Mina Shirakawa will return to Ring of Honor on tonight’s weekly HonorClub TV show against Rachael Ellering.
It’s Shirakawa’s first ROH appearance since April’s Supercard of Honor and her first ROH singles match since a March win over Anna Jay. Ellering is looking for her second straight victory.
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will battle Aleah James in a Proving Ground match where if James can beat her or go to a draw, she earns a future title shot.
Tomohiro Ishii will look to rebound from Wednesday’s defeat to Hangman Page when he takes on Ariya Daivari.
After not making it into the Casino gauntlet match at All In, Evil Uno will battle Jacoby Watts.
Other announced action includes Johnny TV vs. Sidney Akeem, Blake Christian vs. Rosario Grillo, and Leila Grey vs. Promise Braxton, in addition to matches featuring both Top Flight & Action Andretti and former ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods.
Shane Taylor Promotions will also share some thoughts about what’s next for them.
Thursday arrived as Thursday does and that means Ring of Honor action! The “Board of Directors” Era of ROH was in full effect and as such, the card was jam-packed with good matchups. Starting with with the huge opening match:
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defeated Aleah James
ROH’s “Forever Champion” graced us all with her presence and offered James the gift of a Proving Ground match (Athena’s 31st since winning the title). That meant that if James could last until the 10-minute time limit or pin the champion outright, she would get a shot at the ROH Women’s Championship at a later date. Athena had one eye over her shoulder though as not only has she been having difficulty with demoted Minion-in-Training Billie Starkz, but also Abadon has been lurking near the champ in recent days.
Athena has been ROH champion for a million billion days and someone like James was an opponent that didn’t really require her to do much beyond going through the motions. Even when James got in a quick flurry of offense, it didn’t seem like Athena really was going to have a problem with her.
James managed a surprise two-count after a flying crossbody, which got the Champ’s attention. Athena turned up the heat at that point, with big clubbing strikes and a series of powerbombs. Finally, Athena locked in the crossface submission and James tapped out.
-After the match, Athena mocked James and was about to lay in a beating when Abadon showed up! Athena’s eye’s filled with fear as Abadon stared her down in the ring. The crowd chanted “this is spooky” and Abadon chased Athena from the ring where Starkz lay in wait and clocked Abadon with the ROH Women’s Championship belt, knocking her out cold.
Johnny TV w/Taya Valkyrie defeated Sidney Akeem
Akeem has been making a name for himself on the indies lately, partially because of his background training with Cirque de Soleil. That matched up pretty well with the parkour-focused Johnny TV who was looking to spoil Akeem’s ROH debut.
The two seemed a little shaky off the top, but quickly reset with some speed and high dropkicks, ending up with TV on the outside to regroup with Valkyrie. Because of his gymnastics background, Akeem was able to keep up with TV no problem. TV changed up his strategy and tried to keep Akeem on the ground, taking away some of his skills.
TV hit a shining Wizard on Akeem and headed up for Starship Pain. Unfortunately, two things happened: 1) Akeem rolled out of the way, and 2) TV clipped the rope with his foot causing him to land hard on his head. By design or accidental, it looked like it dazed him pretty good.
After a swinging neckbreaker, TV tried another Starship Pain, this time landing it on the prone Akeem. TV rolled him over for the 1-2-3.
Lance Archer defeated “Ozzy”
Archer made a surprise appearance, dragging his opponent, a young man known only as “Ozzy” down to the ring. Archer did not say why he was there, or why he jumped the much smaller Ozzy in the back. He just toyed with him and beat the living hell out of him for a few minutes before hitting a Blackout and pinning him to get the win? I guess?
We were then joined by Shane Taylor of Shane Taylor Promotions and ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty. Taylor ran down Moriarty’s opponent for the night Angelico. Moriarty suggested that Angelico protect his neck in their main event match.
RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Champion Mina Shirakawa defeated Rachael Ellering
For those not in the know, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) is a British wrestling promotion founded in 2012 by Andy Quildan after separating from International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom.
Shirakawa hasn’t been seen in ROH since a surprise Stardom showcase trios match at Supercard of Honor. Ellering won a tough battle against Brooke Havok three weeks ago, which one has to think puts her in title contention.
Ellering had a size advantage on the Joshi star, but Shirakawa was able to keep pace with her until Ellering picked her up and attempted to side slam her. Shirakawa was able to wriggle free and taunt Ellering, causing her to lose focus and give Shirakawa a chance to lay in some big kicks.
Ellering, who used a more technical style, didn’t seem prepared for the bouncy, high-energy style of Shirakawa. Ellering resorted to clubbing blows, lariats and standing kicks to imposer her will on Shirakawa. Shirakawa fought back with some spinning kicks and back elbows, stunning Ellering.
Ellering hit a pendulum slam out of a fisherwoman’s suplex that seemed to do some real damage to Shirakawa’s shoulder. That didn’t stop her from climbing to the top rope and landing a big splash on Ellering. Shirakawa grabbed Ellering and went for what looked like a crab hold at first, but instead Shirakawa pulled Ellering on her back and pinned her for the win!
Respect was being shown between the two women when suddenly Taya Valkyrie appeared! She tossed Ellering out of the ring and beat up Shirakawa, leaving her lying in the ring for reasons only she knows.
Top Flight (Darious and Duante) & Action Andretti w/ Leila Grey defeated Ace of Space Academy (LSG, Colton Charles, and GKM)
Andretti kicked things off with LSG, quickly isolating him in Top Flight’s corner. GKM tagged in next but found himself across from Darious who spun him into the feet of Andretti. GKM hit a splash in the corner that saw him getting at least 4 feet of air. Charles tagged in next showboating against Andretti. After a dropkick, Andretti hit a hot tag to Duante who cleared the ring.
Andretti hit a springboard crossbody from the top rope on GKM. Darious set up Colton for a big slam on the outside and Andretti and Top Flight hit a big triple team to knock GKM silly and get the pin.
EJ Nduka defeated Demo Diamond
The 2-0 Nduka arrived to big cheers from family and friends at ringside. The big man worked the crowd for a moment and then hopped into the ring to face Diamond, who was almost the same size. Almost.
The two locked up and when these two behemoths threw each other around the ring, you could feel each impact. Nduka hit a massive hammer strike on Diamond that seemed to send him spinning. Nduka continued with some should blocks in the corner until Diamond managed to get out of the way. Nduka didn’t give up the momentum for long though, planting Diamond with a massive spinebuster. An arrogant standing cover later and it was over, with Nduka emerging victorious.
-Rachel Ellering was interviewed by Lexy Nair backstage. Ellering was interrupted by Harley Cameron who introduced herself to Ellering, in spite of them having met before. Cameron mocked Ellering for losing and showered her with backhanded praise, calling her “kid” and then leaving a flustered Ellering.
Dark Order’s Evil Uno defeated Jacoby Watts w/ Nick Comoroto
Watts was all by himself this week, with his partner Nick Comoroto out of action for the year with injury. Evil Uno took a break from playing video games with Adam Cole to enter this singles bout, and has been on a really aggressive tear the last few weeks with his Dark Order compatriots.
Watts started the match off by trying to recruit Uno into his “flock.” Uno declined via punch to the face and the match began. Uno laid in some massive chops in the corner on Watts. Watts turned his back, trying to outsmart Uno, but Uno just chopped his back.
Comoroto approached Uno on the outside, but the Order’s John Silver was there and the two exchanged words as Watts hit a big clothesline in the ring. Uno fought back with a big boot and DDT. Uno got Watts up for a piledriver and was able to pull off a pin to get the victory.
Premier Athletes’ Josh Woods w/ Mark Sterling defeated Barrett Brown
Sterling yapped his way to the ring, hyping up Woods and tearing down the rest of ROH. Brown was definitely not as “premier” as Woods, giving up about 8 inches in height. Brown tried to lure Woods into a more technical match, but nothing he managed to hit on Woods really had much of an effect.
Woods hit a hige running knee and then threw Brown across the ring with a massive tombstone 540 suplex. He then sat on Brown to get the pin.
Leila Grey defeated Promise Braxton
Grey’s second appearance of the night was a singles match against Braxton. Top Flight and Andretti accompanied her to the ring, cheering on their Flight Attendant. Braxton had the chance to pick up a huge win if she could get by Grey.
Grey controlled the pace for the most part, lots of armdrags and off-the-rope strikes. Braxton tried to out-muscle Grey, but it didn’t seem to work for her as Grey reversed a hold into a massive slam. Grey hit a blockbuster off the top rope, but Brown only gave up a two count.
Grey put Braxton on her back with a full nelson slam and followed it up with a butterfly brainbuster to win the match.
Blake Christian defeated Rosario Grillo
Christian won 5 matches in the Best of The Super Juniors tournament in Japan. Not moving further in the competition seems to have weighed heavily on him and given him a bit of an attitude. Grillo is a student of the Nightmare Factory and Christian laid him out right off the top, with a vicious stretched shoulder stomp.
Christian threw Grillo around the ring for a bit then finally pinned him. There wasn’t much to this match, but Christian looked good, and has a bright future in ROH.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Ariya Daivari
The Premier Athletes and the Conglomeration explode! Or, at the very least, had this match. Daivari had his athletic background to rely on and Ishii had the fact he appears to be made of stone to his advantage. Sterling ran down the Conglomeration on the way to the ring, claiming that the Premier Athletes have the class the Conglomeration does not.
Daivari didn’t really know what to do with Ishii. He tried chops, no dice. He tried tying up with no result. He even tried leaving, but that didn’t work either. Diavari made a critical mistake early on by putting Ishii in a headlock. Ishii, famously neckless, was able to break free easily and chop Daivari into next week.
On the outside, Daivari managed to get ahold of Ishii’s chopping hand and slam it into ringposts and the steel steps, robbing Ishii of one of his bigger weapons. Daivari was able to maintain control of the match, working the hand over and over.
Ishii fought back though, clotheslining Daivari in a circle. Ishii hit a big german suplex and a back ground elbow to knock Daivari out and get the pin. Ishii left favouring his chopping hand.
ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Lee Moriarty(c) w/Shane Taylor defeated Angelico w/ Serpentico
After a very impressive turn in his first-ever Pure Rules match last week, Angelico decided he was ready for the big time and issued this challenge to current ROH Pure Champion, Moriarty. In a Pure Rules match, each competitor gets three rope breaks and one closed fist warning and after that they are out of luck. If the match went to time, a panel of judges (Christphoer Daniels, Jerry Lynn and Paul Wight) would award the match based on points.
The gangly Angelico had about 6 inches in height on Moriarty, but in terms of pure muscle, Moriarty had the one-up on his opponent. Moriarty’s strategy seemed to be to keep Angelico still, locking in holds that didn’t give the high-flyer a chance to get into the flow of things.
From there, the match went back and forth, with neither man getting control over the other. They did dance though, so there was that. At 3:30, Moriarty used his first rope break and got some words of encouragement from Taylor. These two worked extremely well together, everything in the match flowed really well and it was a calm, yet edge-of-your-seat vibe. At 6:37, Angelico was forced to use his first rope break, and began favoring his shoulder.
Angelico managed to get an ankle lock on, causing Moriarty to use a second rope break at 8:08. Moriarty responded with a bridge stretch, causing Angelico to use his second rope break at 9:20. Moriarty hung up Angelico’s shoulder on the ropes and began to take control. He locked in a Kimoura on Angelico at 10:37, forcing the challenger to use his last rope break.
Angelico put Moriarty in a twisting figure four at 11:22 and Moriarty grabbed the rope by his fingertips, exhausting all rope breaks. The two exchanged moves back and forth until Moriarty got a surprise rollup on Angelico, ending the match at approximately 12:30 and keeping the belt on Moriarty. The two showed respect in the ring and Moriarty stood tall as the show came to a close.
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