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Csonka’s ROH BITW PPV Review 6.23.17

June 24, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s ROH BITW PPV Review 6.23.17  

Csonka’s ROH Best in the World PPV Review 6.23.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– El Terrible and Ultimo Guerrero defeated Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia @ 11:04 via pin [**¾]
Strap Match: Kazarian defeated Adam Page @ 12:03 via submission [***]
Losing Team Must Disband: Search & Destroy (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jonathan Gresham, & Jay White) defeated The Rebellion (Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Caprice Coleman and Shane Taylor) @ 12:45 via submission [**¾]
– Jay Lethal defeated Silas Young @ 16:23 via pin [***½]
ROH Six-Man Tag Title Match: Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated Champions The Briscoes & Bully Ray @ 13:20 via pin to become the new champions [**½]
ROH TV Title Match: Champion KUSHIDA defeated Marty Scurll @ 14:55 via pin [****]
ROH Tag Team Title Tornado Tag Match: Champions The Young Bucks defeated War Machine and The Best Friends @ 12:27 via pin [****¼]
ROH Title Match: Cody defeated Champion Christopher Daniels @ 19:23 via pin to become the new champion [***]


– Kris Wolf and Sumie Sakai defeated Deonna Purrazzo and Mandy Leon in the pre-show WOH match.

– Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer are the announce team.

– Matt Taven is in a throne, O’Ryan is out in a wheelchair and Marseglia is wheeled out Hannibal Lecter style.

Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia vs. El Terrible and Ultimo Guerrero: We’re doing “CMLL” tag rules, which is you don’t have to tag and can roll to the floor and the other man can come in. Vinny & Terrible start things off. They do some basic back and forth, and transition to some grappling. Terrible hits a clothesline, and then lights up Vinny with strikes. Terrible then works him over in the corner. Taven in now, and he hits a lucha arm drag and talks trash. Guerrero is in now, they shove back and forth and then trade slaps. Guerrero blocks the float over and then dropkicks Taven to the floor. They all brawl to the floor, with Guerrero & Terrible hitting a version of the AWA special on the floor. O’Ryan gets involved, distracting Guerrero and back in the ring they go. Guerrero fires up the crowd, works over Vinny and then hits the handstand into the corner dropkick. Guerrero then looks for another, but Taven cuts him off with a superkick; the Kingdom then stun guns Terrible. Guerrero& Terrible then clear the ring and terrible hits a suicide dive; Guerrero then wipes out the pile with a dive off the top. O’Ryan distracts Terrible, and Vinny hits a dive followed by a huge tope by Taven. The Kingdom work over Terrible in the corner, and hit the double team backpack stunner for a near fall. They set Terrible up top, Vinny follows and then Taven heads up top but Guerrero makes the save and hits Taven with the Guerrero special superplex but Vinny hits a senton to break that up as it breaks down. The Kingdom tosses terrible, but he pulls Taven to the floor and Guerrero rolls up Vinny for the win. El Terrible and Ultimo Guerrero defeated Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia @ 11:04 via pin [**¾] Pretty good match to kick off the show, it was fun at times and they got the crowd involved with the dives, but it felt disjointed and the finish was really flat.

Strap Match: Kazarian vs. Adam Page: They are not tethered together, instead they both have straps attached to their wrists. They both swing wildly to begin and then trade strikes. Kazarian then gets a cradle for 2, but Page fights back. Kazarian then starts to whip him and dives to the floor, hitting a RANA. Back in and Kazarian whips Page, but Page uses the strap and stuns Kazarian off the ropes and then pulls him to the floor and repeatedly tosses him to the barricades. Page exposes the floor as he pulls the mats up, but Kazarian battles back and whips Page a few times. Kazarian the suplexes Page to the steps in the entranceway. Back in and Kazarian ties Page in the ropes and whips away on him. Page then hits the lariat and chokes out Kazarian with the strap and takes away Kazarian’s strap and tosses it into the crowd. Page then continues to whip on Kazarian, maintaining control. Kazarian now battles back with forearms, but Page cuts him off with another lariat. Page grabs his noose, and ties up Kazarian’s hands and ties him in the ropes. Page lights up Kazarian with the strap as he’s tied in the ropes. Page now gets a strap with nails in it. Kazarian gets a strap, fires up and hits a running cutter for 2. They battle back and forth and Kazarian hits a backstabber and unprettier for 2. Kazariam grabs the strap with the nails in it. Page cuts him off and hits the rite of passage for 2. Page has the strap with nails, and whips Kazarian with it. Kazarian’s back is busted open now. They battle to the apron, Kazarian spits in his face and slaps Page. Kazarian then whips him with the strap and slams Page to the exposed floor. Kazarian then hangs Page in the ropes and Page gives up. Kazarian defeated Adam Page @ 12:03 via submission [***] I thought that the tone of the match was really good and that they played off of their history well and brought some good violence to the gimmick. In the end, Kazarian beat Page at his own game, but his win feels flawed, especially after Page beat Cole on his way out; unfortunately the uneven and unfocused booking of Page continues. Overall this was a good match, but it was missing something to take it to that next level.

Losing Team Must Disband: Search & Destroy (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jonathan Gresham, & Jay White) vs. The Rebellion (Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Caprice Coleman and Shane Taylor): We get the wild brawl to begin, as they battle around ringside. In the ring, the faces work over Coleman in their corner. The Rebellion work over Gresham, we get some dives but Taylor cuts off the faces and it breaks down. The Rebellion then work over White for a bit and then turn their attention back to Gresham. King and Titus work some nice double teams on Gresham, Coleman in and hits rolling northern lights suplexes on Gresham, and Sabin makes the save. Gresham slowly fights back, but Titus cuts off the tag. Titus then accidentally hits Coleman and Gresham then hits a DDT on Titus. White gets the hot tag, runs wild and slams Coleman, flapjacks Titus onto Coleman and then suplexes King to the buckles. Taylor in and White lights him up with chops. White follows with running uppercuts for all, but Taylor cuts him off. The Machine Guns return and work a series of well-done double teams. King eats superkicks into a German for a near fall. The Rebellion finally cut off White, hitting a chin checker, sky-high leg lariat and biog dog splash for 2. Taylor to the ropes, and hits the big splash, and Titus covers for 2. It breaks down with the Guns & ANX working back and forth, Gresham and Coleman in and Gresham hits a moonsault press and suicide dive. Sabin hits a suicide dive but Taylor takes out Shelley. White cuts off Taylor, hits a German and the faces work over Titus in the corner. The faces run wild with double teams on Titus, but he survives. Gresham locks in the octopus, the faces hold off the rest of the Rebellion and Titus taps. Search & Destroy (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jonathan Gresham, & Jay White) defeated The Rebellion (Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Caprice Coleman and Shane Taylor) @ 12:45 via submission [***] This was fun, never slowed and was all action. The right team won, as there was just no shelf life in the Rebellion. This was the best thing on the show so far, but far from a blow away match, and it lacked any real drama, especially with the stipulation.

– Post match, Punishment Martinez arrives and lays out White with the choke slam, continuing their feud.

Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young: The Beer City Bruiser is out with Young. Jay arrives and takes out the Bruiser with chair shots to make it one on one. They brawl at the bell, with Jay working over Young in the corner. They spill to the floor, continuing the brawl and Young slams Jay to the barricade. Jay hits a suplex on the floor, but then misses the elbow drop off of the barricade, crashing to the floor. Back in the ring, Young takes the heat and works over Jay, using his wrist tape to choke him out. He then slows things down with an abdominal stretch. Just as Jay looks to fire up, Young cuts him off with a gut buster. Jay manages to take Young to the mat, hitting the lethal combination for 2. The side back breaker follows, and then Jay starts to work the back of Young, covering for 2. Jay then hits the enziguri and then hits the delayed suplex for 2. Jay lays the boots to Young, heads up top but Young cuts him off and sends Jay to the floor. Jay fights back, pulls Young to the floor. They work back in, superkick by Jay sends Young to the floor. Jay hits a suicide dive, follows with a second but Young uses a chair to cut off the third one. They do a countout tease, but make it back in at 18. They trade strikes center ring, Jay finally hits a rolling forearm and looks for the lethal injection but Young counters, but Jay escapes misery and hits a superkick and heads up top and hits the elbow drop for a near fall. Young hits the back beaker/lariat combo, covering for 2. Young then locks in the figure four, mocking Jay and also playing off of the previous attacks prior to the match by Young to Jay’s knee. Young hits a Finlay roll, but Jay gets a crucifix for 2; hits a Saito suplex, a knee strike, Finlay roll and springboard moonsault for a good near fall. Young then grabs the Bruiser’s keg, which was left behind. Young lays Jay onto it on the apron, Young argues with the ref and shoves him down. Jay then gets a shitty cradle for the win. Jay Lethal defeated Silas Young @ 16:23 via pin [***½] This started off a bit slow, but they did a good job of upping the intensity throughout the match, and it started to get really good. And then they worked a finish that was completely anticlimactic. Overall the match was very good, and the post match beat down was very effective, but ROH has to shit or get off the pot with Silas, they keep teasing pushes for him, and at 37, he’s not getting any younger.

– Post match, Young and The Bruiser beat down Lethal and Young connects with misery onto the keg. Young holds Jay in the corner with the keg wedged in the rope, and the Bruiser hits three corner splashes to lay out Lethal. They then set up a table on the floor, lay Jay onto it and the Bruiser heads to the ropes and hits a frog splash to put Lethal through the table. The story is that Young injured Lethal and may have ruined his chances at winning the IWGP US Title.

ROH Six-Man Tag Title Match: Champions The Briscoes & Bully Ray vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys: Jay and Castle to begin, but Jay charges past him and tries to kill the boys but Castle puts a stop to that. Mark and Jay argue with Mark trying to calm his brother. Bully now calms him down, allowing Mark and Castle to work some grappling exchanges. Mark gets a single leg, and works a headlock. Mark looks to work some red neck kung fu, and takes control. The boys rush in to protect Castle, Castle tosses one at Mark and sends him to the floor. Castle prances around and challenges Bully to come on in the ring. They lock up and work to the corner, Bully beaks clean and Castle shoves him and lays in chops, but Bully no sells them. Bully then fires away with jabs and Castle poses to stop that. Bully is not amused, but then dances and poses.

Castle gets fanned up, poses and Bully lays into him with chops. Bully tosses the boys in the ring and works them over with chops and Jay wants in badly. He gets the tag and Castle takes the ref allowing the other boy to low blow Jay. They beat on Jay, Castle back in and suplexes Jay around and covers for 2. Castle looks for a dead lift German, but Jay fights that off and goes after the boys, but Castle hits a running knee strike. Castle follows with rights, Jay hits head butts but Castle dropkicks jay in the corner and follows him up top. Jay fights him off, and hits a super gut buster and both men are down. Mark gets the hot tag, works over the boys and lays in vicious chops. The XPLODER follows, and then the rolling DVD. Castle cuts off the cutthroat driver, but Mark hits the fisherman’s buster, covering for 2. Bully in and press slams a boy, Mark hits the wazzup leg drop, and they tease getting tables. Jay wipes out the boys with a suicide dive and then beats them down on the floor. He gets a chair and misses a boy, who runs for his life. Bully hold Jay back from chasing him, back in and rolls up Mark for the win. Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated Champions The Briscoes & Bully Ray @ 13:20 via pin to become the new champions [**½] The story was that Jay’s obsession with revenge on the boys for getting misted by BUSHI on ROH TV when they saved Castle consumed him to the point that he lacked focus and cost his team the titles. It an overall good story, but as far as the action goes, it felt like a really average TV style match.

ROH TV Title Match: Champion KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll: Scurll refuses the handshake. They work some fast paced, back and forth grappling to begin. Scurll gets in a cheap shot, but KUSHIDA picks up the pace as they work into a counter exchange and KUSHIDA works for an arm bar. Scurll escapes and KUSHIDA hits kicks to the arm. Scurll blocks the enziguri and takes KUSHIDA to the floor, but KUSHIDA blocks the apron superkick and then hits the rolling kick. Scurll counters back to the future into a roll up, and then hits a pump handle last shot for a near fall. Scurll then starts to work over the arm of KUSHIDA, looking to set up the chicken wing. Scurll is now focused on the arm, KUSHIDA manages to hit a knee strike and then suplexes Scurll into the buckles. KUSHIDA up top and Scurll cuts him off, follows him up and KUSHIDA slips out and hits the running heel kick. KUSHIDA follows Scurll up top, they trade strikes and KUSHIDA grabs the arm and hits the riling hover board lock off of the ropes. Scurll grabs the fingers to escape, and follows with an uppercut sending KUSHIDA to the floor; Scurll hits the apron superkick and then back in Scurll hits the piledriver, covering for 2. Scurll paces around, sets and looks for the chicken wing, but KUSHIDA stops that. Superkick to the knee by Scurll, and counters the KUSHIDA back handspring into a backslide for 2. KUSHIDA then hits the DDT, but Scurll grabs the fingers, and then rolls into the chicken wing. KUSHIDA escapes and rolls into the hover board lock, Scurll gets to the feet, and then attacks the arm, but KUSHIDA hits a PELE for a double down. KUSHIDA stomps away at Scurll, picks him up and Scurll counters into a chicken wing and then Danielson style elbows strikes; Scurll then locks in the chicken wing, KUSHIDA fights but Scurll transitions into a cradle, does the finger break spot and then locks in a wacky looking version of a double chicken wing. KUSHIDA fights and gets the ropes. Scurll then runs into a boot, but comes back with an enziguri and they battle up top. KUSHIDA works forearms, but KUSHIDA gets revenge and does the finger break spot on Scurll and hits back to the future off the second rope and then hits it again back in the ring and retains. Champion KUSHIDA defeated Marty Scurll @ 14:55 via pin [****] This was a great match, easily the best thing on the show with Scurll being a bit more ruthless, and KUSHIDA being such an awesome fight from the bottom babyface. This was really great and felt like an effortless effort from both guys. I was really looking forward to this and they delivered.

– We get highlights of the Kris Wolf and Sumie Sakai vs. Deonna Purrazzo and Mandy Leon Women of Honor match that was taped before the PPV.

– But wait, Trent and Sexy Chuckie T arrive and remind the Bucks that they beat them in Philly and want in the match. Everyone agrees to a tornado tag.

ROH Tag Team Title Tornado Tag Match: Champions The Young Bucks vs. War Machine vs. The Best Friends: It’s an all out brawl to begin, with the Best Friends running wild until War Machine cuts them off. The Bucks return, look for the rise of the Terminator dives but War Machine catches them. It breaks down into dives, but back in the ring War Machine cuts off the Best Friends. The Bucks return, the Best Fiends get tossed to the floor and Matt eats a powerbomb top rope splash combo, but Nick in and off the top to break up the win. Nick hits an x-factor on Hanson and then a superkick on Taylor. Matt then hits a praying moonsault to wipe out the pile. Taylor then runs down the ramp and hits a tope onto everyone! Hanson then hits a top rope dive to the floor, it breaks down back in the ring and Trent misses a moonsault, as does Matt and then Taylor also misses a moonsault. Hanson up top and Trent cuts him off and hits a SUPER GERMAN! Double chokeslam by the Best Friends and everyone else breaks it up. The crowd loves this as it’s all action. The Bucks take out everyone with superkicks, and everyone is down. War Machine then hits a doomsday device to Trent on the floor, back in they hit the pop up powerslam and Hanson hits a suicide dive to the floor. Hanson back in, they hit fallout on Trent and Taylor makes the save. Nick wipes out War machine with a moonsault to the floor, but Taylor hits the awful waffle on Matt for a great near fall as War Machine makes the save. Rowe kills Taylor with a knee strike, Trent tries to save him but Taylor hits Rowe with a knee strike and they dog pile him for a near fall. War Machine looks to take control, but the Bucks hit superkicks and war Machine is stuck holding the Best Friends, and that leads to a double indie Taker, and the Bucks retain. Champions The Young Bucks defeated War Machine and The Best Friends @ 12:27 via pin [****¼] The Best Friends being added did make sense as they did beat the Bucks on TV, but it was very obvious that ROH (and likely NJPW) didn’t want to burn the Bucks/War Machine match with a clean loser. The good news is that by announcing a tornado tag, it allowed them to work an absolutely fun and great balls to the wall sprint, that kept the crowd engaged the entire time. This was the most over thing on the show, and the timing and execution were excellent from all six men involved. This was beautiful insanity. The PPV needed these back to back great matches, and best of all they were great for completely different reasons.

ROH Title Match: Champion Christopher Daniels vs. Cody: They locked up and worked a basic back and forth beginning. Cody got an early cradle, which Daniels didn’t like. Cody controls early, hitting some shoulder blocks, but Daniels then cut him off and shoved Cody down. Cody then powdered to the floor and his mouth is busted up. Back in and Daniels hits a hit toss, a slam and then connects with forearms. Daniels teases angel’s wings, but Cody powders again. Back in and Daniels lays in chops and hits a boot and running neck breaker for 2. Cody powders again, taking a walk into the crowd. Daniels follows and they brawl on the floor. Cody then slams Daniels to the barricade and starts to find some momentum. Back in the ring and Cody hits a flatliner for 2. Daniels fires back with rights, heads up top but Cody runs up the ropes and hits a top rope arm drag.

Cody then works a short arm scissors, Daniels escapes but runs into a clothesline. Cody to the floor, talks shit to Cary Silken and threatens him/ Back in and Cody hits a springboard missile dropkick for 2. We get a ref bump as Daniels runs Cody into the ref and gets the O’Connor roll. Low blow by Cody. Daniels gets cradle for a phantom pin, but no ref. Marty Scurll is out, and gives Cody a chair. Daniels cuts off Cody, grabs the chair and tosses it to Cody, doing the old Eddie Guerrero gimmick. The ref is back, Cody hits a DDT onto the chair and Scurll takes the ref, Kazarian is out to fight off Scurll. They brawl to the back. Cody sets up a table, and he and Daniels go to the apron and Cody teases a package piledriver. Daniels escapes, back in they go and Daniels fired up with forearms. The STO follows as the crowd has turned on Daniels in Favor of Cody. The blue thunder bomb gets 2 for Daniels. Cody avoids the angel’s wings through the table, back in and Cody hits Daniels with the rainmaker. Cody springboards in, misses, but rebounds with the disaster kick. Daniels to the apron and Cody follows, Daniels then hits a belly to back suplex, putting both men through the table.

They both beat the count, trade strikes back in the ring and Cody hits a slam but misses the elbow drop. Daniels locks in the koji clutch, but Cody makes the ropes. Cody spits water in Daniels’ face and hits cross Rhodes for 2. Daniels hits the slam, but Cody avoids the BME, but Cody counters angel’s wings into a RANA. They trade roll ups and counters and then Cody hits cross Rhodes to win the title. Cody defeated Champion Christopher Daniels @ 19:23 via pin to become the new champion [***] This was an overall good main event, with an interested crowd, but also one that suffered from a lot of the same trappings as most 2017 Cody matches. It starts out well, there’s good wrestling and just as it feels as it’s about to really lock in, we get some sort of bullshit or interference and a flat finish. Cody won over the crowd, which is interesting, because he’s supposed to be the evil outsider that stole the belt from the ROH legend that after years of struggle finally won the title

– Post match Cody mocks Cary Silken as he has to award him the title. Bullet Club arrives to celebrate with Cody.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

 photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.2
The final score: review Good
The 411
I thought that the ROH BITW PPV was a good show with two standout matches, the big main event title change and nothing bad in the ring. There were also some good booking moves that play into both ROH & NJPW. It was a fun watch, but due to the price tag ($35-$45), your mileage may vary. What you need to see: KUSHIDA vs. Scurll, Bucks vs. War Machine vs. Best Friends
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