Tag: ROH TV

Ring of Honor TV Champion Kyle Fletcher will defend his belt against Lee Johnson in a best-of-three-falls match on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub which will feature two title bouts.

Reigning ROH Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) will put their titles on the line against Cool Hand Ang & “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard after weeks of feuding between the two teams.

We will also hear from both ROH Women’s Champion Athena and ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz.

Other matches include the promotional debut of CMLL’s Titan as he battles Aaron Solo, Diamante vs. Leyla Hirsch, Jacoby Watts vs. Brandon Cutler, and a trios bout between Griff Garrison, Cole Karter & Anthony Henry vs. The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) and Serpentico.

Other talent announced for tonight includes Lance Archer, Marina Shafir and The Iron Savages.

The Tag Team title match was taped on June 12th while the TV Title match was taped on June 15th. The rest of this week’s card was taped on June 8th.

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A big two-out-of-three falls match was headlining this week, but the extra-long show kicked off with some lucha libre stlye action!

Titan defeated Aaron Solo

Titan, the current CMLL Welterweight Champion, and Solo were pretty evenly matched in terms of size and speed and both had potential for some pretty cool high-flying moves.

Titan got the jump on Solo off the top though, sending him to the outside with a big dropkick. Solo recovered and the two exchanged punches and chops until Solo managed to knock Titan to the mat. However, Titan sprang back up and got the drop on Solo. Solo avoided a splash from the top and responded with a double stomp from the top rope.

The crowd began to turn on Solo, chanting that he sucked as Titan limbo-avoided a clothesline. Titan hit a double stomp of his own on Solo from the top rope to win his first ROH match in six years.

Griff Garrison, Cole Karter, and Anthony Henry defeated The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean), and Serpentico

Garrison. Karter. Serpentico. These three have been circling each other and fighting over Serpentico’s stolen mask for months now. Throw in Henry and The Infantry (accompanied by Trish Adora) and this match had all the making of what they used to call “a slobberknocker.”

Garrison and Karter were accompanied to the ring by Maria, still brandishing Serpentico’s stolen green mask. Serpentico arrived in a, frankly, way cooler black-with-green-accents mask, so he might not even care about the old one anymore.

Henry and Serpentico kicked things off and ran the ropes dodging lariats kicks until Serpentico got the upper hand and isolated Henry in the Infantry’s corner. A few double teams later, Garrison jumped in to try and save Henry, but was given a swift boot to the face for his trouble.

Garrison and Karter took out the Infantry outside the ring, leaving Serpentico all alone. Karter quickly tagged in and the beat down was on. Serpentico found himself isolated in his opponent’s corner and Henry locked in a straight jacket choke hold. Adora got the crowd going and Henry began showboating, which quickly cost him as Serpentico school boy’ed him for a two-count.

Eventually, both men remembered that they had teammates, and hot tags were executed by both, bringing in Bravo and Karter. Garrison tagged in and The Infantry executed a textbook Boot Camp for another near fall. All six men entered the ring and a brawl broke out. When the dust settled, it was Henry and Serpentico in the ring.

Garrison nailed Serpentico with a steel chair from the outside when the ref was distracted and Henry was able to pin him for the win.

-On the ramp, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena and ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz joined fellow “minion” Lexi Nair. Athena entered on crutches, her leg in a boot. Through tears, Athena told the crowd that she tore ligaments in her ankle, and it looks like it will take 4-6 months to recover. A sobbing Athena said she had to vacate the ROH Women’s Championship due to injury. The crowd chanted “keep it” but Athena then swerved us all and said she was not giving up the title! She vowed to be the ROH Women’s World Champion forever!

Suddenly, Queen Aminata and Red Velvet arrived. Velvet called Athena out, accusing her of faking the injury, just like Starkz faked an injury to win the Women’s TV Title Tournament. It came to blows and the IRL injured Athena was shoved to the ground. Starkz Chased off Aminata and Velvet as ROH staff came out to help Athena to the back.

Jacoby Watts defeated Brandon Cutler

This promised to be an interesting match, as in recent weeks Watts has been “teaming” with Nick Comoroto, who accompanied him to the ring. I say “teaming” because Comoroto has been doing all the work, and Watts has been… preaching? Proselytizing? Definitely not helping his partner. So seeing Watts in singles action was an interesting change. 

Watts started off with a promo, which was interrupted by Cutler who entered to no music but the loudest track suit known to man. Butler ran down the crowd, Watts and Comoroto. Comoroto responded by headbutting him in the chest. The bell rang and the match began.

Watts actually wrestled in this match, showing off some impressive speed and high slams. The two traded right hands until Cutler hit a cutter on Watts. Cutler had control and laid a beating on Watts while Comoroto tried to fire him up on the outside.

Watts hit a knee stunner on Cutler and actually got the pin to win the match. Watts and Comoroto celebrated in the ring.

Marina Shafir defeated Maggie Minerva

ROH has a problem, and the problem is Marina Shafir. Shafir has been on a very, very aggressive streak in ROH, and this match was a great chance for her to show why she’s a serious problem to everyone in the Women’s Division.

Minerva had a couple of inches in height on Shafir, but it didn’t seem to matter. Shafir wrestled Minerva to the ground, suffocating her. Upon breaking it up, she cartwheeled into another submission move on Minerva. The mean streak of Shafir was on display as she ground Minerva into the corner. Minerva got a nice kick on Shafir, but that was about it.

A powerbomb from Shafir that was heard in the next county led to a front headlock on a dazed Minerva, causing the Ref to stop the bout when Minerva passed out.

The Iron Savages (Bronson and Boulder) and Jacked Jameson defeated Isaiah Harris, Marsten and Eric Eznite

This was a squash from the start with Jameson and Eznite, who was working a Christian/prayer gimmick. The Savages and Jameson isolated him and beat him up in the corner. A quick tag to Harris resulted in much the same. At one point Boulder had both Eznite and Harris on his shoulder for a double slam. Marsten found his way into the ring and got a trip to Titty City for his trouble. A big slam later, it was all over.

Lance Archer defeated “Iceberg”

Archer jumped his opponent before his music had even stopped. The name of his opponent was never announced, but he had “Iceberg” on his tights, so that’s what I went with.

As mentioned, Archer had Iceberg from the start, throwing him around the ring like a rag doll. Iceberg tried his best to fight back, hitting a spear and attempting a swanton on Archer. Archer dodged though and chokeslammed him in the center of the ring. One Blackout later and it was over, with Archer getting the win.

Leyla Hirsch defeated Diamante

This looked to be a fun match between two touch women. Diamante has been working to get back into title contention in ROH, and Hirsch has only been pinned three times in ROH. Diamante hasn’t been able to defeat Hirsch in ROH, so this was a great match up.

Hirsch relied on her explosive power to keep Diamante at bay. Lots of roll throughs and suplexes by both women who excel at the technical aspects of the sport. Diamante managed to block a pendulum attempt in the corner to reverse fates in the match. Diamanta worked the braced-up knee of Hirsch, trying to keep her off her feet.

HIrsch managed to get a series of German suplexes on Diamante, driving her into the corner for a pendulum stomp. However, Diamante exploded out of the corner with a spear and got a 2.5 count on Hirsch.

Surprisingly though, Hirsch managed to counter Diamante’s finisher into an inside cradle to get the win. A frustrated Diamante nailed Hirsch after the bell and stomped off.

ROH Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) defeated Angelo Parker and Matt Menard for the ROH Tag Team Titles

-Earlier in the night, Bennett and Taven cut a promo lamenting their lack of legacy in tag team wrestling. They feel they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the Young Bucks, Briscoes and more. They are 5x world champions and “melvins” like Menard and Parker aren’t on their level. 

Fresh off his honeymoon with AEW’s Ruby Soho, Parker reunited with last week’s special color commentator Menard for a shot at the ROH Tag Team Titles, that the Undisputed Kingdom have held in their grip for quite some time.

Bennett and Parker kicked things off and Parker wasn’t able to get control over Bennett, so Menard tagged in to give it a shot. Once Taven tagged in, things picked up as Parker and Menard isolated and double teamed Taven in the corner.

Taven took advantage of Menard’s taped ribs as it was the Kingdom’s turn to isolate and double team. Manard fought back though against Bennett and the two traded blows. Tags flew, and poses were struck as the Kingdom maintained control over the match.

Parker was thrown to the outside by Taven. Bennett staked him, but Menard arrived to save his partner. They took out Bennett and Menard hopped back in the ring. Bennett wasn’t all out though and socked Parker in the face.

Parker was let alone in the ring and Bennett and Taven double teamed him without consequence until Menard jumped back up on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring) looking for a Tag. Parker created some separation, but couldn’t get the hot tag to Menard.

The Kingdom tried a Hail Mary, but Parker knocked Taven into the ropes and got the tag on Menard. Menard cleaned house, punching Bennett in the corner exactly ten times. Menard got a Boston Crab locked in on Bennett and no-sold Taven’s attempt to break it up. Parker took out Taven and Bennett managed make it to the ropes to break the hold.

Menard and Parker hit a double DDT on Bennett who managed to kick out. Taven slid one of the title belts into the ring, but Menard intercepted it. The Ref tried to take it away, and Bennett managed to get a surprise rollup on Menard to win the match and retain the titles for his team.

ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher defeated Lee Johnson in a best of three falls match for the ROH TV Title

-Earlier in the evening, Atlantis Jr of CMLL appeared backstage to challenge the winner of this match in Mexico!

Johnson called out ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher a couple of weeks ago. Fletcher reminded him that he had already beat him. Twice.  Johnson said that he thinks he can beat Fletcher twice in one night, and challenged him to a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the ROH World TV Title. Fletcher accepted and that brings us to this Main Event match.

The 17-0 Fletcher was very determined to not only keep his title, but prove that Johnson was no match for him. Johnson responded but diving through the ropes and taking him out before the match had even started.

Johnson dragged Fletcher into the ring and tried to get a quick pin, but Fletcher rolled out. Johnson dove on him again, from the ring post this time. The two battled on the outside, with Johnson coming out on top and pulling Fletcher into the ring.

It was Fletcher’s turn to send Johnson to the outside, where he threw him into the barricade, twice. He followed that up with a backdrop on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring) and flexed for the crowd.

Back in the ring, Johnson hit a dropkick to show some signs of life. Johnson hit a big neckbreaker for a two-count, both men failing to secure the first fall in the match. Fletcher hit a hammerlock suplex on Johnson followed by a charging knee in the corner. Johnson reversed his pinning attempt into a spiccoli driver, but no falls were scored.

Fletcher began to show signs of frustration that he wasn’t able to put Johnson away. The two exchanged lariats and ended up on the outside again. Johnson drover Fletcher to the ground and pulled him back onto the ring apron. Fletcher hit a brain buster on the apron and pulled Johnson in for a pin, but Johnson refused and kicked out at two.

Fletcher lawn-darted Johnson into the corner, hit a big kick and brain buster and Johnson finally gave up the first fall of the match. The Ref checked on Johnson, who was favoring his leg and the match continued.

Johnson tried to rise to his feet several times, but every time he did, Fletcher kicked him in the face and sent him back to the mat. The ringside doctor entered the ring to check on Johnson. Johnson insisted continuing, and Fletcher dragged him up for a top rope brain buster, but Johnson reversed it. With a quick rollup, Johnson got the second fall, tying the match and sending it to next-fall-wins!

The challenger and champion traded blows. Fletcher went for a powerbomb, but Johnson reversed it for a two-count. Johnson hit a Canadian destroyer from the second rope and follwed it up with a diving sunset bomb to the outside.

A dazed Fletcher stayed on the outside and the ref began count. Fletcher made it back just before the count expired and Johnson hit him with a press from the top rope and then a frog splash. Johnson climbed up for a second splash, but Fletcher kicked out of the pin at two.

Johnson went in for the kill, but the ref stopped him, concerned about Fletcher’s neck. While they argued, Fletcher sent Johnson into the ref with a low blow. Fletcher hit the brain buster from the top rope and got the three count, the second fall and retained his title in this exhaustive and excellent match!

Ring of Honor presents its weekly HonorClub show tonight with the usual array of Proving Ground bouts and a four corner survivor trios match as the road to Death Before Dishonor continues.

ROH Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) will face The Wolf Zaddies (Che Cabrera & Bad Dude Tito) where if the challengers can win or draw, they earn a future title shot.

ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starz will also be in action against an opponent to be named.

The aforementioned survival match will see Lance Archer & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) vs. Action Andretti & Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) vs. Dalton Castle & The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver & Alex Reynolds).

More women will be in action as Red Velvet battles Viva Van while Harley Cameron takes on Trish Adora while a trios match features Marina Shafir, Alex Windsor & Diamante vs. Leyla Hirsch, Lady Frost & Abadon.

Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty) will battle Nick Comoroto & Jacoby Watts.

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This week’s show was chock-a-block with multi-team and multi-person matches, so it was a little surprising that it started off with singles action.

ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz defeated Sandra Moone in a Proving Ground match

This Proving Ground match would give Moone a shot at the ROH Women’s TV Title if she was able to last 10 minutes, or pin the champion. Starkz has been dominating most opponents in her ROH Women’s TV title reign, but Red Velvet and Queen Aminata have been causing trouble for her post-match in recent weeks. Also, the recent injury of ROH Women’s Champion Athena leaves Starkz without her biggest back up.

Moone was in the tournament that landed Starkz her title, but didn’t make it very far, so this was a big opportunity for her. Starkz controlled things off the top with a series of holds and locks, keeping the match pace slow. That allowed Starkz a lot of time for showboating and playing to the crowd.

Moone took a toss into the corner really hard and collapsed with an apparent back injury. She managed to get some recovery time though, while Starks screamed “don’t tell me what to do!” at the Ref. Some hard strikes from Moone had Starkz on her heels while the clock ticked towards that 10-minute draw.

Starkz climbed to the top rope to hit a high flying move, but instead hopped off to a chorus of boos and locked in a submission move. Moone tapped out, dashing her hopes in the Proving Ground match.

Shane Taylor and Lee Moriarty defeated Jacoby Watts & Nick Comoroto

The “team” of Comoroto and Watts haven’t been off to a great start in recent weeks. Suffering through back-to-back losses in which Watts has barely, if at all, actually entered the match, it’s been Comoroto who’s had to do the majority of the work and taken most of the punishment. That includes verbal berating from Watts when they lose. 

True to form, Comoroto started things off against Moriarty. Comoroto had the size advantage, but Moriarty had the trash talk advantage. That is until Comoroto simply picked him up in a bench press and threw him away. He tagged Watts who accepted it and began preaching on the mic. He then tagged Comoroto again who faced off against Taylor.

Off of a Skin-The-Cat move, Taylor headbutted Comoroto, dazing him for Moriarty to tag in. Comoroto took on both men while Watts… hung out? I guess? Anyway, Comoroto took Moriarty to the mat, but Watts blind-tagged in to try and get credit for the pin. Moriarty kicked out and Watts tagged back out.

A hard knockout punch from Taylor put Comoroto’s lights out and he was able to get the pin, handing Watts and Comoroto another loss.

-Backstage, Johnny TV and Taya Valkyrie cut a promo. Valkyrie has beef with Queen Aminata calling herself a queen when she hasn’t earned it. Valkyrie issued a warning that she was going to be coming for Aminata and shoving that throne up her– nevermind.

Red Velvet defeated Viva Van

Velvet has had her eye on Billie Starkz lately, looking for any opportunity to insert herself in to the ROH Women’s TV Championship picture. A solid effort against Van would go a long way towards moving Velvet up that ladder.

After a long feeling-out process, the two women locked up and were pretty evenly matched as far as speed and style. Vvelvet got the upper hand and used it to put Van in a headlock. Van’s gymnastic moves helped her get loose and avoid Velvet, eventually running into a dropkick.

Van laid in a nice cartwheel kick leading to a near fall. Van switched things up and went for an armbreaker submission. Velvet was able to break the hold though, and responded with an armbreaker of her own. Van was nowhere near the ropes and managed to flip Velvet over to try and get Velvet on her shoulders, forcing Velvet to break the hold.

Velvet and Van seemed to lose sight of each other a lot in this match, and it showed with a number of moves not really connecting. In the end, velvet was ale to get Van’s shoulders to the mat and pick up the win. Then she danced.

Top Flight (Darius and Dante Martin) & Action Andretti defeated Lance Archer & The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch), Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver and Alex Reynolds) and The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean) & Dalton Castle

This match. I’ve been known to joke about Ring of Honor’s love of multi-person matches in the past, but this one took the cake. Twelve wrestlers, some of which are established teams and some of which seemed randomly thrown together, competing for the victory. The wild card? Dalton Castle. Why? Because he’s always the wild card.

There was so much happening in this match that I had to keep track of things via bullet points:

• Castle, emotionally recovered from his loss to Kyle Fletcher in a banger of a match last week, spent the opening moments of the match arguing with Archer about blocking the camera for his entrance. 
• Andretti top flight held their own against anyone they were up against. Their high-flying and speedy moves were a great foil for the Dark Order and The Righteous, and a great fit against the Infantry.
• The Righteous, clearly bored, jumped in and out when they felt like it, beating up and triple teaming, well, everyone. 
• The Dark Order were able to keep pace with everyone. They had speed, they had power and they seemed to take a little bit of extra joy in beating up Top Flight. 
•  The Infantry and Castle were kind of personas non gratas, with the exception of a flurry of suplexes from Castle on whoever he could grab.
• The Announce team made some very timely and current In Living Color references for some reason. 
• In the end Andretti and Top Flight were able to hold off the Dark Order long enough to pin Reynolds. 

Could Top Flight and Andretti be the team that dethrones the Bang Bang Gang? Only time will tell.

Marina Shafir, Alex Windsor & Diamante defeated Abadon, Lady Frost & Leyla Hirsch

This match had a problem from the start and that problem was Marina Shafir. Shafir has been on a real aggressive tear through the ROH women’s division in the last few weeks, so this match would come down to how well she could put that aside and work with her team. With the heavy hitters of Frost, Abadon and Hirsch on the other side of the ring, Diamante, Windsor and Shafir need to work together to survive the match. 

Shafir and Hirsch kicked things off which was a great matchup of technical wrestlers who went back and forth, eventually devolving into MMA-style punches. Abadon tagged in and matched Shafir’s agression with some heavy-hitting moves.

Frost and Diamante locked up and Frost managed to isolate her in the corner. Diamante fought back though, isolating Abadon in her teams corner. The debuting Windsor kicked Abadon into a near fall, but only got the two-count.

Shafir used Windsor as a weapon, slamming her partner onto Abadon. Windsor then used Diamante as a weapon in much the same manner. Abadon though channelled her inner Undertaker and sat up, managing to get a tag to Frost.

Hirsch, giving up about a foot to Windsor, tried to go to the top rope, but instead ate a shining wizard (or Shining Windsor) to allow Windsor to get the pin and the win for her team.

Harley Cameron defeated Trish Adora

This was the ROH debut for The Outcasts Cameron and Adora was a great opponent to make it a memorable one.

Cameron definitely had the speed advantage, but Adora was able to keep her to a slower pace with some hard hitting strikes. Cameron got back on top quickly though, taunting and egging on Adora. Adora only bit a little bit and managed some hard shoulder tackles to put Cameron in her place with an Air Raid Crash submission attempt.

Cameron slowed things to a methodical pace and caught Adora in a bowtie submission. Adora fought back though, spamming hips into Cameron’s face in the corner. Adora missed a Lariat Tubman and Cameron capitalized with a running knee to the face to get the 1-2-3.

ROH Tag Team Champions Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defeated Che Cabrera & Bad Dude Tito in a Proving Ground match

If Cabrera and Tito could last ten minutes or pin the Champions, they would earn a shot at the Undisputed Kingdom’s tag titles in the future. The Kingdom, however, have been putting and end to Proving Ground matches pretty quickly and decisively, so there wasn’t a lot of hope coming from the challengers. 

Throughout the episode, The Announcer team had been hyping up a special guest commentator for the main event “from Montreal.” It turned out to be none other than “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard! Menard was scouting the Kingdom for when his partner, Cool Hand Ang, returns from his Honeymoon.

Cabrera and Tito have been a team for over a decade and brought a Steiner Brothers-like energy to the match. Taven wasn’t having it though, and managed to stay on top of Cabrera. Cabrera’s size became a factor though and he managed to turn the tables on Taven. Bennett distracted him though and Taven took advantage, cutting Cabrera off from his partner.

Cabrera fought his way into a hot tag to Tito though, and Tito took out both Bennett and Taven. A pinning attempt failed though and Tito hit a big flapjack on Bennett. Cabrera was sent to the outside though, and Taven and Bennett smelled blood in the water.

The speed and intensity of the match picked up and after a vicious double team, Bennett pinned Tito and the Undisputed Kingdom got the victory.

Ring of Honor presents its weekly show on Honorclub tonight.

Two ROH Champions will be in action on the show. ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher will defend his title against Dalton Castle and ROH Women’s TV Champion will wrestle Zamaya in a Proving Ground match.

Also booked for this week is a triple threat trios match pitting the Dark Order vs. Iron Savages vs. Johnny TV, Cole Karter & Griff Garrison. The Infantry, Marina Shafir, and Queen Aminata are also scheduled for the show.

Matches for this week’s episode were taped in Las Vegas over Double or Nothing weekend. Spoilers from the show are available here.

Ring of Honor TV announced lineup for Thursday, June 6, 2024 —

• ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Dalton Castle
• ROH Women’s World TV Champion Billie Starkz vs. Zamaya in a Proving Ground match
• The Dark Order’s John Silver, Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds vs. The Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson) & Jacked Jameson vs. Johnny TV, Griff Garrison, & Cole Karter
• The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) vs. Nick Comoroto & Jacoby Watts
• Marina Shafir vs. Amira
• Queen Aminata vs. Mazzerati

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ROH TV hit the air and kicked things off with a Queen!

Queen Aminata defeated Mazzerati

Aminata has been on fire in her recent feud with ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. This match would serve to remind Athena, and everyone, that Aminata is very good at wrestling.

Mazzerati definitely won Best Hair of the evening with a killer layered purple/blue cut that perfectly matched her gear. It even gave her a bit of confidence off the top as the came out swinging, catching Aminata unprepared.

It didn’t last long however, because as mentioned, Aminata is very good at wrestling. She used her height advantage to control the pace of the match through most of it, executing suplexes and rollups like it was just another day at work.

Three big, brutal kicks hung Mazzerati up in the ropes, and possibly knocked her out. Aminata threw her into the centre of the ring though and delivered an air raid to get the big win.

Marina Shafir defeated Amira

Always nice to see Shafir in action. She’s come a long way from her NXT days and is now a force to be reckoned with in Tony Khan’s Fiefdom(s). Amira was a hometown hero and would soon see why they call Shafir “the Problem.”

Shafir didn’t have to dig too deeply in her bag of tricks, but utilized her MMA and martial arts skills to absolutely pound Amira into the mat. Shafir kept working Amira over, keeping her on the ground and trying to catch her in a submission hold.

Eventually, Shafir locked in a crossface sleeper hold and Amira passed out shortly thereafter.

ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher defeated Dalton Castle

-Earlier backstage, Dalton Castle was interviewed by Lexi Nair. Castle’s therapist has been telling him to get his feeling out, and he apologized for putting Nair through his feud with “John TV.” As if conjured by a wizard, TV arrived demanding Castle give him back his sunglasses. Castle told him that he had no qualms with TV anymore, and denied taking the glasses. The two debated who had a bigger next move in ROH. It was not resolved though as both stepped out of frame.

aaaaaand, Scene.

Castle was escorted to the ring by his many Boys (numbering near half a dozen now). Castle is a former ROH World Champion, so a TV title reign would get him in a great position to challenge for that title again. Fletcher has been red-hot in ROH and AEW lately though, so it was not going to be an easy battle.

Fletcher refused a Code of Honor while the crowd chanted Castle’s name. Castle flexed his amateur wrestling muscles, trying to catch Fletcher in a test of strength and then a waist lock. Fletcher stayed to the outside, keeping Castle from picking up any momentum.

Fletcher lured Castle out of the ring, delivering some hard strikes and throwing him into the barricade, seemingly injuring Castle’s shoulder. Fletcher pulled him back into the ring and used the rope to continue working the shoulder of Castle.

Fletcher got distracted by a trash-talking fan at ringside, and Castle was able to get some offence in. Fletcher quickly returned to the shoulder though, keeping the match at a snails pace. Castle wasn’t giving up though and got a surprise two-count.

Fletcher decided enough was enough and moved in to finish off Castle. Castle fought back though and delivered a series of killer suplexes. Castle had Fletcher up for a Bangarang, but Fletcher caught the ropes to avoid it. Castle tried a second Bangarang, but Fletcher got out of it and Castle hung him up on the ropes to deliver a big running knee, knocking Fletcher to the outside.

Fletcher delivered a really nasty looking half nelson suplex that rang Castle’s bell pretty hard. He staggered back in the ring and Fletcher hit a brain buster to get the one, two, NO! Castle kicked out!

After exchanging a series of truly thrilling reversals and near falls, Fletcher caught Castle in a piledriver and managed to get the pin to retain his title and extend his six-month TV Title reign. Excellent match!

The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean) defeated Nick Comoroto and Jacoby Watts

Last week, Watts left Comoroto hanging, letting him to all the dirty work in a loss. This week, it remained to be seen if Watts would step up, or continue his mental manipulation of Comoroto. The Infantry ran off the Premiere Athletes last week, which stayed on their minds as the match began.

Like last week, Comoroto started off facing Bravo, and quickly found himself the victim of a few double teams while Watts watched from the corner. Comoroto had the size advantage over both members of the Infantry, but when he tried to tag Watts in, Watts was busy showboating for the crowd and missed the tag.

Comoroto looked to Watts for approval after every offensive move, but eventually found himself getting got by the high-flying Bravo. More double teams led Watts kicking Bravo through the ropes. The Infantry hit him with a couple superkick to send him off the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring).

Left alone again, Comoroto was taken apart by the Infantry and eventually Dean pinned him after a big splash from the top rope.

-Backstage, Lee Johnson cut a promo. He called out ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher who just happened to be wandering by. Fletcher stepped up to Johnson and reminded him that he already beat him. Twice. So he goes to the back of the line. Johnson said that he thinks he can beat Fletcher twice in one night, and challenged him to a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the ROH World TV Title. Fletcher accepted and stormed out.

ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz defeated Zamaya in a Proving Ground match

In this Proving Ground match, if Zamaya was to last 10 minutes or pin Starkz, she would get a shot at the ROH Women’s TV title. Zamaya gave Mazzerati a run for her money in the hair department, as well.

Starkz tried a little trash talk off the top, but the bigger Zamaya put an end to it with a big scream. Starkz responded with a modified bulldog and the match was on. Starkz tried to fishhook Zamaya by putting her finger in her mouth and pulling her cheek. Starkz then stomped her in the corner, kicking pretend dirt on her face in in an act of disrespect.

In spite of the size difference, Starkz controlled the pace of the match, tossing Zamaya arund and using that darn hair to put her down. A big Swan Dive spash off the top rope and Starkz got the win and moved to 11 wins in a row.

Suddently, Red Velvet appeared in the ring behind Starkz! Starkz bailed quickly before Velvet could get her hands on her. Running up the ramp, Starkz ran right into Queen Aminata! Aminata threw her back in the ring and Velvet unloaded on Starkz until the referees broke up the brawl.

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and Evil Uno) defeated Cole Karter, Griff Garrison, and Johnny TV vs. Bronson, Boulder, and Jacked Jameson in a nine-man tag match

One thing that ROH absolutely loves in this era is multi-team or multi-person matches. This was an odd one though, featuring only three teams of three instead of four. They missed an opportunity to call it a “Trio of Trios Trios match” but I’m sure they’ll remedy that in the future.  

Karter, Garrison and TV made unremarkable entrances. Jameson grabbed a mic and called the crowd “nervous virgins” in Las Vegas, a city that “used to be cool.” Then, a surprise -1 entered with the Dark order to a big ovation.

The match itself was what you’d expect from a match like this: Marginally organized chaos. There was a pose down, more yelling, another pose down, and then the match started with Silver and Jameson. It was strange that only two competitors were in the ring at a time. It led me to wonder how Garrison, Karter and TV would get into the match at all.

That question was answered though, when TV just jumped into the ring to knock the Savages to the outside. Then Garrision and Karter double teamed Evil Uno. I’m sure there was a legal man in there somewhere, but honestly, I could not tell you who it was.

When the dust settled, TV had Uno isolated in Garrison and Karter’s corner, the trio tagging in and out to lay in a beating on Uno. Finally, Uno was able to get a hot tag to Reynolds and it was the Savages turn to wait on the outside, hoping for an errant tag.

Jameson absolutely laid out Karter with a huge lariat but immediately ate a Shining Wizard from TV. More posing then occurred and when the ring cleared, Boulder and Bronson were double teaming Karter. Reynods got in the way though and Silver executed a huge suplex on the much larger Boulder.

More chaos ensued and during it, Silver managed to pin Jameson and get the win for the Dark Order, closing out a pretty great episode!