ROH Newswire – 04.26.2011

News

– “ROH Revolution” on 5/6 in Dearborn, MI and on 5/7 in Toronto, ON will be an epic weekend of events that can only be witnessed live and up close. By now you know that ROH is committed to bringing you true pro WRESTLING that you can be proud of! Now is the time to make the trip north and stand side by side with us in this revolution that we promise to provide! Order tickets now: http://www.rohstore.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=3.

ROH generally doesn’t name their events unless they anticipate events that can really deliver.  That’s a trend that has changed a little bit in recent years, but as a general rule of thumb still tends to hold.  Given they decided to name this “Revolution” weekend, one has to expect that something’s going to go down this weekend, be it a return, a debut or something big.

– Announced earlier today (http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/steve-corino-returns-from-australia/), Steve Corino has returned from Australia and will be the building for both “ROH Revolution” events next Friday & Saturday! He will address the fans on Friday in Dearborn, and will go one-on-one with Mike Bennett in Toronto. Bennett, who will take on Grizzly Redwood in Dearborn, had the following to say, “Welcome back old man! And say hello to another stumble off your wagon when you step into my face in Canada. I’ll take care of your little inspirational muse on Friday to show you what you’ve got waiting for you so keep an eye on that one. This is my year, and I should be standing here as TV champion. You cost me that, I cost you your sobriety, I consider that even. Now I’ll cost you a friend, and squash your redemption all one weekend. Sucks to be you.”

Bennett should simply slaughter Redwood, but we’ll see what they have planned.  With Corino there on Friday night, we could see a distraction leading to a Redwood upset.  Or they could use the opportunity to build Bennett back up a bit with Redwood, who takes a beating like none other.  Regardless, the concept behind the angle with Corino is something very interesting that I’m excited to see develop further, and Corino definitely has the promo chops to do it well.  With any luck, this also starts to move Bennett away from “Brutal Bob” a bit more, so he can shine on his own.

– As announced yesterday (http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/the-tests-continue/) on May 6th at “ROH Revolution: USA” in Dearborn at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center the ROH World Tag Champions Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin will face Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly in a non-title bout that will once again put Cole & O’Reilly to the test. Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly have impressed ROH officials and fans alike since debuting in Ring of Honor, and have gone toe-to-toe with nearly every tag team in the division. In Atlanta during “Honor Takes Center Stage” weekend the young duo battled Jay & Mark Briscoe on one night, then the Kings of Wrestling the following day, and while stellar in both matches, Adam & Kyle failed to pick up a win on either outing. Cole & O’Reilly are in desperate need of securing a win in the tag ranks and a victory over the champions would skyrocket them up the ladder of the ROH tag title division. Can they shock the world and start their own revolution in the tag title ranks during “ROH Revolution” weekend? Tickets available here: http://www.rohstore.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=202!

I’ve already discussed this announcement and the match here, but suffice it to say, this should be an excellent match to continue the push of the team of Cole & O’Reilly.

– The Bravado Brothers sent a message to the ROH offices saying they were excited for Cole and O’Reilly. “Cole and O’Reilly against Haas and Benjamin is great!” stated Harlem Bravado, “If Cole and O’Reilly are facing Haas and Benjamin in Dearborn then we cannot wait to see who ROH officials put us against.” As of now the Bravado Brothers are not booked for “ROH Revolution” weekend.

I freely admit I have no idea where they’re going with the Bravados, but this is definitely something they’ve been doing for awhile.  Regardless, I’m interested to see where it goes, as they have–to their credit–improved recently.

– ROH Officials recently had talks with a former ROH wrestler and current free agent. More on this soon…

There’s two possible names, both big, both discussed on the ROH Board.
(1) Jay Lethal
(2) Low-Ki
I would like to go on record as saying–for what it’s worth–that I am 100% on board with either, or both.  There are plenty of fresh matches for both men in ROH in 2011 and beyond.  Low Ki and Davey Richards had a phenomenal encounter at PWG’s Kurt RussellReunion II: The Reunioning.  Lethal could have great matches with Strong, Richards, Daniels and more.

– The Pro Wrestling NOAH 2011 Global Tag League Tournament continued on 4/23 in Sapporo. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli were victorious in their Global Tag League Tournament Match against the team of Kensuke Sasaki and Kento Miyahara which puts the Kings of Wrestling at 4 points. The Global Tag League Tournament resumes for Hero and Castagnoli on 4/27 in Niigata City when they face Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito.

I’d have to leave this up to our resident Puro expert, David Ditch, who keeps tabs on Pro Wrestling NOAH, as well as New Japan (below).  Suffice it to say that Hero has spent a lot of time over there, especially with NOAH, and as I understand it, they are very highly thought of over there.

– More news from Japan as Davey Richards has returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling and is having a very successful tour. The tour started for Richards on 4/22 with a victory teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura & Rocky Romero to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi. The next day on 4/23 Davey Richards, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Masato Tanaka defeated Yuji Nagata, Prince Devitt, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, & Wataru Inoue. On 4/24 Richards scored the pinfall over Prince Devitt in another 8 man tag. Today Richards, alongside Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero beat Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga when Richards pinned Tonga. We’ll keep you updated with the latest on The American Wolf’s tour of NJPW.

Davey continues to impress everywhere he goes.  Pretty much everywhere he’s been, he’s been on top–PWG, ROH, EVOLVE, and so on.  Lots of multi-man matches thus far, but I fully admit that I’m not up enough on the nature of NJPW to know what that entails with regards to Richards.  I’d imagine he should be stateside again in time for Supercard of Honor VI in Chicago on May 21st, but I could be off.

– Everyone is looking forward to Eddie Edwards’ next World Title defense on May 7th at “ROH Revolution Canada.” against Chris Hero. Even though Hero has secured a title match, and is currently busy in Japan, it has not stopped him from constantly bothering Shane Hagadorn to get him and Claudio a ROH World Tag Title rematch as soon as possible. Hagadorn has been using his managerial leverage to its fullest lately and it has obviously paid off. We will see if the KoW will be granted another shot at ROH tag team gold anytime soon.

I know I’m certainly looking forward to Edwards/Hero.  The two put on a good match at Survival of the Fittest 2010 in Dearborn, at least until Edwards damaged his shoulder big time on a suicide dive.  More on this match can be found here.

– Our next DVD release “Defy Or Deny” from Plymouth, MA on 3/18/11 is now up for preorder in the ROH Online Store. This was a great show from top to bottom that included an Elimination Match with World Champion Roderick Strong vs. Homicide vs. El Generico vs. Jay Briscoe; Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards; Chris Hero vs. TJ Perkins; Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin; Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle O’Reilly; Christopher Daniels vs. Mike Bennett for the World TV Title; plus more. To order this DVD today click here.

Haven’t really had a chance to check this show out, but the ROH board’s live results were very positive when it went down.  Apparently, the Bravados match and the Daniels/Bennett match were the only downers on the show, but I’m sure our own Jake Ziegler will have something to say about the show sooner than later.

– Ring of Honor is very excited for our return to Chicago Ridge, IL on May 21st for “Supercard of Honor VI”! We will have the first list of talent officially signed to appear for this huge card in the next newswire.

ROH has already promised a World Title match, but they always go full-bore for the Supercard of Honor shows, and anyone who follows the promotion would expect the same for this one, in the Chicago market, which is traditionally one of ROH’s stronger markets.

Kyle Sparks got his Bachelor's Degree from Western Michigan University in public relations, and lives comfortably in Michigan with his beautiful wife. Interests outside of wrestling include football, music, acting and writing (about either sports or politics) at his blog The Big Lounge.