NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki, KUSHIDA added to ROH “Death Before Dishonor” weekend in September, talent announced for October NJPW & ROH joint tour (w/Radican’s Analysis)

-NJPW announced on Twitter yesterday that NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki has been added to the “Death Before Dishonor XV” weekend in Las Vegas. Suzuki will appear on the Sept. 22 PPV taping and the Sept. 23 TV Taping. IWGP Jr. Hvt. Champion and ROH TV Champion KUSHIDA was also announced by NJPW for both “Death Before Dishonor XV” events. Suzuki has not appeared in the U.S. in 25 years.

-ROH has also announced their intitial talent lineups for the Global Wars tour in October. The tour dates will see ROH run joint shows on Oct. 12 in Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 13 in Pittsburgh, Pa, Oct. 14 in Columbus, Ohio, and Oct. 15 in Chicago, Ill. The NJPW talent for all of the shows will include KUSHIDA, YOSHI-HASHI, The Killer Elite Squad, and Hiromu Takahashi. Additionally PWTorch has learned that it appears that nearly all of the members of Suzuki Gun will appear on the October Global Wars dates. Current IWGP U.S. Hvt. Champion Kenny Omega has only been announced for the Oct. 15 event in Chicago.

Radican’s Analysis: It was interesting to see NJPW tweet out the announcements for Death Before Dishonor weekend. Suzuki is coming off a hot run in the G1 Climax tournament and his presence in Las Vegas and on the Global Wars tour should increase ticket sales for ROH. Kenny Omega was a huge difference maker for ROH when he was announced in Chicago, as they sold out quickly. ROH would be wise to add seating in Chicago, as the venue can be set up to hold around 5,000 fans and they’ve sold around 2,000 to date.

Sam’s Town Live, ROH’s venue in Las Vegas, should be able to sell out the PPV taping given the presence of Suzuki on the card. The venue only seats around 800 fans. TV tapings have always been a challenge for ROH to sell out, especially when they run a PPV and a TV taping back to back on the same weekend. 

Suzuki Gun being added to the Global Wars tour will be a big addition, as there are some great possibilities for tags and singles matches when you combine Suzuki Gun with the rest of the talent lineup. Kenny Omega is a big presence on the Chicago event in October obviously. Suzuki should increase interest in the tour, but adding one more big name from NJPW to the dates in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Columbus would definitely make those dates feel like marquee events.