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Ring Of Honor “Best In the World” 2017 Review – Cody on Top of The World

BySteph Franchomme

Jun 25, 2017 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The eighth edition of Best in the World, took place in Lowell, Massachusetts this friday. All Ring of Honor titles were on the line and not only ROH Stars were on the card, but also Japan’s NJPW and Mexico’s CMLL. And it was time for revenge…

After losing in a three-way match, Cody will this time go on a one-on-one against The Fallen Angel for the ROH World Championship. Marty Scurll will try to regain the ROH World Television Championship he lost to NJPW Superstar and current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida. And a Superkick party is announced for the ROH Tag Team match as the Young Bucks put their titles on the line against War Machine.

PRE-SHOW

6-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: Flip Gordon & Coast 2 Coast (Shaheem Ali & Leon St. Giovanni) defeated Cheeseburger & The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu)

WOMEN OF HONOR Tag Team Match: Kris Wolf and Sumie Sakai defeated Deonna Purrazzo and Mandy Leon

SHOW

Tag Team Match: Team CMLL (Ultimo Guerrero & El Terrible) defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia) (w/TK O’Ryan)

The Kingdom made a grand entrance as Taven was sitting in a throne dressed like a King while Marseglia appeared chained to a stretcher, dressed like Jason from Friday the 13th. A new version of The Beauty and The Beast ? Maybe in the ring too…

Marseglia and Terrible started the match with loads of kicks and locks, and even with a bit of biting. Terrible continued with kicks and chops in the corner on Marseglia. Taven came to work Terrible and put him on the floor. Terrible and Guerrero went on the outside to send Taven onto a barricade. TK O’Ryan, that wasn’t too far from action, used his crutches to get in a cheap shot on Terrible and put him down. Meanwhile in the ring, Guerrero hit a clothesline and a handstand dropkick on Marseglia. Taven countered a new attempt of dropkick with a superkick of his own on Guerrero and a double shotgun on El Terrible who’s sent over the top rope on the outside.

Action continued with suicide dives by Team CMLL. Taven and Marseglia hit the same combo, even adding a backpack/dropkick combo back while in the ring for a near fall. Marseglia hit a senton on Guerrero, near fall again. But when Marseglia tried to pull Taven back into the ring as Terrible was pulling him out (he doesn’t need to be stretched taller…), Guerrero took advantage of the distraction to get the roll-up for the win.

Strap Match: Frankie Kazarian defeated Hangman Page

As the rules are on a Strap Match, both men were tied to each other by their wrists. Page seemed to control early in the match, but Kazarian quickly whipped him with the strap to the back and slammed him outside with a hurricanrana. Page then sent Kazarian into the barricades three times until Kazarian finally suplexed Page on the stage steps. Brutal but great…

Kazarian tied Page to the top rope to hit him on the back. Page answers with a slingshot lariat and grounded punches. He got rid of Kazarian’s strap and whipped him with the freed strap over and over. Page then used the strap to tie Kazarian up by the hands and lock him up in the ropes. Page kept on working on Kazarian’s back and chest, with Kazarian asking for more. Page then got out of the apron another strap with nails and thumbtacks on it.

A hands-free Kazarian attacked Page and hit a slingshot, a cutter and a lungblower, not enough to get rid of Page. Page connected with the Rite of Passage but Kazarian kicked out. Page then grabbed the harcore strap to slash Kazarian’s back twice. A back-bleeding Kazarian grabbed the vicious strap finally and hung the Hangman with it on the first rope. Page had no choice but to tap out.

The Losing Team MUST Disband 8-Man Tag Team Match: Search & Destroy (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jonathan Gresham & Jay White) defeated The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Rhett Titus, Kenny King & Shane Taylor)

The match started right when the teams came to the ring, exhanging looks of hate and blows at ringside. Action was everywhere in and outside the ring.

Gresham and Coleman started the match in the ring, but Search and Destroy quickly came in to work on Coleman. Coleman then got Gresham down, but the whole Rebellion came to fight him off. Rhett Titus and Jay White were brawling outside as King and Gresham were in the ring. As Gresham was unable to tag in a member of his team as they were all out on the floor, he continued to get beat down by Coleman who got him down with three rolling suplexes. Gresham was finally able to tag White who attacked all his opponents placed in each corner in a rushing squared circle of big elbows.

Motor City Machine Guns Shelley and Sabin loaded their heavy machinery on White thanks to multiple superkicks, a drop kick/DDT combo, followed by a superkick/german suplex for a near fall. Coleman and Titus then splashed White in the corner and hit a high leg drop, Shelley and Sabin broke the pin attempt. Taylor hit a splash on White from the second rope for another near fall. Shelley, Sabin, Gresham and White finally gained momentum and each member of the team could put their opponent in a submission hold of their own for the win.

Complex match, not easy to follow, as too many mess in and outside the ring killed the pleasure of watching…

After the match, Punishment Martinez attacked Search and Destroy and hit a sit-out chokeslam on White.

Singles Match: Jay Lethal defeated Silas Young (w/ The Bruiser)

Lethal arrived from the crowd and hit straight The Bruiser with a chair. Lethal then focused on Young, as The Bruiser was helped to the back, sending him into the barricade a few times. Lethal then hit a suplex on Young from the barricade to the floor but missed a elbow drop off the barricade.

Back in the ring, Young worked on Lethal’s chest but Lethal came back. Each wrestler counterd the attempt of suplex from the other, but Lethal finally hit Young with a kick to the back of the head and a stalled suplex for a near fall. Lethal then sent Young to the floor with a powerful superkick, loaded two suicide dives on Young who smashed into the barricade. The third time a chair was involved.

Both guys were recovering outside and came back to the ring at the ultimate second. Each man hit hard punches and strikes. Lethal was back with an attempt of Lethal injection, a superkick and an elbow drop from the top rope, not enough to make Young relinquish. Young rallied with a backbreaker and a figure-four leg lock, followed by a big boot, a suplex and a knee to the face. Lethal was still there and Young had to bring the beer keg. The referee tried to stop Young who pushed him back. Young went for the pin but earned a two-count, Lethal reversed the roll to get the three-count.

After the match the Bruiser came back to stomp on Lethal. Young hit Lethal with the Misery on the keg (hope the keg was empty because the beer would be full of foam…). Young then trapped him in the corner as the Bruiser splashed him right up against the keg three times. Lethal was then put on a table, Bruiser hit a frog splash from the top rope breaking the table and Lethal at the same time.

Not a bad match, but The Bruiser had nothing to do there (as well as the beer keg…)

ROH World 6 Man Tag Team Championships Match : Dalton Castle & The Boys (brent and Brendan tate) defeated Bully Ray & The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) to become the new ROH World 6 Man Tag Team Champions

After a glowing peacock-feathered entrance by the Liberace of ROH, Jay Briscoe attacked The Boys. Mark Briscoe tagged in to take care of Castle but The Boys jumped to protect Castle. Later Castle tried to hit Bully with some chops to the chest, with zero effect.

Bully answered with some punches but Castle offered him the Peacock Pose, for the crowd’s absolute pleasure. Bully tried his own Peacock Pose in front of an angry Castle who tagged in The Boys. Bully dropped them down and tagged in Jay but The Boys quickly rallied to attack him. Castle came back with a massive dropkick on Jay sitting on the top rope. But Jay rallied to send Castle face first to the mat from the top rope. Mark then attacked The Boys with chops and a death valley driver. Castle got in, Mark hit a fisherman suplex, attempt of pin broken by The Boys. Bully rushed to connect with a gorilla press on one of The Boys. Jay jumped on The Boys on the outside as Bully was asking for tables. But Jay was not ready to listen to Bully and answer his call as he grabbed a chair, threw it at one of The Boys, but missed his chance on the other Boy who ran off. Castle in the ring got the benefits from the distraction and was able to roll up Mark Briscoe for the win.

Another messy match, Castle is definitely a marvel of a wrestler but on his own.

ROH World Television Championship Match: KUSHIDA (c) defeated Marty Scurll

Scurll refused the handshake from the ROH and NJPW champion KUSHIDA. The first minutes of the match went at such a quick it would be difficult to describe them. Kushida tried an arm submission on Scurll who rushed to the ropes. Kushida hit multiple kicks on Scurll’s back, Scurll answered with a chicken wing. With Kushida sent outside, Scurll worked the arm and shoulder of Kushida. But Kushida rallied and hit a rolling heel. Scurll continued his meticulous work on Kushida’s shoulder. But Kushida recovered, tried to reach the top rope but Scurll grabbed him by the nose to stop him. Kushida hit another rolling double heel as Scurll was stuck on the top rope. Kushida connected with an Hoverboard lock but Scurll escaped to connect with a European uppercut, an apron kick, a knee to the face and the piledriver for a two-count. Kushida rallied, hit a springboard elbow but Scurll grabbed Kushida’s finger and rolled it into the chicken wing. Kushida countered with another hoverboard lock. Stiff fight between the two men, with punches, stomps, elbows before Scurll was able to lock another chicken wing and a shoulder submission. Kushida finally reached the ropes but Scurll grabbed his fingers again. Kushida countered by getting Scurll’s fingers and hit 2 Super Back to the Future for the victory.

Wonderful demonstration of wrestling, with at the same time in-ring technique, high-flying and strong style. Scurll is definitely rocking the ROH house as Kushida seems to have found his pace in this new territory.

ROH World Television Championship Match: The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson) (c) defeated War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) and Best Friends Club (Chuck Taylor & Trent)

The Best Friends claimed they deserved a title shot so the match became a tornado tag 3-way with all the teams go after each other. Which means also an absolute chaos in the ring as the Young Bucks went for a dive on War Machine but both were caught. The Bucks hit Superkicks. Hanson came to work on Matt Jackson with a powerbomb and a splash, nearfall. Nick came back with a superkick as Chuckie T hit a front flip off the stage to Hanson. Moonsaults came from everywhere but fell all aside. Baretta grabbed Rowe in an attempt of moonsault and landed an overhead German Suplex. The Best Friends hit their double Chokeslam. Nearfall.

The Young Bucks opened up the Superkick Party to send everybody down in the ring. The chaos continued as War Machine hit a pop-up power slam on Baretta, then Nick hit a moonsault on War Machine to the outside. Chuckie T almost won the match for his team but Hanson grabbed the leg of the referee. Rowe attacked Chuckie T with a knee to the jaw. Hanson and Rowe tried double piledrivers on Best Friends but The Young Bucks rushed with superkicks and double Indy Taker. They kept on with double superkicks on War Machine for the win.

The Bucks are definitely the Kings of ROH, their Superkick parties are always a good sign of action. But lost in this tag-3 tornado match, the magic was drown in too many action…

ROH World Championship Match: Cody defeated Christopher Daniels to become the new Champion

The American Nightmare vs. The Fallen Angel, what a match it will be…  Daniels quickly opened Cody’s lip after an elbow drop. Daniels almost got Cody in Angel’s Wings, but Cody rushed into the crowd to offer middle fingers instead of “Too Sweet” (Cody, that’s not good…). Back in the ring, Daniels was getting the best of Cody who again went to hide into the crowd. Daniels landed a drop kick but Cody hit a flatliner from the apron into the ring.

On the outside, Cody tried to attack Cary Silkin. But back in the ring, Daniels sent Cody into the referee twice, allowing Cody to hit a forbidden lowblow kick. One of the pleasure to be apart of the Bullet Club, here came Marty Scurll offering a chair to Cody but Daniels stomps the chair and threw it to Cody. Cody dropped Daniels on the chair. Frankie Kazarian then rushed to fight off Scurll. Cody brought out a table outside. But action came back to the ring as Daniels locked Cody in a STF. Daniels then went for the Angel’s Wings down through the table, stopped by Cody. Cody mocked NJPW’s Okada by hitting a rainmaker and a Disaster Kick, Daniels nearly fell onto the table. A belly-to-back suplex finally allowed Daniels to send Cody, and himself, through the table. Both men were lying on the floor in pain.

Back in the ring, Daniels locked Cody in the Koji Clutch but Cody hopefully reached the rope. Cody then spit water in Daniels’ face, hit the Cross Rhodes, two-count. Daniels went for The Best Moonsault, countered by Cody who hit an inverted atomic drop but missed disaster kick and finally landed the Cross Rhodes for the win. ROH has a new Champion.

After the match, The Young Bucks and Scurll joined Cody in the ring to allow The Bullet Club to celebrate Cody’s victory.

https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/878504452357074944

The Fallen Angel was trapped in the very predictable Bullet Club Nightmare. Very good and tense action, which for sure will be followed by a rematch that none of us would want to miss…

All video captures and pics courtesy of Twitter, Ring of Honor and Women of Honor.

By Steph Franchomme

News, Reviews, Social Media Editor, Impact Wrestling Reviewer, Interviewer Well, call me The Boss... And French...

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