Welcome to another edition of The ROHbot Report – the only article you need for all the Ring of Honor news you have to know. Coming into last year’s “Supercard of Honor” – an event originally meant as a restart for the company after a hiatus organized by ROH’s previous owner Sinclair Broadcast Group – nothing was the same in the honorable realm mostly thanks to Tony Kahn purchasing ROH.
Last year’s “Supercard” began the long road to Ring of Honor returning in full with fresh ROH weekly programming airing on HonorClub (ROH’s streaming service) starting only a month ago. Did the culmination of so much hard work and patience pay off in the city of bright lights during wrestling’s busiest weekend? Lets find out.
Supercard of Honor Review
March 31st, 2023
Los Angeles, CA
AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Komander
Code of Honor followed as the crowd went wild before they even locked up. Using a trip early to stop the leap frog, Komander performed a modified surfboard that Vikingo countered into the actual version of the shoulder-popping, knee-bending maneuver. The masked challenger freed himself, only to get tied up and end up on his head alongside the champion; slapping each other.
That didn’t last long as they rolled to their feet and began running until Vikingo sent his opposition out of the ring via a head scissors. In an impressive show of agility & strength, the champion somersaulted over the top to dive on Komander; landing on his feet & hoisting Komander up for something that his challenger was able to stop before reentering the ring. Vikingo followed, only to get pitched out of the ring on the other side where Komander sailed over the top to down the titleholder.
Komander pulled out a table before breaking the referee’s count. Instead of putting the downed Vikingo on the table, Komander saw his chance to do a 450 splash from the entrance stage onto the champ. Rolling Vikingo into the ring, Komander walked the ropes for another 450 attempt. Instead, Komander landed on his feet as the champ moved, taking an enzuguri that put him in the corner for an inverted 450 into the hurricarana. Komander fell against the ropes, prone to a pair of running knees that knocked him to the floor again.
Getting his knees up, Komander stopped a shooting star off the apron. When Komander put Vikingo in the ring, he came off the top with a shooting star press of his own. Unfortunately for Komander, he ate boots to the chest and a spinning sidewalk slam when he stumbled around the ring after the connection. Balancing himself on the ring post, Vikingo jumped from his position onto the middle of the top rope before leaping into a sit-out power bomb counter … that gave Komander a near fall!
Vikingo recovered and shoved Komander to the floor when he climbed the ropes prior to unleashing an inverted 450 splash from the middle rope. Bret’s rope allowed Vikingo to jump from outside into inside so he could corkscrew 450 splash Komander for a two count of his own. Komander found himself on the apron about to be power bombed on the apron when the masked man countered with a Canadian destroyer on the apron!
As if that wasn’t enough, Komander started on the furthest ring post, ran across the top rope to the adjacent post, and dove onto Vikingo! The fans were going wild after the display, but Komander stayed focus by rolling the champ into the ring; finally hitting that shooting star press that didn’t get him the championship. Vikingo saw Komander trying to run the top rope again when he tripped him. This allowed the champ to meet him from the top turnbuckle to pull off a Canadian destroyer of his own. Rolling the flopping Komander onto the table, Vikingo got a running start to execute the springboard 630 splash, but the table didn’t break. I AM THE TABLE!
With Komander back in the ring, Vikingo went for another 630 that Komander avoided. The challenger came off the top with that implosion shooting star press … to gain a near fall thanks to the bottom rope that Vikingo grabbed!
Komander had the Spanish Fly off the top in mind when Vikingo countered with a super spinning sidewalk slam. Komander fell in the corner, prone to a running double knee strike that put him in prime position for the 630 and the pin fall for Vikingo.
Winner: El Hijo del Vikingo (15:43)
Match Review: This is the type of match that you’ll either love or hate mostly because of the lucha style where there will be moments of wrestlers just standing in position for someone to do something to them (such as that corner hurricarana spot). Unlike the Vikingo’s match on ROH on HonorClub this past week, this one had no timing issues or “botches” and perfectly displayed exactly what makes their styles so entertaining and awe-inspiring. Depending on who you are as a viewer, this one stole the show early.
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Embassy (Brian Cage & The Gates Of Agony [Kaun & Toa Liona]) (c) w/ Prince Nana vs. AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik
Code of Honor adhered to before the challengers took the fight to The Embassy by knocking them to the floor for triple dives. Unfortunately for Metalik, he took a big slam from Toa Liona. Using a handspring back elbow to stop the onslaught of Brian Cage, AR Fox tagged in to use his innovative offense including a skinning of the cat to dropkick Cage before rolling backward to ace crush an incoming Kaun. Swanton Bomb connected for Fox on Cage, but didn’t end this one after every champion took a dive from their opponents. Just when it seemed Fox was on a roll, Cage caught and slammed him. But Fox was close enough to get a tag to a fired up Blake Christian who knocked the now legal Toa out of the ring for the Sasuke Special. But the mass stopped the speed as Cage – who tagged himself in – double clotheslined Christian and Metalik. Blake couldn’t stop The Embassy triple team of Kaun’s top turnbuckle sidewalk slam and Toa’s senton splash on the apron.
Fox saved Christina from taking Cage’s delayed vertical suplex, kicking off a flurry of offense from the challengers where they were splashing and diving atop Cage in the ring while keeping the other champs at bay. Sadly for the would-be champions, their offense was cut off by Liona after Blake pulled off a Canadian destroyer on Cage by jumping off Kaun’s back. Metalik was left alone with Cage, turning a power bomb into a sunset flip for a two count. Quickly getting up, Cage pulled off a lariat after missing the first one. Metalik couldn’t stop the Drill Claw by Cage or the three count that followed.
Winners: The Embassy (8:20)
Match Review: Solid effort from everyone involved with the challengers getting shut down pretty efficiently. Would love to see a rematch, but the question of, “Who’s next?” for the champs in a rather shallow division.
ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki
After crushing a porcelain doll during her entrance, the champ actually found herself unable to crush Yuka Sakazaki immediately. Big enzuguri from the challenger topped by the hurricarana sent Athena to the floor. When the champion turned around, Yuka came flying off the ropes with a somersault plancha; landing on the top of her head. Yuka definitely seemed staggered by the fall, but continued moving. Athena attempted to leave through the crowd when Yuka caught her and kicked her back in.
Coming off the top, the challenger missed a missile dropkick. Yet, Yuka got up swinging for the fences until Athena tackled her for some ground & pound. Yuka was out on her feet as she stumbled into the corner. “The Magical Girl” attempted to kick Athena away, but the champ used her incoming legs against Sakazaki by slamming her back-of-the-head first against the canvas. Athena was having nothing short of a wonderful time antagonizing her opposition until Sakazaki swept her into a buzzsaw kick topped by the sliding clothesline.
A flying roundhouse kick from Yuka allowed her to come off the ropes for a head scissors. “The Fallen Goddess” blocked the attack, power bombing Sakazaki three times with the third being a sit-out variation. Athena hit that modified Codebreaker to earn a two count as the fans rallied behind the challenger. As Yuka neared the ropes, Athena came sliding to dropkick her horizontal frame to the floor.
Grabbing Yuka by her legs when she tried to swing her way out of a whip against the ring’s edge, Athena performed a wheelbarrow suplex. Yuka refused to be denied as she avoided a dropkick against the barricades to slam the champ. “The Fallen Goddess” rose to find Yuka running off the stage before being taken down by a dive. Rolling Athena back in, Yuka jumped halfway across the ring to splash the titleholder … to earn a near fall!
Athena found herself getting rocked with forearms until Yuka lifted her up for the finish. Athena countered with a rolling elbow that ended with Sakazaki grabbing the bottom rope to stop a sure pin. Yuka stopped Athena’s climbing to the top rope with a superplex topped by the sidewinder facebuster … to give the challenger another two count!
Using the referee block Yuka from diving on her again from the top, Athena ran up the ropes on the parallel side and pulled off the O-Face as Yuka tried to leave the ropes. Athena made the cover, pinning another challenger.
Winner: Athena (11:38)
Match Review: Another fun title defense Athena that didn’t reach the same heights of her matches with Mercedes, Willow or Emi Sakura mostly due to the lacking crowd investment and Yuka spiking her own head; leaving a constant fear that she was wrestling with a concussion.
ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Mark Briscoe
Code of Honor followed before the bell and the chants of “Dem Boys!” rang out. The champ decided to leave the ring and take his sweet time before locking up with his latest challenger. Missing a right hand off the lock up, Mark landed the first significant strikes in this one; trying to kick Joe off his feet after using some of that patented kung fu. A chop exchange broke out after Joe chopped Briscoe out of midair. Hoisting Joe up, Briscoe hit the rolling Death Valley driver. The champ wisely left the ring to avoid the follow up Froggy Bow. Mark gave chase, only to take an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on the floor!
In the ring, Joe continued his assault by punching and kicking the challenger. Yet, Briscoe refused to stay down; fighting through the pain by continuously throwing chops even after taking that back elbow-enzuguri combo in the corner Joe is known for. Mark couldn’t avoid Joe’s tope elbow after being knocked to ringside.
But Joe’s need for adulation cost him after tossing a chair into the ring as Mark came sailing through the ropes to dropkick Joe after “The Samoan Submission Machine” put his opposition back between the ropes. The champ found himself unable to avoid a somersault plancha where Mark used the open steel chair as a springboard. Mark retrieved a table from underneath the ring, using that blockbuster off the apron to drive Joe through the table!
Mark rolled Joe back in, going chop for chop with each other; leading to Briscoe chopping Joe on the top of his head. Mark started crawling to the corner, looking for a tag. Mark quickly realized his situation, turning around to find Joe coming after him. Uranage suplex for Mark didn’t end this one; nor did Joe’s snap power slam moments later. Power bomb into the STF for Joe had Briscoe successfully clawing his way to the ropes. Bleeding from his nose, Joe dropped Briscoe on his head with a Saito suplex followed by the lariat … for a near fall in Joe’s favor!
Chopping his way out of the Muscle Buster, Briscoe landed a flying kick to put Joe in position for the Froggy Bow. Briscoe came crashing down across Joe … to earn a near fall!
Mark signaled for the Jay Driller when Joe reversed the maneuver to put Briscoe in the Coquina Clutch. Briscoe was going for the ropes when Joe hit a sleeper suplex. Mark ended up back in the Clutch almost immediately … passing out. The referee had no choice but to stop the match.
Standing ovation for Mark after he got up simply saying, “Dammit.” Agreed, Mark.
Winner: Samoa Joe (14:24)
Match Review: Questionable finish and winner aside considering the story, the crowd, and the entire situation was poised for a Briscoe victory here, this was, arguably, their best match against each other; rivaling their “Final Battle” 2003 encounter and surpassing their 2006 match. Joe was on point the entire time and Mark had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Don’t know where both go from here, but this seems like a missed opportunity from a short-term perspective.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daniel Garcia
With the crowd solidly behind “The Ace”, Hiroshi Tanahashi showed not only his strength, but also his able to leverage himself away from the ropes during a collar & elbow tie up. Daniel Garcia refused to break clean when he had the chance after their tie up was ordered to be broken when they ended up against the ropes again, using Tanahashi’s hair as a way to keep him at bay. Tanahashi, who bit an apple and lost a few of his front teeth only hours earlier, pulled off a quick cross body off the Irish whip into the corner. Chasing Garcia to the floor, Tanahashi was sent face, then left leg-first against the steel ring steps. Garcia was honed in on the legs of the legend. Giving flashes of Shinsuke with the corner stomp shakes and pose was Garcia. But Daniel’s posing gave Tanahashi time to recover and unleash the flying forearm topped by some stunning hooks to the body and the somersault senton from Bret’s rope.
Catching Hiroshi coming with a basement dropkick aimed at Tanahashi’s right leg, Garcia pulled off a scissors kick that practically reset the match. A knee kick exchange between the two ended with Hiroshi losing the battle. Grabbing the incoming leg, Tanahashi pulled off the dragon screw leg whip to set up the Texas cloverleaf. Garcia clawed his way to the ropes, but Tanahashi was on top of him until he got underneath Hiroshi for a knee breaker-German suplex combo. Hiroshi stumbled to his feet, feeling the running knee strike to his chest … for a near fall in Garcia’s favor!
Garcia had a brain buster in mind when Tanahashi countered with a neck breaker. Garcia stumbled to his feet, getting taken down by the Slingblade. Garcia was pron and unable to stop the High Fly Flow or the three count that followed.
Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi (11:30)
Match Review: With no question of the result in mind, both men worked incredibly hard with Garcia staying focused on the plan; but Tanahashi’s toughness winning out in the end. It wasn’t the classic many expected it to be (more reminiscent of Hiroshi’s ROH-NJPW “War of the Worlds” matches from years back with the likes of Mike Bennett) as it seems Tanahashi wants to have American style matches when he’s in the U.S. instead of the epic Strong Style encounters not to take away from the rest of the card.
ROH World Tag Team Championship (Reach for the Sky Ladder Match): The Lucha Brothers w/ Alex vs. Top Flight vs. The Kingdom w/ Maria Kanellis vs. La Faccion Ingobernable w/ Jose The Assistant vs. Aussie Open
The Kingdom and LFI stayed in the ring as the other teams attempted to grab ladders. Apparently, RUSH, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & Dralistico wanted to keep their opponents on the floor so they could bust each other up. Matt Taven suddenly did a Pearl Harbor job on LFI. Top Flight entered, jumping over a ladder-wielding Kingdom to double team dropkick them. LFI reentered, setting up Top Flight in the corner where a ladder helped them in place so RUSH could dropkick the ladder against them.
Aussie Open wanted to take out LFI with Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher giving Dralistico the Dental Plan while RUSH felt a double team ace crusher. The Lucha Bros caused a miscue by sending Taven into the a ladder cornering AO. Lucha made the climb for the belts when Davis got up to stop them. Bodies started diving from the inside to out with LFI’s impressive dives were topped by Matt Taven pulling a doomsday device on Darius at ringside!
The Kingdom retrieved several tables and started stacking them up at ringside. AO met The Kingdom at the entrance, executing a pair of piledrivers on Bennett and Taven before using two ladders to crush Darius. Both Bennett and Taven were bleeding as Kyle almost reached the belts. Penta & Rey disposed of AO, only for them to be taken out by LFI. RUSH started climbing the ladder to see a bloody Bennett on the other side. They returned to the ring’s middle after climbing back down to start a knife edge chop exchange. A bleeding Taven came out out of nowhere to Kick of the King RUSH before Dralistico used an overhead belly-to-belly suplex to sling Taven against the ladder in the corner. Top Flight recovered, knocking down LFI with a tornado DDT on Dralistico and the Van-Daminator to RUSH.
AO too had gotten back to their feet, slinging Top Flight out of the ring and tossing Fenix into the cornered ladder. Penta entered the fray, finding himself taking a double team hip toss from AO against the ladder, too. Just when it seemed AO had this won, Dante dropkicked Fletcher off the ladder. Sunset bomb by Dante to Bennett off the ladder that now had another ladder bridging the gap between the ropes and the standing ladder only allowed Martin to be hit by AO’s Coriolis when he got up. A ladder bridging across the ring & barricade didn’t end well for Kyle and Dante as they collided with the steel and tumbled to the floor when Fletcher lost his balance off the double team butterfly suplex. Davis got taken down by Dralistico’s tornado DDT before the masked man used a super hurricarana off the top to sling Kyle into the announce table!
Bennett grabbed Dralistico, power bombing the LFI member across the ladder bridge at ringside. Taven came off the top, splashing Dralistico through the ladder! Davis and RUSH went through a ladder on the other side as the seconds began fighting at ringside. Penta super kicked a ladder from the apron held by Maria and Bennett to knock them out. On the ladder in the ring under the belts were Dante and Fenix. Disposing of Rey, Dante found himself immediately slugging it out with Penta. Grabbing Dante, Penta pulled off a Canadian destroyer off the ladder to drive Martin through the tables at ringside! Dante’s left ankle snapped upon impact!
Fenix attempted to replace his partner on the ladder when The Kingdom arrived. Knocking both members into ladders placed in front and behind the standing ladder, Rey was able to retrieve the title belts to make The Lucha Bros the NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!
Mark Briscoe & FTR came to congratulate the new champions.
Winners: The Lucha Brothers (20:14)
Match Review: First off: here’s to a smooth recovery for Dante Martin. As expected, this was crazy from bell to bell where every team had a chance to shine. Fans of more modern-day Ladder Matches where the big spots are more important than climbing the ladder, this is the match
ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) w/ Jon Moxley vs. Katsuyori Shibata
The fans were vehemently behind the challenger. Showing just how good he is on the mat, Katsuyori Shibata easily turned a waist lock into full mount. When Wheeler Yuta attempted to get up, Shibata yanked him down and started grinding against his jaw. Though they ended up in the ropes, neither grabbed them to lose a rope break until Shibata stopped himself from taking a dropkick. The challenger quickly honed in on the neck of his opposition, almost turning his head backwards with the head scissors. Shibata suddenly put Yuta in the figure four leg lock. Unlike the champ, Shibata pulled Wheeler to the middle instead of luring him toward the ropes for a rope break. But Wheeler clawed his way to the bottom rope to sacrifice a rope break.
“The Wrestler” stayed on the champ, elbowing Yuta in the chest to prepare a figure four headlock. For the first time in the match, Yuta was able to counter a hold and take control by knee dropping his challenger’s left arm. Yuta made a huge mistake throwing a strike as his challenger got up. Shibata dared Wheeler to continue, only to rock the champ with one forearm. Grabbing the referee, Yuta used a low blow without the referee’s knowledge. But the referee did see Yuta punch Shibata square on the jaw to earn a warning.
But the damage had been done and Yuta had finally gained significant control ten minutes into this one. Shibata manned up, taking shots and responding in kind until Yuta was stuck in the corner. Shibata unleashed that hesitation dropkick in the corner topped by a single underhook suplex. Yuta used the ropes in hopes of stopping a suplex, but couldn’t and lost a rope break in the process.
Spitting in Shibata’s face, Yuta actually stunned the challenger enough for him to get dropkicked and swept into a pinning combination. Landing a big elbow to the jaw after kicking out, Shibata cinched in the sleeper. Letting Yuta collapse, Shibata unleashed the PK to pin Wheeler … to become the NEW CHAMPION.
Winner: Katsuyori Shibata (13:12)
Match Review: Utter domination by the new champion. It would take everything including dirty tactics for Yuta to even get some momentum after ten minutes and that didn’t last long at all before Katsuyori finished him off. It’ll be interesting to see how an eventual rematch goes as Shibata was superior than Wheeler in every way here.
ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
No Code of Honor from Eddie Kingston as the challenger shoulder rammed Claudio Castagnoli into the corner to initiate a strike exchange where the champ’s European uppercut sent the challenger out of the ring. Grabbing a chair, Eddie gave up on being dishonorable to reenter and fight like a man. Taking a big suplex, Eddie popped right back up and headlocked the champ until Claudio drove him back first against the turnbuckles. Aiming for the left leg, Kingston actually dropped Claudio. Leaving the ring was Castagnoli. When Eddie got a running start for a dive, Claudio caught him coming through the ropes with a European uppercut. Though he couldn’t stand, Eddie was flipping off Claudio and demanding he fight him. Dragging Eddie from the middle rope while he stood on the floor, Castagnoli pulled off a suplex that slammed Kingston.
Double stomp from Claudio in the ring was topped by Kingston feeling a flying head-butt. Letting Kingston get up to punch him, Claudio found himself getting out-boxed. Castagnoli swept a punching Eddie into the Big Swing. Sadly for Claudio, the champ’s legs were too weak to keep the Swing going. Kingston found himself out of it thanks to the few rotations, allowing Castagnoli to put him on the top rope for a dropkick followed up by the set up for a superplex. “War King” tried to fight it, but got tossed across the ring … for a near fall in Claudio’s favor.
Kicking from the mat, Eddie left himself open for another double stomp. Claudio’s legs gave out on him and allowed Kingston to knock the champ out of the ring for a tope! Hoisting Claudio up, Kingston tossed Castagnoli with the t-bone at ringside and was successful with the bulldog between the ropes. Kingston attempted a Saito suplex, but his body gave way and Claudio landed atop him for some ground & pound. Kingston was barely able to get up when Claudio started running. Eddie caught Claudio coming with the Stretch Plum. Thankfully for the titleholder, he was close enough to the ropes to save himself; but those same ropes helped Eddie balance himself before executing a Saito suplex … to earn a near fall!
Slipping behind “War King”, Claudio used a German suplex that reset this bout. Using his head to block the Spinning Back Fist, Claudio clobbered Eddie with the lariat to gain another two count. Ricola Bomb was in Claudio’s mind when Kingston slipped free. Claudio couldn’t stop the Spinning Back Fist with Eddie collapsing atop him … for another near fall!
The champ rolled onto the apron where Kingston met him with another t-bone suplex in mind. Claudio stopped the suplex, hooking and using a gut-wrench suplex off the apron, to the floor! Castagnoli grabbed the nearby guardrailing, slinging it against a prone Eddie Kingston prior to rolling him back in. The running European uppercut connected for the champ, but didn’t end this one as Eddie barely got his right shoulder up. As Claudio slapped Kingston and told him he wouldn’t earn the champ’s respect, Eddie popped off two Back Fists with the champ laughing off the first. Castagnoli retaliated with the Neutralizer … for a one count!
Eddie stumbled to his feet, right into another European uppercut. Claudio hooked Eddie for the Ricola Bomb again when Eddie countered with the hurricarana pinning combination … for a near fall!
Claudio reversed the pinning combination into a sunset flip to pin Kingston to retain his World title.
Both men were worn as Wheeler Yuta joined Claudio. Instead of following the Code of Honor, the BCC wanted to jump Kingston. Thankfully for Eddie, Shibata was here to stop the assault and get the fans to cheer the fallen warrior by raising his arm. Kingston got a microphone, laying out some love for Shibata and Tanahashi before declaring he’s not going anywhere and will beat Claudio in the end.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli (20:05)
Match Review: Exceeded all expectations other than that ending. Similar to the TV title match, this seemed like the perfect moment to give Eddie his big win. The match was absolutely fantastic with Kingston fighting through all the adversity and Claudio being the best super villain someone can be in a wrestling ring without being hokey. It also must be noted this is the third ROH PPV in the Kahn era that ended with a tease of a tag match (last year’s “SCOH” with Joe & Jonathan Gresham vs. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt; FTR vs. BCC at “Death Before Dishonor” – neither of those matches happened). We know that Eddie wants another fight with the champ, but will we have this type of atmosphere to make it feel special?
Overall Review: Definitely some mixed feelings coming out of this one. On the positive side of things were some thrilling bouts including the AAA, TV, Tag Team, and World title matches. Shibata bullying opponents never gets old and in a Pure Rules environment it worked exceptionally well. The Women’s & Six-Man titles and Tanahashi-Garcia matches were solid, yet ultimately forgettable. The show’s biggest issues were both out of their control (a rather lackadaisical crowd outside of the AAA, TV, Tag Team & World title matches) and in the control of the decision makers as there were some questionable decisions in regards to title changes no happening.
Though it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime card on paper, the argument can be made that reality didn’t meet the high expectations; but did produce a very entertaining show that went a tight three hours when not counting the free “Zero Hour” pre-show. Also, it’s so great Nigel McGuinness is back doing commentary and being the heel foil of Caprice Coleman throughout the night (not to mention mocking that “Clam-digger Danielson” constantly) was fantastic.
And there you have it. Show that love, or like, for The ROHbot Report on its Facebook page. Here’s to a great week for you and yours; and as always, thanks for reading.
