First things first: ANTISEMANTICSHOW.COM
And now onto the Gospel According to the Ice Jesus.
On Sunday June the 26th, Emillio Sparks and myself were fortunate to attend Ring Of Honor (ROH)’s Best in the World I Pay Per View as guest of the one and only: Chris Hero. Emillio asked me to do a little review, but I’d rather talk more about the experience as opposed doing a match by match recap of the whole affair.
For those of you who don’t know what exactly an iPPV, it’s all the rage these days in indy wrestling. Basically companies all over the tri state area are putting their shows out there on the internet for a small price (10-15 bucks), thus giving those who can’t make it to the shows or wait for the DVD to come out a chance to see the show as it happens. This is pretty darn awesome, but for the most part doesn’t always end up feeling “special”. Mainly because most of these companies simply take their standard run of the mill monthly card and toss it out there on the net live. There’s nothing wrong with that. Heck diehards eat that stuff up. ROH however is a very different beast.
Best in the World truly felt like a big deal, from start to finish. The show itself was extremely important as ROH has just recently signed a new TV deal, and found new owners thus show was really all about CHANGE. The new blood of the indy scene stepped up, from the dark match on and continued to step up throughout the show. The overall atmosphere was just spectacular.
We arrived early, VIP style walking past a line of 1,000 plus fans gathered in front of the Manhattan Center, to be let into the main ball room by Chris Hero himself, this was just so surreal to me, getting in for free at perhaps the biggest indy show of the year!
For the first time possibly ever, the show started on TIME! (this means a lot really, you don’t understand how many indy shows I’ve been to keep you waiting outside). Each match told a different story, but as stated earlier it was really all about “change”. Colt Cabana had an off night, but the Embassy’s newest “Crown Jewel” Tommaso Ciampa picked up a win. Cole & O’Reily were kept strong when matched up with TNA’s Young Bloods. Michael Eilgen picked up a major win over former ECW World Champion: Steve Corino. El Generico defeated TNA’s Christopher Daniels for his first ROH singles title. A CHANGE was in the air…
Three things really stood out, three major MAJOR happenings. The first was the ROH return of “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen. Steen had lost a loser leaves town match to El Generico 6 months prior. His running buddy Steve Corino had turned baby face and was pushing to bring Kevin back into the fold. ROH officials sent out press releases stating Steen was banned. So he bought a ticket, ahh I love rasslin’! Corino intro’d him on the microphone, and a super happy Steen attempted to hope the rail only to be held back by ROH security lead by ROH Commissioner: Jim Cornette (famed 80′s manager).
After Michael Eilgin won his match, he along with his manger Truth Martini laid out Corino and his “sponsor” Jimmy Jacobs. And wouldn’t you know it KEVIN STEEN re-appeared to make the save! After laying out the heels, Cornette was back with security to restrain Kevin.. that is until Corino pleaded for Jim to give Kevin a chance to speak. Steen proceeded to set up an apology, to Corino, to the fans, to Cornette, only to turn around and shout “FUCK RING OF HONOR!” ripped off his jacket, spit at Cornette, and DESTROY Corino with an awesome fucking package piledriver! The place EXPLODED, sure they were supposed to boo, but they were swerved and they fucking LOVED IT!
The next big thing, was our good buddy Cody B. Ware rapping Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & his partner Claudio Castagnoli, and the ultra hot Sara Del Rey) to ringside as they set forth to do battle with the Briscoes, the All Night Express & ROH Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas. The match itself was a ton of fun, a bit long (about 45 mins, or in Naylor time and hour and a half), and even though the Kings lost we went ape shit for Cody, Claudio, Sarah & Chris doing there thing!
And lastly.. the freaking main event. I’m not going to explain the story… there’s a video about it..
Man did it ever live up to the hype! For nearly 36 minutes, the American Wolves: Davey Richards & ROH World Champion: Eddie Edwards tore the freaking roof down! Easily the best match I’ve ever scene in person, surpassing even KENTA Vs. Danielson from the same building years early. It was stiff, it had a ton of innovative MMA spots, a table was broken, the works!
The story telling was simply fantastic, with Davey shouting ” YOU MADE ME DO THIS! ” during a hot streak. And when it was all said and done, Davey Richards had finally achieved his dream and walked out the world champion! The place exploded, after the match Davey gave an awesome from the heart speech, putting the belt over strong.
After the show we got to hang out with Chris a bit, who is a freaking awesome dude! Seriously, possibly the nicest guy you could ever meet. I got to meet some of the guys, marking out a bit as I shook Steve Corino’s hand. An awesome night of wrestling, that if you haven’t already ordered YOU CAN STILL at Gofightlive.com. Seriously check it out!
EDITORS NOTE: All photos provided by Adam Ross
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