Hey all, welcome back to another episode of ROH on Honor Club. We’ve got some good stuff on tap tonight as we’re sitting (presumably) a little over two months out from Final Battle, and we’ll see what this week’s show has in store!
MATCH 1 – Serpentico vs. Lee Moriarty – ROH Pure Championship Proving Ground Match
This is continuing a unique trend over the last couple of weeks, where we have one or two matches taped at whatever recent stop the company’s been at, called by Tony Schiavone and Paul Wight, before it switches to Ian and Caprice calling, sometimes from the road, other times from the Jacksonville soundstage tapings. Serpentico burns a rope break early, as on the mat, Moriarty clearly has the advantage. Serpentico tries to speed things up, but Moriarty cuts it off with a kitchen sink knee to the midsection, and slows it back down with a surfboard lock. Serpentico reverses, but Moriarty escapes with an upkick and keeps the knuckle lock until he transitions to an abdominal stretch, causing Serpentico to use his second rope break. Serpentico gets a nice nearfall out of a rope walk into a tornado DDT. He misses a double stomp though, and Moriarty grabs a sleeper before switching to a belly-to-belly. Moriarty hits a sort of ripcord facebuster into the Border City Stretch for the tap out.
Lee Moriarty sub. Serpentico with the Border City Stretch in 5:40.
After an All Out ad, we have a video package detailing the VERY short lived team of Emi Sakura and Deonna Purrazzo. They picked up a win last week, only for Sakura to turn on Purrazzo immediately after. While we wait for Purrazzo’s revenge, the champ will be in action next!
MATCH 2 – Rebecca Scott vs. Deonna Purrazzo – ROH Women’s Pure Championship Proving Ground Match
Two matches in, two uses of the Code of Honor. I’ll enjoy that while it lasts. The two trade wristlocks, and Purrazzo gets a little too cute, and gets rolled up for a near two-count. Purrazzo grabs a Fujiwara but Scott rolls out. Purrazzo catches a modified Gory Special, but Scott turns it into a sunset flip for two. Scott continues pressing the advantage with strikes, but Purrazzo cuts off a corner charge with a boot to the arm, and follows it up with a knee to the arm before rolling into a Fujiwara again. Scott reverses into another cradle for a nearfall, but Purrazzo boots her down. Both women are down but they slug it out as they get up, but Scott turns her back and eats a pump kick for her trouble. Purrazzo grabs a power bomb with a folding press for two, then locks in the Venus de Milo for the submission.
Deonna Purrazzo sub. Rebecca Scott with the Venus de Milo in 4:15.
And with that, we send it to Ian and Caprice in Jacksonville, where the former AEW National Champion and former ROH Tag Team Champion Mark Davis is in action.
MATCH 3 – “Main Man” Oro vs. Mark Davis
Davis foregoes the Code of Honor, but Oro smartly avoids a charging kick and takes command early sticking and moving. But that all changes when Davis catches him on the top rope, grabs a knee bar over the rope, and sends Oro crashing to the guardrail on the floor. Back in, Davis just continues pounding away with short lariats, corner charges, and is just pummeling Oro. Into the corner, more strikes, and then a running forearm smash to a seated Oro in the corner for two. Oro tries to fire back but Davis sends him to the ropes with one forearm. Oro counters the charging rebound lariat with a koppo kick, but Davis just keeps coming with another running forearm smash for two. Oro is able to get a couple of strikes together and hits a hangman’s neckbreaker for two. Davis heads to the apron, but Oro follows him out. He lands a kick and a chop, but Davis clotheslines him back inside. Oro is able to knock Davis off the apron and hits a step up tornillo to the outside to really take control. Davis ducks a rolling elbow and hits a backdrop driver and a rolling lariat for two. Oro counters the gutwrench piledriver into a rollup for two, and a rolling elbow to the back of the head gets Oro a long two count. Davis goes for the piledriver again but Oro counters again. Oro finds counter after counter, but Davis is finally able to counter out of a backslide into the gutwrench piledriver for the win.
Mark Davis def. “Main Man” Oro via gutwrench piledriver in 6:49.
And it’s time once again for Caprice to CHOP IT UP, this time with The Iinspiration. Caprice asks how they found each other, and Cassie points out they went to high school together. The two of them are shocked that Caprice had friends when he was in high school. They note The Iinspiration is expanding, as Jessie is pregnant, and is expecting a little girl. Cassie says The Iinspiration don’t pause, Jessie will stay by her side, and Jessie says she has her plan. Caprice asks for something inspirational to look out for. Cassie says as far as advice, “speak when spoken to.” Jessie says they’ll keep going. Not a ton here, but if you enjoy The Iinspiration, you’ll enjoy this. Definitely one of those “your mileage may vary” moments.
MATCH 4 – Viva Van & VertVixen vs. Athena & Billie Starkz
It’s been roughly six weeks since Athena wrestled on ROH TV, so it’s great to see the champ. Ian points out that if Athena makes it to Final Battle, she’ll be looking at roughly four years as ROH Women’s World Champion. Van dodges a strike and poses, and Athena takes that personally. She levels some abuse at Van, who tags in VertVixen. Athena rushes her in the corner, and brings her across the ring to tag in Starkz. VertVixen is able to use her size and power to take control over Starkz. VertVixen hits an overhead throw into the corner and follows with a running low kick. Athena enters illegally, but VertVixen puts her down as well, and Van comes in to add a double suplex on the champ. But the distraction lets Billie land a Tornado DDT to take over, and MIT uses quick tags in the corner to isolate and punish VertVixen. Athena grabs a rear chinlock, but breaks to land a facebuster when VertVixen gets closer to her corner, and drags her back across the ring. Starkz tags back in, and MIT rattles off several rapid-fire strikes in their corner. Starkz grabs a sleeper. VertVixen fights out, but Athena tags in and adds a fish hook to add insult to injury. VertVixen dodges a stomp, and is able to hit a springboard kick and both women tag, Van comes in and unloads on Billie Starkz with a series of chops and an upkick, before landing a spinning heel kick. Van goes up top for a shotgun dropkick. Athena goes to save, but Van moves, and the champ hits Starkz. Van sends Athena to the outside with a dropkick that doubles as a senton, and Van and VertVixen double team Starkz with a double team backbreaker, and VertVixen hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Starkz catches a victory roll for two and tags in Athena. VertVixen tags out, but Athena lands a superkick as this is getting hard to follow. Billie’s swanton meets knees on VertVixen, and as all four women are in the ring, Van sends Starkz to the outside with a clothesline, and everyone’s down. Van is first to her feet and picks up Athena. She goes to tag but Starkz pulls VertVixen off the apron. VertVixen hits a vertical suplex on Starkz, but tries to locomote into a second only for Starkz to counter into an UshiGoroshi. Back in the ring, Athena escapes Viva Van’s Ocean Cyclone Suplex, and hits a sort of pumphandle complete shot for the win.
Athena and Billie Starkz def. Viva Van and VertVixen with a flipping complete shot (Athena pins Van) in 10:52.
We go to a video package from last week’s show as Bandido and Komander took on the team of AR Fox and Soleil in a highlight reel of a match.
MATCH 5 – Alan Angels vs. Tommy Billington
Ian theorizes that the winner here could find himself in TV Title contention. Angels doesn’t go with the Code of Honor. Billington grabs a wristlock early and Angels struggles to escape, and Billington shows some power with a shoulder tackle before an arm drag, and then back into the wristlock. Angels grabs an armdrag of his own, but Billington grabs a headscissors, and Angels bails. Back in, Billington goes back to the wristlock, but leaves his feet and misses a cross body, and rolls outside. Angels follows, but runs into a back body drop on the floor, and Billington sends him back in. Billington goes up top, but comes off into a standing dropkick, and Angels takes over. Chop and a nice bridging Northern Lights suplex gets two for Angels, who continues jawing with the crowd, who gets behind Billington. Billington responds with a series of chops and a running back elbow, adding a suicide dive that very nearly overshot Angels. Back in, Billington goes for a tombstone, but Angels escapes with a roll-up, and springboards off the bottom rope into a waistlock that he turns into a half nelson suplex and a running forearm for two. This match is indicative of a great advantage of these smaller tapings, in that you can hear the crowd work, which was such a fun part of classic ROH. Billington is able to score with the top rope shotgun dropkick and adds the jumping tombstone for the win.
Tommy Billington pins Alan Angels with a jumping tombstone in 6:54.
Backstage, we hear from Deonna Purrazzo who says tonight was a message for Emi Sakura. Emi didn’t need to go through the charade of pretending to be Purrazzo’s friend, if she wanted a match, she could have just asked. Purrazzo adds that it’s her fault for letting her guard down but tells Sakura that Jersey girls always settle their vendettas.
We get an ad spot for AEW Grand Slam France, and the first match announced is former ROH TV Champion Nick Wayne vs. former ROH World Champion Chris Jericho.
MATCH 6 – Preston Vance vs. Jarrett Diaz
Vance throws up the Ten and the Dark Order hand, but Ian points out that while Uno and Reynolds are on board with his coming back into the fold, John Silver is still not interested. Diaz tries to chop Vance off the lockup and hurts his hand. Preston responds in kind and has no such problems. Diaz has some more success with some speed, but misses a moonsault and Vance takes over with a series of clotheslines and a pump kick in the corner, just ragdolling Diaz. Ripcord spinebuster puts Diaz down again. Rolling lariat and full nelson finishes.
Preston Vance sub. Jarrett Diaz with a full nelson in 1:54.
As Vance is heading to the back, Dark Order comes to the ring for their Six Man title shot. Hugs from Uno and Reynolds, but Silver is again having none of it and sends Vance to the back.
MATCH 7 – Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, & John Silver) vs. Lethal Twist (Jay Lethal, Blake Christian, & Lee Johnson) – ROH World Six Man Title Match
Reynolds and Lethal start, and Lethal dodges a lockup and struts. Reynolds holds onto the ropes off a whip-in and struts himself. Reynolds hits a dropkick off a roll through to put Lethal down but falls prey to a Johnson distraction and the Lethal Twist takes over. Johnson stomps away and chokes Reynolds in the corner, but Uno gets a blind tag off a hammer throw into the ropes, and Dark Order hits a triple dropkick on Johnson, then another with him in the ropes, and Silver follows with a deadlift German suplex. Uno tags in and lights up Johnson with a chop in the Dark Order corner and tags in Reynolds. Silver tags in and goes for a 10 punch in the corner, but Lethal yanks him off, and Lethal Twist hangs him up in their corner. When Reynolds comes to his aid, they send him to the apron and hit a Young Bucks style headscissors dropkick combination to drop him back to the floor and they resume their attack on Silver. Silver escapes a firemans carry, and Dark Order fires off a rapid-fire series of double and triple team attacks ending with a jackknife cover by Reynolds on Lethal, which gets broken up by a top rope double stomp by Christian. Triple superkicks by Dark Order send The Swirl to the outside, and they hit Lethal with their triple team swinging gate finish, but Christian and Johnson break it up. Johnson and Christian hit their reverse DDT/springboard splash combo for two on Silver. Everybody starts firing off kicks and Lethal hits the Lethal Combination on Reynolds, but Uno responds with a simple punch to the face. The end result is the Lethal Twist 3-on-1 against Silver. Silver fires up and attacks everyone before Christian cuts it off, but Silver suplexes BOTH Christian and Johnson, before hitting a brainbuster on Lethal. Silver falls victim to some friendly fire in a kick from Reynolds, and Christian and Johnson hit their double stomp/Death Valley Driver combination for the win.
The Lethal Twist def. Dark Order (Christian pins Silver) with a double stomp/Death Valley Driver combo in 9:27.
Back in the ring, Silver is upset and there appears to be some finger pointing. Vance comes down to try to calm everyone, but of course this has the exact opposite effect, angering Silver further. Jacksonville chants at them to hug it out, but Silver just leaves. And while it’s not a happy scene, Ian wishes us, as always, HAPPY WRESTLING, EVERYBODY.
Total Run Time: 1:16:13
Total Ring Time: 0:45:51 (69.2%)
Avg. Match Time: 6:33
Another fun show this week, as we’re continuing the Dark Order disorder, building to a Pure Title match with Deonna Purrazzo and Emi Sakura that should be a ton of fun, and continuing to build an enjoyable undercard with Mark Davis murking fools, and talented guys like Tommy Billington, Alan Angels, Adam Priest, and a ton more having rock solid matches on the reg. As usual, a little over an hour and it flew by, and again, over 60% of the show was spent bell-to-bell in-ring. Only one true squash this week, and the rest was an easy watch. Hard to beat it.
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