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ROH Episode 85 Review: “Atlantis Jr. Doesn’t Even Go Here”
On the AEW pay-per-view in a couple of days, we will see two ROH Championships defended on the wrong show… Sigh. What is even more scary about that is this can potentially be the final ROH show with Briscoe as our champion as we enter the Nueve era. Let’s hope that’s not true though!
Emergency MEM:
Lexy Nair and Billie Starkz reviewed the list of things they needed to get before the big celebration. Athena interrupts and cuffs Nair to her wrist. Athena says after last week she needs to make sure Nair is protected from Abadon. Starkz complains that Athena only cares about Nair and not her to which Athena says that Nair is a fragile TV personality whereas Starkz is a wrestler and she can defend herself. Starkz storms off and Athena and Nair are interrupted by Lady Frost. Frost says that Athena is terrified and this is pathetic. Athena says she is not scared and challenges Frost to a Proving Grounds Match next week. Frost accepts and Athena stands there nervous regretting her decision.
NJPW Strong Open Weight Championship: Gabe Kidd vs Anthony Henry:
Henry announced a couple of days ago that unfortunately he got injured in this match and he is out for the remainder of 2024, which is unfortunate. Kidd cuts a promo in the middle of the match saying that no one on the ROH roster can touch him and he is the best and the madest person in wrestling today. Kidd also attacked Beef during the match as he was shouting that is my cousin do not hurt him, glad to know the family ties are still intact. Henry put up a good fight especially fighting while injured, but the champion retains.
Winner: “And Still” Gabe Kidd
Brandon Cutler vs Katsuyori Shibata
Cutler cut a promo before the match saying that this match is sponsored by the EVPS The Young Bucks and we are grateful to have them for keeping the ROH spirits. He says that in the spirit of all the EVPS hopefully retaining their titles this weekend he calls out any ROH champion past or present to a match. Shibata answers adheres to the Code of Honor and the match begins. This match did not last long, Shibata got the win to gain momentum for his match this weekend.
Winner: Katsuyori Shibata
Brian Cage Promo:
Cage says that he is a machine and he has tunnel vision for becoming one of the best wrestlers on the planet. Brian Cage says he does not belong here and he has taken something that does not belong with him. Cage says that in 48 hours he is going to fix that and become the new ROH TV Champion.
Billie Starkz vs Ella Elizabeth:
Commentary noted that Starkz had a different pep in her step and she did not have a lot of energy after the interaction with Athena earlier on in the show. Athena and Nair also did not accompany Starkz to the ring for this match which was also interesting. Starkz gets the win and she shakes Elizabeth’s hand at the end for “the code of honor.”
Winner: Billie Starkz
Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty and Shane Taylor) vs The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean):
This match was a lot of fun. Taylor was talking a lot of smack throughout the entire match to mess with Bravo and Dean and it worked. Moriarty hit a bridge-styled pin to get the win over Bravo and he was shocked. The commentary team did a great job playing into the fact that this is the second week in a row they have lost. Maybe they are heading to the dark side?
Winners: Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty and Shane Taylor)
Dark Order Promo:
Evil Uno says that the Dark Order is finally on a roll. Uno got a big singles win and Reynolds and Silver also got a big tag team win. Uno says that now it is time to focus on the trio's titles when they are interrupted by the Iron Savages and Jacked Jameson. They say they were told last week right before the match that Jameson would be wrestling and they were not prepared. They say that if they ever wrestled a traditional six-man tag match the Dark Order would lose. Reynolds says they have been in the position where they have been and they are going to crumble under the pressure. The two teams say they will see each other in the ring soon.
ROH Women’s TV Championship: Red Velvet vs Diamante:
This match was interesting. From what I expected from these two it was more technical than I thought it was going to be and at points, it did not get going until the later part of the match. Although I firmly believe that the Women’s and Men’s TV Championship should be defended every week, I do not expect these matches to end in a DQ. I would have rather them build this feud a little more than have a NO DQ match on Zero Hour this weekend.
Winner: “And Still” Red Velvet
Lance Archer vs Sam Beale:
58 minutes to get to our first squash match. Record?
Winner: Lance Archer
The Infantry Promo:
Bravo says he feels something is off and Dean tries to reassure him. Shane Taylor interrupts by saying although The Infantry is one of the most impressive teams in ROH/AEW they have gotten nowhere. They have been able to show everyone that they can wrestle, but not rumble. He asks them when are they going to stop being good soldiers and join his team. He tells Adora he is a man of his word and has not forgotten their conversation and walks off. All three of them look at each other confused as they say they need to focus on what is next.
As I reported yesterday they showed Bryan Danielson vs Kenta from 2006 (I was five years old) which was cool to see with the original commentary!
ROH World Heavyweight Championship Proving Grounds Match: Mark Briscoe vs Josh Woods:
Mark Sterling cuts a promo by saying he is tired of everyone saying the Premier Athletes suck and says the people of Toledo and the entire Conglomeration suck. He tries to get the fans to chant the Premier Athletes rule and that is when Mark Briscoe appears. This match was fine, Woods did his part by looking like a fierce challenger as Briscoe got momentum before his match on Saturday.
Winner: “And Still” Mark Briscoe:
Overall:
The one thing that I do not like about them showing the old matches in the episode is that it ruins the pace of the episode. The episode was flowing nicely and they had the 25-minute match in the middle that felt like it stalled and was a tad awkward especially not with the newer commentary behind it. Besides that, this episode had some storytelling behind it and there was only one squash on the whole episode! Now let’s just hope Jericho isn’t our champion by this time next week.
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