Global Wars '15[5][6] was a two-day professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The events took place on May 15 and 16, 2015, at the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,[1][2][3] with the first night airing live on internet pay-per-view (iPPV) and the second on tape delay as part of the weekly Ring of Honor Wrestling program.[7][8]
Global Wars '15 was the second annual Global Wars event co-produced by ROH and NJPW, following Global Wars, which took place on May 10, 2014, also at the Ted Reeve Arena.[9]
Production
Background
On January 4, 2015, at their Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome show, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) announced that it would for the second year in a row co-produce an event with Ring of Honor (ROH) in May. At that point, no specific dates were announced and only the United States was named as a location.[10][11] However, on February 25, ROH sent out a press release, announcing three co-produced events, as opposed to two shows in 2014, with War of the Worlds '15 taking place on May 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto, Canada.[1][2][3] On March 7, War of the Worlds '15 was also expanded to a two-day event, taking place over May 12 and 13.[12][13][14] ROH began announcing the NJPW wrestlers taking part in the events on April 1, starting with Hiroshi Tanahashi.[15] Over the next nine days, ROH announced the remaining NJPW participants; Kazuchika Okada,[16] Jushin Thunder Liger,[17] Tetsuya Naito,[18] Takaaki Watanabe,[19] Kushida,[20] Gedo,[21] and finally Shinsuke Nakamura.[22] On April 16, ROH announced that the Bullet Club quintet of A.J. Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson would also be taking part in the Global Wars '15 events.[23] On April 22, ROH announced all nine matches for the first night of Global Wars '15.[24] The following day, ROH announced seven matches for the second night.[8] An eighth match for the second night was announced on May 6.[25] Also announced were pre-show autograph sessions for May 15 and 16, which would be attended by both NJPW and ROH wrestlers taking part in the tour.[26]
Storylines
The two Global Wars '15 events featured nine and fourteen professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[27]
Due to featuring wrestlers from two different promotions, the events focused less on storyline rivalries and more on interpromotional matchups, including the only title match of the two events, which saw ROH's Jay Lethal defend the ROH World Television Championship against NJPW's Tetsuya Naito on the first night.[5][6] The first night was scheduled to feature a match between ROH's Chris Sabin and NJPW's Kushida, who are connected through their partnerships with Alex Shelley; Sabin was previously one half of The Motor City Machine Guns with Shelley, who now teamed with Kushida as theTime Splitters.[6][28] On the day of the show, Kyle O'Reilly was added to the match, when his reDRagon tag team partner Bobby Fish, whom he was supposed to team with in a four-way tag team match, could not make the event due to travel issues.[29] The first night also featured another interpromotional match between Cedric Alexander and Kazuchika Okada, which was originally announced for the previous year's War of the Worlds, but was canceled after Alexander was removed from the show with a storyline injury.[6][30] The Bullet Club stable main evented both nights, facing a team of ROH's top wrestlers in a ten-man tag team match on the first night and the NJPW stable Chaos in a six-man tag team match on the second night.[5][6][31] The main event of the second night also builds to a future IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between A.J. Styles and Kazuchika Okada.[6]
Reception
In his review of the first night, Pro Wrestling Dot Net's Zack Zimmerman wrote that in his mind the show "definitely delivered", but while there were no disappointing matches on the show, nothing reached the caliber of War of the Worlds '15's top matches.[29] Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter called the show very good and stated that it was worth ordering just for the main event, which he called "ridiculous".[32] He later awarded it four and a half stars out of five.[4] However, in what he stated was a testament to the quality of the four shows, Meltzer also called the first night the weakest of the shows.[4] In wrapping up the week, Meltzer dubbed Roderick Strong the ROH MVP of the four shows, writing that both Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura were giving him rave reviews.[4] Pro Wrestling Torch's Mike Metzger called the undercard of the first show "solid", stating that it did not overshadow the main event, which he awarded four and a quarter stars out of five.[33]
Aftermath
Matches from the second night started airing on Ring of Honor Wrestling on May 30.[34] On August 21, 2015, NJPW and ROH declared that the relationship between the two promotions was stronger than ever, announcing two ROH shows in Tokyo in February 2016 and another NJPW tour of North America for May 2016, featuring new locations and wrestlers.[35]
Results
- Night 1
| # | Results[29][32][33][36] | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | Dalton Castle defeated Donovan Dijak[37] | Singles match | N/A |
| 2 | Gedo and Moose (with Stokely Hathaway and Veda Scott) defeated Silas Young and Takaaki Watanabe | Tag team match | 08:01 |
| 3 | Kushida defeated Chris Sabin and Kyle O'Reilly | Three-way match | 09:58 |
| 4 | The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) (with Maria Kanellis) defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Matt Sydal | Tag team match | 09:12 |
| 5 | Kazuchika Okada (with Gedo) defeated Cedric Alexander | Singles match | 12:15 |
| 6 | The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated The Decade (Adam Page and B.J. Whitmer) (with Colby Corino) and Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) | Three-way tag team match | 14:39 |
| 7 | Shinsuke Nakamura defeated ACH | Singles match | 12:39 |
| 8 | Jay Lethal (c) (with Donovan Dijak) defeated Tetsuya Naito | Singles match for the ROH World Television Championship | 12:18 |
| 9 | Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Michael Elgin | Singles match | 17:08 |
| 10 | ROH All Stars (Hanson, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Ray Rowe and Roderick Strong) defeated Bullet Club (A.J. Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) | Ten-man tag team match | 16:48 |
| |||
- Night 2
| # | Results[38][39] | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kushida defeated Will Ferrara | Singles match | 05:15 |
| 2 | Silas Young defeated Takaaki Watanabe | Singles match | 06:18 |
| 3 | Moose defeated Colby Corino (with Adam Page and B.J. Whitmer) | Singles match | 02:44[40] |
| 4 | The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) defeated The House of Truth (Donovan Dijak and J. Diesel) (with Truth Martini) | Tag team match | 11:03[40] |
| 5 | Kyle O'Reilly defeated The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) (c) by disqualification | Two-on-one handicap match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship | 04:16 |
| 6 | Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Dalton Castle (with the Boys) | Singles match | 09:58 |
| 7 | Bob Evans and Cheeseburger wrestled to a no contest | Singles match | 03:00[41] |
| 8 | Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) and The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) (with Maria Kanellis) wrestled to a double disqualification | Tag team match | 09:38 |
| 9 | War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) defeated The Decade (Adam Page and Colby Corino) (with B.J. Whitmer) | Tag team match | 02:12[42] |
| 10 | Cedric Alexander defeated Moose (with Stokely Hathaway and Veda Scott) | Singles match | 09:05[42] |
| 11 | Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito defeated ACH and Matt Sydal | Tag team match | 11:12 |
| 12 | Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Roderick Strong | Singles match | 17:05 |
| 13 | Michael Elgin defeated Gedo | Singles match | 08:05 |
| 14 | Bullet Club (A.J. Styles, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated CHAOS (Beretta, Kazuchika Okada and Rocky Romero) | Six-man tag team match | 17:25 |
| |||
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Meltzer, Dave 2015-02-25. ROH adds third New Japan show updated with press release . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Caldwell, James 2015-02-25. ROH/NJPW news: Dates & Venues announced for New Japan returning to North America . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Scherer, Dave 2015-02-25. Ring of Honor Wrestling® and New Japan Pro Wrestling® to present 3 super shows this May in North America, both Philadelphia and Toronto to host these events . Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Meltzer, Dave (May 25, 2015). "May 25, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: State of TNA, NSAC’s new doping penalties, and more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California: 19–23. ISSN 1083-9593.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 05/15/15 Global Wars 15 Night 1 - Toronto, Ontario (iPPV) . Ring of Honor. Retrieved on 2015-04-27.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 5月15日＆16日、カナダ・トロント大会カード決定! AJとオカダが前哨対決! 内藤がROHのベルトに挑戦! アンダーソン＆ギャローズ、六本木ヴァイスも参戦! (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling (2015-04-27). Retrieved on 2015-04-27.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-22. ROH news: Internet PPV announced for ROH vs. New Japan tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-22.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Nason, Josh 2015-04-23. Ring Of Honor announces full Toronto New Japan Pro Wrestling Global Wars night 2 lineup . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved on 2015-04-23.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2014-05-10. Caldwell's ROH vs. New Japan iPPV report 5/10: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of iPPV from Toronto - ROH Title match, IWGP Jr. Tag Titles, Styles, Tanahashi, Okada, top NJPW stars . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 東京ドーム (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-01-04. Tokyo Dome news: Tanahashi vs. Okada result, New Japan returning to the U.S. with ROH, three title changes, more . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-03-07. ROH news: ROH adds fourth New Japan show to May tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-03-08.
- ↑ Johnson, Mike 2015-03-08. ROH adds another combined show with New Japan . Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved on 2015-03-08.
- ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2014-03-08. ROH announces another date with New Japan . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05. Retrieved on 2015-03-08.
- ↑ Ring Of Honor News: Hiroshi Tanahashi announced for May tour . Wrestling Observer Newsletter (2015-04-01). Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved on 2015-04-01.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-02. ROH news: Second major New Japan star announced for May tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-03.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-03. ROH news: Ring of Honor announces third New Japan star for May tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-06. ROH news: Recent G1 Climax winner announced for ROH vs. New Japan tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-06.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-07. ROH news: Latest New Japan wrestler announced for ROH vs. New Japan tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-07.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-08. ROH news: Time Splitter announced for ROH vs. New Japan tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-08.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-09. ROH news: Latest New Japan star announced for ROH tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-09.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-04-10. ROH news: Nakamura official for ROH vs. New Japan series; trio of top New Japan stars now official (w/Video) . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-04-10.
- ↑ The Bullet Club are coming to WotW & Global Wars . Ring of Honor (2015-04-16). Retrieved on 2015-04-16.
- ↑ Nason, Josh 2015-04-22. Ring Of Honor finalizes Toronto New Japan Pro Wrestling Global Wars night 1 lineup . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved on 2015-04-22.
- ↑ Caldwell, James 2015-05-06. ROH news: Singles match added to ROH vs. New Japan tour . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-05-06.
- ↑ Global Wars autograph signing details . Ring of Honor (2015-05-08). Retrieved on 2015-05-08.
- ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . HowStuffWorks, Inc.. Discovery Communications. Retrieved on 2015-03-02.
- ↑ The first 3 Matches for Global Wars Night 1 . Ring of Honor (2015-04-22). Retrieved on 2015-04-27.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Zimmerman, Zack 2015-05-15. 5/15 ROH/NJPW Global Wars iPPV Live Coverage: Roderick Strong, The Briscoes, and War Machine vs. AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and The Young Bucks, Nakamura vs. ACH, Tanahashi vs. Elgin, Okada vs. Alexander, Lethal vs. Naito, and much more . Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved on 2015-05-15.
- ↑ 3 more big matches added Global Wars Night 1 . Ring of Honor (2015-04-22). Retrieved on 2015-04-27.
- ↑ 05/16/15 Global Wars 15 Night 2 - Toronto, Ontario . Ring of Honor. Retrieved on 2015-04-27.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Meltzer, Dave 2015-05-15. Ring Of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling Global Wars Night 1 live results & coverage: ROH All-Stars vs. Bullet Club . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved on 2015-05-15.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Metzger, Mike 2015-05-15. Metzger's ROH vs. New Japan iPPV report 5/15: Bullet Club vs. Team ROH mega-main event, Lethal defends TV Title, top NJPW stars in action, Chris Sabin, Addiction, more . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-05-16.
- ↑ Fontaine, Paul 2015-05-30. ROH TV Report 5-30-15: Briscoes (Mark and Jay) vs The House of Truth (Donovan Dijak and J Diesel) . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-05-31. Retrieved on 2015-05-31.
- ↑ Laprade, Pat 2015-08-21. ROH, New Japan to extend relationship in 2016 with more shows, more talent . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2015-08-23. Retrieved on 2015-08-22.
- ↑ Smith, Caleb 2015-05-16. ROH & New Japan deliver a wild night in Toronto . Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2015-05-19.
- ↑ Johnson, Mike 2015-05-16. ROH Global Wars iPPV replay now available, post-show brawl released and more . Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved on 2015-05-16.
- ↑ Show results - 5/16 ROH vs. New Japan Night 4 in Toronto, Canada: Tour concludes with Bullet Club vs. Chaos, Nakamura vs. Strong, ROH Tag Title handicap match, more . Pro Wrestling Torch (2015-05-16). Retrieved on 2015-05-17.
- ↑ Burgess, Mike 2015-05-17. 5/16 ROH Global Wars Night Two live report (TV taping spoilers) . Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved on 2015-05-17.
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 Metzger, Mike 2015-06-02. Metzger's ROH TV report 5/31 & 6/3: First episode airing on Destination America - Briscoes vs. House of Truth, New Japan stars in action, more . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-06-02.
- ↑ Metzger, Mike 2015-06-10. Metzger's ROH TV report 6/7 & 6/10: Bullet Club comes to Destination America, plus Jushin Liger, hype for Best in the World, more . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-06-10.
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Metzger, Mike 2015-06-17. Metzger's ROH TV report 6/14 & 6/17: New Japan ace Tanahashi in main event, Briscoe-Lethal title contract signing, Streak ends, BITW PPV hype; Overall Reax . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2015-06-17.