Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling War of the Worlds Night 2 results

   I wasn’t entirely sure how this night would go, since I liked a lot of the night one matches more but this show was amazing, one of the best I’ve ever seen. The crowd was red hot all night long despite many on hand probably being at the show the night before.

Unsurprisingly, all the NJPW guys got huge reactions, even Watanabe who was doing jobber stuff last time he was in ROH. But to his credit, he’s changed up his look a lot since the last time I saw him and his in-ring stuff seemed a lot more on point than before.

There was some unexpected stuff – some good, some confusing. Moose was on hand and seems to be making his move into the World title picture, which I’ll get into later. And also in the World title match, Bobby Fish got a huge positive reaction, despite being the heel in the match while Briscoe was being hated on like crazy – way more than I ever saw before.

Also I took a bunch of pictures from this show but haven’t gotten them off my phone yet so be sure to check back here in a few days.

Dark match
Jay Diesel def Romantic Touch
Match was OK but no one was into it, being very eager to see the NJPW guys. As Touch left the ringside area, he was kissing everyone he saw, because he’s romantic or something.

ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Night 2
The Decade’s Adam Page def. Takaaki Watanabe 
Solid match and Watanabe was hugely over. Page is still pretty young but he could be a top heel before long. He spit on his hand when Watanabe went for a handshake and The Decade got involved a lot, namely Colby Corino tripping up Watanabe and paying for it by getting powerbombed on the outside.

Michael Elgin def. Kushida 
Pretty good match but they didn’t really match up too well. Elgin seems to work a little bit slower of a style which really negated some of the more impressive stuff that Kushida can do, though that might be because Elgin has been working heel lately and he’s doing a pretty good job in that role. Elgin wins with a spinning Liger Bomb after a hard spinning backfist.

Tetsuya Naito def. Kyle O’Reilly 
This match was really fun and we got a lot of comedy spots, which I wasn’t expecting. Lots of eye pokes playing off the Naito pose and O’Reilly being “Sleazy Kyle.” But before too long it turned into a really great back-and-forth wrestling match with Naito picking up the win with a Phoenix Splash.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe and Jushin “Thunder” Liger 
Briscoe and Lethal get good reactions and Liger gets an even bigger one. Then Nakamura comes out and redefines what it means to be over. The crowd exploded when The King of Strong Style made his way to the ring. Really good match but a little shorter than I thought it would be. Nakamura pinned Liger after two Boma Ye’s. 

The ref tells the rules to Swagsuke during the fatal fourway

Intermission next. Went to get a beer and saw AR Fox at the concession stand. Asked him if he was gonna be in ROH soon and he said he hopes so. Fox would fit in really well in ROH, since there’s really only ACH who can do the same kind of death-defying high-flying that Fox can

As intermission ends, Cheeseburger comes to the ring with some free stuff to throw to the crowd. He pulls out a t-shirt to throw but Brutal Bob Evans hits the ring, attacks Cheeseburger and takes the shirt, saying it’s his now. Cheeseburger attacks him but it’s not very effective and Bob puts an arm bar on Cheeseburger and staff comes out to break it up. Looks like Brutal Burgers is no more.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Roderick Strong 
Amazing, amazing match. Probably the best of the night, overall. Roddy gets busted open hard way from a Tana forearm (I think) and has color the rest of the match. I really thought Roddy had it won after a superplex followed by a Sick Kick. The entire crowd seemed to think that could be it. Tanahashi gets the win with a Slingblade followed by a High Fly Flow.

Definitely make sure you see this one somehow. Roddy has been one of the best guys in ROH and the indies for a long time now and this match he put on with arguably the best in NJPW proves just how talented he is.

Red Shoes and Tiger Hattori get really big pops throughout the night too (and Todd Sinclair gets huge boos). Red Shoes even caught a red streamer and tried to put it in his pocket.

The Addiction def. Kazuchika Okada and Gedo 
Awesome match. Addiction demanding to be called the “World Tag Team Champions of the World.” Okada easily got the second biggest pop of the night behind Nakamura.

Gedo doesn’t let Okada shake hands with the Addiction. A “F*ck TNA” chant breaks out, which is even more apt because Okada was in TNA early in his career and they did nothing with him but now look at him. Afterward, Okada takes out Kaz and Daniels with a dropkick, tombstone and Rainmaker clothesline.

Kazuchika Okada makes it rain at the ECW Arena

Moose confronts Jay Briscoe after Briscoe's match with Fish

Jay Briscoe def. Bobby Fish to retain the ROH World Title 
Despite Briscoe being the current World champ, a dominant world champ and being unpinned for the last two years, people in Philly did not care for him at all. Fish got a huge reaction, including “next World Champ” chants. Fish kicks out of a Jay Driller but Briscoe then DVD him on the apron and hits another Jay Driller for the win.

Really good match overall but because of the odd hate for Briscoe, it felt a little flat. After the match Moose comes out and confronts Briscoe but leaves. He comes back and surprises Briscoe, leveling him with a spear and raising the World title belt. Before Briscoe leaves, he gets on the mic and addresses the crowd saying you can like or hate who you want but doesn’t change that he hasn’t been pinned in two year.

Moose is way over and it’s pretty cool he’s getting into the World title scene. Definitely like that this means Veda Scott will be around more often too.

Adam Cole wants the Bucks to 2 Sweet him but AJ stops them

The Kingdom def. Bullet Club in six-man tag 
Adam Cole returns and gets a big pop but nothing like the Young Bucks or AJ Styles gets. Lots of great action in this one, I’ll definitely need to rewatch this (and all these matches) at some point to take them all in.

Several times, Cole tries to get the Bucks to 2 Sweet him. Once, Styles stops them and 2 Sweets the Bucks and another time Cole tries it then pokes them in the eye with the 2 Sweet. Lots of PWG chants and Mount Rushmore chants when the Bucks and Cole go face to face. (Not familiar with Mount Rushmore? Read all about them in an article I did here!)

Kingdom gets the win after Bennett hits a Jackson with a title belt. Looked like Bullet Club was going to win and go for a double Meltzer Driver but Maria tripped them up and got triple super kicked for it. Incredible stuff from everyone in the match, especially Cole’s heel work being on point.

I’ve also seen reports on the internet that ROH is coming back to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for Final Battle on December 11 and 12 but it’s not set in stone. I’d guess the Friday show is a TV taping and Saturday would be a PPV or iPPV.