‘Ring of Honor’ Wrestling Review (July 15th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Ring of Honor television review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a tag team gauntlet to get to, so let’s not waste any time.
Match #1: Kelly Klein beat Jenny Rose – Women of Honor Match
The first thing to mention about this match is that this was one of potential versus execution. Klein continues to be a wrestler who has the potential to be a great shooter, but her awkward stances and positioning makes her look to common to be a ruthless bastard. I also am concerned about her lack of knee-pads, which Hulk Hogan and Cody Rhodes would both mention are a life-saver for your legs in the long run. I know Klein must feel like it gives her a raw, stripped-down appeal, but it leaves her too prone to injury in a part of her body that really needs to be protected. If we take a look at Rose, who does have her knees protected, you have a wrestler with lots of potential, but she often feels like a deer-in-head-lights who is puffing its chest to intimidate who-ever almost just ran her over. Rose is good, but in order for her to be great, she needs to be able to show more of her personality in her face and posturing. As far as the match itself, they had some solid holds and transitions to start that soon led to some nice action. Klein played the part of the intense athlete, which is some-thing she does very well. There is definitely a big star in Klein if she stays the course with her character, but only if she can figure out a more efficient way of moving around the ring than just walking to her opponent. Over-all, this was a good match.
Match #2: Main Event – Kenny King, Chuckie T and Eli Isom beat The Dawgs and Shane Taylor; So-Cal Uncensored; Silas Young and The Bouncers; and LSG, Jonathan Gresham and Alex Shelley – Six-Man Tag Team Gauntlet
This was a long, strong match that gave lots of different, discerning athletes a chance to show what they can do in a division that is always demanding new wrestlers to be a part of it. The Kingdom, who are the current ROH Six-Man Tag champions, have just finished a big angle where they had claimed there was a conspiracy against them, one which prevented them from re-claiming their titles. I thought it was an excellent angle and it really gave them some good opportunities to display their characters and show every-one their personalities. The champions were on commentary and were a solid presence, but I hope there is a plan in place to keep the edge on the Kingdom now that they have won their gold. As for the match itself, I’d wager that Silas Young and Alex Shelley were the high-lights of the match, with an excellent sequence of action between the two. The Dawgs were their bonkers, as usual, jolting around the ring like rockets on crack. The Bouncers looked like two behemoths from a dive bar, which isn’t a bad way to go when every-one else is in great shape. So-Cal is great at any-thin you throw at them, with Daniels still looking like he’s ready for another crack at the ROH World Title. Taylor practically shook the ring every-time he moved, it seemed. Finally, we had the winners, King, T and Isom (which sounds like a mash-up of a 50s blues band and a 60s folk group) were a unique combination that I wasn’t expecting. I was hoping King would reunite with Titus to make a trio, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for right now. I’m not sure if this new team has enough cohesion to work in the long run, but I’m happy to sit back and watch them try. Over-all, this was an excellent match and a fine main event.
______
Final Verdict: This was a very good card that had an excellent main event that gave the six-man tag division a real shot in the arm.
