TONS OF BACKSTAGE NOTES FROM ROH/NEW JAPAN, FINAL BATTLE AND MORE NEWS

Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling were both thrilled with Night One of "War of the Worlds" which took place yesterday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. The show was completely sold out with standing room seats sold as well, something ROH COO Joe Koff was extremely proud of him, especially since the show was on a Tuesday. I have a complete report up from the show, which was easily one of the top-tier events I've attended live this year for atmosphere and for great in-ring wrestling.

Former ROH champion Adam Cole was cleared to return to the ring on Monday. The mystery opponent announced for AJ Styles was announced only because the day Styles vs. Cole was set to be announced, Cole's doctor refused to clear him to return to the ring, so the mystery deal was announced as a placeholder. In a lot of ways, Cole was testing out his arm to see how it would hold up post-surgery in his bout against Styles, which was excellent by the way. It was the end of a very long roller coaster ride for Cole.

Frankie Kazarian jammed up his neck taking The Young Bucks' Indy Taker finisher last night. While he didn't lose feeling in his extremities, it was described as similar to a stinger. Kazarian was icing his neck after the bout and was feeling stiff today but isn't expected to miss ring time.

Nick Jackson again lost his battle with the former ECW Arena as just about every time he works the venue, he ends up banged up. He likely pulled a hamstring during The Bucks' match last night.

Former EVOLVE champion AR Fox and The Blue Meanie were backstage. Meanie lives in the area and came to visit. No idea on Fox. A lot of area independent talents were also there talking in the show.

The autograph lines for New Japan talents were huge before the show.

Before the doors opened, New Japan and the ROH roster presented KUSHIDA with a birthday cake and serenaded him.

The plan is to get the War of the Worlds shows out on VOD as soon as possible. The priority for ROH when the loop is finished is to do post-production on the ROH TV that is being filmed this Saturday and then they will dive into post-production on the Philly events. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino handled commentary at the venue live.

Shinsuke Nakamura was so over that at one point when he was in the ring going back and forth with ROH champion Jay Briscoe, Briscoe was getting booed.

New Japan gave out postcards pushing the New Japan World streaming service to fans.

Tentatively, ROH Final Battle will be 12/11 and 12/12 at the 2300 Arena. That is not 100% set in stone.

Scheduled for tonight's Night Two of War of the Worlds:

*IWGP champion AJ Styles & The Young Bucks vs. IWGP Tag Team champions The Kingdom & Adam Cole.

*ROH champion Jay Briscoe vs. Bobby Fish.

*ROH TV champion Jay Lethal vs. Jushin Liger vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Mark Briscoe.

*ROH Tag Team champions Chris Daniels & Kazarian vs. Kazuchida Okada & Gedo.

*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Roderick Strong.

*Kyle O'Reily vs. Tetsuya Naito.

*KUSHIDA vs. Michael Elgin.

*Adam Page vs. Watanabe.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!