ROH Glory By Honor 2021, Night 1
August 20th, 2021
2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman
First Real Show Back
Silas Young starts the show on the mic and says this is the first real proper live show without wearing hazmat suits and sitting in pods. Young said ROH could have picked a real city like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Detroit but instead they chose Philadelphia and that’s quite possibly the worst wrestling city in the United States. Young starts mocking how this crowd is going to clap and cheer on Rey Horus, but when the bells rings, he’s going to make quick decisive work of him and after his hand is raised, he expects everybody here to give him the respect he deserves and if they don’t, he will grab the microphone and keep talking, but he gets interrupted by Rey Horus’ music.
Silas Young vs. Rey Horus
Young puts his hand out for Horus but ends up pulling him in and is able to take Horus down with a shoulder tackle. Young goes on the attack working on Horus’ back and head. Horus comes back and hits Young with a boot and a twisting body scissors, but Young stops him with a backbreaker. Young knocks Horus out of the ring but comes back to it and springs off the ropes with a double stomp to the stomach of Horus. They end up back outside where Young starts throwing Horus against the table and barricade. Young tries a big vertical suplex on the outside, but Horus escapes and hits a hurricanrana knocking Young into the barricade. Young starts talking back to the crowd and gets distracted and gets a flying Rey Horus diving onto him on the outside. Back inside, Horus goes to the top but gets stopped as Young hits a superplex for a two count. Young twists Horus’ mask a couple of times to blind him and hits the Misery for the pinfall.
Winner: Silas Young by pinfall at 7:52
Demonic Flamita vs. Eli Isom vs. Dak Draper vs. PJ Black vs. Mike Bennett vs. Danhausen
As the match starts, Dalton Castle is shown with his boys entering the ring and clapping Draper on with encouragement. PJ and Flamita start this matchup as Castle makes his way over to commentary and says he just came from a shrimp-eating contest as PJ hits a spiked DDT on Flamita sending him out and Bennett comes in as this is Lucha rules. They trade off chops and hit a double crossbody on each other as Danhausen tells Isom to step back as he’s going to go against Draper. They go for a test of strength that Draper easily wins, but Danhausen gets pulled to the outside by Bennett, followed by Bennett pulling out Draper as Eli Isom and Flamita go at it with Flamita hitting a sonic boom of a chop that gets the whole crowd to gasp, followed by a tornado DDT for a 2 count. Flamita calls for a 450 splash, just to get on the top and flip the middle finger to the crowd. Flamita goes to the top but gets thrown off by Isom. Isom and Draper trade strikes until Bennett and Danhausen join in, Danhausen goes for a double chokeslam on Isom and Draper but fails. Everybody comes in and is able to hit their signature moves as it ends up being Isom and PJ on the top turnbuckle, but Draper stocks them. Draper ends up superplexing Isom and PJ onto Bennett and Flamita as all five men are down and out, Danhausen comes in and tells the referee to raise his hand thinking he won. Danhausen takes turns hitting suplexes on everyone including the Good Nighthausen on Bennett. Castle comes out and distracts Danhausen who gets hit by a modified muscle buster by Flamita for the pin, as a result, Flamita earns himself a top 5 spot in the World Title rankings.
Winner: Demonic Flamita by pinfall at 11:47
The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) vs. Vita VonStarr & Max the Impaler (w/ Amy Rose)
Chelsea Green joined commentary for this match. VonStarr’s partner is promoted as a mystery, revealing it to be Angelina’s next opponent in the Women’s World Title Tournament. Vita and Mandy start the match with Vita hitting a senton and suplex followed by 2 counts. Mandy tries to talk her way out of this match, but Vita keeps attacking, including choking her with Mandy’s own arms. Mandy is able to escape and tag in Love who hits a sidewalk slam for a 2 count. Vita comes back with a fall-away slam as Leon comes back in. Leon takes control but seems to be distracted and thrown off by Max grunting in the corner. The Allure comes in and hits a double suplex on Vita as Mandy gets a two-count. Max gets the hot tag and dominates Mandy. Mandy tries to fight back but gets easily taken down by Max. Love tries to attack Max from behind, but it doesn’t phase Max at all. Max tags out to Vita and starts chasing Love on the outside as Vita rolls up Mandy for the pin.
Winners: Vita VonStarr & Max the Impaler by pinfall at 6:39
After the match, Max and Vita keep attacking Mandy as Love runs to the back. Max sets up a table and slams Mandy through it, as Love tries to run back in but is too late.
They take a break to fix some technical issues that were going on throughout the first hour of the show including aspect ratio problems.
Brian Johnson vs. EC3
Johnson comes out to a big hometown reaction with a makeshift Liberty Bell that says Mecca vs. Everybody that he rings, then gets in the ring with a microphone and introduces himself to a big reaction. EC3 comes out and knocks over Johnson’s bell. Johnson gets in EC3’s face but gets easily tossed aside as the crowd is heavily behind Johnson. EC3 gives Johnson a shot to take him down, but EC3 easily overpowers and slams Johnson. Johnson eventually is able to hit a shoulder tackle, and this gets EC3 angry as Johnson tries a couple of roll-up attempts. Johnson misses a clothesline in the corner and gets hit with a big lariat. EC3 hits a couple of hard Irish whips and a back body drop. Johnson comes back but gets pushed on the top rope as EC3 hits a Judo throw from the top rope. Johnson starts fighting back with punches, an atomic drop, but trips off the top rope. Johnson hits a clothesline off the top rope once he gets up, followed by a couple of elbow drops. Johnson sends EC3 to the outside and hits a suicide drop as the crowd chants “Mecca”. Johnson tries to get back inside, but EC3 steps on his injured hand and hits a suplex and an Angle Slam. EC3 keeps stepping and working on the injured hand, Johnson tries to make a comeback but his hand is heavily bothering him. Johnson hits a low blow and a cradle for a two count, EC3 comes back with a single-arm DDT, double underhook and The Purpose, pulling back on the injured hand until Johnson taps out.
Winner: EC3 by submission at 12:49
Brian Johnson gets a standing ovation as he heads to the back.
Bateman (w/ Dutch) vs. Mark Briscoe
This is originally supposed to be a tag team match, but due to COVID protocol, Jay Briscoe has been pulled from the show making this a singles match. This match starts fast with Briscoe hitting a pair of clotheslines taking Bateman down, but he puts his feet on the ropes at the pin attempt. Briscoe hits a suplex for another two-count. They start chopping each other, but Bateman rakes Briscoe’s eyes. Briscoe knocks Dutch off the apron and leaps on top of him but Dutch throws him against the barricade, as commentary reminds everyone to be safe as they confirm Jay Briscoe is off the show due to having COVID himself. Bateman starts attacking Briscoe on the apron and gets a two-count. Briscoe comes knocking Bateman off the top rope and challenges Bateman to go blow for blow with him and hits a belly-to-belly suplex, but Bateman gets right back up and hits a Saito suplex. Briscoe hits a rolling Spicolli Driver followed by the Froggy Bow for the pin.
Winner: Mark Briscoe by pinfall at 6:18
As soon as the match is over, Dutch runs in and joins Bateman in attacking Briscoe. Mike Bennett runs in with a chair and runs The Righteous out of the ring.
ROH Pure Championship: Jonathan Gresham (c) (w/ Jay Lethal) vs. Rhett Titus (w/ Tracy Williams)
Josh Woods is on commentary for this match as he is facing the winner at Death Before Dishonor on September 12th. All four members of The Foundation walk out together, with both Lethal and Titus supporting both competitors in this match. They both start the match trying to outpower one another with Gresham twisting the hands of Titus and pushing him into the corner to break it up. Titus puts on an arm scissor as Gresham gets reversed to try pin attempts. Gresham starts twisting the ankles of Titus, as Titus tries to fight his way out but grabs onto the ropes for his first rope break at the five-minute mark. They start to argue a little bit with each other getting in each other’s face. They trade off leapfrogs with Titus getting the upper hand, hitting a gut wrench suplex for a 2 count. They see-saw suplex attempts, ending with Gresham taking Titus down for a couple of pin attempts. Titus is able to hit a belly to belly but Gresham uses his first rope break on the pin attempt by putting his foot on the ropes. Titus uses his second rope break when he backs Gresham onto the ropes. Titus hits a backbreaker and tries to suplex Gresham, but they end up spilling over the top rope onto the floor. Commentary reminds us of this having a 20 count and Titus could win the title by count out as they crawl back into the ring. They trade roll-up pin attempts, including a crazy pinfall tradeoff sequence at the end with Gresham trapping Titus for the pinfall at the end.
Winner: Jonathan Gresham by pinfall at 14:41, to retain
Titus and Gresham embrace as Gresham tells the camera that his title is the real ROH World Championship. Gresham goes face to face with his next challenge Josh Woods as they shake hands.
La Facción Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King, La Bestia Del Ring & Rush) vs. VLNCE UNLTD (Tony Deppen, Brody King, Chris Dickinson & Homicide)
Shane Taylor joins commentary here as they congratulate Dragon Lee and his wife on the birth of their child. Dragon Lee and Homicide start the match, but Deppen quickly comes in as he and Lee have a beautiful sequence, with Deppen taking Lee’s gear and blowing his nose with it. This prompts all eight men to come in as the referee stops the match.
The match ends at a no contest at 1:47
The crowd chants ‘bullshit’ as Rush grabs the mic and says there shouldn’t be any disqualification, but all eight men start brawling again on the outside. Brody King grabs the mic and instructs his team to come back into the ring and says ‘There isn’t a single person in this building to see a 2-minute fucking match. We are in the 2300 – nah, fuck that – we are in the ECW Arena. So, I only think it’s fair and I demand that the Ring of Honor Board of Directors makes this a Philly Street Fight.”
Philly Street Fight: La Facción Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King, La Bestia Del Ring & Rush) vs. VLNCE UNLTD (Tony Deppen, Brody King, Chris Dickinson & Homicide)
The match is made official as Deppen and Lee start inside while everybody else brawls on the outside. Deppen and Lee trade-off slaps, kicks, and punches followed by multiple suplexes and a big clothesline that Rush breaks up the pin for before he gets attacked by Homicide and Dickinson. Homicide takes out a fork, but King stops him. Brody comes in but quickly gets taken out with a chair shot by Bestia. LFI sets up chairs inside and a table outside and suplex Brody on top of the chairs. LFI takes turns chopping Brody in the corner before grabbing a trash can and ladders from under the ring. Kenny tries to throw Brody into the ring, but Brody slips and goes face first into the apron. Back inside, LFI all start attacking Brody, but Deppen comes in and dropkicks the ladder onto them before diving onto them on the outside. Homicide and Bestia go at it inside, but Deppen and Dickinson come in and start attacking Bestia. Deppen puts a ladder on Homicide who spins around taking out LFI, but he gets dizzy and falls over. Dickinson places a trash can on Kenny and attacks him. Everybody starts fighting inside, but quickly place Dickinson on the table outside where Kenny dives onto him and the table. LFI surrounds and attacks Deppen, and it seems like Deppen loses a tooth. LFI brings another table inside and places Deppen on it, Bestia teases a moonsault but gets power bombed through the table by Brody. Brody takes all of LFI to the outside including back body dropping Dragon Lee and then covers Bestia for the win.
Winners: VLNCE UNLTD (Tony Deppen, Brody King, Chris Dickinson & Homicide) by pinfall at 15:36
Shane Taylor tries to attack Kenny King but gets taken out by LFI until Kaun, Moses, and O’Shay Edwards run out and join in the brawl.
ROH World Championship: Bandido (c) vs. Flip Gordon
EC3 joins commentary for this match and says they should change the name of this place from the ECW Arena to the EC3 Arena. The show starts with multiple takedowns and pin attempts, but Bandido is able to put on a surfboard that upsets Gordon. They trade leapfrogs and hurricanranas and then come to a standstill that gets the fans to chant ROH. Gordon thumbs Bandido’s eye, takes him to the outside and delivers a suplex and tries to tear the mask off of Bandido. Back inside, Gordon continues with chops and a neck vice before stomping down on Bandido and drop kicking him back to the outside. Gordon slams Bandido face-first into his own title, then gets a two count on the inside, followed by a spinning Falcon Arrow for another one. Gordon heads to the outside and tosses chairs inside the ring and grabs a Kendo stick wrapped in electrical tape but Bandido dives twice onto Gordon to stop him. Back inside, Bandido hits a crucifix for a close two but runs into a powerbomb and superkick from Gordon for a two. Gordon hits an electric chair on Bandido that knocks them both out. They slowly get up and start trading chops, until Gordon hits a springboard satellite DDT for a two. Gordon climbs the top, but Bandido stops him. Gordon hits the Kinder Surprise, a Torture Rack drop into a crossface but Bandido grabs the ropes to break it up. Gordon hits a superkick and a TKO, Bandido kicks out as Gordon seems frustrated. They head to the top, where Bandido hits a flipping fall-away slam for a two. They trade offense for a bit, but Bandido hits the 21 Plex for the pin.
Winner: Bandido by pinfall at 17:18, to retain
After the match, EC3 heads down to the ring with a shirt that says ‘Nuke the Bingo Hall’ and enters the ring to confront Bandido, as Bandido raises his title high. Brody King comes out and asks EC3 what he’s doing in the ring, as the line to face Bandido starts behind him, and if EC3 has anything to say, to say it to his face. EC3 starts to leave but he and Brody start brawling. As Bandido is still inside, Demonic Flamita runs in and takes out Bandido.
