| G1 Supercard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuringMadison Square Garden | |||
| Promotion(s) | Ring of Honor New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
| Date | April 6, 2019 | ||
| City | New York City,New York | ||
| Venue | Madison Square Garden | ||
| Attendance | 16,534[1] | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
| |||
| Supercard of Honor chronology | |||
| |||
G1 Supercard was aprofessional wrestling supershow co-produced by the AmericanRing of Honor (ROH) and JapaneseNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)promotions. It was the 13th annualSupercard of Honorevent and took place on April 6, 2019, atMadison Square Garden inNew York City,New York. The event was streamed live onHonor Club,New Japan Pro-Wrestling World,FITE TV, and broadcast live on traditionalpay-per-view outlets. It is the final Supercard of Honor to be produced under Sinclair ownership.
The card featured 12 matches.[2] Both theIWGP Heavyweight Championship andROH World Championship were defended on the card, as IWGP ChampionJay White defended againstNew Japan Cup winnerKazuchika Okada, whileSurvival of the Fittest winnerMarty Scurll andMatt Taven wrestled for the ROH World Title against championJay Lethal in aladder match. The event's undercard saw two Winner Take All matches between NJPW and ROH champions, andUK partner promotionRevolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) had its top title – theBritish Heavyweight Championship – defended as well.
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| English commentators | Ian Riccaboni(ROH) |
| Colt Cabana(ROH) | |
| Kevin Kelly(NJPW) | |
| Chris Charlton(NJPW) | |
| Toru Yano(Honor Rumble) | |
| Mandy Leon(match #5) | |
| Caprice Coleman(matches #6, #7, & #8) | |
| Nick Aldis(match #11) | |
| Japanese commentators | Milano Collection AT |
| Katsuhiko Kanazawa | |
| Soichi Shibata | |
| Kazuaki Kusanagi | |
| Kazuo Yamazaki | |
| Shinpei Nogami | |
| Ring announcers | Bobby Cruise(ROH) |
| Makoto Abe(NJPW) | |
| Referees | Todd Sinclair(ROH) |
| Paul Turner(ROH) | |
| Kenta Sato(NJPW) | |
| Marty Asami(NJPW) | |
| Red Shoes Unno(NJPW) | |
| Tiger Hattori(NJPW) | |
| Chris Roberts(RPW) |
In June 2018, it was officially announced that Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling would be running a show at Madison Square Garden.[3] One month later, it was reported that the event would have been canceled due to interference byWWE.[4] The issues were eventually resolved and tickets went on sale for the event in August. During the pre-sale, 60% of tickets were sold,[5] with the remaining of the 15,000 tickets selling within 16 minutes of going on sale.[6] The G1 Supercard was the first professional wrestling event at Madison Square Garden by a promotion not owned by theMcMahon family since November 14, 1960.[7]
G1 Supercard featuredprofessional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedvillains,heroes, orless distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[8]
AtThe New Beginning in Osaka,Jay White defeatedHiroshi Tanahashi to win theIWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time. It was announced the following day that White will make his first title defense at G1 Supercard against the winner of theNew Japan Cup. On March 24,Kazuchika Okada would defeatSanada in the finals of the New Japan Cup to earn the opportunity to face White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the G1 Supercard, a rematch ofWrestle Kingdom 13, where White defeated Okada.
On the second night of theHonor Rising: Japan 2019 supershow, theGuerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga andTanga Loa) won theIWGP Tag Team Championship for the fifth time, while in the main event ten-time title holdersThe Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe andMark Briscoe) successfully defended theROH World Tag Team Championship. Following the main event match, Jay and Mark Briscoe challenged Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa to awinner takes all match for both of the teams' respective titles at G1 Supercard. The Guerrillas of Destiny then came out, confronting the Briscoes and accepting the challenge. On the following day, NJPW officially announced a match between the IWGP and ROH champions, noting that Jay and Mark Briscoe still had a defense scheduled before the show against Villain Enterprises (PCO andBrody King). King and PCO won the match, the titles, and the G1 Supercard match vs. the Guerrillas of Destiny. The Briscoes andLos Ingobernables de Japón (Sanada andEvil) would later be added to the match to make it a Winner Take All four-way tag team match for the IWGP and ROH Tag Team Titles.
On the NJPW's 47th Anniversary Event,Taiji Ishimori successfully defended theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship againstJyushin Thunder Liger. After the match, he issued an open challenge to an ROH wrestler for a match at G1 Supercard. The challenge was accepted byDragon Lee, representingMexico'sConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion – a longtime partner of both NJPW and ROH. On the following day,Bandido expressed the intention of joining the title match representing ROH. Later that day, athree-way match for the title was officially announced.
On March 9, it was announced that both ROH and NJPW wrestlers would compete in anHonor Rumble match as part of the G1 Supercard pre-show.
At the G1 Supercard press conference on March 13, it was announced thatMarty Scurll – who won theSurvival of the Fittest tournament to earn anROH World Championship match – will invoke his title opportunity at G1 Supercard, where he will face championJay Lethal for the title. Two nights later at theROH 17th Anniversary Show, Lethal andMatt Taven wrestled to a 60-minute time limit draw in a championship match, so Taven was added to the G1 Supercard match, which then became a ladder match.
At Wrestle Kingdom 13,Zack Sabre Jr. defeatedTomohiro Ishii to win theRPW British Heavyweight Championship. In a third round New Japan Cup match,Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Sabre Jr. to advance in the tournament. It was later announced that Zack would defend his British Heavyweight Title against Tanahashi.
In a first round New Japan Cup match,Kota Ibushi defeated theIWGP Intercontinental ChampionTetsuya Naito. Ibushi would then be eliminated from the tournament in his second round matchup against Zack Sabre Jr. Throughout the rest of the tournament Ibushi would face Naito in tag matches with Naito pulling for another match against Ibushi. It was announced that Naito would defend his Intercontinental Title against Ibushi.
Critics of G1 Supercard mostly praised New Japan Pro-Wrestling's matches and angles while mostly criticizing Ring of Honor's matches and angles.Larry Csonka of411Mania described G1 Supercard as "...a tale of two shows, with NJPW delivering bangers and a NJPW experience, while ROH failed and opted to trot outThe Beautiful People, gave a cold Kenny King another title chance, went too long with Bully Ray, Klein’s title win, and wasted a huge opportunity on the biggest platform possible."[9]
Sean Radican ofPWTorch called G1 Supercard a "really good show" saying that, "the ROH portions of the show weren’t very good at all outside of the Ladder match and even that had issues as the crowd didn’t invest much in the match and were really flat for Taven winning. The NJPW matches really delivered big time."[10]
Promotion
| Draw[18] | Entrant | Promotion/Status | Order | Eliminated by | Elimination(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny King | ROH | -- | Winner | 3 |
| 2 | Minoru Suzuki | NJPW | 23 | Tomohiro Ishii | 7 |
| 3 | Cheeseburger | ROH | 24 | T. K. O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia | 1 |
| 4 | Beer City Bruiser | ROH | 1 | Sho & Yoh | 0 |
| 5 | Sho | NJPW | 6 | Bad Luck Fale | 1 |
| 6 | Shingo Takagi | NJPW | 8 | Minoru Suzuki | 1 |
| 7 | Bushi | NJPW | 2 | Rocky Romero | 0 |
| 8 | Yoh | NJPW | 5 | Bad Luck Fale | 1 |
| 9 | Shaheem Ali | ROH | 4 | Brian Milonas | 0 |
| 10 | Rhett Titus | ROH | 7 | Shingo Takagi | 0 |
| 11 | LSG | ROH | 3 | Brian Milonas | 0 |
| 12 | Ryusuke Taguchi | NJPW | 9 | Jonathan Gresham | 0 |
| 13 | Will Ferrara | ROH | 10 | Minoru Suzuki | 0 |
| 14 | Chase Owens | NJPW | 11 | Minoru Suzuki | 0 |
| 15 | Rocky Romero | NJPW | 15 | Tomohiro Ishii | 1 |
| 16 | Brian Milonas | ROH | 12 | Jushin Thunder Liger | 2 |
| 17 | Bad Luck Fale | NJPW | 17 | Cheeseburger, Colt Cabana, Delirious, Hirooki Goto, Jushin Thunder Liger, Kenny King, Minoru Suzuki, T. K. O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia | 3 |
| 18 | Jonathan Gresham | ROH | 21 | The Great Muta | 1 |
| 19 | Tracy Williams | ROH | 13 | T. K. O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia | 0 |
| 20 | Yoshi-Hashi | NJPW | 16 | Bad Luck Fale | 0 |
| 21 | PJ Black | ROH | 14 | Tomohiro Ishii | 0 |
| 22 | Jushin Thunder Liger | NJPW | 30 | Kenny King | 3 |
| 23 | T. K. O'Ryan | ROH | 28 | The Great Muta | 5 |
| 24 | Vinny Marseglia | ROH | 27 | Jushin Thunder Liger | 5 |
| 25 | Delirious | ROH | 18 | The Great Muta | 1 |
| 26 | Tomohiro Ishii | NJPW | 26 | T. K. O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia | 3 |
| 27A | Toru Yano[a] | NJPW | 20 | Minoru Suzuki | 0 |
| 27B | Colt Cabana[a] | ROH | 19 | Minoru Suzuki | 1 |
| 28 | Hirooki Goto | NJPW | 22 | Minoru Suzuki | 1 |
| 29 | King Haku | NJPW | 25 | T. K. O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia | 0 |
| 30 | The Great Muta | Free agent | 29 | Kenny King | 3 |
全８～１０試合予定