October 24, 2024
San Jose, CA – SAP Center and Stockton, CA – Adventist Health Arena
Commentary – Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman
Results via Jeff Moss of F4WOnline.com
Quick Match Results
- Gates of Agony defeated The Infantry via Open The Gates (pinfall)
- Reyna Isis defeated Viva Van via Guillotine Leg Drop (pinfall)
- Rocky Romero defeated Brandon Cutler via Slice Bread #2 (pinfall)
- Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka defeated Bret Hankins & Jiah Jewell via Spinebuster and Neckbreaker combo (pinfall)
- ROH Final Battle 2022 – ROH Women’s World Championship – Athena defeated Mercedes Martinez (c) via O-Face (pinfall)
- ROH World Television Championship – Brian Cage (c) defeated Komander via F-10 (pinfall)
Video: ROH World Title Ladder war Match Recap Video
ROH on HonorClub Episode 87 hit the air with big news! “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho won a Ladder War against Mark Briscoe on Dynamite this past Wednesday (with a little help from one “Large William”, aka Big Bill) making him the new Ring of Honor World Champion! What this means for ROH as whole remains to be seen, but it’s big big news!
Gates of Agony (Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun) vs. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Capt. Shawn Dean)
With ROH TV Champion Brian Cage occupied elsewhere, his Cage of Agony partners reverted back to “Gates” to take on the Infantry. Dean and Bravo came in off of losses to STP and The Outrunners, so they were looking to right the ship here. Kaun and Liona for their part have to go back to August for their last win as a duo. Both teams had things to prove and it showed.
Kaun and Bravo started things off and it was an immediate case of strength vs agility. Kaun was twice as wide as the lighter Bravo, but the speed factor kept the two pretty even in the early going. Liona tagged in and flattened Bravo who desperately looked for a tag to Dean. Once he got it, Dean was all over Liona… right up until he ran face-first into a superkick.
From there the Gates took control. A series of sentons crushed Dean in the middle of the ring. Dean caused a distraction, allowing Bravo to throw Kaun into the barricade on the outside, softening him up. The Infantry isolated him from Liona and began raining down chops in the corner.
Off of a hot tag, Liona jumped in and cleaned house. At one point he had BOTH members of the Infantry on his shoulders for big powerslams. A miscommunication caused Liona to knock Kaun off the ring apron and the Infantry tried a double team, but Liona was too much for them. Kaun got back in and put Dean down for the count.
Winner: Gates of Agony via Pinfall.
Reyna Isis vs. Viva Van
Poor, poor Viva Van. Van debuted in ROH on May 27th, 2022. She has had matches against Athena, Harley Cameron, Red Velvet and just last week, Yuka Sakazaki. All losses. In fact, Van has yet to win a match in ROH. Isis was actually in the same boat, but had an excuse as this was her ROH Debut. No matter what though, one woman was going to erase the “0” from the win column in her stats with this match.
The two were pretty evenly matched in size and power. Holds and strikes were exchanged during a prolonged feeling-out process until Van ate a big knee, causing my six year old to exclaim “Oh, Viva Van!”
Isis hung Van up in a tree of woe and driver her knees into her midsection. Van tried to get back into it with a spinning heel kick, but couldn’t land anything that kept Isis down for any length of time. Van changed her tactics and tried a reverse surfboard, but Isis wouldn’t quit.
Isis caught Van with a high crossbody followed by dual headbutts to regain momentum. A big guillotine leg drop finished off Van, who’s still looking for her first win in ROH.
Winner: Leyla Hirsch via Pinfall.
Video: Leyla Hirsch
.@LegitLeyla speaks on her injury after Death Before Dishonor as she sets her sights on #ROH gold!
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) October 24, 2024
Watch #ROH TV on #HonorClub at https://t.co/8dcdtxr3sN pic.twitter.com/c0gzEqxe8m
Backstage Leyla Hirsch cut a promo, revealing that she has been recovering from a shoulder injury. She’s coming back though, so everyone get ready because she wants championships.
Rocky Romero vs. Brandon Cutler
Romero was taking a break from his Conglomeration duties this week after his group beat The Elite on Dynamite in a trios match on the Oct 16th edition of Dynamite. Cutler on the other hand has been racking up the losses since getting a win over Evil Uno, back in May. Preston Vance, Colt Cabana, Katsuyori Shibata and even Jacoby Watts have managed to get Cutler’s shoulders to the mat.
Cutler jawed off the top, begging Romero to shake his hand. He did that, and then crushed him with a lariat. Cutler was able to keep up with Romero, but Romero was clearly in control. He had a counter and an offensive move for everything Cutler had in his bag of tricks.
Cutler managed to worm his way into control of the match with a sleeper hold. Romero fought out of it though, but Cutler missed a move from the top ropes and tried to bail to the outside. Romero followed with a big splash and threw him back into the ring.
Cutler tried to use the ropes to steal a pin, but Dunkston pointed it out to the Ref. Cutler began yelling at Dunkston, allowing Romero an opening to hit a flipping DDT and get the 1-2-3 for the win.
Winner: Rocky Romero via Pinfall.
Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka vs. Bret Hankins & Jiah Jewell
Johnson and Nduka have been pals for a long time, but this will mark the first time they have teamed up in ROH. Questionable team names aside, this promised to be a barn burner, showing off Johnson’s technical skills and Nduka’s sheer power. Nduka got a huge pop from the crowd as the two headed to the ring. Jewell and Hankins, who were either two local wrestlers, or part of the ring crew, looked comically small and thin in the ring with LEEJ.
Surprising no one, Johnson started off with Hankins and wrestled cicles around him. Nduka then tagged in to face Jewell and he hit him so hard his hairline receded. This wasn’t a David vs Goliath story it was more like a small twig vs Goliath.
Jewell and Hankins actually managed to isolate Johnson in the corner and get a little bit of offense in. It didn’t last long though as a hot tag to Nduka resulted in the spontaneous explosion of both competitors. Not really, but he hit them so hard both appeared to do 450 spins in midair. Johnson and Nduka hit a spinebuster/neckbreaker combo on what was left of Jewell and got the pin.
Winner: Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka via Pinfall.
ROH Final Battle 2022
ROH Women’s World Championship
Athena vs. Mercedes Martinez (c)
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) October 24, 2024
Watch the match when this record-breaking reign began!#ROHFinalBattle | December 10th 2022@RealMMartinez (c) vs. @AthenaPalmer_FG
Subscribe today at https://t.co/8dcdtxr3sN pic.twitter.com/iUZcEHvdcZ
ROH showed a Classic Match: Athena vs then-ROH Women’s Champion Mercedes Martinez. The match was from December 10, 2022 at that year’s Final Battle PPV event. Obviously, Athena came out the winner and began her 684+ day reign as Champion and it was a really fun match!
Winner: Athena via Pinfall to become the new ROH Women’s World Champion.
In-Ring: Billie Starkz, Athena, Lexy Nair, Athena
Celebration SPOILED!
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) October 25, 2024
📺 Watch ROH TV on #HonorClub at https://t.co/8dcdtxqvDf@abadon_AEW | @AthenaPalmer_FG pic.twitter.com/InguuCMBvo
Back in September, Athena broke Samoa Joe’s record of 684 days (as of this writing) as champion in Ring of Honor. Since then, Minions Lexy Nair and Billie Starkz have been planning a massive celebration for the Forever Champion (that Athena really wanted Ja Rule to be part of for some reason). Unfortunately, work kept getting in the way with matches, Starkz’ tumbling down the Minion Rankings and Abadon stalking Athena with her eyes on the title.
Back in the here and now though, Billie Starkz had used the time to set up a ton of balloons, a store-bought cake (that per Wrestling Law, must end up on someone’s face) and decorations in the ring. Athena came down to her celebration still locked to Lexy Nair for “her protection” from Abadon. The MIT’s in the ring broke into a dance party and Athena called out that it was a pretty weak party. Where was Ja Rule?!? Athena sent all minions except Starkz and Nair to the back in disgust.
Athena lamented that she doesn’t get the respect she deserves, even from her own mother who shose to have “major surgery” instead of coming to her daughter’s Celebration. Athena clamied she was under-appreciated and deserved more than the crummy party. Athena blamed Starkz for all of it, saying she was jealous. Athena got in Starkz face and she grabbed the mic from her.
Starkz pushed Athena over and proclaimed “I’m done!” before leaving the ring and the party! Nair then tried to get the party back on track by unveiling a modified ROH Women’s Title with Athena’s picture on it. AND IT SPINS!
Suddenly, Abadon’s music hit and Nair dove out of the ring. Athena got ready to be jumped, but… nothing happened. The music faded out, and when Athena went to pull Nair back into the ring via chain, it was ABADON who appeared in the other cuff!
Abadon beat up the champion with a Black Dahlia, then smashed the cake on Athena’s face, fulfilling the prophecy and leaving her laying in the ring.
Video: Mark Briscoe
A video aired featuring Mark Briscoe’s upset reaction backstage over losing the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho in a Ladder War match on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show.
ROH World Television Championship
Komander vs. Brian Cage (c)
I’m beginning to think that Cage just doesn’t like Luchadores. Or at least someone on the booking team doesn’t like luchadores, because they keep getting sent to be thrown at the ground repeatedly by Cage. In this match, Cage’s ROH TV Title was on the line though, and Komander, who picked up a win over Willie Mack last week, would love to add that title to his list of accomplishments.
Cage arrived in a rather subdued manner, in plain black trunks. He wasn’t wasting time though, throwing Komander into the corner and drilling him with some big elbows. Kmander tried to battle back but every time he got a little momentum, Gage threw him at the ground a bunch.
Cage began showing off, as he does, catching Komander mid air and curling him like dumbells (or he was cuddling him. It was hard to tell). Cage then picked up Komander and threw him out of the ring like a sack of potatoes, causing my six year old to exclaim “Oh no, Brian Cage!!”
Cage then reversed his own move by picking up Komander and throwing him back INTO the ring. Taking his time and doing a little posing on the way back into the ring, Cage accidentally gave Komander an opening for some spinning kicks. That enraged, uh, Cage, and he got sloppy letting Komander land a 360 hurricanrana.
Komander had one last burst of energy, hitting a 450 splash from the top rope, but Cage kicked out at one. Komander tried moonsault instead, but Cage caught him and powerbombed him a half dozen times, ending with a modified F-5 (aka, he threw him at the ground a lot). Komander was done after that, and Cage got the pin and retained the title.
Winner: Brian Cage via Pinfall to retain the ROH World Television Championship.