ROH Supercard of Honor 2023 is coming up this Friday and before the event takes place, let’s run down everything you need to know about the upcoming pay-per-view.
Who is scheduled for the card? How interesting does the show seem? What’s going to happen with all the matches?
Here is a full preview of ROH Supercard of Honor 2023.
PPV EVENT INFORMATION
Date: Friday, March 31, 2023
Start Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Galen Center in Los Angeles, California
MATCH CARD, PREDICTIONS & HEAT INDEX ANTICIPATION LEVELS
(as currently advertised; card is always subject to change)
Temperature Scale = Scorching > Hot > Lukewarm > Temperate > Chilly > Cold > Freezing
Heat Index is my assessment of how interesting the segment is, including how excited I am for the match and how intriguing the feud has been. The hotter, the better. Scorching translates to not being able to wait to see it, while Freezing means I couldn’t possibly care less and think it will be awful.
ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: Claudio Castagnoli wins.
Thoughts: Talented guys who have some sort of real life beef with each other. I’m interested. Granted, knowing that the likelihood there’s a title change is very slim to none does hinder this a bit and almost made me go into Lukewarm territory, I still think this has some solid potential to be a really fun segment.
ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Mark Briscoe
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: Mark Briscoe wins.
Thoughts: This crowd is going to be so hot for Mark Briscoe winning this title that it is going to be hard not to get sucked into some of the enthusiasm. Since there’s such a strong chance of a title change here, I’d argue this should actually main event and the Castagnoli vs. Kingston match could go on sometime before it.
ROH WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Athena (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki
Heat Index = Freezing
Prediction: Athena wins.
Thoughts: I haven’t been the biggest Athena fan in a long while and I haven’t ever really been super thrilled during a Yuka Sakazaki match. Since I also haven’t been watching ROH television episodes, there really isn’t anything hooking me for this. Sorry. I just assume the title is staying put and it’ll be 10-15 minutes worth of in-ring action that I’ll forget about by the end of the night and certainly not remember by the end of this jam-packed weekend.
ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Heat Index = Temperate
Prediction: Wheeler Yuta wins.
Thoughts: Similarly to the Athena match, this is in that range that doesn’t appeal super much to my personal tastes as a fan. I really like Wheeler Yuta, though. The problem here is three-fold. First, I haven’t followed any build to this, so it is supposed to work on just names alone for me. Second, Shibata isn’t someone I’m familiar with, so his name value is essentially nonexistent. That’s not me saying he’s bad or anything. It’s me saying I’m in the dark about his skills, and instead of just assuming he’s the greatest performer in the world and this will rock, I’m going into it with expectations that he’s about as good as your average New Japan guy, which is typically a style I’m sometimes bored with. Third, the Pure Championship rules matches aren’t my vibe most of the time. That hinders this, too. So while I’m sure for some people, this is a dream match of sorts that will absolutely floor them, I’m approaching it as “Yuta’s going to wrestle a potentially laborious but decent match that doesn’t keep my attention and then beat the guy and that’s about it.” Harsh opinion to some, I’m sure, but hey, not everyone likes the same things.
REACH FOR THE SKY LADDER MATCH FOR THE VACATED ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) vs. Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin) vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) vs. La Facción Ingobernable (Rush and Dralístico)
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: Top Flight wins.
Thoughts: Toss a bunch of teams in a ladder match for a vacated title, knowing we’re getting new champions, and some of them happen to be The Lucha Bros and Top Flight and such? I’m sold. Any of these teams winning could make sense in my mind, so that’s interesting, too. I’d lean less toward Aussie Open, though. They’re my last-ranked prediction. The others all stand roughly equal footing to capture the titles, but I’m going with Top Flight because I had originally had them down as potential upcoming ROH tag champions in 2023 to begin with.
AAA MEGA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Komander
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: El Hijo del Vikingo wins.
Thoughts: After watching their performances recently on Dynamite, I’m way more excited about seeing these two guys go at it in the ring than I would have been prior. I’d assume Vikingo is retaining since this is a AAA title on the line on an ROH event, and if I were AAA, I wouldn’t necessarily want to see my belt change hands outside my company. I’m sure they’ll have a great match. I hope this isn’t one of the matches happening during something important on SmackDown or the Hall of Fame, as I want to pay attention to it!
ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
The Embassy (c) vs. AR Fox, Blake Christian and Gran Metalik
Heat Index = Cold
Prediction: The Embassy wins.
Thoughts: If The Embassy loses, I think that means Brian Cage is out the door with AEW and ROH. Since I don’t think that is happening (whereas in the past, I felt like that was certainly a possibility), I’m imagining this is just a glorified squash that lasts longer than it probably should. This team of guys challenging do have talent to them, but the unit itself just feels thrown together to me. Maybe that’s just my fault for not watching the TV shows leading up to this, but I also don’t get a sense if I did watch them, that my opinion would be swayed THAT much.
OVERALL PPV:
How excited am I for the event as a whole?
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Thoughts: To be perfectly honest, despite there being a few Hot ones up there, I would rather this show not be happening this week. In particular, I hate that it is happening at the same time as SmackDown and the WWE Hall of Fame. If this were a week ago or next week, I would potentially be more willing to give it more attention. Even then, this still just feels like what I feel a lot of AEW and more so now, especially ROH shows, tend to be, which is “a show of pro wrestling matches” and that’s about it. IE, this is for the indie wrestling fans who want to see bell to bell action and people doing maneuvers even if they don’t necessarily have any psychology in the process. I can enjoy those here and there, but they still usually don’t get me too hyped up, and when I’m overloaded like this week is, I care even less about what seems a little…superfluous and forgettable sounds harsh. If this wasn’t my job, I honestly doubt I’d be checking this out. Hopefully, they put on a good enough show that it makes me retrospectively hate saying that.
What do you think is going to happen at ROH Supercard of Honor? Which matches are you most excited to see? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
Also make sure to enter my 2023 Road to WrestleMania contest for a chance to win a Dusty Rhodes Funko Pop!
