The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Top 5 ROH vs. TNA Supercard Matches

The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…

Week 311 – Top 5 ROH vs. TNA Supercard Matches

Both ROH and TNA are airing on Destination America, and the executives have come to you and asked you to book a five match ROH vs. TNA Supercard to air on the network. What matches would you pick?

Eric Palmer
5. The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys – I’d have this match open the show. These two teams wrestle similar styles and would probably have a solid match that would really get the crowd pumped up and start the show off right.

4. Roderick Strong vs. Kurt Angle – Roderick Strong has been killing it on the indies this year, and Kurt Angle is a guy that I think would work very well with him. I think we can get a nice mix of technical skills and brawling going on here.

3. Adam Cole vs. Austin Aries – I love Adam Cole. He’s a fantastic worker and Aries is still one of the best in TNA today. I think these guys would put on a great show and a better match.

2. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rockstar Spud – Rockstar Spud has been surprising me this year. He’s shown that he can really hold his own in the ring and put on some great matches with the right opponent. O’Reilly on the other hand has seen his star rise in the past year, especially recently with his performance in the NJPW Battle of the Super Juniors. These guys would have a great match in the later portion of the card.

1. Ethan Carter III vs. AJ Styles – This was the first match that came to mind for me. The new face of TNA, and one of the best heels going in the business is EC3. He’s been fantastic in his role and has put on some quality matches this year. AJ Styles, being the old face of TNA, would do everything he can to show that he’s still the best TNA has seen. The match itself would be great to watch, but the story being told in the ring would be incredible. This would be the main event of the show.

Jack Stevenson
5. Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Sabin – I think Eddie Edwards is a very good wrestler and I think Chris Sabin is a very good wrestler and I wanted to fit them onto my card somehow, so I have come up with the groundbreaking idea of having Eddie Edwards wrestle Chris Sabin in a singles match. I did a search on Cagematch and it appears these two have never met one on one, which surprised me and means we can market this as a first time ever meeting! Wow! Edwards vs. Sabin strikes me as a fun choice for the opener, two athletic, fast paced wrestlers who could slip in and out of holds on the mat for a little while and then run through some exciting near falls to rev the crowd up for the rest of the show.

4. The Briscoe Brothers vs. Homicide & Low Ki – When on form, Homicide is a terrific pro wrestler with this genuinely wild, dangerous feel about him. Despite his infrequent, injury hit appearances for TNA as of late, I’m taking the gamble that he’d come into this show fully fit and motivated to tear into the Briscoe Brothers. Both Homicide and the Briscoes are at their most entertaining when competing in the most unhinged brawls this side of an icky death match, so this would be a Falls Count Anywhere bout, with the action spilling all over the Hammerstein Ballroom. Homicide has a veritable cavalcade of like minded violent psychopaths he’s teamed with over the years, and happily one of them is also on the current TNA roster, even if he’s not quite as nakedly deranged as I’d like for a match like this. Still, Low Ki is very good in his own right and it would be fun to watch him stalk Mark Briscoe around the building, sporadically kicking him really really hard. Hopefully this would turn into a uncontrollably violent war in which at least one innocent fan loses their life.

3. ACH vs. Drew Galloway: One of the easiest and yet most compelling stories a wrestling match can tell is David vs. Goliath, a plucky, undersized underdog standing up to a towering, powerful foe. As such, I’d like to see ACH face Drew Galloway. Both are among the best talent in North America right now outside of WWE; ACH is an innovative, memorable high flyer, which is quite difficult to be in 2015, and Galloway has reinvented himself after the disappointing collapse of his WWE career as a passionate and aggressive wrestler, with a sheen of obvious professionalism that comes from spending five years with the biggest promotion in the world. These two would probably put together a really fresh and enjoyable contest, meshing the aerial antics of ACH with the emphatic power of Galloway.

2. The Hardy Boyz vs. ReDRagon: 2014 was a really good year for the Hardys, they put their well documented personal struggles behind them and had their best year in the ring since they were both WWE stars, including dream matches with the likes of the Briscoe Brothers, The Young Bucks and the American Wolves that genuinely lived up to the hype. As of yet, they’ve not crossed paths with ReDragon, the best tag team Ring of Honor has offered to the world of wrestling in quite some time, so this is probably the best first time ever tag match you could get from an ROH/TNA crossover show. I like ReDragon a lot, they mix in their MMA style offense in a much less annoying way than other, similar wrestlers, and they have an offbeat, quirky charisma about them that elevates them above other talented indy tandems. It’s always very cool to see a legitimately legendary team like the Hardys square off against the newest generation of tag team talent while they’ve still got enough mojo left in their bodies to compete at the highest level, so it was a very easy choice to pit them against a duo the calibre of ReDragon.

1. Alberto El Patron vs. Austin Aries: This match is an intoxicating combination of great pro wrestlers and alliteration. I think you could make a solid case for both guys being the best individual wrestler on their respective rosters; they’re certainly two of the most respected. They’ve also never even been close to having the chance to wrestle each other in the past, which makes it more interesting to wonder what would happen if they were to meet. Presumably it would be totally excellent, a smooth and wide ranging bout with accomplished mat wrestling, razor sharp near falls, and a sequence where Aries tries for the 450 Splash but gets caught on the top turnbuckle with that brilliant step up enzuiguri El Patron has patented. I’d really like to see this match and hopefully some enterprising indy wrestling promoter can make it happen at some point.

Kevin Pantoja
5. Rockstar Spud vs. Jay Lethal – A while back, I would have never put Rockstar Spud on any list like this. But the guy has been steadily improving and his match against Ethan Carter III earlier this year was one of my favorites of the year, across all promotions. Meanwhile, Jay Lethal has been fantastic as of late as well. Lethal’s heel persona would play great against the ultimate underdog that is Spud. Spud is kind of in a similar spot to where Lethal was a few years ago in TNA, making this an intriguing match.

4. Bobby Roode vs. Jay Briscoe – Usually, you’d put the top champions of the company against each other on a show like this, but this match makes sense to me. While Bobby Roode is not the champion, he and Jay both bleed their companies. Jay has been part of ROH since the beginning and has stayed while others have left for greener pastures. The same could be said for Bobby Roode as he’s been loyal to TNA since the start. This would be a good battle of two guys that could be considered the poster boy for each company’s overall existence

3. Austin Aries vs. Adam Cole – Unfortunately, I have not seen as much Adam Cole as I’d like but for a really long time he’s someone I’ve heard tons about. Some people have told me they consider him the best guy on the indies that the WWE has yet to snatch up. High praise. I’ve been a huge Austin Aries fan for about ten years and the man can still flat out go. These two would more than likely have a good to great match together. They could possibly even steal the show if they meshed.

2. Roderick Strong vs. Kurt Angle – Two of the very best in the world for the past ten years go at it. Kurt Angle is the current TNA World Champion and has been their go to guy since he arrived there about nine years ago. Roderick Strong is a former ROH World Champion and, over the few years has become kind of a measuring stick around the indies. The technical abilities of these two would make for an interesting bout to say the least. I prefer Roddy’s work at this point, but I have a very good feeling that it would be fantastic.

1. AJ Styles vs. EC3 – Yes, I realize that AJ Styles is more NJPW than ROH but I still just had to include him here. The guy who defined TNA for so long against what rightfully should be the future of TNA if they stay open. The story of the past of TNA against the future would be great. Granted, both guys are heels but I think the crowd would be behind AJ Styles. EC3 is just too damn good at playing the heel to not be the bad guy here. This would headline and is something I’d love to see.

Larry Csonka
5. Elimination Match: The KRD (Sabin, Daniels and Kazarian) & The Briscoes vs. The Wolves, Eric Young, James Storm and Bobby Roode – Obviously we’d want to make a card where we have a lot of the top talent involved and also try to set the stage for another show down the line. I think a balls to the wall, action filled elimination tag match would be an excellent was to kick off this show. You obviously can tell the stories of reluctant partners fighting for company pride, also you have team ROH looking at the wolves as traitors just as team TNA would look that way at the KRD. There are a lot of stories to tell, there is a ton of great talent involved to deliver a great match and this is how I would kick off my show and set up matches for a second show.

4. Austin Aries vs. Jay Lethal – I think this would be really good. If you are a regular viewer of the Impact program, I think that we can all agree that Austin Aries is usually one of the highlights from the in ring standpoint. On the other side, we have Jay lethal, a man who in the last 18 months has grown leaps and bounds as a pro wrestler and has just gotten really good. Toss in this histories in both promotions, and it plays into the whole supercard presentation.

3. The Hardys & Drew Galloway vs. The Young Bucks & Adam Cole – This is another match that I think would be a quality match, and also set up matches for the next special Forward thinking here kids. The Hardys and Bucks have had outings on the independent scene and not only have a good story but can deliver. Drew Galloway has had a great post WWE runs, and Adam Cole (BAY BAAAAAAY!) has history with the Bucks in PWG and is an awesome singles performer. They get some time, they tear the house down and hell you can even allow the rest of the Kingdom to get involved to set up some drama.

2. AJ Styles vs. Ethan Carter III – The story here writes itself; AJ Styles – the man that was Mr. TNA for years and left when he felt under appreciated. Ethan Carter III – the spoiled storyline nephew of TNA president Dixie Carter. Styles is regarded as the best in the world, Carter is a guy looking to prove himself. The history is there, the story is written; just let these guys go out there and deliver a good wrestling match and don’t over complicate things with the booking.

1. Kurt Angle vs. Roderick Strong – And to round out our supershow, I go with Angle vs. Aries. Kurt Angle isn’t what he used to be, but by using him less and only having him work mostly big time matches he has shown that he can still go. Roderick Strong is having likely the best in ring year of his career, working excellent matches with a wide variety of opponents. He’s an ROH triple crown champion and has some history with TNA; coming back to challenge the TNA hall of famer would be a pretty sweet match that really want to see now that I have written about it.

And there is really only one place to hold the show…

The Hammerstein Ballroom

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