Tonight’s Ring of Honor on HonorClub features two key tag teams making their return in addition to Crowbar of WCW fame making his promotional return.
The 51-year-old Crowbar, formerly known as Devon Storm, first appeared in ROH in 2011 with his last appearance coming in a 2020 battle royal. He takes on Lance Archer tonight.
Several tag teams will be in action including the returning Righteous (Dutch & Vincent); the returning Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett); The Premier Athletes’ Tony Nese & Ari Daivari; as well as the Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico).
Both Taven and Bennett and Dutch and Vincent last wrestled in ROH in December.
In an eight-man tag, Mark Briscoe teams with Top Flight and AR Fox against Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty and The Infantry.
ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet will put a future title shot on the line in a Proving Ground bout.
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Fresh off the cancellation and rescheduling of Supercard of Honor (see you in July!) and in spite of a treasure trove of returns, Episode 113 of ROH on Honorclub was chock full of question marks. Most of those question marks would be who the returning wrestlers would be facing in the ring, but also “would there be hot dogs?” My wife’s answer: doubtful
The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) (w/Mark Sterling) defeated Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) & The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
So, Ring of Honor decided that with so many tag teams returning, why not put them all in the same match? There was no indication that this 8-man match was happening until it did, so, cool? Anyway, Daivari and Nese are like PB and J in the ring, with Sterling making the nice white bread that surrounds them. The Kingdom haven’t been seen since Final Battle 2024. My assumption is that they have been using the time to find new and exciting baseball caps for Bennett to wear backwards.
Spanish Announce Project are back from somewhere with lots of black lights and a chilled out vibe, I assume, and when we last saw Dutch and Vincent they were torturing and ultimately losing to the Sons of Texas at Final Battle. Now, having spent some time… doing who knows what, they are back and looking to prove they haven’t missed a step
The match began and The Righteous Athletes worked well together, often isolating a member of the opposing team for some stiff shots and skullduggery. Sterling got involved whenever someone was outside of the ring. The Spanish Announce Kingdom did something unexpected, which was play by the rules. I guess Bennett and Taven are returning with a new, good guy attitude? It might have something to do with Bennett’s new beard.
It was great to see Dutch and Vincent back. They are honestly one of the most exciting teams in wrestling right now and they are completely unorthodox. It was interesting seeing them paired with the Athletes who are so technical based, but never above a little cheating to get the job done.
Bennett got a hot tag to Taven at one point and he single-handedly cleared the ring. Daivari was the legal man in there with him, but that didn’t stop Dutch and Vincent from executing a little double teaming. Angelico saved the day though, taking out Dutch on the outside. Sterling tried to cause a distraction and ate a double superkick from the Kingdom, which was always nice to see.
In the end, Serpentico was left to the Righteous’ devices and after an orange sunshine, Vincent made the pin to get the victory. The Athletes celebrated like they got the pin and Dutch flicked his tongue at them until they left. Weird.
Match Result: The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) (w/Mark Sterling) defeated Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) & The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
Lance Archer (w/Don Callis) defeated Crowbar
Bad haircuts aside, anyone with “murderhawk” in their nickname such as Lance Archer is a dangerous person to be around (even though I have no idea what a murderhawk actually is. The bird is just trying to eat, Lance. It’s not a crime). Archer has thrown in with Don Callis of the eponymously named Callis Family which makes him even more dangerous. Crowbar (Yes, the Crowbar that used to hang with David Flair in WCW) was last seen helping me move a large rock. Then I put him down somewhere and haven’t been able to find him since.
So, if it isn’t obvious, Crowbar is very old. That said, he’s still pretty entertaining. I don’t quite understand the thinking in bringing him in to essentially just get beaten up by Archer, but that’s what happened.
Crowbar managed to to more damage to himself than Archer did though. He began by taking back bumps in the ring for no reason, then threw himself over the top rope where Callis stomped him. There may have been method to the madness though, when Archer joined them on the outside, Crowbar sent him into the ring steps with a drop toe hold.
That seemed to make Archer mad, and he introduced Crowbar’s face to his foot repeatedly. Crowbar then tried to introduce his literal crowbar into the match, but the ref stopped him, allowing Archer to chokeslam the WCW legend. After a blackout, Crowbar was done and Archer got the pin.
Match Result: Lance Archer (w/Don Callis) defeated Crowbar
ROH Women’s World Television Title Proving Ground Match: Red Velvet [c] defeated Ashley Vox
Last week, the announcement of a new ROH Women’s Pure Title had the division all excited. But, Velvet, the reigning ROH Women’s TV Champion is not to be forgotten. In this Proving Ground match, her opponent must pin or submit Velvet or last to a ten-minute draw to earn a shot at the ROH Women’s TV Title. Ashley Vox got married last weekend. That was all they said about her.
Velvet dominated early, as expected. Vox tried to sneak in a few quick rollups, but that did not work out well for her as Velvet sent her face-first into the ropes. Vox did look all right though, throwing some pretty solid haymakers that seemed to surprise the Champion.
Velvet is such a good worker (and credit to Vox as well) that even her chinlocks look devastatingly painful. Velvet also has Olympic Boxers in her family, so when she starts throwing hands, it looks really, really good.
Vox looked like she might have a shot with a big missile dropkick from the top rope, followed by some headbutts. She locked in a fish hook around half way through the match, but was unable to capitalize. Velvet turned it around though and landed her patented “punch you in the face really, really hard” move and got the pin on Vox, dashing her title shot hopes.
After the match, La Catalina (the #1 Contender for Velvet’s Title) sauntered down to the ring. The two jawed at each other in the ring for a few minutes before Velvet got bored and left.
Match Result: ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet defeated Ashley Vox
-A vignette aired next with Leila Grey, Deonna Purrazzo and Taya Valkyrie all declaring themselves entrants in the tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women’s Pure Champion.
AR Fox, Mark Briscoe & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Carlie Bravo, Lee Moriarty, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean)
Suddenly, it was Main Event time and oh yes!! Mark Briscoe and Shane Taylor facing off? You can let the other six men in the match take a powder in my humble opinion. I love these big battles, especially when STP are involved. But the one-on-one match between Taylor and Briscoe is where the money is. Perhaps this will be the start of the road towards that? …Tony? Are you listening?
Briscoe set the tone by tossing a chair in the ring during the entrances. It was quickly cleared out, but I think the point was made. Hearing my pleas, Briscoe and Taylor started things off with Taylor spitting on Briscoe’s hand when a Code of Honor was offered. They immediately began exchanging blows until Taylor tried to get Briscoe up in a driver, but Briscoe broke free and tagged in Fox. Taylor took the hint and brought in Moriarty.
Fox has really been impressive the last few weeks, so he and Moriarty were a great fit. Fox battled Moriarty on the outside and Bravo on the inside of the ring at the same time which was really fun. Dean tagged in though and isolated Fox in the corner so all four members of STP could take turns hurting him.
Fox finally got a tag to Darious and he and Dean mixed it up next. Top Flight and the Infantry are kinda like Batman and the Joker: Two sides of the same coin, destined to battle forever. However, Taylor tagged in and crushed Darious though, screaming “We hate flights!” which in 2025, who doesn’t?
Next, Duante threw himself around the ring, landing splashes and flips on all four of his opponents. Moriarty was legal with the dust cleared, but didn’t make much head way. Briscoe tagged in and took on both members of the Infantry with some classic Redneck Kung Fu.
Fox, and Top Flight launched themselves around the ring taking out STP. Bravo and Briscoe were left alone in the ring and Briscoe landed a picture perfect Jay Driller to get the pin and the victory for his team.
Match Result: AR Fox, Mark Briscoe & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Carlie Bravo, Lee Moriarty, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean)
