Swerve’s chair shot and Tony’s word salad: The Supercard scrum fallout

The Prince of Darkness arrives in Salisbury

If you thought Ring of Honor was going to go quietly into the night now that it’s no longer the opening act for WrestleMania weekend, Swerve Strickland would like a word. And by word, I mean he’d like to drop your skull onto a piece of pre-bent architectural steel. The post-show media scrum in Salisbury felt less like a press conference and more like a deposition for a future aggravated assault trial, and honestly? It’s exactly what this brand needed.

The main event saw Bandido survive a certified banger against Blake Christian, but the real story started when the bell rang. Swerve didn’t just attack the champion; he dismantled him. Watching a Gringo Killer onto a steel chair in 2026 feels like watching a car crash in slow motion—you know it’s coming, you know it’s going to hurt, and you can’t look away. When Swerve sat down at the podium later, he looked like a man who had finally stopped caring about being the cool guy and started caring about being the only guy.

"I'm at the stage of any means necessary," Swerve told the room, and you could hear the collective gulp from the back of the room. This isn't the dancing Swerve who had the crowd in the palm of his hand two years ago. This is a desperate, dangerous version of a former world champion who clearly feels like the AEW/ROH merger has left him fighting for oxygen. It’s the most compelling he’s been in months, mostly because it feels like he’s actually pissed off instead of just playing a character.

The reaction online was predictably split. One top comment on the ROH subreddit summed it up perfectly: "We spent three years begging for Swerve to be the face of the company, and he responds by trying to paralyze the most likable guy on the roster. 10/10, no notes." On the flip side, the skeptics are already worried. "Great, another 'dark' turn because we don't know what else to do with him," wrote one disgruntled Twitter user. "Can we just have one wrestler who isn't a brooding sociopath?"

Athena and the problem of infinite dominance

Then there’s Athena. The 'Fallen Goddess' survived the first-ever women’s Survival of the Fittest match, continuing a title reign that is now officially older than most of the furniture in my house. Tony Khan spent a good ten minutes of the scrum calling her dominance "the stuff legends are made of," and while he’s not wrong, there’s a growing sense that the ROH Women's Division has become a one-woman show where everyone else is just an extra.

Athena is arguably the best worker in the entire company, regardless of gender. Her timing is impeccable, her strikes are stiff, and her character work is miles ahead of 90% of the roster. But at some point, the "final boss" dynamic starts to feel like a structural flaw rather than a feature. If no one is being built up to actually challenge her—not just have a 'good match' and lose—then the stakes start to evaporate. It’s hard to care about a title defense when the outcome is as certain as a tax audit.

The forum take on this is a civil war. "Athena is the only reason to watch ROH right now. She’s putting on clinics every month," argued one enthusiast. The contrarian view? "It’s been 500 days of the same story. She wins, she mocks the crowd, Tony gives her a gold star. It’s a closed loop." My take? The problem isn't Athena; it's the lack of a genuine foil. You can't have a Batman without a Joker, and right now, the ROH locker room is just a bunch of Robins waiting for their turn to get punched.

Tony Khan's Olympic-level dodging

Of course, no media scrum would be complete without Tony Khan doing his best Neo-from-The-Matrix impression when it comes to business questions. The WBD/Paramount merger was the elephant in the room that Tony treated like a small, invisible mouse. Every time someone asked about the TV deal or the future of the ROH streaming rights, Tony would launch into a monologue about how much he loves the roster and how "great things are coming."

Look, I get it. You can't reveal your hand in the middle of a billion-dollar negotiation. But at some point, the "soon" and "exciting news" refrains start to sound like a broken record. The fans are nervous. They see the landscape shifting—oops, I mean they see the industry changing—and they want some stability. Khan’s defensive posture when asked about the Jazwares toy partnership friction was also telling. There’s clearly some smoke behind the scenes regarding the reach of ROH merchandise, even if Tony wants to pretend everything is sunshine and rainbows.

Then there were the New Day rumors. With Big E, Kofi, and Xavier reportedly reaching the end of their WWE deals, the internet is already fantasy booking them into an ROH trios run. Tony was uncharacteristically reserved here, merely noting his "immense respect" for their legacy. It was the most professional non-answer of the night, which probably means his legal team was staring at him from the shadows with a tranquilizer gun.

The Salisbury Experiment: Is ROH better alone?

Finally, we have to talk about the venue. Taking Supercard of Honor to the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland, was a bold move. For years, Supercard was the crown jewel of WrestleMania weekend, benefiting from the massive influx of fans in the host city. By moving it to mid-May, ROH is essentially saying they can stand on their own two feet without the WWE shadow.

The crowd in Salisbury was loud—they were 3,500 strong and voiced their opinions on every near-fall—but you can’t help but feel that the event lost some of its "center of the universe" prestige. WrestleMania weekend is a circus, but it's a circus that brings the eyes of the entire world. In Salisbury, it felt like a very high-level indie show. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a shift in identity that the brand is still grappling with.

One fan on Discord put it bluntly: "I miss being able to see ROH, GCW, and TNA all in one weekend. Now I have to pick and choose where to spend my travel budget. This move feels like ROH is being isolated rather than promoted." Another disagreed: "ROH shouldn't be a WrestleMania sidequest. This show had its own identity and didn't have to compete with ten other major events. It felt special."

Which side is right? Probably both. ROH is delivering some of the best technical wrestling on the planet, but the logistical hurdles are mounting. Between the uncertain TV future, the friction with toy partners, and the move away from the biggest weekend in the industry, the brand is in a state of flux. Swerve Strickland’s heel turn is a great distraction, but it doesn’t fix the foundation. Tony Khan needs to stop giving us the "everything is great" speech and start giving us some concrete reasons to believe that ROH isn't just a high-budget developmental territory.

At the end of the night, the scrum left us with more questions than answers. Is Swerve the new face of ROH? Probably. Is anyone going to beat Athena before the year 2027? Doubtful. Is Tony Khan ever going to give a straight answer about the TV deal? Not a chance. But as long as we’re getting matches like Bandido vs. Christian and promos like Swerve’s cold-blooded manifesto, we’re going to keep tuning in. Even if it means driving to Salisbury.