Ring of Honor Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet will look for her fifth defense on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
Velvet will defend against Leila Grey who earned the shot by virtue of a single win on last week’s show.
Men’s TV Champion Komander will take on Lee Johnson in a Proving Ground bout where if Johnson can draw or beat Komander, he earns a future title shot.
Blake Christian will attempt to win his fifth straight ROH singles match as he battles Dark Order’s Evil Uno.
ROH Tag Team Champion Sammy Guevara will go one-on-one with Aaron Solo while Serpentico wrestles Brandon Cutler.
Queen Aminata vs. Allysin Kay rounds out the lineup.
A new Thursday means a new episode of ROH on HonorClub! The Men’s and Women’s TV Titles will be in action tonight, so clearly ROH is TV ready!
Sammy Guevara defeated Aaron Solo
Guevara is currently one-half of the ROH Tag Champions, the Sons of Texas with Dustin Rhodes. They just successfully defended the titles at Wrestle Dynasty in Japan, so one can assume that Guevara is taking this singles match because Rhodes is jet lagged. Solo has the distinction of recently losing to 57 year old former Taylor Swift employer Jeff Jarrett on Collision. I don’t know who that’s more embarrassing for. Solo for losing, or AEW for still putting on Jarrett matches in the year of our Lord 2025.
Solo rejected a Code of Honor from Guevara off the top as the two locked up. These guys both trade on speed and agility, so the slower, more punchy start was a surprise. Guevara sent Solo to the outside and pulled some tricks from 1995 HBK’s bag and did some suggestive posing while Solo recovered.
Guevara went for a spingboard off the top rope, but Solo had it scouted and shook him off. Solo stomped Guevara in the corner and then a tight chinlock. Guevara fought back though, delivering the first chops of the night followed by a crossbody.
The match sped up here with Guevara and Solo each dodging some high impact moves. Guevara managed to land a kick to Solo’s spine, but it only got a two count. Guevara got Solo up in a Torture Rack, but Solo wiggled out, sending Guevara up the ramp.
The two battled their way back to the ring, where Solo climbed up to the top rope and delivered a double stomp. Guevara fought back with a cutter and delivered a GTH to pick up the pin and victory.
Queen Aminata defeated Allysin Kay
Aminata is kicking 2025 off right. She’s 3-1 in this new(ish) year and had a run to end last year that featured a string of wins ( what we call pulling a “Reverse-Brandon Cutler”) over the likes of Leila Grey, Harley Cameron and a really tough bout against Lady Frost. Kay has been in and out of ROH a lot, but has not managed to score a win since 2021 when she beat Willow Nightingale in the first round of a Women’s World Championship Tournament, eventually won by Rok-C.
Aminata showed no respect to the veteran Kay, rubbing her face in it off the top (“it” would be her derriere). Aminata sent Kay into the corner and climbed up for exactly 10 punches to the head. Kay barrelled back though, knocking Aminata into the opposite corner for a splash.
Kay laid the lumber on Aminata, wrapping her up in the ropes with a chinlock. Kay tied up Animata in a submission move in the center of the ring, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Queen down. The two traded fists with Aminata coming out on top. She laid out Kay with a huge knee to the face and dragged her back to the center of the ring, but only got a two count. Once back on their feet, Aminata gave Kay a big headbutt, knocking her clean out, leading to Aminata getting the victory.
ROH World Television Title Proving Ground Match: Komander (w/Alex Abrahantes) [c] vs. Lee Johnson (w/EJ Nduka) – Time Limit Draw (10:00)
This match was made last week and features two very different ringside enforcers. Abrahantes is there to hype up Komander and EJ Nduka is there to forcibly murder anyone who gets in front of him. As always in a Proving Ground match, the challenger must pin, submit or last the 10 minute time limit to secure a shot at the title in question. The last Proving Ground match Komander had featured QT Marshall getting a rare Proving Ground challenger win by drawing out the match to the time limit. Komander retained his title in the match that followed.
Komander had his hands full with Johnson, who kicked away the Code of Honor. The two locked up and Johnson took Komander to the ground. Komander tried to catch Johnson in a submission hold, but Johnson started to break away from Komander, killing time like QT Marshall did a few weeks ago.
Johnson dragged Komander to the mat with a headlock, but Komander broke it and Johnson returned to grinding the match down to the slowest pace possible. Komander send Johnson to the outside and wanted to hit a dive through the ropes, but a large wall named Nduka was standing there, causing Komander to pull up. Johnson snuck in and attacked Komander from behind, sending him out of the ring.
After a few shots against the barricade, Johnson pulled Komander back into the ring. He taunted the champion, pushing him with his foot in a condescending manner. Johnson tried a superplex as the time ticked away. Komander dodged it and hit a big facebuster on Johnson, but seemed to knock the wind out of himself in the process.
Johnson hit a big driver out of nowhere, but it wasn’t enough to put Komander away. Johnson tried a powerbomb, but Komander put in a kick to the head. Komander favoured his ribs as he climbed to the top rope where Johnson grabbed him. Komander quickly hit a sunset bomb but it wasn’t enough to put Johnson away as a one-minute warning was delivered.
Komander tried desperately to put Johnson down, but his ribs slowed him down. Nduka pulled Johnson out of the ring while Komander writhed until the bell rang! Johnson lasted the 10 minutes so the match ended in a draw, but Johnson still gets the title shot.
Serpentico defeated Brandon Cutler
We last saw Serpentico around the beginning of the month as 1/8th of a 4v4 tag match that his team was on the losing end of. Serpentico’s normal partner in the Spanish Announce Project, Angelico, has been out with a knee injury but rumor has it he’s almost completed his “knee-hab.” The last time Cutler won a televised match in ROH was a tag match in March of 2024. Since then, he’s chalked up losses to the likes of Preston Vance, Rocky Romero, Katsuyori Shibata, Jacoby Watts (Watts? Really?) and now maybe Serpentico. If you’re collecting high-profile losses, that’s not a bad list.
Cutler and Serpentico first faced off in a battle of the silly outfits. Serpentico won that with a cool new mask, vest and… codpiece? All of which were very shiny. The two locked up with Serpentico sending Cutler to the mat. Cutler responded with a hurricanrana, but Serpentico fought back then they flew around the ring.
Serpentico hit a statue senton (aka he fell over) onto Cutler, but it only got a two-count. Cutler went for a big move off the top rope, but Serpentico sidestepped it and Cutler fell flat on his face. Serpentico sent Cutler to the corner and veeeery slowly unzipped his jacket to chop Cutler on bare chest.
Cutler battled back and hit a double stomp from the top rope followed by a big pumphandle slam. Cutler tried to get Serpentico in a big spin, but it slithered out and hit a big driver. Serpentico went to the top rope and hit a huge frog splash to get the pin and victory.
ROH Classic Match: ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe vs Tony Deppen (ROH on Honorclub Episode #2, Feb 25, 2023)
This week’s Classic Content was Samoa Joe beating the everloving heck out of Tony Deppen. The match happened way back on episode 2 of ROH on Honorclub. Samoa Joe was the TV Champion at the time and was taking on all comers. Lots of big punishing blows, but was largely a squash. Still I’d watch Joe squash people any day, and this was a good one.
-Backstage, the Infantry cut a promo about their new attitudes. The Infantry put the whole company on notice that they will be double stomping anyone and everyone. That was about it.
Blake Christian defeated Evil Uno (w/Alex Reynolds & John Silver)
Since coming within a hair of winning the ROH TV Title at Final Battle 2024, Christian has been showing an aggressive attitude as he makes the rounds in ROH. He’s completed the trifecta of beating Parker Li, Serpentic and AR Fox and looks to add Evil Uno to the list. Uno for his part, brought Reynolds and Silver with him for some top-shelf posing and jacket wearing. It’s hard to say what’s going on with the Dark Order these days, but for this match they seem like they are on the same dark page.
Continuing the trend of the night, Christian shook off a Code of Honor and the two locked up. Uno was not impressed with Christian’s new attitude and shoved him into the corner. Christian literally flipped out of the ring, mocking a clearly annoyed Uno on the outside.
Christian jumped back in and sent Uno to the ropes. Uno responded but punching him in the face very hard. Christian slid out again this time Uno followed, levelling a prone Christian with a shoulder in front of the commentary desk.
Back in the ring, Uno delivered 10 big forearms in the corner. Christian dodged a slam and double stomped Uno’s arm from the top rope. Christian continued working the arm, removing Uno’s strength advantage. Christian then hit a suicide dive INTO the ring from the raised ramp and levelled Uno.
The two traded blows in the middle of the ring, Uno winning the battle in spite of his damaged arm. Uno hit a DDT followed by a brainbuster, but it only got him a two count. Christian climbed to the top rope for a big frog splash, but Uno kicked out at two.
Uno hit a huge back elbow followed by a piledriver, but couldn’t put Christian away. Uno dragged Christian to the top rope, but Christian messed with his mask and managed to hit a huge 450 on Uno while he was fixing it. Christian delivered some knees to the head and finally scored a three count, winning the match.
-It was announced that ROH Women’s World Champion Athena would return to ROH next week!
ROH Women’s World Television Title Match: Red Velvet (c) defeated Leila Grey
Top Flight’s Grey picked up a win last week over Marti Belle that put her in contention for a shot at the ROH Women’s World TV Title apparently. This is not a criticism though, as Velvet has been grinding through opponents and seeing her and Grey mix it up (in or out of Mama’s Kitchen) sounds like something that everyone can get behind.
The two locked up off the top with Grey sending Velvet to the ropes. After a quick rest, Velvet burst back with some stiff shots. Grey didn’t flinch though, slamming Velvet and hitting a senton. Grey picked apart Velvet with a series of quick strikes, causing Velvet to roll out of the ring to get herself in order.
Grey made the mistake of following her outside, where Velvet grabbed her and drove her lower back into the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!). Velvet re-entered the ring, leaving Grey writhing on the outside. Velvet went for a chop against the barricade, but Grey dodged it and threw about a dozen of her own.
Back in the ring, Velvet used her boxing background to pepper Grey with shots. She followed that up with a meteora to the back of the head, leaving Grey dazed. Velvet locked in a full nelson, but Grey elbowed her way free. Velvet changed tactics and hit side slam into a chin lock, wearing Grey down.
Grey tried a quick rollup, but Velvet kicked out. Grey hit a bulldog and a dragon sleeper on Velvet got her foot on the ropes to break the hold. Velvet fought out and sent Grey into the corner. Grey hit a couple of elbows followed by a block buster, but Velvet kicked out a two.
Velvet managed to catch Grey off the ropes and spun her into a Mama’s Kitchen. Velvet pinned Grey and got the 1-2-3 to end a perfectly cromulent night of wrestling!
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