Ring of Honor on HonorClub 7/20/2023 Episode #21

Ring of Honor on HonorClub 7/20/2023 Episode #21

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/07/ring-of-honor-on-honorclub-7132023.html 

We see clips from the press conference with Daniel Garcia and Shibata. Garcia said he has already pinned Shibata and says he won't walk into his house and walk all over him. Caprice says Garcia has the tools to beat Shibata, but his worst enemy is the man in the mirror. Garcia says Shibata better be ready for the fight of his life.

Pure Rules - Daniel Garcia vs Jason Geiger

Garcia kicks Jason's hand away on the handshake. Garcia shoulders over Jason then hits armdrags. Garcia headlock takeovers him then dances soon after. Jason hiptosses him then does his own dance. Jason goes for an armbar and Garcia uses a rope break. Jason is thrown on the ropes throat first then Garcia stands on him and hits a bunch of stomps with both feet.

Garcia facelocks and single underhooks him then swings him around. Jason does a deadlift suplex. Jason hits running attacks and double underhook suplexes him. Garcia hits double chops and lariats him. Garcia boston crabs him then Jason triangle chokes him. Garcia deadlifts him and powerbombs him. Garcia then sharpshooters him and wins it.

I didn't get this one. Garcia won at 7:09. Jason hasn't been on this show before nor got any build or explanation and he's easily going on one with him. The match wasn't that special and it's just weird they are doing this when they could be using ROH regulars instead.

Katsuyori Shibata comes down the ramp after and holds his belt up at him. They go face to face.

Trish Adora vs Utami Hayashishita

Remember that Trish vs Maria feud? ROH doesn't. No entrance for Utami, though they say she is one of the best Stardom wrestlers.

They battle over an armlock then Trish side headlock takeovers her. Trish takes her down and does pushups while grabbing an armlock. Trish arm whips her into the mat and puts her in la magistral for 2. Trish puts her over her knee upside down for a submission.

Utami spinebusters her then lariats her against the ropes. Utami hits a sliding D and slams her. Trish hits forearms to the gut and they forearm each other at the same time. Trish kicks her in the arm then is german suplexed. Utami hits another german for 2. She lifts her in the air and Trish turns it into a submission on her hand.

Trish hits forearms then crossbodies her. Trish hits sledgehammer shots and pump kicks her. Trish then sentons her for 2. Trish then hits a german from her knees for 2. Utami lariats her then does a torture rack bomb for 2. Utami hits a spinning razor's edge and wins it.

I wasn't a fan of this. The crowd had no idea who Utami was, naturally since she has never been with AEW/ROH before and didn't react at all. Trish spent all match working on the arm which didn't go anywhere and Utami got very little in except for her comeback win. I don't know what this was supposed to do, but it didn't accomplish it. 

ROH Television Title Eliminator Tournament Finals - Dalton Castle vs Shane Taylor

Dalton goes outside to stall early. Shane hits a shot in the corner then takes a back elbow. Dalton hits knees to the gut and ddt's him. Shane pulls him down over the apron and punches him. Shane then hits a bridging stunner as he's hanging from the apron. Shane sideslams him for 2. Dalton hits shots then Shane headbutts him. Shane uranages him then splashes him for 2.

Shane puts him in a sleeper and Dalton rolls back out of it. Shane is pulled over the top and Dalton does a 619 into a hurricanrana from under the bottom rope. Dalton hits forearms then takes a punch to the gut. Dalton does a nice exploder on him then jumping knees him in the corner. Dalton hits a sling blade bulldog for 2.

Shane punches Dalton then Dalton delay germans suplexes him. Dalton then hits a super impressive bangarang on Shane and wins it.

While it could have been a little better, Dalton's suplexes on Shane were fantastic and they ended up making his a fun little match.  The one knock I really have against Shane is that he does not pick up the pace much at all and it hurts matches sometimes.

Pure Rules - Josh Woods vs James Stone

They fight over hammerlocks and Woods takes him down. Stone uses a rope break for no real reason then Woods drops him with a shot. Woods rolls him into a gorilla lock but Stone uses a rope break. Stone misses an armdrag then takes a knee. Woods does a nasty botched twisting suplex against the ropes and wins it.

It was short and the finish was botched. The crowd didn't care and it didn't do much for Woods.

Tony Khan is interviewed with Willow Nightingale. Tony said that due to Willow winning the Owen Hart Tournament and beating Athena, she will get an ROH Women's Title shot at the PPV. Willow said she has learned what it means to be in there with someone as mean as Athena. She said she's not afraid as she has beaten her and she said she knows a thing or two about being the women's champ.

Athena is with Jerry Lynn and Stokeley. Athena said she's not doing this match. She said she has carried the match and the women's match. She said they owe her. Stoke says he's ROH's Judge Joe Brown and Stoke/Jerry tell her she's doing it. Athena says she will get Tony to veto this. Tony comes in. He said she and Willow have had a great rivalry and said they will have the rubber match at the PPV. Athena yells "no" and leaves. Tony had zero camera presence as usual here.

Proving Ground Match - Athena vs Nikita

Athena's wearing jeans and non-wrestling gear. She does not look thrilled.

Athena pouts in the corner. Nikita goes up to her and piefaces her, asking if she wants to wrestle. Athena drops her with a shot and wins it.

Athena beats her up after as usual and throws her into the rails. Athena yells at the ref and smacks the commentator's table. Willow Nightingale's music hits and she comes down. They each hold their title belts up and Athena leaves instead of fighting. 

The Righteous vs The Boys

Dutch lariats both Boys at once. Vincent hits a back elbow then hits a running forearm and a neat side effect variation. Dutch hits a standing reverse ddt throw and Brent gets in. Brent comes off the 2nd rope and is caught. He enzugiri's and dropkicks Dutch then Dutch bodyblocks him. Dutch hits a nasty fisherman's neckbreaker then Vincent uses Dutch for a sliced bread. Vincent picks up the win.

This was just a quick squash.

Vincent talks into the camera after then Uno comes down the ramp with a chair. Stu hits a nightfall on Brent and Uno dares him to come on. 

Leyla Hirsch vs Nicole Matthews

Leyla headscissors her and Nicole headlocks her. Leyla knocks her off and rolls her around. Leyla mat wretles her then is armdragged. Leyla takes her down and hits forearms on the back of her neck. Nicole neckbreakers her and hits more forearms. Leyla pumping knees her and wins it.

This was boring. Leyla did nothing but amateur wrestling and nobody cared a single bit.

They run down the ROH pre-show and main show card. I'll provide my thoughts for each match:

Action Andretti and Darius Martin vs The Workhorsemen - These guys have matched up before. It wouldn't have been hard to make some kind of angle out of this but they opted not to.

Josh Woods vs Tracy Williams - This was made completely out of nowhere.

Leyla Hirsch vs Trish Adora - There's a story here as Leyla beat Trish in a 6-man mixed tag but they didn't do anything to explain it or build it up.

AR Fox vs Shane Taylor - Another totally random match

Fight Without Honor - The Dark Order vs The Righteous - One of the few matches that was expected and has been clearly built up.

Pure Title - Katsuyori Shibata vs Daniel Garcia - Someone on one of the boards guessed they would maybe do this. Bravo to them, but yeah, they did little to build this when a couple of promos could have made this into something.

Trios Titles - Mogul Embassy vs Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi and Leon Ruffin - This is beyond completely and totally random. The three challengers have never teamed together before and Wato has never even wrestled for ROH.

TV Title - Samoa Joe vs Dalton Castle - At least it wasn't out of nowhere as they did a tournament for this title show. It likely will be a good one.

ROH Women's Title - Athena vs Willow Nightingale - It makes sense, but I don't get having Willow break Athena's streak on an AEW show and if Willow does win here, it will mean less because she already broke the streak. Again, they could have easily built this up but opted not to.

ROH Tag Titles - Lucha Bros vs Kingdom vs Best Friends vs Aussie Open - Totally random. Aussie Open hasn't been teaming together due to Mark Davis being injured. Best Friends only won one match together in ROH and that was in April.

ROH Title - Claudio Castagnoli vs Pac - Totally random. Pac has never even competed in ROH and is getting a shot. Eddie and Mark Briscoe were supposed to get this shot prior and neither one made much sense either ROH wise. The only interaction they have had is them arguing with each other at Blood and Guts the night before this show.

They do video packages on the ROH Title match and the ROH Tag Title match. 

The Kingdom vs The Workhorsemen vs The Bollywood Boyz vs Action Andretti and Darius Martin

Mike and JD trade chops. Darius helps AA into a headscissors on JD. Henry takes a kick to the back and a basement dropkick. JD slingshot swantons Darius then mocks the Bollywood Boyz' dance. Taven 2nd rope dropkicks Darius then Taven running knees Darius. Darius hits a ddt + reverse ddt combo on his opponents.

Henry high kicks Darius. Darius gets wept onto the 2nd buckle and JD cannonballs him there. Henry then top rope double stomps Darius as he's on the 2nd rope. Mike Bennett puts on a cowboy hat and forearms Henry from the ropes then JD uses the ropes to lariat him. AA then tope con hilos JD outside.

One of the Boyz hits a spinning heel kick. Mike takes a double superkick then Taven and the Workhorsemen do too. The Boyz dance and hit a Demolition decapitation off the top. AA handspring back elbows one of the Boyz then Taven springboard kicks AA. The Kingdom hit a proton pack on one of the Boyz and win it.

It was short, fast and pretty hectic with everyone trying to get things in. This was far from the match that it could have been.

Overall thoughts: Not a good edition of ROH. It ran about 1 hour and 20 minutes. There were a few pointless squashes. They made Utami look like a nobody by not even giving her an entrance. They did little to build the PPV matches for tomorrow and the crowd was dead silent for most of this.

The build to the ROH PPV tomorrow has truly been one of the worst PPV builds ever and half of the matches are totally random. As always with ROH, people come and go for no real reason and there continues to be two ROH Universes - the Universal Studios ROH and the road version of ROH. Things happen for no reason here and just when you think something is going left, it goes right instead. ROH's PPV is also running against AEW Rampage, which will further hurt it. I'm going to be shocked if anyone ends up buying this.