Powell's 7/1 ROH Wrestling TV review: Matt Hardy vs. Kevin Steen, Matt Taven vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Jay Lethal for the ROH TV Title from Best in the World

By Jason Powell

ROH Wrestling on SBG television affiliates
Taped in Baltimore, Maryland at Du Burns Arena

[Q1] The show opened with highlights from the Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe main event that headlined the Best in the World iPPV. The footage focussed on the aftermath and noted that Jay won using three Jay-Drillers to retain the ROH Title... The opening video aired...

Kevin Kelly introduced the show and welcomed viewers to a Best in the World showcase edition of ROH television. He put over the ROH Title match from the iPPV and credited both men for going all out and questioned what the fallout would be considering the toll it took on one another. Kelly hyped Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy as the show's main event...

Powell's POV: Last week was the Briscoes documentary airing since it took place during an iPPV weekend. This week is all about the iPPV. Due to the format, I will break from my own with less focus on recapping the matches. Keep in mind, you can read Chris Shore's detailed report on ROH Best in the World in the ROH PPV section.

1. Matt Taven (w/Truth Martini, Hoopla Hotties) defeated Jimmy Jacobs and Jay Lethal to retain the ROH TV Title. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were on commentary for the match. There was a commercial break early in the match. [C] An ad aired for the Briscoes documentary DVD...

[Q2] Late in the match, Jacobs hit Lethal with his finisher, but Taven snuck in for the pin while Truth held Jacobs by the legs... [C]

Powell's POV: There was a good spot down the stretch with Lethal hitting a Lethal Combination and then immediately taking a top rope splash from Taven for a two count. One of the women climbed inside the ring and received a "show your tits" chant. Lethal ended up ripping her top off for a big pop from the crowd. He actually superkicked the other female. Who's the babyface? The only thing missing were ECW chants.

Truth Martini, one of the Hoopla Hotties, and Matt Taven spoke about "A Night of Hoopla" taking place at the July 11 event in Chicago, Illinois...

Powell's POV: I'm baffled by this one. Truth is a heel manager, yet for some reason his character is getting to run the show for one night? Strange.

Maria Kanellis was featured in the weekly text message spot...

2. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly defeated Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman, and Cliff Compton and Rhett Titus. Kelly and McGuinness were once again on commentary. Coleman and Alexander were the dominant team early on, but they were cut off by the other teams just before the commercial break. [C]

A spot aired for the ROH event in Milwaukee on July 12. Eddie Edwards said he would face Kyle O'Reilly, while Richards would face Bobby Fish...

[Q3] Late in the match, Alexander performed a brainbuster on O'Reilly, but then took a kick to the back of the head from Fish. Bobby pulled his partner on top of Alexander to give his team the win...

Powell's POV: So it takes 25 kicks from Davey Richards to put a man out, but one kick from Fish will do it? I enjoy watching Richards work, but I prefer the less is more approach we saw here even though it felt a little weak considering what was previously established regarding kicks to the head in ROH.

The ROH live on tour graphic ran through upcoming events... [C] The Maria text piece ran again... A video recapped the Kevin Steen and SCUM drama... Ring entrances for the Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy match were shown. Steen asked Nigel to make it a No DQ match. Nigel agreed from the commentator's table. Steen asked Hardy if they were going to do it or if his brother had all the balls in the family. Hardy went after Steen and the match was on...

3. Matt Hardy (w/Steve Corino) beat Kevin Steen in a No DQ match. Steen was the aggressor early as he beat he hell out of Hardy at ringside and crotched him into the ring post twice. "There's never going to be any little Hardy's running around," Steen said into the camera. "You're welcome." An "over here" chant broke out and Steen tried to oblige, but Hardy came back heading into the break.

[Q4] [C] Hardy used a trash can as a weapon inside the ring, then Corino brought a ladder to ringside. Hardy missed a top rope moonsault when Steen rolled out of the way. Steen came back with a cannonball and then repeated the move only with a trash can in front of Hardy's face.

Rhett Titus ran in to save Hardy, but Steen cut him off and then blew snot toward Corino. Hardy caught Steen with a Side Effect for a two count. He followed up with another Side Effect, but Steen rolled to the ring apron right next to where he had set up a table on the floor. They fought for position on the ring apron. Steen won the battle and went for a piledriver on the table, but Jimmy Jacobs ran out and moved the table.

Steen grabbed Jacobs and performed a pair of powerbombs on the ring apron. Hardy recovered, only to eat a powerbomb on the apron. Compton hit Steen with a chair to the back twice. Hardy grabbed a small table and slammed it into Steen's face and back. Steen came back with a Codebreaker for a two count.

The live crowd started an Ole chant. Steen set up for his finisher, but Corino distracted him. Hardy performed a Twist of Fate, but Steen kicked out. Hardy went for the move again, but Steen low-blowed him and performed an F5 for a two count. Hardy came back with a low blow and then performed a Side Effect on the ladder that was still in the ring for another two count.

Hardy set up a pair of chairs. Steen spat in his face. Hardy then performed the Twist of Fate onto the chairs and pinned Steen. Corino introduced Hardy as the winner and future ROH Champion.

Powell's POV: A good brawl that worked in the television main event spot. Steen didn't lose anything since he had to fight off a few members of SCUM. I'm never a big fan of the pay-per-view recap shows, but I can see the value for television viewers who didn't see the iPPV. For that matter, it helps ROH when it comes to showing off their iPPV product. I still contend that ROH would be better off showing more promos from after the iPPV and less of the actual iPPV matches. The approach they take just feels missable for fans who ordered the iPPV, whereas some fresh promos would make the show more watchable for everyone. Here's hoping they start airing the footage from the TV tapings that were held the day after the iPPV on the next episode rather than another week of recap material.