Ring of Honor Wrestling is ready to bring the action tonight during HONOR CLUB where ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe will be in Proving Ground action against former ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods, The Infantry will take on Shane Taylor Promotions in tag team competition, and ROH Women's World TV Champion Red Velvet will put her title on the line against Diamante! Plus we will see Lance Archer in action on the heels of joining The Don Callis Family, the former Women's World TV Champ Billie Starkz will be in action as well, and we hear NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd is coming to ROH for the first time with an Open Challenge laid out on the table!
ROH ON HONOR CLUB begins at 7pm ET/6pm CT exclusively on Honor Club, the destination for ROH's weekly programming as well as the home for more than 20 years of pro wrestling history, featuring men like Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, former ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods, and a special surprise dropping today in the “Best of ROH” section that will not put you to sleep!
ROH WOMEN'S WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Red Velvet(c) vs. Diamante
Diamante and the ROH Women's World TV Champion are no strangers to one another, they've been going back-and-forth in All Elite Wrestling since 2021 and the February 9th edition of DARK match won by Red Velvet. Yet in the three-plus years since that encounter, the two women have only clashed one other time in head-to-head competition, and that took place on the 6/1/21 edition of DARK in another bout where Red was victorious. They've had tags and trios since, even a Four Corner Survival during HONOR CLUB #49 earlier this year, but not another one-on-one contest before tonight.
Tonight they meet once again, only now the ROH Women's World TV Championship will be on the line in Red Velvet's first defense since defeating Billie Starkz at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024. She's turned away Proving Ground challenges from Allysin Kay and Lady Frost, but now that the title is actually on the line, can the champion have the same success? Diamante is coming into this with a 47 second victory in her last ROH bout just a few weeks ago, not to mention that brutal Lights Out victory over Leyla Hirsch in July and the subsequent Texas Death Match at DBD '24 shortly thereafter, matches that took time off her career, but honed her to a deadly edge. Are those experiences what Diamante needed to finally put a title around her waist in Ring of Honor? We will find out tonight when the ROH Women's World TV Championship is at stake!
PROVING GROUND...
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe vs. Premier Athletes' Josh Woods
Though he's got a ROH World Championship match with Chris Jericho set for WRESTLEDREAM 2024 in just two days, Mark Briscoe is stepping onto the Proving Ground with one of the top grapplers in pro wrestling today: “The Technical Beast” Josh Woods! A former ROH Pure Champion, for nearly eight years Josh Woods has demonstrated to the ROH faithful why he's a competitor to be feared, making his initial impact by winning the 2017 Top Prospect Tournament and stepping into the ring during that first year with foes like Jay Briscoe, Shane Taylor, Hangman Page, Jay Lethal, and even challenging then-ROH World TV Champion Kenny King for his title.
With each passing year of ROH competition, Woods grew stronger and more confident in that ring, bringing his impressive technical skills to bear in the 2020 ROH Pure Championship Tournament where he defeated Kenny King and PJ Black before being eliminated in the Semifinals of the tournament. Even though he fell short in the tournament, Woods kept his devotion to the Pure Division strong by competing in Pure Rules contests at every opportunity, leading to him laying claim to the title at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2021! For 201 days Woods reigned as champion, amassing seven defenses in competition both in ROH and around the independent wrestling landscape, before finally being dethroned by Wheeler Yuta at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022. Since then he's challenged Samoa Joe for the ROH World TV Title, Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Title, and Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship. He's won 10 of his last 12 one-on-one contests since that Shibata fight, and now looks to earn himself another shot at the ROH World Championship in this third Proving Ground match of his ROH career. He's 0-2 in the previous Proving Ground outings, one a Four Corner Survival and the other a Six Man Mayhem, and 0-3 in previous head-to-head battles against Mark Briscoe, but all that was before the Premier Athletes were part of his life, before the assistance of “Smart” Mark Sterling, Ariya Daivari, and Tony Nese became a concern for the men Josh Woods fought.
Can this be the night Woods breaks his losing streak to Mark Briscoe and earns himself a shot at the winner of this Saturday night's match at WRESTLEDREAM 2024?
TAG TEAM BATTLE...
Shane Taylor Promotions (ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor)
vs.
The Infantry (Capt. Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo)
This isn't the first dance between Shane Taylor Promotions and The Infantry; in fact the second match Lee Moriarty fought at Shane Taylor's side took place during HONOR CLUB #33 last year and The Infantry stood as their opponents in battle. The Infantry came back from that with an eight-man tag victory four weeks later at HONOR CLUB #37 which in turn led to a STP victory in Three-Way Tag competition on HONOR CLUB #45, and culminated their tag team rivalry in a 2-of-3 Falls battle won by STP at HONOR CLUB #46.
HONOR CLUB #50 also hosted an eight-man victory for the STP, Cole Karter, Griff Garrison quartet, but since then both teams have gone their separate ways in Ring of Honor. So consider tonight's tag team bout a rivalry renewed as Capt. Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo once more step onto the battlefield with Shane Taylor and ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty! The Infantry are coming into this after a frustrating loss to The Outrunners last week while Taylor and Moriarty are 5-0 in ROH tag team competition, including those three victories over The Infantry; can Capt. and Carlie finally score a victory over their ROH rivals or will it be another week of disappointment as every team in ROH is jockeying for a shot at ROH World Tag Champions Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara!
NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN CHALLENGE...
Gabe Kidd(c) vs. ????
Gabe Kidd has reigned as NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion for 151 days since defeating Eddie Kingston at NJPW STRONG RESURGENCE 2024 in their No Rope Last Man Standing fight. Kingston has been on the shelf since that battle while Kidd has gone on to defend the title against both Ultimo Guerrero and Lio Rush, as well as challenged Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling NOAH, fought in the 2024 G1 Climax Tournament, battled in RevPro, fought on the UK leg of CMLL's FANTASICA MANIA 2024 tour, and of course thrown down in NJPW with his BULLET CLUB War Dogs. He's been a busy man, fighting everyone he can and instigating everyone else, but tonight it's time for Gabe Kidd to make his ROH-proper debut and what better way to do so than by laying out an Open Challenge for his NJPW STRONG Openweight Title!
This isn't Kidd's first dance with ROH; he actually challenged Jay Lethal unsuccessfully for the ROH World Title back in December 2018 on an independent show in London and fought Kingston in a Continental Crown match for NJPW STRONG at BATTLE IN THE VALLEY 2024 where the ROH World, NJPW STRONG, and AEW Continental titles were all at stake, but tonight will mark his first match inside an ROH ring.
Who will answer the call and step up to challenge the most unhinged competitor in New Japan Pro Wrestling? Watch the above embedded video to find out...
ALSO IN ACTION:
-Former ROH Women's World TV Champion Billie Starkz!
-“The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer!