Csonka’s ROH Final Battle 2017 Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the ROH Final Battle 2017 event. Have fun, and always, thanks for reading. Final Battle is ROH’s biggest show of the year and their final big show of the year. In all honesty, the lineup doesn’t scream big show to me, but I do feel that there is potential for some great matches, which I will break down today. The last three Final Battle PPVs have been great, hopefully ROH can make it four in a row. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy today’s preview, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” And don’t be afraid of sharing your predictions.

The Addiction vs. War Machine: The Addiction’s gimmick since Daniels lost the ROH title has been that they are rebelling against ROH & the fans for turning their backs on them, so the team has been out to completely ruin anything the company or fans love and see as fun. It has been largely effective, but they really need to move on and lock into a real program. Without an ROH contract, War Machine has been more of a NJPW team in 2017 and more special guests in ROH. The Addiction got involved in their business in trying to win the ROH tag team titles, and it escalated from there. The Addiction are still a good team, and War Machine has had a great 2017 so I see the match being good at the very least. With War Machine not under ROH contract, and rumors that they may be WWE bound, the Addiction winning and moving on to a tag title feud seems most likely. WINNER: The Addiction

Matt Taven vs. Will Ospreay: This is a match with basically no build, but in my opinion, with a clear objective. ROH management has a massive hard-on for Taven and the Kingdom, and with him being their guy and Ospreay being a dude that constantly steps up and delivers great matches, they want to get Taven over here as a player, and not only that, they are hoping he has a great match. ROH has positioned Taven strongly and protected him, have sent him to CMLL several times, and see him as a potential top guy. Ospreay is a special guest star that always delivers on PPV and big shows. Taven should get the win here, as ROH is likely setting him for a big-time push in 2018; a win over Ospreay will be a good start, but Taven lacks that great match to hang his hat on. He’ll get the opportunity here, not only with a great opponent, but also on the biggest ROH show of the year. I have my doubts with Taven, but I hope he can deliver here. Hopefully, the Kingdom stay away and Taven picks up a clean and quality win on his own. WINNER: Matt Taven

Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll: Scurll stepped up and made the challenge to Lethal for the show, noting his respect for Lethal’ past villainous ways and his desire to beat the loved ROH star to hurry his rise up the card. Lethal just dropped a program to Silas Young, and with rumors of him going to WWE being downplayed compared to past shows, I think that while the villain will give him more than he expects, that Lethal picks up the win here in order to set him up for a return program with Cody in 2018 over the ROH title. Lethal has a win over Cody and is one of the few guys who has solved the Cody puzzle and has given Cody some of his best post WWE/ROH outings. While I think you can make the argument that Lethal feels a bit stale and that Scurll should win (and I don’t disagree), they have been heavily hyping Lethal making another run at the title, and kicking it off with a win Final Battle against one of Cody’s Bullet Club buddies makes sense. These two have the potential to have a great match, and may steal the show. WINNER: Jay Lethal

New York Street Fight: The Briscoes vs. Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer: In all honesty, I feel that the program started off roughly, with the table spot injury that didn’t look all that devastating, followed by weeks of sad man Bully Ray giving retirement speeches that no one really bought. But then they brought in Tommy Dreamer, who cut a great promo about his best friend being hurt and possibly not wrestling again and how he felt regret because he knew he gave him concussions back in the day. From there Mark went to the dark side and joined Jay, realizing that big brother was right and that they were, in fact, better off as a team. From there, the brothers attacking Dreamer and Bully, and going t bully’s school to beat down some trainees was a good follow up. Now, of course, the question is, is it worth booking Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer on a PPV in 2017? Dreamer is basically the surrogate Devon here since he’s not available, he works regularly but isn’t exactly a big match performer these days. But he’s perfectly acceptable in garbage brawls, as is Bully. The Briscoes thrive in any environment, and with all of the smoke and mirrors, it should be fine. The end game should be Jay vs. Bully, and the Briscoes should win here, with Dreamer taking the pin. The story’s been good, but I can’t say that I am excited about the match. WINNER: The Briscoes

ROH World Television Championship Four Corners Elimination Match: Champion Kenny King vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Shane Taylor vs. Silas Young: Kenny King finally got his big win, having a great match against KUSHIDA and winning singles gold at Death Before Dishonor. But since then, the TV title mix has been a clusterfuck, leading to a mini-tournament, and three challengers making it to a four-way on this show. They really dropped the ball on King’s big win, feeling like just another guy instead of a champion coming off of a career-high win. I really feel that we’re going to get a title change here, and there are two prime candidates: Martinez and Young. Both guys are in that “shit or get off the pot” spot on the card, they have been built up and have been given wins, but the lizard man just doesn’t know how and when to pull the trigger, a common issue over the years with ROH booking. I really think they need to play off of Young’s big win over Lethal, which they have failed to do so far, and give him a run with the title. As for match quality, it has a chance to be good, but also a chance to be too chaotic and possibly sloppy. I hope that they deliver. WINNER: Silas Young

ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championship Match: Champions The Young Bucks & Adam Page vs. Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, & Titan: The battle between Bullet Club and Flip Gordon has been a solid part of ROH TV, but if I am being honest, it’s been much better told on the Being the Elite web series the Bucks produce. Parts of the story included Gordon trying to fit into ROH, the Bullet Club playing “harmless ribs” on him, Gordon standing up for himself, the tease that he became friends with Matt Jackson and was going to join Bullet Club and then the club refusing to let him in. Gordon has been trying to mount forces and fight the club but has continually coming up short. Dragon Lee & Titan recently faced off with the Bucks in NJPW, losing a short, but good tag match; they are also looking for some revenge on the Bucks. This should be a very good, and even potentially great match. It will be wild, chaotic, and filled with superkicks, flippity doos and dives and will be a ton of fun. The Buck doesn’t need the trios titles, they did a great job of giving the titles some credibility, but it feels time to move on. Putting the titles on Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, & Titan would work in helping get Gordon over and also solidify the ROH/CMLL relationship by giving their guys some gold; it also would allow for more drama when CMLL stars come in, knowing that a title win is possible. WINNER: Flip Gordon & Dragon Lee & Titan

ROH World Tag Team Championship Match: Champions The Motor City Machineguns vs. Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta: At Death Before Dishonor, The Motor City Machineguns overcame the Young Bucks and captured the tag titles; in a way it was a thank you and career achievement award for all of their hard work, but they’ve been delivering in the ring and it was well deserved. While on a personal note, I was disappointed that Roppongi Vice ended, it has worked out well for everyone. Rocky has taken a leadership position with NJPW and is mentoring Roppongi 3K. Trent is a newly minted heavyweight, the Best Friends are ROH regulars, they also got a run in the NJPW WTL and now landed a tag title match at Final Battle. Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta are a great team, the Guns are working like they turned the clock back and I feel that this also will be very good and possibly even great, The Best Friends will put up a great fight, but I feel the Machineguns win and move on to face the Addiction. I also feel there’s still an outside chance for a ladder war rematch between the Guns, Bucks, and Addiction, possibly over Mania weekend. WINNER: The Motor City Machineguns

ROH World Championship Match: Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Dalton Castle: In my opinion, unless some major things change, I honestly feel that ROH should be ashamed for putting on this main event. Some seem to be afraid to say it, but I feel it’s the truth. Cody is scheduled to defend the ROH Title against Kota Ibushi at WrestleKingdom 12 on January 4th; they booked Cody, not “whoever the ROH champion is.” To me, this feels like a waste of Dalton Castle challenging for the title and is setting him up for failure once again. With there being almost no chance of Castle winning, this feels like another heatless ROH title match, similar to the matches Cody had with SANADA, Suzuki, and KUSHIDA. I would be shocked if Castle won here, ROH is all in on Cody and so is NJPW. WINNER: Cody Rhodes

JOIN ME TONIGHT FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHOW TONIGHT!

* Csonka’s 2014 ROH Final Battle Review.
* Csonka’s 2015 ROH Final Battle Review.
* Csonka’s 2016 ROH Final Battle Review.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”