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ROH FINAL BATTLE 2012 DVD REVIEW: KEVIN STEEN AND EL GENERICO FACE OFF FOR THE FINAL TIME IN LADDER WAR IV, THE AMERICAN WOLVES REUNITE, MATT HARDY RETURNS TO TAKE ON ADAM COLE, JERRY LYNN'S FINAL ROH MATCH, AND MUCH MORE

By Stuart Carapola on 2013-04-01 09:05:21
ROH closes out a very eventful year with Final Battle 2012, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Though Final Battle has traditionally been a combination of a blowoff show and the place where ROH sets up all its storylines for the following year, this year's show was a true turning point for a number of reasons. Jerry Lynn made his final in-ring ROH appearance before retiring a few months later, the American Wolves reunited after spending all of 2011 feuding over the ROH World Title, Matt Hardy made his return to an ROH ring after a seven year absence, and Kevin Steen would face El Generico for the final time before Generico left for WWE.

Michael Elgin vs Roderick Strong

I was surprised to see this open the show because it had been building for almost a year since Elgin got his first title shot against Davey Richards. Even though Strong had spent most of the year getting sneaky cheapshots in and being very careful to never put himself in a position where he'd have to fight Elgin face-to-face, he didn't hold back at all here as he and Elgin tore into each other as soon as the bell rang. Elgin's showed off his power early on by catching Strong on a dive attempt to the floor, then brought him back inside and suplexed him out to the floor before showing off his agility by wiping him out with a dive. Truth Martini, who had been dumped by both guys in the weeks leading into the match, was at ringside and alternately cheering whoever had the advantage. Strong took the advantage with a back suplex onto the ring apron, causing Truth Martini to go sprinting around ringside with his fists in the air in celebration. Elgin got back up and they started just beating the crap out of each other, then went back inside and continued to pummel each other without either man getting an advantage. Elgin popped the crowd big time by standing on the second turnbuckle and suplexing Strong off the apron and into the ring, then they went back to pounding on each other until both men went down. They are really destroying each other! Truth Martini jumped on the ring apron to distract the referee and kicked the Book of Truth into the ring, Strong got ahold of it and he used it to nail Elgin while he had him up for the powerbomb, then hit the vertical suplex into the backbreaker for the win.

Winner: Roderick Strong

Great match, I wasn't a fan of the finish but it was pretty intense. Truth Martini came into the ring to celebrate with Strong, but Strong said he told Truth that he was sick of his BS and didn't want anything else to do with him. Truth then tried appealing to Elgin by telling him he loves him and giving him a big hug, but Elgin wasn't impressed and tried to powerbomb him. Truth begged Elgin to wait, then said that he expected better from the two of them because Strong had been in ROH for years and never won the ROH World Title, but accomplished that within six months of Truth coming on board. Truth then went on to say that nobody had ever even heard of Elgin, but he won Survival of the Fittest and became the breakout star of 2012 because of him. He said that if Elgin was going to slap him in the face like that, he'd show Elgin how it's done. Truth slaps Elgin, Elgin returns the favor by powerbombing him into the corner and then backfisting him out to the floor.

Jay Lethal vs Rhino

The backstory here is that Lethal wanted to be in the World Title match with Steen and was mad that Generico got it ahead of him, but ROH had promised Steen that he'd never have to face Lethal again to avoid a lawsuit after what happened in Rahway when Lethal attacked Steen after he spit in Lethal's mother's face. Good match, but Rhino rarely ever wins and he just doesn't seem like any kind of real threat anymore. Lethal basically beat the crap out of Rhino until Rhino hit a spinebuster when Lethal went for the Lethal Injection. Steve Corino was on commentary and was hilarious, running Lethal and ROH down while again insisting he used to date Lethal's mom. Lethal's killer instinct kicks in and he counters the Gore to a superkick, hits the Lethal Combination, then gets Rhino in the Koji Clutch. Rhino stands up and powers out of the move by lifting Lethal up and dropping him, but Lethal hits the Lethal Injection right away for the win.

Winner: Jay Lethal

Corino gets on the mic after the match and starts ripping on Lethal and his mom to Lethal's face, but it was just a distraction so Jimmy Jacobs could sneak in from the crowd and join Corino in a 2-on-1 beatdown on Lethal, then set him up for a gore from Rhino, who is revealed as the newest member of SCUM.

Barrister RD Evans vs Prince Nana

This was unexpectedly one of the most entertaining matches of the evening, as both guys are trained pro wrestlers, but had both been portrayed as wimpy managers for so long that I figured they'd play this like a Howard Finkel-Harvey Wippleman tuxedo match. Instead, Nana and Evans worked their asses off and reminded everyone that they both can go by having a really good match. The crowd was solidly behind Nana, who came dressed for battle in his camouflage gear, and he destroyed Evans with the charging ass in the corner right off the bat before bringing the fight out to the floor. Evans slowed down the pace and worked over Nana's back, but came off the second rope with an elbowdrop attempt that backfired when Nana got the boot up. Evans tried a springboard move, but Nana caught him in a Diamond Cutter and went for a cover. QT Marshall pulled the referee out during the count, and Ernie Osiris comes out of the crowd to attack Marshall, the first time we'd seen him in months. Marshall took him out pretty quickly, but Nana used Ernie's distraction to his advantage to nail Evans as he went to the top rope and superplexed him into the ring. Nana seemed to be rallying to victory, but Evans caught him with an inverted Styles Clash and got the win.

Winner: Barrister RD Evans

The crowd seemed deflated by that, but woke up again when Tommaso Ciampa, still months away from returning from his knee injury, came out of the crowd on crutches to remind Evans and Marshall that he's coming for them. I liked the entire segment a lot, it was way better than I thought it'd be.

Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team vs Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer

This anything goes match is the final blowoff to what started out as the WGTT-All Night Express feud earlier in the year, with Whitmer stepping in as Titus' new partner after Kenny King left the company. Each team had scored one win over the other in the previous months, so this will be THE final match in the feud and settle all the scores once and for all. Titus and Whitmer jumped WGTT on their way to the ring, then took giant candy canes and smashed them on Haas & Benjamin, getting a Merry Christmas chant from the crowd. Titus upped the ante by bringing a Christmas tree into the ring, but Benjamin got ahold of the tree and used it to lay Titus out as Kevin Kelly makes a groaner about how this must be the Tree of Woe. Benjamin pulls a crutch out of a giant Santa hat and used it to work Titus over as Haas uses pieces of the barricade to batter Whitmer in the aisle. Haas uses his belt to whip Titus and then attacks him with a crutch that somehow found its way into the ring, the fans chant for Shelton to use the tree, but Shelton defiantly tosses it out of the ring to piss them off. Whitmer came to Titus' rescue and cleared out both members of WGTT, Haas nearly pins Whitmer after catching him with the Hacker Slam, but Whitmer kicks out at 2. Shelton brings a piece of the barricade into the ring and they dump Whitmer on top of it, but he kicks out again at 2. Titus bulldogs Shelton onto a chair for 2, then hiptosses Haas into the piece of barricade for 2. Shelton sets up a table at ringside and then brawls with Titus on the ring apron before giving him Paydirt through the table (!). Whitmer sets up a table in the ring and goes to the top rope to put Haas through it, but Haas pops up and suplexes Whitmer off the top rope, sending him headfirst through the table, and covering him for the win.

Winners: Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team

That was one of the scariest bumps I've seen in a long time, but BJ was thankfully okay. Strong end to the WGTT-Titus & Partner feud, and the loss here set up the Titus heel turn a couple of months later.

Jerry Lynn vs Mike Bennett

With Jerry Lynn on his retirement tour, he makes his final ever ROH appearance against Bennett, who has been doing a legend killer gimmick after winning his series of matches with Lance Storm earlier in the year. Lynn is a former ROH World Champion, ending Nigel McGuinness' 18 month reign as champion (the second longest in history) to win the title in Houston, Texas during Wrestlemania weekend 2009. I'm sad to see Jerry retire and I really think he deserved to make a lot more money in the business than he probably did, but the fans show him the appreciation he deserves as his name is announced by Bobby Cruise. Kevin Kelly describes my childhood as he talks about Lynn's stint in the Global Wrestling Federation back in the early 90s and how school children (such as me) came home and watched him wrestle every afternoon on ESPN. The match itself was fairly generic, but that was okay since this was more about celebrating the career of Jerry Lynn than making it workrate central. Bennett hits the Box Office Smash for the win after Maria distracts Jerry, and Bennett's entire gang prepares to dish another beating out to Jerry after the match. Jerry lays Brutal Bob out, DDTs Maria into Bob's naughty bits, then gives Bennett a cradle piledriver to go out on a high note.

Winner: Mike Bennett

Jerry cuts a really classy promo after the match thanking the fans and ROH, and puts Cary Silkin over as the most honest promoter he's ever dealt with, and one who kept ROH alive when it was losing money from day one. He thanks the boys in the back for accepting him even though he's an old fart in a young man's company, and as he says that, the boys come out to the ring to applaud Jerry and Nigel McGuinness gets in the ring with an ROH Lifetime Acievement Award for Jerry. He tells stories about what Jerry meant to his own career and to ROH as a whole, and presents Lynn with the award to the applause of the fans. Very nice moment to close out Jerry Lynn's ROH career.

Jerry heads to the back, but Jay Lethal comes out to confront Nigel and force him to address Lethal's demands to fight Steen tonight. SCUM attacked him earlier in the evening, but he's still standing and he earned a title shot by winning Survival of the Fittest. He's taking that title shot tonight, and he wants Nigel to tell Generico to talk to him if he has a problem with that. Nigel promises that there will be repercussions for what happened earlier, but Nigel wants Lethal to go to the back and cheer for Generico, because if Generico wins the title tonight, Lethal gets the first title shot. Lethal says the title's important, but he's more interested in defending his family's honor, and says that if Nigel doesn't give him the title shot tonight, he's going to take it. Nigel again refuses to change the match, so Lethal spits in Nigel's face like Steen did to Lethal's mom, and this leads to a shoving match and security and referees rushing out to separate them.

We go right to another interview segment (which actually took place about a half hour later, but they obviously edited out the intermission), as Kevin Kelly brings Mike Mondo out to discuss his surgery and amazingly short recovery time. Mondo calls his crutches bitch sticks, says he doesn't need them anymore, and throws them out of the ring. He'll be back in just a few weeks, and when that happens, there'll be no fear and no mercy. Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish come out and say that they heard a conversation earlier between Nigel and Eddie Edwards, and he hates to disappoint the fans, but there will be no American Wolves reunion. This leaves Davey Richards in a handicap situation, and speaking of handicaps...wait, O'Reilly sweeps Mondo's leg before Fish can finish and they attack his leg. Davey Richards runs in to make the save and gets beat down 2-on-1, Eddie Edwards slides in and there's a brief moment where Fish and O'Reilly think he's going to join them, but instead he saves Davey. The Wolves hit a series of their patented double team moves and drive Fish and O'Reilly out of the ring. Davey and Eddie high five and embrace, then they take Fish and O'Reilly out with stereo dives to the floor, and we're on to our next match!

The American Wolves reunite on Page 2!


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