ROH TV (Episode 131) Review – 08.28.25

Welcome back to Ring of Honor TV, exclusively on Honor Club at WatchROH.com. Last week on ROH TV (Episode #130, for those keeping track), El Sky Team successfully defended their CMLL Trios Championship against Los Depredadores, Blake Christian squashed Beef, The Beast Mortos won a hard-fought battle with AR Fox, Sammy G and the Von Erich Brotherhood defeated Adam Priest and the Horseworkmen, Trish Adora won a squash, and Hechicero defeated Mr. ROH Jay Lethal in preparation for his Championship match at Death Before Dishonor.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are calling the action, unless otherwise noted.

Promo from Bandido (with Brody King, as this was taped with Dynamite) hyping Death Before Dishonor. “Bandido Two-Belts.” Creative.

Beef vs. Lance Archer:
At least we’re getting Archer out of the way first. Archer has an impressive 10-0 Honor Club record. Beef avoids a sucker punch and throws some strikes that have little effect. Archer sends Beef to the corner and dumps him out of the ring. The fight quickly returns to the ring, where Archer plants Beef with a belly-to-belly suplex. I guess you could say Archer likes his Beef tenderized. The Murderhawk spouts off a one-liner for every move he hits, and they’re so good, I’m not quoting them. Beef with a hopeless comeback attempt, cut off in mid-air with a clothesline. Beef staggers Archer with a dropkick and throws more strikes, finally getting a bit of selling from Archer. Beef hits a twisting body press out of the corner, but it’s only good for a one-count. Archer cuts him off with a straight boot and a Black Hole Slam for two. Beef hangs on for a little longer before the Blackout finishes at 5:10. Archer squashing geeks in 90 seconds is fine. A 5-minute extended fight, even if mostly one-sided, is too long considering the quality of Archer’s opponent.

Last Friday at a RevPro event, Athena (with her simp) cut a promo with poor equipment on Mina Shirakawa. This clip goes on for way too long. I think more people attended this show than what the 2300 Arena can hold with the bleacher set-up. Athena threatens to break the hand of her defeated opponent, but Shirakawa makes the save. Did you know she’s the reigning Interim Women’s TV Champion?

Taya Valkyrie (w/ MxM Collection & Johnny TV) vs. Allysin Kay:
I don’t know why we don’t get to see Kay’s Honor Club record. Speaking of, I really wouldn’t mind seeing her become a regular and not just enhancement talent. Kay offers the pinkie and Taya obliges! How sweet. Kay unloads out of the gate and hits a swinging neck breaker. Whip across the ring and Kay charges in with an avalanche. Taya powders and a distraction from MxM and Johnny helps her take control. Kay gets dumped to the floor and we get a mid-match make-out session from the lovely couple… Johnny and Taya, not Mansoor and Mason Madden. Kay with a rally, taking Taya over with a release german suplex for two. Taya blocks a piledriver, sends Kay to the canvas and hits a double stomp for two. More help from MxM Collection, Taya with a knee to the face and Shania Pain finishes at 4:09. Poor Allysin Kay is dragged away from the center of the ring so MxMxTV can celebrate properly. A little clunky, but a perfectly fine match to fill a few minutes.

Mansoor mentions their open challenge, and suggests everyone is too ugly and stupid to accept, so instead, MxMxTV will pose, which leads to…

The Dark Order vs. MxM Collection & Johnny TV (w/ Taya Valkyrie):
YES! DARK ORDER FOREVER… they’re jobbing, aren’t they? “Evil Uno” chant. Mansoor spanks himself in response to the offer for a handshake. Dark Order quickly takes control with a fast flurry of trio offense. Mason and Johnny to the rescue, knocking Dark Order out of the ring and showing off a glamour pose. The celebration is short-lived, as Dark Order breaks up the party and poses themselves. I lose power briefly, coming back with Madden stopping Reynolds mid-dive and holding him in place for Mansoor to hit a senton across the back. Taya and Johnny make-out some more while Reynolds takes a whooping, including a slingshot into the buttocks of Madden. Johnny cuts off a tag attempt and hits a shining wizard for two. Johnny wastes time trash talking Uno, allowing Reynolds to hit a springboard clothesline. Uno runs wild, charging from corner to corner with elbows and clotheslines, and his gear stops cooperating with him. Bless Uno, I applaud working without the dress shirt, but I thought it was a good look. DDT to Mansoor, but Madden saves. All of MxMxTV gets caught in the ropes for a silly-looking synchronized boot spot. Mansoor is saved from the Pendulum swing. Silver trips Madden into the ropes and hits a German suplex. Mansoor back in, hitting Silver low, and MxM hit the Centerfold for the three-count at 8:28. Perfectly solid trio match, unfortunately my poor Dark Order get jobbed again.

Spanish Announce Project vs. Stephen Wolf & Danny Orion:
SAP has a very mid 3-3 record. Orion is pronounced “Oh-re-un”, not “Oh-rye-un”, or maybe the ring announcer botched it, because Orion is such a hard name to pronounce (fun personal fact: Orion is my son’s name, and 50/50 chance people mispronounced it). Wolf and Angelico adhere to the code of honor and trade off hammer-locks and wrist-locks. Leg sweep into a cover and Angelico goes back to the arm. Serpentico comes off the top rope and continues working the arm. He takes Orion over with a head-scissors and cradles him for a two-count. Serpentico gets caught and worked over, which really says something when you’re selling for extended periods against “already in the ring” opponents. Wolf clobbers him in the corner with a clothesline, takes Serpentico with a suplex and drops an elbow for two. Orion throws Serpentico from a torture rack position into the turnbuckle for two. Angelico with the hot tag, running wild on both men and launching off the back of Orion to hit Wolf with a clothesline. It’s a total domination despite Angelico being at a 1-v-2 disadvantage. Serpentico helps out, hitting Wolf with a tope suicida, and Angelico finishes with the single-leg crab at 7:19. The work was alright, but it’s so hard to get interested in a Serpentico match. He’s as bottom of the barrel as you get and teaming with Angelico is the only reason he has numbers other than zero in the win column.

QTV Returns! OH BOY, JUST WHAT I NEEDED TO MAKE MY LIFE COMPLETE. Aaron Solo is all that is left of the crew… or so we think! Solo reads a tweet from Paul Walker Hauser that name-drops Dave Meltzer. GOTTA GLAZE UNCLE DAVE! We reveal that Harley Cameron is also in the room, and she’s out of place, doing multiple voices/personalities that somehow makes this segment even worse. QT faces Hauser in a Fight Without Honor at Death Before Dishonor.

Recap of Xelhua taking Lee Moriarty to the limit, setting up their Pure Championship Match at… you got it, DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR.

Okumura vs. Stigma:
It’s a CMLL showcase! Okumura looks like he would fit in with the Foot Clan, and Stigma is part of a stable of wrestlers that also includes Xelhua. Thank you, Riccaboni, for that nugget of information. Okumura grabs a waist-lock and they fight for control of the arm. Stigma uses the rope to his advantage, taking Okumura down with a snap arm drag. We get the leg sweep and cover sequence and back to a neutral stance. Stigma sends Okumura to the floor and hits a tope suicida. Okumura walks away from the second try but is caught with a seated splash. Back inside, Stigma comes off the second rope with a double stomp and flies off the top with a splash for two. Okumura cuts Stigma off attempting another high risk maneuver and takes him down with a super-plex for two. Michinoku Driver for two. We get a short strike exchange and Okumura finishes with a Running Tower of London at 5:01. Well, that certainly went in a direction I didn’t expect. This was all Stigma for the first 3-minutes or so. Not long enough to form a real opinion on either, but at least what I watched has me leaning positive.

Ian Riccaboni notes that due to Dustin Rhodes’ injuries, the Tag Team and Trios Titles were VACATED (his words), but Sammy Guevara and the Von Erich Family were given matches to regain their titles, with that trio together to fight Shane Taylor Promotions, while Sammy and a Partner To Be Named faces The Outrunners for the Tag Titles. Did we need to overcomplicate this by making that “vacant” announcement?

Mistico, Mascara Dorada, and Neon vs. Adam Priest and The Workhorsemen:
I guess our wonderful trio of Priest, Anthony Henry and JD Drake aren’t worthy of a title shot, despite the match being held under “Lucha Libre” rules. I’m going to make this remark every time we see it, but American audiences are NOT reacting to Mistico’s music like we’re in Arena Mexico, unless we’re in a very specific market and area, and we most definitely have not been there in the last month or so of tapings.

Henry is reluctant to offer a code of honor, then plants a boot on Mistico when agreeing to go laong with it. Drake with a shot from the apron, but the double-team quickly backfires. Mistico with a combo head-scissors and arm drag, then Dorada and Neon help out to clear the ring. Priest in and Mistico shows him to the floor just as quickly. El Sky Team’s synchronized dive is cut off and the rudos single out Neon. I’ll give Priest, JD and Henry credit, they aren’t all standing around the ring lazily for the duration of this. Priest with a snap suplex and Drake with a slingshot barrel roll splash. Neon’s attempt to fight out of the corner is unsuccessful and Priest wrecks him with a slam and assisted leg drop. Drake with a Koeshi headbutt for two. This heat segment is running a little long, at least by standards of ROH TV. Drake looks absolutely lost as Neon makes his comeback, with some assistance from Mistico and Dorada. We get that Sky Team dive spot we were teased earlier in the match. Drake plays the monster for a moment and Dorada gets triple-teamed, but Mistico saves. It’s a donnybrook with all six men in the ring. Double Super-Kick “Chris Adams style.” Uh… Ian… can we reference someone who ISN’T a scumbag? Neon with a tope con hilo. Mistico catches Priest with the heel and Dorada comes off the top with a 450 splash for two. Henry is taken down and La Mistica forces him to tap at 10:42. Everything is fine and andy until a masked man ambushes Mistico, and it’s MJF, hyping a Mask vs Title Match at Anniversario. Wait… the last image of the show before Death Before Dishonor was for a CMLL event?! This went a little too long and at times, there was a contrast in styles that took me out of the action.

Final Thoughts: For the last show before Death Before Dishonor, it really didn’t do much to add to that event. The CMLL showcases end up being the best part of any episode, but the quality of the matches were mostly fine but unspectacular. I’m always happy to see the Dark Order, until I realize they’re jobbing, and we had a little too much Lance Archer and QTV for my tastes. This was one hour of pro wrestling that was designed to fill time and that’s pretty much it. I have little reason to be excited for Death Before Dishonor, which has a bunch of lame-duck challengers. Bandido vs. Hechicero should be a good match, but there’s no chance Bandido is losing, and “workrate” isn’t enough for me sometimes. I need a reason to care.