ROH Glory By Honor night one results: Bandido vs. Flip Gordon

A fantastic Bandido vs. Flip Gordon World championship match headlined Friday’s Glory By Honor event in Philadelphia that had its ups and downs.

Silas Young defeated Rey Horus (7:54)

Young came out first and was leaning into cutting a babyface promo before he started running down Philadelphia. 

This first portion of this match was dominated by Young who kept Horus grounded for the most part despite a few flashes here and there. Young beat down Horus outside the ring and had complete control until Horus sent Young headfirst into the barricade with a bodyscissors.

Both guys eventually made their way back in the ring where Horus would start pushing the match in his favor. He hit a rotating powerbomb for a two count and when he brought Young to his feet, Young twisted his mask around and hit his Misery finisher for the three count.

Demonic Flamita defeated Dak Draper, Eli Isom, Danhausen, Mike Bennett and PJ Black in a six-man mayhem match (11:47)

Dalton Castle came down to the ring before the match to cheer on Draper. This was contested under lucha rules, meaning only two men can be in the ring at the same time. 

Flamita and Black started out and had a really fun, fast paced exchange. Black planted him with a spiral DDT that sent both guys out of the ring, allowing for Danhausen and Draper to get in there. Draper tossed Danhausen out of the ring and sent him head first into the barricade.

Eventually, Flamita and Isom became the legal men. Flamita won a striking exchange and went to the top rope shortly after and teased a high flying maneuver but then flipped off the crowd and jumped down. Draper came in for Isom and immediately ate a Flamita boot to which Flamita followed up by going to the top rope again. 

Once he was perched on the top, Isom came out of nowhere and shoved Flamita off, causing him to hit the floor. Isom slid in the ring and had a standoff with his longtime foe in Draper. They had the longest exchange of the match before everybody else in the match got involved.

After the smoke cleared, Danhausen and Bennett became legal. Bennett tried to piledrive Danhausen but when he failed, Flamita came in and threw Bennett out. Flamita set Danhausen on the top rope and hit a lungblower for the win. 

Vita VonStarr & Max The Impaler defeated The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) (6:39)

This match was simply here to showcase Max. After Leon and VonStarr started out, Max came in and bulldozed both Leon and Love like it was nothing. 

Max tagged out eventually and let VonStarr get some action in, but when she started getting double-teamed by The Allure, Max came back in and yet again destroyed both Leon and Love. 

Max and VonStarr won after Max had hit a Thesz Press on Leon, followed by VonStarr tagging in and rolling her up for the win. After the match, Max set up a table in the ring while VonStarr choked out Leon with a chain. Max just tossed Leon through the table and walked off with VonStarr. 

EC3 defeated Brian Johnson (12:48)

Johnson, a Philadelphia native, came out before the match to massive cheers. Johnson rolled out a Liberty Bell replica with his signature moniker “Mecca vs. Everybody” on it.

EC3 applied a headlock, but Johnson was able to escape with motivation from the “Let’s Go Mecca” chants. EC3 continued to try and simply work down Johnson, but Johnson had a counter for everything. EC3 eventually found Johnson’s weak spot and began working on his upper back. After a few Irish whips and multiple submissions, Johnson finally found the momentum to initiate a comeback.

Johnson hit a few stiff clotheslines that sent EC3 reeling to the outside which allowed Johnson to hit a dive. Johnson hurt his hand in the process, which became EC3’s focus in the latter stages of the match. 

EC3 found himself working Johnson’s hand before hitting his signature underhook slam, followed by his Promise submission hold which made Johnson tap.

Mark Briscoe defeated Bateman (6:19)

This match was originally supposed to be The Briscoes taking on The Righteous, but commentary informed us that somebody in that match didn’t make it through COVID-19 protocols.

Both guys started out by blasting each other with strikes which turned out to be a good portion of the match. Briscoe had some strong forearms for Bateman to which Bateman responded with a few strong knee strikes. 

Bateman dumped Briscoe on his head a few times before Briscoe made a comeback, hitting a few clotheslines and climbing to the top for a froggy bow elbow drop which got him the win.

ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defeated Rhett Titus to retain (14:43)

Josh Woods joined commentary for this bout. 

Titus tried to apply a front facelock and roll into a few different pinning combinations, but Gresham just laughed it off. Titus got frustrated and eventually started overpowering Gresham with his size difference.

As time went on, every attempt that Titus made to overpower was countered by Gresham. Gresham used whatever opportunity he got to work on Titus’ legs, trying to take him off his feet.

In the closing sequence, Gresham and Titus began exchange multiple pinning combinations. They rolled around the ring doing this for a solid sixty seconds before Gresham was able to pin Titus’ shoulders to the mat for the win.

VLNCE UNLTD (Brody King, Chris Dickinson, Homicide and Tony Deppen) defeated La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King, La Bestia Del Ring and Rush) in a street fight (15:35)

After Homicide and Dragon Lee started the match, Deppen tagged in. After Deppen spit on Lee’s jacket, chaos ensued and everybody started brawling. After the referee couldn’t restore control, the match was thrown out. Shortly after, Brody King said that nobody came to see a two minute match and demanded it be restarted and turned into a Philadelphia street fight. 

Lee and Deppen resumed their battle in the ring while the other members of LFI and VLNCE UNLTD fought on the outside. Deppen and Lee had an excellent exchange, as they always do, which Lee won. Weapons started spilling out from under the ring with LFI introducing a trash can, a ladder and a table. 

Deppen dodged a few ladder attacks from Kenny King and Bestia before hitting a springboard dropkick on both men. Homicide put the ladder on his head and began spinning around which allowed the rest of VU to throw each member of LFI in the ring one by one so they could get hit by the spinning ladder. 

Dickinson had a highlight moment as well as he put a trash can on Brody King’s head and just nailed it with a few stiff kicks. Brody King got revenge on Dickinson shortly after when he dove over the top rope onto Dickinson into a table. 

LFI positioned Deppen on a table in the ring shortly after. Bestia went to the top rope, but Brody King got in the ring and power bombed him into the table after Deppen rolled out of the way. After the rest of LFI was cleared out of the ring, Brody King pinned Bestia for the win. 

Shane Taylor tried to blindside Kenny King after the match, but LFI stopped it. The rest of Shane Taylor Promotions ran down as the two groups brawled into the back.

ROH World Champion Bandido defeated Flip Gordon to retain (17:18)

EC3 joined commentary for this match.

Gordon tried his usual outsmarting tactics, but Bandido wouldn’t fall for them. Gordon took control after a fast paced, counter-based exchange and began beating down Bandido at ringside. Gordon bounced Bandido’s head off of his championship belt and rolled him in the ring. Gordon began looking for various weapons under the ring which Bandido took advantage of by diving onto an unsuspecting Gordon. 

Bandido got Gordon back in the ring and kept his momentum going by hitting a rip crucifix bomb for a near fall. Gordon retaliated with a springboard satellite DDT for another near fall. Gordon followed that up quickly with a Flip-5 that Bandido kicked out of. 

Bandido and Gordon found themselves on the top rope where Bandido did a bodyslam moonsault for a very good near fall. Bandido followed it up with his signature 21-Plex for the win. 

EC3 had a staredown with Bandido after his win and then Brody King came down to the ring and berated EC3. King said he was next in line for a championship shot and had a pull-apart brawl with EC3. Flamita then jumped Bandido from behind to end the show.

Final Thoughts: 

Overall, Glory By Honor night one was a solid show. The final two matches saved face from some underwhelming bouts like Johnson vs. EC3 and the six-man mayhem match. Although I enjoyed the Gresham match, I felt that it didn’t live up to some of his previous defenses against the likes of Mike Bennett and Fred Yehi. Saturday’s night two seems to have a better lineup in store, so I’m excited for that show.