This Thursday night on Honor Club, the new era of honor will experience its first Fight Without Honor! The origins of this match date back to the original GLORY BY HONOR and the ROH debut of Samoa Joe, and it can be experienced right here on the official YouTube page:
This time around ROH's most violent stipulation will come to bear in tag team form as the issues between Top Flight, Action Andretti, and The Kingdom come to a head! On top of that, NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. returns to Ring of Honor to defend his championship, The Gates of Agony battle Dalton Castle and one of his Boys, ROH World Tag Champion Rey Fenix goes one-on-one with Gringo Loco, and Mercedes Martinez returns to ROH competition for the first time since FINAL BATTLE 2022!
It all goes down starting at 7pm ET/6pm CT exclusively on Honor Club, the home for Ring of Honor's 20+ years of wrestling history as well as brand-new weekly episodes, and an absolute bargain for just $9.99/month! FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR...
Action Andretti & Top Flight's Darius Martin vs.
The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett w/ Maria Kanellis)
This all began during the FINAL BATTLE 2022: ZERO HOUR when The Kingdom made their long-awaited return to Ring of Honor competition, and Top Flight made their ROH debut. As former 2-Time ROH World Tag Team Champions, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett assumed this would nothing more than them reclaiming their throne as one of ROH's dominant tag teams, but instead it was Top Flight heralding their arrival into the new era of honor with a victory over The Kingdom. Suffice to say it did not sit well with Taven and Bennett, and they've been seeking revenge ever since. Bennett and Taven split singles victories with Dante and Darius, with Taven defeating Darius while Bennett lost to Dante, and both teams were involved in the Reach for The Sky Ladder Match at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023.
Unfortunately, Dante Martin suffered a horrific injury that night that necessitated surgery, and has him on the shelf for the foreseeable future. One might think that would leave Darius easy pickings for The Kingdom, but an unforeseen ally emerged when Bennett and Darius went one-on-one just after SOH '23. While Bennett and Taven were willing to take a DQ loss for Matt just to double-team Darius, Action Andretti was not about to sit back and watch Martin get assaulted.
This led to a tag match between the four men in which The Kingdom emerged victorious, a wild 10-Man tag two weeks ago, and will culminate in this Fight Without Honor on Thursday night! The last FWH took place at FINAL BATTLE 2021: END OF AN ERA when Shane Taylor topped Kenny King, and its history includes battles between Adam Cole & Jay Briscoe, BJ Whitmer & Steve Corino, as well as El Generico & Kevin Steen, just to name a few. Each has been brutal and violent in its own way, and at their core has been a complete lack of respect between the parties involved. No handshake, no honor, no rules; this is a match where anything goes, where the match isn't going to end by countout or disqualification, only by pinfall, submission, or a referee stoppage. This is the ultimate way to settle issues in Ring of Honor, and now it comes to the new era of honor this Thursday night!
NJPW WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. AR Fox
As the one and only NJPW World TV Champion, ZSJ has reigned since WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 on January 4th, and has successfully defended his championship on six occasions, including his victory over Blake Christian on the very first episode of ROH ON HONOR CLUB. His most recent defense went down on May 3rd and saw Sabre go to a 15-Minute draw with Jeff Cobb, that being the standard time-limit set for this championship.
This Thursday, ZSJ returns to ROH with another championship defense on his plate, and this one comes as with a visit from an old foe. It may come as a surprise to many, but this is not the first collision between ZSJ and AR Fox; in fact that took place 12 years ago in Indianapolis, IN when both men were part of a Four Way bout, while their initial singles collision went down in Germany in October 2013, and was won by Fox. As a point of fact, both of their one-on-one bouts were won by AR Fox, with the second taking place in Eddystone, Pennsylvania in July 2016.
Suffice to say these two men are not strangers, it may have been nearly seven years since that last collision, time in which both have grown exponentially as wrestlers, but they are not complete strangers. In fact, it's reasonable to think that this challenge serves as reminder to the NJPW World TV Champ that he's never beaten AR Fox in singles competition, so with the title on the line, it's time for ZSJ to figure out how he can beat Fox!
Fox's only taste of NJPW competition to date was his battle with David Finlay at CAPITAL COLLISION 2023 a month ago, so a championship victory here would throw him right into the mix as the very nature of this championship dictates that every title match will be made available for free through NJPW World. That means more eyes from around the world are on the champion, and AR Fox would certainly love to be the one those eyes are fixed upon. Can he repeat the successes of the past this Thursday night? Or has everything ZSJ has experienced since their last fight made him more than Fox can handle?
TAG TEAM BOUT...
Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) vs. Dalton Castle & Boy #1 (Brandon Tate)
There are plenty of issues wrapped up in this fight right here, especially since FINAL BATTLE 2022 when The Embassy dethroned Dalton Castle & The Boys as ROH World Six Man Champions. Brian Cage, Kaun, and Toa Liona won the rematch on the third edition of ROH ON HONOR CLUB as well, and the events in that video embedded above show just what unfolded most recently.
And that's not even the whole of the history between Kaun and Dalton Castle; their first interactions date back to BEST IN THE WORLD 2021 during Kaun's first run as a Six Man Champ with Shane Taylor and Moses. So suffice to say there's plenty of tension, even before the alleged assault on Boy #2, aka Brent Tate, and this Thursday night Dalton Castle and Boy #1 (Brandon Tate) will have their chance to even the score with The Gates of Agony just a bit, even if it's not a championship situation like their last two meetings.
THE RETURN...
Mercedes Martinez vs. Ashley D’Amboise
A former ROH Women's World Champion, Mercedes Martinez has been out of action since FINAL BATTLE 2022 when Athena ended Martinez's championship run after 220 days (253 factoring in her Interim Title period). As the longest reigning champ in the brief history of the title, Mercedes racked up five defenses against foes like Serena Deeb, Trish Adora, and Viva Van, and had won 14 straight matches prior to her loss last December.
This Thursday night will be Mercedes first time, not just in a ROH ring, but in any ring since that FINAL BATTLE 2022 loss, having spent the last five months healing up from all the wear and tear her body has experienced after 22 years of ring wars. So while Ashley D'Amboise may be fairly new to the game, just two years under her belt and only one previous ROH match, this situation may be her best chance to make an impact on the scene. Martinez may be feeling a little rusty, looking to shake it off at Ashley's expense, but D'Amboise could turn it into the biggest night of her wrestling career if she can score the upset!
ALSO FEATURING:
-ROH World Tag Team Champion Rey Fenix vs. Gringo Loco
-Willow Nightingale vs. Madi Wrenkowski
-Iron Savages (Bear & Bronson w/ Jacked Jameson) vs. The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth)
-“The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs "The Reality" Zack Clayton & Cole Karter
-Lady Frost vs. Miranda Alize
-Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) vs. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger & Eli Isom)
-The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake) and Shane Taylor vs. Ricky Gibson, Eddie Pearl, & Schaff
The latest episode of ROH ON HONOR CLUB premieres this Thursday night at 7pm ET/6pm CT, and on tap is a NJPW World TV Championship match, the return to action of a former ROH Women's World Champion, the first Fight Without Honor in over a year, plus so much more! It's an absolute steal at $9.99/month, but you also get access to so much of Ring of Honor's rich history including the WEEK IN ROH HISTORY playlist updated every Monday, episodes of ROH WEEK BY WEEK, and 2008's DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR featuring Nigel McGuinness defending the ROH World Championship against Tyler Black, Claudio Castagnoli, and Bryan Danielson!