Las Vegas, NV – 6.1.2023

Commentary is provided by Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman

The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) vs. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean)

Maria Kanellis-Bennett is in the Kingdom’s corner. This is a rematch from Episode 1 of ROH on HonorClub. The Infantry avoid double boots to the gut from the Kingdom during the Code of Honor and double team Taven in their corner. Taven shuts down Bravo with a Kick of the King to the floor where Bennett blasts him with the Boston Bayonet. Bravo takes a Death Valley Driver from Bennett, but ducks Taven’s Just The Tip and rolls to his corner to tag in Dean. Maria grabs Dean’s foot when he hits the ropes and Taven knocks him down with a spin kick. The Proton Pack gets Taven the pin on Dean at 3:46. Totally solid match, but it is a letdown to see the Kingdom seemingly make zero character progression after the Fight Without Honor. This tweet from Maria made me laugh, though.

Skye Blue vs. Trish Adora

Adora shuts down Blue with a backbreaker in the ropes. She works over Blue’s arm and stretches her out in the Cerebro Lock. When Blue escapes, she sends Adora to the ropes with a headscissors and gets a two count after a step-up knee strike and running boot to the side of the head. Adora counters a wheelbarrow takedown into a wheelbarrow suplex for two. Adora lifts up Blue in a vertical position after nailing her with a forearm blast. Blue slips off her shoulders and superkicks her twice and then takes her down with a cartwheel into a Code Blue for two. Adora looks for Lariat Tubman, but Blue counters with Sky Fall for the pin at 6:09. I am glad to see Adora back in ROH, and that Blue didn’t fall off after losing to Athena a few weeks ago. That cartwheel Code Blue is very reminiscent of something Lady Frost would do, and I wonder if that was intentional. **½

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. Stu Grayson & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)

Grayson and Righteous successfully teamed together last week, and now he is pitted against his (former?) teammates in the Dark Order tonight. Grayson does not hesitate to strike Uno, nor to bring Silver order to the corner for the Righteous to take down. Silver however quickly takes Vincent to his corner, and Reynolds helps take him down. A sneak attack from Grayson is thwarted, but it allows Vincent to shove Reynolds off of the apron into a Black Hole Slam from Dutch on the floor. Reynolds is beaten down in their corner until Reynolds armdrags his way out of a uranage from Grayson and pops him up into a knee strike. He tags Uno who unloads with shots on Dutch and Vincent. Uno gets two on Vincent with a brainbuster. Silver bicycle kicks Dutch in the back of the head and takes him down with a German suplex. Grayson breaks up Silver’s pin and tags in, along with Uno. Vincent blindsides Uno before he and Grayson can come into contact. Silver and Reynolds double team Grayson. Vincent takes out Silver with a side Russian leg sweep and Dutch wipes out both Reynolds and Silver on the outside with a tope con hilo. Uno gets face to face with Grayson once more, and Grayson finally convinces Uno to strike. He knocks Grayson down with a clothesline before unloading with forearm strikes in the corner. Vincent saves Grayson from Uno’s piledriver. Grayson bicycle kicks Uno in the back of the head. He shows a moment of hesitation before hitting Knightfall on Uno, and Vincent tags in so he can pin Uno at 9:12. Uno crawls towards Grayson, but Grayson walks away and exits with the Righteous. The story progression with Grayson and the Dark Order is interesting, and the match was quite good. It did feel a little early to put Uno and Stu in the ring together but what do I know? **¾

Dasha Gonzalez interviews ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe and NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. Joe admits Sabre is accomplished, but it was his superior skills that led them to victory. Sabre thinks the question of who is the superior TV champion is still unanswered, and Joe threatens to help make that answer clear. Sabre agrees they should find out that answer.

Diamante vs. Promise Braxton

Diamante picked up a win against Trish Adora last week, and Promise Braxton lost a Proving Ground Women’s Title match to Athena on that same episode. Braxton did indeed look promising, but Diamante submitted her to a half straightjacket choke at 3:57. Diamante vs. Athena would be pretty great.

Willie Mack vs. Brian Cage

Prince Nana is in Cage’s corner. So Cage is an ROH Six Man Tag Team champion, and Mack has just formed a tag team champion, so what sense is there in them wrestling a pointless singles match? Would you believe me if I told you these two wrestled for the XPW Title last Summer? This was pretty much just like all of Cage’s other singles matches he’s had over the past few months that went nowhere. Cage pins Mack with a rolling lariat at 6:44.

NJPW World Television Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Rocky Romero

Sabre has been champion since 1.4.2023 and this is his eighth defense. All Television title matches have a 15 minute time limit. Sabre defeated Romero in ROH back in 2019. When Sabre attempts a sleeper hold from the apron, Romero snaps his arm across the top rope and double stomps his shoulder from the top turnbuckle. Romero lands two usicide dives, but when he tries a third, Sabre catches him in a cravate, places him on the ring apron, and twists his neck using his feet. He does it a second time back in the ring, but Romero successfully weaves out of a cravate and vertical suplexes Sabre. Romero tries a Frankensteiner. Sabre grabs his ankle and puts him in an ankle lock, though Romero rewind kicks him away. Romero grabs an armbar in the ropes. Sabre locks Romero’s knees on the middle rope and wraps his legs around Romero’s neck. He then dropkicks Romero in the neck before throwing multiple uppercuts. Romero grows frustrated and snaps Sabre’s arm across his shoulder. Romero knee strikes Sabre under his chin and takes him down with a running shiranui for two. Sabre blocks a regular shiranui and brings Romero to the mat in a sleeper hold. Romero rolls him into a cradle, resulting in them trading pin attempts. Romero rolls him into the Diablo armbar. Sabre escapes and puts Romero in a calf slicer, which Romero looks to break with an armbar. When that doesn’t work, Sabre grabs a neck vice while keeping Romero’s leg locked, and Romero submits at 11:19. It’s no surprise that this was excellent. Romero wore down Sabre’s arm, Sabre wore down Romero’s neck, and Sabre just so happened to get Romero in the right position for the fruits of his labor to pay off first. The crowd was sparse by this point, but those in attendance were very much into the action, which I appreciated. Another really good defense for the bendy man. ***½

Darius Martin & Action Andretti vs. The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake)

Martin and Andretti’s tag team fluency helped them overrun the more seasoned tandem for a while. It took Henry surprising Martin from behind with a dropkick off of the apron into a forearm smash from Drake to halt that momentum. Martin stops a leapfrog from Henry with an atomic drop and sends him crashing into Drake. Andretti tags in and wipes out Drake with a suicide dive on the floor. He wipes out Drake with an Arabian Press, but ends up taking a German suplex from Henry. Henry shoulder kicks Andretti into a Complete Shot from Henry, with Martin breaking up the pin just in time. Andretti takes out Drake with a double rolling kick. He and Martin drop Henry with a tandem uranage for a pin at 5:39. I am genuinely impressed with just how competent of a team Martin and Andretti have become in a relatively short period. When Dante comes back, I hope Andretti stays aligned with them. The WorkHosemen are still great too. **¾

Kip Sabian & The Butcher & The Blade vs. Bryce Saturn, Jakob Austin Young & Shogun

Penelope Ford is in the corner of Sabian, Butcher, and Blade, who won the match in just 45 seconds, after a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo on Young . They probably only appeared on the show because they showed up to the building and Tony didn’t have anything better for them to do, so I don’t expect this to lead to anything. That said, I do really like them as a triumvirate.

Bandido, El Hijo del Vikingo & Komander vs. Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) & Jack Cartwheel

Luther is in the SAP’s corner. As random as this is, that Lucha trio is pretty awesome. This is Cartwheel’s ROH debut. He has had a handful of matches in GLEAT and AAA. He shows insane body control when going against Vikingo, but it doesn’t save him from being picked up in grapevine leg lock body stretch. Angelico and Serpentico shut down tandem dives from Banadido and Vikingo, and on the other side of the ring Cartwheel wipes out Komander with a Sasuke Special. Komander is isolated in their corner until Komander cartwheels his way into a Code Red on Cartwheel. It is insane this happened in two matches on the same card. Vikingo takes out Angelico with a flying Frankensteiner. He and Bandido toss Serpentico to the floor with him and then pull off triple dives on the SAP and Cartwheel. In the ring, Bandido pops Cartwheel up into a flying dropkick from Angelico. The SAP breaks up the pin and Serpentico places Komander on the top turnbuckle. Komander passes Serpentico to Bandido, and he press slams him onto Luther. Bandido then tope con hilo’s onto both Luther and Serpentico, and Komander tightrope walks across the ring and into a twisting splash onto Angelico. Komander spikes Cartwheel with a reverse Franknesteiner off of the middle turnbuckle and smashes him with double knees in the opposite corner. A 630 Splash then gets Vikingo the pin at 9:06. That was a load of fun, and if that Lucha triumvirate remained together, I would be a happy man. Kudos to Cartwheel for standing out amongst the pack as well. ***

ROH Pure Championship
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Alex Coughlin

Shibata has been champion since 3.31.2023 this is his second defense. Coughlin challenged Shibata to this match after they successfully defeated The WorkHorsemen as a team. As a warm up, Coughlin defeated Tracy Williams in a Pure Rules match, and defeated Shibata’s only other challenger during his title reign so far, Christopher Daniels, the prior weekend. Both of these happened in New Japan, meaning most people seeing this match have no idea those even occurred. The Pure Rules are as follows:
*The competitors are to obey the “Code of Honor”, shaking one another’s hand before and after the match.
*Each wrestler has 3 rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler has used all 3 of their rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
*Closed-fist punches to the face are not permitted. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist results in a warning, a second will be a disqualification.
*This match has a 60 minute time limit. If the match goes past the time limit, three judges will determine the outcome. The judges for this match are ROH alumnus and former champion Jerry Lynn & BJ Whitmer, and AEW Coach Madison Rayne.
*Any wrestler who interferes will be levied a hefty fine.

Coughlin uses his first rope break early on to escape a cross armbreaker. Coughlin blocks a second cross armbreaker, so Shibata insteads shifts into a triangle choke. Coughlin spends his second rope break to escape the hold quickly. Coughlin fights off a double handlebar stretch, so Shibata crawls his way into a modified Cobra Stretch and reapplies the double handlebar stretch. Coughlin slowly walks to the ropes and bites it, using his third and final rope break to escape the hold. Shibata kicks Coughlin in the ribs with disappointment, then delivers a hesitation dropkick after forearming Coughlin down into a seated position. Shibata locks Coughlins’ leg around his own right leg and forearm strikes him multiple times. Coughlin absorbs Shibata’s forearm shots, so Shibata grabs a hammerlock. Coughlin uses this to free his leg and deadlift Shibata up into a vertical suplex. He deadlifts Shibata into a gutwrench suplex for two. He does the same a second time, this time looking for a submission, but Shibata quickly counters back into the triangle choke. Coughlin lifts Shibata up into a powerbomb to break the hold. Shibata cracks Coughlin with a pair of running boots to the face, but Coughlin fires up and takes down his trainor with a shoulder tackle. Shibata slips out of a suplex and brings Coughlin to the mat in a sleeper hold. The PK then gets Shibata the pin at 8:54. This was a match where I appreciated the strategy of both competitors. Shibata knew that Coughlin’s overall strength was his biggest asset, and thus targeted his arms early on. Coughlin knew that using his rope breaks would conserve his strength, so it was only after he had exhausted them that he began using his strength to escape and counter out of holds. It worked well for him, and as a result, Shibata literally had to choke him out to be victorious. Shibata was disappointed Coughlin used his rope breaks so early, until he saw the strategy behind it, and that is exactly the kind of story in wrestling I dig. If only this happened in front of more people – then it would be something truly memorable. ***¼

ROH Women’s World Championship
Athena vs. Kiera Hogan

Athena has been the champion since 12.10.2022 and this is her tenth defense. Hogan got under Athena’s skin last week, leaving her laying after Athena’s Proving Ground match against Braxton. These actions, alongside Hogan’s victory over Vert Vixen, see her jump right into title contention. Athena’s game plan doesn’t change, blasting Hogan with a forearm smash right at the start. Hogan gets in a bit of offense before Athena throws Hogan’s right shoulder hard into the mat. She then slams Hogan shoulder first into the barricades. Back in the ring, she hammerlock suplexes Hogan and pushes down on her right shoulder while hooking her leg around Hogan’s neck. Hogan fights free and trips Athena into a low superkick. She follows up with a step-up FameAsser for two. Athena brings Hogan back to the mat with a Code Breaker to the shoulder and a Fujiwara armbar. Hogan rolls Athena onto her shoulders to break the hold. Hogan pulls off a flying headscissors and a hip attack in the corner. Hogan spikes her with a tornado DDT, but is slow to go for the cover, and it only gets her a two count. Hogan is too hurt to try a Saito suplex, so she attempts an O’Conner Roll. Athena counters mid roll and holds on Hogan’s trunks, pinning her at 7:54. This is a match that could’ve been a highlight during an Orlando TV taping where the crowd witnessed what built up to this match. Instead, it played out in front of a scant, tired crowd and it didn’t get a lot of time to develop. Hogan attacks Athena after the bell, so hopefully this isn’t over, because this has potential to be much more than it was. For what it was, though, it was still pretty good. **¾

I could’ve stuck to the three featured matches again (Sabre/Romero, Shibata/Coughlin, Athena/Hogan) but I am glad I got to see more from the Dark Order/Righteous storyline and there were some solid bouts. It still just feels like a content dump rather than something substantial.