Ring Of Honor
Supercard Of Honor 2023
March 31, 2023
Galen Center
Los Angeles, California
Watch: PPV / Bleacher Report (US) / FITE (Non-US)
Meet our reviewers:
Sean Sedor: Sean is SUPER hyped for this Supercard Of Honor PPV, which (on paper) should be the show of the weekend. You can find Sean on Twitter @SASedor2994. If you’re interested in some of his other escapades, you can watch him play the Formula 1 games on YouTube (just search his name), and you can also go to the Be The Booker forums if you’d like to check out his EWR Diary, where he plays as WCW (started in 1998, currently in the Autumn of 2001).
Brady Trappett: After a lot of Wrestlemania Weekend appetizers over the past couple days, Brady is ready to make his review debut with the main course of the weekend: Supercard of Honor. You can find more of his work, including a retrospective series on Will Ospreay’s career, on this very site and you can follow him on Twitter @BradyHasTakes
Griffin Peltier: Griffin has spent the last couple days watching as much WrestleMania Weekend #content he can. This will be his 11th review of the weekend. Let’s go! Follow him on Twitter @Hollywd12 and check out his new podcast The Draft!
Zero Hour
Jeff Cobb def. Tracy Williams
Sean: Bit of a throwback to 2019 ROH right here. Cobb has already had an insane last few days between this show, wrestling Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Title on Dynamite on Wednesday, and then working, Bloodsport, the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, and the Impact/New Japan show yesterday. Williams tried to use his technical skills early on, but Cobb quickly took control with his brute strength. Some decent action down the stretch, though there did seem to be a bit of awkwardness at points. Cobb eventually put Williams away with the Tour Of The Island. A decent match, but nothing more. Curious to see if they plan on building up Cobb for a bigger bout, or if he’s just a guy who will pop in randomly when he was available. **1/2
Brady: Some pretty standard mat work to start it off before Cobb made it clear that despite his busy weekend, he had plenty of strength left, running Williams around in a suplex position before dropping him down. This resembled a longer squash with some hope spots for Williams, but the chemistry wasn’t there with the hope spots. Maybe the long week for Cobb played a part in that. **
Griffin: First of all, I really do not like this new camera angle. The ring is off centre and it looks weird. This was a fine Jeff Cobb showcase. Not much more to it. Williams looked okay too in this extended squash. **
Zero Hour
Konosuke Takeshita def. Willie Mack
Sean: We learned today that Will Ospreay was originally scheduled to face Konosuke Takeshita on this card, but that of course got changed due to Ospreay’s injury. Instead, we’re getting Takeshita here on the pre-show against Willie Mack. The opening stretch saw some fun exchanges, as the two traded clotheslines, hurricanrana’s, and dives to the floor. Mack later had some trouble doing his usual kip up spot (first time in a long time that I’ve seen him mess that one up). The last few minutes featured some fun action, and after avoiding a Frog Splash, Takeshita put Mack away with a Blue Thunder Bomb and a running knee strike. A solid match on the whole and a nice victory for Takeshita, who is now 2-0 in ROH. ***1/4
Brady: Coming off my match of the weekend (so far), Takeshita is facing a replacement opponent in Willie Mack. Even though he’s not Will Ospreay, Willie Mack is a hell of a replacement. The theme of this match was a lot of one upping each other, with trading lariats, topes, and more. This match jumped up in intensity after a Takeshita lariat on the outside. Later in the match, Mack hit a pounce and stunner combo followed by a jumping knee and stunner combo from Takeshita. After a corner cannonball, Mack went to the top and missed with a frog splash. Takeshita took advantage with a Blue Thunder Bomb and a running knee for the win. Fine match but it felt like something was off between the two. ***1/4
Griffin: Takeshita is a much better opponent for Willie Mack than Billy Dixon. They traded some nice topes early but things kinda fell a bit flat until they traded stunners a few minutes later. Mack hit a nice POUNCE!!! period. Takeshita won with a knee to the back of the head. There have been better Willie Mack and Konosuke Takeshita matches lately. This was a bit sloppy at times. Fine pre-show match. ***
Zero Hour
Willow Nightingale def. Miranda Alize
Sean: It’s nice to see Miranda Alize back in ROH. She was a regular in the ROH women’s division at the tail end of the Sinclair Era, facing off against Rok-C in the ROH Women’s World Title Tournament Final in late 2021. Alize tried to use her speed early on, but much like Jeff Cobb a little earlier, Willow used her power to take control. Alize would respond shortly thereafter with offense of her own. The second half saw some good back-and-forth before Willow put away Alize with The Pounce and The Doctor Bomb. A fine outing from these two, and a solid win for Willow. ***
Brady: Alize started this one by not adhering to the Code of Honor and it looked like we might have a straight up squash on our hands with a control sequence from Willow, but Alize was able to take control back after stopping a Willow dive. Alize got a lot more of this match than I thought she would and she looked pretty good. Willow wins after The Pounce and a Doctor Bomb. This was the same idea they were going for with Cobb and Williams, but this one was executed better. **3/4
Griffin: Willow looked good showing more fire in the ring. She worked well in the power wrestler domination role while still keeping the crowd on her side. Alize is pretty rough in the ring. Lots of room for improvement. Willow hit a sick POUUUUUNCCCCCEEEEEEE period and planted Alize with a Doctor Bomb for the win. Alright match that might have gone a little too long. **
Zero Hour
Stu Grayson (with Evil Uno) def. Slim J (with The Trustbusters)
Sean: What a pairing this is! I know some people are annoyed by The Trustbusters, but Slim J has been a very entertaining undercard talent since his return to ROH. Speaking of entertaining, that’s exactly how I would describe this match. Some really enjoyable action from start to finish. We did get some shenanigans towards the end with Mark Sterling and Ari Daivari getting involved, but Evil Uno made quick work of them. Stu followed up with a brutal backbreaker to score the win. Following the match, we got the return of The Righteous (just Vincent and Dutch in this case), and it appears we’re getting The Dark Order vs. The Righteous on ROH TV at some point in the future. ***1/4
Brady: Fun pre-show match here. The match started with a Stu control segment before Mark Sterling’s interference opened the door for Slim J. Once Stu got some momentum going again, Sterling tried to interfere once more, only for Uno to clothesline both him and Ari Daivari on the outside. Sterling’s groups in AEW and ROH are perfect for what they’re supposed to be. Just as I was beginning to wonder if this is a sign of the Super Smash Bros in ROH, we saw the return of The Righteous, so I’ll take that as a confirmation. ***
Griffin: The crowd goes mild for the Trustbusters. This felt like an extended TV match. Stu looked good but I don’t know why it took so long to put away a guy like Slim J? A perfectly fine AEW Dark type match. Zero reaction for The Righteous. They’ll fit right in with such stables like The Trustbusters. **
AAA Mega Championship
El Hijo del Vikingo (c) def. Komander
Sean: What a way to kick off the PPV! These two were involved in an incredible three-way with Black Taurus at the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow last night (I have not seen the match yet, but I’ve heard great things about it), but here they’re going one-on-one, and the AAA Mega Title is on the line. We weirdly started off with some technical wrestling, but that didn’t last long, as they soon transitioned to more of the high-flying action that we’ve come to expect. The deeper they went into the match, the crazier the stuff they busted out. While the spots have been amazing, the one big criticism I would have is that the match hasn’t felt smooth…not in the sense that they’re botching stuff (quite the contrary, everything they’ve done has landed near perfectly), but in the sense that there’s no smoothness in going from spot to spot. That one minor critique aside, the rest of this was incredible, and the crowd totally loved it. Vikingo did go for his 630 to a prone Komander on a table, but the table (unlike in the match Kenny Omega) did not break. The two continued to go back-and-forth until Vikingo finally put Komander away with a 630 inside the ring. Far from a perfect match, but the pure insanity of so many of the spots more than made up for it. ****1/2
Brady: After the main event of Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow that many are calling the match of the weekend, it’s time to run it back with two-thirds of the participants (Sorry Black Taurus). Just as we all expected, we’re starting with some grappling! After a few minutes, we get some flying and even a table being set up. This match differs from last night by being very counter-heavy. I can’t run through every spot here, but rest assured you’ll be impressed. After a Destroyer on the apron, Komander was able to connect with a rope walk plancha after launching himself roughly 45 feet in the air. After a dueling rope walk standoff into a top rope Destroyer (I don’t even know anymore), Vikingo did the 630 to the outside just like he did on Dynamite, unfortunately the table didn’t cooperate. Vikingo tried another 630 in the ring, but there’s no water in the pool. Following a Komander Phoenix Splash, Vikingo is able to reverse a top rope attempt from Komander and hit a corner Meteora into a final 630 for the win. Supercard of Honor starts off with an absolute spectacle. ****1/2
Griffin: Now this is how you open a show! The crowd woke up with some good wrestlers in the ring. As expected, this was a very good match! Vikingo defies all gravity and physics with some of these spots. I’ve been covering Vikingo for this website for years and he continues to innovate spots that you’ve never seen before that will become the new standard as young kids look to do what he’s doing. It’s going to be great. The rope walk Canadian Destroyer is some wild shit that you can only see in these matches. Now take that and multiply it by ten. Nobody else is thinking of these things. These two are special. ****1/2
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles
The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun, & Toa Liona with Prince Nana) (c) def. AR Fox, Blake Christian, & Metalik
Sean: If you like high-flyers, then you must be loving this first part of the PPV. We go from Vikingo vs. Komander to the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Title bout, which features a very exciting challenging team in the form of AR Fox, Blake Christian, and Metalik. They didn’t waste any time, as a brawl broke out right away, which led to a three-way dive to the floor by the babyface team. It wouldn’t take long for The Embassy to respond with their raw strength, and as a whole, this was an action-packed affair, with all six-men getting opportunities to shine. I was worried that the crowd would be a little dead for this one after the opener, but they definitely managed to keep the crowd’s attention with the breakneck pace they were working at. Metalik would come super close to getting the win, but Brian Cage recovered a few moments later, and hit the Drill Claw to secure the victory. While this obviously wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the opener, this was still a super enjoyable bout for what it was. ***3/4
Brady: When you saw these two teams face off, you could see the story of the match. The Embassy are powerhouses and their challengers were going to need to use their speed to be effective. After a quick start with forearms and some dives, The Embassy took control. While every one of the challengers got their shine, AR Fox was the star of his team. The Embassy’s power proved too much though as Brian Cage got the win with the Drill Claw. Entertaining, fast paced match that might have been hurt by what it had to follow. ***
Griffin: A perfectly cromulent trios match. I enjoy Blake Christian so much more when he’s this fiery babyface instead of his douchebag heel persona in GCW. I enjoy that the cooldown match after the AAA Mega title match featured three guys doing some amazing high-flying moves. Cage won with the Drill Claw so I assume he has reupped with the company. ***1/4
ROH Women’s World Title
Athena (c) def. Yuka Sakazaki
Sean: Athena’s entrance featured her stomping on a doll…..ok then! They had a fairly even opening exchange before Yuka nailed a big dive to the floor. That one was a bit scary as she appeared to land right on her head. Athena would soon turn the tables, and took control of the bout after targeting Yuka’s neck. Yuka tried to fight back, but ate some more brutal offense for her troubles. After the action spilled to the floor, Yuka was finally able to string together some offense, hitting a stalling suplex on the floor before connecting with a dive off the stage. There was some more back-and-forth inside the ring before Yuka attempted a springboard off the ropes. However, Athena got the referee in between her and Yuka, and this allowed her to come off the top with an O-Face while Yuka was still on the ropes. A really cool finish to what was a really good women’s title bout. We didn’t get to see Yuka’s more vicious side, but she still put forth a strong effort before ultimately coming up short. Athena’s reign as ROH Women’s World Champion continues. ***1/2
Brady: Athena has been great since moving to Ring of Honor, with two solid title defenses since the launch of ROH on Honor Club. After the opening sequence Yuka went for a scary dive to the outside where she essentially hit herself with a DDT. Athena’s character of late is that she has been overly violent, and she continued that with some strikes to a grounded Yuka and a triple power bomb. Yuka was able to return the favor with a suplex to the floor, a dive, and then a splash in the ring. After trading some forearms and an Athena kick out, the match comes to close with an awesome O Face to Yuka on the ropes. This match really picked up in the second half. ***1/2
Griffin: AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA. Athena has doll lore like she’s Kharma and she’s wearing body make up inspired by Circle 6’s El Chupacabra. I like the new belts. Yuka nearly spiked herself early on. For whatever reason this felt a bit disjointed. Something was off and it didn’t connect. They had some cool spots and some very stiff shots but everything between the spots didn’t land with me. The middle rope O Face finish was cool. ***1/2
ROH World Television Title
Samoa Joe (c) def. Mark Briscoe
Sean: Mark comes out with his half of the ROH World Tag Team Titles for the final time as his wife and kids are sitting at ringside. It’s going to be an emotional one, folks! Mark went right on the attack early on, and nearly hit the Froggy Bow super early, but Samoa Joe was able to roll to the floor, and took advantage by just tossing Mark around on the outside. They made their way back into the ring, and Joe was firmly in control with chops, strikes, and a big dive to the floor. Joe would go for a chair, but Mark would fight back, and hit a dive off the chair to the floor before putting Joe through a table with a blockbuster off the apron. Really cool to see Mark nail those big moves with his kids watching from the front row.
Back in the ring, we got a stiff chop exchange before both men started busting out some of their signature offense. Joe started to bleed a little bit as he brutalized Mark with a backdrop driver and a lariat. Mark fights back and hits the Froggy Boy, but it only gets two! While Mark tried for the Jay Driller, Joe avoided it, locked in the choke….and referee calls for the bell! Samoa Joe wins in a super shocking result. The match was freaking great, which wasn’t a surprise in the slightest. However, the result was incredibly shocking. Pretty much everyone expected Mark to win this title, but it didn’t happen. Joe shook Mark’s hand afterwards, and Mark took in the standing ovation from the crowd before consoling his family. My only guess is that they’re planning on a bigger result for Mark down the road, and this was meant to be a bump in the road on that journey. Time will tell whether Mark will get his moment in the son, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back from this tough loss. ****1/4
Brady: We got some of it here, but I highly recommend seeking out the Supercard of Honor countdown show, if only for the Briscoe segment. Shots of Mark’s family in the front row as he makes his way to the ring. A great chop exchange early leads to a Death Valley Driver from Mark Briscoe. As Samoa Joe built momentum, you could hear Mark’s kids through the ringside mics. A brief flurry from Mark was stifled by a Joe kick and the champion was back in control. After preventing a chair attack from Joe, Mark uses the chair to launch himself for a dive and puts Joe through a table with the Blockbuster that Mark might have gotten the worst part of. After more Briscoe offense in the ring, Joe takes control with an STF but Mark makes it to the ropes. A sick backdrop from Joe led to another nearfall. A Froggy Bow only draws a two count and just when I thought it was academic, Joe hits a sleeper suplex and wins with the Coquina Clutch. A shocking finish to a great match. ****
Griffin: Oh wow. Great match that was laid out perfectly for a Mark Briscoe win in front of his family but Joe played spoiler. I had a lot written down for what seemed like the inevitable win but this loss was a huge shock. Sean and Brady have a good rundown for you. Great match, wild finish. Kids and grown adults are crying. ****
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Daniel Garcia
Sean: In case you missed it, Hiroshi Tanahashi’s false front teeth fell out again (that’s the second time this year that’s happened to him during or right before a trip to the United States). This got started with Tanahashi nailing some of his usual early-match offense before Garcia took control on the floor. “You’re a wrestler” chants rain down on Garcia as he continues to work over Tanahashi in the ring, but The Ace Of The Universe is able to fight back, and it becomes a more even affair in the second half. Tanahashi worked over Garcia’s legs with the Dragon Screw and the Texas Cloverleaf, but Garcia is able to get to the ropes. Garcia would respond, but it wouldn’t be enough. Tanahashi connected with the Twist And Shout, and followed up with the High Fly Flow for the victory. While this was not outstanding by any means, it was still a perfectly fine singles bout with a result that was a nice boost after the crushing result we saw in the match prior. About what I expected. ***1/4
Brady: Fresh off a grueling battle with an apple that took his front teeth, Tanahashi is squaring off with Daniel Garcia. Luckily for Tana’s teeth, DG is a submission specialist. Early on it’s clear DG got the scouting report (a picture of Tanahashi with his knees circled in red marker), and focused his attack on Tanahashi’s legs. Tanahashi’s signature stuff looked great as always, solid match. After the match, Garcia remained conflicted with his professional wrestler side wanting to shake Tanahashi’s hand, but he decided to leave instead. ***
Griffin: If you told me four years ago when I was watching him defend the C*4 Championship that Daniel Garcia would be wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi, I probably would have believed you. He’s a tremendous wrestler and it’s cool as fuck seeing him lock-up with The Ace. Garcia’s little dance is great. There was a lot to like in this match. Garcia played his role as the young asshole well and Tanahashi will always be the guy. DG looked good in defeat and a loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi does not hurt him at all. ***1/2
ROH World Tag Team Titles – Reach For The Sky Ladder Match
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) def. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher), LFI (RUSH & Dralistico), The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett), & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin)
Sean: Welp….time for some more insanity! Things start off with a big brawl, and the early part of the match sees all five teams taking turns together in the ring, mixed in with some basic ladder spots. Everyone starts nailing a series of dives before The Kingdom took out one of the Martin brothers with a Doomsday Device to the floor! They then set up a large stack of tables on the outside before getting taken out with piledrivers on the stage by Aussie Open. A few of the teams nearly grab the titles, but to no avail. LFI then re-engage with The Kingdom as Bennett and RUSH go after each other with chops.
This is exactly the type of chaos I was expecting. So many bodies flying all over the place. It’s a total car crash. The big spot with the tables on the floor ends up being Penta giving Dante a Canadian Destroyer off the ladder bridge and through the table stack. Unfortunately, it looked like Dante suffered a pretty serious leg injury on that big spot. This left Fenix alone in the ring with The Kingdom, and he was able to fight both of them off to capture the ROH World Tag Team Titles! So the team that I thought had the lowest odds to win….won. Go figure. Again….this match was pure chaos from start to finish. Everyone involved is going to be a little sore after that one, and I can only hope for the best for Dante. It should be interesting to see where The Lucha Brothers go from here now that they’re champions. Are they ROH exclusive now? Will they continue to appear in AEW? Time will tell. The duo celebrated with Mark Briscoe and FTR on the stage afterwards. ****1/2
Brady: Well, we are as far as we can get away from Vikingo without main eventing, so it’s time for more insanity. This was madness in the best way until an unfortunate injury. We had a Bull’s Horns to a ladder, we had a Doomsday Device plancha, we had a frog splash through a ladder and then a suplex through the remnants. The biggest spot in this match is unfortunately one that you’re not going to see many replays of in the future. A Destroyer from a ladder platform through tables ended with an injury reminiscent of Sid Vicious in 2001 for Dante Martin. Afterwards, Fenix was able to pull down the titles. A lot of fun with a sad ending. ****1/4
Griffin: When you have nine very good wrestlers and Dralistico all in one match, you are guaranteed to have a wild one. I commend RUSH for taking barely any bumps in the match until he had to take some for a few high spots. Nothing is cooler than a guy not taking bumps who wipes his opponent’s blood on his chest. As was expected, lots of insanity happened in and out of the ring. Sean and Brady have a good summary of all the spots that happened in this fantastic match but god damn I need a breather. Penta hit a sick Destroyer on Dante off a ladder bridge to a mountain of tables outside that let Fenix grab the titles. Unfortunately it looked like Dante shattered his ankle on the spot. Top Flight can’t catch a break. Tremendous work all around, especially from The Kingdom. ****1/2
ROH Pure Title
Katsuyori Shibata def. Wheeler Yuta (c)
Sean: What a stark contrast. Going from a car-crash Ladder Match to a Pure Rules Match. Two big revelations before the bell even rings. The first is that Jon Moxley comes out to rinside with Wheeler Yuta in what (I believe) is Moxley’s first-ever on-camera ROH appearance. Secondly, the panel of judges for this one are Christopher Daniels, Pat Buck…..and Madison Rayne. Yes, you read that correctly. Madison Rayne judging a match featuring Katsuyori Shibata. Now I’ve seen it all. The match gets going with some pretty standard technical wrestling. About four minutes in, Shibata locks in a tight Figure Four, and forces Yuta to use his first rope break.
Yuta went to work over the arm of Shibata, and followed up with some chops that had zero effect. With Shibata firmly in control, Yuta changes things up and kicks Shibata low behind the referee’s back before using his lone closed fist. Shibata is able to fight back hard. At some point, Yuta uses another rope break, but it wasn’t enough. One PK later, and Yuta was down for the count! Katsuyori Shibata is the new ROH Pure Champion. A worthy champion for sure. This was a really good match that told a nice story from start to finish, as Shibata was clearly the superior wrestler on this night. Yuta tried some of the tricks he’s used in other ROH Pure Title defenses, but it wasn’t enough. Shibata being a champion in ROH is not something I would’ve called four or five years ago, but I’m glad we live in this timeline! ****
Brady: And now… a change of pace. This is the first of two Blackpool Combat Club matches tonight and the results will be interesting as many wonder how separate AEW and ROH are going to be. This is what you would expect a Pure match to be for the first while with Shibata in control. Furthering the heel edge of the BCC, Wheeler is able to take the momentum with a low blow while distracting the referee and then burning his warning on a punch to Shibata’s jaw. This control didn’t last long and all it took was a brutal corner dropkick for Shibata to take control. Wheeler wanted to test himself against one of the people looked up to and he got his wish. Shibata wins with a PK and the BCC has one less set of gold. This is the best Bloodsport match of the weekend. ****
Griffin: Madison Rayne is judging a Katsuyori Shibata title match. What the hell. It’s still really cool to see Shibata wrestling again. Wheeler Yuta bit off more than he could chew and was unable to beat Shibata despite using every opportunity he could to cheat. The wrestling was crisp and Shibata looked really smooth in the ring. The PK put this one away and “The Wrestler” looks cool with the belt. Pure Rules usually don’t do much for me but this one rocked. ****1/4
ROH World Title
Claudio Castagnoli (c) def. Eddie Kingston
Sean: Here we go. After being apart for well over a decade, Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston are going to battle once again. The bell rings and Eddie goes after Claudio straight away with strikes, but Claudio would quickly respond with strikes of his own. Eddie tried working on the legs of Claudio, and followed up with a dive attempt, which was cut off with a European Uppercut. From there, Claudio goes on the offensive, hitting a suplex to the floor. He tries for the giant swing, but the damage done earlier by Kingston starts to take its toll, as Claudio is forced to stop the swing early.
A very physical match up to this point. Claudio nails a huge superplex that damages Kingston so much that he’s forced to go after the eyes of Claudio just to break out of the pin. This would end up being the start of Kingston’s comeback, as he goes on a flurry of offense. It’s a real FIGHT as the two continue to go back-and-forth. Eddie avoids the Ricola Bomb and hits the Spinning Backfist for a CLOSE nearfall. Claudio returns fire in the form of a HUGE gutwrench suplex off the apron to the floor! That was nuts. Eddie somehow continues to survive! A Neutralizer only gets a one count, and the crowd explodes at that kickout! Eddie avoids another Ricola Bomb and counters into a pin, but then Claudio counters the counter and gets the pin! Claudio retains. What a ride that was. A fantastic match from start to finish that was a great continuation of the Claudio vs. Eddie saga. As always, Eddie gave it his all and came agonizingly close to winning the big one, but he fell short once again. They really did an awesome job making you believe Kingston could win. The show closed with Shibata saving Kingston from a potential two-on-one BCC attack, followed by a Kingston promo where he said that he and Claudio weren’t finished. I suppose the story will be Kingston working his way back up the ladder for another match with Claudio at some point. We’ll see if they have a rematch down the line, but as far as tonight’s encounter went….it rocked. ****1/2
Brady: I’ll say the same thing I said about Briscoe vs Joe earlier in the night: watch the countdown show before you watch this match and watch the Joseph Montecillo video on Ring of Honor’s YouTube channel. The build for this match has been great. A very logical start to this match as the hotheaded Kingston rushed Claudio. This match made sense with Claudio being in control with wrestling moves, while Kingston meekly tried to take back control with slaps. Later in the match, Eddie Kingston is able to counter the Ricola Bomba and hits Claudio with a backfist for a great nearfall. Claudio started to lose his cool as he hit Kingston with a gutwrench from the apron to the floor and hit Kingston with a guardrail. After another nearfall, Claudio slaps Eddie and tells Eddie that he will never earn his respect. After a Neutralizer, Eddie kicks out at one. After an uppercut, Eddie kicks out again at two. Eddie reverses another Ricola Bomb into a rollup, but Claudio rolls through for the win. Eddie Kingston comes up short once again. ****1/4
Griffin: Eddie Kingston came out in a BURNING t-shirt because he’s one of the coolest wrestlers on the planet. No Code of Honor and the fight was on! Eddie and Claudio both gave it their all and put on a damn good match. Kingston even did a tope to show how desperate he is to win this title. Eddie hit the backfist late in the match and Claudio kicked out at the last possible moment. I love a good 2.9 kickout. Good god Eddie landed right on the top of his head after being dumped from the apron. Claudio hit the Neutralizer but Eddie kicked out at one and the place explodes! Good shit! Eddie nearly had it but Claudio reversed the rollup and got the win. Eddie tried his damndest but he could not beat Claudio Castagnoli tonight in Los Angeles. One hell of a match. ****1/2
