Connect with us
Best Moments of ROH Supercard of Honor 2023
Image: ROH

Wrestling

Best Moments of ROH Supercard of Honor 2023

5 Best Moments from Supercard of Honor 2023

Well, it’s nice to see Tony Khan just having fun with wrestling cards at this point.

Supercard of Honor 2023 had so many treats to look forward to. Katsuyori Shibata and Yuka Sakazaki each in prominent ROH title bouts. El Hijo del Vikingo and Komander for the AAA Mega title. Hiroshi Tanahashi just casually advertised last-minute. As Caprice Coleman damn near trademarked on commentary, this is why it’s called Supercard.

Honorable Mentions

Hiroshi Tanahashi v Daniel Garcia, Jeff Cobb v Tracy Williams

Jeff Cobb, Tracy Williams
Image: ROH

Both these matches delivered with an absence of expectations. In the Zero Hour opener, Cobb and Williams had great chemistry utilizing their technical skills, with a spice of strength v quickness. Tanahashi and Garcia also delivered in a technical bout just as succinct as the former. They don’t read like complementary rivals on paper, but they quickly proved it in the ring. Having no build to these matches has its pros and cons, but on this night, only the pros mattered.

Nigel McGuinness returns to ROH commentary

Nigel McGuinness
Image: ROH

On the Zero Hour, the longest-reigning ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness made his return to the promotion as a commentator, to a warm welcome from the fans. McGuinness is no stranger not just to ROH, but to commentary duties. ROH fans once again got to enjoy that Nigel McGuinness snark, excitement, and vaunted insight on wrestling psychology. They would have also enjoyed him bringing up his ROH accolades enough to get Chris Jericho to sheepishly blush.

Samoa Joe (c) v Mark Briscoe (World Television Championship)

Mark Briscoe, Samoa Joe
Image: ROH

The build to Samoa Joe/Mark Briscoe, at its most basic, was about Briscoe reaching for his destiny. That destiny being the World Television Championship, and the man in the way of that destiny, Samoa Joe. And for Joe, this match was going to be a reminder to Briscoe about the man he’s facing.

The closing minutes of the match was some of the most tense, most stressful moments of wrestling as you can get. Briscoe fighting out of Joe’s control, and Joe maintaining inevitability, as the crowd braces themselves with screams. A reminder of who Mark Briscoe was facing.

Greater hopes, greater heartbreaks. And Mark reaching for Jay in the corner, akin to this tender promo, is one I’ll never be ready for.

Claudio Castagnoli (c) v Eddie Kingston (World Championship)

With tension to rival that of the World TV title match, we have Castagnoli/Kingston for the World Championship. The closing moments were mighty suspenseful, as the possibility of a title change suddenly grew strong.

Kingston looked the most credible as champion as he ever had since Anarchy in the Arena. He withstood so much: huge European uppercuts, a gutwrench suplex from the apron to the floor, and disrespectful palm strikes to the bitter end. He also dished out as much, most significantly a string of backfists, and what would have been the most perfect hurricanrana to the capture the World title. Which, alas, would be his own undoing.

Awkward post-match notwithstanding, this was a strong, weighty way to cap off the event.

Katsuyori Shibata wins Pure Championship

Katsuyori Shibata
Image: ROH

In the biggest shock of Supercard of Honor, Shibata wins the Pure title. Defending champion Yuta sank to the most pathetic state of his career yet, at one point hitting a low blow on a challenger he himself called out. Despite that, score-wise Shibata ran through Yuta not unlike how Castagnoli ran through Jonathan Gresham to win the World Championship. Unlike “Yuta” and “bully” however, Shibata is a perfect fit as Pure Champion. Let’s see where this ride takes us.

Image: ROH

El Hijo del Vikingo (c) v Komander (AAA Mega Championship)

ROH in general has a strong emphasis on technical wrestling (see, rest of this list). But the opening bout to Supercard had the crowd chanting lucha libre less than a minute in, enticed by the promise of Vikingo/Komander.

Both men had recently been introduced to the AEW audience in one-off Dynamite matches. For Komander, a memorable participation in a multiman ladder match. For Vikingo, an out of nowhere show-stealer against Kenny Omega. Now with a bit more fanfare, and a coveted PPV opener slot, Vikingo and Komander had a lot more room to play.

A lot of the moves we saw don’t have elegant names because nobody attempts to make them signature moves. Reverse, imploding, jumping, springboard, ropewalking. These moves could be named, these moves could be described. The baffled commentators and the red-hot crowd were all we needed to know. The anticipation and respect they had for moments they were about to witness, a direct effect of everything lining up for this match. Arguably the biggest show-stealer for Supercard of Honor.

Written By

Harvey Garcia is sometimes a poet and freelance writer from Manila; always going to pop for a butterfly suplex, and a good line cut.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: Clarke and Kubrick’s Odyssey of Discovery

Culture

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Caps Off the Trilogy With a Heartfelt Bang (Mostly)

Film

Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world

25 Years Later: Deep Impact was a Serious Look at the End of the World 

Film

The Best Movies of 1973 The Best Movies of 1973

The Golden Year of Movies: 1973

Culture

The Zone of Interest The Zone of Interest

Cannes 2023: Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a Manicured Vision of Hell

Culture

Jeanne Du Barry review Jeanne Du Barry review

Cannes 2023: Maïwenn’s Great Hair Goes to Great Lengths in Jeanne Du Barry

Culture

Black Flies Gripping Black Flies Gripping

Cannes 2023: Black Flies— Gripping Descent into the Underbelly of New York’s Urban Misery 

Culture

Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project

Cannes 2023: Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is a Gimmicky Vanity Project

Culture

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant:

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: Surfeit Cooking Drama Most Inane Film at Cannes

Culture

BlackBerry movie review BlackBerry movie review

BlackBerry Is a Wonderfully Canadian Account of a Dying Tech Dream

Film

The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez

Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother is Eerily Similar to Enough, But That’s Not a Bad Thing

Film

Godzilla 1998 Godzilla 1998

Godzilla at 25: When Hollywood Made a Manhattan Monster Movie, with Disastrous Results

Film

10 Best SummerSlam Matches 10 Best SummerSlam Matches

10 Best SummerSlam Matches

Culture

Sean Connery Sean Connery

60 Years Later, Dr. No Remains the Paragon of Bond

Film

The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Reloaded

20 Years Later: The Matrix Reloaded was Underwhelming, but Still Underrated

Film

Discovery channel Discovery channel

The Head-Scratching Moves Discovery Has Been Making

Culture

Connect