Supercard of Honor 2023

[McXal]

It genuinely took me by surprise how much I enjoyed it. I always try to put a positive slant on things when they catch me out by being better than I’d perhaps anticipated.

I think it was that so many matches exceeded my expectations. The Trios Tag Match was so much fun (and I had zero interest in it, or those titles in general, as much as I love Nana and they are getting him booked). Athena has been killing it but her vs Sakazaki was hardly a major bout on this card - and they crushed it for their spot. And the Claudio/Eddie main event was fantastic. So nuanced and detailed, with so many beautiful little touches. I could honestly praise it for hours.

And as I said in my review, although I’m a little surprised that TK resisted the urge to pull the trigger on at least one of the ‘feel-good’ title change opportunities (for either Mark or Eddie) I’m really not unhappy that he has enough confidence in his long-term vision and story-telling to turn down the easy booking option. Having sat through the entirety of the Sinclair era where it felt like the ‘easy’ (/lazy) option was picked every time, it felt very refreshing and I’m open-minded enough to see where it leads. (Plus it helps that I love Joe & Claudio in those roles so have no issue with them carrying on).

Super-immobile Tanahashi being carried by Garcia and the totally bizarre Pure Title switch to Shibata still stand out now as low points though!

[AnHonorableMention]

It genuinely took me by surprise how much I enjoyed it. I always try to put a positive slant on things when they catch me out by being better than I’d perhaps anticipated.

I think it was that so many matches exceeded my expectations. The Trios Tag Match was so much fun (and I had zero interest in it, or those titles in general, as much as I love Nana and they are getting him booked). Athena has been killing it but her vs Sakazaki was hardly a major bout on this card - and they crushed it for their spot. And the Claudio/Eddie main event was fantastic. So nuanced and detailed, with so many beautiful little touches. I could honestly praise it for hours.

And as I said in my review, although I’m a little surprised that TK resisted the urge to pull the trigger on at least one of the ‘feel-good’ title change opportunities (for either Mark or Eddie) I’m really not unhappy that he has enough confidence in his long-term vision and story-telling to turn down the easy booking option. Having sat through the entirety of the Sinclair era where it felt like the ‘easy’ (/lazy) option was picked every time, it felt very refreshing and I’m open-minded enough to see where it leads. (Plus it helps that I love Joe & Claudio in those roles so have no issue with them carrying on).

Super-immobile Tanahashi being carried by Garcia and the totally bizarre Pure Title switch to Shibata still stand out now as low points though!

Amen

[TYFDK]

Can’t agree with the Shibata win being a low point tbh. I think it fits him well. So far it feels like he’s been more mat/ground based in his wrestling, which we can all agree is ideal for him.