Welcome to another edition of The ROHbot Report – the only article you need for all the Ring of Honor news you have to know. Before the huge announcement that ROH will go on hiatus following “Final Battle” until April of next year, ROH had scheduled an HonorClub-exclusive event tailor-made to set the stage for ROH’s 2021 grand finale.
“Honor For All” Preview; November 14th, 2021
ROH World Championship (No Disqualification): Bandido defends against Demonic Flamita
Ring of Honor’s return to Baltimore on July 11th wasn’t just monumental for the fact it was the first ROH event in seventeen months to be attended by fans, it also marked the night Bandido became the best in the world. Against all odds, Bandido capitalized on both his Survival of the Fittest tournament victory to earn the title shot as well as the hateful nature of then-champion RUSH when the latter attempted to unmask his challenger; leaving RUSH open for a roll up that resulted in “The Most Wanted” becoming the second man in ROH history to pin “El Toro Blanco”. Though Bandido’s title celebration was cut short, the reality remained he was now the ROH World champion.
Before Bandido won ROH singles gold, he found a bond with fellow luchadores Rey Horus and Flamita; becoming “MexiSquad” – a championship-level trio. Though their reign lasted long due to ROH’s hiatus during the pandemic, the unity between all three MexiSquad members faded as Flamita became more insistent on blaming his allies for their shortcomings as a unit. Eventually Flamita attacked both of his former friends and set a path to embrace his darkside. This change in Flamita’s attitude also brought forth victories over both Horus and Bandido before the latter won the World title.
“Death Before Dishonor” in September saw both men in the ring again during a Four Corner Survival elimination bout for “The Most Wanted’s” World Championship. Flamita did a masterful job playing his opposition against one another while making temporary truces & alliances including working alongside his old ally in hopes of eliminating Brody King. ROH’s return to Philadelphia that night wasn’t for Demonic as he eventually was taken down and pinned by fellow challenger King. Not one to rest on failure, Flamita rebounded and is now in top contender status with the intent of making it two for two in singles matches with Bandido. Their previous encounter was a fantastic, lucha-infused, heated affair where Flamita went the dishonorable route to win. Bandido will be aware of this in this No Disqualification environment and, most likely, will go that extra mile to ensure victory just like he did recently against Alex Zayne to retain his title to guarantee we’ll see a “Most Wanted” World champion headlining “Final Battle”.
ROH World Tag Team Championship: La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee & Kenny King) defend against The OGK
Earlier this year, these two tandems were essentially on the outside looking in regarding the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Dragon Lee & Kenny King’s ROH World Tag Team Championship reign ended at ROH’s “19th Anniversary” when an injured Lee couldn’t compete and his father Bestia del Ring replaced him in an unsuccessful match against The Foundation’s Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams. It would take several months before Lee & King reunited with the gold on the line; actually overcoming the duo who dethroned The Foundation in the form of VLNCE UNLTD’s Homicide & Chris Dickinson.
The OGK of Matt Taven & Mike Bennett, also former ROH World Tag Team titleholders, were a little too busy over the past year dealing with The Righteous to focus on championship glory. With The Righteous actually overcoming Taven in a Steel Cage bout at “Glory By Honor” in August, The OGK attempted to refocus on more professional matters against a tandem they know incredibly well, The Briscoes. Dem Boys brought the fight to their old rivals at “Death Before Dishonor”, but that familiarity also cost Jay as Matt Taven countered the Jay Driller with a small package to pin the former two-time ROH World champion.
For the first time in years, The OGK find themselves in a position to right the wrong a leg injury did to Taven that essentially ended their first & only ROH World Tag Team title reign. While The OGK have no issues with breaking the rules, they’ve embraced the honorable route as of late. But if the challengers want to succeed against a team that lives by the “any means necessary” mantra they will have to return to their rule-breaking ways of their past in order to turn their present golden. As seen with every ROH World Tag Team title match at a major ROH event in 2021, the stats are in the challengers’ favor and the chance of seeing new champions crowned is more likely than not.
GCW World Tag Team Championship: The Briscoes defend against EFFY & AJ Grey
The last year has been pretty rough for The Briscoes. Dem Boys’ inability to regain the ROH World Tag Team Championship and Jay Briscoe’s feud with EC3 caused dissension between the brothers that resulted in them fighting in two wild matches including a “Fight on the Farm” that their father officiated. After brutalizing each other on the same land they grew up on, The Briscoes found themselves in good standing with each other and began their hopeful journey back to the top of ROH’s Tag Team division. Just when it seemed Jay & Mark had some momentum behind them after overcoming several teams including MexiBlood of ROH World champion Bandido & Rey Horus, The OGK overcame their old rivals and pushed The Briscoes down the rankings. Then the unexpected happened.
During Game Changer Wrestling’s “Fight Club” headlined by Jon Moxley fighting Nick Gage, The Briscoes shocked the wrestling world by arriving in another independent wrestling promotion with the intent of challenging for the company’s World Tag Team Championship held by Mance Warner & Matthew Justice of The Second Gear Crew – a team that has bested the likes of ROH stars both past & present including Danhausen, Chris Dickinson, and Rhino. Fast-forward a month later and The Briscoes got what they wanted and then some as The SGC put them through hell to reach wrestling heaven. The match was barbaric with broken chairs, doors and Justice almost breaking his back before Mark finished off Warner with the Froggy Bow.
But Justice & Warner aren’t the only members of The SGC. Coming to ROH for the first time is none other than “The Mutha F***in’ Truth” AJ Grey – a deceptively agile man who can muscle people around with ease – and the face of wrestling acceptance especially in regards to the LGBTQ community EFFY. The formidable duo representing The SGC at “Honor For All” have never held GCW gold together, but both have won singles titles and captivated audiences wherever they go. This is a big deal for not only The Briscoes as they test themselves even further as a tag team, but also GCW as two of their homegrown stars attempt to enter new territory in hopes of reclaiming their company’s possession before Game Changer Wrestling arrives in the Hammerstein Ballroom in January. This should be a one-of-a-kind encounter with the winners essentially being a toss up.
Brody King vs. Jonathan Gresham
Jonathan Gresham’s goal since debuting in ROH has been larger than himself. The golden days of ROH, in Gresham’s opinion, were during a time when Pure Rules matches were the norm and a division housing the best grapplers in the world reigned supreme – men like Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Doug Williams, and John Walters. For Gresham, pure wrestling was ROH; and so it should be again. Campaigning for the restoration of the Pure Championship and thus the Pure division, Gresham fought tooth & nail to become the first ROH Pure champion in nearly fifteen years; doing so for the world to see on ROH TV last year.
For the next year, “The Octopus” has reigned supreme on the top of the Pure division mountain until he was finally dethroned by Josh Woods. Instead of ranting & raving about the loss, Gresham stepped back and accepted defeat while setting his sights on a new goal: become the most powerful man in ROH by winning the World title. As successful as men like Nigel McGuinness were as Pure champion, the ultimate goal for any ROH competitor is to become synonymous with the ROH World Championship – Brody King knows this all too well. While Gresham was attempting to restore purity in ROH, Brody King had his sights set on RUSH and his ROH World Championship. King fought like mad, overcoming men like Shane Taylor to earn his shot at his first singles ROH title.
Unfortunately for King, his goal was for naught as the numbers of LFI overwhelmed him and left him scrambling for solutions for the future when he found himself in position as a World title challenger again. One of those solutions came in the form of an alliance with Chris Dickinson, Homicide & Tony Deppen to form VLNCE UNLTD – a faction believing honor can exist through violence just like it had in 2006 when Homicide went to war with Combat Zone Wrestling in ROH’s defuse, fought The Briscoes in bloody battles alongside Samoa Joe, and won the ROH World Championship at “Final Battle” by overcoming Bryan Danielson when the latter attempted to cheat his way out of losing the gold. King has been on a warpath since VU debuted including practically mauling Jay Lethal at “Best in the World” in July. Gresham & The Foundation have found themselves on the wrong side of VU, trading wins back & forth including on ROH TV recently where Gresham’s team alongside Tracy Williams fell to King & Dickinson.
Obviously this will not only be a clash of styles & sizes, but also the difference between ideologies. King may take that extra mile to achieve victory even if it means being dishonorable in the process. Will Gresham have it in him to be anything but pure in his handling of an opponent who fears nothing and wants only victory even if it means using interference or utilizing weapons? With the possibility the winner of this match facing the World champion at “Final Battle”, expect “The Octopus” to pull out all the stops in his journey to finally become the new ROH World champion; completing a somewhat shocking victory in the process.
Quinn McKay vs. Trish Adora vs. Vita VonStarr vs. Holidead
ROH’s Women’s division capped off the summer by crowning its first World champion when Rok-C defeated Miranda Alize at “Death Before Dishonor”. Almost immediately, the titleholder found herself confronted by a plethora of challengers including the aforementioned “Lucha Baddie”; Rok’s fellow would-be champions who were involved in the title tournament in Willow and Angelina Love also staked their intentions. Another participant in the title tournament who wants a chance to win the World Women’s Championship is none other than the Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora titleholder and one of the hottest competitors on the independent wrestling scene, Trish Adora. After losing in the tournament’s semi-finals, Trish has stayed busy and seems to be close to earning her first shot at the Women’s champion if she can win ROH matches against potential title contenders in a match like this.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Vita VonStarr. Vita’s obsession with helping her leader Vincent overcome Matt Taven during the summer witnessed her actually lose her spot in the tournament by interfering in matches. Though she wasn’t able to showcase her talents in the tournament, VonStarr does have the skills necessary to succeed against almost any competitor as seen when pushing Sumie Sakai to the limit and actually winning alongside Max the Impaler against The Allure. Considering the chaotic nature of ROH Four Corner Survival bouts, Vita should thrive in this environment.
Another person who loves the chaos that comes from wrestling matches where unpredictably reigns is none other than Holidead. Mostly known for her tag team with Thunder Rosa, Holidead is a highly capable singles competitor that has a monstrous nature unlike most women standing across the ring from anyone else. Though Holidead didn’t make it far in the Women’s Championship tournament due to running into ROH’s other monster in Max the Impaler, she rebounded and found an unsuspecting ally in Willow – a duo that actually won their first bout together. This time, Holidead comes into a ROH bout with the intent of winning on her own and proving she is ready to leave a pathway of destruction.
Last, but certainly not least, is the woman who has not only befriended the ROH World Women’s champion, but also is looking to prove herself more than just a top-class interviewer & commentator, Quinn McKay. McKay shocked the ROH world when she actually overcame Mandy Leon in the Women’s Championship tournament, only to fall to eventual winner Rok-C in the next round. McKay is still determined to find success as a wrestler and this may be her biggest chance since that night she lost to Rok. ROH’s FCS can be highly unpredictable in regards to pegging a winner, and this bout is no different as every competitor looks like a viable victor that could be looking at this match as a route to facing Rok-C for the World Women’s Championship at “Final Battle”.
Tracy Williams vs. Taylor Rust
When Jonathan Gresham campaigned for the Pure Championship to be restored, wrestlers who were looking for an opportunity to showcase their talents in a division long thought extinct finally had their chance to shine – case in point: Tracy Williams. The future ROH World Tag Team and Television champion really didn’t thrive in the faction known as Lifeblood, but did as a member of The Foundation while pursuing a goal of bring pure wrestling back to the forefront of ROH. Taylor Rust, who had been wrestling for almost two decades, arrived in ROH last year with the intent of becoming the first Pure champion since 2006. Rust showcased his incredible grappling talents against, ironically enough in regards to this encounter, eventual tournament finalist Tracy Williams. “Hot Sauce” survived everything Rust had to offer and stood victorious in the end.
Though Taylor had something to prove in 2020, this version of himself is more prepared to end this bout in victory mostly due to the fact of wanting to be more than a castoff unworthy of the bright lights that would’ve shown down on him if he hadn’t be released from WWE. Since returning, Rust has found himself victorious as a singles competitor while Williams is still focused on his goal, but with the onslaught from the likes of VLNCE UNLTD and LFI has made that intent a lot more difficult. Williams will have to focus solely on the task at hand if he has any chance of going two for two against Rust. Out of any match on this card, this feels like the bout that has the best chance of presenting an unexpected result with Taylor achieving his second singles victory in ROH.
And there you have it. Show that love, or like, for The ROHbot Report on its Facebook page. Here’s to a great week for you and yours; and as always, thanks for reading.
