ROH 399 – Road To Final Battle 2015 – 5th December 2015
We are now less than two weeks out from ROH’s year-ending PPV bash, and I don’t think it is unfair to say that anticipation hasn’t reached fever pitch quite yet. There are plenty of matches which look good, but I certainly don’t feel like we are reaching the raging climax of something Ring Of Honor have been building to all year. A low key house show stop-off in Florida probably won’t do much to change that, and I haven’t heard many good things about this DVD…but a few of the matches definitely look interesting. At the top of that list is obviously the main event pitting the Young Bucks against World Champion Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijak which should be great…but matches like ACH/Fish, Sydal/Jay Briscoe, Cole/King and Strong/Delirious for the TV Title all look promising. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III are in Fort Lauderdale, FL (the same building they ran for Showdown In The Sun weekend a couple of years ago…although much emptier).
SIDENOTE – The pre-show match, featuring NXT/UK scene talent Martin Stone is substantially better than the usual DVD bonus match, and also by far the most that Shaheem Ali has impressed me thus far
Mark Briscoe vs Will Ferrara
I almost feel guilty for having so little interest in these guys, since the reality is that although I find their matches incredibly tedious to sit through, it isn’t like they are squandering opportunities or being given anything substantial or creatively juicy to work with by Delirious or SBG. But, having said that, it IS their fault that they basically recycle the exact same moves, in the exact same order, in every match and make very little effort to produce anything unique.
The opening exchanges are competitive, meaning Ferrara has equipped himself well and doesn’t allow the superior experience of Briscoe to overwhelm him. Interestingly, he acts a little more heel-ish than usual and mocks the ‘Man Up’ chants before attempting a suplex. It doesn’t accomplish much however as Mark counters with a brainbuster for 2. Ferrara tries to suplex him to the floor…and then grabs Mark’s hair and hurls him out instead when it’s blocked. Again, the added aggression from Will achieves very little as by the time he gets out there Mark is already waiting to give him a mafia kick. Flapjack into the ringpost by Ferrara! Redneck Kung Fu from Briscoe to counter but Ferrara dodges the Froggy Bow and hits the Eyes Wide Shut for 2. Urinage/Froggy Bow combo wins it for Mark at 07:45
Rating - ** - As the jaded nature of my introductory paragraph suggested, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this…but it was actually much better than I’d expected. Ferrara’s added aggression and slight heel presentation was a welcome change, and nice continuity considering he apparently received one of Prince Nana’s letters at the last TV taping and the same thing happened to Caprice Coleman when he got one. Mark didn’t step outside of his comfort zone but was generous with how much offence he allowed Will and the quality of the match was measurably improved as a result.
Tim Hughes vs Kyle O’Reilly
Quite how ‘Terrible Tim’ is now considered suitable for bookings even at house show level is rather disturbing. I can’t wait for Kelly and Corino to crack fifty jokes about him being Bob Evans’ son before the bell even rings. Presumably this will be a fairly swift enhancement match for Kyle as he prepares for his showdown with Adam Cole on pay-per-view.
Hughes refuses to shake hands…so Kyle takes his head off with a roundhouse kick. O’Reilly tears him apart with seemingly endless strike flurries and taps him out with Arm-ageddon at 02:27
Rating - N/A - I’ve absolutely no issue with this. It was short, explosive, and completely one-sided. As an exhibition of O’Reilly’s speed, striking and submission capabilities I thought it was effective.
Kyle grabs a microphone to run down Cole, and vows to use beating him at Final Battle as a springboard to the World Title in 2016.
Adam Cole vs Kenny King
Having seen O’Reilly convincingly dominate his final preparation match before Final Battle, we now get to see where Adam Cole is at. He faces a considerably sterner test in the form of returning ANX-member Kenny King. Kenny is looking to recover after some high profile recent losses and a pretty poor weekend excursion to Preston City Wrestling in the UK.
Cole seems to have the edge on King when it comes to technical wrestling so it is critical that Kenny keeps a high pace and maintains distance so he can swoop in to deliver offence like armdrags or dropkicks at opportune moments. Adam takes a time-out on the floor…and pounces to superkick King’s legs from under him when he tries to give chase. Kevin Kelly appears to invent a long-standing knee problem for Kenny which is a little hokey, but it does add some depth to Cole’s work as he starts to pick apart that particular body part. King is drastically slowed, and collapses to the ground after keeping Cole at bay with his corkscrew enziguri strike. Unfortunately he then abandons all pretence of selling an injury to excitedly bounce around the ring rattling off his signature offensive sequences. They then make a complete mess of Cole’s Panama Sunrise spot…which I believe King was supposed to avoid but awkwardly goes right where Cole lands. Cole superkicks the bad knee again…but misses a second aimed at the head is rolled over into a half crab. Punches to the knee free Adam, allowing him to counter to the Figure 4 Leglock. Kenny makes the ropes…and drops Cole with a bridging capture suplex for 2. Sell the goddamn leg man, how difficult is it? Cole rakes the eyes to counter the Royal Flush and wins with the Last Shot at 11:10
Rating - *** - Decent enough, but also probably a huge indication as to why Kenny King has thus far never really failed to back up his immense natural talent by breaking out as a major singles star in any promotion. The match was always exciting, Cole oozed charisma and class as the villain of the piece…but King’s complete refusal to get involved by selling the leg really damaged how much one could enjoy this. Cole working over the knee was the focal point of the entire match, so when you have his opponent no selling it to hit cartwheel kicks, twisting kicks, spinning kicks and back flips it makes the whole thing look rather silly. And that’s before you think about that big flub on the Panama Sunrise spot amongst the no-sell extravaganza too. King is experienced enough to do better…
War Machine vs Dirty Blondes
Leo Brien and Michael Patrick comprise the ‘Dirty Blondes’, sporting some impressive size and an endearingly 80’s look. You’d anticipate this to be as much of an enhancement match for War Machine as Tim Hughes was for Kyle O’Reilly earlier…but the debutants are big enough that they may pose a threat to the #1 contenders to Tag Champions The Kingdom if Hanson and Rowe aren’t on their game.
The Blondes jump War Machine from behind…to little effect as Hanson soon decks Patrick with the cartwheel lariat. Bronco Buster follows to leave the ‘Pretty Boy’ flat on his back. Superman Punch by Rowe, followed by a NECK DROP GERMAN! DEATH ROWE/SPIN KICK OF DOOM COMBO! Brien is dead, and Patrick soon follows after Fallout. War Machine win at 02:05
Rating - N/A - Much as with O’Reilly/Hughes, I quite liked this. It was an old-fashioned, completely one-sided squash which effectively built up a major act for the Final Battle pay-per-view in War Machine. The Dirty Blondes were disappointing. I thought their look was awesome, but they didn’t seem to look or move very naturally inside the ring…and Patrick had some truly AWFUL looking punches. No rush for those two to come back.
Roderick Strong vs Delirious – ROH TV Title Match
It is ‘Roddy vs The World’…which apparently means he has sent open contracts to promotions all over the planet offering title shots. Delirious somehow got hold of one, and re-emerges on an ROH show for the first time in a while looking to shock the world and take the belt from Strong. Roddy’s first TV Title reign actually began in this very building when he defeated Jay Lethal (for the first time) at Showdown In The Sun Day 2 in 2012. These two men have plenty of history together, and contested a lengthy (but largely forgotten) feud during the dying days of Gabe Sapolsky’s booking tenure.
Delirious apparently hasn’t forgotten his history with Strong, and has words with him as they shake hands following his customary opening bell frenzy. For all his quirks Delirious is a talented worker and it appears that the smiling Roderick Strong has underestimated him for the first few minutes. Roddy finally shuts him down with an emphatic gourdbuster into the top rope. It is in the champ’s interest to make this as orthodox a match as possible – and he does so by going after the back and midsection as he has done to countless opponents previously. Delirious tries his bewitching criss-cross clothesline routine…and is shut down with Strong’s urinage backbreaker for 2. Superplex blocked with a flying clothesline by the Lizard Man but he comes up clutching his ribs and can’t capitalise. End Of Heartache blocked into a sliding flatliner…but Strong counters right back to evade the Cobra Stretch. Panic Attack misses and Strong scores with the Olympic Slam. WALKING STALLING URINAGE BACKBREAKER DROPS DELIRIOUS ON HIS NECK! Stronghold blocked though, with Delirious exhausting every last drop of gas in the tank to hit the Panic Attack. Shadows Over Hell is dodged! Still Roddy struggles to hit End Of Heartache though, and a frantic challenger grabs him for a COBRA CLUTCH-PLEX! COBRA STRETCH! But his fatigued state makes it easy for Strong to counter to DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK! END OF HEARTACHE! He retains at 13:01
Rating - *** - Ironically this was actually better than some of the lengthy, bloated and tedious matches they contested when legitimately feuding all those years ago. My view has always been that Delirious is a far better worker than he is a booker and I always enjoy it when he steps into the ring with top quality opponents. He so effortlessly walks the line between goofy act and legitimate threat, that it never felt detrimental to Roderick’s momentum or silly that he was having such a hard time putting a way a part-time, masked comedy wrestler. Roddy was all smiles and home-state pops when he came to the ring and was rightly punished for not taking Delirious seriously. The Lizard Man pushed Mr ROH considerably more than was expected – and it took all of Strong’s big guns to put him away. If I gave half stars this would definitely be bumped up another half in the rating.
Rhett Titus vs Cheeseburger vs Moose vs Dalton Castle
Burger comes in with his hand still heavily bandaged to sell the attack he suffered at the hands of Bob Evans and Tim Hughes on TV. He is, of course, a huge underdog here…and will be even more distracted knowing he faces Brutal Bob in a pre-PPV grudge match on YouTube in a couple of weeks. Moose and Dalton have bigger fish to fry at Final Battle, with Dalton preparing for another rematch with Silas Young and Moose locking horns with Michael Elgin in a battle of ROH World Title top contenders.
Titus starts with Burger and, like most, isn’t taking him overly seriously. In fact, Rhett seems set on pissing off all of his opponents as he taunts Moose but refuses to allow him into the ring to compete, then takes a cheap shot on Castle too. Moose struggles to come to terms with Dalton’s posturing, but does at least impress the Party Peacock when he flips out of a hiptoss attempt! Cheese voluntarily tags in with Moose…then clambers onto Castle’s shoulders to even up the height difference. Rhett knocks Castle out of the ring and dives right out after him with a wild and totally uncontrolled somersault plancha. He flies off the apron again to be caught by Moose…but takes him down anyway when Burger piles on top of both of them. Shotei blocked by Moose! He scoops little Cheese up, but is dropkicked by Titus…into the EVEREST GERMAN BY CASTLE! Shotei on Rhett! SLINGSHOT SPRINGBOARD DDT NAILED! Burger is busy celebrating that and doesn’t see Moose and his Hitstick coming! Moose wins at 09:48
Rating - ** - I’m guessing this was the post-intermission popcorn match and was just fine for that particular purpose. Some of the comedy was funny, Moose and Cheeseburger had some particularly enjoyable interactions, Castle remains one of the most popular acts in the entire company and it was nice to see Rhett Titus look more comfortable in his ‘wheelhouse’ of being a slimeball heel. Moose winning was probably the right call too; he needs it most to look strong as he prepares to face Survival Of The Fittest winner Michael Elgin on pay-per-view.
ACH grabs a microphone before his scheduled singles match with Bobby Fish, and notes that fans probably feel a little short-changed having seen so little of Kyle O’Reilly earlier. He thinks they want to see a reDRagon tag match…and since his usual partner Matt Sydal is in action later he has found a substitute. He has recruited Alex Shelley, who only returned to ROH on TV this week, and brings him out to compete!
ACH/Alex Shelley vs reDRagon
Shelley revealed himself as the mysterious red mask that had been sabotaging The Addiction and Chris Sabin in recent months. As a founder member of Generation Next, former member of The Embassy and standout performer in both the Motor City Machine Guns and the Time Splitters, he has delivered some memorable moments in ROH history without ever really being considered a ‘full-time’ roster member. Indeed, other than a couple of Time Splitters appearances, we haven’t seen him in ROH much at all in recent years. What is his agenda with former partner Sabin and The Addiction? Why has he agreed to team with ACH against reDRagon here? Ever enigmatic, once again Shelley has everyone talking tonight!
Fish and Shelley get the ball rolling with some beautiful chain wrestling sequences. ACH is then too quick for even O’Reilly and back flips into a dropkick. Skullf*ck nailed early by Alex as he and ACH lead an early isolation segment on the man working his second match of the evening. Fish takes ownership of the situation and attacks ACH from behind to turn the tide in reDRagon’s favour. Pretty soon their experience as a team starts to show and they cut the ring in half to keep ACH away from his partner. reDRagon’s attack is devastating; picking apart legs, arms, ribs and anything else they can grab as ACH really starts to suffer. He barely survives – but does finally escape with a flatliner/cutter combo on both opponents and makes a much-needed tag. Shelley mows down Fish with a running knee off the apron…but then slingshots straight into a triangle choke from O’Reilly! ELBOWS BY KYLE! NO SOLD! SUPERKICK BY SHELLEY! Both men down! Tags all round, with Fish ducking ACH’s double stomp to spear him into the turnbuckles. Freebird Crossbody scores! HERO’S GRIP gets 2! Hanging armbar by Kyle rescues his partner, only for Alex to drive a dropkick right into O’Reilly’s exposed neck. GUARDRAIL SPEAR FROM FISH TO SHELLEY! Two Man Smash Machine gets 2 on ACH. Shelley blocks Chasing The Dragon…and eats Total Elimination as punishment. CHASING THE DRAGON ON ACH! reDRagon get the win at 13:17
Rating - **** - An extremely generous rating, but I felt this match deserved recognition as one of the most enjoyable bouts of the entire show. I presume Shelley was thrown onto the show as an unannounced surprise because ROH’s taping schedule meant his ‘reveal’ as the red mask guy hadn’t aired – and under the circumstances this was heaps of fun. If ROH has finally managed to nail Shelley down to a permanent deal (a decade late, but better late than never) it will be a huge coup as the guy is truly exceptional. The effortlessness of his exchanges with Bobby Fish in the early minutes were a real thing of beauty. Adding him to a combination of one of the best teams on the indies in reDRagon, plus one of the top workers of 2015 in ACH, predictably led to great results. I want to see Shelley on as many shows as possible moving forward!
Matt Sydal vs Jay Briscoe
2015 probably hasn’t gone to plan for either of these gentlemen. This time last year Sydal was a hot commodity having just returned to ROH and prepared for a big TV Title shot with Jay Lethal at Final Battle. He failed to win that one, recently lost the Best Of 5 Series to ACH and currently doesn’t even have a match booked for Final Battle this year. Briscoe won’t have enjoyed the second half of the year much either, having dropped the World Title to Jay Lethal, seen All Night Express score a big win over he and his brother at the last pay-per-view and lost in the finals of Survival Of The Fittest to Michael Elgin. The point I’m getting to is that both men need the boost of a big win here tonight…
I presume there are some technical problems because Kevin Kelly is now doing overdubbed post-production commentary by himself. Sydal dominates early because he’s too quick for Briscoe to lay a fist to…but all it takes is a single boot and Reborn is knocked loopy on the mat. It quickly breaks down into a battle of Sydal’s speed against Jay’s punching power…and Sydal seizes control again after countering out of Jay’s clutches and landing The Slice. Sensibly Jay hauls him straight back to the ground with the Stretch Plum. He wants to hit a big superplex – but going upstairs takes him into Matt’s domain. Sydal is able to slip free of his clutches and nail a spinning heel kick! Kicks by Matt, countered with jabs by the former World Champion. Rude Awakening COUNTERED to the standing moonsault! Jay grabs Matt before he can get to the top rope for the SSP though; dragging him back between the ropes and giving him the Rude Awakening at the second time of asking. DVD drops Sydal on his neck for 2! Jay Driller blocked…SYDAL PRESS MISSES! JAY DRILLER! Jay wins at 11:46
Rating - *** - Whilst they didn't really to get out of the low gears, watching two experienced old pros butt heads in a battle of brawling power over speed and agility certainly wasn’t a dull experience. I love Sydal, but his ROH matches are starting to lose their novelty. ROH need to commit to him and an angle to focus on, or book him slightly less often so when he does show up his matches have more of a ‘big match’ aura to them. It’s not right that someone as talented as he is can be allowed to get lost or forgotten about.
Jay Lethal/Donovan Dijak vs Young Bucks
AJ Styles isn’t on the show tonight, but his spectre looms large and he sends his Bullet Club colleagues the Young Bucks into battle to soften up the World Champion before their Final Battle showdown. Lethal has little to gain and lots to lose in this one, whereas the Bucks get to enjoy a main event pay day and a chance to solidify their own claims for a Tag Title shot in 2016 if they can find a way past a team featuring the Ring Of Honor Champion.
Lethal is uncharacteristically downcast during the opening minutes, unable to get a grip on either of the Bucks and even scowling at his own partner when he makes a hash of a blind tag. Both Jacksons head into the ring for an early double team blitz which scatters the House Of Truth team all over ringside. Jay wants to slow things right down – but as he walks away from his opponents Nick lines up a SUPERKICK TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! To the floor we go…where Dijak destroys Matt with a Yakuza kick! The Top Prospect winner is a powerful presence and looks extremely impressive as he kills off the Young Bucks’ momentum and starts to deliver a beating on the fallen Matt Jackson. SUPERKICK ON THE FLOOR! Nick gets a vital tag and immediately takes Donovan out with a springboard dropkick. MOONSAULT FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! Lethal blocks the Swanton Bomb with knees…then puts both boots through Matt’s face as he hangs in the ropes. TOPE TRIFECTA NAILED! Feast Your Eyes blocked…DIJAK MISSES A MOONSAULT OFF THE STAGE! SUPERKICK DUEL ON THE STAGE! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA FROM THE STAGE TO THE FLOOR BY MATT! Dijak appears to have sustained a cut on his forehead somewhere amongst all that. Lethal Injection blocked with a Superkick to the ribs! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BLOCK COUNTERED WITH A MID-AIR ACE CRUSHER! ELECTRIC CHAIR CHOKESLAM BACKBREAKER BY THE HOT GETS 2! Lethal is handed the Book Of Truth and whacks Matt in the head with it for another nearfall. INADVERTENT LETHAL INJECTION ON DIJAK! INDYTAKER ON DIJAK! LETHAL BREAKS THE PIN! There is some kind of melee at ringside with what appears to be fans jumping the rails and getting dragged out by referee Paul Turner…and whilst that’s going on Nick Jackson SUPERKICKS THE F*CK OUT OF TAELER HENDRIX! HOLY SH*T! That looked brutal! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! Matt pins Donovan at 17:23
Rating - **** - As ever, if you don’t like the Young Bucks style of match then you’ll hate this. If you do though, this was nuts almost from the opening bell. Matt and Nick haven’t interacted with Lethal and Dijak as much as some other duos in ROH, so it was cool watching these four innovate new sequences you might not have seen before. The stage brawl segment was great, the super-hot false finish around the Indy-Taker sent the place nuts…and I don’t know what else I can say about that Superkick on Taeler. Maybe it was just the camera angle, but it seriously looked like Nick almost took her head off! An extremely exciting way to end the show
Tape Rating - *** - At a little over two hours, very little filler and some surprisingly decent wrestling I thought this was a fun little show. Nothing will blow your socks off and it is only natural that lots of talent were working within themselves so close to Final Battle…but not every show needs to be wall to wall classic matches. Top-to-bottom this never really stopped being entertaining, with two outstanding tag team encounters near the top of the card stealing the show. If you can pick this up in a DVD/VOD sale it’s a decent purchase and far better than some of the tedious live events ROH were cranking out earlier in the year.
Top 3 Matches
3) Roderick Strong vs Delirious (***)
2) reDRagon vs ACH/Alex Shelley (****)
1) Young Bucks vs Jay Lethal/Donovan Dijak (****)