Reigning Ring of Honor Pure Champion Lee Moriarty will put his title on the line against Preston Vance on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
It will be the second title defense for Moriarty since winning the belt at July’s Death Before Dishonor while Vance is looking for his first title in either AEW or ROH. He comes into the match having won his last two bouts.
Former ROH TV Champion Tony Deppen makes his return to the company for the first time since April when he goes one-on-one with Action Andretti.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena will team up with former Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz in tag team action.
For the first time ever, Johnny TV will face Komander.
Other ROH stars in action against opponents to be named includes Brian Cage and Abadon.
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For the 83rd time, Ring of Honor on Honorclub blasted through the speakers and promised a great night of wrestling! Starting with Action! Action Andretti, that is!
Action Andretti (w/Lio Rush) defeats Tony Deppen
Andretti lacking his Top Flight pals and hanging out with Rush was a new development, but hey, the more friends the merrier. Deppen hasn’t been seen in ROH since the spring when he was a losing participant in a trios match against The Premier Athletes.
Deppen had some reps under his belt, being well-travelled around the indie circuit. Andretti had the speed and agility advantage though, tapping into a newfound aggressive streak. Deppen almost got a surprise rollup, but Andretti wriggled free and the two squared off.
Andretti did a really smooth walk and bounce off the top ropes, impressing the crowd and putting Deppen on his heels. In the corner, Andretti rained down chops and dropkicks keeping Deppen close, but not too close.
Deppen tried to gain some momentum with a big splash on the outside and some really hard elbows and strikes in the corner. He went too far though, trying to land a high flying move from the top rope. Andretti hit a springboard 450 and a shotgun dropkick to set up another springboard splash and get the win.
The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) w/Evil Uno defeated Boulder and Jacked Jameson w/Bronson Beefcake
Jameson and the Iron Savages cut a promo in the back on the Outrunners, who they attacked 2 weeks ago. The meat of the promo is that they don’t like the Outrunners, saying that they were “meat riders.” That means they rode the meatiness of the Savages into ROH, I think.
Reynolds and Boulder started things off, stomping around the ring. Reynolds tried a waistlock, but Boulder was about doubt his size so he wasn’t able to lock it in. Reynolds dodged a splash and tagged in Silver. Jameson jumped in as well and the posing began. Silver may be shorter, but he has the strength to match up against Jameson and even landed a big atomic drop.
Silver managed to send Jameson and Bronson to Titty City. That meant he pressed their faces into Boulder’s chest, cackling “you’ve got boobies in your face!” That gave some new life to the Savage-Jameson connection and Boulder and silver fought in the ring.
Later, Reynolds managed to catch Boulder in a cobra stretch but Jameson broke it up with a one armed slam. The beef was flying as Silver and Jameson both leapt in to break up pins. Silver and Reynolds double teamed Jameson with breakneck speed and managed to get the pin and the win.
Abadon vs Liviyah
Lately, Abandon has had her eyes on ROH Women’s Champion Athena. But that hasn’t stopped her from eating up the competition on her way to that inevitable confrontation. Liviyah was making her ROH debut, much to the chagrin of spelling enthusiasts everywhere.
Abadon drew Liviyah in for a code of honor and ended up biting her arm and then laying her out with a big lariat. Liviyah managed to get a bulldog on Abadon, exclaiming “You think you’re so cool because you’re weird!” Abadon, who is very cool, and very weird, responded with a backbreaker and some clubbing forearms.
Abadon beat up on Livihyah for a few more minutes before pinning her clean. She then stood and exclaimed “I’m coming for you Athena!”
-Red Velvet and Diamante joined us back stage. The Board of Directors banned violence from the interview (because they can do that apparently) so they spoke civilly to each other. Velvet gave Diamante her props, she’s at her prime, but shes old. Velvet became a champion after only 8 years wrestling and Velvet knows it bothers Diamante. Diamante responded by saying that she is in her prime, but she will still get better. Velvet doesnt know what she’s in for when she faces Diamante for the Women’s TV Title.
Brian Cage defeated Alec Price
Last week, the 12-0 Cage defeated assaulted Rusman in a pretty one-sided affair. Now that Cage has begun adding submission moves to his massive power and strength, there’s really little hope for those that cross him.
The biggest problem with a wrestler who looks and moves like Cage is that it’s hard to look at some of his opponents and buy that they have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. Price was about half the size of Cage, and any move he made, Cage just picked him up and threw him at the mat.
With all that said, it was a fun squash match. Cage watched himself pose on the big screen for a bit in between throwing Price in and out of the ring. Price screamed in pain while Cage admired his own biceps. Price showed some life with a springboard dropkick and running knee in the corner. However, Cage literally grabbed him by the trunks and pulled him up for 3 straight powerbombs and an “F-10” to get the victory.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena & Billie Starkz defeated Christina Marie and LMK
Last week, Athena became the longest reigning ROH Champion in the company’s history. But it’s not all celebrations and roses in the Minion camp. Starkz has been frustrated lately about her position as a low-number Minion-in-Training, while Lexy Nair gets all the accolades from Athena. Tensions, they do boil.
Starkz and Marie kicked things off and Starkz was hard-hitting off the top. Marie countered with a scoop slam. Starkz sent her to the outside where Athena threw her into the barricade. LMK tried to get a tag, but Athena isolated Marie in her and Starkz’ corner. Marie managed to get a hot tag to LMK who jumped in an clotheslined the champion.
LMK held her own for a while until Athena kicked her in the face. Marie jumped in to help and Athena side slammed them both. At the same time. Starkz took out Marie with a DDT and Athena locked the Hussy Clutch on LMK who gave up, handing Starkz and Athena the win.
Athena and Starkz beat up their prone opponents until Abadon’s music hit. The Living Dead girl stomped down to the ring and Athena bailed, leaving Starkz to face her on her own. Abadon beat up Starkz until she managed to escape, joining Athena in a quick exit from ringside.
Komander (w/Alex Abrahantes) defeated Johnny TV
In a surprising bit of news, it turned out that this would be the first time these two well-traveled veterans have met in the ring. TV has been enjoying a somewhat laid back time in ROH recently (and some new jackets!), while Komander has been on a hot streak as of late. Abrahantes would be the wild card here with TV’s wife and valet Taya Valkyrie off in AEW hanging out with Deonna Purazzo.
Komander gave up some size to TV, but both had the speed and agility to have a great match. TV tried to throw Komander off his game with some brawler strikes and moves. His pants were also covered with LED lights. That has nothing to do with the match, but should be mentioned.
Komander battled back and landed and around-the-world hurricanrana followed by a sunset flip. TV followed it up with a a shining wizard. TV switched tactics to keep Komander off his feet. TV stood on Komander’s neck and delivered several kicks to the midsection before trying a sleeper.
The two men battled around the ring until TV hit two 360 neckbreakers in a row. That got a two count, so TV went for Starshop Pain, but Komander rolled away, causing TV to miss. TV went for a Torture Rack but Komander reversed it into a mexican destroyer. Komander went to the top rope for his trademark flipping splash and put TV down for the pin.
ROH Pure Title Match: Lee Moriarty (c) defeated Preston Vance
Moriarty and Shane Taylor have been pushing hard to prove that Moriarty is the best ROH Pure Champion ever. Last week, Vance, undefeated in ROH, beat Brandon Cutlerin a one-sided, but fun affair. For those not in the know, Under Pure Rules, each wrestler gets three rope breaks, and one warning for a closed fist. Outside interference or lose a count-out battle results in a title change and suspension for the offending wrestler. Winning is by pinfall or submission and if there was no winner by the 60-minute time limit, a panel of judges would award the win. That panel was Christopher Daniels, Jerry Lynn and Jimmy Jacobs.
Vance got the upper hand on Moriarty off the top but got his warning for the use of a closed fist early, at 1:29. The fight moved to the outside where Vance tossed Moriarty into barricades, then back in the ring. Moriarty send Vance into the turnbuckle and then tried an armbar, forcing Vance to use his first rope break. Moriarty tried again, costing Vance his second rope break in quick succession.
Vance landed a shoulder block off the second rope and followed it up with a big powerbomb and submisson attempt. Moriarty was forced to use his first rope break, which bought him enough time to hit a massive lariat. Moriarty managed to roll up Vance in a quick move, and got the 1-2-3.
Honestly, what promised to be a good match was cut short. It also appeared that the timer jumped 10 minutes from about 2:30 to 12:30. I don’t know if that was because of a portion of the match that had to be cut, a technical issue, or what. That said, a pretty good show in spite of the weird ending!
