This week’s ROH was taped the day before Forbidden Door, and because of that, there was a lot of New Japan participation on the show. Thus I am breaking my usual ROH reviewing rule, and reviewing both the matches featured in the preview, as well as all of the matches featuring New Japan talent. With that in mind, I also decided to take a look at another New Japan vs. AEW match that was featured on Dynamite the night before this episode aired:

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley
AEW Dynamite #195 – Hamilton, ONT – 6.28.2023

Allegedly, Ishii was going to face Danielson, but Danielson broke his arm at Forbidden Door and could not compete. It isn’t often Moxley gets somebody on the AEW roster capable of inflicting the same amount of damage onto them, but Ishii did just that. Even when Moxley bit him, Ishii wasn’t afraid to bite him back. When Moxley had wiped out Ishii on the floor with a suicide dive and his Blackpool Combat Club teammates Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta began approaching Ishii while he is laying ringside, so Eddie Kingston came down to ringside to prevent Claudio and Yuta from encroaching on this bout. When Ishii gets back in the ring, he absorbs Moxley’s forearm strikes while backing him across the ring. He knocks out Moxley with one forearm strike and then takes him down with a superplex. Moxley pays back Ishii with a rolling forearm strike and a GSP, earning him a very close nearfall. Ishii flips off Moxley as he throws down the hammer and nail elbows. Each of them kick out of lariats and knee strikes for one, and crumple mid-ring when they throw lariats at the same time. Meanwhile, Claudio and Eddie have been staring each other down continuously this entire time. After busting each other open with headbutts, Moxley droops Ishii with a Paradigm Shift for two. Ishii delivers a double underhook DDT of his own before landing another lariat. Ishii pops up from an Ace Crusher and lands a Sliding D for two. Moxley weaves out of a brainbuster attempt and knees Ishii before dropping him with the Death Rider. He is too slow on the cover, and Ishii is able to get his shoulder up at two. A curb stomp and Death Rider gets Moxley the pin at 15:10. This was two dudes just beating each other up. Most of the story going on here involved two people who weren’t in the ring, which is strange. If you like watching dude take turns hitting each other hard, you’ll love this. I can watch one of those now and again, but I feel like I’ve seen both of these guys do this same match a bunch of times, and this one didn’t have any story to ground it. ***¼

Toronto, ONT – 6.29.2023

Commentary is provided by Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman.

The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)

Evil Uno is in the Dark Order’s corner and Stu Grayson is in the Righteous’ corner. Not only does Grayson distract Silver so that Vincent can drive him back first into the apron, but he sets up Uno to get caught with a steel chair so that referee Rick Knox would eject him from ringside. Silver eventually suplexed Vincent to escape their grasp, and Reynolds ferociously attacked both members of the Righteous once tagged in. He sends Vincent crashing into the barricades and tornado DDTs’ Dutch onto the floor. Silver follows that up with a double stomp off of the ring apron. Dutch pulls Silver out of the ring when he isn’t looking and sends him crashing into the stairs. Vincent distracts Knox so that Grayson can crack Reynolds with a running pump knee. Vincent then small packages Reynolds for the pin at 5:31. This was a well executed chapter of the story. The Dark Order brought out the ferocity The Righteous accused them of not having, and Uno came a bit closer to striking Grayson, but not just quite. Strong stuff all around. **½

Diamante vs. Leila Grey

This is a rematch from last week, which Grey won thanks to an assist from Mark Sterling, who is in Grey’s corner once again for this contest. His distraction allows for Grey to knock Diamante off of the ring apron and to the floor to turn the match in her favor. Diamante comes back with a Chaos Theory for two. Grey goes to the apron and snaps Diamante’s neck on the ropes when she approaches, following up with a side effect for two. Diamante German suplexes Grey into the corner and runs in with a dropkick to the chest. Sterling places Grey’s foot on the bottom rope, and Diamante grabs him by his suit jacket to make him pay. Grey surprises her from behind, but Diamante is able to maneuver her into a Hero’s Welcome for the pin at 6:04. This was a totally solid, fine way for Diamante to get her revenge on Grey and move on. Diamante seems to be quietly gaining momentum, and if that means a title match with Athena down the line, I’m for it. **¼

Backstage, Lexy Nair asks ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli what’s next for him. Claudio says he doesn’t hear his name or the ROH World title mentioned much in ROH lately, so he’s beginning to think nobody wants to step up. He’s interrupted by Chuck Taylor who tells Claudio that he doesn’t like him, and that he has beaten him before. He’s ready to fight, and leaves Claudio alone to give it some thought. Claudio decides to grant Taylor a Proving Ground match, but waives the stipulation that a time limit draw would earn Taylor a title match. If he really wants a title shot, Taylor has to beat him.

ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championship
The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi)

The Mogul Embassy have been champions since 12.10.2022 and this is their fourth defense. Prince Nana is in their corner. With the order in which the matches aired, you could say LIJ earned this match by defeating The United Empire at Forbidden Door. Shingo and BUSHI also were NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions with former LIJ member EVIL. No one LIJ member can take down Brian Cage, so they work together to roll him into a double dropkick from Takahashi and BUSHI. Kaun and Liona knock BUSHI and Takagi off of the apron before Cage deadlift suplexes Takahashi into the ring from the second rope. Lion and Kaun pummel Takahashi until Takahashi counters a spin-out slam from Liona into a tornado DDT and tags out to Takagi. A jab and clothesline combo knock Kaun to the corner. Cage comes in to assist Kaun, but Takagi ends up dropping them both with a Complete Shot/DDT combo. Kaun slips out of a Made In Japan attempt and gives Takagi a backcracker. He fakes out Kaun and DDT’s him before tagging out to BUSHI, who enters with a top rope dropkick to Kaun. Takagi and Takahashi assist with some offense before BUSHI drops Kaun with a neckbreaker for two. Kaun blocks a running MX and nails BUSHI with a clothesline. Cage double clotheslines Takagi and Takahashi, and then powerbombs/fallaway slams them both at the same time. BUSHI surprises Cage with a faceful of black mist behind the referee’s back. Despite this, the Gates of Agony wiped him out with a double reverse waterwheel slam to get the pin at 7:46. The Embassy had been talking about a lack of competition, and tonight they got it. LIJ made them fight for their victory. Defeating LIJ is a nice feather in the cap for the Mogul Embassy, who continue to look more cohesive with each outing. Brian Cage vs Shingo could be fun as hell. ***

El Desperado vs. Willie Mack

I was surprised to see the crowd so into Mack and not Desperado. They were into all of his offense and showboating and rooted against Desperado when he attacked Mack’s left knee. Desperado gave a booing fan a hearty shrug to show his apathy towards their jeering. Even though Mack’s knee buckled when Desperado whipped him across the ring, he found the power to pop-up Desperado into a forearm smash when Desperado charged at him in the corner. Mack schoolboys Desperado to avoid a stretch muffler, and weaved out of a Pinche Loco. He forearm smashed Desperado before trying a brainbuster, but Desperado wiggles out and kicks Mack in the knee. Mack however blocks another Pinche Loco with a high kick to the head. Mack backdrops his way out of a third one, but Desperado ducks a running forearm from Mack and backslides him into the Pinche Loco for the pin at 9:04. I’ve always been a Mack fan, but this match made me believe he could be a genuine player in ROH. He’s great on offense, defense, has a ton of charisma, and connects with the crowd – what more could you want? It helps that Desperado was more than willing to play against the antagonistic crowd and attack Mack’s leg fiercely. It’s a shame this won’t be seen by more people. ***½

Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta) vs. House of Torture (SHO & Yujiro Takahashi)

I question why they would bother flying SHO and Takahashi over just to be on ROH. They didn’t wrestle on Forbidden Door, they weren’t on the CMLL/New Japan show two days later, so unless the HoT just LOVE the U.S. I do not understand this choice. They stuck to classic cheating tactics like eye rakes and sneak attacks to keep Beretta isolated, but he finally tagged out to Romero when he took down Takahashi with a tornado DDT. He bounces between them in separate corners with Forever Clotheslines. He double stomps SHO’s lower back as Beretta drapes him on the top rope, but Takahashi shoves him off of the top rope to stop them from giving him Strong Zero. Takahashi’s pimp cane results in a distraction, giving SHO the opportunity for a spear and powerbomb onto his knees. Takahashi had Beretta pinned with a super fisherman’s buster until Romero shoved SHO onto them. Romero wipes out SHO with a suicide dive, giving him and Beretta room to hit Strong Zero on Takahashi for the pin at 8:53. With no Dick Togo or other over-the-top methods of cheating, this was far more palatable than most HoT matches. Takahashi also contributed more than usual; I couldn’t tell you the last time he used a move off of the top turnbuckle. As you can tell, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Orange Cassidy makes his near weekly appearance, saving his CHAOS pals from a post-match HoT beatdown. **¾

Christopher Daniels, Darius Martin & Action Andretti vs. The United Empire (Jeff Cobb, TJP & Kyle Fletcher)

This is TJP’s first ROH match since 2012. Cobb is the difference maker for his team, pulling Daniels out of the ring and ramming his shoulder into the ring post to turn the match in the Empire’s favor. Daniels evades a facewash kick from TJP in the corner and tosses him overhead with an exploder suplex. Martin and Andretti ran roughshod at the beginning of the match and did so again once Daniels tagged in Martin. TJP halted Andretti with a gamengiri in the corner. Fletcher also cracked him with a corner gamengiri before feeding him to Cobb for a Spin Cycle. TJP landed the Mamba Splash which Daniels and Martin broke up the following pin. They got rid of Cobb and Fletcher before Martin and Andretti dropped TJP with a double uranage for the pin at 8:13. It’s interesting to me that TJP, the only member of the Empire in this trio to currently hold a championship, was pinned both here and at Forbidden Door. What’s up with that? I’m also surprised the Empire, who are the more established trio, lost the match. Daniels being in this match instead of Fox seemed deliberate. Either way, this was a good time, with Martin especially wowing the Toronto crowd. **¾

Jerry Lynn addresses The Kingdom and Maria Kanellis-Bennett backstage. Taven butters up Jerry while also trashing Stokely Hathaway. Mike Bennett antagonizes Lynn, reminding Jerry that he retired Jerry at Final Battle 2012. Jerry not only remembers it, he remembers that Maria was involved. Because of this, he puts The Kingdom in a six-person tag team match next week against The Infantry and Trish Adora. Maria is not happy about this. That will be next week’s main event.

ROH Women’s World Championship Proving Ground Match
Athena vs. KC Spinelli

If Spinelli is victorious, or lasts 10 minutes, she will earn a future ROH Women’s World title match. She’s a Toronto native, so the crowd is firmly behind her. She got in a really good showing, but hair pulling from and barrage of clubbing forearms to her shoulders from Athena brought her to the mat. Athena lands a running forearm smash to get the pin at 2:41. She shotgun dropkicks Spinelli into the ring frame and drives her into the ring steps with her knees before heading up the ramp. More of the usual good stuff from Athena.

ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chuck Taylor

If Taylor is victorious, he will earn a future ROH World title match. Taylor was not fibbing earlier when he said he had defeated Claudio. He defeated Claudio in IWA: Mid South in May of 2008, and then in the main event of EVOLVE 3 two years later. Claudio did however win their first singles match in October of 2007. Taylor begins as the aggressor, pummeling Claudio in the corner before bringing him to the floor and slamming his face into the ring steps. He delivers Sole Food back in the ring. Back on the floor, Claudio reverses an Irish whip, sending Taylor crashing into the barricades and then uppercutting him into the timekeeper’s area. When Taylor tries to enter the ring, Claudio boots him back out, throws him face first into the empty commentator’s table three times, and DDTing him on a chair in the front row. Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta come out and give Taylor the encouragement to come back into the ring. When Claudio tries kicking him out of the ring again, this time, Taylor hip tosses Claudio to the outside and follows with a suicide dive. He then applies a Koji Clutch inside of the ring until Claudio gets his foot on the bottom rope. Claudio gives him some uppercuts in the corner. Taylor cuts him off with a Brodie Knee and gets two with a quick piledriver. Claudio catches Taylor with Swiss Death. When Taylor kicks out, Claudio hooks him for the Neutralizer. Taylor counters with a jackknife pin for two. Claudio shuts him down with a lariat and the Ricola Bomb for the pin at 5:28. It’s rare to see Taylor in a singles match these days, and he made the most of the opportunity. He kept the same aggression he had against The Blackpool Combat Club when they wrestled in a trios match and had Claudio knocked for a loop because of it. I don’t know if they made me believe Chuck was going to win, but they absolutely made me want to see Chuck win. If Romero is going to be around more, and Chuck gets a few more singles bouts because of it, this match has me looking forward to those. ***¼

There is nothing must see on this show, but the New Japan involvement made it very fresh, and there wasn’t anything bad from what I watched. It’s gonna be tough going back to the same old ROH next week.