This week, the best pound-for-pound pro wrestling on the planet is back in Milwaukee for the first time since September 2019's GLOBAL WARS event, and in the main event will be ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe putting his championship on the line against former 2-Time ROH Tag Team Champion Colt Cabana! Plus the makeshift team of Darius Martin and Action Andretti collide with the The Kingdom, one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions will be in action, Konosuke Takeshita battles Lee Moriarty, and ROH Women's World Champion Athena steps back onto the Proving Ground to give someone the opportunity of a lifetime! The matches get started at 7pm ET/6pm CT exclusively on Honor Club, your home for over twenty years of Ring of Honor history, plus new episodes of the most influential wrestling company of this century dropping every single Thursday night!
ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH... Samoa Joe(c) vs. Colt Cabana
It has been a bit over 17 years since the last time Samoa Joe and Colt Cabana collided inside the squared circle, March 11th of 2006 to be exact, and while it wasn't the exact bout planned for that evening, it resulted in Joe taking Colt down in two minutes, forty-five seconds. That wasn't the only clash between the two men, back in June 2004, at the first SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, Colt pinned Joe in the elimination match and earned himself a shot at the ROH World Title Joe had been holding for 16 months at that point. Joe topped Colt in that DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR II, NIGHT 2 fight, but it wasn't the end of their collisions.
They would duel in a unique Double Stakes Match at STALEMATE in which shots at both the ROH World & ROH Pure Championship were at stake, and they would eventually clash over the Pure Title at the landmark DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR III event, but as with their World Title clash, it would be Joe who emerged victorious from that fight. Three one-on-one matches, two ROH championship bouts, and all three victories have tilted into Samoa Joe's favor.
But it's been a long time since that last fight and both men have been through so much in their lives since the night Joe came straight from the airport, hit the ring still in his street clothes, and toppled Colt Cabana inside The Arena. That's not the only history wrapped up in this ROH World Television Championship bout though; Colt was involved in the tournament to crown the first champion, losing to eventual winner Eddie Edwards in the first round, and he was also the very first man to challenge Edwards in a title fight, as well as one of the last prior to Christopher Daniels ending Eddie's reign on 12/10/10.
So while Samoa Joe may stand as a ROH Triple Crown winner, holding every singles championship that the company has ever offered, Colt has never held a championship of his own. He took a stab at Jericho during The Ocho's ROH World Championship reign, and before that it was July 2016's match with Jay Lethal when Cabana last had a ROH singles title shot. The opportunity to be a singles champ has come several times, but to this day Colt has not been able to (frequently for outside reasons) been able become the champion. Can he finally achieve that destiny against a man he's never beaten in a one-on-one scenario, or will Colt's heart be broken once again? Sign up to HONOR CLUB and find out this Thursday night!
ROH WOMEN'S WORLD C'SHIP PROVING GROUND MATCH... “The Fallen Goddess” Athena(c) vs. Heather Reckless
Porcelain...trash bag...hussies; that is how ROH Women's World Champion Athena refers to the potential challengers that have been put into the ring with her, and based on how she treated Ashley D'Amboise last week AFTER the match had already taken place, it's safe to say Athena has very little honor in her personal Ring of Honor.
But after going 19-0 in Ring of Honor competition, and successfully defending her championship eight times against foes like Willow Nightingale, Yuka Sakazai, Emi Sakura, and Miyu Yamashita twice, one has to question just who can survive “The Fallen Goddess”?
Well Heather Reckless, a product of the Black & Brave Academy, will be the next woman who takes a stab at being the one to survive Athena's onslaught. Reckless is no stranger to this level of competition, on AEW programming she's battled Thunder Rosa, Anna Jay, as well as Penelope Ford, and away from the AEW/ROH banner, she's gone to battle with Skye Blue, Billie Starkz, and the aforementioned D'Amboise. Reckless has a good amount of experience under her belt, and she comes from a top shelf training academy, but will it be enough for her to earn a future ROH Women's World Championship match? She doesn't even have to beat Athena to gain that opportunity, by the rules of the Proving Ground, Heather Reckless just has to survive the time limit.
Simple, right?
TAG TEAM COLLISION... The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs. Action Andretti & Top Flight's Darius Martin
The issues between The Kingdom and Top Flight have been building since FINAL BATTLE 2022 (Now Available On Honor Club), and took a whole new turn in the aftermath of SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 just a few weeks ago. Dante Martin suffered a horrific injury that has put him on the sidelines for the next several months, at the very least, but that hasn't stopped his brother Darius from continuing the fight.
Unfortunately, at least initially, for Darius that meant going it alone against Mike Bennett and finding foes who didn't care if they were disqualified, as long as they got to put a hurting on their foe. What Mike Bennett and Matt Taven quickly found out though was that the Martin brothers had some support in the form of Action Andretti! So this week on HONOR CLUB, Action Andretti will get his first official ROH match when he teams with Darius to face the former 2-Time ROH World Tag Team Champions!
ALSO FEATURING:
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco
Willow Nightingale vs. Robyn Renegade
“The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer vs. Jah-C
ROH World Six Man Champion Brian Cage vs. Joey Jett
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. Cole Karter & Lee Johnson
ROH World Tag Team Champion Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Nick Comoroto
Konosuke Takeshita vs. The Firm's Lee Moriarty
And The Iron Savages vs. Logan Lynch & Ren Jones!
ROH ON HONOR CLUB drops Thursday night at 7pm ET/6pm CT and will feature Samoa Joe defending the ROH World Television Championship against Colt Cabana, ROH Women's World Champion Athena welcoming another onto the Proving Ground, El Hijo Del Vikingo in action, The Kingdom taking on Action Andretti and Darius Martin, and so much more! The events is exclusively available with an HONOR CLUB subscription, a steal at $9.99/month that includes a new episode every Thursday night, plus classic events from the last 20+ years like the original SUPERCARD OF HONOR and it's legendary DRAGON GATE Six Man Tag, as well as a multitude of RING OF HONOR WRESTLING TV episodes from 2011-2021, and plenty of hidden gems!