On June 10th and 11th, ROH filmed two episodes of ROH on Honor Club dubbed “Global Wars Cincinatti”, featuring stars of CMLL and STARDOM. I have synthesized the two episodes into one review, covering all title matches that happened between the two cards, as well as a couple of matches that stood out to me of interest.

Commentary for both nights is provided by Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman.

ROH on HonorClub #171 – Cincinatti, OH – 6.18.2026

ROH World Television Championship
AR Fox vs. Action Andretti vs. Lio Rush

AR Fox has been champion since 5.14.2026 and this is his sixth defense. Andretti cost Rush his match against Fox at Supercard of Honor, feeling cast aside by his partner. Rush and Fox agreed to work against Andretti. To Andretti’s credit, he managed to take both of them out with a double Ace Crusher, and then successfully on the floor. He gave Fox a brainbuster on the stage, taking him out of the match for a few minutes. Fox surprised the both of them with a somersault senton off of the stage and to the floor upon recovering. Andretti then once again stood tall in the ring after they traded offense. Andretti’s hyper focus on punishing Rush gave the champion time to recover, and Fox utilized his own Ace Crushers before landing a Swan Dive on Andretti. Rush and Andretti ended up face to face after taking out Fox. Rush ended the exchange with the Come Up for two. An interjection from Fox to Rush on the top turnbuckle enabled Andretti to evade Rush’s frog splash and deliver a Falcon Arrow for two. As Fox is striking both opponents, Andretti gives him a low blow, which is legal in a three way. Andretti shotgun dropkicked Rush into the corner. Rush rolled away from a moonsault and speared Andretti when he landed on his feet. Rush landed the Come Up, but then held onto Andretti in a grounded cravate after until Fox broke up the hold. Rush took out Fox with the Come Up and landed a rolling enzuigiri on Andretti. The Black Thunder Bomb then gave Rush the pin on Andretti and the title at 14:53. Fox is visibly upset as Rush is presented with the title. This was unique in that the focus was on the challengers and not the champion. Andretti wanted to be champion, but was honed in on making sure he took out his aggression on Rush, which at times was not the optimal choice. With Rush pining Andretti, Andretti still has unfinished business, and Fox has a legitimate claim at a rematch since he was not pinned. If they ran this back, or some variation of this back at Death Before Dishonor, I would be in favor. ***½

ROH World Tag Team Championship
La Facción Ingobernable (Sammy Guevara & The Beast Mortos) vs. Los Villanos (El Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.)
CMLL Viernes Espectacular – Mexico City, Mexico – 6.12.2026

LFI have been champions since 12.5.2025 and this is their third defense. Los Villanos defeated LFI in a trios match last Friday and then challenged them to this title bout. Mortos cut off Jr. with a Pounce, leading to LFI wearing him down in their corner, and teasing the removal of his mask. Jr. escaped by side stepping a knee strike from Mortos, sending the big man to the floor. Jr. superkicked Guevara to the floor and followed with a tope con hilo, while Hijo landed a corkscrew somersault senton onto Mortos on the other side of the ring. In the ring, Jr. double stomped Mortos’ face onto Hijo’s knees before pulling Guevara back inside. Guevara’s time out request is denied, and he is press slammed onto Mortos on the floor. Mortos runs through Los Villanos with a double clothesline back inside of the ring, and Guevara Fosbury flops onto both of them afterwards. Jr. spikes Guevara on his head with a headscissors back inside of the ring. Mortos however then takes out Jr. with an Argentine Backbreaker and rolling clothesline. Hijo evades a backbreaker and tornado DDT’s Mortos. Mortos comes back with an avalanche press slam to Jr. Guevara wipes out Hijo with a Destroyer, but Jr. was able to kick out of Mortos’ pin on his own. Villanos came back with reverse Frankensteiners on both members on LFI, which scored them stereo nearfalls on the champs. They miss stereo moonsault planchase. Mortos sends Hijo to the floor and Guevara dives after him. Mortos then pins Jr. with a corkscrew moonsault at 14:53. This had a pretty rough start but improved greatly in the final few moments. It actually felt like a less good version of the Villanos NJPW STRONG title match from last Summer. I appreciate that they managed an ROH tag title defense while Mortos cannot travel to the U.S., but the match itself was a mixed bag. ***

AEW International Championship
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Lee Johnson

Takeshita has been champion since 5.24.2026 and this is his second defense. Not one person thought Johnson had a chance, but Johnson certainly wrestled like he did. He came off as Takeshita’s equal with both his poise and impactful offense. Johnson also countered the Raging Fire, Power Drive Knee, and Wheelbarrow Suplex, which added to his credibility as he had an answer for just about everything the champion threw at him. Takeshita managed to catch Johnson coming off the ropes with a Blue Thunder Bomb, and then successfully landed the Power Drive Knee for the pin at 9:30. A rock solid defense for Takeshita and a terrific showcase for Johnson. That said, it’s been multiple years Johnson has had stand out performances, and I am getting impatient to witness him get his due. ***

Místico, Mike Bailey & The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd) vs. The Lethal Twist (Blake Christian & Jay Lethal) & RPG VICE (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)

The inclusion of Místico is what mostly led me to deciding to check this out, but it just looked pretty great all around. Turbo Floyd has made a habit of wrestling with his Six Man Tag title around his waist, which I can’t imagine is comfortable or easy. He made a comeback for his team after Floyd found himself trapped in enemy territory for a few minutes. After Floyd and Lethal knocked each other with stereo clotheslines, Bailey and Beretta entered the fray. Bailey countered a powerbomb into a huracanrana for two, and then swept Beretta’s legs out before landing a running shooting star press. RPG took out Bailey with a diving shotgun dropkick and a sliding running knee, with Místico jumping in to make the save. Místico took out the Lethal Twist with double back handspring elbows and sent Romero into the barricades with a suicide dive. The Lethal Twist tried to steal the Outrunners Predator elbow, but before they could, the Outrunners pulled the Lethal Twist out of the ring and fought them backstage. This left just RPG Vice with Bailey and Místico. Bailey wiped out Beretta with a triangle moonsault on the floor, and then fed him to Místico for a double crossbody. Místico locked in La Mística on Romero. Bailey wiped out Beretta with a roundhouse kick and pinned him at 11:46. This was fun and good but not great. Just your garden variety lighthearted multiman match. ***

 

ROH Women’s World Championship
Athena vs. Syuri

Athena has been the champion since 12.10.2022 and this is her thirty-seventh defense. After Syuri successfully defended her IWGP Women’s Title against Athena at NJPW’s New Beginning USA event, she held up Athena’s ROH title indicating she wanted a shot, which she is finally getting tonight. Syuri had firm control over the champion until she placed Athena in the middle ropes so she could deliver multiple knee strikes to the back of her head. Athena took the opportunity to pull Syuri into a bodyslam onto the ring apron while she was laying across the middle rope, and then threw Syuri back first into the barricades twice. Syuri cuts off Athena with a Code Breaker. Athena rolls to the entrance ramp and ends up slamming Syuri on the ramp when she approaches. Back in the ring, Syuri blocks a right hand and DDT’s Athena, leading to a wheelbarrow bulldog. She superplexes Athena into a hammerlock, but Athena gets to the ropes when Syuri looks to convert a cross armbreaker into a Fujiwara armbar. When Athena picks up Syuri, looking like she is going to powerbomb Syuri to escape, Syuri purposefully slips over the top rope so they can go to the apron and she can keep the hold applied. Athena is able to powerbomb her to the floor, but Syuri gets the hold put back on. When Athena escapes again, Syuri uses the barricade to pull off a tornado DDT. Back in the ring, Athena ends a strike exchange with a Saito suplex. Syuri cracks Athena with a forearm and snaps off a German suplex. Athena ducks a kick and Tiger suplexes Syuri. Syuri scoops Athena into a modified Emerald Flowsion for two. Athena slides through Syuri’s legs and pumphandles the challenger into a tombstone piledriver. The O-Face finally puts Syuri away at 16:18. This was the most Athena had come off as an underdog in a long while, and she played the role well. It constantly felt like she was fighting from behind, and it took some creative positioning to get Syuri down and in place for her finisher. This was as good as the New Beginning USA match, and a good way to end the episode. ***½

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ROH on HonorClub #172 – Cincinatti, OH – 6.25.2026

AEW International Championship
Mark Davis vs. Ace Austin

Davis has been champion since 5.9.2026 and this is his third defense. Austin lost a Pure Title match at Supercard of Honor, and then a TV title match a few weeks later, so how exactly did he of all people earn another title opportunity? Commentary lies saying he is undefeated in singles action in ROH, when he lost to Lee Moriarty last month in the aforementioned Pure Rules title match. Austin also controlled a significant portion of the match. Eventually, Davis pinned him with a piledriver after both a lariat and Doctor Bomb at 9:18, but before that it was almost entirely Austin on offense. This was well performed but very oddly structured. **¼

Syuri vs. Billie Starkz

I thought it would be interesting to see if this had any connection at all to Syuri vs. Athena, as Starkz is Athena’s minion. Starkz obeyed the Code of Honor to start the match, but resorted to an eye poke when Syuri’s barrage of knees and forearms got to be too much. A cocky Starkz also slapped Syuri in the corner, which awoke something in Syuri. She unleashed a flurry of forearms and attacked Starkz’s shoulder. The anguish in Starkz’s eyes after she used the ropes to escape a cross armbreaker showed maybe a tinge of regret for taunting Syuri. That said, she did use the ropes to pull off a DDT on the entrance ramp. Starkz then tried a somersault senton on the stage and ended up crashing and burning.Starkz went back to Syuri’s eyes to fight off of her shoulders and deliver an Ushiogoroshi for two. Starkz missed another somersault senton, allowing Syuri the opportunity to roll her into a double arm capture body lock until Starkz tapped out at 10:36. It’s a good time watching Syuri pummel and stretch someone silly, and Starkz certainly did her part in bringing the ire out of her to make that pummeling even more enjoyable. They could use this win over Athena’s minion to justify a threematch between Syuri and Athena if they want to, or just leave it be. ***

Mikey Nicholls vs. Aaron Solo

This is of interest as it is Nicholls’ first televised ROH singles match. Cagematch says he had four dark singles matches in Spring/Summer of 2009, which is news to me. It was a pretty basic match. Nicholls took a cheap shot during the Code of Honor and exploited underhanded tactics like eye rakes and rope chokes to maintain control. Solo made a comeback reversing a suplex. Nicholls shot Solo to the ropes after a standing switch and scooped him up into a modified Blue Thunder Bomb for the pin at 4:25. Not much to this, just an excuse for them to promote Sabre Jr. vs. Omega at Forbidden Door. *½

ROH Women’s World Pure Championship
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Olympia

Deonna Purrazzo has been champion since 12.5.2025 and this is her sixth defense. The Pure Rules can be found here. Christopher Daniels, Chris Hero and Madison Rayne are the judges for this bout. Purrazzo rolled Olympia into a Fujiwara armbar to force her to use her first rope break. Purrazzo cut off Olympia in the corner with a back elbow, and then after a knee strike looked for another Fujiwara armbar. Olympia rolled Purrazzo onto her shoulders to escape Olympia impressively brought down Purrazzo from the top rope with a powerslam and then put her in a front chancery. Purrazzo had to use her first rope break to escape. Purrazzo fought her way off of Olympia’s shoulders and then brought her down in La Mistica. Olympia rolled Purrazzo onto her shoulders like earlier, but this time Purrazzo rolled back and then forward while holding onto the arm. Purrazzo added extra pressure until Olympia tapped out at 8:52. This was just starting to percolate when it ended. It was a very good defense as is, but you could tell that with more time it could have been even better. **¾

This was initially only going to be a one episode event and they decided to stretch it out to two. If you watch both episodes, you can tell that they spread the concept too thin, as the first episode had more star power and importance. If you trimmed the fat and condensed this into a supershow, it would have been a lot more interesting, but in the day and age of streaming services, the amount of content produced is paramount for these companies.