Mark and Jupi review Ring of Honor Ep 24 8/11/23 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

It's time to check out what Ring of Honor has been up to. We get to see Athena and Leyla in action as well as a match between Billie Starkz and Robyn Renegade where it could be anyone's match.

Match 1- Athena In Action- (VS Rachael Ellering)

Rachael actually gets a safe handshake off Athena before they start to grapple. Rachael gets Athena in an armlock, which the RoH champ reverses with a Sunset Flip. Rachael tries to pin her but Athena flips out of it and poses for the crowd. Rachael knocks her down with a lariat, followed by a scoop slam. She hits her with a Senton and goes for the cover, but the champ kicks out.

Rachael runs into Athena with a clothesline while she's in the corner. She tries to pull on Athena's arm, but she holds onto the ropes. Athena then pulls Rachael face-first into the ropes. The Fallen Goddess then gets Rachael caught between the ropes and pulls her hair back until the ref breaks it up.

Athena hangs Rachael off the ropes and starts punching her across the back and then knees her in the face. Athena poses for the crowd and Rachael grabs her for a roll up. Athena gets out of it and knocks her down with a kick to the face. Athena goes for a backflip but misses. Rachael starts throwing forearms at her. Racheal run towards Athena and she trips her and makes her fall out of the ring. Rachael is able to stop herself before hitting the commentary table. Athena runs across the ring and dropkicks Rachael into commentary table regardless. She then grabs Rachael and slams her face into the booth and then throws her into the barricade. She then rolls her back into the ring.

Athena gets Rachael into a variation of a chin lock. Rachael tries to fight out of it but the champ doesn't let go. The Queen of Strong Smile finally breaks free from the Fallen Goddess and hits her with a forearm to the face. As Athena was down, Rachael clocks her with a low dropkick to the face. Rachael runs across the ring and knocks Athena down with an uppercut. She knocks her back down with a slingblade. She then picks her up for a spinning slam and goes for the cover. The RoH Champ still kicks out.

Rachael goes for the ropes but Athena grabs her leg and yanks her down. Athena hits her with a dropkick. With Rachael dazed, Athena goes for the ropes and slams her with the O-Face. Athena pins her and scores the win. 

Mark's Thoughts- 

First off, I'd like to say that Rachael Ellering deserved better. Usually when they just say 'Athena (or whoever) in Action' it means they'll be facing some random jobber barely even worth mentioning. I first encountered Rachael (as Rachael Evers) in the Mae Young Classic, since she entered both of them. In 2017 she defeated Marti Belle but lost in the second round to Abbey Laith. In 2018 she had worse luck, getting defeated in the first round with Hiroyo Matsumoto. From there I've seen her in several indie promotions and even Pre-AEW Ring of Honor and Impact. Pretty much she deserved to be on the title card and not just 'Athena will face some rando in Action'.  

Racheal Ellering (as Rachael Evers) in the Mae Young Classic 2018

That said, it was a good match and as usual, Athena's opponent made her work for it. I have to say that spinning slam that Rachael did to Athena was simply beautiful. Athena was of course, doing her usual heel tactics and posing for the crowd, but Rachael got to deliver some decent offense too. Overall good match and it's always good to see The Queen of Strong Smile in action.

Jupi's Thoughts- 

No matter what, Athena always looks like she’s having fun. Just the way she made herself down to the ring. Seems the match was for a spot for a title shot. As for Rachael, I remembered her from AEW Dark and was informed of how big she was in the Indy circuit. Since she did start in the ring, my expectations of a decent lengthened match wasn’t too high, but I was surprised. I enjoyed it and was glad I was wrong. It was also nice that the crowd was cheering for Rachael as well as Athena. Of course the typical stuff ensued with Athena involved, but at least she did shake hands at the beginning. She even declared ROH was her show.  There’s one move Athena used that threw me…like a weird choke/sleeper hold, but Rachael got through it. I guess the biggest surprise to me, unless I missed it, no real cheating and no squashes!  Athena did end up winning with a now 35-0 streak.

Match 2- Leyla Hirsch in Action (VS Angelica Risk)

Both women shake hands but Leyla doesn't let go, trying to get Angelica in an armlock. Even though she didn't succeed, the damage was done. Leyla tosses her across the ring and then hits her in the throat. After Leyla tosses her opponent across the ring a second time, Maria Kanellis-Bennet shows up to watch the match. While Leyla is distracted, Angelica starts hitting her back, but Leyla socks her back down.

Leyla gets Angelica on the ropes and presses her boot against the back of her head. Leyla grabs her for a suplex, but Angelica pulls her in for a body scissors and a cover. Leyla kicks out, but Angelica uses this chance to knock her down with a clothesline. With Leyla down, Angelica goes for the top rope. As she leaps off the ropes, Leyla steps back, letting her miss and fall hard on the mat. Leyla grabs her for a suplex and then gets her in an armbar. Angelica taps out and Leyla wins the match. Maria claps and keeps her eye on Leyla.

Mark's Thoughts-

Pretty short match, as a lot of Leyla's are due to her submissive wrestling style. Before this match, Maria Kanellis interrupted an interview and offered to recruit Leyla, to which she wasn't particularly interested in. Maria showed up during the match to show that she's keeping and eye on her, and we'll see how Leyla will respond later on. There's not much else to say except it was nice to see Angelica Risk back, as we've seen her in AEW Dark and Dark Elevation back in the day. We'll see if she eventually rises above jobber status.

Jupi's Thoughts-

The whole in action thing is odd to me.  Of course Athena had the same issue. Announcing a match in this way comes across as if there’s no real importance to it and, IMO, insulting to those involved in the match and that the match was a last minute thought. Okay, got that partial rant out of the way, let’s move on to my thoughts. 

So, Leyla came down to the ring with that awesome theme song of hers which feels like a mix of Evanescence and one of my favorite love/hate Japanese groups, Do As Infinity. I say love/hate since I haven’t been as into the group’s later works lately.  

Angélica Risk started in the ring. I was assuming she wasn’t as big as Rachel and was expecting a squash match. The crowd was also a bit dead in comparison to the Athena match. When Maria Kanellis showed up to cheer on Leyla, I knew it was going to end quickly from there, and it did. Arm bar submission, and Angélica tapped out. Felt like there wasn’t much of a payoff and I was expecting one. I know ROH consists of mostly matches, like a gauntlet or tournament or just showing off your skills, but when you have someone come out and the match ends a bit quickly, I want resolution. I guess I’m a bit too story-driven for my own good sometimes. In this case, it really affected my enjoyment of the match.

After this we had a short interview with Lexi asking Athena what she meant when said that RoH was 'her show'. Athena compliments herself a lot and gets Lexi to admit that RoH is indeed her show. Then Athena states Angelica avoided getting beat up after the match so she grabs Lexi and makes her join her in searching for someone else to break. 

Match 3- Robyn Renegade VS Billie Starkz

Robyn grabs Billie's arm and goes for an armlock. Billie tries to roll out of it but Robyn rolls alongside with her, not letting go. Billie grabs her leg and trips her, breaking free and taunting her. Charlette starts talking trash outside the ring to distract Billie, but Billie manages to dodge Robyn's sneak attack and German Suplex her.

Billie gets Robyn in another suplex and then goes for the ropes. Charlette shoves her off the ropes making her land roughly on the mat and hurt her back. Robyn starts kicking Billie around and gets her up against the ropes and hits her with a running knee. As Billie stumbles off the turnbuckle, Robyn knocks her right back into it with a Shotgun Dropkick. She then hits her with a running kick to the face. Robyn follows up with a snapmare and goes for the cover. Billie kicks out.

Billie desperately crawls towards the ropes to catch a break but Robyn wraps her legs around both her and the ropes, choking her. Robyn hits Billie with a facebuster and then grabs her in a fish hooks hold. She then slams her face into the mat.

Robyn starts talking trash to Billie and then goes for a running kick. She stops before actually hitting her to fake her out, and then slaps Billie across the face. Billie goes onto the ropes and Robyn goes after her. Billie tries to kick her but Robyn catches her foot. Billie takes this chance to slap her right back. Billie starts fighting back, hitting Robyn with a spinning kick and slamming her with the Glory Bomb. Robyn still kicks out.

Billie takes to the ropes but Robyn follows. Billie leaps and rolls behind her. Robyn grabs her and slams her and goes for the cover but Billie kicks out. Robyn gets her in a firewoman's carry but Billie slips from her grasp. Robyn runs towards her but Billie trips her out of the ring. Billie then runs out with a over the top dive to knock down both Renegade Twins. Billie grabs Robyn and rolls her back into the ring. She goes for the top rope and lands on her with a Swanton Dive. Billie Starkz pins her and scores the win.

Billie's victory is short-lived as Charlette runs into the ring and starts beating on her. Robyn soon joins in as Billie is outnumbered in the beatdown. Suddenly Athena shows up and starts heading towards the ring. Robyn runs at her but Athena kicks her and knocks her out. As she gets into the ring, Charlette tries to take a swing at the champ, but Athena socks her out. Athena then grabs Billie and gets set to slam her face into the RoH title. 

Billie begs for Athena to let her go as the crowd also tells Athena not to do it. After a moment, Athena lets her go and heads out of the ring. Billie is terrified but relieved and Athena says a snarky 'you're welcome' as she heads out, holding her title high.

Mark's Thoughts- 

This was an entertaining match as it could have gone either way. Billie is a star on the rise, but so are the Renegade Twins and they recently had a win in a previous week. Honestly, with the numbers game, I was expecting Robyn to win with her sister's help. Charlette did do some shenanigans but Billie was able to mostly keep her at bay. 

Despite Athena stating earlier that she was looking for more 'porcelain dolls to break', I wasn't expecting her to come out, especially not to Billie's kinda/sorta rescue. She took down the Twins and almost took down Billie too. I'm pretty sure Athena put the fear of Fallen Goddess into her before she let her go, reducing her to tears. The commentary says Athena might have let her go because she's looking for new challengers and wants to face Billie at 100% some day. We'll see how that goes.

Jupi's Thoughts-

Last time I saw Robyn was in a tag match alongside Charlette, which was a mess because neither I nor the commentators could keep up with which twin was doing what. Half the time I had no idea who the legal sister was in the ring. lol 😂 Also, since Maria Kanellis had been randomly showing up cheering on other matches in this ep, I was almost expecting her to do that for this one.  lol

I know I’ve seen Starkz before, but not sure where, but she is young though. I could be her mother! lol I mean, she’s 18! If it hadn’t have been for the 100 mentions by the commentating team, I’m sure no one would have gotten that memo. 😝 Okay, let me get serious here, and speaking of serious, Starkz approached this match like someone with something to prove. I hope she continues to progress and improve. 

She held her own against Robyn, even using a nice German Suplex against her, but of course when the opportunity presented itself, Charlette attacked Starkz while the ref was distracted. Ironically, this didn’t bother me so much. The ref distraction wasn’t stupidly obvious. The move that stood out the most, was when Robyn got 18-year-old Billie in this crazy hold. She forced a hold on her face (the tear?) that looked so uncomfortable and painful. She was forcing a smile on her while she was laid out…like pulling her up by her mouth!  It made me think of the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film when the people of Gotham City had those painful, forced smiles on their faces caused by the Joker putting chemicals in their makeup, and then the commentary also mentioned the Joker. That aside, after that the 18-year-old Starkz received cheers while Robyn was jeered.  

Given the overemphasis of her age, she was the underdog, and the crowd made that clear. She did win with a Swanton dive, but Charlette didn’t take too kindly to her sister losing and attacked Starkz in the ring. Both of them were double teaming her until you hear Athena’s theme. She took out both twins and was about to take out Starkz!  Did I mention that she’s only 18? Wasn’t sure if you readers knew that. 😛 lol Athena spared her and Starkz looked scared. I now wonder if Athena views her as a worthy opponent and if a match with them for her title will happen sometime down the line.

Mark's Overall Thoughts-

This one was definitely Athena's show. She put on a good match against Rachael Ellering, she had yet another entertaining interview with Lexi, and she did a surprise attack on the Renegade Twins. I love all of Athena's antics, and her backstage antics are always the best. 

The Leyla match was alright, but her segment was mostly to build up whatever will happen between her and Maria. I am curious how things will work out if she does indeed join her stable, or the consequences if she chooses to refuse.

Jupi's Overall Thoughts-

This episode of ROH was okay. Two engaging matches, and one so-so match. The best was the Robyn Renegade vs Billie Starkz match. The worst to me was the Leyla Hirsch vs Angélica Risk match.  The Athena vs Rachael Ellering falls somewhere in between.  I do look forward to seeing more of all of them though down the line, and I really wish they would drop the 'In Action' stuff. Like I said, it makes it feel like an afterthought. Well, here’s hoping for more good future matches and maybe a little story.