My Take: ROH Final Battle 2017

ROH Final Battle 2017

New York City, New York

Hammerstein Ballroom

On: PPV

Commentators: Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana

Dark Match

Tag Team Match

Cheeseburger & Delirious vs The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara)

Winners: The Dawgs

Dark Match

Normal Match

Jonathan Gresham vs Josh "The Goods" Woods

Winner: Jonathan Gresham

Match #1

Normal Match

Matt Taven (w/The Kingdom) vs Will Ospreay

Winner by pinfall: Matt  Taven (The Climax)

My Take: Great Match. I'm a big fan of fellow Bostonian, Taven who did some great work in this match. Ospreay matches are always fun. So I had a feeling that this match would deliver. I'm happy to see Taven pick up the win here as Ospreay is already at a level where a loss here wouldn't hurt and it would definitely benefit the very talented Matt Taven.

Match #2

Tag Team Match

The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson)

Winners: War Machine (Fallout on Daniels)

My Take: I've been a big Kaz fan for a long time. Also, shout out to Hanson since we're from the same city of Lynn. Daniels is awesome and Rowe is always fun to watch. So I was definitely looking forward to this match and it delivered. I hear tell that War Machine is on their way out so I was surprised to see them win here. 

Match #3

Non-Title

Normal Match

Jay Lethal vs The Villain Marty Scurll

Winner by pinfall: Jay Lethal (Lethal Injection)

My Take: I've really enjoyed this storyline of Scurll trying to bring out Lethal's old villainous ways. You very easily could have just said "this is guy one and this is guy two. They're some of the best talent we have. Let's just slap them on the card together". But no, they added a very intriguing layer to this match with just a simple theme of the current villain versus the former villain (who during his villainous peak held both ROH singles titles for well over a year or two). Lethal definitely out-villained the villain here with two inventive spots. The first one say Scurll try to do the Eddie Guerrero chair spot to get the ref to DQ Lethal. However, Lethal would take the chair and put it around his neck Pillman-style before falling to the mat himself. The ref then accosted Scurll who almost found himself DQ'ed. The second spot was the finish. Lethal grabbed one umbrella and looked to have intentionally missed whacking Scurll with it. The ref snatches it away and Lethal kicks Scurll down low while the ref is preoccupied. This leads to a Lethal Injection which led to the pinfall.

I really enjoy how Lethal's current babyface character remained intact by having him acknowledge that his villainous past is a part of him but also having him clearly feel like he is against and above this with the looks of irritation on his face. In a weird way, it's like Scurll won the mental battle since Lethal proved him right by having Jay feel like he had no other option but to use heel tactics.

Match #4

ROH World Tag Team Championships

Tag Team Match

The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)(c) vs Best Friends (Beretta & Chuckie T)

Winners and STILL ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Motor City Machine Guns

My Take: Good match here. The fans were firmly behind Best Friends so The Guns worked as the heels here. Not sure if they'll be heels going forward. Perhaps it would be an interesting new wrinkle in the act? I feel as though the MCMGs have been unjustly and unfairly standing in the shadows of The Young Bucks for the past few years. If this heel thing sticks, it might be just what the act needs. Chuckie piledrove Sabin through the match and rolled him up for Beretta to hit a follow up move but Sabin went for a pin with a bridge for the surprise victory. Sabin going for that pin after just having been piledriven kind of threw me off a bit but it was still a fun match.

Match #5

ROH World Television Championship

Four Corner Survival Match

Kenny King (c) vs Shane Taylor vs Silas Young (w/The Beer City Bruiser) vs Punishment Martinez

Winner and NEW ROH World Television Champion: Silas Young (Misery on Martinez)

My Take: Punishment Martinez reminds me of a more athletic and cooler looking Baron Corbin in the ring and Roman Reigns on the mic. Taylor is eliminated first after King hits him with an impressive Royal Flush, Martinez would be the one to capitalize with a Springboard Corkscrew Senton on Taylor for the pinfall elimination. Later on, King hits the Royal Flush on Martinez but is immediately nailed in the head by a beer bottle from Silas for the elimination. There will be a NEW ROH World Television Champion when this match is over. The finish of the match sees Silas Young drop Martinez with Misery on the shards of glass for the pinfall. Good to see Silas on the come-up.

Match #6

New York Tag Team Street Fight

Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer vs The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)

Winners: The Briscoes (3B & Froggy Bow through a table)

My Take: Great hardcore match. It was basically an ROH meets ECW match from the match style to the building they were in to the Sandman entrance tribute with the beer drinking on the balcony (sans Metallica). There was a stand off in the match where The Briscoes held kendo stricks and Bully and Dreamer were wielding steel chairs. They would abandon those chairs for a pair of toy lightsabers from under the ring. This was opening day for Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi so these guys made light of that (I was definitely watching that movie on more than one occasion causing my late viewing of this show. Perhaps I'll do my first movie review on this blog for TLJ soon). 

There was a spot near the end where Bully is holding a chair but gets nailed with another chair. The crowd reacted big to this since they've been working Bully's concussion angle really well. However, Bully immediately started to make his comeback which kind of negated the chair spot. I do this in WWE 2K18 all the time. You get beat down within an inch of your life and then press triangle for the immediate comeback.

The finish saw Bully douse a table with lighter fluid but The Briscoes would retake the advantage and place Bully on that table. They went for the 3B but the table didn't break (#IAmTheTable) but they would recover quickly as Mark hit a Froggy Bow through the table for the pinfall. Bully and Tommy basically passed the torch to The Briscoes here.

Ian Riccaboni brings out the Women of Honor and announces that in 2018 ROH will crown a Women of Honor Champion. Who's been reading my diary? I've been hoping for this for a long time. It gives these women more purpose on the show.

Match #7

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships

Scorpio Sky is on commentary

Six-Man Tag Team Match

BULLET CLUB (Hangman Page, Nick & Matt Jackson) vs Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee & Titan

Winners: BULLET CLUB (Rite of Passage Indytaker)

Post: Scorpio Sky checks on Flip as The Addiction runs in and lays out Bullet Club with low blows. Scorpio then flips off Flip (haha) then lays him out with what looked like a Jumping Cutter that the cameras missed. The Addiction then pose with Scorpio as it looks like The Addiction may have added a new man in their ranks.

My Take: This was my match of the night. I know that it had sparked some controversy for some of its spots (the multiple simultaneous dropkicks) but honestly I had no issued with it. It was a very well thought out, booked match. The finish saw Page holding Gordon and Titan simultaneously in a Tombstone Piledriver position and in a Rite of Passage position that The Bucks then used to deliver double Indytakers. 

The Scorpio turn may have been a little bit telegraphed as he (in between his silence) kept grumbling on commentary about how Flip Gordon didn't enlist his help in this match. I like this turn though, it gives Scorpio some added flavor that he wouldn't have had if the team with Gordon would have continued and it adds a new wrinkle to The Addiction.

Match #8

ROH World Championship

Normal Match

"The American Nightmare" Cody (c)(w/Brandi Rhodes) vs Dalton Castle (w/The Boys)

Winner and NEW ROH World Champion: Dalton Castle (Bang-a-Rang)

My Take: This was a fun, good match but I was kind of expecting it to be a little more better than it was. Cody dyed his hair, shades of his legendary father (and maybe Ric Flair as well?). As a fan, that little detail would constantly keep making me think that Cody was going to retain here. Also, Castle is great. He's the "Top Cock". He definitely has superstar written all over him. His matches are really good but I've been waiting for some blow away matches to occur and I had always assumed that Castle winning the ROH World Television Championship could be a catalyst for some next level Dalton Castle matches. However, he has skipped that TV Title level entirely and has captured the ROH World Championship. Will this add to his stature in the company and propel him further? Hopefully. I also assume that this means that Cody will lose to Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom since now the ROH World Championship won't be on the line.

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this show. Every match was a good time. I feel as though ROH is in some state of a transition period. As if they're trying to sculpt a new crop of buzzworthy guys after the exodus of Adam Cole, ReDragon, Kevin Owens, etc. and I think they've been succeeding. This is a weird analogy but Final Battle is considered to be ROH's WrestleMania. However, it felt more like a SummerSlam. I don't know what it was but I didn't get that "greatest show of the year" feel. It was definitely a really good show though.