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Battle 2010
Date: December 18, 2010
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Dave Prazak
This is the final show from 2010 in Ring of Honor. Someone requested this months ago and I got really behind so it’s been sitting on my computer since February. There’s a double main event here with Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH World Title and the real main event of mask vs. ROH career in the final battle of Kevin Steen vs. El Generico which was called feud of the year by Meltzer, showing that once again he has little idea what he’s talking about (Cena vs. Nexus anybody?). Let’s get to it.
Davey says Final Battle is the beginning for him.
The Briscoes say Man Up.
Steen says if he loses he’s gone.
All Night Express vs. Kyle O’Reilly/Adam Cole
O’Reilly and Cole are young guys I’ve heard a lot about but have never actually seen. The Express recently turned face (in March that is. Still heels here) and have grown up on camera from comedy jobbers to a serious tag team. They’re Rhett Titus and Kenny King (Kenny from the second season of Tough Enough). Titus vs. O’Reilly to start us off. Kyle is a submission guy apparently.
O’Reilly hammers away and moves very quickly to take over and it’s off to Cole. Ok Cole has longer hair. Got it. Back elbow off the middle rope gets two for Cole. Reilly takes over so King pulls Titus to the floor. Kyle dives to the floor to try to take the Express out but they manage to catch him, only for Cole to dive on all three of them and take them down.
Back to the ring and it’s O’Reilly vs. Titus but King is in before I finish that sentence. The Express tags in and out very quickly. Double teaming sets up a spinwheel kick by King to take down Kyle for two. We hit the chinlock and it’s back off to Titus quickly. We get one of those relatively annoying contrived spots as O’Reilly hands King’s foot to Titus and leg drags Titus, making Titus leg drag King.
Hot tag to Cole who gets a DDT to King onto the apron. That always looks awesome. O’Reilly gets rolling butterfly suplexes to Titus although I’d question the amount of pain in them. Missile dropkick by O’Reilly from the apron takes down King on the floor as Cole hits a top rope cross body for two on Titus. King back in and some nice double teaming gets two on Cole. It was a hot shot by Titus to set up a double knee to the back by King so Titus could roll up Cole for two if you were curious.
Terrible kick by Cole but he gets caught in a suplex anyway so it didn’t get him anywhere. The superkicks start flying and everyone is down. Titus gets caught in the tree of woe and it’s a double baseball slide to his face. Cole and O’Reilly are a lot like the Guns but not as crisp. Titus pulls the rope down to send O’Reilly to the floor and a blockbuster/powerbomb combination ends Cole.
Rating: B. Nice fast paced tag match to open things up here but the total forgetting about tagging hurt it at the end. It turned into can you top this which is fine for an opener but I have a feeling that’s what it’s going to be in almost every match tonight. Fun match and a good way to open the show, but nothing we haven’t seen in a lot of other matches before.
TJ Perkins vs. Colt Cabana
Cabana has since won the NWA World Title. This is a scientific match or something like that. Perkins is a good technician apparently. He was more famous as Puma in TNA. TJ does some nice escapes to hit a dropkick and it’s a standoff. Colt tries to send Perkins through the ropes but can’t quite get him through. There’s another standoff so Colt grabs the arm.
Headscissor takeover by Perkins so Cabana does some exercises and a headstand. Cabana gets something similar to a cousin of a surfboard which he shifts into a body scissors. The dueling chants begin. This has been a scientific match which is a nice change of pace but at the same time it’s a bit boring. This is almost a recital than a match. Cabana manages to move into a Billy Goat’s Curse (reverse Boston Crab) but a rope is grabbed. They slug it out and Colt takes him down with a big elbow to the head. Out of nowhere Cabana grabs a sunset flip and grabs Perkins’ wrists for the pin.
Rating: C+. Like I said in the match itself this was fun but at the same time it got a bit too rehearsed for me. Definitely something different but they needed to have some more aggression in there to make it good. That’s why people watch wrestling: to see the fake feuds and stories rather than legit stuff like this.
Daizee Haze and Sara Del Ray talk about being taken seriously as wrestlers. They’re both bringing in tag partners tonight.
Sara Del Ray/Serena Deeb vs. Daizee Haze/Amazing Kong
Deeb is of course Serena from the Straightedge Society. The fans are way into Kong. Haze is dressed like Kong but she’s a bit slimmer. Sara vs. Haze to start us off. They go back and forth a bit until Haze gets a sloppy rana off the top. Deeb comes in and she prevents a tag to Kong. The fans chant for the ROH boy CM Punk as Haze hammers away.
Deeb gets a gutbuster for two and it’s back off to Del Ray. Abdominal stretch by Serena as Kong hasn’t been able to get in yet. It’s so weird hearing Kevin Kelly on commentary for the first time in about 13 years for me. In a nice counter, Haze gets out of the Tree of Woe by lifting up and hooking a cutter to bring in Kong to a ROAR.
Powerbomb is blocked as is a clothesline. Implant Buster puts Del Ray down but instead of a cover we get Haze in again. A backsplash gets two and Deeb gets destroyed by Kong and Haze. Everything breaks down again and Haze climbs up Del Ray to get a sunset flip for two. Del Ray gets her finisher, the Royal Butterfly (butterfly suplex into a powerslam) for two. Deep spears Kong out of nowhere and a Piledriver kills Haze dead for Del Ray to get the pin.
Rating: C. Not great here and appropriately enough after that big speech aboutbeing taken seriously, Haze is carried out after having the shortest match of the night. Not bad but really just kind of there at the end of the day. It’s certainly better than what the Divas and Knockouts have done recently, but nothing special at all.
Sonjay Dutt vs. Eddie Edwards
The place erupts for Edwards who is now the world champion but here is just the former TV Champion. I haven’t seen Dutt in a long time. Place is totally behind Edwards here to say the least. Technical stuff to start us off as Dutt grabs a bow and arrow hold which gets him nowhere. They dance around a bit with no one being able to get an advantage.
Dutt slaps Edwards in the face and then hits the floor, crawling under the ring. He sneaks up on Eddie, only to get chopped down hard. Dutt gets a Lionsault to the back of Eddie to take over. Sonjay likes to clap a lot. We hit the floor and talk about Haas and Benjamin for some reason. Eddie is in trouble but something tells me he’ll be just fine like nothing ever happened in a few seconds.
Back in and we hit the chinlock. Hey what do you know I was right about Eddie who hits a sitout F5. Into the corner and Sonjay is crotched on the top. Springboard rana gets two as the fans chant for Eddie again. Lots of counters and escapes follow, resulting in a half crab (called an Achilles hold here) by Eddie which is reversed into a small package. Top rope splash by Sonjay gets two.
Spinning DDT by Dutt and a standing shooting star gets two. Superkick to the ribs by Eddie followed by a Codebreaker from the middle rope. This is firmly into the ROH style and my boredom is building rapidly. They trade superkicks and a clothesline gets two for Eddie. Double stomp to the back gets no cover for Eddie as instead it’s a powerbomb into the 2K1 Bomb which is a leg hook brainbuster.
Rating: C-. They’re getting into the ROH style early here which I think spells bad news for the rest of the show for me. I’ve never been a fan at all of the whole kick out of everything and strikes all around and popping up after every move. It gets repetitive and makes the offense look weak in the process. Not bad, but did nothing for me at all.
We get an ad for the Glory By Honor with the Kings of Wrestling vs. Haas/Benjamin. The WWE guys say ROH is awesome and that was fun.
Jim Cornette talks to Haas and Benjamin who talk about their careers. This interview was taped at the Davis Arena, the home of OVW and where ROH had their TV tapings for a long time. This must be intermission as you can hear the fans chanting something. They make the announcement that they’re officially in Ring of Honor on a permanent basis.
A guy named Mike Bennett comes out in a suit and a guy who looks like a coach named Bob Sanders. Sanders has a chair, as in one you would have at a dinner table. The fans chant who are you.
Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide
Daniels is TV Champion but this is non-title. That annoying pest Julius Smokes is with Homicide here. Egads I don’t know who is more overrated and annoying here. The fans are kind of split here so they’re no help. The dueling chants begin and they’re rather loud. They trade headlocks and call some spots. Arm drags get no one anywhere either.
Daniels gets two off a snapmare of all things and we hit the chinlock in about 90 seconds. Now we’re talking about Waffle House for some reason. Apparently Bennett is the Prodigy and wants a title. They hit the floor and Daniels takes over with a moonsault. Back in that gets two. Backslide gets two for Daniels. I can barely hear the commentators. Three Amigos by Homicide gets an Eddie chant. They also get two.
Homicide sends him to the floor and it’s a tope con hilo from Homicide. Back in and a t-bone suplex with a bridge gets two for Homicide. Top rope splash eats knees though and Daniels looks at his hand. Spinarooni maybe? Homicide gets a suplex and a jumping knee to the back of the head from the middle rope for two. Homicide gets a submission on the neck but Daniels counters into a Crossface for a few seconds.
Cop Killer is reversed into a release Rock Bottom (screw that Uranage nonsense) but the Best Moonsault Ever misses. Homicide can’t get a tornado DDT so Daniels hits an enziguri and calls for Angels’ Wings. The ref is bumped though and Homicide throws his shirt at Daniels and a Diamond Cutter ends it. I don’t see the point of the ref bump at all but at least the finish was clean.
Rating: C. Just a match really but not as bad as I expected it to be. Daniels keeping the striking to a minimum is always a good thing and it certainly was here. Homicide is someone I’ve never gotten the appeal of either so this really was a bad match for me. Could have been worse though.
We recap the Briscoes vs. the Kings of Wrestling. In short, the Briscoes are brothers and they got beaten down for attacking the Kings’ associate Sarah Del Ray. The Kings’ manager Shane Hagadorn kicked one of them in the balls so the Briscoes’ dad (called Papa Briscoe) jumped the rail and beat up Hagadorn, setting up this.
Kings of Wrestling/Shane Hagadorn vs. Briscoes
The Briscoes are Papa, Jay and Mark and the Kings are Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. Papa says something to Hagadorn and is loudly booed. I can never remember which Briscoe is which. Ok Jay is starting here against Hero. Jay is completely bald and Mark has really short hair. That helps a lot. Jay controls early and lets Papa get in a chop of his own. Double teaming gets two for Mark.
Hagadorn tries to help and accidentally chops Hero. He’s like the third person to chop him so Hero is a bit annoyed to say the least. Mark grabs a rollup for two as we’re very early in the match still. Running boot by Mark for two. Off to Claudio now who accidentally chops Hagadorn to send him to the floor. The Briscoes (the younger ones that is) chop away at him for two.
Claudio is like screw this and suplexes Jay with ease. The Kings get a double back drop/suplex for two on Jay and it’s off to Hagadorn. It’s the modern day Bobby Heenan as he hammers away and can’t get anywhere. It’s time for Papa vs. Shane as the tags are going way too fast here. Some terrible stomps by Papa and it’s off to Claudio again. Papa actually gets a rana for two!!! WOW!
Sara had to make the save so Papa dips her back and kisses her which I think she likes. Del Ray is GONE according to the referee, drawing a big old pop. Now the fans are behind the Kings which is kind of odd as they’re the faces here. Mark gets double teamed in the corner and the Kings take full control. Off to Hagadorn who gets the roaring elbow ala Hero to Mark. And then he runs. Well you can’t say he’s not intelligent.
Hagadorn comes in again, hits a European uppercut and is gone. I told you he’s like Bobby Heenan. Papa runs in to break up a hold by Hero and it’s off to Claudio again. Good night is he strong. Powerslam gets two after a chinlock. Mark manages to escape some double teaming and it’s lukewarm tag to Jay. Downward Spiral into the middle rope and a middle rope boot get two.
Claudio vs. Jay now with Jay being tossed into the air and Claudio trying a European Uppercut, which is one of his big moves. It misses by about 9 inches but it’s sold anyway, getting two. Riccola Bomb (arm trap powerbomb) is reversed into a Death Valley Driver by Jay for no cover as instead he brings in Mark. Not a horrible idea. Mark and Claudio slug it out and it’s a double clothesline to send them both down.
Papa vs. Hagadorn again and Shane takes the straps down because Hero is behind Papa. They set for a low blow but everything goes insane and it’s kicks either to the balls or head/chest all around. Papa spears Shane down so his boys can hit stereo tope con hilos to the Kings. Papa teases a dive but Hagadorn trips him up. Rolling Elbow kills Papa and the fans cheer for Hero. Nice people there. Jay breaks up the Kings’ finisher on Papa and Papa gets a Stunner on Claudio! Doomsday Device with PAPA (his name is Mike apparently) playing Hawk gets the pin on Hagadorn. Good looking clothesline too.
Rating: B-. All things considered, this was good. Hagadorn has training but is a manager. Papa isn’t a wrestler but did ok here considering he knew all of two moves (observation, not criticism). There was no way the Briscoes would lose here and everyone knew it, but the manager got pinned so the Kings don’t lose any credibility. This was fine and even good at times.
Davey Richards talks about being reborn here. Isn’t he supposed to be retired now? It’s the same “I’m still here” promo he seems to always do.
We get clips of Truth Martini brainwashing Roderick Strong with various babbling. Roderick said something about Davey’s grandfather and it got under Davey’s skin apparently.
ROH World Title: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong
Strong is the heel champion here. The fans chant Best in the World for Richards. I’ve always been a fan of Strong so this isn’t a total loss for me. Richards is likely going to be doing the ROH style, meaning I’ll be bored quickly. There’s the bell and the fans are immediately chanting for Richards. They grab each other and go into the corner as we’re in a total feeling out process here which is fine.
Some mat work gets no one anywhere. To the mat for some counters and Richards has a very slight advantage. He grabs a modified bow and arrow hold which is reversed into the same hold by Strong. Indian Deathlock goes on for Richards and Strong’s leg gets stretched a bit. We get the Benoit hold where the Indian Deathlock is still on and it’s a bridging reverse crossface.
Ankle lock by Richards as this is submission central at the moment. Cross armbreaker gets Davey nowhere. We unleash come kicks and another cool hold before more kicks get two. Richards likes to kick. Northern lights suplex gets two. We hit the floor and it’s all Davey here. Running big boot to the face of Strong and the champion is in big trouble. They go into the ring for maybe 2 seconds and we’re back to the floor again.
Strong takes over again and fires in elbows to the head. Leg lariat gets two. They slug it out again and down goes Richards again. More striking commences and Strong counters a handspring enziguri with a baseball slide in a cool spot. Dropkick puts Strong on the floor again but only for a second. Now he’s out there again, making it twice in 5 seconds. Big dive by Richards and they’re down in the crowd.
They slug it out for about the fourth time with Davey getting a suplex for two and an armbar which gets him nowhere. More strikes follow and a swan dive gets two for the challenger. Cross armbreaker to Strong gets Richards nowhere again. Strong wakes up and hits a Falcon Arrow for two. Roderick gets the Stronghold (Boston Crab, finisher) and Richards is in trouble. The fans tell him not to tap in rhythmic succession of course.
We strike it out for about the thousandth time and Richards kicks Strong a lot. German suplex gets two. Belly to back off the top gets no cover because Richards isn’t that smart. Lariat gets two. Big kick gets two so Richards throws on an ankle lock which makes no sense but whatever. Strong taps but Truth Martini has the referee. Shooting Star Press gets two for Richards.
They go up to the top rope again and Roderick gets a half nelson backbreaker onto the ropes. Why not a suplex off the top is beyond me but whatever. They slug it out on the apron and Davey is dropped through a table and takes a Gibson Driver (release tiger bomb) on the floor.
Richards is thrown into the crowd and Strong heads back in. Richards is back in at 19 (20 counts in ROH remember) and a Gibson Driver sets up the Stronghold again. That gets rolled through into another ankle lock but Strong reverses into one of his own. Richards counters into a Texas Cloverleaf as my head hurts again. Crossface by Strong is reversed into a rollup for two.
Gibson Driver by Richards gets two and it’s back to the ankle lock. Davey lets go of the hold and has something wrong with him. Backbreaker and a big boot (Sick Kick apparently) gets two and it’s another backbreaker. More kicks get two. Liontamer goes on and Richards passes out to end it.
Rating: B-. Yeah go ahead and jump down my throat for it. I’ve never been a fan of these types of matches at all. Every main event guy in ROH seems to have about 19 finishers or signature moves and the last ten minutes of every match is nothing but kicking out of/reversing them. Also, we get it: you can kick each other and throw forearms. I’ll never get the obsession with strikes in this company. Long match that needed to have about 8-10 minutes chopped out, which you can say about every main event match in ROH.
Davey takes awhile to get out. Not sure if it’s legit or a great selling job. If it’s legit, no issues with them taking a few minutes to get him out.
We recap Kevin Steen vs. El Generico. This was a year long feud with them starting as tag partners. Steen turned heel with a huge chair shot and recently ripped the mask off of Generico. Steve Corino and Colt Cabana got involved for awhile also. This is mask vs. career in ROH and is the final battle for them.
Kevin Steen vs. El Generico
The fans chant feud of the year which Meltzer agreed with apparently. Steen offers a handshake but gets spit on. Steen spits back as we’re told this isn’t sanctioned and is more or less anything goes. Steen is sent to the floor immediately and the fans seem to be behind Generico. The fat guy (Steen) is sent into the railing and then back into the ring.
Generico finds a chain from somewhere and blasts Steen in the face a few times with it. Mafia kick with the chain around the face of Steen has Generico in control. Steen goes under the ring for a bit to blade. Table time as it bounces off the head of Kevin. Steen tends to sit there and breathe a lot. Somebody get that boy a Twinkie before he passed out!
A ladder is pulled out and it also goes into the head of Steen. Steen is of course fine and grabs a powerbomb to the apron. He takes the time to write out DIE in his own blood and licks it off. Ok then. Steen takes the ROH signs off the barricade and piles them onto Generico for a splash off the apron. A full barricade is picked up and launched at Generico, missing for the sake of avoiding death.
Generico gets a backdrop on the floor to take over. Back in and the ladder is broken when Generico bounces off of it. Steen paints his blood on Generico’s back and goes for the mask which gets him nowhere. They slug it out and Steen counters a rana into a powerbomb for no cover. I can live with that as this is more about fighting than winning. A chair is brought in which is the big symbol of the whole feud.
The mask is ripped at even more and he gets a good chunk off over Generico’s right eye. They fight over the chair and it’s a Codebreaker into the chair by Steen. Generico’s eye is busted and Steen has the mask he pulled off at the last show. Steen licks Generico’s blood. Nice guy. Chain to the head of Generico and Steen yells at him a lot. El manages to figth back with a slam onto the ladder and it’s time for an OLE chant. It’s making me want salsa.
T-Bone exploder suplex into the ladder by Generico and the ladder is all deformed. Half nelson suplex onto the ladder gets two. To the floor and Generico gets a running start, only to have a sign slammed into his head. A metal sign that is. Kevin sets a ladder like a platform between the ring and the barricade. A table is put on top of the ladder. Since this takes FOREVER, Generico gets up and gets a tornado DDT to the floor while diving between the gap between the ladder and table which looked good.
Superkick by fat boy and a chair is set up. Since Steen set it up he winds up crushing it. That and a brainbuster gets two. Generico winds up on the table on top of the ladder but when Steen goes for a splash through it, he channels his inner Flair and is slammed straight through it. Package Piledriver gets two on Steen. Brainbuster on the apron gets two as Corino comes in for the save.
Old School Expulsion puts Generico down and the referee gets in Corino’s face. So much for him as Steve puts him down. Corino grabs the chair that started all of this (how do they know it’s that one?) but Colt Cabana comes down for the save. A Cabana chair shot to Steen gets two and those two leave. Steen keeps spitting at Generico so Generico accidentally dropkicks the referee through a table.
Package Piledriver to Generico gets two via the new referee. Package Piledriver to the second referee and it’s back to the chair. The same move on the chair gets two via a third referee. Steen takes him to the top but gets reversed and Generico gets the Brainbuster on the corner which is his finishing move for two. That’s the first time he managed to get it on Steen. Generico picks up the chair that started it all and Steen holds up the original mask. Generico drops the mask and caves his head in with the chair to put Steen out of ROH.
Rating: B. Well if they wanted to blow off a feud this was a pretty good method of doing so. The chair is a nice touch and it was a good wild brawl. It shouldn’t have gone 30 minutes as there is a lot of time where it just drags badly. It’s definitely good, but thirty minutes is WAY too long. Make this 20 minutes and it’s far better. Ending was solid though.
The fans chant match of the year. Give me a break. They then chant for the deranged psychopath, out of respect apparently.
A weird mini-argument with Truth Martini and Strong ends this. Incredibly odd placement there.
Overall Rating: C. This is the weakest ROH show I’ve reviewed I think. It’s not terrible but I have very little desire to see where any of this goes or any more from these people. It’s not great and I still don’t like their style, but it’s clear that they’re trying very hard. This company doesn’t try to pretend it’s a huge deal like TNA and it makes it a much more enjoyable show. That being said, this wasn’t incredibly good and it didn’t have any great matches on it. Not bad, but I like their stuff from a year ago more.
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