{"id":11408,"date":"2019-02-24T20:59:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T01:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=11408"},"modified":"2019-02-24T21:03:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T02:03:34","slug":"njpw-roh-honor-rising-review-22-2-23-2-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/24\/njpw-roh-honor-rising-review-22-2-23-2-19\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW\/ROH Honor Rising Review 22\/2-23\/2\/19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honor Rising, the annual shows co-produced by New Japan and\nRing of Honor in Tokyo, took on a new level of significance this year ahead of\nthe NJPW\/ROH joint show at Madison Square Garden over WrestleMania weekend.&nbsp; The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles were put\non the line for the first time ever at an Honor Rising event, and the Guerrillas\nof Destiny pulled off a shock result by beating the Los Ingobernables de Japon\nteam of EVIL and SANADA.&nbsp; Elsewhere, the\nBriscoe Brothers defeated David Finlay and Juice Robinson to retain the ROH Tag\nTeam Titles, Will Ospreay defended the NEVER Title against Dalton Castle, Jeff\nCobb beat Hirooki Goto in a ROH TV Title match, and Jay Lethal defended his ROH\nWorld Championship against TK O\u2019Ryan.&nbsp; The\nfallout from these shows may give some clues as to the shape of the card come\nApril and MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u3068ROH\u304c\u5922\u306e\u878d\u5408\u3092\u679c\u305f\u3059\uff01<br><br>\u672c\u65e52.23\uff08\u571f\uff09\u306e\u30e1\u30a4\u30f3\u3068\u30bb\u30df\u306f\u30012\u5927\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u738b\u5ea7\u6226\uff01\u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30b3\u5144\u5f1f vs \u30b8\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9 \uff06 \u30d5\u30a3\u30f3\u30ec\u30fc\uff01EVIL &amp; SANADA\u306b\u30bf\u30de \uff06 \u30bf\u30f3\u30ac\u304c\u6311\u6226\uff01<br><br>\u5168\u8a66\u5408\u306f <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E6%96%B0%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30ef\u30fc\u30eb\u30c9<\/a> \u306b\u3066\u304a\u697d\u3057\u307f\u4e0b\u3055\u3044\u3002 \u4eca\u3059\u3050\u5165\u4f1a! \u25b6\ufe0e<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Tj7UBJ4PjP\">https:\/\/t.co\/Tj7UBJ4PjP<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/roh?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#roh<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njROH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njROH<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cq8IsjubPg\">pic.twitter.com\/cq8IsjubPg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; njpwworld (@njpwworld) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1099161087214157824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I pretty much only ever see ROH when the Honor Rising cards come around, so I have to say upfront that I am not privy to the current storylines going on in ROH right now, and this review is written entirely from the perspective of a fan of New Japan.&nbsp; What I will say is that Honor Rising usually feels like a throwaway pair of shows, designed to cement the working relationship between NJPW and ROH and allow Japanese fans to experience a more \u201cUS\u201d style of show.&nbsp; Just the fact that the IWGP Heavyweight Champion gets to take Honor Rising off should tell you how they view the shows.&nbsp; Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada did appear, but all in fairly meaningless tag team matches against the ROH stable The Kingdom.&nbsp; From a New Japan perspective the only major news to come out of these shows was the crowning of new heavyweight tag team champions, and an MSG challenge to GOD from the Briscoes.&nbsp; The Briscoe Brothers are former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions so it wouldn\u2019t shock me to see them win them again at MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">ROH\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u738b\u8005\u30fb\u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30b3\u5144\u5f1f\u304c\u30b8\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\uff06\u30d5\u30a3\u30f3\u30ec\u30fc\u3092\u6483\u7834\uff01<br>\u65b0IWGP\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u738b\u8005\u30fb\u30bf\u30de\uff06\u30bf\u30f3\u30ac\u304c4.6MSG\u5927\u4f1a\u3067\u306e\u201c\u9802\u4e0a\u5bfe\u6c7a\u201d\u3092\u8868\u660e!! \u30102.23\u5f8c\u697d\u5712\u7d50\u679c\u3011 <br>\u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30fb\u30b9\u30de\u30db\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u3067\u72ec\u5360\u8a73\u5831\u4e2d\uff01<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/he4MgaOyMY\">https:\/\/t.co\/he4MgaOyMY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njroh?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njroh<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d6HPm7Or3q\">pic.twitter.com\/d6HPm7Or3q<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e (@njpw1972) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpw1972\/status\/1099291886198484993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The match between GOD and LIJ was probably the best match of\nthe two nights, although Shota Umino and Ren Narita both had very strong\nmatches on night one of the shows against Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr.&nbsp; Both Narita and Umino look like they\u2019re ready\nfor excursion whenever New Japan decides to send them off, although maybe they\u2019re\nsaving one or both for a Best of the Super Juniors run before that.&nbsp; I was actually more impressed by Narita on this\nshow, who really showed off his strong technical skills against Scurll.&nbsp; These shows were also notable for Jonathan\nGresham\u2019s NJPW debut, and he looked fantastic going up against Taiji Ishimori\nand Robbie Eagles on night one, and then ZSJ and TAKA Michinoku on night\ntwo.&nbsp; He has to be included in BOSJ this year\nsurely, and I think he will be a big hit with the Japanese crowd on a longer\ntour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otherwise the matches on these shows were fairly average,\nwith the best of them probably being Cobb against Goto.&nbsp; Cobb and Goto are still to have a really blow\naway match, although I preferred their effort here to their match last year at\nthe Cow Palace.&nbsp; Ospreay vs. Castle was\nfine, although Castle has clearly been slowed down by his injuries in recent\ntimes.&nbsp; The major thing that Ospreay did\non these shows was hit a Storm Breaker on Jeff Cobb in a tag team match on\nnight two, cementing his move up to heavyweight and possibly opening up an ROH\nTV Title match in the future.&nbsp; The comedy\nmatches didn\u2019t really do anything for me, but we did get to see the first time\nteam of Colt Cabana and Toru Yano, who defeated Cheeseburger and Delirious on\nnight two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the Honor Rising shows were eminently skippable Takashi Iizuka\u2019s retirement show on February 21<sup>st<\/sup> was anything but.&nbsp; The undercard was solid, and saw Roppongi 3K pick up a win against El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru ahead of their Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title match against BUSHI and Shingo Takagi.&nbsp; Ospreay also pinned Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the semi-main event, again demonstrating that he\u2019s moved beyond junior status.&nbsp; However, the real highlight of the show was the final match between the team of Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yano, and Okada against Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki, and Taichi.&nbsp; Tenzan and Iizuka used to be partners, and Tenzan had spent the New Beginning tour trying to get through to his old friend inside the iron glove wielding maniac.&nbsp; He even went as far as sitting a vigil at a shrine before this match, which he claimed held Iizuka\u2019s good spirit.&nbsp; Tenzan was successful in getting a final victory over his erstwhile partner with a moonsault in this match, but ultimately Iizuka went out as a biting madman, and left his iron glove in the ring for a ten bell salute.&nbsp; A fitting end to a 33 year career with New Japan Pro Wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E9%A3%AF%E5%A1%9A%E9%AB%98%E5%8F%B2%E5%BC%95%E9%80%80%E8%A8%98%E5%BF%B5%E5%A4%A7%E4%BC%9A?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u98ef\u585a\u9ad8\u53f2\u5f15\u9000\u8a18\u5ff5\u5927\u4f1a<\/a> (2\/21)\u3092\u516c\u958b\uff01<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TENZAN323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TENZAN323<\/a> \uff06\u89b3\u5ba2\u306e\u5fc5\u6b7b\u306e\u547c\u3073\u304b\u3051\u306b\u6238\u60d1\u3046\u98ef\u585a\uff01\u98ef\u585a\u306f\u5fc3\u3092\u53d6\u308a\u623b\u3059\u306e\u304b\u2049\ufe0e\u305d\u308c\u3068\u3082\u3053\u306e\u307e\u307e\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u3092\u3055\u3063\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3046\u306e\u304b\u2049\ufe0e\u679c\u305f\u3057\u3066\u2026<br>\u767b\u9332\uff06\u8996\u8074\u25b7<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yJKlfmqjfY\">https:\/\/t.co\/yJKlfmqjfY<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njnbg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njnbg<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wwqQNazAyD\">pic.twitter.com\/wwqQNazAyD<\/a><\/p>&mdash; njpwworld (@njpwworld) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1098561963083259905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 21, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naito also continued to make noises about entering the New\nJapan Cup this week, telling reporters that he had conveyed his strong feelings\nabout entering to New Japan management.&nbsp;\nShinsuke Nakamura entered the NJC in 2013 as Intercontinental Champion,\nbut since then the title holders have been kept out of the tournament since the\nwinner could in theory challenge for any title.&nbsp;\nHowever, this year the winner will challenge Jay White at MSG for the\nIWGP Heavyweight Title, so Naito\u2019s desire to be the first person to hold the\nIWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles simultaneously may be coming\ncloser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As far as the Honor Rising shows go, unless you are a New\nJapan completionist you don\u2019t need to go out of your way to watch them.&nbsp; The LIJ vs. GOD tag team match is the only\nmajor change to be aware of, and the match was definitely an improvement on\ntheir match at the final of the World Tag League.&nbsp; I\u2019ve seen it being suggested that part of the\nreason for the switch is to ensure that there are no visa issues for the MSG\nshow, which was supposedly the reason for the lack of Japanese wrestlers on the\nNew Beginning in the USA cards.&nbsp; If so, I\nsuppose that this makes sense, although I don\u2019t really want to see another\nBriscoe Brothers title run.&nbsp; We\u2019re now at\nthe point that Bullet Club are holding the IWGP Heavyweight Title, the\nHeavyweight Tag Titles, and the Jr. Heavyweight Title, so the faction looks\nvery powerful, and hopefully there will be some interesting feuds to come out\nof this.&nbsp; My guess would be that Naito\ndoes enter the New Japan Cup, but loses to Ibushi, which would set up an IC\nTitle match in April.&nbsp; Meanwhile Okada\nwins the Cup to set up a match against Jay White to headline Madison Square\nGarden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honor Rising Night One<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Marty Scurll&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Ren Narita,&nbsp;11:33<\/li><li>Zack Sabre Jr.&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Shota Umino,&nbsp;13:56<\/li><li>Jonathan Gresham &amp; Jushin Thunder Liger&nbsp;def. Robbie Eagles&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Taiji Ishimori, 5:27<\/li><li>David Finlay, Juice Robinson,&nbsp;Toa Henare&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Tomoaki Honma&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Guerrillas Of Destiny&nbsp;(Tama Tonga&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Tanga Loa) &amp;&nbsp;Briscoe Brothers&nbsp;(Jay Briscoe&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Mark Briscoe), 12:14<\/li><li><strong>NEVER Six Man Tag Title Match<\/strong>: Ryusuke Taguchi,&nbsp;Togi Makabe&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Toru Yano (c) def.&nbsp;Cheeseburger,&nbsp;Colt Cabana&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Delirious, 10:16<\/li><li><strong>NEVER Openweight Title&nbsp;Match<\/strong>: Will Ospreay&nbsp;(c) def.&nbsp;Dalton Castle, 17:30<\/li><li><strong>ROH World Television Title&nbsp;Match<\/strong>: Jeff Cobb&nbsp;(c) def.&nbsp;Hirooki Goto, 13:52<\/li><li>Hiroshi Tanahashi,&nbsp;Jay Lethal&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Kazuchika Okada&nbsp;def.&nbsp;The Kingdom&nbsp;(Matt Taven,&nbsp;TK O&#8217;Ryan&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Vinny Marseglia), 14:10<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honor Rising Night Two<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Jonathan Gresham&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Toa Henare&nbsp;def. TAKA Michinoku&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Zack Sabre Jr., 12:20<\/li><li>Marty Scurll&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Robbie Eagles, 8:55<\/li><li>Colt Cabana&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Toru Yano&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Cheeseburger&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Delirious, 10:09<\/li><li>Hirooki Goto&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Will Ospreay&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Dalton Castle&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Jeff Cobb, 11:45 <\/li><li>Shingo Takagi&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Tetsuya Naito&nbsp;def.&nbsp;Matt Taven&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Vinny Marseglia, 11:50<strong> <\/strong><\/li><li><strong>ROH World Title&nbsp;Match<\/strong>: Jay Lethal&nbsp;(c) def.&nbsp;TK O&#8217;Ryan, 10:52<\/li><li><strong>IWGP Tag Team Title&nbsp;Match<\/strong>: Guerrillas Of Destiny&nbsp;(Tama Tonga&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Tanga Loa) def.&nbsp;Los Ingobernables de Japon&nbsp;(EVIL&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;SANADA) (c), 20:26<\/li><li><strong>ROH World Tag Team Title&nbsp;Match<\/strong>: The Briscoe Brothers&nbsp;(Jay Briscoe&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Mark Briscoe) (c) def.&nbsp;David Finlay&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Juice Robinson, 17:13<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Honor Rising, the annual shows co-produced by New Japan and Ring of Honor in Tokyo, took on a new level of significance this year ahead of the NJPW\/ROH joint show [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":11416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204,37,22,376,36],"tags":[44,325],"class_list":["post-11408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","category-njpw-reviews","category-reviews","category-ring-of-honor","category-roh-reviews","tag-njpw","tag-roh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-2Y0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dz-uZ9NVYAAik4X.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11408"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11417,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408\/revisions\/11417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}