ROH TV recap and reactions: Christopher Daniels calls out Samoa Joe

Week nine in the ROH TV revival (Apr. 27, 2023) featured a bunch of lopsided matches and a handful of promos. The most newsworthy bit was Christopher Daniels continuing his quest to win gold in Ring of Honor. His next target is Samoa Joe.

Daniels knows what it is like to be at the top of the mountain and the bottom of valleys. He’s at one of his all-time lows right now. Even though Daniels is the first grand slam champion in ROH, nothing will be handed to him. CD is swinging for the fences and challenging Joe for the ROH World Television Championship. Joe is one of the toughest SOBs that Daniels has ever competed against, but the Fallen Angel is not scared or intimidated. CD is ready to go for the TV title. Daniels appealed to Joe’s nature as a fighting champion to request a shot next week.

Daniels certainly knows how to make this match feel important. It has been ten years since they competed against one another in singles action. This should be a good one as a blast from the past.

ROH TV quick results:

Athena defeated Lady Frost. Proving Ground match. Frost put up a good fight and landed the moonsault, but Athena wisely rolled to the ropes to prevent a pinfall. When Frost tried to pull the women’s champ back toward the center of the ring, Athena popped up for a stiff strike to the jaw. Frost was knocked flat on her back for Athena to win.

The Kingdom cut a strong promo establishing their current motivation. They feel robbed of celebrating Jay Briscoe’s legacy by winning the Reach for the Sky ladder match, so Matt Taven and Mike Bennett are focused on getting revenge on every team in that contest.

Rush & Preston Vance defeated the Infantry. Perro Peligroso was a wrecking machine. He dominated the match then handed off the win to El Ingobernable Mayor. Vance placed his opponent in the corner for Rush to hit the Bull’s Horns dropkick.

Best Friends defeated Joe Ocasio & Mookie Summers. Two piledrivers to Ocasio then a Doomsday flying knee to Summers for the win.

Brian Cage defeated Leon Ruffin. Prince Nana was ringside. Ruffin used sneaky agility to hit a springboard cutter, but then he ran into a vicious clothesline. Cage pounded a powerbomb and submitted his opponent with a Cloverleaf variation.

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson defeated Sonny Kiss & Jeeves Kay. Slim J was ringside. Vincent and Dutch of the Righteous came out on stage to observe the Dark Order. The Trustbusters bust a move, then Uno and Stu cleaned house to finish with a teamwork penalty kick slam for victory.

Skye Blue defeated Diamante. Competitive bout. Diamante crushed a German suplex on the apron. She continued momentum with a dropkick in the corner. Blue grabbed the ropes to break the pinfall. Diamante lifted her opponent for a vertical suplex. Blue countered to escape for a roll-up to win. Afterward, Athena stomped on Blue’s hat to send a message that she could be next to feel the wrath of the Fallen Goddess.

Lee Moriarty defeated Rocky Romero. Big Bill Morrissey was ringside. Outside distractions helped Moriarty gain the upper hand to work Rocky’s arm. Azucar found his groove and hit a suicide dive on Bill. Moriarty blocked the referee’s point of view, so Bill chokeslammed Rocky on the apron. Moriarty pounced for a spinning heel kick to win. Later backstage, Romero challenged Moriarty to a Pure rules match.

Blake Christian defeated Gringo Loco. The Base God was at work taking slick moves from Christian. Gringo made the highlight reel himself with a flipping Lightning Spiral slam off the top turnbuckles. Christian rallied in the end for a standing Spanish Fly and springboard 450 splash out to the center of the ring for victory.

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This episode of ROH TV was not a show worth paying for. Every match was cold without build. The majority were Dark level fodder. That’s not to say the action was boring. The wrestlers did their job in the roles they were given. The lackluster episode falls more on the shoulders of the Bookerman of the Year. At least, there were promos to set up some fire for next week. The watch list would be two matches with Lee Moriarty versus Rocky Romero and Blake Christian versus Gringo Loco. One was more on the technical side, while the other was flashy moves. The fresh action ran for 66 minutes, then ROH closed it out with a classic Pure title fight between Samoa Joe and James Gibson (aka Jamie Noble).

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