Tony Khan Buys ROH

[JLM]

ROH Final Battle 2024

Pre-show:

As LaGoosh mentioned, the new Hammerstein Ballroom paint job is awful, it looks like a maximum security prison now. Still a very cool setting but the gold balconies are a big loss. 

Dark Order (Silver and Reynolds) vs Grizzled Young Veterans

Very enjoyable tag match, perfect pre-show opener fodder. John Silver drawing sympathy with the Vets targeting his injured leg, then Reynolds with the big hot tag and it turned into a sprint from then until the end. The people were completely on board by the end and the closing stretch was excellent. 

Harley Cameron vs Hanako

Hanako is a six foot tall powerhouse, which is not what you expect from Stardom. She wrestles like it too, with big boots, power moves and splashes. She is also still green though, and this made for a pretty mediocre match in-ring as Harley is still inexperienced too. Unfortunately on two occasions they were late kicking out and the ref had to sort of stall his three count and the crowd booed. On the plus side, Harley's character work and comedy all landed, and the biggest positive was how big a babyface she was to this crowd. 

The Infantry vs The Kindgom

Heel Infantry are slightly more interesting than babyface Infantry. Match was OK but had a baffling outcome. Newly more vicious and dangerous Infantry with Shane Taylor backing them. They attacked during The Kingdom's entrance, Shane Taylor interfered, Trish Adora interfered and they lost anyway! Absolutely ridiculous. 

Lee-J? Lee-Jay? LeEJ? (Lee Johnson and EJ Nduka) vs The Gates of Agony

Short TV build for this one, with Lee Johnson showing some heelish tendencies, Toa and Kaun being nicer than usual and some teasing of the big lad showdown between Nduka and Toa. Their exchanges were fun, Johnson's rally and comeback towards the end was good stuff too. Unsurprisingly they did go for the post-match double turn. Not sure about Johnson as a heel but can't be any more dull than he was as a babyface. 

MAIN SHOW:

Mansoor vs Atlantis Jr.

Commentators explained there is some history/back story here and words have been exchanged back and forth. Haven't heard asingle mention of it on ROH TV though. MXM huge babyfaces when they came out but they did a good job of turning the crowd as it went on. Mansoor and Atlantis work well together and it had a few fun moments but this was a fairly standard TV match. Massive pop for Danhausen! Great to see him and I loved that he wore a mask with his own face on it before "revealing" who he was. No justification for this being a PPV match but the Danhausen return elevated it slightly. 

Jericho disingenuously doing the hometown hero promo with all the local references was pretty funny, also liked him calling New York "The Grand Apple". Tonnes of heat from the crowd too. The Nueve in ROH is certainly better than The Learning Tree in AEW. 

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tommy Billington

This was disappointing. I like this match up on paper and they were indeed well suited opponents, but it never kicked into high gear or generated any sustained heat. Some lovely technical wrestling and solid back and forth action, but this was a potential show stealer on a pretty weak undercard me and it never got close to that. 

Jay Lethal vs QT Marshall

QT's NWO entrance was tremendous, as was Lethal dusting off Black Machismo. Sensational Karen Jarrett was the highlight though. Good heat for the start of this thanks to all those bells and whistles. Had a bit of a lull after that as it settled into QT Marshall vs Jay Lethal. Thankfully they had more bells and whistles in store. Aaron Solo (as Scott Hall) got involved and then made the mistake of putting his hands on Karen. This summoned The Last Outlaw to a THUNDEROUS pop. This was the loudest cheer of the entire night. The crowd then maintained that energy throughout a hot closing stretch. I was ready to hate this match but it ended up being good fun. 

ROH TV Title: Red Velvet vs Leyla Hirsch

No heat for this at it didn't have any build and they're both babyfaces. I like both of these two but they didn't gel together here. Not sure if they both need someone else to lead the match or if they just weren't on the same page, but the match didn't have any momentum to it, especially in the first half. Hirsch was more impressive as it went on, showcasing her deceptive strength, tidy suplexes and hitting a lovely springboard moonsault. They also got a bit more nasty and intense towards the end, which helped a bit. OK closing sequence but up until then it was just little flurries of OK action but dead time in between them. I like the Velvet heel turn. Caprice a man after my own heart with his final call here "Straight outta yo momma's kitchen but under the sink there's a WRENCH". Love it. I just hope they actually do some build up to Hirsch getting a rematch. There is something there with Leyla Hirsch. She is naturally likeable and sympathetic, her size makes her a perfect underdog, she can throw much larger people around and crowds want to get behind her. If she can stay healthy for a bit I'd love to see a proper push for her, but it's Tony Khan and it's ROH, so I'm not optimistic. 

ROH Pure Title Open Challenge: Lee Moriarty vs Nigel McGuinness(!!)

Oh thank fucking god. Incredibly underwhelming show up to this point. Commentators on the pre-show and on the main show itself had been harping on about "the list of potential names" who could challenge Moriarty. My expectations were incredibly low for this surprise opponent, so I was beyond thrilled when Nigel came out. I don't know why I didn't call it ahead of time as it makes SO much sense, think I'd just been burned by how lacklustre the show had been up to this point. 

This breathed desperately needed life into the show and they did a great milking the most out of it. The promo battle between Nigel and Shane Taylor, the stalling before the match started and the slow burn pacing of the match itself were all spot on. Nigel was excellent as the crafty veteran using all of his old tricks to try and win against a younger opponent. Insisting on the original Pure rules, scamming Moriarty out of his first two rope breaks. As it went on though it favoured Moriarty andw the second half saw Nigel desperately trying to hold on as it became clear Moriarty had more gas in the tank. Best thing on the show up to this point by the widest of margins with a hot crowd for the duration.

ROH Tag Titles: The Sons of Texas vs The Righteous - Double Texas bullrope match

This was pretty good. Took a while to get the crowd into it, but a combination of some great highspots and Dustin's undeniable babyface fire had them fully on board as it went on. Credit where it's due, this was also the most I've enjoyed Sammy in a long time. A chaotic match like this where he gets to be the Darby to Dustin's sting is a good fit for him it turns out. Very enjoyable brawl/spotfest with decent heat. Could have done with a bit of blood though, surprised there wasn't any given the build and the stipulation. It also loses points because it had the only bad looking Dutch Bossman slam I've ever seen. Criminal. 

ROH TV Title Survival of the Fittest: Brian Cage vs Willie Mack vs AR Fox vs Mark Davis vs Blake Christian vs Komander

God damn this one was a belter. An action packed 25 minute spectacle but also very smartly laid out to build to a white hot conclusion. So much good stuff in here. Blake Christian has grown on me massively since he turned heel. He has always been able to do spectacular stuff in-ring but was hampered by his terrible look. Leaning into it and playing a conniving little prick feels like it completes his act and he was excellent here. Everyone brought it though. Plenty of shine for Cage as the champion, acting as the final boss to cut off both Mack and Fox when they got their crazy superhero sequences. Mack stunning everyone was superb, AR Fox in his element throwing out his entire arsenal of innovative silliness, Cage and Davis smacking the shit out of each other. 

Really liked how they established the Komander/Christian pairing from the start, with Christian setting his stall out as a scum bag right from the off with a sneak attack on Komander. Also allowed Komander to lay out for a little bit early on so he could return as the hero in the second half. Davis unexpectedly winning the hoss-off and taking out Cage was a brilliant moment for him, and Christian IMMEDIATELY low blowing him and taking him out was the perfect way to cement his position as the ultimate villain of the match. 

The heat for the final showdown between Komander and Christian was amazing and very well earned, both by Komander being consistently excellent for the longest time and by the match being laid out beautifully to set this up. The sort of people who attend ROH in 2025 will also remember how Komander and Fletcher stole the show last year as the final two in the previous Survival of the Fittest match, only for Komander to barely fall short. The ROH TV Title is an extremely low value belt, but the broader story of Komander finally getting the showcase victory was well told and the crowd were 100% on board. Sincerely lovely feel good moment this with the streamers, Komander visibly very emotional and the audience so chuffed for him.

Easy highlight of the show. 

ROH World Title: Chris Jericho vs Matt Cardona

The hate for this match has been a touch hyperbolic, 2.8 on Cagematch, but I understand why. It was waaaay below an acceptable standard for a world title match, it was too long, it had a shit finish. Jericho shouldn't be in featured singles matches, he shouldn't be world champion even of the feeder promotion. For ROH especially, which has always been for the sickos, this was a wildly inappropriate match to put on for that brand's world title. I think the match was more bang average than a worst match of the year contender, but given all of the above context I can see why people really hated it. It had a hot opening and if it had been kept to a tight ten minutes it could even have been good, but Jericho consistently tries to work beyond his limitations, so here we are. 

Bandido return was tragic. Been waiting for aaaaaages for him to come back. I know he was ROH World Champion and has strong ties to the promotion but his return should have been on AEW. You could see immediately he'd rocked himself with the top rope drop kick. Hit the back of his head and was barely there for the rest of this. At least Big Bill seemed to realise and got out of there quickly. What a waste of a return for such a top talent. 

ROH Women's Title: Athena vs Billie Starkz

To get it out of the way first, I can't believe they had Billie lose again after a full year of building this rematch and another year of Athena wasting her talents in ROH. This felt like the time and I will lose my mind if we have to wait another year until they pull the trigger on this. 2023 was the peak of Athena's powers, 2024 she's been under-utilised but any time she gets anything substantial to do she still shows that same amazing form. She's also in better shape now than she was last year. I just cannot fathom why you wouldn't move on this.

That aside, this was a very good match but not quite as good as last year's. These two have fantastic chemistry, and one benefit over last year's match is that the crowd was more solidly behind Billie from the start. The hatred and venom in the strikes was there, some of the high spots were great (particularly the flawless swanton to the floor from Billie) and the closing stretch was all very exciting. The finish itself was ropey though. Billie clearly did not hit the exposed turnbuckle when she was thrown into the corner, the exposed turnbuckle finish itself was a very weak choice, and Athena winning off that just felt a bit flat. One notable difference from last year though, there was no reconciliation between Athena and Billie. I hope they stay permanent enemies/rivals going forward and Billie goes back to her strengths as an extremely likeable babyface. Good main event, very disappointing result. 

Comfortably the worst TK ROH PPV. The pre-show was very missable and the first few matches on the main card felt like pre-show matches. QT/Lethal over-delivered a bit, Cardona/Jericho was not good, Velvet/Hirsch was underwhelming. The tag title match was pretty good but nothing you'd go out of your way to watch. Thankfully Nigel/Moriarty, a solid main event and the outstanding Survival of the Fittest match saved this from being a dud of a show. 
 

[Lorne Malvo]

A mixed bag this week.

Harley Cameron got the big superstar entrance with a new theme and looked like an absolute star. Then she lost to Trish Adora who doesn't offer anything.

Blake Christian is making a fine heel. I'm in complete agreement with JLM that his look (which was his biggest issue as a face) is now perfect for a little shithouse.

Boulder vs Griff Garrison. So Iron Savages are faces again now, I guess? Repackage number 212 for this bunch of shite.

A lot of womens action on this show - Harley vs Trish, a Red Velvet squash, a Billie Starks squash, Queen Aminata (yay!) vs Rachael Ellering (boo!) (and even the classic match was Sumie Sakai vs Hazuki). But give them some actual storylines for the love of god.

Shane Taylor is a very good talker and decent in the ring. Lee Moriarty is pretty good. Just give them something to sink their teeth into! This HonorClub show has been going on for about 2 years and all Shane Taylor Promotions have done in that time is have matches.

The referee joining in with the MxM pose was very good. Ending the show with a Jericho/Rock N Roll Express segment was very bad.

This show goes straight to streaming. They don't have to worry about ratings or any of that guff. They could literally make this show as bonkers and zany as they want and instead it's just a bunch of matches.

Yet I watch it every week, so whose the real moron?

[Lorne Malvo]

They ought to get done under the Trade Descriptions Act for advertising a 'Classic match' and it turns out to be Mark Briscoe vs Slim J.

A very depressing episode for making me realise that as of next week, I will have sat through 100 episodes of this guff.

In all seriousness, it was a fine little D show this week. Only an hour long and featured the very mismatched but fun team of Komander, Shibata and The OutRunners (they went 50/50 with a team of 4 jobbers, but ROH gonna ROH).

 

[Vamp]

Should have called it "vintage ROH action."

[Lorne Malvo]

10 minutes ago, Vamp said:

Should have called it "vintage ROH action."

It was definitely a throwback to those Saturday morning Smackdowns on Sky One when they would put a classic match to fill time and it would be Finlay vs Kane or something.

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm up to the episode before Grand Slam, and it takes place on the Jericho Cruise. So as part of my head canon this means the entire roster sailed to Australia.

[Lorne Malvo]

The past few episodes of ROH I've watched have been full of CMLL guys and hopefully this is what ROH will be used for going forwards. The last few years these lads would have been all over Dyno and Collision (see Blackpool Combat Club feuding with random CMLL wrestlers) but having them on ROH is much more preferable. Leave AEW to your AEW roster (for the most part - there will always be room for a Gabe Kidd or Momo Watanabe) and let ROH be a mishmash of CMLL, Stardom, Best of the indies, AEW developmental etc. It gives ROH a unique identity and a reason to exist, it means perverts like me still get to enjoy cross-promotional stuff and the AEW audience who don't care about 'generic masked man #23' don't have to see it. 

Thumbs up!

It's not all positive however - Gravity has just returned ?

Edited March 23, 2025 by Lorne Malvo

[kidzero]

Tony would want to try and buy the  rights to the hdnet tv episodes as id love to see them.

[Lorne Malvo]

Fellow sickos! A lot of good action here - every Supercard of Honor main event.

 

[TheBurningRed]

Especially those two Dragon Gate Rules Six Man Tag matches. 

[Lorne Malvo]

They've cancelled/postponed Supercard of Honor at a pretty late stage - it was meant to be 2nd May and has been bumped to All In weekend. Were they suffering from low ticket sales or something? They had absolutely nothing bubbling on ROH TV that would've looked PPV-worthy, to be fair.

This is a pretty nice gesture however - AEW/ROH will be co-promoting two shows in tribute to Dean Rasmussen (DEAN from the DVDVR forum who passed away a few years back), with a view to streaming them on HonorClub.

[King Mal the Glorious]

Wasn't Death Before Dishonor meant to be happening All In weekend? If they don't have anything storyline wise going on it makes sense to skip one and just make the All In weekend one better.

[Lorne Malvo]

3 hours ago, King Mal the Glorious said:

Wasn't Death Before Dishonor meant to be happening All In weekend? If they don't have anything storyline wise going on it makes sense to skip one and just make the All In weekend one better.

Yeah, they've somewhat confusingly changed the scheduled Death by Dishonor show during All In week to Supercard, then rescheduled DND to September. Surely it would've been easier from a marketing/communication perspective to just keep DBD as it was and just say Supercard has been pushed to September? Not that any of this really matters, it's only ROH.

Edited April 23, 2025 by Lorne Malvo

[Kamran]

4 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

They've cancelled/postponed Supercard of Honor at a pretty late stage - it was meant to be 2nd May and has been bumped to All In weekend. Were they suffering from low ticket sales or something? 

Ticket sales were okay, they had sold approx. 1150 tickets and the show was still about 2 weeks away so it wasn't too bad. I think it's just a case of Tony wanting to make their week in Texas as packed as he can.

[TheBurningRed]

Two weeks away and not a single match booked. Good chance he forgot all about it and postponed it.