Last Week: The final stop before “Death Before Dishonor” saw Dalton Castle earn himself a shot at the ROH World Television Championship while people like Daniel Garcia and The Kingdom gained victories heading into the pay-per-view.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 22
Newark, NJ
July 27, 2023
– Highlights from “Death Before Dishonor” were shown with a complete results recap topped by Katsuyori Shibata stating Tony Kahn helped him restore himself as a wrestler.
Pure Rules: Josh Woods w/ The Varsity Athletes vs. Eli Isom
The judges for this one were former ROH World champions Jerry Lynn, Jimmy Jacobs & the champ himself, Katsuyori Shibata.
Code of Honor followed before the former Pure champion Josh Woods almost overwhelmed Eli Isom by pushing him toward the ropes to force a rope break as Isom instinctively grabbed the top rope for leverage. Keeping his base low, Isom avoided a big waist lock takedown; pulling the former titleholder to the mat by his arm. Woods worked his way off the mat, sending Isom into the corner. When Eli tried to leap over an incoming Woods, “The Technical Beast” kicking Eli’s left arm.
The focus was on Eli’s left arm and shoulder, using the turnbuckles as way to hurt his opposition. Eli actually sacrificed a rope break to save himself from being whipped across the ring, only for Woods to yank him shoulder-first down to the canvas. Isom rallied to his feet, taking several forearms before firing back with a few of his own leading to a staggering enzuguri. Isom was on a roll until he went for a pick up maneuver. Woods slipped to freedom, only to run into a modified blue thunder bomb. Woods kicked out, using Chaos Theory to cross arm bar Isom out of midair. Isom scooted to the ropes, using his final rope break to stop a sure end.
Isom recovered, avoiding a suplex to dropkick his opponent. When Isom rushed Woods, Josh dumped him over the top rope before cinching in the sleeper. Isom couldn’t use the ropes to help himself as Woods locked eyes with the champ. Sitting Isom down, Woods executed the PK to knock out Eli for the three count.
Mark Sterling grabbed the microphone to state that the former Pure champion should be the face of ROH’s Pure Division. Singling out Shibata, Sterling demanded that “The Wrestler” face a real wrestler. Shibata had no issue with accepting the challenge. According to commentator Ian Riccaboni, Tony Kahn is ready to agree to the match (it would be announced later in the episode the title match will occur next week).
Winner: Josh Woods
Match Review: Oh, this felt like the old days of ROH during the highly underrated pandemic era of TV tapings after the Pure title was reinstated. Eli Isom is just a main event talent waiting to happen and Woods is so good in the Pure Rules environment; making this an exciting watch throughout. Shibata-Woods should be phenomenal.
Trish Adora vs. Vita VonStarr
No Code of Honor from the former member of The Righteous. The initial collar & elbow tie-up saw them ending up in the ropes to cause a stalemate. Picking up the pace, Trish Adora blocked a hip toss to slam her opponent after being successful with the shoulder block. Trish’s inverted kneeling octopus stretch didn’t hinder the incredibly flexible VonStarr. Vita chopped Trish into the corner to set up some illegal chokes topped by a beautiful northern lights suplex with a bridge. Adora punched her way off the mat before getting caught in an octopus stretch, too. Adora swung her way out of the submission to execute a backbreaker in the process.
Adora was on fire, using the bicycle kick to set up a wind-draining senton splash. Avoiding Lariat Tubman, Vita pulled off a Michinoku driver to get a two count. Like her opponent, Adora ducked the clothesline; rebounding with Lariat Tubman. Making the cover on the folded VonStarr, Trish got the pin fall.
Winner: Trish Adora
Match Review: A nice rebound win for Trish in a solid encounter featuring a returning former member of the ROH roster. This felt like a precursor of a better, longer match down the road if they ever take advantage of the possibility.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team champions The Mogul Embassy vs. Iron Savages & Jacked Jameson
It was Brian Cage facing off with Savages’ Bronson. Showing his agility, Cage jumped and ducked before unleashing a back elbow. Taking too much time posing, Cage walking into a spinning slam that allowed Bronson to tag out to his partners. Cage was cornered and getting splashed in the corner by both Boulder and Jameson. Big headbutt from Cage allowed him to knock Jacked across the ring for some abuse by Kaun. Slipping off Kaun’s shoulders, Jameson tagged in Bronson who was a house of fire. Bronson found himself taking out Cage and Kaun, only for Toa Liona to get underneath him and power bomb Bronson off the apron after Bronson wiped out “The Weapon” at ringside.
Cutting the ring off, the champs ran a train on Bronson in the corner that knocked the wind out of him and set Bronson up for Kaun’s turnbuckle-assisted backbreaker. Bronson found himself being dead-lift suplexed by Cage. It would take both his partners to save Bronson from a sure pin. Cage hit the ropes, looking for a sunset flip that resulted in him feeling a seated splash from Bronson.
Boulder tagged in, knocking all three opponents around to set up an airplane spin. Double flapjack by Boulder to Kaun & Cage. Prince Nana jumped onto the apron for some reason as Toa and Boulder slugged it out until Boulder’s flying shoulder tackle knocked down Toa in fine fashion. Kaun reentered, getting put in position for a Boulder moonsault. Kaun moved, allowing Toa to shoulder tackle Boulder out of the ring. Jameson entered the fray, using a single-arm spine buster Kaun. But the discus clothesline from Toa left Jacked in prime position for the Pedigree. Kaun made the cover, getting the pin for his team.
Winners: The Mogul Embassy
Match Review: Another fun six-man battle featuring the champs taking on a trio that matched their size & strength, but couldn’t overcome their teamwork in a match where the result wasn’t out of the question considering the fact the title wasn’t on the line. Also, Jimmy Rave forever!
Leyla Hirsch vs. B3cca
Getting ahead of herself, Leyla Hirsch almost got caught by a pinning combination. When B3cca attempted to make a mockery of Leyla nearly being pinned, Hirsch used a leg trip to set up several suplexes after a big clothesline. The fans rallied behind B3cca, giving her the energy to fight back and land a yakuza kick. Just when it seemed B3cca was on a roll, she missed a missile dropkick that put her in prime position for the German suplex. Out on her knees, B3cca couldn’t stop the pump knee strike that put her down for the pin fall.
Winner: Leyla Hirsch
Match Review: A squash is a squash, but at least the hometown girl got some offense in before the inevitable.
– Athena was with interviewer Lexy Nair to ask about her future as champion. The champ interrupted Lexy’s interview to demand better competition or else Nair herself would feel what it means to face the forever champion.
The Renegades vs. JC Storm & Tiara James
The early offense from Charlette Renegade got cut off by the debuting JC Storm. When Storm’s Irish whip got turned against her, Robyn tripped JC so Charlette could lay in some strikes. The Renegades muscled JC from the canvas overhead for a double team suplex. Storm lost some of her hair as she got stomped out in the corner. Double team overhand chop from The Renegades resulted in a bunch of insults hurled JC’s way. Looking for another double team suplex failed for The Renegades as Storm slipped free and tagged out to a fired-up Tiara James.
The year-one rookie called for the end after knocking down Charlette. Robyn saved her sister, wiping out an intended intervening JC. James couldn’t stop the slingblade Hart Attack or the three count that followed in The Renegade’s favor.
Winners: The Renegades
Match Review: A rather formulaic, but perfectly fine bout with the newcomers getting a nice bit of shine before getting taken down by the much bigger names currently in the wrestling world.
Proving Ground Match: ROH Women’s World champion Athena vs. Christina Marie
Christina Marie didn’t take kindly to Athena trying to big boy her off the Code of Honor, actually popping Athena in the mouth to set up a front flip avalanche splash in the corner. Marie’s float-over seated neck breaker didn’t end this one as Athena kicked out before the two count. Athena exploded, knocking a running Marie across the ring before laying in those clubbing forearms. Using a sliding dropkick, Athena dumped Christina at ringside. After letting Marie pull herself into the ring, Athena finished her off with that running forearm smash to her opponent’s face after knocking the wind out of her opposition with a half-a-dozen forearms to the back. Athena made the cover, getting another Proving Ground Match victory.
Poor Marie found herself getting picked apart at ringside with the champ ending her night unofficially by landing that big boot to her face.
Winner: Athena
Match Review: Though it wasn’t one-to-one with the stereotypical Athena Proving Ground Match, the result feels like Athena isn’t lying that she’s in a holding pattern and someone really needs to step up like Willow did at the PPV.
The Kingdom w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs. Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus
Mike Bennett and Tracy Williams went from trying to out-muscle each other to a forearm exchange that ended with Bennett tagging out. Matt Taven ran in, getting arm barred. Taven rolled through the intended submission, sending Williams into Taven’s illegal knee strike. Big dropkick from Taven after Bennett knocked “Hot Sauce” backward. Taven had the frog splash in mind when Williams moved out of the way. Titus became the legal man for his team, using a hammerlock airplane spin to rock Taven. Just when it seemed Titus was going to end this one, Rhett felt an illegal right hand from Bennett that allowed The Kingdom to double team Rhett. Big spine buster from Bennett meant to help Taven splash Titus when Rhett got his knees up.
Tracy wanted the tag and got it as he came after both opponents. Williams’ turnbuckle DDT on Taven left him open to the knee breaker. Williams had the Texas cloverleaf in mind, locking it in on Taven. Bennett saved his partner, only to take an overhead belly-to-belly by Titus. Bennett recovered quickly, having to save his partner from taking a pin off Tracy’s sick lariat. Bennett pulled Taven toward The Kingdom’s corner, tagging himself in.
Williams and Bennett were going forearm to forearm when Taven ran in. Williams pulled Taven into the single-leg Boston crab as Bennett cinched in the London Dungeon. Williams and Bennett were so infatuated with hurting it each, they gave up on the submissions to piledrive Taven and Rhett respectively so they could go at it uninterrupted. Huge clothesline from Williams … gave him a near fall!
Taven and Titus tagged in with the latter landing the big dropkick. Instead of going for the pin, Titus rushed a staggered Matt into the ropes where Bennett grabbed his partner to stop the ripcord belly-to-belly. Before Titus could realize what happened, Bennett snatched him in position for the Proton Pack that allowed Taven to pin Rhett.
Winners: The Kingdom
Match Review: Similar to the Pure Rules match, this felt like a slight throwback to just a few years ago as two teams with great chemistry just tore it up. We need a rematch down the road for, hopefully, the ROH World Tag Team title.
– ROH World Television champion Samoa Joe was in the interview zone with ROH Board of Director Stokely Hathaway where the latter announced a top contender title tournament will occur. When Nair questioned if Joe was bullying Hathaway, the took over the segment while putting over Hathaway’s mind; all the while slapping his back and shoulder to the point “Big Stoke” almost lost his voice.
ROH World Television Championship Contender Eliminator Tournament Match: Christopher Daniels vs. JD Drake
No breaking clean when their tie-up ended up in the corner. Christopher Daniels was ready, ducking the knife-edge chop and taking his opponent over with an arm drag. When JD Drake attempted to fight his way off the mat, Daniels dropkicked him. Daniels’ momentum ended rather suddenly when he ran into a shoulder block topped by a big body slam. Senton splash after senton splash by Drake to prevent Daniels from fighting back. When the crowd wanted another splash, Drake opted to use his boot to rake the former champion’s face.
Furious, Daniels got up chopping like it was going out of style. Daniels pulled off the flatliner, but couldn’t covert the move into the Koji clutch. Northern lariat connected for Daniels, but JD hastily recovered and rushed a rope-climbing “Fallen Angel”. Daniels came off the ropes with the Complete Shot, only for his opponent to stop the Angel’s Wings. Drake’s Sick Kick into the cannonball splash in the corner didn’t end this one. With Daniels still in this one, Drake climbed the ropes for a moonsault. Daniels moved at the last second; leaving JD wide open for a uranage into the Best Moonsault Ever. Daniels made the cover, picking up a much-needed win.
Winner: Christopher Daniels
Match Review: While it may come across a little lazy to have another top contender tournament instead of building up a challenger and giving some type of story to Joe’s next title match, at least this scenario gives guys like Daniels not only a chance to showcase his never-waning talent, but also pick up a win that hasn’t happened in far too long.
Lee Moriarty & Big Bill vs. Gabriel Conner & Adrian Soriano
Lee Moriarty found himself doing very well against Adrian, even taking the time to pose. Using a failed kick against Lee, Adrian tagged out. Conner ran in thinking Lee was hurt when Moriarty exploded with the dropkick. The fans wanted Big Bill, but Conner stopped that from happening as he and his partner cornered Lee. Unwisely, the enthusiastic duo with their second at ringside went to pose as Lee tagged out. Bill ran in double clotheslining his opponents before finishing off Adrian with the chokeslam to continue their undefeated streak.
Winners: Lee Moriarty & Big Bill
Match Review: Another squash that, beyond giving two familiar faces some screen time, didn’t accomplish much more than their other squashes because, as expected, the result was guaranteed.
ROH World Television Championship Contender Eliminator Tournament Match: Tony Nese w/ The Varsity Athletes vs. Cheeseburger
Not surprisingly, Tony Nese took the opportunity to talk about how his body is worthy of a championship before mocking the poor health of the people in New Jersey and those who are allowing cheeseburgers to destroy the country. So what would Nese do to help the crowd? Group exercise.
After being punched across the ring, Cheeseburger used some lucha influenced counters to kick & clip his opponent’s muscular left arm. Stopping a whip across the ring, Nese yanked Cheeseburger into a gut-buster across his knee. Stuck in the tree of woe, Cheeseburger couldn’t stop the rowboat kicks to his chest & abdomen. Elbowing his way off the mat, Cheeseburger took a right hand to counter a suplex that Tony intended to use. Instead, Cheeseburger pulled off a big suplex of his own. Running bulldog by Cheeseburger was followed by the Shotei Palm Strike … that gave Cheeseburger a near fall!
Nese wanted to pull Cheeseburger into a cradle when his opponent countered by using a DDT. Just as Cheeseburger had everything going his way, Sterling jumped onto the apron for a distraction. When Cheeseburger’s focus returned, Nese hooked and executed the pumphandle driver to pin Cheeseburger.
Winner: Tony Nese
Match Review: Though it followed the formula usually seen in matches involving Mark Sterling’s crew, Cheeseburger and Nese gelled very well and had a fun outing that the fans were into mostly thanks to the very underrated burger man being in his home state.
ROH World Television Championship Contender Eliminator Tournament Match: Anthony Henry vs. Gravity
Single-leg takedown by Anthony Henry after he didn’t follow the Code of Honor didn’t help him much as Gravity flipped out of the follow-up top wrist lock to pose. Gravity was on fire with the flip-based counters, frustrating one-half of The Workhorsemen to the point he just gave up on wrestling and just kicked the masked man in his face. Gravity recovered, back dropping & elbowing Henry to the floor for a dive. Gravity went for a handstand on the apron for something when Henry simply super kicked him. Gravity was practically lifeless after getting his neck twisted following a belly-to-back suplex across the apron.
Death Valley driver in the ring by Henry didn’t end this one, nor did another neck twister. Reversing an Irish whip, Gravity sent Henry into the corner for a lucha arm drag followed by the handspring back elbow off the ropes. Pressing Henry over his head, Gravity let gravity do the work for him as Henry dropped down and got kicked square in the face. Showing his submission skills, Gravity put his opponent in the seated abdominal stretch.
Henry countered with the stretch muffler that he turned into the PK. Running Michinoku driver by Henry didn’t put Gravity away; causing Anthony to go for and execute a DDT when Gravity started from Henry’s shoulders and was propelled downward. Gravity refused to stay down, countering a running attack by power slamming Henry in position for the torpedo splash. Henry couldn’t kick out in time, sending Gravity further into the tournament.
Winner: Gravity
Match Review: Good back & forth encounter that saw Gravity pick up another win. Thanks to him being on the program consistently as of late, Gravity is becoming the luchador of ROH. Would love to see his brother show up once in a while to potentially give fans a clash of the generations.
ROH World Television Championship Contender Eliminator Tournament Match: Shane Taylor vs. Serpentico
The masked man shockingly got the first strike on the former TV champ, sending him into the corner with a head scissors. With the crowd behind him, Serpentico jumped into a shove that left him open to be punched in the mouth. It was all Taylor as he pitched Serpentico from one end of the ring to the other. Sick lariat didn’t end this one in Taylor’s favor, nor did the World’s Strongest Slam. Flipping off Shane, Serpentico actually surprised Taylor with a thrust kick topped by the enzuguri. Serpentico saw his chance, going for a cross body from the top rope. Taylor caught him and used the headbutt to yank Serpentico into a uranage-big splash combo for the three count. Shane Taylor advances alongside Christopher Daniels, Gravity & Tony Nese.
Winner: Shane Taylor
Match Review: Though Serpentico had his moments, this was essentially another squash with the right guy winning. Hopefully this is the first step in giving up Joe-Taylor that would be absolutely incredible.
Dalton Castle & The Boys vs. The Trustbusters (Slim J, Sonny Kiss & Jeeves Kay)
Jeeves Kay made a big mistake early by trying to mouth off to Dalton Castle. “The Peacock” shoved him into the corner a double team Japanese hip toss by The Boys. When Sonny Kiss tagged in, Dalton returned because he wanted a piece of Kiss for the first time in their careers. Muscling Kiss into the corner, Castle got slapped for being honorable. Both were looking for retaliatory clotheslines, but the other ducked each one until Kiss made the mistake of jumping off Bret’s rope into a suplex. Boy Brent became the legal man, having to fight off both Kay and Slim J when they tried to intervene, getting caught by a Kiss kick into the split leg drop soon after.
Kay and Kiss failed to suplex Brent, giving Castle the chance to tag in again. A house of fire, Castle was elbowing and suplexing anything coming his way as the fans loved what the former Six-Man champion was dishing out. Wanting his Boys, Castle pitched Boy Brandon & Brent on his fleeing competitors with Brent rolling Kay back in for a potential end. Instead, Castle got his face raked and cradled. “The Peacock” kicked out, catching Kay with the Bang-A-Rang when he went for a springboard maneuver. Making the pin, Castle won this main event for his team.
Winners: Dalton Castle & The Boys
Match Review: A short, yet enjoyable main event mostly thanks to Dalton’s antics and his interactions with Kiss – wouldn’t mind seeing a singles bout between the two. It’ll be interesting to see if this leads to another clash between the champions and former titleholders and if they can actually figure out the formula to overcoming the unstoppable.
Overall Review: The fallout episode from “Death Before Dishonor” embraced the more long-winded nature of previous episodes instead of the recent eighty to ninety minute shows we’ve gotten used to over the last few weeks. Even with this episode reaching two hours, the show’s flow worked better with peaks of competitive matches including the highly entertaining opener and Kingdom-Williams & Titus, three solid tournament matches with the fourth being a minor squash, and a beefy six-man tag outing featuring the champions.
The valleys were mostly relegated to the squashes that occurred throughout the show and the main event that, while good, felt a little lackluster thanks to outcome’s obvious nature and the once hot crowd really burning out by the final match no matter how hard Dalton tried to get them into the action (they did love the missed clothesline exchange, though).
While we didn’t get answers to certain aspects following “Death Before Dishonor” such as who looks to be the next in line to challenge Claudio for the World title, where Willow goes from here after her crushing defeat, are The Dark Order and The Righteous’ problems over, and who get the first crack at Aussie Open for the World Tag title, this episode at least gave viewers a hook for next week with the top contender tournament and Shibata-Woods (though both could’ve benefited from a slower burn such as starting the tournament next week with some interviews from the competitors and even a visual bracket; and Woods winning more than just two matches alongside video proof of his past accomplishments in ROH including his Pure title win & reign instead of just relying on Sterling talking about them on the microphone during a ring entrance).
A strong episode and one a little more focused than the shows that followed “Supercard of Honor”, but there’s an innate fear that they may start leaning into some of the qualities that made episodes during May and June feel like a brand spinning its wheels instead of being a must-see experience.
