Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor 2024 was a not-so gentle reminder that the 20+ year old promotion is the home of great wrestling.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the sweltering Murphy Rec Center days or the Tony Khan era — Ring of Honor, when called upon, will deliver on all cylinders.
Supercard of Honor 2024 was no different. Let’s get into the matches.
Zero Hour:
The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari & Josh Woods) with Smart Mark Sterling defeat Rhett Titus, Tony Deppen & Adam Priest: This was a nice reminder match about The Premier Athletes and how good they truly are. Squash City here, and that’s what was need. Winners
Cole Karter and Griff Garrison with Maria Kannelis defeat The Spanish Announce Project (Serpentico and Angelico): This was a perfectly fun little pre-show tag match with the angle of Maria’s Boys stealing Serpentico’s mask continued.
Blake Christian loses to The Beast Mortos (fka Black Taurus): It was nice to see Christian, the current GCW champion, get a chance to shine. However, The Beast Mortos should’ve squashed “All Heart/All Heat.” Instead we got a protracted match where Mortos took a lot of offense, but ultimately he won and looked like an absolute world killer.
Mariah May beat Momo Kohgo: The right match to “sell” the PPV. Mariah May has quickly gone from doe-eyed Toni Storm follower, to an absolute blue cheap signing by Tony Khan. Mariah and Momo beat the brakes off each other. Mariah solidifies herself as a top contender for any AEW/ROH title, and someone the company can (and will build on). As for Momo. More please, thank you.
Main Card:
TV Title Match “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher defeated “Big Shotty” Lee Johnson: This match went way longer and way harder than expected. This was easily Lee Johnson’s best match in his run in AEW and ROH. Meanwhile, Kyle Fletcher looked an absolute star in this match. While Fletcher retained here, it solidified his position as another talent, like May, than both companies can build on as top champions.
Tag Team Title Match The Undisputed Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) retained over The Infantry: This match was a lot of fun as The Infantry has evolved from a team who lost constantly on Dark and Elevation to a team who’s given FTR and the ROH Tag champs a run for their money. They’re just so much fun to watch. Bennett & Taven were two that this writer never could get into, but boy has that changed. Bennett just seems to be having the time of his life in ring and Taven feeds off that. They’re a great team that too many are sleeping on.
Women’s TV Title Tournament Finals: Billie Starkz defeats Queen Aminata to become the inuagural champions. This was an upset. It’s not because Billie Starkz doesn’t deserve the title, but because AEW/ROH seemed to put so much promotion behind Aminata. The Queen was absolutely awesome in this match — the perfect combination of viciousness and finesse. She like Fletcher and May are going to be those new pillars in the company. Starkz played a great, desperate babyface, but then pulled a hell of a move by faking injury and scoring the win. While some may not like the call (due to Billie’s natural babyface charisma), this makes all the sense given her “boss” Athena encouraging her to break the rules.
Stardom Superstar Showcase Mei Seira, Mina Shirakawa and Maika beat Tam Nakano, AZM and Saya Kamitani. This was reminiscent of the Michinoku Pro showcase match ECW’s Barely Legal back in 1997. The heels Nakano, AZM and Kamitami were great in their roles — in particular Kamitami. Shirakawa is charisma personified and yes, looking forward to her and Toni Storm going at it in the future. What was brilliant here was that all six woman gave us all just a small taste of what they can do, and we all want more.
Trios Title Bullet Club Gold retained over Monster Sauce (Lance Archer & Alex Zayne) and Minoru Suzuki. Monster Sauce was a big surprise — Zayne and Suzuki were a much better choice to work with Lance than The Righteous. I think Monster Sauce should honestly work together more and more in ROH and AEW. Suzuki is always great. Bullet Club Gold’s theme music is some of the best in wrestling and while their lukewarm feud with The Acclaimed has dinged them, they were so awesome here.
Women’s Title Match Athena beat Hikaru Shida. This one took a little bit to get out of first gear. Shida being off TV for a long time (six months, maybe?) When it did, it got real good. Shida and Athena beat the hell out of each other, and on multiple occasions it felt feasible that Shida would take the belt. Athena wins, and it’s a real big questions who can actually beat her.
Fight without Honor Johnny TV loses to Dalton Castle. This one was a bit of a hot mess, and it always was supposed to be. At times this match moved a bit too slow, but once it leaned into the silliness it got so much better.
Main Event: Mark Briscoe defeats Eddie Kingston to become the new Ring of Honor Heavyweight Champion. Not a dry in the building or at home for this one. Mark Briscoe has been such an inspirational figure for AEW and ROH while also being a modern age Jimmy “Boogie Woogie Man” Valiant. Eddie Kingston is just the best and watching these two beat each other from pillar to post, was awesome. It’s a well-deserved win for Mark and I hope he becomes a main and regular attraction for ROH.
Overall Thoughts: This was a really good ROH show. It’s a reminder that Ring of Honor, when given the time, promotion and love, it shines brightly.
