Csonka Ranks The ROH Global Wars Matches

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. I thought that I would go back, and rank the ROH Global Wars iPPV matches from worst to first, creating a play list or sorts if you don’t have 10-hours to invest into the three iPPV events. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your favorites from the shows. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

– 27.From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Hiromu Takahashi defeated Mark Briscoe @ 1:10 via ref stoppage (injury) [NR]

– 26. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: The Dawgs defeated One Mean Team @ 5:11 via pin [*½]

– 25. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: Sumie Sakai defeated Holidead @ 7:05 via pin [**]

– 24. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: Colt Cabana defeated Toru Yano @ 7:52 via pin [**]
– 23. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: IWGP United States Title Match: Champion Kenny Omega defeated YOSHI-HASHI @ 25:23 via pin [**]

– 22. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: Shane Taylor defeated Josh Woods @ 8:35 via pin [**¼]

– 21. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: The Addiction defeated KUSHIDA & Cheeseburger @ 8:21 via pin [**½]
– 20. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Jenny Rose, Mandy Leon, & Deonna Purrazzo vs. Britt Baker, Fay Jackson, & Sumie Sakai @ 9:08 via pin [**½]
– 19. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: ROH Title Match: Champion Cody defeated KUSHIDA @ 17:12 via pin [**½]
– 18. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: ROH Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Motor City Machineguns defeated Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser @ 12:55 via pin [**½]
– 17. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Non-Title Match: IWGP Never Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defeated Silas Young @ 10:32 via pin [**½]
– 16. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: ROH Six-Man Tag Team Title Match: Champions Bullet Club (Cody, Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll) defeated CHAOS (Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano) @ 19:50 via submission [**½]

– 15. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor defeated Titus & Ferrara @ 9:24 via pin [**¾]

~THE GOOD~

– 14. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser defeated Best Friends @ 13:10 via pin [***]
– 13. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Instant Reward TV Title Match: ROH TV Champion Kenny King defeated Punishment Martinez, KUSHIDA, Matt Taven, and Josh Woods @ 11:52 via pin [***]
– 12. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: Suzuki-gun defeated Shane Taylor, Jay Lethal, Kenny King @ 16:30 via pin [***]
– 11. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: CHAOS defeated Suzuki-gun @ 14:28 via pin [***]
– 10. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: Kenny King & Colt Cabana defeated Marty Scurll & Adam Page @ 12:45 via pin [***]
– 9.From ROH Global Wars Columbus: The Addiction (Daniels & Kazarian) defeated Jay White & Jonathan Gresham @ 12:05 via pin [***]
– 8. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Non-Title Match: War Machine defeated Champions Killer Elite Squad @ 11:43 via pin [***]

~THE VERY GOOD~

– 7. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: ROH Six-Man Title Match: Champions The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega vs. Flip Gordon, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor @ 23:45 via pin [***½]

~THE ALMOST GREAT~

– 6. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: Marty Scurll defeated Hiromu Takahashi @ 14:30 via submission [***¾]

~WHAT YOU NEED TO SEE~

5. From ROH Global Wars Chicago – Bullet Club defeated Search & Destroy @ 14:40 via pin [****] : This was a wild and crazy match, shades of the matches from the previous nights, but felt more dialed back. Search & Destroy did a great job of embracing the heel role here, the crowd reacted to the moves big time, but they were pro Bullet Club all the way. It was an insane car crash style match, and a well done one at that with a hot crowd. Everyone was working hard and this was a ton of fun. Love them or hate them, Bullet Club is really good at this style of match and, and when you pair them with four such talented guys like Search & Destroy, it would have been a disappointment if it wasn’t great.

4. From ROH Global Wars Columbus: Jay Lethal defeated Hiromu Takahashi @ 16:01 via pin [****]: Lethal goes 3-0 on the tour in singles matches with this win, putting in another great performance. This had a great pace, hard-hitting action and had a good build throughout. They kept Daryl to a minimum, and just both men delivered a great and entertaining match. Lethal has delivered in back to back nights against two very different opponents, doing his best to make you remember just how good he is. Some have claimed that Takahashi has been too focused on Daryl, and that it hurts his matches and it’s a fair criticism. But Daryl was almost non-existent, allowing Takahashi to just go out there and kick ass with Lethal.

3. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: Jay Lethal defeated Jay White @ 20:14 via pin [****]: This was an absolutely great match, giving them a lot of time and presenting White as a major player, taking it to an ROH main event guy and looking like he belonged; his evolution has been so much fun to watch. This kid is going to be really great. White came out of this looking great and the crowd was buying into him down the stretch. Jay Lethal is as good as ever, and if you’re not
watching Jay White yet, get on it before you miss something special.

2. From ROH Global Wars Pittsburgh: ROH Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Motor City Machineguns defeated The Young Bucks and The Kingdom @ 15:32 via pin [****]: This was another great match, and in a completely different style than the previous match. This was balls to the wall action, as the Kingdom actually put in what I feel is their best effort to date and more than held their own. We had great near falls, some great near falls and drama down the stretch and a clean win by the champions. Some people complain about “spot fests,” and there are times to complain about them and that’s when they suck or are completely disjointed. This was great, clean action with a cohesive flow that had the crowd invested the whole time. The Guns may be a bit slower, but when they are healthy, they can still go with the best of them. They’ve been a ton of fun this year.

1. From ROH Global Wars Chicago: Non-Title Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defeated Flip Gordon @ 15:19 via pin [****½]: This was set up as an attempted showcase for Flip Gordon, and not only did they steal the show, but they stole the whole weekend. This was an awesome, back and forth match that portrayed Gordon on Ospreay’s level and was the breakout match he needed in ROH. Both guys do some awesome and at times unbelievable things, the crowd loved it and the final few minutes were awesome, almost making the fans believe Gordon could win. Excellent stuff. Not only was this the match Gordon needed, but it was also the match ROH needed him to have. They put him in position to succeed, giving him time, and the right opponent and in the right city with the right crowd. In my preview I said, “I am really looking forward to this one, because if ROH is looking to give Gordon a chance to break out, pairing him with Ospreay here is the right call. Plus, if Gordon impresses, he could end up with some NJPW bookings.” He took the ball, he ran with it and they not only stole the show, but also stole the whole weekend.

– IN CONCLUSION: The 2017 ROH Global Wars tour provided a lot of good to great wrestling, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t a lot to the tour. Nothing really felt must see to me, it didn’t feel as if a lot was set up coming out of the tour, and as the relationship with NJPW carries on the shows, largely mean less and less in terms of shows you need to see. Also, the tour should have been titled ROH Global Wars: Presented by Bullet Club. These guys (Omega and the Bucks), who in their defense were the ones that sold out the tour contrary to Cody’s delusions, had full run of the place and did anything they wanted too, which sometimes was good and fun, but other times took away from matches. The good news is that for now, it’s a boost to business and according to ROH regulars in Chicago, there were more women and families in attendance more than ever before. If they are selling tickets and growing the demographics, then this is a good thing. But they have to be careful, because overexposure and burnout are real things. They are the cool thing right now, and are playing to an entirely new generation of fans who pop for the “anti-WWE shtick” because they are young and it’s completely new to them. And maybe this is what ROH needs to get to the next level.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”