ROH Best in the World 2012: Hostage Crisis Review

Match 1: The Briscoes vs. The Guardians of Truth
The Guardians of Truth is Truth Martini’s big surprise as two guys with completely blackened masks come out and look to face off against The Briscoes. We have no apparent idea who these guys are and the commentators are left confused. The Guardians start off strong but in essence, this match comes off as a glorified squash match as The Briscoes quickly get the better of the team as Jay Briscoe rolls up one of them to get the pretty easy victory. Afterwards, Briscoes pick up Truth Martini and look to knock him out until The Guardians rescue him. The right match to open the show and nothing really notable here.
Winners: The Briscoes
Rating: *¼

Match 2: Eddie Edwards vs. Homicide
After Homicide attacked Edwards on television, a match between the two was officially signed for the iPPV. I’m a big fan of both guys so watching them go at it was very enjoyable as their wrestling styles gelled together nicely. Although Homicide is from New York and Edwards is from Boston, it was cool to see Edwards get the bigger pop from the crowd. The match didn’t last too long and in some sense, was the best call considering the large card for the rest of the show. What I did not like was seeing Homicide go over Edwards. I understand that they want to have Homicide challenge for the ROH World Championship but it shouldn’t be at the expense of Edwards.
Winner: Homicide
Rating: **¼

Match 3: Hybrid Fighting - Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
The rules for this match are somewhat odd but it is very fitting and should make for an exciting match. Off the gate, the action was quick and O’Reilly looks to have the advantage with his extensive training. However, the two land nasty kicks to each other simultaneously during the middle of the match that left Cole bleeding ridiculously from his mouth. The amount of blood that dripped out was insane and added a whole new level to the match. O’Reilly seemingly has this one in the bag but Cole refuses to give up and allows the blood to become a means of inspiration. Cole is fired up and the crowd is eating every little minute of it. The commentators also did a great job of building the moment and noting how Cole’s refusal to wear a mouth guard ended up biting him in the rear end. Cole still doesn’t let up and the two exchange insane blows until the submission game becomes the weapon of choice. An awesome stretch of reversals results in Cole putting O’Reilly in the Figure Four to pick up the huge win. Cole offers his hand to O’Reilly which leads to O’Reilly slapping Cole in the face. The huge rivalry is over but not before creating a huge star in Adam Cole. An amazing performance from both men.
Winner: Adam Cole
Rating: ****

Match 4: Michael Elgin vs. Fit Finlay
Tensions between the guys in House of Truth grow as Roderick Strong continues to toy with Elgin and Elgin demands that no one accompany him ringside. In a lot of ways, this match was very similar to Roderick’s match a month back. Finlay has a very distinct style of wrestling and it shows in nearly all of his matches. There’s no reason to change your style when something has been working for decades. Just a very tough brawl with tons of technical moves, lots of fun to see but maybe not too much for the live New York crowd. Elgin tries to counter Finlay’s flawless wrestling technique with his powerful strength and it prevails for him. Elgin manages to kill off Finlay with a couple nasty bombs and like Roderick, gets the big win. Afterwards, Truth Martini runs out and celebrates as if he was the one that defeated Finlay. Elgin takes exception to this as he shoves Martini out of the way to shake Finlay’s hand. Good match with a really cool ending that sets up big things within House of Truth.
Winner: Michael Elgin
Rating: ***

Match 5: Mike Bennett vs. Mike Mondo
A quick impromptu match after Mondo interrupts Bennett’s Live PSA and basically calls Maria a whore. Not much to say here that hasn’t already been said. Typical action that we have come to expect from the two and the crowd really wasn’t much into the action. I don’t know why cussing in promos feels like a necessity for some wrestlers. To me, it just comes off as a desperate attempt to gain heat. Anyway, Mondo picks up the upset win against Bennett. Again, nothing to se here, just a way for these guys to get on the card and create a leeway for the main events.
Winner: Mike Mondo
Rating: *¼

Match 6: ROH World Television Championship - Roderick Strong © vs. Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa
The Border Wars match between Lethal and Ciampa was one to remember, I’m hoping these guys could repeat that May magic. Tensions between all parties are intense, especially between Lethal and Ciampa who have a shoving contest before the bell. Strong looks to be the forgotten third wheel. Off the bat, the action is fierce and this is the perfect way for the match to be going along considering how the other matches on the card have been. It feels like something refreshing to see these guys wrestle at such a fast pace. Everyone played their roles nicely and it led to a few memorable spots including a huge chopping contest and Lethal locking both his opponents in submissions. However, controversy ended up becoming the main dish here with Strong pinning Ciampa after Prince Nana rolled in the ring that allowed Strong to sit and pin Ciampa. Afterwards, Strong destroyed Lethal with his nasty finisher to get the win. Fun roller coaster of a match that lacked time to fully develop into something special like the Border Wards match. Like the Elgin match earlier, many stories coming out of this one.
Winner: Roderick Strong
Rating: ***¼

Match 7: ROH World Tag Team Championships - Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team © vs. The All Night Express
The big match feel is once again back and the crowd is all over WGTT as they look to fend off The All Night Express. I can’t get over how awesome WGTT is as heels, they toy with the audience so much to the point where it just becomes so amusing to witness. From the start, WGTT look to have a huge advantage as their size and strength look to be too much for The All Nights to overcome. Even with Kenny King yelling in his corner, Rhett Titus looks to be the whipping boy of the match and seemingly takes the worst beating out of anyone. There was a point during the match where Haas got on the microphone and declared that if the referee didn’t prematurely end the match, WGTT would have to kill Titus. However, The All Nights don’t give up and do everything necessary in order to pick up the win including trying to get the fluke victory by tossing a chair into the hands of Shelton, a callback to Eddie Guerrero. When that doesn’t work, just have Titus drop a nasty DDT on it with the referee’s back turned. The match is becoming hectic and tons of fun. However, WGTT look to turn the tides and have Titus on the ropes until King saves the day and knocks out Benjamin. Titus, who took the biggest beating in the match, takes advantage of this and rolls up Haas for the win! The All Night Express are finally crowned! King & Titus celebrate afterwards before WGTT beat the living hell out of them. I think I liked this match more than most, seeing The All Nights prevail after a nasty beating by tow nasty heels was so cool. Finally, they’re on top.
Winners: The All Night Express
Rating: ***¾  

Match 8: ROH World Championship - Anything Goes - Kevin Steen © vs. Davey Richards
While I was not a fan of their match at Border Wards, I have tons of interest in this match for whatever reason. I feel like their chemistry will gel in a much better form under these rules. The crowd has been great all night and they are at an insanely high level right now. Richards has vocally and publicly stated in numerous interviews that he does not like working these types of matches. However, considering the stakes involved here, this type of match was certainly a necessary ingredient to this big feud. The storytelling here was fantastic. To start the match, Kyle O’Reilly comes out and basically berates Richards and the New York crowd as he stated that he will not be in the corner of Davey Richards. Soon after, Richards got the match going with a bang by shoving Steen off the ring apron and through a table. We were able to look at the match and see how badly each man wanted to win. They turned the fight up a few notches and Richards looked like a rabid heel in the process. It’s almost as if he fights in a different manner with this type of character and it worked so well here in New York where the crowd is easily leaning towards Steen. The awesome table spots were innovative and came at crucial moments of the match, the use of the chain was awesome, and the two toying around with each other with Richards’ mouth guard made for such entertaining moments. Normally, I get generally annoyed when a match turns into a wreck in which things get hectic and out of control. However, this idea worked so perfectly because it simply defined the ambience the match was trying to convey. Both guys knocking out the referees made for unpredictable spots, Jim Cornette getting beaten down by Steve Corino was a fitting way for the match to wind down to its end, and Jacobs jumping on Richards in effort to help Steen showed how relentless this group was in its pursuit of taking over the company. Steen hits Richards in his stomach with the spike before finally putting him away to get another huge win. Steen gets on the microphone and puts over Richards as the best in the world while he labels Cornette, the New York City audience, and himself as hypocrites. Very cool to see him put over Richards like that after this huge rivalry. Richards won’t get the credit he simply deserves for this match and for this whole roller coaster of a feud. I liked this match over their previous one a million times over. One of the best ROH matches of the year and one of the best no disqualification matches that I have ever seen. While many believe that I underrated their Border Wars match, I’m sure they will also think that I am overrating this one. I loved the action, I loved the storytelling, I loved the atmosphere, and I loved the madness that ensued. If I had any gripes, it would probably be over how the big spots did not seem to necessarily take a toll of their bodies throughout the match but that can be easily forgiven due to the severities of the match. An awesome match, one that I hope doesn’t go forgotten.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Rating: ****¾

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
A strong showing from Ring of Honor that will ultimately be remembered for its main event. While a couple matches felt out of place, everything seemingly fell into the correct order and the show just had a great flow of things. Definitely the best New York outing that has been put out in quite some time. Steen vs. Richards II should be a match that needs to be watched by the wrestling world. Best in the world.
Rating: 9/10