Csonka’s ROH Final Battle 2017 Review

Csonka’s ROH Final Battle 2017 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Matt Taven defeated Will Ospreay @ 10:58 via pin [***½]
– War Machine defeated The Addiction @ 9:35 via pin [***¼]
– Jay Lethal defeated Marty Scurll @ 15:55 via pin [****]
– ROH Tag Team Title Match: ROH Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Best Friends @ 10:20 via pin [**½]
– ROH TV Title Elimination Match: Silas Young defeated ROH TV champion Kenny King, Punishment Martinez, and Shane Taylor @ 17:25 via pin [*]
– New York City Street Fight: The Briscoes defeated Tommy Dreamer & Bully Ray @ 16:30 via pin [*½]
– ROH Six Man Tag Team Title Match: ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks & Adam Page defeated Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, & Titan @ 15:11 via pin [***¼]
– ROH Title Match: Dalton Castle defeated ROH Champion Cody Rhodes @ 12:55 via pin [**¾]

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– You can read a review of the go home show here, and a full preview for the PPV here.

– The set up looks nice tonight.

Matt Taven vs. Will Ospreay: Taven is out with “conspiracy” figures and the Kingdom. Ospreay attacks at the bell, and hits dive onto the Kingdom and Taven then wipe shim out with a dive. Back in and they work at a crazy pace, working a series of counters and Ospreay finally hits the dropkick; great opening stretch. The Kingdom distracts Ospreay, allowing Taven to attack. The Kingdom again distracts Ospreay and then beats him down on the floor as Taven takes the ref. Taven follows to the floor, works him over and rolls him back in, covering for 2 with the feet on the ropes. Taven chokes him out in the ropes, and then hits a knee strike for 2. Ospreay manages to hit a back handspring kick, and both men are down. Ospreay now hits a jawbreaker and kicks. Uppercuts follow, and then the enziguri and 619. The springboard forearm and shooting star press follows for 2. More kicks follow by Ospreay, and the standing moonsault is countered. Taven counters a back handspring kick and locks in the crab. Taven lets it go, but Ospreay counters the climax and gets a roll up for 2. Superkick by Ospreay, and then the back fist follows for 2. Taven counters out into a roll of the dice for 2. Taven follows with chops, but Ospreay cuts him off and sends him to the floor. Ospreay now jots a run up shooting star press to the floor, wiping out the kingdom. Taven hits a dropkick and backing, heads up top and the frog splash eats knees. They work counters, Ospreay hits the Spanish fly for 2. Cyclone kick by Ospreay, and Taven counters the Oscutter into the climax for thee win. Matt Taven defeated Will Ospreay @ 10:58 via pin [***½]Once they got past the early bullshit with the Kingdom, they settled in well and delivered a very good match and Taven got the clean win he needed. While it wasn’t the breakout performance I think he needed, it was very good and a very important win for Taven, and a very good way to kickoff the show.

The Addiction vs. War Machine: They brawl at the bell and spill to the floor. War Machine takes early control until Rowe gets cut off, but Hanson fights of the Addiction but he gets cut off and The Addiction work double teams and hit corner clotheslines on Hanson. Rowe back in, and repeated clotheslines to Daniels follow. Shotgun knees on Kaz, and hits an XPLODER on Kaz. The Addiction isolates Rowe in their corner, working quick tags and the rapid-fire double teams continue. It’s all Addiction here, but Rowe hits a desperation judo throw and tags in Hanson. He runs wild, and stacks them up in the corner. Clubbing strikes follow by Hanson and the broncobuster follows. Rowe back in for the doomsday German. Kaz tossed to he floor, but the Addiction cuts off fallout. Daniels gets a roll up, using the ropes, but the ref breaks it up. Kaz back in, unprettier on Rowe, but Hanson breaks it up. It breaks down with everyone in, the Addiction hits celebrity rehab for a near fall. Hanson cuts of the best Meltzer ever, Rowe hits Daniels with the knee strike, but Kaz hits the slingshot cutter. Hanson hits the double back handspring elbows, Thor’s hammer and the dive follows. Fallout finishes Daniels. War Machine defeated The Addiction @ 9:35 via pin [***¼] This was a good and hectic match, with War Machine picking up the surprising win. It was chaotic, but in a good way and they kept a great pace and it was a lot of fun. The show is off to a good start so far.

Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll: Marty’s wearing all white tonight. They shake hands and here we go. They lock up, working some back and forth, and Marty with clean breaks early. Enough of the politeness, they go crazy fists and Lethal hits the cartwheel into the dropkick. Chops follow, Marty uses the ref to hide, and cuts off Lethal, and follows with the apron superkick. They spill to the floor, but Lethal slams Marty to the barricade. Back in we go, and Lethal covers for 1. The back elbow follows and he covers for 2. Lethal now lays in uppercuts, and then lays the boots to Marty. Marty cuts off Lethal, attacking the arm, but Lethal dropkicks him to the floor and follows with a suicide dive. The slam on the floor follows, and uppercuts by Lethal follow. Back in they go and Lethal covers for 2. Marty cuts off Lethal with an uppercut and hits the suplex to the buckles. He then goes back to work on the arm, grounding Lethal. Marty hits the superkick after the fake out, lays in rights and strikes and they trade center ring. Marty counters the figure four but Lethal hits the Lethal combination for 2. Marty then gets a cover with the ropes for 2. Lethal now works a torture rack and slams Marty down with a forward roll, covering for 2. Lethal up top, gets cut off and Marty hits the superplex and they spill to the floor. Marty hits the tornado DDT to take control back. To the apron they go, Marty lays in kicks, and they chops. Lethal fires back and hits a cutter to the floor! Lethal rolls him back in, and the Lethal injection is countered into the chicken wing. Lethal counters into a pinning combo for a good near fall. And we get a ref bump. UGH. Marty gets a chair and brings it in. Marty tosses it to Lethal and pulls the Eddie Guerrero special, but Lethal wraps it around his head, playing mind games. Lethal ends up rolling up Marty for 2. Marty avoids the Lethal injection and hits a lariat and last shot for a good near fall. They work into a series of counters, and Lethal gets the figure four. Marty makes the ropes, grabs the umbrella and Lethal takes it away. Marty grabs another, the ref takes the umbrella from Lethal, Marty with an umbrella shot and piledriver gets a great near fall. Mary calls for a chicken wing, but Lethal tries to use the umbrella, ref is distracted and Lethal hits a low blow and Lethal injection for the win. Jay Lethal defeated Marty Scurll @ 15:55 via pin [****] In a normal match, the shenanigans would have been overplayed, but the whole basis of the feud was Scurll wanting Lethal to be the old Lethal and revisit his old villainous ways. So here it broke down into who could out heel the other first, and Lethal ended up picking up the win as he stayed one step ahead of the villain. They took that story, added in great action and in the end, put together a great match, with a great story and heavily invested crowd. Lethal will likely move onto challenge Cody down the line.

ROH Tag Team Title Match: ROH Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns (Sabin & Shelley) vs. The Best Friends (Trent & Chuckie T): Sabin and Chuckie T work a nice and spirited back and forth to open things up; really nice, fast paced back and forth action. Trent tags in, he and Chuckie T work double teams and Shelley breaks up the hug and rakes the eyes. Chuckie T cuts him off and sends him to the floor. The Guns take control and lay in kicks on Trent, apron attacks follow as the Guns run wild. Back in and they work a tree of WHOA nut stomp on Trent and then slam Chuckie T’s nuts into Trent’s face. The Guns hug and mock the Best Friends. The Guns hit the dream sequence leading to a near fall. They toss Chuckie T to the floor, and double team Trent until a miscommunication allows Trent to hit the tornado DDT. Chuckie T gets the hot tag, runs wild on Sabin and hits a second rope dropkick. Chuckie T then wipes out the Guns with a tope. Back in, and the double team cutter connects on Sabin for 2. Double teams follow on Sabin, but Shelley cuts of strong zero. Chuckie T gets tossed and Sabin hits him with a dive. Skull and bones hits on Trent for a near fall. They now set him up for the doomsday sliced bread, but Chuckie T makes the save, STRONG ZERO hits, but Shelley makes the save. On the floor, Shelley eats the lawn dart cutter. Back in and Chuckie T hits a stuff piledriver, but Sabin rolls through and gets a completely anticlimactic cradle for the win. ROH Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Best Friends @ 10:20 via pin [**½] The match started off hot, but quickly lost interest and the match never fully felt locked in. There was good work, but the longer it went on, the less interesting it was. Add on the flat finish and this was fine, but disappointing. This was the first thing on the show that didn’t deliver.

ROH TV Title Elimination Match: ROH TV champion Kenny King vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Shane Taylor vs. Silas Young: Martinez is led to the ring by some zombie folks. The Bruiser is out with Young, carrying a keg and a six-pack. Respect. King is flanked by some ladies. King & Young start things off, with King taking early control and a frustrated Young tagging out to Martinez. They work power vs. speed, and then Martinez drops King with a right. They work some counters of kicks, and Taylor tags himself in. He talks shit to Martinez, calling him a big bitch. Taylor clotheslines Martinez to the floor, it breaks down but Taylor takes down Young. Young then low bridges him to the floor, and hits a plancha. Martinez gets cut off by King. King ten wipes out Taylor & Young with a dive. Martinez now hits a step up tope wiping out all three. Back in and King cuts of Martinez up top, lays in strikes and follows him up. Martinez shoves him off and hits the spin heel kick off the top. Taylor in and chokeslams Martinez. Young hits a back stabber on Taylor, and a spinebuster on King. Everyone is down. They all brawl, King hits a springboard blockbuster on Martinez. Taylor cuts him off and hits the Samoan driver as Young attacks, Martinez hits a superman punch on Taylor, but Taylor hits a corner DVD. The second rope splash connects for 2. Taylor pulls Martinez up on the ropes, but King grabs Taylor and hits the royal flush. Martinez hits a senton for the pin on Taylor; he’s gone. Martinez hits corner attacks on Young and King, The psycho driver is countered and Martinez rolls to the floor. Young hits a cross body off the apron and King follows to the floor and attack both men. All three brawl on the floor, and they then double team Martinez with a doomsday blockbuster on the floor. Young rolls Martinez back in, King follows and Young rolls him up for 2. Martinez fights back, King hits the royal flush and Young hits King with a beer bottle. Young pins and eliminates King. Young works over Martinez. Yells at him but Martinez fires back with rights. Young counters the superman punch, Martinez counters misery and hits the chokeslam but Bruiser pulls out Young. Martinez then takes out Bruiser with an over the post dive. Young yells at Martinez again and then escapes an apron bomb as Martinez sells the ribs from the dive. Young spears him to the barricade, beats him down and rolls him back in. Martinez cuts off Young, misses a corner attack, allowing Young to hit knee strikes and misery for the win. Silas Young defeated ROH TV champion Kenny King, Punishment Martinez, and Shane Taylor @ 17:25 via pin [*] While I think the right man won (and I like Martinez chasing Young), this was really rough; slow, lethargic and had next to no heat. It also didn’t help that it felt about twice as long as it actually was, and that the overall layout felt very poor. This was a bad match.

New York City Street Fight: Tommy Dreamer & Bully Ray vs. The Briscoes: They brawl before the bell on the floor. They battle around ringside, Jay and Dreamer in the ring but back o the floor and Dreamer hits an apron cannonball. Bully hits a high cross off the apron, wiping out the Briscoes. Mark and Dreamer back in the ring as jay posts Bully. The Briscoes then double team Dreamer, and Jay hits a suicide dive onto Bully. We get chairs tossed into the ring and the Briscoes take control. They all grab chairs, leading to a chair fight. The Briscoes bail and get kendo sticks. Bully and Dreamer get light sabers (sure, that fits a blood feud). Back in, Bully and Dreamer hits jabs and elbows. Mark takes a light saber to the balls, and Bully chokes out Jay with a chair as Dreamer gets the kitchen sink. Bully calls for tables, but Mark dropkicks it into their faces. Mark crotches Dreamer on the barricade, and Bully is busted open as Mark lays a ladder on Dreamer and follows with a senton off the apron. Jay attacks Bully, gets a cheese grater and rubs it on Bully’s face. The Briscoes beat on Dreamer with chair shots and Jay hits a chair assisted neck breaker. Bully tosses Mark to the floor, Jay cuts him off but Bully escapes the Jay driller. Jay then hits a chair into Bully’s face as Bully looked to attack him. Jay has a table, but Bully fights him off as Dreamer recovers, and he and Dreamer hit an inverted 3D into a table on the mat. Dreamer pulls Mark to the apron and hits a Spicolli driver off the apron and through a table. Bully brings in another table, and beats on Jay with a kendo stick, he sets up the table, and lays jay on it. Bully head to the top, and hits a splash through the table, but Jay kicks out. Bully sets up another table, and lays Jay on it and looks to light it on fire, but Mark makes the save. The Briscoes hit a 3D on the table, but it doesn’t break, Mark hits froggy bow, putting Bully through the angled table for the win.The Briscoes defeated Tommy Dreamer & Bully Ray @ 16:30 via pin [*½] The crowd largely liked this, but like the last two matches, it really felt like something was missing and was lethargic overall. The right guys won, but I just didn’t feel the work reflected the feud as well as it should have.

– Time for the women of honor announcement. Some of the ladies arrive, Brandi Rhodes, Deonna Purrazzo, Jenny Rose, Jessie Brooks, Kelly Klein, Mandy Leon, Stella Gray, Sumie Sakai, and STARDOM’s Mayu Iwatani. Starting January 20th, they will start a tournament to crown women of honor champion; it’s about damn time.

ROH Six Man Tag Team Title Match: ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks & Adam Page vs. Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, & Titan: Scorpio Sky is on commentary and upset Flip Gordon didn’t pick him for the team. Lee and Nick begin. They work some fun, fast-paced back and forth. They end in a stand off, Page and Titan tag in. They trade chops, Titan hits a head scissors and they end in a stand off. Gordon and Matt tag in, Matt wants the handshake, but Gordon asks for a too sweet. They take their turn working back and forth, both countering and they both look for dropkicks, it breaks down and they all look for dropkicks, ending in a standoff; Gordon and the lads hit a trio of dives. The challengers take control, working over Matt. They isolate him in thier corner, working double teams until Matt hits a sliced bread. Page tags on and hits the dropsault. Page then hits a moonsault onto the challengers on the floor. Matt hits a dive onto the pile off the ramp. Back in the ring and Page works over Titan. Titan is rocked, but hits a dragon screw leg whip and tags in Gordon. Gordon keeps avoiding superkicks, slams the Bucks together and ht a blockbuster onto both of the Bucks. Gordon hits a springboard sling blade and then hits a dive to the floor onto the Bucks. Back in and Page avoids the 450, but Gordon hits a Samoan pop and running shooting star press for 2. Lee hits a double stomp on Page, but eats a superkick. Gordon hits the star spangled stunner, but the Bucks throw a superkick party. Gordon cuts off the Meltzer driver, Matt plants Lee with an apron DDT as Page picks up a near fall on Gordon. Page and Gordon trade strikes, Gordon escapes the rite of passage, and we get a double down. Lee and Titan make the big comeback on the Bucks, Gordon tags back in and Matt blocks the 450 with knees. Nick takes out Titan, hits the x-factor on Gordon. Lee gets cut off and page hits the shooting star indie-taker on the floor. Gordon hits a PELE on Mat, fires up and fights off the champs on his own. The moonsault press eats superkicks, and they set up lee and Gordon, hitting the murder death kill indie-taker/Meltzer driver/rite of passage combo for the win. ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks & Adam Page defeated Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, & Titan @ 15:11 via pin [***¼] For the most part, this was typical fun and frantic Buck action. Everyone worked hard and I enjoyed it, but the thing that holds it back from getting a higher rating is that there was no drama in the challengers actually winning. The Addiction & Sky appear to be the next challengers.

– Post match, Scorpio Sky lays out Gordon, and aligns with the Addiction, who also hit the ring. ROH production missed Sky attacking Gordon.

ROH Title Match: ROH Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Dalton Castle: Castle arrives with a collection of Boys and a pretty cool overall entrance. Cody is accompanied by Brandi, and Cody is sporting newly dyed blonde hair. Cody looks for a dick kick, but Castle blocks that and looks for an arm bar. Cody escapes, powders to the floor, but Castle chases and attacks. Brandi distracts Castle, allowing Cody to hit a flatliner to take control. the Alabama slam gets 2. Cody plays Ric Flair, arguing with the ref and getting shoved down. Cody applies the LeBell lock, but Castle makes the ropes and gets tossed to the floor. Cody then slams Castle to the steps, lays in rights and they brawl to the timekeeper’s table. Cody then powerbombs Castle through the table. Cody gets a chair, the Boys take it, and Brandi wipes them out with a high cross off the top. The ref tosses all three. Back in the ring, they trade strikes and Castle firs up with rights. The lariat follows, and he starts throwing Cody around. Castle counters the disaster kick, hitting an XPLODER. Cody then looks to post the knee, but Castle counters and pulls Cody to the post. Cody is busted open, and Castle slams him to the barricade. Back in the ring and Castle lays in mounted rights. Castle misses a charge and spills to the floor. Cody hits a disaster kick, keeping Castle on the floor. Cody follows, but Castle hits a German on the floor. Back in and Cody counters bangarang, and we get a ref bump. Castle locks in the old London dungeon, Cody taps, but the ref is down. Cody counters bangarang, hits cross Rhodes but Castle kicks out. Cody hits another disaster kick. Castle hits banagarang and actually wins the title. Color me fucking shocked. Dalton Castle defeated ROH Champion Cody Rhodes @ 12:55 via pin [**¾] Well that was unexpected, I didn’t think that they would actually make the move due to Cody’s NJPW commitments, but I am glad to be wrong (yes, I was very wrong) and to be surprised. Overall this was a pretty good match, they pulled off the surprise title change well, and while Castle got the big post match celebration, it was far from a classic or career-defining win. Castle vs. Ibushi should be interesting if it sticks and he gets the match.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

ROH Final Battle 2017 started out hot and looked as if they were heading to a late run for show of the year, with a super hot crowd and some very good to great wrestling. Unfortunately, things took a downturn starting with the solid but disappointing tag title match, the bad TV title match, and the lethargic street fight. The trios title match was fun and the surprise title change should get some buzz, but overall, ROH Final Battle 2017 ended up being an average close to the year for ROH. If pressed for time, Lethal vs. Scurll is the only thing I’d consider must-see match from the show.