MCMAHON’S In-Person Best in the World Report from Lowell, Mass., including Cody’s post-match off-air promo

ROH Best in the World Live Report
June 23, 2016
Lowell Memorial Auditorium (Lowell, Mass.)
In-person Report by Mike McMahon, PWTorch contributor

Read McMahon’s tweets from the event @MikeMcMahonPW.

— The building was almost sold out. It’s unclear if/how many of the tickets were comps, but this was a much bigger crowd than ROH drew for All Star Extravaganza last September. Considering ROH returned to Lowell so quickly for another PPV (less than one year), the crowd tonight was a good sign. Only a few seats at the top of the balcony were not filled. According to previous WWE reports from when they taped Raw in Lowell on a regular basis, about 2,400 is a sellout. My guess is that ROH drew around 2,000 fans, if not slightly more.

— In the opening tag match, Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia, two guys who originate from New England, were very over with the live crowd. Taven acknowledged the crowd after the show cut to the next video package, as he walked up the ramp.

— When Kaz lost his strap during his match with Hangman Page, a fan in the front row caught it. Almost immediately, someone from ROH’s staff asked for it back. The crew member stood in the corner for several minutes before tossing it back to Kaz later in the match.

— Kenny King was getting a lot of “Rachel!” chants. He seemed to look up at the balcony section that was starting the chant and smirked a few times.

— The crowd was legitimately surprised at the Beer City Bruiser coming off the top to splash Jay Lethal on the outside. It felt like people were waiting for the other shoe to drop, not really expecting him to make the jump.

— Dalton Castle and The Boys received one of the biggest pops of the night on their entrance, but that pop was dwarfed by the reaction to them winning the titles. The Boys are really entertaining, even when they’re just standing on the apron on the outside waiting to get into the match. Castle, of course, is just on another level. One of the loudest reactions of the night also came when Bully Ray did Castle’s post routine.

— Kushida vs. Scurll seemed to be hurt by the hot crowd in the previous match. It was at this point that it felt like the crowd was starting to get a little tired. The match was good, but it seemed to suffer in terms of reaction.

— Call it a second wind, but the crowd was insanely hot for the ROH Tag Title match, and the reaction from most people leaving the building was that this was the match of the night. The things that Hanson can do, from an aerial standpoint, are amazing for a man his size. Each Young Buck superkick was insanely over. The sentiment among those I was sitting with is that Chuck Taylor might be the most underrated wrestler in the world right now. For most, this seemed to be the match of the night, and the one that most people were talking about as they left.

— Cody was more over than Daniels in the main event. There were some loud, “Daniels Sucks!” chants throughout the match, and again, like with the TV Title match, the crowd seemed flat and tired at times, I think losing some energy during the previous Tag Title match.

That said, Cody’s title win obviously received a huge reaction. It just felt like the crowd was running out of steam at the end, and it didn’t feel like the crowd was fully with them as they built towards the finish.

After the table spot on the outside, a second referee ran out from the back to make Daniels squeeze his hand.

After the match, Cody cut a promo to the live crowd, which wasn’t on air. Cary Silkin came in the ring to present him with the title (I’m told this also didn’t make air). Cody said, “I was born a prince in this industry, and tonight, the prince became the king!”

See his entire promo by clicking here.

Cody Rhodes Promo After ROH Title Win #ROHBITW @PWTorch @thewadekeller https://t.co/Odwwdbj963

— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonPW) June 24, 2017

Overall, the show was well attended and well put together. Given that it looks like, from a business standpoint, this was a better show for ROH than All Star Extravaganza was, I’d expect them to run the building again for a pay-per-view.