Two Top Title Defenses Set For ROH Supercard Of Honor On WWE WrestleMania Weekend

ROH's Supercard of Honor slated for WrestleMania 40 weekend is now starting to take shape. It was announced on this week's episode of "ROH on HonorClub" that Athena will defend the ROH Women's World Championship against former AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida at the pay-per-view on Friday, April 5. Meanwhile, Eddie Kingston will put the ROH World Championship on the line against multi-time ROH World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe.

As it stands, Athena has held the ROH Women's World Championship for just over 460 days. She first captured the belt at Final Battle 2022, defeating Mercedes Martinez. Since then, she has overcome a plethora of challenges, retaining against the likes of Yuka Sakazaki, Willow Nightingale, and Angelina Love. Her most recent victory came on last night's "ROH on HonorClub," beating Aisha in a Proving Ground match. For challenger Shida, this will be her first involvement in a world title match since losing the AEW Women's World Championship to Toni Storm at Full Gear 2023.

According to ROH commentator Ian Riccaboni, Kingston and Briscoe's title clash at Supercard of Honor will fall on the 11th anniversary of Jay Briscoe — Mark's late brother — defeating Kevin Steen (WWE's Kevin Owens) to win the ROH World Championship. Notably, it will be Briscoe's first shot at the title since 2013, and there would be no better time to finally win the big one. However, Kingston, who has held the ROH World Championship since last year's "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam" special, stands in his way. The "Mad King" is also the AEW Continental Champion and NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion, and most recently retained all three belts against Bryan Danielson at Revolution earlier this month.