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Ring of Honor (ROH) did indeed save the best for last when rolling out their match card for the first of four scheduled shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling in Philadelphia and Toronto in May. You can see the first six matches announced for Tuesday, May 12th at the 2300 Arena in Philly here.
The two main events were released online last night during WWE Raw. The first features IWGP Heavyweight champion AJ Styles...
At #WarOfTheWorlds @AJStylesOrg will face ???? pic.twitter.com/bi0HerkgrU
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 20, 2015
Most of the speculation I've seen has "????" as a returning Adam Cole, who's been sidelined with a shoulder injury since losing his last ROH World title shot to Jay Briscoe at Final Battle. That would be a rematch of their blockbuster from All-Star Extravaganza 6 last year.
The other bout fans in the City of Brotherly Love will get to check out is fully revealed, and it's gonna be sick!
The Main Event for #WarofTheWorlds Night 1 is #TheBriscoes vs @Rainmaker_Chaos & @ShinsukeN #Demboys vs #Chaos pic.twitter.com/7KjQ9C6eE1
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
ROH has announced that they'll roll out the night two (Wednesday, May 13th) line-up today, and we'll update this post as those matches hit the web. The first one is a couple of recent "young boys". And as we learned yesterday, they'll save the big names for last, so I'll try to not whine until we have the whole card if you all promise to do the same.
1st match for #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 in Philadelphia is @ringofhonor's @theAdamPage vs @njpw1972's #Watanabe pic.twitter.com/9VMAJ4JF66
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Match two is a nice clash of styles (pun semi-intended) match between Unbreakable and the Time Splitter:
. @ringofhonor's @MichaelElgin25 will face @KUSHIDA_CANADA at #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/8lZJysQqST
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Half of No Limit vs. half of reDRagon!
one half of #reDRagon @ROHOreilly will take on @njpw1972's @s_d_naito at #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 pic.twitter.com/uVFUNJhAvI
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Mr. ROH vs. NJPW's biggest star:
Mr #ROH @roderickstrong takes on @njpw1972's @tanahashi1_100 at #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/s1OxvJVRjg
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Super-fun tag pairing!
#ROH's @facdaniels @FrankieKazarian vs @rainmaker_chaos & #Gedo @ #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 in Philly. Order tix 2day pic.twitter.com/xT68pBk3lu
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Well, it's not my dream of Lethal vs. Swagsuke one-on-one, but there's always Toronto. Plus, my favorite Briscoe and Liger!
#4CornerSurvival @TheLethalJay vs @ShinsukeN vs #MarkBriscoe vs #JushinLiger #WarofTheWorlds Night 2. Order tix Now! pic.twitter.com/xeQjuNtIP8
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
The obligatory ROH title match where there is a zero percent chance of the belt changing hands. Still, both these boys can go, and should be able to pop the crowd amidst all the other crossover action on the card.
The #ROH World Title will be on the line at #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 when @JayBriscoe84 faces @theBobbyFish pic.twitter.com/cLcNIsQZxF
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
And here's your main. Which if what we all believe about night one's co-main (and what ROH spoiled themselves on their website last night) is true, Styles vs. Cole will be the story of these shows:
The Main Event for #WarofTheWorlds Night 2 #BulletClub vs #KINGDOM w/ @AdamColePro's return to Action! pic.twitter.com/1rinBVJOBV
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
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The million dollar question is "how can I watch these shows!?!?"
Per ROH's events calendar, you'll need to have a ticket to see either War of the Worlds show, while the two Global Wars events in Toronto (Friday-Saturday, May 15-16) will be available through some combination of television pay-per-view (PPV), internet pay-per-view (iPPV) and Video on Demand (VOD).
Pure speculation, but WotW may be listed as 'live only' from ROH because it will be streamed on the New Japan World service, however.
I've taken a page from the real journalists on cSs' staff and reached out to Ring of Honor for clarification, and will post that here when/if we get a response.
In the meantime, use the space below to get hyped about Dem Boys vs. Nakamura/Okada, worry that you won't see it, or wonder when the rest of Bullet Club will be booked.