AEW Star Suffers Serious Injury At ROH Supercard Of Honor

Dante Martin appeared to suffer a broken leg during a ladder match for the vacant ROH Tag-Team Titles at the AEW-promoted Supercard Of Honor 2023 card on Friday night.

The Top Flight star was bumping for a Canadian Destroyer move from Lucha Bros member Penta when he crashed through some tables – Martin’s foot landed at a weird angle, and his leg seemed to snap back violently.

AEW boss Tony Khan has since discussed the incident during post-PPV media scrum duties. There, Tony wished Dante a speedy recovery, but admitted that he’d “probably be out of action for some time”. However, Khan reinforced his love for both Top Flight brothers, and said Dante would be around AEW/ROH “for a very, very, very, very long time”.

That’s good to know, but the tag-teamer must be in a lot of pain right now. Being laid out in a hospital bed definitely wasn’t how he wanted to spend WrestleMania 39 weekend.

Support has been pouring in from wrestling fans and peers alike via social media. There’s no word just yet on exactly how long Martin will be benched.

Lucha Brothers Reach For The Sky And Seize ROH Tag Team Titles

New Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions were crowned Friday night at ROH’s Supercard of Honor pay-per-view. After an intense “Reach for the Sky” ladder match, the Lucha Brothers emerged victorious. With their victory, Penta el Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix captured the ROH Tag Titles for the first time. They succeed The Briscoes as tag champions.

After the match, the Lucha Brothers were greeted by Mark Briscoe and FTR’s Dax Wheeler and Cash Harwood, on the entrance stage. The ROH Tag Team Championship was last contested at ROH’s Final Battle pay-per-view, where The Briscoes beat FTR in a brutal dog collar match that capped off their trilogy of matches for the ROH Tag Titles over the course of 2022. Tragically, just a month after the match, Jay Briscoe passed away after a car accident. The match at Supercard of Honor was held in honor of Jay’s memory.

Mark announced the match on “AEW Rampage” a little under a month ago, while also announcing that he would be relinquishing the titles. Additionally, the design of the championships that was last carried by The Briscoes was retired. The new titles were the ones hung above the ring for tonight’s match.

The ladder match featured a number of high-octane spots, including Dante Martin of Top Flight taking a Canadian Destroyer through multiple tables. In the end, the Lucha Brothers overcame Top Flight, The Kingdom, Aussie Open, and La Faccion Ingobernable to reach for the sky and win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

Katsuyori Shibata Wins ROH Pure Championship At Supercard Of Honor

Katsuyori Shibata shocked AEW fans when he first appeared in Tony Khan’s company on the November 2 episode of “Dynamite,” announcing his third official match since suffering a severe head injury that almost cost him his career in 2017. Fast forward five matches later and Shibata has captured Ring of Honor gold, in his first match with the company since said year.

During Friday night’s ROH Supercard of Honor pay-per-view, Shibata defeated ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta to capture the title in the show’s semi-main event, beginning his first title reign since 2017. Following the match, Shibata tried to shake Yuta’s hand, but the Blackpool Combat Club member declined the Code of Honor after their match.

Yuta first won the Pure Championship at ROH Final Battle 2022 in December, defeating former champion Daniel Garcia, who also lost his match on Friday night’s show to Hiroshi Tanahashi. Yuta defended the Pure Title just four times prior to the title change. The title victory likely signals that Shibata will be a regular in ROH going forward. During the post-show media scrum, ROH owner Tony Khan called Shibata a “perfect fit.” Shibata himself mentioned that his title victory brings him a step closer to a match against AEW star Bryan Danielson. Shibata last wrestled in AEW in November, when he lost to Orange Cassidy on an episode of “Rampage.”

ROH To Hold Major Event On WWE WrestleMania 39 Weekend

Every year, scores of promotions hold events at the host venue of WWE’s WrestleMania, where fans gather in masses to enjoy a weeklong spectacle of wrestling and wrestling-related events. This year will be no different, as Ring of Honor (ROH) continues its annual tradition of holding pay-per-view events in early Spring with the 16th installment of Supercard of Honor in Los Angeles, California, the home of WrestleMania 39.

Since 2006, every Supercard of Honor show has been held during WrestleMania Week, dating back to the first-ever Supercard of Honor headlined by Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong. In 2019, the 13th installment of Supercard of Honor turned into a supershow co-produced by ROH and NJPW and was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was witnessed by over 16,000 fans, becoming the most successful non-WWE show in the United States since WWE’s acquisition of WCW. AEW has since set a new record with over 20,000 fans for the first-ever “Dynamite: Grand Slam” at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September 2021.

This year’s Supercard of Honor will emanate from the Galen Center at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. As of this writing, no matches have been announced, but a promo video for the March 31 event all but confirms that ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes, ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will defend their respective titles. ROH World Six-Man Champions The Embassy has also been advertised for the event. 

ROH has announced that tickets for the event go on sale on January 27.