WEEKLY OVERVIEW – ROH (thru 6/26): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

The following is the latest in a new series of weekly in-depth articles exclusive to PWTorch which will help put in perspective major wrestling promotions with a weekly overview, looking at news and roster developments, results, future line-ups, social media activity, key interviews, plus a timely commentary at the end. We will be featuring similar features on other promotions each week and each will be updated weekly.

•Top Stories of the Week

• This Friday, June 28th is the 2019 Best in the World PPV. Please see below for the full card and important information about the event. The show is $34.99 on Fite.
• It has been reported by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE is extremely interested in ROH/CMLL signed talent Rush. The main problem for WWE in this pursuit is that Rush’s CMLL contract is reportedly not up until early 2021.

•Live Event Results

There were no live events this week.

•Upcoming Major Show(s)

ROH Best in the World (PPV Event)
UMBC Event Center 8pm
Baltimore, MD

This is the up-to-date card:

• Matt Taven (c) vs Jeff Cobb for the ROH World Championship
• Shane Taylor (c) vs. Bandido for the ROH World Television Championship
• Dalton Castle vs. Dragon Lee
• Flip Gordon vs. Rush
• Silas Young vs. Jonathan Gresham in a Pure Rules Match
• Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO, and Brody King) (c) vs. PJ Black, Mark Haskins, and Tracey Williams for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
• Kelly Klein & Jenny Rose vs. The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) in a Tag-Team match.
• Nick Aldis & TBD vs. The Briscoes
• Jay Lethal vs. Kenny King

•Upcoming Events

• ROH Best In The World (PPV Event) 6/28/19 in Baltimore, MD at UMBC Event Center
• ROH Best In The World (TV Taping) 6/29/19 in Philadelphia, PA at 2300 Arena
• ROH Manhattan Mayhem (Live Event) 7/20/19 in New York, NY at Hammerstein Ballroom
• ROH Mass Hysteria (Live Event) 7/21/19 in Lowell, MA at Lowell Memorial Auditorium
• ROH Summer Supercard 8/9/19 in Toronto, ON at Mattamy Athletic Centre
• ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage (TV Taping) 8/24/19 in Atlanta, GA at Center Stage
• ROH Honor for All (Live Event) 8/25/19 in Nashville, TN at the Nashville Fairgrounds Arena
• ROH Live (Live Event) 9/6/19 in Dearborn, MI at Ford Community Center
• ROH Live (Live Event) 9/7/19 in Chicago, IL at Odeum Expo Center
• ROH Live (Live Event) 9/8/19 in Milwaukee, WI at Potawatomi Casino

All current live events are located on rohwrestling.com.

•Latest TV Highlights: 6/16/19 ROH Wrestling

ROH TV Results
June 23rd, 2019
Kent, WA at Showare Center
Airing on Sinclair Networks and rohwrestling.com

• A video package about Kenny King’s last 3 months was shown. This helped to tell the Jay Lethal best-of-three story.
• Colt Cabana (c) defeated Mark Briscoe at 12:26 to retain the NWA National Championship.
• Shane Taylor had an in-ring promo talking about how long and dominate his title reign will be.
• The Allure had a backstage heel segment.
• Footage was shown to build the Flip Gordon & Rush match; as well as the Dalton Castle & Dragon Lee match.
• Silas Young defeated El Hijo Del Squid Jr. at 1:14.
• Mark Haskins & Tracey Williams talked about losing Lifeblood members over the past few months, they talked about how PJ Black is a new member of the group.
• Jay Lethal defeated Kenny King at 13:56 to tie their Best-of-Three series.
• Matt Taven had a promo to build his match vs. Jeff Cobb at the PPV

Click HERE to read Harley R. Pageot’s full report.

•LATEST “TALKING HONOR” PWTORCH DAILYCAST COVERING ROH

“Agents of R.O.H.” This week, Emily Fear and Harley R. Pageot discuss Colt Cabana vs. Mark Briscoe firing on all cylinders, Kenny King vs. Jay Lethal getting creative, and missed opportunities to embrace silliness. Then it’s Best in the World PPV predictions, and Tyler Sage stops in to discuss how TV, PPVs, and Honor Club live events feed into one another, and how disconnects there can hurt the overall viewing experience.

•Social Media Scene

Below is this week’s round-up of social media posts from ROH personalities.

Another reason someone needs to have a TBD gimmick on the indies.

So many names being thrown around to replace Colt Cabana this Friday at #ROHBITW…

Any final thoughts of who? pic.twitter.com/2W8pZ9DfQ8

— NWA (@nwa) June 26, 2019

Some would say the only stable thing…

DALTON CASTLE: ‘I’M MORE STABLE THAN A METAMORPHIC ROCK’

Read More: https://t.co/MHzglI3mIW pic.twitter.com/qNqzypHSsc

— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) June 25, 2019

This is a good read.

Matt Taven’s blood, toil, and tears resulted in his first reign as Ring of Honor world champion – and he is now out to prove he belongs atop the business https://t.co/lKzftJqrHE

— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) June 25, 2019

•Closing Commentary

I believe that the Best in the World PPV is either going to be a turning point for ROH, or a continuation of its downward trend.

At this point I feel as a fan that ROH is only interested in putting the top title on the following men: Matt Taven, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, or Silas Young. The thing these men have in common? They are the most likely to be in ROH the remainder of their primes.

This causes a lot of problems to me. It makes the world title a true prop that only “true” ROH performers can achieve. This takes away what has defined the belt for so long. Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Cody, and Adam Cole have all been ROH champion. To me this is a positive. Did all of these men leave for the WWE? Yes. But ROH is and always will be a niche product. What is cooler than seeing everyone’s favorite WWE/AEW performer five years in the future?

That is what made ROH so cool to me. Wanting to be the first to see a future huge star helps bring people into the product. This way fans are exposed to the rest of the roster. It is my firm belief that Jeff Cobb, Marty Scurll, Ruch, and Bandido should be the four men that should be in play for the World Title. These four men will all be much bigger stars once they leave ROH; it only benefits ROH to have them be a past ROH Champion.

But I don’t run a promotion, so I am sure I know nothing, right? I just think the overall lack of buzz and stagnant feel of the ROH product right now has a lot to do with the before mentioned “ROH” guys being the only ones that feel like they can win it all.

I would be shocked if Jeff Cobb beats Taven on Friday. To me this has to hurt the number of PPV buys, and only makes ROH feel like a promotion on rails that isn’t going anywhere.

Tyler has been a wrestling fan for 20 years. He’s from Columbus, Ohio. Check him out on Twitter @ringoftyler and check out his podcast @tandbwrestling.

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