The former Oro Mensah in WWE NXT makes his debut in Ring of Honor tonight as part of this week’s HonorClub show.
The 29-year-old now going by “The Main Man” Oro will have tough competition as he takes on Tomohiro Ishii.
Ring of Honor Pure Champion Lee Moriarty will battle CMLL’s Xelhua in a Proving Ground match where if the challenger beats or draws the champion, they earn a future title shot.
In an eight-man tag team match, Team CMLL (the debuting Difunto, Volador Jr., The Beast Mortos & Hechicero) will take on AR Fox, Serpentico, Angelico, and Alex Zayne.
Leila Grey takes on Taya Valkyrie while Gringo Loco takes on Willie Mack in a rematch from 2023.
The card is rounded out by Lance Archer in action against an opponent(s) to be named.
**********
Thursday night is here and that means it’s time for more hot, saucy Ring of Honor Action!
Alex Zayne, AR Fox & Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) vs. Difunto, Hechicero, The Beast Mortos & Volador Jr.
And what better way to kick off a show than with Luchadores and plenty of ’em! Hechicero has a date with Bandido for the ROH world title at the end of the month, Mortos is mor-tastic and SAP are everlasting favorites. This should be fun!
Angelico and Hechicero started things off. Angelico’s agility was a nice offset to Hechicero’s power, which was on display through a flurry of technical chain wrestling. Respect was shown as the two traded dance moves as well.
Difunto tagged in to face Fox and if you haven’t seen Difunto, it’s worth a google. He’s kind of a caveman/skeleton/sasquach and he’s got a really unique luchadore style. It threw Fox off and he tagged in Zayne. To meet him though was Mortos, who you never want to see staring you down.
Zayne stacked Mortos up in the corner for a hurricanrana, followed by some knees to the back and a senton. Mortos actually showed some vulnerability and tagged in Volador to face Serpentico. Volador looked a little sluggish as Serpentico bounced around him, but all he was able to get out of it was a two count.
Serpentico went for a dive through the ropes, but Lance Archer, who had accompanied Hechicero tot he ring, tripped him up, sparking an all hands on deck brawl. Angelico was the only one left standing and Difunto sent him into the corner with a dropkick. Angelico got quadruple teamed, until a dropkick sent him out of the ring.
Zayne jumped in but met the same fate, getting stacked in the corner. Difunto went coast to coast from the top turnbuckle and dropkicked him. Hechicero continued the assault until Zayne rolled out and was replaced by Fox. Clearly one team has seen too many Segal movies as they keep trying to attack one at a time.
Fox found his footing though, delivering elbows to Difunto and Mortos in the corners, followed by a cutter to Mortos. Fox and Zanye hit sentons from the top rope on Hechicero one after the other, but just a two count.
SAP cleared the ring, leaving Zayne and Hechicero in the ring. Hechicero climbed the ladder and hit a big knee on Zayne’s face. The two rolled through a bunch of pinning combinations with Hechicero finally able to nail Zayne’s shoulders to the mat and pick up the win.
Match Result: Difunto, Hechicero, The Beast Mortos & Volador Jr. defeated Alex Zayne, AR Fox & Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico)
A beat down began after the match, but the music of Bandido hit and the Champion came to the ring with back up. Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii and more came down and cleared out the bad guys.
-Next, the Premier Athletes were in the back trying to cut promos in spanish regarding their upcoming CMLL match. Daivari got frustrated until Sterling pointed out that the Athletes are undefeated in Lucha Rules matches. Which, I supposed, technically is true.
Willie Mack vs Gringo Loco
Then, it was time for my favorite part of any wrestling show: the big guys hitting each other bigly match! Mack and Loco almost seem like they could be alternate dimension versions of each other as they are both big men who move with crazy agility.
The crowd was hot as they locked up with Loco putting on a wristlock. Mack flipped it around and seemed to threaten Loco’s junk, causing the luchadore to back off. The two exchanged a really fun chain ending with a slam attempt from Mack that Loco reversed mid air and landed on his feet.
“It’s kind of like that movie, The Parent Trap” interjected Ian Riccaboni as Loco and Mack found themselves at another stalemate. This time, Loco asked Mack to turn this into a dance contest and the two gyrated their hips, with the winner being, I dunno, Loco I guess.
Mack sent Loco to the outside and went for a dive, but Loco moved, stopping Mack short and leading to him casually humping the ring. Buy it dinner first, Mack!
Eventually the wrestling started with Loco going up top and hitting a swichfoot moonsault, but took too much time and Mack rolled out of the way. He hopped to his feet and delivered a shoulder block to Loco. Mack went up top but Loco followed him, dragging him down with a tightrope spanish fly!
Loco leapt off the rope, but Mack grabbed him and hit a stunner followed by shining wizard. Mack then went up top for a frog splash and that put Loco down for good (as it would any human).
Match Result: Willie Mack defeated Gringo Loco
That was a cool match, but man was it ever slow. Both these guys can move fast when they need to so it really stands out when they slow it down. Still great though.
Lance Archer vs Ren Jones
Archer appeared with his music, dragging Jones down the entrance ramp, bouncing his head off of pretty much anything he could find. Jones tried to fight back, but Archer chopped him against the barricade again and again.
Finally, Archer threw Jones in the ring and the bell rang, just in time for Archer to deliver half a dozen big elbows in the corner. Archer lifted Jones from the top rope and hit a blackout in the middle of the ring, ending the match before it began, kind of.
Match Result: Lance Archer defeated Ren Jones
Leila Grey (w/Christopher Daniels) vs. Taya Valkyrie (w/Johnny TV, Mansoor & Mason Madden)
I understand Grey’s instinct to bring Daniels with her as backup, but they are still outnumbered 2-to-1 so maybe bring a few more friends next time? SkyFlight came out on the entrance ramp, but not down to the ring. Which seemed weird.
Grey and Valkyrie kicked things off like you’d expect, with a posedown followed by some hard chops from Grey. Grey sent Valkyrie into the corner and delivered a hard lariat for a two count. TV and Daniels shouted encouragement from ringside.
TV grabbed Grey’s ankle under the ropes, giving Valkyrie an opening to take control. She stopmed Grey’s leg, working it over. Valkyrie sent Grey to the outside, giving her a chance to make out with TV. Valkyrie then threw Grey back into the ring, locking in a wristlock-based abdominal stretch.
Grey fought out of it though, sending Valkyrie to the mat with a clothesline, and then the two hit simultaneous head slams, knocking themselves both down. The two traded punches with Grey hitting a surprise cutter, but only getting a two count.
TV jumped up on the ring apron to cause a distraction, but Daniels ran around and pulled him down. That gave Grey an opening for another cutter into a dragon sleeper. Valkyrie held on as long as she could, but ended up being forced to tap out.
Match result: Leila Grey defeated Taya Valkyrie
-Backstage, Willie Mack mused that since he was back on ROH TV, maybe he should go for that TV title? That summoned Nick Wayne, who dared Mack to try and take it from him. This seemed to confuse Mack, but I assume it means a match at some point. Or maybe not. You never know.
Tomohiro Ishii vs Oro
Oro is making his ROH debut here after a spell in NXT. The bad news is that he clearly drew the short straw and has to face the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion and turtleneck enthusiast, Ishii in said debut.
Ishii refused a code of honor, choosing instead to send Oro into the ropes. Oro was looking to make an impression here, but Ishii was having none of it, absorbing offense and dishing out punishment. Oro went up top for a splash but Ishii caught him on the way down.
Oro picked up the speed, trying to out-pace Ishii with some backflip kicks and a chop that seemed to actually hurt Ishii, which is rare. Oro’s strikes were just as hard as Ishii, causing the NJPW star to stagger as Oro hit a suplex. This is impressive as I feel that Ishii has way more density and atomic weight than the average human.
Ishii delivered a suplex of his own as it was Ishii’s turn to chop in the corner. Ishii planted Oro with a big lariat, but couldn’t land the brainbuster. Oro hit a springboard moonsault and dragon suplex, but only got a two count.
The two traded headbutts and shots in the center of the ring with Oro coming out on top to deliver a springboard thrust kick. Oro tried a hammerlock, but Ishii lariated him into next week and hit that brain buster. Oro was out and Ishii picked up the victory.
Match Result: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Oro
I gotta say, a solid debut for Oro. He kept pace with Ishii and it was in no way a one-sided affair. He flew a little too close to the sun, but looked good doing it.
ROH Pure Title Proving Ground Match: Lee Moriarty [c] vs. Xelhua
Main Event, Pure Rules and Proving Ground time! Moriarty has held that Pure title for well over a year at this point, defeating some pretty impressive challengers. For those that need a reminder, both men get three rope breaks, one closed fist and a 10 minute time limit. If the challenger can win or last the 10 minutes they earn a future title shot.
The match started with Moriarty keeping things slow, looking to work the clock. Xelhua hit a standing frog splash though and the speed picked up. Moriarty lured him in for an ankle takedown and the two became an entanglement of limbs.
Moriarty came out on top as the two tried to overpower each other with roll throughs. Moriarty slapped on a cobra lock and Xelhua had to use a rope break at 6:44. Xelhua tied up Moriarty in a crazy pretzel, but Moriarty was able to get his foot on the rope for a break at 5:25.
Xelhua wrenched Moriarty’s knee, working the leg. Moriarty hit a springbaord forearm, but it was only a two count. Moriarty put a modified facelock figure four on Xelhua, but was too close to the ropes and at 3:54, Xelhua used his second rope break.
Things picked up with a series of arm drags into a backbreaker from Xelhua. He hit an inside cloverleaf next, forcing a second rope break from Moriarty at 2:34. Time was definitely ticking away and Moriarty hit a straightjacket into a Border City Strech. Xelhua managed to worm out of it, and locked in a crazy waist surfboard hold.
With barely 90 seconds left, the two started trading shots with Moriarty ending it with a flurry of forearms and a second Border City Stretch. Xelhua had nowhere to go, but wiggled free, locking Moriarty in a hold as the clock ticked down to 15 seconds.
Moriarty was trapped, but held on until the time expired. That means that Xelhua has earned a future shot at the ROH Pure Title.
Match Result: Lee Moriary vs Xelhua went to a time limit draw
You don’t see Moriarty on the losing end of a proving ground match very often! Cool way to end the show!
