This week, we start with AEW Collision from Huntington, WV. I was in attendance, and it was a really good time as Collisions usually are. I think that I can officially call myself a “Collider” in confidence. It is just a very easy show to watch and digest on a weekly basis.
Dynamite just has so much going on every week. Every promo is cut off by someone else, after every match, someone is attacked, it is a little exhausting at times. So, this week on Collision, ROH’s own The Swirl took on Max Caster & Anthony Bowens. This was a very story-heavy match where Bowens & Caster couldn’t get on the same page, but still managed to get the victory with some guidance from Jerry Lynn. AEW are bringing back a lot of older acts, like Jurassic Express, Riho, and here with The Acclaimed. I’m not sure feeding up-and-coming teams like The Swirl to old acts that once got stale is the way to go, but maybe I’m just being defensive of the ROH roster members. Later in the evening, Dalton Castle made his return after being out with an injury for over a year, teaming with The Outrunners. They got a quick win over Corey Sparks, Cowpoke Paul & KM. Castle & The Outrunners should be picking up wins in the coming weeks as I predict they will be facing Shane Taylor Promotions for the 6 Man Tag Team Titles at Final Battle.
Then AEW made their way to Hollywood, FL for the 6 Year Anniversary of Dynamite. It kicked off with Brodido & Kenny Omega taking on The Young Bucks & Josh Alexander. This match was exactly what you thought it would be, If you thought that half of the participants would be doing the Macarena. Honestly though, it really was a lot of fun, and I absolutely did not expect to see Andrade return to AEW so soon! I know all the arguments for not singing Andrade, but what’s done is done so let’s get Bandido vs Andrade for the ROH World Title. And if I see one more Macarena from Bandido, I’m rooting for El Idolo. A little side note, Andrade beat DMT Azul to capture the Crash Heavyweight Championship over the weekend, ending Azul’s 882-day reign. Then a little bit later we got the debut of Clon. I’m not going to pile on, but this was a mess of a debut. They can’t all be winners but maybe having less going on would be helpful. Later on Dynamite, The Swirl racked up their second loss of the week to GOA. I’m not saying that The Swirl should be beating GOA, but I do hope Tony Khan chooses another tag team to start taking these losses. The Swirl are getting a push on ROH and Christian looks to be getting a World Title shot. I mean you’ve got The Spanish Announce Project, Top Flight, The Dark Order, Grizzled Young Veterans, & The Kingdom, just to name a few. Another side note, The Butcher & The Blade, are still on the roster page. I would not have guessed that.
RING OF HONOR
ROH ON HONORCLUB #135
OCTOBER 2, 2025
HUNTINGTON, WV + PITTSBURGH, PA + HOLLYWOOD, FL
This week’s show began with a backstage segment with MxM TV. Apparently, Homeland Security confiscated Mansoor’s “Seed” at the airport.
What am I watching?
MXM TV (MANSOOR, MASON MADDEN & TAYA VALKYRIE) (W/ JOHNNY TV) DEF. SKY FLIGHT (DANTE MARTIN, DARIUS MARTIN & LEILA GREY) (W/ CHRISTOPHER DANIELS)
I’m afraid to even put this out into the Universe, but there sure have been a lot of Mixed 6 Person Tag Matches on ROH recently. Please, no more new titles, please. The commentary was great this week as always, as Caprice referenced “Iceman” King Parsons in this one, and I loved it. Sky Flight gets the win over the “Seedless” MxM TV, after a “Double Facebuster.”
THE WORKHORSEMEN (ANTHONY HENRY & JD DRAKE) DEF. ROSARIO GRILLO & CHANCE PROPHET
Grillo has been making appearances for AEW/ROH since the days of Dark & Elevation while Prophet is a West Virginia local and 2-time former NWA National Heavyweight Champion. Jack Brisco, Tommy Rich, Paul Orndorff & Chance Prophet? So, The WorkHorseman got a quick win here, and after the match, LFI came out to the ringside, so it looks like the Workhorsemen are next in line for a Tag Team Titles shot. I’m a little perplexed, why would the heel champions be looking for challengers? By the way, The WorkHorsemen haven’t gotten a win as a tag team on ROH since May 2024.
Why doesn’t ROH just have rankings? It would really help make sense of all this, at least for me.
Next, we got a recap of last week’s highlight for me, Billie Starkz Pure Title Tournament victory over Olympia.
PURE RULES MATCH
YUKA SAKAZAKI DEF. ZOEY LYNN
Lynn is a former SHIMMER Champion who was trained by Johnny Gargano & JT Lightning. Sakazaki gets the win after the “Magical Merry-Go-Round.” This match would have been exactly the same if it weren’t a pure rules match. I’m not sure that using people with zero pure rules experience is the way to go in the future, but as they try and establish a new division, I guess sometimes you need to.
Next up, we were back at the frat house. Joining the party this week alongside The Blue Meanie was Glacier, who ended up putting Cole Carter through a beer pong table. This would all be a lot easier to digest if there was just one wrestling promotion on earth that was serious right now. I’m going to keep trying not to be a “party pooper,” but I’m begging for just one hour of no-nonsense Pro Wrestling a week.
If there are any billionaires reading this who enjoy serious pro wrestling, please help us.
THE FRAT HOUSE (COLE CARTER, GRIFF GARRISON & JACKED JAMESON) DEF. CASEY KING, COREY SPARKS & NICK HAMRICK
King is a ten-year vet who was trained by Bobby Blaze & Jillian Hall. Yes, “that” Jillian Hall. Sparks is a West Virginia local who also competed on Collision this week and Hamrick, also a West Virginia local, recently picked up a win against Shane Douglas in Charleston, WV. Yes “that” Shane Douglas. The Frat House gets the win with a Cole Carter 450 from the top. Carter is only 25 years old, has a great dropkick and is obviously a very good athlete. He is also apparently from West Virginia so maybe they should have let him speak?
Backstage, LFI called out The WorkHorsemen. It is interesting that Sammy is in LFI and Andrade isn’t.
JAY LETHAL DEF. AARON SOLO
If anyone is wondering why the crowd is a little louder for this one, it was the first match out of the gate in the arena. I’m not sure it came across very well on tape but the crowd in the building was great. Tony Khan came out after the show and was very appreciative of the audience. He did a round of pictures and autographs around ringside with “Country Roads” playing the whole time, of course. Lethal picked up the win after a “Letha Injection.”
We then got a recap of Stori Denali’s impressive debut from last week. If they take it slow and let her develop there is something there with Denali. If she lacks confidence she could have fooled me, and that’s very important.
THE PREMIER ATHLETES (TONY NESE, ARIYA DAIVARI & STORI DENALI) DEF. COWPOKE PAUL, GEN Z & REESE RAMONE
Pro Wrestling Tees calls Cowpoke Paul the most rootin’, tootin’ Cowpoke in Professional Wrestling. Gen Z is a 19-year-old from Hurricane, WV and Reese Ramone is another trainee of Bobby Blaze & Jillian Hall. The Athletes pick up the win after a “Spinebuster” from Denali. Maybe one thing WWE gets right is renaming their “enhancement talent.” Gen Z & Cowpoke Paul? Mario Mancini, Jose Luis Rivera, now those sounds right.
Next up, we get a Serena Deeb vignette. She said she has been in AEW/ROH for 5 years and has nothing to show for it. There are a few good choices for the Women’s Pure Title Tournament winner and Deeb is up there for me.
PURE RULES MATCH
SERENA DEEB DEF. KATIE ARQUETTE
Arquette is an 8-year vet who goes by the nickname the “Queen of the Silver Screen.” Most likely because she is David Arquette’s cousin if I had to guess. Deeb gets the submission victory with a “Manji-Gatame.” Deeb’s opponent in the quarter finals of the Women’s Pure Title Tournament, Yuka Sakazaki made her presence felt after the match on the ramp.
ALEX WINDSOR & IWGP WOMEN’S CHAMPION SAREEE DEF. DIAMANTE & BILLIE STARKZ
I have personally had a crazy week, so I haven’t heard why Sareee is here, but I am very happy that she is! I really hope that Sareee gets signed. I have a funny feeling Tony would book her slightly better than WWE did. A high bar for sure, but I think he could pull it off. Caprise hyped Diamante being a part of the CMLL Grand Prix, which is great. When I’m watching CMLL, I definitely hear the commentary team mentioning AEW a lot, so they should return the favor.
Windsor gets the win by submission with the “Sharpshooter.”
By the way, this match has now been uploaded to ROH’s YouTube channel.
We then got clips of ROH Men’s Pure Champion Lee Moriarty as a guest on Renee Paquette’s Close Up show.
DRALISTICO (W/ SAMMY GUEVARA & RUSH) DEF. BEEF
Dralistico gets the win after “Springboard Lungblower.” After the match Dralistico’s LFI partners came in and attacked BEEF until his cousin Anthony Henry & partner J.D Drake made the save.
Next up, we get an Alex Windsor promo backstage where she challenged Sareee for the IWGP Women’s Title. Ok, this was a little confusing. Windsor teamed with Sareee like ten minutes ago, and they hugged, and Windsor raised Sareee’s hand after the match.
Now Windsor is suddenly upset by the comments Sareee made while she was in Japan? Then, immediately following the challenge, Ian says Tony Khan had made it official. Why not just have Sareee beat Diamante alone? I understand that this show is compiled from different tapings, but these elements should have time to breathe, even if it’s all within a 1-hour and 20-minute show.
AR FOX DEF. JOHNNY TV (W/ MANSOOR, MASON MADDEN & TAYA VALKYRIE)
Too much MxM TV for me in this episode. I would love to see AR Fox team up with Alex Zayne, Bandido, or The Swirl soon. Who is and isn’t on the ROH roster is really hard to determine. Honestly, at this point, I think it would be best for the brand to have its own totally separate roster and focus on them. Then, on Dynamite, give a minute recap/preview of ROH and maybe have some ROH talent wrestle on Collision, but call them what they are, ROH talent. I really want to get behind this promotion and its roster; it just makes it difficult when it lacks its own identity.
Sorry if I seem “on one” this week, but I just want ROH to be as good as I think it can be. And I’m sure I didn’t use “on one” properly, sorry. I have a confession to make, I still don’t really understand what “gaslighting” is either. I think my brain is full and I don’t have any more room for new things. I’m just glad I remembered that Paul Orndorff is a former NWA National Heavyweight Champion, that’s what’s really important, isn’t it?
Next week on the Honor System #7 I will check out CMLL’s show this Friday where Bandido defends the ROH World Title against Hechicero, in a rematch from Death Before Dishonor. I will also be watching AEW’s Title Tuesday to check out Brodido taking on Konosuke Takeshita & Kazuchika Okada, and then of course ROH on Honorclub.
Highlights of the week:
- Bandido promo from the parking lot of the 2300 Arena [9.4.2025]
- Hologram & Tomohiro Ishii def. Aariya Daivari & Tony Nese [9.4.2025]
- Aariya Daivari & Tony Nese def. Angelico & Serpentico (The Debut of Stori Denalli) [9.5.2025]
- Mark Sterling introduces Stori Denali as an official member of the Premier Athletes with Lexi Nair in the parking lot [9.5.2025]
- Recap video of Athena’s 1000 days as ROH Women’s World Champion [9.5.2025]
- Bandido & Mistico def. Hechicero & Angel de Oro from Arena Mexico [9.5.2025]
- Vignette of The Outrunners & Dalton Castle seemingly joining forces on Collision [9.6.2025]
- Maestros Contra Maestros Trios Match featuring Blue Panter, Xelhua & Hechicero [9.11.2025]
- Katsuyori Shibata def. Matt Mako in a Pure Rules Match [9.18.2025]
- Billie Starkz def. Olympia in Women’s Pure Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match [9.25.2025]
- Sareee makes her ROH debut teaming with Alex Windsor defeating Diamante & Billie Starkz [10.2.2025]
