ROH announced a number of changes prior to their television tapings tonight in Las Vegas.
It was announced in a tweet that new Ring of Honor World Champion Rush would not be medically cleared to compete tonight. He was originally supposed to team with his brother Dragon Lee to take on the Villain Enterprises team of PCO and Brody King. It was said that Rush will still open the event with a promo.
Dragon Lee will now instead team with ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes to challenge Villain Enterprises for the ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles.
It was also announced that Bandido is suffering from a knee injury and would also be unable to compete tonight. PJ Black has taken his place in the Final Battle number one contender’s tournament and will face Jay Lethal in the first round tonight. Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins is the other first round match taking place at tonight’s tapings.
In addition to the above changes, Jake Atlas vs. Tyler Bateman has also been added to the card, which takes place tonight at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas
CMLL announced shortly after the conclusion of their anniversary show that both Rush and Dragon Lee are no longer with the promotion.
In a series of tweets, the promotion stated that they had fired both men for not following programing and company guidelines.
Dragon Lee was recently removed from CMLL’s 86th anniversary show and other events, as well as lineups following the event. The following was written in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: “While nobody has said why, the belief was that he worked BOLA, when CMLL told both he and Cavernario that they couldn’t do the show and he didn’t listen.”
In a video posted shortly before the news broke, Rush and his father La Bestia del Ring said that they would be going independent. Mistico, the son of Bestia and brother of Rush, wished his family well in a tweet, indicating that he would be remaining with CMLL.
Dragon Lee also posted on Twitter, thanking the recently deceased Paco Alonso for his opportunities and welcomes the new stage of his life. He was apparently surprised by his release.
CMLL has trademarks for both the Rush and Dragon Lee names, which means they will likely be using new names going forward. Rush already has bookings for both KAOZ and The Crash under the name El Toro Blanco.
Rush is signed to ROH and won their World Championship tonight at Death Before Dishonor. Dragon Lee also worked the event, being added to what originally was a triple threat match for the ROH Television title. Shane Taylor retained the title, but Dragon Lee confronted him after the match, setting up a possible singles match.
Both Rush and Dragon Lee are scheduled to team up to face PCO and Brody King at tomorrow’s television tapings.
Rush won the ROH World title by defeating Matt Taven in the main event of Friday night’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas. Rush pinned Taven after hitting two Bull’s Horns dropkicks.
Rush and Taven shook hands after the match. Rush also celebrated with his family, including his brother Dragon Lee. Lee appeared at Death Before Dishonor and was added to Shane Taylor, Flip Gordon, and Tracy Williams’ Television title match. Taylor retained by pinning Gordon, but it was teased that Lee will be getting another shot at the TV title.
Taven’s contract with ROH has been set to expire at the end of this month. Prior to Death Before Dishonor, he spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about his future:
“You don’t get to have too many surprises in this business, but I’m keeping this one close to the vest. This is a life-changing decision and a million different things go into it, so I have to weigh my options. No matter what, I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given so far in my career and I don’t forget where I came from. I’m just going into this with an open mind and let the chips fall where they may.”
In an interview with CBS Local Sports that was published this Thursday, ROH COO Joe Koff was asked if contract talks with Taven are trending in the right direction:
“I think so. First of all, Matt has been a tremendous champion for Ring of Honor. He has taken on every single person that’s come at him, and he’s done an amazing job. His matches are just, bar none, some of the best matches I’ve ever watched. And this goes back to his first match back in Brooklyn when he won the tournament to get a title shot at Jay Lethal. I remember it being in Brooklyn, and in the cage was their first match, and the amount of athleticism and artistry and just smart, ring smarts, that Matt Taven has. He’s just been a superb champion. I see an unbelievable future with Ring of Honor. We’re happy to have him, happy to have him as our champion. … So, yeah, I think things are looking up with Matt.”
Jeff Cobb is scheduled to challenge for Rush’s World title at ROH’s Honor United show in Bolton, England on October 27.
The Women of Honor World Championship also changed hands at Death Before Dishonor, with Angelina Love defeating Kelly Klein to win the title. Love was attacked by Maria Manic after the match.
ROH returns to Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas tonight for the promotion’s 17th annual Death Before Dishonor event.
Matt Taven will defend the ROH World Championship in the main event against Rush. The latter hasn’t been pinned or submitted since his debut for ROH earlier this year.
In other title matches, Shane Taylor will face Flip Gordon and Tracy Williams in a triple threat match for the Television title, while The Briscoes will defend the ROH Tag Team titles against Bandido & Mark Haskins of LifeBlood. Kelly Klein will put the Women of Honor World Championship on the line against Angelina Love.
Two first-round matches in ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will also take place. PCO will face Kenny King, while Marty Scurll will take on Colt Cabana. The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.
Also on tonight’s show, Jay Lethal will square off against Jonathan Gresham, and The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) will face Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young in a barroom brawl. Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King is also set for the pre-show.x
Join us for live coverage starting with the pre-show at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.
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Pre-show: Jeff Cobb defeated Brody King
This is being touted as King’s first singles match in ROH. Ian Riccaboni really made sure to put both Cobb and King over as superstars and explained that this was a conscious decision to put these two on first, knowing that the audience “has a choice,” in a phrase Riccaboni repeated a few times.
Sam’s Town always looks really nice onscreen for these bigger ROH events, small but slick, professional. The 6’5″ King took Cobb out midway through this match with a springboard crossbody block, as nimble as anyone half his size. Later they had a chop-off and Riccaboni referred to King’s hands as non-regulation size. Cobb came back with a stalling superplex, then a standing moonsault onto King for a two-count. King responded with a tope suicida and then a jumping piledriver for a very close two–almost an accidental three. Things really got heated from here. They traded snap German suplexes, then Cobb planted King with Tour of the Islands. Cobb tossed King around like nothing. This was really good for what it was. They need to wrestle each other in singles more often. They shook hands as the crowd chanted “both these guys.”
–Brian Zane, host of popular YouTube show Wrestling With Wregret, made his debut as a backstage interviewer and did a small spot with the Bouncers. They did a serious promo about their Bar Room brawl tonight with Vinny Marseglia and Silas Young. It was short but came off fine. Zane is cut out for this kind of thing and I think this was a smart hire, even if it’s temporary.
–Quinn McKay interviewed Dalton Castle in the ring. Castle had a custom teal-and-white microphone. He insisted that the crowd didn’t want to see a fight but wanted to see entertainment. Joe Hendry’s awesomely bad music then hit and he came down to the ring. Castle unveiled a mimosa made from Ecudorian oranges and French wine, with bubbles put in by shouting monks. Ok. Hendry then grabbed the mic and did a karaoke version of a song that basically craps all over Castle. Someone went to a lot of trouble making the custom karaoke music video. I appreciate the hard work. Once the song was finished, Castle threw his mimosa in Hendry’s face and then he stormed out of the ring. This was fine, kind of fun, and seemed to really get over with the live crowd. Having Quinn McKay there seemed to help the segment along, as well.
Marty Scurll defeated Colt Cabana in a Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match
Scurll is still red-hot with every ROH crowd. Cabana was nearly was popular here. This was a good light technical match, easy to watch. There was a worrisome apron-to-floor spot where it looked like Scurll really ate it, but he didn’t show it during the rest of the match.
When Cabana went for a quebrada, Scurll landed a low superkick in mid-air. The crowd was really into this towards the end and in favor of Marty. Cabana did a springboard moonsault for a close two, and later landed the Chicago Skyline for another close nearfall. Scurll rallied back and won with the Black Plague. This was good.
PCO defeated Kenny King in a No DQ Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match
PCO came out to his new theme music by Jim Johnston and wrestled in a Gary Numan-esque jacket for the first few minutes of this. He used a pop-up power bomb on Kenny King early on, and from here the match spilled to the floor. PCO suplexed King onto the ramp, then a senton. This Vegas barebones crowd was pretty hyped for PCO’s debauchery tonight. He did a somersault onto King as King lay on the apron, but since the distance between himself and King was so short that he almost overshot the flip and landed almost-face-first into a table that had been set up. PCO then “short-circuited” again and dove out to the wrong side of the floor, landing face first. King attacked PCO as he was being carried out by officials, suplexing him onto the floor and beating him over the head with a ladder. King then laid PCO on the ladder and did a running tornillo onto the prone monster of Quebecois. I was under the impression that the match was over but it wasn’t, because King went for a pin and PCO kicked out; the officials disappeared. Amy Rose later smacked PCO in the face when the match spilled back to the floor. When he went to chase her, King caught PCO on the apron with what I think was supposed to be a sunset flip power bomb to the floor, but someone didn’t rotate properly and PCO landed flat onto King’s face/head. It looked brutal but King no-sold it and continued the match. The final convoluted spot saw King pour some sort of fluid onto the PCO, the plan apparently being to electrocute him with a cattle prod that Amy Rose passed him, but the electrical current from the fluid “re-shocked” PCO and he chokeslammed King out of nowhere for the win. It sounds crazier than it looked.
Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leone) defeated Kelly Klein to become the new Women of Honor World champion
Velvet Sky has been absent from a number recent ROH shows. She was not with her Allure partners tonight. They brawled on the floor early on. Love whipped Klein into the barricade and Klein crashed hard into it. Back in the ring Klein used a nice back suplex on Love, but Love returned and locked on a Koji clutch until Klein made it to the ropes. They traded high spots at the end, Klein with a big fall-away slam from the second rope, Love landing a draping cutter from the opposite top turnbuckle. Klein planted Love with K-Power a close two-count. Mandy Leone stood on the apron to distract the ref so Love could spray Klein in the face with perfume. She hit the Botox Injection kick but only got two. They did a few more close nearfall spots until Mandy Leone interfered again and Love hit another Botox Injection to win the title from Klein. This wasn’t a bad match compared to some of theirs in the past, and both worked hard to put on a good one; the predictable booking is what hampered the quality. Maria Manic came out and destroyed the new champion, Love, as well as pretty much anyone else who got into the ring. She put a few people into torture racks and screamed a lot. Seemed like people liked that more than the title match.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal via submission
Gresham didn’t shake hands with Lethal before the match. They went hold-for-hold over in the first few minutes of this match until Lethal hip toss’d Gresham to the floor. When they came back to the ring they built to bigger and more athletic moves; Gresham at one point landed a surprise quebrada to mute Lethal’s offense for a bit.
The middle part of this match was all about the figure four leglock. Lethal did have it locked in at one point, but as he and Gresham jockeyed for leverage they both rolled under the ropes and crashed to the floor. When Gresham went to use a chair, referee Todd Sinclair grabbed it out of Gresham’s hands. The crowd started chanting “Todd!” after this. Gresham and Lethal started arguing on the floor after this, after Lethal audibly asked “That’s the only way you can beat me?” in reference to the steel chair. Gresham slapped Lethal and began punching away at each other at ringside. Gresham began the double countout until both rolled back into the ring.
The rest of the match was even more back and forth, and the last part of this match ignited the crowd behind babyface Jay Lethal. Gresham finally unloaded a flurry of hard palm strikes, then locked on a varation of the Octopus Hold that got Lethal to tap. The two faced off afterwards and the crowd chanted “shake his hand” at Gresham. After a few moments, Gresham and Lethal embraced. This was a really good match. If this is the end of their program together, it’s a shame. These two are always great together.
Bar Room Brawl: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brawler Milonas) defeated Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young
Beer City Bruiser attacked Marseglia during his entrance. Bruiser did a somersault senton to the floor early on. Marseglia bled early. Bruiser brought out a pool cue. Zip-ties and darts were also involved later on. Yes, darts. Until Marseglia started throwing darts at Bruiser’s pasty back, this match nothing good really going for it. Some of these poor guys were bleeding all over the place for zero applause at times. After given their tweet-able moment of the match, the crowd sounded to wake up, sort of, and chanted things like “TA-BLES” at the wrestlers. They got their wish later, too, when Marseglia did the Redrum senton through a table on the floor. Bruiser did a superplex to Marseglia through two chairs, which looked unpleasant for both wrestlers, then a modified DDT onto a chair for the win. This was pretty bad.
ROH World TV championship match: Shane Taylor defeated Tracy Williams, Flip Gordon, and Dragon Lee in a four-corners match
PJ Black was on commentary for this. Shane Taylor had a Floyd Mayweather/TMT-esque entourage with him before the match. Taylor supposed to be the Floyd Mayweather character of ROH now. Dragon Lee came out as the surprise entrant, for what reason I’m not sure. Big spots and big dives from pretty much everyone early on. Taylor did a running somersault senton off the apron. Williams looked really good in this. Taylor pinned Gordon with Greetings From 215 to retain the Television title.
ROH World Tag Team championship match: The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) defeated LifeBlood (Bandido and Mark Haskins) to retain
Haskins wife was at ringside for this. You could hear that the crowd started to tire and stayed quiet during the more technical (but no less impressive) opening part of the bout. Again, it wasn’t until the match spilled onto the floor. Bandido dove over the corner and the match turned into a non-stop brawl from here. Haskins chopped Jay really hard win the chest against the barricade. Mark did a wild tope con giro to the floor. The match somehow found its way back inside the ropes where Jay Briscoe slowed things down and worked Bandido over with submissions until Haskins tagged in. In a few moments he and Bandido used some innovative double-team moves, inlcuding once where Haskins did a reverse U-crusher while Bandido superkick’d Mark in the head on his way down. The Briscoes came back quick after this, and as Jay worked Bandido over in the corner the crowd chanted “TA-BLES.”
The teams exchanged pin attempts over the last couple minutes, but in the end Jay Briscoe was able to put Haskins away for good after what came to be two Jaydrillers. Really good match that the crowd undersold, unfortunately.
–Bully Ray came out and power bombed both Bandido and Mark Haskins after the match. Tracy Williams came out to make the save, but Flip Gordon attacked Williams with a kendo stick, which happened to move Bully out of harm’s way. They did an angle with Vickie Haskins and Bully Ray after that, and Ray referred to her as a “female woman,” whatever that means. She slapped Bully and then he put Mark Haskins through a table on the floor. Haskins mouth was still bleeding from a spot in the match before. It made for a good visual.
ROH World Heavyweight Title match: Matt Taven (c) vs. Rush
Taven’s vignette was cut off midway through because Rush’s entrance music and video started playing early. The crowd sounded to be really excited about Rush tonight. Dragon Lee and Bestia del Ring were in the front row for this. This was sold on commentary as “three years in the making.”
They went full-blast at each other from the bell and Rush went for his finish, the Bull’s Horns dropkick in the corner, in what had to be less than a minute into the match. Taven slid out of the way and started throwing Rush into the barricades on the floor. Taven got in Bestia del Ring and Dragon Lee’s face and they looked to be shooting some sort of angle for the future.
Rush returned by smashing Taven into the guardrails on the other side of the ring. I guess there’s no countout in this match. Taven used a stalling suplex hold as he stood on the apron, then dumped Rush to the floor, splat. Taven used a series of dives to the floor to keep Rush out. When the two were back in the ring the crowd still chanted for Rush.
Rush made another comeback and suplexed Taven onto the floor, then unlocked on of the barricades and threw one of them at Taven, then suplexed Taven onto the ring announcer’s table. Back in the ring he unloaded on Taven and gave the crowd the tranquilo pose. Rush used a missile dropkick from the apron to the floor, a possible nod to his brother’s rival, Hiromu Takahashi. Rush later hit a big Jaydriller, but Taven powered up and landed Just the Tip and the Climax for a very close two-count. The crowd started chanting “that was three” over and over. They started slapping each other really hard in the face. Rush then landed two Bull’s Horns and won clean. Rush is your new ROH World Heavyweight champion. Rush and the Munoz family celebrated together in the ring until Taven came back in to shake Rush’s hand. Cary Silkin presented the belt to Rush as he celebrated with his family in the ring before the show went off the air.
Final thoughts —
This was a decent show with a handful of very good matches. Matt Taven and Rush had an excellent match that saw Rush win the ROH World Heavyweight title, and the Briscoes vs. LifeBlood and Lethal vs. Gresham were also strong. Tonight’s crowd ended up less enthusiastic as previous ones at Sam’s Town, and their awkward silences between spots sometimes brought down the intensity levels of the matches. ROH will have their Fallout: Death Before Dishonor TV tapings tomorrow night in Las Vegas, which will most likely expand on whatever the angle they’ve planned for Rush and his family.
The night after he challenges for the ROH World Championship, Rush will be teaming up with his brother against Villain Enterprises.
ROH has announced Rush & Dragon Lee vs. Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) for their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings. They’re taking place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 28.
Sam’s Town Live is also hosting Death Before Dishonor on Friday, September 27. ROH World Champion Matt Taven will defend his title against Rush in the main event of the pay-per-view.
Death Before Dishonor is the same night as CMLL’s 86th Aniversario, where Lee is set to team with Gran Guerrero & Euforia against Mephisto, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja.
Brody King is facing Jeff Cobb on the Death Before Dishonor PPV pre-show.
The first round of ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will take place at Death Before Dishonor and the post-PPV tapings. PCO vs. Kenny King and Marty Scurll vs. Colt Cabana are the first-round matches for the PPV. Bandido vs. Jay Lethal and Mark Haskins vs. Dalton Castle are the tournament matches for the tapings.
The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.
A change to ROH’s TV tapings began in July, with the top matches from the tapings also streaming live on HonorClub.
ROH and CMLL’s Global Wars Espectacular tour wrapped up in Milwaukee on Sunday. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, and Colt Cabana were the commentary team for the night.
Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) defeated The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas)
Bruiser is from Milwaukee and sounded to have more people behind him tonight. Lots of beer-centric chants and puns were thrown out at the beginning of this.
The match slipped into a brawl outside the ring early on. Bruiser did a big plancha onto every one of these large individuals. It’d be fair to say these are the four biggest wrestlers in ROH at the moment.
Bruiser went on a run late in this and took both PCO and King out, then did a rolling senton off the apron to the floor onto PCO. Everyone in this match did a few high spots that you wouldn’t normally see from guys this big.
Vinny Marseglia from The Kingdom came out and pushed Bruiser from the top rope before The Bouncers tried finishing the match. PCO later landed a PCOsault onto Milonas, and he and King both pinned Milonas to put The Bouncers away.
This was a decent hoss tag match, not always perfect but entertaining enough to get the crowd into it. Despite the loss, The Bouncers shared two tall boys of beer before heading to the back.
ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defeated Dysfunction to retain his title
This was less of a real match and more of an impromptu segment to get Taylor on the show without having to wrestle. Taylor has been doing an angle where he’s been upset about not being booked this weekend even though he’s the TV Champion.
Dysfunction, a veteran Milwaukee wrestler, came out to take on the champion. Taylor said that if Dysfunction could last five minutes with him, he’d award him the title.
Dysfunction slid to the floor and tried waiting out the clock. Taylor got on the mic and said he heard Dysfunction was good but didn’t know he was a “little b*tch.” Taylor said that he’d give him 10 seconds where he’d put his hands behind his back and give Dysfunction a free shot. He came in and Taylor took him out quickly.
Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein & Stacy Shadows defeated The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon)
This wasn’t bad. Shadows was very popular with the Milwaukee crowd. She wrestled Klein here in ROH when they visited earlier this year.
Shadows took a big bump through the ropes into the ring post to the floor, then Leon dove onto her from the apron. In the ring, Klein spiked Love hard with a DDT for the win.
Leon sprayed perfume in Klein’s eyes after the match and Love posed with the belt. They’ll have a match at Death Before Dishonor at the end of the month.
– A backstage segment aired where Coleman complimented Rhett Titus on the match he had against Mark Haskins on Friday. Haskins walked up and thanked Titus for the match. Kenny King then came up and said Titus had turned soft. Titus said, “At least I wasn’t knocked out by a punk-ass cameraman.”
Marty Scurll defeated Joe Hendry
Hendry’s over-the-top cheesy theme song is really catchy, I’m embarrassed to say. He offered Scurll a handshake before the match, but Scurll declined and flapped away like a bird instead.
Once they really got the match underway it became a crisp back-and-forth exchange of grips and holds. Things heated up when they went to the floor and Scurll whipped Hendry into the barricade, then followed up with a low running European uppercut up against the barricade. This crowd loved it.
While the attendance looked to be low, similar to ROH’s other weekend shows, the audience was enthusiastic and helped carry this and other matches along. Scurll was very popular, but they sounded to have fun booing Hendry.
Scurll landed a powerbomb with a stacking pin for two and later planted Hendry with a half-and-half suplex. He opted out of the pin attempt and used a superplex on Hendry for a two count.
Hendry later returned Scurll’s attack with a Hendry Lock, a variation on Kurt Angle’s ankle lock, but Scurll was able to break the hold. The match heated up from here, and some of the crowd was even chanting Hendry’s name as he held Scurll in a powerslam position. Dalton Castle’s music then hit.
Castle was carried out by three new Boys. He waved to Hendry, and Scurll found an opening to lock on the chicken wing to get Hendry to tap. Solid match.
– ROH prospect Brian Johnson came out and started screaming until his mic was cut. Maria Manic then came out and Johnson chopped her. She no-sold it, then Johnson rolled out of the ring. Manic took out the ring crew and put one guy in a torture rack.
Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
Tonight was Young’s birthday so the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He pretended not to like it. Woods looks more comfortable in the semi-comedy role, the nice student to Young’s delusional mentor gimmick.
Woods did tons of awesome modern-style grappling with both Gresham and Lethal. He easily translates the new school Eddie Bravo/Keenan Cornelius style of grappling into pro wrestling. Lethal complimented Woods and offered to shake his hand, which Woods did and acted excited about. The crowd loved that.
Young and Gresham reignited their feud from earlier this summer, which showcased Gresham’s new more aggressive side. A good example of this was when he ripped his athletic tape from his wrist and threw it to ref Todd Sinclair, who bent over to pick it up. When he wasn’t looking, Gresham sack-tapped Young behind Sinclair’s back.
Lethal was storyline-upset with Gresham’s behavior. Gresham continued to act out and brutalize his opponents from midway through the match and on. Later, Young and Gresham got into a chop battle.
Gresham and Lethal went on an awesome tear toward the end of this. Lethal went for a flying elbow drop, but Woods caught him in an armbar. Gresham tried using a chair at the end of the match, but it backfired after Lethal wouldn’t use it. Young was able to put Lethal away after this.
Young looked pleased with Woods after the match, patting him on the back following their third win of the weekend.
Gresham and Lethal got into an argument about the chair. They played the blame game. The bickering over whether it’s ethical to use the chair to get to the top escalated into a fist fight that was quickly broken up by the ring crew. The crowd lost it and chanted “let them fight.” This was the hottest moment of the weekend so far.
PJ Black defeated Flip Gordon and Triton in a three-way match
Interesting match with tons of new-school aerial action. Triton wore his thong trunks again tonight and Cabana accurately described it as “espectacular.”
Triton did an awesome springboard quebrada to the floor early on. Gordon convincingly faked another knee injury after pretending to tweak it when he landed funny after a PJ Black moonsault. Everyone seemed to think it was a shoot until he came back a few minutes later.
Black did a big quebrada into the ring onto both Triton and Gordon. Triton was awesome when he was on offense and everything he did was over with this crowd.
When things got hotter toward the end, Gordon ripped Triton’s mask off. While the referee’s back was turned, Gordon tried using a chair on Black, but Tracy Williams ran out and took the chair from Gordon and took him to the back. Black then hit a springboard 450 splash for the win.
Caristico, Stuka Jr. & Volador Jr. defeated Okumura, Hechicero & Rey Bucanero
This was a blast to watch and a nice change of pace from the other matches on the card. Hechicero was the standout on the rudo team. The tecnicos team was always flashy, and for some reason had a teal color-coded gear scheme among them. Caristico is still wearing kinesio tape on his back.
The pace compared to everything else on the card was so much more fluid and explosive. There was a series of dives to the floor before Volador did a super frankensteiner to Hechicero to win the match for his team.
– Silas Young and Josh Woods came out and Young expressed he was thankful for Woods and was impressed with him over the weekend. Young invited The Bouncers out to make up with them in the ring.
When The Bouncers started singing “Happy Birthday” to Young, Young attacked Beer City Bruiser from behind, then Vinny Marseglia from The Kingdom came out and ambushed Milonas. Woods acted shocked. Marseglia choked Bruiser with a wrench and his mouth started bleeding. Young said “this is MY town” as he and Marseglia left the ring.
LifeBlood (Bandido, Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) defeated The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) & Barbaro Cavernario
This was great. Cavernario blended right into this, like he’s been wrestling with all of these guys for years. With the amount of talent in the ring at the same time, there was no way this was going to be bad.
Mark Briscoe did his running Cactus Jack elbow from the apron. LifeBlood did a triple dive to the floor. Later in the match, Williams and Haskins lifted Jay Briscoe so Bandido could land a 450 onto him.
The finish of this saw LifeBlood do a long sequence of team moves and synchronized spots from the ropes before Haskins hit a diving double stomp to pick up the win for his team. Really good stuff here.
Rush & Jeff Cobb defeated The Kingdom (ROH World Champion Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia)
Taven and Rush have great chemistry together, and it was really Rush who shined brightest out of the bunch. They are building towards Taven and Rush’s Death Before Dishonor title match at the end of the month, and without much time left they’ve done a good job in two nights.
Cobb looked impressive as always here. I think because Rush gives Taven a lot of respect as champion it gets both of them over with the live crowd as a result. Cobb pinned Marseglia after hitting the Tour of the Islands.
They did an angle after that built more for Death Before Dishonor. Taven said no one is as good as him and teased fighting Rush, and when a Rush went to ambush Taven, Marseglia jumped him. Taven then did his own version of the Bull’s Horns after the match with the assist from Marseglia to close the show.
Final thoughts —
This was the best top-to-bottom show of the Global Wars weekend tour. The Lethal/Gresham pull-apart had great organic heat, and based on how the crowd reacted, it could be an exciting angle to follow down the line. It was the only angle to get over this weekend, really. What fans loved the most this weekend was the action.
Scurll and Hendry had the sleeper match and the first really solid one of the night. Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young were in a number of segments because they’re from the area. Josh Woods somehow improved five-fold over the weekend and seems more comfortable doing the gimmick work.
The LifeBlood vs. Briscoes & Cavernario match is worth checking out and throws yet another top-tier match onto The Briscoes’ track record for 2019. The CMLL six-man was a nice addition and added a much-needed extra flavor to the invariable ROH programming style.
While parts of the preliminary card were still weak, the Milwaukee crowd was well-behaved and were with it for pretty much the entire show. Hopefully the company can keep some of tonight’s momentum as they head into Death Before Dishonor in Las Vegas at the end of the month.
ROH has confirmed when Rush is getting his shot at their World Championship.
Rush will challenge for the ROH World title in the main event of the promotion’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, September 27. Matt Taven currently holds the ROH World Championship but has one more title defense prior to Death Before Dishonor.
Volador Jr. will challenge for Taven’s title at night two of ROH’s Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL. That show is taking place in Villa Park, Illinois this Saturday. Rush & Jeff Cobb will then team against Taven & Vinny Marseglia at Global Wars Espectacular night three in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday.
ROH is holding a number one contender’s tournament that will begin at Death Before Dishonor and their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings. The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.
The semifinals and finals of the number one contender’s tournament are set for Glory By Honor in New Orleans on Saturday, October 12. Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, Marty Scurll, Bandido, Colt Cabana, Mark Haskins, and PCO will be the eight wrestlers in the tournament.
ROH was at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday for their Saturday Night at Center Stage tapings, with most of the matches streaming live on HonorClub. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were the announce team for the night. “The Genius” Lanny Poffo joined them for the main event.
Williams came to the ring in a lucha mask. Haskins has a new look and wore long tights here. Early on, PCO “malfunctioned” and did a tope to the wrong side of the ring — opposite where Lifeblood was — and smashed head-first into the floor. Hardway blood but he no-sold it.
This was so hard-hitting at times. No hesitation from anyone during the match. All the guys were pumped throughout, which you could see in there faces. PCO did lots of dives into and out of the ring. Brody King murdered Haskins with a Liger Bomb at one point. Williams was real fired up in this. By the end you could see PCO’s blood stained all over the ring.
The finish saw Flip Gordon run out and crack Williams in the back with a cane as he hit the ropes, which allowed King to spike Williams with a Gonzo Bomb for the win. Awesome match, though I sometimes worry about PCO. He looked like a mess after this.
– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express came out and cut a promo pretty much saying thanks to the fans and that they’d become ROH World Tag Team Champions on Sunday in Nashville against The Briscoe Brothers.
They had a great short promo and pull apart together where The Briscoes asked if the Express hadn’t already had enough from their last match at the NWA-ROH Crockett Cup earlier this year.
Ricky Morton said there’s nothing that a good night’s sleep and a hot cup of soup couldn’t cure, and then they were all just riffing on soup until security came out and pulled the four apart.
Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leon) defeated Sumie Sakai
Kelly Klein came out to do commentary for this match. Love ambushed Sakai before the bell. Leon interfered a bit behind the ref’s back in this. Sakai worked hard. Leon sprayed perfume in Sakai’s face while the ref wasn’t looking and then Love hit an ugly Botox Injection kick for the win.
Love and Klein exchanged words after the match.
Okumura, Felino & Silas Young defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Ryan Nova)
This was good. Josh Woods was out with Young as his new assistant. Felino was great at times in this. Isom even more so towards the end.
They all did a big Tower of Doom spot. They showed Woods drawing stick figures in a notebook in the corner near the post ringside. Nova was impressive in this. When he went for a top rope frankensteiner, Felino countered with a super powerbomb to win the match.
Young got on the mic and called Woods a pain in the ass but said he had potential, then Woods took both the CMLL guys out. He hit a cool T-Bone suplex on Felino, with a mini-deadlift before the overhead toss.
Chase Owens defeated LSG and PJ Black in a triple threat match (winner gets a TV title shot at Honor for All on Sunday)
Lots of fast action in this. Things slowed for a second when Owens put Black in a Sharpshooter. In general, Owens really deserves more credit than he gets.
Black did a quebrada into the ring onto both guys after he’d stacked them. Black put LSG in a Japanese Swing while Owens chopped Black. Later, LSG used a 450 on Owens for two. They did a Tower of Doom spot, not even 20 minutes apart from the six-man just before.
Owens hit the package piledriver on LSG to win the match and a shot at Shane Taylor’s TV title on Sunday in Nashville.
– Dalton Castle came out wearing a wild, shiny, really colorful suit with glittery loafers. He felt ignored in ROH, like a “kiosk at a dying mall,” assuredly a mark of his real-life time spent living in upstate New York. He got a lot of chants for his shoes.
Castle said he is the most entertaining person in ROH and that he’d win the World title soon. Joe Hendry then came out — his debut in ROH. They showed a music video of him fake-playing guitar in the Highlands of Scotland as he sang a scarily catchy but awful version of his own theme song. The lyrics went something like “I believe in Joe Hendry.”
As soon as Hendry started cutting a promo, his microphone cut out. Seriously? The crowd chanted for Castle. They bantered after that and it was good.
These two could complement each other I think. Hendry in his video was waving his arms back and forth and then some of the crowd started doing it too. Hendry then said he’d be the next World Champion and threw Riccaboni a T-shirt that said “World Champ – Joe Hendry.”
Marty Scurll defeated Bandido
I was at night one of the NJPW Super J-Cup in Tacoma this past Thursday and thought this was just as good as any of those matches. At the start of this there were a ton of chants in Spanish at Marty Scurll, expletives in English.
The two had a posedown in the ring early on and the crowd was into it. Once they really started wrestling the crowd was even more into it. Scurll went into the crowd and took one of the fan’s replica belts and held it in the air, implying he wants to be the next ROH World Champion.
Bandido did a springboard tornillo and then a Fosbury Flop to the floor, which Riccaboni topped off with one of my favorite calls of the year: “The Fosburys taste like Fosburys!” — for all the Willy Wonka fans out there.
Later, Bandido did his top rope moonsault powerslam to Scurll and it looked awesome — the crowd chanted “holy sh*t.” It was over after Scurll hit a modified cradle piledriver and the Black Plague on Bandido. Scurll won. Really good match.
– Lanny Poffo came out to do commentary and threw Frisbees into the crowd before he joined Riccaboni. He said the performers of this generation were much better than the ones from his generation. Poffo was critically slammed for his short time on the NJPW English announce team last year.
ROH All-Stars (Rush, Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal & Kenny King) defeated ROH Champions (The Briscoes, Matt Taven & Shane Taylor) in an elimination match
King and Lethal got into it before the match started. They brawled on the floor until they were split up and settled down. Rush was the most popular guy in this match according to the crowd. There were tons of “Toro Blanco” chants at the beginning of this.
Taylor and Cobb are awesome together. Cobb at one point lifted Taven up in a one-armed suplex for about 30 seconds and then chucked him to the mat. The All-Stars spent a few minutes chopping the hell out of Taven in the corner. The Briscoes were in and out for a while and slowed things down and beat on Lethal for a bit.
I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I seem to enjoy Mr. Poffo on commentary with Riccaboni and Coleman. The stakes didn’t feel so high tonight and the way they started to gel was something I enjoyed. It’s sometimes silly but I connect with their sensibilities and it made the match fun to listen to. I’d understand how some fans may want or prefer a slightly more serious, more sportsman-like presentation.
Jay Briscoe spat at Rush and hell broke loose. Most of the wrestlers hit the floor to brawl around the ring. Jay Briscoe was rolled up by King after Jay had turned his attention to Amy Rose at ringside. Taylor later eliminated King by hitting Greetings from 216 (Bam Bam Bigelow’s old Greetings from Asbury Park).
Mark Briscoe was eliminated after being hit with the Lethal Injection, Taylor eliminated Lethal with Greetings from 216, and Taven got eliminated via DQ when he hit Rush with a chair.
My stream of the broadcast had trouble here, but Rush and Cobb were the survivors of the match after Rush hit his Bull’s Horn dropkick and pinned Taylor. ROH continued to tease Rush challenging for Taven’s World title and that Rush had just pinned the TV Champion.
Cobb offered Rush a handshake, but Rush kicked it away and bumped into Cobb as he walked out of the ring.
Final thoughts —
This was a solid show overall — nothing blow-away but impressive nonetheless. It was a much easier watch than their previous cards, and the Center Stage venue looks good on television. The smaller but more enthusiastic crowd helped a lot, too. And the best match was Scurll vs. Bandido, without a doubt.
UPDATE: ROH has also announced Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. LifeBlood’s Mark Haskins & Bandido for Summer Supercard.
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Rush and Dalton Castle are officially set to face off at Summer Supercard.
ROH has announced Rush vs. Castle in a no DQ match for Summer Supercard, which is taking place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Friday, August 9. Earlier this week, ROH posted a video where Rush challenged Castle to the match.
Rush and Castle’s storyline began with Rush defeating Castle in seconds at G1 Supercard in April. Castle disguised himself as a fan and attacked Rush at Manhattan Mayhem last weekend. They had a match at Mass Hysteria the next night, with Castle getting himself disqualified by using a low blow. He then attacked Rush with a chair.
Summer Supercard will air live on HonorClub. The updated card for the event is listed below:
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Guerrillas of Destiny in a Ladder War
ROH World Champion Matt Taven defending against Alex Shelley
Rush vs. Dalton Castle in a no DQ match
Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein defending against Tasha Steelz
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Mark Haskins & Bandido
Caristico, Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero & Templario
Rush vs. Flip Gordon will be airing on ROH’s Best in the World pre-show this Friday.
ROH announced the details for the Best in the World pre-show today. It will air for free starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday and will feature Rush vs. Gordon. In addition to the outlets where the pay-per-view is available, the pre-show will stream on ROH’s Facebook Live.
The Best in the World main card will then start at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Jay Lethal vs. Kenny King has also been made official for the Best in the World PPV. It will be the third and final match in their best-of-three series. Lethal and King each have one win in the series.
Best in the World is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Here’s the updated card:
ROH World Champion Matt Taven defending against Jeff Cobb
ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defending against Bandido
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO & Brody King) defending against Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams & PJ Black
Jay Lethal vs. Kenny King (final match in their best-of-three series)
The Briscoes vs. Nick Aldis & Colt Cabana
Dragon Lee vs. Dalton Castle
Kelly Klein & Jenny Rose vs. The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon w/ Velvet Sky)
Jonathan Gresham vs. Silas Young in a Pure Rules match
Back at the Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois, Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana called the action.
Hirooki Goto defeated Hikuleo
Hikuleo managed to get the control early with his power. However, Goto was not to be outmatched and nailed Hikuleo with a big clothesline, which earned him a two count.
Both men connected with hard strikes. Hikuleo took Goto to the top rope and hit a superplex. Goto then walked into a monster clothesline that turned him inside out. Goto ducked the next clothesline and blasted Hikuleo with a headbutt. Goto picked up Hikuleo, used a fireman’s carry onto his knee, and then hit his GTR finisher for the win.
– Kenny King talked backstage about the upcoming second match of his series with Jay Lethal.
– Kelly Klein and Jenny Rose came to the ring, but during the long video package where each match for the upcoming Best in the World pay-per-view was recapped, Allure jumped them from behind. It was Mandy Leon and Angelina Love that did the deed, setting up Klein & Rose vs. Leon & Love for Best in the World.
PJ Black & LifeBlood (Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Ryan Nova & Eli Isom)
Cheeseburger and Williams started off the match for their respective teams. A nice exchange of grappling kicked it off, but it ended in a stalemate. Each man tagged out, and that brought in Black and Isom. Black was knocked down with a big knee from Isom, and that took the show to commercial.
After the break, it was Nova in the ring with Haskins. Nova was mirroring Haskins until Williams got a blind tag and landed a wicked chop. Black tagged in and put Nova in a submission hold and tagged in Williams, who landed a leg drop off the second rope.
Nova fought back and was getting the better of the action until Haskins rolled through and picked him up into a slam. Haskins tagged in Black, who came in and nailed a huge moonsault. The Shinobi Shadow Squad was decimated by LifeBlood, which set up Black connecting with a huge moonsault double stomp onto Nova to pick up the pinfall victory.
Jeff Cobb defeated Jay Lethal, Rush, and PCO in a four corner survival match
ROH World Champion Matt Taven joined the announcers to call the main event.
Rush went after everyone early, but took himself out, and that left Lethal and PCO in the ring alone. Lethal knocked him to the floor but decided against doing his dive.
Cobb came in and shoulder checked Lethal and also decided not to dive on PCO. Rush knocked down Cobb and did his fake dive. Lethal came in and eventually dove on PCO, who caught him in mid-air into a chokeslam. PCO got in the ring and took out Rush with a rolling slam and a PCO bomb, but just got a two count.
Cobb went after PCO, but Rush inserted himself with a huge forearm on PCO. However, Rush ate a Cobb superkick and a delayed vertical suplex. PCO came in and took a belly-to-belly from Cobb. Lethal came in and got caught in a spinning back suplex. Cobb went for the cover on Lethal but only managed a two count.
Cobb went for the Tour of the Islands, but Lethal countered with a headscissors and a DDT on Cobb and Rush respectively. Lethal ascended the turnbuckle, and PCO followed suit. Cobb cut off both men and went for a double superplex. Then Rush came in and put all three men down with a stacked up powerbomb.
PCO was the first man up, and he landed a pop-up powerbomb on Lethal. Cobb broke up the pin. Cobb used a Samoan drop and a standing moonsault for the pin attempt on PCO, but Rush broke it up. Cobb charged into Rush but got tossed into the turnbuckle.
Lethal took a big Rush dropkick, but PCO broke up the pin. PCO leveled Rush with a clothesline and then did his patented flip dive to the apron and Rush moved.
Back in the ring, Lethal connected with the Lethal Injection on Rush. This brought Kenny King down to ringside. Lethal landed the Lethal Combination on Cobb, but King distracted Lethal, and that allowed Cobb to hit the Tour of the Islands on Lethal for the win.
Dragon Lee is Rush’s brother, and his match against Castle at Best in the World plays off of Castle’s feud with Rush. Rush defeated Castle in seconds when they faced off at G1 Supercard in April.
Gordon defeated PJ Black, Castle, and Rush in a four corner survival match at this past weekend’s ROH TV tapings. The match aired live on HonorClub, with Gordon pinning Black to get the win. Castle then attacked Gordon and cut a promo on Rush. He challenged Rush to get into the ring with him, then backed off when Rush did. Castle said he’ll face Dragon Lee at Best in the World.
Rush vs. Gordon was also set up for Best in the World after that four corner survival match. Gordon told Rush that he’ll face him if Castle won’t. Gordon said he’ll kick Rush’s ass. He offered Rush a handshake, but Rush struck him instead.
As was previously announced, Matt Taven will defend the ROH World Championship against Jeff Cobb at Best in the World. Bandido will challenge for Shane Taylor’s Television title.
Two pairs of brothers will be facing off at ROH’s post-Best in the World television tapings.
ROH has announced The Briscoes vs. Rush & Dragon Lee for their TV tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 29. This is the first match announced for the tapings.
This year’s Best in the World pay-per-view is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, June 28. At ROH’s most recent set of TV tapings, Dalton Castle challenged Dragon Lee to a match at the PPV. Castle has been involved in a feud with Rush, with Rush defeating him in seconds at G1 Supercard.
The Briscoes cut a promo last week challenging ROH Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) to a no disqualification match, but when that match will be happening has yet to be revealed.
Two matches have been made official for the Best in the World PPV. ROH World Champion Matt Taven will defend his title against Jeff Cobb, and Shane Taylor will defend the Television title against Bandido.
From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman called the action.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises (PCO, Marty Scurll & Brody King) defeated Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb & Rush to retain their titles
Lethal and PCO started it off for their respective teams. Lethal nailed PCO with a lot of kicks, but PCO was barely phased. PCO begged Lethal to dive on him, which distracted Lethal long enough for Scurll to cut off Lethal. PCO tagged in Scurll, and Lethal tagged in Rush.
Kenny King and Amy Rose joined the announce team mid-match and Kenny immediately brought up his “eye surgery.” Throughout the match, he kept asking what was happening because he couldn’t see.
In the ring, Rush and Scurll wrestled to a stalemate. Rush tagged in Cobb, and Scurll tagged in King. A quick exchange led to Cobb nailing a dropkick. However, King fired back and landed a running crossbody and then pulled off a hurricanrana on Cobb.
King was sent to the floor by Rush. Lethal dove on him, but King caught him. With a kick assist by Scurll, King suplexed Lethal onto the floor.
After the break, Lethal was in the ring with King attempting to suplex him but instead used a cutter to drop the big man. King tagged in Scurll, and Lethal tagged in Rush. Rush ran wild and decimated his foes until he got arrogant and Scurll cut him off with a superkick to the knee.
Scurll called for the chicken wing, but Rush nailed him with a headbutt and tagged in Cobb, who came in and gave two stalling suplexes to King and PCO. He then launched Scurll and followed it up with a moonsault.
PCO broke up the pin, but Cobb managed to hoist King and Scurll up at the same time for a double suplex. This brought in PCO, who came in and tossed Cobb to the floor. King hit a flipping dive onto Cobb and Lethal, then PCO hit a Scurll-assisted flip dive of his own and took out all three of their opponents.
Back in the ring, Scurll and King combined forces to hit a sunset German suplex on Cobb. They then hit a 619 and cannonball combo on him. Scurll tagged in PCO and grabbed Cobb, but he ate a Cobb superkick. Lethal then came off the top with an elbow, but PCO stood up. Rush then hit him with an overhead belly-to-belly.
Lethal again hit a top rope elbow, but Scurll broke up the pin. In the chaos, Lethal hit a Lethal Injection on Scurll and went for it again on King, but King caught him on his shoulders and landed a crazy spinning powerbomb. PCO followed it up with a moonsault, which got the win for Villain Enterprises.
During the commercial, as Lethal was leaving, Kenny King jumped Lethal from behind and used his cane to choke him out.
ROH World Champion Matt Taven defeated Flip Gordon to retain his title
After an early exchange sent Taven to the floor, Gordon hit a suicide dive. As Gordon was on the ring apron, TK O’Ryan attempted to get involved. That distracted Gordon enough to allow Taven to knock him to the floor. Taven launched Gordon into the ring post and then threw him back into the ring.
Gordon got the advantage and landed a kick and a one-legged moonsault. Taven kicked out at two and bailed to the floor. Taven baited him to the outside and then drilled Gordon in the knee. Taven went to follow that up with a running dropkick to the floor, but Gordon evaded and landed a superkick. Gordon charged after Taven, but Taven hip tossed him into the guardrail.
After the commercial, Taven was attacking Gordon’s injured knee with punches. Gordon fought to his feet and landed a knee to the head of Taven. However, Taven kept going back to the knee with a dragon screw leg whip, which sent Gordon to the floor. As he was out there, Taven distracted the referee. That allowed O’Ryan to attack Gordon.
Taven locked on a half Boston crab back inside the ring, but Gordon got to the ropes. Finally, Gordon managed to hit a springboard spear to buy himself some recovery time. A striking exchange ended with a huge knee by Gordon. He then hit an inverted driver to get a two count.
After the final break, Taven had Gordon perched atop the turnbuckle and landed a superplex, but it was Gordon who hooked the inside cradle. He only got a two count. Gordon fired up and landed a Russian leg sweep from the second rope and a spinning Falcon Arrow, getting a two count.
Taven spit in the face of Gordon and landed a pop-up powerbomb and a Just the Tip knee. He went for a cover, but Gordon kicked out at two.
Gordon fought back up and hit a swinging TKO. He went up top, but as he was on the top rope, the red balloons floated up from ringside, distracting Gordon long enough to allow Taven to hit the Climax DDT off the top to pick up the victory and retain his title.
A Tag Team title change with G1 Supercard implications took place at Friday’s ROH 17th Anniversary pay-per-view.
Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) defeated The Briscoes in a no disqualification match to win the ROH Tag Team titles. With that, PCO & King are currently set to face IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa in a title vs. title match with both sets of championships on the line at G1 Supercard.
In other developments for G1 Supercard, ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb challenged NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay to a title vs. title match, Dalton Castle challenged Rush, and Bully Ray said he’ll be having a New York City street fight.
Castle was on commentary for Rush vs. Bandido and then got into the ring after Rush won. Castle challenged Rush to a match at G1 Supercard, with the storyline being that Castle wants to get back on track by facing someone who’s undefeated in singles matches in ROH.
Bully Ray interrupted rapper Mega Ran’s performance at the 17th Anniversary PPV, talked about wrestling at Madison Square Garden, and issued an open challenge to anyone in the professional wrestling business to face him in an NYC street fight at G1 Supercard. Bully Ray said the person he wants to face knows that he’s talking about them.
At one point, the crowd chanted for Flip Gordon. Bully Ray mentioned that he didn’t say “I Quit” in the I Quit match he lost to Gordon at Final Battle.
G1 Supercard is taking place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, April 6.
