By Sam Robinson, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@altaine)
Ring of Honor on HonorClub (Episode 93)
Taped November 14, 2024 in Albany, New York at MVP Arena
Streamed December 5, 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 the matches…
A backstage promo from the “Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake. They harassed some extras eating catering. They smashed some cake into the face of a jobber and told him to think before he acted next time…
1. Alex Reynolds (w/Evil Uno) vs. Katsuyori Shibata. Reynolds had his ribs taped and was selling them as he made his entrance. The men did some amateur wrestling, and Reynolds really seemed to be trying to work something, but Shibata rode with him and held him at every turn. Shibata used a knuckle lock to grab a double wrist lock and lock it into a cross arm breaker, but Reynolds rolled around to get a rope break. Shibata put Reynolds in the corner and forearmed him to the mat.
Uno grabbed a leg and the sound spiked hard with some sweetened boos. Reynolds hit a weird neckbreaker move and got a two count. Reynolds hit a strike to the ear and a DDT to get a two count. Reynolds grabbed a chin lock, then hit a knee drop and got a one count nearfall. Reynolds threw some chops, but Shibata just ate them and asked for more. Shibata returned fire and we got even more sweetened sound. Shibata hit his corner dropkick and a half hatch suplex for a two count. Reynolds grabbed a cobra clutch but Shibata used the injured ribs to get out, hit a DVD and then locked in an Octopus hold for the tap out…
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Alex Reynolds by submission.
Robinson’s Ruminations: A fine TV match, nothing special, but the sweetened sound was off putting and jarring.
Chris Jericho narrated video package about ROH and the Hammerstein Ballroom. The video ending withJericho saying “the best of ROH and the Ballroom has yet to happen”…
2. JD Drake and Beef vs. “Waves & Curls” Traveon Jordan and Jaylan Brandon. Jordan used a waist lock to make Beef dance for a moment and Beef blasted him with some shoulder blocks. Beef did a cartwheel and hit a dropkick. Drake tagged in and threw Jordan into a hip attack from Beef. Drake chopped Jordan down but Jordan was able to tag out. Brandon got hit with some chops and a big boot. Drake hit a spinebuster and then launched Beef with a rocket launcher for the pinfall.
JD Drake and Beef defeated “Waves & Curls” Traveon Jordan and Jaylan Brandon by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: The story had to reset and we’re still on the road to this second cousin story concluding. I can’t wait for the finish because squash matches like this are pretty boring.
The Outrunners’ fanny pack commercial aired…
A backstage segment aired with Jeff Jarrett and his goof troop promoting the Jay Lethal action figure. Lethal did his Macho Man impression. After everyone else left, Lethal and Dutt were talking as QT Marshall came in and knocked the action figure and talked up his PPV match. QT said he was getting an action figure too, and said he was on top of the wrestling world. QT asked for a match with Lethal. Lethal said he had his sights set on bigger fish…
3. Trish Adora vs. Rachel Ellering. Shane Taylor Promotions made the entrance with Trish but went back to the back from the ramp. The women traded some arm work to test each other. Trish threw a forearm and the women traded shoulder tackle attempts until Ellering hit a flying tackle. Trish hit an arm wringer and kicked the arm of Ellering. Trish hit some chops and then locked in an arm bow and arrow hold and transitioned into a leg drop on the arm.
Trish stomped on the arms of Ellering. Ellering blocked some suplex attempts, but Trish hit her with forearms until Ellering reversed the suplex and hit her own. Ellering hit some clotheslines and a standing sling blade. Ellering hit her Swish splash for a two count. After some reversals Ellering hit an uppercut for a two count. Trish hit her kneeling German suplex and then another standing German suplex. Ellering blocked Lariat Tubman, but Trish ran it right back for the pinfall.
Trish Adora defeated Rachel Ellering by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: Trish is still showing a lot of face mannerisms she’s going to have to knock off, but the after match celebration with STP was pretty good. Good match, and I’d love to see more of these two powerhouse women.
We were graced with “TV Time” with The Learning Tree. Chris Jericho and Bryan Keith made their entrance and the ring was set up with the Jeritron and some trees from a second grade play. Jericho put his hand up to wave and was greeted with silence. Jericho “accidentally” called the town the wrong name. Jericho said he sent Big Bill to Nepal to study. Keith told us to respect Jericho, who said he’s the king of NYC and wanted to give people something special. Jericho name dropped Jay Briscoe yet again. Jericho said he’s going to face someone from NYC, but he didn’t know exactly who that was, and then ran down a bunch of NYC celebrities.
Matt Cardona made his entrance and Jericho looked a little scared. “Holy Shit” chanted the crowd for a hot minute. Cardona went face to face with Jericho in the ring. “Alwayz Ready” chanted the crowd. Jericho almost called him Zack Ryder, but Cardona grabbed his mic and told him to learn the name Cardona because he’s going to be his challenger. Cardona knocked the cowboy hat off of Jericho’s head and his music played while Jericho stood there looking annoyed…
Robinson’s Ruminations: While I’m sure the match will be ok, this segment was just kind of flat. That was probably the best reaction for anyone on ROH we’ve gotten in a while though, but that’s just a by-product of the super long tapings and burnt out crowds. Jericho used to be my favorite wrestler, but he just seemed to be a shell of his former self during this segment. Cardona looked good and had triple the aura of Jericho here.
The Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno delivered a promo and said that there is no shame in losing to Shibata. John Silver came in and told them he stole the Grizzled Young Veteran’s scarves…
4. Griff Garrison and Preston Vance vs. “Gates of Agony” Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun. Vance and Garrison jumped the bell and knocked Liona to the floor. Vance hit Kaun with a stalling suplex. Kaun was able to hit a hot shot but it didn’t slow Vance down too much. Vance put Kaun in his corner and he and Garrison stomped Kaun in the corner. Garrison hit a big boot for a two count. Vance hit a scoop slam and an elbow drop while taunting someone in the crowd. Garrison hit a float over front suplex for a two count on Kaun.
Kaun flipped out of a suplex and got a boot up on a charging Garrison. Kaun used the back of Vance to hit a jumping shotgun dropkick on Garrison. Liona got the hot tag and he hit a bunch of clotheslines. Liona caught a leaping Garrison and threw him behind him. Liona hit a double shoulder tackle and hit a huge samoan drop for a two count on Garrison. Vance pulled Liona out of the ring and ran him into the stairs. Garrison hit a torture rack bomb on Kaun for a two count. Garrison hit a discus forearm but Liona cut off Vance and Kaun recovered and hit Garrison with a pedigree for the pinfall.
“Gates of Agony” Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun defeated Preston Vance and Griff Garrison by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: I guess the shine is off of Gates as a monster tag team, which is probably better for them in the long run. I’m a little nonplussed about Garrison and Vance, a new team, being fed to Gates, but at least they looked good in defeat here.
Backstage, Lexi asked Rachael Ellering about her tough loss. Ellering told Harley Cameron join her. Cameron said she was rooting for Ellering tonight and pulled some trophies out of her clothes. Cameron showed Ellering a tiny dog trophy but didn’t give it to her. All three women hugged. Ellering said Cameron might not be “such a bad kid”…
Robinson’s Ruminations: Silly Harley Cameron continues. I guess they’re going to be a tag team?
5. Lady Frost vs. Billie Starkz. We got an announcement of the four way match to qualify for WrestleDream that’s going to happen next week as Billie made her entrance. It’ll be Athena, Billie Starkz, Red Velvet and Leyla Hirsch. Whoever did the smoke machine for Frost’s entrance used way too much and this match was wrestled in smoke.
The women did some chain wrestling that ended with Frost escaping a choke and getting a one count nearfall. Frost hit some lucha offense and hit a flying head scissors. Frost went up top and tried hitting a huracanrana into the corner but Billie had no idea what to do and it looked like a mess, and Frost was upset. Billie dropped Frost onto the ropes and then blasted her with a nasty looking hook kick. Frost tried a crucifix rollup but there was more miscommunication and it was an ugly two count. Billie popped up and hit another nasty looking hook kick. Billie got a rollup and the pinfall.
Billie Starkz defeated Lady Frost by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: The match cut away real quick at the end there. That was ugly. It came off like Billie hasn’t studied the lucha style yet. She was annoyed, Frost was annoyed. Lots of botches, lots of kicks that looked stiff. No one came out of that looking good.
A promo about the ROH Tag Team Championship match made The Righteous vs Sons of Texas in a Bull Rope match official. A rundown of more matches from the Final Battle Card. The Cardona and Jericho match was announced as the main event…
Robinson’s Ruminations: I really hope that the Jericho match isn’t really the main event. I really want it to be Athena’s match. She deserves to main event PPVs for anchoring this sad show for so long.
Throwback Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Naomichi Marufuji from Final Battle on Dec 27, 2008 in New York at the Hammerstein Ballroom…
We went backstage and Matt Taven told Lee Moriarty they keep missing each other. Taven said he has no patience and said his Pure Rules Title match is going to be next week on Honor Club.
6. “Shane Taylor Promotions” Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo, and Shawn Dean (w/Trish Adora) vs. Action Andretti and “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin (w/Leila Grey). Andretti made his entrance in sunglasses and looked slightly annoyed by the high energy of Top Flight. The announcers told us we saw a throwback match with Matt Taven but that wasn’t true. Andretti did a lucha rope walking arm drag, but it didn’t look nearly as smooth as normal. Darius came in, hit a dropkick and got a two count on Dean. Darius hit dropkicks on Dean and Bravo. Dante got a blind tag and hit a dropkick of his own on Bravo.
Top Flight hit a double backbreaker on Bravo for a one count. Bravo blocked the ref and STP all hit moves on Andretti on the apron including a leg drop from Taylor that got a two count. Andretti tried to fight out of the corner with chops on Taylor to no avail, and he ate a knee lift to the jaw for it. STP hit some quick tags on Andretti in the corner and did some splashes in the corner. Dean got a one count nearfall for all that work. Andretti got some wind, and tried to fight out of the corner and eventually hit a handspring back elbow for a double down. Hot tag to Darius who hit enzuigiris and running back elbows. Taylor threw Darius out of the ring. Top Flight tried to fly but Infantry cut them off and hit a double team throw for a two count on Darius. Infantry tried Boot Camp but were cut off with superkicks. Andretti flew onto Taylor on the outside. Dante hit a sky walking splash on Dean for the pinfall…
Action Andretti and “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin defeated “STP” Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo, and Shawn Dean by pinfall.
Robinson’s Ruminations: A fun, action packed main event. These men work well together, so there was never a question about how good the match would be. I’m sad to see STP lose here, I feel like they really need a good dominant couple of wins to establish themselves. The show kind of meandered by. There was some build for Final Battle, but a lot of that was in video package form.
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