ROH NJPW War of the Worlds Night 1: Review, Grades, and Analysis

Night one of the ROH War of the Worlds tour began with a stellar show that left the crowd wanting more.

While there was changes to the card that left the original main event of Dalton Castle vs. Matt Taven unable to happen, the crowd still got a good show.

The Briscoes vs. Flip Gordon & Jushin Thunder Liger

Flip and Mark start the match with some basic tag team action, and Flip dodges several attacks with his kick up. After that, Liger and Jay were tagged in. Liger went for a surfboard stretch, but Mark cut him off and the crowd booed. Liger was having none of that, and went right after Jay again. It wasn’t long before Mark and Jay started to get the heat on Liger.

Liger was able to hit an inverted atomic drop on Jay and tagged in Flip who “flipped” a lot and ran wild. Flip went for a 450 Splash, but Mark dodged. Gordon hit an inverted fireman’s carry and then a standing shooting star press. Flip hit a 450 on Mark, and almost got the three, but Jay made the save. Jay Briscoe pulled a Toru Yano and Shinsuke Nakamura, and low blowed both Liger and Flip.

Flip kicked out, and the Briscoes caught him on the top rope. Mark set him up for an avalanche Razor’s Edge from the middle rope. Jay jumped up as Mark went to hit it, and hit a neckbreaker on Flip! The Brisoces get the pinfall. What a finish.

Result: The Briscoes

Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5

Deonna Purrazzo & Skylar vs. Tenille Dashwood & Sumie Sakai

Purrazzo and Sakai start the match with an exchange of holds that was quite fun to watch. The crowd then popped when Dashwood was tagged in, and she and Skylar start to exchange holds. Dashwood tagged out and Sumie hit a flying cross body on Skylar. Afterwards, Skylar tagged out, and Sumie hit a chop from Mongolia on her.

It broke down to an exchange of big moves between all 4 women as Deonna dropkicked Sumie, Sumie dropkicked Deonna, Skylar hit a knee strike on Sumie, and Dashwood hit the spotlight on Skylar for the pinfall!

Result: Tenille Dashwood & Sumie Sakai

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

After the match, Kelly Klein attacked Deonna after the match and both women had a pull apart brawl. They’re going to wrestling on the War of the Worlds show in Chicago next weekend.

Dalton Castle came out to a huge pop from the crowd. He cut a promo about how he has defended the championship everywhere. Castle said he couldn’t defend the title tonight due to injuries. He said that he saw a doctor, and the doctor said that his back was garbage. Apparently he needs surgery, and he can’t defend the title. Castle said he isn’t relinquishing the title, and that he’d be back soon. He sent the boys out to give croissants to everyone in the crowd because he couldn’t wrestle tonight.

The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan & Vinnie Marseglia) w/ Matt Taven vs. Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali)

Matt Taven cut a promo about the match saying Dalton Castle lost his smile. He complained that the ROH officials didn’t strip Castle of the title. To be fair, he has a point. Colt Cabana agrees with Taven, which is a rare occurrence. Taven’s grandfather is in the front row, and Taven said he’s disappointed.

LSG and TK start the tag match, with TK getting the advantage early on. TK tagged out to Vinnie, who continued the assault on LSG. Vinnie tried to take it to Shaheem, but the action spilled to the outside of the ring. Vinnie went under the ring, dragged Ali under. LSG followed. The referee was dragged under the ring. Vinnie released his red balloon’s from under the ring and came out holding an axe. The referee took the axe away from him.

While The Kingdom was trying to finish the match, So Cal Uncensored ran out and stole the Six-man tag titles back. This resulted in Coast 2 Coast managing a pinfall win! Taven called So Cal Uncensored and challenged for the Six-Man Tag Team Championships! That is our new main event!

Result: Coast 2 Coast

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

Cheeseburger vs. Bully Ray

Bully opens the match by shoving Cheeseburger, but Cheeseburger won’t back down. Ray just grabbed him and hit a massive powerbomb. He hit a second powerbomb. Cheeseburger is pretty much dead. Cheeseburger tried to get up and Bully hit another massive powerbomb. Bully grabbed a chain, and went to hit Cheeseburger. The ref took the chain away, and Bully hit a low blow on Cheeseburger before rolling out of the ring. The referee the counted out Bully, as he didn’t even face the ring.

Result: Cheeseburger via Countout

Rating: DUD

After the match, Bully powerbombed him again. Bully pulled Cheeseburger from the ring and went to hit a powerbomb on the outside, but he thought better and walked away in disdain. This was a great angle, but an awful match.

Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH, & Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) vs. The Bullet Club (Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, & Cody) w/ Burnard the Business Bear

To say the Bullet Club is over would be a massive understatement. People complain about ROH pushing the Bullet Club, but they’re the ones selling the tickets and merch. When a group is that over, you have to push them. Plus, Cody is an attendance booster. Marty Scurll is so over, it’s a bit ridiculous. SHO and YOH cut off Marty, and they start to get the heat on him. This is kind of funny to see, because The Bullet Club are technically heels. However, with how over Marty is, they work the match as the babyfaces, and SHO and YOH mock him to get heat. Smart wrestling.

YOH went after Burnard, but Burnard escaped and Cody came in to boos and got the heat on YOH. This is quite funny, because Cody is so hated, and Marty is so loved. Cody tried to do some push ups and got booed. Marty came in and took down YOH, and did his own push ups, to cheers. Cody was not impressed.

YOH was sent flying to the outside of the ring with a clever spot with Hangman lowering the middle rope. Marty went for the Chicken Wing on SHO, but Cody tagged in to boos from the crowd. SHO dodged the Cross Rhodes and tagged in Rocky who went wild and hit the Forever Clotheslines on everyone. Rocky hit a Destino on Cody, but Marty broke it up! Burnard grabbed Rocky and held him, and Marty accidentally kicked Burnard. Cody was very upset.

RPG3K took out the Bullet Club with stereo flying knees and did a stereo dive, which was great. Rocky went for another Destino on Rocky and Cody caught him, hitting the Cross Rhodes to get the pinfall on Rocky.

Result: Bullet Club

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This was a really fun tag match. Cody and Marty continued to argue afterwards. Bullet Club is fine, but not with Cody. During the intermission, ROH aired a classic ROH match – Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Steen.

Silas Young, Brian Milonas, & The Beer City Bruiser vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito)

The biggest pop of the night so far goes to Naito, as the crowd went absolutely insane for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Like usual, Naito refused to come out with the title. The level of overness for LIJ here is incredible. EVIL started the match with Young, but it wasn’t long before Naito was tagged in. Naito went Tranquilo, but all of Silas’ team attacked him and started to get the heat on Naito.

This continued for a few minutes, as the Mr. Beer continues to get the heat. It wasn’t too long before it broke down into all six men being in the ring. Milonas and Mr. Beer use their size to try and take advantage of LIJ, but EVIL managed to hit Milonas with Everything is EVIL for the pinfall.

Result: LIJ

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

Since So Cal Uncensored is now in the main event, the next match has turned into a triple threat rather than a tag match.

Jay White (CHAOS) vs. Jay Lethal vs. Chuck Taylor (CHAOS)

The two members of CHAOS worked over Lethal here in the early portions of this match. Chuck directed traffic, giving the younger member of CHAOS directions. Jay White hit a massive suplex sending Lethal to the outside of the ring. Chuck Taylor wanted a hug from Jay White. White looked like he was going to go for it, but then went for the Blade Runner.

Chuck avoided the Blade Runner, but Jay Lethal hit the Lethal Combination. Lethal sent Chuck outside of the ring. Lethal went for the flying elbow, but White got his foot up. However, this didn’t work in White’s favour, as Lethal locked on the figure four. White escaped to the outside, and Lethal followed. Chuck Taylor went for a tope con giro and took out both men.

Chuck Taylor hit Sole Food, then Jay Lethal hit a Lethal Injection on Jay White. Chuck Taylor flew in with a Jackknife pinfall and managed to pin Jay Lethal! Taylor is your winner! This has to be his biggest win in ROH, pinning ROH’s Franchise Player.

Result: Chuck Taylor

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan, Vinnie Marseglia, & Matt Taven) vs. SoCal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky, Frankie Kazarian, & Christopher Daniels) (c) – ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships

The Kingdom get the heat on Sky in the early portions of this match, as TK O’Ryan flew over the top rope taking out SoCal Uncensored. Back in the ring, O’Ryan and Kazarian brawled, and not liking his chances, Kazarian ran under the ring. We know how that goes though, with Vinnie Marseglia under the ring. Kazarian came out from under the ring with balloons tied around his neck. TK and Taven hit a senton onto the balloons. That was quite funny.

SoCal Uncensored managed to get the advantage over TK O’Ryan with several triple team moves. They cut off the ring repeatedly, and forced The Kingdom to watch as they beat on TK O’Ryan. Taven got the hot tag and he took everyone out. This was followed up with slick double team moves between Taven and Marseglia. Taven almost got a pinfall on Daniels, but it was broken up.

Marseglia hit a swanton bomb on Daniels, but Kazarian broke it up. Kaz hit a huge cutter on Taven. Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever on Vinnie, but Taven pulled the ref out. Sky hit a tope con grio on Taven and the ref. Kazarian went for a title belt shot on O’Ryan, but O’Ryan ducked and hit Daniels. Taven hit a frog splash on Daniels and got the pinfall. We have new Six-Man Tag Team Champions.

Result: The Kingdom

Rating: 3.75 stars out 5

That was a really good match. The Kingdom win in Taven’s hometown, and now they are Six-Man Tag Team Champions! It looks like ROH called an audible with Castle being injured, and gave the fans a hometown win. If this was WWE, they would have Taven lose, and then embarrass his family publicly instead of making the crowd happy, because they’re all about getting heat.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) w/ Daryl Jr.

The action is fast and furious in the early portions of this match, and it was quite hard to keep track of. Matt Jackson was notably selling his back again, as the injury suffered at Wrestle Kingdom 12 continues to be a story in their matches. The action spilled onto the stage, and Matt Jackson did a stage dive onto BUSHI and Hiromu, sending them crashing to the floor.

The grimace of pain on Matt’s face afterwards told the story, as he sold his back. Matt crawled towards Nick to make the tag, but BUSHI managed to catch him before that, and the heat segment continued with them beating on Matt. Matt managed to dodge a clothesline from Hiromu and hit a spear. He tagged out to Nick, and Nick ran wild.

Matt and Nick locked in stereo sharpshooter’s, otherwise known as Cease and Desist, but LIJ escaped. The Bucks hit a stereo moonsault and 450 splash on Hiromu, but Hiromu kicked out. BUSHI did a sunset flip on Hiromu, which sent Matt Jackson flying backwards into a German Suplex.

There was a really messed up spot with a doomsday device/suplex.

BUSHI managed to spray the poison mist into Matt Jackson’s face. Matt then superkicked everyone in the ring, including Nick by accident. Then Matt locked the referee in a sharpshooter because he couldn’t see. Nick Jackson washed Matt’s eyes out with some water, and Matt slowly realized he had the referee in the sharpshooter. He yelled, “Oh come on!” as Hiromu and BUSHI took them out.

There was a lot of fast paced action that followed, with Hiromu almost killing Matt Jackson with a powerbomb to the outside of the ring.

There were superkicks and dives galore in the closing moments of the match, as BUSHI hit a huge Canadian Destroyer as well. The action finally came to an end when the Young Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on BUSHI for the pinfall! Awesome match.

Result: The Young Bucks

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Spectacular main event here, as ROH made the right call putting the Young Bucks on last here since the World title wasn’t going to be defended. The Bucks had two opponents that could go with their crazy pace, and all four men delivered.

Final Thoughts

Show Rating: 3/5

This was a really solid show from ROH to kick of the War of the Worlds tour. If the other 3 shows are like this, we’re in for a good few days of wrestling. ROH is hitting on a lot of really strong points on their roster right now with how Silas Young and co. are getting organically over, Jay Lethal continuing to elevate new stars, and the influx of NJPW talent to help some of their shows as well.

Next: What Does the Future Hold for Daniel Bryan?

This was a fun and easy show to watch, and absolutely worth your time. Ring of Honor, knowing that the fans lost their advertised main event, called an audible and had The Kingdom win the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships. They also made the call of having The Young Bucks go on last, which was also a smart shuffling of the card to make sure the crowd went home happy. They gave the hometown hero a win with the Six-Man Tag titles, and their biggest babyface stars a big win at the end to make sure the crowd was pleased. Though, I do think Hiromu and BUSHI winning would have been just as crowd pleasing. With that being said, a great show all around, and definitely worth your time.