ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard: A Mixed Bag, But Shades Of Things To Come, Perhaps?

The ROH/NJPW supercard at Madison Square Garden was definitely a tale of two promotions and perhaps, two promotions who are going in total different directions in a creative capacity. It saw NJPW starting to really settle into their “post-Elite” identity with really good matches. Ring of Honor elected for more shock which is a shame because in some ways, it overshadowed the good workers and wrestling that they had on the card. Anyway, let’s take a look at the show from a live perspective:

THE 30-Man HONOR RUMBLE: The opening rumble was designed to do what it’s supposed to. That was to get everybody ready for the main card with favorites from both ROH and NJPW. More so from the NJPW side.  A few fun spots and entries to start the show. Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Haku, The Great Muta, and Jushin Thunder Liger got the big reactions to name a few. 

I mean, Kenny King breaking up the moment between The Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger and winning? I didn’t understand it and the crowd didn’t either. However, it was cool to see the two legends in the ring together for a time.

IWGP NEVER TITLE vs. ROH TV TITLE Match: ROH TV Champion Jeff Cobb vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay: This was a fun way to begin the show and the crowd was really into it. Ospreay’s agility and Cobb’s power play really complemented each other well. Ospreay dropping the title gives him a good launch pad for the G1 coming up in the summer. Cobb gaining the Openweight title makes sense given his style. 

Rush vs. Dalton Castle: A very quick win for Rush. It keeps him on a hot streak given he was recently signed to the company. This was mostly designed to push Castle into the heel role in him turning his back on The Boys. I’m okay with it. 

Women of Honor Title Match: Champion Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein: In the beginning of the match, I liked that Klein dismissed her entourage and wanted to fight Iwatani straight up. That was the precursor to her face turn that would happen in the later match. The match itself seemed like it was going in slow motion at points. They have definitely had better matches previously. Given that Iwatani does have Stardom commitments, putting the belt back on Klein was the right call. She’s been the workhorse of the ROH women’s division.

The Beautiful People are back with the addition of Mandy Leon. Nobody reacted to it. It was a heel angle that didn’t really get over.

New York Street Fight: Bully Ray, Silas Young, & Shane Taylor vs. Flip Gordon, Mark Haskins, & Juice Robinson: The street fight itself was fine. A lot of good hardcore spots with a returning Flip Gordon from injury. The Bully Ray segment before the match ran on a little too long. That could have been cut down at least in half. Juice getting attacked before the match happening was a dead giveaway that he was going to recover in time. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Champion Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Lee vs. Bandido: This was a really fun match with a lot of high spots from the three competitors. They all really utilized the time that they had to their advantage.  Lee winning was a good change of pace for a junior heavyweight division that can get stagnant at times. Here’s hoping that Hiromu gets better, so we can have a proper rematch between him and Lee. 

The ROH & IWGP Tag Titles: IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas of Destiny vs. ROH Tag Team Champions PCO & Brody King vs. The Briscoes vs. SANADA & EVIL: PCO and Brody King were really fun here. In all actuality, all the teams involved held their own and had a piece of the match where they put their stamp on. On to the end of the match, however: 

The thing is, Enzo and Cass both jump the guardrail and fight with The Briscoes. There’s an angle where Yano steals the IWGP tag titles at the top of the ramp and nobody really notices that. At least in the live setting. At the time, the angle was on social media and not shown on the actual broadcast. Just mass confusion around. If they did sign, why not show it? Better yet, why take away from the finish on the tag match that just happened if you weren’t going to show it?

RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Champion Zack Sabre Jr vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: If you’ve seen ZSJ and Tanahashi fight before, you’ve seen this match. That’s not a bad thing by any means. Both men really work together well and this match just added to the consistently good outings that they had previously. ZSJ was able to showcase his submission style against Tanahashi. Tanahashi was able to play the hits that the crowd really took to. 

IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi: Probably the best match of the night other than the Junior Heavyweight match. The crowd was really into this one from start to finish from two of NJPW’s finest. Ibushi gets the second biggest belt in the company. Naito is no longer shackled to it and can go after the actual heavyweight championship.

ROH Title LADDER MATCH: Champion Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven: Matt Taven finally becomes a grand slam champion in an angle that ROH was building to for a while while he carried his own version of the championship belt. A lot of high ladder spots. Jay Lethal really bumped hard for this match. However, there were a lot of minutes of this match that could have been shaved down. The brutal spots didn’t have as big as an effect because it took so long to get to them. 

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Champion Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada: This match was really slow in the beginning, but both men picked it up at the latter half. Definitely the better of their previous meetings. NJPW kind of went against their own booking strategy with short-term champions, but to end your first MSG show, this was right call to put the belt back on Okada. It ends the redemption arch that he’s been on since losing the belt to Kenny Omega last year and sends everybody home with a happy ending. 

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