10 Live Observations From ROH's War Of The Worlds In NYC
2. Roderick Strong And Tomohiro Ishii Will Battle Again
The main event of War of the Worlds was originally scheduled to be a six man tag pitting Team ROH (Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong, and Jay Briscoe) against Team New Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii). Injuries and the resurgence of Bullet Club led to a change of plans, though, and in the end, the main event was a three-team bout: Adam Cole and Matt Jackson versus Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong versus Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii.
The match was a wild encounter that saw the teams mix it up in every combination, tons of superkicks, and the ace of each company (Jay Lethal and Kazuchika Okada) go toe to toe. In the end, Roderick Strong and Tomohiro Ishii were alone in the ring together. Strong pulled down his kneepad, hit Ishii in the face with a knee strike, then pinned the New Japan star.
The two previously clashed at February's Honor Rising event, where New Japan hosted the ROH stars at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall. On the main event of the first show, Ishii beat Strong for the ROH World Television Title. It's clear from the finish to this main event that there's another singles contest brewing between the two men, and it should be great.