As noted in TV taping results for Ring of Honor, Kenny Dykstra and Mike Mondo debuted doing their Spirit Squad team. The original plan for their debut was to have them challenge The Young Bucks at the last Hammerstein Ballroom event, but those plans were changed when Matt and Jeff Hardy left TV and became available to ROH for a short run.
There is an ongoing lawsuit in the United States District Court of Virginia regarding replica Ring of Honor championship belts. Parks, Millican & Mann LLC (the company that designs and produces championship belts for a number of wrestling companies) sued Rhodes Island's Figures Toy Company for removing their copyright on replicas of the ROH championship belts and replacing it with a copyright for Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH's parent company) in September 2016. The lawsuit claims that the two sides were in negotiations regarding the replicas but never finalized that agreement and that Figures Toy Company moved forward with production of replicas, belts for action figures and rings without PM&M's consent. According to the lawsuit, PM&M created the belt designs for ROH and maintains the copyright over those designs and has not sold those rights to anyone else, beyond providing the championship belts to ROH. The lawsuit claims ROH came to PM&M about Figures producing replicas. PM&M entered into negotiations and provided samples that included their copyright. No agreement was signed and the versions that were created did not carry the PM&M copyright. In November, PM&M added Ring of Honor as a defendant, claiming that they allegedly entered into an agreement with Figures Toys while knowing they did not own the designs of the belts, allegedly approved the designs of the replicas with the remove copyrights and allegedly infringed upon PM&M's copyrights "for their own commercial gain." The suit alleges that Figures Toy Company has sold $60,000 worth of replicas and has another $100,000 worth of stock plus an unknown amount of rings and action figures featuring those belts as well. PM&M also alleges they have never been paid any licensing royalties on the items. They are seeking $25,000 per violation, plus interest as well as an injunction preventing the sale of the belts. Figure Toys filed a motion to dismiss, alleging that PM&M failed to state an actual claim. There is a hearing today regarding that motion.
Roppongi Vice are taking independent dates through Bill Behrens at SHOWBIS@aol.com.
Ring of Honor is running Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 4/28 and will return to Hopkins, Minnesota on 4/29 at the Eisenhower Center.
Upcoming dates for ROH:
5/7 - War of the Worlds Tour in Toronto, ON at the Ted Reeve Arena.
5/10 - War of the Worlds Tour in Dearborn, Michigan at the Ford Community Arts Center
5/12 - War of the Worlds PPV in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
5/12/17 - WAR OF THE WORLDS PPV - NYC
5/14/17 - War of the Worlds tour TV Taping in Philadelphia, PA at 2300 Arena.
6/3 Windy City Excellence in Chicago Ridge, IL at the Frontier Fieldhouse.
6/4 in Collinsville, Illinois.
6/23 - Best in the World PPV in Lowell, MA at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
6/24 - TV Taping in Lowell, MA at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium
There are no shows publicly advertised beyond June as of this writing.
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