By Sam Robinson, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@altaine)
Ring of Honor on HonorClub (Episode 66)
Taped May 11, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia at Rogers Arena
Streamed May 30, 2024 on HonorClub
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary, and Bobby Cruise was the ring announcer…
*Unless otherwise noted, all matches started and ended with the Code of Honor handshake…
The show started with a rundown of matches…
1. ROH Women’s Champion Athena vs. Viva Van in a Proving Ground match. No televised entrance for Van. Athena backed Van into the corner and taunted her with a head pat. Athena called for a test of strength and tripped Van for the pinning predicament spot, but Van reversed into an arm bar, but Athena slid out of the ring and powerbombed Van on the floor. Back in the ring, Athena hit a gourdbuster and a superkick. Athena choked Van on the ropes and argued with the ref about the count. Athena paint brush the face of Van in the middle of the ring, and Van grabbed another cross arm breaker but Athena stacked her up for a two count. Athena charged at Van, but Van grabbed the rope and Athena dove out of the ring. When Athena came back up she was clearly hobbling and then blasted Van with a forearm for the pinfall.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena defeated Viva Van by pinfall in a Proving Ground match.
Robinson’s Ruminations: That was certainly a quick call on finishing the match, because Van clearly had plenty more to give. Thankfully Athena has established that forearm.
2. ROH World Tag Team Champions “The Undisputed Kingdom” Matt Taven and Mike Bennett vs. Nick Comoroto and Jacobi Watts in a Proving Ground Match. No televised entrance for Watts and Comoroto. Taven and Bennett jumped Comoroto as he was asking Watts for advice. The Kingdom hit him with a bunch of strikes but it only back him into the corner. Comoroto hit a headbutt on Taven to take over but then he quickly ate a dropkick off the middle rope, but it didn’t put Comoroto down.
Comoroto tried to tag Watts but he made him keep going. Comoroto skinned the cat, but stood right up into a disaster kick that finally put him down to a knee. Bennett backed Comoroto into the corner with forearms and strikes. Comoroto ran through a double clothesline attempt and then hit one of his own and hit a body slams on both of them. Comoroto tried to tag out again, but Watts still said to keep going. Comoroto turned around into a DVD and then Just the Tip and took the pinfall.
ROH World Tag Team Champions “The Undisputed Kingdom” Matt Taven and Mike Bennett defeated Nick Comoroto and Jacobi Watts by pinfall.
After the match, Watts yelled at Comoroto while Nick was trying to get the crowd into Watts…
Robinson’s Ruminations: That was a story told, but I’m not sure anyone is into it. The crowd was already behind everything Comoroto was doing.
3. Serpentico vs. Brady Roberts. Early on Serpentico hit a head scissors, some superkicks and a jumping flatliner for a two count. He got annoyed with the crowd he thought was booing him, but they were just chanting for “Two”. Brady dumped Serpentico over the ropes, and when Serpentico tried to flip back over, Brady was there with a backbreaker for a two count. Bardy hit a running high knee for another two count. Bardy hit some elbows and a northern lights suplex for a two count. Serpentico locked in a deathlock and then surfed on the back of Serpentico. Serpentico fought out and hit some running chops in the corner. Serpentico hit a head scissor and a superkick and a twisting bulldog. Serpentico went up top and hit a senton dive and then rolled up Roberts in the cradle for the pinfall.
Serpentico defeated Brady Roberts by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: That was unexpected. I expected some interference from The Baby Boys.
Backstage Lexi asked Marina Shafir “Why is she the problem”. “I said so, and I can’t stop”, said Shafir. Shafir said most people run, hide and lie about their problems. When you do that “it gets worse.”
Robinson’s Ruminations: Terrible promo. Stiff, awkward and badly rehearsed.
4. Red Velvet vs. Kel. No entrance for Kel. Velvet avoided a strike, and hit some leg kicks. Velvet hit a running heel lariat and a leg choke in the corner. Kel hit a big standing axe kick. Velvet slid out of a suplex attempt and hit a shoulder tackle. Velvet hit some knees to the back and then Stir it Up for the pinfall.
Red Velvet defeated Kel by pinfall.
After the match, Velvet danced until Athena’s music played. Velvet squared up to the entrance and got jumped by Billie Starkz. Billie set up to make Velvet kiss the title, but Velvet fought off for a second, but Billie put her down with a spin kick and then made her kiss the title…
Robinson’s Ruminations: Squash match, but the aftermath was interesting in that it’s going to set up a future match.
5. Zak Knight vs. Sebastian Wolfe. No entrance for Wolfe. Knight took forever to take off his multiple ring jackets. There were some high pitched cheers as the shirt came off. Finally got to the code of honor, but Knight used it to throw a headbutt and then mounted Wolfe for some punches. Wolfe tried to punch Knight to no avail and then Knight backed him into the corner with some big strikes. Knight hit a stalling vertical suplex for a two count. Wolfe slipped out of another suplex attempt and hit a kick only to get blasted with a lariat. Knight hit a running punch for the pinfall.
Zak Knight defeated Sebastian Wolfe by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: Yet another squash. The announcers did say at the end that 5-0 is when championship contracts start to happen.
6. Lee Johnson vs. Aaron Solo vs. Action Andretti in a three-way. Solo tried to use the code of honor to jump the faces, but he got dumped to ringside instead. Andretti and Johnson traded some nearfalls and then did some chain wrestling. Solo came into the ring and ate a double hip toss and repeated kicks from the faces until he was dumped back to ringside. Andretti hit a flying head scissors and a dropkick to put Johnson on the outside. Andretti set up for a dive, but was cut off by Solo. Solo hit some chops in the corner and a foot choke.
Solo hit a clothesline in the opposite corner, and tried again but Andretti was able to turn it into a sunset flip for a two count. Solo hit a dropkick DDT combo and got a two count of each man. Solo hit a spin kick on Johnson and an exploder suplex on Andretti. Solo hit a huge double stomp off the top onto Andretti for a two count. Johnson came back with some chops in the corner and Solo was dumped to ringside by a jumping enzuigiri. Johnson hit a huge flip dive onto Solo but then got blasted by an Arabian Press by Andreitt. Back in the ring Andretti hit a spinning disaster kick on Johnson for a two count. Andretti hit a handspring back elbow on both men, and then hit a standing moonsault on both and got a two count on both of them.
Andretti hit some kicks but Johnson caught the last one and flipped him out only to eat a superkick. The men countered a bunch until Andretti hit a shotgun dropkick and a split leg moonsault in the corner, but Solo tossed Andretti to ringside and tried to steal the pin only to get a two count. Andretti tried a springboard move, but Solo ducked and Andretti flew into a superkick from Johnson. Johnson hit Solo with the Big Shotty Drop for the pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: Fine little triple threat. Some classic triple threat action from three young up and comers.
7. “Premier Athletes” Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling, Josh Woods) vs. “The Bollywood Boyz” Harv and Gurv. Sterling did some heel mic work on the way to the ring. The Bollywood Boyz set up for their dance but the Athletes jumped them. Daivari tried a suplex but the Boyz were able to hit a double clothesline and a double elbow on both Athletes. The Boyz dumped both Athletes to ringside to big cheers from the hometown crowd. The Boyz set up for their dance again, only to get jumped again.
Daivari threw Harv hard into the buckle. Nese tagged in and started working on the leg of Harv. Daivari came in and continued the assault on the leg with elbow drops. Nese back in and he did the Flair rope jump on the leg spot. Nese blasted Harv with a big running back elbow for a two count. Daivari tried to superplex Harv but got hit with a tornado DDT instead. Gurv got the hot tag and hit atomic drops and spinning heel kicks on both Athletes.
Harv hit a springboard splash on the Athletes outside and then finally got to do their dance. Back in the ring Gurv hit an elbow drop from the top turnbuckle for a two count. Daivari pulled the leg of Harv off the top and Gurv fought off both Athletes even hitting Daivari with a superkick. Nese got the better of Gurv though, and hit a pump-handle driver for the pinfall.
“Premier Athletes” Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese defeated “The Bollywood Boyz” Harv and Gurv by pinfall.
After the match all four heels continued the beatdown until The Infantry came down to ringside with chairs and cleared the heels…
Robinson’s Ruminations: Fine formula tag match. The best reaction we’ve heard from anyone on this show, but a hometown crowd will do that for you.
A video package hyped Kyle Fletcher defending his ROH TV Championship against Dalton Castle on next week’s show…
8. “The Workhorsemen” JD Drake and Anthony Henry vs. “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin (w/Action Andretti). Henry and Darius traded some arm work as a feel out process until it heated up with arm drags and a few roll up nearfalls by Darius. Drake tagged in and traded chops with Darius. Dante got a blind tag and did a flip off the back of Drake and sent him to the floor with a flying head scissors. Henry ate a dropkick and fled to ringside too. Henry ticked Dante into Drake’s rebound punch.
Back in the ring, Henry hit a kick to the head of Dante for a one count. Drake hit his outside-in shoulder roll. Drake lit up Dante with some chops and then Workhorsemen hit a double team move that ended with a double stomp to the back of Dante. Dante flipped out of a suplex attempt and got the hot tag to Darius who came in with some kicks and hit Drake with his outside-in flatliner for a two count. Henry got dumped to ringside but Henry was ready for the high flying attempt and was able to turn it into a DDT on the floor on Dante.
In the ring, Drake low blowed Darius while Rick Knox was on the floor but only got a two count out of it. Dante fought off both Workhorsemen, even hitting a double tornado DDT on them. Dante got a tag and hit a punch of punches on Henry and then hit a Skywalker-rana on Drake. Dante dove onto Drake at ringside and then hit a springboard splash on Henry in the ring for a two count. Darius hit a satellite DDT on Drake to clear him from the ring. Dante hit a spin out Uranage move on Henry to get the pinfall.
“Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin defeated “The Workhorsemen” JD Drake and Anthony Henry by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: Nice TV tag match. I really like both teams and they delivered a good match in the main event slot. The overall show felt like it was stuck in neutral though. Lots of squash matches and bad promos that didn’t seem to go anywhere. The only thing of any real consequence was the injury to Athena that wasn’t even acknowledged by the broadcast team, so I really hope it was just a tweak that will heal up quickly. My weekly ROH audio reviews are available exclusively for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons).
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