Ahead of her Owen Hart Foundation tournament semifinal match on Friday’s AEW Rampage, Ring of Honor Women’s Champion Athena will be in action on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
Athena will take on Ava Lawless in non-title action before she faces Willow Nightingale on Friday.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun) will also be in non-title action as they take on Christopher Daniels, Darius Martin & Matt Sydal.
Leyla Hirsch will be in singles action for the first time in over a year as she goes one-on-one with Bambi Hall. Hirsch returned last week after recovering from a torn ACL.
Big Bill will take on Serpentico after he and Cage were eliminated from the AEW Tag Team title eliminator tournament Wednesday.
The rest of the eight-match card will see Shane Taylor, The Kingdom, and The Righteous (Dutch and Vincent) & Stu Grayson in action.
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– Ian Riccaboni started the show by throwing to Matt Sydal in the back. Sydal called out Prince Nana and Brian Cage after his Blind Eliminator Tag Team loss on last Friday’s Rampage. Cage told Sydal to find some partners, and they’ll have themselves a six-man tag.
This week’s ROH comes from the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, the home of last Saturday’s AEW Collision. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on the call.
Big Bill defeated Serpentico
Bill used his size and strength advantage to shoot Serpentico to the floor. Serpentico came back into the ring and threw several strikes before baiting Bill to chase him. Serpentico knocked Bill off the apron and hit a dive to the floor. Serpentico went to the top rope, but Bill avoided the dive before tossing Serpentico with ease.
Serpentico sent Bill into the corner with a dropkick, but Bill flung him away. Bill hung Serpentico on the ropes before booting him to the floor. Bill brought Serpentico back into the ring and put Serpentico away with a massive chokeslam.
– Ian Riccaboni announces the ROH TV Title Eliminator tournament. This week, Dalton Castle will wrestle Tony Nese, and Shane Taylor will wrestle Capt. Shawn Dean. The winners of those matches will wrestle next week to determine Samoa Joe’s challenger for Death Before Dishonor.
Non-Title Match: Athena defeated Ava Lawless
Lawless tagged Athena with a slap and a forearm before dropping her with a slingblade. Athena nipped up and dropped Lawless with a forearm before clubbering on her. Athena locked on a crossface to score the quick submission win, holding onto the submission after the bell. After the match, Athena dropped Lawless face-first on the belt.
The Righteous (Dutch, Vincent, & Stu Grayson) defeated Evan Rivers, Levi Knight & Michael Allen Richard Clark
Grayson got a jump-start on Rivers, sending him up and over with a belly-to-belly suplex. Knight tagged in but was quickly overwhelmed by Grayson and Dutch. Evil Uno made his way to ringside with a chair as Grayson dropped Knight with a uranage. Grayson and Vincent double-teamed Knight, but Knight found a way to tag out to Clark. Clark ran wild for a moment, but Grayson cut him off with a knee strike. The Righteous ran through their big moves before finishing off Clark with their triple-team T-Slam.
After the match, Evil Uno hit Knight with a chair, showing the violent streak the Righteous wanted to see.
– Backstage, Lexy Nair was with Matt Sydal. He announced that his partners would be Christopher Daniels and Darius Martin.
Leyla Hirsch defeated Bambi Hall
Hirsch cut off Hall with a kitchen sink knee before bringing her down with an arm wringer. She tied Hall up in the ropes before drilling her with lariats in the corner. Hirsch clubbered on Hall in the corner and cut Hall off on a comeback attempt with a back elbow. Hall hit a corner charge, but Hirsch fought off Hall’s shoulders and hit a German suplex. Hirsch locked on an armbar to score the win.
ROH TV Title Eliminator Tournament Semi-Finals: Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) defeated Tony Nese (w/Ari Daivari & Mark Sterling)
Nese cuts a heel promo on the crowd, saying that “nobody likes a smelly Regina.” I’m a child, so I laughed at that line. He led group exercises before Dalton Castle made his way to the ring.
Nese almost got caught in the Bangarang early on but fought out and clubbered on Castle. Castle caught Nese coming off of the ropes and hit a big overhead suplex. Castle held control with a waistlock but Daivari and Sterling took his attention, allowing Nese to hook Castle over the ropes before dropping him with a clothesline. On the floor, Nese ducked a Castle clothesline, with Castle hitting the ringpost instead.
Nese dropkicked Castle in the corner before hitting a spinning heel kick for a nearfall. Nese dropped Castle on a dropdown, but Castle avoided the triangle moonsault. Castle ran wild with suplexes. After some shenanigans with the Varsity Athletes and the Boys, Castle dropped Nese with the Bangarang to win and move on to next week’s tournament final.
ROH TV Title Eliminator Tournament Semi-Finals: Shane Taylor defeated Capt. Shawn Dean
Dean had a stick-and-move strategy with Taylor, which worked until Taylor moved him to the mat with a forearm. Taylor battered Dean with heavy strikes to the head and body before hooking him up in a bearhug. Dean fought out and avoided a corner charge before rocking Taylor with a jumping knee. Taylor caught Dean with a uranage, but Dean moved out of the way of a second-rope splash.
Dean caught Taylor with a butterfly DDT and went to the top rope, but Taylor got the knees up on a splash. Taylor talked trash, allowing Dean to fight back. But Taylor dropped Dean with a headbutt and scored the win with a knockout elbow shot. Next week on ROH television, it will be Dalton Castle vs. Shane Taylor with a shot at the TV Title at Death Before Dishonor on the line.
The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defeated The Boys (Brandon & Brent)
Taven started with Brent, knocking him down with a suplex. Taven talked trash before dropping Brent with a spinning heel kick. Bennett and Brandon tagged in, with Bennett controlling Brandon with chops before dropping him with a forearm. The Kingdom hit a tag team combo for a nearfall, surprised at the kickout.
Bennett caught Brandon in a Kimura Lock, but Brandon got to the ropes. Brandon made the tag to Brent, who ran wild on the Kingdom. The Boys got some tandem offense in, dropping Taven with a standing sliced bread before taking Bennett down with a double-team neckbreaker. Bennett cut off another double-team move, dropping Brent with a DVD. They hit the Rockstar Supernova on Brandon for the win.
The Mogul Embassy (Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona) (w/Prince Nana) defeated Christopher Daniels, Darius Martin & Matt Sydal
I saw the news during this match that the Mark Briscoe/Claudio Castagnoli title match for Death Before Dishonor was off due to an injury to Briscoe. That leaves us, eight days before the pay-per-view, with ZERO matches booked for the show. This has been a complete waste of a PPV build. What were they thinking giving time to heat up Diamante, Leyla Hirsch, or Big Bill over the past few weeks when there was a PPV right around the corner that none of them are booked for? Maybe they are booked for it, I wouldn’t know either way! I’m confident that Khan will pull out a good card for the show on the night, but this weekly show – which I remind you is behind a paywall – feels like a complete waste of my time.
Ian Riccaboni ran down the cards for this week’s Rampage and Collision. It would be nice if they ran down the card for Death Before Dishonor, but you would need some matches to talk about for that to happen. Daniels and Kaun started off, with Daniels’ team pinballing Kaun in their corner. Sydal and Martin teamed up, keeping Kaun off-balance. Kaun tagged in Liona, but he hit the post on a dive, allowing Daniels to tag in.
Liona caught Daniels with a pop-up Samoan Drop before Cage sent Daniels flying with a fallaway slam. The Embassy clubbered on Daniels in their corner. Daniels caught Liona in a rollup, but the referee’s attention was with the Embassy in the corner. More clubbering on Daniels, but Daniels was able to fight to the corner and tag out to Martin.
Martin ran wild on the Embassy team, scoring a nearfall on Kaun that got broken up by Cage. Cage caught Martin with a pop-up into a superkick, but Martin cut off Cage and got the tag to Sydal. Sydal ran wild on Cage, dropping Cage with a series of kicks for a nearfall. Kaun took Sydal down, leading to a Cage F-5 for a nearfall. Cage set up for a Screwdriver, but Sydal caught him with a hurricanrana for a nearfall. Sydal caught Cage with a knee, allowing the babyfaces to run wild. Sydal hit a Meteora on Cage for a nearfall that Kaun broke up. Things broke down into a Pier Six brawl before Cage and Sydal were alone. Sydal caught Cage with an inside cradle, but Cage kicked out and dropped him with a spinning lariat. Cage scored the win with a Screwdriver.
