{"id":7393,"date":"2017-08-27T21:47:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T01:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=7393"},"modified":"2017-08-27T21:47:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T01:47:37","slug":"suzuki-vs-cody-minoru-suzukis-first-match-in-the-us-in-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/08\/27\/suzuki-vs-cody-minoru-suzukis-first-match-in-the-us-in-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody vs Suzuki: Minoru Suzuki&#8217;s First US Match in 25 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Cody vs Suzuki: Minoru Suzuki&#8217;s First US Match in 25 Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Cody Rhodes<\/strong> won the <strong>Ring Of Honor<\/strong> World championship at <em><strong>ROH Best In The World<\/strong><\/em> in June as a free agent against veteran <strong>Christopher Daniels<\/strong>. Ever since, Cody has been antagonistic to fans and wants to prove he is the best ROH World champion to date, defending it at independent wrestling shows against all-comers. The son of Dusty Rhodes has the biggest test of his life on September 22 when he faces <strong>Minoru Suzuki<\/strong> at <em><strong>ROH Death Before Dishonor<\/strong><\/em> live on pay-per-view.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7410\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7410\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7410\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-985x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-985x1024.jpeg 985w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-288x300.jpeg 288w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-768x799.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-696x724.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-1068x1111.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes-404x420.jpeg 404w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/1498596266644-cody-rhodes.jpeg 738w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7410\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Not only does Minoru Suzuki have the experience edge after over 30 years in the ring, Suzuki comes from an MMA background in <strong>Pancrase<\/strong>. UFC tried to book Suzuki on the early UFC PPV&#8217;s but Pancrase would not allow it. Suzuki formed the dangerous <strong>Suzuki-Gun<\/strong> faction and has become the NEVER Openweight champion recently for <strong>New Japan Pro Wrestling<\/strong>. That makes this Ring Of Honor match a champion vs champion match but Suzuki&#8217;s belt will not be on the line.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7412\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7412\" style=\"width: 457px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7412\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-685x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"457\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-685x1024.jpg 685w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-768x1147.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-696x1040.jpg 696w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_-281x420.jpg 281w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/635934337863532717157771264_717q5x85ObL._SL1500_.jpg 514w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7412\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At 49 years old, one can assume Suzuki is the master-technician but his age doesn&#8217;t mean he is any slower than he once was. The hypermobile offense of Suzuki could make Suzuki the first Japanese ROH World champion since <strong>Takeshi Morishima<\/strong> almost 10 years ago. Suzuki is a former GHC Heavyweight champion for <strong>Pro Wrestling NOAH<\/strong> and a former AJPW Triple Crown heavyweight champion. The most interesting factor may be Suzuki-Gun and <strong>Bullet Club<\/strong> if they choose to involve themselves in this main event. The biggest factions in all of wrestling will collide but who will come out on top?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7411\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7411\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7411\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/007e4a128be4346585ec811f41a24e5b04b5b6f5_hq.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/007e4a128be4346585ec811f41a24e5b04b5b6f5_hq.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/007e4a128be4346585ec811f41a24e5b04b5b6f5_hq-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/007e4a128be4346585ec811f41a24e5b04b5b6f5_hq-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/08\/007e4a128be4346585ec811f41a24e5b04b5b6f5_hq-420x420.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7411\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: NOAH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The subsequent tapings on September 22 and 23 after <em>ROH Death Before Dishonor<\/em> will feature Minoru Suzuki and ROH TV champion and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight champion <strong>KUSHIDA<\/strong> so it is not out of the realm of possibility of Suzuki winning the prestigious championship. KUSHIDA and Suzuki will miss <strong><em>NJPW Hiroshima<\/em><\/strong> on those dates to be at <em>ROH Death Before Dishonor<\/em>. Suzuki was not even booked for the <em><strong>NJPW G1 In USA<\/strong><\/em> shows in Long Beach in July, so this is a special night for Ring Of Honor. Suzuki can still have excellent matches &#8211; Suzuki vs A.J. Styles in the New Japan G1 Climax tournament in 2014 was voted match of the year by The Wrestling Observer.<\/p>\n<p>Wrestling\u2019s most evil man has not had a match in the United States in 25 years &#8211; \u00a0he fought <strong>Ken Shamrock<\/strong> back in 1992. Suzuki&#8217;s only matches outside of Japan recently have been matches with Joe Coffey for WCPW in the UK. When Suzuki&#8217;s theme,\u201cKazi ni Nare\u201d hits in Las Vegas, it may only be a Gotch Piledriver away from history being made. Cody is going to have to be as sly and smart as ever to defeat a living legend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cody vs Suzuki: Minoru Suzuki&#8217;s First US Match in 25 Years Cody Rhodes won the Ring Of Honor World championship at ROH Best In The World in June as a free agent against veteran Christopher Daniels. Ever since, Cody has been antagonistic to fans and wants to prove he is the best ROH World champion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2001,"featured_media":7408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[149,1362,62,1273,946,620,1364,385,188,1363,677,61,81,483,752],"class_list":["post-7393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-north-america","category-roh","tag-bullet-club","tag-cody","tag-death-before-dishonor","tag-dusty-rhodes","tag-g1-climax","tag-minoru-suzuki","tag-never-openweight","tag-new-japan-pro-wrestling","tag-njpw","tag-pancrase","tag-pro-wrestling-noah","tag-ring-of-honor","tag-roh","tag-suzuki-gun","tag-ufc"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}