[Check out this live report from ROH HonorCon by our own Adam Leavelle]
ROH held the first Honorcon today in the afternoon before the 12th Anniversary TV tapings. There were lots of talent autograph signings and a fun arm wrestling challenge for the wrestlers. Bobby Fish, Romantic Touch, Cheeseburger, Mark Briscoe, Mike Bennett, Tommaso Ciampa and others. Tiger Hattori and NJPW president Naoki Sugabayashi with ROH talent were at the ROH shows. Ciampa during his arm wrestling matches called Maria and Jimmy Jacobs whores because they tried to distract him by dancing seductively against Bennett and Strong respectively. Elgin eventually won the entire arm wrestling contest. No surprise there. There was also a Q&A session that had ROH World Champion Adam Cole, ROH Tag Team Champions reDRagon, Michael Elgin, Kevin Steen, Mike Bennett with Maria and others.
At roughly 3:30pm EST ROH announced they will have joint shows with talents from ROH and NJPW. Joe Koff and Delirious were present for the announcement. New Japan talent will be on May 10 & 17 in Toronto & New York.
During the show’s festivities WrestlingObserver.com reported Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Jado and Kushida are coming to North America for shows.
Here’s a great description of what occurred during the announcements:
ROH COO Joe Koff comes out to the ring with Delirious to make the big announcement. Joe thanks the fans for supporting ROH, and says they couldn’t be here without one of his all time favorite ROH stars, Delirious. Koff hands Delirious the microphone to share his thoughts, and he says something in Delirious-speak. Koff also wants to thank Cary Silkin for everything he’s done to get the company where it is today, and then he begins to make the series of announcements we’ve all been waiting for.
The first thing Koff would like to announce is a Future Of Honor show that will take place in the next two months, which will feature students from the ROH Wrestling Academy and other experienced wrestlers over 18 who would like the opportunity to appear. Five spots are open, so if you’re an experienced wrestler who fits the criteria, send your info to ROH, and I assume their contact info will be on the ROH website soon.
Koff goes on to make announcement #2, which is that they’re in talks with toy and trading card companies to license the ROH name, so keep our eyes open for announcements about that soon. Koff also puts over the sensational TV product, and the hard work everyone’s put into the 127 hours of great wrestling action they’ve produced.
To make the final announcement, Koff allows the video screen to do the talking for him, and it shows a montage of action from both Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and announces a pair of events coming up this May in New York and Toronto that will feature stars from both companies. After the video, Koff says that there’s nothing better than ROH wrestling in North America, and soon it’s going to be the world as well. Koff introduces Naoki Sugabayashi, the Chairman of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and his translator, Tiger Hatori. Hatori translates to say that they’re very honored to be in Ring of Honor’s hometown, and that they will present the biggest wrestling events in the world this May in Toronto and New York. Koff thanks the New Japan representatives for being a part of this, then lets us see the video one more time before the four of them pose for publicity photos.
Credit: http://goo.gl/BxTxN6
