ROH Best in the World Review - June 29, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom def. Los Ingobnerables de Japon

I was happy they got the match with the least amount of storyline support out of the way early on the event card. It was well-wrestled from an in-ring standpoint, but it was extremely obvious Los Ingobernables weren't winning the six-man tag titles. As such, the nearfalls toward the end weren't suspenseful in the slightest. All in all, it was a nice way to kick off the night.

Flip Gordon def. Bully Ray by Disqualification

Gordon's rise in Ring of Honor over the last year has been a blast to watch and I've enjoyed his program with Bully Ray up to this point, but this was more of an angle than it was a true match. It was fine while it lasted, but the disqualification finish was cheap. If nothing else, it protected both men, kept the feud alive, and put massive heat on Ray. The crowd popped for Colt Cabana standing up to Bully afterward, so it will be interesting to see if Cabana will eventually step back into the ring to rival him.

ROH Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai, Mayu Iwatani, Tennile Dashwood and Jenny Rose def. World of Stardom Champion Kagetsu, Kelly Klein, Hana Kumura and Hazuki

I was worried for the women because usually the Ring of Honor fans sit on their hands for their matches, but this was way better than I expected it to be with a hot crowd in the final few minutes. Then again, I should have known better than to doubt not only ROH's top female competitors but the women's wrestlers from Japan as well, who are crazy talented. I'd love to see Iwatani challenge Sakai for the Women of Honor Championship soon considering she picked up the win for her team here.

Austin Aries def. Kenny King

The Impact World Champion competing on a ROH pay-per-view is a sight I'd never thought I'd see, but it was damn cool. The match itself was excellent and I liked the story they told with Aries playing the "friend" card and convincing King not to go to lengths he needed to. Aries is an exceptional heel and that was on full display here. I have no clue how long Aries has signed with ROH for, but it must be for the foreseeable future if he's beating one of their regulars on pay-per-view. Otherwise, that was a stupid move, but I'm assuming the feud is far from over.

Jay Lethal def. Kushida

I love Lethal's story of wanting to avenge all of his latest losses in an attempt to prove he is still a main event player. It was wise to save his clash with Kushida for Best in the World because it was certainly pay-per-view worthy and they did not disappoint. Granted, not everything about the outing was perfect and it fell just shy of being the instant classic I hoped it would be, but it was a ton of fun, nonetheless. Now that he has beaten everyone who has beaten him recently, it would appear Lethal is in line for a shot at the ROH World Championship sooner rather than later.

ROH World Television Champion Punishment Martinez def. Adam Page in a Baltimore Street Fight

As a Street Fight, this was everything it needed to be with both men doing a good job of incorporating a number of weapons into the match and constantly keeping the crowd engaged. The stipulation was befitting of the feud they've had up to this point and I appreciated how they went all out, but the finish could have been better executed. If you look closely, Martinez's shoulders were actually touching the mat more than Page's were. Perhaps that means the feud will continue, but I don't know if that's what they were going for.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes def. IWGP Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (IWGP Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

I have yet to watch anything less than an above-average outing between The Briscoes and the Bucks and of course this was no exception. It was all action and I never found myself bored or checking the time for a single second. Speaking of time, this could have gone longer than it did, but they made excellent use of the near-17 minutes they were allotted. The referee bump toward the end made me think we were getting a screwy finish, but thankfully, that was not the case. Both tandems being incredibly over clearly helped as well, as the crowd was into everything they did. Here's hoping they clash again in the near future with the IWGP Tag Team Championship on the line following The Briscoes' victory here. That said, SoCal Uncensored might be next in line for a shot at the strap based off what happened afterward.

ROH World Champion Dalton Castle def. Marty Scurll and Cody in a Three-Way MAtch

Despite being a well-worked three-way early on, the crowd was fairly quiet until the interference from Nick Aldis and Brandi Rhodes in the second half, where the competitors picked up the pace a bit. I don't blame the audience for being exhausted after that tremendous tag title match, but at least they came back alive for the final stretch of this quality main event and particularly for the nearfalls. Unfortunately, Castle is still limited by his injury, which is why I was shocked he retained the title. Additionally, I fear Scurll's time in the title picture is done after this because he has now lost two back-to-back major championship matches, being pinned decisively both times.

Overall Show

While this wasn't the amazing event I had hoped for, it was still an awesome night of wrestling on the whole with almost everything delivering except for Bully vs. Gordon (which was done by design to plant the seeds for a feud between Bully and Cabana). The final four matches are especially worth going out of your way to see as ROH continues to deliver standout show after standout show with wrestling that is top-notch. Sure, no titles changed hands and I initially found that to be slightly disappointing, but the bottom line is that you don't need title changes to have a highly entertaining pay-per-view and that was what this was.