A shot at the World Championship is a goal that every member of the Ring of Honor roster covets. The mere opportunity to challenge for the belt is an accomplishment unto itself, and something that even outsiders petition for on a continuous basis. There’s a reason why men like D-Lo Brown and Lance Storm came to ROH specifically to challenge for the title. The Ring of Honor World Championship lineage is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of pure wrestling talent, and for a wrestler to hold that belt is to know that he is indeed the best in the business.
And with that said, ROH is proud to announce the “1st Annual Toronto Gauntlet” taking place Saturday night, July 25th. This battle will feature six competitors all vying for a future shot at the ROH World Title. Contested under Gauntlet rules in which a competitor continues to wrestle until he is eliminated, the initial two wrestlers would have to face five different opponents in order to survive and garner a shot at the belt currently held by Austin Aries. Obviously the odds are in favor of the last man who enters the ring, but as history as shown, the best odds don’t always equal victory.
The six men who will be competing on Saturday night, July 25th in Toronto are:
- D-Lo Brown
- Sonjay Dutt
- The Necro Butcher
- Jimmy Rave
- Jerry Lynn
- ROH World Tag Team Champion Davey Richards
Five of these men know what is at stake, as they have challenged for the ROH World Championship before. Only Davey Richards has never had that chance, but he himself is a World Tag Team Champion and knows what it takes to carry an ROH belt. Of these six men, only Jerry Lynn has ever been the ROH World Champion, and is still in line for his mandatory rematch. A win by Lynn could, in essence, guarantee him two more shots at regaining the belt that revitalized his career. D-Lo Brown fell in his only shot at the ROH Title, and that was in his debut match against Nigel McGuinness. Another shot at gold would do wonders for his ROH tenure. The Necro Butcher and Jimmy Rave have been in a bitter feud with one another as of late, and now there is even more at stake between these two. And Sonjay Dutt has been on fire since returning to ROH, finding himself a living example of ‘right place, right time’. He could realize his dreams by winning the gauntlet and earning a shot at immortality.
These six men are all hungry, all looking for that victory. And all six have their own reasons. Whatever those reasons may be, the one commonality is the desire to be ROH World Champion. And you can put your money down on the fact that all six will do whatever it takes to get one step closer to making that World Championship dream a reality.
