From ROHWrestling.com:
Friday night September 20th will be an historic day for Ring of Honor wrestling as we not only return home to Philadelphia for the first time since January 2012, but it will also mark the crowning of a new World Champion as Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole, Michael Elgin, and Kevin Steen compete to fill the vacancy cause by Jay Briscoe’s injury back in June.
In addition to that monumental occasion, the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles will be defended, Ricky Marvin will join ROH stateside for the very first time, and Match Maker Nigel McGuinness has now informed ROHWrestling.com of two new matches just signed:
8-Man Tag Team Action: World Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish), World TV Champion Matt Taven, and Michael Bennett w/ Truth Martini, the Hotties, & Maria Kanellis vs. Adrenaline RUSH (ACH & Tadarius Thomas) and C&C Wrestle Factory (Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander)
With the championship focus on the World Title Tournament and the IWGP Tag Team battle between The Forever Hooligans & The American Wolves, Nigel determined that neither the TV nor Tag Team Champions would be defending their titles on 9/20. Instead, he has united reDRagon and Matt Taven, and alongside Michael Bennett, they will take on two of the most exciting teams on the ROH roster today! Caprice and Cedric found themselves frustrated in singles bouts against Fish & O’Reilly at “Road to Greatness: Night 1” and that frustration was compounded when they, along with RUSH & Alabama Attitude, were denied a tag title opportunity in the Proving Ground Instant Reward match on Night 2.
The frustration isn’t isolated to one side of this contest though as Matt Taven experienced one of his most disappointing weekends since becoming TV champion as he was first submitted by former World Champion Davey Richards in Chattanooga and then defeated in Proving Ground action by former TV Champion Jay Lethal during the Birmingham event. That loss now means Taven will have to defend the title against Lethal and we expect more information on that bout later today.
On the flip side, both reDRagon and Michael Bennett experienced triumphant weekends as the World Tag Team Champions first defeated Coleman & Alexander in a pair of singles bouts and then denied C&C, RUSH, and AA a chance at challenging for their championship titles. As for Bennett, while he only competed in Birmingham, it was in a victorious battle over Davey Richards that came as a result of the former Prodigy’s devastating piledriver (albeit with a little assistance from Maria).
There are a lot of threads running through this one folks! Can Bennett capitalize on his biggest victory in quite some time? Will Taven get some momentum back prior to his championship battle? Will reDRagon continue to reassert their dominance over the tag team division? Will either C&C or RUSH breakthrough and get that win over Fish & O’Reilly they desperately crave? We will see on 9/20 in Philly!
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young
Two men who were frustrated in their bid to become World Champion, Jay Lethal and Silas Young will now collide for the very first time at “DBD XI”! Young has been impressive as of late and as evidenced by his first meeting with Tommaso Ciampa, the self-proclaimed “Last Real Man In Wrestling” will show no restraint in his attempts to secure victory. Be it Ciampa, Steen, Richards, or Adam Page, Silas has shown no fear regardless of who his opponent may be and it is safe to say he won’t be intimidated by a former TV Champion either.
Lethal, coming out of “Road to Greatness”, has a World TV Title match with Taven in his immediate future. After a disappointing outing in the World Title Tournament, Jay has rebounded with that victory over Taven as well as one over Luke Hawx, and now hopes to continue that with a win over Young.
These are two veterans of the ring wars and they will collide for the very first time at “Death Before Dishonor XI”!
History will happen on September 20th when ROH returns to Philadelphia for “Death Before Dishonor XI”! For more information on the event and to purchase tickets, click here now so you do not miss out on the best professional wrestling on the planet!
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One night after a new World Champion is crowned at “Death Before Dishonor XI”, ROH will hold our first ever ROH TV Tapings in Philadelphia! The National Guard Armory on Southampton Road will host the best pro wrestling on the planet for the second night in a row including the already announced Davey Richards versus Ricky Marvin contest!
ROHWrestling.com has now been informed of TWO title matches that will go down that night and we have been provided with the names of several more athletes signed to compete:
ROH World Television Title Match
World TV Champion Matt Taven defends vs. Jay Lethal
Already a former TV Champion, Jay Lethal earned this chance to regain the title after beating Matt Taven at “Road To Greatness: Night 2” in a Proving Ground battle. Lethal faced tremendous odds that night as the whole of the HoT did their best to insure he came up short but Jay overcame and now looks to be the first two-time champion!
After a very unsuccessful “Road to Greatness” weekend, Taven is looking to redeem himself with a win over Lethal in ROH’s hometown. To his credit, Taven has shown an ability to step up after dropping a Proving Ground match as evidenced in his bout with Eddie Edwards & ACH. Will that be the case in Philly?
ROH World Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match (1 Fall)
World Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defend vs. C&C Wrestle Factory (Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander) vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov)
Several roads converge in this one as reDRagon put their titles on the line as both C&C Wrestle Factory AND The Forever Hooligans look to bring Fish & O’Reilly’s second title reign to an end. Romero & Koslov have shown more than capable of doing so as they were the duo responsible for bringing reDRagon’s first reign to an end in Providence. That being said, Kyle and Bobby have also proven capable of putting down The Hooligans having kicked off their first title reign by beating Romero & Koslov in Chicago Ridge. Now it will be the rubber match of sorts as one day removed from defending their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles against The American Wolves, Rocky and Alex will look to become two-time ROH tag champions.
As for C&C, they head into this contest after having quite a disappointing “Road to Greatness” weekend. First Cedric and Caprice dropped a pair of singles bouts to Fish and O’Reilly in Chattanooga. Then the following night in Birmingham they, along with Adrenaline RUSH and Alabama Attitude, were unsuccessful in earning a Tag Title match in the first ever Proving Ground Instant reward bout. They may not have been the team that took the deciding fall but it was a loss that stung nonetheless. After this weekend though, Coleman and Alexander petitioned Nigel McGuinness for another opportunity to challenge for the World Tag Team Titles and stated a case that the ROH Match Maker found trouble arguing against.
“Caprice and Cedric made a valid argument.” said McGuinness to ROHWrestling.com, “They ran over their history of title challenges and highlighted how they have been the repeated victims of outside interference and distractions. They pointed out how their traditional shot at Best in the World became a three way with S.C.U.M and how their make-good bout on TV was marred by violence outside the ring. It was a case for which I couldn’t find any flaws and as such they will challenge reDRagon in Philadelphia. Still, I can’t discount the Hooligans and given that Rocky and Alex have split bouts with the champions, they are also more than deserving of rematch for the ROH tag titles. That is why both teams will get their chance in Philadelphia. One fall, to a finish, may the best team win!”
In addition to those two contest, we have also learned that Outlaw Inc(Homicide & Eddie Kingston), Silas Young, Adam Page, and Marshall Law (QT Marshall & RD Evans) will all be in Philadelphia on 9/21!
Tickets for our first ever “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV Taping in Philly are available right now in the ROH Store!
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On August 3rd, during the “All Star Extravaganza V” event in Toronto, BJ Whitmer and Michael Bennett met one-on-one as part of the World Title Tournament. During the course of the match, after taking a piledriver on the ring apron, BJ was ruled unable to continue and the match was immediately stopped.
BJ would spend the next several days in a Canadian hospital under observation until he was well enough to travel. Upon returning home, BJ underwent extensive testing to determine the condition of his neck and spine and has also started physical therapy in recent weeks. Still there is a definite question mark pertaining to his future with Ring of Honor and with wrestling in general.
It is a question that will soon be answered though.
We here at ROHWrestling.com can now announce that on September 20th at “Death Before Dishonor XI”, BJ will return to Ring of Honor for the first time since the accident in Toronto and will make an announcement regarding his future. We can only speculate on just what BJ will say in Philadelphia. As a man who has been a member of the Ring of Honor family for over ten years, he has been in our thoughts every day and BJ will continue to have our complete support in whatever the future holds.
Tickets for “Death Before Dishonor XI” are on-sale here in the ROH Store.
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Brutal Bob and Cheeseburger are looking for a battle with Michael Bennett and on September 21st in Philadelphia they will get it!
Just signed by Match Maker Nigel McGuinness, The Brutal Burgers as they dubbed themselves will get a shot at Michael Bennett and…Maria?!?
“I took a look at the tale of the tape.” said McGuinness to ROHWrestling.com, “And it all adds up mate. The height, the weight, it all balances out between Burger and Maria Kanellis and between Bob and Bennett. It’s a fair fight in my book.”
Michael Bennett, when informed of the contest, did not see things in the same light as Nigel…
“The Brutal Burgers?” he offered, “I don’t curse a whole lot but are you ******* serious? I just beat The American Wolf! I pinned Davey Richards with THE best piledriver in pro wrestling…a former World Champion, one of the centerpieces of ROH, and the next thing Nigel has for me is Bob and Burger? This is either a joke or just another mark in the track record of continued disrespect from the ROH offices. I RETIRED Jerry Lynn in ROH, I RETIRED Lance Storm in ROH, I just beat Davey Richards, and now Brutal Burgers? But I’m not sure what’s worse in this situation honestly; the disrespect from Nigel in making me wrestle Bob and Burger or the fact that the ROH fans cheer a 100 pound kid who sexually harasses Maria every chance he gets? Nigel, Bob, Burger…what I will tell you now is that on Saturday night, when this is done, all of you will regret making this match happen. Bob, you are the past. Burger, you are beneath me and Nigel…this is all on your head!”
Michael Bennett & Maria Kanellis versus The Brutal Burgers (Cheeseburger & Brutal Bob)! It will go down on 9/21 as part of the very first “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV Taping in Philadelphia! Tickets are on-sale now!