Less than three hours before Dynamite went live on November 1st, Prince Nana informed The Elite that the Mogul Embassy would be getting their contractually obligated rematch for the Six Man Tag Team titles that night. I hate that trope, but it’s a little less lazy than an ongoing open challenge. I also like that Nana framed the late notice as intentional so the champions would not have time to prepare.

ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championship
The Elite (Adam Page, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
AEW Dynamite #213 – Louisville, KY – 11.1.2023

The Elite have been champions since 9.22.2023 and this is their second defense. The champions are relentless in their attack on the challengers. They take down Kaun in their corner, but during the commercial break, Kaun dumps Matt to the floor where Liona mows him down with a running shoulder block. Matt escapes their grasp when he counters a powerbomb from Cage into a Frankensteiner and rolls under a double clothesline from Liona and Kaun. Page runs roughshod on the Gates of Agony, but is distracted by Shane Strickland and Prince Nana as he’s setting up Kaun for the Buckshot Lariat. Page chases them to the back, leaving the Bucks against the Embassy in a 3-on-2 situation. Nick tries his best to fight them off as Matt recovers, but ultimately is taken out with a deadlift superplex from Cage. Matt comes in and is taken out with a double spinebuster from the Gates of Agony. They toss Nick to Cage for a powerbomb. Cage knee strikes Nick into a double facebuster from the Gates of Agony for the pin at 7:51. This match was totally lifeless – the crowd didn’t give a hot fuck about any of the action. Not that anyone does or should care about these titles, but even the Page and Strickland angle in the middle received a tepid response at the best. Giving the titles right back to the Mogul Embassy also feels like a bad idea, as their run as champions had gone stale and they have only gotten more stale as an act since. *

ROH Women’s World Championship
Athena vs. Mercedes Martinez
ROH on HonorClub #36 – Uncasville, CT – 11.2.2023

Athena has been the champion since 12.10.2022 and this is her fifteenth defense. Martinez has been on a tear of late, going 5-0 since returning to ROH in September, and defeating Athena and Billie Starkz last week during a tornado tag team match. She’s also challenging for the title in her home state and has Diamante in her corner. No Billie in Athena’s corner for this match.

Athena surprises Martinez with a forearm smash to the face during the Code of Honor and chokes her with her boot. They each send one another back first into the barricades outside of the ring, and Martinez scores with a spinebuster back in the ring for two. Athena flips her way out of a spider suplex. She catches Martinez with a flying lungblower, and then dropkicks Athena in the ribs twice, with the second sending the challenger to the floor. Athena then sends Martinez crashing into the announcers table with an elbow suicida. Diamante’s distraction enables Martinez to blast Athena with a forearm smash. She places Athena onto a propped up chair for a double stomp, but Athena counters by suplexing Martinez off of the barricades surrounding the timekeeper’s table and onto the floor! They both make it back in the ring just before the twenty count. They’re both knocked out quickly, with Martinez belly-to-back suplexing Athena and Athena responding with a boot to the face. Diamante distracts Athena as she ascends the ropes, and Martinez pulls her down into the OG Drop for two! She looks for the Brass City Sleeper, which Athena evades by biting her hand. Martinez blocks a crossface, but when she pulls Athena up to her feet, Athena blasts her with a forearm smash. After snapping Martinez’s neck on the top rope, Athena delivers the O-Face, which Athena defeated Martinez with back in December to win the title. Well aware of this, Diamante distracts referee Mike Posey from making the count. Athena clobbers Diamante with a forearm, knocking her off of the apron, and then takes her out with the Wig Splitter on the floor. Athena intentionally rips the top turnbuckle off of the corner, which backfires as Martinez boots her into it! Martinez then drops the champion with a fisherwoman’s buster, and Athena incredibly kicks out of that as well. During a waistlock exchange, Athena sends Martinez onto the second rope. Behind the referee’s back, an unknown assailant clobbers Martinez with the ROH Women’s Title from the floor, and Athena puts her away with the Wig Splitter (a renamed Wrath of the Goddess) for the pin at 13:33. The assailant reveals themselves to be Billie Starkz and presents Athena with the title, seemingly to finally win her approval. While I like that for the story of their relationship, if I am supposed to be mad at Billie, that didn’t work, because I had already watched Diamante interfere three or four times to help Martinez. The wrestling was excellent, and they kept a much better pace than their match at Final Battle. Ultimately this was another really good title defense from Athena, and Martinez’s best match since losing the title nearly a year ago, it just needed a better ending. ***½

The week of October 29th – November 4th, Samoa Joe officially became the longest reigning ROH Television Champion, unseating Jay Lethal’s record. On the November 4th episode of Collision, Keith Lee, along with Dustin Rhodes and Mark Briscoe, defeated the WorkHorsemen and Kip Sabian in a six man tag team match. Keith Lee then confronted Samoa Joe backstage during an interview when Joe said he had defeated “everyone” during his TV title reign. Lee told Joe that he had not beaten him, and a title match was made for the following episode of Dynamite.

ROH World Television Championship
Samoa Joe vs. Keith Lee
AEW Dynamite #214 – Portland, OR – 11.8.2023

Joe has been champion since 4.13.2022 and this is his eighteenth defense. Joe rakes Lee’s eyes so he can take him down with a shoulder block, as Lee resisted the first one. Lee then shows him up with a running shoulder block of his own. Joe pummels Lee down in the corner, but Lee comes back with a running crossbody. The fans chant “slap that meat” as Lee takes the air of Joe’s lungs with shoulder blocks to the mid-section. Lee also reverses a suplex attempt from the champion. Joe weaves through an Irish whip and drives Lee’s left knee into the canvas. Joe does more damage to Lee’s knee until Lee cuts him off with a German suplex. Lee tries to lift up Joe, but Joe trips out his leg and pulls him into the Coquina Clutch. Lee’s arm drops three times, and referee Paul Turner stops the match at 11:25. This started off really well with both of them posturing for leverage. Things then slowed to a crawl when Joe half-assed worked over his knee, and then it just sort of ended after Lee barely had any semblance of a comeback. It’s one of those matches that would’ve been amazing when both guys were in their prime, but today it was just a solid TV match. **½

After the match, Joe calls himself the greatest Television Champion of all time. He then decides to vacate the title so he can pursue the AEW World Title. This is what happens when you book yourself into a corner. You want Joe to pursue one title while holding another, and you don’t want him to lose that title as it would weaken him en route to going for the title, and I get that. But imagine if Shane Taylor interfered on Lee’s behalf and they brought that title into their rivalry that (I think) is still happening. Joe would have an out, you have a title to make that feud more interesting, and all is well. Joe surrendering the title just weakens it, in my opinion, not that anybody cares about it anyways. That said, Tony Khan then announced that the Survival of the Fittest tournament would be resurrected to determine the new champion, and I do like that. I hate that Joe vacated the title, but I won’t deny that I like that method of crowning a champion.

ROH World Championship
Eddie Kingston vs. Angelico
ROH on HonorClub #37 – Wichita, KS – 11.9.2023

Eddie Kingston has been the ROH World Champion since 9.20.2023 and this is his fourth defense. Angelico is coming into this match on a 3-0 singles streak, and having won a four way match last week. Last month, when Eddie Kingston defeated Serpentico in a Proving Ground match, Angelico approached him after the match and made it known he was coming for his title. Serpentico is in Angelico’s corner. Angelico bothers Kingston’s leg with a kick to his hamstring, but the champion knocks down the challenger with rapid fire chops in the corner and follows up with a running facewash kick. Angelico uses a guillotine choke to counter an exploder suplex, adding a bodyscissors and a hammerlock before rolling the champion to the mat. Kingston gets his foot on the bottom rope to escape. Kingston then knees Angelico in the mid-section as he comes off of the ropes and throws repeated jabs to the same area when Angelico gets to his feet. Angelico inside armdrags Kington to the floor to escape a uranage and follows him out with a tope con hilo. Angelico then comes off of the apron with a diving clothesline. He maneuvers Kingston into a jackknife pin back in the ring for a two count, and then counters Kingston’s Doctor Bomb with a tornado clutch for another two count. Kingston kicks out of La Casita and then wildly swings a Backfist at Angelico, dazing the challenger for a two count. Angelico small packages Kingston from the apron and lands a high kick. Once again Kingston blasts him with a Backfist, but then follows up with a Northern Lights Bomb before pinning Angelico successfully at 10:06. This story was great, as Angelico had an answer any time Kingston grabbed hold of him for a suplex or throw, but Kingston’s strikes did him in. Kingston also had to surprise Angelico for each of his Backfists, and it was only after then that Kingston was able to keep grasp of Angelico and put him down with his finisher. It made for an engaging and unique match, and I come out of this hoping Angelico is amongst the finalists in the Survival of the Fittest match, and becomes more of a fixture in ROH’s Lucha matches. ***¼

After the Angelico match, we’re shown a promo from Dalton Castle backstage. He takes offense to Eddie Kingston muddying the ROH airwaves, thinking he’s floundering as the ROH World Champion. He thinks he’s fueling the fans with “too much ordinary.” He’s going to defeat Eddie for the title next week and give the fans a champion they can sink their teeth into.

ROH World Championship
Eddie Kingston vs. Dalton Castle
ROH on HonorClub #38 – Portland, OR – 11.16.2023

Eddie Kingston has been the ROH World Champion since 9.20.2023 and this is his fifth defense. Dalton has won his last four singles matches in ROH and is a former World champion himself. The Boys are in Castle’s corner. Castle’s left hand and wrist are taped up and Kingston is well aware of this, going for a top wrist lock early on and Castle rolling to the floor right away. He does intercept a clothesline from Kingston, smashing him with a back elbow after and a clothesline with his right arm. Castle also knees Kingston in the back of the neck and splashes on him twice. Even though Kingston gets his knees up to block a third splash, Castle knocks him down with another back elbow. Kingston halts Castle’s offensive stride with a double stomp to his ribs. Castle comes back with a reverse Sling Blade into a facebuster for two. Castle also dropkicks Kingston from a seated position on the top turnbuckle to the apron, and then knee strikes Kingston in the back of the head to the floor. Castle then comes off of the ring apron with a flying knee strike to Kingston. Kingston cuts him off with a clothesline back inside of the ring. He rapid fire chops Castle in the corner before giving him an exploder suplex. Castle surprises Kingston with an inside exploder suplex and then a German suplex for two. Kingston fights out of the Bang-A-Rang and backfists Castle for two. Two more backfists and a dragon suplex do the trick, getting Kingston the pin at 10:36. Any time you can add a former champion to the list of people you’ve defeated during your own tenure, it’s a positive. Castle gave Kingston a fight and the crowd was into it, even buying him possibly unseating the War King during the final stretch of the bout. We don’t get to see Castle have matches like this much anymore, so it’s a nice treat when we do. Kingston also dedicates the match to Brodie Lee, as Castle came up with Brodie in the upstate New York area. ***¼

ROH World Championship
Eddie Kingston vs. Jay Lethal
AEW Full Gear 2023 Zero Hour – Inglewood, CA – 11.19.2023

Eddie Kingston has been the ROH World Champion since 9.20.2023 and this is his sixth defense.Jeff Jarrett defeated Kingston in a Memphis Street Fight on the October 21st episode of AEW Collision to earn Lethal this title bout. Lethal is a former two time ROH World Champion as well. Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt are in Lethal’s corner, and ROH Board of Directors member Stokely Hathaway joins commentary for the bout. Kingston clotheslines Lethal to the floor after evading a figure four leg lock. Kingston decides not to follow him out when Dutt and Jeff attempt to bait him. Lethal drags Kingston to the floor after engaging in a chop battle with him and sends him face first into the ring post. Dutt strikes Kingston behind referee Mike Posey’s back when Lethal chokes him on the middle rope. Lethal belly-to-belly suplexes Kingston into the corner. Lethal continues to beat down Kingston, but makes an error when he decides to start throwing chops. This wakes up Kingston, who then catches Lethal coming off of the ropes with a high-angle inside exploder suplex. Lethal resists a Saito suplex and takes down Kingston with the Lethal Combination. Lethal blocks Kingston’s block of Hail to the King. Kingston also blocks his jackknife pin with a pin of his own. Lethal stomps Kingston and lands Hail to the King on the second attempt for two. Kingston blocks the Lethal Injection with a Backdrop Driver and then delivers a uranage suplex. Kingston shoves Dutt off of the apron into Jeff, and then meets Lethal with a clothesline at the exact same time. Karen and Satnam distract Mike Posey and Lethal reaches for Jarrett’s guitar. Ortiz pulls the guitar off of the apron and smashes it over Dutt’s head. An incensed Lethal goes for the Lethal Injection but is caught instead with a half-nelson suplex. The Backfist to the Future then gets Kingston the pin at 10:53. The wrestling here was solid, and left to their own devices these two had a rock solid match. They kept the hijinx from Lethal’s crew to a minimum which was appreciated, though the sudden introduction of Ortiz was odd and disrupted the flow of the match for me. This was totally solid, but nothing extraordinary. ***

AEW announced that a two-block round-robin tournament called the Continental Classic would introduce a new Continental Title into AEW. Eddie Kingston would be part of the tournament, and on this night, he would announce that his ROH World Title and NJPW STRONG Openweight Title would be on the line. He phrased it as if he was defending the titles in every match throughout the tournament, but as it turns out, the winner of the entire tournament will get all three titles (AEW Continental, ROH World, and NJPW STRONG Openweight) and defend them as a Triple Crown title of sorts. I have a lot of questions, but the answers should come in due time. It also means no ROH World Title match at Final Battle 2023, making it the first time since 2007 that Final Battle would not feature an ROH World Title match.

ROH World Tag Team Championship
MJF & Samoa Joe vs. The Gunns (Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn)
AEW Full Gear 2023 Zero Hour – Inglewood, CA – 11.19.2023

Adam Cole & MJF have been champions since 8.27.2023 and this is their third defense. The Gunns have not appeared in ROH since the TK acquisition, however, Austin was a finalist in the 2019 Top Prospect Tournament, which was ultimately won by Dak Draper. Joe is replacing the injured Adam Cole, with MJF agreeing to grant Joe an AEW World Title match for doing so if he is able to retain against Jay White in the main event. The Gunns of course are partners with Jay White in BULLET CLUB Gold, so they are also interested in wearing down MJF for that match. MJF arrogantly tells Joe he doesn’t need himself after fighting them off himself, but Joe responds with a double elbow suicida to the challengers. Austin grabs MJF’s foot as he’s arguing with Joe, and Colten blindsides him with a clothesline. The Gunns beat down MJF in their corner until he avoids corner attacks from both and rolls under a double clothesline. Joe takes them out, but MJF decides to tag himself in when Joe has Austin poised for a Muscle Buster. MJF wants to pull it off himself, and Colten cuts him off with a dropkick. Joe mercifully tags in when MJF is preparing for the Kangaroo Kick, and they decide to try stereo Muscle Busters. The Gunns escape and drop Joe with the 3:10 To Yuma. MJF pulls Colten off of Joe to break up their pin attempt, and MJF gets sent face first into the ring steps for his troubles. The Gunns have Joe in their crosshairs again when Adam Cole comes out on crutches. The distraction allows Joe to pull Coltten into the Coquina Clutch and earn the submission victory at 9:26. This match was much less annoying than I expected. They played it pretty straight, and Joe winning the match justifies MJF needing to uphold his promise to give Joe a World Title match. The Gunns did a good job as well, including a post-match beatdown that led to a stupid angle on the PPV. But in a vacuum, this was far more palatable than last month’s tag title match. **¾

ROH Pure Championship
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Trent Beretta
ROH on HonorClub #39 – Ontario, CA – 11.23.2023

Shibata has been champion since 3.31.2023 this is his seventh defense. Commentary infers Beretta’s victory over Peter Avalon last week led to this title match. 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. Overhanded slaps and chops to the face are permitted. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist results in a warning. The second use of a closed fist to the face results in 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 alumni Madison Rayne, Jimmy Jacobs, and Jerry Lynn, who is also on the ROH Board of Directors.

Beretta uses his first rope break to escape a short-arm scissor lock on his left arm when rolling up Shibata onto his shoulders does not work. Shibata then stomps on Beretta’s upturned left elbow and kicks at the arm in the corner. Beretta cuts off an attack from Shibata with a slingshot spear and then takes him down with a tornado DDT. Beretta then gets a two count with a Busaiku Knee. Beretta cuts off a corner hesitation dropkick with a forearm strike and jump-up knee strike, and then follows Shibata to the floor with a pescado. Shibata rolls through a top turnbuckle dropkick and nails a pump kick before taking a respite. He yakuza kicks Beretta before elbowing him down in the corner and connecting with the hesitation dropkick. He half-hatch suplexes Beretta into a pin, pushing down his weakened left shoulder, but Beretta still gets his other shoulder up. Shibata rolls through Beretta’s half-nelson suplex and puts him in an ankle lock, which Beretta uses his second rope break to escape. Shibata cuts him off with an STO and unwinds him into an open hand strike. Shibata follows up with a PK for the pin at 8:26. To my knowledge, Beretta has never competed in a Pure Rules match, so I think it’s logical for Shibata to have beaten him relatively quickly. While they had a coherent story with Shibata wearing down Beretta’s shoulder, the action just never got into third gear. It was an adequate yet not very exciting match. **½

ROH Pure Championship
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Wheeler Yuta
AEW Rampage #120 – Pittsburgh, PA – 11.25.2023

Shibata has been champion since 3.31.2023 this is his eighth defense. Yuta earned this match by defeating Lee Moriarty in a Pure Rules match on ROH TV two days prior. He is also the only former two time Pure Champion, and the individual Shibata defeated to win the title. 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. Overhanded slaps and chops to the face are permitted. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist results in a warning. The second use of a closed fist to the face results in 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 alumni and former champions Chistopher Daniels, Jimmy Jacobs, and Jerry Lynn, who is also on the ROH Board of Directors.

When Yuta drops down, Shibata stomps on his back and puts him in a Bow and Arrow stretch. He snaps back on Yuta’s legs a couple of times before reapplying the Bow and Arrow, which Yuta turns into a lateral press. Yuta uses his first rope break to escape a grapevine leg lock. Yuta rakes Shibata’s eyes in order to get him to drop his leg, and intentionally uses a closed fist. Yuta is officially warned, but the punch gave him the opening to rock Shibata with repeated forearm shots on the canvas. He twists up Shibata’s neck during the commercial break. Shibata is awakened by Yuta’s chops and forearm strikes in the corner, and ends up forearm striking Yuta to the opposite corner. He chops Yuta down to a seated position and delivers a hesitation dropkick. He rolls Yuta into an ankle lock and converts into an STF. Yuta has to use his second rope break to escape. He throws Shibata out of the ring to escape a sleeper hold and takes him out with a suicide dive. Shibata sends Yuta into the barricade and follows behind him with a yakuza kick. In the ring, Yuta ducks a PK and schoolboys Shibata for a two count. He shoves Shibata into the referee and low blows Shibata behind referee Mike Posey’s back! Yuta then DDT’s Shibata and traps him in a seatbelt pin to win the title at 12:29. To add insult to injury, Yuta kicks Shibata in the groin again instead of following the Code of Honor, and leaves him laying with another DDT. Hook, who had just teamed with Shibata three nights earlier on Dynamite, chases off Yuta before he can do any more damage. It came out after this match that Shibata dropped the title here because he had to return to Japan for the time being. I wish they had someone else who had been at a low simmer to elevate rather than giving the title right back to Yuta, and I say that as a fan of Yuta. It reminds me of how OC lost the AEW International Title after a long, successful reign…and then he just ended up getting it back and being in the same place he was before. Just think about how much more a win for a Lee Moriarty or Josh Woods or someone akin to the position they’re currently in to have benefitted from being the person to unseat Shibata. All that said, the match was good, and Yuta intentionally breaking the rules twice to get the title was a nice callback to his previous reign. I do like the idea of Yuta vs. Hook at Final Battle too. I just wish Shibata could’ve had a more fulfilling ending to his reign. ***

The Survival of the Fittest tournament began on the November 30th episode of ROH. I’ll be reviewing those matches in its own post next month. Additionally, Billie Starkz, who finally had enough of Athena’s abusive mentorship and attacked her the previous week, demanded from Tony Khan a match against Athena for the ROH Women’s Title. With a 9-0 singles record in ROH, Tony agreed, and the match was made official for Final Battle. A PPV match with a story behind it – what a concept.

An interesting month overall for the ROH title. The ROH World Title being subsumed into a Triple Crown title of sorts more or less feels like a good time to move forward from these monthly posts, but I guess we’ll see how December plays out overall. I’ll see you for Survival of the Fittest and Final Battle at the very least.