Last Week: The Embassy successfully defended the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Matt Sydal, Christopher Daniels & Darius Martin after Dalton Castle and Shane Taylor advanced in the top contender’s tournament for the ROH World Television Championship by defeating Tony Nese and Shawn Dean respectively.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 21
Calgary, Canada
July 20, 2023
– Highlights from the press conference where Tony Kahn announced that Katsuyori Shibata will defend the Pure Championship against Daniel Garcia at “Death Before Dishonor”. Commentators Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman had differing opinions over who will win come Friday night with the latter thinking “The Wrestler” will retain while Ian saw a new champion leaving New Jersey.
Pure Rules: Daniel Garcia vs. Jason Geiger
The judges for this one were former ROH World champions Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels & Matt Taven.
No Code of Honor from the future title challenger. The initial collar & elbow tie-up saw Daniel Garcia mocking his smaller opponent by patting him on the top of his head. Refusing to give the people his powerful pelvic thrusts, Garcia opted to go move for move with Geiger until he grounded him and took the chance to dance. Jason recovered quickly, feigning a buzzsaw kick to show his own hip gyrations. Garcia, infuriated, ran into a cross arm bar that forced Daniel to reach for the ropes with his boots to lose his first rope break.
Geiger stayed on top of Garcia, only for the JAS member to get underneath Jason for a stungun. Garcia used the front face lock to perform a big swing that turned into a guillotine choke. Punching Garcia’s abdomen, Geiger muscled his way off the mat with Garcia in his grip for a suplex. They got up swinging for the fences with crowd favorite Geiger pulling off a big butterfly suplex after catching Garcia with a clothesline. Blocking another suplex attempt, Garcia almost turned Geiger inside-out with a clothesline of his own. Garcia cinched in the Boston crab, only to get reversed and swept into a triangle choke. Power bombing his way out of the choke, Garcia forced the submission with his Dragon Slayer sharpshooter for a big win heading into his Pure title match.
As Garcia celebrated, Katsuyori Shibata’s music hit to bring out the champ. The future opponents were face to face and ready to settle things come tomorrow night.
Winner: Daniel Garcia
Match Review: This wasn’t as one-side as expected with Garcia heading into a Pure title match, but definitely a solid bout. Considering how Shibata ran through Wheeler Yuta to win the title and Yuta was the one to defeat Garcia the last time, having Daniel struggle here was the best of looks even if the match itself was good.
Utami Hayashishita vs. Trish Adora w/ The Infantry
No entrance for the STARDOM grappler, but that didn’t stop her from impressing early as she countered every hold the ROH competitor had to offer. Using the top wrist lock to ground her opponent, Trish showed off a little bit of cockiness by doing push-ups while holding onto arm of her opposition. Utami found her arms getting yanked and wrenched until Adora had her upside-down in a modified stretch muffler. Surviving the submission, Utami pulled off a double knee strike, clothesline, and the body slam with the latter really taking a lot out of her due to her hurting arm.
Trish punched her way off the mat, only for Utami to land a running forearm smash. Using an arm breaker to stop the assault, Adora had Lariat Tubman in mind. Instead, Adora ran into a pair of German suplexes that didn’t end this one. So Utami hoisted Adora up for the Air Raid Crash. Trish countered the maneuver, almost making his opposition tap off the modified butterfly lock. Making it to the ropes, Utami saved herself. When Utami got up, Trish started lighting her up with strikes including a pump kick. Ducking the clothesline Utami went for another shoulder-hoisted maneuver when Adora countered by pulling off a snap German suplex. Trish had to shake away the disbelief, coming off the ropes for something when she ran into the Argentine Power Bomb … for a near fall!
Putting Adora in the air, Utami started spinning before letting Trish spin out of midair to hit the canvas. Making the cover, Utami gained her first ROH pin fall.
Winner: Utami Hayashishita
Match Review: Surprisingly a one-sided bout until the end when Utami made her comeback. Considering how solid this bout was before the somewhat sudden end, if they had more time this could’ve been a classic.
ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament Final: Shane Taylor vs. Dalton Castle w/ The Boys
Going for the waist lock early didn’t pane out too well for the former amateur wrestler as Shane Taylor pushed him against the ropes. After cornering Castle, Taylor found himself taking a back elbow followed by a knee strike that allowed Castle to DDT him. Taylor wisely rolled out of the ring, pulling Castle in position for a right hand. Yanking Dalton underneath the bottom rope, Taylor executed a Tower of London on the floor!
Taylor’s focus was on the torso of Castle as he forearmed and slammed Castle while Dalton attempted to get away. When Dalton tried to swing for the fences, Taylor used the head-butt to rock Dalton for a uranage-running splash combo. Though Castle kicked out of the follow-up pin attempt, his body was hurting and the only thing that helped him was a charging Shane giving Castle the chance to drop down and send him to the floor by pulling down the top rope. Castle was forced to follow, only for the former World champion to pull off that rebound hurricarana on the floor. When the action returned inside, Castle couldn’t lift the big man as Taylor kept fighting back. Getting too much distance between himself and Dalton, Taylor ran into an overhead suplex that had the fans going wild.
Castle attempted another suplex from behind when Taylor grabbed the top rope. Slipping underneath a clothesline, Castle used another German suplex. In a great show of strength, Castle performed one of the most impressive Bang-A-Rangs of all time to pin Shane and earn his shot at the TV champion.
Winner: Dalton Castle
Match Review: Really enjoyable encounter where it felt like either man could win. It’ll be interesting how not only has Joe has to deal with Dalton’s antics, but also if he can avoid something like the Bang-A-Rang that, after seeing this match, can be done to the champ.
Pure Rules: Josh Woods w/ The Varsity Athletes vs. James Stone
As expected, James Stone found himself overwhelmed by Josh Woods’ grappling acumen, using up two rope breaks in less than two minutes. Woods failed to get Stone up all the way for the Anarchist suplex, almost dropping James on his head in the corner. Even with the execution failure, it was enough for Woods to pin.
Winner: Josh Woods
Match Review: This was a nice double whammy of getting two Pure matches in one episode and Woods looking like his old self in his element minus the screw up at the end. Hopefully this is the beginning of rebuilding “The Technical Beast”.
– Tony Kahn was in the interview zone with Willow Nightingale and Lexy Nair to announce that Willow will fight for the ROH World Women’s Championship at “Death Before Dishonor”. Getting the microphone, Willow mentioned how she has gotten used to winning titles as of late and is ready to avenge her loss from all those months ago.
Jerry Lynn and Stokely Hathaway agreed that Athena would have to defend the title even though she was protesting. TK agreed with his other board members much to the chagrin of the champ.
Proving Ground Match: ROH World Women’s champion Athena vs. Nikita
Athena wasn’t even dressed to wrestle, coming to the ring with a frustrated look on her face. Instead of rushing her opponent as per the norm, Athena just sat on the bottom turnbuckle. Nikita unwisely pie-faced the champ in hopes of getting her to fight Nikita got her wish, getting ko’ed by a forearm. The pin fall was elementary at that point.
Not finished, Athena whooped Nikita to the point she couldn’t stand and fell out of the ring. Nikita found no haven with Athena slinging Nikita against the barricades while screaming at the referee and commentators. Suddenly, Willow Nightingale’s music hit with the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner entering the ring with her Owen belt strapped around her waist. This confrontation led to a raising of the belts between the competitors as the fans chanted for the future title challenger. Athena feigned a fight right now, but left instead.
Winner: Athena
Match Review: Though it followed the formula usually seen in matches involving Mark Sterling’s crew, Castle and Nese gelled very well and had a fun outing that the fans were into.
The Righteous w/ Stu Grayson vs. The Boys
Dutch almost took Boy Brandon’s head off with a clothesline before letting Vincent take over the offense. The modified Side Effect from Vincent set up a reverse suplex by Dutch into Vincent’s sliding flatliner. Dutch became the legal man, losing his grip of Brandon that allowed his opponent to roll and tag out. Brent was on fire, sliding off Dutch’s shoulders and sending The Righteous into one another until Brent ran into a body block by Dutch. Dutch hoisted Brent up, pulling off the ushigoroshi for Vincent’s Autumn Sunshine. Vincent made the cover.
Vincent looked into the camera, asking for The Dark Order to met him tomorrow night. Evil Uno showed up with a chair in hand, watching as Grayson performed Nightfall on Brandon. Though nothing was stated, it seems it will be The Righteous & Stu versus The Dark Order at “Death Before Dishonor”.
Winners: The Righteous
Match Review: After getting a nice showcase last week, The Boys were practically obliterated here. Evil Uno’s apparent want for a fight instead of being alongside Grayson like last week is perplexing, but at least it seems they’re on a path to actually having a match.
Leyla Hirsch vs. Nicole Matthews
The former SHIMMER champion found herself doing well in keeping Leyla Hirsch from locking in a submission early. When the pace quickened, it was Nicole Matthews using a pair of arm drags into a dropkick that cornered Leyla. When Nicole approached, Hirsch yanked her face-first against the turnbuckles. Using a waist lock takedown, Leyla just started unleashing forearms to the back of Nicole’s neck. The referee warned Hirsch for some reason, allowing Nicole to recover and start firing off forearms. Ducking one of those strikes, Hirsch used a backslide to roll Nicole into a pump knee strike. Matthews collapsed, giving Leyla the pin fall.
Winners: Leyla Hirsch
Match Review: A solid encounter where the result was completely out of the question. Nicole, as expected, looked as good as she could even in defeat while Hirsch is becoming the grappling machine in the women’s division that could be a threat to either Athena or Willow.
– We got a rundown of the card for “Death Before Dishonor” including the announcements of The Righteous & Stu Grayson in a Fight Without Honor against The Dark Order and The Embassy defending the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship when they battle Ryusuke Taguchi, Leon Ruffin & Master Wato.
The Kingdom w/ Maria Kanellis vs. The Workhorsemen vs. The Bollywood Boyz vs. Action Andretti & Darius Martin
Mike Bennett found himself starting this off with JD Drake. A knife-edge chop exchange broke out immediately with Bennett getting a blind tag to Matt Taven so Taven could dropkick Drake. Darius Martin blind tagged a running Taven, knocking him out of the ring before Martin & Action Andretti down both Workhorsemen with a double team. Anthony Henry recovered, helping his partner send Darius into a power bomb. The Kingdom took the chance to get a tag off Henry, isolating Martin on their part of town. Drake had to stop Taven from winning the match after the former World champ hit Just the Tip. The distraction allowed Martin to recover and pull off a double DDT on The Kingdom.
Instead of tagging out to one of The Bollywood Boyz, Martin got grabbed by Drake and pulled into a double stomp by Henry. Things were breaking down on the far side of the ring as The Kingdom and The Workhorsemen started fighting while letting Martin recover. Henry tried to stop the tagging out to The Bollywood Boyz, but failed as Harv gained the tag. Bennett found himself taking a pair of super kick that allowed the Boyz to pull off a decapitation leg drop … for a near fall!
Everyone was pulling off springboard maneuvers until Taven caught Harv with the leg lariat. Bennett joined his partner, executing the Proton Pack on Harv. The Kingdom made the cover for another big win heading into the PPV.
Winners: The Kingdom
Match Review: A short, yet explosive main event where every team had a moment to shine. Like a few other matches, the result wasn’t surprising considering who is involved in the Tag title match at the PPV – though it makes little sense why Action & Darius aren’t in the “DBD” title bout while Best Friends and Aussie Open are considering their winning ways including Andretti & Martin defeating The Kingdom in a Fight Without Honor.
Overall Review: The final episode before “Death Before Dishonor” really tried to establish a must-see card while providing a good episode that, like the last two weeks, flew by thanks to its shorter nature. The first Pure Rules match, Castle-Taylor, and the main event stood out the most as worthwhile viewings with a few squashes and one-sided bouts mixing things up alongside PPV video packages and interviews from earlier in the week.
Once again, the most important aspect of this episode was to sell fans on buying “Death Before Dishonor”. With a mix of bad planning and circumstances beyond control, the build to this pay-per-view has been lackluster and inconsistent. They went as strong as possible to establish why this upcoming PPV is not one to miss mostly on the strength of match quality and not white-hot stories. Knowing the talent involved in this show, there’s no doubt it won’t be fun to watch.
