In his first statement on the matter, Jay Lethal (Jamar Shipman) has denied the allegations that were made against him on Twitter last week by Taeler Hendrix (Taeler Conrad-Mellen).
Hendrix claimed last Wednesday that Lethal “told me because I didn’t sleep with him they sabotaged me and took me off TV” prior to her leaving Ring of Honor in 2017. ROH then released a statement via their PR company noting that they take these matters very seriously, would be investigating the situation thoroughly, and would take appropriate action upon the conclusion of their findings.
Lethal issued his own response this afternoon, prefacing his comments by writing that he doesn’t want them to fuel attacks against himself or his accuser:
“Let me be clear, there is absolutely no validity to these baseless allegations. Throughout my career I have sought to conduct myself with honor and integrity. I would never engage in any conduct that disrespects this business or the men and women in this industry.
Every individual has a right to be heard and must be given every opportunity to speak truth to power. Anyone engaging in misconduct or abuse of any kind simply has no place in our business or our society.
I am confident that these unfortunate allegations will be proven to be completely unfounded at the conclusion of Ring of Honor’s investigation.”
Hendrix responded by tweeting out what she claimed was a screenshot of an old text message from Lethal where he wrote that he needed to talk to her. She wrote today, “deny all you want. you sent me this before you pulled me aside at a live event, told me what you told me. just because the business has been a certain way for so long. I’m tired of it and I’m fighting for what’s right.”
Hendrix also tweeted that “the people that typically are the most politically correct are also typically the ones full of the most bullsh*t.”
Lethal and Hendrix were both formerly part of Truth Martini’s House of Truth stable in ROH. Hendrix departed the company in April 2017, with her writing today that she left “once the office did nothing” about the situation.
Lethal is the current ROH World Champion after having won the title on June 30. This is the second time he’s held the championship in his career.
On Wednesday, former Ring of Honor wrestler Taeler Hendrix (Taeler Conrad-Mellen) said on Twitter that she was taken off TV in 2017 due to her refusing to have sex with Jay Lethal (Jamar Shipman).
On Friday, ROH COO Joe Koff released a statement to F4WOnline.com via their PR company:
“We were troubled to hear the allegations that surfaced last night on Twitter. We take these matters very seriously and will be investigating this situation thoroughly, reviewing all evidence related to the matter. Ring of Honor strives to provide an environment and workplace where male and female wrestlers are free from any misconduct or abuse. We will take appropriate action upon the conclusion of our findings.”
The statement was also provided to PWTorch who ran a story about the situation on Thursday.
When asked if the company would also release a statement from Shipman or provide a timeline in which their investigation would take place, their PR firm said the statement was all they had. At this point, Shipman hasn’t made any public statement.
“I know this is going to be on wrestling sites. My name is Taeler & this is my statement: attorneys on my behalf have an ongoing investigation. I know I’m not the only one & ppl that have known of this investigation have been supportive. I’ll continue to fight for what’s right.”
Conrad-Mellen was part of The House of Truth stable with Shipman and Truth Martini (Martin Krcaj) during her time with ROH. She joined the company in 2015 and departed it in April 2017. She has been active on Twitter in the days since the allegation, retweeting fan support.
Jay Lethal has captured the Ring of Honor world title for a second time.
Lethal defeated Cody, Matt Taven and defending champion Dalton Castle in a fatal four way match at tonight’s television tapings in Fairfax, Virginia. It boiled down to Lethal and Castle following a tower of doom spot that took out Taven and Cody. The two traded near falls, but Lethal caught Castle with the Lethal Injection and pinned him to become the new champion.
Castle held the title for 198 days, defeating Cody back at Final Battle 2017. He has been battling a number of injuries in the last few months since winning the title, battling both a bad back and wrist. He had previously retained the title Friday night at ROH Best in the World, where he defeated Cody and Marty Scurll in a triple threat match.
Honor Club subscribers can check out the fatal four way match in full here. It will also air on television in the coming weeks.
Ring of Honor announced today that Jay Lethal was injured during last night’s War of the Worlds: Toronto main event, a six-man tag match where EVIL, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Kenny King, Colt Cabana & Lethal.
Lethal was injured late in the match dong a sunset flip powerbomb spot to the floor and had memory issues after the match. He is doing much better today but the company is keeping him off tonight’s War of the Worlds show for fear he may have suffered a mild concussion in Toronto. He was back to normal late last night.
Lethal had been scheduled for a four-way match in Royal Oak, Michigan tonight with King, Matt Taven, and Marty Scurll. SANADA, who was not booked in a match on the show, will be replacing him in the four-way.
The main event of the Toronto show was originally scheduled to be EVIL, SANADA, Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Dalton Castle, King, Lethal & Flip Gordon, but Castle didn’t wrestle due to injury and Gordon had travel issues that prevented him from making the show. BUSHI accompanied Los Ingobernables de Japon and interfered in the match.
The War of the Worlds tour will conclude with a set of television tapings in Chicago on Sunday.
Jay Lethal and Britt Baker were added to the show today, bringing the number of names confirmed for it up to 17. Lethal is under contract with Ring of Honor, while Baker, who made a cameo for WWE in a loss to Nia Jax in July 2016, wrestles independently.
Cody, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Stephen Amell, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, Penta El Zero M, Rey Fenix, Kazuchika Okada, Janela, and Lethal currently make up the rest of the lineup.
All In is being self-financed by Cody and The Young Bucks and will be held at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on September 1st.
It will be The Briscoes defending their titles against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal. This will be the first defense for The Briscoes since they defeated the Motor City Machine Guns at ROH’s 16th Anniversary pay-per-view earlier this month to begin their ninth reign with the belts.
Supercard of Honor will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on April 7th and has surpassed 5,000 tickets sold, topping the attendance record of 3,500 that was set during WrestleMania weekend last year.
Here’s the updated lineup for the show (which includes matches that have been officially announced and ones that were set up at ROH’s latest set of TV tapings):
Kenny Omega vs. Cody
ROH World Champion Dalton Castle defending against Marty Scurll
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) defending against The Young Bucks & Flip Gordon
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal
Kota Ibushi vs. Hangman Page
The semifinals (Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein and Tenille Dashwood vs. Sumie Sakai) and finals of the Women of Honor Championship tournament
ROH TV Champion Kenny King defending against Silas Young in a last man standing match
All four ROH titles will be on the line as the company celebrates its 16th anniversary in Las Vegas tonight.
Dalton Castle will defend the ROH World Championship against Jay Lethal, The Briscoes will get an ROH Tag Team title shot against Motor City Machine Guns, Kenny King takes on Silas Young for the Television title, and The Young Bucks & Hangman Page defend their Six-Man Tag Team titles against SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky).
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Other matches include Flip Gordon vs. New Japan’s Hiromu Takahashi, Cody vs. Matt Taven, and Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez.
Meanwhile, two more matches in the Women of Honor tournament will take place on the pre-show. Sumie Sakai will face Hana Kimura in a first round match, while Tenille Dashwood takes on Brandi Rhodes in a quarterfinal bout.
Join us for live coverage starting at 9 p.m. ET.
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SUMIE SAKAI VS. HANA KIMURA
Sakai advanced in the tournament with the win.
BRANDI RHODES VS. TENILLE DASHWOOD
Not much to this one. Rhodes faked a knee injury and poked Dashwood in the yes, then hit the crossroads but Dashwood kicked out. Rhodes missed the missile dropkick badly and Dashwood won with a running kick to advance in the tournament.
Bully Ray is giving a pep talk speech. He said this ain’t sports entertainment, it’s ROH. Says the guy who will be putting over sports entertainment big in a few weeks.
FLIP GORDON VS. HIROMU TAKAHASHI
Good match, but not the blow away match these two are capable of doing and probably will do at some point. It felt a litle too choreographed early on. Gordon went for a 450 but Takahashi got his knees up. Takahashi did a Death Valley bomb into the corner and won with the time bomb.
MARTY SCRULL VS. PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ
Good match. Martinez did three dives, hitting a springboard flip dive, then doing a dive over the corner onto Scurll and several security guards. The third was Martijez going for a flip dive but Scurll moved and Martinez went through a table. All action, Scurll won when he pulled out a bag and faked throwing powder and when Martinez went to protect his eyes, Scurll kicked him low for the pin.
KENNY KING VS. SILAS YOUNG FOR THE TV TITLE
A solid match. About what you’d expect. The story was that Young hit mizery but ref Todd Sinclair was knocked down while he did the move. By the time Sinclair recovered, King was able to kick out. King came back to win with the Royal flush.
Austin Aries came out with a ton of belts. Aries said he’s been going all over the world collecting belts. He said he’s also won belts in ROH but the one belt he’s never won is the TV title. Aries said you’ve got something on your shoulder I want and said the belt collector never gets tired of winning belts. In other words, Impact and ROH are working together.
YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM PAGE VS. SCORPIO SKY & CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN IN A STREET FIGHT FOR THE TRIOS TITLES
This was complete insanity. A million crazy spots. SoCal Uncensored won the titles when Page was zip tied to the post, Matt’s back went out whe he tried to set up the Meltzer driver. Sky used the diamond cutter on Matt and put him in the dragon sleeper. Then he started choking Matt with a kendo stick while Kazarian put Matt in the Boston crab and he tapped out for the title change. Highlights were never ending including Matt coming off the top of a ladder with an elbow drop on Kazarian through a table. Kazarian was bleeding heavily. There was a belt used with nails on it. Shane Taylor interfered after Nick did a 450 on Sky onto a garbage can but Taylor pulled the ref out of the ring. Page laid out Taylor with a rites of passage which included Nick doing a springboard spike on him. The match opened with the Bucks doing a double dive. Page did a moonsault off the apron. Daniels took a backdrop over the top rope onto a barricade bridge. Just a nonstop series of big moves.
Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan beat up the Bucks after the match and laid them out. Bully Ray ran in.
CODY VS. MATT TAVEN
Good match. Cody survived a crossroads by Taven and his climax (the one percenter) but kicked out of both. There was a ref bump and Marseglia and O’Ryan came out and held Cody. Taven kicked him low but Cody had a steel cup that he pulled out to show why he wasn’t selling it. Bully Ray chased Marseglia and O’Ryan away. Cody hit the crossroads for the pin. Cody got his ring back. Both guys did dives and worked at a fast pace. Lots of big moves. It was tough following the previous match but came off pretty well.
After the match, Bury The Bear, who was at ringside cheering Cody on, unmasked and it was Kenny Omega and he hit the V trigger on Cody. The place went wild for that, Brandi yelled at Oemga and was alapping him around. Brandi then kissed Omega. She said that Ibushi couldn’t do that. Omega was all confused.
They didn’t announce it on the air, but should have, but Omega will be at the ROH TV tapings tomorrow in Las Vegas.
CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE FOR THE TAG TITLES
This match was great. It was really hard to follow the Omega angle so it was hard to get the crowd. But Sabin was on fire tonight. Mark bled badly from being thrown into the post. Again nonstop big moves. Lots of near falls including Sabin using the cradle shock. Sabin kicked out of the Jay driller but Jay pinned Sabin next after a doomsday device for the title change.
DALTON CASTLE VS. JAY LETHAL FOR ROH TITLE
Great main event. Castle went for a bangarang, but Lethal escaped and cradled him but Castle broke out of it and hti the bangarang for the pin to keep the title. Lethal did a great job , working on the leg. Castle did cool suplexes including a German suplex off the apron to the floor. Lethal hit the Lethal injection in the middle but Caslte kicked out. Lethal did two tope’s at one point and then a third later in the match took out ring announcer Bobby Cruise when Castle moved and Cruise hit his head on the barricade. .
They shook hands. Marty Scurll came on to challenge Castle for the title as the show went off the air.
The first IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion will be crowned as New Japan Pro Wrestling hosts another G1 Special in Long Beach, California tonight.
The semifinals and finals of the US title tournament will take place on the show. After their wins last night, Kenny Omega and Jay Lethal will face off on one side of the bracket, with Tomohiro Ishii and Zack Sabre Jr. squaring off on the opposite side. Whoever wins those matches will meet in the finals.
Also on the show, two more titles will be up for grabs. In an unusual matchup, Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Billy Gunn. And The Young Bucks will put their IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship on the line against Roppongi Vice.
Multi-man tags highlight the rest of the card, including Cody Rhodes, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll teaming against Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes.
The show will be available to watch live on New Japan World in the United States and everywhere else where the service is available. Our coverage begins when the event starts at 8 p.m. ET.
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Jushin “Thunder” Lyger, Kushida and David Finlay vs Yoshitatsu and The Tempura Boys (Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu)
Fun opener. Crowd HATED Yoshitatsu. At the start of the match, all six guys climbed the ropes to get crowd reactions and they loved Liger’s team and hated Yoshitatsu’s. They got the ref to go up and the crowd loved him to. JR, at one point, called Komatsu and Tanaka the “Teriyaki Boys”….woops.
Tempura Boys did most of the work for their team but Yoshitatsu looked okay in his limited time in there. Liger had a long heat spot and then made his own comeback on all 3 opponents. Then everyone got a chance to do their stuff before Finlay locked on a stretch muffler on Yoshitatsu. Tempura Boys ran in and Liger put a surfboard on one of them and Kushida the Hoverboard lock and Yoshitatsu tapped to give Finlay and his team the win.
WINNERS – LIGER, KUSHIDA AND FINLAY (Yoshitatsu submitted to Finlay 9:00)
US Title Tourney – Semifinal round:
Kenny Omega vs Jay Lethal
Omega got past Michael Elgin to advance in a really good match last night while Lethal won over Hangman Page to earn his spot in the semifinals.
Great match. Story was Lethal had damaged ribs coming into last night’s show and it got worse after the Page match.
Lethal had his moments and even briefly turned the crowd after three superkicks and a Lethal Injections looked like it might get him an early pin but Omega rolled out of the ring before Lethal hit his 3 running dives.
Duelling crowd chants through a lot of the match but they were solidly behind Omega at the end. Omega really worked over the rips in the latter part of the match . Lethal then hit a Blue Thunder Bomb out of nowhere but couldn’t cover because he hurt his ribs again.
Finishing sequence saw Omega with Lethal up for an electric chair. Lethal reversed it into a Tombstone piledriver but before he could hit it, Omega reversed that and hit the One Winged Angel for the pin
WINNER – KENNY OMEGA by pinfall in 13:00
US Title Tourney – Semifinal round:
Zach Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii upset Tetsuya Naito to book his spot in the semis while Zach Sabre Jr submitted Juice Robinson to advance.
Best match of the tourney so far. Sabre was working submissions almost the whole match, while Ishii would struggle to get out and usually power out with headbutts.
Key spot in the match was about ten minutes in when Sabre Jr had a combination triangle and Kimura lock. Ishii was struggling for the ropes and Sabre Jr kept grabbing limbs. Crowd exploded when Ishii finally made the ropes.
Sabre Jr started to get cocky and throwing more strikes. Ishii was begging him on. Sabre Jr hit a penalty kick but then was hit by lariat by Ishii. Ishii finished it with a brainbuster to advance.
WINNER – TOMOHIRO ISHII by pinfall in 12:00
Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Voldar Jr and Titan vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Seiya Sanada, EVIL, Bushi and Tetsuya Naito)
Crazy lucha match with a ton of moves and not much psychology but real good if you like this sort of thing.
Duelling LUCHA LIBRE/LIJ chants which got louder and louder for LIJ. Volador Jr wrestled with his mask for this one.
Highlights included:
– a springboard dive to the outside by Volador onto Tanashi and Bushi
– Juice running wild on all 5 members of LIJ including a Double A spinebuster on EVIL and a cannonball on Naito
– Dragon Lee and Tanashi slapping the hell out of each for over a minute which the crowd loved.
Jay White and Bushi worked most of the last two minutes of the match. Bushi hit a missile dropkick and then a Spinarooni. White then hit a Rock Bottom and a Flatliner on Bushi to get the pin for his team.
WINNERS – DRAGON LEE, JAY WHITE, JUICE ROBINSON, VOLADOR JR AND TITAN when White pinned Bushi in 13 minutes
The Bullet Club – Guerillas of Destiny (Tanga Roa and Tama Tongo) and Hangman Page (w/Haku and Chase Owens) vs War Machine (Ray Rowe/Hansen) and Michael Elgin
Not sure if JR used this word at all during the match but this was a slobberknocker if you’ve ever seen.
Elgin and Page started off with Page trying to show that he could hang with Elgin in the strength department to no avail.
After a few minutes of Elgin and War Machine overpowering all three of their opponents, eventually Hansen was stuck in there for awhile while GOD and Page tagged in an out.
Hansen made his own comeback before GOD double teamed all three opponents separately. Rowe was back in by himself and got more or less out of nowhere by Hangman Page, who hit him with the Page Turner for the win. Finish came off really flat as no one was expecting it.
WINNERS – BULLET CLUB when Hangman Page pinned Ray Row in 11 minutes.
They made an announcement after this match that NJPW would return to the US in 2018. Obviously that was going to happen.
Long intermission with nothing but crowd shots and generic rock music in the background. While I have moment, my condolences to Dave Meltzer and his family on the loss of his father today. My thoughts and prayers are with you, Dave.
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match –
Champions The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs Rappongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta)
Incredible match. Matt spent the whole match trying to get a Sharpshooter and it eventually played into the finish.
I counted 16 superkicks by the Bucks, which is probably about average for one of their matches.
First sick spot of the match was Nick hitting a superkick on Trent, who was being held by Matt on the apron. Matt then hit a running power bomb on the ramp on Trent, who was out for awhile.
Bucks doubleteamed Rocky for a long time and eventually the pro-Bucks crowd was chanting for him. Trent eventually got in and ran wild on the Bucks.
Trent and Nick were in together for awhile. Trent hit a tornado DDT on Nick. Eventually Bucks took over and Matt powerbomed Rocky onto Trent’s back in a sick spot.
Bucks hit a Meltzer driver off the top turnbuckle onto Rocky after Matt caught him doing a dive outside the ring. It only got two but the crowd erupted in a MELTZER chant and JR and Barnett sent condolences to Dave in a nice touch.
Back in the ring and the Bucks eventually hit another Meltzer driver, sending it out to Dave and then both Bucks put both members of Rappongi Vice in Sharpshooters to get the pin.
WINNERS – THE YOUNG BUCKS by submission when both Bucks submitted both Vice members in 22 minutes
After the match, Ricochet did a run-in and lait out both Bucks, challenging them to a Jr tag title match against he and Taguchi.
Rocky Romero did a promo, basically breaking up the team and sending Trent on his own into the heavyweight division.
Bullet Club (Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale and Cody) w/Brandi Rhodes vs Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) w/Gedo
Cody got his own entrance from the rest of the BC. Fale was wearing a shirt that said “Make Jobbers Great Again”. That was awesome.
Surprisingly this match was mostly comedy. Mark Briscoe and Marty Scurll opened, doing their crow and crane stuff and the crowd ate it up. Then came a sequence where for five minutes, no one locked up with anyone as people were just tagging in and out while the crowd was eating it right up, telling everyone who to tag to.
Eventually they got to wrestling and Okada and Fale were in a few minutes against each other. While Okada was down, Fale tagged in Cody and they went at it for a bit with neither guy really getting the advantage.
Ospreay started to run wild, doing a bunch of different flying moves on Cody and Yujiro and while Ospreay was coming off the top rope, Cody caught him with a disaster kick in mid-air and then hit the Crossroads for the win. Cody grabbed the world title belt and held it up, which the crowd hated.
WINNERS – BULLET CLUB by pinfall when Cody pinned Will Ospreay in 17 minutes
IWGP IC Title match –
Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Billy Gunn
Despite the opinion of a lot of people on my Twitter feed, this was better than it had any right to be. Tanahashi was in control early, doing mostly ground work after headlock takedowns.
Gunn took over with a Flatliner and started working over the injured arm of Tanahashi. He looked pretty bad when he would run the ropes but other than that, he was methodical and it was fine.
There was a spot where Tanahashi pulled down Gunn’s tights and he had another pair of trunks on underneath that were neon. Then Gunn pulled down Tanahashi’s trunks and we got a full moon.
Gunn hit a One and Only and got a near fall. Tanahashi hit a neckbreaker and went for the High Fly Flow but Gunn rolled out.
Gunn hit a Famouser and the crowd totally bought it as a finish but Tanahashi kicked out. Tanahashi then hit a sling blade and the High Fly Flow to win.
WINNER – HIROSHI TANAHASHI by pinfall in 14 minutes
Main event for the inaugral IWGP United States Championship –
Kenny Omega w/The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs Tomohiro Ishii
Another incredible match, at least 4 3/4 stars in my book. They started out doing strong style right out of the gate with Omega holding his own against Ishii.
Ishii actually took control after a suplex and Omega rolled out of the ring. They brawled out into the crowd and were out there for a long time with the ref not even counting.
When they came back to ringside Ishii hit a suplex on the matts but Omega landed on his feet. Omega then hit one and Ishii landed right on his head.
When they went back in, the Bucks set up a table on the outside. They fought for a long time just over the table with Ishii continually blocking an attempt by Omega to suplex him through it. At one point, he even bit the top rope to block it. Omega finally hit the suplex and they both went through the table.
Back in the ring and they did more strong style stuff. Omega had his first attempt at the One Winged Angel but Ishii reversed into a DDT. 25 minutes in they were trading hard chops and the place was coming unglued.
Omega hit a high knee but Ishii blocked another with a headbutt. Omega hit another high knee and then Ishii hit a lariat out of nowhere.
Ishii hit a One Winged Angel of his own but Omega kicked out at two. Amazing finishing sequence as Omega hit a neckbreaker and a running knee. Ishii kicked out at one. Omega hit a reverse Frankensteiner and then another jumping knee and then hit the One Winged Angel for the pin.
WINNER AND FIRST EVER IWGP US CHAMPION – KENNY OMEGA by pinfall in 32 minutes
Cody grabbed the belt from Omega and they teased dissension but eventually they embraced. Omega cut a total babyface promo saying it’s been a tough year but they’ve done what they set out to do and took New Japan to a new level.
Following the completion of last night’s show, New Japan Pro Wrestling has revealed the full card for G1 Special night two.
The complete lineup couldn’t be announced until the first round of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament took place. The semifinals will see Kenny Omega face Jay Lethal and Tomohiro Ishii square off with Zack Sabre Jr. Whoever wins those will go on to the finals, with the inaugural champion being crowned in the main event.
Those who lost in the first round of the tournament are involved in multi-man tag matches on night two. Kazuchika Okada and Cody Rhodes will also be on opposite sides in an eight-man tag after their title match last night, with Okada teaming with The Briscoes & Will Ospreay against Cody, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll.
Two title matches that were known about in advance will take place on the show as well. Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Billy Gunn and The Young Bucks will put their junior tag titles on the line against Roppongi Vice.
Tonight’s show will air live on New Japan World (with English commentary available) everywhere in the world. It will then be shown on AXS TV on Friday. The full card is:
The finals of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Billy Gunn
Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes vs. Cody, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against Roppongi Vice
Michael Elgin & War Machine vs. Hangman Page & Guerrillas of Destiny
Juice Robinson, Jay White, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in an IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match
Kenny Omega vs. Jay Lethal in an IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match
KUSHIDA, Jushin Thunder Liger & David Finlay vs. Yoshitatsu & The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu)
The stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor collide as War of the Worlds takes place tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
The main event will feature a three-way bout for the ROH World title as Christopher Daniels defends against both Cody and Jay Lethal. With Lethal scoring a big win over Cody recently at Supercard of Honor it would seem like he has the most momentum going in, but Daniels and Cody have also scored big victories as of late.
Other title matches include Marty Scurll defending the ROH TV title against Matt Sydal, The Young Bucks defending their ROH tag team titles against Los Ingobernables de Japon members BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito, and Chaos representatives Roppongi Vice & Hirooki Goto challenging Bully Ray & The Briscoes for the ROH six-man titles.
Highlights from the rest of the card include Adam Cole facing Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay White squaring off against Will Ospreay, and a three-way tag featuring EVIL & SANADA facing Chris Sabin & Jonathan Gresham and War Machine.
Join us for live coverage starting at 9 p.m. ET.
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They just announced the creation of an IWGP United States heavyweight title which will be decided in a tournament on 7/1 and 7/2 in Long Beach.
KUSHIDA VS. BOBBY FISH VS. DALTON CASTLE VS. SILAS YOUNG
This was a fast match with everyone doing big moves and being broken up. Kushida and Castle were the most over. Castle pinned Fish clean after the bang-a-rang.
FRANKIE KAZARIAN VS. HANGMAN PAGE
Another rushed match. Kazarian went for a sunset flip out of the corner but Page blocked it and held the ropes and got the pin. The match was hot while it lasted. There was a spot where Page spit in Kazarian’s face, Kazarian spit back, Page blew his nose on Kazarian, Kazarian spit in Page’s mouth, but actually go ton his chin and Page then grabbed the spit and ate it. Kazarian alsodid a dive and a slingshot into a diamond cutter.
WAR MACHINE VS. CHRIS SABIN & JONATHAN GRESHAM VS. EVIL & SEIYA SANADA
This was another very good but rushed match. Really it was great while it lasted. Hanson powerslammed Sabin and did a tope on four guys and then Rowe pinned Sabin. Lots of dives. Rowe did a belly to belly overhead on Sabin & Gresham at the same time. Sanada is one of the most talented guys around. Everyone looked good here. Evil did the chair around the head and chair shot on Hanson.
WILL OSPREAY VS. JAY WHITE
This was one of the best mathes in North Ameria so far this year. Ospreay got the win after a springboard shooting star press to the floor and an Oscutter. Both got on their kneees and showed repect for each other. Fans gave them a few standing ovations. There was so much insanity here including Ospreay doing a space flying Tiger drop but White caught him and gave him a brainbuster on the apron. There were so many big spots you can’t even list them all but it was prefect timing, super hot crowd once they were about 8:00 or so in when the crowd realized how special this match was.
After the match Punishment Maritenz, gave Ospreay a kick and then choke slammed White. This was a good way to do this because people loved that match so much and how much they gave tghat it got Martinez real heat for attacking both. Martinez lost to White in Hopkins, MN so that was the reason.
BULLY RAY & BRISCOES VS. HIROOKI GOTO & ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA FOR THE ROH SIX MAN TITLES
Another really good match. This was no DQ and there were early dives byt he Briscoes. Lots of chair shots to the head, not brutal, but way too many and needless. Super fast paced. Bully was super over. The finish saw Bully power bomb Baretta off the middle ropes through a table after the Briscoes got the tables. The Briscoes then worked with Bully to do a 3D on Romero and got the pin. Bully and Goto did the Japanese trading of elbows in the middle in between all the chair shots that Mark and Baretta were taking. Baretta also did a great dive and Mark did a moonsault tothe floor, a blockbuster off the apron and elbow off the apron among his spots. .
MARTY SCURLL VS. MATT SYDAL FOR TV TITLE
Another very good match. It was tough coming off those last two matches. Sydal did some cool huracanranas standing and jumping on the top rope and another coming off a suplex by Scurll. Of course Scurll’s big spot was the finger break. The finish saw Sydal go for the shooting star press, but Scurll go this knees up and then got the chicken wing for the submission.
YOUNG BUCKS VS. TETSUYA NAITO & BUSHI FOR TAG TITLES.
Another very good match. It wasn’t as long as most Bucks title matches but all action. Bushi blew mist in Matt’s eyes but he superkicked Naito, Bushi, Nick and the ref. Naito did most of his stuff. He did the destino on Matt but Nick saved with a swanton. The finish saw Nick take out Naito with a springboard flip dive and they pinned Bushi with the Meltzer driver.
They talked about the U.S. title tournament and announced Jay Lethal as the first entrant. Hangman Page confornted him so he’ll be in as well.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. ADAM COLE
They pushed this as one of the best champions in ROH history against the best champion in New Japan. Colt Cabana teased Cole leaving saying that Tanahashi was Cole’s dream match and maybe he’ll go somewhere else. They had a very good match, not the level of almost any Tanahashi match,but still good. The crowd was really into it and they did a good enough match but not a great match. Tanahashi won with a high fly flow.. .
The Bucks came out and teased superkickcing him but isead hugged him. They called this the curtain call. The lights then went out. Kenny Omega was on the screen. Omega made fun of the curtain call. Omega said he was disappointed at the Young Bucks. The same man who tired to fire you is being showered with adulation. Omega said to Cole that your tenure in Bullet Club and pro wreslting has been long and storied. In every fairy tail there has to be a hero and haves to be a villain. Omega was with Scurll. Omega fired him and they teased Scurll replacing him in Bullet Club. The lights went on and Scurll was in the ring with a Bullet Club umbrella. The Young Bucks then superkicked Cole and Scurll had a Bullet Club t-shirt. Scurll nailed Cole with a hard umbbrella shot and the Bucks both kissed Cole. They talked about how Cole poisoned Nick whcih was a storyline on Being the Elite.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS VS. CODY VS. JAY LETHAL FOR ROH TITLE
Daniels retained the title. Cody had Lethal in the figure four and Daniels did the best moonsault ever on Cody and pinned him. Daniels had been taken out a minute earlier when Daniels knoked daneils off the apron through a table. Rhodes kicked out of the Lethal injection and then Lethal kicked out of crossroads. Lethal did a tope early where he hurt his knee but until very late when Rhodes used the figure our, and one dragon screw, nobody really worked on the knee. They pushed the idea that Daniels outsmarted everyone enroute to winnning. Shorter than most world title matches and it was fine. Really nothing on this show could touch with Ospreay match. They ended right at the three hour mark so to get all these matches on the show they had to rush everything.
They announced the next PPV for 6-23 in Lowell, A.
Ring of Honor television from this past week featured a four corner survival match that set up the main event title bout for the War of the Worlds pay-per-view.
Also on the show, the former Spirit Squad encountered a Superkick Party hosted by The Young Bucks. Meanwhile, Matt Sydal returned to an ROH ring for a match, while The Kingdom also got to shine in a tag match.
Where to Watch —
The episode is currently available via the official ROH website to watch for free until a new episode is uploaded next Thursday. A new episode begins airing this weekend in syndication so check local listings for availability in your area.
That new episode streams on the FITE TV app starting Monday evening before it airs on Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including that channel’s free online live stream.
Show Recap —
The episode opened with highlights from a previous show, showing the setup to the four corner survival match for later on this episode.
On commentary, both Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are beginning to find a groove in their roles at the announce desk.
The Kingdom defeated Coast to Coast
The injured TK O’Ryan was at ringside in the corner of The Kingdom. He distracted Coast to Coast at the outset so the heels could attack. Coast to Coast countered and both Shaheem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni did dives to the outside.
After a commercial break, The Kingdom regrouped to dominate until a hot tag to St. Giovanni. Coast to Coast went for their namesake finisher, but The Kingdom cut them off to set up a finisher of their own.
Matt Taven held up the referee’s count. He then executed the Angel’s Wings, the finisher of ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels. The mocking of Daniels is part of a build to Taven challenging for the title on an upcoming show in Dearborn, Michigan.
In the next segment, The Young Bucks strolled to the ring for a promo where they briefly talked about Adam Cole trying to fire them from the Bullet Club. They were still wearing their Superkliq t-shirts, though. Nick and Matt Jackson went on to sarcastically make challenges to tag teams such as Demolition and the likes of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, along with Billy & Chuck. They also got a dig in on The Revival.
All of a sudden, Mikey Mondo and Kenny Dykstra interrupted them to make a challenge of their own to the ROH World Tag Team Champions. The team formerly known as The Spirit Squad rushed into the ring to meet a Superkick Party. The Young Bucks laid them out with superkicks to set up a match on a future episode.
Matt Sydal defeated Flip Gordon
This was a babyface match with not just a lot of kicks, but all kinds of kicks. There were leg kicks, kicks to the knee, spinning heel kicks, Pele kicks, and this is beginning to sound like Bubba telling Forrest Gump about all the different kinds of shrimp.
Anyway, they had a good match enough for what it was. Sydal makes it look so easy. Gordon got to shine some, yet the focus was on Sydal. He went for a shooting star press, but Gordon countered with a springboard kick for a near fall in the closing moments. For the finish, Gordon charged towards Sydal only to eat a kick. Sydal then climbed up top to execute a shooting star press for the pinfall.
Afterwards, ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll tried for a sneak attack on Sydal. Scurll tried to apply a chicken wing, but Sydal escaped to land a kick. Scurll took a powder as the build continues to the two in a TV title match at War of the Worlds.
Ian Riccaboni was supposed to interview Adam Cole. Instead, Cole dismissed Riccaboni to begin “story time with Adam Cole bay-bay.” Cole went on to deny that he tried to fire The Young Bucks as members of Bullet Club. Cole thinks the group is stronger than ever now. In trying to prove his point, Cole said he and Cody will face Dalton Castle and Christopher Daniels in a tag match next week.
A video package highlighted the start of a program between Daniels and Cody. Daniels then joined the announcers to provide guest commentary for the main event.
Jay Lethal won a four corner survival match to earn an ROH World title shot
Besides Lethal, the other three participants were Silas Young, Adam Page, and Jay White. Lethal pinned Young to win. With all four in the ring with tornado rules, it began with a melee. The match continued as such before eventually settling down in spots only for the action to pick up again.
In the continuing effort to elevate Young, he looked strong even if he dropped the deciding fall. Lethal was the person that looked the strongest by the end, with him pinning Young after a Lethal Combination at the finish. That set up him being added to a three-way match for the World title at the next PPV.
After the match, Cody appeared and glared at Lethal while Cody wore a Daniels T-shirt. The champion, Daniels, appeared on stage to hold the belt up and pose in spite of Cody and Lethal. All three had a staredown as the show closed.
Ring of Honor announced today the updated main event for the May 12th War of the Worlds pay-per-view from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
Cody challenging for the ROH World Championship in a triple threat match had originally been announced as the main event, with him set to face whoever is champion after Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Taven for the title in Dearborn, Michigan on May 10th and the winner of a four-way that was taped last month. After that match aired on television, ROH announced that Jay Lethal was officially added to the triple threat at the PPV.
Lethal defeated Jay White, Silas Young, and Hangman Page in the four-way.
At War of the Worlds in New York, White will face Will Ospreay while Page will face Frankie Kazarian. No match has been announced for Young.
Lethal being in the match plays off of the feud that he’s had with Cody in ROH. Lethal previously defeated Cody in a Texas bullrope match in Florida over WrestleMania weekend.
Both intentionally and unintentionally, Ring of Honor television from this past week summoned the spirit of World Championship Wrestling with the first in a series of episodes taped at Center Stage Theater in Atlanta. That same venue for years hosted countless tapings for WCW Saturday Night.
Marketed with the tagline “Saturday Night at Center Stage,” the tapings in Atlanta were the first episodes taped in 2017 for ROH. The vibe of the episode almost felt like a heated episode of WCW Saturday Night.
For a time in the early 1990s, WCW would plug their major house shows at the Omni in Atlanta even though the matches would rarely air on TV. From this taping at a former home of WCW, ROH did the same on this episode. Plugs on TV kept pushing the house shows in Texas this weekend, even though those dates are not televised (aside from online VOD viewing later on).
Also similar to WCW in that a broadcasting company owned the wrestling promotion, ROH continues to improve the production of their TV shows even amid recent departures and uncertain futures for some personnel.
The audio of the crowd was very much improved on this show. That could also possibly be a product of the environment. The theater seating and intimacy of Center Stage allows for better acoustics than the usual flat floor seating arrangements of many ROH shows.
The episode from this past week opened with a video package recap highlighting the ROH World title match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in the Tokyo Dome. Adam Cole won the title by defeating Kyle O’Reilly. Footage of the match was mixed with a Cole promo boasting about himself being the first three-time ROH World Champion. Cole also indicated that was the end of his feud with O’Reilly.
The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yo) defeated Coast 2 Coast (Shaheem Ali & Leon St. Giovanni) and Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara in a three-way tag match
Still on excursion from New Japan, Yo and Sho look to be getting a small push on these tapings as the focus of this match was making the Tempura Boyz into contenders. Everybody got to shine in this match and it got wild despite being short on time.
Cheeseburger did a dive to the outside after springboarding off the top rope. Sho followed that with a flip dive to the floor. Giovanni then did a crazy 450 splash on a pile of bodies. With that, The Young Bucks appeared on stage as the show cut to commercial.
After the break, Nick and Matt Jackson were providing guest commentary alongside Kevin Kelly when they announced the winners of this match would get a shot at their ROH tag team titles.
Ali and Giovanni got their moment to shine as they hooked Ferrara in the tree-of-woe. They then delivered stereo missile dropkicks into the corner. In doing so, Giovanni leapt into his dropkick after springboarding off the top rope going “coast to coast” to the opposite corner, hence their tag team name.
Soon thereafter, Yo and Sho singled out Ali and executed their Shock and Awe finisher. Sho covered Ali for the pinfall.
Afterwards, The Young Bucks got in the ring to congratulate the Boyz. The Bucks offered them a title shot for the ROH World tag titles “next week.” As The Tempura Boyz high-fived each other, Nick and Matt superkicked them.
After the superkick party, the Bucks introduced Adam Cole and he sauntered to the ring for a promo. During “story time with Adam Cole, BAY BAY,” Cole ran down his list of potential challengers and dismissed them all.
When mentioning the Decade of Excellence tournament, it was notable that he failed to mention Christopher Daniels.
ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll defeated Juice Robinson to retain his title
Alex Shelley provided guest commentary. In the match itself, Scurll and Robinson began by having exchanges to showcase their technical wrestling abilities. When the action spilled outside of the ring, Scurll dropped Robinson with a soccer kick as the show went to a commercial break.
After that break, Robinson had the advantage as he jumped off the top rope with a flying headbutt for a near fall. Robinson followed with a few more near falls. Scurll cut him off and hoisted Robinson for a brainbuster.
Robinson made a comeback and got another near fall with a falling powerbomb after he blocked Scurll from applying his submission finisher. Robinson rolled through when Scurll gave him a superplex, and Robinson cradled Scurll for a near fall. Moments later as they battled on the floor, Scurll moved out of the way as Robinson cannonballed into a guardrail.
Back in the ring, Scurll used a piledriver, and Robinson kicked out. Scurll hushed the crowd so they could listen as he snapped the fingers of Robinson. Still, Robinson fought back. As he went for his Pulp Friction finisher, Scurll countered and trapped Robinson with a crossface chicken wing. Robinson tapped out and Scurll retained via submission.
Following the match, Scurll got the house mic to cut a promo about wanting more competition. Scurll said he was declaring an open challenge. Chris Sabin led a group on stage that included Jay White, Jonathan Gresham, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak. They all glared at Scurll.
After a commercial break, Kevin Kelly conducted an interview with all the prospective challengers that Sabin led out. They will have a six-person match on the next episode to determine a challenger for the TV title.
Jay Lethal defeated Jay Briscoe to advance in the Decade of Excellence tournament
In the rotating guest commentator role, Frankie Kazarian was in the announce booth for color commentary on this match. As the match began, Adam Cole appeared on the stage and would eventually also provide guest commentary at ringside.
Early on, Briscoe hit a Jay Driller and Lethal kicked out. During the match, Kevin Kelly noted that Lethal was like kryptonite to Briscoe, in that Jay had rarely ever beaten the other Jay. That played into the story of the match with Briscoe finally overcoming a Lethal obstacle.
Briscoe definitely got his licks in, and he dove outside with a tope suicida at one point. From there, Briscoe dominated on offense for a while. Lethal cut him off and dropped Briscoe with a Diamond Cutter. Lethal followed that with a Lethal Combination for a two count. Briscoe also kicked out of a couple more near falls.
Lethal countered an attempted superplex to knock Briscoe off the top rope, setting up Lethal jumping off the top attempting Hail to the King. Briscoe put a boot up to block it only for Lethal to land on his feet, grab Briscoe’s boot, and apply a figure four.
In the closing moments, Briscoe kept going for his finisher and Lethal would counter. Briscoe also countered a Lethal Injection as they traded moves. Briscoe finally delivered a roaring elbow and a lariat to cover Lethal for the pinfall.
Briscoe and Lethal shook hands afterwards as Cole stared them down. Cole said on commentary that he figured Briscoe would win the tournament. Or will he? Find out in the coming weeks on ROH TV.
On the next episode of ROH TV, a six-man scramble match to determine a number one contender for the World TV title. Plus, The Young Bucks defend the World tag team titles against The Tempura Boyz.
The latest episode begins airing this weekend in syndication. The show is then available Monday evening via the FITE TV app before airing on Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including that channel’s online live stream. The episode is then available to watch on Thursday via the official ROH website.
One of the last major shows before the Toyko Dome, New Japan’s Power Struggle tonight will not only feature big title matches, but will also provide a clearer picture of what will go down on January 4th at WrestleKingdom 11.
Headlining the show will be Intercontinental champion Tetsuya Naito defending his title against Ring of Honor’s Jay Lethal, who had a loose affiliation with Los Ingobernables de Japon until they turned on him a few weeks ago.
Other title matches include heavyweight tag team champions Guerillas of Destiny defending against YOSHI-HASHI and Tomohiro Ishii, IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion BUSHI defending against former champion KUSHIDA, Katsyuori Shibata defends his NEVER Openweight championship against EVIL and in the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, ACH and Taiji Ishimori battle Roppongi Vice.
We’ll also see what the “time bomb” is after months of hype on New Japan shows, featuring international flags and locations.
Our live coverage kicks off at 4 a.m. ET.
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Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Ricochet & David Finlay defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Angel de Oro & Titan & Fuego
Solid opener. Not too much to it, but lots of good action and everyone looked good in their roles. Fuego has such natural charisma it’s really quite astonishing, though that should be a surprise to no one. Ricochet hit a shooting star press that allowed the legal man (Finlay) to pick up the win for their team. Everyone raised each other’s hands after the match.
Solid match. Obviously the best match Bone Soldier and Yoshitatsu have had all tour, which isn’t saying much at all as they’ve been vying for worst feud of the year thus far. Yujiro had a really long entrance, full of scantily clad women.
A lot of the match was Owens and Yujiro exchanging blows with Honma and Makabe. Yoshitatsu and Bone Soldier were in for a bit and did their best wrestling up to this point in their feud. Yoshitatsu was going for the pedigree but Owens superkicked him, Bone Soldier hit a full nelson slam and Yujiro pinned him with the pimp juice DDT.
Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa defeated YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii to retain the IWGP tag team titles
This was an excellent match ,one of the best GoD has had since becoming a team and probably one of the best heavyweight tag team bouts of the year in New Japan. Terrific heat and psychology throughout, definitely a must watch.
GoD worked on YOSHI-HASHI for heat. Roa looked so out of place at times early in the match. Tama Tonga and Ishii had a great exchange. YOSHI-HASHI hit the senton but Tonga kicked out. Really hot exchanges here as everyone took out one another. GoD hit double headbutts but Ishii broke up the pin. GoD isolated YOSHI-HASHI and hit Guerilla Warfare but YOSHI-HASHI kicked out. Another great series of exchanges between YOSHI-HASHI and Tama Tonga led to YOSHI-HASHI going for Karma but Tonga countered with the gun stun then both members of GoD hit Guerilla Warfare for the win.
They aired a vignette for the Super Junior tag team finals, highlighting ACH and Ishimori’s rise to the finals, along with Roppongi Vice. They also highlighted the recent tension between Rocky Romero and Baretta.
Rocky Romero & Baretta defeated ACH & Taiji Ishimori in the finals of New Japan Jr. tag team tournament
Pretty good match. ACH and Ishimori shone a lot in some big spots during this match, but RPG Vice more than held their own. RPG Vice again teased some dissention early, but they set aside their differences and worked together throughout the match. RPG Vice were in control until Ishimori dodged a legdrop from the top rope and made a big comeback. They did some really cool stuff – ACH hit a twisting corkscrew to the floor and Ishimori hit a moonsault while carrying Romero from the top rope. RPG Vice made a brief comeback but ACH and Ishimori came back and hit their stereo 450 splashes…only for both of RPG Vice to get their knees up.Baretta had ACH in the dudebuster. ACH tried to escape but Romero came back and hit their dudebuster/dropkick combo for the win.
RPG Vice cut a promo after the match, with Romero challenging the Young Bucks. They came out and stared RPG Vice down, seemingly accepting their challenge. I was more than halfway expecting two other teams to somehow come down and make their case so we could have another four way.
KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title
Pretty good match. I’m not sure about BUSHI as a championship level competitor, as I find his offense kind of boring at times, but KUSHIDA helped make this a pretty good match.
Started out as a brawl early, with KUSHIDA piledriving BUSHI on the outside. BUSHI came back and used his shirt to choke out KUSHIDA. Standard back and forth from here. KUSHIDA tried for the armbar but BUSHI made it to the ropes. BUSHI hit the MX codebreaker but KUSHIDA kicked out. KUSHIDA dodged a second MX and started ripping on BUSHI’s mask like a true rudo. KUSHIDA hit a codebreaker of his own with a cradle but BUSHI found a way to kick out. KUSHIDA worked for the kimura lock and got it. BUSHI tried to make to the ropes, but KUSHIDA managed to roll back to the center of the ring twice, leading BUSHI to tap out with no other alternative.
The time bomb then started to count down, and when it came for the big reveal…it was none other than Kamaitachi, back to using his real name of Hiromu Takahashi. He cut a promo, licking the IWGP Jr. title. Well that’s new. He called out KUSHIDA for the Tokyo Dome. The new champion seemed to agree, so there is your Jr. title match set.
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega & Adam Cole defeated Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Hirooki Goto and Will Ospreay
Pretty good eight man tag. Everyone came and looked good. Ospreay is excellent in these matches as he does all sorts of crazy spots whenever he’s in. Came down to Goto and Cole. Goto laid out Cole with the ushigiroshi and both tagged in Okada and Omega. Bucks used the hairspray to distract Okada and Goto. Bullet Club somehow isolated Gedo and hit a quadruple superkick, sending him back to the floor. Okada and Omega were left at it. Omega hit a knee strike then the One Winged Angel and pinned Okada clean in the middle.
EVIL defeated Katsuyori Shibata for NEVER Openweight title
Really good match, about as stiff as you’d expect with some really intense spots near the end. EVIL focused on Shibata’s arm early, wrapping it with a chair and posting it on the outside. They fought a hard back and forth contest. EVIL went for the STO but Shibata countered into one of his own. Some really hard slaps and elbows from Shibata. Shibata puts in the sleeper as EVIL tries to break free but Shibata counters into a sleeper suplex in a really cool spot. EVIL comes back, puts a chair on Shibata and smacks him with another chair. One STO later and that is all for Shibata, as EVIL wins the NEVER championship.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated SANADA
Great match. Tanahashi really knows how to have a great match and this one was no different. SANADA has star potential written all over him and not only held his own, but came off as a great prospect for the future in this match.
There was one cool spot early where SANADA went to the outside, Tanahashi held the ropes open for him and instead SANADA leaped over the top rope. Pretty good back and forth match. At one point Tanahashi gave him a sling blad on the apron. SANADA floated over a suplex attempt but landed funny on his knee. He locked in the skull end. Tanahashi fought back and went for the high fly flow but Sanada got the knees up. They did some great near falls and counters. Sanada went for the skull end again but Tanahashi fought back. Tanahashi hit the dragon suplex, then two high fly flows and got the win.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay Lethal to retain the Intercontinental title
Crowd is super into Naito, so it feels like just on his name alone the building sold out anyway. Goes to show how far Naito and his crew have gone up in popularity over the last year. This was a pretty good match, but for most of it never got to a real high main event esque level – just solid work throughout. Lethal started to gain momentum after an apron spot and hit and elbow. Channeling Elgin, he hit a buckle bomb then the Elgin bomb but Naito kicked out. Lethal Injection attempt but Natio made a comeback. Lethal blocked Destino and went for the Lethal Injection once again but Naito blocked it and hit Destino to retain the title.
After the match, Tanahashi came out to challenge, doing a promo. Naito seemed to agree, so there is your IC title match for WrestleKingdom. Naito closed out the show with his Los Ingobernables catchphrase.
Really good show overall. Not a bad match on the card, with some really great matches in the midcard. Check out the Heavyweight tag team title match as I thought that was the best match on the show, with EVIL/Shibata and Tanahashi/SANADA not too far away from that.
After fracturing his orbital bone at NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling show earlier this week, Michael Elgin is officially out of his scheduled Power Struggle main event match next month.
Elgin was scheduled to challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the November 5th show, but the eye injury has forced him out of action for the time being. Jay Lethal will replace Elgin and challenge Naito for the championship. The two met recently at Ring of Honor’s All Star Extravaganza VIII pay-per-view, where Lethal got the win over Naito.
Before he was officially pulled from the match, Elgin posted a video update on his condition and confirmed that he would be staying in Japan and undergoing surgery for the injury.
The current card for Power Struggle is:
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA
NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata defending against EVIL
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion BUSHI defending against KUSHIDA
IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas of Destiny defending against YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii
