Thursday night is upon us once again and with that comes the latest edition of ROH ON HONOR CLUB featuring a Proving Ground bout between ROH Women's World Champion Athena and Lady Frost, plus Yuka Sakazaki versus Viva Van, Nick Wayne in action, MxM Collection returning to Ring of Honor, and Spanish Announce Project in tag team competition! Plus, after WRESTLEDREAM 2024, it looks like there's a new King of Television in Ring of Honor:
ROH ON HONOR CLUB gets underway at 7pm ET/6pm CT exclusively on Honor Club, your home for ROH's weekly offering every Thursday night, as well as the place to experience over 20 years of pro wrestling history, featuring competitors such as The Briscoes, Adam Cole, Jay Lethal, Kyle O'Reilly, The Young Bucks, and more, as well as fresh content dropping weekly in the “Best of ROH” section!
PROVING GROUND...
ROH Women's World Champion Athena vs. Lady Frost
It has been 539 days since Lady Frost last stepped into the ring with “The Fallen Goddess” Athena, and remarkably that match during HONOR CLUB #9 was also a Proving Ground battle! At that point Athena was just 138 days into her record-shattering championship reign, but even at that point, the second-longest reigning Women's World Champion in ROH history. That night in Pittsburgh, Athena dispatched Frost in a little over five minutes, shattering the woman's hopes of earning a future championship match via 10 minute draw. Since that meeting Athena has gone on to turn away 19 additional Proving Ground challenges, bringing her grand total of Eliminator/Proving Ground victories to 31 matches. Add that to her 22 successful title defenses over the last 677 days, and there is no question that Athena is the backbone of ROH at this moment.
That being said, it seems all that success has gone to her head because since DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024 in July the champion has only fought three-matches, with just one of those being a Proving Ground bout, choosing instead to focus on throwing the perfect celebration for her record-setting championship reign when she's not running in terror from Abadon. She's alienated Bille Starkz, overly praised Lexy Nair for even the smallest thing, and seems rather unfocused on the prospect of competition.
Perhaps that makes her easier pickings for a challenger as hungry as Lady Frost, not easy mind you, there is no reality where “The Fallen Goddess” would ever be an easy foe but perhaps an easier fight than it would be if she was 100% zoned in on the fight at hand.
Will we see Athena fail on the Proving Ground for the first time in her historic reign, or will Lady Frost come up short tonight as she did back in April 2023?
SINGLES MATCH...
“The Magical Girl” Yuka Sakazaki vs. Viva Van
It's been six months since we last saw Yuka Sakazaki compete in Ring of Honor, a victory over Leila Grey during HONOR CLUB 61, and though it took place prior to the injury suffered in her RAMAPGE bout with Emi Sakura, it actually aired several days after. That victory over Leila was one that “The Magical Girl” hoped was the start of her road back to contention, to earning another shot at Athena and the ROH Women's World Title though ideally with a better outcome than their SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 fight. Unfortunately it was Yuka's last broadcast match before her return on the September 14th COLLISION, but the good news is that she has a second opportunity to build her ROH resume and it starts tonight against Viva Van!
It's been about two months since Viva's last ROH fight, a loss to Harley Cameron during HONOR CLUB 77, but she's had several tastes with the top in her handful of ROH bouts, including a Women's World Championship match with Mercedes Martinez and participating in the ROH Women's World TV Title Tournament, not to mention vying for the CMLL World Women's Title the night Willow Nightingale claimed it for herself, but just a taste is not enough! Viva wants a title to call her own, so Yuka is in for a fight tonight during HONOR CLUB! Will “The Magical Girl” have a successful return to ROH competition or can Viva Van score the first victory of her ROH experience?
ONE-ON-ONE...
AR Fox vs. Jack Cartwheel
Ahead of his fight with Ricochet this Saturday night on COLLISION, AR Fox returns to ROH competition against a man he faced in a pair of Four Corner Survival matches earlier this year, but he's never fought one-on-one: Jack Cartwheel! We haven't seen Cartwheel in ROH competition since HONOR CLUB 58, but he's been a busy man competing all across the country, in the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, and of course his All Elite Wrestling bout against Nick Wayne. Now he's bringing all that experience back to Ring of Honor in hopes of squashing any momentum AR Fox hopes to build before his Ricochet bout. It's a big night for both these men; who will rise to the occasion?
SINGLES MATCH...
Willie Mack vs. Komander
***WINNER EARNS ROH WORLD TV TITLE MATCH***
It's been a minute since we last saw Willie Mack in ROH competition, a victory over Exodus Prime on HONOR CLUB 81 but he's back in action tonight with a fight against a man he's quite familiar with from AAA combat, as well as their lone ROH meeting in the aforementioned Four Corner Survival with Cartwheel and AR Fox. Komander is coming in on a three match ROH win streak, definitely on a roll as he aims towards the World Television Championship held by “The Machine” Brian Cage. Can the high-flying luchador continue to soar to victory, or will Willie knock him down to the ground tonight on HONOR CLUB?
ALSO IN ACTION:
-Atlantis Jr. vs. Jon Cruz!
-MxM COLLECTION!
-The Patriarchy's Nick Wayne!!
-Spanish Announce Project of Angelico & Serpentico!!!
-And More!!!!