ROH: World’s Greatest Review

February 25th, 2011 in Dayton, Ohio

Current Champions
ROH World Champion: Roderick Strong (since 9/11/10)
ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) (since 4/3/10)
ROH World Television Champion: Christopher Daniels (since 12/10/10)

Opening Match: Jay Briscoe vs. Kyle O’Reilly
O’Reilly immediately attempts a cross armbreaker to no avail. Jay connects with a leg lariat but O’Reilly responds with rolling butterfly suplexes. Jay lays in a big boot and wins a strike exchange. O’Reilly fights back with a series of kicks and knocks Jay off the apron. He catches Jay with a missile dropkick from the apron. In the ring, O’Reilly connects with another missile dropkick but eats a boot. Jay hits a vicious falcon arrow followed by a death valley driver. They trade reversals and O’Reilly hits a dragon suplex. He goes up top but Jay catches him with a superplex. O’Reilly sneaks in a quick small package for a nearfall. Jay comes out victorious after a lengthy strike exchange and hits the Jay Driller for the win at 7:46. This opener reminded me of Jay’s matches against Roderick Strong throughout 2009 in that they didn’t need a lot of time to showcase their offenses and make the crowd come alive. Jay has been holding his own as a singles wrestler so far in 2011 and O’Reilly was more than able to hang with him in what was an effective opener. **¾

Match #2: Steve Corino and Grizzly Redwood vs. Harlem and Lance Bravado
Before the match, Corino admits that he is an evil person. He also admits that he likes Dayton and blames Kevin Steen’s absence on himself. He’s on the road to recovery and says that Grizzly inspires him. However, the Bravado Brothers don’t inspire Corino. He’s seen them go from fan favorites to complete pricks. Corino brings up their grandmother, causing Harlem to punch him. Everyone brawls around ringside and the Bravado Brothers get sent into the barricade. In the ring, Corino connects with a dropkick on Lance. He misses a second dropkick and the Bravado Brothers deliver stereo back elbows. Grizzly enters the match and snaps off a headscissors on Harlem. He follows with a basement bulldog and applies an octopus hold. The Bravado Brothers answer with a neckbreaker-back suplex combination and isolate Grizzly. He takes Harlem over with a hurricanrana, connects with an enzuigiri on Lance, and makes the tag. Corino finally connects with a second dropkick and hits a DDT-flatliner combination. He teases utilizing dirty tactics but Lance boots him before he can. Harlem lands a frog splash onto Corino for a nearfall and Lance adds a german suplex. Grizzly takes out the Bravado Brothers with a double missile dropkick. Corino hits the Eternal Dream on Lance but the referee is distracted. Harlem rolls up Corino for the victory at 9:04. While I would like to see the Bravado Brothers win more decisively, the rollup finish works in context because it proves that Corino was right about their new attitude. Although everyone was working hard, the match never turned into anything worthwhile. *½

Match #3: Mark Briscoe vs. Mike Bennett
Mark utilizes his power to bridge out of a hammerlock. He connects with a spin kick and hits a neckbreaker. Bennett gets sent to the floor and Mark follows out with a dive. Back in, Mark attempts a flying crossbody but Bennett catches him with a dropkick. Bennett hits a backbreaker out of the corner and takes control. Mark flips out of a back drop and connects with a superkick. He hits a northern lights suplex and lands a flying senton. Bennett falls victim to an exploder but recovers with a spinebuster. Mark connects with an enzuigiri and goes up top. A distraction from Brutal Bob causes him to climb down. Bennett sneaks in a low blow and hits a uranagi for the win at 9:23. Bennett is one of the most stoic and mechanical wrestlers that I’ve seen in quite some time. The crowd stayed fairly silent as well despite Mark’s best attempt to get them involved. The finish was totally counterproductive and made the nine minutes feel like a waste of time. *

Match #4: Colt Cabana vs. Rhett Titus vs. Mike Mondo vs. Andy Ridge
Titus and Mondo attack before the bell but get sent to the outside for their troubles. Cabana takes out his opponents with a plancha. Back in, Mondo catches Ridge with a dropkick and officially forms an alliance with Titus. They work over Ridge until Cabana physically moves him out of the way of a splash from Mondo. Cabana enters the match and hits the flying asshole on Titus and Mondo. He follows with a springboard moonsault. Mondo hits a blockbuster on Cabana and proceeds to break his alliance with Titus. Ridge takes them out with a flying crossbody. Titus lawn darts Ridge into the corner but Cabana drapes him across the top turnbuckle. Cabana locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse on Mondo for the victory at 8:37. The four corner survival concept has become pretty meaningless recently and this is a good example of why that is the case. Titus could have really benefited from a win, as it would have showed that his match against Homicide truly brought out a killer instinct in him. Instead, Cabana predictably won and I had little reason to care about this match. *½

Match #5: Christopher Daniels vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin immediately powers Daniels into the corner and lays in various strikes. Daniels low bridges him to the floor and connects with a baseball slide. Daniels lands an arabian press and follows with a missile dropkick back in the ring. He adds a northern lariat but a distraction from Truth Martini allows Elgin to hit a samoan drop. Elgin takes control, working over Daniels’ back. The action goes to the floor where Elgin drives Daniels back-first into the barricade. Elgin applies a boston crab on the outside as Martini reads aloud from the Book of Truth. He slams Daniels onto the floor and goes back to the boston crab. In the ring, Elgin maintains control until Daniels sends him into the middle turnbuckle. Daniels hits a corner bulldog and lands a flying crossbody. Elgin answers with a nice modified pumphandle slam and connects with a lariat. Daniels ducks a discus lariat but falls victim to a spinning uranagi. Daniels sneaks in a rollup out of nowhere for the win at 14:54. While this match was filled with smart wrestling, it never fully reached a second gear. I was expecting a somewhat exciting finishing stretch but the match just came to an end rather abruptly. The good news is that Elgin seems to be making the most out of his opportunity and I’m looking forward to his upcoming matches. **½

Elgin attacks Daniels after the match until El Generico runs out to make the save. Daniels grabs the Book of Truth and takes it with him. In a promo backstage, Daniels says that he’s going to read the Book of Truth and get under Roderick Strong’s skin.

Match #6: El Generico vs. Homicide
Homicide mocks Generico and insults him in Spanish. They trade armdrags, although Homicide has some difficulty in his execution. Generico connects with a leg lariat and corner punches. Homicide throws him to the floor and whips him into the barricade. Generico quickly returns the favor but gets sent into the ringpost. Homicide utilizes a storage container from under the ring and hits a neckbreaker on the floor. In the ring, Homicide takes control until Generico comes back with a tornado DDT. Generico hits a michinoku driver but misses a corner yakuza kick. Homicide hurricanranas him off the middle rope. They tease finishers and Homicide connects with a lariat. Generico overhead suplexes him into the turnbuckles and goes up top. Homicide crotches him on the top rope but gets caught by a yakuza kick. Generico attempts a top rope brainbuster to no avail. Homicide hits an ace crusher for the victory at 12:33. I’m not sure what happened here. Homicide hasn’t looked extremely motivated since returning to ROH and much of this match was plagued by awkward moments and miscommunication. While the action seemed to settle down towards the end, this show would have been greatly helped by an excellent outing from these two. **

Match #7: Eddie Edwards vs. Kenny King
They start with some chain wrestling and give each other clean breaks. They dodge each other’s kicks and find themselves at a stalemate. King decides not to give a clean break and gets taken down by a kick as a result. Edwards follows with a few vicious chops. King crotches him on the top rope and then spin kicks him to the floor. King uses the barricade to hit a leg drop. He slams Edwards into the barricade and takes control in the ring. Edwards fights back with a flying knee strike but gets northern lights suplexed into the turnbuckles. Edwards double stomps King on the apron and both men fall to the floor. King tries to use the barricade as a springboard but Edwards pushes him into the crowd. Edwards jumps off the barricade and onto King. In the ring, Edwards connects with a missile dropkick followed by a superkick. He adds a facewash kick and comes off the middle rope with a lungblower. King falls victim to a tiger suplex but won’t stay down. He blocks a charge from Edwards by connecting with a spin kick. King sort of hits a back suplex. Edwards wins a nice strike exchange with a lariat. Both men are down. King avoids a flying double stomp and connects with shotgun knees. They battle up top and Edwards gourdbusters King to the canvas. Edwards connects with a flying double stomp and hits a dragon screw leg whip. Edwards applies an achilles lock for the win at 18:43. They were given the semi-main event spot and delivered a worthwhile match. King was in the same position at Champions Vs. All Stars against Kyle O’Reilly. In that match, King and O’Reilly tried too hard to force a great match and save the show. Here, King and Edwards were given enough time to space out the action and worked well together. Ring of Honor clearly thinks highly of these two and for good reason. While I think that they might even have a better match in them, they successfully pumped some energy into an otherwise dull show. ***¼

Match #8: Davey Richards, Shelton Benjamin, and Charlie Haas vs. Roderick Strong, Chris Hero, and Claudio Castagnoli
Richards can’t shoulder block Claudio, so he tries a kick. Claudio connects with a clothesline but nearly gets caught in a fujiwara armbar. Strong tags in and Richards locks him in a cloverleaf until Hero breaks the hold. Shelton connects with corner punches on Strong and slams him across Haas’ knee. Haas runs into a leg lariat from Strong and the heels work him over. In a nice touch, the Kings of Wrestling mimic the double team offense of Haas and Shelton. Haas snaps off a hurricanrana on Claudio and hits a belly to belly suplex. Shelton has a nice run of offense before finding himself in the wrong corner. The heels now isolate him until he blocks corner punches from Claudio and makes the tag. Richards spits at Strong and repeatedly kicks Claudio in the corner. He tries to punt Claudio from the apron but Hero boots him to the floor. Strong throws Richards into the guardrail and the heels now target their last opponent. At one point, he gets sent to the floor where Truth Martini, Sara Del Rey, and Shane Hagadorn get their shots in. Richards attempts his handspring enzuigiri but Claudio catches him in the UFO. He’s finally able to make the tag after delivering a missile dropkick to Claudio. Shelton cleans house with a series of punches and connects with a gamenguiri on Hero. Haas catapults Strong into a samoan drop from Shelton. Hero lays out Shelton with a roaring mafia kick. The Kings follow with their giant swing-flash dropkick combination. Claudio chokeslams Shelton, who responds by countering a delayed vertical suplex into a neckbreaker. Haas overhead suplexes Strong while Shelton catches Claudio with a superkick. Haas applies the Haas of Pain on Claudio and Richards adds a diving headbutt while Claudio is still in the hold. Hero is able to break things up. Shelton hits a jumping flatliner on Hero. Richards connects with a knockout kick on Strong and hits a german suplex. The Kings brawl to the back with Haas and Shelton while Richards and Strong are left in the ring. Strong hits a side slam and a gutbuster. He follows with a superkick but Richards won’t stay down. Richards tries a missile dropkick but Strong avoids it and locks in a boston crab. Richards turns it into a rollup for a nearfall. He now applies a cross armbreaker and connects with the Alarm Clock. Strong gets planted by a tornado DDT. Richards goes back to the cross armbreaker for the victory at 32:14. This match featured the great action that you would expect from these six. However, the contest suffered from being inconsequential in the long run. The action took awhile to get going and I have to think that they were going for a longer match to make the fans feel as though they received something special. The same thing happened at Champions Vs. All Stars from earlier this year. With that said, some parts of this match stood out to me such as the Kings stealing offense from Haas and Benjamin. Additionally, Richards and Strong effectively displayed their hatred for each other and had a couple of nice exchanges. However, the finish really bothered me and held this match back. Commentary made the argument after the match that Strong tapped to preserve himself for his title match tomorrow night against Homicide. While that’s fine storytelling, it made this main event feel relatively meaningless, much like this show as a whole. Basically, you know exactly what you’re going to get with these six – great action. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time believing that this match meant anything and I couldn’t enjoy the action as much as some. ***½

Overall: Taking place the night before an anniversary show, World’s Greatest is one of the weaker shows thus far in 2011. The undercard is pretty lackluster, with El Generico and Homicide delivering under expectations. The show finally picks up after a worthwhile exhibition between Kenny King and Eddie Edwards. Those are two men who should see their stock rise this year. The main event ends things on a high note, but I probably enjoyed the match less than others because the action just seemed inconsequential. In fact, as mentioned earlier, this whole show seemed rather meaningless. Ring of Honor might claim that there are no “B shows” but this is a pretty good example of one of them. As a result, I can’t give this show a recommendation.