WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow 2023 Review
Consistently the best on-paper card of WrestleMania Weekend each year, this year’s Supershow was plagued with card changes due to injury. With Will Ospreay and Josh Alexander being taken out, and Davey Richards (ahem) “retiring”, this show was down but not out.
The show’s production was a mixed bag - it looks better than in years past, being in the beautiful Globe Theatre. However it suffered from various issues that are WrestleCon tradition (misfiring strobing LEDs, and the live video feed going offline during one of the most anticipated matches) and the sound balancing issue seen in most modern shows where the commentators are too loud in the audio mix.
Mick Foley started the show with a cheap pop and a nice intro to remember Hitchcock. LET’S GO.
Match #1 – Michael Oku vs. Blake Christian
This was a smart choice to start out a show on a weekend that will be susceptible to crowd fatigue. A no-frills vanilla babyface vs dickhead heel matchup that set the tone and didn’t overstay its welcome. It was clearly positioned to showcase Oku (helped by the small UK contingent in the crowd) and highlight Christian’s developing heel work.
The highspots were fantastic with a nasty spear on the apron, trading Fosbury Flops, and multiple half-and-half suplexes onto the edge of the ring. They tried their best to involve a crowd that was generally saving their energy for what was to come. A shame, as the work was good.
Blake Christian gets the win with a springboard 450 following an avalanche back suplex.
3 stars – A good little opening match to highlight rising talent.
Match #2 – Bryan Keith & KENTA vs. Christopher Daniels & Tom Lawlor
Bryan Keith only getting a handful of booking on WrestleMania weekend is a damn shame. Mark my words, of all the rising talent in the indies, Keith is the one to keep your eye on the most. Buy the stocks now.
Lawlor’s partner was a mystery participant heading in and was revealed as Christopher Daniels. A nice little replacement but probably not worthy of the suspense - he could’ve easily been announced ahead of time, as his reputation is nowhere near where it used to be.
A fun surprise though was the sudden addition of Ken Shamrock as the special guest enforcer. That rules.
This was a by-the-numbers match that was full of smoke and mirror.s KENTA was in house-show mode, and Daniels was much slower than he’s ever been. Keith and Lawlor carried the bulk of this match, as expected. You could tell the crowd was just killing time until Shamrock’s inevitable involvement.
This finished with a ref bump at the hands of Daniels and Lawlor, leading to Shamrock getting involved and awkwardly getting into a shoving match with Lawlor, resulting in KENTA getting the roll-up victory.
After the match, Shamrock suplexes Lawlor and puts him in the ankle lock in the most exciting part of this whole segment.
2.5 stars – A decent but skippable tag match that only existed to get a nostalgia pop for Ken Shamrock.
Match #3 – Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas
Coming into this match, I was expecting similar fare to Dragon’s recent ‘veteran’ matches - where there is interference that turns into a tag match of veterans vs interfering heels.
I’m very glad this didn’t fall into that trap. Was this a workrate classic? Not in a million years. But was it awesome to see these two legends lock it up in 2023? Hell yeah.
Casas still works and moves great for someone who is 63 and visually looks much older than that, including taking a nasty bump to the floor from the top rope (which seemingly only pissed him off and lit a fire under him). Ultimo can still turn it on when he wants, and he seemed motivated here
Dragon got the win after a strike exchange and a dragon sleeper.
3.25 stars – Two legends having a fun little match that’s worth your time.
Match #4 – Arez, Laredo Kid & Latigo vs. Aramis, Galeno Del Mal & Rey Horus
This was a much-welcomed increase to the pace of what we’ve seen so far on this show.
Galeno was a highlight here as a refrigerator-sized hoss who worked as a fantastic base and a recurring consequence for the heel team attempting underhanded tactics against him. Galeno (who is one of Dr Wagner Jr’s sons) is over 6 feet tall and is almost as wide. If you haven’t seen him before, definitely check this one out. Incredible talent. Arez also shone as the slimy heel at the focal point of the match’s story.
This fast-paced, high-flying match ended with Galeno landing a beautiful avalanche butterfly suplex to Latigo as Horus and Aramis were concurrently doing big topes to the outside.
The match ended with fans literally throwing money into the ring. Great match.
4 stars – Exciting showcase performance for Galeno Del Mal and Arez. Recommended.
Match #5 - TJPW 10 women showcase tag
If you like weak-looking strikes, bad comedy, idol fanbait, and wrestlers who don’t stop smiling while selling, then boy this is the match for you.
RAKU and Rika Tatsumi in particular stood out as notably terrible. But credit where it’s due - Miu Watanabe, Shoko Nakajima, and the team of ‘Free Wifi’ (yes really) worked hard to make something of this match with big strength spots, impressive speed, and interesting double team maneuvers respectively.
This is in perfect contrast to the previous match. If you hadn’t seen lucha before, the previous match would’ve got you interested. If this was your first time seeing Joshi, then I imagine this match would put you off of it for a while.
1.75 stars – A really poor showing for a promotion capable of so much more.
Match #6 – Shigehiro Irie vs. Mike Bailey
Full disclaimer - Highspots’ video feed dies right at the start of this match and didn’t come back until halfway through. Therefore I can’t accurately rate this match at this time, and I will come back and amend this rating when I get a chance to watch it back. A shame, as this was my most anticipated match of the show.
However, from what I saw, this was absolutely fantastic as expected. These two traded massive running strikes and power moves, and a whole bunch of nearfalls and kickouts. Irie is a guy who was underrated for years and is now just starting to get the buzz he deserves.
Irie won this by referee stoppage as he kept delivering elbows to an unconscious Bailey.
Tentative rating: 3.75 stars – To be updated once the full video feed of this match becomes available.
Match #7 - United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. Time Machine (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA)
I had high hopes for this one. Mark Davis is coming off of a career-high run in the New Japan Cup, Jeff Cobb just faced Kenny Omega the day before, and all three members of Time Machine are historically great workers.
United Empire was perfect as the apex predators playing with their food, leaving gaps for comebacks as result of their own hubris. Cobb as a mocking heel, incredibly aware of how much more athletic he is, is a great development of his charisma. Aussie Open are, as always, some of the best workers on the card. KUSHIDA and Mark Davis had notable chemistry here, and I’d love to see a singles meeting between the two. A similar story for the Kyle Fletcher/Alex Shelley pairing as well.
The finish came with Aussie Open catching Sabin with an awkwardly stiff double clothesline (that seemed to catch him in the eye socket/forehead) and then the Corealis for the win, with Sabin looking shaken after the bell.
3.5 stars – A very good trios tag that played all the hits from each team.
Match #8 - El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Black Taurus vs. Komander - AAA Mega Championship
When you look at all the shows across WrestleMania weekend, this is one of the most exciting matches announced (behind maybe a singles match between two of the participants in this match itself).
Vikingo and Komander are coming off highlight American performances in AEW and Taurus is an all-time great lucha base.
Knowing that they would get a bigger spotlight at Supercard of Honor, Vikingo and Komander worked hard to highlight Taurus here, and use their one on one exchanges to act as a preview for their upcoming singles match. My personal highlight was a top-rope avalanche Gorilla Press instigating an incredible sequence of back-and-forth signature moves between all three men. Taurus also gave Komander a sitout Michinoku Driver on the apron that looked like it should’ve caused a concussion.
Vikingo pulls out the win after a 630 on Taurus to retain the title. Amazing stuff.
4.25 stars – A remarkable main event between 3 of the best luchadors who currently work in America. Match of the Night. Highly Recommended.
AVERAGE RATING: 3.25 of 5 stars (or 6.5 of 10)
SUMMARY: This was a fun show, but fell to the Supershow curse of looking better on paper than it actually was in practice. The lucha matches were the high point, and there was only one truly bad match. A worthy use of your time, especially in comparison to many of the other Wrestlemania Weekend options.
WATCH THE SHOW HERE: Highspots.TV
