11/22 RING OF HONOR 'ROAD TO FINAL BATTLE' TV SPOILER REPORT FROM BALTIMORE, MD
By Michael Specian on 2014-11-24 11:50:05
These are live spoilers and impressions from Ring of Honor’s Road to Final
Battle: Tag Wars 14 which took place at the William J Myers Pavilion in
Baltimore, MD on Saturday, November 22. This show will air as three episodes of
Ring of Honor TV in the coming weeks.
The theme of this event was a single night tag team tournament with six
contender teams entered. The first round consisted of the three tag matches
reviewed below. The winners advanced to a 4-way elimination tag with reDRagon
for the ROH World Tag Team Championships at the end of the night.
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EPISODE 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The three teams advancing to the Tag Team
Championship match with reDRagon are The Briscoes, The Addiction and ACH & Matt
Sydal. Adam Cole kicked Papa Briscoe in the head to build heat for his match
with Jay Briscoe at Final Battle.
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WHAT TO WATCH: Everything.
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Match 1: The House of Truth (Jay Lethal & J. Diesel with Truth Martini) vs. The
Briscoe Brothers. There was great back-and-forth action throughout. The biggest
spot prior to the finish was a massive top rope superplex from Jay Briscoe onto
Jay Lethal. The finish saw Mark Briscoe take out Lethal with a kick to the
floor. A Jay Driller on J. Diesel followed by a Froggy Bow finished things off.
Winners: The Briscoe Brothers via pinfall. This match was quite good - great way
to start the show.
Match 2: The Decade (BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs) vs. The Addiction (Christopher
Daniels & Kazarian). There was some solid tag work in this match, but nothing
that is likely to stand the test of time. Kazarian hits the Killswitch for the
pin in about 11 minutes.
Winners: The Addiction via pinfall
Match 3: The Young Bucks vs. ACH and Matt Sydal. Sydal got worked over for a
while but earned a huge pop with a simultaneous DDT and chinbreaker on the
Bucks. ACH got the hot tag and did a Fosbury Flop moonsault over the top rope to
the floor taking everyone out. The crowd went nuts. There was some more great
action and after a Sliced Bread only got a two-count, it turned into a tornado
tag and the match shifted into the next gear.
The Bucks just destroyed ACH with a Meltzer Driver, but Sydal saves at 2.9999.
Sydal ducks stereo superkicks and hits them both with a single standing
hurricanrana. Sydal ducks Matt Jackson’s superkick causing him to hit his own
brother. Sydal with jumping knees then ACH springs through the rops for a DDT.
Sydal up quick for the Shooting Star Press and ACH follows immediately with The
Best 450 Ever! Pinfall in 13 minutes.
Winners: ACH and Matt Sydal via pinfall. This was great, and as you might
expect, too much to type in spots. The building gave both teams a “that was
awesome†chant. After the winners got behind the curtain a “Young Bucks!†chant
broke out in appreciation of their effort.
Adam Cole came to the ring for an interview.
ADAM COLE
It’s story time with Adam Cole, baby! The next chapter will be written on
December 7 for the entire world to see on PPV when I beat Jay Briscoe within an
inch of his life and take back what is rightfully mine, the Ring of Honor World
Championship. A Fight without Honor is the only appropriate matchup for me and
Jay to have.
I actually came out to tell you that I’ve lied to you people. I had said that it
would never end between me and Jay Briscoe. The problem’s not only that I will
end Jay Briscoe at Final Battle; I’m going to make Jay Briscoe my own personal
redneck bitch.
CROWD
OOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!
ADAM COLE
(noticing the Briscoes’ father in the crowd)
Oh look! It’s the redneck breeder himself, Papa Briscoe.
CROWD
Papa Briscoe! Papa Briscoe! Papa Briscoe!
ADAM COLE
Alright old man, do me a favor. Humor me - what do you think the outcome of
Final Battle will be?
PAPA BRISCOE
(in a confident southern drawl)
Son, let me tell you something. You can’t even imagine the ass-whooping that Jay
is going to lay on you.
Papa Briscoe flips Adam Cole a double bird. Cole waives him off and begins to
walk away. As Papa Briscoe turns to leave, Cole kicks him in the back of his
head. The Briscoes instantly shoot towards the ring while Cole sprints for his
life. The Briscoes are apoplectic. They gather themselves slightly and help
their father to the back. Cole comes off as a total piece of garbage. Good way
to build heat for their match at Final Battle.
Without taking any substantial break, we stream right into the second hour.
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EPISODE 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Tommaso Ciampa outlasts Cedric Alexander in an
instant classic no-disqualification match. Also, Roderick Strong got an easy
win, Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara defeated Brutal Burgers, and Hanson and
Elgin fought to a no contest in a feud that will almost certainly continue.
---------------------------------------------
WHAT TO WATCH: Absolutely do not miss the Ciampa/Alexander match. The battle and
build between Hanson and Elgin was good as well.
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Match 1: Roderick Strong vs. “The Greek God†Papadon. Papadon has worked locally
in Maryland Championship Wrestling, but few people knew who he was. People
yelled, “Who are you?†My favorite chant was “Little Caesars†because they think
Papadon sounds like Papa John’s. Strong looked faster and crisper than Papadon,
whose offensive was bland. Strong got the win in 6 minutes via Death by
Roderick.
Winner: Roderick Strong via pinfall
Match 2: Hanson vs. Michael Elgin. Elgin has new theme music. He said he’s going
to do what he wants and when he wants. Fans aren’t quite sure what to do with
him yet. Hanson and Elgin beat the crap out of each other inside and outside the
ring. A young man (from the ROH dojo maybe?) jumped onto Elgin’s back and got
thrown into the barricade for his effort. Hanson and Elgin ripped up the mats
exposing the concrete. A table is set up above the concrete. Elgin got Hanson in
a double underhook on the apron and then sent him crashing face-first through
the table.
Winner: Ruled a no contest
This was a nice, stiff brawl to set the stage for the next round between these
two. As he was leaving Elgin put his hands on the backs of Kevin Kelly and Steve
Corino’s shoulders, leaned into the microphone and said something. Guess we’ll
have to wait to find out what.
Match 3: Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara vs. Brutal Burgers. Funny thing about
Cheeseburger is that he’s so small that he tries to dodge incoming streamers.
Ferrara and Cheeseburger wrestled well together, probably from training together
in the dojo. Brutal Bob played the big guy and Coleman was his usual flashy
self. Ferrara turned a suplex into a roll-up (or something like that) to pin
Cheeseburger.
Winners: Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara via pinfall
After the match Bob was visibly frustrated and pushed Cheeseburger to the ground
to a chorus of boos. Bob immediately regretted it and tried to make nicey-nice
with him. I kept waiting for the turn that didn’t come.
Match 4: Cedric Alexander vs. Tommaso Ciampa in a No-Disqualification Match. In
my opinion, this was the match of the night on a night with a lot of really good
wrestling. Alexander and Ciampa straight up tore it up and sacrificed their
bodies in the process. I might go so far as to suggest people keep this in mind
when considering the best matches of 2014.
Ciampa kept taking hardcore match conventions to their next sick levels. He
threw a trash can into Alexander’s face while he was sitting on the top
turnbuckle. He crushed Cedric’s sternum and ribs into the guardrail. He placed a
chair around his next and threw him neck-first into the ring post. He swung a
kendo into Cedric’s crotch then started sawing with it. He sat Cedric in the
corner, placed a trashcan over his head and delivered running knees until the
trashcan could take no more.
Then he brought the guardrail into the ring. He set it up between two chairs and
pulled the legitimately wobbly Cedric Alexander to the top rope. The crowd
begged them to please not die. Ciampa lifted Cedric for a superplex and time
stood still. Then CRASH! They hit with such force that the guardrail bent and
one chair shot across the ring and got stuck in the middle rope. Crowd is
really, really into this now.
Ciampa recovered first and started removing the bungee cables that connect the
mat to the ring frame. Finally Cedric got to his feet and dove over the top rope
and onto Ciampa with a gorgeous somersault senton that whipped the crowd into a
frenzy. Then Cedric dished out his own brand of pain. He hit Ciampa in the head
with a chair. He piled multiple chairs on Ciampa and started laying into him
with con-chair-tos. He hit a top rope frogsplash and then another with a chair
between them. In an epic maneuver, Cedric wrapped one of the bungee cords around
Ciampa’s neck and behind the top turnbuckle, locking him into the corner. Next
came multiple, brutal unprotected kicks to the face.
Todd Sinclair freed Ciampa who grabbed Alexander and gave him a brainbuster
through the chair that wasn’t hanging in the ropes. Still only a two count! This
is getting nuts. A big welt developed over Ciampa’s right eye. They rose to
their feet together, slapping each other with great force. They exchanged
counters but Tommaso won this crucial exchange with a jumping knee to the chest.
He set Cedric on the top turnbuckle, facing out of the ring and above the
exposed plywood. Backs touching, Ciampa reached behind to grab Cedric’s head,
pulled him away from the corner and just dropped the back of his head straight
down onto the plywood. There’s no way Cedric’s getting up from that.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall
Holy crap that was awesome. Both men deserve a lot of credit. They put
everything they had into this and not just physically. The emotional tension
between the two of them was palpable. Details like spitting into each others’
faces in disgust really helped make the match more compelling.
After intermission we were treated to an Internet exclusive match.
Internet Exclusive Match: Matt “Sex†Sells vs. Moose (with Ramon). This was a
total squash. After Moose hit Sells with a spear Ramon instructed Moose to
continue the punishment, so he placed Sells on his shoulders and did a variant
of the F5.
Winner: Moose via pinfall
Ramon grabbed the mic.
RAMON
My name is Stokely Hathaway, formerly known as Ramon. Since day 1 in Ring of
Honor I’ve been passed over because of one man - R. D. Evans. R. D. Evans, you
are a user. You used me, you used Moose and you used Veda Scott. You’re a thief.
You stole the Embassy and in the end you stole Moose. Moose is a future top
prospect. Moose is an athlete. Moose is coachable. Moose is a team player. This
is real deep. This man is 30-0. Never been pinned. Never submitted. Never has
been and guess what, never will be. He’s been a visionary. This man has been a
blessing. He told me, “Stoke, R. D. Evans is a liar. He’s a manipulator. He’s a
cheat. He’s a coward.†I said to him, no, R. D. Evans is the DEVIL!
Ever since then I’ve been conscious. Ever since then I stayed awoke. I
understand what’s happened to me and what’s happened to him. And this man also
told me, “Stokely, if you would have known better, you would have done better.â€
R. D. Evans, I should have done better a long, long time ago. So allow me to
introduce to you the man behind the man who ended the streak in San Antonio,
Texas. I present to you, Prince Nana!
[Prince Nana walks to the ring without music.]
PRINCE NANA
Ladies and gentlemen, this man just told you the brief history. But now, Prince
Nana is going to tell you the future. December 7, New York City, New York, the
Big Apple, R. D. Evans is going to learn that karma’s a bitch. Moose ended your
streak. And now, he’s going to end your stinking career.
[Moose’s music plays.]
Nigel McGuinness came out to provide commentary for the third episode.
--------------------------------------------
EPISODE 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: reDRagon retained their ROH Tag Team Championships
in a four team elimination match. Adam Cole got a win over Brian Kendrick.
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WHAT TO WATCH: The 4-way tag match was solid. Cole vs. Kendrick was an OK
back-and-forth affair.
---------------------------------------------
Match 1: Brian Kendrick vs. Adam Cole. Cole played the heel but still earned a
majority of the cheers. They mat wrestled and countered each other for a while
before transitioning into more high impact maneuvers. Kendrick charged Cole but
got superkicked. Cole nailed a shoulder breaker followed by the Florida Key for
a win in 12 minutes.
Winner: Adam Cole via pinfall
Match 2: The Briscoes vs. Matt Sydal & ACH vs. The Addiction vs. reDRagon in a
4-Way Elimination Match for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships.
After a series of individual battles, a misunderstanding between Daniels and Jay
Briscoe caused the match to become a melee. Too much happened too quickly to
type! Everyone started diving onto each other on the floor. With almost everyone
else incapacitated Mark Briscoe tried for a moonsault but Kazarian kicked him in
the head. He flipped him over onto Daniels’s knee and got the pin. The Briscoes
were eliminated.
The referee restored order and the remaining teams returned to their corners.
reDRagon beat down on Daniels for a good long while using their great tag team
chemistry. Once Matt Sydal got the hot tag, everything went nuts again.
Eventually ACH was placed on the top turnbuckle facing into the ring. Then Sydal
was seated directly in front of him. After Daniels’s attempted suplex on Sydal
failed, Sydal hit the Shooting Star Press and ACH followed with The Best 450
Ever. They got the pin on Daniels. The Addiction had been eliminated.
The match turned into a flurry with each wrestler hitting big moves in
succession. ACH earned a huge pop for his suicide springboard somersault senton
to the outside. Kyle O’Reilly avoided The Best 450 Ever and reDRagon executed
rapid fire tag offense. Fish threw ACH into Kyle’s elbow. Then they hit a high
and low combination followed by Chasing the Dragon.
Winners: reDRagon via pinfall
After the match reDRagon thanked the fans for coming.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
ROH ran a TOYS FOR TOTS drive before the show. Anyone who brought an unwrapped
new toy or made a cash donation received a free posed photo with the Briscoe
Brothers. The Young Bucks, Daniels & Kazarian, Brian Kendrick and Matt Sydal
were also available for autographs and photos.
The Marine Color Guard stood on the ramp as music played to start the show.
The Romantic Touch wrestled QT Marshall in a “special pre event matchâ€.
Baltimore Fox 45’s Traffic Jam Jimmy was in Marshall’s corner. He interfered
multiple times by grabbing Romantic Touch’s foot on his way to the top rope and
choking him in the corner. When he inadvertently tripped Marshall it led to a
distraction that earned Romantic Touch the pin in 6 minutes. The match was
otherwise nondescript.
Winner: The Romantic Touch
QT quarrelled with Traffic Jam Jimmy after the match. Jimmy punched him in the
face and then did hip gyrations with The Romantic Touch. RT gave Jimmy a rose to
end the segment.
ROH announced that they will return to Baltimore on Saturday, March 7.
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