ROH Road to Best in the World 2015: Collinsville
ROH Road to Best in the World 2015: Collinsville (6/5/2015)- Collinsville, IL
MARK BRISCOE vs. ADAM PAGE (w/BJ Whitmer)- 6.25/10
A fine opener.
SILAS YOUNG vs. CHEESEBURGER- 4.5/10
Watch the match for Corino’s puns towards the end. I enjoyed them.
DALTON CASTLE (w/the boys) vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & Matt Taven)- 6.5/10
An entertaining match if you enjoy the Kingdom’s dog and pony show as much as I do, but I hate the fact that Bennett is suddenly allowed to use the piledriver again. I love the fact that he tries to use it behind the ref’s back, but he should have been DQed when Turner saw him hit it.
ADDICTION PROMO- SO MUCH FUN!
Kazarian described himself and Daniels as "hotter than Tatooine and cooler than Hoth, Jedi in the streets but Sith between the sheets." I marked out like I did the first time I went on the Star Tours ride in Disney World.
THE ADDICTION vs. MATT SYDAL & DELIRIOUS- 7/10
This match was good in a vacuum, but I really didn’t like how all of the focus was on Delirious as opposed to Sydal, and I thought there was way too much of the tag champs being made to look foolish. I also didn’t like the babyfaces posing with the belts even though it was clearly stated to be a non-title match.
After the match Delirious cut a promo, which Sydal translated for us. They want a tag title shot against the Addiction, and they’d love to have it when ROH returns to Collinsville.
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Adam Page)- 3.75/10
A pointless match with the standard Romantic Touch antics. Adam Page put a beating on RT after the match.
MATT TAVEN vs. HANSON- 7/10
I guess they’re building to War Machine vs. Kingdom. I wonder how New Japan feels about that. The match was good, and the kicking out of a finisher at one worked here (although I’d always prefer that they avoid doing it except for MAYBE the biggest of matches).
RAYMOND ROWE vs. JAY LETHAL (w/Truth Martini)- 7.5/10
That’s now two straight matches in which we’ve kicked out of a finisher at one.
Lethal worked over Rowe’s head while Rowe, for his part, came off as a total badass. I assume that his visual pinfall on Jay here (as well as the fact that Jay had to cheat to beat him) will be used to set him up as a title contender after the PPV.
JAY BRISCOE & RODERICK STRONG vs. MICHAEL ELGIN & MOOSE (w/Stokely Hathaway)- 7.75/10
They did a great job of portraying all four guys as equals and making sure that these pairings did not feel like teams at all even though they didn’t do any clichéd miscommunication spots (which I really liked), but the match (like this whole show) does have a feeling of blandness about it that keeps it from being an 8/10.
This was a great show from an action standpoint, but it does feel very bland and unnecessary. Aside from the main event, it doesn’t feel in any way like its title: Road to Best in the World 2015. This show is certainly entertaining while you’re watching it, but is definitely not something you should go out of your way to see.
MARK BRISCOE vs. ADAM PAGE (w/BJ Whitmer)- 6.25/10
A fine opener.
SILAS YOUNG vs. CHEESEBURGER- 4.5/10
Watch the match for Corino’s puns towards the end. I enjoyed them.
DALTON CASTLE (w/the boys) vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis & Matt Taven)- 6.5/10
An entertaining match if you enjoy the Kingdom’s dog and pony show as much as I do, but I hate the fact that Bennett is suddenly allowed to use the piledriver again. I love the fact that he tries to use it behind the ref’s back, but he should have been DQed when Turner saw him hit it.
ADDICTION PROMO- SO MUCH FUN!
Kazarian described himself and Daniels as "hotter than Tatooine and cooler than Hoth, Jedi in the streets but Sith between the sheets." I marked out like I did the first time I went on the Star Tours ride in Disney World.
THE ADDICTION vs. MATT SYDAL & DELIRIOUS- 7/10
This match was good in a vacuum, but I really didn’t like how all of the focus was on Delirious as opposed to Sydal, and I thought there was way too much of the tag champs being made to look foolish. I also didn’t like the babyfaces posing with the belts even though it was clearly stated to be a non-title match.
After the match Delirious cut a promo, which Sydal translated for us. They want a tag title shot against the Addiction, and they’d love to have it when ROH returns to Collinsville.
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Adam Page)- 3.75/10
A pointless match with the standard Romantic Touch antics. Adam Page put a beating on RT after the match.
MATT TAVEN vs. HANSON- 7/10
I guess they’re building to War Machine vs. Kingdom. I wonder how New Japan feels about that. The match was good, and the kicking out of a finisher at one worked here (although I’d always prefer that they avoid doing it except for MAYBE the biggest of matches).
RAYMOND ROWE vs. JAY LETHAL (w/Truth Martini)- 7.5/10
That’s now two straight matches in which we’ve kicked out of a finisher at one.
Lethal worked over Rowe’s head while Rowe, for his part, came off as a total badass. I assume that his visual pinfall on Jay here (as well as the fact that Jay had to cheat to beat him) will be used to set him up as a title contender after the PPV.
JAY BRISCOE & RODERICK STRONG vs. MICHAEL ELGIN & MOOSE (w/Stokely Hathaway)- 7.75/10
They did a great job of portraying all four guys as equals and making sure that these pairings did not feel like teams at all even though they didn’t do any clichéd miscommunication spots (which I really liked), but the match (like this whole show) does have a feeling of blandness about it that keeps it from being an 8/10.
This was a great show from an action standpoint, but it does feel very bland and unnecessary. Aside from the main event, it doesn’t feel in any way like its title: Road to Best in the World 2015. This show is certainly entertaining while you’re watching it, but is definitely not something you should go out of your way to see.