It’s official folks, Christopher Daniels will defend the ROH World Championship against Cody Rhodes in the main event of Ring of Honor’s next pay-per-view event, Best in the World on 6/23 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA.
This match stems from a previous encounter at last month’s War of the Worlds event where Daniels beat Cody in a triple threat match involving former champion Jay Lethal. Cody, however, argued that Lethal’s shoulders were on the mat while he had the figure four applied seconds before Daniels got the pin, making him the rightful champion.
Cody is a member of the Bullet Club, but he is currently a free agent with no home promotion. If he were to defeat Daniels for the World Title, he could take the belt to any promotion on the planet. Daniels is looking to keep the honor of the ROH World Title intact.
It was also announced that Ultimo Guerrero & El Terrible from Mexico’s CMLL promotion will take on Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia. Also, female wrestling standout Kris Wolf from the STARDOM promotion in Japan will make her ROH debut. Wolf is the current STARDOM High-Speed Champion, which represents a fast-paced style of wrestling.
Other wrestlers scheduled to appear are The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Bully Ray, The Briscoes, Jay Lethal, Silas Young, Dalton Castle, War Machine, KUSHIDA, Hangman Page, Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Kenny King, Jay White and more.
Daniels vs. Rhodes is an interesting match. Cody has been reinventing himself on the independent scene since he left WWE last year, citing that he wants to prove that the company should have given him the ball. He’s in high demand with all of the major promotions and is reportedly tearing it up in the ring.
There are some political implications that might prevent ROH from putting the belt on him. The main one being that Cody is not under contract with the promotion. Plus, there are rumors that New Japan plans on increasing their usage of Cody, which would hinder ROH from having a world champion on a regular basis if they put the belt on him.
I’ve always been impressed with Christopher Daniels but I’ve never seen a Cody Rhodes match that made my job drop. That’s not a knock on the guy, I’m just speaking for me personally. Maybe 6/23 at Best in the World will be the moment that has me chanting “This is Awesome” (Five Claps) for “The American Nightmare.”
Ringside Logic 