ROH Final Battle Review-
Adam Page vs. Matt Hardy
Surprising to see how many streamers Hardy got in his entrance. Hardy exposing the mat trying for a side effect off the apron to the out side of the ring. That would have hurt him more than Page though, as he would have been the one to hit the concrete. Didn't make sense to me, but either way it was reversed. Page with a SICK SSP off of the apron onto Hardy. Adam Page has improved tremendously since he joined ROH. Really see him being a main event player in a few years. Wouldn't be surprised to see him get a TV title run or maybe tag title run next year. Matt is definitely working a little slow in the ring. Despite the streamers Hardy got, he is not over with the crowd at all. After 3 failed attempts, Hardy finally gets Page with the TOF and wins. Although he lost, I think the match still made Page look strong. The match was pretty short which was probably for the better. Wasn't a bad match, pretty good for an opener.
** 1/2
Mark Briscoe promo... Didn't understand much from it.
Mark Briscoe vs. Silias Young --- Strap Match
Silias has been in ROH for years, and still haven't really found a match I've been a huge fan of. Hopefully this match can change my thoughts. Also not the biggest fan of Mark as a solo wrestler, we'll see how this goes though. As someone who hasn't watched any ROH since September, anyone wanna explain how exactly this match came to be? I feel like ROH is just booking Silias in pointless matches for the sake of booking him. Mark and Silias start it off brawling. Silias continuously whipping Briscoe into the guardrails. Silias touches the first corner and then the 2nd although nothing came of it. Crowd seems behind Mark. A lot of stiff shots here. Silias then touches the third turnbuckle. There was a sick move where Young wrapped the strap around Mark's neck and pulled him off of the apron onto the floor. Don't really understand how Silias won this considering Mark was touching them after Silias did. Pretty sure you have to touch them in a row. Honestly not a fan.
**
Young Bucks vs. Adrenaline Rush
Really looking forward to this, two of the best tag teams in wrestling right now. ROH's tag division could not be better. Streamers come flying down for Adrenaline Rush. Still think they should come out to the old Adrenaline Rush ROH HDnet theme. Young Bucks get a huge pop as they come out. Its amazing how over they've become since their first stint in ROH. Bucks are now IWGP Jr. HW Tag Champions. Young bucks have new gear looks awesome. Large superkick chants. Lots of crotch chops from the Bucks. Nick tries to jump into the ring and faceplants. TD has some great kicks. Nick with a carthwhell backrake that makes the crowd come alive and get a holy crapchant. TD did a great moonsault to the floor. ACH's springboard ace crusher is just beautiful. Great kick sequence with TD and the Bucks. Match gets really spotty and fast paced at the end which just makes it even better (if you like that stuff). The identity of the legal man is unknown. Nick falls on the apron in a sick shot. TD goes to do a running kick and misses due to an injured limb. Constant reversals and kicks. ACH breaks up the pin after a tombstone. Every time the match looks to be over it gets broken up. Great tag team wrestling and the match gets "this is awesome" chants. ACH ducks a double superkick and does a great double hurricanrana. ACH goes for a suicide dive onto the bucks on the ouside but gets hit with a superkick and takes a really brutal fall onto what appeared to be his head. Bucks end up winning with the More Bang For Your Buck.
**** Great match. Tag team wrestling at its best.
Michael Bennett (W/Maria) vs. Kevin Steen --- Stretcher Match
Although I'm a big fan of both, personally not really looking forward to this match.
Both Steen and Bennett get streams. Big pop for Steen. Steen interestingly wearing a previous Final Battle shirt. Really cool to see them bringing back lighted entrances. Steen starting off fast. Bennett gets his head cut open seconds into the match from the barricades. Bennett gets his...junk tossed into the ring post multiple times to a "No more babies" chant. Multiple chair shots to the back of Steen. Match would have been over if Maria didn't intervene. Match becomes a Last Man Standing as a result. Package Piledriver! Sick side effect off the apron by Bennett to Steen through two tables. OLE! OLE! OLE! Chants as Steen hits a brainbustttaaaa to Bennett onto a chair! OHHHHH STONE COLD STUNNER TO MICHAEL BENNETT! Another package piledriver follows! Steen sets up a few stacks of chairs and piledrives Bennett through them. It might have taken like 5 finishers, but Bennett finally lost. Pretty decent match. Maria slaps Steen and gets package piledrived as a result. Nigel cries. "Merry Christmas Bitch!" -Steen
***
Corino takes a spot at the table as intermission ends. Tag title match time.... Oh this is gonna be good.
Outlaw Inc. vs. ReDRagon (c) --- Tag Title Match
ReDRagon comes out first to literally no reaction. Pretty surprising considering they're one of the best teams in wrestling. Sometimes I question ROH fans. This is one of those times. Bobby Fish comes out, cuts a promo and DR attacks Prince Nana. Match starts with outlaw on top. Small Eddie Kingston chant breaks out. Corino and Kelly are not focused on the match at all, just talk about babies and what not. Lots of confusing stuff going on in the outside of the ring. These two teams styles do not match. SICK running kick by O'Reily to Kingston on the outside. Kingston no sells Bobby Fish kicks to the dismay of the crowd. ...TNA Chants... Loud Boos fill the arena ... Boring chants...Both Kingston and Homicide jump through the ropes to the outside. Homicide does the three amigos and an Eddie chant breaks out. ...Change the channel chants now...Kingston kicks out at 2 and more boos. ReDRagon won and the crowd erupts. Match was very dysfunctional. Highlights was definitely Corino's commentary. After the match they beat up a ROH Security man. Kingston gets on the mic and bashes the crowd. KIngston and a fan get into a shouting match. Homicide throws trash in the ring as they get booed out of the ballroom. They throw a temper tantrum in the crowd and start throwing things.
*Big fan of 3/4 competitors (Homi, Kyle, and Fish)(cant stand Kingston) but this match wasn't well. Honestly just think it was either a bad day for them in the ring or their styles just don't mesh. These 3 are usually great
Tommasso Ciampa vs. Matt Taven (c) --- TV Title Match
Pretty decent pop for Ciampa. Both get a decent streamer bash. Match begins with Ciampa drilling Taven with a knee outside of the ring into the guardrail. "This is better" Chant breaks out early on. More moves have happened 2 minutes into this match then the last. Kasey Ray and Scarlett beat up on Ciampa outside of the ring. Taven follows up with a dive over the top rope onto Tommasso. They fight outside the ring and Tommasso drops Taven onto one of the barricades. Taven pressed in the corner of the ring, Scarlett jumps in and covers him to protect him. Tommasso doesn't care and knees her too. Truth comes in and gets dropped by Martini. Kasey Ray gets hit by the project Ciampa. Taven tries for a crossbody and gets reversed into a ground submission. Taven taps and Ciampa is the new TV champion!
**1/2 Short match, but the action was great all throughout.
Roderick Strong and Jay Lethal vs. Eddie Edwards and BJ Whitmer
Roddy gets a great reaction. Its honestly a shame to see whats come to Lethal over the past few months. He went from being what many believed to be the next World Champion to being on the midcard of the biggest show of the year. Corino pops when Nigel enters the ring and believes he is the mystery partner. He is quite upset when that isn't true. BJ and Eddie get a mixed reaction when their music hits. Corino loses his crapthat BJ came out of retirement. Hugs all around by everyone to start the match. Nice opening sequence by BJ and Jay. Edwards gets tagged in and as does Roddy. The two have a nice sequence as well that ends with Eddie hitting a standing Hurricanrana. Roddy hits a beautiful drop kick. Rooooddderickkk chant erupts and Eddie cheers them on. Eddie gets irish whipped by Jay and hits a big boot on Roddy sending him to the outside. Lethal hits the Lethal Combination on Eddie as an "Eddie" chant breaks out. Roddy comes in an hits an olympic slam on his fellow Dojo Bro. Roddy lifts him up for the Death by Roderick but it gets reversed. Roddy and Eddie Battle and Eddie ends up getting his back broken. BJ hits a sick exploder to Lethal into the turnbuckle covers. SOOOARING AND SCORING! Lethal and Eddie both run through the ropes and hit simuntaneous suicide dives. Lethal hits Eddie with a Lethal Injection. "This is awesome" chant. Sick kick to Eddie as hes perched on the top rope. Lethal superkicks whitmer out of the ring and Eddie gets superplexed off the top ropes. Lethal hits Eddie with a macho man elbow drop and Roddy pins Eddie who kicks out. Eddie hits Roddy with a double foot stomp and he kicks out. Blood shoots out of Roddy's nose on the move. "Come on mother
er!"-Roddy to Eddie. A chop battle breaks out between the two. Roddy hits Eddie with a Gibson driver and puts Eddie in the strong hold. Eddie breaks out and gets taken down regardless with the stiff kick. Eddie rolls up Roddy and beats him. Fans are on their feet and stream Eddie. "We will miss you chant". Jay grabs the mic. Lethal hands the mic to Eddie, says its his ring and leaves. Eddie puts over Jay. Eddie thanks the fans for coming. "Thank you Eddie." Eddie puts over BJ Whitmer. BJ says "My Career is just getting started" and he gets beat up by BJ and Roddy. Jimmy Jacobs runs out and claps. Jacobs grabs the mic and talks about how hes sick of people walking out on ROH. Jacobs spikes Eddie.
*** 1/2 Great match.
Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe (Somewhat c) vs. Adam Cole (c) --- ROH World Championship
New Briscoe theme. Jay gets a huge streamer bash. Don't know how long he's had it, but Cole also has a new theme. Streamer bash for Cole too. Actually appeared that Elgin got the least amount if that means anything. Corino takes a selfie. Corino throwns Streamers for Cole. "Suck his dick chant". Crowd is behind Cole in the beginning. Cole jumps from the ring after the bell rings, Elgin and Briscoe will start off. Cole drags Elgin out from the ring, runs back in and right back out. Elgin and Briscoe back in the ring. Briscoe hits a suicide dive on Cole. Cole back into the ring and gets beaten by both Elgin and Jay in the corner. Jay and Elgin begin to but heads, only to result in both of them pounding on Cole again. They hit a double hit toss on Cole and he rolls back out onto the mats. Both Elgin and Jay leave the ring and hit Cole with uppercuts and chops. Cole gets tossed into the guardrail multiple times. Back in the ring and Elgin holds up Cole for a good minute and drop him. Cole in the tree of woe position and gets briscoe suplexed into him. Later on, Jay is on the apron and Cole runs over the ropes and DDT's Jay onto the apron and to the floor. Elgin eventually puts both in a sick submission. Cole in the boston crab while pulling on the arms of Briscoe. By the end of the match, Elgin and Jay fall through the "announce" table. When the wrestlers are just about to enter the ring before the 20 count, Matt Hardy hits Jay with a TOF but his TOF gets reversed by Elgin. Elgin enters the ring and gets TOF'ed by Cole. Mark Briscoe comes to ringside and begins pounding on Matt Hardy. Jay joins in on the attack. Cole gets powerbombed by Elgin outside of the ring onto all of them. ELGIN COMES RUNNING OVER THE TOP ROPE AND FLIPS ONTO ALL OF THEM! Match is really picking up by this point. Elgin tosses Jay into the ring, but gets hit with the Jay Driller! Elgin kicks out! Jay goes for a second one and connects. Elgin still kicks out. Elgin no sells. Cole jumps in and superkicks Jay and rolls up Elgin and wins.
*** Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of most of it. I couldn't really get into it until the last 10 minutes or so, which I felt it got really good and picked up.
Hardy hits Jay and Mark with the Briscoe belt. Cole goes to hit Elgin with the buckle bomb but gets hit by the TOF by Hardy. Suddenly....
HEEERROOOO HERRROOOOO HERROOOOO
Crowd erupts for Hero who jumps through the crowd. Rolling elbow to Matt. Hero waves at Cole and kicks him in the face. He hits Cole with the rolling elbow. "Welcome back chants". Chris says hes back and drops the WHC onto Coles lap.
Event wasn't really anything special. Really dissapointed.
