Ring Of Honor
Supercard 0f Honor 2025
July 11, 2025
Esports Stadium Arlington
Arlington, Texas
Watch: HonorClub
Supercard of Honor 2025 Zero Hour
Blake Christian (w/ Lee Johnson) def. Jay Lethal
The opening match on this Zero Hour pre-show wound up being the best of the bunch as Blake Christian picked up a big victory over former multi-time ROH World Champion Jay Lethal. This was a pretty solid eight minute match that featured some solid action throughout. Lethal seemed to be on the road to victory until Lee Johnson got involved. That allowed Christian to gain the advantage, and he put Lethal away moments later with a version of the Muta Lock that either Ian Riccaboni or Caprice Coleman referred to as the….Vanilla Choke Zero? I think that’s what they called it? Anyway, Blake Christian might be the funniest wrestler in the extended AEW universe, and not because of anything he does specifically. No, I’m talking about his win-loss record. The man is undefeated in ROH this year (you probably wouldn’t know that if I didn’t just tell you that right now), while also being winless in AEW proper. It’s just a wild contrast. This was easily Christian’s biggest win in ROH, so I guess we’ll see if that leads to him getting a title shot at some point. ***1/4
Supercard of Honor 2025 Zero Hour
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, & John Silver) def. The Frat House (Cole Karter, Griff Garrison, & Preston Vance) (w/ Jacked Jameson)
So this match actually has a bit of a backstory to it. Preston Vance has been one of the key members of this (relatively) new Frat House faction. Over the last several weeks, he had some segments backstage with his former Dark Order stablemates bragging about how much better the Frat House is and how the Dark Order’s numbers have dwindled. This would be a set up for the returning John Silver to even up the odds (before this month, Silver hadn’t wrestled a match since December, so I’m guessing he was out with an injury). That all led to this six-man tag, which was a fine bout for its spot on the card with a crowd that seemed really into it. I do like that they’ve turned the old “Who the hell is Griff Garrison” bit from BTE into an attack on Griff now that he’s a heel (and this crowd certainly caught onto that as they busted out some “Who The Hell Is Griff” chants). Both sides busted out some fun double-team and triple-team offense, but the big turning point of the match saw Brodie Lee Jr. make an appearance in order to distract Preston Vance after The Frat House took control late. The Dark Order went on to pin Vance after a flurry of offense, and celebrated with Brodie Lee Jr. after the fact. A fun match where both teams played their respective roles very well. ***
Supercard of Honor 2025 Zero Hour
Diamanté def. Lady Frost
The lone women’s match on Zero Hour saw Diamanté pick up a win over Lady Frost with what was basically a rope-assisted Cross Rhodes. This was a shade under six minutes and featured some decent action. I don’t have much else to say about this one, really. I’m sure Diamanté will be a contender for one of the women’s mid-card titles at some point. **1/2
Supercard of Honor 2025 Zero Hour
The Von Erichs (Ross and Marshall Von Erich) def. The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) (w/ “Smart” Mark Sterling)
When I saw this match on the lineup, my immediate thought was “how frequently do Ross and Marshall Von Erich actually wrestle in ROH?” As it turns out, a little more frequently than I figured, but still not much (they’ve only wrestled five matches in ROH this year going into this tag team bout). The sons of Kevin Von Erich picked up a victory here over Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese in what was easily the weakest match of the Zero Hour. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it didn’t really stand out in any memorable way. Obviously it made all the sense in the world to put the Von Erichs on this card, so this just served to give them a win and also give them a reason for being in the building for the angle that happened later in the night. **
Hechicero (w/ Rocky Romero) def. Michael Oku (w/ Amira)
The PPV proper kicked off with a battle between international stars, as Michael Oku took on Hechicero. It was mentioned on commentary before the bout that Hechicero had lost to Oku in their only prior singles meeting (that was on a RevPro/CMLL Fantastica Mania event in the UK back in 2023), which was a pretty easy tell that things were going to go Hechicero’s way this time around. Sure enough, Hechicho picked up the win in just over eleven minutes after connecting with a flying headscissors driver on Oku, which looked absolutely brutal (in a good way). A pretty solid start to the PPV. We got a fair amount of technical exchanges early on before things picked up in the second half. Oku’s worked a couple of matches in ROH this year, and I hope we get to see him and Amira more in AEW/ROH in the future. As for Hechicero, based on what would happen at the very end of the show, him getting the win here was very much a New Japan style booking move, where a guy getting a win earlier in the card is the setup for a title match that was teased later in the night. ***1/2
$50,000 Four-Way Match
AR Fox def. Adam Priest, Atlantis Jr., & Lee Johnson
We’ve seen a lot of these multi-person matches for a monetary prize in AEW over the last several months, and they’re almost always an entertaining watch. This $50,000 Four-Way Match was no exception, and when the dust settled, AR Fox ended up scoring the win after pinning Adam Priest with this new Destroyer variation that Fox has been using as of late. It basically involves the wrestler taking the move sitting in the ropes (near a turnbuckle) with their back towards the ring, while the guy hitting the move comes in from the other side of the turnbuckle. It’s a really impressive-looking move. At just under ten minutes, this four-way featured some very good action with all four guys getting moments to shine throughout. It’s nice to see Fox get a win somewhere in the Tony Khan-verse (as he usually loses whenever he’s on AEW shows). Wins like this are important as they keep guys like Fox somewhat credible, but I just wish they would promote these wins a little more (wouldn’t be hard to mention the next time that AR Fox is on TV that he recently won $50,000 in a match on ROH). Regardless, this was a fun match to watch while it lasted. ***1/2
ROH Pure Championship
Lee Moriarty (c) def. Blue Panther
Blue Panther defeated Lee Moriarty during the Global Wars tapings at AEW’s big Arena Mexico show several weeks back, which set up this title bout (wouldn’t be the only match on this card that was set up on that show). Following the initial opening exchange, Blue Panther would force Moriarty to use one of his rope breaks early after locking in a Fujiwara Armbar. As the match progressed, it would become a race to see who could get their opponent to use up all of their rope breaks first. Ultimately, Blue Panther would be the first to use up all three of his rope breaks, and a short time later, was forced to tap out after Moriarty trapped him in the ropes with a Border City Stretch. This was another good match on this card, though definitely a step down from the prior two bouts in terms of quality. Blue Panther had a few rough moments here and there, but otherwise I thought he was fine here. With this successful title defense, Lee Moriarty is now the longest reigning Pure Champion in ROH history. ***1/4
ROH World Tag Team Titles
The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c) def. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) (w/ Trish Adora)
The Infantry defeated Top Flight on a recent episode of ROH TV to earn this title shot. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara came out wearing Superman and Green Lantern inspired ring gear, and went right after The Infantry to get this one going. They had the advantage in the early part of the match, but that changed after Bravo and Dean singled out Guevara. Dustin would clean house a few minutes later after finally getting tagged in, though things changed once again when Dustin got busted open after Shane Taylor smacked him in the head with one of the ROH World Tag Team Title belts. Despite getting busted open, Dustin stayed in the fight, and after he and Sammy went on an offensive flurry, the Sons of Texas put The Infantry away to retain their titles. A solid tag team affair on the whole, though I do think they could’ve shaved a minute or two off this one. I would put this one ahead of the Pure Title bout in terms of quality, but still behind the first two matches on the main card. The Sons of Texas are also approaching the one-year mark as ROH World Tag Team Champions, so a lot of lengthy title reigns are going on in ROH right now. The post match would see Shane Taylor Promotions (including a returning Anthony Ogogo) attack Dustin and Sammy until the Von Erichs made the save. Dustin would then cut a fiery promo to set up an eight-man tag on the All In Zero Hour pre-show the next day. ***1/4
ROH World Television Championship
Nick Wayne (c) (w/ Mother Wayne) def. Titán
This was the other match that was set up during the Global Wars tapings at Arena Mexico during Grand Slam Mexico. In that case (a Proving Ground Match), Titán went to a Ten Minute Time Limit Draw with Nick Wayne to earn this title shot. In the end, Nick Wayne would score the win and retain his title in what was easily the best match of the night up to this point. They told a really good story throughout as Wayne worked over Titán’s leg. While Titán would fight back and string some offense together, Wayne would always go right back to the leg. Towards the end of the bout, Mother Wayne (who was at ringside) stopped a pin attempt by Titán when she put her son’s foot on the ropes. After referee Rick Knox kicked Mother Wayne out, Titán went on another offensive flurry and seemed to be on the verge of victory. Unfortunately for Titán, Kip Sabian would then get involved, and that would signal the beginning of the end. After managing to kick out after taking a Wayne’s World, Titán got one more nearfall off a small package before Wayne put him away for good with the Prodigy Plex. A very nice performance here by Titán, while Nick Wayne continues to show why he’s going to have a long and bright future in the wrestling business. Christian Cage would show up after the match (in what I believe was his first ROH appearance since wrestling Christopher Daniels at ROH Generation Now in Cleveland, Ohio back in 2006) to congratulate his “son” on his victory. Of course, we all know how things would go for these guys the next day at All In: Texas. ***3/4
Interim ROH Women’s World Television Title
Mina Shirakawa def. Miyu Yamashita, Persephone, & Yuka Sakazaki
While a match involving ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet was never officially announced for this show, I have to presume that she was going to be defending her title here, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the return of Interim Championships to the Tony Khan-verse. I believe this is the first time an Interim Title has been used in AEW/ROH since 2022 (so close to three years now). The idea of introducing Interim Titles was a controversial topic when Tony Khan started using them back in 2022. Personally, I could probably live with Interim Titles if they were just better defined, in terms of what situations call for them. If they said something like “Short Term Injuries = Interim Title; Long Term Injuries = Title Vacancy”, I could at least live with that. You could also just declare that the winner of this match will be the new #1 Contender. There’s definitely ways you can go about it that are a lot less….murkier than this current situation is.
Anyway, as far as this match is concerned, we had an eclectic group of names here, and I was curious to see how things would shake out. When the dust settled, these four produced a super entertaining four-way match that featured good action from start to finish. Some notable highlights included Persephone utilizing both her power advantage and her speed, as well as Miyu Yamashita and Yuka Sakazaki having a really strong exchange in the middle of the bout (by the way, since these two are names who have long histories with Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, shoutout to TJPW for drawing the largest attendance in company history, just over 2,500 or so, on one of their events in the DFW Metroplex during All In weekend). Eventually, after both Sakazaki and Persephone had spilled out to the floor, Mina Shirakawa hit Yamashita with a Dragon Screw before locking in the Figure Four to score the submission victory. Shirakawa had a brief faceoff with Red Velvet afterwards, but unfortunately, the status of that unification match is now in doubt after Shirakawa broke her hand during the Women’s Casino Gauntlet at All In. Does this mean we’re getting an Interim Interim Champion? Probably not, but this new injury certainly makes this whole situation with the ROH Women’s World Television Title even messier than it already is. ***1/2
ROH Women’s World Championship
Athena (w/ Billie Starkz) (c) def. Thunder Rosa
To show you just how long Athena has been the ROH Women’s World Champion, when she won the belt at Final Battle 2022, we were in the middle of the Best-Of-Seven Series between Death Triangle and The Elite, MJF was only a month or so into his AEW World Title reign, and we were still several months away from the first episode of Collision. With this successful title defense against Thunder Rosa, it’s almost a guarantee that she will reach 1000 days as champion (that marker will be reached in the next month or so). The match itself was pretty good, and the crowd was really into it at points, though I don’t think it stood out from the rest of the card in any significant way. While Athena would target Rosa’s back (which was covered in kineseo tape) over the course of the bout, Rosa would go after the arm and shoulder of Athena. Towards the end of the match, Rosa (who had just taken out Billie Starkz) battled on the entrance ramp with Athena. Unfortunately for Rosa, she wound up getting the worst of this brawl, as Athena put her through a table that was just off to the side of the ramp. Going through that table would prove to be the beginning of the end for Rosa, as a short time later, she was hit with a powerbomb off the second rope, and then tapped out after Athena locked her in a Side Surfboard. Again, this was a very good match, though it was close to the same level as a lot of the matches on this particular card. ***1/2
ROH World Championship
Bandido (c) def. Konosuke Takeshita (w/ Don Callis and Rocky Romero)
Up to this point, this show had featured a lot of super solid wrestling (when it comes to the main card, ***1/4 is the lowest rating I had given thus far). However this show was seriously lacking that one truly great match (I had one match at ***3/4 and then a number at ***1/2). Fortunately, the main event was Bandido vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the ROH World Title, which was easily one of the most anticipated matches of the entire weekend. Did these two live up to those incredibly high expectations? Unquestionably yes. This was an outstanding match that featured some amazing action throughout. The first ten minutes or so featured good back-and-forth between the two, but the match would take a turn once the Don Callis Family (specifically Don Callis and Rocky Romero) got involved. With Callis distracting the referee, Romero tossed a chair to Takeshita, and a few moments later, he used that chair to block a dive attempt by Bandido. Takeshita had already torn up a section of Bandido’s mask, so when Bandido came up after that shot with the chair, he was busted open.
The good news is the Don Callis Family involvement was really limited to this spot in the match, and really just served as a way for Takeshita to use a foreign object and bust Bandido open. From there on, this match kicked into high gear. Some of the highlights from this second half included Takeshita giving Bandido a brainbuster on the entrance stage, Bandido busting out the Cattle Mutilation, some awesome strike exchanges, and Bandido’s Moonsault Slam off the top rope (which is both super cool and kind of scary, as I always get a little nervous over whether he’s going to get the full rotation on that move). The closing sequence of the match was also very strong. After Takeshita kicked out of the 21 Plex a few minutes earlier, Bandido went for it again, but Takeshita managed to counter that into the Bastard Driver/Wheelbarrow German Suplex Combo. Bandido kicked out at one after eating a running knee, and then pulled off a beautiful counter of the Raging Fire into a Small Package to score the victory and retain the ROH World Title.
Like I said earlier, this was an excellent main event. Takeshita is easily one of the best wrestlers in the world right now, while Bandido has been on an incredible run over the last month or so, when you take into account this match and some of the work he’s done with CMLL in Arena Mexico. However, I saw some Match Of The Year buzz for this one (including from Dave Meltzer, who went *****3/4 on it), and I just didn’t think the match was that strong. Now to provide some context, this was the only match on the show that I saw live as it aired. I was pretty tired after just returning home after a long birthday celebration (my brother had just turned 30 along with a few of our other close friends who also turned 30 within the same few weeks), and went to bed as soon as the match ended. I definitely believe that certain matches can lose a little something when watching them live vs. watching them after the fact (and I’m not even talking about the actual result). Knowing that I was going to be writing this review, I went back and watched the match again, and then a few days later, I saw it a third time after hearing some of the praise that others heaped on it. My conclusion remained the same. Awesome match, but just not on that level. Me not being fully awake when the match aired live probably played a role in my final rating. Sometimes that’s just how things go. Don’t let my rambling deter you though. If you somehow haven’t seen this match yet, you should absolutely go out of your way to go watch it on Honor Club. ****1/2
Before the show went off the air, we got a brief confrontation between Bandido and Hechicero, seemingly setting up Bandido’s next title defense. While the date/location of the match hasn’t been confirmed yet, the recent interactions between the two in multi-person tags on Dynamite and Collision all but assure that match is happening soon.
Final Thoughts
Supercard of Honor 2025 was filled with lots of really good matches, though there was nothing truly great until the main event. Bandido vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the ROH World Title is a match that you should absolutely check out if you somehow have not seen it yet. The rest of the card featured some very solid wrestling, though nothing that I would call must-see if you didn’t watch the show (don’t let that stop you from seeking out anything else from the show that you might be interested in). With Death Before Dishonor coming up at the end of August, it’s a MUCH quicker turnaround between ROH PPV events, so it’ll be interesting to see what matches they put together for that card coming up in Philadelphia.
