Ring Of Honor – August 14, 2025: He Was RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!
Ring Of Honor
Date: August 14, 2025
Location: Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
With Death Before Dishonor two weeks from tomorrow, things need to pick up a bit, as usual. The World Title match is officially set, but with three shows to go, that’s all we have. In theory we’ll get something else this week, though you never can tell with how things go on this show. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
We run down the card.
Volador Jr./Difunto/The Beast Mortos/Hechicero vs. Spanish Announce Project/Alex Zayne/AR Fox
Lance Archer is here with Volador and company. Angelico and Hechicero start things off with Hechicero dancing out of a lockup. They trade legsweeps and covers for two each and it’s off to Fox vs. Difurto. Some takedowns don’t go very far so Fox grabs a swinging suplex, allowing the double tag to Mortos and Zayne. Mortos gets taken down for a running backsplash and it’s time for Serpentico vs. Volador. Serpentico sends him outside but Archer gets in a trip from the floor, allowing the villains to beat Serpentico down.
With Serpentico knocked outside, Angelico comes in and gets knocked outside as well. Zayn comes in and gets sent outside as well, meaning Fox is able to try his luck. This one works a bit better, including some cutters to drop Mortos and Difurto. Zayne is back in with a top rope splash for two on Hechicero as everything breaks down. Hechicero faceplants Zayne though and ties up his arms for a very rolling cradle and the pin at 9:29.
Rating: B-. This is a good example of putting too much in one match. Hechicero is coming up on a World Title match in just over two weeks and while he got the fall here, he was in the middle of a wild eight man tag. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have him go out there and pin someone, like say Zayne for instance, in a singles match to make him feel like more of a threat? As usual, the CMLL stars are entertaining, but it’s one random match after another with little ever feeling like it’s building anywhere.
Post match the villains keep up the beatdown but Bandido, Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii and Hologram make the save.
The Premiere Athletes are ready to face a team from CMLL, though Ariya Daivari’s idea of wearing a mask doesn’t work.
Willie Mack vs. Gringo Loco
They fight over a wristlock to start and then exchange cartwheels to escape takedown attempts. Back up and Loco jumps over him for a hip swivel, only for Mack to hit a running shoulder for one of his own. Did you get that they’re mirroring each other? I wasn’t sure if that and commentary explaining it every three seconds was making it clear enough. Loco knocks him down again but has to stick the landing on the switchfoot moonsault. Mack Stunners him into a running kick to the face, followed by the frog splash for the pin at 6:55.
Rating: C+. It was two bigger guys hitting each other with some flashy offense, which works well for a bit but doesn’t have the most staying power. At the same time, it doesn’t help that neither of them feel like they’re likely to go anywhere. Loco has been getting some more ring time in the Chicago residency, but that doesn’t make him much more interesting.
Lance Archer vs. Ren Jones
Archer jumps him in the aisle and beats him up around ringside. They go inside for the Black Out and the pin on Jones at 41 seconds. I’ve long since lost count of how many times Archer has done this but it’s losing its charm.
Video on Xelhua vs. Lee Moriarty.
We look at Toni Storm and Athena’s brawl from this week’s Dynamite.
Mina Shirakawa, who has been out of action since All In, wants to face Athena for the Women’s Title at Death Before Dishonor. Athena has sixty eight wins but she can’t sixty ni….never mind. Remember that Shirakawa is the Interim Women’s TV Champion so it might be time for another double champion!
Taya Valkyrie vs. Leila Grey
Johnny TV and Christopher Daniels are here too. Valkyrie poses to start and is quickly sunset flipped for an early near fall. TV gets in a quick trip as we’re again promised that the Women’s Pure Title tournament is coming (four months or so now). Valkyrie takes her outside for a bit before working on the arm back inside. Grey fights up with a faceplant and a Stunner gets two. TV offers a quick distraction so Daniels cuts him off, leaving Grey to hit another Stunner. This one sets up a dragon sleeper for the tap from Valkyrie at 5:29.
Rating: C-. Another match from more people who are jockeying for position for some title which has been coming for months now. That’s in addition to the Women’s Title (champion going after another title), the Women’s TV Title (champion injured) and Interim Women’s TV Title (champion going after another title). Maybe either slow down a bit or find a better way to present your women.
Willie Mack wants the TV Title and as luck would have it, Nick Wayne is RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, being surprised that Mack would say that. Wayne doesn’t seem scared.
Main Man Oro vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Oro is better known as Oro Mensah from his NXT days. Oro strikes away to start but gets knocked out of the air. That earns Ishii a kick to the chest and another to the back and we’re already into the chinlock. Back up and they strike it out until Ishii hits a hard clothesline. Oro grabs a tornado DDT across the top rope but Ishii blasts him with another clothesline. The brainbuster finishes Oro at 4:40.
Rating: C+. Oro got in a bunch of offense here and that was nice to see, though Ishii shrugging it off and hitting his finisher for the pin was a bit odd. Ishii getting a win is fine, though Oro didn’t do much to stand out here. He was athletic and high flying, but that would be the case for all kinds of people on this show. Maybe find something that makes you stand out more. Or stop signing so many people with similar styles.
We get a SPECIAL EPISODE tomorrow. Just in case this wasn’t enough you see.
Xelhua vs. Lee Moriarty
Non-title Proving Ground match, meaning that if Xelhua wins or survives the ten minute time limit, he gets a future title shot. Xelhua works on the arm but gets reversed into a quickly broken abdominal stretch. Back up and Xelhua works on the arm again but Moriarty takes him down by the leg. That’s broken up so Moriarty goes for the arm, sending Xelhua over to the arm.
Xelhua ties up Moriarty’s legs and arms, meaning Moriarty uses his first rope break. Moriarty is fine enough to hit a springboard clothesline for two before tying up the arms again. Xelhua’s second rope break gets him out, meaning it’s a leglock to make Moriarty use his second break as well. The Fang into the Border City Stretch has Xelhua in more trouble, only for him to escape on his own this time. The Stretch is broken up again and Xelhua ties up the arms as time expires at 10:00.
Rating: B-. The fans being rather quiet for this sums up the problem: there is little reason to care about this match. Xelhua has had one match in ROH before this, which was two weeks ago against someone else who isn’t around here. It doesn’t help that this wasn’t the title match, but more or less a glorified dress rehearsal. Odds are this sets up a rematch for Death Before Dishonor,
The rematch is made for Death Before Dishonor to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. On one hand I do appreciate something being announced for Death Before Dishonor, but the pay per view is still feeling incredibly slapped together. Mina Shirakawa being back for revenge on Athena is fine, but the Pure Rules Title hasn’t felt important in years and this isn’t changing that issue. Other than that, we had a lot of guest stars and people who don’t make regular appearances around here, which makes this show feel like it could have been one (short) email rather than an hour long broadcast. The action is fine, but the show feels like the afterthought of afterthoughts and that’s been old.
Results
Volador Jr./Difunto/The Beast Mortos/Hechicero b. Spanish Announce Project/Alex Zayne/AR Fox – Spinning cradle to Zayne
Willie Mack b. Gringo Loco – Frog splash
Lance Archer b. Ren Jones – Black Out
Leila Grey b. Taya Valkyrie – Dragon sleeper
Tomohiro Ishii b. Main Man Oro – Brainbuster
Lee Moriarty vs. Xelhua went to a time limit draw
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