ROH "Best in the World" iPPV live report
June 24, 2012
New York City
Report by PWTorch VIP member Zim

Rough crowd of 1,200 - 1,500, give or take. The doors opened a little before 4:00, and the show show was at 5:00 p.m. A lot of "Yes!" and "Daniel Bryan," and "C.M. Punk" chants before the show.

I had a word with Nigel McGuiness before the start. He said his documentary is still a while away. I asked if he ever had any plans to wrestle again even for a one-off. His answer, interestingly enough, was "only for WWE, should they make that call."

(1) Briscoes beat Guardians of Truth. The match suffered big-time because of loose ropes. The hardest working ring crew member spent all match sneaking around the ring tightening the ropes when he could, while being heckled by the crowd. Huge reaction for Briscoes, though. Heavy "man up" chants, but a dud match.

(2) Homicide beat Eddie Edwards. Good match. The crowd was 70/30 in favor of hometown boy Homicide, but I was behind my Mass. guy Eddie. Big pop for his Cop Killa finish.

(3) Adam Cole beat Kyle O'Reilly in a Hybrid Rules match. The crowd was all over this match in the worst way, until Cole got opened up hard-way, then they really picked it up and were all about the match. Huge "This is awesome" chants. The fans were solidly behind Cole and the high-impact style from both men down the stretch.

(4) Michael Elgin beat Fit Finlay. The match was slow and got a lot of "boring" chants. A decent story was told with the right guy going over, but the crowd was ready for this one to end after about ten minutes.

(5) Mike Mondo beat Mike Bennett. Good heat for Bennett and Maria, and good reactions for Mondo, even though he wasn't the smoothest on the mic. What was up with his haircut, though?

(6) ROH TV champion Roderick Strong beat Jay Lethal and Tomasso Ciampa in a three-way match to retain the TV Title. Great three-way dance, and each of the guys had their fans. The crowd loved the finishing sequences Roddy used, too. He is great. The crowd was hot all match.

(7) All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) beat ROH tag champions Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin to capture the ROH Tag Titles. The fans were solidly behind ANX. Rhett's girlfriend was in the seat behind me and she and her friends were very vocal for Rhett and Kenny as well. Huge pop on the title change, and massive go-away heat with scattered "respectful applause" for WGTT. Big-time "F--- you Charlie" chants, though.

Steve Corino got a big reaction and a large "ECW" chant when he came out for the main event. Davey Richards came out to a lot of boos and slight respectful applause. There was a big reaction for Kevin Steen.

(8) ROH World champion Kevin Steen beat Davey Richards to retain the ROH World Title. Awesome match with great weapon and table spots. The crowd ate it up! Also, huge reactions for the package piledrivers and three count. Also of note, the crowd popped huge twice and broke out with the loudest "Yes!" chants I've ever heard live when Davey spin-kicked ref Todd Sinclair and also when Steen hit the other ref with the package piledriver. Awesome reaction.

After the match, Steen tried so hard to turn the crowd against him and establish himself as a real heel, but the crowd wouldn't comply. He called us hypocrites, which led to "Yes!" chants. He disparaged the names of C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan, but still no boos. He mentioned how the fans have turned on every World champion since Nigel McGuinness (which is very true, except maybe Nigel not as much), but said that in order for that to happen or matter, he would have to "give a s--- about us" first. He concluded with something about he, Jacobs, and Corino killing ROH and finished with "F--- New York City!" which elicited a large pop from the Steen-happy crowd.

Overall, I think ROH just needs to accept that he's going to be cheered as the badass anti-authority figure no matter how hard they make him try to be an old=school heel. I don't know if Jim Cornette can realize that or not, but here's hoping so.

Overall, an average card with some super-intense and fun moments. Some matches put the crowd to sleep and others had the fans rabid, but too much was just meh that it couldn't all be overshadowed by the good.

Also of note, they announced that this year's Final Battle event will take place in the Hammerstein Ballroom on December 16 at 2:00 p.m. Odd ring time, in my opinion.

Biggest Pops:

- Steen
- ANX
- (Cole-O'Riley down the stretch)
- Briscoes

Biggest Heat:

- Charlie Haas (and Shelton Benjamin)
- Mike Bennett
- Davey Richards
- Kyle O'Riley

[Torch art credit Marco D'Alfonso (c) PWTorch.com]

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