ROH: Super-sized episode features a record seven women’s matches

Earlier this week, ROH announced a record five women’s matches for episode 13. That’s the first time in ROH history that there’s been that many women’s matches on one episode. On Thursday morning, four more matches were added, including two more women’s matches for a grand total of seven.

Some ROH talent are in Las Vegas for AEW Dynamite, Rampage, and Double or Nothing. The four matches added on Thursday morning were filmed on Wednesday night. In the past, AEW would air those on the eve of a pay-per-view. Since Dark Elevation and Dark no longer exist thanks to Warner Brothers Discovery, some talent were featured on the super-sized edition of ROH.

During Thursday’s media call, Tony Khan said that ROH had so many matches due to some of the talent available. The show featured two Proving Ground matches with Claudio Castagnoli and Athena, respectively.

While their television titles were not on the line, Samoa Joe and Zack Sabre, Jr. teamed up against Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal. If Daniels or Sydal pinned one of the champions, Sydal would get a title shot against the pinned champion. Unfortunately for Sydal, neither champ was pinned.

In addition to Athena’s Proving Ground match, there were six other matches. Newly crowned NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion, Willow Nightingale faced HYAN. Since her match was filmed a few weeks ago, she didn’t have the title with her (however commentary discussed her historic win). On the media call, Khan revealed that he is the one who sent Nightingale to compete in the tournament. He believes she’ll be a great champion and plans to utilize her in AEW and maybe in ROH.

Last week, Mercedes Martinez returned from a hiatus. She was recovering from an injury and also took time off to clear her head. On Thursday, she was in action against Dream Girl Ellie. Ashley D’Amboise was frequently on the former YouTube shows and has been utilized in ROH. She faced Danielle Kamela, whose picture appears on the wall in this Stokely Hathaway video.

Skye Blue took on Miranda Alize and Diamanté was victorious over Trish Adora. Kiera Hogan faced Vertvixen while Athena looked on. After the match, Athena was antagonizing Hogan and made her fall over Vertvixen. Hogan handed Athena some payback for the way she’s been treating other talent.

Later in the night, Athena was in a backstage segment with Lexy Nair. Nair asked how it felt to get a “taste of her own medicine”, which left the champion enraged. A frustrated Athena is putting her title on the line against Hogan next Thursday.

Thursday’s episode of ROH was out of the norm with its 19 matches. It seems like this will be a rare occasion for that many matches to be packed in at once. It was nice to see so many women featured throughout the episode. Most of the matches were around five minutes each. They moved the story forward between Athena and Hogan. Mercedes Martinez is being re-established while fans are getting to know other great women’s talent.

Even without seven matches every week, it’s nice to see the women frequently getting love on ROH. Athena has main evented four of thirteen episodes. She wrestles nearly every week. It’s a positive sign to see other women’s stories and characters being developed outside of the title picture. Hopefully, this is all leading to a strong, vibrant women’s division in ROH.