New ROH World Champion Crowned: ROH 15th Anniversary Show Highlights

Ring of Honor fans flocked to Las Vegas for the 15th Anniversary show and by the end of the night there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as well as a mind that wasn’t blown. There were so many “stand on your feet and scream because you can’t believe what you just saw” kind of moments it’s really incredible.

Related: Christopher Daniels On If He Thinks He’s Due For A World Title Run

There was a very interesting rumor floating around as to why WWE decided to book such an important event in Buffalo at the same time as the 15th Anniversary ROH show. It might not be true, but with ROH delivering this kind of product, they are slowly but surely securing their spot as a top professional wrestling company in not only America, but the entire world.

One fan seemed to think WWE had a reason for scheduling Finn Balor’s return on Friday night.

The #1 contender was chosen in a six-man mayhem match and although Frankie Kazarian came away with the win during that battle, it was an incredible contest with moments where the win could have gone in any direction.

There hasn’t been this much attention in a tag team division since the Broken Hardys jumped over to the Honorable Ring and procured the ROH Tag Team Championships. Then again, any division with the Broken Hardys is sure to draw interest to it because they have that effect on people.

This match got brutal and some would say it got out of hand as well. When we say out of hand, we really mean it. We thought we’d seen thumbtack spots before, but this takes the cake. Well, just let you see for yourself.

If you thought taking a superkick with a mouthful of thumbtacks was a brutal spot, you haven’t seen anything yet.

The Broken Hardys didn’t travel through space and time to get to ROH just to lose their titles on their first defense though. Brother Nero scaled the ladder and set the world on fire with an incredible Swanton Bomb.

Therefore, your winners and still ROH Tag Team Champions are the Broken Hardys in an incredible match that not only took breaths away, but also stole the show. The Hardys carried on with their Expedition of Gold by not only securing the ROH Tag Titles, but also swiping another belt off of the Young Bucks as well.

The main event of the evening saw Adam Cole’s ROH World Title get put on the line against Christopher Daniels. There has been a slight sense of resentment due to the fact a member of the Bullet Club such as Cole is the ROH champion. Some Ring of Honor traditionalists would love to overthrow him. Therefore the 15th Anniversary show seemed just as good of an opportunity as any to make that happen.

There was another element of intrigue involved in this match as Adam Cole’s contract is said to be over at the end of March and WWE has their eyes on him in a big way. Therefore, dropping the title would be the first logical step on his way over to the main roster or NXT.

This match got intense, to say the least, and blood was shed. At one point, Christopher Daniels paid homage to his old friend AJ Styles.

The referee took a vicious bump during one of the spots near the finish, to say the least.

Bullet Club member and new #1 contender Frankie Kazarian came down to get involved in the match, but there was quite a surprising turn of events. We just love it when people pull off that whole “shirt under another shirt” angle without giving it away before hand. This one was executed perfectly.

One climb to the top rope, and we have a new ROH Champion.

Only time will truly tell what this means in the grand picture of ROH, but tonight was a night when the OG Ring of Honor boys got to celebrate to end the 15th Anniversary show on an amazing note.

The Fallen Angel is the new Ring of Honor World Champion.

In the end, the Broken Brilliance of Matt Hardy summed up the night best. We can’t help but wonder if that last line about “an office that is fair & respectful” isn’t making a reference to the same subject his wife was speaking about earlier in the day.

By the looks of the tweet below, our assumptions about what that line about an office having respect was right on the money.