ROH: Round one of the women's tournament continues, ATHENA vs. Nyla Rose have a tables match

On Thursday, ROH Honor Club made it to 52 episodes (although it debuted on March 3, 2023). The first round of a tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women's Television Champion continued. ATHENA defended her Women's Championship against Nyla Rose in a two-out-of-three falls tables match.

For the second consecutive week, the women bookended the show. This week’s episode featured five women’s matches. The opening match saw Taya Valkyrie face Sussy Love. Love is another independent wrestler making their Honor Club debut in a tournament for a brand new title. Love is a luchadora and matched up well with Valkyrie, who spent many years wrestling in Mexico. Valkyrie got the win and will face Queen Aminata in round two. 

The second tournament match of the night was Red Velvet versus the debuting Sandra Moone. Moone looked really great and she’s someone that ROH should bring back. Red Velvet has been on a roll since her return to ROH/AEW. She is advancing to the next round to face Leyla Hirsch.

Abadon took on Viva Van. Van is not a total stranger to ROH. On AEW Dark, she faced Mercedes Martinez for the Women’s title. Way back on episode 16 of Honor Club, she was defeated by Skye Blue. She had a solid showing, but it was not enough to defeat Abadon. “The Living Dead Girl” will take on Martinez next.

The final tournament match of the night was Robyn Renegade versus Billie Starkz. Starkz is one of the favorites to win the tournament, but no one told Renegade. She has consistently been on Honor Club and has continued to grow as a wrestler. This was probably the most competitive match of the tournament on this episode. The woman got time and had a really great match. In the end, Starkz was able to pick up the win. In the next round, she’ll face Diamanté. 

ATHENA made her return to Honor Club on episode 50 where she surprised Nyla Rose and put her through a table. Later in the episode, the former AEW Women’s Champion put “The Fallen Goddess” through a table. Last week, the two brawled backstage and used broken pieces of a table as a weapon. While ATHENA wanted a tables match, “The Native Beast” upped the ante to a two-out-of-three falls match. 

Rose put ATHENA through a table less than two minutes into the match. She continued to dominate the first part of the match. Nyla was on the apron when ATHENA delivered an O Face to put her through a table on the outside. 

With the falls even, ATHENA picked Rose up in a fireman’s carry. She was walking to a table in the ring, when she collapsed and Nyla fell on top of her. The women took turns beating one another up. They went into the corner and ATHENA put Nyla through a table on the outside to retain her title. 

It was a pay-per-view quality match. Nyla was probably ATHENA’s toughest opponent to date. As Ian Riccaboni stated, ATHENA is the pinnacle of ROH. No one is on her level. We’re just a little over a month away from Supercard of Honor and it appears that no one will stop ATHENA from being the #ForeverChampion.