“The situation with Moose changed in the past week as well. WWE backed off on signing him at this moment due to a 2009 domestic violence allegation which led to him being suspended for a game when he was in the NFL. He was actually told not to worry by WWE with the idea it’s just a timing situation (given the recent situations with Adam Rose and Jerry Lawler) and not a closed door.
He was originally expected to be part of their September NXT introduction class with guys like Tommy End and Big Damo and most likely Roderick Strong, who did finish up here over the weekend. Moose has had offers from Lucha Underground, TNA, which offered the most money of anyone ($100,000 per year) and the door is open to staying here as well. Those at ROH view his future here as something that has changed a few times and it may or may not change again.
Right now they are going with the idea it could go either way. But the plans aren’t booked right now with him as a key part of things. The impression we have is it is most likely he will be elsewhere soon which rules out WWE as well. He was beaten a few times on TV and the PPV because he may be gone and was expected to be gone when the shows were first laid out. But the door is open for him to stay. The TNA offer was always the best one money-wise, but there is the feeling that if you go to TNA, you fall off the radar. Plus, nobody knows the future of TNA.”
At one time it appeared that Ojinnaka was headed to the WWE and would start at the Performance Center in September, but Dave Meltzer reported in last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE backed off of signing the former football journeyman because of a 2009 domestic violence allegation that led to him being suspended from the NFL for one game.
Ojinnaka’s wife alleged that he threw her down the stairs during an argument over a female friend that he had friended on Facebook, and Ojinnaka accused her of trying to stab him with a pen. The two are now divorced.
Ojinnaka left the NFL in 2012 after a seven-year career with four different teams. After his time in football was over, the longtime wrestling fan decided to pursue a career in professional wresting and debuted in 2014 with Ring of Honor.
MLW also tweeted that Lucha Underground/AAA have not made an offer to Moose, but that TNA and ROH are still in play for his services.
It’s a pretty quiet weekend leading to a monster week next week with three UFC events in three days including UFC 200. We’ll be doing one weekend poll which is for the New Japan show in Iate on late Saturday night/Sunday morning with thumbs up, down or middle and best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
A NEVER Openweight Championship match featuring champion Katsuyori Shibata defending against Tomoaki Honma will headline New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kizuna Road show late Saturdaynight/early Sunday morning. The two previously had one of the best matches of the tournament in 2014’s G-1.
The show also features Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks defending their NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet and Matt Sydal. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi and Will Ospreay) will once again take on Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Sanada, Evil and Bushi) in a multi-man tag. Complete lineup as follows:
NEW JAPAN FROM IWATE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD AT 3 A.M. LATE SATURDAY NIGHT EASTERN AND MIDNIGHT PACIFIC TIME
Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Togi Makabe & Juice Robinson
Kenny Omega & Young Bucks vs. Satoshi Kojima & Ricochet & Matt Sydal for Never six man titles
Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada & Bushi in an elimination match
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma for Never Open weight title
– WWE has a house show in Pikeville, KY (Kane, Big Show, The Miz, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Rusev, Cesaro, Enzo, Cass, Dudleys, Kalisto, Sasha Banks). We’re looking for reports on the show at Dave@WrestlingObsever.com.
– Sunday has a WWE show in Huntington, WV (Kane, Big Show, The Miz, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Rusev, Cesaro, Enzo, Cass, Dudleys, Kalisto, Sasha Banks).
– Raw will be Monday night from Columbus, OH. Given that Raw is on July 4th, it is likely to be the lowest rating for a Raw show in the history of the show. Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil for the U.S. title has been announced. Shane McMahon is scheduled to return.
– Smackdown is Tuesday night in Toledo. No John Cena or Seth Rollins advertised, but Dean Ambrose, A.J. Styles and Kevin Owens are advertised.
The 10th annual Wrestling Observer/F4W convention in Las Vegas takes place during UFC’s International Fight Week from July 7 – 11. Ed in San Antonio has information on Facebook, or you can email him at F4Wfan@hotmail.com. It’s always a fun time, so hurry up and make your plans to join Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alvarez, Vinny, Granny, Ed, Peach, Dez, Dr. Lucha, Rodney, Sr. Jaialai, “Filthy” Tom, and the rest of the group in beautiful Las Vegas this July. Plus… some extra secret surprises.
If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!
It’s a double issue week featuring a look back 40 years at what was the biggest undertaking up to that point in pro wrestling history, and Inoki vs. Ali match, how it came together, what happened that night, coverage of the upcoming G-1 Climax tournament, coverage of Ultima Lucha 3 and details on where the company stands, full coverage of the WWE cruiserweight classic, ROH Best in the World coverage as well as a look at those coming and going from the promotion, the death of Ryan Jimmo, the life and times of Gypsy Joe, and far more about the fallout of the Roman Reigns suspension.
The lead story details this years G-1 tournament including what will air in English, newcomers to the tournament, some interesting political news regarding who is and isn’t in it, as well as a complete lineup for every show.
This issue looks at the background of Ali vs. Inoki, the first time boxer vs. wrestler with major stars came close to happening, boxing champions who did wrestling and wrestlers who faced boxers including involving one of the all-time greats, Thesz vs. Marciano talk, and the two best known mixed matches prior to Ali vs. Inoki in the U.S.
There is also a look at Japanese pro wrestling in the 70s and how that led to the match, the business of Billy Robinson involving Inoki vs. Baba, how Inoki was being marketed, and the attempts to put together Ali vs. Bruno Sammartino and how that led to this.
The goals of Ali vs. Inoki for the New Japan side, the pro wrestling angles, just how big the match was why the match wasn’t a work, where Ali’s career stood at the time, media coverage, how the terrible rules were the reason the fight, Sammartino’s broken neck and return, Stan Hansen becoming a superstar in Japan, and why Ali vs. Inoki was not a success in much of the U.S, and much more in this issue of the Wrestling Observer.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer.
For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40-issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter BACK ISSUE
READ IT HERE: May 24, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ECW Hardcore Heaven/WWF No Mercy – Amidst rumors flying everywhere of the possible demise of the company and others who are talking that the company is a short period away from growing bigger than ever, the ECW Hardcore Heaven PPV came off like a show that was a bridge for the company to something new, but when it was over, there were still no answers over whether what is new is good news or bad news… Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
As was announced earlier this week, Shinsuke Nakamura made his return to Japan in a match against Chris Jericho on Friday’s WWE house show at Sumo Hall. WWE has uploaded video of Nakamura’s entrance and the warm reaction he received in his home country:
AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows also competed in Japan for the first time since leaving NJPW earlier this year. WWE has video of The Club reacting to their return:
– Toru Yano will make his stateside Ring of Honor debut as the first announced NJPW talent appearing on ROH’s August 19th Death Before Dishonor XIV pay-per-view and August 20th TV taping.
– TNA has a ridiculous trailer promoting “Hardy vs. Hardy: The Final Deletion” on this Tuesday’s Impact:
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling had on a Canadian wrestling legend and one of the most underrated workers of the 1990s, “PCO” Pierre Carl Ouellet. He talks his start in the wrestling business to meeting Jaques Rougeau in Puerto Rico and forming the Quebecers and much more.
This is a hilarious video of a Wisconsin basketball player doing a perfect Stone Cold impression. Tight jean shorts and beer included.
SUMMER EVENTS CALENDAR
TONIGHT – Stars of Wrestling from Alameda, CA at the Alameda Point Gym has Bobby Lashley, Carlito and The Boogeyman appearing.
TONIGHT – NWA Cajun Heat in Morgan City, LA at the Municipal Auditorium with Jax Dane vs. Mustang Mike for the NWA title, and an appearance by Kevin Nash
July 7 – Rock Solid Wrestling runs in Sudbury, ON.
July 9 – Smash Wrestling in Fort Erie, ONT at the Native Friendship Center. Chris Hero will headline this fundraising event.
July 16 – In Your Face Wrestling Presents: “Malicious Intent” – Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Avenue Extension, Albany, NY www.iyfwrestling.com
July 17 – Lucha by the Water ft. Blue Demon Jr! – Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2G8, 3-6 pm. Tickets here.
July 17 – Premier Wrestling at the IFDES Lodge and Portuguese Hall in Gilroy, CA with Joe Graves vs. Gabriel Gallo for the Premier.
July 22 – Ignite Wrestling in Fort Pierce, FL at the National Guard Armory on a show with Lince Dorado, Mr. 450 Hammet, Lio Rush, Martin Stone, Los Ben Dejos, and more
July 22 – AIW runs on 7/22 in Cleveland, OH, with Ethan Page vs. Josh Prohibition vs. Josh Alexander, and Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae vs. Ethan Carter III & Karlee Perez
July 22 – The Lou Thesz Hall of Fame weekend show in Waterloo, IA, featuring Ricochet vs. Sami Callihan, Wes Brisco, B. Brian Blair, Jessika Havok, Tessa Blanchard, a steel cage match and more – This is the weekend Dave Meltzer will be honored.
July 23 – Live Pro Wrestling, Glengarry Sports Palace, 170 McDonald Blvd. Alexandria, Ontario
July 23 – AAW in Merrionnette Park, IL, with Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr., Zack Sabre Jr., Marty Scurll; Tommaso Ciampa; Fenix; Johnny Gargano. Here’s what you missed.
July 23 – Masters of Ring Entertainment in Wilmington, NC, as part of Pro Wrestling Fan Expo 3 will feature Jeff Jarrett vs. ECIII vs. James Storm, announced by Jarrett.
July 24 – Fenix vs. Pentagon Jr. headlines for Lucha Libre New York at Club LaBoom in Queens, NY
July 30 – WSOF32: Moraes vs. Hill 2 – Live on NBCSN from Everett, Washington
July 30 – Smash Wrestling – Oshawa Music Hall, 39 King St E, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 1B2
July 31 – BATTLEWAR 36; Les Foufounes Électriques, 87 Sainte-Catherine Street East Montreal, QC
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction beat Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser to retain in a great match.
– Fish Tank segment with Mark Briscoe and ACH led to a number one contenders match for the TV title. Briscoe then beat ACH.
– Jay White made his ROH debut and beat Kamaitachi (with Christopher Daniels) by DQ. Postmatch, the Addiction beat them down which brings out the Motor City Machine Guns.
– Jay White & Motor City Machine Guns beat ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction & Kamaitachi
– Keith Lee & Shane Taylor beat an unknown tag team.
– Dalton Castle beat Roderick Strong in Strong’s farewell ROH match
Both guys hugged afterwards and there were “Thank you Roddy” and “You deserve it” chants post-match. Strong gives an emotional speech, thanking fans for their support and says he hopes to wrestle in ROH again someday.
– Kyle O’Reilly came out for his World Title match with Jay Lethal, but before Lethal can come out, Adam Cole hits the stage and says O’Reilly has skipped him in line and doesn’t deserve this match, and, in fact, he won’t be wrestling at all tonite. Young Bucks sneak attack O’Reilly from behind and the Bullet Club injures his arm and shoulder with a steel chair.
– War Machine beat an unknown tag team.
– Caprice Coleman and the All Night Express beat Cheeseburger & Will Ferrera & Moose
– ROH World Champion Jay Lethal beat the injured Kyle O’Reilly in a great match
Bullet Club attacks both post-match, leading Nigel to declare that Adam Cole will never get a title shot as long as he’s in charge. Lethal asks that he be added to the announced main event.
– Moose beat Mike “P-Dog” Posey. Dijak came out to challenge Moose. Dijak beat Moose, then attacked Stokley Hathaway.
– ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Briscoes beat Bullet Club
After the match, the Bullets incapacitate Lethal in the ropes and Cole cuts off Lethal’s dreads, then violently shave his whole head. Bucks lead the crowd in “That was too sweet” and “You deserve it” (to Lethal) chants to end the show.
Fantastic show, crowd was really into almost all of it.
H returns to traditional PPV Friday night for Best In The World, the seventh such event in company history. The event emanates from Concord, NC, the first time BITW has been held there.
Headlining the show is ROH World Champion Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe, a rematch from last year’s BITW event where Lethal downed Briscoe for the belt in a winner takes all match.
KYLE O’REILLY VS. KAMAITACHI
O’Reilly won with a brainbuster and armbar. Very good technically. The crowd reacted but didn’t go wild. Kamaitachi reufsed to shake hands and left. The crowd isn’t mic’d well as you can see them reactingbut dont’ hear it that well. Kamaitachi didn’t look as impressive as he usually does. But his role was to put O’Reilly over as the whole thing they pushed was how O’Reilly gets a shot at the winner of the main event tomorrow.
SILAS YOUNG VS. ACH
Yeah, we’ve got the same problem with the bad crowd micing whicnh hurts the matches. You can see people are into it and hear it lightly. This was a good match. ACH did a great springobard flip dive. Young missed a springboard move, and ACH won with jumping double knees, a brainbuster and a 450 splash.
They just introudced Jay White at ringside. He looks like a teenager in the crowd.
Mark Briscoe was hilarious on his pre-match interview.
MARK BRISCOE VS. RODERICK STRONG
With Strong leaving, Mark got the pin after a brainbuster and fisherman buster in a really good match. Strong was excellent here and Mark hung with him. Mark has shaved his head but came out with a wig to surprise Strong. Both worked at a hard pace, with Mark doing all kinds of cool stuff and Strong solid with everything he did. Mark survived the sick kick and gutbuster. Mark used a sick kick on Strong. I think if the crowd was mic’d this would have come across as excellent. Fans were chanting “Thank you Roddy” and he was shaking hands on the way out.
WAR MACHINE & MOOSE VS. YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM COLE IN A TORNADO MATCH
Excellent match. Non stop action and the crowd was pretty hot. Finish saw them use the Meltzer driver on Moose and all three kissed each other after winning. We’ll update this later because it was a crazy match with all kinds of big spots and a ton of superkicks. Once again it was hurt by the crowd micing. Hanson in particular did crazy stuff for a guy his size.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN VS. CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY FOR THE TAG TITLES
Another good match. Actually this at first had a hard time following the previous match. Kamaitachi came out and attacked Jay White at ringside. They were brawling and distracted ref Paul Turner and Daniels hit Shelley with a low blow and he was out of commission. Daniels & Kazarian then pinned Sabin after the Best Meltzer ever. You’d think at this point I was the booker and had an ego twice the size of Dusty Rhodes. Daniels & Kazarian & Kamaitachi left together so they are forming a group.
STEVE CORINO VS. B.J. WHITMER IN AN UNSACNTIONED FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR
Corino came out to Shinya Hashimoto’s theme music. Corino bleached his hair blond. The commentators said this is a match that nobody wanted to see happen. This match was crazy. It came from another era as Whitmer went to hardway him. Corino bled like crazy. Whitmer juiced and it was a bloodbath. The crowd loved it. Whitmer put Corino through a table with an exploder suplex. They beat each other with broken pieces of the table. The lights went out and Kevin Sullivan showed up, teased hitting Whitmer with the spike but instead spiked Corino and Whitmer pinned him. Because nobody does this kind of match, it really worked. They saved things like tables, never do blood like this and used rolls of quarters but didn’t over do the foreign objects like in TNA where the shots meant nothing.
BOBBY FISH VS. DALTON CASTLE FOR THE TV TITLE
Another good match. Castle dominated. Castle suplexed Fish on his head and they teased Fish being hurt, but he then went for the bang a rang and Fish turned it into a front rolling cradle for the pin.
The All Night Express and Caprice Coleman came out. They came out to Presidential music. Coleman noted they were never defeated for the titles. He claimed they had to pay for this segment. Said each watched each others back and said all three are underrated and underpaid and now they are uniting and are now the group is called The Cabinet. Coleman is the Minister of Information. Rhett Titus said this whole show has been young punks flip flying around and nobody looks like pro wrestlers, said guys need to do bench presses and squats, how the tag champs have no abs and how the Young Bucks skip leg day and keep doing superkicks. Said there is an Olympic gold medalist is selling T-shirts to make wrestling great again. The Cabinet will will make wrestling great, won’t skip leg day and will win all the gold.
JAY LETHAL VS. JAY BRISCOE FOR THE ROH TITLE
Great match. Shorter than you’d think but time got out of control. The crowd loved it, chanting “That was awesome” after the finish. Lethal retained with a diamond cutter and Lethal iinjection. So right after the match ended, they turned up the crowd mic and you could hear how loud they were. If they’d done that during the show every match would have come across better. Both shook hands after the match. Briscoe nearly go the pin earlier with the Lethal injection and Jay driller. Lethal did two tope’s in a row and Briscoe came back with two of his own and a running flip dive. A lot of near falls. Crowd may have been hottest in this match.
Before Ring of Honor’s annual Best in the World PPV takes place tonight in Concord, North Carolina, I talked with ROH’s “Last Real Man” Silas Young about his career, what makes him a man’s man in the wrestling world, and why he doesn’t think ACH measures up to that standard.
Here are a few transcripted highlights:
On how he almost wound up in WWE in the late 2000’s:
I started in 2002 up in the Wisconsin area, and then in 2007, I got offered a developmental deal. I did like a week long training thing at OVW and did a handful of house shows with them. About a month later, I got offered a job in WWE. In the hiring process I was just finishing up getting all of my paperwork and stuff done. I had done all of the drug and cardiovascular testing that they do and all of that stuff had come back fine.
I was just waiting for my passport to come in so I could send that because you have to have a passport when you work for WWE. I was waiting for that to come in and I saw online that OVW’s developmental deal had ended with WWE. I thought ‘Oh boy, that’s not good news. That’s where I’m supposed to be going.’ The next day I got a call that said, ‘We’re not going to be forward with your contract.’ So I kind of got a job there but never really worked there.
On how that didn’t crush his pro wrestling aspirations:
Maybe not so much then, but nowadays, wrestling is so hot right now. There’s so many good places to work. It used to be the big two you know, WWE and WCW (and) maybe ECW. Now you got WWE, TNA, Ring of Honor, you have Lucha Underground, that’s just in the states. You also have places over in Europe – WXW is on par to have 80 shows this year. Rev Pro UK, Preston City Wrestling, tons of really good talent and a lot of work over in Europe, then along with New Japan Pro Wrestling there’s a lot of places to work so it’s awesome right now.
On his time away from Ring of Honor from 2009-2012:
(I was) just doing smaller indie stuff, just trying to wrestle, make a name for myself – that’s about it. You know in wrestling, there’s so many guys trying to get a spot and there’s (only) so many spots. I was just wrestling mainly around the Midwest area and I had occasionally done a few things here and there for EVOLVE at the time but it was mostly just Midwest stuff.
On his friendship with the Beer City Bruiser:
Ring of Honor is built a lot on athletic prowess, the athletic ability of the guys in the ring. You look at Bruiser, and Bruiser is about 6’2″ and probably about 300 pounds. He’s not 300 pounds of muscle, but for being a guy his size, he can really move. People are always really impressed, but he’s not a guy that’s out there trying to impress people. He’s a guy that’s gonna grind someone into the mat and pound them. Plain and simple he’s just going to beat you like a man. You look at the Ring of Honor locker room and he’s the only guy that makes sense to be my tag partner.
On how well received his feud with Dalton Castle was:
I thought that whole thing me and Dalton did together was done really well. I thought everybody came out of it looking really good and the fans enjoyed it. I think Dave Meltzer or Bryan Alvarez was talking about how it was the most entertaining storyline that was going on in wrestling at the time. With all the wrestling in the world to have guys like that say that about what you’re doing is pretty cool.
On why he trying to bring back “real manhood” in wrestling:
I talk a lot about how men aren’t real men nowadays. Right now, the whole superhero movie (thing), I don’t know whether it’s DC or Marvel or maybe both of them are putting out movies, it’s a real hot subject right now. People love it. You can’t go anywhere without seeing some dude wearing a Spider-Man or a Batman t-shirt. That’s been my gripe – men don’t wear superhero t-shirts. Men don’t sit and argue about what superhero would beat what superhero in a fight.
On how he plans to teach that lesson to ACH at ROH Best in the World:
Basically, what’s going to happen with ACH is he’s just going to learn it’s not all fun and games. Life isn’t all about video games and action hero movies, and we’re going to see how far his video games get him when he steps in the ring with me at Best in the World.
On what’s next if he defeats ACH on Friday in Concord:
“For the rest of the year, I’m looking to just get out and wrestle as many places as possible. In the last few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to go over and wrestle in Germany, England and Canada, so just keep traveling, keep having good matches, get to wrestle as many new places as possible. I’m getting to go to Newfoundland in a month and a half, I’ve never been there before, so that should be cool. That’s about it. Get out, work, grind, meet different people work different guys, that’s the goal for me.”
See what happens with Silas Friday night at ROH’s Best In The World ppv. Our live coverage begins at 8 PM EST.
Ahead of this Friday’s ROH Best in the World ppv, Ring of Honor announced Wednesday that “Mr. ROH” Roderick Strong would be leaving the promotion following Saturday’s TV tapings.
Strong has been a part of ROH off and on since 2003, and has been one of their longest-tenured performers outside of a brief TNA run. He and Austin Aries held the ROH Tag Team Titles, and he won both the TV and World titles in the company as well. In the ROH announcement, he didn’t list any reasons for leaving the promotion.
Over the past few years, he has had some outstanding matches with New Japan stars including classics with Okada, Nakamura, and Tanahashi. With WWE hiring like crazy for the roster split, one has to wonder if WWE is in his future or if he will return to TNA, where his ROH Generation Next team briefly reformed. New Japan would also be a fantastic match for his style, although one would think that if that was his goal, he would just continue with ROH.
Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez will have more on this news on the Wednesday night edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
ROH announced Wednesday that they will be returning to New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom for its biggest show of the year as it will become the company’s regular New York City location.
The 15th Final Battle in ROH history will be held there on Friday, December 2nd. They had been running the venue up until 2014, but moved out due to a significant increase in the cost.
ROH had hinted moving away from frequent ROH show location Terminal 5 as it was recognized was too small for them for big events. It was rumored at the time that the company would either be moving to the Manhattan Center or the Hammerstein, both part of the same complex that is around the corner from Madison Square Garden. They’ve run the Hammerstein before, packing the venue frequently.
The company held Final Battle at the Hammerstein for six straight years (2008-2013) before bringing the event to Terminal 5 in 2014. They ran the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA, for the show last year, headlined by ROH Champion Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles.
Ring of Honor television from Toronto was another installment from the War of the Worlds tour featuring ROH vs. NJPW. A loaded lineup on this episode included another stellar matchup between Kushida and Kyle O’Reilly in the main event. Elsewhere, Tetsuya Naito collided with Moose and Jushin Liger teamed up with Cheeseburger.
Mark Briscoe provided guest commentary alongside announcer Kevin Kelly and matchmaker Nigel McGuinness. Several times throughout the show Mark said he felt Roderick Strong continues to disrespect him. He and Roddy are set for a match at the Best in the World pay-per-view with Chicken seemingly set for a singles push.
Later in the show, Roddy strolled out to ringside. He confronted Nigel about having to team with Mark in an eight-man tag match. The match (Briscoes & Strong & Jay Lethal vs. Bullet Club) airs next week on ROH TV, which was plugged several times throughout the show.
In another sign of disrespect to Mark, as Roddy argued with Nigel he at first never acknowledged Mark until calling him the “Briscoe that doesn’t matter.” Mark got in his face and Nigel stepped in to break things up. Roderick backed away while also flapping his arms insinuating Mark was chicken.
The show itself opened with the entrance of a former pro football player turned pro wrestler who was in the news recently as speculation continues about his future with ROH. He was followed by the current IWGP heavyweight champion representing Los Ingobernables de Japon, who sauntered to the ring for a non-title match.
Tetsuya Naito beat Moose (with Stokely Hathaway)
On commentary, Nigel noted that Naito had one knee taped up. Naito also reportedly became ill on this tour. He still had a good match. Moose more than held his own too. Early on when Moose started signaling for the “Moose” chants, Natio spat in his face. Moose hit a dropkick then also dropkicked Naito as he was perched on the top turnbuckle sending Naito sailing out to the floor.
Moments later, Naito teased doing a dive only to mock Moose. When Naito did eventually jump over the ropes for a plancha, Moose caught him and gave him a fallaway slam into the guardrail. Naito cut him off and did a flurry of moves before mocking Moose again. After a commercial break, Moose fired up looking to make a comeback.
When Naito executed a hurricanrana off the top turnbuckle, Moose miraculously hulked up and delivered a lariat that turned Naito inside out for a nearfall. Moose suplexed Naito upside down into the turnbuckles. Naito countered and applied a Koji clutch and Moose got a rope break. Moose also kicked out after getting dropped with a swinging DDT. However, Moose eventually fell victim to a Destino and Naito covered him for the pinfall.
ANX cut a promo vowing to “make wrestling great again.”Of course, they are spoofing a certain WWE Hall of Famer currently running for president. During their entrance as part of their supposed new campaign, they did their best Jimmy Hart in bringing megaphones to the ring.
The backstory of the match was ANX had previously attacked Cheeseburger and beat him down so he enlisted the help of his mentor, Liger, in gaining revenge.ANX began pummeling Liger and Cheeseburger at the outset. Liger and Cheeseburger fought back. ANX got heat on Cheeseburger for awhile until Liger came in off a hot tag. ANX dispatched Liger to the outside and did some double-team offense on Cheeseburger. They finished off Cheeseburger and Titus pinned him.
In the weekly Bullet Club backstage promo, Adam Cole was mad about the main event at the next PPV being a world title rematch with Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal. Cole claimed he should be in the match. He also objected to the camera operator and the sound engineer so the Young Bucks took over those duties as Cole basically vowed Bullet Club would take part in some angle on the PPV.
Silas Young interrupted the show to cut a promo on ACH. Silas ranted about his usual subjects pertaining to manliness and accused ACH of dressing like he was in a Japanese cartoon. He began arguing with a fan at ringside who was wearing a ACH t-shirt. Silas shoved him and security grabbed Silas. During the commotion, ACH ran in and did a wild springboard dive onto Silas and the security team. Silas Young vs. ACH is set for the PPV.
Kyle O’Reilly beat Kushida
Much like their previous matches, this was outstanding. From their matwork to their selling and into the highsports, they told a great story of O’Reilly finally being triumphant. In a pre-tape promo beforehand, O’Reilly talked about waiting an entire year for that moment.
Kushida began working an arm on O’Reilly only for Kyle to counter and work a leg on Kushida. O’Reilly applied a knee bar and went for an achilles lock. Kushida got a rope break but really sold his leg thereafter. Even though they did some highspots, they still kept selling and at times did so subtly and sold throughout the match.
Just before a commercial, O’Reilly dropped Kushida with a knee strike. After the break, Kushida was in the midst of a hope spot when O’Reilly turned him inside out with a lariat. Kushida came back with a brainbuster moments later. Kushida went back to work on the arm just before the action spilled outside.
As they fought at ringside, O’Reilly sat Kushida down in a chair. O’Reilly then dove off the apron for an attempted flying knee. In the same big spot they did in one of their previous matches, Kushida jumped out of the chair and caught the flying O’Reilly in an armbar as he crashed to the floor. Back in the ring, they both fell in a heap after dueling kicks and forearm strikes.
They rose once more for a few more final exchanges. O’Reilly momentarily caught Kushida in a guillotine. Kushida countered into a kimura lock. O’Reilly then maneuvered that into cradling Kushida for the deciding pinfall.
– Cheeseburger defeated Some Canadian Guy With A Fanny Pack. Cheeseburger was super over. The guy’s fanny pack was more over than the guy himself.
Main Show:
– Steve Corino promo on Whitmer, who was on commentary.
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction defeated Kamaitachi and Juice Robinson via Best Meltzer Ever. Juice was super over.
– Dalton Castle defeated Will Ferrera via Deadlift German Suplex.
– Motor City Machine Guns defeated Lio Rush and Moose. This was a fun match. Rush is very impressive. MCMG put Lio over after the match by giving him the ring for the crowd to cheer him.
– Donovan Dijak defeat Trent Baretta. Prince Nana accompanied Dijak to the ring. Dijak is a decent heel.
– Four Corner Survival: Kyle O’Reilly defeated Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin and ACH via submission. This match ruled. Every sequence was jaw dropping. Elgin and Kyle had a great sequence of Germans and kicks. Roddy was great, per usual, as was ACH.
– BJ Whitmer promo. Two random dudes brought out a hog-tied Corino.
– War Machine destroyed two local talents.
– ROH TV Champion Bobby Fish defeated Rocky Romero via leg submission. Great match. Fish is awesome. Dalton Castle was on commentary for this match and they had a stare down after the match.
– Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young defeated The Briscoes and ANX in Tag Wars finals. BCB and Silas hit their finishers on ANX. Crowd celebrated like Milwaukee won the World Series.
– Colt Cabana and ROH Champion Jay Lethal defeated The Young Bucks via Double Lethal Injection. Crowd was super hot for this match. Bucks looked good after returning from injury. They hit an Indie Taker, but no Meltzer Driver. No disrespect to the Bucks, but they looked gassed and/or didn’t want to risk another injury. After the match, Colt had Lethal’s title and hinted he wanted a rematch. Lethal grabbed his belt and left.
– Bullet Club member Adam Cole is in the hospital with pneumonia and has been pulled from tonight’s show and Sunday’s show in Milwaukee, WI. Will Ferrara takes his place to face Chris Sabin tonight.
– Dalton Castle def. Juice Robinson
Lots of comedy early on. It got more physical as it went on and lots of back and forth. They shake hands after the match, and TV Champion Bobby Fish comes out for a live Fish Tank with Dalton. Dalton requests for it to be a sitdown interview but they don’t have any chairs. Dalton has 2 more Boys come out and they form human chairs for them to sit on. Lots of comedy. They promise to remain friends after their match at Best in the World, but Fish says he doesn’t see Dalton as a champion, making him storm off. Neither one came off like a heel.
– Chris Sabin def. Will Ferrara
Decent match. Daniels comes out for commentary to lead into the next match.
– Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser def. War Machine and Moose/Lio Rush
Excellent match and easily the match of the night with nonstop action. Rush was the star despite being there to take the pin and the crowd came alive after being dead nearly the whole show so far.
– ACH def. Alex Shelly
Solid match. ACH cut a promo afterwards and calls Shelley one of his idols. Shelley puts him over to bring the show into intermission.
– Steve Corino comes for an interview after intermission. He cuts a promo on BJ Whitmer, who has been on commentary all night. He says a lot of nothing.
– Donovan Dijak def. Cheeseburger
About the match you’d expect with Cheeseburger getting little bursts of offense in only to be cut off seconds later and tossed around. Kaz’s turn to do commentary for the next tag match.
– ANX def. The Young Bucks and RPG Vice
Both ANX and RPG Vice work heel over the returning Bucks who haven’t missed a beat. King stole the pin on Trent after he got hit with a Meltzer Driver and said ANX was going to make wrestling great again.
– Michael Elgin def. Kamaitachi
Not a lot of people in the crowd were familiar with Kamaitachi, but got behind him when he was on offense. They raise each other’s arms after the match.
– Daniels comes out for one last time and cuts a promo hyping the main event. Quick promo, just some cheap heat and out come the tag teams.
– Briscoe Brothers def. ROH Champion Jay Lethal/Roderick Strong and ReDRagon
Fans were tired out by this point but got back into it towards the end. Bucks interfere and interrupt the Lethal Injection while Jay hits the Jay Driller on Strong to end the show.
Overall, there were no bad matches. The attendance seemed down from the last few shows run in Hopkins. No return date announced.
