SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2024 is just over two weeks away, and the line-up for ROH's return home to Philadelphia is beginning to take shape! ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston has laid down the challenge to Mark Briscoe for a fight at the Liacouras Center, and former 3-Time AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida stepped up to the challenge of ROH Women's World Champion Athena! We are also barreling towards the crowning of the first ROH Women's World TV Champion as Queen Aminata, Red Velvet, Billie Starkz, and Mercedes Martinez remain to vie for a spot in the finals at SOH '24! This week during ROH ON HONOR CLUB, we will see who advances to the championship fight, as well as welcome Shida for her first ROH fight! But she's not the only ROH debut this week; Anna Jay makes her first appearance in the ROH ring to take on Stardom's Mina Shirakawa in her ROH debut, and Smart Mark Sterling has his first ROH singles match against Serpentico!
It all goes down this Thursday night beginning at 7pm ET/6pm CT exclusively on Honor Club, your home for more than 20 years of professional wrestling history from the most influential promotion of this century!
ROH WOMEN'S WORLD TV TITLE TOURNAMENT...
SEMI-FINAL 1...
Billie Starkz vs. Mercedes Martinez
Diamante proved to be a crucial factor in the Quarter-Final matches for both Billie Starkz and Mercedes Martinez. For Starkz, Diamante's role came in being the woman she defeated to advance to this Semi-Final contest on Thursday night, while for Mercedes Martinez, Diamante may be the only reason she is sitting her as a Semi-Finalist ready to fight Billie Starkz. Her involvement in Mercedes' fight with Abadon directly led to a Martinez victory, so the question has to be asked if she will involve herself in this Semi-Final fight as well; partly for revenge on Starkz and partly to help bolster her ally to the championship fight at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2024? As was the case with Diamante in the Quarter-Finals, this is a first time singles bout for Billie Starkz and Mercedes, but Martinez holds that Tornado Tag victory over Starkz from HONOR CLUB #35 while Starkz was part of the victorious team at AEW's WRESTLEDREAM 2023 event.
Can Starks overcome the veteran experience, as well as the potential involvement of Diamante, to advance to the finals, or will it be Mercedes Martinez who gets closer to holding the second ROH championship of her career?
SEMI-FINAL 2...
Queen Aminata vs. Red Velvet
On the April 21, 2021 edition of AEW DARK Queen Aminata made her very first appearance inside an All Elite Wrestling ring. That night she was in tag team action and on the opposite side of the ring was none other than Red Velvet. Velvet was on the victorious team that evening, but the two women would meet once more, this time in singles competition on the September 6, 2021 edition of DARK: ELEVATION, but it would once again be Red Velvet scoring the win.
That was the last time these two women stood inside the ring together, but that all changes this Thursday night on Honor Club when Queen Aminata and Red Velvet meet in the Semi-Finals of the ROH Women's World TV Championship tournament! Since her debut in ROH on HONOR CLUB #45, Queen Aminata has won six consecutive matches, five of them in singles competition, including a Four Corner Survival over Lady Frost, Diamante, and Trish Adora, and has looked superb in each bout. Her confidence has continued to grow with each victory, and it shows in the words she speaks, the way she carries herself to the ring, and in how she fights each match.
Red Velvet made her ROH debut on that same edition as Queen Aminata, and she too remains undefeated with five straight wins, including a Four Corner Survival of her own that included Diamante, Kiera Hogan, and Trish Adora. Just like Queen, Red Velvet continues to build up her confidence and her momentum as she marches forward on this quest to become the first ROH Women's World TV Champion!
This is going to be a hard-fought battle, of that there is no doubt, and each woman is going to know they've been through it at the end of the contest, but the winner will know they earned their way into the finals. In a tournament field full of pick'ems, this fight between Queen Aminata and Red Velvet may be the hardest one to call!
ONE-ON-ONE...
Hikaru Shida vs. Rachael Ellering
With SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2024 approaching, “The Fallen Goddess” Athena made it clear she was looking for something to step up to challenge her on April 5th, and with the opportunity laid out on the table last week, it was 3-Time former AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida who sat down to eat! Her arrival during ROH ON HONOR CLUB marked Shida's first time on ROH programming, and this Thursday night will feature her very first time competing inside ROH's squared circle as she prepares to meet Athena in Philadelphia!
Shida has a tough fight on her plate though as Rachael Ellering has accepted the match, and aims to prove her own worth in the championship picture! Ellering may have been eliminated from the TV Title Tournament by her best friend Leyla Hirsch, but that doesn't mean her title aspirations are dead, and if she can overcome Shida so close to her SOH '24 championship match, perhaps it will set Ellering up as the next challenger coming out of April 5th's PPV extravaganza!
DEBUTS...
Stardom's Mina Shirakawa vs. Anna Jay
This bout on Thursday night welcomes two women to ROH competition for the very first time! Anna Jay is a competitor that AEW fans have watched grow before their very eyes, from “The Star of the Show” to “The Queen Slayer” to one of the most dangerous women in that locker room, with her time under the learning trees of Mr. Brodie Lee and Chris Jericho helping to hone her skills. Now she brings those lessons, and her Queen Slayer choke, into the Ring of Honor ring for her first-ever ROH match, but will it be enough when faced with the attack of Stardom's Mina Shirakawa?
Shirakawa comes to ROH having held the Future of Stardom Championship, the Artist of Stardom Championship (with Tam Nakano and Unagi Sayaka), the Wonder of Stardom Championship, and the Goddesses of Stardom Championship (with Mariah May), all with just five years of experience to her resume, and even challenged Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women's Championship less than a month ago at NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO 2024! Shirakawa brings a strike-heavy style to bear, putting her extensive kickboxing training to use in the wrestling ring, and she's even put in training time at the UWF Snake Pit in Japan! She has a predilection for attacking the legs with her kicks, and often looks to finish her foes with the Glamorous Collection MINA or the Glamorous Driver MINA.
This is going to be true test of how far Anna Jay has come in her career, but so too will it be a test of what Mina Shirakawa brings to the fight! Anna has shown her willingness to get violent and throwdown when the situation requires, and she is going to give Mina every bit of fight she's got!
ALSO FEATURING:
-“Big Shotty” Lee Johnson in action!
-“Smart” Mark Sterling vs. Serpentico!!
-And More!!!