Various: Keiji Muto on Match with Shinsuke Nakamura, ROH Supercard of Honor 2023 Card, Indies

Keiji Muto Comments on WWE Initially Rejecting His Match Request for Shinsuke Nakamura

ESPN held a recent interview with wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Fame inductee The Great Muta, real name Keiji Muto.

One of the topics discussed included Muto revealing that he originally had plans for his match against Shinsuke Nakamura to take place at his final retirement match at the Tokyo Dome this past February. Muto stated that WWE initially rejected his match request which is why Tetsuya Naito was chosen to be his final scheduled opponent instead.

Muto also stated that WWE eventually gave their permission for Pro Wrestling NOAH to book Nakamura which is why he was chosen to be the final opponent for his Great Muta character at NOAH’s Great Muta Final Bye Bye event this past January.

When WWE did make Nakamura available, that’s when they booked the Pro Wrestling NOAH match on Jan. 1 at the Budokan as The Great Muta’s final singles match.

— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) March 23, 2023

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ROH Announces El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Kommander for Supercard of Honor 2023, Updated Card

Ring of Honor recently announced one new match and an updated match for the card of their Supercard of Honor 2023 event on March 31st in Los Angeles, California.

In regards to the new match, this was announced to be an AAA Mega Championship match of Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo (c)

Next Friday, March 31#ROH Supercard of Honor
Los Angeles, CA, Galen Center

AAA Mega Championship@vikingo_aaa vs @KomandercrMX

Next Friday, live on ppv from Los Angeles, @luchalibreaaa Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo will come to @ringofhonor to defend his title vs Komander! pic.twitter.com/Q8L0sAuix6

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) March 24, 2023

In regards to the “Reach for the Sky” Ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, it was announced that Top Flight, The Kingdom, Aussie Open , and RUSH & Dralistico will be competing in the match alongside the Lucha Brothers.

Updated card for ROH Supercard of Honor 2023:

• ROH World Championship – Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli (c)
• AAA Mega Championship – Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo (c)
• ROH World Tag Team Championship “Reach for the Sky” Ladder match – Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix & Penta El Zero Miedo) vs. Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) vs. The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. RUSH & Dralistico
• ROH World Television Championship – Mark Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe (c)

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that AEW commentator Excalibur is the next and final official inductee for this year’s Indie Hall of Fame class. It was not revealed who will be inducting Excalibur at their Indie Hall of Fame ceremony on April 2nd in Los Angeles.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that besides being an active in-ring talent, Rhino also has been recently working backstage as a producer for Impact Wrestling.

Former WWE NXT UK announcer Nigel McGuinness recently teased on Twitter that he will be making a major announcement soon regarding the future of his career. McGuinness stated “Very excited about the future – big news for me coming soon.”

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre announced that Ángel de Oro recently tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result, they have pulled him from their set of shows this weekend in Mexico for precautionary reasons.

CIMA announced on Twitter that he recently suffered a dislocated right shoulder injury at GLEAT’s event this past Tuesday in Osaka, Japan.

All Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full list of competitors and blocks for this year’s Champion Carnival tournament, which takes place from April 8th to May 7th in Japan. A Block was announced to be Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu, Ryuki Honda, T-Hawk, Jun Saito, Cyrus, and Satoshi Kojima. B Block was announced to be Suwama, Shuji Ishikawa, Shotaro Ashino, Nomura Naoya, Hokuto Omori, Rei Saito, and Yuma Anzai.

As noted before, Richard Holliday has been out of action for Major League Wrestling since this past June due to Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Holliday finished up his chemotherapy treatments for his cancer this past February. Holliday recently provided an update on Twitter stating that his hemoglobin levels were in normal range for the first time since this past June.

MLW recently announced that this year’s Opera Cup tournament will be taking place starting at their upcoming War Chamber 2023 event on April 6th in New York City, New York.

MLW also recently announced a new match for the card of their Battle Riot V event on April 8th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

• MLW World Championship – Real1 vs. Alex Hammerstone (c)

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced a new match for the card of their NWA 312 event on April 7th in Chicago, Illinois:

• NWA Women’s World Television Championship Tournament Finals – Max The Impalier vs. Kenzie Page

Joey Janela recently announced a new match for the card of GCW’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 7 event on March 31st in Los Angeles, California:

• Joey Janela vs. Kota Ibushi

Josh Barnett recently announced a new match for the card of GCW’s Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 9 event on March 30th in Los Angeles:

• Jon Moxley vs. Alex Coughlin

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced two new matches for the card of their Collision in Philadelphia 2023 event on April 16th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

• Gabriel Kidd vs. Eddie Kingston
• ROH Pure Rules match – Alex Coughlin vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams