McXal's Reviews

Perhaps the most infamous year in Ring Of Honor history reaches its climax this evening with their traditional year-ending 'super-show'. In four hours - across eleven matches - we'll see rivalries ignite and championships decided. Rush defends the World Title against PCO in an unprecedented main event featuring two men who weren't working for ROH at last year's Final Battle. The Tag Titles are on the line too; 11-time champions the Briscoes putting up the belts against arch-rivals Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham. There's also Mark Haskins looking to end his feud with Bully Ray in a Street Fight, Shane Taylor defending the TV Title against Dragon Lee, Maria Manic's in-ring debut against The Allure's Angelina Love and the first battle between former Kingdom stable-mates Matt Taven and Vincent Marseglia. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Colt Cabana are in Baltimore, MD.

The second half of 2019 has seen the rise of these two dysfunctional but strangely effective tag teams, and tonight they are set to square off against one another. Young and Woods (on the cusp of dubbing their tag team '2 Guys 1 Tag') came together after Silas recognised the potential in 'The Goods' but felt he needed a 'Last Real Man' mentorship - and it has proven effective. They are on a winning streak as a team and Woods is enjoying by far the best string of performances he's had in an ROH ring. The Castle and Hendry duo were formed slightly differently; initially bickering about who the 'most entertaining man in ROH' was, they've realised they can be doubly entertaining and doubly effective when working together. On both sides tensions between partners remain bubbling under the surface, ready to boil over at any time.

Dalton has a new jumpsuit and new Boys, and even waves his hands for Joe's entrance too! Woods and Silas have matching gear so it's clear both teams are making a real effort. Young starts with Hendry, trying an assortment of tactics to negate Joe's mix of power and technical wrestling; such as holding him to the ground with headlocks, striking at him in the corner or cheap-shotting when he should be breaking. Dalton and Josh in next, both going straight to the mat to grapple. Woods decides he wants to try posing with Dalton too...which Young puts an immediate stop-to by forcibly tagging him out. Joe calls for Dalton to hit something in the corner, but then changes his mind on which corner they want to perform the move on causing Castle to get attacked from behind by Young. Fed up of the games, Silas starts attacking Dalton's back and core. Castle fights back with a suplex yet drops to his knees afterwards and has a hell of a job dragging his ailing body into a tag to the Prestigious One. DOUBLE FREAK OF NATURE on 2G1T! But that hurts his back so he needs to tag Castle back even though Dalton is still struggling with his own back injury. Young capitalises on that with the Anarchist Suplex. Killer Combo scores - then Joe saves his partner with a Codebreaker. Josh powerbombs Hendry on top of Castle before dropping him with an exploder suplex. Catapult knee strike ('These Knees') nailed, and Woods pins Castle for the win at 09:14

Rating - ** - A solid start to the live action for the evening. It wasn't of the highest quality, nor was it the most exciting or memorable bout you'll ever see. It was, however, competently wrestled - with a real focus on allowing the four unique personalities to shine through. The miscommunication spots between Castle and Hendry were extremely well done.

Brian Zane is backstage trying to get The Allure's thoughts on Angelina's showdown with Maria Manic tonight. Angelina says she's been facing 'bigger, stronger, scarier' women her whole career so isn't sweating Maria tonight.

Alex Shelley's music hits, and he makes an appearance on the stage. He points out that Colt Cabana is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world but doesn't get to wrestle in ROH all that often. He challenges Cabana to a match tonight...and Colt accepts. He leaves the commentary booth (for the final time) to prepare.

Part of me is quite annoyed that this isn't on the main show; it has genuine build behind it and is arguably almost a decade in the making. These two won a Ladder War against the Briscoes, and held the Tag Championship together as All Night Express. But that reign was short lived as Kenny walked out on ROH to sign with TNA. They would reform ANX years later but were not able to reach the same heights as before, started the ultimately unsuccessful 'Rebellion' stable...and were then forced to separate as per the stipulations of their climactic battle in a rivalry with Search & Destroy. 2019 has been a strong year for Kenny King - winning the Honor Rumble, beating Jay Lethal in a Best Of 3 Series and spending most of the year in the World Title picture. Whilst Titus has barely been booked, struggling to get on the card and spent more time commentating in his speedos than he has wrestling high profile matches. Kenny called Rhett out for it in Philadelphia a couple of months ago, getting incredibly personal with his insults. Titus has stewed on those words for a long time and now finally gets the chance to put Kenny in his place. They are here to find out who truly is the 'Shawn Michaels' (and who is the 'Marty Jannetty') of the All Night Express.

Kenny comes out to ANX's old theme music, and even does their trademark pose with Amy Rose in an attempt to get in Rhett's head. He continues to taunt and trash talk, but struggles to lay a hand on Titus early on as they mirror each other's counters and strike attempts. He does, however, shake off Rhett's attempts to keep him grounded then guillotines him over the top rope. But Kenny gets distracted by taunting Rhett's wife at ringside...until Titus flies at him with a completely out of control somersault plancha. Belly to belly suplex on the floor nailed, giving Titus time to embrace his infant son. APRON SPINEBUSTER by Kenny! Back in the ring Rhett tries to deliver the Yakuza Kick on his former partner, but it's countered with a cradle suplex into the turnbuckles. Superplex blocked with a flying crossbody block for 2. Lethal King-jection blocked with the Dropkick! ROYAL FLUSH by Titus gets 2! Amy Rose trips Rhett though, and when Todd Sinclair reprimands her King simply punts Rhett in the balls...then levels him with the Royal Flush. King wins at 11:10

Rating - ** - As with the first match it was solid and competently wrestled, if lacking in some sizzle and excitement. A match between former partners, ten years in the making, deserves a better platform than ten minutes on a pre-show in my opinion...and it certainly warrants a more imaginative finish than we got here. 

Brian Zane interviews The Bouncers, who are in the crowd drinking. They plan to win championships in 2020, and can't agree on who they predict to win the Rush/PCO match.

ROH officials were reportedly so impressed by Maff's performances in Pittsburgh and Columbus that they offered him a contract. His first business now we'll be seeing more of him is to get back in the ring with Jeff Cobb - a man with whom he shared some violent exchanges in the six-man main event of The Experience 2019. It is a tough spot for Cobb, who is competing on the pre-show for the second PPV running. He failed to win the World Title from Rush in the UK and his contract reportedly expires at the end of the year so his future is very much up in the air right now...

Maff overpowers Cobb, decking him with tackles and driving him to the floor for a big man tope suicida. SUPLEX/STANDING MOONSAULT COMBO by Cobb! POUNCE by Maff, literally hurling Jeff several feet into the air. Cobb straddles the second rope and gives Maff a f*cking DEAD-LIFT SUPERPLEX! Maff is huge! Tour Of The Islands blocked...so they just start headbutting each other like rams. LARIATOOOOO by Cobb, with such force that he falls through the ropes to the floor! Both man needs a minute to catch their breath, but they then march stoically back into the ring to start beating the sh*t out of each other again. PUMPING German suplex by Cobb...and he absolutely hammers Maff into the corner with a never-ending volley of chops and forearms. SPEAR out of the corner by the former Tag Champion! Cobb fights the Burning Hammer and hits a TURNBUCKLE BELLY TO BELLY! Dan crawls out of the corner and looks for one last big shot...Burning Hammer COUNTERED TO TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! Tour Of The Islands for a second time wins it for Cobb in a time of 08:50

Rating - *** - Well that was fun. Absolutely perfect for a pre-show; ten minutes of two big dudes throwing each other around, stiffing each other and diving about like maniacs. None of Maff's matches since he has returned win any prizes for subtlety, but he remains an imposing and intimidating physical presence which sets him apart from a great deal of the current roster.

This is an extension of the Lifeblood/Villains feud. Flamita makes his US debut for ROH and teams with Bandido (wrestling in ROH for the first time since Death Before Dishonor) in this promotion for the first time too. He teamed with Tracy Williams against Marty and Flip on the Honor United 2019 Tour and was unsuccessful, but now pairs up with a more familiar partner. Can MexaBlood mark their maiden Ring Of Honor voyage with a huge victory? Brody King guests on commentary for this one.

Gordon and Flamita start, both in scintillating form - busting out flips, repeated nip-ups and finding themselves unable to land a significant blow. Bandido tries desperately to use his speed on Marty, but finds The Villain's technical skill a difficult challenge to overcome and we see another stalemate. Flamita gets a lift on Bandido's shoulders into a diving splash on Gordon for 2. Apron Superkick by Scurll as the Villains try to isolate Flamita...but he proves too illusive and is soon clocking them with multiple kick variants. Tornillo by Bandido, who then launches Flam into a springboard splash on Marty. Dream Sequence on Flip, followed by a standing moonsault/Red Star Press combo! Bandido CATCHES Flamita as he slips lining up a dive, salvaging the spot so Flam can hit a SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! OCEAN CYCLONE FLIP SPLASH on Gordon gets 2. Tornado DDT into the Superkick by the Villains to even things up. Superkick flurry drops Flamita, but in doing so they take their eyes off Bandido who hits the RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! 21-Plex countered with a Heavyweight Lariat by Scurll. FLAM FLY on Flip! All four men go down. Kinder Surprise wipes out Bandido, as Scurll hits the Cheeky Nando's on Flamita. They give him the powerbomb/Shiranui combo as well. Bandido and Scurll are legal, and The Villain nails the half belson suplex. Bandido blocks another combo in the corner and picks Flip up for the REVOLUTION FLY! CHICKENWING BY SCURLL! SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASH BY FLAMITA to break it. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! X-KNEE! Scurll clings to Flip in the ropes, so MexaBlood take a run up for a 619/DOUBLE 21-PLEX COMBO! Bandido pins Scurll at 13:51

Rating - **** - A blockbuster opening match that delivers everything you'd want to see out of this combination of wrestlers. Flamita and Bandido do whacky lucha, Marty and Flip antagonise constantly whilst looking to find ways to counteract the non-stop speed and trickery from the luchadors. It built to a spectacular finishing sequence, and a shock victory for MexaBlood, which had many packing Marty's bags and sending him off to lead the Dark Order in AEW...

We get a really effective video package to promote this match. One of the points it touches on is something I've been covering all year in my reviews; that being the gradual change in Marseglia's appearance. Piece by piece he has grown out his hair, changed his look and cast aside the Taven-centric purple branding of The Kingdom. By the time he was revealed as Taven's mystery stalker at The Experience he was almost unrecognisable from the man that Taven had brought into ROH in 2016 (after Vinny had spent years unsuccessfully trying to get his foot in the door). Matt is still rebuilding his career after his World Title loss and is dogged by nagging injuries too - but now comes for revenge as Vincent looks to pick the bones and bury The Kingdom for good.

Taven has a new tron video and gets a big pyro entrance, but they may as well not have bothered as he essentially sprints to the ring and straight into a fight with his former friend. Vincent has to scrap to stay alive, and soon finds himself back dropped into the front row. AIR TAVEN INTO THE CROWD! The former champ tries to break Marseglia's back, hammering on it with repeated strikes then the Purple Thunder Driver for 2. Russian legsweep/rolling neckbreaker combo next; Vincent is hanging on for dear life at this stage. He manages to block The Climax, and inflicts another leg injury on Matt when he drops him onto the apron. BRAINBUSTER ON THE EXPOSED CONCRETE FLOOR! Now Taven is semi-conscious Marseglia starts stomping on his bad knee and ankle, before tying it in the ropes to inflict still more damage. Taven angrily reacts with kicks and a clothesline...but collapses after delivering every strike through pain. Just The Tip knocks Vincent to the floor, in prime position for another Air Taven - which of course decimates his knee and ankle again. AURORA BOREALIS TO THE BACK, ON THE APRON! Marseglia survives and hits Redrum for 2. Acid Drop blocked, but so is the Side Effect...and Matt hits Just The Tip. HANGING CLIMAX! Vincent's foot is in the ropes though. CLIMAX AGAIN! GETS 2! Taven snaps and hunts around under the ring for Vincent's axe. ACID DROP! Marseglia wins! It's over at 13:32

Rating - **** - An enormously generous rating, but this has to be one of the biggest surprise packages/hidden gems to come all year. These two threw everything they had into this, they left it all in the ring to start their feud with a bang, and it really delivered. Credit to Taven, who has taken a lot of criticism this year but was reportedly working through some serious injuries here to start this program with Vincent and get him over before finally taking some time off. This was a kick-ass brawl; fast-paced, full of action, going all around ringside and producing some incredible moments of excitement and violence. The finish was awesome too, because it directly relates to something Vinny said whilst feuding with The Bouncers. He is 'The Horror King' and he loves violence; he was in his element when he reduced the fun-loving, beer-swilling Bouncers to blood-soaked behemoths in their Bar Room Brawl. Tonight he reduced former World Champion Matt Taven to trying to use an axe in the middle of a match. There's much more to come from these guys of course, but what a hot start...

Taven makes a move on Marseglia, but is attacked by Tyler Bateman, who drops him with This Is A Kill. Marseglia pulls out a 2x4 and places it over Taven's bad ankle. CHAIR SHOT TO THE ANKLE!

We know the story here, if only because it's broadly similar to the exact same feud Bubba had with Flip last year. Bully has had problems with Lifeblood all year; taking Tenille Dashwood out of ROH and costing Mark Haskins the World Title during the War Of The Worlds Tour. Lifeblood - and in particular Haskins - refused to be bullied, culminating in ugly scenes at Death Before Dishonor when Bubba put Mark through a table then taunted his wife Vicky (then got her ejected from the building by security). The ECW veteran has taunted, goaded and insulted Haskins for a long-time but never really given him a fair fight...even going so far as to pay his bitter enemy from last year (Flip) to help him assault Haskins. Tonight Mark gets his fair fight, and he has brought his wife, Vicky, with him.

Bully jumps Haskins with a barbed wire board (from behind) during his entrance! BARBED WIRE BOARD TO VICKY HASKINS! Medics and security try to check on her, so he starts attacking them too. The bell rings with Haskins down and out, blood oozing from several barbed wire lacerations on his arms, whilst his wife is carried out. Bully hits some emphatic German suplexes...then brings a segment of guardrail into the ring and suplexes him on that too. He tries another, but has to settle for drilling him with the Bubba Bomb when Mark refuses to be suplexed. Next Bully pulls out a cheese grater, then a kendo stick and a chair as well. He starts beating on Haskins with the stick, whilst absolutely burying him on the microphone. Except Haskins grabs the mic off him and calls him a pussy! He kicks the steel chair into Ray's face before running to the outside and dragging a ladder back in. Haskins wraps a chair around Bully's arm...then climbs the ladder. BULLY SHOVES HIM OFF INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Now with time to play with, Bully sets a table up in the ring and balances the barbed wire board on top of it. AWESOMEBOMB THROUGH THE BARBED WIRE! And when the table doesn't break Bully elbows him clean through it for good measure too. Bubba then hammers the referee to the ground when he fails to count three before Haskins kicks out...but Vicky Haskins is back! She cheese graters vaguely in the region of his genitals! DOUBLE PRESS SLAM through the table by the Haskins! Stomp Boy nailed...and Haskins wins at 16:30

Rating - *** - It feels like we're in this situation with Bully Ray every year at Final Battle. Once a year he is given free reign to Member Berries a crowd with an ECW-esque hardcore brawl, and he puts someone over. Just like he and Dreamer against the Briscoes in 2017 and just like his match with Flip in 2018...this was decent. It took you on a journey, it was violent and shocking at points, and the right man won. But it is the law of diminishing returns by this point. We've seen him wrestle this exact match before. We watched him bully Cheeseburger, we watched him bully Flip...so this angle with Haskins has covered absolutely no new ground. It's great that Haskins won - the guy deserves it and he bumped his ass off here. But Flip's career trajectory in 2019 tells you that 'getting the rub' from Bully doesn't mean a great deal, and if you compare what these guys were able to achieve with all the bells, whistles, smoke and mirrors, versus how exciting and dynamic Taven/Vincent was, you'll see that this wasn't the epic career-making bout Ring Of Honor will promote it as. As I said with Bubba after the Briscoes at Final Battle 2017, and as I said after Flip at Final Battle 2018 - this should be the end of his ROH run. He isn't doing anything new, he is actively driving away certain portions of the fanbase and this annual 'pay-off' just isn't worth the considerable expense I'm sure it takes to book him. If only Sinclair had spent the money they've given to Bully over the last three years on people who could actually positively contribute to the product.

As we saw, Shelley came out on the pre-show and challenged Cabana to a match since he knows Colt wants to wrestle and they've never had a singles match in their long careers. We are promised an exhibition in high quality technical wrestling, and Alex comes into this with some momentum having beaten Jon Gresham at Glory By Honor 17.

The match begins as you'd expect; lots of excellent technical wrestling punctuated by Cabana's comedy and Shelley's mindgames. They jostle for position on the ground and with Cabana continually getting the upper hand it seems that Shelley may start to become frustrated. He declines to lock up again and tries to quicken the pace...but is hoodwinked back into a knucklelock by another Cabana trick. Billy Goat's Curse blocked, and the Superman Pin gets 2. Shelley traps Colt in his own pinning combination and snags the win at 06:32

Rating - * - The technical quality of the wrestling here was indisputable, but it served no purpose at all. The ten minutes that this match (including entrances and exits) will occupy on the PPV could have been better used elsewhere (like getting Rhett/Kenny or Cobb/Maff on the main show) and rather than cleanse the pallet after the back to back brawls it felt like it killed the crowd off altogether. This is Cabana's final night in ROH so it's nice he got to wrestle rather than get stuck behind an announce desk...but I'm really not sure what the purpose of this was. They couldn't achieve anything in six minutes regardless, but it felt like they actively made the show worse with the match they produced.

It seems slightly strange that ROH have been paying Maria Manic for months just to have her do little more than show up and attack people. She finally makes her in-ring debut tonight, in a grudge match with The Allure's Angelina Love whom she has been stalking for many weeks. Love has mostly managed to stay out of her clutches - but her bold claim that The Allure now run the Women Of Honor division was too much for Maria. She demanded this Final Battle showdown...now all eyes turn to Angelina and what tricks she has up her sleeve to survive the Maneater.

Manic marches to the ring and launches straight into throwing the former WOH Champion around. She then turns her attention to Mandy, press slamming her off the top rope too. The Allure are reeling, which Maria celebrates with a lap around the ring...then a Ligerbomb on Angelina. Mandy tries to use hairspray but Manic BOOTS it out of her hand, then catches Love looking for a crossbody and absolutely LAUNCHES her into a fallaway slam. Body slam on the floor for Leon, and not content with that Manic delivers an effortless press slam into the timekeeping table for the hapless Angelina. She curls up motionless in the foetal position, and is carted into the ring for Maria's Torture Rack. It's all over, and a comprehensive victory for Manic at 06:23

Rating - N/A - It was a strange choice to have Maria beat the sh*t out of The Allure for quite as long as she did. But as the Women Of Honor division was a total train wreck in 2019, there was something quite cathartic about watching Maria burn the instigators of the division's decline to the ground here. And the crowd LOVED it: Maria was as over as anyone on the show so far. If the plan was to draw a line under The Allure and have Maria as the dominant focal point of a new Women Of Honor in 2020, along with a host of new talent, then I am ok with this. Clearly the Coronavirus pandemic ended whatever the long-term plan would have been.

Although on-screen build to this has been minimal, the personalities involved makes this feel like the biggest TV Title Match to take place for some time. Lee is a world class wrestler; the brother of Rush who has now confirmed he will be working ROH shows on a regular basis (which is a major 'get' for the struggling ROH promotion). He was involved in a tense confrontation with Taylor in the aftermath of a four-way TV Title bout at Death Before Dishonor - where Lee wasn't pinned - and has made a beeline for the belt Shane holds as he and Rush look to tie up all the singles championships. Taylor is in the midst of a 'dominant' reign as TV Champion. Quitting his ROH contract to form Shane Taylor Promotions was an interesting move and we've seen a couple of lively defences against the likes of Bandido and Joe Hendry...but this is certainly his biggest test. Can he bludgeon a lightning fast, top-quality performer like Dragon Lee as he has been doing to assorted local indy talents? 

Dragon charges at the bell, but Taylor splatters him into the canvas before he can hit the Dragon's Fire. Shane looks to avoid a big dive, so Lee brilliantly flips off the apron to land on his feet. APRON CHOKESLAM from Taylor! Lee's eyes are rolling back in his head after Shane gives him a running knee strike against the guardrails too. It is clear than the champion is looking to beat the considerably smaller challenger into the ground, keeping the pace slow and delivering some sadistic strikes. Lee tries to quicken the pace, tripping Shane to the outside and NAILING a tope suicida up the aisle. He teases hitting the same move a second time, and as Shane looks set to block that Dragon flies for a somersault plancha instead. Dragon's Fire gets 2...but he makes a bad error in trying to hit the Desnucadora and gets blasted with more big elbows by Taylor. Incinerator flurry knocks Shane off his feet! TOP ROPE DOUBLE STOMP TO THE APRON! He hits the same move back into the ring as well, yet Taylor still emphatically kicks out. Dragon screams at Taylor to hit him harder...so Taylor FLOORS HIM WITH A HEADBUTT! A lariat flips him through the air as well, setting up the Package Piledriver for 2. GERMAN SUPLEX by Lee! Taylor shakes that off and drops the challenge right on his shoulder with an even bigger German. He wants to finish it with the second rope splash, but Lee intercepts on the ropes to deliver the Ghetto Stomp! Desnucadora COUNTERED TO GREETINGS FROM 216! LEE KICKS OUT! Taylor is so angry that he tries to punch Lee with a chain...only for the challenger to duck and hit a DESTROYER! Ron Hunt of Shane Taylor Promotions hops onto the apron to distract the referee, but doesn't spot Dragon wrapping the chain around his own leg to hit a CHAIN-WRAPPED INCINERATOR! ONE-COUNT ONLY! DESNUCADORA! Shane kicks out again! BARE KNEE INCINERATOR! Lee wins the title at 14:34

Rating - **** - A high quality speed vs power match, contested at an remarkable pace. Lee is an incredible wrestler, and as someone who has championed Shane Taylor for a long time it was fantastic to see him delivering a match of this quality with someone of Lee's calibre. Clearly I'd have preferred that they went to a clean finish, and I would also have preferred if this was the culmination of a Shane Taylor TV title reign where he'd been able to deliver more matches at this level (or the level of his bouts with Joe Hendry and Jeff Cobb earlier in the year) - as opposed to having his numbers bumped up by squash matches against terrible local indy guys - but regardless this is really one worth watching. Taylor's VICIOUS striking, combined with Dragon's spectacular and explosive offence as he accelerated the pace of the match made for compelling viewing. There was a rumour going round at this point that Taylor was leaving ROH after this weekend, which obviously didn't happen but this would have been a hell of a way to go out.

This one is perhaps the most hotly anticipated match on the show and marks the culmination of a year of frustration and anger for the challengers. Gresham spent the first half being antagonised and robbed of victories by the cheating tactics of Silas Young, so when he came back from Japan he decided to renounce his desire to restore purity and honour to the company and instead do whatever he wanted to win matches and get ahead (since that is what everyone else does). Lethal initially tried to get him to change his ways, but this is a Lethal who endured losing the World Title in Madison Square Garden, being hoodwinked by Kenny King in a Best Of 3 Series, then failed to win the belt back from Taven (in a match he felt was unfairly changed to a triple threat) at Manhattan Mayhem. Lethal and Gresh mended their relationship with their MOTYC at Death Before Dishonor...and on the Honor United Tour they declared war on the Briscoes when Lethal attacked his old rival Jay Briscoe with a chair. He publically announced he agreed with Gresham and was going to do whatever he wanted too. They are immediately rewarded for their lawlessness with a Tag Title opportunity of course; with the Briscoes looking for revenge and promising to make this a 'fight'. Lethal broke his arm on the final night of the Honor United Tour and will not be competing at 100% this evening...

Gresham and Mark begin, both with plenty to say and both looking to steer their match in their preferred direction (Mark looking to brawl, Gresh looking to get on the canvas). Lethal and Jay Briscoe replace them with knowing smiles on their faces as they recall their previous battles...before Lethal plays some games with Jay by tagging back out. He does take a couple of cheap-shots at Jay when Gresham pins him in the corner...but the Briscoes have seen this before and they quickly haul The Octopus into their corner to 2-on-1 him. But Gresham is an elite wrestler; he illusively grapples his way free (wrenching Jay's knee on the way)...and brings Lethal in who releases a nasty flurry of stomps on Jay's head. Once again the Briscoes double up on an opponent, dragging Lethal into their corner to assume control. So Gresham sprints across the apron and dropkicks Mark's (already-injured) knee from under him! Quickly Mark starts hobbling, but the act takes the match to the outside where the Briscoes absolutely dominate a brawl on the floor. STEP-UP PLANCHA OFF A CHAIR by Mark! Cactus Elbow rocks Gresham as well, whilst Jay is mercilessly beating on Lethal against the guardrails. The challengers smartly bring it back to the ring, cuing Mark up for a double-team dragon screw on the bad knee. They try to steal the Doomsday Device, and when the Briscoes block that Lethal instead hits a tope suicida to the outside, crumpling Mark's knee under him again. They go for the Doomsday Device again, but Mark hobbles up to counter with a SPRINGBOARD ACE CRUSHER on Lethal! DOOMSDAY DEVICE ON GRESHAM! Lethal breaks the pin! But the Franchise is visibly starting to favour his still-braced broken arm, limiting his ability to take the fight to the champs. With Gresh incapacitated by the Doomsday Device it leaves the Briscoes free to exploit their superior tag team fluidity and dominate Lethal. Mark, still feeling his knee, directly attacks the arm - but can't hit his signature rolling DVD due to his knee and allows Lethal to make a tag. ONE-ARMED LETHAL INJECTION! SHOOTING STAR PRESS BY GRESHAM! Jay makes the save! Gresham dropkicks Mark's knees and applies a spinning toehold to really hobble the younger Briscoe. Leg-selling Urinage by Mark...and Lethal visibly slaps the ropes in frustration as he realises he has to charge into battle with Jay Briscoe! Mafia kick by Briscoe. CORNETTE CUTTER COUNTERED TO A DVD! JAY DRILLER! Gresham hauls the referee out of the ring to save his partner from being pinned! Lethal nails Jay with one of the belts...for 2! Figure 4 Leglock on Jay, with Gresham clinging to Mark's bad leg to prevent him making the save. RUNNING APRON BACKBREAKER BY MARK! FROGGY BOW ON LETHAL! It breaks the Figure 4, but both Briscoes can barely walk now. It takes an eternity for them to line up another Doomsday Device - but by the time they have Gresham is able to throw Mark off the top. Lethal rolls up Jay with the tights to win the belts at 21:53

Rating - ****1/2 - I've not seen many people go as high as me on their rating for this, but I have this down as undoubtedly one of Ring Of Honor's best matches of the year. The cheating finish will have upset some people, but that literally was the story of the match coming in - i.e. Lethal and Gresham will do whatever they have to in order to win matches. The level of detail in the match that came before it was unparalleled. Little touches - like Lethal getting annoyed because he didn't want to face Jay Briscoe, his one-armed version of the Lethal Injection, Gresham being a CONSTANT dickhead, the Briscoes dominating brawls and controlling the pace when able to work as a unit but getting picked apart and their legs injured by the superior wrestling skills of the challengers - all came together to create a masterful tag team match. The quality of the work here won't get enough appreciation as so few people were watching ROH by this point. Indeed, the quality of Lethal, Gresham and the Briscoes' work all year has been slept on because Ring Of Honor became something of a joke - but this was a complete showstealer and an absolute must-see. 

ROH have randomly given this match a special stipulation, which amounts to nothing more than another no-rules main event. Most likely out of fear that this would bomb as a main event (like Glory By Honor) if PCO can't use weapons and do stunts, calling into question why he's in the Final Battle main event in the first place. That said, last time he challenged for the World Title (versus Matt Taven during the War Of The Worlds Tour) he fought basically blind and it was only outside interference from The Kingdom which stopped him taking home the belt. At Glory By Honor 17 he fought through the rest of Villain Enterprises (under the orders of CEO Marty Scurll) to win the #1 Contender Tournament and earn this spot. At 51 he would be the oldest World Champion in ROH history, and he has proven all but unbeatable in 2019. But the man who stands across the ring from him IS unbeaten. Rush debuted at the start of the year and swept to the World Title without losing a single match. Will it be El Toro Blanco or the French-Canadian Frankenstein walking out of Baltimore as ROH Champion?

ROH's graphics list Rush as 6'5, which is absolutely ludicrous. Why bother with a 'Tale Of The Tape' graphic if you're going to be so obviously false with the information it contains? The match starts with PCO ignoring all of Rush's offence, so an angry champion throws a chair into his head! He uses electrical cables around ringside to flog the challenger, and only really stops to yell profanities at the crowd. Hanging armbar in the ropes, which is a legitimate hold in a no rules match, but applied more to injure and insult PCO than it is to win the match at this stage. He grabs a step-ladder and doesn't even bother folding it up before launching it into PCO's face. The challenger dusts that off to deliver a Pop-Up Powerbomb, then the tope con hilo when Rush ducks out of the ring. QUEBEC CANNONBALL TO THE APRON MISSES! Rush has the timekeeping team scuttling for safety seconds later by suplexing the challenger into their table (which doesn't break). They fight into the crowd, to an area next to the stage where PCO has 'parked his hearse'!? What the f*ck? Rush stacks up chairs and guardrail segments...and throws PCO off the stage onto them! This entire match has consisted of Rush doing something with a weapon, then stalling to pose to the fans like an RVD match in slow motion. Destro comes out and tries to pop the hood of the hearse...but can't so amusingly just rips the front of it off. He starts shocking PCO with a car battery to 'fire him up'. Rush was apparently happy to just watch that and do nothing obviously...and waits until the stupid skit is done so he can walk over to PCO and get chokeslammed onto the hearse. BELLY TO BELLY OFF THE HEARSE ROOF by Rush! Destro hands PCO a crowbar which has Rush ducking for cover, but is obviously just a cover for PCO to smash the windows of the f*cking car. Rush finds a few doors under the ring, which even has poor old Ian Riccaboni finding a polite way to say 'what the f*ck is that'?! He breaks one over PCO's head, then another by suplexing PCO's body through it. But when he sets up the Bull's Horns, PCO counters by spearing him through the third door. PCO-Sault nailed...for 2. Destro starts handing PCO weapons, passing him a table then a chair. Rush grabs the chair though, and blasts the challenger in the head with it. He decides he's had enough of Destro (haven't we all) and tosses him into the front row...but takes so long about it that PCO recovers. PCO-Sault through the table...and we have a new champion at 22:23

Rating - DUD - I'd read a fair bit about this match, but didn't want to pass judgement until I'd seen it for myself. Having now seen it, I am completely astonished, utterly confused and entirely bewildered at who in Ring Of Honor thought this would be a good idea. How much money did they spend on the deal with that hearse? Why did Rush spend half the match saying his own name and randomly yelling, or standing around whilst PCO and/or Destro set up some other contrived skit? Who thought that building up Rush's undefeated streak for a year just to have him put over PCO in a goofball hardcore match was smart booking? This was like a bad WWF Attitude Era house show hardcore match with idiotic weapons placed around the ring for no apparent reason, and almost no discernible wrestling taking place amidst the plodding weapons-based brawling. Oddly, I couldn't think of a more fitting way to end 2019, a year which has seen Ring Of Honor hit some previously-unimaginable lows. After the debacle of MSG, after the comically bad attendances, after Bully Ray threatening fans, after botching the Taven/Cobb match, after the Kelly Klein/Joey Mercury leak scandal, after spending most of the year forcing all your wrestlers into heatless hardcore main events because your booker was never great and has now completely burnt out...ending the year with a complete car crash main event that was the epitome of everything that ROH was founded in 2002 to stand against feels apt. As I said at Glory By Honor, I do understand the appeal of PCO. He is popular with fans, fantastic as the 'pet monster' of Villain Enterprises and has been a lot of fun in hardcore matches/multi-man tags. But there is a world of difference between that and having any kind of credibility as a World Champion. It feels like another completely ignorant, tone-deaf piece of business from the Delirious/Sinclair team who have been slowly destroying the reputation of this promotion for a long time. 

Tape Rating - *** - Despite the 'unique' main event degenerating into an inexplicable farce, the rest of the pay-per-view is generally very good. Taven/Vincent is MILES better than most expected, MexaBlood/Villains got us off to a rocking start, Mark Haskins beating Bully Ray was a nice (if tainted) moment that should have marked the end of Bubba's run (again), Maria Manic's debut was a strange but bold booking choice...and we got two GREAT title matches in the form of Taylor vs Lee and Briscoes vs Gresham/Lethal. I would be lying if I said this felt like a strong, uplifting or positive end to what has been a tough year for Ring Of Honor though. The main event casts an ominous cloud over the entire promotion and is a real low-point for the once-prestigious Ring Of Honor World Championship -  and I must confess it horrified me to watch on a number of levels. It wasn't a good match, it wasn't a feel-good moment; I've never seen anything quite like it. 

3) Bandido/Flamita vs Marty Scurll/Flip Gordon (****)

2) Shane Taylor vs Dragon Lee (****)

1) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham (****1/2)