In one of the more highly-anticipated matches in recent Ring of Honor history, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe will defend the title agains The Beast Mortos on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub show.
Mortos goes into the match on a five-bout ROH winning streak while Briscoe is gunning for his fourth defense.
Lio Rush will return to battle Tony Nese where a win by Nese earns him a future ROH title shot.
Angelo Parker will make his return after becoming a father to team with Matt Menard against Jacoby Watts & Nick Comoroto.
ROH men’s TV Champion Atlantis Jr. will team with Fuego del Sol & Serpentico against former ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Cage of Agony.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs will team with Sammy Guevara against The Undisputed Kingdom & Dark Order.
Angelico will take on Aaron Solo in a Pure rules match while Marina Shafir faces Tiara James.
Other stars in action include EJ Nduka, Komander, Abadon, Trish Adora and MxM Collection.
*****
It was a big 120 minutes of wrestling on ROH this week, so it was fitting that it started with a many, many-person match.
ROH Six-Man Champions Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs and Sammy Guevara defeated Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) and Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver)
Last week, the show ended with all eight of these competitors (plus Evlio Uno) in the ring, brawling. Dark Order and The Kingdom got the upper hand and left Rhodes, Guevara and The Von Erichs beat up in the ring. So this mega-sized grudge match was sure to be, as someone used to put it, a Slobberknocker.
(It should also be mentioned that Rhodes and Guevara won the ROH tag titles on Collision. So there’s that too).
The match started with Rhodes, the Von Erichs and Guevara putting the Iron Claw on their opponents. That lead to the deterioration of everything as a brawl broke out and all eight men brawled around the ring. Eventually, the match started officially with Marshall and Silver squaring off.
Rhodes found himself isolated in enemy territory as he took on Bennett. Taven tagged in, but Rhodes with a significant size advantage fought his way out. The Order and the Kingdom were reluctant teammates, each team kind of ignoring each other until it was time for all out brawls. Even Evil Uno got involved on the outside. Fortunately the Von Erichs and Guevara were ready and waiting and managed to drive the action back into the ring.
Rhodes tagged in Guevara who entered via the top rope. He cleared the ring and hit a springboard cutter on Reynolds. Marshall tagged in and showed off his moonsault skills on Silver. Another brawl broke out at that point, and the Rhodes/Guevara/Von Erich team laid out their opponents and were about to lock in the Claw when low blows were delivered all around and all eight men writhed in the ring.
Eventually Marshall found himself in the ring with Silver. Everyone assumed they were the legal men, and Marshall hit a Claw slam on Silver to end the chaos and get the pin to win the match for his team.
Cage of Agony (Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona) defeated ROH TV Champion Atlantis Jr., Fuego del Sol & Serpentico
This match pitted a team of bruising behemoths (811 lbs collectively) against a high-flying trio of luchadores. After losing an ROH World Six-Man Championship match via DQ last week, Cage of Agony is right back into the fight tonight and was in a terrible mood. At DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, Brian Cage was pinned by retaining ROH TV Champion, Atlantis Jr. “The Machine” was definitely looking to even the score. A long-standing Trio, Cage of Agony had the size and experience advantage over their opponents, who were teaming together for the first time.
Unlike the preceding match this one started off with just two men in the ring. Serpentico (in his classic green mask) started things off against Liona, who only had about 100lbs in size on him. Serpentico managed to land a DDT, but the rest was pretty brutally in Liona’s favor. Kaun tagged in to take a turn, and Serpentico made the tag to Del Sol.
Del Sol’s speed was a help as he was able to run circles around all three members of Cage of Agony. Kaun got on up on him though and isolated him in the CoA corner so Cage could tag in. Cage tossed the 200lbs+ Del Sol around like he was stuffed with packing peanuts until Liona tagged in. Del Sol appeared hurt, but that didn’t get him any mercy.
Del Sol finally made a hot tag to Atlantis, who headed straight for Cage. Cage was caught on his heels and Atlantis was all over him with power slams and superkicks. Even Cage’s Wolverine gear was hurting. Serpentico tagged in and hit a shooting star frog splash on the prone Cage, but it only got a two-count.
Cage caught Atlantis with a pop up powerbomb, and then caught Serpentico in midair to hit a massive driver and get the pin for Cage of Agony.
- The MxM Collection joined us from back stage. Mansoor gave us great news: He and Mason will be in action tonight and were interrupted by their opponents: The Pillars of Destiny.
Abadon defeated Alejandra Lion
The Living Dead Girl, Abadon spent last week scaring the daylights out of the ROH Women’s Champion, Athena. Lion, didnt seem phased though until the bell rang and Abadon, for lack of a better word, pounced on her.
Lion fought back with some superkicks, but Abadon no-sold them and hit a cutter on her, before setting up a Gory Special. After that Lion, didn’t have much fight in her, and one Black Dahlia later, Abadon was the winner.
MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason) defeated Pillars of Destiny (Hunter Grey & Paul Titan)
The guys of MxM have fast become crowd favourites in ROH. Pillars of Destiny were pretty much the opposite. Where MxM was all style and smoothness, the Viking-like Pillars were hard hitting and beastly. MxM offered their Tips to the Pillars, but Grey tried to bit Mason’s off.
Mansoor and Grey started things off, with Mansoor giving up at least 6 inches (not including the tip) to the bigger Grey, who resorted to biting at one point. Mansoor hit a big dropkick and tagged in Mason. The two of them double teamed Grey, focusing on the back.
Suddenly, the Collection ran to the top of the entrance ramp and posed, only to run down and spear their opponents. Tossing them back inthe ring, Mansoor and Mason pinned Titan to end the match,a nd begin the posing.
Who am I kidding? They posed throughout the whole match. A lot.
Angelico defeated Aaron Solo in a Pure rules match
Before the match, ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty and Shane Taylor joined us from backstage. Moriarty named this the Pure Era of ROH and Taylor called out Mark Briscoe, saying he was coming to get what was his.
This would be the first Pure Rules match for either competitor. Solo, a student of Lance Storm, is very technically proficient and now that his partner Serpentico has his mask(s) back, Angelico can get back to the style he’s very good at. Under Pure Rules, each man would get three rope breaks, and a panel of judges would award the win if there was no winner as the 15-minute time period ran out. A victory would be a step closer to a shot at Lee Moriarty’s ROH Pure Championship. The judges would be Paul Wight, Jerry Lynn and Christopher Daniels.
Solo and Angelico work a similar lanky style, and they made for excellent foes. The two traded headlocks and whips off the top while the announce team talked very quietly. Like Golf.
Solo used his first rope break at 13:44 to get out of a submission hold. Angelico locked in a calf crusher causing Solo to use his second rope break just 30 seconds later at 13:04. With a lot of match left to go, Solo regrouped and took Angelico off his feet with a big ol’ punch to the face. That got him a warning from the ref at 11:57 for using a closed fist.
Solo used his third and final roper break at 11:09, while Angelico still had all three of his. Angelico caught a warning for a closed fist, which meant that if there was another one from either wrestler, the match would end.
Angelico got a standing grapevine into an ankle lock on Solo. Solo tried for the ropes but was out of rope breaks, leaving him no choice but to submit and give the win to Angelico.
Trish Adora defeated Erica Leigh
Infantry member Adora was looking to get back into the singles game after being eliminated in the first round of the ROH Womens TV Championship tournament by Mercedes Martinez. Leigh, a friend of the Outrunners, was a solid veteran in her own right.
Adora controlled everything off the top though. After a series of hammerlock and chickenwing forced salutes, Adora hit a snapmare and then a splits based submission move. Leigh set herself up for some chops, declaring loudly “I can take it!”
Ron Howard Voice: She could not.
Adora chopped her into next week and then hit a massive lariat to put Leigh on her back for good and get the win. She and the Infantry celebrated in their X-Men style gear.
-Backstage, the Righteous cut a rare promo. Vincent said that everything in ROH has changed. Egos and masks rule ROH now. Lance Archer stepped in and said “everybody dies” for no reason. I mean, he’s not wrong, but it made no sense. Vincent said that they have reached Nirvana, and then asked everyone in ROH how they could start, when the Righteous know how it ends?
Komander defeated KM
Komander had been out of ROH for the last little while, competing at AAA Triplemania 32 on August 17th, where he defended his Cruiserweight Title against Matt Riddle and Laredo Kid. UNfortunately for him, a BroDerek from Riddle cost Komander his title and now he’s back in ROH, trying to shake off the loss.
KM’s deal was being huge. Like, really huge. He was twice the size of Komander.
Surprisingly though, KM was able to keep up with Komander’s speed, tossing the luchadore around like a rag doll. KM locked in a really creative submission move, but Komander was able to squirm out of it. KM got cocky though, and Komander ducked a corner splash to hit a senton from the top rope followed by a flip splash from the top to get a quick pin.
EJ Nduka defeated Deonn Rusman
Former Toronto Argo and bodybuilder Nduka two weeks ago broke up a fight on a plane. Aside from hanging out with AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, Nduka hasn’t had much else happen to him thus far in AEW/ROH.
Rusman clocked in a 6’3″ but Nduka towered over him. Both men had some speed in them though and the match moved really quickly. The two battled back and forth with neither on e gaining the upper hand until Nduka got caught in the corner and Rusman rained down a flurry of punches to the midsection.
Nduka fought back with some massive lariats and a huge bulldog before hitting an Exodus Drop and pinning Rusman with his foot.
The Iron Savages (Bronson and Boulder) and Jacked Jameson defeated Jay Alexander, Colton Charles and Rosario Grillo.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of the Savages/Jameson team, and this match was a pointless squash from the top. Charles was murdered right off the bat, and Alexander was taken to (sigh) Titty City before being crushed by a Jameson lariat. No one had any idea who was legal as the Savages triple teamed Alexander and got a pin. Grillo never even entered the match. Pointless.
Marina Shafir defeated Tiara James
Shafir has been making herself a problem for the ROH Women’s division. Her aggressive and punishing style has led to several weeks of squash and easily won matches. James has only been doing this for a couple of years, but already earned nicknames like “Top Tier.”
Shafir offered a slightly modified Code of Honor from her back in the center of the ring. Of course, this was a clever ruse and she pulled in James and sat on her. James fought out and threw some chops at Shafir that she no-sold and then answered with a vicious kick to the face.
Shafir dug into her Judo bag of tricks and repeated took James to the mat. Dragging her to the center of the ring, Shafir locked in a surfboard and then transitioned into a sleeper hold. James didn’t go for it though, so Shafir transitioned into an armbar and then the Mothers Milk choke. James passed out and Shafir’s win streak continued.
- Angelico and Serpentico cut a smoky promo back stage in which Serpentico suggested that Angelico challenge for the ROH Pure Title. Angelico mellowed out and did just that. He challenged Lee Moriarty for a Pure Title match.
Cool Hand Ang & Daddy Magic defeated Jacoby Watts & Nick Comoroto
New papa Cool Hand Ang is back in ROH to join his longtime partner, Magic as th begin their climb towards the ROH Tag Team Titles, currently held by The Undisputed Kingdom. Watts and Comoroto have had a… different, relationship that seemed to be going one way then stopped dead in it’s tracks.
Watts ran his mouth off the top, but Magic shut it with a fist. Ang and Magic double teamed Comoroto, but Comoroto’s Hulk-like strength (and chest hair) made it easy to fight them off. Ang and Comoroto became the legal men while Watts cheered from the corner.
Ang drove Comoroto into Watts, knocking him off the apron. Magic tagged in and rained fists on Comoroto in the corner. Ang and Magic hit a double DDT on Comoroto and were able to get the pin on the big man.
Lio Rush defeated Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling)
Last week, Rush defeated Blake Christian, but possibly at the coast of an arm injury. Nese accompanied his Premier Athlete buddy Aria Daivari in a losing effort against Katsuyori Shibata. Rush and Nese were both heavily featured in the ill-fated WWE “205 Live” Cruiserweight division, so they have plenty of history and this looked to be a banger of a match, booked by ROH Board of Directors member, Paul Wight. Wight said that if Nese wins they can talk about future opportunities, but beating Rush (who arrived in a coat so big, I’m sure even HHH was impressed) would prove easier said than done.
The match was fire right off the top. Nese using his strength and and Rush his speed. Nese sent Rush out of the ring and distracted the Ref while Mark Sterling stomped Rush on the outside. Back in the ring, Nese tried a suplex, but Rush saw it coming and the pair ran thr ropes until Rush got a big lariat on Nese.
Rush laid in a flurry of offense, but Nese picked his moment and returned a superkick. Both men exchanged speedy moves until a collision, leading to Nese punching Rush UFC style. From there, Nese had control, slamming Rush and exchanging chops. Sterling caused a distraction and Nese landed a back elbow on Rush.
Nese tried a few pinning attempts, but Rush kicked out. The crowd rallied around rush as he fought out of a leg scissor lock. Nese missed a triangle moonsault, giving Rush an opening, but Nese hit a pump handle slam before he could capitalize. Rush hit a springboard cutter and followed it up with a huge frog splash to get the 1-2-3.
Ring of Honor World Champion Mark Briscoe defeated The Beast Mortos to retain
Mark Briscoe is a busy guy. This summer, he participated in Blood & Guts as part of Team AEW, defended his ROH World Championship at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024 two days later against Roderick Strong, then took on the Premier Athletes in a Trios Match just 24 hours later. Then, he was in an Eight-Man match, and a Trios match involving The Beast Mortos on July 31st and August 3rd respectively. As if that wasn’t enough, Briscoe beat Johnny TV last week on ROH, followed by a Conglomeration trios victory over The Butcher and The Outrunners one day later.
During the aforementioned Trios match on AEW Collision, Mortos managed to pin the ROH World Champion, marking the biggest win of his career (so far). That weighed heavily on Briscoe (and earlier in the evening, he even cut a promo to say so) and last week he issued this challenge to Mortos in the form of a Championship match.
This match was great from the moment it was booked. Mortos is an incredible brawler an Briscoe’s Red Neck Kung Fu and absolutely unkillable spirit made for two really strong opponents.
Briscoe tried to go for the Jay Driller early, but Mortos was able to shake him off and land a power slam. Both men’s preference for violence led to some really hard strikes and really strong holds and submission attempts, but throughout, neither man could get the momentum on their side.
The chops from Briscoe began and Mortos was actually sent back on his heels. That’s a rare thing for the Beast, and Briscoe capitalized, continuing to pummel Mortos. Briscoe tried to pick up the pace, but that just unleashed Mortos’ unnatural speed.
After a fireman’s carry, Mortos climbed to the top rope, but Briscoe jumped up and joined him. The two exchanged punches and Mortos sent Briscoe flying with a big headbutt to the chest. Briscoe introduced a steel chair and used it to fly onto a prone Mortos on the outside. Briscoe climbed to the top rope and hit a corkscrew moonsault onto the Beast.
Back in the ring, Briscoe put Mortos on his back with a huge lariat, but couldn’t get the pin. Mortos staggerd to his feet and kicked off a Jay Driller into a Samoan Drop on Briscoe for a two-count. Mortos then hit a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker on Briscoe, but again, only a two count.
Mortos tried to get Briscoe up again, but he reversed it into a spiccoli driver. Briscoe climbed to the top rope for a Froggy Bow, but Mortos rolled away and caught him in a spear. Mortos tried a top rope move of his own and missed Briscoe who went for another Froggy bow, this time nailing it, but Mortos kicked out.
Finally, Briscoe managed to hit a Jay Driller and that was enough to put the Beast to bed, and retain the Championship.
