McXal's Reviews

It always feels a little strange when ROH's 'Final Battle' falls with almost a full month of the year to go, but here we are. After rebounding out of their slump in a major way with Survival Of The Fittest then the excellent Reach For The Sky Tour, we now come to the annual climactic act in ROH's calendar. All four of Ring Of Honor's championships are on the line tonight - and you did read 'four' correctly, as one of those title matches is the finals of the tournament to crown the first ever Six-Man Tag Champions. The main event is the one we've been building to since the summer of 2015 (and a rivalry that goes back way further), as Adam Cole defends the World Title against arch-nemesis Kyle O'Reilly. Two men that came into ROH together at the very bottom of the card have now ascended to headlining the biggest show of the year - with the biggest prize in the company at stake. We'll also see another hotly anticipated title showdown as the Briscoes challenge for the ninth Tag Championship, with the Young Bucks standing in their way. Behind those matches Cody Rhodes makes his ROH debut against Jay Lethal, Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle look to settle their feud, Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay make their US ROH debuts in an international TV Title triple threat also including Dragon Lee, and Jushin 'Thunder' Liger is in the house too. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino (making his final PPV appearance for ROH) provide commentary. We are in Manhattan, NY - with a deal (or more money provided) for a return to the beautiful Hammerstein Ballroom.

The show opens with an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek medieval fairy tale-themed 'Storytime with Adam Cole', recapping the history of the Cole/O'Reilly feud with fun graphics...as Cole gradually unravels and ends up ranting to the camera.

The group now known as The Rebellion have new theme music, a tacky graphics package and even goofier outfits than they had when they were The Cabinet. They recently told the Motor City Machine Guns that if they weren't with them, then they needed to 'lay down', before administering the kind of beating which has seen Shelley lament the 'numbers game' in this company. We know he and Sabin are recruiting for like-minded individuals. They have allies in Jay White and Lio Rush, but Dijak is another man they have singled out for praise. After an impressive showing in the UK shows, Dijak looks better than ever...and ready for another crack at ROH finally tapping into his massive potential.

King starts with Sabin in a pretty entertaining back and forth. The Rebellion have better luck with a 3-on-1 mugging of Dijak...but this time the number are equal, meaning MCMG pile in too, landing a flurry of high octane combo moves. Titus takes a bit of a pasting, culminating in an elevated Trust Fall splash triple team which looks really cool and gets a two count. Caprice skids around the ringpost into a 619-kick, confusing Sabin for just long enough to allow Kenny to hit a big corkscrew pescado. It opens the door for The Rebellion to start stringing together their own innovative triple team combos. Sabin's body has taken a lot of punishment through 2016 and soon he starts to look worse for wear. He does hit a tornado DDT on King which opens the door for a hot tag to Donovan. He amuse himself tossing Rhett and Caprice around like kids, grabbing Titus on the top rope for a SUPER CHOKE BREAKER which gets 2. Stereo dives off the apron by Shelley and Sabin! Dijak climbs the ropes - SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE FLOOR! Feast Your Eyes on Rhett - feeding him into the Rubix Cube from the Guns. King and Coleman break the pin right at the death though. Super rana by Coleman! MARTINI KILLER by Dijak! He gives Kenny the rack bomb too, but then MISSES a moonsault off the apron allowing Caprice to boot his skull into the guardrails. He saves King from Skull & Bones, and delivers the Sky Splitter on Sabin. Big Dawg Splash by Rhett - scoring a big win for The Rebellion at 12:21

Rating - *** - What a terrific opening match this was. ANX always seem to get stuck working well down the card in New York, but that is mostly because they are a capable team who do a great job laying out matches and getting a crowd to engage with them when they open the show. This was as good as The Rebellion have been since their group came together - the combo moves were slick, they were actually presented like a credible threat rather than a joke team...and as a result their clean win felt completely logical and believable. Dijak was, as is becoming a habit for him, an absolute star. All the real highlights of this match involved him doing something insane. It's a crying shame he only has a few shows left on his deal now, because he has become an extremely reliable performer for ROH. His booking sucks and his character is non-existent...but inside the ropes his work just keeps getting better.

Beyond any shadow of doubt, Silas Young deserves to be on the Final Battle main card. You'd be hard pressed to find a more unappreciated act on the entire roster. A true old-school, legitimate heel, but one who is also enjoyable to watch and can absolutely go in the ring when needed. Every time he is put in a position or given an opportunity he delivers, from a Fight Without Honor against Dalton Castle, a Last Man Standing Match with ACH, playing his part in crafting a genuinely enjoyable hoss team with Beer City Bruiser, winning Tag Wars 2016 in one of the most memorable moments of the year, and his epic World Title collision with Adam Cole in Florida. He has gone public with his grievances about New Japan talent too. He hates that they get flown in for big shows, relegating guys like him and Bruiser to the pre-shows or the commentary table. It was an opinion he expressed when preparing to face Shibata at Death Before Dishonor...and it remains valid for Liger now. At the lead-in TV taping he made this personal too - calling Liger a 'child playing dress-up'. Those are big words - can he back them up against the living legend? Beer City Bruiser is in full gear and accompanies Young to the ring.

Silas looks mean and fired up - kneeing the legend in the stomach rather than shaking his hands then putting the boots to him in the corner. Not one to take that kind of thing lying down, Liger reacts by clobbering Young out of the ring and diving out after him with a cannonball senton. Inside the ring he applies a Mexican surfboard - angling Silas' body so he has to look right into the Bruiser's eyes as his body is contorted. Young escapes by going after the mask...and Liger's finger-wagging response is marvellous to watch! Plunge blocked, so he drops Liger's battered old neck south across the knee instead. Bruiser wouldn't be out here in full gear if he wasn't intent on getting involved...which happens sure enough as he rams Liger's neck and back into the guardrails. He stops the masked veteran from hitting a suplex too, tripping him to the ground so Silas can slingshot for a double shot into the ribs. Shotei in the corner by Liger, setting up the frankensteiner for 2. The Last Real Man blocks the Liger Bomb...into the Killer Combo to punish that back still more. Then he spits beer in Liger's face! BRAINBUSTER by Liger...but he's too beaten up to cover right away. Instead he tries to come off the top with a big splash, only for BCB to distract him and cause him to dive into Silas' knees. Misery nailed, giving Young the win at 11:01

Rating - *** - I've seen some lower ratings than mine for this particular match, but I enjoyed it - certainly more than Liger's last couple of singles efforts in the US for ROH. The aggression and disdain with which Silas treated Liger made this particularly fun to watch. We are so used to seeing Liger revered and respected - so watching someone go after his mask, have his enforcer rough him up, and attack the back like a sour bastard was completely entertaining. It went too long (other matches could've used this time better) and I didn't care for quite the volume of cheating that we saw. Silas definitely deserved this moment to go over a major name though, given the quality of his work in 2016.

There's a nice moment where Beer City Bruiser motions to put the boots to the fallen Liger, but is prevented by Silas

This match is actually one of the best-built on the entire card. Delirious doesn't excel at booking his undercard into layered, developed storylines so it has really felt like a breath of fresh air too. These two formed a team out of a desire to wear Ring Of Honor Championship gold. Colt had just fallen out of the World Title picture, Dalton had lost his TV Title shot to Bobby Fish. But something about their alliance always felt a little uneasy. They retained separate entrances, they lost their first match as a team...it always felt like an alliance of convenience and ambition, rather than friendship and mutual admiration. That told after Glory By Honor 15, when Dalton made the impromptu decision to 'cash in' their #1 contendership to the Tag Titles at the culmination of the Champions vs All-Stars main event. Colt never got over the decision, Castle lost the match and things gradually unravelled. They reached boiling point at the recent Baltimore TV taping when Colt locked the original Boys (the Tate Twins) in a cupboard, attacked Dalton's back-up Boys...and turned his back on Dalton too (with a knee in the balls then stabbing his eye with a peacock feather). He even went on to Survival Of The Fittest, tearing up one of Dalton's outfits in front of him, causing him to be eliminated from the final by Punishment Martinez. Now the partners turned rivals are here to settle the score on the biggest show of the year...

Dalton doesn't wait around to take a nut shot from the Code Of Honor - and grabs a single leg and starts rolling around with Cabana in an amateur clutch on the mat. I love the fact that there is a tiny minority of fans who try to get a 'CM Punk' chant going...but get completely shouted down for being disrespectful jerks. Cabana tries to use the Boys as leverage...but they end up being a human staircase to allow Castle a free sprint up the ropes for a missile dropkick. Castle effortlessly tosses Colt around, taking him to school Greco-Roman style. Sadly for him he then tries another ill-advised trip up the turnbuckles and is punished by getting dumped on his neck. It's quite fun getting to watch Cabana in a match where he can't simply out-wrestle his opponent. It forces him to adopt a different approach; going heavy on the strikes and methodical pacing. Dalton counters a jumping Bionic Elbow into an overhead suplex - but afterwards falls into the ropes having been wearied by Cabana's attacks. Flying Asshole blocked...Everest German blocked...into the Billy Goat's Curse! Castle escapes to the floor, and NAILS the apron 619 headscissors. Cabana MISSES an Asai moonsault and eats EVEREST GERMAN for 2! Colt kicks out and launches into the Superman Pin for his own 2-count. Chicago Skyline blocked...into BANG-A-RANG! Castle wins at 09:42

Rating - *** - I'm sad these guys got less than ten minutes, and I hope they get a chance to go longer in a feature match on a live event show (or even TV). The crowd was really hot for this, and crucially they were mostly in favour of Dalton. That tells you that they were a) invested in these characters, but also (and more importantly) b), invested in the storyline itself and therefore treating Cabana like a heel. The match itself put over Dalton in a major way - which is also important as the company had big plans for him in 2017. His grappling style was the focal point of the match; it rendered Colt's technical prowess redundant, it meant he had counters for most of Colt's signature moves...and it ultimately brought him victory as he grappled off the ropes, out of the corner and into the Bang-A-Rang. All three of these opening matches have been low-end 3* matches for sure...but they've entertained me, moved at a brisk pace and all told a story I could get on board with.

Before the next match can begin The Addiction crash the show, pointlessly wasting time that just doesn't exist on pay-per-view. Once again they are deceptively humble, with Daniels putting Cody Rhodes over at length. The pay-off is...they are doing commentary? What the f*ck?!

Cody's arrival in Ring Of Honor is a landmark moment. Obviously he is a major name, a marketable star with charisma and presence...but it also heralds ROH moving into the next phase of its existence as a promotion. Cody coming to ROH (and NJPW) saw him link up with the Young Bucks. Whilst in name they remained part of Bullet Club, they became a multi-faceted independent wrestling powerhouse, doing incredible business and basically driving ROH's creative direction from their own YouTube show. The way Cody marketed, managed and conducted himself has now become the blueprint for how guys should manage an exit from WWE. By all accounts he priced himself sensibly, he created a buzz by aligning with and/or working with the right people. He got himself booked on the biggest shows of the year for Impact, ROH and NJPW in short order and quickly ensured he was seen as a far bigger star outside of the WWE bubble than he was within it. He dropped his last name, a brilliant move which fuelled the 'WWE sucks' narrative but he'd subsequently reveal in 2018 that he is permitted to use it - he just doesn't as he wants to step out of the shadows of his father and create his own legacy. Coming to ROH, coming to the Hammerstein and appearing at Final Battle fits into that narrative. The man waiting for him is one of the standard-bearers for Ring Of Honor though. Jay Lethal gives an intriguing pre-match promo where he implies that both he and Cody need each other here. He needs to prove that he is the 'best in the world' by beating people like Rhodes. But similarly, Cody needs a win over someone like Lethal to legitimise him to this audience. Motivation could not be any higher for both of these men. Sadly for Cody, his night gets off to a bad start as technical issues plague his entrance - including somebody forgetting to turn his wife Brandi's microphone on, and cueing up his music way too early...

Steve Corino has left commentary for this and perches at the side of the stage watching weirdly. Cody tries to use his height, but struggles to live with Lethal's speed and ends up eating the hiptoss/dropkick sequence. Rhodes fires back with a stalling gourdbuster for 2. Disaster Kick ducked by Lethal...but he doesn't have the punching power to hurt Cody before he is back on the ground with Rhodes going after his left arm. It's Cody's showboating which costs him - trying to skin the cat only to be booted out of the ring. Tope Trilogy by Lethal...but Rhodes ducks the last one and hits a DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! More showing off by Cody as he starts acting like Stardust momentarily - before levelling Jay with the Disaster Kick. Lethal Combination gets 2 for the former ROH Champion though. Crossface locked in...but presumably because his arm has been weakened Rhodes easily counters out into the American Nightmare deathlock. Cross Rhodes blocked...so he flattens Lethal with a lariat instead for 2. Moonsault press MISSES! Ace Crusher by Jay, setting him up perfectly for Hail To The King...COUNTERED to a crucifix pin for 2! Lethal accidentally bumps heads with referee Todd Sinclair, and as he does so Cody kicks him in the balls! Kevin Kelly sells that like the most shocking, evil double-turn of all time of course. He hits the Cross Rhodes and wins at 13:14

Rating - *** - There was a lot of really weird sh*t going on here. To start with, why the hell were The Addiction out there? Who the f*ck booked them to come out AFTER Lethal and Cody's entrances too - that was incredibly idiotic. Steve Corino brooding on the stage looked weird (even though they were going somewhere with it). Cody spent like five minutes working an arm, for seemingly no reason other than to pad out the match. Couldn't Jay have called out to him 'hey, I've been selling a leg injury for two months, at least work the leg instead mate'!? The finish here was absolutely terrible too. Not the low blow itself; I'm actually fine with that - Cody has much more mileage in ROH as a heel anyway. But the Lethal/Sinclair collision spot was so dumb. Todd Sinclair has refereed main event level matches in ROH forever, and not once has that happened. Not once has ever stood in that position. It looked so fake and unnatural that it was immediately sh*t all over. With all that going on, it's actually quite impressive that this was still a pretty decent match. Cody certainly didn't look out of place in an ROH ring. He meshed well with Lethal and when they cut out all the crap some of their stuff was really competitive, intense and enjoyable. As I said during my intro paragraph, I really believe Cody's arrival in ROH is a landmark moment in the promotion's history. I'm sure it didn't feel like it at the time, and I don't even feel like it was his accomplishments in an ROH ring which really make it a landmark moment. But his arrival, and the people it would bring him into contact with, brings about substantial change in the wrestling industry - including, and outside of, Ring Of Honor. The rise of The Elite, All In, ROH/NJPW selling out MSG, AEW, all of these things grow out of the spark that ignites by getting the likes of Cody, the Bucks, Omega (and their rotating cast) together. I'm interested to see how his Ring Of Honor work (which isn't universally praised it's fair to say) plays out...

The Addiction come back to the ring and chase Cody away, as Corino slides back into his announce position making cryptic comments about a non-descript 'he' being 'right all along'. Rhodes himself skulks up the ramp and gets into a shoving match with Corino, which even Cary Silkin gets involved to stop becoming more serious...

Remember when Samoa Joe had to travel to England to defend the ROH Title against Zebra Kid before Ring Of Honor would acknowledge it as a 'World' Championship? No such formalities for their new Trios Titles, which are already 'World Six-Man' belts! When the blocks were laid out this possibly wasn't the finals you were expecting. Matt Taven made his return from spending most of 2016 on the sidelines (after getting injured at Final Battle last year), bringing his 'New Kingdom' with him. They scored the biggest upset of the tournament by beating World Champion Adam Cole and Tag Champions the Young Bucks (albeit the night after Ladder War 6) in the opening round. They then defeated the trios tag veterans from CMLL in the semi-finals, meaning their route here has been extremely tough. However, their opponents have survived an arguably even tough challenge to be here - in that their team has changed line-ups multiple times over. Originally scheduled to be Rush, White and ACH, ROH wrote Lio out so he could go tour Europe by having Alex Shelley 'recruit' Kushida to replace him. They made a big show of ACH winning both their first round and semi-final matches, only to let him run his contract down and leave...so Lio has been brought back in for the final. Steve Corino's bullsh*t revisionist history to negate ACH's contribution to this is so obviously false that even he starts stumbling over his phony words...

Vinny and TK charge like idiots and get dumped to the floor, leaving Taven alone to walk into RUSH HOUR! DRAGON'S CALL! Taven barely kicks out to save the match as Kevin Kelly discusses Matt's sh*tty experiences with the likes of Tommaso Ciampa and War Machine at Final Battle's past. Smartly O'Ryan bundles Taven out of the ring and takes over the match for his team. That does mean it is him that has to withstand several minutes of triple-team punishment from the opposition though. It buys Taven time to recover, and he eventually returns with Vinny to rescue their partner with a double DDT on Lio. A bicycle kick/Spear combo by Taven and TK gets a nearfall on Rush as The Kingdom start to take control. The way they get from there to the hot tag is a lot of fun, with Rush going to the outside and literally running circles round Marseglia and O'Ryan before sprinting away and getting Kushida in. Hoverboard Lock on TK! It is too early to force a submission...and just when it seems like Kushida will really do a number on O'Ryan's arm once again Taven and Marseglia forge a rescue mission. This time it is with a Russian Legsweep/Asai moonsault combo. They absolutely mug Kushida in the corner whilst TK conducts the longest prolonged period of referee distraction I've ever seen in wrestling. Handspring elbow by Kushida...opening up a tag to White (who has barely been seen in the ten minute run-time of this match thus far). He stacks The Kingdom up in the corner with a flurry of suplexes, then lands his pinpoint missile dropkick on Marseglia (as Kushida and Rush hit far more interesting dives onto the floor which the production team totally miss). Vinny retaliates with a HANGING Lion Tamer in the ropes. Kushida tries to save with a TOP ROPE HOVERBOARD LOCK! SUPERPLEX by Taven to break that! DRAGON'S CALL! FLYING ELBOW BY TK! HALF NELSON SUPLEX BY WHITE! Tanaka punch by Kushida lands...and everyone tumbles to the ground in a pile. Rush goes crazy with ROLLING Heat Seeking missiles! ELBOW SUICIDA BY JAY! Vinny piles out with a springboard corkscrew senton! SWANTON BOMB TO THE FLOOR BY KUSHIDA! Rush hits a corkscrew senton! AIR TAVEN SUICIDE DIVE! The Kingdom bring Lio back in...but his partners save him from Rock Star Supernova. Rush Hour blocked INTO THE CLIMAX! White breaks the count at the last possible moment. Marseglia dives for the Redrum senton...and 'accidentally' lands on top of referee Paul Turner. Tavren runs in and waffles White with his walking cane! O'Ryan nails Rush with it too. Together The Kingdom hit Rock Star Supernova, and are the inaugural champs at 15:25 

Rating - **** - Holy hell was that finish ever awful, but the match before it was far better than it had any right to be. The Kingdom are easy targets to be bashed by fans. Taven has never been a favourite of the critics, Marseglia is not good and TK is something of an unknown quantity. On the opposite side of the ring, we had a team who have changed line-up twice and featured two guys from NJPW so were never going to win. I was, therefore, completely shocked that they came up with a structure which I really liked, a match which felt legitimately dramatic and exciting, and a format which really served to put the new Kingdom over (albeit before the bogus ending). Kushida, White and Lio usually dominated whenever they were in a one-on-one situation with an opponent. On multiple occasions members of The Kingdom had to mount a rescue mission to come to the aid of a fallen partner in trouble. It emphasised that Taven and crew were better together than individually - hence whenever they managed to split an opponent off and work as a unit they were on top. It had an explosive opening sequence, compelling and interesting exchanges made up the bulk of the contest then got REALLY exciting at the end. I found a lot to like about this match; so much so that even a sh*tty finish (that just wasn't necessary) couldn't sour it. 

Originally this was scheduled to include Bobby Fish as well, but he had to leave due to a family emergency. The Villain still has an unenviable task ahead of him if he is to retain his newly won TV Title tonight however. Former champion Ospreay was the man who defeated Fish in Liverpool, before heading to London where he and Scurll put on a classic in front of a baying, ravenous British crowd. Dragon Lee earned his place in the mix with victory in a Proving Ground match over Fish last time he was booked for television. 

He's a Villain...so obviously Scurll starts by throwing punts at both opponents. The three-way near-miss sequence that gets the match started is pretty mind-blowing, albeit the kind of wrestling that Jim Cornette and his followers despise. Marty starts mugging off the entire Hammerstein, before leaving the ring allowing Will and Dragon to trade pleasantries. TOPE ATOMICO by Lee to wipe out both opponents! Scurll is the man Dragon opts to bring back inside, taking the fight to him with knees and kicks until Ospreay makes his return and levels him with a satellite DDT/Red Star Press combo. Chickenwing COUNTERED with a Pele Kick! Just Kidding into the dangerous powerslam by Marty - and he drops Ospreay on his taped up neck again moments later with a lariat. DOUBLE TEAM KICK FLURRY by the British guys! Their unlikely alliance lasts about eleven seconds before turning on each other, with Will hitting the Cheeky Nando's Kick. GHETTO STOMP by Lee! DESNUCADORA gets 2! INSIDE OUT RANA TO THE FLOOR BY DRAGON...BUT OSPREAY FLIPS AND LANDS ON HIS FEET! Springboard elbow levels Scurll, followed by a ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR TO THE FLOOR! Scurll rakes Ospreay's eyes (he's a Villain)...only for Ospreay to counter the falcon arrow into a Stunner. Springboard Phoenix Splash! OSCUTTER COUNTERED INTO THE CHICKENWING! DRAGON LEE SAVES with a crazy flying double stomp. Scurll rakes both their eyes now. HANDSPRING DOUBLE PELE by Will. CORKSCREW SSP GETS KNEES! Lee gets 2 with a bridging German...but then Marty counters the Dragon Driver into the sickening finger snap spot. OSCUTTER NAILED! Scurll dumps Will! CHICKENWING! DRAGON TAPS! Scurll completes a spectacular first title defence at 10:46

Rating - **** - Of course I preferred watching Marty and Will go to war in a 20+ minute classic in London. That was an amazing match and I'd loved to have gotten a rematch and maybe we will somewhere down the line. But for tonight, on this show, this was the match the fans wanted to see - and the perfect way to introduce ROH's newest signees to the American market (for anyone who hadn't seen them). They were hitting their sh*t clean, popping the crowd with their death-defying and ultra-athletic moveset and ultimately left the match to a standing ovation. The biggest surprise in this one, for me at least, was Scurll's performance. I've championed him for a long time so of course I'm a fan of his work, but I was still impressed by how effortlessly he kept up with Will and Dragon as they flew, flipped and dived all over ringside.

Some would argue that this is the most anticipated match on the card (even above Cody's debut and Cole/O'Reilly). Jay Briscoe said it best in the pre-match hype video - the Young Bucks 'don't look right with the ROH Tag Titles whilst the Briscoes are in this company'. Ring Of Honor has been the Briscoes' stomping ground since the Era Of Honor began. They have come to define tag team wrestling in this promotion, even ahead of some legendary teams like the American Wolves, reDRagon or the Kings Of Wrestling. The Young Bucks, darlings of the West Coast, independent wrestling powerhouses and global stars and defending champions are probably the hottest act outside of the WWE at this point...but at the moment it still feels like they are living in the Briscoes' world when they come to ROH. They need a win over Jay and Mark to legitimise their legacy as champions. They know it too - and have deliberately poked the metaphorical bear on multiple occasions. Video footage shows them attacking the Briscoes after Bullet Club stable-mates the Guerrillas Of Destiny beat them for the IWGP Tag Titles. In London we saw them go to war with Jay and Mark...and lose. They will leave New York with wallets full of merch cash and sore fingers from 'Too Sweet'-ing thousands of fans. But will they be leaving with the belts they fought so hard through Ladder War to get?

Mark and Jay look completely unimpressed by the popularity of the Bucks, leading to Mark looking more focused than ever during a hot opening salvo with Nick. The two teams take turns demonstrating their experience as a team by joining forces for illegal double teams...then the Briscoes counter a couple of Superkicks...all building to a stand-off with the four men going nose-to-nose. Jay tries to throw a mafia kick at Nick, who moonsaults off the apron into Mark instead! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA by Nick! Smartly Jay and Mark bring it back inside the ring and start splitting the Jackson brothers up to break their momentum. It doesn't work...and Matt pops Nick up into a leapfrog rana to clear the ring once again. DOUBLE APRON BOMBS! Rise Of The Terminator blocked with emphatic double lariats by Jay and Mark, much to the dismay of vast swathes of the Hammerstein! ELBOW SUICIDA into the front row by Jay! Cactus Elbow from Mark to Matt! That means that at last the challengers do have one of the Bucks isolated, and they start picking Matt apart whilst Nick recovers from that elbow suicida spot. Matt fights out with the springboard corkscrew cutter, but his suspect back has taken heavy punishment before he makes a hot tag to Nick. He hits the diving tornado DDT from the apron to the floor, wiping out Jay in the aisle. The former World Champion charges back into the ring, joining his brother for double superkicks on the Bucks. Splash Mountain Neckbreaker COUNTERED WITH A SUPERKICK! DOUBLE SUPERKICK FLURRY! JAY NO SELLS! He hits a double clothesline...then collapses to the ground. Matt counters the Day One Neckbreaker into the elevated Swanton Bomb spot with his brother for 2. DOOMSDAY SUPERKICK ON THE FLOOR wipes out Mark! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK gets 2! There are like three duelling chants right now - all for the Young Bucks! Urinage on the floor from Mark to Nick! The Bucks try to set up the Meltzer Driver...but just like London it is COUNTERED WITH THE SPRINGBOARD ACE CRUSHER! JAY DRILLER ON MATT! FROGGY BOW! MATT KICKS OUT! The place goes nuts for that, which tells you how often the Briscoes win matches with those moves! BLOCKBUSTER OFF THE APRON by Mark! SPRINGBOARD DOOMSDAY DEVICE! STILL MATT KICKS OUT! The Briscoes hardly ever use the springboard version of that move anymore...and still Matt got a shoulder up. The irate Briscoe brothers stand in the middle of the ring angrily stomping on Matt's head until Nick makes a vital save. MELTZER DRIVER! JAY BREAKS THE PIN! DOUBLE SUPERKICKS! JAY AND MARK SPIT IN THEIR FACES! MACHINE GUN SUPERKICK FLURRY! HOLY SH*T! IT'S OVER! The Bucks retain in 15:36

Rating - **** - This was everything you'd hoped it would be, which given the high expectations this match had to deal with, is a massive compliment. My favourite thing about the two Bucks/Briscoes matches from London and Final Battle are that it has felt like the 'old' Briscoe Brothers. By that I mean the circa 2006-2008 crazy tags every time out Briscoes after they returned from hiatus, before they started getting dragged down by injuries. The Bucks are the best in the world at this type of all action, highspot-orientated match...but the Briscoes are damn good at it too when they need to. Breaking out moves like the Springboard Doomsday Device, that they NEVER use now, was testament to how far they were willing to go to beat the Bucks. Which in itself was a brilliant story. Ten years ago the Briscoes were tearing it up in matches like this - but with a decade of wear and tear on their bodies there were questions about whether they could cope with Matt and Nick Jackson...and on this night they couldn't. They unleashed all their finishers, they brought out special occasion moves, they tried brawling on the floor and they tried splitting the Bucks up...but at every turn Matt and Nick were able to return it to a high paced, combo move-fest which Jay and Mark just couldn't live with. The climactic sequence with the fallen Briscoes on their knees, spent and having given everything they had, stoically refusing to go down even when the Bucks were kicking the sh*t out of them, was an amazing visual. I didn't go higher on the rating because I felt like they could have done more with this. They recycled a number of spots from the London match (rather than built upon them or referenced them)...and whilst they still looked cool the impact was lessened. Still, this was a hell of war in front of an electric crowd; and most certainly MOTN so far with only the main event to go.

The lights go out after the match ends...BROKEN MATT HARDY IS ON THE SCREEN! He and Brother Nero are on a mission to become the best team in all of 'time and space', meaning they must come to the 'Honorable Ring' to make the 'Rednecks' and the 'spot monkeys' obsolete! The Bucks stand in the middle of the ring with their mouths wide open...put on notice that the Broken Hardyz are on their way to ROH!

The match was made No DQ at the last minute, in reaction to Adam Cole trying to get himself intentionally disqualified to survive Jay Lethal's challenge during the Reach For The Sky Tour. This is the culmination of a rivalry which has spanned the entire ROH careers of these two men. They weren't friends, and didn't go way back...but when they arrived in ROH they were put in a team, and they ran with it to get a spot. The team drifted apart, first when O'Reilly started to work with his mentor Davey Richards in Team Ambition, before Cole finally drew a line under the Future Shock part of his career. Their 'Hybrid Fighting Rules' Match at Best In The World 2012 is the stuff of legend - a bloody war which Cole won. Last summer it appeared that Kyle O'Reilly was drawing close to becoming ROH Champion - something that ate Cole up inside as he felt that he was the true, deserving top dog. He devised an elaborate (i.e. it made NO  sense) plan - seemingly abandoning The Kingdom to reform Future Shock...only to stab Kyle in the back all over again at All Star Extravaganza 7 when he challenged Lethal for the World Title. At Final Battle 2015 he cheated to beat Kyle again, and it wouldn't be until Supercard Of Honor 10 in Dallas, Texas that O'Reilly would get a measure of revenge. In a violent Anything Goes Match, Kyle finally got what seemed like a cathartic victory over Cole...but once again Adam had another scheme ready to enact. He joined up with Bullet Club, ensuring he was flanked by powerful allies at every turn. When Kyle got his World Title rematch on ROH television, Cole was there to ensure that once again his promise that O'Reilly would never be World Champ was kept - as he and the Bucks injured Kyle before the match took place. At Death Before Dishonor 14 Cole joined an elite group of individuals when he became only the third ever two-time ROH Champion, dethroning Jay Lethal in a classic...but O'Reilly returned from injury to spoil the celebrations - putting these two on a Final Battle collision course. Adam Cole has survived gruelling wars with Silas Young in Florida and Jay Lethal in the UK. How much did those epic title defences take out of him? Can he once again stop O'Reilly from living his dream of becoming ROH Champion?

They start throwing strikes - which obviously favours O'Reilly and leads to him almost locking in Arm-ageddon inside the opening minutes. He settles for a hanging armbar in the ropes, which is a legitimate means of forcing victory in a no rules environment. On the floor he shunts Cole shoulder-first into the railing...and the champion has no choice but to take evasive action. When he does try to strike back Kyle is coiled and ready to deliver a belly to belly suplex on the floor. Kyle makes one error and tries to leave the ground...only to be shoved violently from the top rope to the floor. He crashes down on the shoulder that Cole injured earlier in 2016. Cole starts trying to mouth off, which is a mistake on his part and leads to him almost getting knocked out with Axe & Smash. O'Reilly tries to dive off the apron at Cole...who HAMMERS him in the face with the World Title belt! It leaves Kyle flat out on the floor with blood starting to pour down his face. HEAD DROP GERMAN SUPLEX! O'Reilly tries to no sell...but instead falls through the ropes flat on his head on the floor as well. He can't even crawl away before the champ is on top of him again bashing his bloody head with a trash can, followed by a garbage can superkick. The challenger retreats to the ring and stands obstinately as Cole repeatedly swings a chair into his spine. BACK SUPLEX THROUGH AN OPEN CHAIR! O'Reilly strikes back violently...but Cole starts punching at his bloody forehead to stop him applying submissions. RUNNING ARM-AGEDDON! Cole dives to the floor to escape. O'Reilly sets him up in a chair then MISSILE DROPKICKS A TRASH CAN INTO HIS FACE! The challenger takes the champ up to the top for a BACK SUPERPLEX THROUGH A TABLE! Cole kicks out and low blows Kyle...so O'Reilly drops to his knees and nut-shots him right back! Guillotine Choke by O'Reilly! COLE DIVES THEM BOTH THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPERS TABLE! It breaks the choke, but sends him head-first through another table and when he climbs out of the wreckage his face too is a bloody mess. Last Shot gets 2! Cole goes for broke and dumps an entire bag of thumb tacks on the canvas. O'Reilly counters an attempted Florida Key into the tacks into a triangle choke. COLE TOSSES HIM INTO THE TACKS TO BREAK IT! NO SOLD! BRAINBUSTER INTO THE TACKS BY KYLE! FOR 2! ARM-AGEDDON IN THE TACKS! COLE TAPS! O'REILLY HAS DONE IT! 18:48 is your time.

Rating - **** - This was an absolute war, with both guys putting their bodies on the line in the most brutal manner. There was bloodshed, one absolutely obscene table bump, repeated tack bumps (for two guys wrestling in trunks)...in short these two left everything they had out there to deliver something special. And they succeeded - it was an enthralling watch. I don't think it was their best match together, and I don't think their style lends itself well to the volume of hardcore stuff they worked in here. They got the balance between great wrestling and the more extreme content better at Supercard Of Honor, albeit with almost double the amount of ring-time to play with. The one constant I did like with this was that, almost exclusively, it was Cole introducing the weaponry. By having the champ be the one constantly going to weapons it only served to put over what a dangerous machine O'Reilly truly is. These two have worked each other a lot across their ROH careers. I don't think it topped the Hybrid Rules Match, or their Supercard Of Honor match from earlier this year. It is probably better than anything else they've done though, and a hell of a PPV main event.

Tape Rating - **** - After the disappointing Global Wars 2016 show, ROH's PPV offerings in 2016 have all been pretty good. As a complete top-to-bottom experience you could certainly argue this was the best of the lot - even the best PPV since Sinclair started running them in 2014. All four title matches delivered completely different, but similarly enjoyable bouts. Broken Matt appearing on the Carytron was a massive 'holy sh*t' moment. Future stars like Matt Taven, Silas Young and Dalton Castle were given moments to shine. Cody Rhodes debuted to kick-start a period of time that would forever change the face of Ring Of Honor. And we ended it all with a new World Champion (for now anyway). Not that many ROH fans would consider skipping Final Battle anyway...but this was definitely must-see.

3) Matt Taven/Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan vs Kushida/Jay White/Lio Rush (****)

2) Young Bucks vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (****)

1) Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly (****)