8 Live Observations From ROH/NJPW Global Wars PPV

When CM Punk dropped the now legendary pipe bomb promo, he talked about taking the WWE title and defending it in two places: Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Why? Because they’re the best things going in independent wrestling. They are often mislabeled as being minor leagues to WWE’s major league, but that’s a false equivalency. ROH and NJPW are only lesser in production value, not in-ring action. They’ve produced megastars through the years, such as Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, and more recently, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. And that’s just naming a few.

No, they don’t have the TitanTron, no they don’t have pyrotechnics. But what they do have is the best, most consistent wrestling available. And that includes the WWE.

So, whenever Ring of Honor comes to Chicago Ridge, I’m there. But, I’m guessing I’m not alone when I say I don’t watch it on TV because I can’t. I don’t get New Japan either. So I entered Sunday’s PPV with little knowledge of the storylines or characters involved.

Luckily, when you go to one of these shows, that hardly matters.

Here’s eight live match observations from Global Wars.

I have no idea who most of these guys are, but I’ll tell you one thing, Dalton Castle is a flamboyant !*$%, and I now love him. Castle’s whole shtick involves two other guys (I guess they’re aptly called “The Boys”) who undress him and prance around the outside of the ring afterward. Then Castle spends time posing and taunting during the match, even when he was on the offensive or defensive. I ate it up. All of it. He had the crowd going, too. It was refreshing to see someone be creative in new ways while pushing boundaries. Castle handles it all with perfect balance and craftiness.

The match itself was very good. ACH did this insane move where he bounced off the far ropes and launched himself over the top on the other side by using the middle rope as a launching pad. He flipped over and crashed down on the guys outside the ring. If it looked good on TV, believe me, it was insane to see live.

Castle won the match after almost ten minutes, and I think that’s the right call. He seems ready for a push, and I hope they give him one. Really solid start to the show. (4 stars out of 5)