| War of the Worlds | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster for the event | |||
| Promotion(s) | New Japan Pro-Wrestling Ring of Honor | ||
| Date | May 17, 2014[1][2] | ||
| City | New York City,New York, U.S.[1][2] | ||
| Venue | Hammerstein Ballroom[1][2] | ||
| Attendance | 3,000[3] | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| War of the Worlds chronology | |||
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War of the Worlds was aprofessional wrestling supershow co-produced by the AmericanRing of Honor (ROH) and JapaneseNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)promotions.[1][2] The event took place on May 17, 2014, at theHammerstein Ballroom inNew York City, New York, U.S. and aired live onInternet pay-per-view (iPPV) throughUstream.
All matches on the iPPV featured wrestlers from ROH taking on wrestlers from NJPW. As a result,bookers from both promotions worked together to put the event together. The event featured nine matches with fivechampionships on the line; three from ROH and two from NJPW. In the only title change,reDRagon (Bobby Fish andKyle O'Reilly) regained theROH World Tag Team Championship fromThe Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). The event was headlined by a double main event for the top titles from both promotions. In the first, Adam Cole successfully defended theROH World Championship againstJyushin Thunder Liger and in the secondA.J. Styles successfully defended theIWGP Heavyweight Championship in athree-way match withKazuchika Okada andMichael Elgin.
Prior toRing of Honor's (ROH) February 2014HonorCon weekend inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, the promotion had teased a "big announcement".[4] The announcement was made during an ROH event on February 22, when ROHchief operating officer Joe Koff andbookerDelirious along withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)chairman Naoki Sugabayashi and his translator, referee Tiger Hattori, entered the ring to reveal a partnership, which would see the Japanese promotion's top wrestlers come over toNorth America for joint shows in May 2014. The first, titledGlobal Wars, would be set to take place on May 10 inToronto, Ontario, and the second, titled War of the Worlds, on May 17 inNew York City, New York.[2][5][6] NJPW billed the events as its second tour of North America, following theNJPW Invasion Tour 2011 three years earlier.[2] During the next few weeks, ROH announced the NJPW wrestlers taking part in the two events;IWGP Heavyweight ChampionKazuchika Okada,[7]IWGP Intercontinental ChampionHiroshi Tanahashi,[8]Shinsuke Nakamura,[9] NJPW bookersGedo andJado,[10]Takaaki Watanabe,[11]Jyushin Thunder Liger,[12]Kushida,[12]Karl Anderson,[13]Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov andRocky Romero),[13] andThe Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), who are regulars for both NJPW and ROH, holding theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team andROH World Tag Team Championships between the two promotions.[13] NJPW workers not taking part in the North American tour were instead announced for a simultaneous tour ofThailand.[14] The first non-NJPW worker announced for the event was ROH regularA.J. Styles,[8] who, however, signed a NJPW contract before the end of March.[15] ROH also announced that the two promotions would host a tryout seminar on May 13 and 14 inBristol, Pennsylvania.[16] On March 27, ROH announced that the two events would be broadcast live oninternet pay-per-view throughUstream, which had successfully broadcast NJPW iPPVs for the past two years.[17] Previously, ROH had used various sites to broadcast their own iPPVs, often facing streaming issues, which even led to the promotion announcing they were no longer going to be doing live iPPVs.[18]
War of the Worlds, unlike Global Wars, featured several interpromotional matches between NJPW and ROH, leading to Gedo and Jado booking the show together with Delirious with Rocky Romero acting as the intermediary as both sides had wrestlers they wanted to protect.[19]
War of the Worlds featured nineprofessional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted 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.[20]
On March 22, 2014, ROH announced a match for its AprilSupercard of Honor VIII event betweenKevin Steen andMichael Elgin, where the winner would get to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at War of the Worlds.[13] Another match at Supercard of Honor VIII was used to determine who would challenge The Young Bucks for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at War of the Worlds.[21] Elgin and reDRagon (Bobby Fish andKyle O'Reilly) won the two matches, making the first two matches official for War of the Worlds.[22] reDRagon are formertwo-time ROH World Tag Team Champions and lost the title to The Young Bucks on March 8, 2014.[23] On May 12, ROH announced thatUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighterTom Lawlor would be in reDRagon's corner for the match.[24] Lawlor is a self-described "diehard pro wrestling fan" and has appeared onWrestling Observer Radio talking about NJPW events.[25][26] ROH later backtracked on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match announcement, noting that Okada first had to defend his title at NJPW'sWrestling Dontaku 2014 on May 3 against A.J. Styles and the winner of that match would go on to face Elgin.[27] In the end, Styles won the match to become the new champion and move on to face Elgin at War of the Worlds.[28] The match at War of the Worlds was to be the third one to take place between Styles and Elgin; the first on February 22, 2014, ended in a time limit draw,[29] while Elgin won the second on April 19 to earn a future shot at theROH World Championship.[30]
On April 22, ROH announced thatBullet Club'sDoc Gallows and Karl Anderson would defend theIWGP Tag Team Championship at War of the Worlds.[31] The following day their challengers were revealed as former eight-time ROH World Tag Team ChampionsThe Briscoes (Jay andMark).[27] Also announced was Jyushin Thunder Liger challenging for the ROH World Championship. His opponent would be the winner of a title match betweenAdam Cole and Kevin Steen at Global Wars, while the loser would go on to face Shinsuke Nakamura.[27] On May 10, Cole defeated Steen to retain his title, moving on to the title match with Liger, while Steen was now set to face Nakamura.[32] Two more interpromotional matches were also announced; in the firstJay Lethal would defend theROH World Television Championship against Kushida and in the second Hiroshi Tanahashi would faceMichael Bennett.[27] The day after Okada had lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, NJPW announced that he would be facing ROH'sCedric Alexander at War of the Worlds.[33] NJPW also announced the final two interpromotional matches for the event; atag team match, where Gedo and Jado were set to take onThe Decade'sB. J. Whitmer andRoderick Strong and asix-man tag team match, where Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero and Takaaki Watanabe would take onA. C. H.,Matt Taven andTommaso Ciampa.[34] ROH completed the card with the addition of an all-ROH match, whereCaprice Coleman was set to take on Silas Young.[1] On May 14, ROH pulled Alexander from War of the Worlds as a result of a storyline injury suffered at the hands of The Decade at Global Wars.[35][36]
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Kevin Kelly |
| Steve Corino | |
| Nigel McGuinness | |
| Ring announcers | Bobby Cruise |
| Referees | Brian Gorie |
| Marty Asami | |
| Paul Turner | |
| Tiger Hattori | |
| Todd Sinclair |
During the pre-show ROH was set to present a match between Caprice Coleman and Silas Young, however, Young turned the match down, downplaying Coleman. Coleman then challengedJimmy Jacobs for what The Decade had done to Cedric Alexander at Global Wars. Jacobs came out to seemingly accept the challenge, but Coleman was then attacked from behind by his real opponent, Jacobs' stablemateAdam Page. Coleman won the match, after dropping Page from the top rope with ahurricanrana and then pinning him with theSky Splitter off the top rope. After the match, Jacobs, upset about Page's loss, kicked and slapped his stablemate, before forcing him to help him out of the ring.[37][38]
The pay-per-view opened with an interview segment with the Bullet Club stable of A.J. Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Matt and Nick Jackson. After Anderson introduced Styles as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Styles introduced the stable, before being interrupted by the entrance of Kazuchika Okada and Gedo, the former now being without an opponent for the event due to Alexander being pulled. With Anderson acting as a translator, Okada told Styles that he could beat him. Styles responded by claiming he had proved that Okada could not beat him "a month ago in Fukuoka", before noting that he already had a match for the event with Michael Elgin. Elgin then also entered the ring and requested that ROHmatchmakerNigel McGuinness turn the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match into athree-way match by adding Okada to it. McGuinness entered the arena and, after getting an approval from NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi at ringside and all three competitors, made the match official.[3][37][38][39][40] Three-way title matches are rare in Japan; the previous three-way match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship took place in October 2005.[41]
The first match of the pay-per-view saw NJPW's Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero and Takaaki Watanabe take on ROH's ACH, Matt Taven and Tommaso Ciampa. At the end of the match, ACH dove out of the ring onto Koslov and Romero, while Taven hit his finishing maneuver, theClimax, on Watanabe for the win.[3][37][38][39][40]
The second match featured The Decade's B.J. Whitmer and Roderick Strong, accompanied by stablemates Adam Page and Jimmy Jacobs, taking onJado & Gedo. Near the end of the match, Jado locked Strong in theCrossface of Jado, but Whitmer broke the hold. Jado then hit Strong with a steel chair, but he survived Gedo's pinfall attempt and came back with aDeath by Roderick. Whitmer then hit Gedo with alariat, which was followed by Strong pinning him for the win with theSick Kick. After the match, Cedric Alexander, with a taped shoulder, ran to the ring to attack The Decage, who, however, got the upper hand after Jacobs hit Alexander from behind. Eventually, security guards separated The Decade from Alexander. Afterwards, Alexander kept trying to get his hands on Strong, who, however, ran away from his rival.[3][37][38][39][40]
The third match and the first title match of the iPPV saw Jay Lethal, accompanied by his managerTruth Martini, defend theROH World Television Championship against Kushida. Mid-match, Martini was ejected from ringside, after he pulled referee Todd Sinclair from the ring to prevent him from counting a pinfall for Kushida. Despite this, Lethal retained his title after countering aspringboard move into asuperkick and then pinning Kushida with theLethal Injection, giving ROH their third straight win in the head-to-head matches between ROH and NJPW.[3][37][38][39][40]
Next up was Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson making their fourth defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship against the Briscoes (Jay and Mark). For the first part of the match, the defending champions isolated Mark from Jay, but he eventually managed to break free and tag in his brother, after which all four men entered the ring. The Briscoes went for aDoomsday Device on Anderson, but Gallows broke it up, resulting in Anderson hitting Mark with theGun Stun and Gallows hitting Jay with achokebomb. Bullet Club then hit Jay with theirdouble-team finishing maneuver, theMagic Killer, for the win and a successful title defense. After the match, the two teams shook hands, while also teasing a future rematch.[3][37][38][39][40]
The fifth match of the event saw ROH's Kevin Steen take on NJPW's IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a non-title match. Towards the end of the match, Nakamura went for his finishing maneuver, theBoma Ye, but Steen countered it into apowerbomb. Steen then dropped Nakamura with asuperplex, but Nakamura kicked out of the pinfall attempt. Steen then went for his finishing maneuver, thepackage piledriver, but Nakamura slipped out and hit aBoma Ye from the middle rope, followed by another regularBoma Ye, but Steen kicked out from the following pinfall attempt at one. Nakamura then hit Steen with a thirdBoma Ye, which resulted in a three count and a win for the NJPW wrestler. After Nakamura had left the ring, Steen got a microphone and announced that, although he loved ROH, he was thinking about stepping away from the promotion to spend some time with his family. Steen was then interrupted by Silas Young, who claimed he was acting like a "pussy" and that his son would grow up to be a "quitter" like him. This led to Steen attacking Young and security re-entering the ring to break up another brawl. Steen attempted to dive out of the ring onto Young, but Young ducked out of the way, resulting in Steen landing only on the security guards.[3][37][38][39][40]
The first match after an intermission featured another interpromotional match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Bennett, who was accompanied to the ring by his fiancéeMaria Kanellis. During the match, Kanellis entered the ring to interfere, which resulted in Tanahashi locking her in acloverleaf. Towards the end of the match, Kanellis distracted referee Todd Sinclair with a kiss, while Bennett hit Tanahashi with apiledriver, a move he in storyline was no longer allowed to use in ROH after losing to Kevin Steen in December 2013.[42] After surviving the following pinfall attempt, Tanahashi blocked another piledriver on the ring apron and dropped Bennett onto the apron with asuplex. Tanahashi then dove out of the ring onto Bennett, lifted him back inside and then pinned him for the win with aHigh Fly Flow, tying the score in the interpromotional match series.[3][37][38][39][40]
Next up was The Young Bucks of Matt and Nick Jackson defending the ROH World Tag Team Championship against previous champions, reDRagon of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, who were accompanied by UFC fighter Tom Lawlor. Before the start of the match, The Young Bucks crotched Lawlor by kicking the ring ropes as he was exiting the ring. Lawlor later avenged this by crotching Matt Jackson. At the end of the match, The Young Bucks went for their double-team finishing maneuver, theMore Bang for Your Buck, but it was blocked by O'Reilly, who then dropped Matt with abrainbuster. reDRagon then hit their own finisher, theChasing the Dragon, on Matt, after which O'Reilly locked him in theArmageddon submission hold, while Fish held Nick back. Matt submitted to the hold, making reDRagon three-time ROH World Tag Team Champions.[3][37][38][39][40]
The last ROH match featured Adam Cole defending the ROH World Championship against Jyushin Thunder Liger. Towards the end of the match, Cole blocked aLiger Bomb, grabbed a hold of Liger'smask and then hit him with a superkick. Cole then locked Liger in afigure-four leglock, forcing a submission to win the match and retain his title. After the match, Liger attempted to shake Cole's hand, but was turned down by the champion, who instead taunted him with the title belt.[3][37][38][39][40]
The final match of the event saw A.J. Styles make his first defense of his newly won IWGP Heavyweight Championship against previous champion Kazuchika Okada and Michael Elgin in a three-way match. At the end of the match, Okada blocked a powerbomb from Elgin and hit him with adropkick, followed by his finishing maneuver, theRainmaker. However, before Okada could make the pin, Styles jumped into the ring and hit him with a springboardforearm smash, which sent him out of the ring. Styles then planted Elgin with theStyles Clash to win the match and retain his title. After the match, Adam Cole entered the ring and hit Styles, Okada and Elgin with the ROH World Championship belt, before declaring himself the best in the world.[3][37][38][39][40]
After the iPPV went off the air, Cole was chased out of the ring by Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jyushin Thunder Liger. Tanahashi then grabbed a microphone, thanked the crowd and promised New Japan would be back.[3][37][38] Meanwhile, on the iPPV broadcast, ROH presented a pre-taped vignette, whereChristopher Daniels announced that he and another unnamed individual, whose face was hidden from the camera, were coming back to ROH atBest in the World 2014 on June 22.[39][40]
As soon as War of the Worlds ended, NJPW officially announced an IWGP Heavyweight Championship rematch between Styles and Okada for theBack to the Yokohama Arena event on May 25.[3] At the event, Styles defeated Okada for his second successful title defense.[43] On June 5, ROH revealedFrankie Kazarian as the man who appeared in the iPPV's closing vignette with Christopher Daniels.[44] War of the Worlds was released onDVD by ROH on June 17, 2014.[45] Kevin Steen and Silas Young faced off on June 22 at Best in the World 2014 in a match, where Steen was victorious. Afterwards, he announced that his ROH contract was up in a "month and a half".[46] Steen went on to sign withWWE shortly thereafter.[47] Also at Best in the World 2014, Michael Elgin defeated Adam Cole to become the new ROH World Champion.[46] The opening six-man tag team match, the ROH World Television and World Tag Team Championship matches were later broadcast on the July 5 episode ofRing of Honor Wrestling.[48] The relationship between NJPW and ROH continued later in 2014 with reDRagon winning both the2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship,[49][50] while Matt Taven and Michael Bennett took part in the2014 World Tag League.[51] On January 4, 2015, NJPW announced that the promotion would be returning to the United States in May 2015 to co-promote another show with ROH.[52]
James Caldwell, reviewing the event for thePro Wrestling Torch, praised the ROH World Tag Team Championship match, calling it "amazing" and giving it four out of five stars, his highest score for a match at the event.[39]Wrestling Observer Newsletter'sDave Meltzer likewise called the match "super". Meltzer panned the audience at the Hammerstein Ballroom for their lack of reaction for the wrestling and compared it to Global Wars' audience, writing "[t]his action and Toronto's audience would have been unbeatable".[40]
A.J. Styles has signed and is going to be given a major push as a singles headliner, to work with all the big guns, with a title shot at Kazuchika Okada coming sooner than later.