First
of all, a quick update on the Head 2 Head Competition after Payback. I
went 6-2, while Tom went 4-4, extending my lead to 26-8 to Tom’s 21-13.
With a 5 match lead for me after the halfway point, Tom’s got his work
cut out for him! Tom is away on business this week, so I wanted to
take a quick look at this Saturday’s ROH Best in the World iPPV coming
to you live from Baltimore! Some good matches set for this weekend, so
let’s take a look!
GRUDGE MATCH
BJ Whitmer vs Mike Bennett
They’ve
built this one nicely for what it is, a short undercard feud giving
these two guys something to do. I’m wondering at this point what the
situation with Bennett is as far as his future goes. If he is signing
with WWE, it’s been kept quieter than Sami Callihan & Samuray Del
Sol’s signings were, but yet I’d still be surprised if he didn’t get
signed. Alot of the outcome of this match is hingent on that in my
eyes. If he is leaving, no chance Whitmer loses. If Bennett is
staying, I think he could pull it out.
TAG TEAM ATTRACTION
The American Wolves vs Adrenaline RUSH
This
could be the match where Adrenaline RUSH breaks out. I like the team
name for Thomas and ACH, and since it seems right now all the singles
stars are programmed elsewhere, I like keeping them together as a team
and giving them a name. The Wolves always bring it, and I expect this
to be a hell of a battle. I’d love to say Adrenaline RUSH would get the
win here, as it would skyrocket them perhaps, but instead, I think the
Wolves sneak one out just barely and then put Adrenaline RUSH over
afterwards.
SPECIAL CHALLENGE MATCH
Michael Elgin vs Tommaso Ciampa
I
don’t quite get why this is on the iPPV and Ciampa/Marshall is at the
TV Taping. Don’t get me wrong, this will be a VASTLY better match than
Ciampa/Marshall, and maybe that’s why, but that issue has been built so
well that Ciampa killing Marshall would have worked on the iPPV maybe
more as far as storylines go. I think they could have saved this too
and had a slower simmer to a matchup that could have been huge down the
road. The other problem here is who loses? Elgin seems to be heading
to a title shot in Toronto, though I’d rather see it on iPPV. Ciampa
has just come back and you really don’t want to beat him cleanly yet I
don’t think. So, my guess is that Marshall comes out and interferes and
“screws up the match” leading to both Ciampa and Elgin beating him
down.
Roderick Strong vs Adam Cole
These
two would seem to be incapable of having a bad match, so, I get putting
them together here. Combine that with Cole not shaking Roddy’s hand
after Roddy beat him in San Antonio, and you’ve got a very interesting
story here about where Adam Cole’s head is at. Now that we know Cole is
staying with ROH for the forseeable future, I love that they are
investing in him, and would love to see him as ROH World Champion by the
end of the year, unless Elgin gets it before him and gets a good run,
they both deserve it. Roderick Strong seems a bit lost in the shuffle
right now, but while there isn’t much storyline going on for him, he’ll
put on a hell of a match here with Cole. If I had to guess, either Cole
gets the win by some sort of interference from Corino, or Strong gets
another win to cast more doubt in Cole’s mind.
GRUDGE MATCH
Kevin Steen vs Matt Hardy
This
is another match where for me it’s tough to pick a winner. This is
basically the culmination of Steen going through each member of SCUM, so
it would make sense to have him win. Yet with Hardy getting a World
Title shot the next day on the TV Tapings, it would seem you’d want to
keep him strong. Of course if he’s going to win the title, you could
say that since Steen beat him at the iPPV, he’s first in line for a shot
at Hardy...but alot of that is up in the air depending on the outcome
of Steel Cage Warfare at the TV Taping as well. Either way, I expect
this to be a heated match, with the crowd firmly behind Kevin Steen, and
I’m going to go with Hardy getting the win after interference from
Corino and maybe the rest of SCUM.
ROH WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP
Matt Taven (C) vs Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal
I
don’t see Lethal having a shot here, mainly because I don’t think he
should be in the TV Title mix. I either see Taven retaining (which
would make sense going into Night of Hoopla) or Jacobs winning it to put
gold in SCUM, after all, by Sunday they may have all the gold in ROH.
I tend to feel like that’s what’s going to happen here. I’d rather see
Taven keep the title as I think they are building him nicely and a good
long run with the title will help with that, but instead, I see Jacobs
taking the title here.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
reDRagon (C) vs. Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton vs Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander
Part
of me says they’ll put the tag titles here on SCUM as well, but I
really really hope not. I am really digging redDRagon as champs, and
want them to continue their run for a while more, and I think they’ve
more than earned that right. That being said, SCUM winning two titles
in one night and with the chance to win the World Title and control of
matchmaking at the TV Tapings does seem to make a ton of sense storyline
wise. I expect this should be a really fun match, but in the end, I
see Compton & Titus walking out the champs sadly. (Prove me wrong
ROH!)
ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Jay Briscoe vs Mark Briscoe
This
should be a hell of a battle! I can’t really see any way Mark wins the
title here, unless it’s to drop it immediately to Matt Hardy on Sunday,
but I’d rather see Jay just keep it if that’s the plan for Sunday. I
think the attendance of the Briscoe Clan will be very interesting to
watch. Will they try to keep the Briscoes from just tearing each other
apart? Or will they just let them go at it? I like that they’ve built
this match up as Mark just being tired of Jay always saying he’s going
to beat everyone’s asses, and standing up to his big brother. No real
hate, just a little brother saying “ok, enough, let’s do this!” While I
won’t see the card live due to work obligations, when I have the chance
to catch it about a week later, I will be very interested to see how
this all turns out!
So,
there you have it. Who do you think will win the big matches at Best
in the World? What are you excited to see? Leave a comment here, or
drop us a note at our Facebook page and let us know!
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