Top ROH Star Returns
As we noted in our coverage of last night’s “War of the Worlds” taping in Philadelphia, former Ring of Honor world champion Adam Cole returned to action as the surprise opponent for IWGP world champion AJ Styles, which ran as the co-main event of the show under a Nakamura/Okada vs. Mark and Jay Briscoe tag match.
According to Dave Meltzer, Cole was cleared Tuesday afternoon just a few hours prior to the event. He is also scheduled for action at tonight’s event – part two under the same name, at the same venue – as a part of the big 6-man tag team main event. He will team with IWGP world tag champions Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, taking on Bullet Club members AJ Styles and the IWGP Jr. tag champions, Young Bucks.
Several GFW Updates
Many of the names added to the Global Force Wrestling roster in recent weeks will only be working the live events, which the promotion in holding at various minor league baseball stadiums around the country. Many of the Ring of Honor talents were apparently surprised that Moose (former NFL star Quinn Ojinnaka) was able to get dates through GFW due to contract with ROH, but the live shows are basically open to anyone regardless of exclusivity, as long as there’s no television taping involved.
While nothing is set in stone yet, GFW still wants to lock in Jim Ross to assist former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen on commentary. The two are friends and have worked together in the past, but it all comes down to money and working into JR’s schedule.
Right now, it’s assumed the plan is for somewhere between 12-14 one-hour television shows to be taped at three tapings in Las Vegas, and possibly some footage from the baseball shows being used. The first taping is in July, the second in August, and the third in October. There’s still so many unanswered questions, as Jeff Jarrett is keeping all TV details close to the chest, which could be a sign that either they don’t have a deal worked out, or they just don’t want to announced one until absolutely every single base (no pun intended) has been covered.
It’s somewhat interesting that just a few days after reports came out that Dixie Carter didn’t want TNA stars working for Global Force, Tyrus (formerly Brodus Clay) was announced. Unfortunately for the promotion, there’s really nothing they can due about it, other than schedule conflicting dates, which they don’t yet have on the books.
