So I decided to go to Best In The World this year when I found out it was heading to Baltimore. Got me and the gang together (and when I say gang, I mean me, my drug dealer, and his girlfriend after a lengthy negotiation) and we hit up the UMBC Event center.
I do have to admit that I’m not too up to date with ROH at the moment. It’s just a matter of me having too little time to watch so much wrestling. However, I do keep tabs on the storylines.
Saw Austin Aries walking by while I was waiting in the merchandise line and waved. Well, more so waved at the back of his head. It was glorious five seconds.
The crowd was hot for Evil, Sanada, and Bushi (Los Ingobernables) and booed anything The Kingdom did. This was a good opener, but it wasn’t anything special. Evil seemed to be the most over between the three Los Ingobernables members.
Crowd was into Flip Gordon and hated Bully Ray especially after the DQ. The guy is just so damn good at getting heel heat. I was puzzled on why the crowd was chanting “USA” when Bully Ray is American. Yeah, I get it, Flip is a marine, but does that mean he’s more American than me? I don’t know, I guess. I always felt more Canadian anyways.
Match was solid, but it was clearly more about the angle. Crowd popped big when Cabana entered the ring.
Tenille Dashwood was the most over in the 8-woman tag match. Many in the audience didn’t know who the women from Stardom were (me included), but as the match went on, the crowd got more into it. There were even chants of “this is awesome”. I’m not one of those people who just chants “this is awesome” for reasons and I didn’t here. Still, this was a fun match. Nothing bad whatsoever, but nothing to warrant the “this is awesome” chant (at least for me).
I hope the next time I come to a ROH show, I get to see a real woman’s feud. This just felt like your classic WWE divas WrestleMania filler match.
Aries and King had a good match, but one that disappointed me honestly. I feel these two could’ve had a fantastic match, but it never went to the next level.
The story with King being hesitant to really hurt Aries because they were long time “friends” didn’t click with me. These type of storylines need a long-term build. Had this match been build up for a year, this story would’ve been better; however, it was only built up for the past couple of months and I never felt the emotions King was feeling for Aries.
Personally, Lethal and Kushida had the second-best match on the card. Both men were super over with the audience and this was just a really good wrestling match. Both guys going back and forth, simply trying to show off who was the best, a really a fun spectacle to watch.
Adam Page was over huge. Punishment Martinez, not so much. A good match in general. If you’ve seen one street fight then you’ve seen this match, but it was solid for what it was. Both men definitely worked hard.
There was a guy who not only looked like John Cena but was dressed with his gear head to toe. As he was going up the stairs during the match, the crowd booed him and chanted “Cena sucks”. The crowd cheered when a fan who looked like Stone Cold (with SCSA vest and Austin shorts on) confronted the Cena fan. That was a fun moment.
The Young Bucks got the biggest pop of the night. These guys were crazy over. The Briscoes were over except when they hit the Bucks. This was the match of the night.
This was an excellent bout and both teams didn’t disappoint. It’s extremely fun to watch the Young Bucks wrestle. The Briscoes are no slouches themselves and I dig that they’re playing the badass heels. This won’t go down as the best tag team match of the year, but it was still a damn good match.
Finally, the triple threat main event was a really good match. Crowd liked all three men. Again, not as good as I hoped it would be; however, with Castle being injured, I can understand why this didn’t meet my high expectations.
Glad Cody didn’t win the match. Don’t get me wrong, I like him, but his title reign would’ve been predictable until he defended it against Nick Aldis in September. I would’ve preferred the Scrull/Cody confrontation to be built up through the match. I get that it’s every man for himself, but these guys are “friends”. Perhaps I missed something during the build for this match
This was a good show, but it didn’t meet my extremely high expectations given some of the matches on the card. Nothing was terrible, as everything ranged from good to excellent. I understand that I haven't actively watched ROH, but I clearly understood the feuds that were happening going in. Nothing here was downright offensive or even wrong; however, several matches felt just because (ROH 6 Man Tag Title match, 8 Woman Tag Match), and others just didn't rise to level that I believed it could (King/Aries, Triple Threat Main Event). Perhaps that is my fault on my end. Despite my negatives, if you want to see some good wrestling then I do recommend ordering the replay.
Should you go a Ring of Honor live event? Definitely. This was my first ROH show and it didn’t disappoint. Paid $50 for a hard camera seat and being in a room full of excited wrestling fans is always a blast.