ROH Final Battle 2012

Live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Anyone want to take a guess at how long it will take for an ECW chant to break out? Hosted by Kevin Kelly and Caleb Seltzer, who announce that the new commentator (who was supposed to be Adam Pearce) no-showed. OK then…

Michael Elgin vs. Roderick Strong: Good enough choice for the opener. The slug it out to start, then Elgin ends up on the floor on a blind charge. Strong tries a plancha but Elgin catches him, Strong gets out of the powerbomb into the ringpost, but a forearm shot finds the post. Elgin gets caught coming back in and Strong takes over with chops and forearms as Truth Martini makes his way out. Elgin belly-to-belly suplexes Strong to the floor and hits a flying shoulderblock from the apron. He sends Strong into the barricade a couple times and hits the Bulldog powerslam on the floor. The fight it on the apron, Strong hits a belly-to-back on the edge of the ring and hits a dive from the apron of his own. Martini isn’t yet letting us know where his allegiances lie, cheering on both guys and occasionally popping over to the commentator’s table to talk to the people at home. More brawling on the floor and back in the ring, a quick reversal sequence leads to a Black Hole Slam from Elgin for 2. Some guy tries to start a “Let’s go Elgin” chant but the rest of the crowd won’t get into it. Strong misses a blind charge and Elgin hits the corner Death Valley Driver for 2. Elgin goes for the corkscrew but gets crotched on the top rope and Strong drops him into a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle. I question the effectiveness of trying to hurt someone’s back on padding, but it was a creative spot and it gets 2. Strong hits a couple jumping knees for 2, he sets up for what looked like a front superplex, but Elgin knocks him to the apron and hits the second rope apron-to-ring superplex. “Holy shit” chant is of course not bleeped here, and that’s the one good thing about iPPV, it’s totally unregulated. Strong no-sells the bucklebomb and hits the double-knee gutbuster, Elgin no-sells that and clotheslines the shit out of Strong (with the full 360 sell). Martini hops up on the apron and slides the Book of Truth into the ring, Elgin goes for the spinning powerbomb but gets nailed with the book and Strong hits the jumping double-knee backbreaker to end it at 11:32. Decent opener, **1/2, Strong tells off Martini AGAIN (can’t this guy take a hint?), so Martini tries sucking up to Elgin, and when that doesn’t work he starts telling him off and slaps him and gets bucklebombed for his troubles.

Jay Lethal vs. Rhino: Not really any angle with these two, just a case of 2 guys with nothing else to do getting matched up with each other. Here’s our first ECW chant as Steve Corino makes his way out to do commentary. Awesome. Lethal hits a springboard crossbody and tosses Rhino over the top to the floor. Corino: “That should be a DQ!” Kelly: “It’s not 1975 anymore!” Rhino tries getting back in and Lethal hits a springboard dropkick to send him back out. Lethal misses a plancha but lands on his feet and hits a superkick and the Bret Hart dive through the ropes, then tosses Rhino into the barricade as Corino talks about how he used to date Lethal’s mother. Back in the ring Lethal gets a kick for 2 and calls for the Lethal Injection, it misses and Rhino hits a spinebuster for 2. Corino informs us that Rhino is being paid off to bust up Lethal and keep him from getting involved in the main event tonight. Forearm shots to the back from Rhino, Lethal tries to come back with chops but just gets beat on in the corner. Rhino hooks a body scissors as Corino makes fun of Seltzer, Lethal gets free but keeps getting pounded. Now a bearhug, and if not for Corino’s commentary I’d seriously be losing patience with this match. Lethal gets free and hits a handspring elbow and a leg lariat. Irish whip is reversed and Lethal gets speared in the corner and eats a belly-to-belly. Rhino attempts the Gore and gets superkicked, Lethal locks in the Koji clutch, Rhino just lifts him right up while the hold is on and drops him for 2. Lethal is back up with punches and the Lethal Injection finishes it at 9:33. Corino’s commentary was ***** as usual, match itself was about *, way too much laying around for a match that short. Corino hops up on the apron to talk shit and Jimmy Jacobs attacks Lethal from behind, 3 on 1 beatdown results.

RD Evans (w/QT Marshall) vs. Prince Nana: While Evans is only a manager in ROH he’s a CHIKARA regular (as Archibald Peck) and a 10 year vet of THIS BUSINESS, so this shouldn’t be too horrible. Evans is wearing a fruity looking pink and black outfit with a sash, Nana is dressed like New Jack. Evans bitch slaps Nana, Nana attacks and we’re on. Nana pounds away for a while but gets tossed to the floor, Evans tries a plancha but lands on his face. Nice bump there, QT Marshall helps him up and Nana takes them both out with a running dive from the ring to the floor. Back in Evans trips up Nana and sends him into the corner and stomps away. A few shots to the back get 2. He grabs a sleeper then hits a backdrop suplex and goes up top, Bret Hart elbow finds nothing but boot, a spinning side slam and a standing senton gets 2, Evans tries a springboard bodypress but lands in a Diamond Cutter, and Marshall pulls out the ref. Arnesto O’Cyrus (whoever the hell he is…) attacks Marshall but gets wiped out as Evans gets a scoop slam and goes up to again, this time he gets crotched and Nana gets a superplex for 2. He charges, Evans boots him in the gut and hits an inverted Styles Clash to end this one at 6:40. I thought for sure Nana was winning here. *1/2, which is better than I expected. Tomaso Ciampa tries to attack from the crowd but gets held back by security.

NYC Streetfight: Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs. Rhett Titus and BJ Whitmer: Titus and Whitmer jump WGTT from behind as they make their entrance and beat their asses all around ringside. Titus pulls out a big stocking from under the ring and start beating on WGTT with huge candy canes. So it’s going to be one of those sort of streetfights, eh? I’m waiting for the plastic lizard, or I guess maybe a plastic Frosty the Snowman. Kelly tries to tell us that there are now dangerous shards of candy in the ring but can’t even say it with a straight face as the crowd chants “Merry Christmas”. Whitmer tosses Hass to the floor, Titus heads back outside and tosses one of those 3-foot tall fake Christmas trees in, Shelton grabs it and nails him in the head with it. Meanwhile, Hass and Whitmer are in isle tearing shit up, in the ring Benjamin starts beating on Titus with a crutch. Whitmer attempts to piledrive Hass on the concrete but Benjamin runs up and blasts him in the face with a kick, Hass takes his belt off and goes after Titus with it in the ring as Benjamin hits Whitmer with pieces of the barricade. Benjamin back in the ring now and they double-team Titus with belt shots, Whitmer crawls back in but gets sent out and beat on by Benjamin while Hass goes to work with the crutch. Benjamin gets back in and grabs a kendo stick, but for whatever strange reason tosses it outside right in front of Whitmer, and of course he’s back in with it and goes to town on WGTT. Why the hell would Benjamin toss it right to him? Whitmer dumps Benjamin to the floor and hits the rolling Northern Lights suplex for 2. Haas comes back with the Olympic Slam for 2, Benjamin brings in a piece of the barricade, Whitmer (who’s bleeding, looks hardway, probably from a piece of Christmas ornament off the tree) gets dropped back first on it, Titus makes the save. He and Hass go out to the floor as Benjamin grabs a chair but Titus nails him from behind and he lands face-first on the chair for 2. Haas sets up the guardrail in the corner but ends up getting hiptossed into it, Benjamin makes the save and superkicks Titus. He sets up a really beat-up table on the floor and both he and Titus end up going through it as Whitmer gets a rollup on Haas for 2. Exploder suplex on Haas gets 2 and Whitmer grabs another table, but ends up getting belly-to-belly suplexed off the top rope through the table 3/4 of the way across the ring (Holy SHIT!) to finish at 15:27. One HELL of a finish right there. Some might hate the goofy weapon shots at the start, and this doesn’t even pale in comparison to the craziness in Brooklyn later that night (though I’d say this match had the better finish), but it was still damned entertaining. ****, replays show that Whitmer landed right on his head and he looks to be out cold.

Mike Bennett (w/ Maria Kanellis and Brutal Bob) vs. Jerry Lynn: This is Lynn’s final match in ROH, as he’s retiring next month. He’s looks like he’s hardy aged since his ECW days. Crowd gets into the “Fuck him Jerry, fuck him up!” chant before the match even starts. This is the first time we’ve seen the Code of Honor tonight, for those that care about that sort of thing. Headlock-based chain wrestling sequence to start with the camera focusing more on Maria (who’s wearing shorts so small I’m surprised that New York state law allows them, not that I’m complaining about it or or anything) than the match. Lynn goes for the cradle piledriver about 3 minutes in but Bennett quickly gets free and goes for some advice from Brutal Bob. A tilt-a-whirl headscissors sends him to the floor and Lynn follows with a plancha and Bennett hides behind Maria, Lynn chases him around but gets nailed by Brutal Bob. Bob hops on commentary for a minute as Bennett sends Lynn into the barricade. Is there some reason that spot has to be in every match tonight? Back in Bennett tries a suplex and Lynn reverses it into a rollup for 2. Bennett goes to the eyes and charges at Lynn in the corner, Lynn gets his feet up but Bennett catches them and drops Lynn into a backbreaker for 2. Bennett punches away, Lynn fires back and hits a rolling elbow and a back rake, then does the 10-count punches in the corner. DDT for 2, then Lynn hits an Ace Crusher from the apron to the floor. That was cool, and it gets 2 back in the ring. Cradle piledriver attempt #2, Bennett gets free again and hits a spinebuster for 2. Maria hops up onto the apron to distract the ref as Brutal Bob tosses in a chair, Bennett tries a TKO onto the chair but Lynn reverses it into one of his own for 2. Now Bob distracts the ref, Lynn tries to go after Maria, she drops him throat-first on the top rope and Bennett hits the Box Office Smash for 3 at 10:08. Seemed about **ish, but it’s kind of hard to give it a fair rating with the camera more focused on Maria than the match. Bennett tries to attack Lynn but Lynn spears Brutal Bob, DDTs Maria, and lands the cradle piledriver on Bennett. Crowd gives him a standing ovation and loud “Thank you Jerry” and “You still got it” chants.

Lynn gives a really nice farewell speech thanking the fans and Cary Silkin for everything, Nigel McGuiness comes out and gives him a plaque commemorating all his contributions to wrestling, Lynn gives another speech thanking the crowd and he and McGuiness pose for some photos. Glad to see Lynn get out of the business relatively healthy and on his own terms, class act all the way. Now Jay Lethal has to stick his nose into all this and pester McGuiness about not getting his title shot. Lethal says he’s taking El Generico’s spot in the main event tonight, McGuiness tells him he’s not, Lethal starts to whine about Kevin Steen spitting on his mom, and at this point this has all gone on a bit too long and is starting to kill the crowd. Lethal spits in Nigel’s face, Nigel tries to attack and security breaks it up, McGuiness has them toss Lethal out of the building.

Intermission, video packages for Steen/Generico, Cole/Hardy, and the tag title match are shown.

Mike Mondo is out for a promo. He’ll be back in a month. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish join us to run their mouths and attack Mondo. Davey Richards makes the save but gets beat down, Eddie Edwards saves him, and takes us right into…

Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards: The Wolves start by double-teaming Fish while O’Reilly is down on the floor, he gets back in and gets beat on in the corner. O’Reilly gets dumped, Fish and Edwards are the legal men and Edwards hits a snap suplex for 2. Richards in now and he hooks in a modified Texas Cloverleaf, O’Reilly tries to get in and Edwards provides a little more leverage to the hold behind the ref’s back. Richards turns it into a pin, Fish kicks out. Edwards back in and he gets backdropped to the apron, O’Reilly knocks him to the floor and goes after Richards but gets tossed over the top and out. Richards tries the kick off the apron on Fish but it’s caught and O’Reilly nails him from behind. Edwards is sitting in that chair that always in the corner of the ringside area for whatever reason and O’Reilly nails him with a missile dropkick from the apron. Fish takes over on Edwards back in the ring, he and O’Reilly go into the classic formula, baiting Richards to distract the ref so they can double-team Edwards. Sidewinder on Edwards, Richards makes the save. Backdrop suplex by Fish for 2, O’Reilly in and some double-team kicking gets a couple 2 counts. Richards has had enough and goes after the heels (including a nice German suplex on O’Reilly) but gets caught with a Falcon Arrow by Fish. All 4 men end up on the floor thanks to twin suplexes from the faces. Nice looking spot there. Richards and O’Reilly are back in first and they slug it out, O’Reilly grabs a standing Dragon sleeper, Richards hooks in a standing anklelock while still in the sleeper. Richards wins that battle and turns it into a standard anklelock, O’Reilly gets free but eats a kick to the head from Edwards. Tombstone by Richards gets 2, Edwards tries a powerbomb but O’Reilly gets free and hits a brainbuster for 2 as it appears the ref no longer cares who the legal man is. O’Reilly goes for the Dragon sleeper, Edwards rolls it into a pin and Fish breaks it up with a moonsault from the top and seems to have messed up his knee doing it. He gets dumped to the floor and the faces hit a double-team powerbomb on O’Reilly for 2, Edwards hooks the Achilles lock while stomping on the back of his head and the ref stops the match at 12:27. Kind of an odd ending there… ***1/2, good classic formula tag match that’s pretty much impossible to screw up, with some crazy near falls towards the end.

Matt Hardy vs. Adam Cole: Crowd is NOT happy to see Hardy (nor am I), with quite a few fans throwing him the double bird. Cole is the ROH TV champ, but the title isn’t on the line here because Hardy doesn’t work for ROH. Pretty loud “Fuck you Hardy” chant as we begin. Can’t say I disagree. Lockup to start goes nowhere, another one has them fighting over a wristlock. Cole gets free and hits some forearms and a dropkick and Hardy bails. Cole follows with a running dive to the floor that also nails a cameraman, he tosses Hardy back in and Hardy bails again, so this time Cole hits him with a plancha. He tries a German suplex from the apron but Hardy gets loose and nails Cole with a Side Effect on the edge of the ring for a 2 count. He hooks a sort of inverted full nelson, Cole gets loose. I’m loving the crowd here, as they are just merciless in their abuse of Hardy. He goes for the Twist of Fate, Cole turns it into a figure 4, Hardy reverses it and Cole makes the ropes. Another Side Effect gets 2, he hits 2 more for another 2 count and it’s pretty clear at this point that he doesn’t have much else. Another one for 2 and I’m rapidly getting irritated with this match, it’s starting to remind me of that HHH/Steiner Royal Rumble atrocity. He goes for the Twist of Fate again, Cole shoves him into the corner but runs into a boot, Hardy hits an elbow from the second rope but Cole pops right back with a superkick for 2. Cole stomps Hardy down in the corner, Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate again, Cole turns it into a backslide for 2. Now Cole hits the Twist of Fate for 2, jumping enziguri and a knee to the face for2, and he tries to go up top bet gets caught with a crucifix powerbomb. Both guys tumble out and Cole hits the Florida Key on the floor and rolls him back in for 2, Hardy is back up and finally hits the Twist of Fate. It gets 2, Hardy goes to the second rope but gets pulled off and put in the figure 4 again. Hardy makes the ropes, Cole goes for the Florida Key but Hardy grabs the and pulls his shirt over his head and boots Cole in the balls while the ref can’t see it, and gets a small package for 3 at 11:47. God fucking DAMNIT! The crowd is about as happy with that finish as I am. Well, at least it wasn’t clean. Cole’s really talented but he’s not a miracle worker, at least not yet. 1/2*, match was terrible, Hardy was totally out of shape and had nothing here, doing only 4 moves in the entire match. I’m not looking forward to the rematch, that’s for damn sure.

ROH Tag Team title: Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. The Briscoes vs. Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs (c): This is sudden death rules, meaning that the champs somehow have to be involved in the fall to end the match. Better than WWE-style first fall wins 3-ways, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be elimination rules. The Briscoes are the pretty clear-cut favorite of the crowd. The rules basically make this a 4 on 2 handicap tornado match, and the challengers jump the champs and double-team them, with Jay and Coleman taking on Corino and Mark and Alexander going after Jacobs. Mark hits an elbow from the top on Jacobs, but Coleman grabs the ref to break the count. C+C gets into it with the Briscoes, so S.C.U.M. takes the opportunity to try and walk out, but the Briscoes grab them at the curtain and Jay tosses Corino (who’s wearing that awful looking singlet again) back in, but Alexander knocks him off the apron and C+C take over on Corino. They hit the obligatory completely fucked up Total Elimination, then Alexander hits a running somersault dive to the 3 guys on the floor. Coleman hits a springboard splash on Corino, Mark makes the save. Jacobs goes for Sliced Bread #2 on Mark but can’t hit it, springboard Diamond Cutter does hit for 2. Jay back in and he dumps Corino and slugs it out with Coleman, but he too takes a Diamond Cutter and bails. Corino back in, Jacobs spears Coleman and Corino hits a belly-to-back suplex, Mark and Alexander make the save but quickly get tossed out. Jacobs hits the Corino-assisted Slice Bread #2 and Corino hits a lariat, Coleman kicks out. Corino tries to hit Alexander with the roll of nickels but eats a jumping enziguri as Coleman nails a top-rope rana on Jacobs. Corino nails Coleman with the roll of nickels, it only gets 2. Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device on Jacobs and we have NEW tag team champions at 7:06. **, I feel like this should have been better than it was, and it was way too short, there’s absolutely NO reason that the shitty Cole/Hardy match should have gone longer than this one. The Briscoes cut a celebratory promo and tell Coleman and Alexander that they will get the first title shot just out of respect. Works for me.

Ladder War 4, ROH Title: El Generico vs. Kevin Steen (c): Steen is carrying the old belt, the new one is hanging above the ring. Brawling to start, Generico hits a tornado DDT and a Yakuza kick and Steen bails, Generico follows with a tope. Generico sends him back in, grabs a ladder (there’s a bunch of them at ringside, and they’re pretty cheap looking) and starts going to town on Steen with it. He tries to set it up but Steen nails him from behind, Generico charges and Steen backdrops hin onto the ladder (leaning up against the ropes) and it bends right in half. Ouch. Now Steen goes to work with the busted ladder, he throws it at Generico and a big chunk of it breaks right off. I hope they have a stronger one under the ring or something, these ones look like they could barely support Steen’s weight. Cannonball into the ladder with Generico lying under it, then Steen nails him with the chunk that broke off. Steen heads out for a couple fresh ladders, Generico tries throwing one of them at him but he just catches it and bounces it off Generico’s face. Steen dumps him and tosses him right through the guardrail and into the first row, then decides to go fuck with a fan wearing a Generico mask. Generico sets up the ladder while Steen is distracted, but he gets caught before he can start climbing. He gets whipped into a ladder set up into the corner and Steen stomps away. There’s a bigger (and what looks be a better constructed) ladder in the isle, Steen grabs that and nails Generico with it, and Generico falls to the floor. Steen sets it up in the center of the ring and starts climbing, Generico pulls him down and suplexes him into one of the ladders in the corner. Generico starts climbing, Steen pulls him down but Generico suplexes him onto the ladder again. Generico goes for the belt again, this time Steen just pushes the ladder over and Generico lands in the corner. He’s back up and tries for the tornado DDT again but Steen gets the knee out and turns it into a backbreaker. He dumps Generico to the floor and starts climbing, Generico pulls him down, so Steen dumps him again and goes for the belt, Generico catches him again. Steen dumps him back out and this time follows him out and tosses him through the barricade again. He sets up one of the ladders between the guardrail and the ring but decides to just send Generico into the barricade one more time and goes under the ring looking for something, but comes up empty. OK… He goes to the other side of the ring and finds what he’s looking for: a table. He sets that up on top of the ladder that’s between the ring and guardrail, tries to powerbomb Generico through it from the ring but ends up getting backdropped through it. Generico sends the ring crew to the back for a really big ladder and the crowd gets into the “Si! Si! Si!” chant. He sets it up, Steen is back in and goes to the top rope, Generico meets him and goes for the super brainbuster but gets put through the timekeeper’s table. Steen starts climbing the really big ladder, Generico is back in and uses the other big ladder to knock Steen down. He sets the 2 big ladders up and tries to wedge one of the cheap looking ladders horizontally in between them but Steen nails him and sets it up himself. Steen powerbombs Generico onto the ladder and goes for the belt, Generico pulls him down and hits the package piledriver. Generico climbs, Steen pulls him down, grabs another one of the smaller ladders and wedges that one between the 2 big ones above the first and tries to reach the belt from there but he’s about 4 feet too short. Generico gets up there with him as the crowd chants “Please don’t die!”, Steen boots him in the balls and hits the package piledriver through the ladders. Generico ain’t getting up from that, Steen claims the belt for the win at 28:03. ****, this was really good but not one of the greats, and I honestly liked Steen’s match with Elgin at Glory by Honor (or even the streetfight from earlier tonight) better.

Like the ladder match this was a good but not great show, but more than worth the money. Next PPV isn’t till March and the next TV show won’t be for at least another 3 weeks, so no more ROH for a while.