Official Best In The World 2015 Thread

[JTCole]

So I'll be getting this on home video mostly for the main event.

[isles11]

I thought it was a great show, every match was good to great.
Looking forward to my first set of TV tapings today.

[Viggo]

Man, its very refreshing for a match to be dubbed "the biggest in company history" and not go for a Wrestlemania Main Event style match. Major props to Lethal and Briscoe for delivering the goods.

[Burnside]

My thoughts as I watch.

Mark Briscoe d Donovan Dijak - Mark Briscoe might actually be the better of the two brothers in the ring at this point. He takes a SICK flat-back bump as Dijak just tosses him over the top to the floor (think X-Pac's elimination from the 2000 Rumble). Moratorium or no moratorium, Donovan Dijak will get a developmental offer as soon as Vince McMahon finds out he exists. Sloppy but fun and didn't overstay it's welcome. ***. Mark winning here pretty much means Lethal is winning the belt. He needs opponents bro.

Page & Whitmer d Sydal & ACH - Sydal's stupid song is now a mark-out moment for me. I INVENTED COMPUTER MAN! THE HOLY GHOST! This show has a terrible boom cam aiming straight down on the ring instead of a hard cam. Crowd hates Whitmer. Everybody plays their roles perfectly here. Sydal is the MVP. I wish they wouldn't job him so much. Solid mid-card tag match. Probably **3/4 maybe 3 if you're generous.

I need to go to the Brooklyn show I guess.

Dalton Castle d Silas Young - The main riff of Castle's theme song is - I won't even call it a rip-off of "I Want It All" by Queen, because it's more of a straight cover. Match is fine but has like no heat. Should have done an angle to build this. Peacock cheerleaders are great. Both these guys are really good and have such solid characters. If it would have been possible to have an effeminate babyface character in 80s WWE, Castle would be it. Castle with kind of a cheap roll-up win after Silas gets into an argument with Sinclair. Young kills one of the boys post-match so now we have the feud angle. **3/4 and would have been higher but finish sucked.

War Machine d New Combination - I'm pretty sure Coleman & Cedric lost a stip match in early 2014 that said they couldn't tag anymore. Starts hot as C&C jump them at the bell but it quickly breaks down as they can't get on the same page and Cedric's being a bossy dick. Cedric wants to beat somebody with a wrench but Coleman isn't having it. This leads directly to Caprice losing. **. More of an angle than a match really. Post-match, Cedric resists attacking Caprice but tells him he's not tagging with him again.

Strong d Elgin & Moose - I predict this match will go too long. Moose has elaborate entrance (by ROH standards) with punky cheerleaders and silly football gear. Equal parts goofy and awesome. Roddy comes out super-motivated and bouncy which he usually does when he's booked to win the match. This is probably the biggest Roddy has even been - he looks as big as Elgin. Winner will main event DBD. Roddy's definitely winning. Moose does Dusty elbows. Elgin's little Karl Pilkington heel smirk is great. Lots of mutants in the crowd tonight. 65% cheering Roddy, 35% cheering Moose, 0% cheering Elgin. "This is awesome!" I mean...it's fine, guys. Elgin very impressive belly to back suplex on Moose. Moose sucks and doesn't know how to sell half of this shit. Now a "Moose sucks" chant. Elgin destroying Roddy with strikes and power moves in a great sequence. Corino subtly burying Moose on commentary. Roddy beats Moose with the Sick Kick. *** in a good match that will be widely overpraised.

Post-match, Veda slaps and berates Moose for his failure. Moose is about to spear her but Cedric Alexander and his wrench save the day and Veda gets a new client.

Bullet Club d Kingdom - With every NJPW tour, Taven & Bennett get better gear. New implants for Maria? I will try to inspect closer and provide an update. Weird somber music for Bullet Club. Unleash the spots. Match is so much fun. Adam Cole is a genius wrestler. AJ Styles is the most professional thing ever. False alarm, it's just a good bra. Faces finish Cole with a Meltzer Driver and Styles Clash. Kind of surprising as he's the only guy in the match who's under contract.***3/4

Post-match they lay the seeds for the Cole face turn as the other two look disappointed and annoyed with him. Now I get it.

Tag team titles promos. Daniels is a GREAT heel promo and should probably be leading a stable.

Addiction vs reDRagon - heels working like they have something to prove here. 30 seconds in Fish is bleeding from the mouth. Chairs and ladders, which is the first time we've seen garbage all night so it's effective. Crazy Memphis-style brawl. O'Reilly making cool use of the no-DQ with tarantula-style moves in the ropes that he doesn't have to break on 5. Different kind of match for these teams. Convincingly vicious. Addiction's gear is based on Venom from Spider-Man. Kaz chairshots Fish, then holds up chair: "God, I love my job!" Fish taped to the ropes so it's 2 on 1. Did Cornette lay this match out? This is great. I usually hate garbage matches but these guys are actually talented and are doing stuff that looks great but isn't actually harmful. Fish is loose so here's the big comeback. Sabin in to save Daniels from a pin after chasing the dragon. No DQ so keeps going. Celebrity rehab finishes Fish. ***1/2 and would have been a lot higher but weak finish. I'm taking off like half a star for that finish. That's the kind of power I have. Everybody saw the Sabin finish coming weeks ago for this match and frankly since it was no DQ he might as well have been out there helping them the whole time.

Lethal vs Briscoe - It's stupid when wrestlers wear gas masks. Lethal is listed as 6' 0". They've been listing him as 5' 10" for four years, which was already an exaggeration. Dijak and Diesel get a "you get the fuck out of here" from Sinclair almost immediately after a trip attempt. Crowd gets the inevitable "Lets go Jay" chant out of the way early. Crowd is 60/40 for Briscoe. Briscoe and Lethal families both in the crowd. Briscoe never looks like he's faking anything. I think Lethal is winning, but honestly if I were them I'd be tempted to keep the belt on Briscoe because ROH is in a growth period and Briscoe has more charisma. Maybe the Briscoes will transition into feuding with the Addiction. Ugh, Briscoe has visibly re-aggravated that shoulder injury. Bone is popping up next to collarbone and he can't do much of anything with his left arm. They should cut this short. Lethal puts him in the koji clutch. Rope break. Martini on the apron, but Nigel sends him to the back. Jay Driller puts Lethal through a table at ringside. High gear now, Briscoe gutting it out. Crowd heating up, feels like 50/50 split. Lethal Injection, kick-out. Everybody standing, sensing a title change. Lethal hits Briscoe with his own Jay Driller, then Lethal Injection. Clean pin in the middle. New champ; Briscoe's first pinfall loss since March 2013. ****

Briscoe put Lethal over super strong. Clean handshake post-match. Lethal genuinely crying.

Really good show. Varied matches, nothing was bad, great characters. Hope Briscoe isn't on the shelf again.

[187_Joeism]

Just watched the show again, this is my review:

1. Mark Briscoe vs Donovan Dijak: **3/4
Nice opener, Dijak needs more time to develop his potencial but Mark made him look good here.

2. ACH & Matt Sydal vs The Decade: ***
Another good match, Whitmer is great in his role, one of the better heels in the company. Sydal is probably the most underrated wrestler in the indies right now, he is having a great year. ACH & Page looked good and i liked the finish to keep the feud going. I wish ACH had another partner because Sydal should be higher in the card.

3. Silas Young vs Dalton Castle: **1/2
Crowd wasn´t into this at first but they won the crowd by the end, it was funny but it expect more from them in future matches.

4. War Machine vs C&C Wrestle Factory: SQUASH
Dominant win for War Machine and they keep with Cedric turn here. Wish the match could have been longer but no real complains here.

5. #1 Contenders Match: Moose vs Roderick Strong vs Michael Elgin: ***1/2-***3/4
Really good match here, better than i expected, Roddy was the star here but Elgin (Wich i think worked hard and the crowd gave him shit just because it was him) and Moose had his moments to shine, finish strech was the best part because of good false finishes.

6. Bullet Club vs Kingdom II: ****1/4
I liked this more than the first match, crazy awesome match like you can expect only this one had more focus on Cole at the end, i guess face turn is coming for him.

7. ROH Tag Titles NO DQ match: The Addiction vs. reDRagon: ***1/2
Christopher Daniels jacket was amazing! They had a good brawl with some hard spots, Addiction looked more confortable here than in a straight tag match and i was surprised to see Sabin because of him being injured.

8. TV Title vs World Title: Jay Briscoe vs Jay Lethal: ****1/2
I loved this match, the slow pace making everything feel important, HoT getting kicked out so they wouldn´t interference, final minutes were electric after the table spot and Lethal winning clean looking strong in the process. Looking foward to see Strong vs Lethal.

Best PPV they have done by far IMO.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Glad Lethal won the title. He deserves it. I think he will vacate the tv title and there will be a tournament over the next few episodes of ROH tv. Finals will be at the 7/24 ppv. That's my prediction.

[Robareid]

Definitely could happen, but I really hope it doesn't.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Definitely could happen, but I really hope it doesn't.

What? Lethal vacating the tv title? You think it's necessary for him to hold both?

[187_Joeism]

I think they will go with the Undisputed Champion defending both at the same time instead of defending the TV or World championship. I prefer this way to be honest.

[isles11]

Also the prematch was a Four Corner Survival. With Romantic Touch, Jay Diesel, Will Ferrera, and Cheeseburger.

Which Cheeseburger won.

[Robareid]

I think it would unnecessarily hurt the title and forego numerous interesting directions that are currently possible.


What I'd like to happen is Lethal has a short run as dual champion, defending both belts but individually for a month or two. Then about two months in he has a show where he's defending both belts in separate matches. In the opener he loses in shocking fashion to his TV title challenger (my personal pick would be Dalton Castle, but who it is isn't really too integral) then goes onto successfully defend his world title later in the night against his other challenger. This would then set up the TV champion to challenge him in a main event for the world title at some point in the future, which Lethal would win. Then when offered his rematch for the TV title, you have Lethal say he doesn't want to compete for a title like the TV title because it is below his, which would be a beautifully hypocritical thing for Lethal to say given his whole rhetoric over the last year.

[DXvsNWO1994]

Yeah, I'd definitely prefer Lethal holding both titles for a bit, and defending both, as opposed to vacating the World TV Title.

Donovan Dijak will get a developmental offer as soon as Vince McMahon finds out he exists.

I can see that.

This show has a terrible boom cam aiming straight down on the ring instead of a hard cam.

I've heard a number of people say they liked it. I thought it was fine. No strong feelings on it either way.

I'm pretty sure Coleman & Cedric lost a stip match in early 2014 that said they couldn't tag anymore.

I don't think there was ever a stipulation. After they lost to reDRagon, they just amicably split on their own accord.

Crowd is 60/40 for Briscoe.

I thought the crowd was more behind Lethal than Brisoce. Lethal definitely got significant cheers. Briscoe seemed to have a mixed reaction during his intro. I don't recall Briscoe getting more cheers than Lethal at any point, but maybe that's just me...

[187_Joeism]

C&C lost to ReDRagon and split, no stip were involved just they saying that were no longer tagging.

[BigTChamp]

I'd like to see Lethal hold both for a month or two but has to defend them separately, and someone takes the TV title off him but he keeps the world belt. You could explain it in kayfabe by saying that with the strain of fighting off two sets of challengers he was bound to take a loss sooner or later, maybe one of his world title challengers interferes to cost him the TV belt or something. I think Lethal's TV title reign has been built up too much for him just to vacate, and they need a secondary title to help elevate talent.

[187_Joeism]

Anyone else think that we will see the opposite of the ROH World Championship curse this time with Lethal going from heel to face because of fans liking him instead of the tradicional face to heel because of fans booing?

[Burnside]

I think it was poor booking to have rising star Dijak lose to Briscoe,

-

You have a heel holding both singles titles, so you need to build up babyface singles challengers for Lethal. Mark beating Dijak does that. Dijak beating Mark sets up nothing.

[Robareid]

Joe & Styles vs. The Addiction currently being reported as definitely not being taped for TV. Likely to be used as a DVD extra.

[WHG]

Joe & Styles vs. The Addiction currently being reported as definitely not being taped for TV. Likely to be used as a DVD extra.

They should really make the Joe match available to Ringside Members as an exclusive as a way to make up for the early TV access issue.

[dhads7161]

I'm very convinced Kyle O'Reilly will take the TV title off Lethal sometime around fall August or September either one of the All Star Extravaganza shows or Field of Honor. That will set up a fall program with O'Reilly as TV Champion being number one contender to Lethal with it maybe culminating at Final Battle.

[Marketh.]

It's always a relief when the right man wins the title at the right time.

Fuck vacating, I still think that's a stupid and unentertaining idea.