This week’s Ring of Honor on HonorClub emanates from the eSports Arena in Arlington, Texas, and is the follow-up to last Friday’s buzzworthy Death Before Dishonor streaming special.
After their emotional title win at Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts XI, new ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs will defend for the first time ever as they face the Iron Savages & Jacked Jameson.
After his crushing title defeat to Lee Moriarty last Friday, former ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta will take on Anthony Henry.
Fresh off his win on Wednesday in a big trios match, The Beast Mortos will look to continue his momentum against AR Fox; Rocky Romero will battle Brian Cage; and the returning Fuego Del Sol goes one-on-one with Jacoby Watts.
Robyn Renegade will work in singles action against Maya World.
Top Flight will be in tag team action while the Premier Athletes take on the Supastarz.
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After a quick Paul Wight-Narrated recap of Death Before Dishonor, ROH on Honorclub began what felt like a new era! They kicked it off in big style too with a championship match!
ROH World Six-Man Champions Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs (Ross & Marshall) defeated Jacked Jameson & The Iron Savages (Bronson & Boulder)
Those belts look good on Rhodes and the Von Erich’s shoulders, but are they enough to get them past the gates of Titty City? The Savages and Jameson aimed to take those newly won ROH Six-Man straps from the fighting champions!
The Savages and Jameson came to the ring with their usual brand of trash talk. Sauce, Hoss, and Titty City were all named check. The Champions arrived to much more fanfare, the crowd really loving seeing Rhodes with a title for the first time in a decade.
The Savages definitely had the beef advantage, with the Von Erichs and Rhodes giving up significant size to their opponents. Ross and Marshall were able to get so offence in on Boulder with a great double team in the corner. Ross also managed a really nice looking slingblade on Boulder for a two count. Rhodes got a big cheer as he tagged in to take on Bronson. The veteran hadn’t lost a step and caused a miscommunication that saw Boulder flatten his partner with a big splash.
Rhodes hit a classic powerslam on Bronson followed by a hot tag to Marshall. Marshall cleaned house, dropping Jameson on his head. Boulder tried to interfere but Rhodes caught him with a Canadian destroyer before he could to much damage. Rhodes set Jameson up for a shattered dreams and Marshall finished him off with a Claw Slam to retain the titles.
-Mark Briscoe cut a promo with his baby (that’s with the baby, not on the baby) congratulating Roderic Strong on their match at Death Before Dishonor. It was a hell of a match, but Briscoe is still the champion and that’s what matters.
Top Flight (Duante and Darius) w. Leila Grey defeated Ace of Space Academy (LSG and GKM)
This match served to (re)introduce us to Leila Grey as Top Flight’s new ring valet. LSG and MSG weren’t really much of a challenge for Top Flight. Duante took to the sky early and nearly pinned GKM while Darious flew over the top rope to crush LSG.
It wasn’t even a finisher that ended the squash, with Top Flight coming out on top. This does extend their winning streak in ROH, so they may be headed towards a Tag title shot in the future.
-Next, The Infantry cut a promo wondering why they aren’t getting the opportunities that other teams are getting. Stewardess Leila Grey was brought up and Bravo was mad that she chose them and not the Infantry as a group to join. They put ROH on notice and that was that.
Robyn Renegade defeated Maya World
Both Renegade a World have recently enjoyed some ring time in ROH, taking on some of the heavy hitters of the Women’s Division. Hopefully the winner of this match would get a little closer to that upper echelon and maybe even a title shot.
Right away, Renegade was in control. She faked out the shorter World, but the momentum flipped and it was World laying out the heavy kicks and strikes. Renegade got her footing back on the outside and slammed World onto the floor, tossing her back in for some more punishment.
Renegade, sensing that she may have taken World too lightly, nailed a Pump Handle Slam with gusto and got the 1,2,3.
-Anthony Henry was being interviewed backstage and suddenly, his cousin, Beef, interrupted. Beef was there to support his second cousin by marriage and said he’d be in his corner in his match tonight. Henry seemed irritated but played along as the next match began.
The Beast Mortos defeated AR Fox
Here’s what Mortos had been up to in just the last week:
- Competed in the Royal Rampage match on AEW Rampage last Friday.
- Spent 20 minutes throwing Komander at the ground at Death Before Dishonor.
- Fought Hologram on AEW Collision.
- Took on The Conglomeration last night on AEW Dynamite!
So, he’s been busy. Fox was looking to avenge a loss to Mortos back in April, but it remained unclear if Mortos’ packed schedule would allow him to do that, or even have any effect on the Beast whatsoever.
Spoiler: It didn’t.
While Fox did get some interesting pinning combinations in, Mortos just wasn’t going down. He popped right up after everything Fox threw at him, inside and outside the ring. There was a bright spot for Fox, when he leapt through the ring ropes at a charging Mortos and knocked him into the barricade.
In the end a series of backbreakers and slams put Fox down for good and Mortos stood tall.
-the MxM Collection joined us backstage and reminded us that they will always come out on top.
Wheeler Yuta defeated Anthony Henry
At Death Before Dishonor, The Blackpool Combat Club’s Yuta lost the ROH Pure Title to Lee Moriarty in a fantastic match. This bout with Henry would hopefully put Yuta on the road to reclaiming that title.
The match deteriorated into a chop-fest on the outside, with Yuta taking out his frustration on Henry’s chest. Yuta also ground Henry’s head right into the steel joist of the ring post. The two continued, trading moves and blows in a fantastic back and forth match.
In the end though, Yuta picked up the win, showing that he’s more than just a Pure wrestler.
-The man that took the title from Yuta, Lee Moriarty cut a promo next, letting ROH as a whole know that #Tigastyle is here to stay!
The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) defeated Supastarz (Nikki Eight & Tommy Mars)
This match had neither much of a point, or much of an interesting outcome. I suppose the intention was to give the Premier Athletes a win, but it was such a one sided affair that it wasn’t interesting to watch. Something of a miss on a pretty good night.
-To make matters weirder, Anthony Henry was joined backstage by Beef again to discuss how their family will get wins all over the place. It might be part of the effort Tony Khan seems to be making to jazz up the show, but I don’t know if this is the way to go.
Fuego Del Sol defeated Jacoby Watts w/ Nick Comoroto
When last we saw Watts, he was tagging with Nick Comoroto, kind of. Watts was doing really well at letting Comoroto do all the work, while he sucked up the accolades. He managed to win his last singles match, but would the fight against Del Sol be a different affair?
Watts began the match by running down Del Sol on the mic. Sol responded with a dropkick. From there it was a great bunch of heeling done by Watts. He oversold everything and snuck around the ring trying to get in cheap hits. Sol was able to keep up with him easily though, flying around the ring with springboard moonsaults and stomps, leading to a quick pin and a surprising win.
Even though he didn’t get involved, the real winner here was Comoroto’s shirt.
-The Minions joined us backstage in a taped post-Death Before Dishonor promo. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena was showering Lexy Nair with love since she helped her retain her title. This made now-former Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz jealous and a rift began to appear…
Brian Cage defeated Rocky Romero
Brian Cage has been machining all over ROH recently, taking part in a 6-person match that was more of an assault than a wrestling contest. At Death Before Dishonor, he can within a hair of winning the ROH TV Title in a six-man elimination match. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get the pin and that made him mad. Like, real mad. This this match against Romero had the potential to give Cage a chance to blow off some steam, but what’s next for him remaind a mystery.
It was almost a comical mismatch of size, with the beefy Cage dwarfing Romero and throwing him around the ring. Romero had brief flashes of offense, incuding a great dropkick from the ring apron (the ahrdest part of the ring) that sent Cage flying into the barricade. An avalanche hurricanrana got a close 2.5 count on Cage. Romero even resorted to biting at one point before a superplex on his massive opponent.
It almost looked like Romero’s high-flying style would get the jump on Cage, but Cage hit a massive driver and finally got a pin.
-The Undisputed Kingdom, the current ROH Tag Champs, were interviewed back stage. Matt Taven and Mike Bennett let us know that they are closing in on one full year as ROH Tag Champions. Suddenly, The Infantry appeared. They brought up losing to the Kingdom in April, but since then, they have beated teams like FTR and The House of Black. They challenged the Kindgom to a match next week, which was gladly accepted by the Champs.
-To cap off the evening, Dustin Rhodes came down to the ring to address the Texan ROH crowd. Rhodes mentioned that it’s been a long time since he’s had a title around his waist (almost 10 years). “You deserve it” chants broke out in the arena, and in my living room.
Rhodes thanked the crowd for sending him their energy for the last 36 years. Rhodes talked up the Von Erichs, discussing how their families were part of wrestling history and it was an honor to be champions with Marshall and Ross. Rhodes spoke of his father, Dusty, and how his encouragement has kept him moving all these years.
Rhodes then announced that he wants more. At that moment, he was interrupted by The Dark Order’s Evil Uno. Uno stomped to the ring and screamed that they were robbed in their eliminator match against Rhodes and the Von Erichs last week.
Uno said that he doesn’t give a damn about Rhodes’ or the Von Erich’s family name. He’s been in ROH every week working his ass off. Uno said that Rhodes should step aside and let people like the Dark Order represent ROH as 6-man Champions. Uno said they had one more thing for Rhodes, and immediately Silver and Reynolds arrived to jump him.
However, a surprise Sammy Guevara arrived to even the odds! Guevara cleared the ring of the Dark Order and helped Rhodes to his feet. Rhodes cautiously shook his hand and the two embraced as the show came to a close.
This episode definitely felt different, with a lot more things happening and stories developing. Maybe Tony Khan is paying more attention to ROH after all.
