War of the Worlds (2017)

Promotional poster for the New York City show

**War of the Worlds (2017)** 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 are scheduled to take place on May 7 at the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario, May 10 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan, May 12 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and May 14 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third night aired live on pay-per-view (PPV), while fourth night will be taped for future episodes of ROH's weekly television program, *Ring of Honor Wrestling*. 2017 was the fourth year in which ROH and NJPW co-produce events under the War of the Worlds name. During the third night of the tour, NJPW announced the creation of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

## 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. The 2017 War of the Worlds tour was officially announced in January 2017, when ROH put tickets on sale for the events. At that point, ROH announced a three-show tour with events taking place on May 7 in Toronto, May 10 in Dearborn and May 14 in Philadelphia with rumors of a fourth show to be added later. The fourth show, taking place on May 12 in New York City, was officially added to the tour in March. It was also announced that the show would air on pay-per-view (PPV) as well as the Fite TV application, PlayStation Network and ROHWrestling.com. In Japan, the show would also air live on NJPW's internet streaming site, New Japan Pro Wrestling World. These would mark the fourth annual shows co-promoted by NJPW and ROH.

ROH began announcing the NJPW wrestlers for the tour on April 17, starting with IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito and Kushida. ROH wrestlers announced for the tour included ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels, ROH World Television Champion Marty Scurll, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bully Ray and The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe), Dalton Castle and Jay Lethal in addition to ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), Cody and Will Ospreay, who work for both NJPW and ROH. Over the following days, ROH continued announcing additional NJPW wrestlers for the tour, including Hirooki Goto, the *Los Ingobernables de Japon* trio of Bushi, Evil and Sanada Gedo, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Also announced was Kenny Omega, who would, however, only work the Toronto show.

### Storylines

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

On April 14, ROH announced the first match for the tour, which would see Christopher Daniels defend the ROH World Championship against Matt Taven on May 10. Taven earned a title shot by winning the Honor Royale on March 4, announcing shortly thereafter his intention of challenging Daniels on the War of the Worlds tour. Daniels and Taven had a history involving the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Taven and Michael Bennett winning the title from Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in 2015. The Dearborn show would also feature a match for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with defending champions, Bully Ray and The Briscoes, defending against NJPW's reigning NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions *Los Ingobernables de Japon* (BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA).

The May 12 show would be main evented by the ROH World Championship being contested in a three-way match with Daniels defending against Cody and Jay Lethal. Cody's challenge had been accepted by Daniels prior to the match with Taven, while Lethal earned a spot in the match on April 8 by winning a four-way match, also involving Hangman Page, Jay White and Silas Young. Cody and Lethal had been feuding with each other in the months prior to War of the Worlds with Lethal defeating Cody in a Texas bullrope match at Supercard of Honor XI. Other title matches would include Marty Scurll defending the ROH World Television Championship against Matt Sydal and Bully Ray and The Briscoes defending the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship against the CHAOS trio of Beretta, Hirooki Goto and Rocky Romero.

## Results

### Night 1

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Meltzer, Dave 2017-05-12. ROH War of the Worlds PPV live results: Daniels vs. Cody vs. Lethal . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-05-12.
2. ↑ War of the Worlds keeps getting bigger every year . *Ring of Honor* (2017-05-06). Retrieved on 2017-05-07.
3. ↑ Tickets go on sale next week for the annual War of the Worlds Tour. . *Ring of Honor* (2017-01-13). Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Meltzer, Dave 2017-01-15. ROH announces War of the Worlds tour dates with NJPW . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
5. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-03-03. ROH New Japan tour date for NYC announced . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
6. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-03-09. Next ROH PPV details, Lethal talks anniversary and more Ring of Honor news . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
7. ↑ Main Event set for War of the Worlds NYC . *Ring of Honor* (2017-05-11). Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
8. ↑ *ja:ROH 遠征初日、Kushidaが衝撃の“新技”でジェイ・リーサルを撃破！メインでケニー＆ヤングバックスが大暴れ！【5.7トロント大会結果】* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2017-05-11). Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
9. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2017-04-17. Daily Update: Balor evaluation, War of the Worlds, Lashley . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
10. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-04-17. First NJPW talents on ROH War of the Worlds tour announced . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
11. ↑ 5/7/17 - War of the Worlds Tour - Toronto, ON . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2017-04-19.
12. ↑ Currier, Joseph 2017-04-18. Daily Update: Steve Austin, ROH news, Cormier and Jones . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-19.
13. ↑ Currier, Joseph 2017-04-19. Daily Update: NXT, War of the Worlds, McGregor and Mayweather . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-19.
14. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-04-20. Seven New Japan stars added to ROH War of the Worlds tour . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-04-20.
15. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2017-04-20. Daily Update: Rousey engaged, ROH news, Roman Reigns . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-20.
16. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2017-04-21. Daily Update: WWE house shows, Impact tapings, Omega . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-04-21.
17. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
18. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-04-14. Lineups for ROH return to Midwest, ROH clearance sale and more news . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
19. ↑ Christopher Daniels defends his ROH World Championship against Matt Taven . *Ring of Honor*. Retrieved on 2017-04-18.
20. ↑ ROH 6-Man Tag Team Titles are on the line at War of the Worlds Dearborn . *Ring of Honor* (2017-04-24). Retrieved on 2017-04-24.
21. ↑ Cody part of Main Event for the ROH World Title at War of the Worlds NYC! . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2017-04-24). Retrieved on 2017-04-24.
22. ↑ ROH TV taping results: A new number one contender is determined . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2017-04-09). Retrieved on 2017-04-24.
23. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2017-05-01. Updated main event for next ROH PPV . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
24. ↑ ROH War of the World PPV lineup: Christopher Daniels vs. Jay Lethal vs. Cody (Rhodes) for the ROH Championship headlines ROH and NJPW event . *Pro Wrestling Dot Net* (2017-05-08). Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
25. ↑ Lam, Jeff 2017-05-07. ROH War of the Worlds live results: The Elite come to Toronto . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-05-08.
26. ↑ Burgess, Mike 2017-05-08. Omega & Bucks vs. Daniels & Tanahashi & Kazarian, Cody vs. Ospreay & more: 5/7 ROH War of the Worlds tour in Toronto live report . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-05-08.
27. ↑ Oliver, Greg 2017-05-08. Omega, Young Bucks make wonderful conductors . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2017-05-10.
28. ↑ Harper, Jason 2017-05-11. 5/10 Ring of Honor 'War of the Worlds tour' in Dearborn, Michigan live report . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
29. ↑ Fragomeni, Joel 2017-05-11. ROH War of the Worlds live results: Chaos vs. Bullet Club in Dearborn . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
30. ↑ Gerweck, Steve 2017-05-11. 5/10/17 ROH house show results from Dearborn, Michigan . *Gerweck*. Retrieved on 2017-05-11.
31. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-05-12. Complete ROH War of the Worlds coverage . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-05-12.
32. ↑ Kelly, Richard 2017-05-15. ROH TV taping results: Adam Cole closes the show with a speech . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-05-15.
33. ↑ Hottle, Michael 2017-05-15. Detailed 5/14 ROH War of the Worlds in Philadelphia TV spoilers . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-05-15.