Matches to Make Following "Best in the World"

[The Bearded One]

The following is an article I wrote for http://www.rohworld.com.


“Best In the World 2011” proved that Ring of Honor is home to the best wrestling product in the world today. There were great matches and moments through the entire show. We saw the debut of Rhino and the returns of both Jay Lethal and Kevin Steen. We also saw the crowning of two new champions. El Generico won the ROH World TV Title and Davey Richards was finally able to capture the ROH World Title.

Now that “Best In the World 2011” is over, what matches need to be made moving forward?

Colt Cabana vs Mike Bennett

Both men suffered disappointing losses at “Best In the World” to Tommaso Ciampa and Jay Lethal, respectfully. It only makes sense for them to face each other to try to get back to their winning ways. A win for Cabana will put him right back into contention for the TV Title, while Bennett could further prove himself as one of the best young wrestlers on the ROH roster.

Bravado Brothers vs Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly

The Bravado Brothers felt they were snubbed from being on “Best In the World” because they felt they deserved to wrestle Cole and O’Reilly. Cole and O’Reilly were given a DVD exclusive dark match against GenerationMe. GenerationMe won the match due to interference by the Bravado Brothers. Cole and O’Reilly have to want to get revenge on the brothers from North Carolina for costing them a chance to get the biggest win of their careers. The Bravado Brothers will try to prove that they belong in ROH. Either way, it’s a match that has to be made.

Eddie Edwards vs Roderick Strong

A battle between the last two ROH World champions seems like the best way to determine a number one contender for new champion Davey Richards. Edwards has won the previous two meetings, which were both World Title matches. How will Strong fare against Edwards when the title isn’t on the line? Will Edwards be able to put the disappointing loss behind him and get back into title contention? This match needs to be made in order to determine how the World Title Contendership picture shapes up for the coming months leading into the television deal.

Michael Elgin vs Jimmy Jacobs

Michael Elgin and Truth Martini were giving a beating to Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs. Martini even hit Jacobs with the Book of Truth before Kevin Steen ran in and momentarily saved them from a beat down. That is until he too gave Jacobs and Corino a beating and even hit Corino with a Package Piledriver before being crowd-surfed out of the Hammerstein Ballroom. Corino looks to be out of action for a while, while Steen is not allowed in ROH again. Jacobs has to be searching for revenge on somebody, and the only person he can actually get revenge on at this point is Elgin. Elgin is a powerhouse that will bring the fight to Jacobs and Jacobs will want to get revenge for his friend Corino and he never backs from a fight. This would be awesome to watch.

Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and the All Night Express vs The Briscoes and the Kings of Wrestling

I was initially thinking about making this two separate matches pitting Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and the Briscoes against each other and the Kings of Wrestling and the All Night Express against each other, but the actions of all four teams after their title match makes an eight-man tag make sense. The Briscoes entered the ring and beat Charlie Haas and Shelton Banjamin down with chairs just moments after they successfully retained their titles by eliminating the Kings of Wrestling. The Kings of Wrestling just sat in the corner and watched the Briscoes assault. The beat down continued until the All Night Express made their way back to the ring to break it up. It makes sense for the All Night Express and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team to team up to try and defeat the Briscoes and the Kings of Wrestling, while it will be interesting to see how the two latter teams coexist because of their history.

World TV Title Match
El Generico defends vs Tommaso Ciampa

Tommaso Cimapa is undefeated in ROH and continued his streak at “Best In the World,” the same day El Generico captured the World TV Title. It’s only a matter of time before Ciampa moves up the card into title contention, and I don’t see any better time for him to prove himself than at the next set of shows. He has proven he has what it takes to beat some of the best ROH has to offer, so Ciampa competing for the TV Title seems like the next logical step. Generico has been great so far in 2011 and Ciampa would be a tough challenge for him in his first title defense. Generico could prove himself as champion in his first title defense. Prince Nana will be hungry to finally capture gold with the newest line-up of the Embassy, so Generico will not only have to worry about Ciampa, but the Embassy as well. I think these two would be an intriguing match-up that could provide an exciting match.

ROH World Title
Davey Richards defends vs Jay Lethal

Jay Lethal made his return at “Best In the World” by defeating the impressive Mike Bennett. Davey Richards finally accomplished his goal of winning the ROH World Title in the main event by beating Eddie Edwards in one of the greatest matches in company history. What better way to get his title reign underway than with a match against Jay Lethal? Some people may say that Lethal doesn’t deserve a title shot for beating Bennett, but I’d argue he is more than worthy of getting a title opportunity. He was successful in his first run in Ring of Honor and held the Pure Championship during his original run. His success after leaving the company speaks for itself and proved he was one of the best wrestlers in the world. Now Lethal should get a shot at the wrestler who proved himself as the best in world, Davey Richards. This would be a great match between two fantastic wrestlers. Richards would be challenged right off the bat in his title run and it would allow him to showcase his skills against a fresh opponent has not been in the ring much with. Plus, this has to be a dream match to a lot of ROH fans, so that has to count for something.

Those are seven matches I think have to be made after everything that happened at “Best In the World 2011.” What do you think about the matches? What matches would you make going forward?

 

[Kayoh]

Great post, I loved all 5 of the first 5 matches you laid out. All of them make perfect sense and all five would be very good in one way or another. The last two I disagree with in one way or another, and there are a couple other ones that I wanted to bring up.

The first problem I have is with putting Ciampa in a TV Title match this early. In my opinion, his first title match, regardless of what it is, should be a victory. Generico just won the title, so putting the two against each other would be a lose-lose situation; either Ciampa's winning streak gets ended too early or the TV title loses credibility due to a way-too-short title reign. I think the first guy in line for the TV Title after Daniels gets his rematch, and he will, is Roderick Strong. You can't keep that guy off television for too long. 3 PPVs down the line, sure, I could see Ciampa winning the gold (blue?) from Generico. They can do Generico/Daniels at Glory by Honor in September, then Generico/Strong at either Survival of the Fittest or Final Battle, then have Ciampa get the title at either Final Battle or next year's big 10th Anniversary show.

Aaand on to Richards/Lethal...just no. LOL. Lethal is not ROH WHC material in my opinion, at least not in 2011. Not to say he can't at least challenge for the title, which I wouldn't mind, but for him to have, even in kayfabe, earned a title shot after one win over somebody like Prodigy doesn't make any sense. I'm not inside the ROH creative meetings but I'll be damned if, after the massive buildup, Davey doesn't have a year plus reign, defending against EVERYBODY. Honestly, the guy to take the title from Davey might not even be IN ROH yet. Let's face it, if they continue to grow at the astounding rate that they have over the last few years, they might be signing more guys with bigger names.

Does ROH have a title rematch policy like most big promotions? If so, Eddie gets his rematch first, and that PPV will sell due to that match alone. After that, I think the first guy in line for a title shot has to be Christopher Daniels; sure, he lost the TV title, but look at the last guy to lose the TV title after a long reign. Granted, Eddie won SotF, but everybody knew that he had out-grown the TV title, and I think Fallen Angel has too.

What happened to Delirious? Has he found himself exclusively working backstage on purpose or is he injured or what? I love his work.

One match I would LOVE to see is Steve Corino vs Kevin Steen in a Fight without Honor. Obviously this would need to build for a LOOOOONG time before it would digress to this point, but goddamn this would be one hell of a brawl. Steve stuck his neck out for Kevin and Kevin fucked him over. It would have to be a Fw/oH so that it could be called an "unsanctioned" by ROH match. Make it so that if Steen wins, he gets an official contract (making him, at least in my opinion, the frontrunner to take the world title from Davey) and basically a "pardon" from ROH officials. Kevin Steen is quite possibly the single most polarizing figure that ROH has their hands on; fans either completely loathe and despise him, or worship the ground he walks on. That is hard to do in any promotion, much less the #3 promotion in the US.

And finally, a simple little match that I think needs to happen...ANX vs WGTT for the titles. ANX is, in my eyes, the CLEAR CUT next in line to WIN the Tag Titles. They had a GREAT showing in the match today and only lost to a combination of a Sara Del Rey distraction and a Chris Hero loaded elbow pad shot to the head, the latter of which got neutralized as soon as KoW got the pin. I'm not saying this match should be next, or even immediately after the brilliant 8 man tag you posted in the OP, but it needs to happen. My vote is for Final Battle or the 10th Anniv show in February. I like the sound of that; 10th Anniversary, ANX wins tag titles from WGTT.

 

[The Bearded One]

Great post, I loved all 5 of the first 5 matches you laid out. All of them make perfect sense and all five would be very good in one way or another. The last two I disagree with in one way or another, and there are a couple other ones that I wanted to bring up.

The first problem I have is with putting Ciampa in a TV Title match this early. In my opinion, his first title match, regardless of what it is, should be a victory. Generico just won the title, so putting the two against each other would be a lose-lose situation; either Ciampa's winning streak gets ended too early or the TV title loses credibility due to a way-too-short title reign. I think the first guy in line for the TV Title after Daniels gets his rematch, and he will, is Roderick Strong. You can't keep that guy off television for too long. 3 PPVs down the line, sure, I could see Ciampa winning the gold (blue?) from Generico. They can do Generico/Daniels at Glory by Honor in September, then Generico/Strong at either Survival of the Fittest or Final Battle, then have Ciampa get the title at either Final Battle or next year's big 10th Anniversary show.

I made this because I think a prolonged Generico vs Embassy feud would be awesome. I see Generico winning this after some failed interference by Prince Nana. I don't think a loss to Generico would hurt Ciampa at all. If the match is competitive with some near falls, it will help solidify Ciampa as a player in ROH. Plus, if we do get a Generico vs Embassy feud, that means we'll get the Rhino vs Generico match, which would be all kinds of awesome. I see Ciampa as the next TV Champion, but on his second try after Rhino has soften Generico up some.

I was thinking about making this Generico vs Strong, but I already had Strong wrestling Edwards and I was doing this as if I was booking the July 9 show in Charlotte. Daniels could get a rematch, but I'm not sure how much longer he will be in ROH due to him being in TNA as well.

Aaand on to Richards/Lethal...just no. LOL. Lethal is not ROH WHC material in my opinion, at least not in 2011. Not to say he can't at least challenge for the title, which I wouldn't mind, but for him to have, even in kayfabe, earned a title shot after one win over somebody like Prodigy doesn't make any sense. I'm not inside the ROH creative meetings but I'll be damned if, after the massive buildup, Davey doesn't have a year plus reign, defending against EVERYBODY. Honestly, the guy to take the title from Davey might not even be IN ROH yet. Let's face it, if they continue to grow at the astounding rate that they have over the last few years, they might be signing more guys with bigger names.

Why don't you think Lethal is ROH World Title material. He has been putting on great matches for years now. Again, I'm not sure how long Lethal will be available to use in ROH so they might as well try to get the most out of him. Him challenging Davey for the title will not only sell tickets but DVDs as well. I'm not saying I want Lethal to win, but Richards beating him in his first title defense gets his reign off to a great start. I think this would be a great match.

I think Richards will hold the belt for a long time and I have no idea who will be the person to win the belt from him.

Does ROH have a title rematch policy like most big promotions? If so, Eddie gets his rematch first, and that PPV will sell due to that match alone. After that, I think the first guy in line for a title shot has to be Christopher Daniels; sure, he lost the TV title, but look at the last guy to lose the TV title after a long reign. Granted, Eddie won SotF, but everybody knew that he had out-grown the TV title, and I think Fallen Angel has too.

They do have the rematch clause, but it's not immediate like it usually is in WWE or TNA. After Edwards beat Strong for the title, he defended the belt against Chris Hero before Strong got another shot at the title. I think the same should happen here since Richards vs Edwards could be built up as another huge main event. Give it time to build so it makes people want to see it.

Daniels has outgrown the TV Title in my opinion, but with his activity in TNA I don't think he can appear on TV for ROH. If he can't appear on TV, I don't see the point in keeping him around.

What happened to Delirious? Has he found himself exclusively working backstage on purpose or is he injured or what? I love his work.

He's working backstage as the booker. He does still wrestle in other promotions, such as CHIKARA.

One match I would LOVE to see is Steve Corino vs Kevin Steen in a Fight without Honor. Obviously this would need to build for a LOOOOONG time before it would digress to this point, but goddamn this would be one hell of a brawl. Steve stuck his neck out for Kevin and Kevin fucked him over. It would have to be a Fw/oH so that it could be called an "unsanctioned" by ROH match. Make it so that if Steen wins, he gets an official contract (making him, at least in my opinion, the frontrunner to take the world title from Davey) and basically a "pardon" from ROH officials. Kevin Steen is quite possibly the single most polarizing figure that ROH has their hands on; fans either completely loathe and despise him, or worship the ground he walks on. That is hard to do in any promotion, much less the #3 promotion in the US.

This match is going to happen in the future, with the long build before it does. I'm excited to see where this Kevin Steen storyline goes in the coming months.

And finally, a simple little match that I think needs to happen...ANX vs WGTT for the titles. ANX is, in my eyes, the CLEAR CUT next in line to WIN the Tag Titles. They had a GREAT showing in the match today and only lost to a combination of a Sara Del Rey distraction and a Chris Hero loaded elbow pad shot to the head, the latter of which got neutralized as soon as KoW got the pin. I'm not saying this match should be next, or even immediately after the brilliant 8 man tag you posted in the OP, but it needs to happen. My vote is for Final Battle or the 10th Anniv show in February. I like the sound of that; 10th Anniversary, ANX wins tag titles from WGTT.

I also think ANX will be the next tag champs. It wouldn't surprise me if they won the belts at the first set of TV tapings, but that is kind of a long shot. I think they have to get their revenge on the Kings of Wrestling before winning the titles and they will most likely get the belts at "Glory by Honor" or "Final Battle."

 

[Chicago1989]

I agree with some of the matches that you booked, Bearded One, but there are a couple that I disagree with. First, who cares about The Bravado Brothers? They're not over and they're jobbers. Their gimmick as "Grandma's boys" is stupid and does not belong in ROH, especially against a standout team like Cole and O'Reilly. The Bravados are a waste of space in my opinion.

Jay Lethal Vs. Davey Richards would be good, but not with the title on the line for Lethal right away. He just returned to ROH and to me, I can't stand seeing guys receive automatic title shots without working for it first.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I don't know, I'd really love to see ANX vs. WGTT go against each other head to head. It seems like the only time they get title shots are in these ridiculous multi-team matches. The only time I remember them having a fair title shot was at the 9th Anniversary which was actually one great fucking match. To me, it just seems like ANX needs that team on team match to finally get over with the crowd and make a strong impact.