ROH: War of the Worlds
Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC
May 12th 2017
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Silas Young vs. Kushida vs. Dalton Castle vs. Bobby Fish
Kushida came out in a Yankees jersey. Silas Young cut a promo on Kushida pandering to the crowd and attacked him to start the match.
Everyone got some offence in but Kushida in particular seemed to be made to look strong. He got armbars on both Bobby Fish and Dalton Castle, with each having to be broken up before the guy tapped. He will be participating in the Best of the Super Juniors next week.
The finish of the match started when Kushida was taken out by a clothesline by Silas. Then Fish took Silas out with a legsweep. This left Fish and Castle in the ring alone, Castle hit Bang-A-Rang and got the pin.
Bobby Fish successfully defended the ROH TV title against Dalton Castle earlier this year, so there could be another match between those two coming. They shook hands after the match.
Winner: Dalton Castle
- A video package of the history between Kazarian and Hangman Page/Bullet Club is shown. Kazarian had convinced Bullet Club he had joined the faction and had betrayed Christopher Daniels, his longtime tag partner. It was a swerve however, and Kazarian helped Daniels beat Adam Cole to win the ROH Championship. Now Kazarian is feuding with Bullet Club.
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Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
Kazarian hit Page with a diving cannonball before he could enter the ring, and the match started with a brawl on the outside.
There were a couple of fun moves early; Page hit a standing shooting star press from the apron to the floor on Kazarian. Then Kazarian hit an unprettier (aka Christian’s finishing move).
Eventually they started spitting at each other. Literally they took turns spitting at each other similar to how strong-style wrestlers exchange forearms. They had a similar gross spitting spot on television recently.
Finish of the match came when Page hooked the ropes in the corner while Kazarian was going for a sunset flip. Page continued to hold onto the ropes as he had Kazarian’s shoulders pinned and got the 3-count. Kevin Kelly made sure to mention that there will be more to come between these two.
Winner: Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
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Evil & Sanada (Los Ingobernables) vs. War Machine vs. Chris Sabin & Jonathon Gresham w/ Alex Shelley (Search & Destroy)
There were a lot of fun spots here. Rowe gave an overhead belly-to-belly to both members of Search & Destroy at the same time. Evil then wrapped Hanson’s head in a chair, and then hit that chair with another chair. War Machine definitely looked strong. They just defended their tag titles last month in NJPW, and are scheduled to do so again next month against the Guerillas of Destiny.
The beginning of the end started when Sanada took everyone out on the outside with a plancha. Sabin then ended up alone in the ring with both members of War Machine, who gave him a pop-up powerslam for the win.
Winners: War Machine
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Jay White vs. Will Ospreay
This match is interesting from an NJPW perspective, as Jay White was a young lion and is now on loan/excursion to ROH. Meanwhile, Ospreay won the Best of the Juniors last year, so a win for Jay White would indicate they have big plans for him. Cabana mentioned on commentary that White is putting on weight to wrestle as a heavyweight however.
Jay White got in a lot of offence, including a Muta-clutch, brainbuster on the apron, and a flying dropkick. Ospreay got in a lot of his office as well, including a standing spanish fly, reversing a move into a cutter, and lots of kicks and his normal array of impressive offence.
An interesting part of the match was when White reversed a springboard move by Ospreay into a position where he had both of his arms trapped, allowing him to freely land elbows to Ospreay’s head. It looked as though the ref was going to step in, but White ended up getting free.
Ospreay hit the most ridiculous springboard shooting star press to the outside that you will ever see. He then rolled White into the ring, hit a springboard cutter and picked up the win. The crowd was very into this.
Winner: Will Ospreay (CHAOS)
- After the match Punishment Martinez hit the ring and took out Osprey. White tried to help, but he got hit with the South of Heaven Chokeslam.
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ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Bully Ray & the Briscoes © vs. Hirooki Goto, Rocky Romero, & Beretta (CHAOS)
Roppongi Vice recently won the IWGP jr heavyweight tag titles, so they had a chance to become double champs in this match.
Bully Ray came out in the rafters and announced this will be a no DQ match. He has a lot of history in this building, and there were ECW chants periodically throughout the match.
There were a lot of diving moves to the outside and chairshots early here, with each team getting in time on offence. There was some throwing of chairs to the head, but not unprotected swinging chair shots..
Aside from the early chair useage, the match wasn’t that hardcore for the most part. It was high paced however. At one point Jay Briscoe hit a double doomsday device, followed by Mark hitting an elbow from the top to Goto. Bully Ray then called for the tables. Ray powerbombed Berretta through a table from the 2nd rope, then they hit 3-D on Romero for the win.
Winners: Bully Ray & the Briscoes
- We were shown a replay of earlier this month on television, when Marty Scurll was cutting a promo about being out of opponents. Sydal came down to the ringside and simply pointed at Scurll’s belt to let him know he was challenging him for a title shot.
- Last week on ROH TV, Sydal had just won a singles match when Scurll ran to ringside and attacked him from behind, but Sydal was able to fend him off.
6. ROH TV Title
Marty Scurll © vs. Matt Sydal
Each guy got in the majority of their offensive arsenal, and Sydal even added a new move.
Sydal reversed Scurll’s chickenwing at least twice. The first time he reversed it, Scurll transitioned into that finger-breaking move he does. Sydal hit a hurricanrana and a flying knee shortly after that however.
Not long after Sydal countered the chickenwing for the second time, he landed what looked to be a Gory-bomb, i.e the Guerreros. After that, he went to the top for the shooting star press. Scurll got his knees up however, then was finally able to lock in the chickenwing and got the tap.
Winner: Marty Scurrll
7. ROH Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks © vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi (Los Ingobernables)
It seemed as though the Bucks were getting the majority of the offence in the first part of this match. They did a lot of their innovative tag team moves, but were eventually slowed down when Naito hit a tornado DDT on Nick, followed by a reverse hurricanarana on Matt.
Naito then went for Destino on Matt but it was reversed to a piledriver position, and the Bucks started to go for the Meltzer Driver. Bushi prevented Nick from springboarding into the ring however, and then with the ref out of position he sprayed poison mist into Matt’s eyes. Naito rolled him up for the pin, but Matt kicked out just in time.
When Matt got up he was blind and walking around the ring, but he could still hit super kicks! He hit Naito, Bushi, then his own brother Nick, and then the referee because he didn’t know who was who. He finally got a bottle of water to clear out his eyes. Then Naito hit him with Destino, but Nick broke up the pin with a swanton.
Matt Jackson took out Naito with a tornado DDT on the apron, which allowed Nick to go to the top and Matt to roll Bushi into the ring. Matt hit a standing moonsault, and Nick came off the top in unison. Nick covered Bushi for a near-fall only.
Finally, Nick took Naito out on the outside with a flying cannonball, allowing Matt to grab Bushi and put him in position for the Meltzer Driver. The Bucks hit their finish and got the win.
Winners: the Young Bucks
- A Very Interesting announcement after this match! NJPW has created a new championship: The IWGP U.S Championship. There will be a tournament for the title shortly, with Jay Lethal already announced as participating.
- NJPW will be running a G1 show in LA on July 1st. They also announced the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships will also be defended on that show. This is all apart of NJPW’s US expansion plans.
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole (Bullet Club)
Commentary talked about how this match is between arguably the greatest champion in modern day NJPW against the same in ROH. Cole is a 3x ROH champion, and Tanahashi ruled NJPW for the last decade. After his loss to Okada at WrestleKingdom Tanahashi has fallen out of the IWGP heavyweight title picture, but will wrestle Naito for the Intercontinental championship next month.
Each guy got a lot of offence in. Cole hit the Last Shot, countered Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow, and even his own version of the High Fly Flow at one point. Tanahashi finally landed his patented High Fly Flow frog splash and got the pin.
Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi
- After the match, Cole remained in the ring while some fans chanted “thank you Adam!” (has Cole signed with someone?) The Young Bucks then hit the ring and played it up like they were going to finally superkick Cole after weeks of building towards a split. Cole turned around and the Bucks acted like everything was fine and gave him the 2 sweet signal. Kelly referred to it as them doing their own version of a curtain call.
- Then the lights went out and we cut to a video of Kenny Omega. He says he was disappointed in the Bucks for standing with Cole after he tried to fire them from Bullet Club. He tells Adam he has had a long and storied career, but just like all fairy tales there “has to be a hero and a villain”. The camera fades back to reveal the bird mask worn by Marty Scurll. Omega then tells Cole he is officially fired.
- The lights go back on in the building and Marty Scurll is in the ring. He reveals an umbrella with the Bullet Club logo. Then the Young Bucks superkick Adam Cole. Scurll then reveals a Bullet Club shirt.
9. ROH World Championship
Christopher Daniels © vs. Jay Lethal vs. Cody (Bullet Club)
Commentary was playing up how Cody is a free agent, and looking to achieve as much as he can all over the world.
Lethal began favouring his shoulder after landing a suicide dive, but it didn’t seem to impact him too much. Later in the match Cody would bring out a table, though it wouldn’t be used immediately.
Cody ended up hitting Daniels with the Cross Rhodes, but when he went for the pin Lethal came off the top for an elbow. Cody got out of the way just in time, and Lethal ended up hitting Daniels. He stumbled onto the apron, and Cody ended up hitting him off the apron and through the table. This left Cody and Lethal alone in the ring.
There was a ref bump, followed by Cody hitting a low blow on Lethal. When Cody went for the Disaster Kick, Lethal countered into a cutter for a nearfall. Lethal then went for the Lethal Injection, but Cody countered into the Cross Rhodes, but Lethal kicked out just in time.
Cody then put Lethal in a figure-four, but Daniels got back into the match, hit the Best Moonsault Ever on Cody and pinned him while Lethal was still trapped in his figure-four. The crowd was into it. They were into most things on this show.
Winner: Christopher Daniels