Athena vs. Mercedes Martinez

"This match honestly should've been saved for a bigger show in CT (even Collision prior to the taping, not immediately after the show went off the air) & should've had Mercedes win the belt back to get even with Athena & use the "The reason why Athena won was because it was Texas so logically Mercedes would win in her home state of Connecticut" to set up the Rubber Match at a "neutral location" PPV. Plus I hated the finish & once again Tony couldn't follow up in the weeks after. You think Mercedes would just accept an "L" like that in front of her People? She should've been hell bent on Billie in the weeks after, instead nothing except waiting for Stat to Drop the TV Title to resume that stopped feud from the summer that did nothing for her or Diamante. That said Was this for the most part (with the exception of the finish) better than Final Battle? Yes. It just should've had the different result but Blame Tony's ineptitude on that."

[8.0] "This was a really good match: Athena is one of the best female wrestler in the world and her run with the Roh women's world championship has been a huge success. One of the few reasons why I tune on Honor Club. Mercedes didn't look too good in some of her matches lately but here she delivered a nice perfomance so I gotta give her credit for that. The action was fun and exciting with a really good closing stretch. The suplex on the floor looked brutal, easily the best moment of the match. The ending with Bille Starkz helping Athen retaining was great, too as it progresses perfectly the "minion in training" story they have going on. 8/10 - 4*/5*"

[8.0] "Man, what a great match. I usually dislike those interference shenanigans to end a match, but this one was made to perfect sense. Athena is the Women's Wrestler of the Year in America in my books, her consistency in the ring in 2023 is absurd. Props to Martinez too. (****)."

[7.0] "Athena has been quietly having one of the best 2023s of any wrestler in terms of consistent delivery between bells. She has been great and is working the heel character brilliantly. This match could have done without the interference, but was a pretty good match between two great wrestlers."

[8.0] "This was fucking great, and I would not expect anything less from these two, the match, the drama, the finish, everything flowed so beautifully, stuff like this how womens wrestling ought to be booked in America, bravo. Athena once again adds a highlight to her year."

[8.0] "A good good match, with some very enjoyable storytelling elements in it, Athena and Billie Starkz has been a constantly highlight of ROH tv and I hope Tony Khan fully understands how good these two have been, and Mercedes Martinez aswell has proven extremely well that she can still go completely in the ring, I was truly worried for her this time last year, but she has been fantastic in her matches on Collision and ROH, Billie and Athena again are just fantastic, absolutely top stuff."