A legend finally gets a diagnosis that surprises nobody

If you have spent any time in a Chicago dive bar or a wrestling forum over the last forty-eight hours, you have felt the shift. The news that Steve 'Mongo' McMichael was diagnosed with CTE, a full year after we lost him, is the kind of update that makes you want to stare into the bottom of a glass. It is not a shock—not after watching him fight ALS with the same terrifying intensity he used to flatten quarterbacks—but it is a reminder of the bill that always comes due for the guys who lived life at 100 miles per hour.

Fans on Reddit and Twitter are not just sad; they are having that uncomfortable conversation about the cost of the 'Horseman' lifestyle. Mongo was the guy who jumped into the deep end of wrestling without a life jacket, and he did it at an age when most people are looking for a comfortable recliner. The reaction online has been a mix of reverence for his toughness and a growing anger at the sports that chewed him up and spat him out.

"We all knew what was happening to Mongo, but seeing it confirmed just makes those Nitro reruns feel like watching a slow-motion car crash. He gave everything, and a year after he’s gone, we’re still finding out how much it cost him."

The sentiment is clear: Mongo was a force of nature, but the nature of the business in the nineties was a meat grinder. Fans are calling for the Hall of Fame to do more than just put up a plaque; they want real, sustained support for the guys who can't remember their own names by the time they hit sixty. It is a grim start to a week that should be about celebration, but as one fan put it, ignoring the damage doesn't make the legacy any cleaner.

Athena is the only reason you are still paying for HonorClub

Switching gears to the current product, Tony Khan decided to drop a bomb regarding Supercard of Honor. Athena, the woman who has basically carried the entire Ring of Honor brand on her delts for the better part of two years, is heading into a Survival of the Fittest match. The reaction from the "Athena-heads" has been loud, mostly because people are starting to suspect that the only way she ever loses that belt is if Tony books her against 5 different people at the same time.

The skeptics are out in force, though. There is a vocal group of fans who think the Survival of the Fittest stipulation is a bit of a 'lazy' booking move. Why give us a deep, psychological one-on-one feud when you can just throw the whole locker room into a blender and hope for the best? It feels a little like when a coach doesn't have a game plan so they just tell the star player to 'go out there and make something happen.'

Username: ROH_Realist_99 "Athena deserves a main event that isn't a cluster. She’s been the best thing in the company for 18 months and we’re still doing multi-woman scrambles for the top prize? It feels like we're stalling because nobody on the roster is actually on her level."

The argument for the match is pure spectacle. If you are going to Supercard, you want the high-flying, chaotic energy that ROH used to be famous for. But there is a nagging feeling that Athena has outgrown this version of the promotion. She is a Ferrari being driven in a school zone. Watching her dominate is fun, but seeing her get dragged into a multi-person stipulation feels like a step backward for a champion who has redefined what that title means.

Bandido hits the one-year mark in a mask of gold

While everyone is looking at Athena, Bandido is quietly celebrating 365 days as the ROH World Champion. Think about that for a second. In an era where titles change hands faster than a cold in a daycare, the Most Wanted has stayed at the top of the mountain. The fan reaction here is surprisingly unified: Bandido is the guy. He’s the bridge between the old 'Workrate ROH' and the new 'Tony Khan ROH,' and he’s doing it with more style than anyone else on the payroll.

However, there is a critical observation to be made about his reign—it has felt a little isolated. Bandido has been putting on bangers, sure, but how many of them have actually shifted the needle? One fan on the boards pointed out that being the champion of ROH in 2026 is like being the best chef in a restaurant that only your friends know about. The quality is elite, but the audience is small, and that’s a tragedy for a guy with Bandido’s talent.

  • The Enthusiasts: "Bandido is the best luchador on the planet, period. One year is just the beginning."
  • The Skeptics: "Who has he actually beaten that matters lately? The title needs more heat, not just long reigns."
  • The Contrarians: "Bandido should have lost it six months ago to a heel who could actually talk people into the building."

There is a real tension between the fans who want ROH to stay a 'pure' wrestling product and those who want it to grow into a legitimate third brand. Bandido represents the purity, but without a major foil, his reign risks becoming a series of great matches that nobody remembers a month later. The 'one year' milestone is impressive, but the fans are starting to ask the most dangerous question in wrestling: what’s next?

The verdict on the ROH state of the union

ROH is in a weird spot as we head toward the mid-point of the year. You have Athena doing the heavy lifting, Bandido providing the prestige, and a legacy update on Mongo that reminds us why we care about these people in the first place. The fan consensus is that the talent is there, but the direction is murky. We are all paying our $9.99 for HonorClub, but for how much longer?

If Supercard of Honor doesn't deliver a 'moment'—something that actually changes the trajectory of these titles—the fans might start checking out. You can only coast on workrate for so long before people want a story they can sink their teeth into. Athena in a Survival of the Fittest match might be the spark, or it might just be more of the same chaotic booking that keeps ROH as the 'little brother' of the AEW family. The fans are ready for something bigger. The question is whether the office is ready to give it to them.