For all of Ring of Honor’s problems, they are on a bit of a roll when it comes to big shows. Their PPVs very rarely fail to impress, and they will usually have at least one or two gems hidden away. Take Best In The World. While there was a lot of fluff on this card, it still had an exciting tag match between three of the best teams in the world and KUSHIDA vs. Scurll. So let’s get down to talking about it. Here are nine things we observed during Best In The World.
We Missed Colt Cabana
Colt Cabana’s colour commentary has been a genuine highlight of ROH in recent times. His sense of humour shines in that environment but his in-ring knowledge is also a blessing, and he’s great at emphasising the small things that make a match stand out. BJ Whitmer was not a bad replacement for him, in fact, he was perfectly fine, but he and Ian Riccaboni lacked the sparkle that makes a great commentary team. If you’d put Colt Cabana there, I don’t think that would have been the case.
Too Many Matches Where We Didn’t Care
I am at best a casual follower of Ring Of Honor so this might be partly my own fault, but there were too many matches here where I just didn’t give a shit. Taven and Marseglia vs. Guerrero and El Terrible, Search and Destroy vs. The Rebellion and Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young all felt bush league and not worthy of a spot on an ROH PPV. None of these matches completely flopped but they were utterly forgettable, and in a promotion with the in-ring pedigree of ROH, that isn’t good enough.
Hangman Page And Kazarian Exceed Expectations
Going into Hangman Page and Kazarian’s Strap Match I had, well no expectations at all to be honest, but if I had they would have been mediocre at best. However, Page and Frankie went out there and had a fun little brawl. Not being strapped together seemed to help them in building this match and they were able to do more because of it. While I could have probably done without the rather horrific nail filled strap, it was still easier to watch that the spit spot from their last match. You might not remember it next year, but this was a good sprint from two solid hands.
Jay Lethal Spins His Wheels
There was a time when calling Jay Lethal the best wrestler in the world wasn’t that ridiculous a claim to make. The former ROH World Champion had one hell of a run going for a while, and the matches backed that up. Since he lost that title, though, Jay’s career appears to have stalled. His fight with Silas Young was a great example of this. It was just there. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either, and you expect better from a guy this talented. It looks like the feud is set to continue and let’s cross our fingers and hope that Lethal rediscovers that spark.
Dalton Castle Is Over
And when I say over I mean really over. Castle is not your standard ROH character, in reality, he’d be much better suited to WWE than ROH’s wrestling heavy product. However, the guy can go, and his flamboyant persona is paying off. He and The Boys winning the Trio’s belts was are all very well and good, and the match was alright, but I worry that Ring of Honor is missing something here. Dalton should be in the main event picture, and I’d go as far as saying he’d be a far better option for the top belt than their new champion. If ROH isn’t careful, he could soon become another star that they let get away.
KUSHIDA Does It Again
KUSHIDA is on a hot streak right now, and while his match with Marty Scurll wasn’t up to the level of his recent efforts with Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi, it was still a terrific contest. It was a back and forth fight, and KUSHIDA’s new aggressive side played well with The Villian’s finger snapping antics. It’s a shame to see Scurll’s nice run with the title come to an end but Marty is good enough for it not to effect him and KUSHIDA holding onto the belt allows his redemption story to spread into Ring of Honor as well.
Tag Team Chaos
I was looking forward to The Young Bucks and War Machine, so I was a little bit disappointed when The Best Friends were added to the match. However, I shouldn’t have worried as the usual Buck related chaos exploded. I love The Bucks whatever they’re doing, but War Machine are quickly becoming their perfect opponents as the big men show a level of athleticism that is quite frankly unfair. I don’t see a lot of Chuck Taylor, but I know that every other man in this match is having a fantastic year and this encounter did nothing to persuade me that that won’t continue.
Beretta Continues To Shine
Talking of which, Beretta is low key having a brilliant year. He and Rocky Romero have put on some fantastic tag matches in New Japan, and he’s been a huge part of that. He’s got a little bit of everything to his game, and whether he’s selling or doing comedy, he’s currently a guaranteed good match if you have him on your card. Beretta is unlikely to be on many people’s end of year lists, but he is still worthy of all the praise.
Cody Does It Again
By which I mean he completely fails to shine. In the last month, Cody has been in the ring with Mike Elgin and Christopher Daniels, two super workers, and both times he’s dragged them down. I don’t like saying it, but the guy still fails to impress me. And I want him to be good too, I want him to be great in fact. It’s more and more apparent that he’s set to be a part of the wrestling I love and on top of that, he seems to be a genuinely good bloke. Sadly, no amount of wishing will change the fact Mr Rhodes is yet to impress, and we’re still very much in the ‘if he pins Okada I sulk’ camp.
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