Csonka’s ROH Best in the World 2019 Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the ROH Best on the World 2019 PPV. The show will feature ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Jeff Cobb, TV Champion Shane Taylor vs. Bandido, and more. So today I will breakdown and preview the event. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

The Allure vs. Jenny Rose & Kelly Klein: The Allure debuted atG1 Supercard, attacking Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein, and then following with random attacks on various female stars as Rose and Klein. Rose and Klein aren’t friends, but have banned together to save the division from the Allure. The whole thing feels as if they are setting up Love challenging Klein for the championship, and if that’s the play, I see the Allure winning here. I don’t expect much from the match as Rose is solid, Love is hit and mss, Leon is bad, and Klein exists. WINNERS: The Allure

Champions Villain Enterprises vs. Lifeblood (Williams, Black, & Haskins): This is a match to get everyone on the card and to add another title match to the mix as Haskins, Williams and Black have only teamed together once, defeating Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Eli Isom and Ryan Nova) on ROH TV, while King & Scurll were in Japan for the BOSJ tour. Lifeblood is in an odd place, Finlay is hurt, Juice reportedly doesn’t want to work any more ROH, and the group has tried to recruit Flip but failed, and have seemingly picked up Black as the new guy. Williams and Haskins have been great, and I feel that they really need a big win and the titles here, but there’s no build to Villain Enterprises losing the titles here, and I feel that it would come off as really flat. Maybe this is where Villain Enterprises reveals the long teased fourth man, and uses him to retain, but I don’t feel they should lose just yet. WINNERS: Villain Enterprises

Nick Aldis and Colt Cabana vs. The Briscoes: Ever since their DQ loss at the 2019 Crockett Cup event, The Briscoes have been on a revenge tour against the NWA, looking to take people out and win titles if possible. Things intensified on ROH TV when The Briscoes beat down National Champion Colt Cabana and World Champion Nick Aldis, laying them out and standing tall. And that’s what leads us to this match, which is a fine use of The Briscoes with no tag title match on the show for them to challenge and there’s an easy story to follow here. On one hand, you’d think that the NWA champions winning is a real possibility, but the Briscoes have an ROH tag title shot coming up, and a win over the NWA singles champions could also set up the Briscoes challenging for the NWA Tag Titles, which are held by ROH talents PCO & King. And that leads me to believe that they are winning here. And fuck it, Cabana’s hurt and out of the match and will be replaced. WINNERS: The Briscoes

PURE RULES MATCH: Jonathan Gresham vs. Silas Young: The issues between these two go all the way back to he 17th anniversary PPV where Young attacked Gresham backstage. From there, Young has been on a quest to prove that he’s the superior pure wrestler, leading to him picking up wins over Gresham by using nefarious means and then a wrestling hold. Following that, Young has put on exhibitions and also defeated one of the best in the world, the Squid, playing off of Gresham’s Octopus nickname. So that all leads to this pure rules match, where Young continues his crusade to prove himself, while Gresham looks to prove that he’s the best wrestler in the company. Pure Rules matches were a part of ROH during the early years of the promotion. An ROH Pure Rules Championship was created in 2004, with AJ Styles defeating CM Punk in a tournament final to crown the inaugural champion. Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal. Closed-fist punches to the face are not permitted; only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted excluding low-blows. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning, and the second will be a disqualification. Young has been really good in this role, and Gresham is one of the very best in the company and rarely disappoints. I think that coming off of his quality BOSJ run that Gresham returning and picking up the win here to gain some momentum makes the most sense here. WINNER: Jonathan Gresham

Best of Three Series Final Match: Jay Lethal vs. Kenny King: Kenny King has had issues with Lethal gong back to last year. Now back at the G1 Supercard, King was blinded by the Great Muta’s mist, which led to him doing blind commentary during Lethal’s matches for weeks, and continuing to build their issues through that commentary. This led to King miraculously recovering and attacking Lethal, leading to them working a best of three series. So we head into ROH Best in the World 2019 with the series tied at 1-1.These two work really well together, and this should be at the very least a good match, but potential to be great. In the series, the story has been that King has largely been a step ahead of Lethal, even stealing the lethal injection to beat Lethal. King has a title shot in his pocket following winning the Honor RAMBO win at G1 Supercard, while Lethal is currently booked in a title match at the Manhattan Mayhem international television taping on July 20th. With that being the case, I think Lethal wins here, with King costing him in his upcoming title match as revenge on his way to his title shot. WINNER: Jay Lethal

Rush vs. Flip Gordon: Following the losses of the Bucks, Cody, Page, & SCU ROH was left scrambling to replace marquee and extremely reliable star power. One of those moves saw signing CMLL star Rush to a deal that would make ROH his official US home. I really thought that Rush would-be challenging Taven for the championship at this event to play off of their CMLL history, but ROH has opted for a slow burn to that math, while keeping Rush a strong contender. Gordon has had a rough year, first having to overcome a knee injury and then missing the BOSJ due to a VISA issue. Gordon is likely a future ROH champion (if he stays), but not this year, especially after his deny or defy loss. Gordon is popular, works hard, and he crowds are usually into his matches. Unfortunately for him, he’s just an achievement for Rush here as he builds his way to a title match WINNER: Rush

Dalton Castle vs. Dragon Lee: back the G1 Supercard event, Dalton Castle lost to Rush in17-seconds.This continued the meteoric rise of Rush in ROH and the decline of former champion Dalton Castle. Castle lost matches, he was humiliated in MSG, he lost his swagger, and he lost his boys when he attacked them. The Dalton Castle we knew was dead, the former champion was hurting and something needed to change. The impetus of that change was the loss to Rush. Castle is a new man, he’s on his own, he seems refocused, he wants to climb the mountain again, but he needs to start picking up major wins. He looks to get back on track here at BITW 2019, facing the brother of the man who humiliated him and former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee. Castle needs the win to climb the ranks, but more importantly to him is the revenge factor he’ll get in beating Rush’s brother. This match is all about reestablishing Castle, and he should pick up the win here. WINNER: Dalton Castle

ROH TV Champion Shane Taylor vs. Bandido: Prior to the War of The Worlds tour, Bandido defeated Taylor on ROH TV. And then on the tour, Taylor captured the TV Title in a four-way match, which is how we got here. Their first meting was really good, as Bandido has enough power to be competitive with Taylor and both Taylor & Bandido have had really strong years so far. This could honestly be the sleeper match of the show, as I really think highly of both men, believe in their potential, and see a high ceiling here. Bandido is coming off if a strong BOSJ run, and is getting back into the swing of things with ROH here, and will be looking to impress. Taylor is also still in a frame of min where he feels as if he needs to prove himself, and that’s a great motivational tool. I think that this could be great, but that Taylor retains. WINNER: Shane Taylor

ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Jeff Cobb: The G1 Supercard event was a huge night for both men as Taven won the ROH Title, while Cobb won the NJPW NEVER title. But since that event, Cobb dropped both championships and is now looking to add a new one as he faces Taven here. Taven has largely been fine as champion, and I don’t know about you, but I want someone interesting as champion and that can also really deliver in the ring on a consistent basis. I don’t want fine, but the good news for Taven is that a match with Cobb will be an opportunity to have a really great match. In my opinion, Cobb is someone who should be champion and a guy that the company can build around, but due to his inclusion in the upcoming G1, I don’t see him winning the title here because ROH hasn’t wanted their champion in the G1 in the past because they will have to take losses. Plus, with them holding off on Rush’s title shot, it makes me feel that they are stretching out Rush vs. Taven to Final Battle. So with all of that being the case, I see Taven retaining here to continue to try and make his run worth something. WINNER: Matt Taven

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

JOIN 411 TONIGHT AT 7:30 PM ET FOR OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHOW

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 31. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka; the guys will discuss their reactions to the news that Heyman & Bischoff will be ‘running’ WWE TV, talk about who they have more faith in, discuss the perceived lack of faith in Trip;e H and his team that they didn’t get to run one of the shows, and whether the move actually matters if Vince still has the final say in things. The show is approximately 68-minutes long.

* Intro
* Reactions to the headline “Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff Named WWE Executive Directors, Will Run WWE TV”: 1:00
* Who do you have more faith in, Heyman or Bischoff?: 23:30
* Does it show a lack of faith in Triple H and his team that they didn’t get to run one of the shows?: 38:40
* Does it matter if they still have to report and get approval from Vince McMahon?: 47:40
* WWE Rumored to Have Several NXT Call-Ups When Smackdown Moves to FOX: 51:20

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