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The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) (w/Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor) defeated Tom Mitchell & Trace Parker
Last week, the Infantry shocked everyone by signing up with Shane Taylor Promotions. This immediately helped them get a somewhat shady win over Spanish Announce Project, which possibly signalled a heel turn for the group. This week, they have significantly less imposing foes in Mitchell and Parker who… well, they were there.
Bravo started off against Parker, taking the greener wrestler to the woodshed quickly. The Infantry’s newfound agression was on full display as Dean grabbed Parker from the outside, choking him behind the ref’s back. Taylor was very pleased by this. Mitchell jumped in to help his partner and ate a Boot Camp but Parker was the legal man, so the Infantry gave him a “Two To The Head” to pin him. Mitchell never legally entered the match.
Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) defeated LSG & Shawn Donavan
As mentioned, last week Serpentico and Angelico lost in dubious fashion to The Infantry. It’s cool though, and the laid-back duo looked to right the ship with a win over the first-time pair, LSG and Donavan. LSG has been popping up this year as part of the horribly-named Ace of Space Academy, but professional Dax Harwood impersonator Donavan hasn’t been seen in ROH in over 5 years.
It was beef vs bean (string bean that is) as Angelico and Donavan kicked things off. The shorter Donavan had the density of a dying sun, so Angelico wasn’t able to get him off his feet, allowing him to lock in the longest wrist lock I’ve ever seen. Donavan was so dialed in, Serpentico had to break it up from the top rope.
From there, the tandem offence of SAP was the story. They were able to keep both Donavan and LSG on their heels and making sloppy mistakes. LSG and Donavan got some decent work in against Serpentico, but Serpentico’s speed was able to deke them out and bring in Angelico.
Even though his partner is Serpentico, Angelico might be part snake the way he was able to slide and slither around LSG. He locked him into a crazy hammerlock/abdominal stretch/airplane spin that caused him to tap out.
-ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty cut a promo from backstage. He called out Matt Taven, who had entered the Pure Division for the first time last week, in advance of their inevitable PURE Championship match in the future. Spoiler: Moriarty does not think Taven will win.
Sammy Guevara (w/Dustin Rhodes) defeated Preston Vance
Last week, Guevara and Rhodes, the reigning ROH Tag Champions were called out, confronted and then jumped by The Righteous, Vincent and Dutch. They are looking to take those titles and being The Righteous, they don’t care if they do it in a strictly “legal” way. But it remained to be seen if they would cause some chaos in Guevara’s match with Vance.
Guevara gave up a bit to Vance in terms of muscle, but right off the top Guevara’s speed had him in control. That speed came back to bite him though as Vance caught him with a back elbow while he was running the ropes. That didn’t slow Guevara down though as he took Vance to the outside a drove him in to the guardrails, while Rhodes watched diligently for any sign of The Righteous.
As much fun as it was watching a guy named Vance get punched in the face, it came to an end when Guevara hit a big cutter followed by a GTH for the win. Rhodes joined him in the ring, still standing guard with a steel chair. Suddenly, the lights got all weird and the sound of snapping was heard. Vincent and Dutch were nowhere to be found though.
EJ Nduka & Lee Johnson defeated The Philly Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia & Philly Collins)
Now that Nduka and Johnson have officially joined forces, it’s gotta make a lot of other teams in ROH nervous. Especially The Philly Marino Experience (which sounds like a hip new Tapas spot, by the way) who were making what appears to be their ROH Debut. Excellent way to do it, I’m sure it’ll work out great for them.
[Ron Howard Voice]: It did not.
Johnson started the match against Tenaglia which was a nice matchup in terms of size and speed. Johnson’s experience gave him the advantage though and he was able to keep Tenaglia off his feet and firmly in a chin lock.
Nduka then tagged in and to his credit, Tenaglia didn’t burst into terrified tears. He took a swing ot two and Nduka picked him up like a loaf of bread and threw him across the ring. Several times in fact. Collins tagged in and even though he had a bit more size, didn’t fare much better. Nduka kicked, punched and threw both of them around with ease.
Johnson tagged back in and hit a frog splash, pinning what was left of Collins to get the win. These guys are fun to watch, but Nduka needs to expand his move set a bit just to keep things interesting.
-ROH Women’s Champion Athena called an emergency MEM (Minion Empowerment Meeting) in the back. Athena managed to barely hold onto her title against Abadon last week, so she has some things to say to her MiT’s (Minions In Training). Athena said the she is ready to take on porcelain hussies all around the world. Suddenly, Billie Starkz appeared. While Lexy Nair has been loyal to the Forever Champion, Starkz has been pretty moody and uninterested in helping the champion out. Athena left in a huff, leaving Nair to deal with Starkz. Nair put Starkz in Minion Time Out and walked out after the champ.
Diamante defeated Rachael Ellering
Ellering has been trading fashion tips with Harley Cameron and this match is her return to the ROH ring for the first time since August. Ellering’s Tag Team Partner, Leyla Hirsch has had beef with Diamante for a long, violent time. Speaking of which, Diamante failed to capture the ROH Women’s TV Title a few weeks back, but did pick up a win last week against Aminah Belmont.
Diamante had the adventage off the top because though she be wee, she be very, very strong. Ellering was able to hold her own though, as well as hold Diamante by the waist in a gut wrench suplex. Ellering tried a senton, but telegraphed it and Diamante was ready with knees up. Diamante’s mean streak was on display as the dragged Ellering’s face along the rope between turnbuckles.
Ellering caught Diamante with a huge back elbow and landed her Squish senton, but Diamante wasn’t done yet. She raked the eyes while the ref couldn’t see and landed a huge DDT to make Ellering’s night a bad one. Afterwards, Diamante called out ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet who appeared in the ring and hit her with a big spinning kick. Diamante retreated up the ramp while the two debated the places they were from.
Leyla Hirsch defeated Tina San Antonio
Leyla Hirsch is back! Hirsch’s last match was the excellent Texas Death Match against Diamante at Death Before Dishonor back in July. Hirsch won that match, but injury put her on the shelf for a bit. Now that she’s back, will she still have trouble with Diamante? Or will she start the climb towards a bigger prize, namely ROH Women’s Champion, Athena? And will San Antonio get a surprise upset in her ROH Debut? So many questions, so much time to answer them.
HIrsch looked good off the top. She wrestles a fast, technical style and it looked like her injury hadn’t cost her a step. San Antonio had a bit of a height advantage, but Hirsch was fired up and managed get out of everything San Antonio threw at her.
Hirsch managed to catch San Antonio with a huge knee to the head and get the pin to win, looking like she had never left in the first place.
-Backstage, Matt Taven responded to Lee Moriarty’s earlier promo. Taven has won every title in ROH except the Pure title. So Moriarty better be ready because Taven’s bringing it home to the Kingdom.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Aaron Solo
Ishii, a proud member of the Conglomeration, stomped down to the ring to face former Nightmare Family member Solo. Presumably, Ishii would then stomp on Solo, and stomp back to the locker room. The man likes to stomp. Solo has not won a match in ROH since April. So this will work out fine for him, I’m sure.
It almost seemed mean to put Solo up against Ishii. Solo, tall and thin, had very little defence against the sheer strength and power of Ishii. Every punch and attempt to send Ishii to the ropes was shrugged off, frustrating Solo. Ishii unleashed the chops and Solo was lucky his lungs didn’t pop out.
Ishii tried to pin Solo off of a side suplex, but Solo, a glutton for punishment, kicked out at two. Solo tried to take the match to the air with a big double stomp from the top rope, but took too long to pin Ishii, who crushed him with a big lariat. Ishii got Solo up and then brought him down with a big Brainbuster and got the pin.
-The Righteous headed out to the ring for a match and were immediately jumped by Rhodes and Guevara in payback for the attack by Vincent and Dutch last week. Security came down to break up the melee, but Dutch got busted open in the process. Everyone seemed to forget that there was a match scheduled and the ROH Tag Champs, Rhodes and Guevara stood tall as the Righteous exited up the ramp.
Nick Wayne (w/Kip Sabian & Mother Wayne) defeated Ryan Clancy
Wayne has been making some noise for The Patriarchy in ROH recently, this time bringing Mother Wayne and Kip Sabian with him. A couple of weeks ago Wayne came out on top in a match against Brian Cook. This week, he’s up against (checks notes) “Fancy” Ryan Clancy, who is (checks notes again) a wrestler.
Clancy ended up being a pretty decent bruiser, wrestling a “classic” style and keeping up with Wayne in both speed and intensity. Wayne had him beat in the posing department though, hands down.
After a very impressive flurry of Clancy offence, Wayne picket up speed with a series of near falls. Clancy responded with a few near falls of his own, making it seem like an upset was close. Wayne kicked out every time though while Mother Wayne looked on.
Clancy climbed to the top rope, but Wayne pushed the Ref into the ropes causing him to fall. Wayne hit a dragon suplex followed by a huge cutter from the corner to get the win.
-The Infantry and STP entered the ROH locker room backstage. They were met byt 4 NPC’s dressed in black. Taylor asked if they had seen Rhodes and Guevera. When no one had, The Infantry and STP beat up the men. Taylor then called out the ROH Tag Champs, saying that STP wants those titles back. Guevara and Rhodes have several targets on their backs now.
ROH Classic Match: ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Shane Taylor Promotions (Kaun, Moses & Shane Taylor) vs MexiSquad (Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus)(c) (Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Feb 19, 2021)
With Taylor and company hunting down the Tag and Six Man Tag belts in ROH, it made sense to see this classic match from the Pandemic era of pro wrestling and, well, life. Maria Kanellis joined the commentary team for this match and she added some really fun color. It was a hard-hitting affair and definitely worth 9 minutes of your time.
AR Fox defeated Josh Woods (w/Ariya Daivari & Mark Sterling)
Fox got his first ROH singles win three weeks ago against the one and only Jack Cartwheel. He’s looking to add to those stats against the Premier Athlete and Very Large Dude, Woods. Not that he needs the help, but Wood’s teammates Daiavari and Sterling accompanied him to the ring, while Tony Nese is still out relentlessly celebrating the birth of his twins.
Sterling added “flogging our new shirt” to his opening schtick as the Athletes came down to the ring. Fox, in what can only be assumed was a move of protest, came down to the ring with no shirt on at all. Woods and Fox stood at about the same height, but Woods had the upper pectoral in the muscle department.
Woods tried to keep things technical and on the mat where he excels. Fox wasn’t used to that and he seemed confused as to how to proceed. Finally, he settled on a headlock while he figured out his strategy. Fox figured out he had the high-flying advantage and hit a big splash on the outside.
As the match progressed, Fox tried to leap over a running Woods but caught his foot on his opponent and smashed his face into the match. That gave Woods an opening to club a prone Fox. Sterling got involved behind the Ref’s back and hung Fox up on the ropes for Woods to pick apart.
Woods went for a cocky cover, but Fox kicked out and spiked Woods on his head with a big second rope DDT. Fox got his second win and hit a swanton. The fight moved to the outside where Fox drove Wood’s head into the mat. Back in the ring, Fox went for a springboard from the top rope, but hit his face on Woods’ knee on the way down.
Fox tried again, but Woods attempted to knock him off the top rope. The agile Fox rolled through though and hit a 450 splash to pick up the surprise win! Then a wild Nick Wayne appeared and took Fox apart. Fox and Wayne have a match coming up on Collision.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated The Butcher
This match was taped way back in June of this year, but only made it to air now. One can only assume it fell behind a filing cabinet or something. The Butcher was making his ROH Singles debut here while his partner, The Blade, recovers from back fusion surgery. Shibata is, well, The Wrestler. That’s because he’s very good at wrestling and hasn’t lost a match in ROH in 2024.
Butcher had about 50 lbs and 6 inches on Shibata, but see above. Shibata drove him into the corner off the top, leading to Butcher moving into a more technical strategy. It was a big risk taking on one of the best technical wrestlers in the world in his preferred style, but Butcher had a plan. He drew Shibata out of the ring and then drove him into the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!).
Back in the ring, Butcher’s powerful strikes kept Shibata on the ground and Butcher locked in a one-legged crab hold. Shibata wrigged under the ropes to break the hold, and sent Butcher to the corner to take a big double dropkick.
Butcher fought back and tried to set Shibata up for brain buster, but Shibata countered and put on a sleeper hold followed by a big PK to put the Butcher down for good, closing out the show.
(Results by Jeff Moss and F4WOnline.com)