Credit: Ring of Honor
It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to look at all of last week’s New Japan news in a little feature known as What’s New, Japan? It’s been a wild seven days, as Ring of Honor has announced the full cards for all of the North American shows they’re running with New Japan Pro Wrestling in May, and to say the lineups are stacked would be an understatement. Let’s dive in!
Credit: Ring of Honor
Last Monday, Ring of Honor announced the card for War of the Worlds Night #1 (May 12 in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena). The main event for the show is Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada versus The Briscoes. Additional matches include IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles versus a mystery opponent (at one point revealed on Ring of Honor’s website as Adam Cole) in a non-title match, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin Liger versus reDRagon, Tetsuya Naito versus Michael Elgin, IWGP Tag Team Champions The Kingdom versus ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction versus The Young Bucks in a non-title match, ROH Television Champion Jay Lethal versus Takaaki Watanabe in a non-title match, KUSHIDA versus Roderick Strong, and Gedo versus Delirious.
Credit: Ring of Honor
On Tuesday, ROH announced the full lineup for War of the Worlds Night #2 (May 13 in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena), with a main event of AJ Styles and The Young Bucks versus Adam Cole and The Kingdom. Additional bouts include ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe versus Bobby Fish (V11 defense), IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura versus ROH Television Champion Jay Lethal versus Jushin Liger versus Mark Briscoe in a non-title match, ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction versus Kazuchika Okada and Gedo in a non-title match, Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Roderick Strong, Tetsuya Naito versus Kyle O’Reilly, KUSHIDA versus Michael Elgin, and Takaaki Watanabe versus Adam Page.
Credit: Ring of Honor
On Wednesday, Ring of Honor announced the card for Global Wars Night #1 (May 15 in Toronto’s Ted Reeve Arena), available for purchase on iPPV. Capped by an all-star main event of AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and The Young Bucks versus The Briscoes, Roderick Strong, and War Machine, the show also includes ROH World Television Champion Jay Lethal versus Tetsuya Naito (V28 defense), Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Michael Elgin, Kazuchika Okada versus Cedric Alexander, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi Vice versus ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction versus reDRagon versus The Decade in a non-title match, IWGP Tag Team Champions The Kingdom versus Jushin Liger and Matt Sydal in a non-title match, KUSHIDA versus Chris Sabin, Moose and Gedo versus Silas Young and Takaaki Watanabe, and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura versus ACH in a non-title match.
Credit: Ring of Honor
Finally, on Thurday, Ring of Honor announced the lineup for the final show of the tour, Global Wars Night #2 (May 16 in Toronto’s Ted Reeve Arena). The show is a television taping, with a main event of AJ Styles and The Young Bucks versus Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi Vice. Other bouts include IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura versus Roderick Strong in a non-title match, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito versus ACH and Matt Sydal, IWGP Tag Team Champions The Kingdom versus Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows in a non-title match, Jushin Liger versus Dalton Castle, Gedo versus Michael Elgin, and KUSHIDA versus Will Ferrera. Several other ROH stars, including The Briscoes, Jay Lethal, and The Addiction are also scheduled to appear. Again, King of Sports will be present at all four shows, sharing live tweets and one-of-a-kind event photos with our fans! If you don’t like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter yet, now’s the time to do it!
Credit: Ring of Honor
In sadder news, Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the immediate retirement of three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion and former ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima following a diagnosis of elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin in his blood, suggesting diabetes. One of the few Japanese stars of the generation to make an impact on both sides of the Pacific, Morishima’s career will be remembered by millions of fans, either for anchoring NOAH for the past decade along with KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji, or for his legendary stateside series with Bryan Danielson. NOAH announced that a retirement ceremony is impending. We at King of Sports thank Mr. Morishima for the memories and wish him a healthy retirement.
That’s all for this week, fans! We’ll see you later!
King of Sports 