#wrestlecon supershow

[frentique]

[caranoirs]

WRESTLECON SUPERSHOW 2023 // 35mm.wrestling

[wrestlingisfake]

Supercard of Honor preview

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston - Castagonli is the defending ROH men's world champion. Kingston has had it in for him since...well, look, Eddie has it in for everybody, one way or another. So I could look up their whole history in CHIKARA or whatever but that isn't going to make it make more sense. They really hate each other, ladies and gentlemen.

Kingston dramatically "quit" AEW earlier this month to get away from all the snakes and liars. Then he showed up at the ROH tapings (okay technically him showing up was taped before he quit) to bitch about how Claudio is a snake and a liar or whatever. Listen, Eddie is hella cool but his decisions don't make a lot of sense to me. "I do me, partna"--yeah, you sure do, my guy.

Conveniently, Castagnoli has quietly turned heel to support Jon Moxley's heel turn in AEW, so he can actually be the asshole Kingston makes him out to be. Unfortunately, the storyline amounts to Claudio attacking Eddie for blaming everyone but himself for his problems, which...actually yeah, he's right. The story isn't great. I mean, it's better than Edge vs. The Judgment Day, but that's a low bar to clear.

In spite of everything I'm rooting for Eddie, and he did a great go-home promo on March 30. But I just can't convince myself he's going to beat Castagnoli right now, at the peak of the Blackpool Combat Club's heel run. Something tells me this match won't settle anything, and we'll be seeing it again before long...

El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander - Vikingo is defending the AAA mega championship. From 2016 to 2021, Ring of Honor was part of a tight alliance with CMLL, which made it impractical for ROH to work with other Mexican promotions, or really any Mexican wrestlers that had heat with CMLL. So even hearing "Triple A" on an ROH show is weird enough, let alone seeing a AAA title match.

AEW/ROH fans will mainly know Vikingo from the big dream match with Kenny Omega on March 22. It's been notoriously difficult to get dates on him in the US, which has added to the allure of seeing him on an American broadcast. For example, AEW wanted Vikingo for the big ladder match on March 1, but they couldn't get him. Instead they brought in Komander from KAOZ, who proceeded to put himself on the map for people who don't watch lucha libre. People who do follow lucha went nuts the second this match was announced, so expect a lot of hype for this. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman may both pass out just from calling the action.

In a funny twist that probably won't get mentioned on this show, these two already had a AAA title bout yesterday, at Wrestlecon's Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow. It was a three-way with Taurus, and I haven't watched it yet but I bet Taurus took the pin. That's the kind of wacky situations you get during Wrestlemania weekend.

I believe AAA and KAOZ have a working relationship, so it wouldn't be totally implausible to see a title change here. But AAA knows they've got a golden goose with Vikingo, and I don't think they're going to let Tony Khan job him out twice in one month.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daniel Garcia - Garcia was penciled in to face Will Ospreay here, but Ospreay is on the shelf and it looks like Tana has been sent in to fulfill his commitments. Garcia is probably still stinging from his big loss to Adam Cole on March 29, followed by a weird angle where Jericho helped him to the back and seemed protective but also weirdly bothered about something. I don't know if this match will play into that or not. Either way, Garcia has something to prove.

I suppose Garcia has a slightly better chance of beating Tanahashi than I thought Mike Bailey had last night. If Garcia was a New Japan regular in line for a push, he might score a huge upset win in a situation like this. But New Japan is more careful about who they send to do a job in an interpromotional match against a midcarder. If the plan was for Garcia to beat a New Japan veteran, they probably would've sent Tomohiro Ishii or Satoshi Kojima. Like Bailey, Garcia will have to make do with Tanahashi making him look good in defeat.

Wheeler YUTA vs. Katsuyori Shibata - Yuta's ROH pure title is at stake, which means "pure rules" are in effect. The rules are designed to discourage outside interference, closed-fist punches to the face, and going to the ropes to escape a hold. The championship can change hands on a disqualification or count-out. In the event of a 60-minute draw, the decision will be awarded by a panel of judges.

Shibata is the head trainer for New Japan's LA Dojo, but more importantly he was a key NJPW guy until he suffered subdural hematoma during a 2017 match. He shockingly returned to action in 2021 for an exhibition match, but after a second exhibition in 2022 New Japan evidently grew wary of letting him compete. He later faced Orange Cassidy in AEW and Tom Lawlor at an Antonio Inoki tribute show. I still get scared when I see him wrestle.

In terms of star power, Yuta really has no business beating Shibata, particularly for a "just very good at grappling" belt. But you can't have Shibata win the title without a plan for him to return and defend it, which is probably not going to be easy. So I have to assume this match is going to be about Shibata passing the torch, which is a little awkward since Yuta recently turned heel and he's being a huge prick about stuff like that.

Reach For The Sky ladder match - This is a five-way tag team ladder match, with the ROH tag team championship at stake. Jay & Mark Briscoe won the title in December, but Jay was killed in a car accident back in January, so Mark announced this as sort of a Jay Briscoe memorial match. Both tag belts will be suspended above the ring, and ladders will be placed around ringside for the competitors to use. Whoever is first to climb up and retrieve either belt will win the championship for his team.

The announced participants are: the Lucha Bros. (Penta El 0 Miedo & Rey Fenix), Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin), the Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett), Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher), and Rush & Dralistico. The Kingdom and Top Flight have been feuding for a while, so for all we know this may be their blowoff match.

Anyone could win this, really. If this was for the AEW tag belts, I'd lean towards putting them on the hottest team under contract, and that'd be the Lucha Bros. But for all we know the plan is for the ROH tag champs to be a lesser team that primarily works ROH tapings, which favors the Kingdom or Top Flight. It could work to put the belts on Aussie Open or Rush/Dralistico, but it's harder to see what the plan would be. Guess I'll just have to sit back and take in the chaos.

Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe - Briscoe is challenging Joe for the ROH television title. They've played up the idea that Mark has always wanted this championship, but has never held it. Normally I'd say he's a huge underdog against Joe. But Mark isn't going back to tag team wrestling after the death of his brother, and he'll never have as much fan support as he does right now. Also, Joe never made a lot of sense as the TV champion; now that they've got a weekly ROH show, I think he should move up to chasing the world title. So Tony Khan has a zillion reasons to just give us the feel-good moment and give Mark the title.

Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki - Athena, the ROH women's world champion, called out Sakazaki for this title match. Athena's heel run has been great but I've kinda lost the plot with her complaining that all the other women are "porcelain" or whatever. Sakazaki would probably work as champion but I honestly forgot she was even still with the AEW, so I don't know if that kind of commitment is feasible. Athena should probably retain.

Brian Cage & Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona vs. AR Fox & Blake Christian & Metalik - Cage and the Gates of Agony are defending the ROH trios championship. Fox's team has been little more than jobbers in AEW/ROH thus far, so I wouldn't normally give them much of a chance here. But Cage's contract reportedly expired, and he's supposed to be on a handshake deal to finish up at this show. So unless something really wild happens, I think we'll see a title change. Just as well, I think Kaun and Liona work better as a duo anyway.

[ambrollinsasylum]

Not the best quality but here’s Kenny saying This is what love looks like

[kazuchikaokada]

[timthatcher]

mark hitchcock memorial supershow | timothy thatcher vs tomohiro ishii

[rikatatsumi]

[pastabot]

Jimmy Wang Yang making his entrance at the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow

[blueonwrestling]

john hennigan and taya valkyrie just had an extremely funny good house keeping match there, that was just fucking funny shit.

[missbrainsb4beauty]

I love this hug between my boys Kenny and Kota just before they start up their match at wrestle con against flip and Chuck Taylor. Kota is so goddamn worried about Kenny facing flip who showed up as a mystery partner for chuck is so cute. Love this match too ❤️❤️

[frentique]

[little-red-hunk]

Wrestlecon Supershow 4-5-18 by Earl Gardner

[wrestlingisfake]

Mania Weekend: Thursday March 31

I'm trying to map out all the minor-league shows that will be running in Dallas over Wrestlemania weekend. There's a lot! This post will just cover Thursday, so check back later for the rest.

Since I won't be in Dallas, I'm just focusing on the ones that I know will be streaming live. I'll call out some of the matches that catch my eye, but for the full card I recommend googling each show or checking the promotion's Twitter feed.

Glory Pro Wrestling: Cemetery Gates [The Collective]

12pm EDT (11am CDT) - $12.99 on Fite or part of The Collective bundle (12 shows for $139.99)

Glory Pro is an indy promotion that mainly runs in the St. Louis/East St. Louis area. I mainly hear about them because of Davey Richards and WARHORSE, but they're also turning out a lot of up-and-coming Black wrestlers like Tootie Lynn and Mike Outlaw. I believe this is their first Mania weekend show so I hope they do well.

Josh Alexander vs. WARHORSE

Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett

Jake Something vs. Max the Impaler

Tootie Lynn vs. Janai Kai

Mike Outlaw vs. Bryan Keith

and more!

GCW: Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 8

4pm EDT (3pm CDT) - $19.99 on Fite or part of The Collective bundle (12 shows for $139.99)

I've never actually checked out Bloodsport before. As I understand it, it's meant to be a hybrid of MMA and pro wrestling that emphasizes grappling and strikes without all the flips and dives. If you dig Jon Moxley and Minoru Suzuki matches, you'll probably love this shit.

Jon Moxley vs. Biff Busick (Oney Lorcan)

Minoru Suzuki vs. Chris Dickinson

Josh Barnett vs. JONAH (Bronson Reed)

Marina Shafir vs. Zeda Zhang

John Hennigan (John Morrison) vs. Simon Grimm (Simon Gotch)

Masha Slamovich vs. Janai Kai

and more!

AAA Invades WrestleCon

6pm EDT (5pm CDT) - $14.99 on Fite or part of the WrestleCon bundle ($74.99 for 5 shows)

The top promotions in Mexico are CMLL, which is entrenched in traditional lucha, and AAA, which goes all out with ridiculous overbooked clusterfucks. Do you enjoy heel referees, fucky finishes, scary dives, endless run-ins, false advertising, and unprofessional conduct? Well, even if you don't, AAA has a certain car-crash appeal.

Psycho Clown vs. Black Taurus

AAA cruiserweight title: Laredo Kid vs. Flamita vs. Bandido

NWA tag title: Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf vs. Aero Star & Drago

and more!

GCW: Joey Janela's Spring Break 6, Part 1

9pm EDT (8pm CDT) - $19.99 on Fite or part of The Collective bundle (12 shows for $139.99)

This is the centerpiece of GCW's sprawling empire of Mania weekend shows. I've never watched a JJSB but I've always spent Mania weekend hearing all about it. I expect at least one deathmatch on this show, but for the most part this looks like it'll be more about big names than blood 'n' guts.

GCW world title: Jon Moxley vs. AJ Gray

Joey Janela vs. X-Pac

Mickie James vs. Allie Katch

GCW tag title: Nick Gage & Matt Tremont vs. Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe vs. Mance Warner & Matthew Justice

GCW ultraviolent title: Alex Colon vs. John Wayne Murdoch

and more!

WrestleCon: Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow

9pm EDT (8pm EDT) - $14.99 on Fite or part of the WrestleCon bundle ($74.99 for 5 shows)

WrestleCon has been a fan convention over Mania weekend since 2013, and the Supershow since 2014. The show was renamed in 2018 to honor Mark Hitchcock, a member of the con's team. This show is running head-to-head with JJSB, which should get more buzz, but this one's arguably got the biggest star power of the night. Incredibly, the Briscoes are booked for both events, which are three miles apart, so I guess somebody's going to give them a ride.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Timothy Thatcher

Minoru Suzuki vs. Biff Busick (Oney Lorcan)

Athena (Ember Moon) vs. Mia Yim

Johnny WrestleCon (John Morrison) vs. Taya Valkyrie (Frankie Monet)

Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide & Low Ki

Bandido vs. Mike Bailey

and more!

Control Your Narrative: The Awakening

9pm EDT (8pm CDT) - Free (with ads) on Pro Wrestling TV

After EC3 was released from WWE he turned "Control your narrative" into a catchphrase, a mantra, and now a wrestling promotion. This isn't CYN's first show, but it's gotten a lot of negative buzz, due to its weird rules and the booking of problematic wrestlers like Austin Aries. (There was also a crazy Reddit post claiming the whole thing is a right-wing operation backed by Donald Trump, which is absurd, but the upshot is that a lot of people are rooting for EC3 to fail.)

I've read this will be exclusive to a new streaming venture called Pro Wrestling TV, which tweeted that the show will be free. But PWTV's site is very short on details, which isn't very promising. We'll see what happens.

EC3 & Adam Scherr (Braun Strowman) vs. Damo (Killian Dain) & Erick Redbeard (Erick Rowan)

Westin Blake (Wesley Blake) vs. Austin Aries

Dirty Dango (Fandango) vs. Flip Gordon

Killer Kross (Karrion Kross) vs. Vincent Marseglia

and more (maybe?)

GCW: Planet Death

12:59am EDT (11:59 CDT) - $12.99 on Fite or part of The Collective bundle (12 shows for $139.99)

GCW loves doing these midnight shows. This looks to be the real deathmatch show, for anybody who thinks there isn't enough broken glass on the rest of the lineup. I'm not familiar with anybody announced for the card, so I take that to mean they're deathmatch specialists that make Nick Gage look tame.

Hoodfoot vs. Mad Man Pondo

Slade vs. Bam Sullivan

Shane Mercer vs. Neil Diamond Cutter

Sawyer Wreck vs. Brandon Kirk

and more!

[wwemindset]

DSC_8829 by Earl Gardner

[closetofanxiety]

WrestleCon tweets this as it emerges that Penta is booked for MLW, Impact, and the WrestleCon Supershow, which are all happening at the same time on April 4. Mania Weekend is going to be something else.

[thefunkyweapon]

Switching back and forth between the wrestlecon supershow and spring break. Bandido and Mike Bailey are having match of the year. Shits insane