It’s the Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.
Friday’s ROH SuperCard of Honor saw some great performances, a few surprises, returns and sneak attacks which included Swerve Strickland blindsiding Bandito ahead of their Owen Hart tournament match next weekend at AEW Double or Nothing.
Friday’s WWE SmackDown set up Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther at Clash in Italy. Wasn’t Gunther’s deal with Paul Heyman supposed to do that? WWE needs to stop with the bait and switch. I explain why.
Plus, the latest on the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors, Ronda Rousey returning to fighting, and more. Check it out.
Due to visa issues, the ROH World Tag Team Championships were not defended at Supercard of Honor. But there was still a lot to discuss in the promotion’s tag team division.
Former ROH World Tag Team Champions the Kingdom, Matt Taven & Mike Bennett, returned to the promotion on Friday night. They interrupted a promo by Bustah and the Brain, with both teams declaring their pursuit of the current champions, Sammy Guevara & The Beast Mortos.
Taven and Bennett were last seen in ROH in October, teaming with Matt Menard in a losing effort against SkyFlight.
The pair are three-time ROH tag champs, having won the titles from Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian in 2015, Dragon Lee & Kenny King in 2021, and from MJF in a two-on-one handicap match in 2023. They have also won the top tag team titles in New Japan Pro Wrestling and TNA/Impact Wrestling.
In ROH, Taven is a former World Champion, World TV Champion, and World Six-Man Tag Team Champion. Bennett won the Honor Rumble in 2014. Each is a former winner of the Top Prospect tournament, with Bennett winning the inaugural event in 2011 and Taven winning in 2013.
Athena has been the Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion for over three years now. So why shouldn’t she face five women in one night?
At the ROH tapings in Jacksonville on Monday, company president Tony Khan announced that the first-ever women’s Survival of the Fittest match would take place at Supercard of Honor. He also announced that the match would be for the ROH Women’s World Championship, which means Athena would be defending her title.
Five qualifiers for the match were also held at the tapings. Your spoiler-free lineup:
Trish Adora vs. Hyan
Maya World vs. Robyn Renegade
Viva Van vs. Yuka Sakazaki
Lacey Lane vs. Billie Starkz
Isla Dawn vs. Persephone
ROH has been holding Survival of the Fittest matches since 2004, typically with winners of qualifying matches facing off against each other later in the same evening. Past winners include Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, Seth Rollins (then known as Tyler Black), Damian Priest (then known as Punishment Martinez), Bandido, and Kyle Fletcher.
ROH Supercard of Honor takes place Friday, May 15, at the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisubury, Maryland. Tickets will be available here.
There are so many wrestling shows to cover, that we couldn’t do it in 48 minutes, so today’s Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley had to go into overtime.
Most of these shows exist because of WWE counterprogramming which I think might be counterproductive.
From Friday, we had Jelly Roll on WWE SmackDown, ROH Supercard of Honor with a match of the year candidate, and many more great matches.
For today, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event promises to be the most newsworthy one yet, there’s WWE Evolution on Sunday, today’s NXT Great American Bash and the reason for many of these shows: AEW All In Texas.
A Ring of Honor Women’s title match appears to be on the horizon for next month’s ROH Supercard of Honor streaming special.
In a social media clip from Thursday seen below, former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa issued a challenge to reigning ROH Women’s titleholder Athena for Friday, July 11 at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Athena has not responded as of yet, but very well could as part of Thursday night’s ROH x CMLL Global Wars when the tag match featuring Athena and ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet vs. Rosa and Persephone match from last week will air.
Rosa and Athena were also part of Wednesday’s four-way on AEW Dynamite to crown the first entrant into the women’s Casino Gauntlet that is part of AEW All In: Texas on Saturday, July 12. The two were also part of an eight-woman tag team match as part of last Saturday’s AEW Collision where Velvet interfered to cost Rosa’s team the match.
Assuming the match is confirmed, Rosa would be looking for her first ROH gold while Athena is closing in on 1000 days as ROH Women’s Champion.
As of now, the only match that has been announced for the show is the finals of the inaugural ROH Women’s Pure title tournament which has yet to start or the participants announced.
"You Athena, have something I've been wanting for a LONG time!"@ThunderRosa22 is prepared to risk it all for the ROH Women's Championship at Supercard of Honor July 11th in Arlington, TX! pic.twitter.com/FvDkGJcpAs
The ROH streaming special originally set to take place on Friday, May 2nd in Atlantic City, New Jersey, has now been moved to Friday, July 11th at the Esports Arena in Arlington, Texas, as part of All In Texas week. It will replace the previously announced Death Before Dishonor show on that date.
Fans who had bought tickets for May 2nd will be refunded.
ROH Death Before Dishonor heads to the 2300 Arena
The ROH streaming special will now move to Friday, September 5th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, formerly known as the ECW Arena. It will be ROH’s first time back to the hallowed venue since 2021.
While ticket information for Death Before Dishonor was not announced, those who bought tickets for the Atlantic City show will be given first shot at tickets via a special presale.
AEW Collision episode canceled
The Collision show set for Saturday, May 17th in Wichita, Kansas, has been canceled with fans getting a full refund.
The show will be bumped up to Wednesday, May 14 in Chicago, Illinois. The Beach Break Dynamite will air live per usual with Collision taped afterward. Tickets are on sale for that show now.
The ROH World Tag Team titles will be defended at Friday’s Supercard of Honor event.
After defeating Tag Team title holders The Undisputed Kingdom in a Proving Ground match on Thursday’s episode of Ring of Honor TV, The Infantry’s Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean will challenge for the titles at Friday’s Supercard of Honor.
The Infantry defeated House of Black in the current AEW Tag Team title tournament in a wild card bout before dropping a quarterfinals match to FTR on last Saturday’s Collision episode.
Matt Taven & Mike Bennett of Undisputed Kingdom were also included in the AEW Tag title tournament, losing in the quarterfinals to Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta.
Two more tag team bouts have also been added to Friday’s Supercard of Honor.
The feud between Griff Garrison & Cole Karter and Serpentico & Angelico that has played out in recent months on Ring of Honor TV will culminate in a bout between the two teams on Friday’s show.
A bout with Josh Woods & Tony Nese facing a mystery team has also been added to Friday’s lineup.
ROH Supercard of Honor streams on Honor Club on Friday, April 5 at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The lineup:
ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston defends against Mark Briscoe
ROH Women’s Champion Athena defends against Hikaru Shida
ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Lee Johnson
ROH Women’s TV Championship tournament finals: Queen Aminata vs. Billie Starkz
ROH Tag Team Champions Matt Taven & Mike Bennett defend against Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo
Fight Without Honor: Dalton Castle vs. Johnny TV
Mina Shirakawa, Maika, & Mei Seira vs. AZM, Tam Nakano, & Saya Kamitani
Angelico & Serpentico vs. Griff Garrison & Cole Karter
A TV title bout, plus a trios match featuring Stardom talent have been added to the ROH Supercard of Honor lineup.
As announced during Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV episode, Kyle Fetcher will defend his ROH World TV Championship against Lee Johnson at the Supercard of Honor event set for Friday, April 5.
Fletcher won the vacant TV title in a six-way elimination match at Final Battle last December. He has since defended the title four times.
Johnson is on a seven-match singles winning streak in ROH, and also took part in the elimination match to fill the vacant TV title at Final Battle.
A trios match featuring talent from Japanese women’s promotion Stardom has also been announced for Supercard of Honor.
As revealed Thursday, Mina Shirakawa, Maika, & Mei Seira will face AZM, Tam Nakano, & Saya Kamitani in a six-person tag on April 5.
Supercard of Honor will stream on ROH’s HonorClub streaming service on April 5 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Here is the current lineup:
ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston defends against Mark Briscoe
ROH Women’s Champion Athena defends against Hikaru Shida
ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Lee Johnson
ROH Women’s TV Championship tournament finals: Queen Aminata vs. Billie Starkz
Mina Shirakawa, Maika, & Mei Seira vs. AZM, Tam Nakano, & Saya Kamitani
Katsuyori Shibata is the new Ring of Honor Pure Champion.
Shibata defeated Wheeler Yuta at Supercard of Honor to win the title after a penalty kick, cementing one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the industry.
Following an NJPW career that included three NEVER title reigns and an IWGP Tag Team title reign, Shibata won the 2017 New Japan Cup and challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Sakura Genesis in April 2017. In that match, Shibata suffered a subdural hematoma, a brain bleed that required hospitalization and an emergency surgery.
Shibata was later named the head coach at NJPW’s LA Dojo in California, a position that he still holds, but embarked on an in-ring comeback beginning with a five-minute exhibition match against Zack Sabre Jr. at the G1 finals in October 2021.
The Pure title match against Yuta was just the fifth match of Shibata’s comeback, after wrestling three times in 2022.
Yuta’s Pure title reign ends at 111 days and four successful defenses.
Following the Supercard main event match between Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston for the ROH World title, Shibata made the save for Kingston as Castagnoli and Yuta menaced him in the ring. Kingston then cut a promo praising Shibata, and the two left the ring together at the close of the pay-per-view.
Former ROH World Champion and Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness has returned to the company as a color commentator.
McGuinness returned to the company for the first time in six-plus years at Friday’s Supercard of Honor event as a color commentator, making his re-debut on the Zero Hour pre-show in Los Angeles. McGuinness joined Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman at the commentary desk for the broadcast.
In his first run with ROH from 2003 to 2009, McGuinness captured both the World and Pure titles and established himself as one of the preeminent in-ring talents of his generation. He left the company after agreeing in principle to a WWE deal, but WWE later pulled the offer after McGuinness failed the company’s physical due to an old biceps injury.
McGuinness then moved to TNA, where he wrestled in 2009 and 2010 as Desmond Wolfe. McGuinness later revealed that he tested positive for Hepatitis B, and was pulled from TNA’s 2010 No Surrender pay-per-view. After a brief run as an on-screen authority figure and commentator on TNA Explosion, he was released from his TNA contract in 2011.
The end of 2011 also saw the end of McGuinness’s in-ring career, as he embarked on a retirement tour on the indies in November and December of that year.
McGuinness returned to Ring of Honor as a commentator and on-screen matchmaker in late 2011 and stayed with the promotion until 2016.
WWE announced McGuinness had signed with the company in December 2016, and he debuted for the company as a color commentator in January 2017 at WWE’s United Kingdom Championship Tournament. The next month, he joined the NXT brand as a commentator.
He would remain with the company until being furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. He was brought back later in the year as a commentator on NXT UK and 205 Live, before ultimately being released in October 2022.
Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki for the ROH Women’s World Championship has officially been added to Friday’s Supercard of Honor pay-per-view.
Following Athena’s successful title defense against Emi Sakura on Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV episode, Athena continued to beat down Sakura. Sakazaki made the save, and the match was made official.
Athena had previously issued a challenge to Sakazaki on the March 16 Ring of Honor TV episode.
Supercard of Honor will air on Bleacher Report Live pay-per-view in the United States, and on FITE TV pay-per-view internationally at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, March 31.
A Zero Hour pre-show will air on ROH’s YouTube channel beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time. No matches have been announced for Zero Hour to this point.
The updated Supercard of Honor lineup:
ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defends against Eddie Kingston
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defends against Yuka Sakazaki
ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe defends against Mark Briscoe
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defends against Katsuyori Shibata
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo defends against Komander
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun & Toa Liona) defend against AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik
Reach for the Sky ladder match for the vacant ROH World Tag Team Championship: The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) vs. The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) vs. Top Flight (Darius Martin & Dante Martin) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush & Dralistico)
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Bryan’s failure at Black Label Pro Sunday night, line-ups for RAW tonight, WrestleMania, AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, Rampage thoughts, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Katsuyori Shibata is officially heading to ROH Supercard of Honor.
Tony Khan has confirmed that Shibata will challenge Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Championship at Supercard of Honor this Friday night (March 31). The pay-per-view is taking place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
This will be the fifth time Shibata has wrestled since 2017. He returned to the ring in 2021 after suffering a life-threatening subdural hematoma during a match against Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Sakura Genesis 2017.
In November of last year, Shibata unsuccessfully challenged Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on Rampage.
Yuta is a two-time ROH Pure Champion. His current reign with the title began when he defeated Daniel Garcia at Final Battle 2022.
Here’s the updated lineup for Supercard of Honor:
ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defends against Eddie Kingston
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo defends against Komander
Reach for the Sky ladder match for the ROH Tag Team titles: Lucha Bros vs. Top Flight vs. The Kingdom vs. Aussie Open vs. Rush & Dralistico
ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe defends against Mark Briscoe
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defends against Katsuyori Shibata
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston for the ROH World Championship is official for Supercard of Honor.
On Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV episode, Castagnoli accepted the previously-issued challenge from Kingston, adding that Kingston is “the biggest waste of potential he’s ever seen.”
Kingston “quit” AEW in an angle shot for social media channels on March 1, then appeared on the first Ring of Honor TV episode the next day to issue a challenge to Castagnoli.
In addition to the World title bout being made official, the lineup for the Reach for the Sky ladder match for the vacant ROH World Tag Team titles was also finalized during Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV show.
The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix), The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett), Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis), Top Flight (Darius Martin & Dante Martin), and Rush & Dralistico will be the five teams squaring off the the vacant Tag titles on next Friday’s PPV.
Two additional title matches are expected to be announced for the PPV — Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki for the ROH Women’s World title, plus Wheeler Yuta vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure title — but are not official as of yet.
The updated lineup for the show:
ROH Supercard of Honor, Friday, March 31, 7 p.m. Eastern time on pay-per-view —
ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli defends against Eddie Kingston
AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo defends against Komander
Reach for the Sky ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: Lucha Bros vs. Top Flight vs. The Kingdom vs. Aussie Open vs. Rush & Dralistico
ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe defends against Mark Briscoe
Tony Khan says he’s been having conversations with WarnerMedia about the future of Ring of Honor.
The AEW President spoke with ESPN recently and said he hopes ROH will continue as a weekly series with major events similar to Supercard of Honor.
“I’ve been having more conversations with WarnerMedia about what we can do together to grow Ring of Honor,” Khan said. “I think it would make sense for Ring of Honor to continue as a weekly series and major events, like we just had with Supercard.”
“I think the success of Supercard, critically and commercially, will bode very well for WarnerMedia really taking an interest in Ring of Honor, as well as AEW. I think there’s great potential to have a complementary wrestling brand.”
Khan also revealed that he utilized AEW resources to produce Supercard of Honor with the permission of WarnerMedia.
“I did utilize some resources from AEW with permission from Warner with the understanding from them that I was not going to make this an AEW show. It would be a Ring of Honor show. I was asking them to utilize some AEW resources to make this a great pay-per-view event,” he continued.
Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that ROH Supercard of Honor did more than 20,000 buys on traditional PPV and streaming (not including Honor Club). Khan has said that more than 2000 fans attended the event live.
