A new match has been added to the lineup for ROH Supercard of Honor Zero Hour.
Mariah May vs. Momo Kohgo will take place on the kickoff show before the pay-per-view. The two were on opposing sides of a tag match at yesterday’s Stardom American Dream show. Kohgo teamed with Mayu Iwatani and Tam Takano in a win over May and her Club Venus teammates Mina Shirakawa and Xia Brookside.
Tony Khan announced the match on X, writing:
It’s Club Venus vs STARS at ROH Zero Hour TONIGHT! After her Stardom reunion yesterday, “The Glamour” Mariah May fights rival Momo Kohgo 1-on-1 TONIGHT
It's Club Venus vs STARS at ROH Zero Hour TONIGHT! After her Stardom reunion yesterday, "The Glamour" Mariah May fights rival Momo Kohgo 1-on-1 TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/hMZ6f2vLkJ
A number one contender’s match has been announced for the next AEW Dynamite.
Mariah May and Thunder Rosa, who are the top two ranked wrestlers in the women’s division, will square off. The winner will become the new number one contender for the AEW Women’s Championship, which is currently held by Toni Storm. After the match was revealed on Saturday’s Collision, Toni Storm at first confronted May, asking if it was her idea. She then kissed May, saying it was a great plan.
Billy Gunn will also challenge Jay White. The Acclaimed came out on Collision for a promo, with Gunn issuing the challenge to White. Max Caster told The Gunns to stay away from ringside if they had any faith in White to win on his own.
It was also announced that Chris Jericho will “call out” Hook. After Hook defeated him in a match on Dynamite, Jericho on Wednesday offered to give advice to the FTW Champion.
Next Wednesday’s Dynamite is being held at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Here’s what’s been announced for the episode so far:
Contract signing for Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland’s AEW World Championship match at Dynasty
AEW Tag Team title tournament semifinal match: The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) vs. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta)
Number one contender’s match: Mariah May vs. Thunder Rosa
May hasn’t performed for Stardom since September’s 5Star Grand Prix.
Brookside, who is now in TNA, wrestled with Stardom from 2017 to 2019 and returned briefly in early 2023 as a member of Club Venus.
Nightingale hasn’t wrestled under the Bushiroad banner since dropping the NJPW Strong title to Giulia last summer.
Vaquer returned to Stardom earlier this month for the first time since 2018. She defeated Giulia for the NJPW Strong title on the March 10 show in Korakuen Hall.
Saya Kamitani, Tam Nakano, Saki Kashima, Maika, Ram Kaicho, Saki, and Mei Seira were announced for the event as well on Tuesday.
Previously confirmed wrestlers scheduled for Stardom American Dream 2024 include Mayu Iwatani, Momo Kohgo, AZM, Starlight Kid, Momo Watanabe, Syuri, and Mina Shirakawa.
The following are live spoilers from AEW Rampage in Boston (taped after Wednesday’s Dynamite) as well as several Ring of Honor bouts taped before the show.
AEW Rampage results:
The Undisputed Kingdom (AEW International Champion Roderick Strong and ROH Tag Team Champions Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defeated Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) and Action Andretti
This will be the main event of the show, but it was taped first. After Mercedes Mone closed the show, it took a long time for the crowd to get into this. Even local boy Taven wearing a Larry Bird jersey didn’t help.
This was fine, but didn’t have any heat until the last few minutes. The one notable and expected spot was Top Flight and Andretti hitting a dive sequence onto the Undisputed Kingdom on the outside of the ring.
The end came when Taven and Bennett hit a spike piledriver on Andretti followed by Strong hitting End of Heartache to give the heels the win.
Afterward, Taven ran into the crowd in a manner which looked like he was going after a fan but it was friends and family that came out to see him.
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm & Mariah May (w/ Luther) defeated Little Mean Kathleen & Kayla Sparks
As expected, the fans loved Storm and May. This was a squash with a lot of Storm and May’s attack focused on LMK. The end came when Storm and May hit back-to-back hip attacks on Sparks followed by Storm Zero by the champion with May getting the pin.
Afterward, Deonna Purrazzo came out and introduced her mystery friend alluded to during her Dynamite promo: Thunder Rosa. The heels ran away and Purrazzo said that they will see Storm and May “next week.”
Konosuke Takeshita (w/ Don Callis) defeated Komander (w/ Alex Abrahantes)
This was fine and mainly a squash for Takeshita until Komander got into it and then, this turned into a really fun match. Komander countered what appeared to be an avalanche move off the top rope into a stunner. He later hit his rope walk moonsault for a nearfall.
Takeshita wasn’t to be denied, catching Komander spinning off the ropes into a blue thunder bomb for another close nearfall. This continued to get good late as Komander hit a flying Canadian destroyer that was awesome. The end came when Takeshita nailed his opponent with an elbow, followed by a power bomb, a running knee, and another blue thunder bomb for the pin and win.
Callis got a loud “f**k you, Callis” chant during the match. Afterward, he got into it with Jericho at ringside with Chris Jericho (on commentary) running him off, eventually chasing up the stage while Callis ran beside it so he couldn’t get him. Callis slipped as he was making his escape, but it was hard to tell if it was intentional.
Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta (w/ Chuck Taylor) defeated Dark Order (Evil Uno & John Silver)
This was a comedy match that was pretty much standard fare until the last few minutes. Early on, it was focused on Uno and Silver not wanting Cassidy to get into his pockets with Silver putting his hands in Cassidy’s pockets to block. All the Best Friends eventually got in for a group hug that included referee Bryce Remsburg.
A funny organic sequence happened around Uno’s jacket. He threw it at Cassidy and it ended up in the ropes. Remsburg grabbed it and tried to toss it out, but failed as it got caught up in the ropes again. He then tried again and the same thing happened. After gaining the advantage, Uno took an opportunity to grab the jacket and put it back on which appeared to crack up the announce team.
This also featured some dives late including a top rope flip by Uno to the outside.
In the end, Beretta got the pin on Silver to pick up the win.
The crowd was very full for the majority of Rampage with very few empty seats until the final match. Even then, the lower bowl was fairly full.
Due to the LED boards on the ring, it was a very quick changeover to Rampage.
Massachusetts native Bobby Cruise handled ring announcing duties for both Rampage and ROH.
Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Jericho were on commentary. Jericho came out to Judas to get his pop and was booed by a pocket of the crowd, similar to what happened on Dynamite during his backstage promo with Hook.
The crowd was into the surprise of Shirakawa making her ROH debut.
AEW has announced four matches for this Friday’s Rampage.
As revealed during Wednesday’s Dynamite, Mariah May & Toni Storm will wrestle in tag team action on the show against unnamed opponents.
Shortly after the match was announced, a video aired of Deonna Purrazzo challenging May and Storm to wrestle her and a partner on next week’s Dynamite. Purrazzo said she will have no problem finding a partner.
Also scheduled for Rampage is a trios match pitting The Undisputed Kingdom’s Roderick Strong, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett against Action Andretti and Top Flight.
Konosuke Takeshita will look to rebound from his loss to Will Ospreay at Revolution when he faces Komander.
Orange Cassidy will team with Trent Beretta against Dark Order’s Evil Uno & John Silver
With a tournament to crown new champions upcoming, an AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Bracketology segment was announced as well.
AEW Rampage announced lineup for March 15, 2024 —
The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, & Roderick Strong) vs. Action Andretti & Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin)
Best Friends (Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & John Silver)
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm & Mariah May in tag team action
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Komander
AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Bracketology
Mariah May will have her third AEW match on next week’s Rampage episode.
As revealed during this week’s show, May will go one-on-one with Anna Jay on the Friday, February 23 Rampage.
May was featured in a backstage promo segment on this week’s Rampage with Toni Storm in hyping Storm’s feud with Deonna Purrazzo, while Jay faced Queen Aminata on the show. Aminata defeated Jay to earn her first career AEW victory, and AEW officially announced Aminata’s signing after the bout aired.
May had her AEW in-ring debut on the January 3 Dynamite where she defeated Queen Aminata. Her second AEW bout aired on the January 27 Collision show where she defeated Lady Frost.
Next week’s Rampage will be taped Wednesday, February 21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the BOK Center. The show will return to its regular Friday, 10 p.m. Eastern time slot on February 23 after airing at 7 p.m. this week.
The lineup for the Friday, February 23 Rampage thus far:
After Mariah May defeated Queen Aminata on Dynamite Wednesday, Renee Paquette interviewed May in the ring, who was unhappy her debut was in New Jersey. That brought out Purrazzo, who is from New Jersey. She told May to tell Toni Storm that she was looking for her. May replied that she wasn’t her messenger and slapped Purrazzo, who responded by laying out May to end the segment.
“The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo is here to ruin Mariah May’s debut on #AEWDynamite!
Purrazzo is best known for her run in Impact Wrestling, signing there in 2020 after being released from WWE. During her time in Impact Wrestling, she held the Knockouts title on three occasions and is also a one-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion. Her last Impact match was at Final Resolution in December, where she and Gisele Shaw lost to Jordynne Grace and Trinity.
This isn’t the first time that Purrazzo has appeared on AEW Dynamite. When Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor in 2022, Purrazzo at the time held the ROH Women’s Championship and was unable to appear at Supercard of Honor 2022. She would ultimately lose a unification match to interim champion Mercedes Martinez on the May 4, 2022 episode of Dynamite.
Mariah May’s in-ring debut is set for next week’s AEW Dynamite.
On Wednesday’ show, May confirmed that her American wrestling license had been approved, and would be wrestling next week on the first AEW Dynamite of 2024. She didn’t reveal who she would be facing.
Mariah May is with Renee Paquette to announce when her debut match is going to take place!
After she announced her in-ring debut Riho came out, not happy that May laid her out with Toni Storm’s AEW Women’s Championship the week prior. May ran to the ring in response. This caused Storm and her butler Luther to come out. Luther saved Storm from an attack by Riho, but Riho ended up laying both out with a crossbody to the floor.
May was introduced back in early November, where she revealed herself as a big fan of Toni Storm. Despite her fandom, Storm has acted aloof around May, forgetting her name or not hearing what May has said.
Riho will challenge for Storm’s AEW Women’s Championship at Worlds End, which takes place on December 30 in Long Island.
An interview with Mariah May is set for Wednesday’s Dynamite.
The final Dynamite of the year will have Renee Paquette interview Mariah May ahead of AEW Worlds End, where Toni Storm will defend the AEW Women’s Championship against Riho. May attacked Riho with the AEW Women’s Championship on last week’s Dynamite, saving Storm from an attack.
In recent weeks, May has been at the side of Storm, saying she’s her biggest fan, despite Storm acting as if she’s never met her. On Collision, May said that her American wrestling license has been approved, teasing her first in-ring AEW match would be happening soon. When May asked if Storm would be in her corner, Storm acted as if she didn’t hear her.
Here’s the current lineup for the New Year’s Smash edition of Dynamite from Orlando, Florida:
Continental Classic Gold League finals: Jon Moxley vs. Jay White vs. Swerve Strickland
Continental Classic Blue League finals: Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston
ROH Tag Team Champions MJF & Samoa Joe defend against The Devil’s Henchmen
May appeared on AEW Dynamite Wednesday, being introduced by RJ City backstage. May asked if she could meet Toni Storm, saying she was the reason for coming to AEW. City, who has appeared with Storm in the past, told May that he could introduce her next week. May was excited upon hearing the news, hugging City.
May, 25, started wrestling in 2019 in the United Kingdom, wrestling for promotions such as Progress, South West Wrestling, and Revolution Pro.
In December of last year, she made her debut for Stardom, becoming part of the Club Venus stable. During her run in the company, she and Mina Shirakawa won the Goddess of Stardom titles. She finished her run with Stardom in September, with Dave Meltzer reporting in October that she was heading to AEW, possibly to be part of a group with Toni Storm.
The 25-year-old finished up with Stardom last weekend and then teased “she had a flight to catch” on social media, spurring rumors she could appear at AEW WrestleDream. While May wasn’t on the show, it’s believed she is headed to AEW eventually.
“There was a lot of talk she would be going to Seattle but she actually flew back home to the U.K. She is expected in AEW, possibly being part of a group with Toni Storm,” Meltzer wrote.
Following her loss to Hanan on the final night of the 5 Star Grand Prix, an emotional May told the Yokohama crowd that it was her last match in Japan. However, she previously told Stardom she would return eventually.
Regarding May possibly being involved in a group with Toni Storm, her character has taken an interesting turn since losing the AEW Women’s World title. Storm coined herself “Timeless” Toni Storm during a “Portrait of a Star” segment that aired on AEW Dynamite this week. She then defeated Skye Blue in a segment that averaged 795,000 viewers and 361,000 in the 18-49 demographic.
Mariah May finishes up with Stardom on Saturday but where she goes next is a bit of a mystery.
May will wrestle Hanan on the final night of the Five Star Grand Prix tournament. She is then expected to return to the UK, although she’s teasing that might not be the case.
“Her leaving was expected as women like her who have the right look and go to Stardom to get the experience of working multiple times a week with top talent always eventually leave,” Meltzer wrote.
“She had told people in Japan that she is eventually coming back and that she was going back home to see family in the U.K. She is flying back to the U.K., not the U.S.”
May addressed her final match with Stardom and where she might be traveling to next in a video posted to social media on Friday.
“It’s going to be emotional, it’s going to be sad,” May says. “And then I have to get up at like 6 a.m. to catch a flight.”
However, when asked to confirm she is flying back to the UK, May only responded, “Maybe.”
AEW has expressed interest in May but it’s not clear if that is where she’ll end up next.
Earlier this week, Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that May informed Stardom she has not signed with either AEW or WWE and will be back eventually.
“She told the company that she’s not going to WWE or AEW and that the door is open for her to come back if she wants to,” Meltzer said.
“I think a lot of people thought that she was going to AEW for sure, and she may be but it doesn’t appear to be for sure because she left the door open with Stardom.”
Meltzer also noted in today’s Observer that working for WWE was May’s goal when she was growing up.
“When she was younger, she worked as a model and modeled WWE merchandise in the U.K. and growing up WWE was her goal,” he wrote. “She did tell the office she’s not going to WWE or AEW.”
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and all the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.
Raw tonight id from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA, which sold out as soon as tickets were put on sale months ago with just under 8,000. Finn Balor & Damian Priest defend the tag titles against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Dominik Mysterio defends the North American title against Dragon Lee in his main roster debut, Otis vs. Bronson Reed, Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ludvig Kaiser and they will build the next Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match which presumably is on Fastlane. They should start getting matches put together given the show is 12 days away.
Collision is going to have a tough go in the ratings since the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game on NBC did the network’s largest viewership for a regular season college football game since 1993. The game averaged 10.5 million viewers, peaked at over 14 million (after Collision was over) and did 605,000 streaming, so a 94 percent television and six percent streaming breakdown. Collision numbers come out tomorrow morning.
A note from last night’s show, we talked about Mariah May finishing up with Stardom. Her last show is the PPV show this coming Saturday, not this past Saturday. Saturday is the finals of the Five Star Grand Prix tournament.
Tomorrow’s NXT show has a contract signing for Camerlo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov for Saturday in Bakersfield, Eddy Thorpe vs. Dijak in a strap match Baron Corbin vs. Josh Briggs, Trick Williams vs. Joe Gacy, Blair Davenport vs Gigi Dolin, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. Lucien Price & Bronco Nima, Butch vs. Joe Coffey (winner faces Noam Dar for the Heritage title in Bakersfield, CA on Friday and Becky Lynch and Tiffany Stratton are both appearing.
We’re looking for reports from Raw tonight in Ontario, CA (Main Event matches and anything not on the live show) and from yesterday’s house show in Fresno, CA, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
We’re also looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s Destruction in Kobe show from New Japan, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
Nate Diaz rep Zach Rosenfeld reported to a number of news sources that all charges against Diaz for a street in New Orleans against Rodney Peterson have been dropped. Rosenfeld said after reviewing the evidence that the video of the incident made it clear Diaz was acting in self defense. The District Attorney’s office just wrote that there was not sufficient support to prove the alleged crime.
Voting closes on Saturday for the 15th annual Fights Only World MMA Awards. The top nominees for the key awards are:Charles Mask Lewis Fighter of the Year: Leon Edwards, Aljamain Sterling, Israel Adesanya, Isam Makhachvev and Sadibou Sy.Female Fighter of the Year: Alexa Grasso, Amanda Nunes, Larissa Pacheco, Seiki Izawa and Liz Carmouche.Fight of the Year: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiaiev, Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler, Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Brennan Ward vs. Sabah Homasi and Matt Schnell vs. Su Mudarerji
Piers Morgan of CNN said that his interview with Dana White has been viewed two million times on YouTube, making it one of the ten most viewed video on his YouTube channel since its launch. The video was put up ten days ago.
Exodus Pro Wrestling and the NWA run Double Down on 10/7 in Cleveland at the Tree Lawn with Certified Luke Curtis vs. Thom Latimer, plus EC 3 will team with J-Rocc & Rex Brody vs. Thrillblly & Kerry Morton, plus Mims and Atticus Cogar are on the show.
Prestige Wrestling from Sunday in Los Angeles at the Globe Theater: Sonico b Gregorhty Sharpe, Johnnie robbie b Shazza McKenzie, Alan Angels won four-way over Diego Hill, TravisWilliams and Jordan Cruz, Moose b Galendo del Mal (son of Dr. Wagner Jr.), Lee Moriarty b Jonathan Gresham, Tom Lawler b Vinnie Massaro, Titus Alexander b Rey Horus, Trish Adora b Shoko Nakajioma, Mike Bailey b Breeze. They announced an all women’s show at the Globe Theater on 12/14 called Combat Princess with Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi (all from Tokyo Joshi Pro) along with Sandra Moone, Taya Valkyrie, Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich.
Championship Wrestling from Memphis takes place tonight at the Mid South Fair with Tommy Dreamer.
WWC has a PPV on Fite TV on Saturday from Bayamon, PR with a boxer vs wrestler match with Xavant, a wrestler against boxer Juanma Lopez under boxing rules. Eddie Colon, Jacob Fatu and Ray Gonzalez are headliners.
Maven returns to the ring on Friday night in Totowa,. NJ at the Totowa PAL facing Rich Reed, the company’s ring announcer, in a tuxedo match. The show also features guest appearances by Sgt. Slaughter and Marty Jannetty as its the 25th anniversary of the promotion.
There is also a Saturday wrestling convention at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, NJ at 10 a.m. with Kevin Nash, The Dudleys, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Slaughter and Afa the Samoan.
