NJPW and ROH Present G1 Supercard: A Tale of Two Promotions

NJPW Watches ROH Go Off the Rails

Before we get to the NJPW-centric part of G1 Supercard, there were two other matches that heavily featured Ring of Honor. The first was a chaotic Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match that was for both the ROH World Tag Team Titles and the IWGP Tag Team Titles. The latter belts were held by Guerrillas of Destiny, while the ROH Tag Titles were held by the unorthodox Villain Enterprises duo of PCO and Brody King.

An over thirty-year veteran of the ring, PCO retired from competition in 2011. However, against all odds, he rose to life and starting having the best years of his career on the independent scene starting in 2016. Following that theme, PCO was strapped into an electric chair and brought to life with jumper cables from a car battery as part of his entrance. It was a fitting spectacle, but it took about twice as long as it needed to, and showed ROH’s inexperience at putting together over-the-top grand stage moments like that.

The match also included ROH veteran team The Briscoes and NJPW’s duo Evil and Sanada representing Los Ingobernables de Japon. The match itself was great, featuring amazing spots from all competitors involved. As the match wound down, things ended with Guerillas of Destiny hitting a devastating top-rope powerbomb to pick up the win, retain their IWGP Tag Team Titles, and become the new ROH Tag Team Champions.

With the new champions celebrating in the ring, some commotion began at ringside. Bits and pieces of it were caught in the background of shots during the broadcast, but none of this ringside situation was ever acknowledged or intentionally shown during G1 Supercard. News surfaced quickly online, including videos from fans in attendance. Former WWE stars Enzo and Cass had jumped a barricade and began attacking The Briscoes at ringside.

The brawl continued as Guerillas of Destiny looked on and celebrated their win with their new belts, only to look on the stage and see Toru Yano had snatched their IWGP Tag Team Titles and fled with them. The NJPW stars on hand seemed to have no interest in whatever was going on at ringside, nor did the broadcast itself. Considering Enzo’s history of hijacking shows, there was an initial belief he and Cass could have arrived and chosen to do this of their own volition.

That belief quickly dissipated, as videos of the altercation at G1 Supercard made it clear that security had made zero effort to break things up. Reporting then started coming out that this was all planned, making ROH’s decision to leave it off camera seem completely absurd. It would have been a big story on its own merits to see the former WWE team attacking ROH talent during the broadcast, but pretending it wasn’t planned only for news to circulate that it clearly was made the whole thing feel weird. Especially when ROH intentionally retweeted video of the brawl they explicitly avoided showing during the broadcast.

ROH’s final match of the night, the first half of the show’s “dual main event,” saw the ROH World Championship contested in a three-way ladder match. ROH World Champion Jay Lethal defended his title against fan-favorite Marty Scurll and much-hated Matt Taven. Marty Scurll, the leader of Villain Enterprises and former member of The Elite and Bullet Club, received one of the loudest reactions all night as he made his way to the ring. It seemed like an omen of what could be Scurll’s crowning moment, but ROH didn’t feel that was the right direction to go.

The match itself, like most of ROH’s at G1 Supercard, was great. All three men gave it their all, and gave us some truly unforgettable sights. After nearly half an hour of brutal back and forth action, the man alone at the top of the ladder with both his competitors on the ground in a heap was none other than Matt Taven. He grabbed the belt, becoming the new ROH World Champion, and received a clearly negative reaction from a crowd that obviously wanted Marty Scurll to pick up the victory.

Not only did this solidify Matt Taven as one of Ring of Honor’s top names moving forward, but it served as a rebuke of Marty Scurll, a name many are now expecting will leave ROH when his contract expires to join his former friends from The Elite in All Elite Wrestling. Despite being an accomplished in-ring competitor, Matt Taven hasn’t exhibited the charisma to warrant being the top name in Ring of Honor, and felt like an odd choice to lead the company out of their biggest show to date.