Four Corner Survival: Hanson def Mark Briscoe/Jimmy Jacobs/Caprice Coleman with the spin kick
All four guys got to show their signature stuff but it was clear that Hanson was being showcased the most. Decent wrestling to start off the show. Some fun stuff including Hanson catching Jimmy Jacobs flying over the top rope, kicked Coleman down, but got blockbustered by Mark Briscoe from the apron with Jacobs still in his arms. This match seemed to go pretty long given that it had the least amount of significance from a storyline standpoint. Can only assume ROH wanted to show that they aren’t other mainstream companies that have seven minute openers. Hanson gets the pin with his spin kick on Coleman.
Roderick Strong def Adam Page w/ BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs via ref stoppage with Page in the Strong Hold
Jimmy Jacobs opening promo including using the phrase “the brass ring” had to be an acknowledgement to what Vinny Mac said on the SCSA podcast. BJ Whitmer interrupted the promo and clearly declared that Page is going to be a full fledged member. Teased a little tension before the match starts.
Good technical wrestling in this. Page more than held his own against Roderick and probably impressed a few people. Roderick focused on the back (shocking right?). This match was good and was glad to see Page getting a shot in ROH to have a longer match against a top talent. Page put on a valiant effort but Roderick won with the strong hold. BJ Whitmer begged Page to not tap but Strong put his knee into Page’s back for added pressure. Page wouldn’t tap but the ref stopped the match. Afterwards Jacobs shook hands with Page and BJ took Steve Corino’s headset to antagonize Corino even more. No clue where that’s going or if it’s just an ongoing kinda joke.
Michael Elgin def Tommaso Ciampa with a double arm DDT
Ciampa continues to have a great ring entrance. Just wish ROH would do more with him than this weird storyline about being angry at ROH and being a heel… I mean face against Elgin. Whatever. Both men shake hands before the match starts which essentially turns into a slugfest of elbows and more. I like it, it’s supposed to be a fight and they didn’t start it with a collar-n-elbow tie up. Ciampa essentially pulled the same “plum hold” that he uses in PWG here on Elgin and the ref allowed it (in case you’re wondering he basically cupped Elgin’s lower region). After battling outside Elgin tried to put Ciampa through a table at ringside but Ciampa reversed it into an air raid crash on the apron for a two count. Ciampa inadvertently hit the ref and knocked him out. Nigel went to the back after Ciampa tried to plead his case about the zero tolerance. Elgin hit the double arm DDT for the pinfall. It was a good brawl and more deliberate than most but hopefully both men move on to different things.
They announce that 13th Anniversary will be live on PPV March 1st 2015.
The Young Bucks & ACH def The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) & Cedric Alexander with a Meltzer Driver/450 combo
There was the obligatory ‘superkick’ chant. This was a really fun match, probably what everyone would expect from these six men. Lots of fun things with new twists including the Young Bucks doing their head-capture kick from the apron or the Addiction doing their H-Bomb variation on the floor which got a holy shit chant (for some reason). Even with Corino having a few schnarky/insider comments about ACH, he really delivered in this for the crowd and hopefully ROH knows what they have with him. Cedric Alexander continued to impress with his abilities/selling.
Moose w/ Stokley Hathaway & Prince Nana def RD Evans w/ Veda Scott with the spear
RD Evans slaps Moose to start the match which was probably not the best idea. Moose basically just destroyed him in this match including swinging Evans into the ringside metal panels. Veda Scott eventually came down to the ring. Moose is coming along and while he’s still doing basic stuff, at least the story telling was there though not sure the match should have gone on as long as it did. It should have been a squash or very similar to the Ciampa/Taven match. RD Evans tried a slingshot three times and essentially screwed it up, flopping into the ring. It happens but luckily the match didn’t progress much longer past it. Veda Scott came into the ring and she turned on ED Evans and it allowed Moose to defeat Evans with the spear. Nana got in the ring after and ran down Evans and his revenge is complete.
ROH World TV Championship: Jay Lethal w/ Truth Martini & Jay Diesel def Matt Sydal with a Lethal Injection
Good back and forth in this match with some unique striking and counter moves from both men. A good match that hopefully showed a lot of newer fans how ROH has some of the best wrestling going on in the US. I had some streaming issues with this match and the one previous but it would get better slightly and sometimes get worse which probably took away from my enjoyment of the match. We even saw the return of the twinkies chant at Todd Sinclair for a small moment. Truth Martini at one point got involved by pulling the ref out of the match. While it’s a small consequence as to why it’s not a DQ it allowed Lethal to turn Sydal’s SSP into a cutter follwed by the Lethal Injection to retain the TV title. Good match but the ending was weak.
ROH World Tag Titles: reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) def Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) to retain
While I can’t say this was very different from the other two matches these men have had, it was still a great match. Much like the Young Bucks, I’ve never really understood the criticism that these guys all have similar matches together. It may be true and if you’re watching them all in a row or see them too often within a short amount of time then I get it, but when the matches aren’t close in time proximity then it’s just a fun affair no matter what promotion. reDRagon retained via submission when Kyle had KUSHIDA in armageddon.
ROH World Title: Jay Briscoe def Adam Cole to retain
The match started off hot and heavy as Jay instantly hit a Jay Driller for a 2 count followed by a double stomp thru Adam Cole on top of a table. Cole hit an unprotected chair shot and while I don’t like that kinda stuff, you can see why they would pull something like that out for Final Battle. The match even had Cole staple paper to Jay’s head. Even little spots like Cole taking the time to say ADAM COLE BAYBAY and getting pulled into the ringpost instead of hitting a low blow is just so fun. This is the kind of story telling I think most ROH fans will talk about and certainly makes main events like this great. Hopefully this gets the same discussion as some Wrestlemania matches. Thumbtacks and everything was used in this match (yes, albeit we saw it in PWG, still fun). This was not the ending I thought we would get but Jay retained after a Jay Driller on the ROH World Title.
