Last Week: Brian Cage got back to his winning ways by overcoming Metalik in the main event.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 32
Seattle, WA
October 5, 2023
– After “WrestleDream” last Sunday, ROH World champion Eddie Kingston reflected on his recent battles while attempting to bring the style of Antonio Inoki to the U.S.
Athena (c) w/ Billie Starkz vs. Leyla Hirsch
In a great show of grappling acumen, the champ looked to show off before getting unceremoniously dropkicked in the corner not once, but twice. Leyla Hirsch went to the sky, diving through the ropes to tackle the fleeing champion out of the ring. A failed Irish whip against the steel ring steps resulted in Leyla taking a dropkick herself. But the challenger recovered quickly, sending the incoming the champion against the steel ring steps. Hirsch had a suplex off the steps in mind, but took a gourd-buster to the floor!
Barely making it back into the ring before the twenty count, Hirsch got swarmed by Athena’s strikes while “The Fallen Goddess” shouted at Billie to pay attention. Leaping over a charging Athena in the corner, Hirsch cinched in an elevated abdominal stretch with the body lock for added effect. Athena hip tossed her way out of the hold, doing a little dance after getting Leyla in the ropes for a knee strike. Athena got yanked into the ring due to her arrogance, only for her to break free of Hirsch’s grip and land a bayonet forearm strike that leveled the challenger.
“Legit” found herself on the mat, being twisted at the champ’s will. Like Athena, Hirsch muscled her way off the mat; landing a series of clotheslines & suplexes including a big German suplex that gave her a two count. Kipping up, Athena pulled off a head scissors on the approaching Hirsch to send Leyla face-first against the turnbuckles. Athena executed a slingshot Finlay Roll to set up the O-Face.
Hirsch rushed the corner, causing Athena to jump prematurely and get yanked into the cross arm bar. Holding onto her own wrist, Athena put herself in a triangle choke that the champ turned into a power bomb … for a near fall!
Both women slowly got to their knees to start a forearm exchange that Leyla won. Shoving Leyla, Athena gathered enough distance to force Hirsch to run and snatched into the crossface. Leyla countered the submission with one of her own in the form of that cross arm bar. Athena rolled through the hold, raking Hirsch’s face with her boot to set up another big forearm.
Hirsch gathered herself as the referee reprimanded Athena for the face rake, climbing the ropes. Athena met Leyla, only for Hirsch to pull off a cartwheel German superplex. Instead of going for the pin, Leyla had the moonsault in mind. Athena moved at the last second, grabbing the staggered challenger for Despicable Knee and the subsequent pin fall.
Laying the belt down in the ring’s middle, Athena super kicked Leyla with the intent of slamming Hirsch’s face against the title. Billie pleaded with Athena not to do it … and the champ obliged. Maria Kanellis-Bennett arrived to state that she was right about Leyla not being ready for the champ.
Winner: Athena
Match Review: Leyla’s undefeated streak comes to an end, but she came out looking like a star from the loss. The match was excellent and, easily, Leyla’s best during her tenure in both ROH and AEW. But Athena was just that much better and has vanquished another would-be champion with the possibility of Hirsch getting some tutelage from Maria before going for the queen again in the future.
– Standing in the interview zone with Lexy Nair were veteran competitors in action against each other tonight: Christopher Daniels and Rocky Romero. Rocky had no choice but to thank his opponent for the evening for helping him get his foot in the ROH door. While Daniels felt happy to assist a future great find his footing in the business, “The Fallen Angel” needs to win tonight to get back in a position where a former World champion belongs.
Josh Woods w/ Mark Sterling vs. Tyler Payne
No waiting around from the former Pure champion as he whipped the newcomer over for a kick to his lower back. As if that wasn’t enough, Woods pulled off an overhead gut-wrench suplex. Payne recovered as Josh posed, kicking Woods backward. But getting near the ropes proved Payne’s undoing as he was caught in said ropes and German suplexed in position for Tilt-A-Woods. Making the cover, Woods picked up another rather easy victory.
Winner: Josh Woods
Match Review: Woods gets another win, even if the competition was less than someone like previous ROH champions Silas Young and John Walters. It’s still odd that the whole point of Josh’s new attitude and winning streak is to get another shot at the Pure title. So why wasn’t this a Pure Rules match?
Christopher Daniels vs. Rocky Romero
Some fine grappling to open up this one as expected considering the talent involved in this bout. Focusing on controlling his opponent with the side headlock, Daniels eventually got to his feet and taken to the floor by a head scissors. Rocky Romero came sailing through the ropes to forearm Daniels at ringside. When the action returned inside, Romero had the Forever Clotheslines in mind. Daniels avoided the strike, using an overhead uranage slam to begin his work on his fellow former ROH World Tag Team champion’s back. Going from the back to his opposition’s neck, Daniels found himself getting pulled into a tornado DDT.
“The Fallen Angel” stumbled into the corner to unknowingly set himself up for several clotheslines. Missile dropkick from Romero after hanging Daniels in the nearby ropes only gave Rocky a two count. Catching Rocky on the ropes, Daniels executed a hurricarana off the top rope to gain a two count of his own. Romero blocked Angel’s Wings, back dropping Daniels in position for a roundhouse kick into the Shiranui. Rocky held Daniels to the mat for a pin.
Winner: Rocky Romero
Match Review: A solid back-and-forth encounter that could’ve been a classic if given the time. Daniels loses another bout and has to be almost at a breaking point from a character perspective. If not, they need to do better with someone of his caliber.
– Lexy Nair stood with a despondent Dalton Castle in the interview zone. Almost heaving, Castle’s heart-rate was so high after getting not getting used on ROH programming more even though the fans want to see him. But where does Dalton start to give the people what they want?
Scorpio Sky vs. Fred Rosser
The former New Japan Strong champion was cranking down on Scorpio Sky’s arms and head. Breaking free of the headlock. Sky used a big trip to set up a series of forearms. Climbing the ropes proved bad for Sky as he was yanked back-first against the canvas. Going for the pin off every high-impact move got the fans rallying behind the former ROH Tag titleholder. Forearming his way out of a headlock, Sky High from Scorpio ended in a near fall.
Just when it seemed Sky had things going his way, they ended up on the apron for a belly-to-back suplex across the apron that rattled Scorpio. Countering a suplex in the ring, Sky failed to pin Rosser. But Sky didn’t let that deter him from hitting the TKO for another pin fall victory.
Winner: Scorpio Sky
Match Review: Another win for Sky even though the match itself wasn’t as memorable as Sky-Nese from last week. Rosser looked good as well, but feels like another body added to a dozen others already apart of ROH’s rotating roster.
Willow Nightingale, Skye Blue & Kiera Hogan vs. The Renegades & Lady Frost
The women weren’t waiting as they started slugging it out until Willow Nightingale isolated and slammed Lady Frost in position for that cross body block. Kiera Hogan & Skye Blue joined the fray, double teaming Frost. Lady recovered as her partners pulled their opponents to the floor so Blue couldn’t tag out. Blue found herself on the wrong part of town, getting double team suplexed by The Renegades. A triple team chop from Skye’s opponents to her actually lit a fire in Blue that allowed her to fight back and attempt to make a tag to her awaiting partners.
Kicking her way out of the Renegade’s grip, Blue tagged in a fired-up Hogan where she dominated the action until a double attack from Frost & Charlette Renegade. Sending the sisters into one another, Kiera tagged out to Willow so Nightingale could finish off and pin Charlette off the Babe with the Power Bomb.
Winners: Willow Nightingale, Skye Blue & Kiera Hogan
Match Review: A solid bout that got a little too chaotic for its own good in the end. All six women feel like their treading water at this point which is ridiculous considering how over Willow is and the potential of Frost breaking out as a real worthy challenger for Athena’s title just like Nightingale.
– The Infantry including Trish Adora hadn’t forgotten about what happened last week when Cole Karter cheated to win their tag match, but tonight is a new day so they can get back to winning. Lexy Nair tried to get with that, but may have been culturally appropriating.
Ethan Page vs. Invictus Khash
Big body slam off the lock up by Ethan Page. When Invictus Khash got up, he found himself getting punched after failing to control his opponent with a side headlock. Running suplex by Page put Khash in position for something Invictus countered by landing an uppercut. Thrust kick Ethan leveled Khash. Stopping the Ego’s Edge, Khash stunned Page with the roundhouse kick that allowed Khash to knock Ethan out of the ring. Throwing Page back in, Khash slung himself into the ace crusher. Making the cover, Page picked up another pin fall victory.
Winner: Ethan Page
Match Review: Another solid win for Ethan Page with the commentators mentioning Eddie Kingston would love to defend his ROH World title against him in the future. Hopefully this doesn’t mean Page’s momentum gets halted or he vanishes from ROH programming if he loses to a champion as he’s been great for the product thus far.
– Mark Sterling and Tony Nese promised to take the war against bread in Seattle.
The Infantry vs. TMDK
Shane Haste found himself locking up with Carlie Bravo after the latter gave him some dap off the Code of Honor. Quick flying forearm from Bravo leveled Haste and set up a double team fist drop from The Infantry. Shawn Dean became the legal man, only to get tripped by Mikey Nicholls from the outside so Haste could dropkick the side of his head. Showing off some hip swivels to prepare his kicking leg, Haste allowed his partner to get some piece of the action including a double team suplex that almost ended this bout.
Stopping another double team, Dean flipped, kicked, and rolled to Bravo for the hot tag. Bravo used that fake-out hook to Haste before using the scissor kick on Mikey. Getting drilled with the DDT, Haste barely stopped a pin in Bravo’s favor. Haste threw a wild haymaker to stop Carlie from climbing the ropes, only for Bravo to knock him down. Sadly for Carlie, Mikey was there to help his partner drive a diving Bravo into the mat. Shawn had to save his partner from a sure three count, only to take a release falcon arrow. Spine buster by Mikey to Bravo left him in prime position for their decapitation DDT double team. Haste made the cover, pinning Bravo for their first ROH win in over eleven years.
Winners: TMDK
Match Review: Sadly, The Infantry couldn’t return to their winning ways following a good bout that, like Romero-Daniels, felt like it would’ve been truly memorable with some more time. It’ll be interesting if TMDK stick around and eventually get a Tag or Six-Man title shot (that most likely won’t happen on ROH programming).
– Ethan Page found himself interview with Lexy Nair as the latter explained that even Eddie Kingston is keeping an eye on him. Page is ready for all the competition as his confidence is growing with each win. The challenge is open for anyone in ROH who thinks they can snap his winning streak.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tony Nese w/ Mark Sterling
Reminding everyone that he was beating up Bryan Danielson the last time he was in Seattle, Tony Nese’s focus moved to his need to help people not be fat any longer. With a loaf of bread in hand, Tony’s rant was interrupted by his opponent’s music. Kojima expressed his love for bread, only for Nese to stomp the loaf.
The legend took out his anger by shoulder tackling his opponent. Kojima’s iron pectorals almost broke Nese’s hand; causing Sterling to trip Satoshi so his client could knock him out of the ring. After taking an illegal shot from Sterling at ringside, Kojima got tied in the tree of woe for those rowboat kicks. Big dropkick from Nese set up the body lock.
Getting free from the hold, Kojima lit Nese up with those patented knife-edge chops in the corner that got the crowd riled up. Flying elbow drop after the flying forearm gave Kojima a two count. Muta-like throat thrust by Nese set up the Macho Hotshot. Triangle moonsault by Nese allowed him to get a two count as well. Elbowing his way out of a suplex, Kojima hit the Koji Cutter.
The Lariat was in Kojima’s mind, only for Sterling to jump onto the apron for a Nese cradle into the roundhouse kick. Instead of going for the pin, Nese bounced off the ropes for something that ended with him feeling the Lariat. Kojima made the cover, pinning Nese in a match that commentator Ian Riccaboni stated Kojima was now in title contention.
Grabbing the bread loaf, Kojima stuffed the bread in Nese’s face.
Winner: Satoshi Kojima
Match Review: A serviceable showcase for the legend that is Kojima. Nese and Sterling’s dirty tactics put Kojima in a bad way, only for him to make a comeback and give the people what they wanted: LARIAT!
– We got footage of some more Minion Training with Athena expressing how she wants to empower her minions. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise tried to train them in how to announce the champ to the ring. While Billie Starkz put over how well Lexy Nair is doing, Lexy didn’t have anything good to say about her fellow minion. Billie’s punishment for doing terrible in her training this week was going to Tony Khan’s office and pretending to be Willow Nightingale while insulting herself as Willow.
Trish Adora vs. Billie Starkz w/ Athena
Trying to play some mind games with Trish Adora didn’t end well as she got yanked to the floor by her arms. Athena wanted her minion to hit Trish in the face and Starkz followed said order by slamming Adora face-first against the top turnbuckle. Big suplex from Billie led to a two count followed by Billie attempting to have a tantrum. Adora took the time to recover and almost knocked Starkz out.
Wheelbarrow German suplex by Trish folded Starkz up as the fans rallied behind her. Adora’s hip attacks rattled Billie’s senses, falling into the ropes after stopping a fireman’s carry maneuver. Desperation forearm from Starkz rocked Adora long enough to set up the Swanton bomb. Adora got her knees up, but ran into the Star Ten/Pedigree. Billie immediately locked in the bulldog choke for the submission victory.
Winner: Billie Starkz
Match Review: Another week, another Trish Adora loss even if it’s to part of ROH’s hottest story going. Billie showing shades of being a temperamental menace like her mentor is as interesting of a twist as Lexy not being a genuine friend to her fellow minion.
Darius Martin vs. Lee Johnson
Solid grappling at the beginning before the pace quickened with both looking to control the other’s head. Big dropkick off the sunset flip counter by Lee Johnson stunned his opponent until Darius Martin flipped out of a hip toss attempt. A dropkick of his own from Martin rocked Lee and left him stuck in the corner for some chops. Reversing an Irish whip, Johnson used a springboard back flip for a reverse DDT attempt. Martin countered the maneuver, only to get his face slammed against the middle turnbuckle.
Putting the boots to Martin, Lee’s dropkick worked to perfection when Dante attempted to get his feet underneath him. Watching from the back was Shane Taylor Promotions. Reversing a suplex to suplex his opposition, Dante initiated a strike exchange that ended with Darius’ slingshot downward spiral. The fans were getting into this one as Martin’s right haymaker swung him into a German suplex. Catching a flying Darius with the super kick after Martin attempted to fight his way out of the corner, Lee thought he had this one in the bag. Reversing a suplex was Martin to set up the frog splash. Staying atop his opponent, Martin got the precious three count over a very game Johnson.
Winner: Darius Martin
Match Review: Gaining another singles win, Darius Martin cooked with Lee Johnson in – this is redundant – would’ve been a breakout type of match for both if they had more time. The only disappointment was Lee reverting back to just being a generic babyface after showing off some villainous tendencies when he wrestled Gravity last week.
The Iron Savages w/ Jacked Jameson vs. Cole Karter & Griff Garrison w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs. The WorkHorsemen vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty)
Lee Moriarty and Anthony Henry of The WorkHorsemen locked up at the bell’s sound; resulting in both showing off some incredible agility topped by tight holds. Moriarty freed himself from a cravat, tagging out to an unsuspecting Cole Karter. Cole ran in, getting tripped and kicked by Henry. When Cole tried to tag out to his partner, Griff Garrison opted to leave the apron.
So Karter had to resort to tagging out so Bronson of The Iron Savages could fail to down Henry as well. Bronson tagged Cole back in after feeling a JD Drake slingshot senton, giving Griff Garrison a chance to feel the power & tag team continuity of The WorkHorsemen. Landing a big European uppercut, Griff got tagged out by Moriarty and pulled out of the ring by Cole.
For the first time in this bout, Henry was reeling after getting blindsided by Lee’s leg lariat. Shane Taylor entered the ring for the first time, using a head-butt into the spine buster topped by a running big splash to Henry. Drake had to save his partner from a pin fall, allowing Henry to recover and shoulder ram Lee into Griff & Cole’s corner. Double team Irish whip into Griff’s dropkick leveled Henry; as did Garrison’s big boot after a failed pin attempt. Ducking a thrust kick from Griff, Henry tagged in his partner so Drake could head-butt Cole, sidestep and neck break Shane, and help his partner power bomb Lee.
Things were breaking down as Boulder of The Iron Savages grabbed Henry to Samoan drop him as he used the DDT on Taylor. Bronson sipped the Savage Sauce before getting his partner to help somersault him over the top rope to wipe out almost every opponent at ringside.
In the ring, Karter found himself in Boulder’s clutches when Maria jumped onto the apron while threatening to pour out the sauce. The distraction worked as Karter dropkicked Boulder into Jameson when he tried to retrieve the sauce. Taylor tagged himself in via Boulder, knocking out Cole with that stiff right hand. Taylor made the cover, getting the pin for his team.
Winners: Shane Taylor Promotions
Match Review: Really fun bout with Henry proving to be the match’s MVP. STP gets a much-needed win to establish them as a force in ROH while Cole and Griff still can’t get along; and the Savage Sauce may be both the benefit and the downfall of The Iron Savages.
Gravity, Metalik & Komander w/ Alex vs. Gringo Loco & The Spanish Announce Project (Serpentico & Angelico)
Code of Honor followed between the mutually opaque-colored competitors of Metalik and Gringo Loco. As expected, the opening seconds were fast as Metalik pulled off a top rope hurricarana almost immediately before Gringo countered a wheelbarrow arm drag into the handstand. Both tagged out after the stalemate that came from their interactions; bringing in Komander and Angelico. Showing his agility, Komander used a cartwheel to pull off the head scissors so he could flapjack Gravity atop a horizontal Angelico.
Making his way to Serpentico, Angelico tagged out and used a hurricarana of his own on Gravity. Tripping an incoming Serpentico, Gravity performed a plank fall for a two count. The failed pin attempt practically reset this one as Gravity and Serpentico started a chop exchange that caused both sides to empty into the ring for a brawl.
Triple team dropkick to Gravity after his partners were knocked out of the ring. Another triple team worked through a counter as The SAP tossed a running Gravity into Gringo’s sit-out power bomb. But the luchador named Gravity refused to go down and back flipped out of a suplex to tag in Komander. The referee was letting everything go as no one was tagging opposing Komander as he tried to fight all three opponents off at the same time.
Komander had no choice but to tag out as the numbers were becoming too much; giving Metalik the chance to hurricarana Gringo, kick Serpentico, and dive on Angelico. Komander was on the top rope ready to walk the top when Gringo pulled him to the mat with a super Spanish Fly. After diving on his opponents at ringside, Gringo went for the moonsault on Komander. Komander moved, executing a springboard Canadian Destroyer. Walking the top rope, Komander pulled off a shooting star press to pin Gringo.
Winners: Gravity, Metalik & Komander
Match Review: Another good bout that could’ve benefited from getting more time. But with the time they had, the luchadors and lucha-influenced competitors had a fine encounter without any visibly contrived or messed-up moments.
Overall Review: Similar to last week, this episode suffered from being too long in the tooth with certain matches like Romero-Daniels, Martin-Johnson, and even the main event not being able to reach a level of memorability worthy of the talent because the show had so many matches. One match that didn’t suffer from a lack of time was the opener and, easily, the best match of the show. It doesn’t need to be stated, but the fact is Athena is firing on all cylinders as of late with Leyla having her best match thus far in her time in both ROH and AEW. It’ll be interesting to see if Leyla takes Maria’s managerial services going forward to get another shot at the champ when Kanellis-Bennett feels she’s ready.
As noted, there were several really good matches across the episode including the aforementioned main event (though it’s so odd the show’s most important match wasn’t edited to be the main event instead of it being the opener), Romero-Daniels, and Martin versus Johnson. The Four Corner Survival tag and TMDK overcoming The Infantry were very enjoyable matches that may or may not lead to something greater in the near future for the winners (and maybe the losers as well). And it’s always a treat to see Kojima in action.
The episode’s biggest issue was redundancy or a lacking follow-through. Brian Cage’s main event win last week meant nothing this week, nor did The Gates of Agony overcoming The Iron Savages. Willow, Hogan & Blue are teaming to fight a trio of people they’ve beaten multiple times. Though they mentioned their loss last week, The Infantry didn’t bother the ROH Board of Directors (where are they, anyway?) to be involved in the FCS with Karter & Garrison (a duo who still can’t get along even with Maria’s advice) to potentially get a measure of revenge.
Once focused on becoming the next ROH World Television champion, Dalton is visibly befuddled about where his career is headed after just winning a trios match with The Boys last week. Though they’re gaining wins, the road to a potential ROH title match for Woods and Page was the same as their last matches. Eddie Kingston’s pre-taped promo had nothing to do with anything going on in ROH right now and stars both current and potential like Willow and Adora are spinning their wheels.
For as good as a majority of the action was with this episode, the lack of importance or significant character/story progression beyond anything happening with Athena and her minions is disheartening at this point. Foundations should be laid for what could and should happen at “Final Battle” or even a must-see episode of ROH on HonorClub. Unfortunately, there was nothing promoted or hinted at for next week’s episode to hook viewers.
