Ring of Honor TV – November 30, 2016: Something About Final Battle
Ring of Honor
Date: November 30, 2016
Location: William J. Myers Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 600
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino, Alex Shelley
It’s the go home show for Final Battle 2016, meaning we’re a few weeks away from any interesting content. Ring of Honor continues to be all over the place with the build towards pay per views and I’m sure this will be exactly the same. Things have been up and down of late and I have a feeling that’s going to be the situation here. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Lio Rush vs. Jonathan Gresham
Feeling out process to start and Gresham annoys Lio with an errant forearm to the face. They hit the mat with the arms interlocking for a quick standoff. Lio lights up the chest with a hard kick but Gresham kicks the arm to even things out. An enziguri puts Rush on the floor and a middle rope moonsault is awkwardly caught as Lio almost looks like he tried for a Big Ending.
We go to a break and come back with the pace having slowed down a bit. Rush slaps him in the face and kicks him in the head (partially blocked), followed by a superkick to send him outside. Back in and Gresham rolls away before Lio can dive so they trade rollups for two each. That means a round of applause, followed by Rush Hour (C4) for two on Jonathan. It’s FIGHTING SPIRIT time so suplexes and C4’s mean nothing. Back to back Rush Hours finally keep Gresham down and a top rope elbow puts Jonathan away at 10:57.
Rating: C+. This is where you almost have to be an ROH fan to like the style. The lack of selling and all the strikes get old in a hurry but this was FAR easier to sit through than a lot of the other stuff this promotion and so many others like it have done over the years. Rush still doesn’t do much for me but he’s a much better fit now that ACH is gone.
Post match the Motor City Machine Guns come in and put both guys over.
Video on Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly with Kyle talking about how they’ll never be apart because Cole has started a war he can’t finish. Kyle still isn’t great on the mic but this is the best I’ve ever heard him talk.
We run down the Final Battle card.
Addiction vs. Briscoes
Jay and Kazarian start things off with the Briscoe taking him down off a headlock. A dropkick sends Jey into the corner so it’s off to the partners for more headlockery. I guess Mark learned by watching his brother. Mark and Daniels finally get in each others faces and it’s time for the big brawl. The Briscoes get the better of it (well duh) and the dives take us to a break.
Back with the Briscoes stomping on Kazarian until Daniels gets in a few elbows to the back of Mark’s head. The slow down begins with a Daniels waistlock but, as you might expect, the fans are still all the way behind the Briscoes. Kazarian’s spinning springboard legdrop gets two and we take a second break.
Back with Kazarian grabbing another waistlock. This one only lasts a few seconds before it’s back to Jay for all his usual stuff. Everything breaks down and Daniels hits his big suicide dive around the corner to take out Jay. Back inside and it’s Mark’s Redneck Kung Fu taking care of Kazarian, followed by a Rock Bottom suplex for two. Jay comes back in but the Doomsday Device is countered with a powerslam out of the air in a very Rick Steiner style counter. Not that it matters as the Jay Driller into the Froggy Bow give the brothers the win at 18:00.
Rating: B-. The opening drags it down a bit but the ending sequence was really good and that powerslam looked awesome. Above all else though the Briscoes won before their title shot so at least we don’t have #1 contenders going into their title shot on a loss. Good main event here though, which is a solid way to hype the show.
The Addiction actually shakes hands after the match.
Adam Cole talks about how he and Kyle O’Reilly came in together as Future Shock but only Cole has moved on to the main event. No matter how hard O’Reilly worked, he was always a step behind Cole. Why do we keep having to do this? It’s been proven time after time that Cole is the better man but we just have to do this one more time at Final Battle.
Overall Rating: C+. This was another awkward ROH go home show but the fact that they actually talked about the pay per view is an improvement. The main event got a strong push forward and the Briscoes are on a roll going into the show. Unfortunately the opening really didn’t matter but at least the last two thirds worked.
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Will you be reviewing Final Battle?
I hadn’t planned on it.