War of the Worlds Tour (2018)

## War of the Worlds Tour

Promotional poster for the tour

**War of the Worlds (2018)** was a professional wrestling tour co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The tour's four events took place on May 9 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, May 11 at the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 12 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan and May 13 at the Odeum Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois. The third night aired live on pay-per-view (PPV), while fourth night would be taped for future episodes of ROH's weekly television program, *Ring of Honor Wrestling*, while also being broadcasted by ROH and NJPW's streaming services *Honor Club and* NJPW World. 2018 was the fifth year in which ROH and NJPW co-produce events under the War of the Worlds name.

## Production

### Background

In 2014, Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH) formally forged a relationship, which saw them present the first War of the Worlds show on May 17, 2014, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York. The following year, War of the Worlds was held over two days at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in 2016 it was expanded to a three-show tour with shows taking place in Dearborn, Michigan, Toronto, Ontario and New York City and later it was expanded to a four day tour. The 2018 War of the Worlds tour was officially announced in January 2018, when ROH put tickets on sale for the events. These will mark the fifth annual shows co-promoted by NJPW and ROH.

ROH began announcing the NJPW wrestlers for the tour on April 10, starting with *Los Ingobernables de Japon* (Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL and SANADA). Later ROH annnounced other NJPW wrestlers for the tour that are Jushin Thunder Liger, Roppongi 3K (Sho, Yoh and Rocky Romero) and IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White. ROH wrestlers announced for the tour included ROH World Champion Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, ROH World Television Champion Silas Young, Cheeseburguer, Punishement Martinez, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky), The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia), Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai, ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (Mark and Jay), The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in addition to Bullet Club (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, Cody, Adam Page and Marty Scurll), Chuckie T. and Flip Gordon.

### Storylines

The War of the Worlds tour featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

On April 14, ROH announced the first match for the tour, which would see Dalton Castle defend the ROH World Championship against Matt Taven on May 10. In April, Taven defeated former ROH World Champions Cody, Christopher Daniels. Following his victories, ROH granted Taven a title shot for the ROH World Championship at War of the Worlds. During this time, Taven also won CMLL's NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship. Taven and Castle had a history involving the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan defeating Castle and The Boys to retain the titles in 2016. The Toronto show will also feature an also feature a match for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with defending champions, SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) defending against NJPW's Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh). The two trios faced each other before at NJPW's Strong Style Evolved, with Roppongi 3K winning the match.

In the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Jay White will make his second title defense against Punishment Martinez. In June 2016, White left NJPW and went on learning excursion to the United States, working mostly for Ring of Honor. White would face Martinez on April 29, 2017, in a winning effort. Later White and Martinez took part in a three-way match for the ROH World Championship, but none of them could win the championship. On June 24 at *Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings,* White received a match for the ROH World Television Championship shot against KUSHIDA in a losing effort. After the match, White was attacked Martinez, setting up a match between the two. On September 22 at Death Before Dishonor XV Martinez would defeat White in a Las Vegas Street Fight match. Shortly after, White returned to NJPW as the **"Switchblade"**  and in January 2018, White won IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. This will mark the third time the White and Martinez face each other.

The War of the Worlds tour will also include two more title matches an ROH World Television Championship match between Silas Young and Austin Aries and a Women of Honor Championship between Sumie Sakai and Jenny Rose. In the ROH World Television Championship match, on March 9, 2018, Aries returned to ROH at ROH's 16th Anniversary, challenging Kenny King for a championship match. However, King would lose the ROH World Television Championship to Silas Young at Supercard Of Honor XII on April 7, which was on commentary. Following the announcement of the War of Worlds tour, ROH granted Aries a championship shot. In the Women of Honor Championship, on April 14 at *Women of Honor tapings*, Sakai was challenged by Jenny Rose for a title match, which Sakai accepted. The match was later announced for the War of the World tour.

## References

1. ↑ 5/9/18 WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR - LOWELL, MA . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2018-04-16.
2. ↑ 5/11/18 WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR - TORONTO, ON . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2018-04-16.
3. ↑ 5/12/18 WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR - ROYAL OAK, MI . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2018-04-16.
4. ↑ 5/13/18 WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR - CHICAGO . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2018-04-16.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 MAIN EVENT OFFICIAL FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS: CHICAGO . *Ring of Honor*.
6. ↑ War of the Worlds keeps getting bigger every year . *Ring of Honor* (2017-05-06). Retrieved on 2017-05-07.
7. ↑ ROH ANNOUNCES CITIES, TICKET INFORMATION FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR WITH NEW JAPAN STARS . *Pro Wrestling Inisder* (2015-01-18). Retrieved on 2018-01-15.
8. ↑ ROH announces details on the War of the Worlds tour with NJPW ticket on sale dates . *Pro Wrestling.Net* (2018-01-15). Retrieved on 2018-01-15.
9. ↑ WAR OF THE WORLDS 2018 TOUR TICKET INFORMATION ANNOUNCED . *Ring of Honor* (2018-01-15). Retrieved on 2018-01-15.
10. ↑ LIJ HEADING TO ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR NEXT MONTH . *Pro Wrestling Insider* (2018-04-10). Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
11. ↑ LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON SIGNED FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR . *Ring of Honor* (2018-04-10). Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
12. ↑ JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER ANNOUNCED FOR ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2018-04-16). Retrieved on 2018-04-16.
13. ↑ ROPPONGI 3K RETURNS FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS . *Ring of Honor*.
14. ↑ ROCKY ROMERO ANNOUNCED FOR TORONTO AND LOWELL FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR . *Ring of Honor*.
15. ↑ JAY WHITE ADDED TO ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2018-04-20). Retrieved on 2018-04-20.
16. ↑ JAY WHITE RETURNING TO ROH FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR . *Pro Wrestling Insider* (2018-04-20). Retrieved on 2018-04-20.
17. ↑ UPDATED ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR BOUTS . *Pro Wrestling Insider* (2018-04-26). Retrieved on 2018-04-26.
18. ↑ UPDATED ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR LINEUPS . *Pro Wrestling Insider* (2018-05-02). Retrieved on 2018-05-02.
19. ↑ MATCHES FOR ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS TOUR ANNOUNCED . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2018-05-02). Retrieved on 2018-05-02.
20. ↑ MAIN EVENT OFFICIAL FOR WAR OF THE WORLDS: CHICAGO . *Ring of Honor*.
21. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
22. ↑ Taven ROH Matches 2018 . *Cagematch* (2018-01-21). Retrieved on 2018-01-21.
23. ↑ Matt Taven vence a Volador Jr y es nuevo campeón welter NWA . *mediotiempo* (2018-03-31). Retrieved on 2018-03-31.
24. ↑ ROH 15th Anniversary Show . *Cagematch* (2017-03-10). Retrieved on 2017-03-10.
25. ↑ SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH ANNOUNCED FOR TORONTO . *Ring of Honor*.
26. ↑ NJPW STRONG STYLE EVOLVED LIVE RESULTS: GOLDEN LOVERS VS. YOUNG BUCKS . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2018-03-25). Retrieved on 2018-03-26.
27. ↑ White's ROH Matches 2016 . *Cagematch* (2016-06-25). Retrieved on 2016-06-26.
28. ↑ ROH Gateway To Gold . *Cagematch* (2017-06-04). Retrieved on 2017-06-04.
29. ↑ ROH Gateway To Gold . *Cagematch* (2017-06-04). Retrieved on 2017-06-04.
30. ↑ ROH on SBG #305 . *Cagematch* (2016-09-22). Retrieved on 2016-09-22.
31. ↑ Currier, Joseph 2017-11-05. NJPW Power Struggle live results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-11-05.
32. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2018-01-27. NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo Live Results: Omega-White . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2018-03-26.
33. ↑ FIRST IWGP US TITLE DEFENSE SIGNED FOR CANADA . *Ring of Honor*.
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 BREAKING: AUSTIN ARIES RETURNS TO CHALLENGE SILAS YOUNG FOR ROH WORLD TV TITLE . *Ring of Honor*.
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 WOH CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE DEFENDED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CHICAGO . *Ring of Honor*.