From ROHwrestling.com:
“Glory by Honor” has been one of Ring of Honor’s premier events since 2002 when Samoa Joe & Low Ki collided in the very first Fight Without Honor, Christopher Daniels battled Doug Williams, and Steve Corino went to war with Rudy Boy Gonzalez. Since then the event has seen the likes of Terry Funk and Mick Foley grace the ROH ring, Bryan Danielson capture the World Title and battle KENTA in one of the best matches in ROH history, the legendary Misawa step into our ring, Nigel McGuinness fight it out with El Generico and then along with Danielson bid farwell to ROH, Roderick Strong finally capture the World Title, and just last year the fans in Chicago witnessed an epic World Title clash between Davey Richards & Generico that was spoiled by Kevin Steen. It is an event with a great lineage and this Saturday night live on iPPV, when ROH heads back to Canada, the likes of Michael Elgin, Adam Cole, Mike Bennett, and Jay Lethal look to continue that tradition of greatness…
ROH World Championship Match
Kevin Steen defends against “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin
It has been a long time coming, since “Survival of the Fittest 2011” on November 18th of last year to be exact. That is the night Michael Elgin went through three other competitors just to qualify for the SOTF finals and then survived an elimination battle against five more opponents, two he eliminated himself, to earn a future shot at the ROH World Title. That night was just one of many that began to show the world there was more to Elgin than just being another of Martini’s House of Truth members.
The next several months saw Elgin earn victories over the likes of TJ Perkins, Adam Cole, and Chris Hero but his next major moment went down at “Showdown in the Sun – Day 2” where, by the happenstance of Davey Richards retaining the World Title the night before, Elgin found himself with a World Title match seperate from that which he was owed from his SOTF victory. That day in Ft. Lauderdale was the day Elgin heralded his arrival into the World Title picture as he very nearly brought Richards’ title reign to a surprising end. It was a sure-fire match of the year, and a battle that Davey still tells people is one of the hardest fought of his career and Elgin one of the toughest opponents he has ever faced. The future was bright for Elgin but it is safe to say that forces within the HoT were conspiring against him because, as time rolled on, it became readily apparent that Truth Martini was holding up Elgin’s championship opportunity for some nebulous reason.
After months of tension and building hostilities, that reason became apparent as at “Boiling Point 2012”, when Elgin announced he was finally getting his title match in Mississauga, Roderick Strong let it be known that Truth Martini had promised him the title match in Elgin’s stead. In protest Roderick went on a short-lived strike from The HoT and promised he would he sit ringside during Elgin’s title match to “watch his fat ass lose”. Martini lured Roderick back into the fold in time for “Caged Hostility” where he and Elgin teamed up in a losing battle against WGTT, a fight that saw Elgin walk away from his partner. At “Death Before Dishonor X”, Elgin finally had enough of Roddy and laid him out with a massive powerbomb and since that night there has been little to no public interaction between the two men although both are still accompanied to the ring by Truth.
This Saturday, Michael Elgin heads into battle with “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” Kevin Steen in what is no doubt the biggest match of his wrestling career. Steen, who has held the title since May and retained against ten different opponents in that time, is coming off a very controversial bout at “Killer Instinct” against Jay Lethal that saw total chaos reign in Rahway. Steen, until last night, was refusing to even show up in Mississauga unless certain demands were met. ROH officials have yet to agree to his stipulations but Steen has said he will be in attendance to see if the demands are met. If not he will walk out the door, but if ROH officials do, these two Canadians will collide, for the first time in ROH, in one of the most highly anticipated World Title matches of Steen’s reign. Will the Nightmare continue build his legacy as one of the most dominating champions ROH has seen or will Elgin achieve the dream he has held since that first day he began his training?
ROH World Tag Team Championship
Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino defend against The Briscoes
The Briscoes have dominated SCUM…that is a fact. At “Brew City Beatdown” against Steen & Jacobs, against Corino & Jacobs at “Boiling Point 2012”, at “Caged Hostility” against all three men, Jay & Mark Briscoe have beaten the trio at every turn. Now, after having failed to advance to the finals in the tag team tournament at “Death Before Dishonor X”, the 7-Time former champions will have their opportunity to continue that streak with the World Tag Team Titles on the line! Jacobs & Corino, the victors of that tournament over Charlie Haas & Rhett Titus, recently squeaked out of a match against Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander with the titles still in their possession albeit via disqualification and retained at “Killer Instint” against both Haas & Titus and WGTT. Now thought they must contend with the pillars of ROH’s tag team scene, the two men who are most synonomous with Ring of Honor, Jay & Mark Briscoe. If SCUM can make it out of Mississauga with the titles still in their possession, they will definitely have earned the right to be called champions…
ROH World TV Championship
Adam Cole defends against “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards
The relationship between Cole & Edwards dates back to the latter portion of 2011 when the former World Champion took Adam under his wing and, most prominently, helped lead him to victory at the “10th Anniversary Event” where Cole pinned then-ROH World Champion Davey Richards in a tag team contest. Cole went on to unsuccessfully challenge Davey for the World Title at “Rising Above 2012” but just a few months later, after having the fight of his life at “Best in the World 2012” in a Hybrid Fighting Rules match against Kyle O’Reilly, Cole bested Roderick Strong and claimed the ROH World TV Title! Since capturing the belt he has put down the Proving Ground challenge of Brutal Bob, retained the belt against Mike Mondo at “Death Before Dishonor X”, and had a great title bout against Elgin end in an unfortunate no contest.
Edwards, on the other hand, spent several months embroiled in a battle with “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett as well as unsuccessfully challenging Kevin Steen for the World Title at “The Nightmare Begins”.
Last weekend at “Killer Instinct” the duo paired up for the first time in months to face the Briscoes in a first-time ever battle that has to been seen. Unfortunately Cole & Edwards lost after Adam ate a Doomsday Device but it certainly went a long way towards showing the kind of force the pair could be if they every chose to form a regular tag team.
Now, in meeting based solely on their love of competiton and their mutual desire to be the best, the very first TV Champion will collide with the current one and may the best man win! Waiting on the horizon for the winner, Kyle O’Reilly in Pittsburgh on November 3rd…
Grudge Match
“No Fear” Mike Mondo vs “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett w/ Maria Kanellis
Insults and a victory at “Best in the World 2012” sparked this rivalry between Mondo & Bennett that has only been further fueled by Mondo’s…unique…method of goading “The Prodigy”. Mondo has taken it upon himself to be a fly in the ointment of Bennett & Maria, taking any opportunity (as seen in the video above) to plant a kiss on The First Lady of ROH, oftentimes at the expense of whatever bout Bennett has been involved in. Now in Canada, Bennett looks to get revenge for both his own losses as well as for the humilation of his lady…
Round III
Jay Lethal vs “The American Wolf” Davey Richards
2012 kicked off with a pair of top-shelf World Title clashes between then-ROH World Champion Davey Richards & then-ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal. The first went down at “The Homecoming 2012” in Philadelphia and saw Lethal nearly claim the title, the loss coming in part due to the involvement of Roderick Strong and The House of Truth.
The rematch went down in February on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV but it too saw a great deal of outside involvement with the presence of Tommaso Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly, Eddie Edwards, and The House of Truth at ringside. Richards was able to retain in that bout but it was another instance of Lethal almost having his number.
Since that time both men have lost their championships, Richards to Kevin Steen and Lethal to Roderick Strong, but both men have traveled very different roads to get to where they are today. Lethal has shown a pronounced mean streak in recent weeks, all part of his mission to secure an ROH World Title match that received at “Killer Instinct” last Saturday. As we have reported over the course of the week, that match between Lethal & Steen led to total chaos, fines, and near-suspensions as well as potential lawsuits, hold-outs, and a serious injury to Jim Cornette. That No Contest showed us all a scary side of Jay Lethal we did not even know existed, one that nearly got him removed from this event, but a closed door meeting with ROH COO Joe Koff sorted out some of the problems to a sufficient enough degree that Lethal is still being allowed to compete in Canada.
Richards, on the other hand, had been absent from ROH following his loss to Steen at “Best in the World 2012” and only recently returned at “Caged Hostility” to address what has gone on in his personal life in his absence & then at “Death Before Dishonor X” he announced his participation in this year’s “Survival of the Fittest”, and just last weekend bested Mike Mondo in an excellent contest.
Now these two men who kicked off 2012 in such a grand fashion will collide for a third time when ROH returns to Canada for “Glory by Honor XI”!!!
“It was one of the highlights of my year, if not me wrestling career, to wrestle Davey for the ROH World Title.” said Lethal to ROHWrestling.com prior to “Killer Instinct”, “It was the first time in almost seven years I had challenged for that title and it was an electric feeling to almost claim it as my own. Remembering that feeling is as much fuel for my desire to beat Steen as anything else. Still, with Davey, it was different because I knew that was all about the wrestling, it was all about just head-to-head competition to see who was the better man. That night, and the next time, regardless of the outside circumstances, Davey was the better man but a great deal has changed in eight months. This…feeling, these emotions I have had to dig up to earn my shot at Steen, those don’t just fade away Davey. This killer instinct Jim Cornette wanted to see, I can’t just put it away now and pull it out when the time is right. It’s there, on the surface, and as Homicide can attest to, it has changed me. I look forward to meeting you in the ring once again Davey, no doubt about that, but this time things will be very different.”
Special Challenge
Roderick Strong w/ Truth Martini vs Tadarius Thomas
ROH officials have now added a first-time ever meeting to this big event and it features one of the standard bearers of Ring of Honor, MISTER Ring of Honor if you ask him, Roderick Strong will take on one of the new faces on the scene, Tadarius Thomas!
“Yeah I’ve watched this kid.” said Strong to ROHWrestling.com, “He does that capoeria thing, and what’s that thing he says? That he’s as good fighting upside down as most people are on their feet? I wonder if that will hold up when he’s upside down cause I’m thrown him around the ring? I wonder if Tadarius thinks he’ll be just as good upside down when I’ve got his feet touching his head in the Stronghold? Bro, I am Mister Ring of Honor and in case you don’t get what that means, it makes me the measuring stick around here. You think you’ve got what it takes to survive around here, I’ll be the judge of that one.”
It will undoubtedly be the biggest test of Tadarius Thomas’ ROH career on October 13th when he steps into the ring with one of ROH’s Triple Crown winners! Strong has faced them all and has beaten them all…Thomas is going to have to dig deep if he wants to score this upset!
Caged Hostility Rematch
Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs The Bravado Brothers
At “Caged Hostility” in Charlotte, NC on September 8th, Lancelot & Harlem Bravado went to battle against Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander in what was essentially a battle of two hometown teams. Both duos call the Tarheel State home and, as such, it was the wrestling equivalent of Duke and UNC battling it out on the basketball court…a rivalry by the way that UNC leads 132-102 since their first meeting in 1920.
That night in Charlotte it was Coleman & Alexander in the role of UNC as they captured the victory with their Hurricanrana/Frog Splash combo in a near 20-minute contest that absolutely stole the show. To say Caprice & Cedric were jubilant about their victory would be one understatement just as saying Lancelot & Harlem were only disappointed would be a gross understatement…dejected and depressed would be more accurate.
“We failed North Carolina.” said Lancelot to ROHWrestling.com, “We let down all our fans and our family and the whole Bandwagon when Caprice and Cedric beat us. It may be the biggest failure of our careers to be honest…and me and my brother, we were raised to be honest gentlemen. So let me be honest when I say that when we meet up again it’s going to be a different story. In our hearts, me and Harlem know we are the better tag team. In our heads we know we are probably the most talented team Ring of Honor has right now. One more dance with C and C is all it will take to show Ring of Honor and most importantly, the Bandwagon, that those claims aren’t just me running my mouth, we were taught better than that, no those words are the honest truth.”
Coleman & Alexander are coming off a DQ victory in an ROH World Tag Title bout with SCUM, a match they had in the palm of their hand until Steve Corino got disqualified, and you can bet that they want another shot at that gold. A victory in this rematch of the bout that stole the show at “Caged Hostility” will most certainly get them closer…
Grudge Tag Team Match
Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer vs Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin
After the events of “Killer Instinct”, as well as the events of “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV this weekend, ROH officials have just signed a Tag Team Grudge Match for this Saturday night at “Glory by Honor XI” pitting Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin against Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer!!!
In Rahway, after WGTT were the first team eliminated in the 3-Way Tag Title bout, Charlie Haas blasted Titus across the back with a chair which set him up for Steve Corino to finish him off with a backdrop driver. S.C.U.M retained the titles, setting them up for a Tag Title collision with The Briscoes at “GBH XI”, but obviously the issues between WGTT, Titus, and Whitmer were not finished.
Then, as seen on ROH TV this weekend, Haas & Benjamin also assaulted BJ Whitmer in the aftermath of an unscheduled tag match between WGTT and Titus/Whitmer. After BJ pinned Shelton, WGTT laid out both Whitmer & Titus then, after Shelton nailed BJ with Paydirt, slammed his groin area into the corner post of the ring.
“Rhett and BJ got what they deserved in New Jersey and on TV.” said Charlie Haas to ROHWrestling.com this morning, “They fluked it out twice as a team now and if it falls on me and Shelton to expose him as a fluke than so be it. As for BJ, well that’s what happens when you get involved in business that’s got nothing to do with you. You should have stuck to dealing with SCUM and left Rhett to take his own beatings but apparently you want more of what you got in Baltimore. I know you’ve seen pain BJ, I heard about your barbwire match and about having staples shot into your head, but that’s nothing compared to the long lasting physical pain I will inflict on you now that you’ve decided to become part of our world. You and Rhett are..well you’re barely a team, Shelty and I are the definition of tag team wrestling! The two of you are the definition of fluke, and you will be exposed in Canada!”
We will find out in Mississauga THIS Saturday night if Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin can back up those words! Whitmer has been to hell and back both physically and mentally during his wrestling career, he has tasted tag team gold, he has come close to the World Title several times, and has seen the most extreme matches ROH has ever held.
Now, with Rhett Titus at his side, BJ has found a new ally in his simmering war with the members of SCUM while Titus has found one in his with WGTT. Their partnership may be new but their goals are the same and this Saturday night at “Glory by Honor XI”, Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer unite once again to put an end to this issue with WGTT!
In addition to those match-ups, there will also be an autograph signing prior to the start of the event with Maria Kanellis, ROH World Champion Kevin Steen and ROH World Tag Team Champions Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino.
“Glory by Honor XI: The Unbreakable Hope” comes to you LIVE on iPPV THIS Saturday night right here at ROHWrestling.com! For all the details on ordering the iPPV broadcast, as well as how you can opt out if need-be, please read here, and if you are in the Mississauga area, you can still purchase your tickets AT THE DOOR on Saturday night!
“Glory by Honor XI: The Unbreakable Hope”
Saturday, Oct 13, 2012
Doors – 6:00pm EDT Belltime – 7:30pm EDT
iPPV Begins @ 7:00pm EDT
International Centre
6900 Airport Road, Hall 4A
Mississauga, ON L4V 1E8