Chicago, IL – 6.22.2023

Commentary is provided by Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman.

The episode begins with a segment that took place backstage at Collision last Saturday. Tony Khan, Stokely Hathaway, and Jerry Lynn presented Samoa Joe with a brand new ROH World Television championship belt to celebrate his over one-year reign. Stokely yanks it out of Lynn’s hands and gives it to Tony to hand off to Joe, saying he got it for Tony. Joe says he is going to celebrate this occasion by smashing Punk’s face in the ring. We then see a clip of Joe and Punk having a stand-off during their six man tag team match from Collision. Punk & FTR would defeat Joe and BULLET CLUB Joe, with Punk pinning Robinson with the GTS. It would be neat if they had Punk vs. Joe wrestle in ROH again.

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

Maria Kanellis-Bennett is in the Kingdom’s corner. This is a threematch, with the Kingdom defeating the Infantry on Episode 1 and Episode 14. This match came about due to The Kingdom trying to curry favor with Stokely Hathaway by telling him that the Infantry had been bad mouthing him in the locker room. The Infantry clarified that it was actually the Kingdom who were badmouthing Stokely, and said they would take care of the Kingdom for him. Stokely warns them to watch out for Maria, which is apt since Maria played a role in the Infantry’s first loss to the Kingdom. Maria gets involved again, placing Taven’s foot on the bottom rope when Bravo has him pinned after a slingshot Ace Crusher. This also allowed for the match to pivot to the Kingdom dominating Bravo when the Infantry had previously controlled the match to that point. Bravo surprises Taven with a haymaker and kicks Bennett to the corner so he can tag in Dean, who runs roughshod over both Kingdom members on his own. Bennett kicked out both a sit-out Tiger Driver and an assisted uranage. Taven and Bennett got a nearfall of their own with a powerbomb/Zig Zag combo on Bravo. Things broke down when Taven saving Bennett from being pinned from Dean’s frog splash. Maria had the referee distracted as Taven passed a steel chair to Bennett. He used the chair and had Taven set up for Hail Mary. Trish Adora made her way out and chased off Maria. Bravo crotched Taven on the top to block the Hail Mary, and Dean jackknife pinned Bennett to get the pin at 7:21. Adora being paired with the Infantry is a great call. She not only fits the motif, but it gives her some direction as well. Her evening the odds and allowing the Infantry to get their first victory also shows the value she provides to the unit. This match was very good except for the ending, as it appeared someone’s timing was off and it resulted in stalling and awkwardness from everybody. Hopefully that is just a hiccup in the overall story. **¾

Pure Rules Match
Daniel Garcia vs. Rocky Romero

Garcia defeated ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata’s pupil The DKC last week, and then pinned Shibata himself on yesterday’s episode of Dynamite. He looks to continue the momentum by defeating another member of the New Japan roster. Garcia denies Romero a handshake at the bell.

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 the ROH Board of Directors Jerry Lynn & Stokely Hathaway, as well as producer Pat Buck.
*Any wrestler who interferes will have their contract terminated.

Garcia backs Romero to the ropes in a lock-up in order to make Romero lose a rope break early. Romero gets revenge by rolling Garcia into the Diablo Armbar, and Garcia uses his first rope break to escape. Garcia suplexes Romero back first into the buckles. Moments later, Romero puts Garcia in an Octopus Stretch. Garcia lunges to the ropes, using his second rope break to escape. Garcia counters a headscissors and brings Romero down into a STF. Romero crawls to the bottom rope, and although Garcia attempts to grab Romero’s wrist to stop him, Romero ends up using his second rope break. Garcia gets caught up in the crowd antagonizing him for being a wrestler instead of a sports entertainer, giving Romero some recovery time so that he can crack Garcia with a knee to the face when he comes charging. Romero double stomps Garcia on the back as he is hanging on the second rope. Garcia places his foot on the bottom rope, using his third and final rope break to break the pin. Romero attacks Garcia’s left arm before attempting a Shiranui. Garcia counters by victory rolling Romero into the Walls of Jericho, which results in Romero using his third and final rope break to escape. Garcia calls out Shibata’s name before putting Romero in a sleeper. Romero catches the subsequent PK attempt and gets Garcia back into an armbar. Garcia uses the ropes to roll backwards into the Dragon Tamer. Romero tries to crawl to the floor, but Garcia leans back to add more pressure and Romero taps out at 11:17. One of Shibata’s key strategies during his championship reign has been to drain his opponents rope breaks early. In this match Garcia showed that he is capable of escaping submissions and coming out victorious when his rope breaks are gone. That is a great way to truly show his formidability against the champion. I also like that what turned the match back in Romero’s favor is his refusal to embrace himself as a wrestler, which can be seen by some, like Shibata, as antithetical to the spirit of Pure wrestling. Romero blocking Shibata’s PK to me was akin to a wrestler being deeply insulted when another wrestler uses their own finisher against them, and that was another great moment. In summary, these two had a good match together, to nobody’s surprise. ***¼

Orange Cassidy saves Rocky Romero from a post-match beatdown from Garcia. They meet Sunday at Forbidden Door in a four-way for the AEW International Title.

ROH Women’s World Championship – Chicago Street Fight
Athena vs. Kiera Hogan

Athena has been the champion since 12.10.2022 and this is her eleventh defense. Athena defended the title against Hogan on Episode 14, but they kept fighting after the bell, and also got in fights on the two subsequent episodes of ROH television. Stokely made this match to settle the score. They wasted no time putting the weapons around ringside to use. The momentum would shift as they evaded a weapons attack, or surprised the opponent. Hogan splashed Athena through a table ringside, but when she tried a super Frankensteiner through a table, Athena ended up putting her through it with a powerbomb. Athena poured a bag of thumbtacks in the ring, but Hogan would end up back suplexing her onto them for a two count. Athena built a fourteen chair structure underneath one of the ring posts. Hogan seated herself on the ring post while choking Athena with her braided hair, which Athena escaped by digging her fingers into Hogan’s eyes. Realizing they were on the turnbuckle right by the chair structure, Athena suplexed Hogan onto it, and then rolled her back into the ring for the pin at 19:23. We’ve seen Athena do some crazy things in her title matches, like utilizing the entrance ramp and steel stamps, but they escalated the violence to a whole different level. The Chicago crowd was unruly and demanding (asking for tables after Hogan just landed ribs first on a ladder, for example), but they got fully behind the match as the violence escalated. The aforementioned stairs from her defense against Skye Blue were set up early and paid off later, and Chekhov’s Gun was utilized satisfactorily once again with the chair pile. I was disappointed in their first title match, and this was a major improvement. ***¾

Lexy Nair interviews Athena backstage. Athena’s angry that nobody from the locker room is there to applaud or congratulate her on her victory. She is done with Kiera Hogan, and says it’s time for the Women’s division to either step up, or step out. I am very curious what ROH has in mind for what’s next in Athena’s reign.

I’d recommend the last two matches, and the tag match if their videos with Stokely made you curious. Next week will be close to a full-show review, as ROH used my beloved New Japan against me to make me watch more of their show, those jerks.