ROH: MJF did nothing for the tag team championships

On the last Dynamite of 2023, MJF and Samoa Joe defended the ROH Tag Team Championships against two of The Devil's Masked Men. Joe was scheduled to sub in for the injured half of the champions, Adam Cole. He wrestled in Cole's place at Full Gear against The Gunns. However, Joe wasn't there when the bell rang, leaving MJF to defend the titles by himself. He would be unsuccessful in retaining the titles. Following the match, Joe attacked the former AEW World Champion from behind with a chair.

In November, I wrote about how the tag titles belonged on Honor Club. At the very least, they should be defended more often. Since ROH TV's inception, Tony Khan has booked every ROH title, save for the women's, to be defended on AEW programming. He took it to a whole new level when Better Than You Bay Bay won the titles from Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) last August at ALL IN.

After winning the titles, the champs never once set foot in an ROH ring. Cole was injured shortly after winning the titles at Grand Slam when he foolishly jumped off a ramp that was too high. Instead of vacating the tag titles immediately, MJF held on to them. He defended them by himself at WrestleDream against The Righteous (who regularly wrestle on Honor Club). Khan kept saying on media calls that it meant a lot to MJF to hold that title. He sure had a funny way of showing it since he never bothered appearing on Honor Club.

The tag titles haven't been defended on Honor Club since episode 23 way back on July 29, 2023. Aussie Open defeated Iron Savages. Following that match, Aussie Open defended the titles on two episodes of Rampage and two episodes of Dynamite.

Then, the Devil's Masked Men won the titles. After AEW Worlds End, it was revealed that The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) were the new tag team champions, as expected. In total, MJF defended the ROH tag team titles three times; twice by himself and once with Joe. Those matches centered on MJF and didn't elevate the titles in any way. They were nothing more than a prop for "The Salt of the Earth" to sometimes carry around.

One would think that The Kingdom winning would mean the titles would be defended on Honor Club. That would be a fair expectation considering that Taven and Bennett were in the ROH tag title picture for months.

The Kingdom have not wrestled on Honor Club since July 22 (one week before Aussie Open's last Honor Club match). Seeing a pattern here? Bennett and Taven have joined Roderick Strong in tormenting Adam Cole and claiming MJF was The Devil in AEW.

Meanwhile, there have been other tag teams wrestling on Honor Club, week in and week out. They have been putting in the work to build up a division that features The Infantry, The Workhorsemen, The Outruners, Matt Sydal, and Christopher Daniels. Even The Von Erichs have competed on Honor Club. Maria Kanellis-Bennett has still been in ROH recruiting wrestlers to "protect The Kingdom's legacy." She has been managing the team of Cole Karter and Griff Garrison.

It has been six months since the ROH tag team titles have been defended on Honor Club. That is unacceptable. Although The Kingdom are in an active storyline on AEW programming, they must defend the titles on Honor Club and on a regular basis. The tag teams on Honor Club deserve their shots at the titles. It's unfair to only give teams in AEW a shot at the ROH tag titles. If there are no plans for them to be defended in ROH, then they need to be dropped to a team that regularly wrestles on Honor Club.