ROH Best in the World 2014
ROH Best in the World 2014 (6/22/2014)- Nashville, TN
SIX MAN MAYHEM MATCH FOR A FUTURE SHOT AT THE ROH TV TITLE: Tommaso Ciampa vs. ACH vs. Watanabe vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Tadarius Thomas vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Adam Page)- 6.75/10
Just what an opener needs to be: Great action that gets the crowd into the show without doing too much. If I was a first-time viewer, I would definitely have great expectations for the rest of the show after seeing the action here.
Watanabe worked as a heel in this match. We'll see if that continues. They did a spot where Whitmer and Thomas were the two legal men, and Thomas wouldn't attack Whitmer, but Whitmer attacked Thomas. Adam Page was unhappy about this. Whitmer and Corino had a physical altercation at ringside after the match.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH WITH TRUTH MARTINI HANDCUFFED TO RINGSIDE: Jay Lethal(c) (w/Truth Martini & Selezyia) vs. Matt Taven- 6/10
The idea of handcuffing Truth to ringside was that it would prevent him from distracting Taven or interfering... so Lethal and Truth just brought a second person to ringside. Shouldn't ROH have banned Selezyia from ringside?
The story of this match was Taven trying to get at Truth, but the House of Truth would always stop him. At one point Taven took both Lethal and Selezyia out with a dive, but Truth paid off ROH Head of Security Jay Diesel to defend him. Taven took Diesel out with a superkick, but he blocked a chairshot first so he got to look a little impressive. Selezyia eventually just used brute strength to rip off the handcuffs and she and Truth ran for the back. Taven was pinned soon after, with the implication being that if he was totally focused on winning the match instead of getting revenge on Truth, he could have won the title. Major props to ROH for actually not having the guy handcuffed to the ringpost interfere in the match for once.
SUBMISSION MATCH: Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong (w/Adam Page & Tadarius Thomas)- 7.5/10
Cedric did a tope which looked like it took Roddy's head clean off. Roddy responded with a sick backbreaker on the apron and continued to work over Cedric's back. Cedric tried a bunch of different submissions (mostly targeting the neck) but couldn't get the win, so he changed strategies and hit Roddy's backbreaker onto the turnbuckle, then hit the Lumbar Check (the move similar to one of Roddy's which started this whole feud), then made Roddy tap to his own Stronghold.
THE BRISCOES vs. MATT HARDY & MICHAEL BENNETT - 7.5/10
Belt shot for DQ.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: The Briscoes vs. Matt Hardy & Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis & Nick Searcy).
This started as a regular match, but the heels got DQed pretty early on when Matt hit one of the Briscoes with the belt that used to be Jay's version of the ROH World Title. The fans chanted BS. Jays asked ROH Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness to come out and restart the match. Nigel did, and made it No DQs.
Everyone took a bunch of sick bumps. Searcy got physically involved, and even took a few moves, which I didn't expect. The Briscoes won after a bunch of offense on Matt, but Maria managed to run off with the belt, so Jay still hasn't gotten the belt back. Based on this, it seems like Matt Hardy going to TNA won't be a full-time thing.
LARRY MERCER & MANDY LEON INTERVIEW ROH'S NEWEST SIGNEE- it's Moose, whose used to be play in the NFL with the Falcons. He is your stereotypical humble inexperienced babyface. Veda Scott then shows up, shoos Mandy off, and talks up RD Evans. She then offers to bring Moose to the same level of success. Moose says he just wants to watch the show for, but he will be willing to talk to her later.
KEVIN STEEN vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.5/10
Steen hit the back of his head on the barricade early and Silas worked it over the rest of the match. I didn't expect Steen to pull out the victory here. Steen cut a good post-match promo putting Silas over. Silas accepted the handshake Steen offered, then jumped him from behind.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian- 8/10
Kaz and Daniels got a huge pop, as expected. The match was awesome. The fact that Daniels can still go as hard as he does at his age is nothing short of amazing. Bobby and Kyle took an early advantage by hitting Kaz in the arm with a chair, and they worked that arm over all match. Great selling by Kaz in his main show ROH debut.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Adam Cole(c) vs. Michael Elgin- 9/10
Huge pop for Elgin. His (involuntary) lack of mullet will take some getting used to. They told a great story of Elgin keeping his cool despite everything Cole has done to him and using his anger in a positive way. They also had some great callbacks to both the match where Cole beat Elgin to win the ROH World Title (at Death Before Dishonor XI) and the last time Elgin challenged Cole for the belt (in the main event of Final Battle 2013). Hardy and Bennett came out to help Cole, but War Machine came out to help Elgin. Maria also tried to interfere, but MsChif came out to take her out with the green mist. They had some great nearfalls, but when all was said and done, Michael Elgin finally put Cole down to win the ROH World Title. It was a big moment, and the perfect way to finish off such a big show for ROH.
This show was fantastic, with great wrestling from top to bottom, and some major moments as well. A great debut on live PPV for ROH.
SIX MAN MAYHEM MATCH FOR A FUTURE SHOT AT THE ROH TV TITLE: Tommaso Ciampa vs. ACH vs. Watanabe vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Tadarius Thomas vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Adam Page)- 6.75/10
Just what an opener needs to be: Great action that gets the crowd into the show without doing too much. If I was a first-time viewer, I would definitely have great expectations for the rest of the show after seeing the action here.
Watanabe worked as a heel in this match. We'll see if that continues. They did a spot where Whitmer and Thomas were the two legal men, and Thomas wouldn't attack Whitmer, but Whitmer attacked Thomas. Adam Page was unhappy about this. Whitmer and Corino had a physical altercation at ringside after the match.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH WITH TRUTH MARTINI HANDCUFFED TO RINGSIDE: Jay Lethal(c) (w/Truth Martini & Selezyia) vs. Matt Taven- 6/10
The idea of handcuffing Truth to ringside was that it would prevent him from distracting Taven or interfering... so Lethal and Truth just brought a second person to ringside. Shouldn't ROH have banned Selezyia from ringside?
The story of this match was Taven trying to get at Truth, but the House of Truth would always stop him. At one point Taven took both Lethal and Selezyia out with a dive, but Truth paid off ROH Head of Security Jay Diesel to defend him. Taven took Diesel out with a superkick, but he blocked a chairshot first so he got to look a little impressive. Selezyia eventually just used brute strength to rip off the handcuffs and she and Truth ran for the back. Taven was pinned soon after, with the implication being that if he was totally focused on winning the match instead of getting revenge on Truth, he could have won the title. Major props to ROH for actually not having the guy handcuffed to the ringpost interfere in the match for once.
SUBMISSION MATCH: Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong (w/Adam Page & Tadarius Thomas)- 7.5/10
Cedric did a tope which looked like it took Roddy's head clean off. Roddy responded with a sick backbreaker on the apron and continued to work over Cedric's back. Cedric tried a bunch of different submissions (mostly targeting the neck) but couldn't get the win, so he changed strategies and hit Roddy's backbreaker onto the turnbuckle, then hit the Lumbar Check (the move similar to one of Roddy's which started this whole feud), then made Roddy tap to his own Stronghold.
THE BRISCOES vs. MATT HARDY & MICHAEL BENNETT - 7.5/10
Belt shot for DQ.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: The Briscoes vs. Matt Hardy & Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis & Nick Searcy).
This started as a regular match, but the heels got DQed pretty early on when Matt hit one of the Briscoes with the belt that used to be Jay's version of the ROH World Title. The fans chanted BS. Jays asked ROH Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness to come out and restart the match. Nigel did, and made it No DQs.
Everyone took a bunch of sick bumps. Searcy got physically involved, and even took a few moves, which I didn't expect. The Briscoes won after a bunch of offense on Matt, but Maria managed to run off with the belt, so Jay still hasn't gotten the belt back. Based on this, it seems like Matt Hardy going to TNA won't be a full-time thing.
LARRY MERCER & MANDY LEON INTERVIEW ROH'S NEWEST SIGNEE- it's Moose, whose used to be play in the NFL with the Falcons. He is your stereotypical humble inexperienced babyface. Veda Scott then shows up, shoos Mandy off, and talks up RD Evans. She then offers to bring Moose to the same level of success. Moose says he just wants to watch the show for, but he will be willing to talk to her later.
KEVIN STEEN vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.5/10
Steen hit the back of his head on the barricade early and Silas worked it over the rest of the match. I didn't expect Steen to pull out the victory here. Steen cut a good post-match promo putting Silas over. Silas accepted the handshake Steen offered, then jumped him from behind.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian- 8/10
Kaz and Daniels got a huge pop, as expected. The match was awesome. The fact that Daniels can still go as hard as he does at his age is nothing short of amazing. Bobby and Kyle took an early advantage by hitting Kaz in the arm with a chair, and they worked that arm over all match. Great selling by Kaz in his main show ROH debut.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Adam Cole(c) vs. Michael Elgin- 9/10
Huge pop for Elgin. His (involuntary) lack of mullet will take some getting used to. They told a great story of Elgin keeping his cool despite everything Cole has done to him and using his anger in a positive way. They also had some great callbacks to both the match where Cole beat Elgin to win the ROH World Title (at Death Before Dishonor XI) and the last time Elgin challenged Cole for the belt (in the main event of Final Battle 2013). Hardy and Bennett came out to help Cole, but War Machine came out to help Elgin. Maria also tried to interfere, but MsChif came out to take her out with the green mist. They had some great nearfalls, but when all was said and done, Michael Elgin finally put Cole down to win the ROH World Title. It was a big moment, and the perfect way to finish off such a big show for ROH.
This show was fantastic, with great wrestling from top to bottom, and some major moments as well. A great debut on live PPV for ROH.