Random Match Review: FTR (c) vs. The Briscoes - ROH World Tag Team Title Match - ROH: Death Before Dishonor - July 23rd, 2022

FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) - 2/3 Falls Match for the ROH World Championship 

This is my Match of the Year so far. Plain and simple. 

I didn’t think anything would surpass Hanger/Bryan from January, but I should’ve never doubted these two teams. Not to spoil my rating before getting to the end of this article, but this is my third five star match of 2022. The first being the obvious Hanger/Danielson title match and the second came at Double or Nothing with the chaotic Anarchy in the Arena. This match surpasses them both, though, if we are comparing. To my taste, atleast. 

This felt like the type of match that made me fall in love with Ring of Honor’s mid 2000’s shows. It went around 45 minutes, but felt like 25. I was glued to the screen from bell to bell and this truly felt like a fucking rollercoaster ride. 

I went ****3/4 on their first match. Not that it was necessarily missing something, but I felt like there was a more perfect epic still stowed away that the two teams could deliver. I’m glad my thinking was right for once because that’s what we got here. 

Everything in this match was laid in. Even the smallest things. Every single strike looked like it hurt. Dax bled from the chest from chops, the teams traded headbutts and closed fists. This felt like an actual war. Their first match was an awesome back & forth spectacle, this felt like war. Competition between two teams who love tag team wrestling with everything in them. 

One team who is the most underrated of the last 20 years in some circles in the Briscoes. Then a team who is dead set on making a career worthy of placing them in the Top 2-3 best teams of all time discussion. The emotion both duos fought with is what pushed it beyond just a slugfest for a title.

The Briscoes have held the guard down for Ring of Honor through thick and thin for 20 years. When everyone else left, they stayed. They fought. They stood their ground and with pride. They’ve beaten everyone, they’ve held the titles 10+ times. Jay is a former world champion. They’ve done it all, but they’ve never beaten FTR. FTR.. a team who captured gold at the top of the ladder in WWE and has arguably taken the opposite career path that the Briscoes have taken. They’re a perfect clash for one another and you feel it with every strike and splash of sweat that flies to the mat. 

This match left nothing else to be desired. Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler, Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe gave everything last night and delivered the best match I’ve seen this year. An epic. A classic. Thank you, guys. This was amazing. Nothing else needs to be said. 

Match rating - *****

Random Match Review: Bandido vs. Flamita vs. Rey Horus - ROH: 19th Anniversary Show - March 26th, 2021

Bandido vs. Flamita vs. Rey Horus - ROH: 19th Anniversary Show - 3/26/21

Hello all, I am continually losing the energy & time to watch and review full shows hence the more occurrences of these random match review columns. Last night, I was laying in bed and Mike told me this was happening and despite having little interest in ROH right now, this on paper was undoubtedly worth tuning in for. So, I turned it on and boy, am I glad I did.

Despite being a less talked about scale, all three of these men haven't missed a beat as they showed the fuck OUT here. Apparently, they lost a trios title match earlier in the night and that led us to this three way later in the same night which sounds like some WWE shit except they actually got time to work this and proceeded to have an amazing, must see spot fest.

There isn't really many words that can do a match like this justice nor is it really worth trying to dissect. I will say, though, what made it special is the amount of shit they did that I've never seen before. A crossbody into a poisonrana? Yeah, think on that one and try to figure it out without watching.

Just go watch this match and thank me later. This fucking ruled and I'm going four on it. Bandido wins and should be the next ROH World Champion.

Match rating - ****

ROH TV: Pure Title Tournament Night One Review - September 11th, 2020

ROH TV

September 11th, 2020

Baltimore, Maryland

Before the pandemic hit, Ring of Honor decide to bring back a championship that was active in the promotion for a few years (2004-2006) - the Pure Championship. A title held by the likes of Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and Nigel McGuinness. A title that clearly has a legacy, hell, the finals of the tournament to crown the first champion was between AJ Styles and CM Punk. The most notorious match associated with it however was the five star classic between Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness when the title was unified with the ROH World Title in 2006 at their "UNIFIED" event.

The rules of Pure Titles vary slightly from normal matches and handshakes are required pre & post match. I’ll let you google all the specifics if you don’t already know.  

The first two matches in this single elimination tournament take place on this show. In the tournament, first round matches have a 15 minute time limit, semi finals have a 20 minute time limit and the finals have a 30 minute time limit. 

Before the matches, we get some super well done sit down interviews/video packages with each wrestler. Honestly some of the best video work I’ve seen ROH do. Lethal & Castle’s here were particularly exceptional and made me care way more about their match than I ever would have before. 

1) Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle - Block A First Round Match

So yeah as I said before, the pre match video made me care about this match more than I ever would have prior. I love Lethal, but Castle has never done much for me however his pre match promo honestly changed that. He felt legit and serious and had me invested. The sad thing is, this only has 15 minutes max and although they do make the most out of that time, it can’t help but feel like it had just started kicking into gear when it ended especially considering how invested the interviews made me. Maybe I should go back and watch their prior matches. So, fun stuff here. Lethal Injection gets the win for Lethal in a fun 13 minute pure struggle. 

Match rating - **1/2

2) Jonathan Gresham vs. Wheeler Yuta - Block B First Round Match

Gresham’s video package here was really good. Yuta’s was fine and a solid introduction to him as I’ve never seen or heard of him before. This match felt super reminiscent of old ROH matches as they went hold for hold early and often. It’s easy to see that Yuta was trained by Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams. The match turns serious when Gresham is unable to break his submission hold bc of how the legs were locked, but Yuta takes it personal and when it is broken by the ref, he charges Gresham with a closed fist shot which sends the momentum of this match right up. It’s also a great play on the rules of pure title matches. This leads to a fast paced final few moments where the leg Gresham had been working over throughout the match is slammed repeatedly into the match and Yuta is forced to tap. Simple and to the point. I loved this match. Gresham should win this whole thing and this sub 10 minute match is an example of why. He makes the most out of everything. 

Match rating - **3/4

Final thoughts: Good kick off to this tournament. I will definitely be turning in each week to see how things unfold. I just hope some of the other first round matches can hold my attention as I’ve been out of ROH viewing for a while. One things for sure though, I want Lethal/Gresham in the finals! It was teased here and I hope that’s the route they go. 

2017 Match Rating Archive

I rarely have the time to write full reviews anymore so I am keeping my archive of star ratings here. I am still catching up on 2017 stuff so this will be updated periodically with a link posted to Twitter (@ThePWTruth) when I do. New additions will be in ITALICS. 

JANUARY:

Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman - Last Man Standing Match - WWE: Raw - 1/2/17 - ****

Neville vs. TJ Perkins - WWE: 205 Live - 1/3/17 - ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - NJPW: Wrestle Kingdom - 1/4/17 - *****

Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne - WWE: UK Tournament - 1/15/17 - ****1/4

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle - RPW - 1/21/17 - ****1/4

AJ Styles vs. John Cena - WWE: Royal Rumble - 1/29/17 - ****

FEBRUARY:
Braun Strowman vs. The Big Show - WWE: Raw - 2/20/17 - ****1/4

APRIL:
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardy's - ROH: Supercard of Honor - 4/1/17 - ****

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon - WWE: WrestleMania 33 - 4/2/17 - ***1/2

The Hardys vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Big Cass & Enzo - WWE: WrestleMania 33 - 4/2/17 - ****