It was a match pitting six of the best against each other as World Champion Roderick Strong and Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling faced the top contenders to their respective titles, Davey Richards, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in the main event of ROH’s World’s Greatest, held this past February in Dayton, and recently released on DVD.
The show opener saw Kyle O’Reilly taking on Jay Briscoe.
This proved to be a great encounter. The student of Davey Richards was more than a match for his more experienced opponent.
O’Reilly really took it to Briscoe with the hard hitting stuff, giving as good as he got and kicking out after several big moves.
But there came a time where he could kick out no more, Briscoe connecting with a massive lariat before finishing the job with the jay driller, with both men getting a standing ovation for their efforts.
The first tag team match of the show saw the Bravado Brothers taking on the somewhat odd combination of Grizzly Redwood and Steve Corino, looking to gain redemption after his actions with the now departed Kevin Steen.
Corino began the match by lambasting the Bravado’s new attitude and insulting their beloved grandmother. From there we saw the brothers using Redwood as a punching bag before he got the hot tag. Corino came in, and although he was tempted to he never broke the rules.
But after taking one of the brothers out with a lariat and going for the pin the Bravados did the old switcheroo trick while the referee was trying to usher Redwood out of the ring. A three count later and the brothers had the win, although I wish they’d get their names put on their tights so I could tell who was who!
Also, I think I prefer Corino when he’s more evil!
It was back to singles action for the next match as Mike Bennett, accompanied by Bob Evans, faced Mark Briscoe.
This was another great rookie versus Briscoe brother battle, even better than the first one.
With his trainer screaming instructions from the corner Bennett really took it to Briscoe, pulling off some great moves.
There were several near falls from both men, but when Evans jumped onto the ring apron to argue with the referee Bennett connected with a low blow before taking Briscoe down with a side slam to get what was considered an upset win.
Four way action between Mike Mondo, Rhett Titus, Andy Ridge and Colt Cabana followed.
Cabana came out with the comedy moments before the match began, demanding resuscitation from the referee after getting hit in the head with a streamer.
As for the match it was a great outing for all four men. Once again the rookie, in this case Ridge, put in a great effort, with Mondo, Titus and Cabana looking great as well.
But it the end it was Cabana who took the win as Mondo tapped out to the billy goat’s curse.
The “non-title challenge match” was next as Michael Elgin, accompanied by Truth Martini, faced TV Champion Christopher Daniels.
This was a highly entertaining encounter, a great power versus speed battle which saw the House of Truth’s newest powerhouse taking it to the Fallen Angel on behalf of Roderick Strong.
Elgin looked highly impressive with his array of power moves, and as always Daniels delivered big time, able to do things in ROH that the television time restrictions on TNA forbid.
In the end it was Daniels who came out on top, countering Elgin’s power bomb attempt with a roll-up.
Elgin tried to take Daniels out after the bell, but his upcoming opponent at the 9th Anniversary show El Generico ran down for the save.
Speaking of the Generic Luchadore, the masked man was up next, taking on Homicide.
It seems that Homicide has undergone something of an attitude change since I last saw him in ROH a few months ago. This version is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, especially when it comes to breaking the rules.
Generico, for his part, looked great as he continues to move on after his epic feud with Kevin Steen.
In the end Homicide came out on top, countering a top rope superplex attempt by pulling Generico’s mask around, temporarily blinding him. As Generico tried to right things Homicide took him down with an ace crusher for the win.
Then it was on to the re-match from last year’s Survival of the Fittest final as Kenny King took on Eddie Edwards.
This was an absolutely tremendous match. Once again King impressed the hell out of me, putting on a great display against one of the best in the world at the moment. Edwards matched him hold for hold, move for move, and it made for an enthralling encounter.
It really could have gone either way with numerous near falls, but in the end the win went to Edwards as King tapped out to the Achilles lock.
The main event saw World Champion Roderick Strong, accompanied by Truth Martini, and the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, accompanied by Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Ray, going up against Davey Richards, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas.
Billed as “(the) World’s Greatest Collide” I can tell you that it certainly lived up to that lofty status.
For nearly thirty minutes these six men gave it their all, putting on an excellent encounter full of exciting hard hitting action with plenty of near falls.
Everyone brought their A games to this one, and this is another of those matches I r3eally can’t speak too highly of.
It was during the inevitable mass brawl that the Kings took their fight with Haas and Benjamin backstage, leaving Strong and Richards alone in the ring to put together a tremendous string of moves until Strong tapped out to Richards’ falcon arrow arm breaker.
Only one bonus feature on this release, 10 Questions with Mark Briscoe.
In conclusion - well, they’ve done it again. At a time when WWE and TNA are putting together shows that are hit or miss affairs Ring of Honor continue to put together events that delight at every turn.
Each match was great in it’s own way, from the opener right up to the main event, and this is another example of why ROH is a viable alternative to the big two at the moment.
So this DVD release definitely gets the big thumbs up here. Need I say more?
With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. ROH World’s Greatest is available to buy online at www.rohwrestling.com.
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