Ring of Honor on HonorClub 8/10/2023 Episode #24
Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/ring-of-honor-on-honorclub-832023.html
Dalton Castle vs Slim J
Dalton had a long entrance with a lot more Boys than usual. This should be fun.
Dalton wants a handshake and J reluctantly does it. Dalton throws him down twice and J uses the ropes to headscissor him. J hits a dropkick then Dalton hits some nice punches. J does a wild corkscrew enzugiri off the ropes and dropkicks him in the knee. J then standing moonsaults him. J springboards and counters a bangarang attempt. J gets knocked down over the top rope then Dalton jumping knees him off of it.
Dalton hits two nice exploders then bangarang's him for the win.
It was short but fun as expected. J never has bad matches and this had no chance of being bad.Tony Nese and Mark Sterling are interviewed. Mark says they are not having the match vs Pat Buck tonight. Nese said he thought he was at a Jabba the Hut convention when he stepped off the plane. Nese says South Carolina doesn't need wrestling, they need an intervention. Mark says they will have group training instead of a match.
Iron Savages vs Lucky Ali and Brady Pierce
Bronson gets the edge early over Ali. Ali hits a double throat thrust then Bronson powerslams him. Jaked Jameson gives Bronson something to drink then Bronson hits a punch flurry on Ali. Boulder back body drops Ali.
Brady piefaces Boulder then hits him. Brady kicks him in the knee then Boulder hits a side slam + black hole slam combo on both opponents. Bronson topes Brady then is dropped off of Boulder's shoulders for a splash on Ali. Bronson gets the win.
It was just a squash and I didn't think Ali and Pierce really did much to try and get the Savages over.
The Infantry vs Zicky Dice and Movie Myk
Dice chokes Bravo then goes up and over in the corner with headscissors. Bravo flips out of a double backdrop and makes the hot tag. Dean hits back elbows and lariats then hits nice punches on Dice. Dice is lariated over the top then Dean ddt's Myk. Dean kips up then Myk takes a russian leg sweep + facekick combo called boot camp and The Infantry get the win.
The Infantry looked good here and are starting to progress some as a team. Myk didn't do bad for being a jobber here and Dice got little time in here.
Leyla Hirsch is interviewed. She said she has been legit in ROH and said she wants a shot at the ROH women's title. Maria Kanellis-Bennett then walks in. She said Leyla has proven to be legit and said she needs to build more confidence. Maria said maybe the more wins she gets, the more confident and legit she will get. Maria says she will be watching her match tonight.
Lee Moriarty vs Andrew Everett
AE = Andrew Everett
Lee side headlocks AE then shoulders him over. AE takes a basement dropkick then trips him into an enzugiri. AE dropkicks him then Lee stomps his shoulder into the mat. Lee beats him up between the ropes then does a bad bridging suplex. Lee stomps his wrist into the mat.
AE hits forearms and takes a knee to the gut. AE asai moonsaults him then does an enzugiri. AE falcon arrows him then lands hard on a missed top rope ssp. Lee his a nice lariat then does a buckingham drop. Lee puts him in a border city stretch and wins it.
It was just a squash here and AE got to do a few of his flips. Lee didn't look bad minus the botched suplex.
Lee teases shaking AE's hand after but moves his hand away.
Tony Nese vs Pat Buck
Mark Sterling said he told Nese to speak slowly due to being in South Carolina. Nese says it is the least important of the Carolina's. He says the healthiest choice in this town is a Waffle House and calls the people gluttons. We get a waffle house chant going and Nese said that's the most energy they have used in an entire month. Nese said obesity is an epidemic and he has found ground zero. He said they will do group training and the fans will be the fittest people in the trailer park. Nese says they will do group training. He ask the crowd to chant and then says to do jumping jacks. Some guy flexes in the front row. Nese says he sees the sloppiest jumping jacks in his entire life. Pat Buck then comes out.
They shake hands and another "Waffle House" chant breaks out. For those who don't know, it's a 24/7 diner type of restaurant in the US. It's cheap and sometimes it can be pretty good, though sometimes not. Buck pulls the leg of Nese then does push-up's. Nese then does push-up's. Buck goes to do more and Tony tries to kick him but misses. Pat hiptosses him then botches a monkey flip on him. We get a "we want waffles" chant then Nese nails Pat in the throat. Nese rbings Pat's neck down over the top and lariats him. Pat is thrown out and Sterling stomps him. Nese does crunches and kicks Pat during it.
Pat hits euros. Pat is supposed to move out of the way on an asai moonsault but instead rolls into it. Pat bangs Nese's head off the mat and says, "Waffle House, yeah!". Pat then hits a sky high. Pat is supposed to be sat on the top but falls over and Nese has to pull him back up. Pat rolls up Nese and is spin kicked in the face. Nese running knees him as someone says, "hit him with the waffle" and Nese wins it.
This wasn't good though the crowd was funny. Pat, despite being an AEW agent, botched multiple things here and the crowd wasn't given much of a reason to care.
The Workhorsemen are interviewed. Lexi said they have been coming up short. They agreed. JD says the yare world class and championship material. Prince Nana comes in with Toa and Kaun. Kaun says the yare not worthy. JD says he's worthy to catch these chops. Nana said they like them and said they can have a shot at the trios title if they win. Toa screams at JD and JD says he will knock his head off of his shoulders.
This wasn't good. The Workhorsemen have lost, but it didn't really need to be brought up as it makes them look bad. It also doesn't make sense to book a tag match that is a qualifier for a trios titles match. We also found out why Kaun and Toa don't talk - Kaun is extremely soft spoken and hard to hear.
Proving Ground Match - Athena vs Rachel Ellering
RE = Rachel Ellering
Rachel decided to criticize fans for chanting "we want tables" a few weeks ago and told those fans not to even come to shows if they are going to chant that.
Athena flips out of a wristlock then RE counters it with an armdrag. Athena back body drops her then RE hits a lariat, slam and senton. Athena takes a corner lariat then RE arm wringers her into the 2nd rope. Athena clubs her back over the middle rope and knees her in the face.
Athena slaps her and is rolled up. Athena facekicks her then misses a standing moonsault. RE hits some nice shots and Athena throws her out. Athena dropkicks her off the apron and bangs her head off the announcer's table. RE is thrown into the rails.
They go back in and RE gets some shots in then hits a black hole slam. Athena pulls her off the buckles and hits a shining wizard. Athena then does the o-face and wins it.
This was decent actually. Ellering was a good face and made a good comeback with some fire and solid offense.
The Workhorsemen get a trios title match if they win - The Gates of Agony vs The Workhorsemen
Kaun slams Henry and shoulders him over. Henry neck twists him then hits a dropkick. JD and Toa stare down and don't do much before Henry top rope dropkicks Toa. Toa shoulders Henry over and calls for JD. Kaun chops him and takes a spin kickto the gut. Henry is whipped into the ropes and TOa pulls him over them.
Kaun blindsides Jd with a back elbow then Toa running hip attacks Henry against the rails. Kaun slams Henry and Henry takes a 2v1 in the corner. Toa uranage backbreakers Henry for 2. Henry takes slams from both and Toa misses a senton. Toa slams and sentons Henry then Toa misses a corner splash.
Henry tags in JD. JD hits clotheslines on Kaun then slams him. JD sends Kaun into Toa's arms then neckbreakers Toa. JD boss man slams Kaun for 2. A spot gets messed up and Kaun is lariated over the top. JD topes his opponents through the ropes and Henry hits a top rope splash on Kaun for 2. JD spinebusers Kaun and catapults him into a Henry superkick.
Henry top rope double stomps Kaun while JD holds him. Nana gets Kaun's foot on the ropes. JD misses a top rope moonsault then takes a double pendulum slam on his body. Kaun picks up the win.
The idea was there but some of the execution wasn't good here. JD's hot tag portion was slow, JD overshot his tope and Henry botched a spot.
Cole Karter is interviewed. Cole says Maria was watching his match because he thinks she likes him. He said he thinks she has the hots for him. Maria then comes in and says, "that's cute". Maria says we will see what kind of position they are in tonight then Lexi and Cole smile. Maria's wearing some pink jacket here that is way too big and makes her look bad. This was a weird segment that made Cole look bad. Cole should have been a lot more cocky and confident about what he said and shouldn't have made himself look like some little shy kid.
Leyla Hirsch vs Angelica Risk
Risk has a wild purple and blonde hairstyle. Risk talks trash and they shake hands. Leyla doesn't let go and pulls her. Leyla throws her then Maria comes out to watch. Risk hits punches then is dropped with a punch. Risk cradles her off a suplex attempt then hits a nice lariat. Risk comes off the 2n rope and Leyla moves away from her crossbody. Leyla then yanks her into an armbar and wins it.
I though Risk did a good job here. She's real mouthy and that's something that I think can work along with her different look. I'd like to see her back. This was a squash otherwise and mostly existed to push Maria scouting Leyla.
Athena is interviewed. Lexi asks if she is the face of ROH and Athena says she is the TV, Trios and Women's champ. She said she is the gatekeeper and tells her to put some respect on her questions. She asks if Lexi really thinks this isn't her show. Athena then aggressively asks her if she agrees that this is her show. Athena said she didn't get to break the porcelain broad tonight so she's going to get more porcelain and grabs Lexi.
Cole Karter vs Rhett Titus
Cole jumping knees him and smiles at Maria, then hits a twisting ddt off the shoulder. Cole wins it and does a "call me" motion to Maria.
This was a short squash here. Both guys looked good though and they furthered whatever is going on with Maria and Cole.
Robyn Renegade vs Billie Starkz
Robyn wristlocks her and Billie rolls with it then taunts her. Robyn's sister gets on the apron and Billie takes a swing at her before hitting a rebound german on Robyn. Billie suplexes Robyn then Robyn's sister pushes Billie off the buckles. Robyn shotgun dropkicks her then running pump kicks her.
Robyn chokes Billie over the middle rope then does a camel clutch variation. Robyn teases pump kicking Billie but just slaps her. Billie slaps her back and spinning high kicks her. She then hits a gori bomb for 2. Robyn half nelson slams her on her front then is thrown out.
Billie topes both sisters then top rope swantons Robyn for the win.
It wasn't the prettiest thing ever but it was interesting and they did click.
Charlette Renegade spears and jumps Billie after then Robyn joins in. Athena's music hits and she comes down the ramp. Robyn goes after her and gets facekicked. Athena hits a nice forearm and Charlette then goes down. Athena grabs Billie by the hair but opts not to bang her head off the title. We'll have to see where this is going. Athena then says, "you're welcome" into the camera.
Josh Woods and Mark Sterling are interviewed. Mark says he agrees with Josh that things need to change. He said he hasn't gotten the success that he signed up for. Mark says they should stay together though. Woods says he's best by himself and is done with group training. He says he wants the Pure Title. Mark says he needs some challengers to get on that road. Mark then says they will get him Silas Young next week. Okay, nothing wrong with this and this is the type of week to week stuff you like to see.
ROH World TV Title Qualifier Tournament Final - Gravity vs Shane Taylor
Shane misses a punch and nails the mat. Grav flips over his back and does the slow motion spaceman walk. Grav springboard crossbodies and is caught with snake eyes off of it. Shane hits his blindside lariat and neck cranks him. Shane slams Grav then does Grav's slow motion spaceman walk to taunt him. Shane then misses a leg drop.
Grav sits on the middle rope and hits some shots then does a weird hurricanrana. Grav cradles Shane off the suplex attempt then Grav swings around him in a pin attempt. Grav takes a corner uranage from Shane. They go up top and Grav 2nd rope samoan drops him. Grav top rope splashes him but Shane gets his knees up. Shane then hits a package piledriver and wins it.
Grav's just not a very athletic or impressive guy. I've said that from the beginning and that's still true. Shane winning was the right call and will lead to the better matchup. The match was okay but not that good and that wasn't due to Shane.
Overall thoughts: I liked all of the interviews this week. The stuff that happens outside of the ring is more important that what happens inside the ring as that's how wrestlers build personalities and get people to care about them. The wrestlers also need the practice doing interviews and ROH is a great place to get that practice is.
We have some direction going forward with Woods competing in singles matches, Maria scouting people and we know Shane Taylor is getting a shot at Samoa Joe's TV title. However we still haven't seen Claudio Castagnoli since the PPV, MJF/Cole wanting to challenge for the ROH tag titles was not brought up here and Athena has no obvious challengers right now.
The show was watchable but a lot of the matches were shorter or just squashes.
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