ROH TV Review Episode 121 – 06.19.25

ROH TV Episode 121 – June 19th, 2025

Welcome back to Ring of Honor TV, exclusively on Honor Club at WatchROH.com. Last week on Episode 120, Atlantis Jr. and Templario defeated Volador Jr. and Magnus; Preston Vance of the Frat House defeated Evil Uno, but the return of John Silver means we’re getting a Six-Man Tag down the road; Red Velvet and Shane Taylor Productions squashed some geeks, and in the Main Event, Bandido turned away Mansoor and MxMxTV in a Proving Ground Match. Tonight’s lineup… isn’t giving me much hope, but we’ll push on and hope for the best.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are calling the action, unless otherwise noted. We’re about three weeks away from Supercard of Honor and I couldn’t imagine what that card is going to look like. We’ve hyped up a Women’s Pure Championship Tournament for several weeks and still haven’t advanced to the next phase of those plans.

Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty (w/ Trish Adora) vs. Anthony Gangone & Sal Mistretta:
After last week’s squash, I don’t think I can be let down any worse by STP. The lights are WAY down, like dying days of AWA TV. That’s not me knocking AEW, for anyone who might misinterpret that snark. Moriarty nails Gangone with a jumping knee strike immediately after the bell. BREAKING NEWS: Lee Moriarty takes on Blue Panther at Global Wars NEXT WEEK (Spoilers: They already held the show, but I didn’t check the spoilers). Taylor and Sal in. The geek throws a forearm that barely affects Taylor. He responds with a headbutt, some trash talk and a uranage. The crowd chants for one more and Taylor obliges. Moriarty cuts off Gangone with the Border City Stretch and Taylor finishes Mistretta with the COLD RIGHT HAND OF DOOM at 2:08. This was a squash match alright. At least we didn’t stretch it out, but it’s just Shane Taylor doing his one spot and going right to the finish.

We recap the encounter from two weeks ago between Athena and Thunder Rosa. They’ll be in action at Global Wars when Athena teams with Red Velvet to take on Thunder Rosa and Persephone.

Pure Rules Match: “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo vs. Marti Belle:
Wow, Purrazzo has been banished to ROH as well? I’m sure she’ll go back to TNA once her deal expires. Pure Rules… uh… Rules: It’s a 10-Minute Time Limit, you’re allowed three rope breaks, and you get a warning for a closed fist punch, and a DQ for a further infraction. Purrazzo is one of the names mentioned for that Tournament that hasn’t started yet. Code of honor adhered to. Lockup and Purrazzo works the arm. Whip to the ropes and Purrazzo puts on the brakes to kick off dust at Belle. Belle grabs a waist-lock but Purrazzo pops her with an elbow and sends her to the floor. Belle avoids a baseball slide and unloads with open-palm strikes. Purrazzo with the cut-off and sends Belle crashing into the steps. Back inside, Belle counters a suplex with a small package for two. Purrazzo avoids a slow-motion charge to the corner, trips Belle up, and snaps the arm back. Running knee and Russian leg sweep from Purrazzo, and the Fujiwara arm bar into the Venus del Milo finishes at 4:25. Wow, Marti Belle looked awful here. It’s almost amazing to see someone show so little improvement despite years of work. Why even make this a Pure Rules Match? Had they not advertised it as such, I wouldn’t have questioned it from standard rules.

We see highlights from last week’s match between Preston Vance and Evil Uno, and the post-match return of John Silver. We cut to a promo from the Frat House, with Vance doing most of the talking. Everyone hated Silver the most, and the Frat House accepted the challenge for a trios match. “Win or lose, we BOOOOOOOZE” might be the most annoying and obnoxious catchphrase in wrestling today.

Lance Archer vs. Aaron Solo:
What am I watching, 2020 Dark or 2025 ROH? Aaron Solo is still a complete nothing of ass geek, and all Archer can do is the same squash matches before jobbing to the mid-carder of the month. Solo with an interesting gameplan, attacking Archer before the bell. Archer shrugs him off and runs through Solo with a shoulder tackle. Solo avoids an avalanche and works the leg. DDT is blocked, but Solo manages to counter a chokeslam with a push-off dropkick, followed by a tornado kick. Archer cuts him off with a shin kick and knee to the face. Solo takes some punishment in the corner and Archer finishes with the Blackout at 1:36. It’s 90-seconds of Lance Archer. You know what you’re getting out of it.

Highlights of Miyu Yamashita vs. Athena from the ROH Archives (a little more than two years ago), which leads into…

Miyu Yamashita vs. Brooke Havok:
Sporting a 1-1 ROH record, we know Yamashita is a fresh face and probably deserves better than being stuck on the Island of Misfit Toys. We’re told Havok is a graduate of the Nightmare Factory. Code of Honor adhered to. They jockey for control, trading wrist-locks. Double whip reversal and crisscross sequence ends with Havok surprising Yamashita with a dropkick. She spends too long celebrating and takes a shot across the back of the head. Yamashita with a flurry of kicks and a running knee strike. Havok fires off some strikes of her own and hits a jumping neck breaker. Running senton and… why the FUCK is a person THAT small doing a spot meant for someone with beef on them?! Yamashita with more kicks, cuts off Havok from doing a silly rolling handspring into a head-scissors, and goes Kyle Schwarber on her head with a roundhouse kick for the finish at 3:33. Brooke Havok doesn’t seem like she should be doing much of anything at this point, but I enjoyed Yamashita kicking the crap out of her.

Mark Sterling is standing by with the Premier Athletes. OH MY GOD, HOW MANY OF THESE GEEKS ARE STILL GETTING A CHECK?! Through some legal loopholes, the Premier Athletes can now claim to have an undefeated record in 2025, and they’re gunning for the Tag Team Titles. We’re a month into my time covering ROH and I’ve yet to see who the Champions are.

Top Flight and The Kingdom vs. The Infantry and The Grizzled Young Veterans:
Oh my Goodness, what happened? This is the most random collection of talent that gradually disappeared from AEW TV (or in the GYV case, didn’t even make it to AEW TV). The Vets and Infantry attack from behind and it’s a big (heatless) brawl until Top Flight and the Kingdom clear the ring and it settles down with Darius Martin and James Drake. Top Flight with a combo attack for our first pin attempt. Taven comes in to work over Drake and he looks like a complete goober. Gibson with the blind tag and the GYV take control, working over Taven outside the ring. Back inside, more combo attacks from the GYV. The Infantry with strikes in the corner and a double back suplex. Taven creates separation and tags in Darius. He runs wild on Bravo with an inverted atomic drop and clothesline across the middle rope. We get more chaos, with Top Flight clearing the ring. Bennett tags in for the first time, sporting a silly haircut, and he throws chops to all four men, trapping them all in one corner like he’s Andre the Giant. Everyone gets their shit in, and man, I am NOT feeling this match. The Kingdom with the Spicolli Driver and running knee combo on Bravo. The GYV and Kingdom fight on the floor while Dante gets worked over by The Captain and Carlie Bravo. They hit a running boot and leg sweep combo, but Darius saves. Darius and Dean trade blows until Darius hits a fisherman suplex and Dante finishes with a silly-looking splash at 8:56. This was stuff happening for a few minutes, and it wasn’t the most inspired work, either. A few decent spots, but with the quality of TV wrestling, this wouldn’t come close to cracking the Top 30 matches for the week.

Final Thoughts: Pretty rough episode, with nothing really worth going out of your way to see. An uninspired 8-man tag on top of a couple of squash matches and a Pure Rules Match that featured someone working with the equivalent of a mannequin. Last week I had nothing but praise for the ROH brand, but this episode felt like one of those 4th week of a marathon taping session punt jobs. How do we have NOTHING announced for Supercard of Honor? Wikipedia lists TBD vs TBD for the Women’s Pure Title, but I don’t think we’re getting that any time soon!