Ring of Honor is back on PPV this Friday, May 12th. The 4th annual War of the Worlds PPV will come from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York this year. The main event will be a 3-way for the ROH World Title.

ROH announced that Adam Cole vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi has been added to the card.

Adam Cole and Hiroshi Tanahashi go one-on-one for the first time ever at War of the Worlds NYC https://t.co/GoZZCEP8Kn pic.twitter.com/1EMDjsRRB8

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) May 10, 2017

ROH War of the Worlds Lineup

• ROH Championship
  3-Way Match
  Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Cody (Bullet Club) vs. Jay Lethal
  ** Daniels has a title defence against Matt Taven still before this match. If Taven wins the title he replaces Daniels in this match. 
• ROH TV Title
  Marty Scurll (c) vs. Matt Sydal
• ROH Tag Team Championships
  the Young Bucks (c) (Bullet Club) vs. Bushi and Naito (Los Ingobernables)
• 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match
  Bully Ray & the Briscoes (c) vs. Roppongi Vice & Hirooki Goto (CHAOS)
  ** Bully Ray & the Bricoes defend the belts against Los Ingobernables before this on the tour. If they lose the titles they will be replaced in this match. 
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole
• Jay White vs. Will Ospreay (CHAOS)
• Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
• Evil & Sanada (Los Ingobernables) vs. Search & Destroy (Sabin & Gresham) vs. War Machine
• Bobby Fish vs. Dalton Castle vs. Kushida vs. Silas Young

Ring of Honor Television
air date: May 8th 2017 (Fite App)
Baltimore, MD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ivXF4MwBDo

1. the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. the Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey)

Last week the Young Bucks sent out an open challenge, and oddly enough it was the Spirit Squad who accepted. Squad jumped the Bucks to start the match but were quickly sent to the outside with super kicks.
Spirit Squad got a bit of offence in, but not much. Bucks win with the Meltzer Driver.
Winners: the Young Bucks

2. Punishment Martinez vs. Beer City Bruiser

The Bruiser got a surprising amount of offence in this match. He hit a sidewalk slam, and several cannon balls. He finally missed a cannonball and that allowed Martinez to pop up and hit the “South of Heaven” chokeslam.
Winner: Punishment Martinez

3. Christopher Daniels & Dalton Castle vs. Adam Cole & Cody (Bullet Club)

Before the match, a video package of Adam Cole aired. He said everything is OK with Bullet Club, which of course means the opposite is true. Early in the match, Cole called for a tag but Cody seemed hesitant. It would be the first of several “teased dissension” moments between the two during the match.

Jay Lethal was on commentary, mainly talking about how unfair it is that Cody has been added to the ROH World Title match at the upcoming PPV. Considering Lethal defeated Cody in a Bullrope match at the last PPV, he might have a point.

Later in the match, Cody accidentally hit Cole with the Disaster kick, sending him to the floor. Cole then got up and left the ring area! The match continued with a 2-on-1, with Adam Cole seemingly having abandoned his Bullet Club teammate.

Just when it looked like Daniels was going to put away Cody, Cole ran back in and hit a super-kick to the back of Daniels’ head. Cody then hit a Cross Rhodes on Daniels for the pin.

Afterwards, Cole played it off as if his leaving the ring area was all part of his plan. Young Bucks then hit the ring and all 4 celebrated, although there were perhaps some suspicious glances towards Cole.
Winners: Adam Cole & Cody

Once the Bullet Club left, Jay Lethal got in the ring with Christopher Daniels. Lethal helped him to his feet but then got in Daniels’ face, blaming him for the match now being a triple threat.

As they were arguing, Cody hit the ring again and knocked them both down. Lethal and Cody started brawling briefly, when almost out of nowhere Lethal landed the Lethal Injection on both Cody and Daniels.

Cody vs. Adam Cole vs. Christopher Daniels for the ROH Championship main event’s “War of the Worlds” this Friday, May 12th 2017 from the Hammerstein Ballroom. 

Bully Ray recently spoke with reporters about his latest stint with the WWE. He revealed that his updated “Bully Ray” character almost debuted for the company, but WWE’s anti-bullying charity work prevented it from happening. Instead the company stuck with his “Bubba Ray Dudley” character. He told ESPN.com,

“We were one day away from becoming Bully Ray in WWE.  One of the problems with having Bully Ray in the WWE was the word bully.

How could they have a guy named Bully when they had the ‘Be a STAR’ program? It was a little too risky for them.”

Bully Ray in Ring of Honor

After their latest contract with WWE ran out, D-Von stayed on with the company as an agent, and Bully Ray signed with Ring of Honor.

https://twitter.com/WWEonESPN/status/860502243824603136

Since debuting in the company, Bully Ray has teamed up with ROH originals the Briscoe Brothers. The trio recently captured the company’s 6-man tag team championships.

“Ring of Honor reached out to me I think the day after I left WWE,” He continued. “They were actually interested in bringing in both me and D-Von into Ring of Honor, which would’ve been insane. D-Von had made a life decision where he wanted to devote a little more time to his family and physically in the ring wanted to slow it down just a little bit. I still have gas in the tank. I think Ring of Honor was the perfect place for me to continue as Bully Ray.”

The full interview can be read here.

Ring of Honor announced today that their 6-man champions, Bully Ray & the Briscoes, will defend their titles against the current NJPW 6-man championship team, Los Ingobernables. The match will take place in Dearborn, MI on May 10th as part of the War of the Worlds tour.

Only the Ring of Honor titles will be on the line however.

Bully Ray and The Briscoes defend the 6-Man Titles against Los Ingobernables de Japon at War of the Worlds Dearborn https://t.co/cviYpkfODN pic.twitter.com/OONGyUi279

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) May 4, 2017

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships

Bushi, Evil & Sanada won the NEVER Openweight 6-man championships yesterday at Wrestling Dontaku 2017, defeating Tanahashi, Taguchi, & Ricochet.

Gonna be a Detroit Rock City Table Smashin Good Time @ringofhonor ??? https://t.co/cnnt2EyDze

— Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) April 24, 2017

The titles are frequently won and lost however. Only one team, Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks, have ever defended the titles successfully more than once in a row. The titles first debuted in the company at WrestleKingdom 10 on Jan. 4th 2016. The inaugural champions were the Briscoes & Toru Yano.

The rest of the card is as follows:

MAIN EVENT

ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

ROH WORLD CHAMPION “ALMIGHTY” CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. MATT TAVEN

BULLET CLUB (CODY, HANGMAN PAGE, & ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE YOUNG BUCKS) vs. CHAOS (WILL OSPREAY, HIROOKI GOTO & ROPPONGI VICE)

ROH WORLD SIX MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

ROH WORLD SIX MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS BULLY RAY & THE BRISCOES (JAY & MARK) vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, EVIL, & SANADA)

SIGNED TO APPEAR

ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION Marty Scurll

New Japan’s Tetsuya Naito

New Japan’s KUSHIDA

Dalton Castle

Jay Lethal

and more!

Ring of Honor TV
airdate: May 1st 2017 (Fite App)
Baltimore, MD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJipYcRjQ8Q

1. Coast to Coast (Shaheem Ali & LSG) vs. the Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia)

They announced on commentary before the match that the winners would face the tag team champions in New York at the War of the Worlds show.
Taven hit a reverse DDT on Ali, followed by a senton by Vinny, but the Kingdom opted not to pin him when they could have. Instead Taven called out ROH world champ, Christopher Daniels, and then hit Daniels’ Angel’s Wings on Ali, and got the 3 count.
Daniels and Taven meet for the title on May 10th in Dearborn Michigan.
Winners: the Kingdom (Taven pinned Ali)

Young Bucks Segment

The Young Bucks came out and tried to quell any rumours that there was dissension amongst them and Adam Cole in Bullet Club. They reaffirmed that Bullet Club was 4-life.
Then they said they were out of challengers in ROH, so they issued an open challenge to any tag team anywhere.
This brough out Mikey and Kenny from the Spirit Squad. They said they were accepting the challenge, but not for next week, they wanted to face the Bucks right now. They ran into the ring and were immediately super-kicked and knocked out by the Bucks. Commentary then announced we’d get the actual match next week.

2. Flip Gordan vs. Matt Sydal

Sydal will challenge Marty Scurll for the ROH TV title at War of the Worlds. While this was a showcase match for Sydal, Gordan got in a fair amount of offence as well.
Sydal wins with the shooting star press.
After the match Scurll ran into the ring and up behind Sydal. He tried to give him the chickenwing but Sydal hit him with a kick that took him out of the ring.
Winner: Matt Sydal

Story Time with Adam Cole Segment

Adam Cole came out and again said there were no problems in Bullet Club, and that he and the Young Bucks have worked everything out. Cole also mentions he will team up with Cody (Rhodes) next week against Dalton Castle and Christopher Daniels.

3. ROH World Title #1 Contenders Match
4-Corner Survivors Match 
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young vs. Jay White vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)

Christopher Daniels was on commentary, he also brought an apple-tini.
I don’t know quite how to describe this, or why I’m describing this but at one point during this match Silas Young spat on Hangman Page. In response, Page wiped the spit off his torso, licked it, and spat it back at Silas Young. It was nothing that should ever be repeated.
Lethal ended up getting the pin on Young after the Lethal Injection. Lethal will now face Christopher Daniels and Cody at War of the Worlds on May 12th for the ROH title.
Cody and Daniels each came down for a stare down session.
Winner: Jay Lethal (added to world title match at War of the Worlds) 

For no reason, here is a video of the Young Bucks super-kicking some kids:

Cody Rhodes will be joining Ring of Honor full-time roster member according to reports by MLW Radio and PWTorch.

Cody spoke with Sports Illustrated last week and revealed his plans to ‘settle down’ with one promotion. “I’m about to make a decision,” Rhodes teased. “It’s been really fun to cross all the streams, but at this point I do need to find a new home.”

After leaving WWE in May 2016, Cody Rhodes has competed for ROH, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, WCPW, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and more. Now that he’s wrestled everywhere, Roads has his sights set on a new goal: the Ring of Honor World Championship.

“For the very first time in my career, my goal of the world title is clearly defined,” Rhodes said. “This is the first world title that I’ve put on a hit list. My last year was spent wrestling everywhere, and this was a departure from that. Now my sights are clear and my focus is channeled at absolutely one thing. It’s a nice juxtaposition from the past year, which has been everywhere.”

Ring of Honor announced this week that Cody Rhodes will face Will Ospreay at the upcoming ROH War of the Worlds: Toronto event on May 7th.

Update: Cody Rhodes says he has not officially signed with anybody yet.

For the record

I. Have. Not. Signed. Anywhere.

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) April 26, 2017

Ring of Honor TV
airdate: April 24th 2017 (FITE app)
Baltimore, MD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyX33tPtQyk

Christopher Daniels and Cody (Rhodes) Segment
Daniels cut a promo about Cody jumping him from behind. He says to Cody that if he wanted a title shot he just had to come and ask for one.
This brings out Cody who wants to face Daniels at War of the Worlds in the Hammerstein Ballroom, but that’s already scheduled to be Daniels defending against the winner of a 4-way match taking place next week. Cody indicates that Daniels and ROH don’t want him to win the title because he’s a part-timer and it would look bad.

1. Lio Rush (Search and Destroy) vs. Shane Taylor (the Rebellion)
Shane Taylor recently joined the Rebellion by attacking Lio Rush, so this was Rush’s chance at revenge. Caprice Coleman cut a promo on Rush before the match, just saying Rush should have joined them when he had the chance.
Taylor dominated early, but Rush battled back. In mid-comeback Rush turned his attention to Caprice Coleman however, which allowed Taylor to hit a spine buster for the pin.
After the match Sabin and Shelley came out to attend to Rush but were attacked by Coleman and Taylor from behind.
Winner: Shane Taylor

2. 2017 Top Prospects Tournament Final:
Josh Woods vs. John Skyler
Back and forth match with equal offence between the two. Woods worked his MMA gimmick quite a bit. Skyler ended up tapping to an armbar, earning Woods the victory. Woods now earns an ROH contract and a shot at the TV title.
After the match David Starr attacked Woods from behind. Starr claimed he was the top international star in wrestling (wrestles in Europe a lot but is from Philly). So looks like we’ll get David Starr vs. Josh Woods on ROH TV sometime soon.
Winner: Josh Woods (earns ROH contract)

Adam Cole does a pre-recorded interview asking the Young Bucks for forgiveness. Says they need to go back to being Bullet Club.

3. ROH TV Championship:
Marty Scurll (c) vs. Frankie Kazarian
Scurll went to throw powder in the eyes of Kazarian but got the ref instead. Kazarian then hit the Ace of Spades but there was no ref to count the 3. This brought out Hangman Page who eventually hit Kazarian with a chair, allowing Scurll to get the pin.
After the match Scurll cut a promo about how he was out of competition. This brought out Matt Sydal who indicated he wanted a shot at the ROH TV title. Scurll seemed less than pleased with this and left the ring area.
Winner: Marty Scurll

Ring of Honor has announced the first bout as part of their co-branded War of The Worlds tour alongside New Japan Pro Wrestling.

NJPW legend Hiroshi Tanahashi will be teaming with ROH Champion Christopher Daniels and his Addiction tag team partner Kaz to take on the team of The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega.

Ring of Honor released a press release for this behemoth main event which you can read below:

Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks take on Hiroshi Tanahashi and The Addiction at War of the Worlds: Toronto! https://t.co/hfr4Q3GQHh pic.twitter.com/agfrVsl4L1

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2017

Ring of Honor TV
Episode 291
Las Vegas, NV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWVF0UijvS4

1. Caprice Coleman w/Kenny King (the Rebellion) vs. Chris Sabin (Seek and Destroy)

With the Rebellion having been responsible for Alex Shelley being put on the injured list, Sabin was looking for revenge in this singles match against Coleman. Lio Rush came down to ringside to counter Kenny King’s attempts to interfere.
The finish of the match came when Sabin went for a sunset flip, Kenny King attempted to interfere but Lio Rush kicked him away. Sabin rolled up Coleman for 3. It was the exact finish from the Peyton Royce & Billy Kay match on NXT this week.
Winner: Chris Sabin

2. Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Beretta) vs. Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara

The story being told by commentary on this match was that if Cheeseburger and Ferrara could defeat Roppongi Vice they would be in line for the IWGP jr heavyweight titles in Japan due to RV’s history with those belts.
They didn’t win however, Roppongi Vice won the match with their Strong Zero spiked piledriver.
After the match Ferrara didn’t want to shake hands and seemed to be angry with Cheeseburger, so there is some dissension brewing on that team.
Winner: Roppongi Vice

3. Jay White, Jay Lethal, Silas Young & Hangman Page vs. Colt Cabana, Lio Rush, Bobby Fish & Hanson

This was the wild card 8-man tag, where each team was drafted at random. The winning team will face each other at a later event in a 4-way match to determine a new #1 contender for world champion Christopher Daniels.
Page refused to accept a tag from Lethal and left his team near the end of the match. He was jumped by Kazarian on the stage area as he did so, so their feud continues.
Lethal and Rush ended up being the final two in the ring and Lethal hit the Lethal Combination for the win.
Winners: White, Lethal, Young and Page (face each other to determine new #1 contender)

Here is yesterday’s Ring of Honor update with Ian Riccaboni:

Ring of Honor has announced the first few New Japan Pro Wrestling stars that will be appearing as part of the War of The Worlds tour starting May 7th in Toronto, Ontario. The performers currently signed to appear are:

• KUSHIDA
• Tetsuya Naito
• EVIL
• NEVER Openweight Champion – Hirooki Goto

The following Ring of Honor stars have also been announced for the tour:

• ROH WORLD CHAMPION Christopher Daniels
• ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION Marty Scurll
• ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)
• ROH WORLD 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS  Bully Ray, Mark & Jay Briscoe
• Cody
• Will Ospreay
• Dalton Castle
• Jay Lethal

pic.twitter.com/ZUJzQk886R

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 18, 2017

Ring of Honor TV
airdate: April 11th 2017 (on Fite App)
Las Vegas, NV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKEkMbo4Qc

1. Punishment Martinez vs. Hanson (War Machine)
Martinez turned on BJ Whitmer and Los Ingobernables recently, and is now flying solo. War Machine is on a roll, last week Raymond Rowe defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. and recently in Japan they won the IWGP heavyweight tag team championships. Martinez has been on the receiving end of a push as well however.
After a back and forth match it looked like Hanson had things under control. He went to the top for a moonsault but Davey Boy Smith Jr. showed up on the stage and distracted him. That allowed Martinez to a hit a kick and the South-of-Heaven Chokeslam for the win.
Winner: Punishment Martinez

** A short video segment of Hangman Page attacking Kazarian in the parking lot is shown

2. ROH 2017 Top Prospect Tournament Semi-Final #2
Curt Stallion vs. John Skyler
Winner of this match goes on to face Josh “the Goods” Woods in the final. Winner of the tournament earns an ROH contract and a shot at the ROH TV title. Finish of this match came when Skyler countered a hurricanrana attempt into a flying fireman’s carry he calls the “Southern Salvation” for the pin.
Winner: John Skyler (advances to finals)

** We cut to a backstage video of Adam Cole trying to reach out to the Young Bucks. Cole attempted to fire the Bucks from the Bullet Club the other week, however they told him he didn’t have the ability to do so. Cole said in the video he wants things to go back to normal. Speculation is that this is leading to a Bullet Club rift between Kenny Omega and Adam Cole. 

3. 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match
Bully Ray and the Briscoes vs. the Kingdom (c)
Due to the injury to TK O’Ryan, Silas Young fills in for the Kingdom along with Matt Taven and Vincent Marseglia. Young has joined the Kingdom in return for he and the Beer City Bruiser (plus partner) receiving the next shot at the Kingdom.
Finish of the match came when Bully Ray received a hot tag and proceeded to take out all 3 members of the Kingdom. Both Briscoes lifted up Marseglia for the 3D and Bully covered him after for the pin.
After the match Taven and Silas Young argued on the outside, perhaps setting up an angle between the Kingdom and Silas & the Beer City Bruiser.
Winners: Bully Ray and the Briscoes (new champions)

Next week there will be an 8-man tag team match with the winners facing off in a 4-way match. The winner of the 4-way will receive an ROH World Championship opportunity. The 8 competitors will be chosen by random draw.

Sinclair Broadcast Group / Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff recently spoke with the Baltimore Sun to promote Saturday night’s ROH Charm City Excellence TV tapings (Results). Koff was asked once again about reports that WWE was negotiating to buy Ring of Honor and says there’s “no story” thre.

“It was not a story. It was not a story when it came out. I think people want to make a story out of nothing. I’m very open in conversations with very many different wrestling promotions. And I think sometimes because I don’t share a lot of stuff, we’re very private about what we do. I think it raises speculation.”

Koff admits that he has talked with WWE several times, but it’s usually been about WWE wanting to license footage from ROH’s vast tape library. With so many ROH veterans under contract with WWE (Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, etc.), it makes sense that WWE would want access to that footage for WWE Network specials and DVD offerings.

“I think this thing with the WWE really started because we were in conversations about content for Kevin Owens’ DVD. There was a lot of back and forth between the two companies. I think that was the seed that drove that story.”

Other topics discussed include Matt and Jeff Hardy’s time in ROH, Christopher Daniels winning the ROH World title, Bully Ray and the success of ROH’s Supercard of Honor show during WrestleMania weekend. Head over to the Baltimore Sun to read the full interview.

Thanks to SEScoops reader Michael Hottle for the following live report from Saturday night’s ROH Charm City Excellence TV tapings from Baltimore, MD:

ROH Charm City Excellence
Television Tapings 04/08/2017 *SPOILERS*
Baltimore, Maryland | William J. Meyers Pavilion

Sold Out House – 600

Dark Match

Joey Daddiego defeated J-Rocc via pinfall

Episode 1

1. Shane Taylor defeated Lio Rush via pinfall

Top Prospect Tournament Finals
2. Josh Woods defeated John Skyler via submission

ROH Television Title Match (Television Main Event)
3. Marty Scurll (C) defeated Kazarian via pinfall

Women of Honor Match (Tornado Fatal Four-Way)
Deonna Purrazo defeated Faye Jackson, Jenny Rose, Mandy Leon via submission

Episode 2

1. The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia) defeated Coast 2 Coast (Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali) via pinfall

2. Matt Sydal defeated Flip Gordon via pinfall

Tornado Fatal Four-Way to determine #1 contender ROH Championship
3. Jay Lethal defeated Adam Page, Jay White, Silas Young via pinfall

Women of Honor Match
Karen Q defeated Kelly Klein via count out

Episode 3

ROH World Tag Team Titles Match – Open Challenge
1. The Young Bucks (C) defeated The Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey) via pinfall

2. Punishment Damien Martinez defeated Beer City Bruiser via pinfall

3. Adam Cole & Cody defeated Christopher Daniels & Dalton Castle (Television Main Event) via pinfall

Episode 4

1. Chris Sabin & Jonathan Gresham defeated Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara via submission

2. Silas Young defeated Bobby Fish via pinfall

ROH 6-Man Tag Team Title Match (Television Main Event)
3. Bully Ray & The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) (C) defeated The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Rhett Titus, Shane Taylor) via pinfall

A civil war might be brewing within the Bullet Club. Dissension between Adam Cole and Kenny Omega has started to build in NJPW and ROH as of late. The two were shown arguing in the ring together recently after a tag match on NJPW World.

Then the Elite’s YouTube channel (the Elite is Omega and the Young Bucks) posted a fan captured video of Adam Cole attempting to fire the Young Bucks at a recent set of TV tapings.

Adam Cole also sent out an ominous tweet earlier today

Well…no looking back now… pic.twitter.com/j21NnVxiD8

— Adam Cole (@AdamColePro) April 5, 2017

This week’s edition of ROH TV began by showing the footage of Adam Cole trying to fire the Young Bucks at the last set of TV tapings. Cole cut a backstage promo afterwards, but he only talked about Kazarian and Christopher Daniels screwing him out of the ROH world title, with no mention of the Young Bucks.

1. Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Ray Rowe

Smith took the offence early, working on the leg of Rowe. He did Bret Hart’s old figure four around the ring post move too. Despite Smith working Rowe’s leg the entire first half of the match, Rowe battled back and hit his “Death Row”, a variation of a GTS, for the win.
Winner: Ray Rowe 

2. ROH Top Prospect Tournament Semi-Final #1
Brian Milonas vs. Josh “the Goods” Woods

They announced Milonas is the largest competitor ever to compete in the tournament. His opponent, Josh Woods, has an MMA gimmick. This match was similar to an old style UFC bout with a jiu-jitsu guy going against a big powerful giant. Milonas hit various slams and power moves while Woods went for submissions. Woods finally grabbed a hold of a leg lock and didn’t let go until Milonas tapped.
Winner: Josh Woods via submission (advances to tournament finals)

• The Briscoes announced in a backstage promo that they will team with Bully Ray to take on the Kingdom next week with the 6-man tag titles on the line.

3. ROH TV Championship
Kenny King (Rebellion) vs. Marty Scurll (c)

Kazarian was on commentary as he earned a TV title shot against the winner. He won a 6-man match on the same set of TV tapings where he joined the Bullet Club and then swerved them to help Christopher Daniels win the ROH world title. It was an eventful set of tapings for him.
A very technical bout between the two here, with Scurll setting him up for his finish most of the way. Finish of this match was Scurll making King tap to the chickenwing.
Winner: Marty Scurll 

Matt & Jeff Hardy lost the ROH Tag Team Titles after a hellacious ladder match against the Young Bucks at Saturday night’s Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor show from Lakeland, Florida.

It has been rumoured throughout the week that the Hardy’s Ring of Honor contracts would be ending just in time for Wrestlemania. Although their title loss does not indicate they will be making a surprise appearance at WrestleMania, reliable sources say their returns are imminent.

Do you think that the Hardys will appear at Wrestlemania or RAW/Smackdown next week? Let us know in the comments section.

Also….

Are you looking for a Wrestlemania preview show? ‘The Scoop’ from the R&J Wrestling Podcast has you covered:

https://audioboom.com/posts/5770405-the-scoop-episode-1-wrestlemania-edition?t=0

Just…wow #HardysvsBucks #ROHSupercard pic.twitter.com/cPL9jrBXC9

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 2, 2017

https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/848414174644514816

Ring of Honor’ “Supercard of Honor XI” takes place Saturday at 630pm in Lakeland, FL. With over 3000 tickets already sold, the event is officially the biggest in the history of the promotion (in terms of live gate).

The main event will be the first title defence for Christopher Daniels, as he defends against Dalton Castle. It will be interesting to see who the fans cheer for between the loveable veteran, and the cult favourite Dalton Castle.

Cody Rhodes and Jay Lethal’s feud will come to a conclusion in a Texas Bull Rope match as well. In the most talked about match of the evening however, the Hardys will take on the Young Bucks in a ladder match. Could this be the last appearance by the Hardys before they show up in WWE?

Final details set for Festival of Honor! #ROHSupercard https://t.co/YjJcgvHH7L pic.twitter.com/vTwpCCKp2n

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 30, 2017

SuperCard of Honor XI Full Lineup

• The Kingdom (Taven and Marseglia) vs. Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser
• Frankie Kazarian vs. Punishment Martinez
• ROH World Television Championship Match:
  Marty Scurll (c) vs. Adam Cole (Bullet Club)
• Dragon Lee and Jay White vs. Will Ospreay and Volador Jr.
• The Briscoes and Bully Ray vs. Hangman Page, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Roa
• Texas Bullrope Match
  Cody Rhodes vs. Jay Lethal
• ROH Tag Team Championship Ladder Match
  the Hardys (c) vs. the Young Bucks (Bullet Club)
• ROH World Championship Match
  Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Dalton Castle

You can purchase the IPPV through the Fite App, which is also a great way to watch ROH  TV every week.

ROH TV
March 27th (on the Fite App)
Las Vegas, Nevada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9fUKteazus

Christopher Daniels World Title Celebration

45-year-old Christopher Daniels won his first world championship for a major promotion at the company’s 15 year anniversary show recently. This show was the first for the set of tapings which occurred after the IPPV.

Kazarian and Daniels came out and celebrated with “apple-tinis” to start the show. Daniels declared himself the “world champion…of the world”.
Dalton Castle, who will challenge Daniels this weekend at Supercard of Honor, came out to join in the celebration. He was very impressed with the Apple-tini he was given. The boys even gave him his own glass.

Adam Cole and the Young Bucks came out. Cole said he was screwed out of the championship and promises payback to the Addiction. A 6-man tag pitting Adam Cole & the Young Bucks vs. the Addiction & Dalton Castle is scheduled for later in the show.

* In the back Kenny King challenges Marty Scurll for the ROH TV title. Scurll accepted, so we should get that match sometime soon. 

1. ROH Tag Team Championship Match
the Hardys (c) vs. the Briscoes
The Hardys retained after several near falls. Jay Briscoe kicked out a twist of fate and Matt Hardy kicked out of a froggy-bow. The finish of the match came when Jeff Hardy came in on a blind tag and used his leg-scissor pinning combination on Mark Briscoe for the win.
After the match the Young Bucks came out and challenged the Hardys to make their match at Supercard of Honor a ladder match. Interesting.
Winners: the Hardys (2nd title defence)(Jeff Hardy pinned Mark Briscoe)

2. Adam Cole & the Young Bucks (Bullet Club) vs. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Dalton Castle
Finish of the match started when the Bucks accidentally superkick’ed Adam Cole. After that Castle clotheslined them both out of the ring, and Daniels hit them with a moonsault. In the ring Dalton Castle gave Adam Cole the Bang-a-rang and pinned him for the win. The idea was the two guys in Saturday’s main event came out looking the strongest here.
Winners: the Addiction and Dalton Castle (Castle pinned Cole)

ROH’s Supercard of Honor will be available on IPPV on Saturday at 6pm. 

As you probably heard earlier this week, WWE has been in talks with Sinclair Broadcasting Group regarding a potential sale of Ring of Honor. The news was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet and now Ring of Honor has issued a brief statement regarding the news.

• Details On WWE’s Negotiations To Purchase Ring of Honor

Sinclair Broadcast Group issued the following statement to BleedingCool.com:

“Sinclair’s corporate policy is never to comment on speculative rumors and unsubstantiated stories.”

A few top ROH talents have also commented on WWE’s negotiations with Sinclair. ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels was a guest on this week’s Bischoff on Wrestling podcast and had this to say to Eric Bischoff:

“I don’t know anything specific about it. I can’t imagine that when you say ‘acquisition’… I can’t imagine it’s a full on acquisition. Only because I think that Sinclair is committed to doing things with Ring of Honor for it’s own business purposes. Again, I can’t really comment with any sort of intelligence on what the whole thing is even about.

I have heard that rumor but I don’t feel like Ring of Honor is going to be sold to WWE outright. It depends too on what WWE is trying to gain. Is it a matter of the tape library? Is a matter of the contracts of certain wrestlers? Who knows? I guess the best thing we can do is sort of sit and see how it plays out if it’s even true. That’s all I can do. I am just going to continue to assume. I’m booked, I’m wrestling, I am going to continue to prepare for the next show and we are going to see how it all plays out.”

Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks also tweeted:

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/844975420206329857?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

WWE is interested in purchasing Ring of Honor and discussions regarding a potential sale have been ongoing for months. Pro Wrestling Sheet broke news on Wednesday night that WWE and Sinclair Broadcasting have been engaged in “secret talks” since January.

As you might have guessed, a major selling point of this deal for WWE is content for the WWE Network. Not only would WWE acquire Ring of Honor’s tape library dating back to 2002, but Ring of Honor’s weekly television show would also migrate to WWE’s growing streaming platform.

The careers of countless current and past WWE Superstars ran through Ring of Honor, including Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Brian Kendrick, Austin Aries, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Matt and Jeff Hardy. There’s plenty of footage in the ROH archives involving these performers that WWE would like to get a hold of.

No word yet on what this means for the talent currently under contract with Ring of Honor or the company’s live touring operation. It’s safe to say ROH’s long standing relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling would dissolve if the company was sold to WWE.

Top Ring of Honor wrestlers include ROH Champion Christopher Daniels, ROH Tag Team Champions Matt and Jeff Hardy, Adam Cole, the Young Bucks, Will Ospreay, ROH Television Champion Marty Scurll, Cody Rhodes, Jay Lethal and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions, Briscoe Brothers and Bully Ray.

It’s worth noting that we do not know how close the two sides are to finalizing a deal. The story by Ryan Satin notes that talks have been progressing slowly, but this is a significant story nonetheless.

We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Ring of Honor TV
airdate: March 20th 2017 (On Fite App)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VTqTXEcYkk

1. Will Ferrara & Cheeseburger vs. Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser

Before the match they cut to a video of Young and the Bruiser talking about having a mystery partner and eventually challenging for the 6-man titles. Young and Bruiser pulled out the victory here after Bruiser pinned Ferrara with a rather painful looking frog splash.
Winners: Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser (Bruiser pinned Ferrara)

2. 2017 Top Prospect Tournament 1st Round
Chris LeRusso vs. Josh Woods

Definitely a few LeRusso supporters in the audience tonight. Silas Young joined the commentary team and mentioned he might be scouting this match for a 3rd member of his team with the Beer City Bruiser.
We got the rare “win via referee’s stoppage” in this bout, after Woods hit a head kick and some ground and pound until the ref stepped in. Woods advances to the tournament semi-finals.
Winner: Josh Woods via ref stoppage

3. Kenny King (Rebellion) w/Caprice Coleman vs. Lio Rush

Commentary played up the prior relationship between Lio Rush and the Rebellion. Chris Sabin joined on commentary, who is now aligned with Rush through his Search and Destroy faction.
King won clean with the Royal Flush after a back and forth match.
After the match Shane Taylor came to the ring and power bombed Rush. Taylor is now the newest member of the Rebellion.
Winner: Kenny King

4. Jay White vs. Jay Briscoe

Mark Briscoe joined on commentary. This is a rematch from a time limit draw that occurred on ROH TV previously. The whole story is that the youngster, Jay White, took the veteran, Jay Briscoe, to the limit in the first match.
White, who is a loanee from NJPW, was made to look at or near Jay Briscoe’s level here, and commentary played it up as though he would be a future world title challenger. Finish of the match came when Briscoe, who had put White through a table moments earlier, hit a hard clothesline and pinned him. It was the old veteran gets the win but rookie earns respect and shows he’s for real type of match.
Winner: Jay Briscoe

The Hardy brothers and Young Bucks will continue their epic rivalry on April 1st in Lakeland FL at Supercard of Honor XI. The show is ROH’s annual event during WrestleMania weekend. The Bucks have confirmed the news Jeff Hardy first told us during our exclusive interview earlier this week: the ROH tag titles will be on the line in a Ladder Match.

https://twitter.com/mattjackson13/status/842129440704360448

ROH Tag Team Championship Rivalry

The Hardys defeated the Young Bucks at Manhattan Mayhem earlier this month, not long after announcing they were leaving Impact and joining Ring of Honor. At the company’s 15th anniversary show on Friday, the Hardys retained the titles in a triple threat street fight against both the Bucks and Roppongi Vice.

After the match on Friday night, Matt and Jeff stole the Young Bucks’ “Superkick Party” title belts as well. ROH still has two weeks of television to air until the show however, so more changes could still be to come.

ROH TV
air date: March 15th 2017 (on Comet and the Fite App)
Pittsburgh, PA

Ian Riccaboni & Alex Shelley on commentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDCOwoZ-OQo

1. the Young Bucks vs. Coast to Coast (non-title match)

The young Coast to Coast team of Shaheem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni got in their offence but ultimately lost to the Young Bucks, who were tag team champions at the time of this match. Their tag title loss to the Hardyz took place after this match. The Bucks taunted Jeff and Matt Hardy during the match, even delivering a twist of fate followed by a Senton to their opponents. They also led the crowd in chants of “Delete! Suck it!”. Commentary hyped the Supercard of Honor match between the Hardyz and Young Bucks in Lakeland, FL over WrestleMania weekend. Bucks win after Nick Jackson hit a 450 splash and pinned Ali.
Winners: the Young Bucks 

Ian Riccaboni conducted an interview with Lio Rush regarding his relationship with the Rebellion. This brings out Kenny King who said Rush was a great aerial wrestler, but King “Gets live at 225lbs”. So something is building there between Rush and Kenny King, but nothing got physical during the interview.

2. 2017 Top Prospect Tournament
Preston Quinn vs. Curt Stallion

Preston Quinn is 40 years old and has been wrestling since 1996, proving the top prospects tournament is not just for young guys. He came out with a colourful manager, Andy Vineburg, who is living in the 1980s. Quinn wrestles on the indy scene mainly in Virginia and North Carolina. He looked good here too, with a lot of old school style offence. He missed an elbow however, and that was all the opening Stallion needed to hit a diving headbutt and get the pin.
Winner: Curt Stallion

Cody Rhodes cut a promo on Jay Lethal. He brought out Hangman Page to join him in the ring, and challenged Lethal to a Texas Bullrope match.

3. Dalton Castle vs. Jonathan Gresham

Commentary played up how Dalton Castle will receive an ROH world championship opportunity at Supercard of Honor. At the moment that match would be against Christopher Daniels, but a lot could change in a few weeks, especially considering ROH just taped 4 weeks of television this weekend in Las Vegas.
Castle picked up the clean win here after countering a diving attack into the Bangarang.
Winner: Dalton Castle

4. No DQ Match
BJ Whitmer and Punishment Martinez vs. War Machine

The sadistic team of Whitmer and Martinez, who we assume are mentored off camera by Kevin Sullivan, received a big opportunity here by taking on one of the promotion’s top tag teams. Martinez really stood out in this match and got the win by choke-slamming Hanson through a table. After the match he turned on his partner BJ Whitmer as well, choke-slamming him for good measure. Punishment Martinez is looking like he’s ready to make a move up the ROH rankings soon.
Winners: Whitmer and Punishment Martinez

On Friday night 45-year old Christopher Daniels won the ROH world championship for the first time. It is the first world championship of a major promotion he has won.

Seth Rollins offered his congrats to Daniels:

Major congrats to @facdaniels on winning the @ringofhonor title. One of the best dudes I've had the pleasure of knowing. Long overdue!

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) March 12, 2017

Seth Rollins and Christopher Daniels ROH Experience

Rollins and Daniels were both in ROH together in 2010, when Rollins was the ROH world champion. He defeated Austin Aries for the title in February of 2010, and would drop it that September to Roderick Strong.

At the time Daniels was returning from TNA Wrestling, where he had been since 2002.

This Friday night at ROH’s 15th Anniversary show, Daniels defeated Adam Cole in the main event for the ROH world championship. Daniels’ longtime tag team partner Kazarian, had joined Cole’s Bullet Club earlier in the month on ROH television, but at the PPV showed it was all a double-cross. Kazarian turned on Adam Cole and helped Daniels gain the advantage and win the championship.

Earlier in the night Jay Lethal defeated Bobby Fish in a match that commentary indicated would have world title implications. Most likely Daniels’ first title defence, if not a rematch with Cole, will be against Jay Lethal.

On Friday night, Ring of Honor presented its 15th Anniversary iPPV event from Las Vegas. Here are the results:

– Jay White defeated Kenny King

– Kazarian became the #1 Contender to the ROH TV Championship by defeating Chesseburger, Silas Young, Punishment Martinez, Hangman Page and Chris Sabin.

– Jay Lethal defeated Bobby Fish in a top contender’s match.

– The Kingdom defeated Dalton Castle & The Boys to retain the ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships

– Marty Scurll defeatd Lio Rush to retain the ROH World TV Championship

– Bully Ray & The Briscoes defeated War Machine & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

– Matt and Jeff Hardy defeated The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice to retain the ROH Tag Team Championships

– Christopher Daniels defeated Adam Cole to capture the ROH World Championship

Destiny #ROH15TH pic.twitter.com/iBaf25EWCu

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 11, 2017

24 years in the making #ROH15TH pic.twitter.com/7hYBXRm0qf

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 11, 2017

BREAKING: Christopher Daniels wins ROH World Championship https://t.co/TAGdevhZgR #ROH15th pic.twitter.com/iBQ7khI0Nj

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 11, 2017

Matt Hardy, fresh off signing a ROH contract, gave an interview with ROHwrestling.com, and revealed what it is about Ring of Honor that keeps bringing him back. This will be Hardy’s third stint in with the promotion. His first was in 2005, after having been released from WWE. Hardy then returned again to the company from 2012-2014.

Now, in 2017, Hardy is at the peak of his popularity and back for another ROH run. When asked what it is that he enjoys about the company, Matt had this to say:

“Ah, yes, my mortal vessel has had a couple of runs in the Honorable Ring (ROH) before I made my return in New York City. Something I’ve always enjoyed about ROH is that they’ve really stripped wrestling down to its true essence. In its essence it’s great athleticism and storytelling and that is what they do better than anyone else. They’re mantra of being the best wrestling on the planet is very true to form. ROH truly does pro wrestling in a modern form better than anyone else right now. I am a wrestling fan still at my core because I inhibit this vessel, so that makes me love ROH.”

The full interview can be found on ROH’s website here.

https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/840110161163243520

Matt Hardy Contract Length

It is not currently known how long of a contract Matt and Jeff Hardy have with ROH. Some speculation is the deal is only a short-term one to keep the Hardys on TV leading up to an eventual return to WWE programming. Others feel the Hardys know they won’t get the same creative freedom they are enjoying now from WWE, and will simply continue their act on ROH programming and indie events for as long as they are able to make good money doing so.