ROH YouTube Special Review – 09.05.25

Welcome to another SPECIAL EDITION of ROH on YouTube. With a loaded episode of WWE Smackdown AND the NFL on YouTube with the Los Angeles Chargers taking on the Kansas City Chiefs, I guess we needed an extra 2-hours of content from Ring of Honor. We’ve got ELEVEN MATCHES scheduled, so sit back and relax.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are calling all the action, and it looks like every match tonight is taped from the 2300 Arena, so at least we won’t get a cobbled together mess like last night’s Honor Club where we saw matches pulled from four different taping sessions.

AR Fox & The Kingdom vs. The Frat House (w/ Jacked Jameson):
Poor AR Fox deserves better. Taven interrupts the Frat House and pledges having a drink at ringside by hitting the pile with a tope suicida! That must be a violation of the code of honor, considering the match hasn’t started yet. AR Fox gets in on the fun, hitting a springboard inside-out dive. Bennett and Vance start, officially. The Kingdom with a pop-up forearm strike for a two-count. Taven gets sent to the corner, but he out-maneuvers Vance and pops him with a dropkick. Jameson hops on the apron for a distraction, allowing Griff Garrison to jack the jaw. Bennett and Fox try to get revenge for their partner and each gets laid out for their troubles. Back inside, Vance with a delayed suplex for two. The Frat House keep Taven in their corner and punish him with a series of kicks. Taven surprises Vance with an enzuigiri and makes the tag to AR Fox. He makes his entrance, hitting a somersault splash across Karter and Garrison. Fox makes it look easy, taking on the Frat House by himself. He sweeps the legs of Karter, hits the flip-over stomp, and completes the sequence with a senton to Vance. Spinning suplex on Garrison gets a two-count. The Kingdom can’t put away Garrison as heck breaks loose with everyone getting involved in the action. Karter with a snap powerslam but he misses a 450 splash. The Kingdom with a variation of the Neck Check and Fox finishes with the 450 splash at 6:51. Get used to reading this: Just a match. AR Fox is the only one who stands out as someone worth investing time in.

We get a celebratory promo from Shane Taylor Promotions, who left Death Before Dishonor the NEW ROH Trios Champions. Hopefully they’ll be more visible on ROH TV than the last title holders.

Spanish Announce Project vs. The Premier Athletes (w/ Smart Mark Sterling):
Sterling has his arm in a sling, selling an assault at the end of the match between the Athletes and Hologram and Ishii from the most recent episode of ROH Honor Club. Sterling talks about a contingency plan, and I’m sure the big reveal will be something like Nick Comoroto or some other 2020 AEW Dark leftover geek. Ian Riccaboni hypes ROH Final Battle for December 5th. Please tell me we’re not going to have a major card until then!

Angelico and Nese start, and they adhere to the code of honor. Lockup and they jockey for control of the arm. Nese gets a little dirty, taking it to the corner and driving a shoulder into the midsection. Nese shows off his athleticism and taunts, and Angelico with the one-up sequence. Serpentico dives off the top with a double stomp across the outstretched arm, followed by an assisted hip toss and splash for two. Serpentico takes a shot from the apron, allowing Daivari to lay him out with a lariat. Nese with a guillotine leg drop with Serpentico resting in the ropes. I’ve never been a fan of spots as contrived as that, along the lines of the double stomp out of the corner. Nese misses a triangle moonsault and Daivari throws himself face-first into the turnbuckle, allowing Angelico to get the hot tag. He runs wild with clotheslines and unloads on Daivari with a combination of strikes, showing off some capoeira moves. Flatliner and Swanton Bomb combo but Nese saves. Heck breaks loose with all four men in the ring. Serpentico with Sliced Bread on Daivari for two. Sterling hops on the apron for the token distraction. Here comes a towering woman, who plants Serpentico with a chokeslam, allowing Daivari to cover for three at 7:39. Perfectly solid tag team wrestling. I have no idea who this woman is, but she’s a tall drink of water.

We talk about the Women’s ROH Pure Championship and take a look at the brackets. Queen Aminata advanced with a victory over Taya Valkyrie, but now we’re in another holding pattern as we anticipate the next matches. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Trish Adora is a 1st Rd match-up, but we’re putting them in different Pure Rules Matches for the sake of this overstuffed special.

Pure Rules Match: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rachel Ellering:
Nice to see Purrazzo working semi-regularly again after being banished for having a less-than-positive experience working with CMLL a few months ago (seriously, if TK held her off TV for having a bad match, that’s some shit considering the number of eggs others are allowed to lay ON HIS OWN TV). You know the deal by now; 10-Minute Time Limit, allowed three rope breaks, one warning for a closed fist, and three judges score the match in the event of going the distance (which hasn’t happened since I started covering ROH).

We adhere to the code of honor. Purrazzo avoids a lockup and snatches Ellering by the hair. Drop toe hold into the ropes AND THAT COUNTS AS A ROPE BREAK? Wow, that’s actually some solid strategy. Ellering lays in the strikes, charges into the corner with a clothesline, and follows with a running senton for two. Purrazzo goes for the arm bar, but Ellering counters with a roll-up for two. Purrazzo keeps targeting the arm. She connects with a Russian leg sweep and transitions to the Fujiwara arm bar, sending Ellering to the ropes for her second break. Deonna mixes up the arm work with some JOINT MANIPULATION. Ellering throws a series of forearms and takes Purrazzo over with a gut-wrench suplex. Purrazzo blocks the O’Connor Roll, and spends a rope break doing so. Boss-Woman Slam from Ellering for a two-count. Purrazzo counters a stack-up with the Fujiwara, and Venus de Milo finishes at 5:13. They worked well under the Pure Rules stipulations and had a fun match. I’m sorry the hot takes aren’t too spicy, 5 minute matches don’t really offer much more than “this was fine” or “this didn’t work for me, brother.”

Deonna and Trish Adora cross paths in the aisle as we immediately get to the next match…

Pure Rules Match: Trish Adora (w/ Lee Moriarty) vs. Ashley Vox:
So they taped the matches back-to-back. They could have pushed on with the 1st Round of the Tournament AND CHOSE NOT TO TAKE THAT PATH. Whatever. Same rules here as I mentioned earlier for the Pure Rules stipulations. Vox goes for a waist-lock, sending Trish to the ropes for a break. She puts the boots to Vox and punishes the arm. Nothing fancy, but very convincing. Vox goes for the ropes for her first break and Trish punts the arm in response. Hell of a move there. Vox escapes trouble and knocks Adora into the corner with a shotgun dropkick. Adora counters an arm bar with a running stunner and does the splits across the back of Vox while stretching her out. Trish sits down across the neck while having Vox in a straight jacket, and she has no choice but to tap at 2:46. That was quite the finish there, and one of the better showcases for Trish Adora.

MxM Collection and Johnny TV talk about their seed, which leads us into the next match…

Alex Zayne vs. Johnny TV (w/ MxM Collection & Taya Valkyrie):
The whole “Seed” gimmick is so, so stupid, but at least it’s allowing MxM Collection to show off their personalities, even if it’s Russo-levels of quality writing. Johnny TV surprisingly adheres to the code of honor, but A-HA, he goes to the eyes as soon as the bell rings. That scoundrel! Zayne fights back with a series of forearms and chops. Johnny escapes trouble in the corner, teases a springboard before hitting a simple slap across the face. Shining Wizard gets two. Zayne is dumped and gets worked over on the floor while Johnny distracts the referee. MxM Collection get in the ring for more shenanigans as Johnny POWERBOMBS TAYA ACROSS ZAYNE. I guess over-booking this makes it stand out from the rest of the filler content. Zayne escapes a chin-lock but gets wiped out with a Disaster Kick. We get a mid-match make-out session, allowing Zayne to recover. He throws more strikes and comes off the ropes with a somersault heel kick. Zayne snatches Johnny off the top turnbuckle with a hurricanrana and hits something so ridiculously contrived I don’t even know what to call it. I thought Zayne spiked himself with it on the first watch. Zayne with a rip-cord into a sit-out powerbomb, but more shenanigans leads to Zayne getting some Seed in the face and Johnny covers for three at 5:19. Meh, I have no desire to watch Johnny Whatever-The-F*ck in 2025.

Lexi Nair comes across the Premier Athletes and Mark Sterling, who identifies his Contingency Plan as Stori Denali. She towers over everyone, so if they’re calling her 6’3” or 6’4”, I’m 100% buying that estimation.

Jordan Oliver vs. The Beast Mortos:
Come on, why is Mr. Mercedes stuck on these ROH tapings?! Oliver is still new to ROH, but I’m not feeling what he brings to the table. Everything about him screams “geek.” Mortos has zero interest in the code of honor. Lockup and Mortos targets the arm. Whip to the ropes and Mortos bulldozes Oliver with a shoulder block. Crisscross and Mortos with THE POUNCE, with Oliver over-selling it beyond belief. There’s over-selling and then there’s “you need to make it believable, you know” over-selling, and this was definitely the latter. Oliver creates separation and clips the knee with a basement dropkick. Slow-motion hurricanrana and a soft body press gets two. Mortos has his leg caught in the ropes and Oliver with a German suplex for two. Mortos with the cut off, hitting Oliver with a headbutt and pop-up Samoan drop for two. Oliver teases another comeback, with some of the most cringe theatrics I’ve ever seen. Mortos thankfully puts an end to it, hitting a torture rack back breaker and finishing with the sit-out Tombstone at 5:11. Yep, I’m already over Jordan Oliver. His offense looked weak or missed entirely, and his selling/body language is putrid.

The Outrunners are hanging around and they’re fired up. I swear, ROH has a deep roster of tag teams and they insisted on Dustin and Pals on top of BOTH sets of titles for over a year. Sure, most of these teams are geeks when it comes to AEW presentations, but that’s their problem when they blend the rosters together.

Beef & LSG vs. Hechicero & Lance Archer:
Hechicero failed to take the ROH Championship from Bandido, so it’s back to the mid-level nothing matches for you! Lance Archer defeated Beef a couple of weeks ago in singles action, for those who don’t track ROH results. Beef doesn’t waste time, going right at Archer. It doesn’t take long for Archer to cut him off (“NO BEEF TONIGHT!”) and pulverize him with forearms. “Everybody dies!” Yeah, all that red meat will kill you. Beef shows off a cartwheel and dropkick. Archer gives him about 5-seconds before cutting him off again. LSG peppers Hechicero with right jabs. Hechicero catches him mid-leap-frog and draws up a spell in the sky. LSG flips over the charging Hechicero and connects with an enzuigiri. LSG misses a dive into the corner and takes a knee to the face. Beef gets planted with a Chokeslam, combo DDT to LSG and a Liger-Bomb from Hechicero finishes at 3:26. At least it was short, and Don Callis’ guys barely sold anything from either of the geeks.

Extended tribute package for Athena, honoring her reaching 1,000 days as the ROH Women’s Champion. Unless they slot in someone established from AEW, they’ve run out of people for Athena to beat on the ROH roster.

Pure Rules Match: Josh Woods vs. Matt Mako:
Just what the wrestling world asked for, a third Pure Rules Match in 40-minutes. At least the women’s matches meant something, but based on the last couple of months, this is just a random nothing match on a show with too many random nothing matches. Woods is listed as a member of the Premier Athletes, but we haven’t seen them all together in months. Lockup and Woods with a waist-lock takedown. Mako counters and transitions into a cross arm bar, but Woods stacks him up for a near-fall. Woods with a rolling heel hook into a grapevine, sending Mako to the ropes for his first rope break. Mako throws a closed first to get the unfair advantage. He works the arm and this crowd could not care less about this match. Woods rolls through a cross arm bar and attacks the leg. Ankle Lock applied. Mako scrambles for the ropes and gets cut off with a German suplex. Mako responds with a German suplex of his own, followed by a roundhouse kick for two. Woods avoids the spinning wheel kick and catches Mako under the chin with a knee for a near-fall. They throw forearms and lay each other out with pump kicks. We get a series of counters, ending with Woods hitting a twisting suplex into the turnbuckles for three at 7:05. Looks like with the victory, Josh Woods has earned a shot at Lee Moriarty’s Pure Championship at D3AN~!!!, which will be featured on next week’s episode of ROH Honor Club. Nothing special about this one, heatless and mostly a slog until they tried to make it feel more important with the closing moments.

Hologram vs. Aaron Solo:
Can we fast forward to Hologram getting ambushed by THE CLONE? Watch him be part of the Don Callis Family as well. Even I’m tired of burying Solo, so we’ll move on from the preamble and get to the action. We adhere to the code of honor and Solo strikes for the opening advantage. Hologram and Solo showing some quick feet and neither man gaining any kind of control. Hologram blocks a la magistral cradle for two and hits the taunt button. A flying head-scissors sends Solo to the floor and Hologram follows, but Solo gets out of dodge and hits Hologram with a plancha. The crowd is actually into booing Solo. Back inside, Solo drops a knee across the forehead for a one-count. Solo with a snap suplex and a sloppy back suplex. Whip to the ropes and Hologram rolls off the back, taking Solo over with a roll-up for two. Solo quickly regains control and goes for the mask. Hologram frustrates Solo from the apron, sends him to the floor, and hits a tope con hilo. Back inside, Hologram with a hammer-lock face-buster for two. Solo digs deep for one more offensive flurry, laying out Hologram with a corkscrew heel kick. Solo wastes time climbing the ropes and gets caught with a knee. Hologram with the spinning torture rack slam to finish at 7:25. I’m surprised they have Solo so much shine in this match, but they were also trying to put over that Hologram might not be fully focused with the Clone surfacing. Fine action, and probably the best I’ve seen Solo since diving into ROH.

Ian Riccaboni runs down tomorrow’s episode of AEW Collision, as well as the following matches featuring ROH talent for Action D3AN~!!!; Matt Mako vs. Wheeler Yuta, Billie Starkz vs. Nicole Matthews, and Maestros Contra Maestros featuring Hechicero, Xelhua and Dr. Cerebro against Blue Panther, Virus, and El Pantera.

Proving Ground Match: Bandido (ROH World Champion) vs. Lee Johnson (w/ Blake Christian):
We’ve reached the final match of the night! IT’S A CELEBRATION, BITCHES! Johnson refuses the handshake and puts the boots to Bandido. Johnson misses a running elbow into the corner and gets popped with a step-up enzuigiri. Christian with a distraction from the floor, allowing Johnson to send Bandido to the floor with a dropkick. Bandido gets dropped ON THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING and Johnson hits the taunt button. Back inside, Johnson with a snapmare and sliding forearm for a two-count. Bandido tries fighting out of a waist-lock and gets caught with a back suplex for two. Bandido with the cut-off in the corner and a corkscrew body press from the top rope. Johnson blocks the X Knee and throws a series of forearms. They meet in the middle with a double clothesline. Johnson tries his luck again and gets turned inside-out. Christian helps Johnson block the 21 Plex and Johnson connects with a brain buster for two. Bandido avoids the flying nothing but is stunned with a Super-Kick. Bandido with the pop-up cutter and the X-Knee finishes at 5:27. Post-match, Blake Christian lays out Bandido with the Lethal Injection and holds the ROH Championship high to close out the show. If you’re wondering why Lee Johnson took so much, the story of the match is Bandido selling fatigue from the 37-minute battle with Hechicero at Death Before Dishonor.

Final Thoughts: Just like the last time we got a special edition of ROH on YouTube, if you trimmed it down to 5 or 6 matches, you have a solid hour of content, but we’re over-stuffing this like Chef Boyardee Ravioli, so it ends up being a slog. If you’re REALLY into ROH like I am (snickers), SAP vs. Premier Athletes, the two women’s Pure Rules Matches, Hologram vs. Solo, and Bandido vs. Big Shotty would be my cut to make for a more easily digestible episode of ROH.