June 26th, 2011 in New York City
Current Champions
ROH World Champion: Eddie Edwards (since 3/19/11)
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) (since 4/1/11)
ROH World Television Champion: Christopher Daniels (since 12/10/10)
Pre-Show Match: Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Max and Jeremy Buck
O’Reilly catches Jeremy with a flurry of strikes and Cole adds a basement dropkick. Cole lands a dive to the floor onto Max while O’Reilly connects with a dropkick from the apron on Jeremy. In the ring, Cole lands a flying crossbody on Max. Jeremy gets involved from the apron and Generation Me isolate Cole. Max yells “Yoshino” before connecting with a double stomp at one point. That was random. Cole rolls through a clothesline attempt from him and makes the tag. O’Reilly connects with a series of kicks and hits a double dragon screw leg whip. He follows with a double missile dropkick. O’Reilly hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Max and Cole adds a wheelbarrow german suplex. Jeremy finds success with a springboard ace crusher on O’Reilly. He superkicks Cole off the apron and hits a slingshot facebuster on O’Reilly. Max lands a 450 splash onto O’Reilly for a nearfall. Jeremy accidentally knees his brother and Cole dropkicks him out of the ring. Cole and O’Reilly hit a superkick-brainbuster combination on Max. O’Reilly applies a dragon sleeper while Cole catches Jeremy with a guillotine choke. The Bravado Brothers suddenly run into the ring and attack Cole and O’Reilly, causing Generation Me to somehow win by disqualification at 7:11. These two teams made excellent use of their seven minutes and had the crowd in the palms of their hands by delivering incredible action. It’s truly a shame that the finish had to ruin the festivities. However, with Generation Me leaving TNA, we might be able to see a rematch in the near future. **¾
The Bravados continue attacking Cole and O’Reilly. They spend too much time celebrating and Generation Me hit More Bang for Your Buck on Lance. The crowd wants the match to be restarted. Cole and O’Reilly show respect towards Generation Me and head to the back.
Opening Match: Colt Cabana vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Cabana is able to outsmart Ciampa early on. Ciampa drapes him across the top rope and connects with a basement dropkick. Cabana gets caught by a facewash knee strike and Ciampa takes control. Cabana tries a springboard moonsault but finds knees. He blocks a charge and connects with a bionic elbow. Ciampa runs into a flying hip attack but recovers with a nice german suplex. Cabana applies the Billy Goat’s Curse. Ciampa scales the ropes and hits Project Ciampa for the win at 6:58. Fairly harmless opener to get the show started. Cabana entertained the crowd early on before inevitably falling victim to Ciampa’s power advantage. While this match was fine for what it was, I was hoping for a more memorable opener on a show as important as this one. **
Match #2: Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett
Lethal receives a thunderous reaction from the crowd. There’s an audible “Randy Savage” chant to start the match. Someone even throws a Slim Jim towards the ring. Lethal lays in a few chops and cartwheels into a basement dropkick. He snaps off a slingshot hurricanrana and lands a dive to the floor. Brutal Bob gets involved and Bennett comes off the apron with a clothesline. Bennett takes control in the ring until Lethal avoids a charge and connects with a handspring elbow. Lethal comes off the middle rope with a leg lariat and goes up top. Brutal Bob grabs his feet, allowing Bennett to hit a superplex. Bennett whiffs on a flying elbow drop attempt and gets caught by a superkick. Lethal finds success with a flying elbow drop for the victory at 9:43. I don’t think that anyone had high expectations for this match once Bennett was revealed as Lethal’s opponent. However, this ended up being a fine reintroduction for Lethal and the crowd support that he received was phenomenal. Lethal should be making more frequent appearances for ROH and that’s definitely something to get excited about. **¼
Match #3: Street Fight: Homicide vs. Rhino
Rhino has been hired by The Embassy to take out Homicide. Homicide snaps off a headscissors and lands a dive to the outside. Rhino uses his power to military press him but misses a plancha. They battle on the apron and Rhino back drops Homicide through a table at ringside. Rhino throws a ladder into the ring and whips Homicide into the barricade. In the ring, Homicide hits a suplex onto the ladder. Rhino responds by military pressing him onto the ladder. They trade reversals and Homicide comes off the middle rope with a shoulder tackle. Rhino blocks a lariat and hits a piledriver. Homicide finds knees on a frog splash attempt but fights back with an ace crusher for a nearfall. He slides a table into the ring and it’s propped in the corner. Rhino hits a belly to belly suplex. Homicide avoids the Gore and sneaks in a sunset flip for the win at 10:17. The stipulation undoubtedly played to the strengths of both men and helped the quality of this match. They didn’t set the world on fire or anything, but Homicide looked motivated and Rhino fit his role perfectly. There really wasn’t much more that I could have asked of them. **½
Prince Nana attacks Homicide after the match and Rhino Gores him through the table that was propped in the corner. The Embassy stand tall as staff members check on Homicide.
Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs make their way to the ring. Although they are evil people, they are trying to get better. Someone else wants to make a change. Corino apologizes to management and introduces Kevin Steen. The cameras show Steen making his way through the crowd. He advances to ringside where Jim Cornette and staff members stop his progress. Steen surprisingly doesn’t provide any resistance and leaves back through the crowd. Michael Elgin runs into the ring, leading to…
Match #4: Steve Corino vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin connects with a slingshot elbow strike. They exchange forearms and Corino hits the Colby Shock. He follows with a saito suplex and applies an abdominal stretch. Elgin feels the wrath of the thumb in the bumb. Corino low bridges him to the floor and connects with a baseball slide. He tries a dive but Elgin catches him and hits a running powerslam on the floor. Elgin takes over until Corino finds an opening to connect with a lariat. Truth Martini gets involved but Jimmy Jacobs neutralizes him. Elgin hits a TKO and connects with a superkick. He dead-lifts Corino into a suplex and hits a powerbomb for a nearfall. Elgin follows with a bucklebomb and another powerbomb for the victory at 8:39. Amidst everything involving Steen, this match was lost in the shuffle. At the very least, Elgin is continuing to prove that he deserves to be prominently featured in ROH sooner rather than later. **¼
Elgin attacks Corino after the match. Jacobs tries to make the save but gets hit by the Book of Truth. Kevin Steen runs to the ring and elevates Elgin up into a powerbomb. He superkicks Martini as staff members attempt to control the situation. Corino begs Jim Cornette to allow Steen to say something. Steen grabs the microphone: “Thank you. Thank you. I won’t take long. I know that I’m not supposed to be here. Steve, I’ve been telling you for months. All I want to do is make things right. All I want to do is get the chance to apologize. Steve, I told you so I can tell everyone watching. My name is Kevin Steen…and f**k Ring of Honor!” Steen lays out Corino with a package piledriver as staff members rush the ring. As he is being escorted out of the building, Cornette promises that he’ll never step foot in Ring of Honor ever again.
Match #5: ROH World Television Title: Christopher Daniels © vs. El Generico
Daniels attacks before the opening bell. He connects with a leg lariat but gets taken down by a few armdrags. Generico finds success with a baseball slide and throws the champion into the barricade. Generico uses the barricade to land a moonsault. In the ring, Daniels tries to make nice by speaking Spanish to no avail. Generico connects with corner punches but Daniels goes to the eyes. Daniels starts an “I still got it” chant and takes control. Generico lures him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Back in, Generico lands a flying crossbody and hits a blue thunder bomb. Daniels responds with a flatliner and applies the koji clutch. Generico is able to get his foot on the bottom rope. Daniels connects with an enzuigiri but Generico back drops out of Angel’s Wings. Daniels hits Last Rites. They have a great exchange where they trade reversals. Generico connects with a corner yakuza kick and hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. He positions Daniels in the tree of woe and follows with a coast to coast dropkick. They battle on the apron and Daniels throws Generico into the barricade. Daniels adds a suplex on the floor and celebrates in the ring, waiting for the countout victory. Generico makes it back into the ring. Daniels hits a uranagi but the Best Moonsault Ever is blocked. Generico connects with a corner yakuza kick and hits a top rope brainbuster to become the new ROH World Television Champion at 19:30. These two were able to improve upon their match at Revolution: Canada and nobly attempted to set the tone for the rest of the show. Daniels showcased just how good he can be as a personality while Generico brought the energy that is usually associated with his matches. The aspect of this contest that really puts it over the top is that the title change genuinely felt like a big deal. I loved everything about the finish and Generico was definitely the right person to dethrone Daniels. If this is Daniels’ last match in ROH for awhile, I think he definitely left on a high note. ***¾
Match #6: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Elimination: Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rhett Titus and Kenny King
Haas controls on the mat against Titus and catches him with a backbreaker. Shelton and King enter the ring and the crowd chants “this is racist.” They have a nice exchange and Shelton lands a springboard crossbody. Claudio makes the blind tag and plays with the crowd’s emotions by teasing a giant swing. King gets into an altercation with the Briscoes on the apron. Titus connects with a dropkick on Hero and King adds a lariat. We’re over ten minutes into the match and the Briscoes haven’t been in the ring yet. When they finally do, they gang up on Titus. The match starts to break down with Haas taking out Jay with a plancha. Titus lands a dive to the floor and Mark follows suit with a moonsault. Hero even adds a dive of his own. Claudio and King battle on the top rope. Shelton runs up the ropes and takes them down to the canvas with a superplex. The Briscoes attack Shelton and hit stereo shoulder tackles. He gets worked over until he dodges a corner charge from Mark and makes the tag. Haas cleans house with clotheslines and suplexes. Titus stops his momentum with a blind tag and hits a leaping bulldog on Jay. Mark hits an exploder on Titus and the Briscoes isolate him. King has to randomly enter the match to save his partner. The All Night Express hit a backbreaker-flying knee drop combination on Jay to eliminate the Briscoes at 24:15. ANX begin going to work on Shelton. He impressively powers out of a camel clutch from Claudio and hits an electric chair slam. Hero stops Shelton from making the tag. He rolls through a double clothesline from the Kings of Wrestling and tags out. King hits a uranagi on Hero and lands a standing moonsault. He follows with a spinebuster on Claudio and an overhead suplex on Hero. ANX catch Hero with a series of kicks. Hero responds with a stomp-roaring elbow combination on Titus. ANX recover with their blockbuster-powerbomb combination on Claudio. Sara Del Rey distracts the referee. Hero puts on his loaded elbow pad and tags Titus with a roaring elbow to eliminate ANX at 34:32. Haas steals Hero’s loaded elbow pad and throws it into the crowd. Hero responds with a roaring elbow and the Kings work over Haas. He ducks an elbow and hits a german suplex on Hero. Shelton hits a samoan drop on Hero and comes off the middle rope with a bulldog. He plants the Kings with a double DDT and Haas hits an olympic slam on Hero. Haas gets caught by a roaring mafia kick and falls victim to the UFO. Claudio giant swings Haas into a basement dropkick from Hero for a nearfall. Haas fights out of the KRS-1 and sends Claudio to the floor. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team hit a spinebuster on Hero to retain their titles at 40:09.
I understand that ROH wants everyone to know that they take tag team wrestling extremely seriously. The press conference before this show stressed that ROH was the home of the best tag team wrestling in the world. However, that doesn’t mean that this match had to last forty minutes for the sake of lasting forty minutes. I was really enjoying the action for the first twenty minutes. Everyone was pretty much playing their roles well and I was curious to see where the match was headed. Then the Briscoes were eliminated, making me a little disappointed that the elimination (and this applies to every elimination) didn’t add anything of substance to the match. From that point, this contest just dragged on for far too long to end with a double team spinebuster. I’m not saying that there wasn’t a lot of hard work put into this match. I’m just saying that everything could have been more concise and the action could have been structured much better. ***¼
After the match, the Briscoes run into the ring and attack the champions with chairs. The Kings back off and watch everything unfold. ANX finally make the save and clear the ring.
Match #7: ROH World Title: Eddie Edwards © vs. Davey Richards
This is Richards’ final chance to claim the ROH World Title. Edwards doesn’t offer a clean break and almost pays for it. They trade reversals and strikes. Richards gains the advantage after a punt to the chest. Edwards fights back with a TKO and a gutwrench suplex. Richards sends him to the floor and punts him from the apron. Richards slingshots back into the ring and lands a dive to the outside. Edwards gets caught by a missile dropkick back in the ring. He tries a backpack chinbreaker but Richards almost reverses into a cross armbreaker. Richards hits a northern lights suplex and goes back after the left arm. They trade headbutts on the top rope and Richards hits a superplex. He transitions into a falcon arrow and applies a cross armbreaker. Edwards reverses into an achilles lock. Richards goes back to the cross armbreaker but Edwards rolls through. Edwards counters a handspring kick with a sit-out gourdbuster and hits a fisherman buster. He comes off the middle rope with a lungblower. Richards sneaks in another cross armbreaker but Edwards just stomps on his face to escape. Edwards sends Richards to the floor and lands a moonsault off the apron. Back in, Edwards connects with a missile dropkick and hits a tiger suplex. Apparently, Edwards hurt his left knee at some point. They exchange forearms and battle on the apron where Edwards hits a 2k1 bomb. Edwards connects with a superkick and double stomps Richards through a table at ringside. In the ring, Edwards connects with another flying double stomp. Richards catches him in the ropes and Edwards dares him to hit a dragon screw leg whip. Richards connects with a flying double stomp of his own. He synchs in an ankle lock but Edwards reaches the ropes. Back up top, Richards lays in a series of headbutts and hits a german suplex. He kicks Edwards into the corner and adds another german suplex. Richards applies an ankle lock but Edwards counters into one of his own. Richards reverses back and Edwards is able to reach the bottom rope. They battle on the apron and Richards inadvertently kicks the ringpost. Edwards snaps off a top rope hurricanrana and hits a powerbomb. He connects with a lariat and follows with a 2k1 bomb. Edwards synchs in an achilles lock and transitions into a cloverleaf. Richards hits a saito suplex out of nowhere and Edwards returns the favor. Both men are down. They exchange forearms, chops, and kicks. Richards connects with a lariat. Edwards won’t stay down so Richards follows with a flurry of kicks. Richards connects with two superkicks and a knockout kick for a nearfall. Richards says “you will always be my brother” and lays in one final kick to become the sixteenth ROH World Champion at 36:00.
A lot has been said about this match. Some people have called this an easy match of the year candidate, even going as far as five stars. However, there is a minority that doesn’t agree with the match of the year praise and I’m in that minority. After watching his excellent title defenses against Roderick Strong and Chris Hero, it’s easy to see how this match against Richards deviates from them. Instead of sticking to the limb work and telling a great story (his defense against Hero) or playing off of a previous match (his defense against Strong), this contest seemed to just be about throwing cool moves out there and hoping that the crowd gives them a reaction. While the crowd reacted for the most part, there were definitely times where the crowd felt burnt out, such as when Richards and Edwards traded saito suplexes and received no response. Don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome exchanges throughout this contest. I just don’t feel as though those exchanges really meant anything in the long run. If anything, this is a match where you simply need to decide for yourself. While I would say it’s worth a watch, I would not say that is a match of the year candidate. ***¾
Staff members come out to check on both men. Edwards straps the belt around Richards’ waist and they hug. Tony Kozina and Kyle O’Reilly enter the ring. Richards gets on the microphone and thanks his wrestling family. He’s almost in tears as he thanks the crowd for giving him a chance. Edwards thanks him for all of the help throughout the years in wrestling. Richards celebrates as the show comes to an end.
Overall: Best in the World 2011 carried some lofty expectations. While I don’t think the show came close to meeting those expectations, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider purchasing the DVD. Looking at star ratings alone, I would probably give this show a slight recommendation. However, with two title changes and the return of Kevin Steen, this event also carries some historical significance. While I didn’t recommend the iPPV replay, I think a DVD purchase is warranted. As a result, this show receives a recommendation, despite it falling short of expectations.