wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Final Battle 2007
February 12, 2008 | Posted by
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| Ring of Honor — Final Battle 2007 by J.D. Dunn Ruckus and Jigsaw are reppin’ the V-Squad tonight. This is Cross’ return after the dissolution of the Resilience. Jigsaw and Fish battle to a standstill – lots of armdrags, as you could probably guess. Cross and Ruckus go next, and it’s pretty interesting because Cross has a counter for everything Ruckus throws at him. Jigsaw dives out on top of them, but Cross follows him out and maintains the advantage. Back in, Ruckus fires off about a half dozen crazy kicks. Cross trips him up and springboards into a doublestomp. He misses a moonsault but lands on his feet. Ruckus hits him with the Rolling Fisherman, and Jigsaw finishes with the Jig and Tonic at 8:02. Innocuous opener. ** Claudio beat Chris Hero (again) to earn this match. Sweeney comes out to “More, More, More” thus increasing his coolness quotient by 10. He introduces the newest member of S&S, Daniel Puder, dropping it back down to where it was. He’s still pretty cool, though. Sweeney says that Claudio had his leg snapped by Puder, so the match is off. Claudio interrupts and confirms that it will happen or Sweeney is banned from ROH. Tank Toland clips Claudio’s bad leg, giving Sweeney an opening. Claudio makes the comeback and goes for the Ricolabomb, but Toland distracts the ref long enough for Puder to run in and hit Claudio with the lead pipe. That gives Sweeney the upset win at 2:29. That’s classic booking as the general way it worked in the territories was to have the babyface chase the heel and his manager for weeks before earning a match with the manager, and just when he thinks he has him cornered, the manager’s new charge debuts and ruins things by costing the babyface the match. 1/2* Jack tries his high flying moves, hitting a somersault senton early. Necro shrugs him off and beats him with the crowd barrier. Jack misses a flying knee and rams himself into the barrier. Back in, Necro tosses a chair at Jack and bulldogs him into a pile of chairs. Jack avoids being slammed to the floor and tries to springboard back in, but Necro simply punches him in the head. Simple, but effective. Jack makes him pay with a Code Red off the apron to the floor. If Necro hadn’t sold his nerve endings to science to pay for hooch money, he’d probably be in pain. Back in, Jack hits the chair moonsault and then hits a corkscrew moonsault off the chair. Necro ducks a dive and punches Jack in the head again. The Tiger Driver gets a questionable two, and Necro delivers the backbreaker on the chairs. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Necro sets up the chairs for a super backbreaker. That leads to one of the most ridiculous spots I’ve ever seen as Jack kicks Necro back who just happens to turn around and fall over in a bent position with his neck over the chairs. Jack comes off with a moonsault kneedrop. Lacey hops in to buy time for Necro. She calls out Julius Smokes, thinking they won’t hit a woman. That brings out Mercedes Martinez to chase Lacey to the back. Smokes takes Necro’s chair away from him, and that allows Jack to hit the rolling leg clutch for the pin at 11:13. Despite the silly, contrived spots from Evans, these two have a lot of chemistry. Jack works best when he has someone who can just no-sell his stuff and beat the everloving shit out of him. **3/4 Stalemate early, as both guys are too quick to get caught by the other guy’s kicks and too good on the mat to get caught in any one move for very long. Marufuji targets the leg and locks in a figure-four. Davey manages to kick his way back enough to hit an STO. He ties Marufuji in the tree-of-woe and lets him know the capital of Thailand. Marufuji returns the favor and hits a corner version of Cattle Branding. Davey hits a missile dropkick, but Marufuji rolls him up and dropkicks his face off on a Handspring Kick attempt. They brawl to the apron where Davey drops him with an Alarm Clock. He follows out with a rolling plancha that is so fast that it carries Davey over into the crowd. First twenty through the gate get a free Davey Richards. Back in, they trade kicks, and Davey gets several nearfalls (with the crowd biting on at least two of them). Davey catches him with a Tombstone, but Marufuji slips out and finishes with the Shiranui at 15:12. Excellent fast-paced match. It actually could have used another ten minutes or so to be *really* good. ***3/4 This is the debut of Dark Delirious, or whatever we’re calling the red version of him. Big brawl to start. Bushwhacker Luke, who had problems with the Adam Pearce the previous night, comes and makes the save. He uses Delirious as a battering ram, and all the faces do the Bushwhacker Stomp. The babyfaces hit triple dives on the H3. Back in the ring, Steen Samoan Drops Albright and Whitmer at the same time. The H3 regroups and isolates Generico. They keep Steen and Delirious at bay for a while, but Steen gets Delirious pumped up, and they storm the ring. The faces get triple corner pummels, but Steen and Delirious get tosses through tables. That leaves Generico to take a Double Goozle (modified) and Veg-o-Matic (also modified). Albright hangs Generico over the top rope. Steen makes the save. Hagadorn helps set up some tables around the ring, but Delirious mists Pearce. Pelle Primeau runs in and ranas Hagadorn through a table. Albright takes Pelle out of the equation with a Wheelbarrow Suplex. Albright puts Delirious on a table for Pearce, but Generico recovers and shoves Pearce through a table. Whitmer improvises and puts Delirious through the table with a frogsplash. Steen hits Whitmer with the Packaged Piledriver, but it only gets two. Delirious and Pearce brawl on the top of one table, which is stretched across the top rope, and Pearce piledrivers Delirious off the table through another table. That gets the win at 17:24. Wild brawl with a lot of fun outside booking. ***1/2 Osiris is the Top of the Class Trophy holder, so, of course, Rocky has a problem with him. That’s like Rocky’s thing. Osiris doesn’t put up much of a fight and gets caught in the cross armlock at 1:10. 1/4* These two have been feuding for the better part of a year in both ROH and FIP. Of course, since this is for the FIP Title, you’d think that would be where this blowoff would take place. Stevens overpowers him, and they chop it out. Strong goes to the eyes, and they slug it out again. Strong takes him to the floor and bodyslams Stevens into the corner of the apron. Strong locks in a reverse bearhug and ties Stevens in the ropes. Stevens backdrops him over on a charge, but Roderick lands on the apron. He hits a springboard dropkick and a plancha. The backwork begins, as Roderick hits a sideslam on the floor. Back in, Strong stretches Stevens across the corner and rams him for two. A Fallaway Slam works the back even more, and Strong goes back to the reverse bearhug. They brawl on the apron, and Stevens chops him to the floor. Photographers scatter as Stevens comes off with a flying shoulderblock. Back in, that sets up the TKO for two. Strong blocks the Doctorbomb but runs right into a press powerslam. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Strong blocks a superplex and comes off the second-rope with a flying kick. That sets up a press gutbuster and a TKO from Strong. To the floor, Strong lures Stevens to the steel ramp and gives him a Tiger Driver on the steel. Strong is content to take the countout victory, but Stevens crawls all the way back to the ring and beats the 20 count. He’s gutty. He’s a wrestler. Stevens hulks up and kicks out of a pump-handle driver. He hits a full-rotation German Suplex. And another. LARIATOOOOOHHH!! Another lariat sets up the Doctorbomb at 21:00. Strong Style, baby. I haven’t kept up with FIP, but I’m hoping for an extended feud with Steve Madison. This was on par with Strong and Stevens’ best work, emotional, stiff, and intense. A fitting transition match. **** The winner gets a shot at the champ during the Sixth-Year Anniversary show. Dragon goes right after Morishima, but Morishima brushes him off. Hero blind tags himself in and goes after Dragon. All he does is piss him off, though, and Hero takes a stomping in the corner. Funny moment as Hero gets rocked by Aries, so he turns to tag out, and Morishima nails him with a forearm instead. Morishima destroys Hero, prompting Bobby Dempsey to get on the apron to plead for mercy. Morishima knocks him off the apron with his ass. Hero dives to the floor and tags Danielson on the way out. Morishima knocks Danielson for a flip with a big lariat. Aries and Danielson team up to take on Morishima, which is really cool. Aries provides the knees while Danielson elbows the other side of Morishima’s head. Hero does his part too, prancing around the ring and trying to suck up the glory. They team up for a doubleteam backdrop suplex. That sets up the facestomps from Danielson and the 450-splash by Aries. They both cover, and Hero puts a knee on Danielson’s back to REALLY seal the pinfall at 10:36. Hero stomps on their feet and isolates Aries. He stops to knock Danielson off the apron, so Aries jumps him and hits the Finlay Roll. Hero cuts off the 450-splash, but Danielson jumps in. Hero catches him in a cravat and drops him. He stops to celebrate, though, and Aries rolls him up to eliminate him at 14:18. That leaves Aries versus Danielson, as it should be. Aries hits his suicida, but Dragon dumps him over the rail and hits a springboard bodyblock into the crowd. Back in, Aries hits his series of corner elbows, but Danielson knocks him silly with a lightning legline. He goes for the backdrop superplex, but Aries reverses to a crossbody in mid-air and gets two. Aries gets a backslide, but Danielson kicks out and retaliates with the Tiger Suplex into the Cattle Mutilation. ELBOWS! Aries snapmares him over and punts him in the face. That sets up the Brainbuster and the Horns of Aries. They exchange elbows and knees to the head. They slap it out from their knees, and Aries goes back to the knees to the head. Danielson slips out of the Horns of Aries and locks in the Triangle Choke. Aries refuses to give it up, so Danielson turns him over and elbows him into unconsciousness at 22:48. Whew! That final stretch was emotionally exhausting. It’s worth noting that the NYC crowd was booing the hell out of Austin Aries. He refuses to shake hands and walks out instead. **** I appreciate putting the tag titles on the same plane as the ROH World Title, but the storyline dynamic is all screwed up here. If the Briscoes had been chasing the titles, this would have been a good closer. Instead, you get the heels concluding their chase at the year’s ultimate show. The Briscoes toss Jacobs onto the entrance ramp early, turning this into a classic All Japan tag formula early. Tyler Black has to fend off both Briscoes, but the numbers overwhelm him. Jacobs crawls back to the ring and breaks up the Springboard Doomsday Device. The Age isolates Jay for a while. He hits Black with the Flatliner to the buckle and tags Mark. Mark fires off some Hick Fu and gives Jimmy the Fisherman’s Buster. Mark hops up on top for a moonsault, but Black crotches him into the tree-of-woe. Jay dumps Jacobs, but Black clotheslines him over and hits Mark with the Inverted Brainbuster for two. Mark catches Black springboarding off the top and T-bones him over. That sets up the Crucifix Neckbreaker from the Briscoes. That gets two. Jacobs goes up but gets crotched by Jay. Jay goes for the top-rope Jaydriller, but Black makes the save. The Age hits the Doomsday Rana for two. That sets up the senton into a Burning Hammer. Jacobs locks in the End Time, but Mark springboards in to make the save. Mark picks Jacobs up for the Cutthroat Driver, but Black clips his knee and shoves Jay to the floor. In one of the craziest spots you’ll ever see, Mark catches up with Black and hoists him onto his shoulders while standing on the apron. Jay recovers and hits the Springboard Doomsday Device to send Black spiraling to the floor. The Cutthroat Driver only gets two on Jacobs, so they hit the Springboard Doomsday Device. Black makes the save. Mark gets pissed and threatens to kill Jacobs with the top-rope Cutthroat Driver. Black powerbombs Jay into the barricade and makes the save. The Age teams up for a Contra Code Superbomb. Black adds a Corkscrew Moonsault, and the Age of the Fall advance their mission by capturing the tag titles at 18:54. This had a number of “holy shit” moments, but they had a hard time putting together a coherent story for the match. Sometimes Jimmy was sympathetic, sometimes it was Jay. It was good, but I can’t help but feel that I’ve seen it all before. The Briscoes need to do something to freshen up their act. If you like crazy spots, though, this match is for you. ***1/2 |
The 411: Easily the best show since Manhattan Mayhem II. Final Battle is usually like WrestleMania in that, no matter how bad the year has been, they summon all their creative forces into putting on a good show. Sometimes I get the feeling that Gabe is creatively burned out, but shows like this demonstrate that the roster is still able to throw together a good show in spite of mounting obstacles. Thumbs up. |
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| Final Score: 8.5 [ Very Good ] legend |
