Csonka’s ROH Global Wars Espectacular: Chicago Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the ROH Global Wars Espectacular: Chicago event. The show is the second of three on this year’s Global was tour, which has undergone a facelift. Instead of the usual joint shows with NJPW (who are running three east coast dates in September), ROH has moved onto use their underutilized relationship with CMLL and will give us a lucha flare to the shows. The show will feature ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Volador Jr, Rush vs. Barbaro Cavernario, and more. So today I will breakdown and preview the event. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Silas Young & Josh Woods vs. PJ Black & Okumura: Young recently started a mentor like relationship with young Josh Woods, trying to show him the ways of the dark side so that he can really understand how things work and can thrive. Woods has shown some heelish tendencies, but has also been a bit hesitant to fully embrace Young’s ways. PJ Black & Okumura are a thrown together veteran team, and are really feel like they are here so that Young & Woods can get some momentum for a more important match on the tour with Gresham & Lethal. WINNER: Silas Young & Josh Woods

Top Prospect Tournament Semifinal Match: Austin Gunn vs. Dante Caballero: Caballero has been a really good heel in his ROH appearances, and was solid in the ring. Gunn has a great look and showed a ton of potential from what I have seen and in his first round match. I really think that Gunn should go to the finals and maybe even win the whole thing because he has a lot of untapped potential. WINNER: Austin Gunn

The Briscoes vs. The Bouncers vs. Rey Bucanero & Hechicero: This looks like a fine late addition to the card on paper, the Bouncers will be over, the Briscoes are all-time greats as far as tag teams go, and Rey Bucanero is a tremendous tag worker and Hechicero is a lot of fun. I think that Bucanero & Hechicero get some good run here down the stretch, but at the end of the day, the Briscoes should take this one. WINER: The Briscoes

Villain Enterprises (PCO, Gordon, & King) vs. Lifeblood (Williams, Haskins, & Bandido): The Lifeblood vs. Villain Enterprises has been the best and most consistently entertaining thing ROH has done in 2019. The angle has been fun, the matches are really good to great, and while the trios tag title match is absolutely fucking cursed, Lifeblood has newfound momentum, picking up a variety of wins over Villain Enterprises, including a tag match to get them into the tag title match at Death Before Dishonor. As long as Flip is healthy, I expect another very good to possibly great match here, and Lifeblood should go over to maintain their momentum. WINNER: Lifeblood

Colt Cabana vs. Kenny King vs. Dalton Castle vs. Marty Scurll: This is a match between four men involved in the #1 contender’s tournament. King & Scurll are currently in the best positions booking wise, and Castle is always over despite not having the best win/loss record. Cabana will be the hometown hero here, which should ensure an invested crowd. Judging by the talent involved, this should be good if they have a strong layout and don’t overbook things. Part of me thinks that Marty takes the win here, but with it being in Chicago, I wouldn’t rule out a Cabana win, especially since he could use one heading into the #1 contender’s tournament. WINNER: Colt Cabana

Proving Ground Match: TV Champion Shane Taylor vs. Joe Hendry: Taylor has been a tremendously fun TV champion, and I love nothing more than to see the big man wrecking fools. Hendry just recently debuted with ROH to an extremely cold reception, which is unfortunate because he’s talented and charismatic. This is a proving ground match, so if Hendry wins he receives a title shot. There is a PPV coming up in a few weeks, Taylor has no feud, no challenger and no direction right now so Hendry likely wins to set up the match for the PPV. WINNER: Joe Hendry

Rush vs. Barbaro Cavernario: Barbaro Cavernario is 25 and is a wild man and must see performer for me, as he rarely disappoints and really delivers some exciting matches. Rush is a big CMLL star, and has been on a hell of a run in ROH, as he’s been undefeated since debuting. He’s also scheduled to challenge for the ROH Title at Death Before Dishonor. With that being the case, I see Rush taking the win here (although I see Cavernario being really competitive here) in what could be a really wild and fun match judging by their styles. WINNER: Rush

Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham vs. Caristico, Stuka Jr, and Triton: Stuka Jr has been fun in his various ROH appearances, and always feels like he’s working hard so I am glad to see him included on the tour. He’s still a fun flyer at age 40, has been working since 2002, and with CMLL since 2005 where he’s an upper midcard technico. Caristico is the former Mistico, a man who looked hall of fame bound early in his career wit a ton of quality matches, but more importantly, became a legit and big time draw in the mid-2000s. Unfortunately, he left CMLL and signed with WWE, and between injuries, poor booking, and WWE generally punishing him for being a success before coming to them, the run was a disaster and to many tarnished his career greatly. Once the WWE disaster was over, he did some time in AAA before returning to CMLL. Caristico is 36, but still has a lot of go left in him. Triton making his ROH debut on this tour, is 32 and debuted back in 2005 and is a highflying technico. Lethal & Gresham work great as a tag team, and Cobb has worked with Lethal in the past so they should be a solid team. As individuals, they are great, but the interesting thing here will be to see how much they continue to play into the Gresham heel turn. With the talent involved, this one should be good. The argument can be made for either team to win, but I think team CMLL takes this one. WINNER: Caristico, Stuka Jr, and Triton

ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Volador Jr.: Matt Taven was last pinned in a singles match was Aug. 3, 2018. On that night, he was pinned by CMLL star Volador Jr. twice in a two-out-of-three falls match in Mexico City where Volador Jr. regained the NWA World Historic Welterweight Title. They then became frequent partners, and in the main event at CMLL’s 85th Anniversary Show last September, they faced Rush and Barbaro Cavernario in a Hair vs. Hair Match, which they lost following communication issues. The feud now comes to ROH and the stakes are higher. In terms off overall interest level and being a draw, Taven hasn’t been a strong champion for ROH so far. That’s not completely on him, as while I think ROH has largely been good in 2019, it rarely overcomes good and the product as a whole feel so cold. But while business and interest are down, I will say that Taven has worked hard and has had some good and even a couple of great matches as the champion. Volador Jr. is 38, debuted back in 1997, and lost his mask to La Sombra (Andrade) back in 2013. He has been a proven star in CMLL as both a technico and a rudo. The best thing about the Taven title run has been the natural build to matches with both Rush & Volador, which are not only matches that make sense, but are also matches fresh to ROH. With their history, I’d expect a god and possibly even great match here. With the match with Rush upcoming, I expect Taven to retain, but I’m excited to see what they can do here. WINNER: Champion Matt Taven

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 48. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka and the guys will breakdown & review NJPW Royal Quest 2019 Review, talk WWE’ s most underutilized talents, look at a list of possible suspects in the Chris Jericho belt theft case, and preview the ROH Global Wars Espectacular tour. The show is approximately 122-minutes long.

* Intro
* Most Underutilized WWE Talents: 3:45
* NJPW Fite TV Problems: 32:15
* NJPW Royal Quest 2019 Review: 38:45
* Chris Jericho Loses AEW Championship Belt (plus a list of the possible culprits): 1:05:45
* Bayley Turns Heel On Raw: 1:15:45
* ROH Global Wars Espectacular Dearborn Preview: 1:20:45
* ROH Global Wars Espectacular Chicago Preview: 1:33:05
* ROH Global Wars Espectacular Milwaukee Preview: 1:48:45

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 on Wrestling Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.