ROH 384 – Best In The World 2015 – 19th June 2015
Although Final Battle still retains its prominence in the annual Ring Of Honor calendar, since Sinclair took over the company Best In The World has been ‘their’ show. It was the first big iPPV following their takeover in 2011. In 2014 it was the launchpad for their first ever live nationwide pay-per-view, and the setting for a major championship switch when Elgin defeated Adam Cole. This probably is now considered ROH’s biggest ppv of the year – and it has a card befitting of that. The major foreign stars of New Japan have gone, but in their place is a line-up filled with well-promoted matches for the core roster, and plenty of stake for all competitors. The main event is a colossal event in ROH history as, for only the second time in thirteen years of existence, the World Title and secondary championship will be held by the same person when Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal put their respective titles on the line in the Battle Of The Belts. That should sell the show by itself, but I’m really hoping the undercard gets time to shine too. The Addiction defend the Tag Titles against reDRagon in a Tag Title Match. Moose, Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin lock horns in a triple threat to determine the new top contender to whomever wins the main event. Rivals ACH and Adam Page each bring a tag partner with them as their feud continues to develop, Mark Briscoe and Donovan Dijak have a score to settle in the opening match…and perhaps the pick of the undercard bouts sees a rematch from War Of The Worlds 2015 with The Kingdom’s Adam Cole, Michael Bennett and Matt Taven facing AJ Styles and the Young Bucks of the legendary Bullet Club. We are in Manhattan, NY – back at Terminal 5 despite all the criticism it got from live fans following Final Battle 2014. It still looks really cool on TV, although very apparent that some of the lines of sight once you get past the front row or so are terrible.
On a fraction of the budget, the Briscoe/Lethal pre-PPV hype video is genuinely on a comparable level to the kind of videos WWE produces for their major events.
Donovan Dijak vs Mark Briscoe
This could be considered a throwaway filler match, or an excuse to shoehorn 2015 Top Prospect Tournament winner Donovan Dijak onto the card. Therefore Delirious and Ring Of Honor deserve credit for dropping in a reason for us to care about this one. Both men were part of the inaugural Ring Of Honor on Destination America main event – and in the aftermath of that Dijak took Mark out on the floor with his devastating Feast Your Eyes finishing move. Briscoe was furious and wants payback, and has been granted a chance to do just that on pay-per-view this evening.
The turnbuckle pads are emblazoned with the Best In The World logo which is a nice touch. Dijak lands the first major blow, but quickly finds himself getting outfoxed by the usual antics of the younger Briscoe brother. Finally Donovan catches Briscoe looking for a crossbody off the top…AND GIVES HIM A BODY SLAM STRAIGHT OVER THE TOP ROPE! The commentators bash Dijak for not having any regard for his opponent’s safety, and it is apparent that Briscoe has suffered a back injury that is really slowing him down. He lands the Uncle Mule Kick but stays down on the ground clutching it in agony. Truth Martini tries to brandish the Book Of Truth…so ODB grabs it and destroys it! BLOCKBUSTER OFF THE APRON BY MARK! That battered old Book Of Truth has been around for like five years! Back inside the ring Briscoe thinks about his fisherman buster only for his back to give out on him again. SPRINGBOARD CROSSBODY by Dijak gets 2! Feast Your Eyes blocked, then countered to a brainbuster! BACK SELLING FROGGY BOW! Mark wins at 08:57
Rating - *** - If Donovan Dijak really is Ring Of Honor’s top prospect then I query the decision to have him lose here, but overall I found this a rather enjoyable way to open the show. They didn’t go overboard but still packed in a few really memorable spots, a decent job selling a body part by Mark Briscoe, the destruction of the Book Of Truth and a popular victory to gear the crowd up for the evening’s proceedings. I like Dijak and he has an obvious upside. I want to see him decide what kind of character he wants to be now. Is he a killer – in which case he needs to stop all the smirking and posing which makes him come off like a jackass and dial up the intensity. Or if he wants to be an arrogant, posing showman then he needs to dial up the charisma and really commit to it. At the moment he is stuck somewhere in the middle making it hard for audiences to relate to him.
BJ Whitmer/Adam Page vs Matt Sydal/ACH
This match is the latest instalment in the rivalry between Adam Page and ACH. Page is jealous of the opportunities Ring Of Honor management have given to ACH over the years – booking him into big matches against almost every major name to come through the promotion. But he has failed to win many big matches, and Page now believes it is his turn to get some of those chances having now spent years struggling at the very bottom of the card and serving a tough apprenticeship within The Decade. He brings his ‘mentor’ BJ Whitmer to the ring with him, and comes in confident having earned consecutive, albeit controversial, wins over ACH in San Antonio and Hopkins. ACH will team with Matt Sydal once again – and as an ROH star from back in the day who left for the WWE then came back after being released, Sydal is the very embodiment of what The Decade was founded to stand against…
Whitmer hurls abuse at Sydal, then pisses everyone off by refusing to let ACH start with Page. Page himself makes it clear he wants no part of wrestling ACH but is happy to get in the ring and mouth off to Sydal…who promptly gives him a spinning heel kick to the face. Smart wrestling from Page as he smashes Matt’s bad leg into the canvas, and given his lengthy history of knee and leg injuries The Decade quickly start to target that body part. Reborn lands one of his signature double knee drops soon after, yet is apparently so injured he is barely able to crawl over and tag ACH. Colby Corino starts choking ACH in the corner as his momentum comes to a halt. The Decade again show a great tactical mindset as they slow the match right down to negate ACH’s explosiveness. The only exception to that is Page landing the shooting star tackle from the apron to the floor as ACH stumbles round in a semi-conscious stupor. SLINGSHOT somersault rana by Sydal! Slice/standing moonsault combo gets 2. SYDAL PRESS! Colby pulls Page out of the ring to save the match! RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR by ACH! Inside the ring Page hits Rite Of Passage on Sydal for a massive win at 09:07
Rating - ** - Somewhat formulaic, which is disappointing given the talent on show here. Sydal abandoning selling the leg hurt the match every bit as much as Mark selling his back HELPED in the opener too. But, this one had some moments of real brilliance too. The Decade obviously used some shortcuts, but I really liked the fact that they wrestled like veterans and had obvious strategies devised for both opponents. I also loved Adam Page getting a huge, clean victory over an athlete of the calibre of Matt Sydal too. He has been ready to ‘step up’ for a long time…and after his car crash of a match with Will Ferrara in Nashville it was pleasing to see him regain his upward trajectory. I feel more excited to see the next ACH/Page match, which was the real point of this, although one can’t help but ponder at what a colossal waste of Sydal’s talent this is…
COMING SOON – Okada, Nakamura and Kushida are coming back to America later this summer, and will be appearing in ROH events in Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
This match is one of the few on the card which doesn’t have any hype or back-story, but thankfully it is still incredibly intriguing as we’ll see two polar opposite personalities collide in the ring. Young is the gruff, rough ‘Last Real Man’ of professional wrestling meaning he takes no nonsense, doesn’t enjoy shenanigans and is only here to fight, collect his check, then leave. Castle is a tough dude in his own right…but other than that these two could not be more different. He is a showman, a charismatic in-ring presence and an enigmatic personality which Young will find intolerable. This could be fun if they let them cut loose…
Castle dicks around during the Code Of Honor putting Young in a bad mood from the opening bell. As with so many of the Party Peacock’s opponents though, Silas finds himself unable to lay a glove on him as his maverick gimmick masks his immense in-ring skill. Killer Combo scores for Young, as the crowd descends into a rather surprising total silence. He clubs at the chest, back and neck of Castle – hardly the prettiest of offensive manoeuvres but devastatingly effective. With a little input from The Boys and a handful of trunks Dalton looks to make a comeback…dumping Young with an exploder suplex. Next he catches Silas coming off the top ropes to give him a capture belly to belly suplex for 2. Everest German is blocked…to allow the Last Real Man to hit a TURNBUCKLE DDT! SPEAR THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE FLOOR by Young! Somehow Dalton is up first from that (not sure that makes any sense!) and uses the extra recovery time he has to gear up for the apron-spin rana to the floor. Bang-A-Rang blocked! Misery blocked! EVEREST GERMAN gets 2! Castle wants to execute a top rope move only for Young to prevent him by shoving referee Todd Sinclair into the ropes. As Sinclair and Young argue, Dalton pounces with a low blow to score the win at 11:13
Rating - ** - There were some moments of genius, but for a match that put together two of Ring Of Honor’s more vibrant and memorable personalities everything about this felt so BORING. How can two men with such an obvious, inherent personality clash produce such a tedious, sluggish bout? They have both proven they can work decent matches with the right opponent, but here it never felt like they’d gotten to grips with their time allocation, or even what they were trying to achieve with their in-ring content. Young worked the neck for a while, but that sort of went nowhere. Dalton did a few of his usual party tricks, but more for the sake of doing them than because they made sense. The spot where Young speared Dalton to the floor, only for Castle to get up first so he could get his sh*t in right back was comically indy-riffic – and both men are far better than that. I hope Delirious persists with something of a feud between these guys as I’m sure they are capable of way better matches, but this didn’t click at all.
Young vents his frustration at the loss by hitting one of The Boys with Misery.
Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs War Machine
This week on television (or, if you prefer, back at Global Wars) we saw Cedric confront his career stagnation head-on. He acknowledged that he kept losing big matches, and looked to turn the ship around by challenging the then-undefeated Moose. It may have taken the use of a foreign object, but Alexander backed up his words by scoring a huge win to end Moose’s undefeated streak. Concerned at the apparent turn to the dark side that his former tag partner had displayed, and noticing his obvious growing frustration in 2015, Caprice has reached out to Cedric and set about reforming the C&C WrestleFactory tag team. Hoping to harness Cedric’s new-found momentum for good, he wants to win the Tag Titles they failed obtain during their previous run as a team – and that campaign starts tonight with a hell of a challenge against the imposing duo of Hanson and Ray Rowe.
Alexander stomps down the aisle, swats streamers away and looks thoroughly pissed off to immediately make you query how committed he is to this reunion. He attacks Hanson before the bell, then drives Rowe out of the ring into the path of the Coleman springboard moonsault. Such is Cedric’s intensity he gets into an argument with his own partner…and is then inadvertently kicked in the face by Caprice as Rowe gets involved. Cement Mixer on Coleman gets 2! Cartwheel Lariat nailed by Hanson! Alexander digs around under the ring and pulls out a wrench…but Caprice sees it and refuses to tag him! GERMAN SUPLEX BY ROWE! FALLOUT! War Machine win at 03:32
Rating - N/A - I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that this should probably have taken place on the TV show rather than pay-per-view...but other than that I really enjoyed the segment. It did a great job of continuing the story with Cedric Alexander that we began on television this week, and I thought Cedric himself carried that story very well – through his wrestling, his body language and his verbalisations. Caprice was the job guy as usual (but at least it made sense in this scenario) and War Machine got to look like big bad destroyers without becoming exposed in longer matches as sometimes happens to them. Not everything can be a 5* classic, and this segment broke up a rather serious, plodding and forgettable first hour of the show with some solid pro-wrestling drama…
Alexander struggles to keep his temper in check and restrain himself from decking Caprice with the wrench. He does eventually drop the weapon, but declares his friendship with Coleman over before turning his back and walking out on him.
Michael Elgin vs Moose vs Roderick Strong
The winner will be the new #1 contender to the World Title. Elgin looks to be the man to beat having strung together a number of impressive victories throughout the Road To Best In The World Tour, whilst both his opponents have had problems. Strong was pinned by Moose in the main event of the Collinsville tour event, whilst as we saw on TV this week, Moose just lost his undefeated streak to Cedric Alexander. It isn’t that long since Unbreakable rose to the very top of Ring Of Honor, and he looks to have recaptured the form which took him to the World Title a year ago at this very event.
Moose has a rather cool entrance complete with cheerleaders and personalised football gear. Little touches like that really add to the ‘big show aura’ which ROH can often lack. Elgin actually gets me to laugh out loud as well by sitting in the corner sulking as the fans chant for Strong and Moose. The pace is quick from the outset with both former World Champions struggling to get Moose off his feet. In fact the former football star is so confident he even works a Dusty Rhodes tribute into his normal routine! Finally Elgin gets him off his feet with a somersault plancha…then he steals a replica of the first ever ROH World Title belt for kicks. He is on top comedic form tonight! STALLING SUPLEX ON MOOSE! APRON BACKBREAKER BY STRONG! He then dropkicks Moose square in the face as he tries his top rope football tackle. Superplex nailed on Elgin, quickly followed by the same move on Moose in the opposite corner – whether he wanted to go or not. Perhaps he was able to block some of the impact of it in the process as he is soon back on his feet and decking Roddy with the Game Breaker. Elgin ducks the same move into a STALLING GERMAN! FRANKENSTEINER ON STRONG, INTO A MOONSAULT ON MOOSE! Has Michael Elgin been watching Special K/SAT matches from 2002? Death By Roderick gets 2 on Moose before Unbreakable breaks the fall. RIPCORD ELBOW! PUMPHANDLE BURNING HAMMER! I’m sure poor Kobashi would be turning his television off when he sees that sequence barely get a nearfall. More insane power from Elgin as he gives Moose the Buckle Bomb…only for Moose to NO SELL into the Rolling Spear for 2! POOOUUUUUUUUNCE ON STRONG! ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR BY MOOSE! Strong leapfrogs Moose spear but lands and gets back fisted by Elgin instead! Then as Elgin tires himself out repeatedly powerbombing the massive Moose, Roddy gets plenty of run-up before levelling him with the SICK KICK! END OF HEARTACHE! SICK KICK ON MOOSE! STRONG WINS! It’s a second loss for Moose, and it is Roderick Strong becoming #1 contender to the World Title in a time of 13:02
Rating - **** - I am well aware I am over-rating this match to an extent. But I like so few triple threat matches these days, and I so rarely find Ring Of Honor outwardly fun or unpredictable anymore – so the fact that these guys produced an extremely entertaining triple threat that I just never would have expected really makes me fond of it. Sure it was sloppy and at times Moose’s comparative lack of experience to the other two showed, but considering how outright AWFUL some of Moose’s early ROH matches were his improvement to this point is really impressive. In fact, considering how much praise Roderick Strong gets for his 2015, he was probably my least favourite part of this match. His skill, speed and control really carried the other guys and held it together, but I couldn’t help but be entertained by the rampant lunatic high spots of Moose or the bizarre, brutal, dark comedy of Elgin’s performance either. This had a lot of the qualities I really enjoyed from the Road To Best In The World Collinsville main event in that the execution wasn’t always flawless – but there was always such an intensity and dynamism to the action we were seeing. It was ugly at times, but so what? For the most part I felt like I was watching three guys buzzing from a big crowd on a major show doing whatever it takes to become #1 contender to the Ring Of Honor Championship. This could have been a really bad match, and I was genuinely surprised at quite how good it wound up being.
Much to the annoyance of Veda Scott, Moose shakes hands with and congratulates Roderick on his victory. Little Veda starts slapping Moose around…and just when he thinks about taking her out Cedric Alexander runs in to take out both Moose and Stokely Hathaway with his wrench.
Adam Cole/Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs AJ Styles/Young Bucks
This is a Kingdom vs Bullet Club rematch from Night 2 of War Of The Worlds 2015. It wasn’t exactly clean but on that night Cole, Bennett and Taven scored a huge victory over Styles and the Bucks. The match itself was an electrifying display of both wrestling skill and enormous egos, but at the end of the night it was The Kingdom who got the bragging rights. Don’t forget that Bennett and Taven have also travelled to New Japan to inflict more damage to the Bullet Club by taking the IWGP Tag Titles of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. Tonight on pay-per-view AJ and the Jacksons want payback…
Adam Cole’s sheer annoyance as the Bucks tell everyone to ‘suck it’ is a picture…and it gets even funnier as Matt Jackson simply walks across the ring and SUPERKICKS him off the apron! Maria Kanellis hops on the apron, prompting the Bullet Club to recall Philadelphia when they all superkicked the sh*t out of her. This time she serves her purpose well though as she causes them to miss a triple moonsault spot and eat a SUPERKICK TRIO from The Kingdom! TRIPLE TOPES by AJ and the Bucks! In a moment of brilliance Taven hits a springboard enzi to AJ’s knees as he tries to set up for the springboard elbow. OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX INTO THE APRON from Cole to Matt! Clearly realising they need to stop the relentless spot-play which favours their opponents, Adam tries to slow things down and start isolating Matt – injuring his back so much he actually pauses to sell it during a ‘suck it’ tirade. SUPERKICK BY MARIA! She deserved that after what happened to her at War Of The Worlds! Still selling the back, Matt finally gets a hot tag to AJ, who leaps OVER Taven to level Cole with the ‘Phenomenal Forearm’. TORNADO DDT TO THE FLOOR from Nick to Bennett! Bloody Sunday blocked! Florida Key blocked! Kevin Steen Cannonball from Nick to Cole! Adam escapes the Styles Clash and flees leaving the IWGP Tag Champions to wipe out Matt with the Backpack Bicycle Kick Stunner for 2. SUPERKICK DUEL! PANAMA SUNRISE ON STYLES! DOUBLE SUPERKICK ON COLE! AJ and Matt scoop up Bennett and Taven…for a DOUBLE INDY-TAKER! Again Maria wants to interject herself – this time by slapping AJ. EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S/PELE KICK COMBO ON MARIA! Cole is the last member of The Kingdom left standing, and is quickly planted with Bloody Sunday for 2. More Bang For Your Buck blocked! PELE DUCKED! SUPERKICK ON STYLES! SUPERKICK ON NICK! LEAPFROG INDY-TAKER ON COLE! STYLES CLASH! Bullet Club get their win at 14:58
Rating - **** - These two trios are completely fantastic in the ring together. If you were a fan of their War Of The Worlds match then you will certainly enjoy the successor here. Personally I slightly preferred the original which felt a tad more fluent and batsh*t insane – but there was a lot to like here. I particularly enjoyed how they took a lot of spots that they worked in the last match and progressed them – even incorporating that into Maria’s contributions as well. The amazing reality is that the Bucks are so good at this kind of match, and AJ is so fantastic no matter what style he’s asked to work, that I didn’t feel like the Bullet Club broke much of a sweat. My only criticism would be that I wish Kelly and Corino had made more reference to the last match. Booking AJ and the Young Bucks in Ring Of Honor is a HUGE deal. They are quite possibly THE biggest names on the American independent scene at the moment. Therefore the fact that The Kingdom beat them last time should have really been emphasised. Bullet Club’s need for revenge should have been made evident to the viewers watching on PPV. There was a little too much goofing off from the announce team here, and not enough of their actual job. I watch every show, so I’m not relying on them to spell out the stories for me. But many people don’t – and the commentators need to do a MUCH better job of helping them understand what they are watching.
Bennett and Taven appear to be giving Cole sh*t for losing the match. Bennett walks out on him carrying the unconscious body of his fallen wife.
The Addiction vs reDRagon – ROH Tag Title No DQ Match
The rivalry between these two teams has quickly escalated and become so personal that abandoning the rules appears to be the only way to settle it. Last year at Best In The World Daniels and Kazarian made their return to ROH, unsuccessfully challenging reDRagon for the Tag Titles. They would lose to them again later in the summer at Field Of Honor and generally started to lapse down the card; appearing to slip further out of title contention as the dominant reign of Fish and O’Reilly went from strength to strength. Desperate to recapture former glories, Daniels and Kaz hatched a devious plan involving red masks, goofy hacker videos and Chris Sabin – which all culminated in San Antonio when Sabin made his own return to ROH to help them dethrone reDRagon. The Addiction rubbed further salt into the wounds in Toronto at Global Wars when they insisted that reDRagon accept their contractually obligated rematch – despite the fact that Bobby Fish wasn’t even in the building…and even when O’Reilly accepted the challenge on his own they got themselves intentionally disqualified. Is tonight the night that reDRagon force the veterans to pay for their deceitful actions?
Is Daniels’ new ‘ring general’ entrance gear awesome or awful – I can’t quite decide? His new singlet is pretty ugly though. Having suffered at The Addiction’s hands more than most O’Reilly isn’t following the Code Of Honor and instead immediately takes Kazarian down into Arm-ageddon. The champs bludgeon Kyle to the ground with a ladder…it took less than a minute for weapons to come into play. Fish BODY SLAMS Daniels onto the same ladder! The fight spills up the aisle and into the stage, with O’Reilly back dropping Frankie OFF THE STAGE onto his own partner below. Having taken Kaz out for the time-being, reDRagon spend the next minute isolating the Fallen Angel. Fish wipes out poor Kazarian again with a somersault senton to the floor…and Frankie eats the floor mats yet again seconds later as Daniels misfires and takes him out with a poorly-aimed Arabian Press. RUNNING VAN DAM-INATOR DROPKICK OFF THE APRON by Kyle! That injures him almost as much as his opponents, and moments later when they fail to execute Chasing The Dragon Daniels makes him suffer with an STO-slam through an open chair. The champions use tape to attach Bobby to the ropes…then absolutely beat the snot out of him when he is completely defenceless. O’Reilly gets a razor blade from somewhere (are fans carrying them around or something), and Fish tries to cut himself free as The Addiction set up a section of guardrail between two open chairs on the floor. Best Moonsault Ever COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! FRANKIE BREAKS IT WITH A CHAIR TO THE FACE! T-GIMMICK INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Fish appears to have used wire cutters to finally free himself and arrives on the scene just in time to save O’Reilly from certain defeat. EXPLODER SUPLEX INTO THE LADDER! With Kazarian incapacitated again they scoop up Daniels for CHASING THE DRAGON ONTO A CHAIR! Chris Sabin runs in and drags Paul Turner out of the ring before he can count the pin! Celebrity Rehab finishes Fish at 15:30
Rating - **** - Maybe in a generous mood, but I really liked this match too. The No DQ stipulation lent itself to some unique variations on some of the traditional spots we normally see these teams work, and even though another BS finish was slightly disappointment you do at least have to admire Sinclair’s commitment to the angle by booking Chris Sabin simply for this one run-in. The truth is, we’ve seen these two teams wrestle a number of times over the past year. They’ve had matches with shady finishes, they’ve had clean finishes, and they’ve all generally been at about the same level of quality. They haven’t necessarily clicked to deliver a truly stellar, MOTYC-level match…but normally they are all good enough to produce something decent. This one was just another example of that – except with the added bonus of ladder and chair spots. What’s not to like?
SIDENOTE – Nigel McGuinness joins commentary for the main event…
Jay Briscoe vs Jay Lethal – ROH World Title vs ROH TV Title Match
It is important to note that this isn’t a ‘unification’ match, as Danielson vs McGuinness was in Liverpool back in 2006. The Television Championship will remain a separate accolade, meaning whomever walks out victorious will be a legitimate double champion and expected to defend both belts. The tension between these two has been brewing for an extremely long time. Briscoe hasn’t been pinned in years. Lethal is the longest reigning current champion in ROH by some distance. The TV Champion raised the ire of Briscoe by proclaiming his belt to be the ‘top prize’ in Ring Of Honor – and tempers boiled over during the Champions Challenge Match on the Conquest Tour. They’ve been on a collision course since then with numerous brawls, sneak attacks and promo segments. It all boils down to something quite simple – they both have genuine, plausible reasons to believe they are the ‘top man’ in Ring Of Honor right now…and they are both putting up their titles in a ‘Battle Of The Belts’ to prove it.
The full House Of Truth (Dijak, Diesel, Martini and a new Book Of Truth) had accompanied Lethal to ringside, but in the first minute Donovan threatens to get involved leading to both he and J. Diesel being ejected. Knowing that Briscoe likes to be aggressive, Lethal stalls as much as possible to throw him off his game. When things do get physical the TV Champion quite obviously looks to maintain an obvious wrestling match rather than get into a fight. But he has a notoriously short temper and soon after he throws the first punch he quickly finds himself on the outside being smeared into the metal guardrails. Jay L is the smaller and quicker of the two and tries to take advantage of that by hitting his tope trilogy. He nails too…then gets AMBUSHED with a Cactus clothesline by Briscoe! ELBOW SUICIDAAAAA by the World Champion! Just when he appears set to start dominating the fight Truth Martini trips him from the floor to hand Lethal his first serious offensive advantage of the contest. Wisely he slows the pace and keeps Briscoe grounded – with Briscoe only able to fight back when he returns to his feet and strings together a few punches. Rude Awakening scores, followed by a devastating full nelson slam to counter a wild Lethal Injection attempt. Briscoe cranks on Lethal’s neck to set up for the Jay Driller…but can’t execute his big finish at this juncture and sees himself put on the canvas once more following the Lethal Combination. Hail To The King nailed – after what seemed like an eternity in the corner – and this time floated into the Koji Clutch! It doesn’t force a submission but does leave Briscoe rolling to the apron clutching at his bad shoulder. Truth Martini is on the apron again, this time distracting the referee as Briscoe looks set to deliver a Jay Driller to the floor. Nigel McGuinness takes action and forcibly escorts Martini to the back for that. JAY DRILLER THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE! Is that the decisive blow? Lethal makes it back into the ring, but staggers around rubber legged into a ROARING ELBOW! Jay Driller blocked…LARIATOOOOO! The TV Champion is barely hanging on…but somehow delivers a SPRINGBOARD INJECTION! LETHAL INJECTION! BRISCOE KICKS OUT! LETHAL JAY DRILLER! LETHAL INJECTION AGAIN! NEW CHAMPION! Jay Lethal wins the World Title (and retains the TV Title) at 27:29
Rating - **** - Some of the MOTY hype for this seems a little over-enthusiastic, but considering they went almost half an hour at quite a methodical pace for the most part, it never felt dull and never failed to provide intense, gripping drama. My biggest gripe with this was that they introduced so many interesting thematic elements – like Lethal stalling, or Briscoe being aggressive to counteract Lethal’s tactics, or Briscoe working the neck to set up the Jay Driller, or Lethal attacking the champ’s bad shoulder…but none of them really went anywhere. They had some great ideas, but I didn’t see anything really fleshed out to become a core, focal point of the match. As a result we were left with half an hour 'look how tough we are' showcase, which was certainly good, but always had me pondering how much BETTER this could have been. I will say that, having gone undefeated since 2013, I loved how this match really emphasised the importance of the Jay Driller as a finishing manoeuvre. All match it was clear that if Briscoe could execute the move it was game over. He did it through a table having previously been on the cusp of defeat following Hail To The King and the Koji Clutch…and was instantly on the brink of winning as a result. His inability to deliver the move to Lethal inside the ring was perhaps the defining reason for his loss. Hell, it was even that move which finally took Lethal to the cusp of victory – after his own finishing moves had failed. The reverence with which the Driller was treated was awesome. In one match they embodied precisely why Briscoe had gone so long without a loss – and in avoiding it, then using it himself, Lethal demonstrated why HE was the man able to succeed where so many others had failed.
Tape Rating - **** - This was a really strong pay-per-view. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch though – the main event has been over-rated in some quarters, two of the matches I had at 4* were pretty generously rated and the first hour (as usual on ROH shows) was totally pointless. However, Delirious mapped out a card where almost all the matches had something riding on it, and the whole event had urgency and purpose for the duration. He allowed his main event, billed as the most important title match in Ring Of Honor history, plenty of time to flourish – plus he also didn’t ruin it with a hundred Russo-esque run-ins like has so often been the case. Perhaps most crucially, he booked all the big guns on the undercard (the likes of Roddy, Elgin, the Bucks, The Addiction, reDRagon, Styles and The Kingdom) into prominent spots where they could deliver the kinds of matches they’ve built their reputations on. This is almost certainly ROH’s best live pay-per-view thus far – and a major step forward after the disastrous 13th Anniversary Show
Top 3 Matches
3) Roderick Strong vs Michael Elgin vs Moose (****)
2) AJ Styles/Young Bucks vs Adam Cole/Michael Bennett/Matt Taven (****)
1) Jay Briscoe vs Jay Lethal (****)