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RADICAN’S ROH BEST IN THE WORLD 2018 PPV BLOG
JUNE 29, 2018
BALTIMORE, MD AT UMBC EVENT CENTER
AIRED ON PAY-PER-VIEW & ROH HONOR CLUB
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana
(1) ROH World Six Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia & T.K. O’Ryan) vs. LIJ (EVIL & BUSHI & SANADA). All action here. O’Ryan and Taven hit rockstar supernova on BUSHI for the win. The finish didn’t come off smooth. (**3/4)
(2) Bully Ray vs. Flip Gordon. Bully tried to jump Flip, but he was ready for him and hit a superkick. Flip wiped out Bully with a big flip dive over the top to the floor. Flip hit a springboard phenomenal forearm to the floor that nearly sent Bully over the guardrail. Bully made a comeback and missed a Vader Bomb. He blocked the star spangled stunner and hit a low blow for the DQ. (**)
After the match, Bully attacked Flip with a chair. Eli Isym tried to make the save and he got wiped out. Cheeseburger then ran down to a big pop, but Bully Powerbombed him. Colt Cabana left commentary to make the save and grabbed a chair to save Flip from a table powerbomb, so Bully bailed.
Ian Riccaboni pleased to Joe Koff to get rid of Bully Ray.
(3) WOH Champion Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose & Mayu Iwatani & Tenille Dashwood vs. Oeda Tai (World of Stardom Champion Kagetsu & Hazuki & Hana Kimura) & Kelly Klein. Kimura was locked in a guillotine and she got up and hit a delayed vertical suplex on Iwatani for a near fall that set the crowd on fire. Kagetsu accidentally hit Kimura with a sign when she was going for Iwatani. Sakai wiped out everyone on the floor with a dive. Iwatani pinned Kimura with a dragon suplex with a bridge. This was great. (***3/4)
(4) Austin Aries vs. Kenny King. Aries hit a brain buster in the floor, which got a you killed Kenny/you bastard chant. King refused to hit a big move on Aries on the floor so the story was Aries was willing to go places that King wasn’t. Aries won with the discus forearm and brainbuster. Good match. (***1/4)
(5) Jay Lethal vs. KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA is the last loss Lethal has to avenge on his path back to gold. Lethal worked KUSHIDA’s leg and went for his triple dive sequence, but KUSHIDA caught him on the third attempt and grabbed a Fujiwara arm bar. Lethal went for Hail To The King, but KUSHIDA caught him in a cross arm breaker. Lethal bridged on top of him for a 2 count and then grabbed a figure 4, but KUSHIA got the ropes. KUSHIDA didn’t follow the code of honor at the beginning of the match, but he shook his hand when he was wobbly later in the match. Lethal went for the Lethal injection, but KUSHIDA countered it into the Hover Board lock. The traded counters as KUSHIDA went for Back to the Future, but Lethal caught him with a cover for 2. He then hit the Lethal Injection for the win. Great stuff from these guys in this match. (****)
KUSHIDA followed the Code of Honor after the match. The announcers seemed to position Lethal as next in line for the ROH World Title. KUSHIDA signaled he wanted one more match.
Silas Young joined the commentary table. The Beer City Bruiser was behind him. Silas Young said he was disappointed not to be defending the ROH World TV Title.
(6) ROH World TV Champion Punishment Martinez vs. Hangman Page in a Baltimore Street Fight. They went right at it before Bobby Cruise could finish the formal introductions. They brawled all over the place and used chairs. Martinez eventually zip tied Page’s hands and hit a curb stomp. Page fired up and broke out of the zip tie when Martinez was going to choke slam him through a table. Page speared Martinez through a table on the floor a short time later. He followed up with a moonsualt off the top to the floor.
Page played to the crowd and Punishment pump kicked him off the apron. He went through a chair structure, but the cameras missed it. Martinez got a bag and brought it into the ring. He dumped tacks onto the mat. Page blocked a powerbomb and backdropped Martinez onto the tacks! Martinez fought out of rite of passage and hit South of Heaven through the table for the win. That was one hell of a brawl. The finish didn’t come off great, as it looked like Page’s shoulders were up on the table with Martinez draped over him with his shoulders down on the mat. (***3/4)
(7) ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson). Match got off to a hot start. Briscoes worked over Matt. Nick went on an absolute tear hitting an insane step up dive to wipe out both Briscoes and then all sorts of moves back and forth between Mark and Jay. They set Nick up for avalanche redneck boogie, but Matt broke it up. They went to a big back and forth exchange and The Briscoes wiped out The Young Bucks with stereo clothesline’s. Matt took the Jay driller, but Nick got around Mark and made the save.
Nick broke up a domesday device with a springboard cutter on Mark. Matt then rolled Jay up for a near fall. The Young Bucks hit a springboard doomsday device on Jay, but he kicked out! WOW! The Young Bucks hit not bang for your buck on Jay, but Mark hit a froggy bow on the ref to stop the pin. The Young Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on Jay, but Mark made the save after the ref made a slow count. The Young Bucks set up for an IndyTaker on a chair, but Mark tossed a chair at Nick. Jay hit Matt with a Jay-driller on the chair, but he kicked out. WOW!! The Briscoes finally hit super Redneck Boogie on Matt after fending off Nick for the win. What a match! (****3/4)
After the match Nick took exception to Jay standing on Matt. The Briscoes put the boots to them. SCU came down and it looked like they were going to attack The Young Bucks, but they ended up hitting The Briscoes instead.
(8) ROH World Champion Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) vs. Marty Scurll vs. Cody Rhodes (w/Brandi & Burnard The Business Bear). Scurll went right after Cody at the beginning of the match. He was wearing gothic style eye liner. NWA Champion Nick Aldis was shown watching the match at ringside. At one point, Scurll grabbed Castle off of Cody and put him in the chicken wing. Cody then applied a figure 4 at the same time, but ended up grabbing Scurll’s hair when it looked like Castle might tap. Scurll went to hit shattered dreams on Cody, but Brandi got up on the apron. Cody then hit a low blow as the ref tried to get rid of Brandi for a 2 count. Cody told Scurll to kiss the ring. Scurll snapped his fingers sore and took the ring. He went to punch Castle with the ring, but he ducked and hit the bang a rang. Aldis ran in and pulled the ref. Aldis fended off The Boys, but Cody wiped him out with a dive. Scurll hit a belt shot, but Cody pulled the ref to the floor. The ref ejected everyone from ringside.
All three men exchanged blows. Castle sent Cody to the floor and then Marty wiped out Castle with a huge forearm. Everyone was down and Cody got some powder on the outside, but Scurll slapped it into his face. Scurll charged at Cody, but ate the Cross-Rhodes. Castle tossed Cody to the floor and made the cover for a near fall. Scurll got the chicken wing on Castle. Cody finally made the save, but Scurll countered Rhodes and hit a Cross-Rhodes of his own. Castle then immediately hit the bang-a-rang for the win. This was complete chaos from start to finish and it was really good even though it felt rushed. The only drawback is ROH uses these smoke and mirror stunts all the time if your a regular viewer. (***3/4)
Contact Sean at pworchsean@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sr_torch.
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