Preview by Josh Nason
For the first time since February 2020, Ring of Honor will host a show in front of live fans with tonight s Best in the World pay-per-view from Baltimore, Maryland.
The eleven-match card is headlined by World Champion Rush vs. Bandido. This will be Rush s first title defense since March and the first time they have clashed in a singles match since March 2019. Bandido earned the shot by winning the Survival of the Fittest tournament.
The show will also feature four other title matches: Tag Team Champions Rhett Titus and Tracy Williams vs. Chris Dickinson and Homicide in a fight without honor; Six Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor, Kaun and Moses vs.. Dak Draper, Dalton Castle and Eli Isom; Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike Bennett; and TV Champion Tony Deppen vs. Dragon Lee.
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Samoa Joe - Mercenary
Samoa Joe would be a big score for any promotion. Lots of dream matches await. Samoan Submission Machine versus Samoan Werewolf would be badass with Joe wrestling Jacob Fatu in MLW. Coming to the NWA to challenge Worlds Champion Nick Aldis would be money. Returning to ROH would be a cool sight. A match with World Champion Rush makes me giddy, but watching Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham trying to solve the puzzle that Joe presents is what I’d really enjoy. Imagine Joe heading back to Impact in an effort to bring home their gold from Kenny Omega.
A video package recapped last week s ROH World title match between Rush and Shane Taylor, including post-match comments from La Faccion Ingobernable. Kenny King shamed Taylor for thinking he wasn’t loyal to LFI. Rush came in and said whoever they decide to throw at him will be conquered just like the rest.
Dalton Castle defeated Josh Woods in a Pure Rules match (9:44)
Beforehand, Woods said he fairly submitted Castle in their last match and bragged about beating three former world champions in the past month (Castle, Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal). Castle said he’s not trying to dwell on the previous loss, but it still is on his mind sometimes. He also admitted he was disappointed in himself and pitied himself for not being in any of the ROH rankings.
Ring of Honor will return to pay-per-view on Friday, March 26th with their 19th Anniversary event, announced by the company on Monday.
They held just one PPV in 2020 (December s Final Battle) and had to cancel last March s 18th Anniversary show and April s Supercard of Honor shows due to the pandemic.
All five championships (held by World Champion Rush, Tag Team Champions Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, Pure Champion Gresham, TV Champion Dragon Lee and Six-Man Tag Team Champions Rey Horus, Flamita, Bandido) will be defended on the show.
The event kicks off at 8 PM Eastern with the first hour airing for free on their social media channels, Fite.TV, YouTube, and Honor Club among others before the PPV starts at 9 PM Eastern. It s believed the event will be taped as ROH said the show will be a total of four hours.
Details On ROH Re-Signing Dragon Lee & Rush );
Ring of Honor has re-signed World Champion Rush and Television Champion Dragon Lee to new contracts, along with Bestia Del Ring. Both Rush and Lee negotiated new contracts with help from Masked Republic to allow wrestlers to continue making money off merchandise deals in outside companies or other business ventures from ROH.
Masked Republic had signed merchandise deals with them along with all Lucha Libre stars including: Lucha Bros. Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix, Tinieblas Jr, Konnan, The Great Sasuke, Vampiro, Christi Jaynes, and Salina de la Renta. Both Dragon Lee and Rush were offered basic contracts from Masked Republic, along with an amended version that also included 3rd party stipulations.