After a jam-packed week of action last Thursday, ROH ON HONOR CLUB returns with THREE championship bouts, including the NJPW World Television Title, Stu Grayson going into battle against his Dark Order brethren, and so much more!
The action gets underway at 7pm ET/6pm CT only on Honor Club, where for just $9.99/month, you've got access to Ring of Honor's 20+ years of history, plus brand-new weekly episodes showcasing great talent from around the professional wrestling world!
ROH WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
“The Fallen Goddess” Athena(c) vs. Kiera Hogan
With twenty-four straight victories in Ring of Honor competition, and nine championship title defenses to her record, “The Fallen Goddess” Athena is unarguably the most successful wrestler in this new era of honor. Since she bested Mercedes Martinez at FINAL BATTLE 2022 last December, Athena has been on an absolute tear across AEW and ROH programming, facing every challenge thrown her way, and smashing every, in her words, porcelain doll placed in the ring.
But that doesn't mean women will stop trying to be the one to knock Athena off her perch; whether it be a new challenge stepping onto the Proving Ground hoping to earn a shot, or a familiar foe returning for retribution, there are no shortage of challengers for “The Fallen Goddess”. And the latter of those, the familiar coming back for more, that's what Athena has on her hands this Thursday night when Kiera Hogan challenges for the ROH Women's World Championship! See this isn't their first dance, they first met almost a year ago to the day on the June 3rd edition of RAMPAGE where Athena topped Kiera in singles action, and they'd meet in tag team action a little over a month later where then-TBS Champion Jade Cargill and Kiera topped Athena and Willow Nightingale, but that wasn't the end for the two women.
Just two weeks after capturing the championship, Athena would make her second defense against Kiera on the 12/26 edition of DARK: ELEVATION, closing out her 2022 with a strong title defense that was just a preview of what 2023 would bring. So while Athena has spent the year of 2023 cementing her position as the most dominant champion the ROH Women's Division has ever seen, Kiera Hogan made her ROH debut just last week with a victory over Vertvixen, but that's not all she did with her debut night. As heard in the above clip from Athena, Kiera, sick of hearing Athena week-after-week and seeing her assault foe-after-foe, made quite an impact on the champion, slamming the champion face first into her own title belt.
That bring us to Thursday night's title fight between Athena and Kiera Hogan! If “The Fallen Goddess” is victorious, she will become the most successful champion to date, surpassing Rok-C's records of nine title defenses, and continuing her trek towards surpassing Mercedes Martinez's 220 day reign record. If Hogan can topple Athena, the entire Women's division will be able to breath a sigh of relief that an honorable competitor is once again standing atop the mountain, and Kiera can celebrate knocking one of the best in the business off the peak.
ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Katsuyori Shibata(c) vs. Alex Coughlin
Alex Coughlin came under the tutelage of Katsuyori Shibata five years ago when he entered into New Japan's LA Dojo, and at that time, the likelihood Coughlin would ever fight his trainer was slim-to-none. And yet here we are, a little over six years since it was assumed Shibata would never fight again, and “The Wrestler” is back better than ever, and standing as the reigning ROH Pure Champion after besting Wheeler Yuta at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023.
Since then Shibata has successfully retained against “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels, and he has united with Coughlin to defeat The Workhorsemen in tag team competition, but it was in the aftermath of that bough that Alex made his intentions for the ROH Pure Championship known. From never dreaming he'd get to fight his mentor in an actual wrestling bout to challenging him for a title that symbolizes wrestling in its purest form, what a journey the last five years have been for Alex Coughlin.
But the question is if he can make that final step and become the student who surpasses the teacher? In his handful of fights since returning to active competition, Shibata has proven as deadly as he was before his life-threatening injuries, and even though Coughlin has far more ring time than his trainer over the last five years, Shibata's wars during the time before injury are things of legend. There have been few men more nonchalantly vicious than “The Wrestler” and Coughlin is about to find out first-hand why Katsuyori Shibata was such a feared entity even when it was thought he'd never fight again.
But if Coughlin can do it, if he can dethrone Shibata as the Pure Champion, he will know he's earned it, that at least for one night the apprentice surpassed the master, and he can raise his head, and his title, up with pride as the best Pure Wrestler.
NJPW WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Rocky Romero
It's been many years since the last time Zack Sabre Jr. and Rocky Romero collided in singles competition, and coincidentally it was during an episode of ROH Television that aired on March 15th of 2019, available here on Honor Club. It was their second singles match, the first taking place some 6 months prior in the United Kingdom, and both were won by Sabre Jr.
So now they circle back some four years since their last collision, back to the ring where they last met, only now there is a championship title at stake. This marks ZSJ's third defense of the NJPW World TV Title inside the ROH ring and his 8th overall, as well as Romero's first shot at this championship created earlier in 2023. Rocky is coming into this one having scored victory in his last two ROH bouts, including a Pure Rules victory over Lee Moriarty, but Sabre Jr. is on a red-hot streak in his tours around the wrestling world, coming into this fight having won his last nine singles matches, including four championship bouts, as well as his tag team victory with Samoa Joe last week.
This is going to be a rough battle for both men, but by the rules of the championship, Romero has only fifteen minutes in which to defeat one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the modern landscape. Can the former multi-time ROH World Tag Team Champion capture his first singles championship in New Japan since 05-06 reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion under the Black Tiger guise?
ALSO FEATURING:
-The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean)
-Skye Blue vs. Trish Adora
-Stu Grayson & The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) vs. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno & John Silver)
-ROH World Six-Man Champion Brian Cage (w/Prince Nana) vs. Willie Mack
-Kip Sabian & The Butcher And The Blade (w/ Penelope Ford) vs. Bryce Saturn, Jakob Austin Young, & Shogun Jones
-Diamante vs. Promise Braxton
-Action Andretti & Darius Martin vs. The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake)
-Bandido, El Hijo del Vikingo & Komander vs. Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) & Jack Cartwheel
The latest episode of ROH ON HONOR CLUB premieres this Thursday night at 7pm ET/6pm CT, and features Athena putting her ROH Women's World Championship on the line against Kiera Hogan, Stu Grayson uniting with The Righteous to fight his Dark Order brothers, an ROH Pure Championship bout between student and teacher, and Zack Sabre Jr. battling Rocky Romero over ZSJ's NJPW TV Championship!!! All that, and more, is coming to you only on Honor Club where fans can experience wrestling history for just $9.99/month, including content such as the WEEK IN ROH HISTORY playlist, WAR OF THE WORLDS 2019, the ROH THROWBACK collection, and so much more!