ROH - Results From Tokyo Japan

[Duckman]

Ring of Honour are currently touring Japan for the second time in the short life of the company.  They're working with both Pro Wrestling NOAH and Dragon Gate to put on some very special shows.

Through ROHwrestling.com Gabe Sapolsky (ROH booker) is updating a tour diary from Japan.  He recently posted the results of last night's show from the Differ Arena in Tokyo.  Here's Gabe's thoughts on the show:

1) YAMATO defeated Eddie Edwards in what might be Eddie's best match in ROH (not taking anything away from the Roderick Strong one at the Hammerstein)

2) Austin Aries defeated Ryo Saito in another good match in about 13 minutes. Afterwards, Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black attacked Aries and Jacobs put him out with the End Time. Jacobs then basically said that The Age Of The Fall would cause chaos in Japan.

3) Larry Sweeney was irate that Edwards lost and went off on the Japanese fans, earning their boos. Sweeney then called out Roderick Strong to wrestle Davey Richards. Strong defeated Richards in 25 minutes in a very hot match. These two tore the house down and the fans were really into it. Strong had some words for Kensuke Sasaki on the mic after the contest to build up tomorrow's match. Davey is a monster now.

4) El Generico scored a huge win as he teamed with Shingo & Dragon Kid to defeat Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk in about 22 minutes. This was awesome and right up there with all the Dragon Gate six mans. I just sat in the crowd and really enjoyed this one as I love this style of match. Hulk and Shingo had some wicked exchanges and everyone was on in this one.

5) Bryan Danielson defeated ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness in a non-title match in about 22 minutes. This started as a very technical match and built into a hard-hitting match. The fans really loved it. Another great match in the series between these two. After the bout, Bryan got on the mic and said he just defeated the ROH World Champion and tomorrow he will go after the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title.

6) Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles. This match was a total brawl that got some "holy s***" and "ROH" chants from the Japanese fans. The final three matches all contrasted each other perfectly.

I will go on record right now and say that this show was better than both of our shows last year in Japan. The crowd got more enthusiastic as the show went on and they all seemed to have a really good time. Differ Ariake is a great place for wrestling. I was fortunate to be able to sit in the crowd for several matches and just enjoy the matches. Samurai TV did a great job and I think you'll really dig these DVDs when they come out. The people here are all very nice. So far this has been an amazing trip and it should only get better tomorrow. I have eaten a lot of sushi and I plan to eat more. Right now I'm kind of tired so if I think of anymore details I'll jump back on with them. Thanks for reading this.

Sounds like an all round solid show with the fans in Japan being treated some great sounding matches on paper.  I'll be buying the DVD for Nigel vs Danielson, but it sounds like the 6 man might've been the match to steal the show!

I'll have more information on ROH's tour of Japan as it becomes available.

Peace

Duckman

[Duckman]

Here's the results from the second show held last night with some comments by ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky:

We just rolled in from the show. I wish we could call this one Supercard Of Honor because it was really a supercard in every sense of the term. There was a bigger crowd tonight and they seemed to have a great time. It was really something seeing all these promotions come together on one show. It was my first time meeting Sasaki and Nakajima and they are both really looking forward to coming to Philadelphia next week. Everyone is ready to go out so I'll make this a quick update. Here are the results of the show:

1A) In the dark match Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro defeated Genba Hirayanagi & Kotaro Suzuki in a wild match. This will be a bonus on the DVD of tonight's event.

1) The lights went out and the music started and the ROH show was underway. Austin Aries crashed Bobby Cruise's open and after the happenings of last night demanded that his match against Tyler Black start immediately. Aries defeated Black with the Last Chancery, but after the match Jimmy Jacobs put out Aries with the End Time and promised more chaos and said that he would win the World Title in the main event.

2) Kazushi Miyamoto defeated Eddie Edwards when Larry Sweeney's interference backfired. The fans really got into Sweeney. After the match it looked like Sweeney and Edwards might have been on the outs, but they made up with a big hug. The Japanese fans really reacted to that.

3) Taiji Ishimori defeated El Generico in a really athletic match.

4) Davey Richards debut his new finisher to earn him and Takeshi Morishima a win over Jay & Mark Briscoe. After the match, Jacobs and Tyler Black attacked The Briscoes.

5) Bryan Danielson defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title in just over 20 minutes. This was a great match and I was fortunate to just sit in the crowd and watch it. The fans were really behind Bryan and when he won they were overjoyed and surprised. It was really a genuine moment when he won as everyone was really happy for Bryan. There aren't a lot of moments like that and I don't know if it will come across on the DVD, but live it was something I'll never forget.

6) Things got turned up a notch after intermission with the dream tag. KENTA & Kota Ibushi went to a 30 minute draw vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Katsuhiko Nakajima. They then went to a 5 minute overtime, which ended in a draw. This was just unreal. I don't want to hype it too much as I'll let you just watch it for yourself. I've never heard kicks like Nakajima's. This was the most over match of the night with the fans. These guys are really the new stars in Japan.

7) Kensuke Sasaki defeated Roderick Strong in a very even match in about 12 minutes.

Nigel McGuinness retained the ROH World Title against Jimmy Jacobs in a classic heel/face match that the fans got into. I have to be honest. I feared for these guys. This was a long show with a lot of great stuff on it. I figured the crowd would be tired and knew they would have a tough time. Instead, they told a great story in the match and the fans totally got into it. Hats off to Nigel and Jacobs.

Again this sounds like a show I'll be getting when it comes out on DVD.  No offense to ROH because they've improved their production values, but Samuri TV are filming these shows and those guys rock and making wrestling look fantastic on TV.

Great to see 5 companies all coming together under ROH's banner and some HUGE names in Japan competing in dream matches for the fans there.

Can't wait for both these shows to come out on DVD in a month or two!

Peace

Duckman