ROH World Championship Match Set For Summer Supercard

– Matt Taven’s ROH World Championship defends at ROH Summer Supercard is officially set. ROH announced on Tuesday that Taven will defend the title against Alex Shelley at the show, which takes place on August 9th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The announcement notes:

Alex Shelley now knows who he will be stepping into the ring with when he competes for the ROH World Title at Summer Supercard in Toronto on Aug. 9. It will be Matt Taven, who successfully defended his championship at Manhattan Mayhem over the weekend.

Despite their long tenures in ROH, Shelley and Taven have never had a singles match against one another, and they’ve only faced each other in tag matches a handful of times.

Shelley shocked everyone a year ago by announcing that he was stepping away from pro wrestling. He resurfaced at the ROH TV taping in Philadelphia last month with another shocking announcement: Shelley said he was returning to the ring and he’s coming after the world championship.

In his first match back, at Mass Hysteria on Sunday, Shelley looked to be in great shape and showed no signs of ring rust. He teamed with Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham to defeat The Kingdom (Taven, TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia) in the main event. Shelley scored the win for his team by forcing O’Ryan to tap out.

Shelley, who has been wrestling for 17 years but is still just 36, has won championships all over the world, including the ROH World Tag Team Title (with Chris Sabin as The Motor City Machine Guns), New Japan Pro Wrestling’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title (three times), X Division Title, and the heavyweight title for German promotion wXw.

For all his success, however, Shelley has only received two shots at the ROH World Title — against Austin Aries in 2005 and Bryan Danielson in 2006. Shelley’s lack of world title opportunities is due largely to the fact that he has concentrated more on tag team wrestling than singles competition.

After a year off to recharge, Shelley believes the time is right to go for the richest prize in the sport. He’ll be facing a champion who continues to silence his doubters.

Since winning the title at G1 Supercard in April before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden, Taven has successfully defended it against two-time former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and Kenny King in a Triple Threat Match, PCO, Jeff Cobb, Flip Gordon, Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams. He handed PCO and Cobb their only pinfall losses in ROH.

Will Shelley make history in Toronto? Or will Taven turn back another challenger to his crown? Join us live in person or streaming for HonorClub to find out!