War of the Worlds (2016 wrestling)

War of the Worlds

Promotional poster for the Dearborn show
Information
Promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date May 9, 11, and 14, 2016
Venue Night 1:
Ford Community & Performing Arts Center
Night 2:
Ted Reeve Arena
Night 3:
Terminal 5
City Night 1:
Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.
Night 2:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Night 3:
New York City, New York, U.S.
Event chronology

Global Wars (2016) War of the Worlds TBA
War of the Worlds chronology

War of the Worlds '15 War of the Worlds TBA

War of the Worlds (2016) is an upcoming professional wrestling tour co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The tour's three events are scheduled to take place on May 9 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan, May 11 at the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario and May 14 at Terminal 5 in New York City, New York.[1][2] The second night in Toronto will be taped for episodes of Ring of Honor Wrestling.[3]

2016 will be the third year in which ROH and NJPW co-produce events under the War of the Worlds name.

Production

Background

In February 2014, the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion announced a partnership with the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which led to the two co-producing the Global Wars and War of the Worlds events in Toronto and New York City, respectively, the following May.[4] A year later, the partnership continued with War of the Worlds '15 and Global Wars '15, which were both two-day events, taking place in Philadelphia and Toronto, respectively.[5] On August 21, 2015, representatives of NJPW and ROH declared that the relationship between the two promotions was stronger than ever, announcing another North American tour for May 2016, featuring new locations and wrestlers, as well as the first co-produced shows between the two promotions in Tokyo.[6] The two-day event, entitled Honor Rising: Japan 2016, took place on February 19 and 20, 2016.[7][8]

On February 4, 2016, ROH officially announced the War of the Worlds tour, taking place on May 9 in Dearborn, Michigan, May 11 in Toronto and May 14 in New York City.[1][9] On April 16, ROH announced the NJPW wrestlers taking part in the tour; IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito, ROH World Television Champion Tomohiro Ishii, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida, Gedo, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jushin Thunder Liger and Kazuchika Okada.[10][11] On April 18, ROH added NJPW's IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa)† to the tour.[12][13] ROH later added IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega to the Toronto event of the tour.[3] It had previously been reported that Omega had had issues with his visa, which could prevent him from taking part in the rest of the tour.[14] On May 6, NJPW officially added Yoshitatsu to the Toronto event.[15]

Storylines

Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, The Motor City Machine Guns, who main event the Dearborn show

The War of the Worlds tour will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[16]

The May 9 Dearborn event will be headlined by a tag team match between The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). Shelley and Sabin reunited at ROH's 14th Anniversary Show in February and have since wrestled regularly in ROH's tag team division. The Briscoes, meanwhile, had recently become the number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Even though ROH billed this as the "very first time" the two teams would face each other in a two-on-two match,[17] the two teams had actually met in April 2007, when Shelley and Sabin unsuccessfully challenged The Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[18] Both teams have a championship history in NJPW with Shelley and Sabin winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in 2009,[19] and The Briscoes becoming two-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions earlier in the year.[20][21] Another top match in Dearborn will see IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito team up with ROH World Champion Jay Lethal to take on reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly). The partnership between Naito and Lethal was formed during February's Honor Rising: Japan 2016 event, where Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japón (L.I.J.) stable helped Lethal retain the ROH World Championship against Tomoaki Honma. Afterwards, Lethal and his then manager Truth Martini joined L.I.J.[8] reDRagon also has a history in NJPW, where they are former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.[22]

Donovan Dijak, who main events the Toronto show

The May 11 Toronto event will be main evented by Jay Lethal taking on Donovan Dijak. The storyline behind the two dates back to early 2015, when Dijak won the Top Prospect Tournament. In the aftermath, Dijak agreed to forgo his earned shot at Jay Lethal's ROH World Television Championship by joining him in Truth Martini's House of Truth stable. Finally, at the end of the year, after Dijak had been approached by Prince Nana, Martini fired Dijak, who quickly picked up Nana as his new manager and announced he would dissolve the House of Truth one member at a time. After in storyline hospitalizing Martini and defeating former tag team partner Joey Daddiego, Dijak attacked Lethal on April 30, dropped him with his finishing maneuver, Feast Your Eyes, and posed with the ROH World Championship belt.[23] The match has not been advertised as being for the title.[24] The show also includes reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida taking on Kyle O'Reilly in a non-title match. This is a rematch from the finals of NJPW's 2015 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where Kushida defeated O'Reilly.[25]

The May 14 New York City event will be main evented by a six-man tag team match, where a New Japan Pro Wrestling "All Stars" team, made up of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii, take on a Ring of Honor "All Stars" team, made up of Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong. The six men have a varied history with each other. Tanahashi and Okada have faced off on multiple occasions over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, while Lethal won his ROH World Championship by defeating Briscoe. Meanwhile, Ishii defeated Strong at Honor Rising: Japan 2016 for the ROH World Television Championship.[26] Also on the card, War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) defend the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match against The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and reDRagon.[27]

Matches

May 9
No. Matches[28][29][30] Stipulations
1 ACH and Matt Sydal vs. Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young Tag team match
2 Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Roderick Strong Singles match
3 Dalton Castle (with the Boys) vs. Kushida Singles match
4 The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin Tag team match
5 Moose (with Stokely Hathaway) vs. Tomohiro Ishii Singles match
6 Chaos (Gedo and Kazuchika Okada) vs. War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) Tag team match
7 Los Ingobernables de Japón (Jay Lethal and Tetsuya Naito) vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) Tag team match
8 The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) Tag team match
May 11
No. Matches[31][32] Stipulations
1 Moose (with Stokely Hathaway) vs. Tetsuya Naito Singles match
2 Tomohiro Ishii vs. Will Ferrara Singles match
3 Kushida vs. Kyle O'Reilly Singles match
4 The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu Six-man tag team match
5 Kazuchika Okada vs. Matt Sydal Singles match
6 Donovan Dijak (with Prince Nana) vs. Jay Lethal (with Taeler Hendrix) Singles match
May 14
No. Matches[27][31] Stipulations
1 Gedo vs. Matt Sydal Singles match
2 Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa/Tanga Loa†) vs. The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) tag team match
3 Cedric Alexander (with Veda Scott) vs. Donovan Dijak (with Prince Nana) Singles match
4 Kushida vs. Silas Young Singles match
5 Dalton Castle (with the Boys) vs. Lio Rush vs. Michael Elgin vs. Moose (with Stokely Hathaway) Tag team match
6 The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) vs. Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) Tag team match
7 Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Mark Briscoe Singles match
8 War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) (c) vs. The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) Three-way tag team match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship
9 ACH vs. Tetsuya Naito Singles match
10 NJPW All Stars (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) vs. ROH All Stars (Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong) Six-man tag team match
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Notes

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, Mike (February 4, 2016). "ROH/New Japan War of the Worlds tour stops announced for Michigan, NYC and Toronto". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ Caldwell, James (February 2, 2016). "ROH vs. New Japan tour expanding – three more shows announced". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Johnson, Mike (April 21, 2016). "Kenny Omega added to ROH Global Wars tour in Toronto". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Caldwell, James (February 22, 2014). "ROH news: Saturday's announcement - New Japan coming to ROH later this year". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Caldwell, James (March 7, 2015). "ROH news: ROH adds fourth New Japan show to May tour". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ Laprade, Pat (August 21, 2015). "ROH, New Japan to extend relationship in 2016 with more shows, more talent". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on August 23, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ Rose, Bryan (February 19, 2016). "NJPW/ROH Honor Rising results: Roderick Strong defends TV title against Tomohiro Ishii". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  8. 1 2 "2/20 ROH vs. NJPW "Honor Rising Night 2" Results – Lethal defends ROH Title in Tokyo, Bullet Club members win gold & say farewell, Strong-Ishii fall-out". Pro Wrestling Torch. February 20, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  9. ↑ Martin, Adam (February 5, 2016). "Dates set for ROH & NJPW supershows in May 2016". Wrestleview. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Top New Japan stars announced for Global Wars PPV & ROH-NJPW tour". Pro Wrestling Torch. April 16, 2016. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  11. ↑ Johnson, Mike (April 17, 2016). "Seven New Japan stars announced for May ROH events including Global Wars PPV". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Big ROH World Title match announced for "Global Wars" PPV, plus New Japan’s tag champs added". Pro Wrestling Torch. April 18, 2016. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  13. ↑ Johnson, Mike (April 18, 2016). "Main event of ROH Global Wars PPV is...". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  14. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (April 14, 2016). "Daily Update: Cauliflower Alley Club 2016; exit the Dragon". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  15. ↑ 今年も新日本プロレスとROHが“北米”で合同興行！5.8シカゴ、5.9ディアボーン、5.11トロント、5.14ニューヨークで注目カードが続々実現！. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  16. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ "The Main Event for Dearborn on May 9th has been set". Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  18. ↑ Vetter, Chris (August 31, 2007). "DVD Review: ROH, "Good Times, Great Memories" (4-28-07) with Cabana's final match, Briscoes-Shelley/Sabin". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  19. ↑ Caldwell, James (January 4, 2009). "TNA News: Team 3D and Motor City Machineguns capture tag titles; Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash re-create NWO (w/video)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  20. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (January 3, 2016). "Wrestle Kingdom 10 live results: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  21. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (February 13, 2016). "NJPW New Beginnings: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kenny Omega for the IWGP IC Title". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Jr. Heavy tag weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Lethal vs Dijak signed for May 11th in Toronto". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  24. ↑ Caldwell, James (May 3, 2016). "ROH in Toronto next week – main event & IWGP World champ's match announced". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Best of the JR Super Finals Rematch Signed for Toronto". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  26. ↑ "ROH All Stars vs NJPW All Stars Main Event Signed for NYC". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  27. 1 2 "05/14/16 "War of The Worlds Tour" - NYC". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  28. ↑ Caldwell, James (May 2, 2016). "ROH announces entire card for next Monday’s ROH vs. New Japan show". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  29. ↑ "05/09/16 "War of The Worlds Tour" - Dearborn, MI". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  30. ↑ Johnson, Mike (May 2, 2016). "ROH-New Japan Dearborn, Michigan lineup announced for next Monday". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  31. 1 2 Caldwell, James (May 4, 2016). "ROH sets next week’s New York City main event – ROH All-Stars vs. New Japan All-Stars". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  32. ↑ "05/11/16 "War of The Worlds Tour" - Toronto, ON". Ring of Honor. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  33. ↑ タンガ・ロア. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Huge 8 Man Tag Signed for Global Wars". Ring of Honor. April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.

External links

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