Last Week: ROH Women’s World champion and ROH World champion Athena and Claudio Castagnoli respectively defeated Hyan and Willie Mack in Proving Ground Matches to ensure they don’t challenge them for their respective titles. The Embassy also defeated Dalton Castle & The Boys to retain their Six-Man Tag Team Championship while Mark Briscoe made the verbal challenge that he wants a shot at Samoa Joe & the ROH World Television title.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 4
Orlando, Florida
March 23, 2023
Lexy Nair was in the interview zone with the Ring of Honor World Television champion Samoa Joe. The champ was glad to give Mark Briscoe his requested title shot, but with a warning that an example will be made tonight in honor of his “Supercard of Honor” opponent.
We finally got an opening video package; though abridged in nature as it seemingly was cut off by the entrance of Tony Nese.
Mark Briscoe vs. Tony Nese w/ Mark Sterling & Josh Woods
No Code of Honor as Tony Nese attacked Mark Briscoe as he was coming up from his ceremonial pre-match prayer in the corner. As “Dem Boys!” chants broke out, Mark retaliated with some Redneck Kung Fu that had the former WWE Superstar scurrying unsuccessfully to the floor where Mark kept assaulting him. Mark slammed Tony on the floor for a successful Cactus Jack Elbow. Just when it seemed Mark had everything going his way, Nese’s seconds distracted the Tag champ long enough for Nese to recover and push Mark face first against the steel ring post.
Mark got up swinging with chops, reentering the ring where Nese was waiting to kick the middle rope into Briscoe’s groin. Nese distracted the ref so Woods could suplex Mark on the floor. Putting Mark in a tree of woe in the corner, Nese used a series of row-bow kicks while working on his own abs. But Nese’s arrogance cost him as Mark turned an Irish whip into a big boot. Nese, stopping a pinning combination, kneed Mark in position for a failed pin fall. Chopping his way out of a body scissors, Mark found himself getting punched in the throat. Mark, after taking a hot shot, avoided Nese’s follow-up springboard moonsault to showcase his kung fu prowess. Iconoclasm connected for Mark, but didn’t put Nese down for the three count.
Mark used the Timebomb neck breaker to no avail in terms of ending this one. Nese started throwing kicks aplenty, flipping out of a suplex after taking a vertical version so he could position Briscoe for something big. Unfortunately for Nese, he ran into the rolling Death Valley driver. Nese couldn’t get up in time to avoid the Froggy Bow or the three count that followed.
Mark celebrated with his family at ringside in one beautiful moment.
Winner: Mark Briscoe
Match Review: A very good opener that, unfortunately, followed the Mark Sterling Co. formula where interference is the name of the game until the fan favorite is able to overcome the odds. But Mark and Tony had some really good chemistry and a want to run this one back is strong.
Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Slim J & Jeeves Kay) vs. AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik
It was AR Fox and Jeeves Kay kicking this one off for their respective teams. After a short display that saw him knock AR Fox down, Kay lost his momentum by taking a dropkick. Blake Christian tagged in, leg sweeping the legal Ari Daivari. When Ari got up, Blake came off the top with a beautiful springboard clothesline. Backing Blake into the wrong part of town, Ari moved the referee out of position so he couldn’t see Slim J & Kay double team hammer fist Blake over and over again. Quick tags between the Trustbusters as they worked over Christian with simple kicks and elbow strikes. Turning a side headlock against Ari, Blake back suplexed his way to a Metalik tag.
“The King of Ropes” was on fire, walking the ropes to splash Ari after wiping him out courtesy of a somersault plancha. Moonsault missed for Metalik, but he landed on his feet and was able to sweep Ari. Metalik wanted another springboard attack when Kay grabbed his masked opponent’s elevated legs to yank him face-first against the ring apron.
Like Blake before him, Metalik found himself on the wrong side of the ring, getting stomped by Slim, slapped by Ari, and head locked by Kay. Slam-splash combo by Kay almost ended Metalik’s night. Kay made a big mistake whipping Metalik toward the ropes, Metalik sprung off the ropes with a back handspring elbow. Ari stopped a sure tag, only to get kicked and prevent Metalik from tagging out. Knocking Metalik’s partners off the apron, the masked man had no help. So Metalik just knocked everyone down until Fox returned to the apron.
AR pulled off the rolling ace crusher almost immediately. Double ace crusher on Kay & Slim was topped by Fox’s cutter on Ari. Using Kay as a balance beam, Fox instigated a series of dives from him and his teammates. Just when it seemed Fox was going to finish off Kay, Sterling jumped onto the apron. Kay took advantage of the distraction and, eventually, AR hit Mark. Ari reentered after Kay nailed Fox with the bairn buster. They were setting up a tower of doom when Metalik and Blake saved AR by pulling their opponents down. Fox popped off the mat, executing an ace crusher that allowed Fox to crush Daivari with the 450 splash. Fox held Ari down for the pin for his team.
The ROH World Six-Man Tag champs The Embassy hit the ring, disposing of the winning trio and the champ’s would-be challengers.
Winners: AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik
Match Review: The new, winning trio didn’t get as much shine as expected considering they are obviously the next ones in line to fight the Six-Man champs. Like the opening contest, this one proved rather formulaic considering the people involved, but the crowd loved the explosive, awe-inspiring talents of the future title contenders.
Skye Blue vs. Lady Frost
The fans were behind Skye Blue as she showed her grappling prowess while focusing on wrist control. When Lady Frost’s athleticism allowed her to free herself from Blue’s grip, Skye picked up the pace to pull off an arm drag that essentially reset the match. Frost had gotten sick of the friendly competition, kicking Blue when feigning a tie up. Missing a roundhouse kick didn’t hinder Frost as she yanked Blue into the corner after stopping a waist lock, executing a cartwheel into the cannonball that crushed Blue against the turnbuckles. Frost was taking her time in abusing Blue while not giving the fans another chop when the first echoed throughout the building. Kicking Blue to the floor, Frost stepped onto the apron for another cannonball that wiped out Skye at ringside.
The fans were rallying behind Skye again as Frost tried to kick Blue’s head off. Blue exploded off the mat after taking a pair of kicks aimed at her stomach to super kick Frost. Coming off the middle rope, Blue pulled off a hurricarana topped by a roundhouse kick following the step-up knee strike while Lady Frost was in the ropes. Using another cartwheel, Frost swept & spun Blue into the air raid crash. Blue valiantly kicked out of Frost’s follow-up pin, having to yank Frost off the ropes before climbing the corner herself for a cross body block. Frost kicked out of pin attempt off the cross body, only to succumb to the Skye Fall and the subsequent pin fall.
Winner: Skye Blue
Match Review: Strong showcase by both competitors. Skye is growing into someone who has the abilities to carry a championship and, in the case of ROH, actually build the division around. Frost’s more villainous actions cast her in a new light and she could add a lot to the division lacking heels.
La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH & Dralistico) vs. The Foundation (Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams)
And dey started a clubberin’ early, Tony! Unfortunately for The Foundation, LFI knocked their opponents out of the ring before doing their signature in-ring pose. The Foundation ran back in, kicking both opponents. RUSH & Dralistico disposed of Rhett Titus almost immediately; leaving Tracy Williams to be picked apart as the fans actually chanted for the masked luchador. RUSH tagged in, demanding Williams give him a chop exchange.
Williams got surprised by forearm, leaving him prone in the ropes for a springboard leg drop from Dralistico. “Hot Sauce” refused to stay down, going strike for strike with the luchador until he used a suplex on Dralistico that allowed him to tag out. RUSH and Rhett Titus were the legal men, going at it with forearms until Titus used an overhead belly-to-belly suplex that put RUSH in the corner for double team forearms into the discus lariat.
Dralistico was late to save his brother after the series, but RUSH still had enough to kick out. Dralistico knocked down Titus as RUSH set up the Bull’s Horns on Williams. Tracy jumped out of the corner, spearing RUSH to stop Bull’s Horns in an impressive sight & counter. Dralistico knocked Williams out of the ring for a somersault plancha after RUSH used his own overhead belly-to-belly suplex to slam Titus against the turnbuckles. RUSH’s Bull’s Horns followed, knocking out Titus for those precious three seconds.
Winners: La Faccion Ingobernable
Match Review: Whoo, that was a fun, hard-hitting sprint. The fans are starting to really get behind RUSH in this new ROH era and it’s almost impossible to have a bad tag bout featuring The Foundation. Like Briscoe-Nese, would love to see a rematch.
Caprice Coleman was involved in a sit-down interview with ROH World champion Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston. Claudio apologized about saying that Eddie has no honor, but still believes someone like Kingston can’t and shouldn’t be the ROH World champion. Kingston refused to accept the apology before reminding everyone that his mentors like Low Ki, Xavier, and Homicide held – a linage he’s in line to follow.
Claudio reminded Eddie that they trained together all those years ago and it was Kingston who always broke, always ran away when the times got tough. Following up by saying that Eddie is nothing but talk, Claudio finally accepted Kingston’s title challenge; giving everyone a spoiler: Eddie loses again and blames everyone but himself for his failures. Castagnoli actually shut Eddie down by telling Kingston Eddie’s the biggest waste of potential he’s ever seen.
Matt Taven w/ The Kingdom vs. Darius Martin
The post-match attack after Dante Martin’s match with Mike Bennett last week prevented him from being in his brother’s corner tonight. Code of Honor followed, only for the former ROH World champion to attempt a slap on Darius. Martin was ready for the disrespectful act in the form of a dropkick. Exiting the ring, Matt was hoping to get the jump on Darius after a mild distraction from his Kingdom mate.
Taven tried to Pearl Harbor his opponent in the ring, getting pie faced into a double stomp. A rushing Martin got dumped over the top rope, but held on and landed on the apron. Bennett attempted to spear Darius off the apron when Martin jumped over him. Before Darius could reenter the ring, Maria grabbed his boots; holding him long enough for Taven to execute the Kick of the King. Maria & Taven distracted the referee so Bennett could pull off that ricochet forearm on the floor that clobbered Darius.
A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker put Darius on the canvas, but he avoided Taven’s springboard senton. Darius got to his feet after ducking Just the Tip, but Taven’s roundhouse kick rocked one-half of Top Flight. Catching sailing Taven with inverted atomic drop, Darius came through the ropes with the complete shot to gain a two count. Standing Spanish Fly worked for Darius, only for Taven to come off the match with an enzuguri. Darius retaliated in time with his own enzuguri, putting both men down for a few seconds.
Turning a sunset bomb against him, Taven hit Just the Tip with the Frog Splash in mind afterward. Darius got his knees up to stop the Frog Splash’s intended impact, putting Taven out of the ring. Darius came sailing through the ropes, taking out Bennett instead of his target in Taven. When Martin tried to follow Taven into the ring, he got tripped by Maria into Taven’s Climax. Taven made the cover, pinning Darius.
The Kingdom weren’t done, planning something devastating for Darius when his brother ran out to chase off The Kingdom.
Winner: Matt Taven
Match Review: Similar to the opener, this one followed a formula where the fan favorite was outnumbered, yet refused to give into the cheating ways of The Kingdom. Things got a little rough throughout including the apron’s narrowness messing up the Bennett attempted spear while Darius jumped over him and some mistimes between Martin and Taven, but they pulled everything together for another solid bout tonight.
Brian Cage vs. Tony Deppen
Shoving Tony Deppen around with ease gave one-third of the Six-Man Tag champs a false sense of security as he got caught with a few kicks until he responded with a roundhouse kick. Cage’s dead-lift superplex didn’t end this one because “The Machine” didn’t want to go for the pin. Instead, Cage whipped Tony from one end of the ring to another. Cage spent too much time playing the crowd when setting up another superplex as Deppen slipped underneath him and pulled the champ into a rope-assisted lung blower. Deppen sent Cage flying both out of the ring and in with a plancha and missile dropkick respectively. With Cage prone, Deppen successfully double stomped Cage from the top rope to earn a two count.
Knee strike into the head-butt didn’t stop Deppen from being hoisted up and hit with the Drill Claw. Cage made the cover to pick up a singles win in ROH.
The champions’ post-match beating of Deppen was interrupted by lead pipe-wielding AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik. Wearing out Toa Liona with a pipe, the champs headed for the figurative hills.
Winner: Brian Cage
Match Review: Another sprint and something of a squash for Brian Cage. It’s sad Cage has lost so much in AEW that he doesn’t look as impressive as he should decimating a former ROH Television champion. This is another match that would make for a fun, longer second encounter in ROH.
Shane Taylor w/ JD Griffy vs. Silas Young
Stern collar & elbow tie-up resulted in a stalemate as they broke clean when they fell against the ropes. The fans were behind Taylor as splashed Young in the corner. They were mouthing off at each other as they exchanged forearms. Taylor won the battle, but the not the war as he missed a leg drop on Young as “The Last Real Man” lay across the ring’s edge. Slingshot double stomp from Young knocked the wind out of Taylor; as did some follow-up elbow drops. As Young demanded that Taylor, “…fight me like a man!” Shane exploded with a clothesline.
Sky High connected for Taylor after a second clothesline failed. Taylor had the Timebomb neck breaker in mind when Young countered with a knee to his face followed by a tornado DDT. Young couldn’t pin the big man, running into a uranage-splash combo that gave Taylor another two count. “The Last Real Man” ducked the lariat, hoisting Shane up for the Pee Gee Waja Plunge. In an impressive show of strength, Young executed the Finlay Roll portion of the Plunge, but Taylor avoided the moonsault. Young got picked up and driven on his head with the Marcus Garvey Driver that ended this one in Taylor’s favor via a pin fall.
Winner: Shane Taylor
Match Review: Two meaty men slapping meat is all you could ask for with these two former TV champs and that’s exactly what we got. Glad to see both back in ROH because this was the type of action they were delivering during the company’s last few years under the Sinclair banner.
Miranda Alize vs. Billie Starkz
Though more experienced, Miranda Alize found herself on the backpedal in the early going; opting to bite her opponent’s hand when feigning the Code of Honor. Alize left the ring after taking a big strike, being unable to stop a tope. Unfortunately for Billie Starkz, Alize avoided a maneuver in the corner when the action returned inside, yanking her down by her hair so the back of Starkz’s head hit the mat. “The Lucha Baddie” wanted to humiliate her opponent, but Billie was having none of it as she fired off forearms. Just when it seemed Starkz had a plan of attack, Alize yanked her down into the Miranda Rights. Holding on, Billie rolled through the crossface variation, using a rewind kick out of the corner before throwing a spinning back kick that landed on Alize’s jaw.
Alize responded with a kick of her own after surviving the Death Valley driver; topping off her attack with a hurricarana driver. Alize’s subsequent attack was countered, but she was ready for Billie to come off the ropes. Alize ran across the ring, looking for the Drive By when Starkz rolled up her opposition. Alize kicked out, only to run into the tombstone piledriver the put her down for the three count.
Winner: Billie Starkz
Match Review: Another entertaining sprint with Alize, like Lady Frost, casting herself as a villain the division needs while the spunky Starkz showed a lot more to impress than she did in her ROH debut two weeks ago and she, like Skye, has the makings of being a champion.
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
It was Matt Sydal going hold for hold with Kyle Fletcher until Christopher Daniels tagged in so they could perform a double team back elbow. Using the back of his singlet, Kyle yanked Daniels down so Mark Davis could tag in and chop the life out of “The Fallen Angel”. Using a drop toe hold to stop the running Davis, Daniels worked from bottom to top to down Davis. Sydal tagged in, helping his partner moonsault Mark before pulling off a moonsault senton in impressive fashion. Fletcher positioned himself as he saw Davis being whipped into the ropes.
Davis reversed the whip to send Daniels toward Kyle. But Daniels was ready and tripped Kyle. Sadly for Daniels, Davis was there to knock him in position for a Kyle knee. Springing off his partner, Kyle used the European uppercut to knock Sydal off the apron. AO grabbed their opponents at ringside, ramming both back first against each other while they were locked in bear hugs.
AO was looking for that hand-off double team delayed vertical suplex when Daniels almost swept Kyle into a small package. Kyle kicked out, giving his partner the chance to work over “The Fallen Angel”. AO wanted another double team when Daniels slid off Davis’ shoulders to shove him into his own partner. Mark got taken down with the flying flatliner from Daniels.
Tagging in, Sydal was on fire as he almost finished off Kyle with the hurricarana pinning combination. Placing Kyle on the top rope, Sydal used the frankensteiner when the super hurricarana failed … to earn a near fall!
Sydal signaled for the end when Davis stopped Matt’s climbing up the ropes. Daniels had to save Sydal from a double team off the top, throwing Davis out of the ring before pulling Kyle out of the corner while having Fletcher seated on his shoulders. Sydal came off the top, hitting a doomsday Meteora … for a near fall thanks to Davis breaking up the pin!
The fans were going wild as all four attempted to knock their opponents out until Davis pitched Daniels over the top rope. Davis wanted that pop-up piledriver on Sydal, but took a hurricarana for his trouble. When Sydal turned around, Kyle caught him with a knee strike that set up their double team ace crusher out of AO’s corner. Kyle made the cover, but Daniels was there to break up the pin attempt.
Daniels tagged himself in, sending AO into each other before using the blue thunder driver to almost end Kyle’s night. Sydal ran in, using the pump knee strike on Davis. Sydal spun around, getting spiked with Kyle’s tombstone piledriver. Daniels slammed Kyle in position for the Best Moonsault Ever. Kyle avoided the BME, but got locked in position for Angel’s Wings as the former ROH World champion landed on his feet. Thankfully for Kyle, Davis came flying out of nowhere to kick “The Fallen Angel” in his face. Daniels stumbled around, feeling a double team clothesline topped by AO’s tandem finisher Coriolis. Daniels couldn’t stop the three count that followed.
Daniels & Sydal feigned they wouldn’t follow the Code of Honor, but did so while giving AO their props.
Winner: Aussie Open
Match Review: Two ROH episodes in action, two episodes AO have, arguably, stolen the show (though this episode there’s little discussion in regards whether or not this surpassed everything else on the episode – it did). While it’s questionable having Daniels & Sydal lose so early in their reunion, it’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back while AO, potentially, gets a spot in the Ladder Match that may make them the new ROH World Tag Team champs.
ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Cheeseburger
The champ swarmed his challenger, punching him into oblivion while screaming at Mark Briscoe, “See what you have to deal with!” Cheeseburger tried to punch his way out of the corner when Joe just simply clotheslined him in position for the Muscle Buster. Joe made the cover, ending this one in record fashion.
As if that wasn’t enough, Joe executed another Muscle Buster. Joe left the ring, grabbing a chair for another Muscle Buster on the steel. Before Joe could ruin Cheeseburger’s career, Mark Briscoe hit the ring with chair in hand to send Joe running.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Match Review: Pure and utter destruction. A very interesting way to handle the main event considering how they’ve been highlights of each episode since the new era started, but this worked exceptionally well to showcase how much of a monster Joe can be and still is. Really hope Cheeseburger gets a little more shine in the future, this was all about Joe and his upcoming title defense.
Overall Review: After last week’s solid, though somewhat unremarkable episode, this show rebounded in fine fashion mostly thanks to the tag team action seen throughout the night. AO is a special talent and can’t help but have great matches with anyone they share a ring with. But the other tag bouts offered something completely different from each other and really made this episode must-see. That’s not to mean the single matches like Taylor-Young, Briscoe-Nese, Blue-Frost, and Taven-Martin weren’t very enjoyable while some of the shorter bout kept the flow of the show strong.
And then there was the sit-down interview between Claudio and Kingston. This was the perfect example of what ROH needs to do to be different while showcasing the verbal talents of both men. Claudio showcased his promo skills in better fashion than those who’ve never seen him outside of WWE or AEW could imagine and presented himself as the perfect polar opposite of the visible hungry wolf that is now his next title contender. Another very entertaining episode featuring one immaculate tag team encounter nearly closing the show.
