I don’t always have the time to watch Ring Of Honor pay-per-view events as they happen, but when it’s WrestleMania weekend, I find a way to make time.
At one point, this was viewed as the biggest event on the RoH calendar every year, as they would be having a bunch of extra fans in attendance and eyeballs tuning in at home because of the traffic from WrestleMania. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that way anymore. Even the biggest of RoH fans would agree that this isn’t exactly an all-time great card on paper when it comes to star power and eye-catching matchups.
With that said, though, everything is in line perfectly for the show to deliver high quality action, and to do so in spades.
I’ll have to find some time in the future to catch up on the shows that have already happened over the last few days, but for now, let’s get MY WrestleMania weekend officially underway.
Kyle Fletcher vs “Big Shotty” Lee Johnson – RoH Television Title Match
Shout-out to Fletcher for rocking the body paint of Jushin Thunder Liger’s dark persona, Kishin Liger. It’s a cool look for the Television Champion.
No offense to Mark Davis, but his wrist injury might be one of the best things to happen to Kyle Fletcher. Yes, it put their Aussie Open tag team on the shelf for a bit, but it has allowed Fletcher to shine as a singles competitor. The last few months have seen him have some incredible matches in AEW and RoH, to the point where some are calling him a future World Champion somewhere under the AEW umbrella. It will be very interesting to see what happens to Fletcher when Davis returns.
Lawdamercy, this was a lot of fun. Lee Johnson was featured in what may have been the biggest match of his career, and he responded by having what may have been the best performance of his career. He wasn’t successful in his attempt to become the RoH Television Champion, but this was easily a star-making match for the man. Kyle Fletcher, on the other hand, is Kyle Fletcher. This was the expected greatness from him.
4.25 Stars, and that might be underselling it a bit. A great mix of fast paced, high flying action and some super stiff strikes.
Tam Nakano, AZM & Saya Kamitani vs Mei Seira, Mina Shirakawa & Maika – “Stardom Showcase” Six-Woman Tag Match
If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of Stardom and the type of action that the promotion delivers. I’m very glad to see the women of Stardom getting more of a spotlight in North America. There is a ton of potential for this to be one of the best matches of the entire weekend.
You read this a lot in my review columns, but I’m really thankful that I don’t have to do play-by-play for these matches. If you’ve watched Stardom before, you knew what to expect here. Action from bell-to-bell, with spot after spot after spot after spot after spot.
I don’t know if it was nerves due to the bigger spotlight, but there were some awkwardly timed moments here. Nothing too wild or egregious, but a few moments where Wrestler A would have to stand still for a second and wait for Wrestler B to set something up. Things like that. This was still a lot of fun, though. 3.5 Stars, and again, that might be underselling it. Saya Kamitani looked incredibly tough here, taking a ton of punishment and fighting her way through almost everything thrown her way before finally being put away. All six women had their chance to shine, though, which is great for all involved, and for Stardom itself.
Mike Bennett & Matt Taven vs Capt. Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo – RoH Tag Team Title Match
It’s still weird to see The Infantry getting a real push. They’ve seen a small amount of success in RoH, but have largely been more in the enhancement talent category. On the larger AEW stage, Bravo had never been on the winning end of a match before The Infantry upset Brody King and Buddy Matthews on Collision a few weeks back, while Dean hadn’t won a match in AEW since April 2022. They’re both very talented. The push is just seemingly out of nowhere. That’s all.
This crowd has been very disappointing so far tonight, but they’ve been especially quiet for this match. Maybe it’s due to The Infantry coming out of nowhere to be in contention for titles, as I said, but whatever it is, it’s unfortunate.
Thanks to interference from Wardlow, the champions retain their titles. The Infantry become title contenders out of nowhere, and they still needed a Wardlow attack to lose the match? Not a good look for the champions. The match itself was good. Not great, but more than serviceable. I’ll go ahead and give it 3 Stars.
Billie Starkz vs Queen Aminata – Tournament Final to crown the first RoH Women’s Television Title
The loudest the crowd has been all night came about halfway into this match, and it was for a brief dueling “A-mi-na-ta” and “Bill-lie Starkz” chant. It only lasted a couple seconds, but it was promising.
When the tournament to crown the first Women’s Television Champion was announced, almost everyone assumed it was going to be Billie Starkz to walk away with the title. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, the match was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, there was a ton of SUPER stiff strikes, especially from Queen Aminata. Then, on the other hand, there were several strikes that looked like they were in slow motion. There were also some awkward spots where timing seemed off by just a second.
Then came the ending.
Starkz faked a neck injury, leading to the medical team entering the ring and tending to her. As they were taking her out of the ring, she broke free, took Aminata out, and got the win. 2.75 Stars. Too much start-and-stop with the momentum for it to really take off. This show is heading in the wrong direction, with each match getting a lower rating than the one before it.
“Switchblade” Jay White & The Gunns vs Lance Archer, Alex Zayne & Minoru Suzuki – RoH Six-Man Tag Team Title Match
Earlier in the show, it was announced that Bullet Club Gold would be on the show to issue an open challenge for their titles. Just now, Bullet Club Gold appeared on the show to issue an open challenge for their titles, causing Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, and Nigel McGuinness to all act like it was a huge shock to have this happen.
This follows the pre-show matches, which were largely different than what was announced. Then, at the end of the pre-show, it was said that the Stardom six-woman tag was going to start the show, followed by a completely different match opening the show mere moments later. It’s those types of self-inflicted errors and continuity issues that are completely unacceptable.
After the horrendous nonsense that was Billy Gunn vs Jay White, we got White getting dominated and destroyed by Minoru Suzuki here. Yes, Suzuki is a terrifying human being, but still, perhaps White may want to focus on feuding with 20-something year olds from now on.
The match was fine. It ended the streak of every match on the show being worse than the one before it, and right now, that’s what matters to me. 3.25 Stars. The champions retained their title. I’m not sure anyone thought they were going to lose here, “Murder Grandpa” or otherwise, but at least the match was fun.
Dalton Castle vs Johnny TV – Fight Without Honor
I’m not quite sure that this was a feud that needed the Fight Without Honor stipulation. Some of the best feuds in RoH history have had to feature a Fight Without Honor to solve issues. El Generico vs Kevin Steen. Chris Hero vs Eddie Kingston. Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima. Erick Stevens vs Roderick Strong. This isn’t even close to the levels of those feuds.
If this match was for you, cool beans. It wasn’t for me. A Fight Without Honor with some of the weakest kendo stick shots you’re going to see, a powder-in-the-eyes spot, and Taya Valkyrie turning a leaf blower at Castle, which Castle sold as if he was being blown away by a fighter jet engine. This was slow, boring, undeserving of the stipulation, and frankly, not very good. At all.
I’m not even going to bother explaining the whole thing, but we just got a stupid fucking line of spots involving new “Boys” for Castle, and them performing suicide dives onto Johnny TV one at a time, with almost all of them barely connecting, if at all, only for Johnny to have to sell them on his own. Actor Paul Walter Hauser came out as a Boy, showing up to ZERO reaction. This is getting worse by the minute, and it is dragging on and on and on.
Oh, hey, a thumbtack spot! Now it’s a REAL Fight Without Honor. So hardcore! So hardcore!
Hot garbage. 1.25 Stars, but realistically, once you get to the point where you’re below the 2 Star mark, grades don’t really matter until you hit zero.
Athena vs Hikaru Shida – RoH Women’s Title Match
Please save me, both of you.
Athena came out with her body painted red, as a tribute to Karlach from the Baldur’s Gate 3 video game. It’s a really cool look for Athena, but it’s also funny because Shida has red paint all over her mere minutes into the match, and there are red splotches all over the mat, as well.
What a blast. This was one of the biggest women’s matches in RoH history (albeit that doesn’t necessarily cover a ton of ground), and both women wrestled like it. It wasn’t always the most fast paced of matches, but it didn’t have to be. Both women hit each other with everything they had, and they kept fighting back through it all. Really good mix of technical wrestling and stiff strikes. I really enjoyed this. 4 Stars.
Athena continues her title reign that began on December 10th, 2022. We’re at 482 days and counting for her reign. She seems unstoppable right now.
Eddie Kingston vs Mark Briscoe – RoH World Title Match
11 years ago today… April 5th, 2013… the late, great Jay Briscoe beat Kevin Steen to win the RoH World Title for the first time. Can Mark win his first RoH World Title here?
Mark makes his entrance to “Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was the old Briscoes theme song. I got a little emotional hearing that again. Damn.
In another tribute to big brother Jay, Mark is bleeding buckets after having his head driven into the announce table approximately 432 times in a row. His entire face is covered in blood, and it has dropped down his chest, onto his shoulders, and its all over Kingston’s hands, as well.
“How about you suck my dick?!?” – Eddie Kingston, to a fan somewhere in the crowd. No idea what led to that, but you’ve gotta assume it was warranted with how quickly Kingston went from 0 to 100 with his response.
This has been every bit of the old All Japan matches that Eddie Kingston loves so much. I hit you with more punishment than a human being should be able to take, but you kick out, and then you hit me with more punishment than a human being should be able to take, and then I kick out, so we start the cycle all over again. That’s not a complaint. I love that type of match, especially when it’s in a match like this, with a World Title on the line. Of course both men are going to be fighting harder than usual.
Mark Briscoe is the NEW RoH World Champion! “Gimme Back My Bullets” plays again as fans cover the ring with streamers, with Mama and Papa Briscoe running in the ring to congratulate their son. Jay Lethal leads several members of the locker room to the ring, and I have tears in my eyes. Beautiful moment. Man, I miss Jay Briscoe.
I might be underselling yet another match, but that was 4.25 Stars. Quite the back-and-forth affair, and the right call to have the title change hands here, even if it doesn’t lead to a long reign for Chicken.
Overall, the most important thing to point out about Supercard Of Honor 2024 is that it had no business clocking in at just under 3 hours and 45 minutes of airtime. Initial match times indicate that the Tag Team Title match was the shortest of the main show at 13:51. Almost every match should’ve featured at least five minutes trimmed off.
Outside of that, though, it was a fun show. Three great matches, a couple really good matches, and everything other than the Fight Without Honor seemed to serve a purpose. For the $9.99 price point of RoH Honor Club, that makes this show more than worth the money.
