New Ring of Honor TV Champion Atlantis Jr. will put his newly-won title on the line in the headliner for tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
The CMLL star recently defeated Kyle Fletcher for the gold in Mexico and now, the reigning CMLL World Historic Light Heavyweight Champion will defend the title for the first time against Serpentico.
Ahead of her title defense against Red Velvet at this month’s Death Before Dishonor, Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz will face Mackenzie Morgan in a Proving Ground match. Per usual, if the challenger beats Starkz or lasts the time limit, she earns a future title shot.
In a three-way, Taya Valkyrie takes on Robyn Renegade and Marina Shafir.
In trios action, Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver & Evil Uno) will go head-to-head with Lee Johnson & The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean).
Skye Blue will face Laynie Luck in singles action while Diamante will take on an opponent to be named.
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With Death Before Dishonor coming up on July 26th, there was still a lot of room on the card to fill as this week’s ROH TV kicked off with triple threat action.
Taya Valkyrie (w/Johnny TV) defeated Marina Shafir and Robyn Renegade
The irresistible force faced off against the immovable object in this match and also Robyn Renegade was there. Valkyrie is very good at wrestling and Shafir has been on an aggressive tear through the ROH Women’s division. Their coexistence-ness was in doubt with Renegade caught in the middle.
Shafir had gotten used to punching and choking her way to victory, but had a hard time doing it to two women at once. Valkyrie took the high road and by that I mean she left the ring to hang out with Johnny TV and let Shafir and Renegade fight it out in the ring.
After tossing Shafir out of the ring, Valkyrie pulled Renegade to the outside as well and introduced her to a few barricades. All three women made it back into the ring, with Valkyrie and Shafir facing off against each other, allowing Renegade to try and get a quick pin.
Valkyrie and Shafir then took turns hurting Renegade while TV danced on the outside. Renegade fought back against the shaky alliance, but Shafir was able to lock in a Mother’s Milk submission, leading to Valkyrie knocking her out of the ring and putting Renegade to the mat for the 1,2,3.
-The Undisputed Kingdom joined the show from back stage to discuss their legacy at Death Before Dishonor events. Taven declared them the workhorses of AEW and ROH, so he thinks they should get the day off. Bennett added that there’s no one in ROH that can challenge them and suggested that Tony Khan should throw them a “Mercedes Mone” party. That would get them there.
ROH World Television Championship Match: Atlantis Jr. (c) defeated Serpentico
Atlantis Jr won the ROH World Television Title from Kyle Fletcher on June 28th, 2024 in Mexico. The CMLL stalwart is also the current NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Champion and one-third of the CMLL World Trios Champions. So there was a lot on his plate, including this first title defence.
Serpentico has been chasing Maria, Cole Karter and Griff Garrison around trying to retrieve his stolen green mask. With Karter suffering a broken arm recently, this was a good chance for Serpentico to get out from under that story, and into a championship program.
The two Luchadores started things off with speed, lots of ropework and high-flying moves. “These guys wrestle like they are action figures” noted lead commentator, Ian Riccaboni. A big splash from Serpentico led to a near fall, but Atlantis Jr was able to turn the tables quickly with a rolling cutter.
The match was really evenly paced, neither competitor was able to get an upper hand and keep it for long. In the end, a huge splash from the top rope kept Serpentico on the mat, and let Atlantis Jr get the win to retain the title.
Skye Blue defeated Laynie Luck
Always nice to see Blue in ROH, but this match was a squash from the start. Luck had a couple of brief flirtations with offence (including a decent Spiccoli driver), but this was Blue all the way. The crowd was behind her, chanting Blue’s name as she dragged Luck around the ring.
To put a period at the end of the sentence, Blue hit a Code Blue and got the pin.
-A vignette for Mansoor and Mason (the MxM Collection) aired and promised that they would deliver the “biggest reach-around in ROH history.” Seriously. They really said that.
ROH Women’s World Television Champion Billie Starkz (w/ Athena) defeated Mackenzie Morgan in a Proving Ground Match
If Morgan could last 10 minutes or pin the champion, she would get a shot at Starkz’ ROH Women’s World TV Title. However, Queen Aminata and Red Velvet (who will be facing Starkz at Death Before Dishonor) have been spending the last few weeks making life miserable for Starkz and Athena and could be lurking anywhere.
This match had a much slower pace off the top than the previous matches of the night. Starkz bratted her way around the ring with Morgan in an armbar hold while Athena jawed at fans at ringside. Morgan tried to keep up with Starkz, but found herself stuck in Starkz’ holds over and over again.
Starkz toyed with Morgan, mugging with Athena on the outside. Seemingly getting bored, Starkz picked up the aggression and hung Morgan up in the ropes, where Athena was able to give her a cheap punch to the face thanks to help from Minion Security.
Starkz landed a stiff kick to the neck and locked in a submission hold, causing Morgan to tap out. Athena celebrated at ringside but jumping up and down, which was suspicious because she is supposedly injured…
Diamante defeated Nyxx
Another quick match in the women’s division. Diamante is on a collision course with Leyla Hirsch and a no holds barred match on a yet-to-be-determined date. Diamanted wanted to make an example out of Nyxx and put some fear in Hirsch’s eyes.
As such, this was pretty much just Dimante beating up Nyxx. Nyxx tried to grab quick rollups here and there, but the hard-hitting Diamante would go down. Diamante locked in an armbar, dedicating it to Hirsch. Nyxx quickly tapped out.
-Backstage, Athena, Billie Starkz and the Minion Security were filmed. Athena was shown being highly energetic until she noticed that there was a camera on her. She immediately dropped to the floor and wailed in “pain” as the security hurried the cameraman away.
Lee Johnson and The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean) defeated The Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds)
The infantry “hosted” the July 4th edition of ROH last week, but they are back from those travels and ready to take on the Dark Order. Johnson has been all over ROH TV the last few months with impressive win streaks, but hasn’t been able to win the big one. This trios match was a good way for him to get back into the hunt for some gold, Trio’s gold that is, currently held by Bullet Club Gold.
The Dark Order are always welcome in an ROH Main Event and this match was no exception. The Crowd was definitely on their side as they made their entrance.
Bravo and Silver kicked things off and did so with speed. Silver took to posing after every move, which led to Bravo changing the momentum towards his team. Dean tagged in and isolated Silver in his team’s corner for some double teaming. Silver was able to break free and Reynolds was tagged in.
Johnson was finally tagged in for a brief rematch from two weeks ago against Reynolds. The Dark Order tried to storm the ring, but the Infantry backed up Johnson and cleaned house. The Order virtually disappeared as Reynolds was left to fend for himself against Johnson. Silver and Reynolds lured him to the outside though and hit a piledriver on the floor mat.
Uno tagged in and brought Johnson to his team’s corner so Silver and Reynolds could get a piece. The Infantry tried to rally the crowd, but Silver kicked Johnson’s sternum into next week and the Dark Order triple posed before triple teaming him.
Johnson hit a very hot tag on Dean and all six men entered the ring. When the dust settled, Dean and Reynolds were legal. Bravo jumped in and hit a stepover on Reynolds for a two-count. The Infantry tried to go for Boot Camp but Uno pulled the ropes, leading to Dean exiting the ring. Once again, all six men were paired off in the ring as the match descended into a pure brawl.
The Dark Order had an advantage in that they have teamed together for a long time. This led to a lot of synchronized moments and spots, but after another brawl, Johnson was able to climb to the top rope and hit a frog splash on Uno to get the pin and the win for his team.