After nearly three decades, Sumie Sakai’s in-ring career has ended.
Sakai was defeated in her retirement match last night at NJPW Battle in the Valley. She teamed with EVIL and SHO against Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani & Yuka Sakazaki on the show. The finish of the match saw Takahashi pin Sakai after a Timebomb.
After the match, the crowd chanted, “Thank you, Sumie,” as she was helped to her feet by Takahashi, Iwatani, and Sakazaki. Takahashi gifted Sakai his jacket, and the locker room emptied out to show their respect. Sakai then stood alone in the ring as a ten-bell salute rang out to honor her.
Sumie Sakai's final match was one full of memorable moments and high emotion as the wrestling world came out to wish the legend well!
Numerous people around the world of wrestling have been posting to social media to pay their respects to Sakai.
Veda Scott wrote: “We love you @SumieSakai. So humbled and honored that I got to commentate your retirement match. There wouldn’t be a Veda without a Sumie. Thank you for everything.
Stephanie Vaquer posted, “THANK YOU SUMIE SAN @SumieSakai It’s an honor to be your friend.”
CM Punk also posted a message to Sakai in honor of her retirement match to his Instagram Stories.
Hiromu Takahashi has revealed his first partner for NJPW Battle in the Valley 2025.
At the January 11 event, Takahashi and Sumie Sakai will be facing off in a six-person tag team bout. It’s Sakai’s retirement match and will feature her teaming with one male partner and one female partner against Takahashi and two female partners. He announced last night that Stardom ace Mayu Iwatani will be one of the members of Team Hiromu.
Sakai, 53, is stepping away from in-ring competition after a nearly three-decade international career. She’s best known for the time she spent in ROH, where she was involved in the promotion’s first-ever women’s match in 2002 and later became the inaugural ROH Women of Honor Champion in 2018.
This match was set up following NJPW’s Strong Style Evolved event last weekend. Sakai approached Takahashi and asked him to be the opponent for her retirement bout. Takahashi said he’d be delighted, but he suggested a six-person tag instead of a singles match so more people could be involved. The other members of Team Sumie have not been confirmed yet.
Battle in the Valley is being held in San Jose, California and will include fallout from Wrestle Kingdom 19 and Wrestle Dynasty. Two matches are now official for the show:
NJPW Battle in the Valley (Saturday, January 11) —
Strong Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Sumie Sakai’s retirement match: Team Sumie (Sumie Sakai, TBD & TBD) vs. Team Hiromu (Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani & TBD)
The card for Battle in the Valley started to shape up on Sunday.
After retaining the NJPW Strong Championship against Ryohei Oiwa at NJPW Strong Style Evolved, he cut a promo running down Kenny Omega before focusing on NJPW Battle in the Valley, which takes place on January 11. He singled out Tomohiro Ishii, calling him out for the San Jose event.
Kidd is set for a busy 2025, already taking on Kenny Omega at Wrestle Dynasty on January 5. Ishii meanwhile is scheduled to face the winner between Shingo Takagi and Konosuke Takeshita the previous night at Wrestle Kingdom 19. If Takeshita remains champion up to January 4, the match would be for both the NEVER and AEW international titles.
Following the show, Sumie Sakai asked Hiromu Takahashi to be in her retirement match that will take place at Battle in the Valley. Takahashi agreed, but suggested a mixed tag match, with himself teaming with two women and Sakai teaming with one man and one woman.
Breaking@SumieSakai is set to retire at Battle in the Valley January 11- and will face @TIMEBOMB1105 in six person action for her last match!
Another title match was seemingly agreed to for Battle in the Valley earlier on Sunday. After Royce Issacs and Jorel Nelson captured the NJPW Strong Tag Team titles, they were met by Rocky Romero. He issued the challenge for next month, saying his former Roppongi 3K partner YOH would be teaming with him. The new champions responded by taking out Romero.
The ROH Women’s World Championship tournament kicked off with three competitive and diverse matches.
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Quinn McKay welcomed us to the broadcast and seemed more ecstatic than usual, which was due to the fact that this week’s episode of TV marks the start of the Women’s World Championship tournament.
McKay then previewed the three first round matches that we’ll see tonight. They are: Miranda Alize vs. Alex Gracia, Mazzerati vs. Nicole Savoy, and Sumie Sakai vs. Rok-C.
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Miranda Alize defeated Alex Gracia (8:43)
Chelsea Green joined commentary for this bout.
Alize and Gracia exchanged a few different holds and attempts at moves but eventually came to a stalemate. The lucha-based styles of both women led to a few fun air-based maneuvers, but the two couldn’t seem to connect chemistry wise.
After a short commercial break, Alize and Gracia exchanged some stiff strikes and even a few headbutts. Gracia laid in a few really good chops in this match. Alize started growing frustrated with Gracia’s constant comebacks and eventually hit her signature Drive By knee strike for the win.
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Nicole Savoy defeated Mazzerati (8:45)
Mazzerati tried to talk big, but Savoy straight up outwrestled her in the first portion of the match. Savoy used her usual wrestling tactics that are submission based, leading to commentary comparing her to Jonathan Gresham.
These two seemed to have much better chemistry than Alize/Gracia. Savoy would attempt her signature half nelson suplex multiple times, but Mazzerati had a counter for it every time.
That didn’t stop the “Queen Of Suplexes” from hitting some, well, suplexes. Savoy hit a beautiful butterfly suplex, which led Mazzerati to counter with a Northern Lights suplex.
Mazzerati got some more great offense in during the home stretch, nailing Savoy with a stiff superkick. Savoy was able to recover and duck a few kicks from Mazzerati before eventually trapping her in a half-nelson suplex for the win.
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Rok-C defeated Sumie Sakai (9:36)
Sakai overwhelmed Rok-C with a flurry of offense early on, but Rok-C regained her confidence rather quickly and was able to reverse the momentum back in her favor.
Rok-C’s offense is so smooth and rhythmic that it reminds me of Sasha Banks. Her offensive style is very similar to Banks as well. She continued her momentum and nailed Sakai with a pair of double knees in the corner into a commercial break.
When the broadcast returned, Sakai was in full control. She targeted the lower back of the self proclaimed “Prodigy” and even showboated a little bit. Sakai went to the top rope to try and capitalize on her momentum, but Rok-C nailed her with two kicks to the head. Rok-C would follow it up with a top rope flip into a close near fall on Sakai.
Lots of near falls ensued in the following minutes, including a couple of phenomenal roll-up near falls. Rok-C would eventually get the better of Sakai and successfully complete a roll-up for a three count.
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Final Thoughts —
I thought this was a fun and exciting three-match lineup to kick off the ROH Women’s World Championship tournament. Rok-C and Sumie Sakai delivered a home run, while the other two bouts delivered an RBI. I’m very happy that ROH is focusing on younger stars like Rok-C and giving them big and meaningful wins over veterans like Sakai.
In recent weeks I’ve introduced a scale in order to let you know if the current week of ROH TV is worth your while. The scale is as follows:
Must-Watch TV
Go Out Of Your Way
Recommended Viewing
Watch YouTube Clips
Avoid At All Costs
This week’s episode of ROH TV is: Go Out Of Your Way
ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament will be kicking off with three matches airing on ROH television later this month.
ROH announced today that Miranda Alize vs. Alex Gracia, Mazzerati vs. Nicole Savoy, and Sumie Sakai vs. Rok-C will air on the ROH TV episode that premieres the weekend of Saturday, July 31.
The tournament features 15 participants, with Angelina Love getting a first-round bye. One of the spots in the tournament is still open.
Quinn McKay has been involved in an angle where Angelina Love and Mandy Leon have twice prevented her from qualifying for the tournament. If McKay defeated Leon on this past weekend’s ROH TV episode, McKay would have gotten the final spot. But McKay lost when Love gave Leon brass knuckles to use behind the referee’s back.
After the way that McKay vs. Leon ended, Maria Kanellis-Bennett will be making two announcements regarding the tournament early next week.
The ROH Women’s World Championship is a new title that’s replacing the former Women of Honor World Championship. The finals will take place at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view this September.
All but one of the entrants for ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament have now been revealed.
ROH has announced that Sumie Sakai, Holidead, and Marti Belle will be participants in this summer’s Women’s World Championship tournament. Sakai was presented with a Ticket to Gold by Maria Kanellis-Bennett on this week’s Women’s Division Wednesday episode, granting her a spot in the tournament. Kanellis-Bennett then presented Holidead and Belle with Tickets to Gold in a video that ROH uploaded on Thursday night.
Allie Recks was also going to be given a Ticket to Gold by Kanellis-Bennett on this week’s Women’s Division Wednesday, but Recks is unable to compete in the tournament due to undergoing knee surgery. Recks said she’ll be out of action for 8-9 months.
Sakai competed in ROH’s first-ever women’s match in 2002 and became the first Women of Honor World Champion in 2018.
Holidead has regularly teamed with Thunder Rosa as The Twisted Sisterz during her career. She made her AEW Dark debut on last week’s episode and has wrestled for ROH several times previously.
Belle has formerly wrestled for the NWA and TNA/Impact Wrestling. She was also an entrant in WWE’s inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017. Belle appeared for ROH in 2019 when she unsuccessfully challenged Allysin Kay for the NWA Women’s World Championship.
The ROH Women’s World Championship bracket will be revealed at this Sunday’s Best in the World pay-per-view. The tournament will kick off on ROH TV the weekend of Saturday, July 31.
But before the tournament starts, Quinn McKay will face Mandy Leon on the ROH TV episode that begins airing on Saturday, July 17. If McKay wins, she’ll get the final spot in the tournament.
McKay, who is part of ROH’s broadcast team, lost her first shot to be in the tournament when she was defeated by Angelina Love this May. Leon interfered to help Love win that match. As a stipulation of her win, Love is getting a first-round bye in the tournament.
The ROH Women’s World Championship is a new title that’s replacing the former Women of Honor World Championship. Here’s the updated list of entrants for the title tournament:
Two more Tickets to Gold were given out, but one recipient couldn’t accept due to injury. A great tag team bout also took place on the show.
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Lenny Leonard announced that two Tickets to Gold would be given out tonight. He also announced that Maria Kanellis-Bennett and himself would be revealing the Women’s World Championship tournament bracket this Sunday at ROH’s Best in the World pay-per-view.
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Ticket to Gold: Sumie Sakai
Kanellis-Bennett praised Sakai’s work and tenure in ROH, and said they couldn’t host a tournament without her. Sakai was the first-ever Women of Honor World Champion and expressed that she’s looking forward to becoming champion again.
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Allie Recks & Gia Scott defeated Sumie Sakai & Willow (9:30)
Willow and Recks started the bout. Recks couldn’t match Willow’s strength, so Scott tagged herself in. After a few exchanges of strikes and counters, Sakai came in. Sakai sent Scott into the corner and Scott seemed to have a knee injury. When the referee blocked Sakai’s view, Scott popped up and nailed her with a kick.
Scott slapped Recks on the shoulder and demanded she enter the match, which she did reluctantly. Recks and Sakai had a nice little exchange and Recks was able to show off some of her offensive repertoire.
Recks and Scott eventually both got in the ring and tried to double team Sakai, but she was able to make a tag to Willow. Willow came in and bulldozed Recks, then followed it up by planting Scott with a spinebuster. Willow had the momentum until Scott dropped her with a powerbomb that would have secured the win if Sakai didn’t break up the pin.
The final seconds of the match saw Scott plant a kick on Willow’s jaw while the referee was distracted. Recks followed up with a spear for the win.
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Ticket to Gold: Allie Recks
Kanellis-Bennett applauded Recks for the heart she’s shown in her Women’s Division Wednesday matches. Kanellis-Bennett offered a Ticket to Gold to Recks, but Recks revealed that she injured her knee in her match with Max The Impaler a few weeks ago. Recks respectfully declined due to the injury, but Kanellis-Bennett assured her that there will be future opportunities.
Lenny Leonard revealed after the call that two more Tickets to Gold will be awarded on Thursday night via ROH’s social media platforms.
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Final Thoughts —
Very unfortunate news for Allie Recks. I was looking forward to seeing her in the tournament. Sumie Sakai was an expected entrant from the very beginning. I just hope ROH lets a fresh face win the belt.
I enjoyed the tag match thoroughly, although I didn’t like Willow taking the pin. She’s a wonderful wrestler and was the star of this match.
Three upcoming competitors in the ROH Women’s World Championship tournament got a chance to shine in a tag team bout, while another Ticket to Gold was given to another deserving wrestler.
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Miranda Alize & Sumie Sakai defeated Trish Adora & Mazzerati
Sakai and Adora started off this tag bout. Sakai tried a test of strength, but Adora had about a foot in height on her. Sakai stomped on Adora’s foot and both women tagged out.
Mazzerati and Alize came in. Alize did a few arm drags and followed with a great headscissors/pinning combination, but it wasn’t enough to put away Mazzerati. Alize and Sakai did a couple of good double-team maneuvers. They have pretty good chemistry despite never teaming together.
Mazzerati was able to get some offense in after Sakai missed a top rope crossbody, eventually leading to a tag out to a fresh Adora. Adora hit a great standing suplex and followed it up with the Cattle Mutilation submission. You almost never see those anymore, and Adora was really good on the bridge.
Adora hit a German suplex, but Sakai kipped up immediately and retaliated with the same move. Both women were down with their partners reaching for tags. The hot tags were made, and Alize came in and sent both Adora and Mazzerati to the corner. She then hit a nasty running dropkick on both women.
The pace picked up in a big way at this point, with competitors flying all over the place. Sakai hit another German suplex and Alize flew over her head to attempt a stack-up pin. Mazzerati tried to pin Alize after a DDT a few moments later, but Sakai hit a rolling neckbreaker on Mazzerati to break it up.
In the final moments of the match, Alize and Mazzerati were trading moves on the inside of the ring while Adora and Sakai were fighting on the outside. Alize was eventually able to cinch in her Miranda Rights crossface submission, to which Mazzerati submitted to.
After the match, Max The Impaler jumped all four women from behind. Max then attacked the timekeeper and hit The Impaler on her.
Amy Rose came out after and clapped her way down to the ring. She invited Max to go with her backstage.
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Ticket to Gold: Vita VonStarr
Vita VonStarr and Bateman approached Maria Kanellis-Bennett backstage. Bateman vouched for VonStarr to get an opportunity in the ROH Women’s World Championship tournament, since Kanellis-Bennett is all about giving opportunities.
Kanellis-Bennett hesitated for a moment but then agreed to Bateman’s proposal. Kanellis-Bennett had one stipulation though: if VonStarr interferes in any men’s matches before the tournament, she loses her spot. Kanellis-Bennett said she only wanted to give opportunities to women who are focused on being in the women’s division.
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Final Thoughts —
As we inch closer to the Women’s World Championship tournament, Women’s Division Wednesday provided another great match. The two standouts to me were Alize and Mazzerati, although all of the women involved did really well.
I don’t really think I’m a fan of the Amy Rose/Max The Impaler partnership. I’ll save judgement, but that’s just my first feeling. Rose has never come off to me as a good manager, and Max isn’t the type of competitor to need a manager. Let their brutality and dominance do the talking for them.
Vita VonStarr is just another fantastic choice for the tournament. Her match with Sumie Sakai on Women’s Division Wednesday last month was really good, and I’m glad to see her getting an opportunity.
Vita VonStarr wrestled her first match in ROH, losing to veteran Sumie Sakai. Maria Kanellis-Bennett also revealed her first Ticket to Gold recipient, granting them a spot in ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament.
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Sumie Sakai defeated Vita VonStarr (8:35)
As referee Joe Mandak was patting Sakai down, VonStarr rushed her in the corner. Sakai recovered and began working on the arm of VonStarr. Sakai had an armbar applied when VonStarr bit her leg, breaking the submission. This didn’t seem to bother Sakai that much, despite her bleeding.
VonStarr applied a vise stretch that kept Sakai grounded for a good bit. Whenever Sakai made her way out of the hold, VonStarr bit her in the head. VonStarr connected with a beautiful Northern Lights suplex.
Sakai got hot at this point in the match, hitting a few takedowns and following with a great swinging neckbreaker. Sakai then went to the second rope and blasted VonStarr with a shotgun dropkick. Sakai returned to the top rope but couldn’t hold her balance and slipped. I don’t know why that wasn’t edited out.
Sakai played it off like nothing happened and nailed VonStarr with a cradle brainbuster, but it only warranted a two count. Sakai tried to keep her offense going, but VonStarr cinched in a Muta Lock instead. The hold was broken by referee Joe Mandak after VonStarr turned it into a choke.
In the final moments of the match, VonStarr was laying in some great punches on the ground. VonStarr lifted up Sakai for a powerbomb, but Sakai fell down and turned it into a cradle pin, scoring the three count and the win.
After the match, VonStarr put Sakai in a octopus stretch between the ropes until VonStarr’s stablemates Bateman and Dutch came down to the ring to summon her back.
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Ticket to Gold reveal
ROH announced last week that In order to be granted entry into the Women’s Championship tournament, you must receive a golden ticket from Board of Directors member Maria Kanellis-Bennett.
Kanellis-Bennett got straight to the point and said she was downright impressed with Rok-C’s performance last week. She offered a spot in the tournament to Rok-C who obviously accepted.
Kanellis-Bennett discussed the 19-year-old Rok-C’s career with her. Rok-C has been training since she was 13, including being trained by Booker T and Daga.
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Final Thoughts —
Another good installment of WDW in the books for ROH. I’ve never seen Vita VonStarr wrestle before, and I was quite impressed. She’s pretty good. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Sumie Sakai, but I respect her work and what she’s done for the business too.
Rok-C getting the golden ticket was 100 percent the correct move. Sometimes ROH let’s good talent slip through their hands, and I hope they sign Rok-C quickly before she gets more traction.
It was announced on Saturday that Sumie Sakai has re-signed with ROH. In 2002, Sakai defeated Simply Luscious in the first women’s match in ROH history. Sakai also became the first-ever Women of Honor World Champion in 2018.
ROH’s full announcement is available below:
Ring of Honor is pleased to announce that Sumie Sakai has re-signed with the company.
Sakai has been synonymous with women’s wrestling in ROH since the company’s inception. She was victorious in the first women’s match in ROH in 2002 and went on to become the inaugural women’s world champion in 2018, holding the title for a record 251 days.
In addition to her accomplishments in ROH, Sakai also has won championships in Japan and earned a third degree black belt in judo along with a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Daniel Gracie.
Sakai, who was trained by the legendary Lioness Asuka and Jaguar Yokota, is also a head trainer at the Worldwide Wrestling Dojo in Bristol, Pa.
Following Kelly Klein’s departure from the promotion, ROH was set to hold a tournament to crown a new Women’s Champion in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting their plans. ROH announced that the new title was going to be named the ROH Women’s World Championship instead of the Women of Honor World Championship.
ROH has also announced this week that Mark Haskins, Bandido, Amy Rose, Bateman, and Brian Johnson have signed new contracts with the promotion.
Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, and Mandy Leon called the action for the first match.
Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
They exchanged a rolling pin sequence to start it off. Sakai landed seven chops and followed that with some stiff forearms.
After the break, Sakai hit a missile dropkick off the top but missed a moonsault, which allowed Rayne to land a tornado DDT. Sakai kicked out at two and landed a fisherman’s suplex, but Rayne kicked out.
Rayne hit a cutter out of nowhere and almost got the win, but it was not enough to keep Sakai down. Rayne then ran into Sakai’s Smash Mouth finisher and Sakai retained with the win.
A video recap of the feud between Josh Woods and Shane Taylor aired.
Shane Taylor defeated Josh Woods
Woods started it off with a running knee. He declared that Taylor had a loaded glove, as Taylor was suspiciously wearing MMA gloves on this evening. Woods used some jiu-jitsu to attack the ankle of Taylor. A huge forearm sent Woods to the floor and the brawl continued outside the ring.
Back inside, Taylor landed a big splash but only got a one count. Woods fought back, landed a strong kick to the head of Taylor, and both went down. Woods landed a spinning back elbow, a running knee, and an exploder suplex that earned him a two count.
After the break, Woods applied an armbar and took off Taylor’s glove to reveal that, in fact, Taylor had loaded his glove. He pleaded with the referee not to throw out the match, but that allowed Taylor to recover and connect with his Greetings from the 216 piledriver for the finish.
SoCal Uncensored cut a promo on The Briscoes saying that Sandy Fork, Delaware was the worst town they’d ever been to.
They replayed the Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham video package that has been on the last few episodes hyping the upcoming 30-minute Iron Man match for the ROH World Championship that will air next week.
Caprice Coleman joined the announcers for the next match.
Marcus Kross and Charles Zanders went to a no contest in a Top Prospect Tournament first round match
A nice sequence of counters and kicks ensued, but this match didn’t last too long as Jeff Cobb made his way to the ring and destroyed both with monstrous suplexes.
Eli Isom came out and landed about 10 forearms to Cobb that had zero effect. Cobb manhandled Isom with an insane reverse powerslam as well.
Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Bully Ray & Silas Young
Ray talked trash to Cabana before the match. Coleman calmed down Cabana.
Ray slammed Barreta and went after his recently repaired arm. Barreta fought back and tagged in Taylor, but Ray squished him with a Thesz press. Young tagged in, then the Best Friends landed some friendly offense until Ray used a distraction of the referee to rack Barreta around the ring post.
After the break, Young went back to work on the arm of Barreta. Some cheap double team moves by Ray and Young kept Barreta isolated. Finally, Barreta landed a tornado DDT, flipped off Ray, and made the tag to Taylor. He landed the Falcon Arrow, but Young kicked out. The Best Friends landed a lawndart cutter and then gave each other a hug, but that allowed Ray to blindside them.
Ray screamed at Young to tag him. But as he went for the tag, Ray jumped off the apron and bailed on the match to teach him a lesson. The Best Friends landed the Dudebuster on Young for the win.
From the Odeum Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Ring of Honor presented episode #349 of their television series, featuring the first-ever Women of Honor Championship defense and a Six-Man tag title main event.
– Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana were on commentary this evening.
Cheeseburger & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara)
The crowd threw streamers for Liger and Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger started with a few roll-ups, but Titus tossed him. Cheeseburger tagged Liger and they hit stereo cannon ball dives off the apron.
Back from the break, Liger was surfing on Ferrara’s spine. Titus made a blind tag, aka a slap to the back of Ferrara’s head, which caused a bit of dissension, and Titus launched Ferrara into Cheeseburger. Ferrara and Titus then hit doggy splashes off the bottom rope.
Cheeseburger managed to land a reverse tornado DDT and Liger got the hot tag. Liger hit a Liger Bomb on Ferrara, then double Shotei palm strikes on both foes led to a Liger brainbuster on Titus for the win.
– ROH World Champion Dalton Castle challenged both Marty Scurll and Cody Rhodes for Best in the World, claiming that each man has a deserving case for a title shot.
Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai defeated Jenny Rose to retain her title
This was the first-ever WOH title defense in history. Early on, Sakai landed a crossbody block off the top turnbuckle to the floor. However, a side slam and a swinging fisherman’s suplex gave Rose control. Rose connected with a shoulder tackle on Sakai, who was on the apron, and Sakai went tumbling to the floor.
Rose hit a drop toe hold onto a chair outside the ring, but she got lazy as she rolled Sakai back in. Sakai landed a hurricanrana off the top and followed it up with the Smash Mouth for the win.
SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky) defeated ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) by DQ
Daniels popped a balloon over Marseglia’s head and Cabana commented that it may be the only pop Daniels receives tonight. Later, Marseglia popped a balloon in Sky’s ear. The Kingdom beat down Sky, using a triple hot shot on the top rope. Sky almost made the tag, but The Kingdom pulled his partners off the apron.
Eventually, Sky tagged Kazarian, who brought Taven in the hard way into a cutter, then used a Northern Lights suplex and a bridge for a double pin, but The Kingdom kicked out. SCU used a double hip toss into a dual powerbomb and cutter for a near fall. Kazarian hit an outside-in DDT on Marseglia.
Then came the dives. Taven landed a big dive on Daniels, Kazarian hit a leaping rana to the floor, Marseglia used a springboard plancha, and O’Ryan looked to hit a moonsault but was cut off by a knee from Sky, who then used a running flip dive on everyone.
Back in the ring, Daniels grabbed some knucks, but the referee stopped him from connecting with the loaded punch. Taven attempted to strike Daniels with his cane, but the ref grabbed that as well, and as the ref was setting the cane outside, Kazarian came running into the ring with a chair. Taven ducked the chair shot, causing Kazarian to hit the rope with the chair. It ricocheted back into his own head, creating a self knockout.
The referee didn’t see what happened but heard the chair shot, so he called for the bell and awarded the match to SoCal Uncensored by disqualification. The Kingdom remain the ROH Six-Man champions.
Next week’s main event will be Austin Aries returning to ROH in-ring action for the first time in over three years as he challenges for Silas Young’s TV title.
After the match, Riccaboni officially announced that the three-way World Championship main event between Castle, Cody, and Scurll has been signed and is set for ROH’s next pay-per-view, Best in the World, on June 29th in Baltimore.
