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ROH Episode 94 Review: “ROH Meets Galaxy Con”
Eight days until Final Battle and we only have five matches announced for this show, which is better than what ROH usually does so I will take the small victories here. This week's ROH tapings took place at Galaxy Con last week, which for someone who works in the wrestling convention scene weekly was cool to see. The crowd did love the ROH wrestling as this was one of the fullest a ROH crowd has looked in weeks. Let’s review, shall we?
Emergency MEM:
Billie Starkz says that this is her chance to prove herself and go to the Tokoyo Dome to represent ROH. Athena interrupts and tells Starkz that after they deal with Red Velvet and Leyla Hirsch, she wants Starkz to lay down for her as she is looking to start the Athena World Tour. Starkz says she wants to go to the Tokoyo Dome too and she does not want to lay down for her. Athena says that since Starkz signed her application contract Athena is in full control of her until she decides to terminate the contract. She starts chanting Athena World Tour as Starkz looks annoyed at her.
International Women’s Cup Qualifier: Red Velvet vs Leyla Hirsch vs Billie Starkz vs Athena:
Athena started the match by saying everyone sucks and she is the baddest while she left the ring to stretch for this big match. The crowd was not into this match, which was a shame because all four of these women, put a lot on the line. Red Velvet was the MVP of this match hitting a lot of moves that she has never done before, you can tell she is a lot more confident in the ring. Athena stole the pin from Starkz to get the win as she is officially starting the Athena World Tour in Japan!
Winner: Athena
The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum) vs The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese and Ariya Davari):
Mark Sterling makes fun of the crowd at Galaxy Con saying that the crowd is full of disgusting cosplayers, where instead the fans should be cosplaying as real people, The Premier Athletes. The Outrunners then come out to a huge ovation and start the tag team match. This match was fine, there was a scary spot where it looked like Magnum suffered a knee injury but he was able to push through and tell the doctor he was fine. Outrunners get the big win as they continue their momentum in 2024.
Winners: The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum)
Dustin Rhodes Promo:
Rhodes says that all The Righteous is good for is playing mind games and attacking people from behind. He says that having the Rhodes last name means that you do not run away from a fight and you always face things head-on. He knows that his father saw something in Dutch, but by continuing to mention his father's name he has crossed the line and he has just used his dad's likeness against him. Dustin says that he has always survived and proved himself and he and Guevara will do the same thing next week in the ROH Tag Team Championship match.
Madison Rayne vs Allysin Kay:
Hometown gal Madison Rayne is back in ROH with a showcase match at Galaxycon which is always fun. Early on in the match, Kay yelled at Rayne for breaking her nail, which was funny. This was a quick one, Rayne was able to get the recognition for being the hometown girl and Kay had a good showing. The most impressive thing is that Rayne did a majority of the match with her boot untied and she did not miss a beat.
Winner: Madison Rayne
Dark Order Promo:
Alex Reynolds and John Silver dressed as the Grizzled Young Veterans impresnate them making fun of them. Evil Uno tries to stop them and they continue to mock them. The Grizzled Young Veterans interrupt them as Uno hands back their scarves, Reynolds tries to tell Uno to stop feeding into them but Uno says they are better than this and walks away.
Toa Liona vs Lee Johnson:
I would have rather seen the tag team match between the Gates of Agony vs LeEJ, but unfortunately, I did not book ROH. Liona dominated the majority of this match up and he was able to get the win. Gates of Agony whether in singles or tag team action continue to dominate ROH. After the match was over Johnson slapped Liona which led Liona to drop him on his head. EJ Nduka comes out to have a face-to-face with Liona as he pays no mind to Nduka.
Winner: Toa Liona
New Japan Strong Open Weight Championships: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) vs MXM (Mansoor and Mason Madden):
Johnny TV accompanied MXM to ringside as he got a huge reaction from the Galaxy Con crowd which was nice to see. I expected Dark Order to get involved during this match to continue the feud these two teams had with each other, but they did not. MXM had a good showing as the crowd adores them, but GYV got the win to send a statement to Dark Order and the rest of the ROH locker room
Winners: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson)
Paul Wight Promo:
Very nice of our Board of Directors to make an appearance during the most important time of year for ROH. Wight is meeting with Jay Lethal to talk about his upcoming match at this year's Final Battle. QT Marshall interrupts and says that he wants a match with Lethal at the show next week. When Lethal tries to tell him no, like he did last week the two get physical with each other. Wight says he will not have this kind of behavior in his office and makes the match official between the two for next week.
As our throwback match of the night ROH showed Kenny King vs Shane Taylor from Final Battle 2021
Shane Taylor Promo:
Taylor says that his job is to make sure championships are represented in Shane Taylor's Promotions. He says that everyone in ROH will soon find out that STP is not something to mess with as they will be the faces of the ROH brand.
Sons of Texas (Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes) vs Eric Dillinger and Josh Crane:
A squash match this late into the episode… Sigh. After the match was over The Righteous came out as Dutch stormed the ring with the cowbell. Vincent tells Dutch to back up and asks Guevara and Rhodes if they want to fight tonight. He says since he is a nice guy he will let the crowd decide what they do. Vincent says it is too bad as the people in Ohio do not deserve it. In time they will ring the Sons of Texas bell until they see polka dots. Rhodes gets a chair to try to fight them as Guevara holds him back and tells him to wait until next week.
Winners: Sons of Texas (Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes)
ROH Pure Championship: Lee Moriarty vs Matt Taven:
It was a miracle that the judges for this match decided to watch this match ringside, unlike last week where they watched from the back on a monitor. I wish they would have saved this match for the pay-per-view because I think the crowd would have been a little more into it and that would have helped the match flow better. The one thing I will give Taven credit for is showing that he can hang with the Pure Division over the last couple of weeks because that is not easy.
Winner: “And Still” Lee Moriarty
Athena Promo:
Athena says she is hoping Lexy Nair is having a fun time in the Bahamas with her trip that was paid for by Athena and all the incidentals paid by Tony Khan. Athena says that everyone in ROH is scared to face her and she is looking to move past Final Battle and head straight to Japan. Starkz interrupts and says she is upset at what happened during their match earlier tonight. Athena says that she has tried to help Starkz countless times, but Starkz does not respect her. Starks says Athena is looking for an apology and she is willing to do so at Final Battle. Athena thinking this is a ply for an easy match accepted the challenge and says Starkz will lay down for her as she makes history headlining Hammerstein Ballroom.
ROH World Championship Contract Signing:
Jericho started this by not only wearing a Yankees hat but by flipping off the entire crowd. Jericho says Schiavone was diminishing his legacy by not saying he is a nine-time champion, but also forgetting the fact Jericho is the king of New York. Jericho says he should be happy he is letting Cardona step in the ring with him as he will have the biggest match of his career next week. Jericho adds there is no way he will be able to defeat Jericho as he is determined to walk out the champion. Cardona tells Jericho that people are sick of him and that everything that he says is a lie. He calls Jericho a fraud and that he does not care about ROH. He says Jericho is just using ROH to make his brand bigger, but Cardona wants to prove himself right and show that he could defeat the best by defeating Jericho in New York City. They both sign the contract as Cardona attacks Jericho and puts him through a table.
Overall:
This episode did not need to be two hours long. I understand because of the tapings that happened last week at Galaxy Con that there were a lot of matches that needed to be shown, but that could have waited until after Final Battle, or even until next year. We have five matches announced for next week's show and I assume we will have more that are put together at the last second like every ROH show usually does. Until next week folks.
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