ROH TV recap & reactions (July 13, 2023): Matt Sydal’s spirit quest

Matt Sydal is on a spirit quest to fulfill his destiny of winning a championship in this new era of ROH. His journey took him to week twenty of the ROH TV revival (July 13, 2023) on Honor Club to challenge for the ROH World Six-Man Championship.

Sydal confronted Brian Cage with claims that the Machine couldn’t beat him one-on-one in ROH. Cage laughed it off, and that led to to a six-man title shot proposal. Prince Nana told Sydal to find two partners.

The elders in Sydal’s visions told him to recruit Christopher Daniels and Darius Martin as his teammates.

The confidence and positivity in Sydal’s words were nice, but now it was time to put up or shut up against the Embassy in the main event. The style was high flying versus power. The challengers pulled out a few dramatic pinfalls close to winning, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

In the end, Cage escaped an inside cradle to explode for a discus lariat. The Drill Claw on Sydal secured the win. The Embassy remain champions. Back to the vision board for Sydal.

ROH TV quick results:

Big Bill Morrissey defeated Serpentico. The masked man used his speed to survive. It was only a matter of time before Bill smashed him to bits. A huge chokeslam finished the job.

Athena defeated Ava Lawless. Once Athena had enough fooling around, she upped her aggression to maul her opponent and win via crossface submission. Afterward, Athena smashed Lawless’ face into the ROH women’s title belt.

Vincent, Dutch, & Stu Grayson defeated Levi Knight, Michael Allen Richard Clark, & Evan Rivers. Evil Uno brought out a steel chair to watch the match. The Righteous dominated to finish with the Dark Order teamwork windmill slam. Afterward, they taunted Uno to enter the ring. Uno shockingly hit one of the jobbers with the chair. He shouted at Grayson wondering if that was violent enough. Uno exited alone telling Stu that he knows where he belongs.

Leyla Hirsch defeated Bambi Hall. Hirsch overcame the size difference to escape a backpack stunner and counter for a German suplex. That led to an armbar victory.

ROH introduced an eliminator tournament to determine the TV title challenger for Samoa Joe at the Death Before Dishonor PPV on July 21. The four-man field includes Dalton Castle versus Tony Nese and Shane Taylor versus Shawn Dean as the matchups. (Full details here.)

ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament semifinal: Dalton Castle defeated Tony Nese. Castle used peacock power and help from The Boys to overcome trifling from Mark Sterling and Ari Daivari. Castle won via Bang-a-rang.

ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament semifinal: Shane Taylor defeated Shawn Dean. Taylor roughed Dean up with body shots. Dean showed fighting spirit to rally, but Taylor was too much to handle. A running punch put Dean flat on his back for the pin.

The tournament final of Castle versus Taylor takes place next week on ROH TV.

Matt Taven & Mike Bennett defeated The Boys. Brent Tate and Brandon Tate put up a spirited effort, however, the Kingdom kept their composure to gain control in the end. Taven and Bennett dusted off the Rock Star Supernova powerbomb jumping Russian leg sweep combo to win.

This episode of ROH TV was on the shorter side and had more mismatches than usual. I like the quick appeal of the tournament, although, the timing makes it look slapped together with one week remaining before the Death Before Dishonor PPV. The Sydal promos and tournament matches did build quick interest to get engaged in those outcomes. I’ll gladly take that simple setup over cold matches.

The cream of the crop watchlist for this episode is The Embassy versus Matt Sydal, Christopher Daniels, & Darius Martin, Big Bill Morrissey versus Serpentico, and Dalton Castle versus Tony Nese. The main event title bout had entertaining action with near falls to believe an upset in the making. Bill and Serpentico had a fun, classic David versus Goliath match, except the giant won. Castle and Nese meshed well together with their styles. Plus, Nese’s group training bit with the fans was amusing.

Shane Taylor was the top standout on this show. With the motivation of a title shot, Taylor handled business with a chip on his shoulder. It was the kind of win that opens eyes and makes him look like a legit challenge for Samoa Joe to overcome. That is if Taylor can beat Castle next week to earn the PPV match. Even if Taylor comes up short, he’ll still make Castle look better in victory.

Share your thoughts on the latest ROH TV episode. Who were the standout performers?