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ROH Episode 88 Review: “Ring of Horrors”
Tonight’s episode is a Halloween edition of ROH with our Ring of Horrors main event between Athena and Abadon. Last night on AEW Dynamite, Jericho promised that he was going to take ROH to new heights and make it more known than ever before. Now I have no idea what he meant by that, but let’s see how this episode goes where is the ROH Champion, who by no surprise does not show up.
Righteous Promo:
Dutch says he and Vincent have many scars trying to get to where they want to be. Vincent says they should have won the ROH Tag Team Titles long ago and calls out both Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes. He says there are many snakes in this business and compares Guevara to a venomous snake and says they will see the champions soon.
Preston Vance and Peter Avalon vs Beef and JD Drake:
Cousin friendship power! Beef was a lot more excited for this match than Drake as he was jumping around during their entrance. The crowd LOVES Beef as every time he got in the match they were screaming for him. Drake and Beef were able to get the job done by working together, maybe these two have more in common than they thought.
Winners: JD Drake and Beef
Johnny TV vs Deonn Rusman:
A squash match 15 minutes in... Sigh we were doing so well for the past month weren't we.
Winner: Johnny TV
Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) vs CSJ and Dave Dutra:
Sigh… Another one.
Winners: Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona)
Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes Promo:
Guevara says The Righteous was right and he does have a beautiful family and since he is a champion that means his paychecks are a lot bigger so he can support his family. He says that even though he and Rhodes aren’t related by blood they are still family and they both have each other's backs no matter what. Rhodes says he has grown up in Texas and he knows all about snakes. Even though he has not been bitten by a snake he knows that to get rid of a bad snake bite you have to fight it, and he accepts The Righteous Challenge for a future ROH Tag Team Championship match.
Lady Frost vs Reyna Isis:
This was a fun one. With Isis picking up back-to-back wins I assume we are building her up to either face Athena or Red Velvet at some point within the next couple weeks. Frost also had a good showing in this one, but unfortunately, it was not enough.
Winner: Reyna Isis
Pure Rules: Aaron Solo vs Matt Taven:
I was a little confused because Bobby Cruise announced that this match had only a 15-minute time limit, but Pure Rules matches always have a 20-minute time limit. This was also Taven’s fire pure rules match which was shocking to me since he’s been with the ROH franchise for so long. After Taven won Lee Moriarty stood on the ramp and he and Taven exchanged words. Guess we have a new number-one contender for the Pure Championship.
Winner: Matt Taven
JD Drake and Beef Promo:
Drake trashes Beef and says they are not family. Cousins do not work that way and they are not family. Drake says he has to turn it down and wonders why Anthony Henry got him into this mess. Drake says he likes Beef, but if they want to get somewhere as a team he has to listen to Drake and let him take the lead.
The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch) vs Solomon Tupu and Jay Martson:
Add another squash to this episode. After the match was over Vincent and Dutch continued to beat down Tupu and Martson including using a part of a railroad to crush Tupu’s ankle. Rhodes and Guevara came out to stop the beat down as The Righteous scurried away.
Winners: The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)
Josh Woods vs Tomohiro Ishii:
Mark Sterling puts over the new Varsity Athlete shirt that has just been added to ShopHonor.com. He also adds that since the new shirt says that Athlete Rules the crowd should listen to the shirt and then the whole crowd chanted Athletes Suck. This match was a tad too long, especially since it seems they are trying to build Ishii into some storyline stuff but he is not on TV consecutively. After the match was over Ari Davari beat down Ishii until Kyle O’Riley made the save.
Winner: Tomohiro Ishii
Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes Promo:
Rhodes says The Righteous has his attention now after they tried to beat down that kid in the tag match a little earlier in the show. Vincent and Dutch come from behind and beat down the tag team champs as Rhodes saves Guevara from getting his ankle smashed. The Righteous steal the tag team titles and tell Rhodes that this should have happened a long time ago, but now is better than never.
Top Flight (Action Andretti, Dante, and Darius Martin) vs Jah C Trip Jordy and Dante Leon:
Four squashes, why?
Winners: Top Flight (Action Andretti, Dante, and Darius Martin)
ROH then showed Jay Lethal vs Curry Man from 10/29/2005 (I was four). I would not mind this match being shown, however, it was a 20-minute match and it made this episode go nearly three hours for absolutely no reason.
Billie Starkz vs Blair Onyx:
Nothing says getting back to the main feed of ROH and then displaying another squash match!
Winner: Billie Starkz
The Infantry Promo:
Shane Taylor Promotions interrupted a private Infantry meeting. Taylor says that since they have lost two weeks in a row, he wants to know when they are finally going to reach their full potential. He also adds if they are going to war, he would want some soldiers standing by them. Bravo jokingly asks if they have dental insurance and the entire STP looks at him like they are crazy. STP and Infantry agree to join forces and they are excited to finally beat people up for fun.
Serpentico and Angelico vs The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo):
The Infantry come out with the STP theme song and a new swag to them. This is the Infantry we have been wanting to see for months! Trish Adora stopped Angelico from diving onto the outside and then Shane Taylor distracted the referee. This led to Adora delivering a low blow to Angelico and The Infantry officially turning heel. The match continued until Adora distracted the referee and this led Moriarty to hit Angelico with his Pure Championship and The Infantry to get the win.
Winners: The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo)
Diamante vs Aminah Belmont:
They showed a video of the Red Velvet and Diamante match from a couple of weeks ago before this, which makes me believe we will be seeing that match again rather soon with a stipulation. Diamante got the win quickly.
Winner: Diamante
Billie Starkz Promo:
Lexy tells Starkz that she has to be out there later to accompany Athena in the main event. Starkz says she is taking an MIT day off and Nair starts to worry. She says that she can not take care of herself and Starkz walks off.
Iron Savages (Bronson and Boulder and Jakked Jameson) vs Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds):
This match was too long. Especially since this episode was already going into the third hour for no apparent reason. Dark Order seems to be getting featured on AEW a lot more, so I am assuming that they will be moving to AEW for the foreseeable future which is why I think they got the win here.
Winners: Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds)
Ariya Davari vs Komander:
Sterling and Woods accompanied Davari here and they got involved in the match. Komander is a great talent and I wish he was utilized more, but it seems like they can not find anything for him. Even though he got the win here, they should feature him more prominently on ROH.
Winner: Komander:
Chris Jericho Promo:
Jericho puts over Athena and says that she is a great champion and she is in a big title match-up next. He says that he is excited to see the big match between a fighting champion and a zombie woman. He says that he hopes we all get a lot of candy and we will see him on Wednesday in his fight without honor match.
Ring of Horrors ROH Women’s Championship: Athena vs Abadon:
For the record, this match started at 9:35 on an episode of ROH that started at 7 PM. This match had a chain, a barbed-wired bat, a pumpkin, tables, and more. Unfortunately, the table did not break both times they attempted to use it, but the effort was there. If this match had not taken place on a three-episode of ROH, I think more people would have been more into this match, in person and the people watching at home. Both women gave their best effort and made the most of what they were given and showed out. Nair delivered Skewers to Athena to stab into Abadon’s head which led her to be busted open. Athena hit her finisher into a pile of chairs to get the win and remain the face of ROH and your forever champion.
Winner: “And Still” Athena
Overall:
This episode was WAY too long. The throwback match did not need to be shown here as well as some of the squash matches that could have waited to be on other episodes that could be shorter because this was ridiculous. This did not need to be this long, especially on a holiday episode where you know people are out trick or treating or celebrating Halloween night.
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