ROH Best In The World PPV Review

ROH Best In The World 2014 Review

It's Ring of Honor's PPV debut live in Nashville, Tennessee! The show opens up with a Six Man Mayhem Match with the winner earning a TV Title shot!

1) Tomasso Ciampa vs. BJ Whitmer vs. ACH vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Tadarius Thomas vs. Watanabe - Six Man Mayhem #1 Contender's Match for TV Title

This bout started off with a nice exchange between Ciampa and ACH, but other men soon started tagging in. ACH stayed in for the majority of the match then the whole thing broke down into insanity. Watanabe and Ciampa had a stiff strike exchange that left Ciampa with a busted mouth, but he perservered and even hit an uncharacteristic dive over the top rope! ACH was the highlight of the match however as he hit an amazing dive springboarding off the second rope onto three competitors then he headed back in the ring and delivered a 450 splash on Thomas for the victory! Awesome opening match!

Match rating - 7.5/10

2) Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven - ROH TV Title Match

Taven and Lethal have fantastic chemistry together so it was no surprise to me when these guys put on a great match. The Truth Martini situation was handled very well and it was actually one of the high points of the match for me. Taven got into a confrontation with a security guard who Truth paid for protection which led to Taven superkicking the crap out of the guy! This distraction however ended up costing Taven the match as it gave Lethal time to recover. Lethal hits the Lethal Injection for the victory. Good match!

Match rating - 7/10

3) Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong - Submission Match

I'm a big fan of both men along with this storyline so I was looking forward to his match. Needless to say, it didn't disappoint. Early on in the match, Strong hit a huge backbody drop on Alexander on the apron. This led to Strong targeting the back of Cedric throughout the match. These guys used some unique submissions that I hadn't seen before so kudos to them for being innovative. Another highlight was the ending where Alexander & Strong were on the top rope and Alexander slammed Strong on the top turnbuckle! Then Alexander made Roderick Strong tap it to his own submission move, the strong hold! Great match and looks like this feud will continue!

Match rating - 8/10

4) The Briscoes vs. Matt Hardy & Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) - No Disqualification Match

Hardy & Bennett got themselves disqualified early on which led to Nigel McGuinness making the bout a No DQ match. That was a damn good decision because this match was awesome! Tables, ladders, chairs - they were all used here in excellent fashion. Action packed, crazy war between these two teams. There were some brutal slams through steel chairs and a dive off the top rope through a table, but the most amazing spot was the ending. Briscoe suplexed Matt Hardy off the top of a ladder through a table - insane bump! As said before, awesome match!

Match rating - 9/10

5) Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young

Really good match here between Young and Steen. The crowd was a bit burnt out after that amazing tag team TLC match, but they still gave Steen an awesome reaction. Silas Young also got a lot of heat. It looked as if Steen hurt the back of his heard early on as he was slammed into the railing so that gave Silas a bit of an advantage. Although this match was pretty back and forth for the most part. Very entertaining match in which Steen came out victorious.

Match rating - 7/10

After the match, Steen put over Silas as a good wrestler and they shook hands only for Silas Young to attack Steen again. Steen said he had a month and a half left in his contract so it looks like the feud with Silas Young will continue. I'm happy with that because I feel these guys are capable on putting on even better matches.

6) ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) - ROH World Tag Team Championship Match

I was so hyped for this match. It was so awesome seeing Daniels back in an ROH ring, he is just as crisp as he was back in the day. This was a great match, but the crowd was really burnt out at this point so that hurt it a bit. The action in this was amazing though and they started bringing the crowd back into it near the end. This was really good, but I think if given another opportunity to work together, they could create a classic! None the less, fantastic match!

Match rating - 8.5/10

7) Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin - ROH World Championship Match

I figured this match would be good, but these guys blew me away! The action, the drama, the storytelling - this one had all the makings of a classic and that's just what it was. Elgin and Cole went back & forth for nearly 30 minutes as they battled for the ROH World Championship. This was without a doubt the match of the night and will go down as one of the best & memorable matches in ROH history. A phenomenal story was told and the action kept me on the edge of my seat, this was an epic main event!

Match rating - 9.5/10

Overall thoughts: Awesome PPV - plain and simple. Ring of Honor delivered in every way here in their live PPV debut. They have a roster LOADED with talent and that showed here because every single match on the card was quality. There weren't any weak matches on the show and everyone delivered. The best matches of the night were The Briscoes vs Hardy & Bennett and Cole vs. Elgin. If you missed this epic event, I definitely recommend checking it out! It was outstanding!