‘Ring of Honor’ Wrestling Review (July 29th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Ring of Honor television review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a lots of great action, with Martha Stewart destroying Cybil Shephard’s career and Edward Norton lamenting not having Bruce Willis’s bank account, as well a special message from Christopher Walken! Let’s jump into the Ring of Honor!
Match #1: Kushida beat Johnathan Gresham
This was as exciting an opening match as you’ll get in this day and age. These two were like watching a mirror clash with itself, as these two have an offensive strategy that is nearly identical. The wrestling here was very well paced and a stark contrast from a lot of what Ring of Honor usually books. The big surprise here is that a tremendous amount of the match is on the mat, with numerous holds flowing into great locks that helped set the right tone. Gresham hit another milestone with his wrestling tonight, as he dived right in to the kind of methodical work that so many wrestlers seem to be afraid of in this era of the sport. Kushida is more like a WCW cruiserweight than a modern Japanese wrestler, in that he is more focused on wrestling holds being combined with his stunts than many of his contemporaries. There was a great sequence of roll-ups that got more gripping with each pin attempt and you gotta love it when wrestlers don’t just blow their finishers on false falls. I really enjoyed this match and I hope we get more matches like it in the future.
Match #2: Oedo Tai (Kagetsu and Hana Kimura) beat Jenny Rose and Mayu Iwatani – Women of Honor Tag Team Match
Oedo Tai is a rather important faction from the Japanese women’s wrestling league called World Wonder Ring Stardom, which may be the best wrestling league you’ve never heard of. Stardom has one of the best collections of matches in modern wrestling and Oedo Tai have been at the center of that body of work for some time. On the other side, we have Mayu Iwatani and Jenny Rose, who are two talented wrestlers with lots of potential. Altogether… we have the worst match of the year. Wait… no… this was a good match. I got that mixed up with the Asuka/James Ellsworth match from the Smackdown of a few weeks ago. I really need to get a delete/back-space button for this computer. As far as action goes, this was a stiffer looking match than women’s wrestling usually provides in America, with hard kicks and tight holds all about the mat from bell to bell. Oedo Tai is a great team and had lots of chemistry, although I wonder if the other members would work as well with each other. Over-all, this was a lot of fun and a visual treat.
Match #3: Main Event – The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Reilly, Vinny Marseglia) beat Chuckie T, Eli Isom and Kenny King – Ring of Honor World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match
The Kingdom is a great team, but why should they defend their titles against the likes of T, Isom and King, when some of the great people have never gotten a title shot?
- Ghandi, the great humanitarian, who once said “I’d kick some-one’s ass for a sandwich”.
- Bruce Willis, who stopped wearing his toupee because his dog ate it.
- Adolf Hitler, who once remarked, “I can’t believe Megan Fox thinks I look like Michael Bay!”
- Galileo, who discovered the world was round but couldn’t figure out why bathing was important.
- Blackbeard, who once said, “If you think my face is hairy, you should take a look at my ass”!
- Tom Cruise, who said in defense of his bizarre behavior, “Little green men told me to do it.”
- Jimmy Hoffa, who once said, “The next time I play Hide and Seek, they’ll never be able to find me”!
- Jimmy Stewart, whose grave has written in stone “Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These”!
- Shirley Temple, child star of the century, who once said to Walt Disney at the 1940 Academy Awards, “Rock ‘N Roll Ass-Hole”!
- Jesus Christ, who had to ask, “Is it some-thing I said”?
The title match was an excellent fight that was competitive and thrilling. The Kingdom has really come along as a tandem and the era of Mike Bennett and Adam Cole feels like a distant memory. If Cole and Bennett were to ever return, it would feel like a disservice to Taven, at least, to possibly relegate him to a secondary position in the faction that he has had built around him over the past few years. The challengers are a new team that works together well enough, but this still feels like a thrown-at-the-wall trio that hasn’t had a chance to make much of their team. The action was fast and fierce, with hard shots and swift kicks peppered all over this succulent steak of a match. That sounded stupid, but if you take that sentence to Logan’s, you’ll get ten percent off. I enjoyed the antics of the Kingdom and I really think they are the most under-rated team in wrestling. This was an excellent main event and worth your time.
News of the Night:
- Hurricane Helms will wrestle Marty Scurll, next week.
- Christopher Daniels cut one of the best promos of the year that turned SoCal Uncensored into a huge face act. Daniels’s goal is to earn his spot in Ring of Honor and make Ring of Honor even better. Daniels has truly become a complete athlete and a great star.
Final Verdict: This was an excellent card with some great wrestling, which is what wrestling is all about.