Here are some notes from Friday's Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor pay-per-view in Los Angeles, California.
New title match for Thursday, Battle of the Belts
Click Here: Paulo Dybala Jersey Sale
After defeating Yuka Sakazaki to retain the title on the pay-per-view, ROH Women's Champion Athena will defend the title against Miyu Yamashita on this Thursday's ROH on HonorClub in a match that will be taped Wednesday, apparently prior to Dynamite. Yamashita made her debut Thursday with a win over Shazza McKenzie.
On commentary, Ian Riccaboni said that the ROH World Champion coming out of tonight would be at next Friday's AEW Battle of the Belts event.
Champions retain
While the night saw new ROH Tag Team Champions crowned in a ladder match and a new ROH Pure Champion, all of the other incumbent champions left Los Angeles with their title reigns intact.
ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli successfully defended against Eddie Kingston in a hard-hitting encounter. After the match, Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta were stalking Kingston until new Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata came out to even the odds.
While many expected a title change, ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe fended off the very game challenge of Mark Briscoe to remain the titleholder.
As mentioned earlier, Athena retained her title with a win over Sakazaki in a physical match — her second defense of the week after she defended against Emi Sakura on Thursday's HonorClub show.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage & Gates of Agony) retained their titles with a win over AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik.
In a match filled with incredible spots, AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo retained his title with a victory over Komander that opened the PPV.
Naomi, EJ Nduka reportedly backstage
Fightful reported that former WWE wrestler Naomi was backstage watching the Athena vs. Sakazaki match, confirmed by Athena at the post-event press conference. She is in town for a WrestleCon appearance and Thursday's WaleMania event.
PWInsider reported that former MLW Tag Team Champion EJ Nduka was in attendance at the event. While has not worked in ROH before, he did recently made his AEW debut in a Dark match against Konosuke Takeshita taped in Orlando, Florida.
Neither report indicated they are signed.
Dutch & Vincent return
Following Stu Grayson's victory over Slim J on the Zero Hour pre-show, Grayson and Evil Uno were in the ring when Dutch & Vincent of The Righteous made their return to the promotion to stare down the Dark Order duo.
The two were rumored to be on WWE's radar after attending a tryout with some rumors they were tabbed to align with Bray Wyatt.
Vincent was recently part of Impact Wrestling with the Honor No More faction, but hasn't wrestled since some November dates with CMLL. Dutch has been in a match just once since last August, that being a January battle royal appearance for NEW.