Last Week: Athena successfully defended the Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship against Willow Nightingale after Wheeler Yuta and Samoa Joe did the same in their respective title defenses of the Pure and World Television Championships against Timothy Thatcher and Tony Deppen.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 3
Orlando, Florida
March 16, 2023
Proving Ground Match: ROH World champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Willie Mack
ROH’s version of a title contender eliminator where the potential title challenger has to either defeat the champion within ten minutes or survive until the time limit expires. Unfortunately there was no onscreen clock or the announcer giving time warnings.
The early moments saw both working for an advantage by isolating the left arm of their opposition. Tripping Claudio Castagnoli, Willie Mack got the champ off balance; utilizing an arm drag to send Claudio out of the ring. Castagnoli moved to avoid a dive, but Willie saw it coming and waited until the champion reentered the ring to figuratively pounce by pulling off a hurricarana. Unfortunately, Mack’s follow up suplex attempt resulted in him getting taken over as the fans chanted in approval. Letting Mack get off the mat cost Claudio as Willie got a running start before connecting with a leg lariat. Exploder suplex was on the mind of Mack, but Claudio elbowed his way out of the predicament. The champion refused to break clean as they tumbled into the corner, forearming his potential challenger over and over again until Mack was stumbling and prone to a big clothesline.
Getting underneath Claudio after being caught in a rear chin lock, Mack executed a Samoan drop that left both men lying until Mack kipped to his feet for the standing moonsault press. Claudio kicked out of Mack’s lateral press, only to be tossed via an exploder suplex. Claudio elbowed his way off the mat, feeling the Sky High for his trouble after several retaliatory forearms. Frog splash missed for Willie, leaving him open for the torpedo European uppercut. Castagnoli made the cover, pinning Mack to prevent a rising title contender.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli
Match Review: Explosive opener with Willie showing what he does best in the ring by mixing high impact offense with some flashy aerial offense. Mack is the total package and showed that against the best ROH currently has to offer. Hopefully this isn’t the last of Mack in ROH.
Dante Martin w/ Darius Martin vs. Mike Bennett w/ Matt Taven & Maria Kanellis
The Kingdom was left with a sour taste in their mouths when Top Flight defeated them at “Final Battle”.
Code of Honor followed with Mike Bennett surprised by Dante Martin’s grappling acumen when they tied up and Martin kept control of his opponent’s wrists. Breaking free of Dante’s grip, Bennett initiated a knife-edge chop exchange that ended with him getting dropkicked out of the ring. Bennett couldn’t avoid a plancha-performing Dante. Maria stepped between Dante and Mike that allowed Bennett to not only pull off that ricochet forearm, but also a piledriver on the entrance ramp!
Dante crawled his way to the ring as the referee counted him down. With three seconds left, Dante rolled into the ring where Bennett was ready to tear him apart. Though Dante’s left arm was being assaulted, Dante kept swinging for the fences. Using the ropes to back flip, Dante sailed over an incoming Bennett, following up with the roundhouse kick. Dante was using the ropes to avoid everything Bennett had in mind to set up his package power bomb when he finally got a hold of the former “Prodigy”.
Another strike exchange broke out that saw Dante get a running start after winning the battle and speared. Death Valley driver connected for Bennett with the former ROH World Tag Team champion following up by cinching in the London Dungeon. Clawing his way to the ropes, Dante saved himself before tapping out. Bennett unwisely went to the ropes when Dante got a rush of adrenaline and followed him to yank Mike off the top with a hurricarana. Dante quickly climbed the ropes to pull off a frog splash … to earn a near fall!
Dante went for something else when Bennett swept him into the kimura. Dante flipped over to put Bennett in a pining predicament that Mike kicked out of. Bennett got up, running into a modified air raid crash that ended with him being pinned by Martin.
Of course, The Kingdom didn’t take kindly to this by attacking Dante until Darius ran them off.
Winner: Dante Martin
Match Review: Really good match with Dante fighting from underneath after the piledriver on the floor. Though the old school wrestling fan in me wished the piledriver moment was more associated with the match’s conclusion or really debilitated Dante as the match progressed, it can’t be denied they lit the fans up with the action that followed. Both in tag team and singles, these four have incredible chemistry and, hopefully, this feud gets the showcase deserved of their talents like they have thus far.
Trustbusters (Slim J & Ari Daivari) vs. Metalik & Blake Christian
It was Ari Daivari and Blake Christian starting this one off for their respective teams as the latter quickly tagged out after arm wrenching Ari over and over again. Metalik came off the top with a cross body topped by the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Using those ropes in impressive fashion, Metalik landed a perfect missile dropkick. Unfortunately for the masked man, Daivari sent the masked man into an unsuspecting Slim J before landing a clothesline. Flipping out of a belly to back suplex, Metalik tagged out to a fired-up Blake who began knocking both opponent around. Blake’s momentum halted when he went to dive on the floor and got clobbered.
The crowd was rallying behind the new team, but Blake was on the ropes. Using a jawbreaker to free himself from a Ari didn’t help Blake get the tag as Daivari got underneath him. Just as Daivari whipped Blake off the ropes, Christian responded by using a spinning heel kick. Both men tagged out with Slim missing a moonsault that Metalik did not. Blake came off the top, double stomping a standing Ari out of the ring. Metalik finished off Slim with the Metalik Driver.
Winners: Metalik & Blake Christian
Match Review: While I’ll be the first to admit that the whole Trustbusters & Mark Sterling thing hasn’t clicked with me, their ability as a team especially against a duo as visually dazzling in terms of high-flying offense like Blake & Metalik has made me a fan of their in-ring work in 2023 ROH. This feud is not over and should produce another fun encounter in the very near future.
– Mark Briscoe will get his ROH World Television Championship match with Samoa Joe at “Supercard of Honor”. A video recap of the history between the two was shown with the note that Mark has never bested Joe while big brother Jay only has one win over the current TV champ. Mark Briscoe, in a pre-taped promo, promised destiny will be fulfilled when he becomes the new TV champ in California. But Briscoe also has some unfinished business with Mark Sterling. Next week it’s Briscoe vs. Tony Nese.
– On AEW “Rampage” the past week, Mark Briscoe also announced that the now vacated ROH World Tag Team title will find new champions at “Supercard of Honor” in a “Reach For the Sky” Ladder match. The first team announced for the match is none other than The Lucha Bros.
Eddie Kingston vs. Jeeves Kay
The fans wanted Eddie Kingston to end this one quick. Instead, the would-be World title contender showcased his grappling abilities as Claudio Castagnoli found a seat in the front row. When Kingston went to break clean when they reached the ropes, Kay sucker punched Eddie before leaving the ring. Kingston caught up with him, slamming Jeeves into the barricade that knocked Claudio’s coffee on the champ. Eddie was so wrapped up in laughing at Claudio that he never saw Kay’s tope coming. Frog splash followed up by Kay in the ring … gave him a near fall!
A stunned Jeeves got up and rushed a rising Kingston; only to get dumped on his head with the Saito suplex. Eddie cinched in the Stretch Plum to force a submission from Kay.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
Match Review: Like last week, this was a nice showcase for Kingston with his submission & grappling abilities being the focus instead of his knockout power – thus enforcing he can be an honorable competitor no matter what Claudio says. The interactions between Eddie and Claudio have been perfect to exemplify the champ’s more snooty, heelish nature while reinforcing just how easy it is to root for “The Mad King”.
– The Trustbusters & Mark Sterling were in the interview area with Lexy Nair. Sterling tried to put over how well his men did even in defeat, but Ari interrupted his manager to challenge Metalik, Blake Christian & a sixth man to a six-man tag match next week.
Proving Ground Match: ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Hyan
The Women’s champ wasted no time clobbering her wannabe challenger. Athena was laying in those kicks aimed at Hyan’s back & face. Hyan had to elbow her way out of neck crank. Athena got a taste of her own medicine as Hyan started throwing kicks on the seated champion. Catching an incoming Hyan by the throat, Athena executed a modified Boss Man Slam that forced the referee to break her illegal attack. Hyan exploded out of the corner with a cross body block after being whipped across the ring. Big leg drop from Hyan didn’t end this one; forcing her to come up with something else by climbing the ropes. Athena knocked Hyan off the ropes, power bombing Hyan off the apron to the floor!
Pitching Hyan against the steel ring steps, Athena made her opponent easy prey for the crossface that resulted in a tap out victory.
Athena wasn’t done, slamming Hyan face-first against the Women’s title belt much to the fans’ disgust.
Winner: Athena
Match Review: Sadly, Hyan didn’t get the same amount of opportunity as Willie to show the world why she’s one of the best women’s wrestlers today as Athena mostly mauled her. But this version of Athena is, arguably, the best of her career and has become must-see.
– Lexy Nair was joined by Metalik & Blake Christian in the interview area. Though Metalik was excited to be in ROH with Blake, Christian wanted to make this tandem a trio alongside AR Fox starting next week against The Trustbusters. Fox arrived on the scene, ready to become the trio in ROH.
Silas Young vs. Marcus Kross
The former two-time ROH World Television champion quickly grounded his opponent by clinching his opponent’s head. Kross took some knees to the body, but countered the suplex attempt by sweeping Silas into a pinning combination. Young kicked out, hitting a clothesline that gave Silas a weak point to target. Kross showed some resiliency by elbowing his way in position to pull off a cross body. Just when it seemed Kross was in control, he got yanked into another knee to his abdomen that set up the Pee Gee Waja Plunge that gave “The Last Real Man” a pin fall victory.
Silas Young took the microphone to remind everyone that it’s been over a year since he’s been in ROH. Saying that he’s synonymous with ROH and the ROH TV title. Shane Taylor’s music, bringing out one of the most dominant ROH TV titleholders in history. Taylor challenged Young to a match next week to prove who is really the baddest.
Winner: Silas Young
Match Review: Similar to Kingston’s match, this was a showcase for Young as he mostly obliterated Kross (who looked quite good even in defeat). The most exciting aspect was the arrival of Shane Taylor and these two should have nothing short of a barn burner.
– In the interview area, Athena snatched the microphone from Lexy Nair to question where is Yuka Sakazaki. Apparently, Yuka is still moving throughout Japan after being thrashed by Athena in the past. So Athena decided to put the challenge out for a match at “Supercard of Honor” between herself and “The Magical Girl”.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Embassy (c) w/ Prince Nana vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys
Dalton Castle – who the fans were solidly behind – squared off with Bishop Kaun at the sound of the bell. After being muscled to the mat, Castle tripped the champion and executed a beautiful suplex that set up some double team action from The Boys. Unfortunately for Brent Boy, he was shoulder rammed into the wrong part of town where Toa Liona was ready to maul him. Blind tag by Brandon Boy allowed him to sail off the top and clobber Toa. Castle helped his Boys rock Liona long enough to pull off a splash. Castle tagged in Brandon Boy, who got caught and slammed by Brian Cage. Cage knocked Castle off the apron so Toa could whip “The Peacock” against the steel ring steps.
Brandon Boy took everything The Embassy dished out and kept fighting; almost pinning Kaun unexpectedly via a sunset flip. Brandon tried to grab the ropes to stop the onslaught when Kaun used a backbreaker across the top turnbuckle. Toa ran across the apron, senton splashing Brandon’s head! As if that wasn’t enough, Brian Cage used a superplex from the apron to the ring’s inside. Using Liona’s shoeless style against him, Brandon stomped on Toa’s feet to free himself and tag out to Dalton.
Castle was taking The Embassy to Suplex City. Slingblade bulldog worked for Dalton, but didn’t end Kaun’s night. Castle had the Bang-A-Rang in mind when Nana grabbed Kaun’s arms to save him. Brent Boy tagged himself in, getting his brother to help pull off a double team Sliced Bread on Cage after “The Machine” disposed of Castle. Kaun ran in to clothesline Brent after Brandon was wiped out by Liona. Slamming The Boys atop each other, Kaun pinned both Boys to get the win for his team.
Toa went wild, gnawing at Castle’s face as The Boys were being beaten in the ring. AR Fox, Metalik & Blake Christian ran out to clear the ring & save Castle & The Boys.
Winners: The Embassy
Match Review: Similar to their previous encounter, Dalton started off hot for his team before the massive size & strength of The Embassy overwhelmed The Boys. The fact Metalik, Blake & Fox have visibly positioned themselves as future title contenders and Dalton & The Boys losing again, the question of where Dalton and his Boys go from here is more of a mystery than who is potentially next in line to challenge the champs.
Trish Adora vs. Madison Rayne
Showing some interesting leverage tactics, Madison Rayne used the ropes to climb and arm drag Trish Adora off the initial collar & elbow tie-up. Blocking a crucifix, Trish fell forward and almost pinned the former Impact Knockouts champion. Adora had Rayne cornered and prone to several elbow strikes. Madison recovered, landing a dropkick. Trish recovered, only to feel a DDT. Enzuguri connected for Rayne, as did the Cloud Cutter … for a near fall!
Reversing a waist lock, Trish used a German suplex to no avail in terms of a three count. Adora’s follow-up attack was countered with the crucifix bomb that gave Rayne another two count. Trish saw a kick coming when she got up, ducking and exploding with the Lariat Tubman that put Madison’s shoulders to the mat for those precious three seconds.
Winner: Trish Adora
Match Review: Another win for Trish who is on the fast track to challenging for the ROH Women’s World title. Rayne looked great here, but this was all about Adora overcoming the experience of her opponent to win with what is becoming the most dangerous weapon in ROH’s Women’s division.
– Lexy Nair was in the interview area with Top Flight. Dante informed everyone it’ll be Darius Martin taking on Matt Taven with the promising of burning The Kingdom down next week.
Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs. The Outrunners
Cheap shots by The Outrunners on their opponents before isolating Christopher Daniels. A double team splash in the corner failed for The Outrunners as Daniels tagged out. Matt Sydal was mixing kicks and hurricaranas like they were going out of style. Big spinning heel kick on Truth Magnum from Sydal was the precursor to a fisherman’s buster. Unfortunately for The Outrunners, their plan to outmaneuver the former ROH World Tag Team champions saw Truth get hit with the Angel’s Wings. Magnum stumbled into Sydal’s Reborn Revolution to give “Reborn” a three count for his team.
Aussie Open arrived with microphones in hand. Giving credit to the former champs for establishing honor when they were wee lads, Kyle Fletcher stated AO’s want to become the faces of ROH’s Tag division; with no better opportunity arising for them than to challenge the former titleholders. When Aussie Open took their leave, Daniels reiterated that they are already to regain ROH gold while look good doing it.
Winners: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
Match Review: While The Outrunners have a very unique look & presentation, they were just fodder for the reunited Daniels & Sydal – who looked just as good as one could imagine in 2023. Out of any match promised for the future, Daniels & Sydal versus AO is, arguably, the most exciting potentially.
ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Clark Connors (Judges: Dean Malenko, Colt Cabana, and BJ Whitmer)
The pre-match, pre-taped dueling promos saw Clark Connors express his want to do right by his training under Shibata while the champ is ready to squash all expectations of what it means to be a Pure champion by squashing his challenger under his boot tonight.
Unfortunately no time clock or rope break graphics like in previous Pure Title matches. Some impressive grappling on the mat resulted in the champion opting to whip the challenger into the ropes. Connors actually got a lot of momentum off the whip, shoulder blocking Wheeler Yuta inside-out. Using a chop exchange to sweep Connors into an arm bar, Yuta forced his opponent to use one of his rope breaks.
Blocking a suplex attempt, Connors executed a brain buster out of nowhere for a two count. Trophy Kill failed for Connors and put him in prime position for the octopus stretch. Clark collapsed into the ropes to lose another rope break.
Taking his wrist tape and throwing it so the referee could remove it from the ring, Yuta used the distraction to illegally punch his challenger. “Yuta sucks!” chants began after Wheeler did something so dishonorable. Yuta lost his grip of the waist lock follow up, running into the Trophy Kill/Pounce. Connors’ left shoulder was injured and he couldn’t take advantage of the situation well; especially when Yuta avoided a running tackle to dropkick his opponent’s shoulder. German suplex by the champion only fired up Connors as he rolled through and cut Wheeler in half with the spear. The crowd was split in support of Yuta as the competitors got up throwing forearms. Big dropkick from Yuta again with him hammering Clark’s arm with his fist to follow up. Wheeler lured Connors into a striking situation while stuck in the Indian deathlock. Connors didn’t realize it until it was too late that he punched Yuta to earn a warning.
When Yuta got up, Wheeler punched Connors right in front of the ref to earn a warning as well (if the ref saw the first punch by Yuta it would’ve ended the bout in a disqualification). But the gloating Yuta left himself open to be swept into the Ankle Lock. Wheeler had no choice but to use the ropes to save his title.
“The Wild Rhino” kept the momentum until he went for a suplex that saw his shoulder give out. Yuta pulled Connors down, looking for the crossface. Connors was heading toward the ropes when Yuta turned the submission into a crucifix for the pin fall.
After following the Code of Honor, Yuta grabbed the microphone to remind everyone that the Blackpool Combat Club is the home of the best training in the world. Rather than dealing with students, Yuta is excited to slay the teacher himself: Katsuyori Shibata. ROH World champ Claudio Castagnoli came out applauding his ally.
Winner: Wheeler Yuta
Match Review: Lack of graphics grievances aside again, this was another entertaining Pure title match with Wheeler really turning up the dishonorable, though highly strategic antics. This version of Yuta is the most enjoyable to watch similar to Nigel McGuinness during his Pure title reign when he started coming into his own as a personality instead of just being a very good wrestler. Now that the challenge has been set for Shibata, it’ll be very interesting to see how well Yuta thrives against such a heralded opponent. Also, kudos to Connors who showed out during this match and, hopefully, sticks around for the foreseeable future.
Overall Review: Episode three definitely rivaled episode one in terms of quality, but, arguably, lacked that must-see match this week. With that being stated, the first two bouts were very good (Claudio-Mack with more time would’ve, possibly, stolen the episode), the Metalik & Blake-Trustbuster bout was unlike anything else on the card, and the Pure title match had more intensity than any match televised this week (though felt like it was just getting great when it ended). While the show was a little too heavy on the amount of matches, at least they all made sense for occurring by either establishing the talent involved or setting up future matches (or both).
It also must be stated that them opting to go with Athena-Yuka instead of Athena-Willow II with the story established in regards to the latter rooted in what’s been happening in ROH between the two. Ignoring that “issue” over the Women’s title, another strong showing from the ROH competitors; though not as stellar of an episode as last week’s.
