Csonka’s ROH/NJPW Global Wars Chicago Preview

Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today’s column is all about fun; today I want to talk about the ROH/NJPW Global Wars Chicago. This is the big finale of the Global Wars tour. Lets have fun today talking about something we love. Remember, your comments are always welcomed. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

Colt Cabana vs. Toru Yano: This will be a comedy match, with Yano busting out all of his tricks and Cabana getting to have fun in front of his hometown crowd. Not that the winner really matters, but I have a hard time picking the winner. Yano has a Never title shot coming up and in ROH Cabana is mostly a commentator these days. But they are in Cabana’s hometown, so he has the chance of winning to make the hometown crowd happy, especially if it’s the opener. WINNER: Toru Yano via sublime thievery

Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser vs. Chuck Taylor & TRENT: I have said it before and will say it again, they have failed to follow up on Young’s big PPV win. I also feel that they need to get Silas Young away from The Beer City Bruiser as quickly as possible before Young gets pigeonholed in the comedy/mid-card heel role. I think, considering that this is a decently big show, that they should shoot an angle that best serves the company, Young, and the tag division. I’d book a miscommunication finish, with Bruiser costing his team the match, allowing the best Friends to pick up a high profile win and move them towards the tag titles. And then post match, Young should absolutely fucking wreck the Bruiser, taking him out for a long time and giving us amore serious and focused Young that can move onto bigger and better things. WINNER: Chuck Taylor & TRENT

Kenny King, Jay Lethal, & Mark Briscoe vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & The Killer Elite Squad): Kenny King, Jay Lethal, & Mark Briscoe are our random set of victims for Suzuki-gun to slaughter. The good news is that they are an over set of baby faces, Mark is absolutely tremendous in the tag setting as either the face in peril or hot tag, and Lethal and King are fun and quality performers. There’s no real agenda or set up here, so with Suzuki-gun all being NJPW champions, it doesn’t bode well for our babyface trio. This will likely be the usual Suzuki-gun slop with some fun stuff mixed in by the babyfaces en route to them taking the loss. EDIT: Mark Briscoe is likely out of this match due to his elbow injury, so expect the match to change. WINNER: Suzuki-gun

KUSHIDA & Cheeseburger vs. The Addiction: This feel like an “oh shit, we forgot to book KUSHIDA for this show” match. Cheeseburger is the lovable underdog and favorite of Liger and some of the NJPW higher ups, like a lovable mascot. KUSHIDA will work well with the Addiction, and Cheeseburger will get a fiery comeback, hit some shoteis and get some near falls before eating celebrity rehab to continue the Addiction’s momentum. At the very least, this should be fun. WINNER: The Addiction

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Marty Scurll: Personally, I am pretty excited for this match. I am a big fan of both guys, and have enjoyed past outings the two have had. The good news is that the guys have outstanding personalities that should keep the crowd invested, and if they’re feeling froggy and want to kick things up a notch, they can easily have a very good to great match. I love the gimmicks and personalities, but I hope they are only used get things rolling and then decide to deliver in the ring. With the landscape of NJPW right now, with Scurll about to challenge Ospreay for the junior title and Takahashi being downgraded, Scurll should walk out with the win here. WINNER: Marty Scurll

Flip Gordon vs. Will Ospreay: Whoa boy, this certainly has MOTN/MOTW potential. Gordon hasn’t done much with ROH so far, but has been a really fun performer looking to have a breakout performance. Ospreay is coming off of winning the junior title and is always game to try and steal the show. This should be fun, fast paced and filled with MOVEZ & DIVEZ, and I mean that in the absolute best way possible. 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 id the right call. Plus, of Gordon impresses, he could end up with some NJPW bookings, which would be great for him. WINNER: Will Ospreay

IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega vs. YOSHI-HASHI: The issue with this match is the same one I had with Cody vs. KUSHIDA; there is essentially no chance HASHI wins here, which will kill any and all drama the match could have. HASHI is good at times, and Omega is great but the fact that he’s been so dismissive of HASHI as an opponent also really killed the build to the match. The good news is that Omega will be wildly over with the crowd, which will help, but without the drama of HASHI possibly winning, I think that it will be hard for this to be a great match. HASHI was a poor choice of opponent, he’s not over with US fans and isn’t even “B player” in NJPW. Hopefully they can overcome these obstacles, but I certainly have my doubts. WINNER: IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega

Bullet Club (Cody, Adam Page, & The Young Bucks) vs. Search & Destroy (Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Jay White, & Jonathan Gresham) : This is being billed as the main event on the ROH site over the Omega match, and I feel that it’s the right call to make. Bullet Club are great in multi-man matches like this, there will be some comedy/shenanigans and I could do without Cody, but I love the Search and Destroy stable. Using Sabin & Shelley as on and off air mentors to younger talent is an excellent idea, and also worked when both were banged up and they could just alter the tag lineups when needed. It also helped give White & Gresham instant credibility with ROH fans, as the Guns recruited them. This has a chance to be a real barnburner of a match, the crowd will be into it because of the Young Bucks and that will make for a great atmosphere. With how over the Bucks will be and considering they will be looking to setup a tag title rematch, Bullet Club picks up the win here. WINNER: Bullet Club

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”