Thoughts from ROH-NJPW Shows: 1 Week Later
By Mike Smith
In the month of May, one of Japan’s biggest wrestling companies, New Japan Pro Wrestling, had it’s first tour in North America in about 3 years. NJPW teamed up with Ring of Honor to provide two huge joint-shows, Global Wars from Toronto, and War of the Worlds from New York City.
Both shows were met with much anticipation, and both shows delivered.
First, was Global Wars. Global Wars had a pretty simple concept, as it saw ROH stars compete with each other, and NJPW stars compete with each other. This format sparked great match after great match as both promotions could only fit big matches on the card.
The multi-man matches were the heroes of the night. To name a few, the three-way tag team match featuring The Briscoe Brothers against The Decade (B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs) and reDRagon was the first truly awesome match of the night.
The Young Bucks defended their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in another three-way tag team match, against Forever Hooligans and Time Splitters. The Toronto crowd was insane all night, but they were really hot for The Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans, but also for the ROH return of Alex Shelley of Time Splitters.
The Four Corner Survival Match with Jay Lethal defending the ROH Television Championship against Matt Taven, Tommaso Ciampa and Silas Young was a really well thought out four-man match. All of those matches brought the show to another level.
Also, the main event with Adam Cole putting the ROH World Championship on the line against Kevin Steen was excellent and the Canadian crowd loved their native son, Steen.
Second, and finally, was War of the Worlds. Seeing the members of ROH and NJPW clash in inter-promotional matches was a true dream for wrestling fans.
Matches like, Shinsuke Nakamura against Steen, which was followed by a goodbye of sorts from Steen, which the NYC crowd met with chants of “Please don’t go” and “No”.
Lethal defended the ROH Television Championship against Kushida was great. The crowd was really into Kushida even though it seemed unlikely he would take the title.
The Briscoe Brothers challenged Bullet Club (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a match that featured dueling chants of “Man Up” and “Bullet Club” from the packed crowd.
Jushin “Thunder” Liger going for Cole’s ROH World Championship was a great call, as it really got the crowd involved in the match. Unfortunately, Liger couldn’t deliver a great match. However, this match is still pretty good, and Cole puts on a great performance.
Finally, the man playing both sides, AJ Styles, putting his brand new IWGP Heavyweight Championship on the line against the man he won it from, NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada, and the man he has feuded the most with since his return to ROH, ROH’s Michael Elgin was a fantastic main event. This match really closed the show in style.
However, the best match throughout both shows was in NYC. The Young Bucks put their ROH Tag Team Championship on the line against reDRagon and the result was magic. This was a five-star match if I’ve ever seen one, and it was well worth the price of admission alone.
If you missed either show, or both of them, go back and watch, they’re well worth it.
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