Jordan’s ROH Best in the World 2017 Review
ROH Best in the World 2017 Review
The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia) vs. Ultimo Guerrero and El Terrible
My Thoughts: While this wasn’t necessarily the best match, I did find myself enjoying it for what it was. It was a lot of dives and Terrible and Guerrero hitting their spots, which was honestly fun to watch. It was a solid opener, nothing out of the box but it did its job of getting the crowd into it. I questioned it being the opener (let alone on the card) but it ended up being a pretty good choice.
Rating: **3/4
Hangman Page vs. Frankie Kazarian in a Strap Match
My Thoughts: First off, I like that this wasn’t a traditional strap match. Both men had their own strap and they weren’t bound to each other. This was great. The violence was turned up, the hatred poured through, and they did an excellent job with the stipulation given. I ended up really enjoying this overall. They came up with some great spots involving the straps and that nail and thumbtack covered strap was a great touch and made the match even more violent. Also, I commend Page for the shit he took in this match like the suplex on the stairs and being flipped off the apron onto the exposed floor. Both men put in a great effort and must’ve been really feeling the pain after this was over. The main two things I do question though is the Rite of Passage kickout and Kaz winning. They never know what to do with Page which sucks because they’ll give him a big win and then just push him to the side. Kaz winning the feud does nothing for Kaz but it’s whatever.
Rating: ***1/2
The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Rhett Titus, Kenny King, and Shane Taylor) vs. Search and Destroy (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jonathan Gresham, and Jay White) where the Losing Team has to Disband
My Thoughts: I expected a lot more from this. There were points when it was fun but it just felt kind of dead a lot of the times. I can’t knock it too much because it was all action and a bunch of enjoyable spots, but overall I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this match because they couldn’t get me invested and that’s probably because both of these stables are pointless and don’t do anything for me. There was no drama whatsoever and the crowd just couldn’t get into this, probably for the same reason as me. This wasn’t bad by any means, it was solid at a wrestling standpoint and that’s the best I can say about it. The right team won, even though it was barely the right team, because The Rebellion is a dumbass gimmick that deserved to be over with.
Rating: **3/4
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young
My Thoughts: After a somewhat slow beginning, this really got going and it became very enjoyable. What Lethal does a good job at is making a match feel important and that’s what he did here and Silas rose to the occasion as well. Silas doesn’t get enough credit and ROH needs to pull the trigger on him some point soon because he’s been at this for a while and he’s getting up there in age. I didn’t like the finish at all, especially after the match we were getting which was a very good one, but it seems they definitely want to continue this feud, which is fine but I hope Silas wins it because Lethal doesn’t necessarily have to. This was easily the best match on the show thus far.
Rating: ***3/4
The Briscoes & Bully Ray (C) vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys for the ROH 6 Man Tag Team Championship
My Thoughts: I didn’t find this very entertaining, in fact I was actually quite bored watching this. The only part I did find enjoyable about this was Bully Ray doing the Dalton Castle pose. This just never grabbed my attention or interest. I like Dalton Castle but it’s honestly just the same match over and over with him, and the same goes for The Briscoes as a team at this point and Bully Ray at this point. I had no interest in any of these men going in if I’m being honest and maybe that affected by opinion on the match, but this just did nothing for me.
Rating: **
KUSHIDA (C) vs. Marty Scurll for the ROH Television Championship
My Thoughts: This was an absolutely awesome match, far better than their first encounter. I thought both men put forth a great effort in a match that wasn’t too out of the water, which I love. While I do love the occasional finisher kick-out, strong style battle, these are the best kinds of matches in my book. They actually had me thinking Scurll would win the title back when he locked in the Chicken Wing. KUSHIDA did an excellent job at making it look like he might tap. I also loved the vicious stomps, elbows, etc.. KUSHIDA breaking Scurll’s finger was a really nice touch as well. These are really two of the best in world, one of the best heels out there and one of the best faces out there. I’d love a third encounter between these two at some point.
Rating: ****
The Young Bucks (C) vs. War Machine vs. The Best Friends in a Three Way Tornado Tag Team Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship
My Thoughts: At first I was skeptical over The Best Friends being added to this match last minute because I was really looking forward to the Bucks/War Machine match, but they ended up making this match really exciting. It was all balls to the wall, fast paced, fun action. The Tornado Tag stipulation is one of my favorites in wrestling because it just creates nonstop chaos which is what we got here. The Super German Suplex from Trent to Hanson was insane. Everyone had time to shine in this match and none of the teams lost anything in this one and we still have a future Bucks/War Machine big encounter on hand since that didn’t end up happening here and neither Hanson nor Rowe took the fall.
Rating: ****
Christopher Daniels (C) vs. Cody for the ROH World Championship
My Thoughts: This was a match that main evented a Best in the World event. It was fine, not spectacular but pretty solid. The ref bump wasn’t necessary and if it was going to happen it happened way too early on. The interference from Scurll and Kazarian wasn’t necessary but it happened. The chair shenanigans weren’t necessary but they happened. The highlight of the match was the table spot. Daniels performed well but overall I just wasn’t a big fan of this. Cody has proven since leaving WWE that he just isn’t outstanding in these big match situations. He doesn’t put on bad performances, just not great performances. I’m really scared about the possibility of Cody winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. It was annoying the shit out of me the whole time that they were heavily cheering Cody and booing Daniels. The finish was also too sudden and was really flat.
Rating: ***
Overall Thoughts: Overall, this was was a pretty solid event with two above average matches in KUSHIDA/Scurll and Bucks/War Machine/Best Friends and a very good match in Lethal/Young. Unfortunately there was a just decent main event and three under 3 star matches.
Overall Rating: 6/10
