Ring of Honor presents its weekly show on HonorClub tonight.
Matches scheduled for the show include Billie Starkz vs. Dream Girl Ellie in a Proving Ground match. If Ellie can go to a time-limit draw or defeat Starkz, she'll earn a shot at Starkz's ROH Women's TV title.
Kiera Hogan vs. Ashley D'Amboise and Zicky Dice vs. Anthony Ogogo are also scheduled to air on the show. A trios match pits Taya Valkyrie, Diamante, and Mercedes Martinez against Leyla Hirsch, Lady Frost, and Abadon as well.
The show kicked off with a cold-open promo from ROH Tag Team Champions, The Undisputed Kingdom. Bennet and Taven ran down Cool Hand Ang, saying he should have retired instead of trying to be a father and presumably, a wrestler.
The show then started properly with a 6-woman tag match!
Leyla Hirsch, Lady Frost, & Abadon vs Taya Valkyrie, Diamante, & Mercedes Martinez
This was an exciting match, but the real square-off that everyone (namely me) wanted to see was Valkyrie vs Abadon. Hopefully that comes in the future, but for now all six women in this match had axes to grind, and they ground them out, hard.
Valkyrie and Frost started off the match with some quick tumbling and gymnastics moves. Abandon quickly tagged in and sentoned Valkyrie. Hirsch then tagged herself in, much to the displeasure of her teammates. Martinez pulled Hirsch to her team’s corner, isolating her from Abadon and Frost. Diamante tagged in and she and Hirsch battled in the center of the ring.
There was a great mix of styles in this match, with high-flying mixing with technical mixing with brawling and some good ol’ fashioned trickery from Valkyrie. Frost was the standout in the match, taking Valkyrie to the limit not once but twice. Diamante managed to get Frost up on the top rope and deliver a flipping powerbomb from the top to get the one-two-three for her team.
Winners: Taya Valkyrie, Diamante, & Mercedes Martinez
-Later in the show, Hirsch's friend Rachel Ellering had an interview interrupted by Maria in the back. Maria declared that women’s wrestling doesn’t sell tickets, and Ellering couldn’t sell anything. Ellering left, upset, and Maria twirled Serpentico’s mask as she laughed.
Anthony Ogogo w/Shane Taylor vs Zicky Dice
This singles match was the ROH debut of Ogogo and Dice had about 30lbs in size on him. This match had an interesting vibe, as the announce team mentioned, it felt like a trained boxer taking on a barroom hero.
Ogogo was all over Dice from the bell, using his speed and powerful kicks to knock him around. Dice did not get in any offense, and Ogogo hit Dice square in the face, knocking him cold.
Winner: Anthony Ogogo
-After the match, Ogogo grabbed a mic and demanded the ring be cleared and made sure the crowd knew he was a 10-time British Boxing Champion, Olympic Champion, London Champion, and so on. He can box, and he’s the newest member of the Shane Taylor Promotions squad.
Ashley D'Amboise vs Kiera Hogan
This was a quick match to remind everyone that Hogan is very good at professional wrestling.
Hogan had control from the start, using every bit of her speed and strikes to keep D’Amboise on her heels the whole time. There was a bright spot in the form of a scoop slam into a pin for D’Amboise, but Hogan kicked out, dashing her hopes.
Hogan found herself caught off guard by the speed of D’Amboise but was able to power back to keep herself out of any real danger. D’Amboise made a mistake trying to overpower Hogan and Hogan exploited it with a big boot and a shotgun dropkick. Hogan dropped several corner attacks to wear down D’Amboise, and got the pin with a drop suplex.
Winner: Kiera Hogan
-In the back, Nick Comoroto had an interview. He was wearing a shirt from the Rock 2023 collection, and let everyone know he’s joined up with Jacoby Watts to bring light to the world and forge a path to greatness! Watts joined in and invited all the ROH fans to join with them.
Lance Archer & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) vs an unannounced trio of local talent
During this match, I came to the conclusion that Vincent is one of my favorite performers in ROH. He’s got a style and ability to move that’s truly unlike anyone else. Hopefully, these three will find themselves in the conversation for Trios Gold in the future. Tonight though, it was a down and out slobber knocker squasherino of a match.
Dutch, Vincent and Archer jumped their opponents before they could even have their names announced. They beat all three from pillar to post and Archer hit a blackout using one of his opponents as a weapon. Vincent pinned (read; sat on) the third man and the match was won.
Winners: Lance Archer & The Righteous
ROH Women's TV Champion Billie Starkz w/Athena vs Dream Girl Ellie in a Proving Ground match
Taking the prize for “Most ‘L’s’ In The Competitor’s Names,” This proving ground match was the closest match to a title defense that Starkz has had since winning the Women’s TV Title in controversial fashion. If Ellie could last 10 minutes or pin the Champion in this Proving Ground match, she’d become the first to get such a shot. But Athena lurking at ringside put that outcome into question right away.
Ellie was trained by Afa and Matt Bourne, so she was a great mix of street fighter and high flyer. Starkz was going to have to dig deep inter her bag of tricks to get by her, even though she had about 6 more inches in height on Ellie.
Elli dropkicked Starkz out of the ring, where Athena was waiting to rile her back up in support. Starkz took the hint and began stomping Ellie in the middle of the ring. Starkz then hung her in a tree of woe, kicking her in face while the ref was distracted. Starkz is a great heel because she loves to cheat and take shortcuts when she absolutely doesn’t have to.
In this case though, it was a simple neckbreaker that put Ellie down, ending the Proving Ground match around the 5 minute mark.
Winner: Billie Starkz
-The Premium Athletes had a promo in the back and called out every tag team in ROH that they could remember. Diavari and Nese declared that they deserve the ROH Tag Titles and are coming for The Undisputed Kingdom. Woods reminded everyone that he is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, and he’s not stopping until he’s World Champion.
Cole Karter & Griff Garrison w/Maria vs Angelico & Serpentico
Now this was a grudge match if I ever saw one. Months ago, Maria and Co stole Serpentico’s green mask. Since then, he’s been trying to get it back (but honestly, not that hard). Garrison and Karter have been all over ROH, but the elusive mask was still in the possession of Maria.
Angelico and Serpentico jumped Karter and Garrison before they had even made it down the ramp, using barricades and stairs on Maria’s Boys before the bell even rang.
Serpentico in a very shiny new mask took Garrison to the mat after the match officially started. Angelico jumped in for a double team and the two isolated Garrison in their corner. This kind of aggression from Angelico and Serpentico was very unlike them, but after weeks of Maria’s taunting, it made sense that they were ready to do what had to be done to win.
Karter managed to trip Serpentico on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring) and threw him back into the ring for Garrison to try and put him away. Maria circled the ring, amping up the mind games. Though, it was a little odd that she was taunting Serpentico with his green mask, while he was wearing a much nicer mask.
Masks aside though, Karter and Garrison were able to control the pace of the match until Serpentico was able to get a hot tag to Angelico. He cleaned house, taking out both Karter and Garrison. Karter was the legal man though, and Angelico was making no mistakes, getting a 2.5 count before Garrison broke up the pin. Angelico was able to wrap up Karter in a pinning cradle though, and got the win for his team, much to Maria’s chagrin.
Winners: Angelico & Serpentico
Maria was so frustrated, she threw Serpentico’s green mask into the ring. He grabbed it and celebrated, but it was a ruse! Karter and Garrison attacked from behind. They set up a chair in the corner and threw Serpentico into it face-first, knocking him out. Maria retrieved the mask and the trio celebrated as the show ended.
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