She survived five opponents, being chokelsammed through a pile of stacked chairs (among other weapons), and yet Athena stood tall and proved that she is literally the Survival of the Fittest in the main event of ROH’s Supercard of Honor pay-per-view event this past Friday.

For the first time in company history, ROH announced that it would host its first-ever Women’s Survival of the Fittest multi-person elimination style match. The caveat was that Athena would not only participate in it, but she would have to put her ROH Women’s World Championship on the line. While there were several close calls that tested if the “Forever Champion” moniker would hold true after, she was able to retain triumphantly, after hitting a Super-Dooper O-face on World off the ladder and onto Maya World.

As it stands as of this writing, Athena has held the Women’s World Championship approximately 1,253 days, surpassing WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino’s second and longest recognized men’s title reign in wrestling history, the WWE Championship at 1,237 days.

For the third time in her career, the “Fallen Goddess” will participate in the Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament. She is scheduled to face Mina Shirakawa in the first round of this year’s tournament. The overall winner will get a shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In London at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, August 30.

WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman is known for recognizing talent and hyping them up, whether it be those he’s paired with on screen or not. From his notable first “client” in Brock Lesnar, whom he became the “advocate” for early in Lesnar’s career, to him reportedly being a big fan of Bron Breakker before the pair began working together in the ring, Heyman is known for standing behind “his” guys. According to Eric Bischoff on an episode of “83 Weeks,” Heyman was high on a recently-released talent, Aleister Black.

“Paul Heyman was huge on him,” Bischoff said. “Paul was like, ready to put blood on the table commitment to him. He really, really saw something in Aleister. I was intrigued, because Paul’s got a pretty good track record when he’s excited about something. Whether you like it or not, you kinda got to pay attention, because it’s probably going to do something, if that’s something great.”

Bischoff said he spoke to Black a few times when their paths crossed in WWE in 2019. He said he tried to get a feel for where Black’s head was at, what his vibe was like, and what Black saw in his character. Bischoff said his take is that Black has a “very narrow perspective” on that character.

“He’s been in and out, it’s not like people don’t see the potential, starting with Paul Heyman, and Vince [McMahon] hung in there with him for quite awhile,” he explained. “It’s not like no one believes in him or believes that he has the potential, but I think it’s what people are finding out he doesn’t have the ability or the willingness or the comfort level to broaden that character.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “83 Weeks” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Hardy continued to speak on the New Day’s impact on the WWE Universe, explaining that their success and relatability inspired an entire generation of young fans for years to come.

“I think if you’re a young black kid watching the New Day, you go, ‘Whoa, these are three guys, I love that they’re together and they’re representing people like me’ … Big E ended up becoming the champion, Kofi ended up becoming the champion, which no one would have ever guessed that when he was around especially in the beginning,” he explained. “It’s very nice to have inspiring figures like that people can relate to that look like them and they see them and go ‘Wow if they can do it, then that gives me hope that I can do it too,’ and that’s very important.”

Kingston and Woods were reportedly asked to take a significant pay cut from WWE, but the decorated tag team declined the offer and decided to leave the company instead. Additionally, news broke last week that other talent in WWE were also asked to accept a reduced salary, but those who were approached were only stars that the promotion’s creative team didn’t have interest in utilizing going forward.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

On Friday, “The Most Dangerous Man in AEW” Swerve Strickland came to Ring of Honor and violently warned Bandido (his bounty) that he is on borrowed time in “Swerve’s House.”

At last night’s Supercard of Honor pay-per-view event, Bandido defended and successfully retained his ROH World Championship against Blake Christian. Post-match, “The Most Wanted” basked in the glory, only to have it suddenly ruined by a vengeful Strickland, who gave the champion a House Call to the head. The former AEW World Champion wasn’t done there, as he hit another House Call before setting up a chair and sending Bandido onto it with a vertebreaker. After that unexpected confrontation, a cameraperson caught Strickland and his manager Prince Nana as they were leaving the arena. Strickland made it perfectly clear that his “actions will be seen and his voice will be heard.”

SWERVE STRICKLAND PULLED UP TO ROH AND ATTACKED BANDIDO AFTER HIS TITLE MATCH WITH TWO HOUSE CALLS

WHOSE HOUSE?!?!? #ROH #ROHSupercard pic.twitter.com/HkMIJWgt6h

— Self Made AO 💫 (@KXNGAO) May 16, 2026

“My actions will be seen and my voice will be heard.”

EXCLUSIVE: After brutally attacking his Owen Hart Tournament opponent @Bandidowrestler at #ROHSupercard, @SwerveConfident clarifies his goals: power & the AEW World Championship. pic.twitter.com/u0HH13tKEu

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 16, 2026

Earlier this week, the brackets for the Women and Men’s 2026 Owen Hart Cup Tournament were revealed, pitting Strickland and Bandido against one another in the first round. The winner of the overall tournament will receive a world title shot at All In London from Wembley Stadium in August.

Parading around how barbaric he can get, Strickland’s actions have kept him off AEW programming as of late. His last televised match was on the March 25 edition of “AEW Dynamite,” where he lost to Kenny Omega, ruining his opportunity at becoming the next number one contender to former world champion, MJF. After coming up short of possibly becoming a two-time world champion, Strickland turned his attention over to Bandido, by showing up to the ROH World Champion’s Old West hangout, eager at the idea of becoming the only one to capture and collect “The Most Wanted Man.”