Last Week: Cheeseburger unsuccessfully answered the challenge for Samoa Joe’s World Television Championship after Aussie Open defeated another former ROH World Tag Team pair in the form of Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal in a must-see encounter.
ROH on HonorClub Episode 5
St. Louis, LA
March 30, 2023
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. Varsity Athletes (Tony Nese & Ari Daivari) w/ Mark Sterling
It was Ari Daivari going wrist lock for wrist lock with Kyle Fletcher until Kyle picked him up and slammed him toward a tag from Tony Nese. Tagging out, Fletcher gave Mark Davis a chance to show off how jacked his is. And by jacked, that meant Nese being unable to run through the bigger competitor with shoulder blocks while one from Davis sent him reeling toward a willing, but unable Ari who got knocked down and senton splashed immediately. Nese thought he had a chance to help when he was yanked into a Fletcher ace crusher. Before AO could double team clothesline Ari, Sterling grabbed Davis’ leg to cause the distraction. Kyle got pulled out of the ring, rammed back-first against the ring’s edge as the referee forced Davis out of the ring.
The Athletes had isolated Kyle, using simple punches and stomps to keep him grounded near their corner. Daivari made the big mistake by going for the Superfly Splash, but no one was in the figurative pool. Kyle rolled to Davis, tagging in the big man who used a cartwheel to stop the double team Irish whip so he could double clothesline his opponents. Nese found himself alone, getting tossed high for the power slam on the way down by Mark. AO was ready to finish off Nese with the Dental Plan, but Ari thought Tony didn’t need braces and saved him. Sadly for Ari, AO connected with that double team crushing clothesline before grabbed Nese for their finisher. Sterling jumped onto the apron to pull off another successful distraction. Nese dumped Davis over the top rope as Ari kicked Kyle on the head to put him on the top. Nese yanked Kyle out of the corner into Ari’s ace crusher. Climbing the ropes, Nese executed a 450 splash … to earn a near fall on Fletcher!
Davis reentered, helping Kyle knock down Nese with the Dental Plan after Fletcher super kicked an incoming Nese. Double team ace crusher from AO on Ari allowed AO to pull off their double team running bear hug smash at ringside. Sterling didn’t get away from AO fast enough to not be super kicked. Nese was alone and prone to AO’s double team crushing clothesline topped by the Coriolis that put him down for those precession three seconds to give AO another pin fall victory in ROH.
Winner: Aussie Open
Match Review: AO got tested a lot more than expected this week, but the end result was out of the question in this very good opener. Though Mark Sterling’s crew has been somewhat overbearing on ROH programming since the reboot, the talent can’t be denied as seen here yet again.
Miyu Yamashita vs. Shazza McKenzie
Following the Code of Honor, both women showed their grappling abilities in hopes of controlling the left arm until Miyu unleashed a blistering kick to Shazza’s back. Another kick followed to McKenzie’s chest that sent Shazza out of the ring. Tripping Miyu, Shazza used the ring’s edge to snap Yamashita’s left leg. Keeping the momentum in her favor, Shazza pulled off a row of knees off Irish whips topped off by a northern lights suplex that didn’t end this one with a pin fall.
Reversing a whip into the corner, Miyu came off with a modified version of the Beautiful Disaster that almost put Shazza’s lights out. Blocking a roll up seconds later, Miyu pulled off another kick at Shazza’s chest. McKenzie avoided a running attack, tying up Miyu in the ropes for some kicks of her own. Just when it seemed Shazza had Miyu reeling following a successful cross body block, Yamashita reversed an attempted ripcord attack to buzzsaw kick McKenzie for the elementary three count.
Winner: Miyu Yamashita
Match Review: New faces to ROH programming (though familiar for fans of SHIMMER and joshi) who definitely delivered in the short time they had. Both will fit well in this new version of ROH’s Women’s division.
The Embassy vs. JD Griffey, Dak Draper & Arin Singh
Code of Honor was followed before Brian Cage opted to start off with the former Top Prospect Tournament winner Dak Draper. Showcasing his agility and power, Cage leapt over then power slammed his running opponent. Draper attempted a springboard maneuver when he got caught and German suplexed across the ring. Both tagged out to allow Toa Liona to confront JD Griffey. JD was hitting and moving with Muay Thai style strikes. Toa took it all, tossing JD into a tag from Arin Singh. A fired up Singh ran into a big cross body from Toa before Bishop Kaun tagged in from The Embassy to flying forearm Arin. Singh found himself on the wrong part of town, being hoisted above the top rope before Kaun used a top turnbuckle-assisted backbreaker. Singh also felt Liona’s senton splash across the ring’s edge before Cage tagged in to execute that dead-lift superplex. Arin was lifeless as Cage made the successful pin.
Winners: The Embassy
Match Review: Utter destruction from the champs as it should’ve been though JD and Dak are highly entertaining (haven’t seen enough of Singh to make a good judgment).
AR Fox & Metalik vs. The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo)
It was Metalik and Shawn Dean doing their best in trying to land a significant strike while pulling off some lucha-infused maneuvers. Metalik found himself being successful in executing that first big strike as he ran up the ropes and hit a dropkick. AR Fox tagged in, using a head scissors that almost turned into a piledriver on Dean. Shawn found himself staggered, but able to slip off of Metalik’s shoulders to tag out.
Carlie Bravo punched the masked man so hard it hurt himself. Dean & Bravo put Metalik on the wrong part of the ring, using quick tags to set up mounted punches and an assisted double team shoulder ram. Fox made the mistake of running in while The Infantry were still standing, getting caught with a twisting wishbone. The Infantry were pulling off some incredible double team combos to keep Metalik off kilter. It wasn’t until they placed Metalik on the top rope did everything go wrong as Bravo got yanked off the top with a sunset bomb.
Metalik kicked Dean out of the way to tag out to a house of fire that was Fox. AR used the twisting vertical suplex to down Dean before snap rolling Bravo into an ace crusher. Metalik took out Dean with the asai moonsault on the floor as Bravo rolled through the ropes to execute a complete shot on AR. Metalik tagged himself in as Fox tried to block an incoming Bravo. Using the ropes to yank Bravo into the Spanish Fly, AR put Carlie in prime position for the middle-of-the-top rope elbow drop from Metalik that gave the masked man the pin for his team.
Winner: AR Fox & Metalik
Match Review: Another solid encounter with two teams that really meshed well. The Infantry are building up as one of those must-watch teams of the future while Metalik & AR are always a joy to watch..
ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs. Emi Sakura w/ Mei Suruga & Baliyan Akki
No Code of Honor as they went to fisticuffs immediately until Athena fell to the floor. Getting a running start, Emi flew through the ropes to tackle the champ. Athena recovered quickly as Emi celebrated in the ring. When Emi went to grab the champion from the apron, Athena used a suplex across the ring’s edge. As if that wasn’t enough, Athena slammed Sakura on the floor, then used the dropkick to sling Emi back-first against the ring’s edge. Emi’s backup in the form of Mei attempted to get involved, but got slammed on the floor for her trouble. But the distraction was enough for Emi to recover and knock Athena toward the ring steps. Before “The Fallen Goddess” could get away from the steps, Emi splashed her with a cross body that crushed her between her challenger and the steps.
Rolling Athena back in, Emi found herself too occupied with getting the fan’s adulation that she allowed Athena to recover and sweep her off the top rope into a tree of woe where the champ abused her back & shoulders with kicks. Like her challenger, Athena spent too much time mocking that Emi recovered and caught her coming with the handspring forearm in the corner by yanking Athena into a delayed double underhook backbreaker. Moonsault from Emi didn’t secure her the title. Instead of going for something else big, Emi was ready to slug it out with Athena; and the champ was happy to oblige. “ROH!” chants broke out as they were going chop for chop. Countering a lariat, Athena super kicked Emi for a two count that surprised her.
Blocking the O-Face, Emi drilled Athena with a DDT … to gain a near fall!
Tiger driver by Emi somehow didn’t put Athena away. Attempting to chop Athena down didn’t work for Emi as ran into a modified Codebreaker that the champ used to cinch in a modified crossface. Emi couldn’t free herself from the submission, tapping out.
As per the norm, Athena wasn’t done as she went to do more damage to her defeated foe. Thankfully for Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki made the save; leading to a fight that security had to stop after Yuka dove on everyone at ringside.
Winners: Athena
Match Review: Whoo, that was a fun, hard-hitting encounter that has stolen the show thus far. This version of Athena can’t get enough credit for being an absolute force and a perfect foil for any opponent. The fans were really into this one and their support of Emi helped add a layer of excitement throughout this fantastic match. Yuka’s arrival, however, didn’t go over as strongly as it could’ve as it seemed not many people knew who she was when she came in.
La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH & Dralistico) & The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) w/ Maria Kanellis & Jose The Assistant vs. Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) & The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix)
It was rivals Dante Martin and Matt Taven looking to lock up when Taven called out Penta. As per the norm with Penta, the masked man reminded Matt that he has no fear before removing that right glove. Taven used his glove to slap Penta. So Penta super kicked Taven. Things were breaking apart immediately as everyone came in, pulling off big moves on their nearest opponent until Top Flight got yanked to the floor by The Kingdom as LFI did the same to Rey Fenix. The Kingdom reentered the ring, clobbering Penta. Rey found himself being double teamed by The Kingdom before they refocused on a pron Penta. LFI followed The Kingdom’s led, only to be super kicked by Penta so he could tag out to Dante. Unfortunately for Dante, LFI overwhelmed him immediately.
The crowd tried to rallying behind Dante as he was isolated on the wrong part of town. Dante stopped the spike piledriver from The Kingdom, tagging out to Fenix. Penta joined his brother, helping him pull off a Code Red on Taven. Kick of the King from Taven allowed Bennett to set up the Proton Pack on Rey. Penta ran in, super kicking Taven as Top Flight looked to take out Dralistico. Instead, Darius felt a springboard Canadian destroyer from Dralistico. RUSH found Darius in the corner, prone for Bull’s Horns with an assist from Taven as he held Darius in position. RUSH dragged the unconscious Darius out of the corner to get the pin for his team.
Winner: The Kingdom & LFI
Match Review: Another fun sprint where the villainous quartet found chemistry that their opponents couldn’t overcome even when it seemed their high-flying skills were enough to stop any gaining momentum. It’ll be interesting to see if any allegiances will spill over into the Ladder Match come “SCOH”.
– Mark Briscoe was here to remind everyone tomorrow night will be the biggest singles match in his career. Stating that his goal to win World TV title for his family and everyone who has supported Dem Boys, Mark declared it’s his destiny to win at “Supercard of Honor”. Samoa Joe appeared on the Cary-Tron, reminding Mark that he is violence personified who will thwart destiny.
– Jay Lethal was in the back with Dasha as he waited for Mark to come through the hallway. Lethal wanted to wish Mark the best of luck and knows he’ll bring the title to Delaware.
ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Leon Ruffin
The judges for this one if it goes to a fifteen-minute time limit are BJ Whitmer, Dean Malenko, and former ROH World champion Jerry Lynn. Thankfully, the Pure Rules match graphics are back so fans viewing at home can see how much time has expired and how many rope breaks they have respectively.
Rocking the new version of the Pure Championship belt, Wheeler Yuta used the Code of Honor as a way to get a grip of Leon Ruffin’s wrist so when they officially locked up he knew how to get a hold in quick. And that hold was the surfboard. Ruffin slipped out of the submission, only to be cornered and chopped. Tossing Leon across the ring with a German suplex, Yuta took everyone to the gun show before cinching in an Octopus stretch. Commentator Ian Riccaboni noted the stretch is a patented maneuver of Katsuyori Shibata; Yuta’s “Supercard of Honor” opponent if he retains here. Ruffin kept his balance, walking to the ropes to save himself while sacrificing a rope break.
Going to Leon’s legs, Yuta gave himself a round of applause while bridging during the Indian deathlock. Walking Ruffin toward the ropes, Wheeler urged the challenger to use another rope break when tying him up; to which Leon did.
But Yuta’s arrogance got the better of him as he let Ruffin get up and pull off a single-leg dropkick after using some misdirection. Ruffin sprung off the middle rope, getting forearmed out of midair. Yuta used the ground & pound to force a verbal submission.
Yuta grabbed the microphone to congratulate Ruffin for coming up short like everyone before him and Shibata come tomorrow night. The music hit and out came “The Wrestler” himself. Yuta wanted to talk down Shibata when Katsuyori yanked the microphone out of his hand. Wheeler left the ring as the fans chanted in favor of Shibata.
Winner: Wheeler Yuta
Match Review: First of all, thank you, ROH production team for listening an adding the match graphics showcasing the remaining rope breaks and how much time has expired in Pure Rules matches. Leon Ruffin fought a good fight, but was overwhelmed by Yuta in the champ’s element. Shibata showing up and simply yanking the microphone out of the champ’s hand to physically state that the time for talking was over was goosebumps-inducing.
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Blake Christian
The pace was fast as expected with both doing a good job going move for move that resulted in a stalemate early. Flipping out of a snap mare, Vikingo used a leg sweep to pull of a standing shooting star press to gain an early two count. Using the ropes to bounce up & down, Vikingo executed a hurricarana to send Christian out of the ring. When Blake didn’t expect was a follow-up inverse 450 on the rising Christian at ringside. Christian got his feet, springing off the ropes to roundhouse kick Vikingo out of the ring for the Sasuke Special.
Slamming Vikingo in position for a somersault senton splash in the ring, Christian opted to use holds to keep the AAA Mega champion grounded. But once Vikingo got up, he was able to pull off a 630 roundhouse kick. Standing on the middle rope from the outside, Vikingo jumped in to 450 splash Blake for a two count. But Vikingo’s subsequent attack was stopped by a German suplex. Meeting Vikingo on the apron, Christian hoisted Vikingo onto his shoulders. Countering with a poisonrana was Vikingo. Sadly for Vikingo, Christian landed in a way where he didn’t get spiked and could recover quickly. Vikingo’s jumping attacks missed everything, allowing Blake Spanish Fly Vikingo on the floor before sending his opponent into the ring for a springboard 450 splash … that gave Christian a near fall!
Vikingo met Christian on the top rope, pulling him off the top. Both men landed on their feet, only for Vikingo to spike Blake on his head with a hurricarana. Hooking Blake’s legs, Vikingo picked up his first pin fall victory in ROH.
Winner: El Hijo del Vikingo
Match Review: This is the type of match that you’ll either love or hate mostly because of the lucha style where there will be moments of wrestlers just standing in position for someone to do something to them (such as the first hurricarana spot where Blake stood for a good five seconds staring at Vikingo balance himself before jumping off for the move). Though Vikingo is great at what he does, Blake actually came across here better in terms of hitting everything with perfect precision. Wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch down the line where they’re a little more accustomed to each other to avoid some of those first-time encounter jitters.
– Dasha caught up with Blake Christian to get his thoughts on what will happen tomorrow night when he teams with AR Fox & Metalik to battle The Embassy for the silver after coming up short tonight. Prince Nana arrived to warn Blake to take tomorrow night off. When Christian declared that he won’t back down, Prince Nana called for The Embassy to attack. AR & Metalik saved their partner from a thrashing as Nana stated tomorrow night is The Embassy’s.
Eddie Kingston vs. Christopher Daniels
The fans were split as they tied up. Eddie Kingston was the first to throw a strike that missed and allowed them to reset. The pace suddenly quickened as Eddie used a back elbow off the Irish whip. Butterfly suplex connected for Kingston, as did the Saito suplex. Daniels ducked the Spinning Back Fist, using a neck breaker to put Eddie on the literal ropes. The target was Kingston’s neck as Daniels mixed chops aiming at the body part and Irish whips against the turnbuckles.
Eddie fought his way off the mat when Daniels swept him into the Koji clutch. Kingston made it to the ropes and countered the Angel’s Wings, initiating a forearm, then chop exchange until Kingston pulled off an enzuguri. Kicking Eddie’s incoming arm to stop the chops, Daniels went for a knockout strike of his own. Eddie ducked not one, but two haymakers before unleashing another enzuguri. Daniels was rocked and prone to the Spinning Back Fist. Out on his feet was Daniels until Kingston dished out another Spinning Back Fist. Daniels collapsed, allowing Eddie to pin him for the three count.
Before Eddie could leave, ROH World champion Claudio Castagnoli entered the arena, confronting Kingston as the crowd chanted in approval of the champ’s next challenger. Eddie was ready to fight right now. Claudio seemed game as the referee entered the ring. After removing his shirt, Castagnoli abruptly left. Kingston grabbed the microphone to declare that he needs to be a World’s champion – a need that should fuel everyone to buy the pay-per-view.
Sacrificing family and would-be family to become the man in wrestling has made his own family question his motives. A heated exchange between Kingston and Claudio saw Eddie vocalize the fact he will die for this chance to finally be a World champion in the same manner as Daniels, Low Ki, Xavier and Homicide before him; if not just to spite the accused snake of a man that currently holds the title in Claudio Castagnoli.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
Match Review: A solid main event rooted in the Strong Style matches Eddie loves to put on. Daniels was game and, interestingly enough, hasn’t showcased something like that in a match even though he was a part of wrestling when it was at its peak in North America. The post-match confrontation was, arguably, some of the best work they’ve done at building toward the World title match at “SCOH” and gives a perfect example as to why Kingston is one of the best talkers in wrestling today.
Overall Review: The final episode before ROH’s latest PPV proved impressive from both an in-ring perspective and providing that final bit of heat for the event itself. There were some very good moments to get people hyped for the PPV including everything in the main event, the eight-man tag, another impressive AO victory, Athena getting shut down by Yuka after a fantastic match with Emi, Vikingo getting a showcase against a game Blake with the latter getting beaten down by The Embassy & saved by his partners who are looking to win the Six-Man title, Mark Briscoe’s promo interrupted by Samoa Joe, and, of course, the arrival of Shibata to confront Yuta who is growing more arrogant in his skills as the days progress.
The two stand-alone matches that didn’t necessarily mean much to the upcoming “SCOH” allowed The Infantry to really show out again and Miyu and Shazza have a nice sprint. If there was one flaw about the episode it was the lack of a card rundown for “Supercard” similar to what ROH TV used to do at the end of an episode. Having a card rundown, say, before the main event would’ve been a nice addition to ensure viewers on the edge have no reason to question why this upcoming PPV is must-see.
