Although the biggest show of the week takes place Saturday at Globe Life Field, perhaps the best match all week took place Friday in a much smaller Arlington arena.
ARLINGTON, Texas — A night before All Elite Wrestling’s historic All In: Texas event kicks off at Arlington, Texas’s Globe Life Field, its sister company Ring of Honor (ROH) offered hardcore wrestling fans one of the very best matches of the year.
ROH’s Supercard of Honor event, which has historically been held during WWE’s Wrestlemania weekend every year for nearly 20 years, was moved this year to accompany AEW’s own Wrestlemania-like event, All In: Texas, as AEW made the case for its own top dog event being every bit as worthy of wrestling fans’ attention.
Much like in years past, this year’s Supercard of Honor — hosted this time around at Arlington’s 2,500-capacity Esports Stadium — appealed primarily to the hardest of the hardcore wrestling fans, with most of the tickets being sold as part of the All In: Texas VIP package offered by AEW.
The highly anticipated show offered an all-star cast of AEW wrestlers — and also an international flavor, with special-guest Japanese and Mexican wrestlers featured in nearly every single match.
There was no better example of this than the main event world title match, which featured luchador Mexico’s “Most Wanted” Bandido defending the ROH World Championship against “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita.
Bandido has been on a hot streak recently, having had two bona fide classic matches in Mexico City’s famed Arena Mexico against fellow Mexican wrestlers Mascara Dorada and Mistico in June — and Friday night’s match was no exception.
It was structured like a classic match where a new world champion would be crowned; Bandido and Takeshita dished out everything at each other, with Takeshita kicking out of Bandido’s finisher before hitting him with one big move after another.
Towards the climax of the match, Bandido was bloodied, with his mask ripped, hobbling around with one bad leg. He had given it all.
Per the typical wrestling script, it was Takeshita’s time to take the ROH crown.
After Bandido was hit with a vicious knee by Takeshita, the luchador kicked out of a pin at the count of one — “the fighting spirit kickout,” as it’s called — sending the crowd into an uproar.
To the fans, that just seemingly put off the inevitable. Shortly thereafter, Takeshita picked up the defeated Bandido to hit his ultimate move and pin him for good.
Except, that wasn’t the case, as Bandido rolled Takeshita up and instead pinned him for the victory.
That sequence was a welcome subversion of the pro wrestling formula everyone was familiar with — one that, in many fans’ eyes, telegraphed Takeshita’s victory.
Instead, the fever-pitched crowd erupted in delight to see Bandido completely defy the odds.
After securing his win, Bandido celebrated in the ring as the audience hailed him with praise. Even ROH and AEW owner Tony Khan came out to celebrate the victory with Bandido, hugging him and congratulating him on his shocking win.
The rest of the show was strong as well — particularly thanks to Arlington resident Athena successfully defending her ROH Women’s World Championship against Thunder Rosa to continue her historic, record-breaking title reign.
Although a heel, Athena is hailed as a conquering hero by the local fans due to her local ties. She has now held the belt for 945 days and counting — the longest championship reign by a wrestler, male or female, in the history of ROH.
Friday night’s showcase represented a return to Esports Stadium for Ring of Honor, which, along with AEW, held a residency in the venue last summer that received widespread praise.
That 2024 residency welcomed hot crowds of wrestling fans multiple times over the course of several weeks, and this felt very much like a return to those days.
Still, even after such a thrilling showcase, much more wrestling remains on this weekend’s docket.
Will All In: Texas have a match that can surpass the quality of Friday night’s main event? It’s possible, but that remains to be seen.
If it does, the weekend could very much live up to the billing Khan’s been hoping — and promoting — that it might.
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