CONTACTABOUTFACEBOOKTWITTERPODCAST IPHONE APPANDROID APPAMAZON APPRSS
Pro Wrestling Torch
Pro Wrestling Torch Reaches The Most Wrestling Fans Every Week: #1 in iTunes • #1 on iPhone and iPad • #1 on Android • #1 on Kindle
GOT THE PWTORCH APP YET?
iPhone & iPad
Android
Amazon Kindle
Windows Phone
PWTorch Phone App
Other PPVs
KYGHT'S PPV EVALUATION - ROH "Best in the World" live PPV debut: Best/Worst Match, Surprise, What Will It Be Remembered For?, Updated 2014 PPV Rankings

Jul 1, 2014 - 12:41:21 AM
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO BOOKMARK US & VISIT US DAILY


ROH_Ring_Wide_29.png



Ring of Honor PPV Evaluation
"Best in the World 2014"
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist


BEST MATCH – THE BRISCOES VS. MATT HARDY/MICHAEL BENNETT

Wow, what a spectacle. The match started as a decent enough affair, but after Nigel McGuinness restarted the match to avoid a lame finish and made it a No DQ? Well, did this ever go haywire. Too many crazy spots to go through here, but an absolutely insane brawl that had the Nashville crowd on their feet. Everyone worked their butts off in this one, and it's definitely worth going out of your way to see.

The Briscoes continue to be the best tag team not in the WWE, Matt Hardy looked great, and Mike Bennett seems like a future big star to me. Thumbs up all around. Oh! And the lovely Maris Kanellis was at ringside. Side note - I flew back from New Orleans after WrestleMania and my connecting flight was in Chicago, and she was on my plane. We both played it cool and said nothing to each other.

WORST MATCH – BY DEFAULT, JAY LETHAL VS. MATT TAVEN

There wasn't a bad match on this show, but this is getting the nod just because it wasn't quite as good as the rest of the card. This is far from a slight. On many a TV show, this would be a stand out (particularly the closing sequences) but on this pay-per-view it didn't stand out.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – ELGIN WINS!

Now, I did assume that ROH would want to deliver a newsworthy first pay-per-view and a title change, especially in ROH, is a big deal. But, for some reason I thought Cole would retain. I'm a big fan of Adam Cole, and I think he'll end up in the WWE some day in a big way, and I thought it would have been a cool ending to the show to have the cocky champion defend successfully. Either way, a terrific main event.

BEST MOVE – INSANE SUPERPLEX

Wow, Matt Hardy and Jay Briscoe. Thank you for doing a spot where Jay superplexed Matt from the top of a preposterously huge ladder through a table. Even my two year old yelled "wrestlers!" (which I assume is a toddler's 'this is awesome'). A highlight-reel moment for ROH.

BEST MATCH FINISH – REDRAGON VS. DANIELS/KAZARIAN

Kazarian tapping out made ReDRagon look like stars. It wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, but it was still a great tag match and I was happy to see ReDRagon get the win. Daniels and Kazarian are awesome, but it was the right move to have them come in and put the regular ROH talent over. Can't wait for the rematch.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- The opening six-way to earn a TV title match was a lot of fun, and I thought it was a great way to open the show. To those thinking "He doesn't want to type out all of the names," you are correct.

- The show looked good. I still would like the lighting to be above the ring, but I assume that ROH does as well.

- Roderick Strong and Cedric Alexander had a very entertaining submission match with some great chain wrestling. This was another highlight of the show.

- Kevin Steen and Silas Young had yet another good match on the show, and the post-match of Kevin Steen telling the crowd that he only had a month-and-a-half left before being re-attacked by Young was interesting. Is Steen NXT-bound? Hmmm......

- MOOSE! The former NFL player had an underwhelming debut in a ringside interview segment, saved by Veda Scott. Get in some mic time, sir.

- I imagine that somewhere, Vince McMahon is still losing his mind on someone for not signing Mandy Leon before ROH did. If you don't know who Mandy Leon is, google her.

WHAT IT'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Well, it wasn't 'Barely Legal' (what could be?), but it was still a very good way for ROH to enter the regular pay-per-view market. There was nothing bad on the show, and the majority of it was great. ROH has a simple and proven formula: cut down on the nonsense, and focus on the in-ring. As J.R. said on his podcast a few week's ago: "I think people watch wrestling to see wrestling." Amen, Sir.

UPDATED 2014 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXX (2014-04-06)
2 - WWE PAYBACK (2014-01-06)
3 - ROH BEST IN THE WORLD (2014-06-22)
4 - WWE EXTREME RULES 2014 (2014-05-04)
5 - TNA SLAMMIVERSARY (2014-06-15)
6 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2014-02-23)
7 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2014-01-26)
8 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2014-03-09)
9 - TNA SACRIFICE (2014-04-27)


We suggest these recent related articles...
CALDWELL'S ROH ASE PPV REPORT 9/18: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of All-Star Extravaganza - Jay Lethal defends two titles, ANX, more
RADICAN'S "EVOLVE 47" iPPV REPORT 8/15 - Tremendous all-around show, Bailey vs. Chris Hero, Thatcher-Sabre for EVOLVE Title, more
RADICAN'S NJPW "G1 Climax Finals" PPV Report 8/16: ReDRagon-Young Bucks, KUSHIDA-Ricochet, Tanahashi-Nakamura match for the ages in final
prowrestling.net
CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE PW.NET HEADLINES


CLICK TO EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING

NEW! SIGN UP FOR FREE PWTORCH BREAKING NEWS EMAIL ALERTS
BECOME A PWTORCH VIP MEMBER
-FORMER MEMBERS LOGIN HERE TO RENEW
-NEW MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
SELECT BY ARTICLES CATEGORY
SEARCH PWTORCH.COM



CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF UPCOMING PRO WRESTLING EVENTS
MORE HEADLINES AT AFFILIATE SITES
MMATorch
LATEST HEADLINES - CLICK TO READ CLICK HERE FOR MORE MMATORCH HEADLINES


PWTORCH POLL - VOTE NOW!
RAW POLL 10/12: Vote on Monday's show
 
pollcode.com free polls


RAW POLL 10/12: What was the Best Match on Raw?
 
pollcode.com free polls
MCNEILL LIVECAST POLL: TNA will have a 32-person tournament to determine a new Hvt. champion - your thoughts?
 
pollcode.com free polls
CENA POLL: If John Cena takes a year-end break, who should win the U.S. Title from Cena?
 
pollcode.com free polls
VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS



LATEST HEADLINES - CLICK TO READ CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE INC HEADLINES

_
LATEST FREE AUDIO SHOWS - CLICK TO LISTEN VIEW MORE PWTORCH LIVECAST EPISODES
DOWNLOAD PWTORCH LIVECAST APP
SUBSCRIBE TO PWTORCH LIVECAST IN ITUNES


ABOUT US

THE TORCH REACHES MORE COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT FANS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

PWTorch editor Wade Keller has covered pro wrestling full time since 1987 starting with the Pro Wrestling Torch print newsletter. PWTorch.com launched in 1999 and the PWTorch Apps launched in 2008.

He has conducted "Torch Talk" insider interviews with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jesse Ventura, Lou Thesz, Jerry Lawler, Mick Foley, Jim Ross, Paul Heyman, Bruno Sammartino, Goldberg, more.

He has interviewed big-name players in person incluiding Vince McMahon (at WWE Headquarters), Dana White (in Las Vegas), Eric Bischoff (at the first Nitro at Mall of America), Brock Lesnar (after his first UFC win).

He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)


REACHING 1 MILLION+ UNIQUE USERS PER MONTH
500 MILLION CLICKS & LISTENS PER YEAR
MILLIONS OF PWTORCH NEWSLETTERS SOLD
PWTORCH STAFF

EDITORS:
Wade Keller, editor
(kellerwade@gmail.com)

James Caldwell, assistant editor
(pwtorch@gmail.com)

STAFF COLUMNISTS:
Bruce Mitchell (since 1990)
Pat McNeill (since 2001)
Greg Parks (since 2007)
Sean Radican (since 2003)

We also have a great team of
TV Reporters
and Specialists and Artists.

PWTORCH VIP MEMBERSHIP

PWTorch offers a VIP membership for $10 a month (or less with an annual sub). It includes nearly 25 years worth of archives from our coverage of pro wrestling dating back to PWTorch Newsletters from the late-'80s filled with insider secrets from every era that are available to VIPers in digital PDF format and Keller's radio show from the early 1990s.

Also, new exclusive top-shelf content every day including a new VIP-exclusive weekly 16 page digital magazine-style (PC and iPad compatible) PDF newsletter packed with exclusive articles and news.

The following features come with a VIP membership which tens of thousands of fans worldwide have enjoyed for many years...

-New Digital PWTorch Newsletter every week
-3 New Digital PDF Back Issues from 5, 10, 20 years ago
-Over 60 new VIP Audio Shows each week
-Ad-free access to all PWTorch.com free articles
-VIP Forum access with daily interaction with PWTorch staff and well-informed fellow wrestling fans
-Tons of archived audio and text articles
-Decades of Torch Talk insider interviews in transcript and audio formats with big name stars.


**SIGN UP FOR VIP ACCESS HERE**

CONTACTABOUTFACEBOOKTWITTERPODCASTIPHONE APPANDROID APPAMAZON APPRSS
VIP SIGN-UP
VIP LOGIN
THE TORCH: #1 IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE | © 1999-2013 TDH Communications Inc. • All rights reserved -- PRIVACY POLICY