ROH Best in the World 2013
ROH Best In The World 2013 (6/22/2013)- Baltimore, MD
BJ WHITMER vs. MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & â€"Brutal†Bob Evans)- 4/10
Pretty dull match. Just some standard wrestling moves with no real story behind it at all. Brutal Bob tires to interfere but just gets tossed out of the ring, and almost lands on Maria. After the match, Maria and Bennett yell at him.
THE AMERICAN WOLVES vs. ADRENALINE RUSH (Tadarius Thomas & ACH)- 7.5/10
Tons of fast-paced actions and hard kicks from all four guys.
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.5/10
They go back and forth for a bit with some submissions until a Cole superkick on the apron sends Roddy through a table at ringside. Cole starts to try to help Roddy back into the ring, but Corino encourages him to just leave Roddy and try for a count-out win, which is what Cole does.
Corino went backstage to go talk with his good friend Adam Cole, so both Veda Scott and R.D. Evans come out to do commentary. Kevin Kelly asks Veda if she minds if R.D. does commentary instead of her, and Veda goes to the back without even having put the headset on. Not sure if this is part of an angle or just a random screw-up.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. TOMASSO CIAMPA- 8.75/10
A hard-hitting big-man match. Just an awesome contest of power vs. power. After the match, while both competitors were being attended to by referees, Q.T, Marshall came out and strutted around the ring.
On commentary, R.D. Evans plugs his law firm, saying it is a great place to go for anyone who has been a victim of â€"unsolicited time travel.†CHIKARA LIVES!
TRIPLE THREAT ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Matt Taven(c) (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
One clever fan brought a sign that says â€"I pop for Hoopla Hotties.â€
Very good three way match, which made all three men look good. Taven is really starting to come into his own in the ring. At one point Scarlett jumped in the ring and slapped Lethal. As she tried to run away, he grabbed for her hair, but missed and grabbed her top instead... which popped off (but not facing the camera! Damn it!). The other Hoopla Hottie, Selezyia, tried to interfere by hitting Jimmy Jacobs with some sort of Fireman's Carry move but ate a superkick from Lethal. It will be interesting to see what ROH is willing to do with the Hoopla Hottie in terms of actual interference in matches, rather than just distractions. Selezyia is pretty jacked, so maybe we'll see the hotties teaming together in Women of Honor action soon.
TRIPLE THREAT ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. SCUM (Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton)- 4/10
Nowhere near acceptable for it's place on the card. The match only went seven minutes, there was very little real storytelling going on, the finish was poorly executed (there was no way that Kyle's shoulder weren't down as well). This is an ROH World Tag Team Title match! It needs to be better.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy (w/Steve Corino)- 6.75/10
Very violent with a lot of good weapons spots, but I was expecting a lot more out of this match. It felt like it ended ten minutes too soon. SCUM interfered to help Hardy but both during the match and after it, no one came out to help Steen, showing that the ROH locker room still doesn't trust or like him.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Mark Briscoe- 7/10
A very disappointing match. Probably the second-worst match these two have had together (and the only one worse than it was an HDnet match... and it wasn't worse by much).
I hated the spot where they both worked together to set up the table. THERE WAS NO REASON FOR A F*CKING TABLE IN THIS MATCH! And Mark elbow-dropping Jay through the table should have caused a DQ. Superkicking someone so that he falls off of the apron and through the table is unintentional. Putting someone through a table and elbow-dropping them through it is not! I was also very unhappy with Mark kicking out at one after the second Jay Driller. Someone kicking out at one (especially on a finisher) is the sort of thing that should happen MAYBE once a year. This was the second time it happened on this show. Jay's title reign has been a big disappointment so far.
iPPV issues aside, this show was good, but most of the top matches did not deliver like they should have. Ciampa and Elgin definitely stole the show here, and after this disappointing performance, I'd be surprised if Jay's title reign lasts past the next iPPV. I am also quite perplexed about the booking of SCUM. I figured they would either get pinned (so they could put the champs over before leaving if they lose Steel Cage Warfare tomorrow) or take the titles (to either set up their dominance of the company with a win tomorrow, or as a way to keep the angle going if they lose Steel Cage Warfare), but neither of those happened. We should have some very interesting TV ahead of us, but between the stream issues and the lack of ROH-level main events, I probably won't buy the next one.
BJ WHITMER vs. MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & â€"Brutal†Bob Evans)- 4/10
Pretty dull match. Just some standard wrestling moves with no real story behind it at all. Brutal Bob tires to interfere but just gets tossed out of the ring, and almost lands on Maria. After the match, Maria and Bennett yell at him.
THE AMERICAN WOLVES vs. ADRENALINE RUSH (Tadarius Thomas & ACH)- 7.5/10
Tons of fast-paced actions and hard kicks from all four guys.
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.5/10
They go back and forth for a bit with some submissions until a Cole superkick on the apron sends Roddy through a table at ringside. Cole starts to try to help Roddy back into the ring, but Corino encourages him to just leave Roddy and try for a count-out win, which is what Cole does.
Corino went backstage to go talk with his good friend Adam Cole, so both Veda Scott and R.D. Evans come out to do commentary. Kevin Kelly asks Veda if she minds if R.D. does commentary instead of her, and Veda goes to the back without even having put the headset on. Not sure if this is part of an angle or just a random screw-up.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. TOMASSO CIAMPA- 8.75/10
A hard-hitting big-man match. Just an awesome contest of power vs. power. After the match, while both competitors were being attended to by referees, Q.T, Marshall came out and strutted around the ring.
On commentary, R.D. Evans plugs his law firm, saying it is a great place to go for anyone who has been a victim of â€"unsolicited time travel.†CHIKARA LIVES!
TRIPLE THREAT ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Matt Taven(c) (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
One clever fan brought a sign that says â€"I pop for Hoopla Hotties.â€
Very good three way match, which made all three men look good. Taven is really starting to come into his own in the ring. At one point Scarlett jumped in the ring and slapped Lethal. As she tried to run away, he grabbed for her hair, but missed and grabbed her top instead... which popped off (but not facing the camera! Damn it!). The other Hoopla Hottie, Selezyia, tried to interfere by hitting Jimmy Jacobs with some sort of Fireman's Carry move but ate a superkick from Lethal. It will be interesting to see what ROH is willing to do with the Hoopla Hottie in terms of actual interference in matches, rather than just distractions. Selezyia is pretty jacked, so maybe we'll see the hotties teaming together in Women of Honor action soon.
TRIPLE THREAT ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. SCUM (Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton)- 4/10
Nowhere near acceptable for it's place on the card. The match only went seven minutes, there was very little real storytelling going on, the finish was poorly executed (there was no way that Kyle's shoulder weren't down as well). This is an ROH World Tag Team Title match! It needs to be better.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy (w/Steve Corino)- 6.75/10
Very violent with a lot of good weapons spots, but I was expecting a lot more out of this match. It felt like it ended ten minutes too soon. SCUM interfered to help Hardy but both during the match and after it, no one came out to help Steen, showing that the ROH locker room still doesn't trust or like him.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Mark Briscoe- 7/10
A very disappointing match. Probably the second-worst match these two have had together (and the only one worse than it was an HDnet match... and it wasn't worse by much).
I hated the spot where they both worked together to set up the table. THERE WAS NO REASON FOR A F*CKING TABLE IN THIS MATCH! And Mark elbow-dropping Jay through the table should have caused a DQ. Superkicking someone so that he falls off of the apron and through the table is unintentional. Putting someone through a table and elbow-dropping them through it is not! I was also very unhappy with Mark kicking out at one after the second Jay Driller. Someone kicking out at one (especially on a finisher) is the sort of thing that should happen MAYBE once a year. This was the second time it happened on this show. Jay's title reign has been a big disappointment so far.
iPPV issues aside, this show was good, but most of the top matches did not deliver like they should have. Ciampa and Elgin definitely stole the show here, and after this disappointing performance, I'd be surprised if Jay's title reign lasts past the next iPPV. I am also quite perplexed about the booking of SCUM. I figured they would either get pinned (so they could put the champs over before leaving if they lose Steel Cage Warfare tomorrow) or take the titles (to either set up their dominance of the company with a win tomorrow, or as a way to keep the angle going if they lose Steel Cage Warfare), but neither of those happened. We should have some very interesting TV ahead of us, but between the stream issues and the lack of ROH-level main events, I probably won't buy the next one.