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Hey folks, welcome to my live thoughts from ROH Final Battle 2016! Mike Johnson is sitting next to me doing play-by-play, so you all will get my stream of consciousness for the next few hours. Preshow is just starting, so let's get to it!
First, I gotta mention the production values tonight. This company is LIGHT YEARS from where they were even five years ago. The lighting and audio is great, they have a Titantron-caliber video wall at the top of the ramp, and they're in a great building with a sellout crowd that is super pumped to be here. Anybody who complains about the production values at ROH simply haven't watched since 2010. This has truly brown into a world-class wrestling company.
The preshow match between the Tempura Boyz vs Will Ferrara & Cheeseburger was a great way to start the live crowd off. Lots of energy in the ring, and the pop for Cheeseburger is unreal. Tempura Boyz put in a good showing, I'd like to see them come back. Cheeseburger finishes with the Liger palmstrike. Great opener.
Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino come out to do commentary, and the crowd gives Corino a big "please don't go" chant. This place is packged to the gills, by the way. As Gorilla Monsoon would say, "They're literally hanging from the rafters!"
The opening video of Adam Cole telling the story of two knights, Kyle O'Reily and himself, was great and got a bigger reaction from the crowd than many wrestlers do.
We're on to the proper opener with Donovan Dijak and the Motor City Machine Guns against the Rebellion. The Rebellion, by the way, is a much better gimmick than the Cabinet. Easier to take them seriously. Right off the bat, Dijak is showing what a stuf he is by getting in on the MCMG high flying spots as if he was half the size he really is. It's just unbelievable watching what this guy can do. The Rebellion has great chemistry, they strung together a great series of spots on Sabin on the floor to put him in peril. They continue pulling out nice triple team spots when they go back inside, but they try one too many and give Sabin a chance to break away and tag Dijak in to clean house. Now High Flying Huge Guy turns into Out Of Control Power Monster Guy. Just when we get used to that, he pulls out a springboard somersault dive to the floor. Then he throws them around a bit more before moonsaulting off the apron. Rebellion gets the win with a triple team to Sabin, and everyone worked hard here, but this was SUCH an amazing showcase for Dijak. That dude is money waiting to be printed.
Okay, now we're on to Silas Young vs Jushin Liger, and no surprise to see the pop and streamers for Liger. The crowd seemed surprised that Liger lost here, but the reality is that Young has needed a big win for a while now, and this was the right stage against the right opponent to do that. Glad they got the Bruiser involved, he and Silas have become a great act together.
On to Dalton Castle and Colt Cabana, and it's really weird watching Colt work heel after so many years. I think he may have even been a babyface longer than Hogan was during his big 80s/90s run. Pop for Dalton is amazing. He got a great entrance being carried in on a litter by a cavalcade of Boys. It's really great seeing a wrestling crowd so engaged and happy to be here without trying to make themselves a part of the show. Cabana doesn't have any tougher a time working heel than he does working babyface. This guy is old school to the core. Both of them are great technical wrestlers too, this is a great blend of wrestling and character stuff. Short but sweet, Dalton finishes him clean.
Now on to Cody vs Jay Lethal, and the Addiction interrupt and cut a promo before going to do commentary. You can tell Cody's been dying to do work like this for years, and they get plenty of time to tell a great story, and they don't do anything crazy, they don't overdo near falls, they just go out and have a great wrestling match between two world-class wrestlers. The stuff that came at the end with Cody kicking Lethal low to cheat to win, and then absolutely flipping out by razzing tha fans, flipping a table, throwing water on the referee, and piefacing Steve Corino on the way to the back was AWESOME. Now THAT is how you do a heel turn!
Next up is the six man tournament finals. I love the Kingdom's entrance, and I liked how they played off of Taven losing title matches in under a minute at two previous Final Battles by having Lio come close to pinning him in the opening seconds. Vinny Marseglia's put on a bit of size since the last time I saw him, gives him more of a pro athlete look than he had before. Just nonstop action in this one, everyone going balls to the wall, and they actually built up to everyone going nuts at the end instead of just doing spots start to finish. Marseglia with a great heel spot, hitting a Swnaton on the ref to break up a count on Taven. Solid finish with the Kingdom using the staff behind the ref's back and then hitting the triple power bomb for the win. Taven finally gets to leave Final Battle with a title, and a great moment for three guys who go way far back together.
TV Title Match time, and no Bobby Fish, so we got a three way. I wasn't a big fan of this one, and I know I come off like a fuddy duddy on matches like this, but it was just three guys doing one spot after another right from the beginning, contrasting it from the six man. Don't get me wrong, everything they did looked great, but it would look even better if they weren't done one right after the other with no breathing space. Great finish with Scurll dumping Ospreay and then tapping Dragon Lee out to the crossface chickenwing. I didn't want to see the title bounce again so quickly, so happy with the finish too.
Time for the semi-main, as the Briscoes challenge the Young Bucks for the ROH World Tag Team Title. Been a long time since the Briscoes held that title. I've seen these teams wrestle each other a million times, and it never gets old. This is the closest thing I've seen to a modern Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express. Formula tag team match until Bucks broke out the superkicks, then all bets were off. Bucks KILLED Mark with a superkick Doomsday Device on the floor, then Jay kicks out of More Bang For Your Buck, Jay hits a Jay Driller followed by Mark hitting Froggy Bow, Matt Jackson kicks out. This is just nuts. Springboard Doomsday Device, Matt kicks out again. Nck comes back in and cleans house, Bucks hit the flipping assisted Tombstone on Mark, Jay breaks it up at 2. Bucks superkick the PISS out of the Briscoes, Briscoes spit in their faces and tell them to bring it, so the Bucks rapid fire superkick the piss out of them and cover a nearly dead Mark for the win. Just unbelievable stuff.
Oh yeah, and the surprise promo from BROKEN Matt Hardy after got the pop of the night, followed by a building full of fans going DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!
And now it's MAIN EVENT TIME! Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly, six years in the making, for the ROH World Title. It's amazing to see how a team that was basically slapped together has maintained a connection that brought them to the main event of ROH's big blowoff show of the year. This is SUCH a physical match, they seem as intent on destroying each other as they are in walking out with the title. Cole's heel facials are great as he busts O'Reilly open with a shot from the belt, then watches him stagger around the ring and fall out to the floor. Cole hammers him with the chair, but O'REILLY WILL NOT BE DENIED!! He fires back with kicks and gives Cole a suplex through the chair. Now it's O'Reilly's turn to have fun, brutalizing Cole with a trash can and giving him a super back suplex through a table for 2. O'Reilly gets a guillotine choke on the apron and they both go through a table. O'Reilly had a little trouble with the chain, but Cole (now bloodied himself) caught everyone's attention when he brought a bag of tacks into the ring and dumped them out, then O'Reilly got the guillotine choke, Cole powerbombed him on the tacks, but then O'Reilly hit a brainbuster on the tacks and tapped Cole out to a cross armbreaker. New ROH Champion, and a guy who definitely, definitely deserved it! Very happy for O'Reilly, and a great moment to close 2016.
Thanks for reading, and I'll be back to talk about it on Stu & Pid with Dave Scherer this Sunday. Have a great weekend, everyone!
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