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What's the story?
It has been confirmed that the next challenger for Cody's ROH World Championship will be none other than Japanese combat legend Minoru Suzuki. The match will take place at September's Death Before Dishonor XV show, and will be Suzuki's first match in the US for over 25 years.
In case you didn't know...
Cody Rhodes has carved out an impressive career for himself since leaving WWE in May 2016, wrestling all over the world against some of the top performers on the planet.
The "American Nightmare" famously posted a 'to-do list' not long after his release, a list of wrestlers he would love to wrestle. He has managed to tick off most of those on the list.
He has experienced no shortage of success either, most notably picking up the ROH World Championship by defeating Christopher Daniels at June's Best in the World show.
Minoru Suzuki may well be his toughest challenge to date.
The heart of the matter
The Death Before Dishonor main event was set up on ROH TV last week. Dalton Castle was next in line for a championship shot, but ROH ran an angle where Cody injured the Party Peacock on the company's tour of the United Kingdom recently.
As a result, Cody made an open challenge for his ROH World Championship, an open challenge that was answered by none other than the man with the worst personality in the world, Minoru Suzuki.
Cody wasn't best pleased with this (to say the least), but has since tweeted that a match with Suzuki is a dream come true for him. Whether he thinks that on September 22nd remains to be seen.
What's next?
Death Before Dishonor XV takes place on September 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Cody vs. Suzuki the only match confirmed for the show as of writing. IWGP Junior Heavyweight and ROH Television Champion KUSHIDA is also confirmed for the show.
Dave Meltzer has stated that the only other Minoru Suzuki match on US soil may well have been his 1992 showdown with Ken Shamrock, making this his first US match in 25 years. Will he be heading back to Japan with gold around his waist?
Author's take
Cody is doing fine enough as ROH World Champion, but how excellent would it be to see Minoru Suzuki on top? For such a respected competitor, Suzuki has a surprisingly barren cupboard when it comes to major wrestling championships.
The current NEVER Openweight Champion may well be considered a favourite going into the September 22 show.
