Hello wrestling fans and welcome to the last Indy Inquirer of 2011. On tap for today I have my full in depth review of Ring Of Honor’s Final Battle 2011.
1. Michael Elgin w/ Truth Martini vs. TJ Perikins: This was a really good choice for the opener. This match showcased a great contrast in styles. There was a great spot were TJ went to the top rope for a cross body and Elgin caught him in suplex position for a suplex.
Winner: Elgin via Spinning Sit Out Power Bomb : ***
2. Tommaso Ciampa w/ The Embassy vs Jimmy Rave: This felt very pointless. The only things that really stood out was that Ciampa looked really good against Rave and that the commentators did a very good job of explaining the backstory.
Winner: Ciampa via “Project Ciampa” (After loads of interference) : **1/4
3. TV Title: Jay Lethal (C) vs EL Generico vs Mike Bennett w/ Maria Kanellis: Well to start the crowd chanted CM Punk at Maria and Bennett (Who are legitimately dating). This had really good action with a really nice pace. A great spot in the match was Generico and Lethal’s double suicide dive spot onto Bennett. Overall the match was very fun and I really thought the edition of El Generico was a great idea and the match reinforced it.
Elimination 1: Bennett over Genrico via roll-up with pull of tights
Elimination 2: Lethal over Bennett via “Lethal Injection”
Winner: Jay Lethal : ***1/2
4. Kevin Steen vs Steve Corino: The unquestioned match of the night. This was a great brawl. People often accuse independent promotions of not having a story behind their matches and just doing hardcore spots for no reasons. This however was backed by a great story and every hardcore moment felt like it was meaningful. Both guys did a great job of selling the hatred in the match. A few spots were a suplex of the top rope onto the barricade which was laid out on four chairs in seated position, an exploder suplex on a chair in seated position, and Steen falling through a table with chairs set up on it.
Winner: Kevin Steen via Package Piledriver on four chairs : ****1/2
Aftermath: Steen package piledrivers Tyler Black, then tries for one on Jim Cornette but El Genrico comes in for the save, but gets a package piledriver through the announce table for his troubles. Overall the aftermath was a great segment and Generico and Steen face-off was a mark out moment.
INTERMISSION: Going into intermission the show was really great and had me excited for the show to continue.
5. Tag Team Gauntlet:
Fall 1: Bravado Brothers vs Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander: Coleman and Alexander via Roll-Up
Fall 2: Coleman and Alexander vs Future Shock: Future Shock via “Ride the Lightning”
Fall 3: Young Bucks vs Future Shock: Young Bucks via “More Bang For Your Buck”
Fall 4 : Young Bucks vs All Night Express: Young Bucks via Referee Stoppage
-Overall this was good but it was given to much time. Also the stoppage angle didn’t work as the ending. They could have done that as the third fall and then done Future Shock vs The Young Bucks and it would have come off better.
Winners: The Young Bucks : ***
Open Challenge: Roderick Strong w/Truth Martini vs ???????: The mystery opponent was Chris Hero. That was a mark out moment. However the match was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn’t bad by any means but wasn’t as great as it could have been.
Winner: Roderick Strong via “Sick Kick” : ***1/4
World Tag Team Titles: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (C) vs The Briscoes: This was the match I was most looking forward to and it fell flat on its face. They started with a 10 minute beat down with chairs before the bell rang. WGTT basically kicked the crap out of The Briscoe’s for 10 minutes. If you don’t know next to nobody likes WGTT as champions and the NYC crowd tore them a new one. And then WGTT started wrestlin like heels. They were giving the crowd the finger among other things. So I guess that was the heel turn but then the did a Shelton injury angle where he went to the back and then came back out which made no sense because why are they trying to get sympathy for the guy nobody in the crowd likes. Also WGTT doing chair shots to the head was awkward and it got to the point where Nigel on commentary was begging for The Briscoe’s to put their hands up.
Winners: NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS The Briscoe Brothers via “Doomsday Device” : **1/4
ROH World Title: Davey Richards (C) w/ Team Richards vs Eddie Edwards w/ Dan Severn: This was a HUGE disappointment, there was zero story to this like their was at Best In The World. I felt very disconnected during this match. The crowd also was not very into the match. This was I believe a prime example of the independent match stereotype. Also this started at about 11:15 and went to 11:45 midnight. That was very stupid, had they gone shorter this could have been better.
Winner: Davey Richards via Kick to The Head : ***1/2
Aftermath: Kevin Steen went out and cut a great promo. We officially are building to Steen vs Richards for the title which is great.
Overall: 8/10
