The All Elite Wrestling era of Ring of Honor has begun with this past Friday’s ‘Supercard of Honor.’ Ring of Honor went on hiatus after their ‘Final Battle’ PPV in December, and the historied promotion’s future was in a fog of questions. They released all of their talent from their contracts, went on indefinite ‘hiatus,’ and most contracted talent said their goodbyes in December.
Enter Tony Khan.
The All Elite Wrestling CEO made his purchase official on March 3rd, and Supercard of Honor would be the first Ring of Honor PPV with AEW in charge. We could immediately see the changes as soon as the cameras turned on. The production value was improved tremendously. Everything was brighter and colorful. The exact opposite of recent Ring of Honor. But how was the show itself?
Let’s find out!
Before I dig into the review, just know that I know little about the non-AEW contracted talent or the pre-match stories. These reviews will be exclusively based on everything that happens inside the squared circle.
Alex Zayne vs. Sw3rve Stickland
Newly signed AEW talent, Swerve Strickland, kicked off Supercard of Honor against Alex Zayne. This match was action packed between two guys with innovative offense. The story revolved around Swerve trying to ground Zayne by taking out his knee. Zayne’s No-Fly list was seemingly denied.
The craziness amped up when Zayne hit Swerve with a Poisonrana from the ring apron onto the floor. He combo-ed that with a Moonsault knee strike. Both of those moves baffled me! It’s rare to see new wrestling things. Swerve was too much for Zayne in the end, as he claimed his house with a stomp, knee strike, and a JML Driver for the victory.
This match was a great igniter for the crazy action to come. They seemed a little off in spots, but overcame to put on a great opener.
3.5/5
Ninja Mack vs…..Brian Cage!!! (Tully client)
Tully Blanchard showed up to Supercard of Honor earlier in the night to create ‘Tully Blanchard Enterprises.’ He started off on the pre-show introducing AEW Dark & Elevation talent Kaun and Toa Liona as members. He needed one more member, and that was ‘The Machine’ Brian Cage.
Cage proceeded to show how dominant he can be. He’s phenomenal when he’s booked properly against talent showing off his strength. Cage caught the Ninja man trying to moonsault and sent him to Suplex City through numerous German Suplexes. Mack stood zero chance and got Drill Clawed for the Cage victory.
3/5
I really like this pairing for Brian Cage. Him leading a group of killers with a great mouthpiece is perfect. Cage getting away from that stacked AEW roster is also great.
Jay Lethal vs. Lee Moriarty
Up next was a really good match between Jay Lethal and Lee Moriarty. It seemed like Moriarty and Lethal had history, but this match was all about Moriarty’s growth as a singles star. He studied Lethal’s moves and had all the answers. This match was a back and forth affair with transitions galore. Lethal consistently tried to batter and bruise Moriarty’s legs to eventually lock in the Figure Four, but Moriarty withstood everything. His studies proved beneficial in frustrating Jay Lethal so much that he needed to adjust. And adjust he did!
The end of the match saw Lethal go for his Savage like Elbow drop, except Moriarty countered it into a VERY close pin attempt. Jay Lethal had enough and couldn’t figure out what to do. The referee had his back turned and Lethal nailed Lee with a low blow and the Lethal Injection for the victory. He seemed regretful for the low blow, except he cemented the heel turn by attacking Matt Sydal on crutches. This was a great match! I really liked the story they told here for both guys. Lethal being so desperate to win that he needed to turn heel is great character work.
4/5
Interim Women’s Championship: Willow vs. Mercedes Martinez
Up next we had the Interim Women’s Championship match between Willow Nightingale and Mercedes Martinez. I’m still not exactly sure why there was an interim championship match while there’s a reigning champion, but the winner will face Deonna Purrazzo in the future.
This match was a pretty good back and forth affair. Willow is a natural babyface and Mercedes uses her strength to bully people. It was a simple striking versus grappling type of match. They traded offense for awhile, which included a really nice Razor’s Edge type of move. That really displayed the strength of Mercedes. The ending of the match was a little awkward however.
They traded strikes for a little while until Willow got up onto the top rope. She proceeded to hit a really awkward looking Moonsault that landed short and drove her knees directly into Mercedes’s chest. Willow looked to actually check on Mercedes before trying the pinfall, which failed. Martinez ended up locking in a Dragon Sleeper out of nowhere for the victory. New interim champion!
2.75/5
Something felt off here. Not exactly sure how the ending was supposed to go, but this one missed for me. I liked the match up until that point however, even though the crowd wasn’t into it.
RoH Tag Championships: The Briscoes (c) vs. FTR
Okay, so I need to talk about this match. If you haven’t seen this one yet, go out of your way to do so. This match is one you must see. It’s absolutely match of the night and a match of the year contender.
This match felt huge even before the bell rang. The crowd was on fire before, during, and well after the final bell sounded. Combine that with the attitudes both teams had towards each other. This match was the only story I knew about prior because I watched Final Battle in December. FTR came out to confront the Briscoes back then after verbal barbs all over twitter. All four guys didn’t respect each other at all. There was no code of honor handshake, as is the norm apparently in Ring of Honor, and they both taunted and played mind games at each other.
And the match only ramped upwards as it went along. Jay Briscoe was busted open after a horrendous table spot too. They traded finishing moves, and even did each others, but the escalation to the finale is where everything hit another level.
One of the Briscoes suplexed Dax Harwood from the ring onto the floor. Dax looked legitimately injured, which caused the doctor to come check on him. Eventually, Cash Wheeler helped Dax back into the match, which escalated into FTR finally overcoming the Briscoes with the Big Rig and becoming RoH Tag Team Champions.
This match had everything. Amazing story before and during the match, incensed crowd, and near falls so close I lost my mind on the kickout. This match was special and definitely deserves match of the year contention.
5/5
Match of the Night
As if the match wasn’t good enough, we got the cherry after the match. FTR and the Briscoes buried the hatchet, except someone else was ready to pounce. The Young Bucks waited for FTR to leave the ring and took out the Briscoes. FTR saved them after it was too late and they teased FTR and Bucks 2 this Wednesday on Dynamite.
RoH TV Championship: Rhett Titus (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
Up next was a match set up at the last minute between TV Champion Rhett Titus and the legendary Minoru Suzuki. Somehow Minoru Suzuki hasn’t held American gold, but this crazy stat didn’t last long. Rhett Titus held his own against the Japanese legend, but unfortunately this reign didn’t last long. Suzuki seemed to laugh at any offense Titus had and shook it off. He barely broke a sweat, hit the Gotch style Piledriver for the quick victory.
I really loved how quick Suzuki finished this. Titus just won the TV title at Final Battle, however Suzuki is Suzuki. It makes complete sense for the legend to beat him. AEW seems to be booking a story of the Ring of Honor champions not holding their own. I love the possibilities of it.
3/5
RoH Pure Championship: Josh Woods (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
The Pure Championship match was up next between Josh Woods and Wheeler Yuta. I love Ring of Honor’s Pure rules matches. It is such an awesome rule system with a built in story. How often each person uses their rope breaks fascinates me.
And that played into the match here. Wheeler Yuta used two rope breaks early, however he really held his own against the champion. The meteoric rise of Yuta is amazing. His match with Danielson absolutely gave him confidence and it paid off. Wheeler mimicked a lot of the Dragon’s cockiness too. It all ended in shock as Yuta blasted Woods with the Danielson elbows to the neck and a surprise Seatbelt pin for the victory! Wheeler is Pure champion!
Wow that was a surprise! I did not expect Wheeler to win. AEW ending the reigns of each champion is a crazy call, except I think there’s a story. Talk about getting me interested in Ring of Honor.
3.5/5
Undisputed RoH Championship: Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Bandido (c)
It was finally main event time! The Ring of Honor championship needed unification between Jonathan Gresham and Bandido. This was a great match between two stylistic opposites. The story of the match revolved around Chavo Guerrero being Bandido’s manager. Bandido wasn’t a fan of Chavo hinting at cheating because he wanted to win without it.
This was a back and forth match with both guys getting all kinds of offense in. Bandido is incredibly explosive and physically impressive. My favorite part of the match was when Bandido lifted Gresham up into a delayed suplex for one whole minute. That was an incredible feat!
Chavo kept interfering with Gresham behind the referee’s back, except Bandido eventually had enough and told the referee to kick him out. This was a fun little touch. A manager and client disagreeing is a cool story. I bet Chavo comes back with someone else to attack Bandido.
The match escalated to a finish with Bandido hitting his finishing maneuver, the 21 Plex pin, with a Gresham kickout. The technical master was able to trap Bandido into a pinfall for the victory. I like that Gresham can pull out trap pinfalls from anywhere. Good match with a really intriguing story.
4/5
The show was not finished, however. Jay Lethal came out to congratulate Gresham on his victory and to be the next challenger. Gresham did not want to reward Lethal’s antics from earlier, which obviously angered the RoH veteran. Lethal and his friend, Sanjay Dutt, attacked Gresham two on one. Fortunately for Gresham, someone came to assist.
SAMOA JOE!
I was absolutely floored from this surprise finishing angle. That’s how you finish a show!
Verdict
Supercard of Honor was a fantastic start to this new era of Ring of Honor. You could see AEW written all over the product, even in the matches without AEW stars. Everything about this show was great and reignited my interest in Ring of Honor. Tony Khan revitalized Ring of Honor with one Pay Per View. I’m excited to see where the product goes.
This show deserves to be mentioned in the top PPVs of the year. From top to bottom, it was a great show filled with great surprises and matches. The wrestling industry is a better place when Ring of Honor is thriving.
Overall: 4.25/5