PWTorch.com - RADICAN: Full Preview for ROH's Best in the World PPV - Briscoe vs. Lethal, Tag Title match, Verdict on whether to order

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RADICAN: Full Preview for ROH's Best in the World PPV - Briscoe vs. Lethal, Tag Title match, Verdict on whether to order

Jun 19, 2015 - 5:48:01 PM

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By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

ROH presents “Best in the World 2015” Friday night on PPV. The price tag is heavy at $34.95, so here’s a look at whether or not this show is worth ordering given the other options out there like the WWE Network, EVOLVE iPPVs, PWG DVDs, and various other independents putting out great content at a low price point.

THE BIG MATCHES

- ROH World Champion Jay Briscoes vs. ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal in a Title vs. Title match: ROH has hyped this match to the moon and called it the biggest ROH match of all-time. The match seems to be over-hyped in my eyes, as it’s certainly a big match between two of the best wresters in the company, but in the eyes of many casual fans new to the product, the last time they saw Jay Lethal was when he was doing the Black Machismo gimmick in TNA.

There’s no doubting that Lethal has become a true cornerstone of ROH as a heel over the last year. He’s held the ROH World TV Title for over a year. Along the way, he’s had a number of very good to excellent matches against a wide variety of opponents, but the majority of them have been ROH wrestlers on the rise.

Another issue with many of his matches, even when he’s fought against bigger name opponents like Alberto El Patron and Roderick Strong, is that that they follow the same pattern with Lethal getting the win after outside interference from The House of Truth.

Although ROH may have over-played their hand hyping the match, this is still a big match that I feel will deliver in a big way in the ring. On the other side of the coin, you have ROH World Jay Briscoe. Briscoe hasn’t been pinned or submitted in nearly three years. He’s held the ROH World Title since last September and has been fed a steady diet of challengers, but his only true rival has been Adam Cole.

With Lethal’s ROH World TV Title reign lasting for over a year, he certainly qualifies as a credible challenger to Jay Briscoe. My gut tells me that this match won’t follow the typical pattern of a lot of Lethal’s matches with outside interference leading to the finish. If that’s the case, this will be one heck of a match and worth the cost of admission for this show.

- ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly): The Addiction beat ReDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Titles after revealing that they were the KRD alongside Chris Sabin when they challenged for the ROH World Tag Team Titles against ReDRagon on ROH TV earlier this year. The rematch took place on ROH TV this past week, but Bobby Fish was unable to get into Canada for the TV tapings in May, so Kyle O’Reilly took on The Addiction by himself in a handicap match for the titles.

The catch was that The Addiction told ReDRagon they would only get one shot at the tag titles going into the match. O’Reilly was dominating the action in the match until The Addiction decided to get themselves DQ’d in order to retain the titles by hitting O’Reilly with their belts. They told O’Reilly that he wasn’t going to get another chance, but eventually a No DQ match was signed so that The Addiction couldn’t cheat their way into retaining their titles again.

This match should be another highlight on the show. The Addiction weren’t clicking as faces since debuting in ROH last year, but they’ve been much more entertaining in the ring since turning heel and winning the tag straps. ReDRagon usually work heel as well, but they’re so good in the ring that it’s likely the New York fans will side with them in this match. This should be a fast-paced hard-hitting match that delivers from a storyline standpoint and in the ring.

- ROH Title #1 contender match: Roderick Strong vs. Moose vs. Michael Elgin: There’s not a big storyline heading into this match. This is just a case of three singles wrestlers on the rise. Although Strong is doing really good heel work in other promotions, he’s been wrestling as a face in ROH for a long period of time. He had a particularly great run in the ring during the NJPW/ROH joint shows in May. Strong isn’t under contract with ROH, so he’s only pushed to a certain level just below main events in most cases.

Moose is relatively new to wrestling, but he’s improved a great deal over the last year in ROH. Moose is a former NFL player and is very big and athletic. He works as a heel with Veda Scott and Stokely Hathaway in his corner doing the mic work for him. Despite being a heel, Moose is massively popular in most ROH markets for his flashy offense and power.

Michael Elgin has been putting on good matches this year, but he doesn’t have the heat he had before turning heel when he returned to the company after being stuck in Canada due to work visa issues last September.

It’s hard to get a read on who will become the new #1 contender to the ROH World Title. It seems like it’s too soon for Moose to be put in that position, but the company might feel like they can pull the trigger on giving Moose a bigger push. He still has a lot to learn in the ring being so new to professional wrestling. On the other hand, Moose is someone under contract that ROH is likely to give a bigger push to during the second half of the year, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Moose get the nod in this match.

The crowd will certainly be into Moose and Strong, so that should be enough to give this match enough energy to be a good match on the card, but I wouldn’t expect a blow away match here.

- Bullet Club (A.J. Styles & The Young Bucks) vs. The Kingdom (Adam Cole & Mike Bennett & Matt Taven w/Maria Kanellis) in a six-man tag match: This match could steal the show. This is a rematch from “War of the Worlds: Night 2.” I haven’t seen the match yet, but I’ve heard good things about it. The Kingdom beat The Bullet Club in their first match.

The re-match should be good and there’s history here, as Matt Taven & Michael Bennett have a little history with The Young Bucks and Adam Cole and A.J. Styles have a singles rivalry as well. This should be one of the most heated contests of the night with the wildly popular Bullet Club taking on the hated Kingdom. I expect this match to be a sprint with tons of fast paced action, although I would also expect to see Cole and Styles pair off and have some exchanges as well. This match could very well steal the show from an in-ring standpoint.

Quick hit thoughts on the rest of the card...

- War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) vs. C & C Wrestle Factory (Cedrick Alexander & Caprice Coleman): Coleman and Alexander are former partners that are tagging together for the first time in a long time. My suspicion is that this match will be used to turn Alexander heel, as he’s been teasing a turn for several months now.

-The Decade (B.J. Whitmer & Adam Page) vs. A.C.H. & Matt Sydal. This should be a really good match on the undercard. The main issue is between Page and ACH with Page being jealous of A.C.H. getting big singles opportunities and making him a target recently. Whitmer has also pointed out that A.C.H. continues to come up short in big matches, which hits a little too close to home in my opinion. I would expect Sydal & A.C.H. to win the match and eventually get into the mix for the tag titles, although I wouldn't be surprised if they were also pushed as singles as well.

- Mark Briscoe vs. Donovan Dijak: Dijak is a young up-and-coming performer in ROH. He is a member of The House of Truth and turned heel after winning the Top Prospects Tournament to join Truth Maritini’s stable. Mark Briscoe seems to be the designated jobber in matches like this, so I suspect he will be used to get Dijak over.

- Silas Young vs. Dalton Castle: Castle’s flamboyant gimmick is tremendously entertaining. Young is just returning to ROH action after being out for a long period of time due to injury. This should be a fairly competitive match. Young needs the win more than Castle at this point, so I would expect him to win here.

- Final Verdict: If you’re new to ROH TV on Destination America or a casual fan, you’re likely to be satisfied ordering this show. The big matches on the card that I spotlighted are all well-worth the money being charged for the show. There’s some major potential here for 1-2 MOTYC’s with the Lethal-Briscoe and Bullet Club-Kingdom matches. The rest of the card should be solid to very good. I recommend ordering this show.

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