ROH HITS & MISSES 7/29: Women of Honor – Sakai vs. Wolf, Rose vs. Leon, Klein vs. Karen Q. vs. Purrazzo, Young & Bruiser

HITS

Women of Honor: I think it’s a positive that ROH commits to doing WOH periodically for an entire hour. Every wrestler has to start or get air time from somewhere. I like that ROH gives these ladies a chance to shine and get exposure in front of their TV audience and not just their YouTube channel.

Sumie Sakai vs. Kris Wolf: This was a solid match and almost was my favorite of the three WOH matches in this episode. I’m not very familiar with Sakai or Wolf to be perfectly honest but in watching them, I got the feeling that this was a legit fight with two ladies both wanting to get the victory. Neither held anything back during this one. It was hard hitting and intense. I mentioned not knowing much about either of these ladies. Ian Riccaboni did a great job talking about Kris Wolf’s story. The fans in the building definitely appreciated the match these two put on. Kris Wolf gets the victory to a nice applause and streamers at the end. Solid opening and enjoyable match.

Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser: Young and Bruiser are brilliant. Young comes out after match one and says, “I realize this is an episode of Women of Honor but Bruiser, don’t you think this episode could use a little injection of testosterone?” What a great line by a heel and the last real man as he takes a dump on Women of Honor. Young then proceeds to tell us it’s now been 36 days since Jay Lethal has been seen on ROH TV. Young then once again declares that Lethal will never be seen on ROH TV again. The angle and feud continues to build without Lethal appearing on TV. As I’ve said for a few weeks now, I like what they’re doing with Young and Lethal and look forward to it playing out even more as we proceed.

Recaps: Good job by ROH of keeping everyone up to date on the current scene of things while they aired an episode of WOH. Bully Ray & The Briscoes are shown backstage having a heated discussion or motivational one I should say. The Briscoes & Bully Ray are trying to refocus and take out The Young Bucks and Dalton Castles & The Boys. The mystery of Shane Taylor attacking Josh Goods and now Mikey Webb is also brought up. Kenny King is shown and he briefly talks about his upcoming match against Kushida for the TV title. These were all quick segments within the recap to help remind us where things stand.

Kelly Klein vs. Karen Q. vs. Deonna Purrazzo: Once again, we got a good bit of the backstory about Klein, Purrazzo, and Karen Q. These three had great chemistry throughout the match. Purrazzo and Karen Q. did a lot of double teaming on the more powerful Klein. I wouldn’t classify Klein as a big wrestler but she has a big presence when compared to Purrazzo and Karen Q. In the moments during the match when Purrazzo is going one on one with Klein, I was very impressed with Purrazzo. Her chops on to Klein were brutal. The finish was surprising but that’s not a bad thing. After Klein worked over Purrazzo with some big-time knees to the head leaving Purrazzo stunned, Karen Q hits Klein in the knees which knocks Klein out of the ring. Karen Q then rolls up Purrazzo and Karen Q gets the victory. Solid and enjoyable main event and the best match of the hour.

Promoting Next Week’s Two-out-of-Three Falls: After the main event, we get a plug for next week’s 2 out of three falls match between Cody and Christopher Daniels. I thought this was great. You don’t want your audience forgetting that next week this will be airing. This is a solid plug for it at the end of this week’s ROH TV.

MISSES

Jenny Rose vs. Mandy Leon: I liked the back story that they presented before the match. I’d assume that some members of the audience don’t know the back story that Leon’s first match was against Jenny Rose. I felt like Leon and Rose were moving at three quarters speed and there were a few hesitations during portions of the match, especially the early going. This is not to say that there weren’t some nice moments. Leon hit a nice cannon ball on the floor on to Rose. Rose also hit Leon on the floor with a nice DDT. Also, the surfboard maneuver and heels to the back by Rose was impressive. The match ended when Jenny Rose hits her finisher on Leon and Rose gets the victory. I should also mention even though I wasn’t into this one that the crowd was into it and they seemed to enjoy it. Not the best match for me and that’s why it’s a miss but there were some good moments in it.

Final Thoughts…

As I said at the start of this, I think it’s great that ROH gives WOH an entire episode periodically to show what they can do. I thought the women all did a good job. I may not have been high on all three of the matches but in all of the matches tonight the ladies gave it their all. Additionally, good job by ROH by keeping their storylines alive this week and plugging next week’s show. Next week’s two-out-of-three falls match with Cody and Daniels should be a good one.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 7/22: Kushida vs. White for the ROH TV title, Daniels accepts Cody’s challenge, Six-Man Mayhem, Young Bucks & Page

Mike Mills is the PWTorch.com ROH TV Hits and Misses Specialist, providing his point of view on ROH TV weekly. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter.