequence where neither can lay a hand on the other, Dalton grabs Sonny and hits a big suplex to put his team ahead. Slim J recognises the danger and trips one of The Boys from behind...allowing Sonny to hit the split leg drop for 2. Brent tags Dalton again, who storms in throwing suplexes around with ease. Boy-toss tope suicida flurry comes next, scattering the Trust Busters all around ringside. Jeeves tries to pin Dalton with a handful of tights, but fails and eats the Bang-A-Rang. Castle pins Kay to win at 05:09

Rating - * - Flat, unappealing, unimaginative and completely predictable as far as main events go. I won't go so far as to say both acts are stone cold, because the honest truth is that most people watching ROH in 2023 haven't sat through the Sinclair era and therefore haven't been watching Dalton & The Boys do the exact same thing for more than half a decade - meaning Dalton still gets really good reactions with live crowds. But surely anyone can see that the Trust Busters is a completely flat, heatless gimmick and needs to be canned. The fun Castle/Kiss exchanges really were the only redeeming feature to this one

Tape Rating - * - After a superb pay-per-view, normal service resumed for Ring Of Honor with another drab episode of Honor Club TV. It isn't like there is nothing worth watching, but this is a two hour slog full of squashes, stone cold acts, and any match you actually do care about getting almost no time because of the amount of utter crap there is elsewhere. Why on earth didn't they re-work the match order of the show to have a better main event than the trios bout they went with? Who thought FOUR women's division squashes in the first six matches was a good idea? Why is there another TV Title Eliminator Tournament literally a week after the last one ended? And having booked it, why do none of the matches get enough time because they are crammed in amongst so much stuff nobody wants to see? Lets be clear - this is atrociously poor television and in no way worth the Honor Club subscription fee. If you're watching selectively then by all means dip in to check out the Foundation/Kingdom tag, Henry vs Gravity in the tournament and a surprisingly fun Pure Rules Match between Josh Woods and Eli Isom. But they account for basically twenty minutes. The rest is varying degrees of wasteland. It is going to be a LONG trek to Final Battle...