ROH Best In The World PPV Preview: Champion Vs. Champion Match, Bullet Club, Live Coverage Tonight
Tonight's Ring of Honor: Best in the World is the culmination of two monumental pushes, two giant win streaks, and a ton of investment from what is now the #2 wrestling promotion in America. Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe square off in a "Battle of the Belts," as both the World Heavyweight and World Television titles are on the line.
Jay Briscoe hasn't been pinned in over two and a half years. Jay Lethal is the longest reigning champion in major American wrestling at over 440 days, successfully defending his championship 31 times during that period. That's really all the background needed for what is being billed by Ring of Honor as the most important match in the company's history. It's unclear as to whether both championships will be defended by the winner moving forward, but the match truly has a special aura, the elusive "big fight feel." In reality, it's probably legitimately the biggest match in the company since Kevin (Owens) Steen vs. El Generico (Sami Zayn) in 2012.
The winner will have an immediate contender as the polarizing Michael Elgin, the amazing, impressive upstart Moose, and Roderick Strong will do battle for number one contendership. Strong is having a breakout 2015, having excellent match after excellent match. Elgin has drawn the ire of many fans on and off-screen, and Moose looks poised to not only excel in Ring of Honor, but virtually anywhere he chooses to take his talents. This match will be one of Moose's first big tests on a grand stage.
The Briscoe/Lethal connection doesn't end there, as Jay's brother Mark takes on Donovan Dijak, a member of Jay Lethal and Truth Martini's House of Truth. The two have done battle in tag bouts over the past several weeks, but Mark will lock up with the 6'7" winner of the 2015 Top Prospect tournament, and hopefully eliminate a possible distraction from his brother's title match.
Tag Team wrestling is going to be on display at Best in the World, as unstoppable juggernauts War Machine take on C&C Wrestle Factory, which consists of Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. War Machine, along with Dijak and Moose, are a new breed of ROH talents who look more like the type of character WWE would beg for. Despite not having the traditional Ring of Honor look or style, all of the aforementioned men have fit in and carved their niche in the promotion.
Matt Sydal & ACH will take on Decade, led by BJ Whitmer, as both teams look to get into the ROH World Tag Team Title picture. Right now that picture is monopolized by Tag Champions The Addiction (Kazarian & Christopher Daniels), who will defend their titles against rivals ReDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) in a No DQ match.
All of these matches will have a tall task of beating out a potential show stealer in Kingdom vs. Bullet Club. Over on a global level, the Bullet Club will send AJ Styles and The Young Bucks to take on Adam Cole, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven. Kingdom has been feuding with fellow Bullet Club members Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, and their brethren will look to gain a measure of revenge Friday night.
We'll have full, live coverage of Ring of Honor: Best in the World starting at 9 pm eastern, so be sure to join in with us. You can check out the full card at this link.