By Mark Rodriguez and Ninja Jupi
This week we got 4 action packed matches as we get to see Athena defend her Ring of Honor Women's Title as well as Teal Piper stepping into the ring. Like before, Mark will deliver a brief synopsis of the match and then Mark and Jupi will give their thoughts.
Match 1- Diamante VS Teal Piper
Diamante and Teal shake hands to respect the Code of Honor, but Diamante doesn't let go and tightens her grip. Teal knocks Diamante down twice and then gets her in a Scoop Slam. Diamante would take control and dominate most of the match, hitting Teal with a neckbreaker against the top rope. She'd then kick Teal off the ring apron. After getting her back into the ring, Diamante would go for a suplex and a pin, but Teal would kick out.
Diamante then starts slapping Teal around, showing her disrespect for the legend's daughter. Teal would get up and start fighting back, kicking Diamante in the face. She'd get Diamante in a snapmare and then hit her with a running kick to the face.
Teal would grab Diamante in an impressive side suplex slam and then go for the sleeper. Diamante would counter this and plant her face-first into the mat. Diamante grabbed her in a straightjacket submission hold. Teal would try to endure until she passed out. Diamante wins her third match in Ring of Honor, this time due to referee stoppage.
Mark's Thoughts-
The match was pretty much all Diamante until Teal got a bit of fire in her and started fighting back. We got to see Teal do an awesome side suplex, but Diamante would get the win by making her pass out. At least we can say Teal didn't tap. Diamante looked strong as she continues to rack wins, but I do hope we get to see more of Teal. She's been a bit of a cameo guest star in AEW, so hopefully she has more of an actual run in Ring of Honor, but it's too soon to tell. We also got to see her support Deimos in his match against Nick Comoroto, and likewise he was on ringside supporting Teal during this match.
Jupi's Thoughts-
This was my first time seeing Teal Piper in a match…at least I think this is my first time. She may have popped up when AEW Dark was a thing. It was interesting seeing what her style in the ring was. The match overall seemed a little slow but had spots that made me cringe, like how Piper was on the apron and Diamante rushed in kicking her off of it. It looked painful. It’s a shame that Piper couldn’t really effectively apply a sleeper hold, which her pop was known for. I’m curious where her career will go after this and if they actually do something with the newly released anticipation.
Match 2- Notorious Mimi VS Miranda Alize
The match opens with Miranda slapping away the handshake. She takes control of the match, hitting Mimi with chops and forearms as she gets her up against the ringpost. Miranda hits Mimi with a running knee and a flying dropkick. She then goes for the Butterfly Suplex and attempts a pin, but Mimi kicks out. Miranda leaps from the middle rope and plants her with a Basement Hurricarana Driver and attempts another pin to no avail.
Miranda grabs onto Mimi's arms and drives her knee into her back, hoping to make her submit. Mimi tries to power out of it but Miranda beats her down and starts talking trash. Miranda goes for a kick but Mimi catches her foot and kicks her in the side of the head. Mimi then knocks Miranda down with a pump kick. Mimi picks up Miranda in a Fireman's Carry and slams her with a variation of the Samoa Drop. She goes for the pin but the Lucha Baddie kicks out.
Miranda goes for a Cutter but Mimi kicks her in the midsection and then hits her with a High Knee Strike to the face. Miranda manages to hit Mimi with the Cutter this time. As Mimi tries to get back to her feet, Miranda hits her with the Drive By which knocks her out. Miranda goes for the pin and wins the match!
Mark's thoughts-
Decent and short fast paced match. Both women got some cool moves in there. I do wish the commentary called out the name of that Samoa Drop variation Mimi did. We've seen Miranda a few times on Dark and Dark Elevation, and also on Ring of Honor, mostly taking losses. It's cool to see her win this one and start working her way up the ranks. Honestly at the beginning, I didn't know who was going to win this match until I realized that only Miranda got opening theme music.
Alize, like always, came in fast and aggressive. She was pummeling poor Mimi, who barely seemed to get any hits in. I was actually expecting her to lose on the get go, but she did make a brief comeback. It was all for naught though since Alize used her finisher and won the match.
This just felt like a glorified squash match and wasn’t that enjoyable for me. Alize declared how she was the veteran of ROH and I guess someone “green” or wet behind the ears couldn’t top her. A psychological approach perhaps? I guess it plays into her personality, but this match was still lackluster and boring for my liking. Feels that Mimi could’ve been given more of an opportunity to match Alize’s energy but wasn't allowed to.
Match 3- Athena VS Trish Adora- ROH Women's World Championship Proving Ground Match
Athena and Trish shake hands and starts to grapple, with Trish being more in control. With the champ's arm in her grasp, Trish would slam her to the mat several times before whipping her into the ring post. Athena manages to grab her leg and drop herself to the mat, yanking her opponent's leg over the top rope violently. Trish rolls out of the ring to tend to her leg, and Athena hits her with a running dropkick that sends her crashing into the steel steps.
Once both women are back into the ring, Athena grabs Trish's bad leg and starts kicking her on the underside of it. She then locks her hands around the leg, driving her own knee into the underside of Trish's knee. She then grabs her in a submission that both pulls back onto her legs and pulls back onto her face. Trish desperately crawls to the ropes to break the hold.
Athena starts slapping Trish around and starts talking trash to her. Trish gets up and grabs Athena, slamming her with a German Suplex. She then picks up the RoH Champ and slams her onto her knee. As Athena gets up, Trish drops her with a Pump Kick to the face. She then picks her up for a big body slam and goes for the pin. Athena kicks out. Trish starts to stomp Athena until the champ catches her foot. Athena gets Trish's leg up onto the top rope and then kicks the underside of it. Athena grabs Trish into a Wheelbarrow towards the ring post. As Trish gets up, Athena rocks her with a kick to the side of the head. With Trish dazed, Athena goes for the ropes and slams her with the O-Face. Athena goes for the pin and wins the match.
Athena goes for a respectful handshake, but hits Trish with a sucker punch. With Trish dazed, Athena prepares to slam her face into the title belt. Suddenly Kiera Hogan steps in, trash can lid in hand. As Kiera climbs into the ring, Athena knocks her down and both women start fighting. As security guards try to keep the women apart, Athena cracks Kiera across the back with the trash can lid she was intending to use on her.
More security guards come in to try to keep Athena calm. Athena tosses the lid aside and says that she's calm, but then slaps one of the guards hard enough to knock him down. As Athena turns, Kiera bashes her on the side of the face with the lid, knocking her down. Kiera gets out of the ring and finds a table under the apron. As she tries to get the table into the ring, one of the security guards tries to stop her, and Kiera socks him out. Kiera props the table up against the ropes, but before she can do anything, Athena spears her through it. The impact was strong enough to knock both women out. The guards came in to help Kiera walk out of the ring, and after a bit, Athena was able to get up and leave the ring as well.
Mark's Thoughts-
Trish put up a decent match against Athena, though once her leg became a target, it was all over for her. There was a funny part near the beginning where they were going for the test of strength, and Trish has to lower her arms some to make up for the height difference between the two. The only part that got me was why Trish was stomping on Athena with her bad leg. It wasn't a flub since Trish made sure to sell that her leg was hurt and each stomp she did was in fact hurting her more, but you have another leg, girl.
Kiera coming in was kinda expected since they are currently beefing. Earlier on we saw an interview segment with Dasha interviewing 'Kiera', but it was Athena with a blue wig mocking her opponent. Kiera didn't take kindly to this and laid her out, so it wouldn't be surprising to see her show up at Athena's match tonight. What wasn't expected was Kiera coming in with a trash can lid and later on try to use a table against Athena. Seeing Athena spear her through the table and knocking herself out was epic. Even the commentary mentioned it was a rare case where the opponent was in better shape than the person that actually did the spear, as Athena was out cold. We'll see where this goes.
This match started off with the biding of time. It’s like both were sizing one another up. When it did start, they both felt evenly matched. Adora kept twisting Athena’s arm and even used a back breaker that looked pretty painful. Later on in the match, Athena managed to get Adora in this weird submission hold, which also involved hair pulling, that required her to crawl on her elbows to the ropes. Despite putting up a good fight, Athena won with her record now being 26-0.
I liked this match a lot because it was evenly matched and kept me intrigued. Both opponents looked strong and Athena kept that heel heat going after her win. Like with all her matches, she usually pelts or slams her opponent with the belt. Before she could, though, Kiera Hogan came in!
Athena vs Kiera Hogan
Okay, so this wasn’t really a match, but it could’ve been a short one. Just think of someone cashing in during Money in the Bank and pinning whoever the champion is because said champion was already tired from the match just completed. This is how I viewed Kiera Hogan here. She was attacking Athena who earlier in the program was insulting her during an interview segment. There were weapons like a trash lid used and a spot with a table set up by Kiera in the corner of the ring, but that backfired on her. Athena speared Kiera through it, though knocking both out. Kiera was helped out first and Athena got up herself, determined to get Kiera, but was prevented from doing so.
Man, this segment was awesome! Athena got a taste of her own medicine technically. It was fun seeing this and now we have a future match to look forward to between these two. Maybe Kiera will finally be the one to end Athena’s reign of havoc towards the women’s roster. lol
Match 4- Skye Blue VS Viva Van
The women start to grapple, looking rather evenly matched. Skye sends Viva crashing to the mat with a flying headscissors. She then goes for a kick, which Viva catches. This leads to Skye spinning around and hitting her with the other foot. Skye whips her towards the ropes but Viva flips onto the ring apron. As Skye runs in, Viva socks her in the face and rolls across her back to get back into the ring. As Skye runs towards her opponent, Viva flattens her with a Spinning Heel Kick. She goes for the pin but Skye kicks out.
Viva grabs Skye and gets her in a painful looking sideways variation of the surfboard bridge. Skye falls onto her, which counts as a pin but Viva shoves her off. Skye gets Viva with a Hurricarana off the ropes and then nails her with a Shining Wizard. She hits her with a dropkick and goes for the pin but Viva kicks out.
Viva gets Skye in a Suplex Pin, but she kicks out. She then hits Skye with a running knee to the face and goes for another cover but Skye kicks out yet again. Skye tries to go for some sort of hold but Viva picks her up onto her shoulders. Before Viva can do her next move, Skye grabs her with her legs and sends her down with a headscissors. Skye then slams her with the Skye Fall and wins the match.
Mark's Thoughts-
This was a short but fast paced match. Viva Van really put Skye through her paces and I was really impressed by that Spinning Heel Kick, straight out of a fighting game. I was also impressed by that painful looking sideways surfboard move. I was wondering what kind of move or slam she was going to do with Skye on her shoulders. Skye is getting better in the ring with each match she has, and she is working her way up the ranks.
Jupi's Thoughts-
One thing I dislike about matches like this for someone as casual as me is how the winner of the match is predictable. Van was already in the ring which inevitably meant she was going to lose. Getting that off of my chest, I’ll give my opinion. I liked it. Van did a good job of keeping up with Skye Blue and man those submissions! Skye should’ve been crying for mercy! Either way it was a fun match by far and way better than the Alize one. The match highlighted both which made it enjoyable. I’d like to see more of Van in the ring.
Mark's Overall Thoughts-
Decent showing for the ladies, and it was great to see Teal Piper back. I do hope she makes more appearances and maybe becomes an official part of the Ring of Honor roster. If she did, would they say 'Teal Piper is All Elite' or would they say 'Teal Piper Follows The Code of Honor' or something.
Of course the big one tonight was Athena's match with Trish Adora and the aftermath involving Kiera Hogan. Afterwards, the non-blinking Tony Khan announced that next week both of them will be in a Chicago Street Fight. I'll be looking forward to that one!!
Jupi's Overall Thoughts-
The women’s matches for this episode of ROH were so-so to watch. The Athena vs Trish Adora match was my favorite amongst them for reasons already mentioned. I guess the other I felt was okay was the Skye Blue match. I just felt thought that overall this week was ironically weak.
One last thing we'd like to add is that our very own Jack Knives was recently at the Spark Joshi Puroresu "Ignite West" event where he got to meet Trish Adora and Viva Van, two of the ladies we saw wrestle tonight. He also got to meet Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh!
Spark Joshi Puroresu is a new Joshi promotion and this was their second show. With so many familiar faces, it looks like it's off to a great start!
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