ROH Best in the World 2012
ROH Best in the World 2012 (6/24/2012)- New York, NY
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. THE GUARDIANS OF TRUTH (w/Truth Martini)- 4.75/10
The Guardians of Truth are large guys in black wrestling singlets, arm sleeves, and masks that completely cover their faces. I assume that the masks mean that they are someone we know, so we can therefore assume that the arm sleeves are meant to cover up some distinguishing tattoos or something that would give away their identities. I can’t really tell their skin tones, but one of them is definitely either Hispanic or a light-skinned black person. Maybe DCFC? Maybe one of them is a slimmer Dan Maff?
Nothing much happened here. Briscoes win with a roll-up, then go to hit Truth with a Doomsday Device but get beaten down by the Guardians. I think it would have been better to have the Guardians of Truth win off of a distraction by Truth, just to get them the win in their first match, then do the same aftermath.
EDDIE EDWARDS vs. HOMICIDE- 7/10
Wow. Cide actually looked good in this match. His second best singles match since he returned to ROH in 2010 (and his match with Steen wasn’t much better than this). Hopefully the Homicide of the early-mid 2000’s is back.
HYBRID FIGHTING RULES: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 8/10
This is not a match for the squeamish. Cole’s two front teeth got kicked out, and blood was pouring out of his mouth… and they kept going for at least five minutes with blood just going EVERYWHERE. You would think that multiple seasons of True Blood would have prepared me for the sight of blood all over people’s faces, but it just doesn’t compare. Blood aside, there was some great storytelling here with Cole working on the leg and O’Reilly working on the arm.
HOUSE OF TRUTH BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- Elgin’s promo was good, and his interaction with Roddy was great.
FIT FINLAY vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 7.5/10
Once again Elgin looks tough taking on a guy like Finlay. Props to them for catching the Tombstone Piledriver thing later on and saying that Finlay got fined and yelled at by Cornette. I had totally forgotten about the piledriver thing, too.
MIKE BENNETT & MIKE MONDO- okay segment. No one’s promo was particularly good, but the segment did work to try to turn Mondo face. It is easy to get cheered in New York when you interrupt a Bostonian who the fans view as an untalented hack.
MIKE MONDO vs. MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & “Brutal” Bob Evans)- 4/10
In his pre-match promo, Mondo said that after he won the match, he would f*ck Maria… so when Mondo won the match, Nigel and Kelly said that Maria “had better keep her door locked tonight.” This whole segment was intended to turn Mondo babyface… and the announcers are implying that he might rape someone. That is a text-book example of being counter-productive.
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE ROH TV TITLE: Roderick Strong(c) (w/Truth Martini) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/The Embassy) vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
Great match. Had some cool spots and nice storyline finish.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH IN WHICH THE TITLES CAN CHANGE HANDS VIA DQ: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)(c) vs. The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus)- 8/10
Awesome storytelling here with Rhett as the abbyface in peril. The match did have one major stumbling point, though. At one point Kenny King tried to pull an Eddie Guerrero to get Haas & Benjamin DQed, and when that didn’t happen, Rhett Titus hit Shelton with a DDT onto a chair. Having the babyfaces try to back into the titles by getting the heels DQed for something they didn’t do is just ass-backwards. A great finish, though. Rhett and Kenny finally winning the belts was an awesome moment.
In an absolute failure of a chant, the fans chanted “JACKIE SWALLOWS” at Charlie Haas. So they are saying that not only does Charlie get head from his fantastically hot wife, but she also swallows at the end. I am failing to find the insult here.
KYLE O’REILLY PROMO- pretty good.
NO DISQUALIFICATION, NO COUNT-OUT, NO TIME LIMIT, LAST CHANCE MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE IN WHICH THE PILEDRIVER IS LEGAL: Kevin Steen(c) (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Davey Richards- 9/10
OUTSTANDING match. Not as many spots as you would expect in a match this long, but every spot in this match was SICK. If you are sick and tired of the standard Davey Richards match, this match is for you. The closest thing we got to the standard Davey Richards match here was the Kawada kicks… and in this match, Davey did the Kawada kicks with a steel chain wrapped around his boot. This was an amazing hardcore match, and I thought that the overbooking worked very well.
One last note on this match was that Steve Corino was on commentary and he was annoying as hell. I know he is doing it to be a heel, but it just went overboard, IMO.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- AWESOME! Steen sh*ts all over the crowd, calling them hypocrites, which I very much enjoyed, as I have been sick and tired of the obnoxious pro-heel crowds. Steen poops on the crowd for buying tickets to an ROH show and spending the whole time chanting for Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. He poops on them for popping when Steen lost the mask vs. career match at Final Battle 2010, but cheering him when he showed up illegally at Best in the World 2011, for saying that they respect Cary, but popping when Steen was going to hit him with a package piledriver, and most near and dear to my heart, he criticizes the fans for turning on Tyler Black, Davey Richards, and Nigel McGuinness after they won the title. Steen finishes it off saying that he and his group will kill ROH, and it is the fans’ (and especially the NYC fans’) fault.
Overall an awesome show from ROH.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness say that Kenny King trying to pull an Eddie Guerrero to get Charlie & Shelton DQed to win the titles was “very smart,” yet they were pooping all over Charlie Haas for using ether in a Fight Without Honor? So it is okay to try to win the match by getting your opponent DQed for something they didn’t do, but if you use ether in a NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH, you are a horrible person?
2. Kelly and McGuinness were up in arms when Shelton Benjamin hit Rhett Titus with one of the title belts… but had no problem a few minutes earlier when Rhett Titus hit Shelton Benjamin with a DDT onto a steel chair, and they had no problem when Kenny King tried to get Shelton DQed for something he didn’t do. So it is okay for the babyfaces to cheat, but not for the heels to cheat? And it is wrong for Haas to use ether in a Fight Without Honor, but it is okay for Rhett to cheat in a regular match? WTF?
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. THE GUARDIANS OF TRUTH (w/Truth Martini)- 4.75/10
The Guardians of Truth are large guys in black wrestling singlets, arm sleeves, and masks that completely cover their faces. I assume that the masks mean that they are someone we know, so we can therefore assume that the arm sleeves are meant to cover up some distinguishing tattoos or something that would give away their identities. I can’t really tell their skin tones, but one of them is definitely either Hispanic or a light-skinned black person. Maybe DCFC? Maybe one of them is a slimmer Dan Maff?
Nothing much happened here. Briscoes win with a roll-up, then go to hit Truth with a Doomsday Device but get beaten down by the Guardians. I think it would have been better to have the Guardians of Truth win off of a distraction by Truth, just to get them the win in their first match, then do the same aftermath.
EDDIE EDWARDS vs. HOMICIDE- 7/10
Wow. Cide actually looked good in this match. His second best singles match since he returned to ROH in 2010 (and his match with Steen wasn’t much better than this). Hopefully the Homicide of the early-mid 2000’s is back.
HYBRID FIGHTING RULES: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 8/10
This is not a match for the squeamish. Cole’s two front teeth got kicked out, and blood was pouring out of his mouth… and they kept going for at least five minutes with blood just going EVERYWHERE. You would think that multiple seasons of True Blood would have prepared me for the sight of blood all over people’s faces, but it just doesn’t compare. Blood aside, there was some great storytelling here with Cole working on the leg and O’Reilly working on the arm.
HOUSE OF TRUTH BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- Elgin’s promo was good, and his interaction with Roddy was great.
FIT FINLAY vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 7.5/10
Once again Elgin looks tough taking on a guy like Finlay. Props to them for catching the Tombstone Piledriver thing later on and saying that Finlay got fined and yelled at by Cornette. I had totally forgotten about the piledriver thing, too.
MIKE BENNETT & MIKE MONDO- okay segment. No one’s promo was particularly good, but the segment did work to try to turn Mondo face. It is easy to get cheered in New York when you interrupt a Bostonian who the fans view as an untalented hack.
MIKE MONDO vs. MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & “Brutal” Bob Evans)- 4/10
In his pre-match promo, Mondo said that after he won the match, he would f*ck Maria… so when Mondo won the match, Nigel and Kelly said that Maria “had better keep her door locked tonight.” This whole segment was intended to turn Mondo babyface… and the announcers are implying that he might rape someone. That is a text-book example of being counter-productive.
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE ROH TV TITLE: Roderick Strong(c) (w/Truth Martini) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/The Embassy) vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
Great match. Had some cool spots and nice storyline finish.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH IN WHICH THE TITLES CAN CHANGE HANDS VIA DQ: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)(c) vs. The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus)- 8/10
Awesome storytelling here with Rhett as the abbyface in peril. The match did have one major stumbling point, though. At one point Kenny King tried to pull an Eddie Guerrero to get Haas & Benjamin DQed, and when that didn’t happen, Rhett Titus hit Shelton with a DDT onto a chair. Having the babyfaces try to back into the titles by getting the heels DQed for something they didn’t do is just ass-backwards. A great finish, though. Rhett and Kenny finally winning the belts was an awesome moment.
In an absolute failure of a chant, the fans chanted “JACKIE SWALLOWS” at Charlie Haas. So they are saying that not only does Charlie get head from his fantastically hot wife, but she also swallows at the end. I am failing to find the insult here.
KYLE O’REILLY PROMO- pretty good.
NO DISQUALIFICATION, NO COUNT-OUT, NO TIME LIMIT, LAST CHANCE MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE IN WHICH THE PILEDRIVER IS LEGAL: Kevin Steen(c) (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Davey Richards- 9/10
OUTSTANDING match. Not as many spots as you would expect in a match this long, but every spot in this match was SICK. If you are sick and tired of the standard Davey Richards match, this match is for you. The closest thing we got to the standard Davey Richards match here was the Kawada kicks… and in this match, Davey did the Kawada kicks with a steel chain wrapped around his boot. This was an amazing hardcore match, and I thought that the overbooking worked very well.
One last note on this match was that Steve Corino was on commentary and he was annoying as hell. I know he is doing it to be a heel, but it just went overboard, IMO.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- AWESOME! Steen sh*ts all over the crowd, calling them hypocrites, which I very much enjoyed, as I have been sick and tired of the obnoxious pro-heel crowds. Steen poops on the crowd for buying tickets to an ROH show and spending the whole time chanting for Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. He poops on them for popping when Steen lost the mask vs. career match at Final Battle 2010, but cheering him when he showed up illegally at Best in the World 2011, for saying that they respect Cary, but popping when Steen was going to hit him with a package piledriver, and most near and dear to my heart, he criticizes the fans for turning on Tyler Black, Davey Richards, and Nigel McGuinness after they won the title. Steen finishes it off saying that he and his group will kill ROH, and it is the fans’ (and especially the NYC fans’) fault.
Overall an awesome show from ROH.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness say that Kenny King trying to pull an Eddie Guerrero to get Charlie & Shelton DQed to win the titles was “very smart,” yet they were pooping all over Charlie Haas for using ether in a Fight Without Honor? So it is okay to try to win the match by getting your opponent DQed for something they didn’t do, but if you use ether in a NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH, you are a horrible person?
2. Kelly and McGuinness were up in arms when Shelton Benjamin hit Rhett Titus with one of the title belts… but had no problem a few minutes earlier when Rhett Titus hit Shelton Benjamin with a DDT onto a steel chair, and they had no problem when Kenny King tried to get Shelton DQed for something he didn’t do. So it is okay for the babyfaces to cheat, but not for the heels to cheat? And it is wrong for Haas to use ether in a Fight Without Honor, but it is okay for Rhett to cheat in a regular match? WTF?