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What’s the story?
Following the aftermath of the New Beginning in Osaka pay-per-view, New Japan Pro Wrestling along with Ring of Honor have unveiled the final line-ups for this year’s Honor Rising event. As usual, the Honor Rising event will be stretched on the basis of two different shows in Japan as NJPW gets all set to collaborate with ROH.
In case you didn’t know…
The Honor Rising event is a co-produced event which is co-promoted by Japanese company New Japan Pro Wrestling and American promotion Ring of Honor. The event initially began in 2016 and usually takes place in Japan, as opposed to the War of the Worlds and Global Wars shows, which are co-promoted in Northern America by NJPW and ROH itself.
The heart of the matter
As per confirmed by NJPW, this year’s Honor Rising event will feature some of the biggest superstars from Ring of Honor who will either team up or go head-to-head against some of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s top superstars later this month.
The line-ups for both shows features some big names such as the likes of current Ring of Honor World Champion Dalton Castle, who will defend his championship belt against Trent Beretta, whereas, Beretta’s best friend Chuck Taylor will team up with his fellow CHAOS stablemates Yoshi-Hashi and current IWGP US Champion Jay White as they square off against the current Ring of Honor Six-man tag team champions Adam Page and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), who represent the Bullet Club.
One of ROH’s hottest up and coming superstars Flip Gordon will also be making his NJPW debut on night one of the event, meanwhile, Silas Young’s tag team partner Beer City Bruiser will also get a shot at the Never Openweight Championship.
However, following the unveiling of the match cards, the biggest news is that wrestling fans around the globe will finally get to witness the much-awaited in-ring return of the duo of the Golden Lovers, as Kenny Omega gets all set to reunite with his tag team partner Kota Ibushi for the first time in almost five years.
Here are the final match cards for this year’s Honor Rising event:
Night one:
#1. Toa Henare and Katsuya Kitamura vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi)
#2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Delirious and Cheeseburger vs. Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Hikuleo)
#3. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Juice Robinson and David Finlay
#4. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Flip Gordon
#5. Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CHAOS (Jay White, Beretta and Chuck Taylor)
#6. Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Beer City Bruiser- NEVER Openweight Championship match
#7. Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and Chase Owens vs. Bullet Club (Cody, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page)
Night two:
#1. Toa Henare vs. Beer City Bruiser
#2. Jay Lethal, Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens and Hikuleo)
#3. Flip Gordon and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI
#4. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Delirious and Cheeseburger- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship match
#5. Bullet Club (The Young Bucks and Hangman Page) vs. Chaos (Jay White, Chuck Taylor and YOSHI-HASHI)
#6. Dalton Castle (c) vs. Beretta- Ring of Honor World Championship match
#7. Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. Bullet Club (Cody and Marty Scurll)
What’s next?
As noted in the previous section, one of the rather interesting matches that will take place during this event will feature Kota Ibushi teaming up with his Golden Lovers tag team partner Kenny Omega and another one of Bullet Club’s own, Chase Owens, this decision has now somewhat left the fans in a puzzled state of mind regarding Omega’s current status with the Bullet Club.
The Honor Rising event will take place on February 23rd and 24th and the Korakeun Hall.
Author’s Take
This current storyline within the Bullet Club will rather be a very interesting one as it gradually unfolds and it will also be interesting to note what role the likes of Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and the rest of the Bullet Club plays in this unfolding storyline.
