The following matches are advertised for tonight’s Ring Of Honor “Best in the World” show, which is the company’s official debut on regular pay-per-view.

ROH World Championship
– Adam Cole (c) vs. Michael Elgin

ROH World Tag-Team Championships
– Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (c) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian

ROH TV Championship
– Jay Lethal (c) vs. Matt Tavern (with Truth Martini handcuffed to the ring post)

Submission Match
– Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander

Six-Man Mayhem Match For ROH TV Title Shot
– ACH vs. Takanaki Watanbe vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Tadarius Thomas vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Tommaso Ciampa

– Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young

– The Briscoes vs. Matt Hardy & Michael Bennett (with Maria Kanellis)

The following are highlights of a new interview with Roderick Strong:

On getting started with ROH: “I was working for a company called IPW Hardcore in Tampa Bay and they were doing some stuff with Jersey All Pro Wrestling. They brought Dan Maff down, he saw me wrestle and he told me I’d be a great fit for ROH. Overtime, Maff tried getting in touch with Gabe Sapolsky to get him to meet me, which I did, through Maff, of course. After that, I had my first tryout match on September 20, 2003 and the rest is history.”

On changes in ROH: “The amount of exposure has changed. “The amount of passion in the locker room has always stayed the same. I just think that’s something that’s a part of ROH that, unless the company comes to an end, that passion will always be there. It is always going to be a company that is driven to present the best wrestling. And not just the wrestlers, but the passionate fans are still the same as well.”

“But speaking of the fans, if there’s one thing that has changed, it’s that more casual fans are aware of ROH. They’re getting into it and they’re seeing the passion that fans have had for 12 years.”

On WWE aspirations: “Of course, who doesn’t? I’m still young, in a sense. Even though I’ve been around for a long time, I’m still only 30 years old. There’s a lot more tread on the tires.”

“Everyone’s dream is to be a huge superstar in professional wrestling. And to one day wrestle at Wrestlemania where my niece and nephew can watch me means more to me than anything.”

Check out the complete interview at PWMania.com.

– According to latest reports, WWE has yet to contact anyone who took part in the March tryout camp at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. That is the tryout that had all of the top Ring Of Honor stars, such as Kevin Steen, Roderick Strong and ACH.

– As far as interest levels on the internet for the characters involved in WrestleMania XXX this year on the day after the show, Undertaker blew away everyone involved, with triple the level of interest of Brock Lesnar, six times the interest of Daniel Bryan and ten times the interest of John Cena.

Ring Of Honor standouts Kevin Steen, Roderick Strong and ACH took part in a WWE tryout camp at the WWE Performance Center last week. In most cases, WWE informs the talent who take part in these tryout camps that they will be contacted within four-to-six weeks if the company has any interest in them.

Steen reportedly surprised a number of his peers by dropping weight beforehand and also for his ability to work his way through the endurance testing drills at the camp.

As previously reported, Steen’s deal with Ring Of Honor is set to expire in June. He has been telling those close to him that he does not intend to re-sign with the company, although he noted that he is open to working for them as a free agent, similar to Strong, Chris Hero and others. That would, however, likely not be the case if he were to get an offer from WWE.

– In addition to Kevin Steen and Roderick Strong, Ring Of Honor wrestler ACH (aka Albert Harle Jr.) will be taking part in the next WWE tryout camp at the WWE Performance Center.

– As previously reported, former CZW World Champion Drake Younger has signed a developmental deal with WWE and will begin training at the WWE Performance Center in early May. Young was part of the WWE tryout camp in December, which according to one source was described as having the least overall amount of talent in history.

– The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:

February 28th live event in North Charleston, South Carolina drew approximately 7,500 fans.
March 1st live event in Jacksonville, Florida drew approximately 6,000 fans.
March 1st live event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa drew approximately 3,500 fans.
March 2nd in Moline, Illinois drew approximately 6,000 fans.
March 2nd in Bloomington, Illinois drew 3,200 fans.

As previously reported, Ring Of Honor stars Roderick Strong and Kevin Steen were considered pretty likely candidates for the next WWE NXT tryout camp at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Apparently Strong and Steen are confirmed to take part in the next WWE tryout, which takes place from March 24th through March 26th.

Independent wrestling star Michael Elgin was also reportedly trying to get into the next tryout camp, but there is no definitive word yet as to whether or not he will be a part of it.

– Former WWE Superstar MVP will be making his official TNA Wrestling debut at next Thursday’s Impact Wrestling television taping in Glasgow, Scotland.

– Roderick Strong is off of the Ring Of Honor show in Pittsburgh on Saturday due to the neck injury he sustained in his match with AJ Styles a few weeks ago. Strong will be at the ROH taping, however, doing commentary for the television show.

TNA wrestler James Storm was recently interviewed by the Dothan Eagle newspaper in Alabama about a number of subjects, including his preference in portraying a heel character over a babyface, wanting to work with Roderick Strong or The Young Bucks in TNA, and the fall of tag-team wrestling.

When the discussion of tag-teams in pro wrestling these days came up, Storm stated, “To me, there needs to be more teams, not guys just thrown together, but guys you can relate to.”

Regarding Storm’s previous tag-team with Bobby Roode, Storm noted, “Me and Bobby were thrown together, but we made it work as a tag team. It just takes time, and with the new format of professional wrestling, it’s kind of hard to give that much time to a specific area.”

Check out the complete interview online at DothanEagle.com.

The following are highlights from a recent Shining Wizard Podcast interview with Ring Of Honor star Roderick Strong:

On how he got into the business: “I started wrestling because of my dad being trained by Jim The Anvil Neidhart. I was only 12 at the time so obviously I was a huge wrestling fan and I was just in awe. I would go to practice every day and sit and watch until 1 day Jim asked me if I wanted to jump in the ring. Jim would let me get in the ring at the end of every practice and eventually I met Harry Smith and me and him would wrestle matches every other practice. It was a very cool childhood memory that is very unique when it comes to starting.”

On respect in the locker room: “I was an athlete my whole life. I mean I played football and in football there is a level of respect that you learn and how you treat people, and you have an understanding of your position. Nobody really gave me a hard time for not shaking everybody’s hands. As I got older I learned that it was a respect thing. And that’s true for life. I don’t judge somebody the first few times I meet them and they don’t shake my hand. It’s when it becomes repetitive, you’re kinda like” I’ve seen you for 3 months.” But, getting mad about that kind of stuff is a little elementary for me.”

On who he credits for his first big break: “My first travel break was Jersey All Pro Wrestling, but I guess my first real break was with Ring Of Honor. I had the opportunity to do a dark match, and that was Dan Maff that actually did that for me.”

On wrestlers he started out with getting their big break: “Nowadays you think about people that are going but to me it’s all about timing. For certain people, the timing was right, but I had more to accomplish on the independent level and to help make Ring Of Honor the best company it could be. I’m happy for all my friends that are doing well.”

On being the face of Ring Of Honor: “You always think you’re ready. Just having that opportunity is awesome. To me, the biggest thing I find funny is that people tend to write that I only won the world title because Tyler Black was leaving. Adam Pearce said that was never the case. He said that was always going to be my belt which to me, means the world.”

On ROH and TNA’s past working relationship: “I know nothing. I just know that after that Rob Feinstein incident, TNA wanted nothing to do with Ring Of Honor because of the bad publicity it was getting at the time.”

On what he feels ROH’s peak was: “I still don’t think ROH has reached its peak. I was a part of Generation Next and that was the hottest thing going on the independents for quite some time and to me that was a great time in my life. I think there’s been some awesome times. I think there have been some transitional times and that happens with every company.”

On the direction of Daniel Bryan in WWE: “I think it’s great. Brian is the type of guy that needs to be challenged. He’s really smart and he’s an amazing wrestler. This gives him the opportunity to branch the character out in and put it in a different light. And then when he becomes a babyface again or whatever the heck he was or is now, he’ll be ten times more over than he is now because the people are emotionally invested in him. They want to see him be their Daniel Bryan, not this guy. The minute he becomes their Daniel Bryan again, he’s more over than ever.”

On EVOLVE Wrestling and working with new talent: “Me, Gabe and Sal have a lot of history from ROH and I’ve always maintained a relationship with them. The opportunity came for me to work these shows and I like those guys and bringing my brand to them would help elevate them. They would put me against guys I don’t get to work with very often and that would give me a chance to up my game. I look forward to wrestling, and the fresh match ups gives me an opportunity to either step up my game or give these guys a chance to up their game. It gives me an opportunity to be a better performer and I’m always excited to wrestle different people…and the same people. I love to wrestle.”

Check out the complete interview online at ShiningWizards.com.

EVOLVE Wrestling booker Gabe Sapolsky sent out an email news alert that stated Roderick Strong will not be able to wrestle at the Florida shows this weekend.

“Roderick Strong suffered a graphic neck injury last weekend,” Sapolsky wrote. “We had constant communication with Strong since the injury and monitored his progress.

“We were all the under the impression he would be able to perform this weekend at EVOLVE. However, today he felt discomfort in his neck when he worked out. After a conference call today, it was decided that for Roderick’s future it was best he rest as a precaution. Roderick will still be at Friday’s EVOLVE 25 card to sign autographs and meet you. We will welcome him in the DGUSA/EVOLVE ring when he is ready.”

For more information, visit DGUSA.tv.

– The belief is that Roderick Strong suffered a bad strain to his neck following the awkward landing he took from AJ Styles’ “Styles Clash” at the Ring Of Honor television taping in Nashville this past weekend. As previously noted, Strong lost the feeling in one of his arms after the match, and will be getting his neck checked out by doctors today. The Deadspin website put up an article covering this story.

– WWE NXT stars Emma, Bo Dallas and Alexander Rusev went on the road with the main WWE roster this past weekend for their non-televised live event shows. Emma worked as part of a babyface tag-team with Natalya in Divas matches, while Dallas and Rusev worked singles matches as heels. Dallas had previously been working as a babyface when working the main roster WWE events.

AJ Styles made his highly anticipated return to Ring of Honor last night, defeating Roderick Strong in the main event.

*Spoilers* Ring Of Honor TV Tapings From Nashville, Tennesse

The following video shows AJ Styles hitting the Styles Clash on Strong for the win – and Strong’s head and neck bending to the side while taking the move.

AJ hovered over him for a minute after the pin and seemed legitimately concerned. Then refs attended to him at ringside for a few minutes but he walked off (with assistance) and shook hands with AJ.

Strong temporarily lost feeling in one of his arms and is going to be checked out by doctors again on Monday when he returns home to Florida.

The following is the scheduled lineup for the Ring Of Honor television taping on Saturday at the Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee:

– AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong

– Jay Briscoe issued an open challenge to Adam Cole

– Chris Hero vs. Kevin Steen

– Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa

– Top Prospect Tournament (Cory Hollis, Raymond Rowe, Bill Daly, Cheeseburger, Andrew Everett, The Romantic Touch, Kongo, and Hanson)

– Special appearance by “Rowdy” Roddy Piper

If anyone is attending the ROH TV taping, feel free to submit a live report to be published here on the website.

VIDEO: ROH Issues Video Promoting the Return Of AJ Styles

Ring Of Honor announced on Saturday that AJ Styles will be returning to the promotion for the first time in 8 years. Styles will wrestle former TNA star Rodderick Strong  at the January 4th live event from Nashville, Tennessee. The show will also feature in-ring return of Chris Hero against Kevin Steen and a special meet and greet with WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

Report: AJ Styles/TNA Negotiations Fall Apart, Styles Not Returning To TNA

It’s worth noting that this is a television taping, which will air on ROH TV during the weekend of February 1st.

Here’s the announcement:

“THE PHENOMENAL ONE” IS BACK!
AJ STYLES returns to ROH 1/4/14 – Nashville, TN

“The Phenomenal One” is back! A true Ring of Honor pioneer and one of the greatest wrestlers in the sport today, AJ STYLES, has been signed to compete once again in an ROH ring on January 4th, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee!

AJ Styles helped put ROH on the map in its early years by displaying his own unique blend of high-flying wrestling and hard hitting strikes. Styles has gone on to be recognized as one of the best wrestlers of our time and recently became the most sought-after free agent in pro wrestling.

After finalizing the deal within the last couple hours we can now officially confirm that the long awaited return of AJ Styles to ROH will kick off 2014 in only 1 week at the Nashville Fairgrounds!

AJ Styles will face “Mr. ROH” Roderick Strong in Nashville in a huge match that will air on ROH TV the weekend of February 1st! It has been 8 years since Styles competed in ROH while Strong has been one of the most consistent competitors in ROH for the last 10 years. We are excited to welcome AJ back but not too sure that Strong will feel the same way.

“I’m excited to return to ROH and the Nashville Fairgrounds. Lots of history made that I was made that I was part of in both. Expect more on January 4. Hope Nashville fans fill that asylum,” said AJ

In addition to the return of AJ Styles, January 4th marks the return to ROH action of Chris Hero who battles “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen! Plus Wrestling Legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper will be on hand for a very RARE Meet & Greet Autograph Signing!

ROH is starting 2014 off with bang and we are not slowing down! Don’t ever pass up the opportunity to experience ROH live! See why we are the best pro wrestling on the planet with the greatest fans in the world.

Tickets to the biggest television taping in ROH history are available HERE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

• AJ Styles/TNA Update, More On TNA Sale Rumors

As previously reported, new WWE developmental talent Davey Richards was pulled from his “farewell match” at the upcoming Ring Of Honor “Final Battle” event on December 14th in New York City. Richards, who was scheduled to team up with Eddie Edwards to take on the duo of Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong, was reportedly pulled due to some comments he made in a Total Wrestling Magazine interview in the United Kingdom.

Richards has since been announced as a participant in the competing Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) show on the same night in Vorhees, New Jersey. Richards will work on the “Cage of Death” show on 12/14 in an unannounced match. Also on that show will be former WWE NXT star Kassius Ohno, who is returning to his “Chris Hero” persona, as he faces CZW Heavyweight Champion Drew Gulak.

As far as the ROH “Final Battle” show is concerned, Matt Hardy recently took to his YouTube account to release a video promo he did claiming he will “help ROH out” and give the aforementioned Edwards a “farewell rub” as he offered to replace Richards and work alongside Edwards in the tag-team match against Lethal and Strong.

You can check out Hardy’s promo below:

http://youtu.be/Kfbi_lFnJHg

– There has been absolutely no discussion in TNA of signing Hulk Hogan to a deal, even one with limited dates. Hogan being gone is considered a cost-cutting move by the company, as they simply couldn’t afford his price.

– As of this past weekend, there has been no deal struck between Roderick Strong and TNA. At this point, Strong remains committed to Ring Of Honor. Apparently TNA executive Dave Lagana has been talking with Strong as well as other potential new talents. TNA seems to be interested in the best independent workers in the business, including those in ROH and some of the Americans in Japan.

– The November 7th edition of TNA Impact Wrestling from Cincinnati drew approximately 1,500 fans.

– According to recent reports, TNA has expressed interest in signing top Ring Of Honor stars Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong. The company is apparently open to the idea of bringing in new talent and Dave Lagana, a top creative member in TNA, has a history of working with all three guys during his time working ROH creative.

– TNA recently posted a new “#IMPACT 365” video featuring Ethan Carter III doing a 600-pound deadlift. You can watch the footage via TNA’s official YouTube channel below:

http://youtu.be/MdkSv_4EkHI

– WWE’s ongoing xenophobic storyline with “Dirty” Dutch Mantel as Jack Swagger’s manager Zeb Colter was reportedly brainstormed by Kevin Eck, a former writer for Baltimore Sun who joined the sports-entertainment organization in 2011.

– The official WWE website has published rare photos of The Undertaker, while also noting, “The WWE Universe is abuzz with anticipation on when the legendary Phenom will return to television screens.”

– In this interview with PWInsider.com, former ROH World Champion Roderick Strong discusses his favorite memories in Ring of Honor, the tag partner he’d like to work with there, letting more of his personality show in the ring and more.

(source: F4WOnline.com)