Ring of Honor on Honor Club Episode #8 4/20/2023

Ring of Honor on Honor Club Episode #8 4/20/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/04/ring-of-honor-on-honor-club-episode-7.html

The Kingdom vs  Action Andretti and Darius Martin

They shake hands. Darius and Taven start. Darius fights off a 2v1 to start then Taven pounds on him. Darius takes corner forearms then takes a boot, forearm and 2nd rope dropkick. Darius is tripped into a Taven elbow and jumps into a spinebuster from Mike. Darius topes Mike then is tope'd by Taven. AA then seated moonsaults him on the ropes. Taven takes a Darius dropkick on the inside then AA corkscrew splashes him off the bottom rope.

Mike throws Darius into the rails then AA springboard lariats Taven. AA hits a wheelbarrow bulldog for 2 then is catapuled into a kick. Taven then climbs the ropes and drops an elbow for 2. Taven is pushed off the top rope then Darius top rope crossbodies Mike. AA double jump corkscrew crossbodies Mike then split legged moonsaults him. Darius plancha's Taven then Mike takes a back handspring elbow into a german.

Maria gets on the apron to distract AA and AA is knocked off the top. Darius takes a proton pack and The Kingdom win it.

I liked this one. The faces did their flying and the heels cheated to win. Good stuff.

Athena does an interview. She said you need to bring it when you are in the ring with her and says nobody is on her level. Athena says she will break you time and time again. She says she is the alpha, the gatekeeper and the joshi killer. She then says this is an open challenge.

Robyn Renegade vs Willow Nightingale

The announcers rapped to Willow's theme. Robyn backs her up into the ropes and piefaces her. Willow does it back then headlock takeovers her. Willow shoulders her over and slams her. Willow then splashes her for 2. Willow does what they call a bulldog driver on Robyn. Robyn sweeps her on the apron and Willow slams hard onto it.

Robyn footslaps her then slaps her in the corner. Willow slaps and chops her. Willow hits a back splash then lariats and facekicks her. Willow spinebusters her then hits a pounce. Robyn's twin Charlotte switches places with her and the ref catches it. Charlotte runs out and Robyn comes back in with a kick and is rolled up.

I didn't like the ending. The twin magic spot where they got caught was kind of clever and it would have been cool to see Robyn win off of that. It was a decent face vs heel match though and was fine.

Charlotte clips Willow after then Willow is lifted up and brought down by her head.

Colt Cabana is interviewed. Colt said he has a deep history with Joe and said he's proud to be back in ROH. He said he will make the most of his chance tonight and said he will win the TV title, which he never won before.

Lance Archer vs Jah-C

Lance drags him to the ring and throws him in. Jah dropkicks him then takes a Thesz press. Lance hits running back elbows in the corner then Jah hits chops. Lance hits a bad scorpion deathdrop then lariat him to win it.

This was the usual Archer squash.

Lance beats him up the ramp after and takes him to the back.

Brian Cage vs Joey Jett

Cage hits corner spears then belly to belly suplexes him. JJ hits some shots then takes a german. Cage running pump kicks him in the corner then JJ hits punches. Cage back elbows him and JJ tries a slingshot cutter but is just sliced down. Cage suplexes him and legdrops him for 2. Cage jumping knees him then they trade running back elbows. JJ hits a hammerlock flatliner then flying kicks him for 2. JJ takes a spinebuster and a spinning lariat. Cage then F-5's him and wins it.

I felt like this was supposed to put over Jett, but he really didn't bring much to the table here. A lot of his offense didn't look good and it was not a great outing for him.

Proving Ground Match - Athena vs Heather Reckless

Athena gets on her knees to shake her hand then kicks her in the face. Heather slaps and forearm flurries her then headflips and does an asai ddt. Heather comes off the apron, gets caught and swung hard into the rails. Heather is then thrown into the rails twice.

Heather rolls her up then takes a quadruple powerbomb plus a liger bomb. Athena then wins with a crossface.

Heather took a real whoopin' here. Those powerbombs looked rough. They really need to let someone win one of these proving ground matches sometime. 

Athena grabs the belt after and bangs her head off of it.

Lee Johnson and Cole Karter vs The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)

Silver shoulders Lee then hits a dropkick. Lee takes a double hiptoss but is thrown back the other way. Cole gets in and splashes Alex. Alex running back elbows him then running facekicks and lariats him. Lee pulls Alex's foot on the apron then Cole shoulders Alex into the rails. Lee then lariats Alex on the floor.

Lee stomps Alex and footchokes him. Lee blocks Alex's slingshot sunset flip with a punch and Alex fights back with forearms. Lee is thrown out then runs around the ring and takes a back body drop. Silver gets in and takes out the heels then he gorilla presses and lawn darts Lee into Cole. Silver hits a german on Lee for 2. Silver takes a side finlay roll from Lee. Cole goes up top, Lee is pushed into the buckles and he falls down. Lee takes a codebreaker into a powerbomb on the knees. Cole takes the D-O's german suplex combination in a pin and the Dark Order win it.

Solid tag match here with the heels being heels and the faces overcoming them in the end. No problems with this at all.

Penta El Zero Miedo vs Nick Comoroto

They shake hands and Nick keeps a lollipop in his mouth. Nick throws the stick at Penta. Penta tries to throw his glove to Alex and Nick stomps him. Nick hits a lariat then slams him. Nick drops bad elbows then hits bad corner spears. Nick suplexes him and hits bad shots. Penta slingbaldes him then hits corner lariats. Nick hits a big spear for 2.

Penta hits a backcracker then top rope double stomps him for 2. Penta cranks Nick's arm for 2 then Nick neckbreakers him over the knee. Penta cranks his arm again and wins it.

This was not good at all. Nick was wrestling in slow motion here and most of his stuff looked bad.

Lee Moriarty vs Konosuke Takeshita

KT armlocks him then Lee rolls out of an armlock and rolls on his back for a headlock. Lee armlocks him and they do some rolls before trading armdrags. KT leg lariats him then hits a stiff forearm. Lee single arm ddt's him then running knees him into the rail. Lee hits kicks and stomps on the arm then grabs the arm with his heels and slams it down.

Lee splits his fingers then rams his shoulder into the buckles. KT hits forearms then a flying clothesline. KT brainbusters him then hits running facekicks in the corner. KT hit strikes and takes him down with a forearm. KT 2nd rope sentons him for 2.

KT gets caught up top and is superplexed. They trade forearms then Lee spinkicks him. Lee gets caught on a ddt attempt and is german'd. KT then blue thunders him for 2. KT takes a dragon suplex. The roll each other up and KT hits a piledriver variation. Lee hits a hammerlock lariat for 2 the KT germans him. KT ripcrod forearms him then hits a knee and wins it.

I didn't think it was that great. The arm work didn't really go anywhere and there wasn't a real story to this.

El Hijo del Vikingo vs Gringo Loco

Vik hits a tilt-a-whirl armdrag early then Loco headflips out of the corner. Vik jumps on Loco's shoulders and headscissors him. They then stand off. Logo headscissors him and Loco handsprings out. Vik corkscrew kicks him then misses a tope con hilo, landing on the ramp. Loco then tope con hilos him.

They trade forearms and Loco does a neat reverse olympic slam. Loco goes up top and misses a cancun tornado. Vik kicks him in the head and both of up top. They take forever then Loco top rope spanish flies him. Vik immediately recovers and handsprings into a sitout reverse slam.  

Loco slaps him then Vik spin kicks him in the face. Vik superkicks him then springboard hurricanrana's him. Vik does an inside to outside springboard dragonrana. Vik 2nd outside rope phoenix splashes him for 2. Loco is caught off the 2nd rope and takes a swinging side slam. Vik then running corkscrew kicks him.

Vik walks the top rope and does a skytwister press to the outside. Vik takes an alley oop into the top buckle. They hugh each other up top and Loco top rope gorilla presses him. Vik does a double jump spinning poisonrana then meteoras him in the corner. Vik then hits a 630 and wins it.

This was the same match Vikingo always does. He did jump up off Loco's shoulders and did a corksrew dive to the outside that he usually doesn't do. It was the usual match with big spots, no selling and tons of time to try and set stuff up.

The Iron Savages with Jameson Ryan vs Ren Jones and Logan Lynch

Boulder and Ren slaps hands then Boulder bangs his own head off the buckle. Ren hits shots and hurts his own arm off of him then is gorilla pressed. Ren is thrown onto Logan then Bronson senton them on each other. Bronson fire thunders Ren onto Logan .

Boulder hits some chalk around then slams both guys at the same time. Bronson gets on Boulder's shoulders then is dropped down on both and wins it.

This was a quick squash but was what it needed to be with the Savages looking good.

Bronson chokes Jameson after.

Gringo Loco does a promo after. He said he's been trying to get Tony Khan's attention for 2 years. He said he came here and smashed his chance out of the park. He said Tony Khan invited him back and even though he lost, this is the biggest win he has had. Loco says he is ready and said he hopes we are too. 

ROH Television Title - Samoa Joe (c) vs Colt Cabana

Colt is backed up in the corner and gets a clean break. Colt goes between his legs, cartwheels then rolls him up. Colt runs into a hard back elbow then Joe hits a punch combo in the corner. Joe cranks the neck then kicks him and drops a big elbow for 2.

Joe headbutts him then Colt hits punches. Joe chops him then takes an elbow. Colt hits a 2nd rope splash for 2. Colt trips him and Joe gets his knees up on Colt's moonsault. Joe grounded chokes him and wins it.

This wasn't much. It wasn't clear how Colt got this shot since he hasn't been on ROH much. It was short and Joe's offense looked good. It could have been a lot more.

Overall thoughts: The good and bad stuff about evened each other out here. The show is rather directionless at the moment. A lot of the stuff that was being built up to during the Orlando tapings has not been followed up on and people are still coming in and disappearing for no real reason. If you want to see a show that's slightly above Dark and Elevation yet nowhere close to Dynamite, this is for you. I didn't mind the show overall, but it really didn't build to anything or give you many reasons to tune in the next week.