Csonka’s ROH Best in The World 2018 Review

Csonka’s ROH Best in The World 2018 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Champions the Kingdom defeated LIJ @ 11:00 via pin [***]
– Flip Gordon defeated Bully Ray @ 5:32 via DQ [**]
– Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani, and Tenille Dashwood defeated Kelly Klein, Kagetsu, Hana Kimura, and Hazuki @ 10:30 via pin [***½]
– Austin Aries defeated Kenny King @ 15:40 via pin [***½]
– Jay Lethal defeated KUSHIDA @ 17:37 via pin [****¼]
– ROH TV Title Street Fight: Champion Punishment Martinez defeated Adam Page @ 15:30 via pin [****]
– ROH Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Briscoes defeated The Young Bucks @ 17:00 via pin [****½]
– ROH World Title Match: Champion Dalton Castle defeated Cody & Marty Scurll @ 13:45 via pin [***]

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– Cabana & Riccanboni are on commentary.

Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Kingdom (Taven, Vinny, O’Ryan) vs. LIJ (EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA): EVIL & O’Ryan to begin until Taven sneaks into attack. EVIL fights them off and tags in SANADA. He works over Taven, and hits a standing moonsault for 2. BUSHI & Vinny tag in and Vinny takes control and tries to rip off the mask as they all brawl. They fight to the floor and Taven fakes a dive and mocks Naito’s pose. SANADA in and attacks, and slams O’Ryan onto Taven. LIJ follows with double teams and picks up a near fall. Triple teams cut off EVIL as the Kingdom takes control. Vinny is in and works over EVIL, O’Ryan tags in and double teams follow, and the cover gets 2. The champions now work quick tags, continuing to double team EVIL and picking up another near fall. They isolate him in their corner, but EVIL cuts him off with the superkick and tags in SANADA. He runs wild, hitting dropkicks and gets the paradise lock on Taven. O’Ryan cuts him off, he tries the paradise lock, but can’t do it and SANADA locks him up. SANADA dropkicks them in the ass and covers Taven for 2. He heads up top and Vinny distracts him with balloons, allowing the Kingdom to attack, but SANADA cuts off rock star super nova. It breaks down as Taven hits just the tip for 2. SANADA attacks the knee of Taven and BUSHI flies in with the missile dropkick. BUSHI hits a double RANA, EVIL in and triple teams follow on Taven for 2. EVIL & SANADA are tossed; the champions cut off BUSHI and work him over with triple teams for a near fall. LIJ tries to battle back, SANADA gets skull end but Taven cuts him off. BUSHI MISTS VINNY but the kingdom hits rock star super nova to retain. Champions the Kingdom defeated LIJ @ 11:00 via pin [***] This was a good opener, with a pretty hot crowd and everyone working well together, but it never truly got out of second gear. The Kingdom worked really hard and delivered once again as they retained.

Bully Ray vs. Flip Gordon: Bully tries to attack before the bell but Gordon hits superkicks and a spear. Ground and pound follows, Bully powders and Gordon follows with a plancha. Gordon now hits a tope to wipe him out. Gordon back in and now hits a springboard forearm to the floor. More ground and pound by Gordon follows and it’s all Gordon so far. Bully tries to beg off but Gordon posts him and continues to lay in rights. Back in they go and Gordon hits Samoan pop, a running shooting star press and moonsault for 2. Bully finally cuts him off with a lariat, and climbs the ropes and misses a Vader splash. Bully low blows him and we get a DQ. Post match Bully beats him down with chair shots. Flip Gordon defeated Bully Ray @ 5:32 via DQ [**] The match was ok, thanks to Gordon’s great performance and showing a new side of himself, but the result was absolute shit, especially on PPV. They can fuck off with this Bully Ray bullshit.

– Eli Isolm tries to make the save and he gets beat down as well. Cheeseburger arrives, but is immediately powerbombed. Bully gets a table and Colt Cabana hits the ring and has a chair, causing Bully to powder.

Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani, and Tenille Dashwood vs. Kelly Klein, Kagetsu, Hana Kimura, and Hazuki: Oedo Tai does their little pre-match dance. Sakai and Kagetsu have a big stand off prior to the match. The champions start us off, Kagetsu rakes the eyes and lays in kicks. They work into some counters and trade strikes. Kimura tags in and she wants Dashwood. She tags in and Kimura drops her with strikes and mocks Dashwood. Dashwood fires up with ground and pound, they have some trouble as Dashwood hits a Russian leg sweep. Rose tags in and hits a fisherman’s suplex for 2.Kimura cuts her off with a dropkick and Kelly tags in but Rose rolls her up for 2. Kelly cuts her off with a clothesline and covers for 2. Rose counters a slam into a cradle for 2. Hazuki and Mayu tag in and trade strikes, Mayu hits sling blade and Sakai joins in for double teams on Hazuki. It breaks down as the heels take control and hit tandem offense on Sakai. Kelly takes the ref as Oedo Tai continues to work over Sakai. Kelly lays in knee strikes and covers for 2. Kelly hits s suplexes, but Sakai cuts her off with a DDT. Dashwood tags in and runs wild on the heels. The neck breaker on Kelly follows but Kagetsu cuts her off. Dashwood fights off Kagetsu & Kimura, and hits a double taste of Tenille. The tarantula on Kelly follows as a cameraman gets taken out. Dashwood hits the high cross and that gets 2. Kagetsu makes the save as Kimura tags in. Mayu tags in with a missile dropkick and Hazuki gets cut off by a Rose spear. Suplex by Rose and Mayu hits the big frog splash for 2. It breaks down, Kimura hits Mayu with a sign but Mayu gets a guillotine on Kimura. Kimura powers out into a delayed suplex for 2. Kagetsu has the sign again, but accidentally hits Kimura, things break back down and Sakai hits a big high cross onto the pile on the floor. Back in and Mayu hits the dragon suplex on Kimura for the win. Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani, and Tenille Dashwood defeated Kelly Klein, Kagetsu, Hana Kimura, and Hazuki @ 10:30 via pin [***½] This ended up being a very good match with everyone working hard, and keeping a great pace; the ladies from STARDOM delivered big as expected. This was a lot of fun.

Austin Aries vs. Kenny King: Aries arrives with three championship belts, because he’s the belt collector. They lock up and work to the ropes. Aries breaks, and they lock up again. King breaks him to the ropes and he breaks clean. Aries attacks with kicks, and works a side headlock. King escapes, and they push and shove. They trade chops, Aries dumps King but King cuts him off and hits a back breaker and clothesline. King follows with strikes, sweeps the leg and does it again. King celebrates and Aries rolls him up for 2. King grounds things, but Aries escapes and dumps him to the floor. Aries follows but King sweeps the legs again and then again. Back in and King covers for 2. Aries dumps him to the floor again, heads up top and hits the double sledge. He then whips King to the barricade and rakes the back. Back in and Aries hits a senton atomico for 2. Aries follows with kicks, and then hits the elbow drop to the back, and covers for 2. King starts to ire up but gets dumped and Aries hits an apron knee strike. The apron elbow drop follows and back in, Aries covers for 2. Aries works chinlock, King escapes and follows with strikes. To the apron and Aries looks to suplex him back in, King fights and stuns him off the ropes. The springboard blockbuster follows for 2. The XPLODER follows that but Aries rakes the eyes and hits a shin breaker and into the last chancery. King makes the ropes. They fight to the apron and Aries hits the neck breaker in the ropes. Aries looks for the suicide dive but King cuts him off with a head kick. Aries is down, King attacks and Aries begs off, saying he’s King’s friend so King rolls him back in. King’s a dumb babyface. Back in and Aries rolls him up for 2. King hits the royal flush but Aries makes the ropes. Aries hugs the ropes and powders. He looks to walk out, but King wipes him out with a plancha. He picks up the Impact title and looks to hit Aries, Aries begs off and then cuts him off and hits a brainbuster on the floor. Back in and Aries looks to cover but King rolls him up for 2. Aries hits another brainbuster and wins. Austin Aries defeated Kenny King @ 15:40 via pin [***½] The story was that King still looked at Aries as his friend, but Aries was willing to do anything to win. Overall this was a very good match with a lot of heat as the story worked well and was backed up with a strong in-ring performance from both.

Jay Lethal vs. KUSHIDA: No handshake from KUSHIDA. They lock up and KUSHIDA works escapes and looks to ground things, and they work into a stand off. Hot crowd to begin. They circle, and work into shoulder tackles. Jay grounds things and looks o attack the leg, but KUSHIDA quickly counters out. Jay counters back and works a side headlock. Jay hits a shoulder tackle and KUSHIDA cuts him off with a dropkick and then hits a tope. He hits another and hits the third to give Jay a taste of his own medicine. Back in and KUSHIDA hits a double sledge, and then hits another and then the third as he mocks Jay. KUSHIDA now grounds things, and then hits a standing moonsault for 2. Jay fights off a suplex, they battle for position, and KUSHIDA counters out but Jay cuts off the lethal injection and Jay starts attacking the knee. Leg kicks follow, and then works over the leg in the ropes. Jay hits the shin breaker and continues to punish the leg. Jay then mockingly shakes KUSHIDA’s hand and then goes back to the knee, and covers for 2. Jay works a modified cloverleaf, continuing his attack, but KUSHIDA makes the ropes. Jay is completely focused on the knee, and picking up near falls. Uppercuts follow, Jay struts but KUSHIDA fights off the figure four only to be dropkicked to the floor. Jay now hits the suicide dive, hits another, and now the third is countered into an arm bar on the floor by KUSHIDA. Nice. Back in and KUSHIDA starts attacking the arm, laying in kicks and gets a cradle for 2. Jay cuts him off with the lethal combo. Jay heads up top and looks for the elbow, KUSHIDA cuts him off, back to the mat and Jay hits a torture rack into the Finlay roll. Jay up top and laps off into an arm bar by KUSHIDA. Jay rolls, and counters into the figure four. KUSHIDA makes the ropes, but is slow to his feet. They make it to their feet, trading kicks. They light each other up, KUSHIDA takes control and hits a head kick and shakes Jay’s hand. The PELE follows, PK to the arm, but Jay hits an enziguri and the lethal injection is cut off into the hover board lock. Jay screams and fights, rolls and KUSHIDA transitions into back to the future, but Jay counters out and hits a desperation cutter. The lethal injection finally connects, and that’s that. Jay Lethal defeated KUSHIDA @ 17:37 via pin [****¼] Lethal completes his quest, beating all of the men that had singles wins over him, and can now refocus on the ROH Title. They had an absolutely great match with KUSHIDA playing subtle heel, refusing to shake hands, and then not only stealing Lethal’s signature shit, but openly mocking him throughout the match. The work was really great, they had a hot crowd, and it was everything I expected it to be as Lethal continues to be the most consistent singles performer in the company and I am interested to see where he goes from here, as feuds with Cody, Marty, & Castle can all work again, but with a new dynamic.

– Silas Young is on commentary.

TV Title Street Fight Match: Champion Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page: Martinez gets a fancy entrance with a coffin and some minions accompanying him. He’s also wearing face paint. Page has some new non-Bullet Club theme music. Martinez is in jeans, proper street fight gear. Page attacks during the introductions and they brawl to the floor. Page now hits a suicide dive and whips Martinez to the barricades repeatedly. Page gets a table, but Martinez cuts him off and takes it back in. Page waffles him with a chair shot, wedges it in the corner, but Martinez fights back only to get whipped into the chair. Back to the floor they go, Page sets up the table against the ring and then misses the apron shooting star and Martinez about kills him with an apron bomb and chokeslam off of the barricade. That looked like it absolutely sucked. Martinez lays out a pile of chairs on the floor and back in lays in chair shots on Page. Back to the floor and Martinez tosses him to the barricade. Martinez sets up chairs, but Page fights back and away from the chairs. Martinez slams Page into a chair and now misses the running boot. Page now superplexes him off of the barricade and to the floor. Back in they go, and Page fires up with clotheslines until Martinez levels him with a lariat. Martinez gets another chair and looks for a tombstone, but Page counters out and hits jig’n tonic on the chair for a great near fall. To the apron they go and Page looks for rite of passage, but Martinez counters out and hits a curb stomp. Martinez sets up Page back in, but Page fights off another curb stomp. Martinez now gets zip ties and ties Page’s hands together. Page tries to fire back, but gets cut off and Martinez curb stomps him on the chair for 2. Martinez brings the table in the ring and sets it up. Page spits at him and starts to fire back and escapes the zip ties. To the floor and Page spears Martinez through the table that was set up earlier. Page heads up top and hits the moonsault onto Martinez. Back in and Martinez kicks Page back to the floor onto the chairs that were previously set up. Martinez rolls him back in, and now gets a bag of tacks. He dumps them out, but Page fights off the powerbomb and backdrops Martinez into the tacks. Page picks him up and looks for rite of passage, Martinez escapes and chokeslams page through the table and covers, and the ref counts 3 as it appeared both men’s shoulders were down… Champion Punishment Martinez defeated Adam Page @ 15:30 via pin [****] This was a great match that made very good use of the stipulation, and was pretty wild and a complete blast. It really stood out since there was nothing else like it on the show and both guys delivered on PPV again. The finish also sets up a rematch for when Page returns from the G1.

Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks: The crowd is completely fired up before the bell rings. Nick and Mark to begin. These two teams are 7-5 overall in favor of the champions. They work a fast paced opening stretch with Nick running wild until Jay cuts him off. Matt in and they work into a stand off and then they brawl. Superkicks by the Bucks connect and they take control and isolate Jay. Double teams follow until Jay hits lariats to cut off the challengers. Red neck boogie connects on Matt for 2. The champions now isolate Matt as the crowd is going nuts for this, cheering on both teams. Jay works the heat, and tags Mark back in. He continues to isolate Matt in their corner. The champions mix in double teams behind the ref’s back. To the floor and Matt hits a desperation superkick, but Mark cuts him off back in the ring. Mark accidentally takes out Jay and Matt hits him with a blockbuster to the floor. Tag to Nick and the best hot tag in wrestling starts to run wild hitting a dive into the champions and then hitting kicks, clotheslines and bulldogs. The Bucks hit stereo suicide dives and back in, Nick hits knee strikes and takes Jay up top. Mark in and cuts him off and locks on the rear naked choke. Jay takes over as Mark hits a blockbuster on the floor on Matt. Jay hits the neck breaker and Mark hits froggy bow for 2. The champions look for a super red neck boogie, but Matt makes the save and Nick hits Mark with a SUPER RANA. Matt gets the tag, but Jay cuts him off. Matt fires back with clotheslines, but Jay then hits the DVD and everyone is down. Jay now lays the boots to Matt, yelling “YOU AIN’T SHIT!” The Bucks fire up and hit superkicks, but the champions hit superkicks and clotheslines. Jay hits the Jay driller, but Matt makes the save. The champions toss Nick and look for doomsday, Nick cuts off the mark with a cutter out of mid-air, and Matt gets a victory roll for 2. The Bucks makes the comeback and they hit a doomsday device and that gets a great near fall! The Bucks hit more bang for our buck, but Mark flies in to break it up, hitting the ref. The Bucks hit superkicks, they dial up uncle Dave and the Meltzer driver connects and only gets 2 as the ref was counting slow due to the bump. The Bucks look for another Meltzer, but Mark tosses a chair into Nick’s face and Jay hits Jay driller on the chair but Matt somehow kicks out as the ref is still counting super slow due to the bump. The Champions set Matt up top, and red neck boogie connects on Matt and that finally puts him away. Champions The Briscoes defeated The Young Bucks @ 17:00 via pin [****½] This was an absolutely wild and excellent tag team match. The action was non-stop, they had an amazingly hot crowd and had some really spectacular near falls and callbacks to their previous matches. The layout was really great as they were constantly building layers, adding to them, and were always building the drama and never lost the crowd, and never once did the match feel as if it overstayed its welcome. The Bucks deliver once again and steal another ROH show. I understand why they didn’t main event with this, but with their history and Castle’s questionable health, they really should have. They also teased that the Briscoes may get an IWGP tag title shot due to the win.

– Post match the Briscoes beat down the Bucks, SoCal Uncensored arrives and tease helping, but attack the Briscoes to make the save. Unexpected SCU face turn?

World Title Match: Champion Dalton Castle vs. Cody vs. Marty Scurll: Burnard & Brandi are out with Cody, the Boys are out with Castle, and Marty is alone. Castle is still wrapped up due to his various injuries, and commentary heavily plays up his injures. Cody now sends Burnard to the back, possibly fearing shenanigans. They all brawl at the bell and Castle is tossed to the floor, Cody follows but Castle cuts him off until Marty attacks. Castle takes him down, rolls him back in and hits a slam, coving for 2. NWA Champion Nick Aldis is shown at ringside. Cody flies in and takes out Marty with a missile dropkick. Cody attacks the leg of Castle and follows with a flatliner. Castle pulls him to the floor and Marty attacks and then DDTs Cody to the floor. Marty rolls him back in and Cody begs off. They trade chops, Marty fires up with strikes, but Cody hits a dump suplex. Castle back in and works over Cody with rights and then knee strikes to both. Castle dumps Marty, but Cody cuts off Castle, attacking the wrapped up leg. Cody up top, Castle cuts him off and hits a knee strike. A rough looking superplex follows for 2. Castle looks for Julie Newmar, but Marty is in with the chicken wing on Castle. Cody adds in the figure four on Castle for the double submission. This leads to Cody and Marty brawling and dumping Castle. Cody DDTs Marty and covers for 2. Cody grabs the ROH title and brings it in, the ref takes it and Marty blocks the low blow. He sets up Cody and Brandi distract the ref, allowing Cody to kick Marty low and roll him up for 2. Cody puts his ring on and tells Marty to kiss it, but Marty does the finger break spot. He takes the ring and puts it on. Castle in and hits bangarang and Aldis pulls out the ref. Cody wipes out Aldis with a dive and Marty lays out Castle with the title and Cody pulls out the ref. The ref tosses Aldis and Brandi. Castle now rolls up Marty for 2. They all brawl, Castle fights them off and dumps Cody. He and Marty work into a double down. Cody grabs a bag of powder, but Marty shoves it into his face, but Cody hits cross Rhodes, Castle dumps Cody and covers for 2. Castle lays in rights on Marty and Marty counters bangarang into a cradle for 2. The chicken wing follows but Cody breaks it up only for Marty to hit him with cross Rhodes; Castle hits bangarang and pins Marty as the show immediately goes off the air. Champion Dalton Castle defeated Cody & Marty Scurll @ 13:45 via pin [***] This was an overall god main event, Cody and Marty worked really hard, but Castle was really limited and they used a lot of circus tricks to try and cover for him and create drama down the stretch. If Castle is still that banged up, him retaining is highly questionable, but I understand Cody losing as they don’t want their champion losing to the IWGP champion again this year. It was good but in no way could follow the three matches that came before it.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

The ROH Best in The World 2018 was an overall great show with a ton of very good to great wrestling. The only thing I really didn’t like was Flip vs. Bully. Flip looked great, but I hated the finish and do not like that the Bully angle is continuing. But as an overall package, this was a great show with a tremendous stretch of matches including Lethal vs. KUSHIDA, Martinez vs. Page and the Bucks vs. Briscoes, all are must-see matches.