The first-ever Tony Khan-owned ROH tapings took place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida on February 25, 2023, and featured a shocking appearance from an NJPW Champion.
The following article contains a huge spoiler from the tapings.
AEW President and ROH owner Tony Kahn announced the promotion would begin recording new content for the upcoming weekly programming.
The first show saw a huge surprise as NJPW World Television Champion appeared to defend his title. Champion Zack Sabre Jr. invaded ROH to put his title on the line against Blake Christian.
Several other NJPW talents followed Sabre Jr. and appeared on the ROH shows.
New episodes of Ring of Honor programming will begin airing on Thursday, March 2 on HonorClub.
Zack Sabre Jr Has Wrestled For NJPW, AEW and ROH
Sabre Jr became the inaugural NJPW World Television Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 17. The technical mastermind defeated Ren Narita at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th in the finals of a tournament for the newly formed title.
At Declaration of Power in Ryoguku Kokugikan, President of New Japan Pro Wrestling Takami Ohbari announced the introduction of the all-new NJPW World Television Championship.
The title will focus on the company’s younger stars and matches for the championship will be capped at a 15-minute time limit. Ohbari also added that the title will be defended in towns that don’t normally get championship matches.
Prior to winning his first singles title in the Japanese promotion Sabre Jr. wrestled for both AEW and ROH. In 2010, 2018 and 2019 he appeared for ROH to face the likes of Jonathan Gresham, Shota Umino, and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
More recently he performed at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. In the lead-up to the inter-promotional pay-per-view, Sabre Jr. appeared on Dynamite to call out Bryan Danielson for a dream match.
Unfortunately, the American Dragon was unable to take him up on the challenge due to injury. However, he brought in a replacement and new member of the Blackpool Combat Club, Claudio Castgnoli.
Khan purchased Ring of Honor back in March 2022. Since then, the company has held two pay-per-views as well as aired a show in tribute to the late Jay Briscoe. However, Khan has been unable to secure a TV deal for the promotion which has not aired a weekly show since April 2022.