ROH: Shane Taylor wins ROH TV title tournament

Two weeks ago, yet another tournament started to find an opponent to face Samoa Joe for the ROH Television Championship. As of August 10, Joe had been champion for 485 days. He is the second-longest reigning television champion and is now 83 days away from surpassing Jay Lethal.

Thursday night, Gravity faced Samoa Joe in the final round of the tournament. Gravity wrestled the champion on episode seven of AEW Collision. Joe made quick work of him by beating Gravity in just over two minutes.

Gravity and Taylor had a hard-hitting match and didn’t go easy on one another with a title shot on the line. On paper, this match looked like a mismatch and that Taylor would dominate Gravity. The ROH newcomer more than held his own, including a suplex from the top ropes.

Although he gave Taylor his all, it wasn’t enough. Taylor beat Gravity with a Muscle Buster, Joe’s finisher.

Taylor is a former ROH Television Champion and a former Six-Man Tag Team Champion. He held the tv title for 218 days and considered by many to be one of the best television champions in ROH history. Fans have been waiting a long time for him to get back to this spot and regain the title he helped make great.

The former champion is ready and has vowed to put the current champion to sleep.

Samoa Joe vs. Shane Taylor is a dream match for many ROH fans and now they’re finally getting it. The match has not been announced yet. Joe and ROH board member, Stokely Hathaway have a match with The Boys next week. Last week, Joe made the match himself and had Hathaway make it official.

On episode 11 of Collision, Joe laid out a challenge to CM Punk. Punk beat Joe for the first time ever on another Collision episode. Before that match, they hadn’t wrestled since their legendary ROH trilogy 18 years prior. Joe has been enraged since Punk beat him and believes his nemesis has never been better than him, even on the night he won. So, he challenged Punk on the biggest stage AEW (or ROH for that matter) has ever had: ALL IN at London’s Wembley Stadium. Punk has yet to accept.

Since the champion is busy, it may be a little while before we get the dream match. ALL OUT would be a great show for them to have this match.