Credit: Mike Johnson of Pwinsider.com
Adam Page vs Matt Hardy
The fans get on Hardy’s case before the match, and he grabs the mic and teases like he’s going to say something, but drops the mic instead. He tosses his shirt out to the crowd, and the fans chant at the guy who caught it to throw it back, which he indeed does. Hardy outwrestles Page to start and acts like he’s big timing Page, but Page slaps him in the face to show that he’s not intimidated. Page catches Hardy with a nice pair of dropkicks, but Hardy backdrops Page out to the floor and goes out after him. They wind up on the ring apron and Hardy goes for the Side Effect, but Page shoves him off the apron and takes him out with a running shooting star press. I can’t quite catch what is happening now because they’re on the other side of the ring from me, but they wind up back inside with Page covering Hardy for 2. Page catches Hardy with a leg lariat for 2, then bulldogs him into the top turnbuckle and heads to the top rope. Hardy shakes the rope and knocks Page off, then hits the Side Effect for 2. Hardy is undeterred and hits another Side Effect and gets another 2 count, he goes for a third, but Page counters to a backslide for 2. Hardy shuts down more offense from Page and goes for the Twist of Fate, but Page gets out and hits a short powerslam for 2. Hardy goes for the Side Effect a third time, but Page gets a nice reversal to a victory roll for 2. Hardy backdrops Page out to the apron, Page nails him and goes up top, but Hardy dodges a flying bodypress and hits the Twist of Fate for the win without even hooking a leg.
Winner: Matt Hardy
Pretty good opener, Page got a lot of offense and looked competitive.
Strap Match: Silas Young vs Mark Briscoe
Young is now sporting a hairy chest to go with his real man character. Mark Briscoe is sporting a longer beard every time I see him. It’s the Battle of the Hairiest Dudes In ROH! Young doesn’t appreciate the streamers like usual, but the fans in turn aren’t really appreciating him. Both guys get strapped together and proceed to pummel each other with right hands. Mark seriously looks like he’s spent weeks in the mountains, but even if he has, he’s still sharp enough to nail Young with the strap and knock him out to the floor. Mark goes out after him, but Young uses the strap to yank Mark back and forth from barricade to barricade. They go back inside and Mark ducks a punch and pops Young over with a gargoyle suplex. He follows that up with a vertical suplex and unleashes Redneck Kung Fu as I wonder whether they have to touch all four corners or pin the opponent to win this. Mark must be reading my mind because he starts doing the corners, but only gets to 2 before Young yanks the strap, which is running between Mark’s legs, so hard that Mark does a full front flip into a back bump. Young uses the strap to short clothesline Mark, then they go back out to the floor where they do more stuff I can’t see. They come back inside and Young lashes the strap around Mark’s ankles and tries to drag him from corner to corner, but Mark puts up a fight and Young turns around and gives him a shot with the strap. Mark recovers and unleashes more Redneck Kung Fu, then starts BEATING on Young with the strap before hitting a rolling Samoan drop. Mark goes to the top rope, pauses to soak in the fan admiration, then hits Froggy Bow. He goes to the corners and gets to 3 before Young stumbles around and falls out of the ring, landing just far enough from the fourth corner that Mark can’t get to it. Mark goes after Young and winds up getting the strap wrapped around his neck by Young, who proceeds to Beell him to the floor. They go back inside and Young picks Mark up in a fireman’s carry while going around to all the corners, with Mark tagging the corners behind him. They get to the fourth corner and Mark drops behind Silas and tries using the strap to pull him away from the corner, but Young grabs onto the referee and uses him to pull himself to the fourth corner to get the win.
Winner: Silas Young
Really good match, and they took some really nasty bumps in this one.
IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs Adrenaline Rush
The crowd informs the Bucks of what they like to do with their mouths in their spare time as Matt and ACH go at it. ACH does flippy stuff and cheapshots Nick off the apron, then tags in Tadarius for a double back elbow and a 2 count. Tadarius gets a rolling snapmare and a swinging kick for 2. Tadarius mocks the Bucks by doing their muscle pose, gets backdropped to the apron, and gets caught by a double team from the Bucks, who take a shot at ACH for good measure. The Bucks trap Tadarius in their half of the ring and work him over, hitting the hiptoss into a double cartwheel dropkick. Nick does a double cartwheel handspring into a chest rake, but Tadarius finally gets away and tags in ACH, who goes nuts hitting spotspotspotspotspotspot. They take turns hitting one dive after another to the floor, then come inside for a superkick party. The Bucks hit six or seven Epsenhart Specials, then a series of double teams on ACH and cover for 2. ACH foils a double team attempt and punts Matt in the head and then covers for 2, and Thomas foils a double team as well and suplexes Nick out of his boots. The Bucks knock the hell out of Adrenaline Rush with more superkicks, then the buckle bomb/enziguiri combo. They set up More Bang For Your Buck, Thomas escapes it, but gets his shoulder run into the ringpost. Thomas is blocking More Bang For Young Buck by holding onto the rope, so Nick double stomps his arm instead and goes out to the apron to put ACH in the face. Nick springboards off the top rope for an assisted tombstone, but ACH breaks up the pinfall at 2 and does a double Frankensteiner that sends both Bucks to the floor. ACH nearly kills himself when the Bucks nail him during a plancha attempt, and the Bucks put Thomas away with More Bang For Your Buck.
Winners: Young Bucks
Lots of action in this one, it got really spotty a lot of the time, but there isn’t a team right now with better chemistry and crisper double teams than the Young Bucks.
Stretcher Match: Kevin Steen vs Michael Bennett
Steen charges Bennett and kills him with a clothesline in the corner, bollowed by a cannonball and another clothesline that sends Bennett flying over the top rope to the floor. Steen goes out after him and gets whipped into the barricade, and I must have missed it, but it looks like Bennett got busted open hardway at some point because he has blood running down the back of his head. Steen regains control and repeatedly picks Bennett up as if going for an atomic drop, but runs his ding ding into the ringpost instead. Steen rolls Bennett inside and brings a chair in with him, but Bennett gets ahold of the chair and starts working Steen over with it. Steen ducks a chairshot and gives Bennett the Codebreaker using the chair, then puts the chair over Bennett in the corner and hits the running cannonball. Bennett hoists Steen up and hits a TKO, but the crowd reminds Bennett of what they think of him as he goes for a piledriver. Steen backdrops him, Bennett responds with a superkick, but Steen pops Bennett up into a powerbomb and hits the package piledriver. Steen rolls Bennett onto the stretcher and two heavily muscled gentlemen start to carry him to the back, but Maria blocks them from leaving. Steen casually dives over the top rope and hits a somersault senton onto Bennett, then pummels him with the stretcher. Steen dumps Bennett into the ring and gets a mic to inform Maria…well, I’ll just quote him: “Listen bitch, if you don’t want him to leave, then I guess I’ll just have to beat him until he can’t stand up anymore.” That plan doesn’t seem to work, because Bennett gets ahold of the chair and starts hammering Steen with it Wrestlemania X-7 style. Bennett then gets the spot of the night as he puts the chair over Steen’s package, then piledrives it with a second chair. Well, looks like something might not be standing up anymore, but it’s not Bennett! Bennett hits a spinebuster, then goes out to the apron to try for the killer piledriver. Steen keeps his base and tries for a package piledriver, but Bennett blocks and hits the Box Office Smash off the apron. They’re across the ring from me so I couldn’t tell if they went through a table or just landed on the floor, but Bennett rolls in and gets a nice long rest before Steen is able to haul himself inside. Bennett immediately swoops in and hits the piledriver, then picks Steen up and goes for a second one, but Steen gets fired up by Ole chants and plants Bennett with a brainbuster. Steen sets up a chair and goes to package piledrive Bennett through it, Maria gets in the ring to try and stop him, but Steen knows it’s just a distraction and nails Bennett when he comes in, then lays him out with a Stunner before hitting him with a package piledriver. Steen sets up his annual Final Battle Chair Platform, picks Bennett up, and package piledrives him through it. The referee has seen enough and stops the match.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Now THAT was a hell of a finish! As a result of this loss, Bennett can no longer use the piledriver in ROH. Maria gets in the ring and slaps Steen, but Steen just shakes his head and holds the ropes open for her to leave. She starts to exit the ring, but Steen grabs her by the hair, drags her back to the middle of the ring, and gives her the package piledriver. Steen, the master of the verbal exclamation point, gets a mic and says “Merry Christmas, bitch!”
INTERMISSION
Prince Nana comes out to the ring to start the second half, puts over his brother Nelson Mandela, and talks about how he signed two of the best wrestlers in the world, Homicide and Eddie Kingston, and brought them back to Ring of Honor. He’s interrupted by reDRagon, and Fish says that he thinks Nana’s having a little too good of a time and thinks he needs some of what Nana is smoking. He says that Outlaw Inc isn’t bringing the title home, then they proceed to attack Nana and lay him out with Chasing The Dragon. Outlaw Inc’s music hits and they come out of the crowd and attack reDRagon to start the next match.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match: reDRagon vs Outlaw Inc
Homicide works O’Reilly over and then tags Kingston in to hit a double stomp, yank O’Reilly’s shirt over his head, and lay a further beating on him. O’Reilly is in trouble as he continues to get double teamed by Kingston and Homicide, but Fish grabs Kingston’s foot and drags him out to the floor. O’Reilly joins him and they try to double team Kingston, but Homicide joins the fray and they lay O’Reilly out and chase Fish into the ring. reDRagon quickly regains control by dumping Kingston out to the apron where O’Reilly drills him with a leaping enziguiri before hitting the running dropkick off the apron. O’Reilly dumps Kingston back inside and they trap him on their side of the ring and work him over for the next several minutes. O’Reilly pummels Kingston with a series of quick strikes, but he dodges a charge from O’Reilly and then nails Fish with a leaping enziguiri and dives for the tag…JUST as O’Reilly yanks Homicide off the apron and out of range of the tag. They go back to working Kingston over, but Kingston hits the roll of the dice on O’Reilly, suplexes him into the corner, rolls under a kick from Fish, and makes the hot tag. Homicide comes in like a house of fire, destroying Fish and monkey flipping him across the ring before nailing a running clothesline for 2. Homicide goes for Iconoclasm, but Fish doesn’t seem to realize what move he was taking and ends up taking a face bump. Homicide follows that up by cracking O’Reilly with a leg lariat, then he and Kingston wipe both of reDRagon out with stereo dives to the floor. They come back inside and Homicide hits the Three Amigos on Fish, but O’Reilly comes in and drills him with a huge kick and mocks him by doing the Eddy Guerrero shimmy. reDRagon hits a series of double teams and a kneedrop version of Demolition’s old finisher, but Homicide gets out at 2. O’Reilly mocks Homicide as he gets to his feet, but Homicide suddenly pops up and hits an Ace Crusher, then Kingston nails O’Reilly with a diving forearm and covers for 2. The referee clearly puts himself in position to take an errant blow from Kingston, who then knocks O’Reilly out with the spinning backfist. Fish comes right in and knocks Kingston out with a kick to the skull, then Homicide dumps Fish out to the flor as the fans, who haven’t appreciated the action in this one, chant for them to end this match. Fish slides one of the belts in and Kingston grabs it, and the referee gets distracted paying attention to them and doesn’t notice fish nail Homicide with a chair before hitting Chasing The Dragon for the win.
Winners: reDRagon
They tried, but they just never seemed to get going in this one and the fans turned on it halfway through. Kingston doesn’t look happy and mouths some very bad words at the crowd before telling Homicide to do what he’s gotta do, and Homicide lays a ringside attendant out with the Cop Killa. He tells the fans not to clap for that (so of course they do), and he says they tried to play by all us suckas’ rules, and now they’re going to do things their way.
What follows is a scary scene that saw Homicide and Kingston go out into the crowd and get in the faces of the fans who were getting on their case. In a scene I thought I’d never see, the New York fans turned on Homicide and Kingston as they proceeded to challenge fans to fights and toss guardrails and garbage pails around in the crowd area. Security actually had to hold a couple of guys back as the crowd chanted “you still suck” at them. Not a pretty scene, and the crowd was unjustly rough on them in my opinion. The match wasn’t good, but wasn’t so bad to deserve that response.
TV Title Match: Matt Taven vs Tommaso Ciampa
Ciampa grabs Taven as he makes his entrance and German suplexes him out of his shoes. Taven nails Ciampa with a leg lariat as the crowd chants “this is better” and then dumps Ciampa out to the floor. The crowd now chants “Pauly Shore” at Taven as he goes for a dive, but Ciampa nails him on the way out, then proceeds to absolutely squash Taven, bringing him back in the ring and just pummeling him with almost no offense from Taven. Ciampa goes for the running knees in the corner and Scarlett throws herself over Taven to try and stop Ciampa, but he hits the running knee anyway and knocks her out cold. Truth Martini comes in and is quickly flattened with Project Ciampa, then the other girl (whose name escapes me) makes faces at him and comes off the top rope with a flying headscissors. Taven quickly hits a frogsplash and makes a cover, but Ciampa kicks out at 2 and rolls Taven right into the Rings of Saturn. Taven tries to escape, but has nowhere to go and submits away the TV Title.
Winner and new ROH TV Champion: Tommaso Ciampa
Now THAT was a squash! Ciampa laid waste to the entire House of Truth enroute to a diminant title win that lasted all of maybe five minutes.
Nigel McGuinness comes out before the mystery partner match and says that one man had begged for the chance to be in this match, and he said something that really registered with Nigel that he didn’t get to go out on his terms and never had a proper final match. Eddie’s mystery partner for the evening is…
Roderick Strong & Jay Lethal vs Eddie Edwards & BJ Whitmer
Whitmer starts the match off and has a good go with Lethal before Eddie and Roderick tag in and have their own sequence. Roderick catches BJ with a hard shot and tags out to Lethal, who tries a crossbody, BJ catches him, Lethal slips out of his grasp and unloads with several shots and hits a leg lariat. BJ and Lethal go back and forth fighting over a waistlock before Lethal hits the hiptoss/cartwheel dropkick combo. Lethal and Strong continue working BJ over, and BJ is on the mat clutching his head as he continues to take stomps and elbow shots from Lethal. Lethal takes Whitmer to the corner and nails a series of chops, but BJ evades a leapfrog and powerslams Lethal. He tries to make the tag, but Lethal pulls him back to the corner and tags in Roderick, who wraps Whitmer up in an abdominal stretch. Roderick smirks at the fans as they mockingly chant his name, and Whitmer takes the opening to roll Strong into a pinning combination for 2. BJ snaps Strong over with a powerslam and makes the hot tag, and Edwards comes in and cuts into Lethal like a hot knife through butter, tearing into him with chops before knocking Roderick into next week with a running boot. Edwards hits the backpack driver for 2 and then twists Lethal into the Achilles Lock. Lethal reverses to a small package for 2, then blocks a superkick and hits the Lethal Combination for 2. Strong comes in and nails Eddie with a series of strikes before hitting the Hacker Slam for 2. Strong with a cradle backbreaker for 2 on Edwards, then winds up trading chops with BJ until Edwards comes back in and turns Roderick inside out with a full rotation suplex. Whitmer suplexes Lethal into the corner, then everyone is nailing everyone with hard shots one after the other. Eddie ducks a charge and Roderick goes out to the floor as Lethal dumps BJ, then they stop to look at each other and hit stereo dives onto each other’s partners. They do it again and tease doing it a third time, but Lethal tricks Eddie and hits the Lethal Injection, BJ lays Lethal out with a big boot, then Roderick BJ with the sick kick and everyone’s down. Eddie and Roderick are up first trading forearms in the middle of the ring, Roderick nails Eddie with an enziguiri and puts him up top, Lethal superkicks BJ off the apron, and Strong superplexes Eddie and puts him right in position for Hail To The King. Lethal blows Eddie a kiss, hits the elbow, and Roderick makes a cover…for 2. Mike Johnson just told me Davey Richards just came to the ring at the CZW show as BJ hits the swinging fisherman’s suplex and set up Edwards to cover for 2. Lethal rams BJ into the barricade as Eddie and Roderick starts trading hard chops in the middle of the ring. Roddy stops to let his chest stop stinging, realizes his nose is bleeding, and nails Eddie with a chop. Now Eddie pauses as BJ and Lethal go at it on the floor and chops Strong back. They continue chopping back and forth until Roderick nails a series of forearms, a leaping kneestrike, more forearms, then hits the Gibson Driver for 2. Eddie kicks out and Roderick twists him right into the Stronghold. The fans chant please don’t tap as Eddie escapes the hold and rolls Strong up for the win.
Winners: Eddie Edwards & BJ Whitmer
All four men shake hands and hug after the match, and Lethal puts Eddie over and says how proud he is, and that he’s going to leave so Eddie can have his moment. Lethal leaves (without Roderick, interestingly), and Eddie says he’s going to keep it short and he knows it sucks outside (referring to the weather), but it means a lot to him that everyone came here. He then turns to BJ and puts him over as well, says he’s been an inspiration and a role model for him, and it while he’s going off to do whatever he ends up doing, BJ’s career got cut short. It’s not right that it ended this way, but it means a lot that BJ would team with him in his last match. He hugs BJ, then BJ says something I didn’t quite catch…and nails Eddie. Strong suddenly pops up and nails Eddie with a leaping kneestrike and then BJ dumps him on his head with an exploder suplex. Jimmy Jacobs comes out with a mic and says he’s sick of seeing guys like Eddie thank people before going somewhere else. He’s seen guys like Eddie come and go for the last decade, and for the last decade, there have been three guys who have been the constant. Final Battle is Eddie’s farewell, and he’s going to send him on his way. Strong and BJ hold Eddie up and Jacobs nails him with the steel spike, then gets on top of Eddie and gouges the spike into his forehead before the three of them raise their arms to the crowd and leave. The crowd does “thank you Eddie” as Edwards is helped to the back. Well, I definitely didn’t see that angle coming, but I liked it!
ROH World Title Match: Adam Cole vs Jay Briscoe vs Michael Elgin
Briscoe and Elgin stare Cole down after the bell rings and Cole bails out to the floor, grinning at them as Elgin holds the ropes open for him. Cole stays on the floor, so Briscoe and Elgin turn their attention to each other. Cole tries to sneak up to the apron, Elgin sees him and goes after him, but Cole instantly bails back to the floor. Elgin and Briscoe trade shoulderblocks until Cole interjects himself and Elgin gets a rollup for 2, then it’s back to Briscoe and Elgin until Briscoe catches Cole off guard with a dive through the ropes. He tosses Cole back inside where Briscoe and Elgin take turns shoving each other out of the way to pummel Cole, then they decide to just both beat him up at the same time. They go back out to the floor where Cole rams Briscoe into the barricade, but Elgin grabs Cole and drags him back inside for the 60 second delayed suplex. Briscoe comes back in and goes after Elgin, but Elgin nails him with a leaping enziguiri, hangs Cole in the Tree of Woe, and German suplexes Briscoe onto him. Elgin and Briscoe trade shorts until Cole dumps Jay back out to the floor and goes at it with Elgin. Jay comes back in nails Elgin, gets backdropped out to the apron, and then Elgin backdrops Cole onto Briswcoe where Cole presumably was supposed to DDT Briscoe, but Briscoe came down right on top of his head and both men roll to the floor. That was a scary looking spot, but Cole comes back inside and proceeds to catch a further beating from Elgin, who puts Cole on the top rope for a superplex. Briscoe nails Elgin from behind and tries to electric chair him, but Elgin slips off his shoulders, rams him into the corner and crotches Cole, then whips Briscoe across the ring and charges, but Briscoe catches him and hits a Flatliner into the second turnbuckle. Briscoe kicks Cole out to the floor before turning his attention back to Elgin, nailing him with a double sledge for 2. Briscoe KILLS Elgin with a hard forearm that made a loud CRACK when it connected, then he hit a big boot that floors Elgin and covers for 2. Elgin slips out of a fireman’s carry and powerslams Briscoe, then atomic legdrops Cole onto him. Elgin puts Cole in a Boston Crab right on top of Briscoe and catches Briscoe in a camel clutch at the same time. All three men trade shots until Cole winds up on top of Elgin covering for 2, then covers Briscoe for 2. Now all three are back up going at it, but Elgin and Briscoe forget about Cole and go at each other long enough for Cole to nail them both with a double dropkick. They do the Tower of Doom spot and all three men slowly get to their feet as the referee counts, Jay superkicks Cole and then corner clotheslines both men, Cole gives him the fireman’s carry neckbreaker, Elgin nails Cole and deadlift suplexes him off his knees and then drops him in a sidewalk slam for 2. Cole rolls out to the apron and Elgin follows him out, goes for a powerbomb on the apron, Cole blocks, Elgin tries a German suplex and Cole blocks, but Elgin slips inside and nails Cole with a springboard enziguiri and deadlift superplexes him into the ring, setting Cole up so Briscoe can hit him with a top rope frogsplash and make a cover. Elgin breaks it up at 2 and Briscoe gives him a death valley driver for 2, then Cole gives Briscoe a brainbuster onto the knee for 2 and gets him in the figure four. Instead of breaking it up, Elgin goes to the top rope and hits Cole with the twisting senton he never hits and covers for 2. Elgin is ready to put Cole away and goes for the powerbomb, but Cole fireman’s carry neckbreakers him, takes his elbowpad off, and goes for the Canadian Destroyer out of the corner. Elgin catches him in midair and powerbombs him into Briscoe in the corner and goes for the sitout powerbomb, Cole slips out, but Elgin flattens both Briscoe and Cole with hard clotheslines. Elgin drags Briscoe to the center and covers for 2, and the crowd is solidly behind Elgin as he goes out to the floor and rams Cole back and forth between the barricade and the ring apron. He sets up a table and Elgin and Briscoe give Cole a double spinebuster through it before going back into the ring ot settle things between the two of them. The crowd is 50/50 as they trade forearms in the middle of the ring. Elgin goes for the powerbomb, Briscoe backdrops out and charges Elgin, but gets caught with the STJoe. Elgin goes for the twisting senton again and misses it this time, then Briscoe hits a neckbreaker for 2. Briscoe goes for the JAy Driller and Elgin backdrops into a bridge for a 2 count, Briscoe blocks Chaos theory, but Elgin hits a TKO into his knee and then rocks Briscoe with a bicycle kick before hitting a deadlift German suplex for 2. They go out to the apron and Elgin tells the broadcast team to move so he can put Briscoe through their table, but Briscoe blocks and they both end up going through the table. Cole rolls inside and has an “I can’t believe my good luck!” smile on as the referee counts both men, but then stops him and says he doesn’t want to win this way. While he’s distracting the referee, Matt Hardy runs down to ringside and gives Briscoe a Twist of Fate on the floor. He tries one on Elgin, but Elgin shoves him off into the barricade and goes back inside where he is met with a superkick and a Twist of Fate from Cole, who now appears to be allied with Hardy. He covers for 2 and then locks Elgin in a rear naked choke, but Elgin is up and nails Cole as Mark Briscoe comes down to ringside to go after Hardy with his brother. Elgin powerbombs Cole out of the ring onto all three of them, then comes out with a dive to take all four of them out. Elgin brings Briscoe back inside and goes for the powerbomb, Briscoe slips out and hits a Jay Driller for 2. He hits another one, but Elgin kicks out again at 2 and looks really fired up. Elgin pops up and spits at Briscoe, Briscoe nails him and goes for another Jay Driller, but Cole comes in and superkicks both men before rolling Elgin up for the win.
Winner: Adam Cole
Hardy grabs Jay’s title belt and knocks him out with it after the match, and Elgin tries to fight them off, but Hardy lays him out as well with the Twist of Fate. Hardy and Cole hug as the fans boo, but Chris Hero’s music hits and he comes out of the crowd, knocks Hardy out with a roaring elbow, then waits for Cole to turn around. He waves at Cole before nailing him with a mafia kick, pulls the golden elbow pad out of his tights, and uses it to knock Cole out cold. He gets a microphone and says this wouldn’t be Final Battle without Chris Hero, and he’s here to let ROH know that Chris Hero is back.
Really good show, the only disappointing match was the tag title match, and everything on here was good to excellent. Thumbs up for Final Battle 2013.
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