Ring of Honor Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and ROH Highlights from March 30

Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of Ring of Honor TV on March 30.

This week's show was taped before and after Wednesday's episode of AEW Dynamite, so we got to see the men and women of ROH in front of a big audience for the first time since it returned to streaming.

This also served as the go-home show before Friday's Supercard of Honor pay-per-view, which can be streamed here on Bleacher Report and the B/R App.

Several segments were devoted to hyping Friday's show, but we also saw some great action along the way. Let's take a look at what happened during Thursday's show.

The first match of the go-home show featured Ari Daivari and Tony Nese taking on Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher of Aussie Open. As always, Smart Mark Sterling was with his clients.

Daivari and Fletcher started for their teams, but it didn't take long for the more powerful members of their teams to tag in and have a standoff. Nese showed off his muscles, but Davis showed off his strength by refusing to be knocked down by a few shoulder tackles.

Both of these teams could be classified as heels, but Aussie Open clearly had the crowd's support throughout the match. Nese and Daivari kept Fletcher isolated for a long time with double-team offense, but they weren't able to keep him away from Davis forever.

Nese came within a hair of winning with a textbook 450 splash, but after Fletcher kicked out and Davis helped him take control again, they finished off The Premier Athlete with their finisher for the win. This was a solid match from two teams that seem to be a priority for ROH.

Davis and Fletcher will compete in the tag title ladder match at the PPV, so this was a great way to give them a little momentum heading into the show.

Winners: Aussie Open

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Mark Sterling's introduction for Nese and Daivari was hilarious. He should do this for every match. 
• If you saw separate pictures of Davis and Fletcher, you would never think they would make a good tag team. It just works somehow. 
• Daivari didn't have the $350 undershirt this time. Maybe he only does that when he teams with Slim J. 
• The way Fletcher slingshotted Nese into the ring so Davis could hit an uppercut was a thing of beauty. 
• Sterling was very verbal during this bout. You could hear him directing traffic at ringside. 

Miyu Yamashita and Shazza McKenzie met in the second match of the night. This was McKenzie's debut for the promotion and Yamashita's first appearance since the brand relaunched.

The Japanese star took control early, but the Australian was able to turn the tables on her rather quickly. The crowd was behind Yamashita, but there were a lot of moments of complete silence from the fans because neither of these women are well-known to American audiences yet.

They had a decent match, but it didn't feel like they had much chemistry. It might be because they aren't used to working with each other, but whatever it was, it felt like it slowed the pace of the match more than intended.

They picked up a bit as they went, but they didn't have a ton of time to work. Yamashita picked up the win with a brutal kick to the head.

Winner: Miyu Yamashita

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

• McKenzie has made a name for herself on the indie scene, but this was her ROH debut. Not getting a televised entrance kind of made the outcome of this one obvious. 
• McKenzie hit a northern lights suplex that looked great but almost ended with Yamashita having her head spiked into the mat. They made the rotation at the last second.
• Yamashita's springboard kick was nice. 

Prince Nana accompanied Brian Cage, Toa Liona and Kaun to the ring for a trios match against Dak Draper, Arjin Singh and JD Griffey.

Cage and Draper, the two most powerful members of their respective teams, started things off. After Cage manhandled Draper with a powerslam, both men tagged out to Liona and Griffey respectively.

The Embassy weren't getting paid by the hour, so they made quick work of their opponents to get the win and keep themselves fresh for their title defense on Friday.

This wasn't much, but what we saw was fine.

Winners: The Embassy

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• The announcers called Cage the centerpiece of The Embassy, which might be unfortunate if he ends up leaving when his contract is up soon. 
• The way Cage threw Draper around was so impressive. Draper is about 6'7" and Cage was picking him up like he was a cruiserweight. 
• Draper has a lot of good qualities. With some work, ROH could make him into a star. 

Charlie Bravo and Shawn Dean were out first to take on AR Fox and Metalik in some tag team action.

Both of these teams are babyfaces, so everyone observed the Code of Honor before Metalik and Dean got started with a quick exchange of strikes and takedowns.

All four of these men are as agile and physical as they come, so this match started at 100 mph and never slowed down for a second.

This is the kind of match you could put on any card because it's going to get the crowd in the right mindset. It had great action and gave the fans plenty of reasons to pop. It didn't need a feud or even a heel to boo. It just needed to be good, and it was.

The Infantry had the experience advantage as partners, but Metalik and Fox were able to pull off the victory.

Winners: Metalik and AR Fox

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Metalik's ring jacket was cool. He always has great gear, but once he took the jacket off, he looked like a bottle of mustard. 
• Fox is like a video game character that came to life. He does things that don't seem possible and makes them look easy. The way he can just pop up to his feet and nail a kick with total precision is amazing. 
• Metalik's moonsault is one of the best in the business today. 

Since this show was taped on Wednesday, Athena put the Women's Championship on the line against Emi Sakura just 48 hours before she will defend it against Yuka Sakazaki.

After an initial salvo from Sakura, the champ took control and began to dominate her opponent with stiff offense and power moves. She also took out Mei Segura at ringside, but that gave Sakura a chance to take control again.

Sakura took too much time climbing to the top rope and wound up getting tripped. Athena unleashed several kicks while she hung from the ropes before beating her into the mat with a brutal series of strikes.

These two really brought their A-game, and the crowd responded with chants of "This is awesome." After a fun and energetic fight that saw both women hit all of their big spots, Athena scored the win to retain her women's title by submission.

Winner: Athena

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• This win marked 34 wins in a row for Athena. 
• It's weird seeing Athena without an ornate ring jacket. 
• Sakura knocking Athena off the apron with a crossbody through the ropes was a great spot. 
• If we had gotten this version of Athena in WWE, Ember Moon would have been a huge star. She is so good as a heel. 
• The delayed double underhook backbreaker from Sakura was awesome. Athena was balancing upside down for a long time. 
• Athena using a cartwheel as a counter actually made sense, and that is not something you can say about most cartwheels. 

Before these four teams meet at Supercard of Honor in the Reach For the Sky Ladder Match, Rush, Dralistico, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett took on Rey Fenix, Penta El Zero Miedo and Dante and Darius Martin in an eight-man tag match.

Several different styles were represented here, but since both teams had some high-flyers, we saw a lot of exciting spots sprinkled throughout the match.

Penta and Taven started things off after Dante tagged out before making any contact. Once they got going, all eight men ended up getting involved almost immediately. It gave us a little preview of what to expect at the PPV once they are all fighting each other instead of teaming up.

It's hard to say which team had the upper hand because everyone was participating the whole time. It felt like we saw the momentum shift every few seconds.

While this match was tons of fun because it included a bunch of high spots, it was also hard to follow who was legal on each team at times. Rush was eventually able to get the win for his team.

Winners: The Kingdom and LFI

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Penta loves that Joker gear. 
• We never got to see Jose The Assistant vs. Alex Abrahantes in a Tuxedo match in AEW. Maybe we will get it in ROH. 
• Taven slapping Penta with a glove and then immediately getting leveled by a kick was hilarious. 
• Top Flight are going to be tag team champions by the end of the year. It might be in AEW or ROH, but it's going to happen somewhere. 

Two days before he faces Katsuyori Shibata, Wheeler Yuta put the Pure Championship on the line against Leon Ruffin. Dean Malenko, BJ Whitmer and Jerry Lynn served as the judges.

They observed the Code of Honor, but Yuta was big-timing Ruffin while doing it. They locked up and started with a nice exchange of holds before Yuta nailed a stiff chop to knock Ruffin down.

Pure matches are always a great display of wrestling ability, and this was no exception. Both of these guys put on a great show.

This match did not last long and ended with Yuta forcing Ruffin to tap out. Everything we saw was great, and it makes sense to keep Yuta healthy for the PPV by not having him go too long, but this match would have been amazing with five more minutes.

Winner: Wheeler Yuta

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Yuta does a lot of little things as a heel. The way he shook the judges' hands and acted all humble before acting like a jerk to his opponent was great. 
• It's always kind of funny when guys who are smaller try to flex into the camera, especially when they are a heel like Yuta who knows he isn't a big dude. 
• Ruffin being able to carry Yuta on his back in a submission and walk to the ropes was an impressive display of leg strength. 
• The way Yuta forces his opponents to use their rope breaks so he can then use the ropes as part of his submissions is such a great heel tactic. 
• Ruffin is still small, but he has put on a little muscle since leaving WWE. It makes him a little easier to take seriously as a fighter. 

Less than two weeks after facing Kenny Omega on AEW Dynamite, El Hijo Del Vikingo was back in one of Tony Khan's rings for a match against Blake Christian.

The announcers went out of their way to call this a dream match of high-flyers and almost mocked TK for giving this away on Honor Club instead of saving it for a PPV.

They started with a fast-paced but relatively tame exchange just to test each other's speed. They even shook hands again after coming to a stalemate. Vikingo and Christian may have been opponents, but it didn't feel like there was any animosity on either side of the ring. This was just about pride.

As great as Vikingo was, Christian did not let himself be outshined. He looked just as good with everything he did in this match, so they quickly earned a "This is awesome" chant from the crowd.

If you need every move in your pro wrestling to make sense, this match is not going to be for you. If you like high-flying action, you will be overserved watching this bout. The ginger grappler came close, but Vikingo was able to earn the victory with a brutal hurricanrana.

Winner: El Hijo Del Vikingo

Grade: A

Notable Moments and Observations

• Vikingo hit a running shooting star press like it was nothing to him. 
• There aren't even names for some of the things Vikingo can do. He hit a springboard move that somehow combined a senton and a front flip to the outside of the ring. 
• "An inside-out twisting springboard 450 splash from the middle rope" is quite the mouthful for the announcers to have to say whenever he hits that move. He should just come up with a name for it. 
• Both guys landing on their feet after backflipping off the top rope while holding onto each other was an incredible spot. 

Two longtime ROH stars and veterans went to war in the main event when Eddie Kingston took on Christopher Daniels.

Both men showed they clearly respect each other while observing the Code of Honor. They started with a simple lockup before running the ropes and trying to knock each other down with shoulder tackles.

The longer it went, the more physical it became. Daniels even resorted to tying Kingston up in the ropes so he could yank back on his neck with more pressure.

This was a back-and-forth fight that saw both men take a lot of damage. Kingston might have a big match against Claudio Castagnoli for the title this week, but he didn't let that stop him from giving 100 percent.

Daniels put up a good fight, but The Mad King was too much for him. Kingston nailed a backfist to score the pin and the win.

Winner: Eddie Kingston

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• The dueling chants are always fun. The ROH crowd loves both of these guys, so the chants started before the match had even been going for a minute. 
• Daniels being able to perform at this level after working as long as he has with this kind of style is a testament to his skill. He probably has sore knees after every match, but the fact that he can still hit a picture-perfect moonsault at 53 is impressive. 
• Kingston always puts a little extra on his strikes. Even a simple palm strike to the sternum from him looks dangerous. 
• The way Daniels put his straps back up after realizing how much his chest hurt following a series of chops was funny.