ROH 400 – Final Battle 2015 – 18th December 2015
I feel like I’ve been writing about 2015 Ring Of Honor for an extremely long time…and I have been. Admittedly my daughter was born somewhere in there too, but I’ve actually spent more than two years of my life on 2015 ROH (I started writing my review of the Winter Warriors Dearborn event in July 2015!)…no wonder I’m so far behind. It’s fair to say that my interest in Ring Of Honor continues to decline year on year, as talent and matches that I’m interested in gradually recycle down and aren’t replaced adequately. BUT, we’ve made it to another Final Battle and the card for this looks really good – even when tempering expectations accordingly due to ROH’s habit of booking too many matches onto their PPV’s and giving none of them enough time. Lethal vs Styles for the World Title is our main event, and the culmination of AJ’s Ring Of Honor renaissance as he looks to capture the one prize his illustrious career hasn’t seen him claim. Beneath that Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly meet in a grudge match so huge they sabotaged the main event of the last PPV to set it up, Bobby Fish challenges Roderick Strong for the TV Title in a rematch from their classic during the Reloaded Tour, War Machine look to dethrone The Kingdom with the Tag Titles on the line…plus Michael Elgin and Moose lock horns in a potential hoss battle, Dalton Castle and Silas Young going at it again and more. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III call the action, despite the fact that ROH haven’t debuted the MW3 gimmick for Corino on television at all yet. We are in Philadelphia, PA; the first time in a decade that ROH has hosted Final Battle outside of New York!
SIDENOTE – This first match is not part of the pay-per-view, and was a pre-show bonus match taped for ROH’s YouTube channel. For some reason people have specifically asked me to include this one in my review of this show, which makes me a little nervous. Or maybe people find my irrational dislike of Cheeseburger fun to read.
Bob Evans vs Cheeseburger
The history between these two is far longer and more in depth than two men of their limited talented and appeal really deserve. They were tag partners, before Evans grew tired of being one half of a goofy comedy team and turned on Cheese. What followed was a series of brief but surprisingly violent matches, and a couple of wild table bumps…all leading to a recent episode of the TV show where Bob and his stooge Tim Hughes broke Burgers hand, then tried to saw it off (but made morons of themselves in the process as they went after the wrong hand meaning CB can still throw the Shotei). This would be the pay-off, and I’m extremely thankful they cut this from the main broadcast.
Cheeseburger is so f*cking terrible he actually high fives people with his ‘injured’ hand on his way to the ring. Tough Tim tries to grab Burger from behind, only to make a hash of it and wind up on the wrong end of a tackle from his own mentor. Springboard crossbody to the floor onto both guys by Cheese! Hughes got the brunt of that too and it’s Evans up first to snap little Burger with an apron backbreaker. He starts stomping at the broken hand, with the Philly crowd reduced to total silence because this feud has no business being in an ROH ring. Cheeseburger can’t be bothered to sell the hand at all, and merrily uses it to throw strikes back in Brutal Bob’s direction with no apparent detrimental side effects. This match is horrible. Bob puts the sh*t icing on top of the sh*tty cake by falling off the top rope like a fool. Shotei’s from Burger then a second rope DDT for the win at 07:27
Rating - DUD - This match somehow managed to be both exceptionally boring AND atrociously bad at the same time, which is quite a feat. I literally don’t understand Cheeseburger’s popularity at all. He looks laughable (not meant affectionately) and as his gimmick gets more and more ‘over’ his ability to work gets progressively worse. When he first saw in-ring action with ROH I thought he and his opponents worked extremely hard to make his offence plausible despite his wispy stature. Now he’s just another ROH guy who hits the same spots, in the same order, in every match regardless of situation or circumstance. The fact that he couldn’t be f*cked to sell the only heat this sh*tshow of a match had (the broken hand) and actually started HIGH FIVING PEOPLE WITH IT on the way to the ring sums this whole mess up. Not letting this match run on the PPV itself is one of the smartest decisions Sinclair and Delirious have made since they took over.
Young Bucks vs All Night Express vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
With nothing substantial booked for them creatively, it’s a great call to have super-popular acts the Bucks and the Briscoes go out to open the show. All three of these teams have worked together before extensively, and having fought countless battles in the past they come back together to end 2015 with #1 contendership of the ROH Tag Titles at stake. The winners here will get first dibs on challenging the winners of Kingdom/War Machine in 2016.
Nick gets over-excited telling people to ‘suck it’…giving Mark all the time he needs to put a boot through his face. ANX are loudly jeered by the Philly fans, if you were any doubt as to who the least popular of the three teams is. They are soon cheered up by the Jacksons throwing out a couple of Superkicks to the Briscoes! BLOCKBUSTER OFF THE APRON by Mark! CORKSCREW PESCADO BY KING! INSANE TOPE SUICIDA UP THE AISLE BY JAY! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY RHETT! TOP ROPE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY MATT! STEREO 450 SPLASHES FROM THE BUCKS TO TITUS! FOR 2! Kenny tries his Capo Kick and eats Superkick, then Mark gets the same treatment as he prepares some Redneck Kung Fu. Rude Awakening on Matt! SUPERKICK ON JAY! Splash Mountain Neckbreaker on King for 2. Doomsday Device ducked, TRIPLE EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S BY THE BUCKS! MELTZER DRIVER ON JAY! MARK SAVES! DOUBLE SUPERKICK ON MARK! More Bang For Your Buck CAUGHT BY KING! DROPKICK/ROYAL FLUSH COMBO BY ANX! TOP F*CKING ROPE ONE NIGHT STAND BY MARK! ANX win at 09:15…to the fury of the Philly crowd!
Rating - **** - Crazy bell-to-bell action in front of a scorching hot crowd, so in one way a really hot start to the show…albeit I sympathise with whomever has to follow this. The Young Bucks’ popularity was really exploding at this point, and having signed exclusive deals with ROH you do wonder how much longer Delirious/ROH can wait before pulling the trigger on them as Tag Champions and centrepieces of the entire promotion. They were so much more over than anyone else in this match that the other guys (mostly King and Titus) were heels almost entirely because they WEREN’T the Bucks. Given the crowd on the night, ANX winning was a pretty horrible call.
Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
These two have worked each other a lot in 2015. Castle pissed Young off by controversially winning their early encounters, but in the high stakes environment of All Star Extravaganza (with his Boys on the line) Silas cheated to win…taking Dalton’s Boys away. Since then Silas has been training the Boys to become ‘men’, apparently with success as they now appear to have chosen to remain with him rather than returning to ‘Planet Peacock’. Dalton has become sombre and angry, but has channelled that frustration into some impressive victories since the last pay-per-view. Included in that is two pinfall wins over Silas as part of the ROH/PCW Supershow Of Honor tour (including their best singles match yet incidentally). Can Dalton get some high profile sweet revenge over his arch rival tonight?
Castle is all business and looks to make Silas his bitch with some of his exceptional amateur grappling skills. The Boys get involved to distract him, allowing Young to take a cheap shot to even things up though. He trips Dalton off the top rope giving him a nasty spill to the floor – right in front of the Boys who watch on without emotion. The Last Real Man is focused on making it as difficult as possible for Castle to catch his breath…but the Killer Combo is countered to a huge German suplex leaving them both on the ground. CARTWHEEL PUMPHANDLE SLAM gets 2 for Castle! Was that intentional? It looked awesome! Castle pulls up the mats to expose the concrete floor of the former ECW Arena, but takes so long in doing so that he leaves himself exposed for a SPEAR THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE FLOOR by Young! That’s the spot they busted out in Preston…and in truth it looked better there! It does more damage to Castle’s midsection though, with Young piling on yet more punishment with a rebound lariat soon after. Plunge misses…EVEREST GERMAN FROM THE APRON TO THE RING gets 2 for Castle! Silas blocks the Bang-A-Rang and flips out of the corner to hit the turnbuckle DDT. One of the Boys tries to interfere…and is inadvertently struck by Dalton! The Peacock is devastated at what he has done, and as he stands motionless Silas swoops to hit Misery for the win at 10:40
Rating - *** - The last two matches I’ve seen between these guys (Supershow Of Honor 2 and now here) have been a vast improvement on everything else they’ve done in 2015. This was perfect for it’s spot on the card, despite having an incredibly tough job following up a Young Bucks spotfest. It was intense, I loved Young’s subtle work on the sternum and torso to set up Misery, there was just enough Boys involvement to progress the feud without becoming annoying…albeit the 'safe' booking of having Silas win the match then having Dalton get his Boys back anyway in the aftermath is rather boring. I'd like to see one last blow-off match for this feud.
Silas continues to beat on Dalton and demands a verbal show of respect. Castle agrees…but then smiles as The Boys attack Young from behind with chairs. I’m not sure how or why, but it appears that the Boys are now free and reunited with Dalton Castle for the new year.
Moose vs Michael Elgin
The DVD casing advertises this as a World Title #1 contendership match, which I must admit confuses me since Elgin already IS the #1 contender having won Survival Of The Fittest. Are we just not acknowledging that on television or something? These two both want title shots, are both big dominant destroyers, and having crushed jobbers in similarly minimal times turned their attentions on each other in the race to get to Jay Lethal first. We know Elgin has a World Title shot scheduled for NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom event in early 2016. Does a win here get him a second shot in his back pocket?
There’s quite a weird crowd for this – in that both workers have very vocal supporters, and equally vocal haters. As you’d expect, these two big boys each have a point to prove and spend plenty of time refusing to back down from shoulder blocks or massive right hands. Elgin hits the 30-second suplex, but Moose totally no sells it and hops up to drive jabs into his jaw then score with a big dropkick. Elgin slings Moose into the guardrails as the fight spills outside…and wipes him out with a cannonball off the apron. Moose responds by ducking a lariat and throwing Unbreakable most of the way across the ring with a fallaway slam. DEAD-LIFT ROLLING GERMANS BY ELGIN! That is simply incredible strength! But it’s like his offence is having no effect as the ex-NFL star gets back to his feet and dropkicks him to the floor. ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE NAILED! Hitstick blocked, only for Moose to hit Go To Hell instead for 2. Both men are now showing fatigue as they brawl to the apron…DVD ON THE APRON BY BIG MIKE! Followed by the corkscrew senton back into the ring. And again Moose simply gets back to his feet and starts throwing punches again! Elgin shakes those off for ROLLING POP-UP POWERBOMBS! ELGIN BOMB! FOR 2! Buckle Bomb nailed…NO SOLD! HITSTICK GETS 2! Moose tries another rope-run…only to be crotched by Big Mike this time. Shades of Survival Of The Fittest…BURNING HAMMER! Elgin wins at 11:47
Rating - *** - This is the second time over the last couple of months that Moose has contested a really exciting big-man battle with another sizeable member of the roster. This wasn’t necessarily fought at the same pace as his recent match with Donovan Dijak, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the substantial crowd hate towards both guys, but it was apparent that both guys were busting their asses. I think most can appreciate that kind of workrate, and will have enjoyed how they steadily built up the pace to the point where they were just dropping bomb after bomb after bomb in that closing stretch. The lay-out was neat too, with the more experienced Elgin dominating and controlling the pace but seemingly unable to come up with anything substantial enough to put down someone as big and tough as Moose. Hence, for the second time in as many months, Big Mike had to break out the Burning Hammer to take him down.
Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly
I was extremely damning in my assessment of the way Adam Cole has been booked to get us to this point. The brief Future Shock reunion and screw job finish to Lethal/Kyle at All Star Extravaganza all felt so lazy and cheap – it seemed impossible to take this grudge seriously. But that is where the two workers involved deserve a lot of credit. Sure Cole’s heel turn at the last pay-per-view made no sense, but the conviction with which both he and O’Reilly have NAILED their characters in the aftermath of that show has been great to watch. Cole has been in his element as a downright dirty villain once again, and for all my criticism I certainly applaud the fact that he is in one of the biggest matches on this show. Cole/O’Reilly is one of Final Battle 2015’s real draws. The pressure is now on them to deliver.
O’Reilly spears Cole to the ground and goes straight for a triangle choke…prompting Cole to go right for a steel chair just to defend himself. He doesn’t get to use it and instead Kyle hits a MISSILE DROPKICK OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE CHAIR! Huge strike for O’Reilly, but is that a hint of a limp we can spot afterwards? Maybe he is a little slower too – which enables Adam to aggressively shove him off the top rope to the outside. No respite from the former World Champion, who superkicks the knee at the start of a violent onslaught on that body part. I love that Kyle isn’t immediately rendered completely defenceless…and double-legs Cole down for an MMA-style mounted strike flurry. But this time he has a weakness, which his enemy exploits and counters to a half crab. Figure 4 blocked with an armbar – which obviously Cole doesn’t want so frees himself and lands the Shining Wizard. Knee strike by O’Reilly! With knee selling! Then a succession of strikes using the good leg. COLE SPITS IN HIS FACE! ARM-AGEDDON BLOCKED WITH STOMPS TO THE DAMN HEAD! STANDING WIZARD gets 2! They show a replay and even Todd Sinclair looks appalled at how stiff those stomps were. Mr Wrestling 3 makes a great point about O’Reilly focusing on Cole’s surgically-repaired arm and shoulder…and he gets dropped right on that shoulder with the Regalplex! Kimura applied, then swiftly countered with a DVD over the knee to leave both men down. HANGING ARMBAR! Cole kicks at the knee to free himself before giving Kyle such a hard jumping enzi that he falls off the apron to the padded floor. Panama Sunrise on the floor COUNTERED TO A GUILLOTINE CHOKE! COUNTERED TO THE LAST SHOT ON THE FLOOR! FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! O’Reilly escapes…and wearily battles back to his feet for a ferocious strike flurry. KAWADA KICKS BY KYLE! E HONDA SLAPS BY COLE! AXE & SMASH COUNTERED WITH A SUPERKICK! JAWBREAKER LARIAT NAILED! SOLO CHASING THE DRAGON! ARM-AGEDDON! Amazing camera work actually captures Cole’s fingers losing grip one-by-one as Kyle finally locks it on properly. Both men are carrying severe injuries now. LEG CAPTURE HEAD DROP GERMAN SUPLEX BY COLE! But his arm is so busted he can’t hit the Last Shot. TRIANGLE CHOKE! But Cole pops his feet onto the ropes and grabs a flash pin to win at 16:07.
Rating - **** - Damnit that finish was disappointing. And the worst part is that the match before it was SO good, but because the ending was a total bummer it’s all a lot of people will talk about. The quality of the work beforehand deserves much better. These guys have had some wonderful matches together, and this had the potential to be their very best (even topping the Hybrid Rules Match from Best In The World 2012). It is really hard to execute one of these ‘work a body part’ matches and still have it come off like a grudge match, but Cole and O’Reilly nailed this on both a technical and a dramatic level. You were never left in any doubt that these two absolutely hated each other, and the ferocity in everything they did was breathtaking. Replay those face stomps from Cole to break the armbar; they were frighteningly violent. Throw a proper finish on this and we’d have been talking about one of the very best matches ROH has done all year.
A furious O’Reilly converts to the Arm-ageddon and refuses to release Cole despite the protestations of the entire referee squad. Cole is eventually carried to the back draped in icepacks and barely conscious.
SIDENOTE – Prince Nana joins commentary for the next match, largely to talk about Alex Shelley. Unfortunately Kevin Kelly harpoons any value he might add by going completely revisionist on whatever historical insight Nana has and repeatedly refers to Shelley as the focal point of The Embassy. Which he never was. At all. Hence Jimmy Rave was referred to as the ‘Crown Jewel’ and Shelley wasn’t. Kevin Kelly’s inability to research ROH history properly (or perhaps worse, he does his research then dumps all over it to make whatever dated, nerdy point he wants to make regardless) is possibly top amongst the many of his irksome qualities.
Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian/Chris Sabin vs Alex Shelley/Matt Sydal/ACH
As a lead-in to this we get a replay of the moment on Episode 220 of the TV show when Alex Shelley revealed himself to former tag partner Chris Sabin as the mysterious Red Mask man who had been messing with Sabin and The Addiction in recent months. Shelley’s agenda remains unknown, as does the status of his relationship with Sabin. The Addiction will presumably be more forthright in their desire to get some revenge on Shelley, who prepared for this one by teaming with ACH at a recent live event in Florida. Bringing Sydal into the mix too also gives us the interesting dynamic of Generation Next originator and founding member Shelley teaming with Sydal – the man Aries, Strong and Evans replaced him with after they booted Alex from the group eleven years ago at Final Battle 2004.
No handshake between Sabin and Shelley as tensions remain high between the former Machine Guns. Another set of former partners – Daniels and Sydal – are soon going at it too, with Daniels and current partner Kazarian ganging up to get the advantage on Matt. ACH and Sabin increase the pace…before Chris throws him back into the babyface corner and demands that Shelley tags in. It’s all a mindgame of course, with Sabin walking out before they lock horns. Standing moonsault from Sydal to Daniels! Their fight spills outside where Matt strays into the range of a running punt from the apron by Sabin. The three heels use assorted triple teams to isolate Reborn for several minutes until Chris makes an error and leaps into a swinging heel kick. Golden Gate Swing from Shelley to Daniels! Border City Stretch blocked…Angel’s Wings blocked too! ACH gets a huge run-up, only to botch his attempt at the ringpost flagpole headscissors on Sabin. The Philly fans give him a surprisingly easy ride on that mess-up, so it is down to Kaz to punish him with the slingshot cutter. Jumping super rana from Sydal to Daniels gets 2 as the pace quickens. ACH and Alex hit stereo pescados as Matt climbs for the SYDAL PRESS! But Daniels gets the knees up! Blue Thunder Driver on Shelley! AIR JORDAN BY ACH! He wants the Midnight Star but finds Frankie clinging to his leg. MIDNIGHT STAR NAILED! SYDAL PRESS NAILED! Sabin is pinned at 15:33
Rating - *** - This was perfectly decent, but thus far actually the worst match of the night. All six of these guys are hugely experienced, yet strangely the match was littered with errors ranging from minor mis-steps to obvious and outright mess-ups…which really hurt the flow. I like Sabin and Shelley, but people weren’t as invested in the dynamic between them as I think ROH were expecting, and additionally I was disappointed that there didn’t seem to be more of a desire from The Addiction to get some revenge on Shelley. After all, he was the one that cost them the Tag Titles – something they were so pissed off about they are only just back from exiling themselves to New Japan for a month in protest. And since I’m complaining, whilst it’s nice to be nice and repay him for the multitude of jobs he’s done this year, Sydal winning accomplished nothing.
Roderick Strong vs Bobby Fish – ROH TV Title Match
Recently Roddy has been handing out title shots to a number of slightly questionable challengers under the guise of his ‘Roddy vs The World’ angle. Tonight is different and few can deny that Fish is very much a worthy, credible and dangerous challenger for his Television Championship. Bobby won a superb match between the two of them during the Reloaded Tour in Chicago, and it was only BS shenanigans from the House Of Truth that stopped him from defeating Jay Lethal for the TV Title at our last PPV, All Star Extravaganza. Is tonight when he climbs the mountain and wins his first Ring Of Honor singles accolade?
Fish poses such a unique challenge to Strong, because he’s one of the few guys on the roster who is equal if not his superior when it comes to both strikes and mat wrestling. Bobby keeps effortlessly dragging him to the ground forcing him to take evasive action to escape an assortment of submission holds. Even when the champion looks to target the back as he likes to do Fish proves he can do it too – and drops him right back with a tilta-whirl backbreaker. Strong is the quicker man though, and finally gets an edge by sprinting at the challenger and booting him through the ropes to the guardrail. BARRICADE GUTBUSTER SCORES! Roderick dropped Fish from such a height there he actually ricocheted back up and into the front row! Back inside they come with Strong’s high angle Olympic Slam for 2. With his midsection now hurting him Fish’s strikes start to lack potency – enabling Roddy to shake them off and floor him again with a crushing dropkick into the ribs. Almost out of desperation Bobby manages to grab an on-rushing Roderick; and drops him with a turnbuckle exploder. Still no respite though as Roderick rallies to hit a barrage of running attacks into the Muso which damages the sternum again. Death By Roderick countered to a dragon screw in the ropes. Fish slips to the floor and delivers a tilta-whirl backbreaker whilst out there! Strong kicks at the ribs again as he chases Bobby up the ropes to hit the turnbuckle backbreaker for 2. Fish retaliates with the Samoan drop…although that hurts him almost as much as it does the champ. AVALANCHE FALCON ARROW NAILED! That’s the move he beat Roddy with in Chicago, but it only gets a two-count this time around. Roderick tries to throw a knee only for Fish to counter in MID-AIR looking for the Fish Hook Deluxe. FACE KICKS BY STRONG! RODDY TAPS! But apparently out of sight of Todd Sinclair!? Fish celebrates the win not knowing that Sinclair hasn’t ended the match…and as he starts to argue Roddy flies at him with a knock-out knee strike. Roderick controversially retain at 15:15
Rating - *** - The match itself was good, albeit so one-sided in favour of Roderick it felt a little bit too much like a squash match at times. Unfortunately this is another match will be remembered more for Delirious’ raging erection for sh*tty, overbooked finishes on pay-per-view than it will for the quality of the wrestling. Given how good 2015 has been for both of these two I’d expected more, even before the BS at the end though.
Strong gets some major heat for that finish and flees the ring with his belt in a hurry. As Fish gets medical attention Kelly and Mr Wrestling speculate on whether Strong was legitimately tapping or using an evil plan to trick Bobby into releasing the Fish Hook.
Veda Scott and Cedric Alexander invade the show despite not being booked. Veda rambles on and on (and on) to the fury of the restless Philly crowd. She announces that a financial settlement has been agreed following her legal action against Ring Of Honor and that we’ll be seeing more of them in 2016.
Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs War Machine – ROH Tag Title Match
It is public knowledge that Bennett and Maria’s contracts are up at the end of the year. Maria openly stated that earlier in the year and vowed to lead her team to the Tag Titles before those deals expired. She, Bennett and Taven lived up to that promise (with a little help from Alex Shelley it turned out) and have sat atop the tag division ever since despite spirited and persistent challenges from the likes of the Young Bucks and The Addiction. But at the same time War Machine have put together an extremely strong final quarter of the year. Winning Japanese fans after a NOAH tour, European fans over after a trip to PCW and winning countless matches all over the ROH circuit – they enter in dominant form and are arguably hot favourites to take the belts this evening.
Before the bell rings the champs level the face-painted challengers with the belts…then Taven takes a run and hits a SUICIDE DIVE UP THE AISLE! HAIL MARY ON THE FLOOR TAKES OUT ROWE! But in the process Taven appears to have really f*cked up his knee (and Bennett was reportedly carrying a few lingering injuries coming in). Matt really is limping badly and shows real courage to land on his feet on the floor again before sweeping Hanson onto the apron. He jabs fingers into Rowe’s eyes to block a Superman Punch but looks a real mess as he tries to springboard off the top into an elbow drop. TAZ-PLEX ON THE FLOOR BY ROWE! Bennett tries to save his partner with an apron cannonball…but is caught with a GUARDRAIL BOMB! FALLOUT ON BENNETT! The reign of The Kingdom goes down in flames, with War Machine taking the belts at 03:10
Rating - *** - This was absolute chaos, which I mean in the most positive of manners. The crushing result here all but confirmed that Bennett and Maria were leaving after this weekend, so it is absolutely right that they put War Machine over on the way out. The manner that War Machine were put over here was awesome. They looked like total monsters, surviving a callous pre-match attack and still violently destroying the champions in only three minutes was quite stunning. Of course, the Taven injury overshadowed much of this. He showed real courage to fight on despite what turned out to be a severe knee injury which caused him to miss more than half of 2016. I’m still sceptical about how much longer ROH can keep the Young Bucks away from the Tag Titles, but War Machine needed this badly, and I truly hope Delirious has a coherent plan to keep them over as a dominant monster team in the year ahead.
Touchingly it’s Bennett and Maria who carry the injured Matt Taven out, in a rather sad scene. Bennett and Taven are great friends outside of the ring so to have their time as a team end with a serious injury is a real downer. As they do so Mr Wrestling III vacates commentary for special guests to call the main event. And as he leaves BJ Whitmer sneaks in angrily ranting that MW3 is Steve Corino. With Kevin Kelly wailing like a child, security comes to eject BJ since he’s banned from the event. Nigel McGuinness and Jerry Lynn are the actual special guests to call the World Title Match.
Jay Lethal vs AJ Styles – ROH World Title Match
Here we are at the crescendo of AJ’s Ring Of Honor career. This is a man that debuted on the third ever show, and has wanted to become ROH Champion ever since. He’s a man who has challenged countless times in the past – from Low Ki, to Xavier, to Samoa Joe, to Bryan Danielson, to Michael Elgin last year – and never won. For a man that has won the top belt everywhere he has gone, failure to win ROH’s World Championship represents a glaring hole in his resume which he seeks to fill tonight. But to do so he must get past Lethal, who has had an exceptional year. He ended Jay Briscoe’s colossal undefeated streak to win the belt, he set records as Television Champion, defied the odds as Undisputed Champion and (as he taunted AJ for during his pre-match promo) achieved things that Styles has openly stated he’s always dreamt of doing. If rumours are to be believed, he also enters this considerably more healthy than the challenger. Styles has struggled with nagging injuries all year and has had to protect his body and in the vast majority of his ROH bookings this year. But, since returning at the start of 2014, he has been pinned just once (and boasts a win over Lethal amongst that streak). Will that momentum carry him to glory…or is it just another milestone for Lethal to break in 2015?
We begin with some awesome fast-paced chain-wrestling, which is completely evenly-matched. Although apparently Lethal backed himself to be superior there, as AJ’s success causes him to walk out in a huff. Styles clings to a headlock then dropkicks the champion away, almost looking to keep him away from that suspect back. Lethal has done his research and blocks a nip-up rana…and as the pace quickens he nails the hiptoss/seated dropkick combo perfectly. Calf Killer briefly applied…only for Jay to roll out of the ring and (with the help of Truth Martini) sweep Styles back-first into the apron. The examination of how healthy Styles’ back is really begins, and he writhes in pain after the champ repeatedly smashes it into the guardrails. AJ is selling this like complete death which really helps. He looks for an ill-advised Phenom DDT…only to be caught with a NORTHERN LIGHTS TO THE TURNBUCKLES! Shades of RVD/Jerry Lynn with the man himself watching at ringside. With his mobility severely restricted AJ doesn’t have many options to defend himself. He starts with some snug strikes and dismisses him with a snap suplex into the turnbuckles; but that last move hurts him as much as his opponent. Phenomenal Forearm COUNTERED to the Lethal Combination which delivers yet more devastating damage to the challenger’s back. Styles looks desperate and looks for the Clash despite having done very little preparatory work…only to be (rightly) punished with a POP-UP NECKBREAKER by Jay. Tope suicidas crunch the back into the barriers again, causing AJ’s body to explode over them and into the laps of a few fans! Lethal goes for one more tope…but it’s countered with a MID-AIR PHENOMENAL FOREARM OFF THE GUARDRAIL! Both men down! They crawl back to the ring where Lethal evokes shades of AJ’s great rival Christopher Daniels with a flatliner into the Koji Clutch. Calf Killer to escape…so Lethal puts him down with a springboard rebound Ace Crusher! Lethal Injection COUNTERED WITH THE PELE KICK! BLOODY SUNDAY! JAY LETHAL THROWS HIM THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR TO BLOCK THE STYLES CLASH! HOLY SH*T! Glassy eyed and risking permanent injury…it takes all AJ has to beat the 20-count there. LETHAL INJECTION! STYLES KICKS OUT! Jay screams in his face, swats the Pele aside, then counters the Styles Clash into the CRADLE PILEDRIVER! RIGHT IN FRONT OF LYNN! LETHAL INJECTION AGAIN! LETHAL RETAINS! It’s over at 22:08
Rating - ****1/2 - Was he just doing his job really well, or did Jerry Lynn sound legitimately rather irritated by Lethal’s use of his finishing move there? Either way, it was a wonderful moment of added colour and depth at the conclusion of an outstanding championship main event. Styles has been selective with his singles matches in ROH this year, but as ever the quality of his work remains impossibly high. He delivered a, pardon the pun, phenomenal performance; rolling back the years and bumping like a total lunatic in his final Ring Of Honor match to put over the man ROH is using to carry their brand into a new year. Since returning in 2014, his commitments as one of New Japan’s top stars have led to constant criticism of how much AJ has to be protected and go over ROH’s major names. His detractors have been waiting for the moment where he finally looked at the lights to put a guy over…and on his way out despite nursing injuries and - ignoring a need to protect his body for both Wrestle Kingdom and what turned out to be a forthcoming WWE contract - he went far above and beyond to make Jay Lethal ‘the man’. Fantastic, epic stuff…smartly worked, brilliantly acted and gripping from bell to bell. I wanted it to go a little longer and ratchet up the drama still further to truly become a match for the ages…but in the context of where ROH is right this was a remarkable bout.
Tape Rating - **** - This is probably the best pay-per-view Sinclair has run since they started booking these major events last summer. It still had some problems (mostly Delirious’ sh*tty booking) but inside the ropes there was heaps to like. From a blockbusting rollercoaster opening match, to Dalton reuniting with The Boys, Elgin and Moose beating the hell out of each other, Cole and O’Reilly putting on a wrestling clinic, new Tag Champs emphatically crowned and a killer main event – this truly FELT like a major show. Final Battle remains the biggest show in ROH’s year, and without booking any special talent this did feel like a special occasion. Sure the quality dipped a little in the second half after a rather sloppy trios tag and the somewhat underwhelming Strong/Fish match (with another sh*tty finish)…but on the whole this was consistent, exciting and packed with the sort of ‘moments’ which ROH shows under Sinclair have so often lacked. A sincere and hearty recommendation from me – with Lethal/Styles and Cole/O’Reilly worth the buy price alone.
Top 3 Matches
3) All Night Express vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Young Bucks (****)
2) Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly (****)
1) Jay Lethal vs AJ Styles (****1/2)