Some interesting news out of WWE, with the Road to WrestleMania just around the corner. WrestleMania 35 is set for Sunday, April 7th, 2019 and NXT TakeOver: New York was initially expected to take place the night before, with TakeOver: New York at the Barclays Center and Mania 35 at the MetLife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey.
That Saturday night is also the date of Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Supercard event, in Madison Square Garden. The sold-out show replaces ROH’s Supercard of Honor show, which had taken place at WrestleMania weekend for eleven of the past twelve years (there was no-show in 2012).
The event’s future had been in doubt. Chris Ripley, the CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Ring of Honor, first announced the show in an interview with Holden Wilen of the Baltimore Business Journal. Just a week later, ROH COO Joe Koff told PWInsider that the company had lost their venue, alleging interference from the WWE. The event was saved when NJPW came onboard a month later.
Previous TakeOvers on WrestleMania weekend, including this year’s NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, ran opposite Supercard of Honor, and NXT TakeOver: New York was set to do the same. However, after building rumors of a switch, WWE confirmed today in a statement to Fightful that NXT TakeOver: New York would instead take place on April 5th, the Friday before ‘Mania. Meanwhile, the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday.
Ring of Honor has gone from strength to strength in recent years, in large part due to international partnerships with major Japanese promotions like New Japan. By some estimates, it has overtaken Impact Wrestling as the United States’ No. 2 company, though both are still dwarfed by the WWE.
Many ROH stars took part in this year’s All In pay-per-view, produced by Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks of NJPW, which was the first non-WWE/-WCW wrestling event to sell over 10,000 tickets in a quarter of a decade. G1 Supercard itself is the second, as well as the first non-WWE wrestling event to take place at Madison Square Garden since 1968.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more on events in New York and New Jersey for WrestleMania35.
