Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
As noted yesterday, Ring of Honor will make its debut this summer in Japan with joint shows on 7/16 in Tokyo with Pro Wrestling NOAH and 7/17 in Osaka with Dragon's Gate. When reached for comment, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky said, "Right now we are finalizing the details of ROH's first tour of Japan for July. There will be two shows. The Japanese have made it clear that they want authentic ROH shows and these will be authentic ROH shows, but we will have a talent pool available to us that we have never had before. I want to thank NOAH and Dragon Gate for making it possible and these will be two of the most important events in ROH history."
ROH returns to Braintree, MA this Friday at the National Guard Armory with ROH champion Homicide making his first title defense against Chris Hero, plus Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe in a Best of Three Falls, Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness, Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Brent Albright & Lacey in a mixed tag match, Davey Richards vs. the returning Rocky Romero, ROH Tag Team Champion Christopher Daniels vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Shingo vs. New England's own Jason Blade, plus Allison Danger, the returning Jack Evans, Delirious, Adam Pearce, Larry Sweeney, Julius Smokes, and Eddie Edwards all scheduled to appear. For ticket information, visit www.rohwrestling.com.
This Saturday 1/27 in Edison, New Jersey at the Inman Sports Club, ROH will reprise one of their classic feuds from several years ago with ROH champion Homicide defending against. Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave in an I Quit Match, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Davey Richards & Delirious & Shingo in what looks to be an excellent six man, Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes to finally settle their long forgotten grudge, Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Colt Cabana & Daizee Haze vs. Brent Albright & Lacey, Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer in a Last Man Standing match, plus Julius Smokes, Adam Pearce, and Larry Sweeney scheduled.
Since the announcement that Pro Wrestling NOAH's Takeshi Morishima will be coming to the United States to face Samoa Joe at the 2/16 return to New York City's Manhattan Center, ticket sales have spiked for the event. There are said to be just a few hundred seats left, so it looks like the promotion will have their third straight sellout. Also scheduled for the event is ROH champion Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave, ROH Tag Team Title champions Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong, BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright in a Tables match stemming from Albright hitting an Awesome Bomb out of the ring through a table on Whitmer at the last NYC event and more to be announced.
ROH's Philadelphia homecoming on 2/17, which is being treated as the something of a celebration of the anniversary of their first-ever show in 2002 will be headlined by ROH champion Homcide vs. Takeshi Morishima and Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards, which has a "ROH Legend vs. ROH's Future" theme. Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen, Austin Aries vs. Claudio Castagnoli, and FIP champion Roderick Strong vs. Delirious are also scheduled for Philadelphia.
Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin beat Jay and Mark Briscoe for the Pro Wrestling NOAH Global Honored Crown Junior Tag Team championships on 1/21 in Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The Briscoes had captured the belts on the first night of their debut tour so they were put over really strong
Allison Danger will be touring Great Britain from 2/27-4/2 to fine-tune her tag team with Sara del Rey, and bring her game up to the next level. As noted previously, she's leaned her body down tremendously of late.
Former ROH regular Ace Steel, who was offered and accepted a WWE developmental deal last week, is expected to be assigned to Deep South Wrestling.
Becky Bayless, who managed Special K and was a member of Homicide's crew in 2002 and 2003 here, will be returning shortly as a backstage inteviewer under the name Rebecca Bayless. She visited at the last NYC event and the decision was made to use her to add another female to the presentation. She'll be taking the place of the Gary Michael Cappetta, who did a great job bridging old school credibility with the company's new talents. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Cappetta pop up in another role down the line, although that's conjecture on my part.
There are plans for British star Doug Williams, who is a NOAH regular and was a regular here in 2002, to return later this year. Hey, how about Jodie Fleisch coming back, too?
Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave has been announced for the 2/23 event in Dayton, Ohio.
There are no plans for a Jim Cornette return on the horizon, but it will likely happen eventually.
ROH champion Homicide, ROH Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, BJ Whitmer, Jay & Mark Briscoe, Rocky Romero, Chris Hero, Larry Sweeney, Claudio Castagnoli, Jimmy Rave, Adam Pearce, Austin Aries, Daizee Haze, Jimmy Jacobs , Lacey, and international talents to be announced are booked for the 3/30 and 3/31 Detroit, Michigan events Wrestlemania 23 weekend.
Sara Del Ray is booked for 2/16 in New York City and 2/24 in Dayton, Ohio.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
