Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Final Battle 2008

Ring of Honor — Final Battle 2008 by J.D. Dunn December 27, 2008 From Manhattan, N.Y.. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. (Nigel McGuinness guests for the first few matches). Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega. Does Omega really do the Kamehameha? Nigel is pretty funny as he takes a verbal swipe at Triple H’s and calls Omega “Sugarfoot.” It’s funny because it’s true. Omega stays on top early with his quickness, but he soon gets out of control, and Claudio just dumps him. He fights back with Polish hammers and the Stop-sign enzuigiri but gets booted right in the face. That sets up the Ricolabomb, but Omega counters to a small package in mid-move to pick up the huge upset win at 7:00. Omega is one of the breakouts of the last few months of 2008, so giving him the upset is a good way to start out the big show. **1/4 Four-Corner Survival: Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Sara Del Rey) vs. Necro Butcher vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rhett Titus. Okay, I know that the absolutely hilarious meme making the rounds among tROHlls is that all of these guys look like McDonalds workers living out their dreams, but folks, if ANYONE lives near a McDonalds that has someone who looks like Necro Butcher working the fries, move now! The other irony there is that John Cena works for Subway. Butcher goes right after Titus for the Daizee Haze incidents. Lynn and Necro actually wrestle! Say what? Hero keeps sneaking in and using the elbowpad, but he can’t put anyone away. Hero and Titus make an unspoken pact… when they aren’t stabbing each other in the back. Titus tries to powerbomb Necro off the apron, but Necro counters to the NECROCANRANA! That leaves Lynn and Hero in the ring together. Sweeney distracts both Lynn and the ref while Del Rey tosses in the loaded elbowpad. Hero puts it on his foot and tries a big boot. Lynn ducks, boots him in the gut and finishes with the Cradle Piledriver at 12:49. Most of these guys are just here for lack of anything better to do, but the match did continue Lynn’s momentum toward the title chase. *** Jimmy Jacobs hops in the ring to call out Necro for selling out and going soft. That leads to… ROH World Tag Titles: Kevin Steen & El Generico (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious. Steenerico look poised to cruise to an early victory, but the AotF isolate Steen and work over his oft-injured knee. For such an asshole, Steen somehow generates sympathy as the face-in-peril. He finally breaks free and tags in Generico. Generico hits Jimmy with the somersault plancha, but Delirious bites his hand to counter the Brainbuster. Steen tags back in and avoids a doubleteam by the heels. Steen can’t get Delirious up for the Packaged Piledriver, so he Dragon Screws Delirious and locks in the Sharpshooter. Jacobs makes the save. Delirious, Jacobs and Generico brawl on the floor, and Steen plans to come off onto them, but his knee buckles. Instead, Daizee goes up. Jimmy sees her, though, and yanks her off the top rope. That draws in Delirious to argue with Jimmy and check on Daizee. Steen tosses Jimmy out, and the champs hit their finishing sequence on Delirious to pick up the win at 13:44. Steen played a good face-in-peril, and Jimmy continues to generate heat despite being the world’s most pushed jobber. **3/4 After the match, Jimmy berates Delirious for losing focus. The Briscoes threaten to show our Japanese visitors how to MAN UP! Six-Man Street Fight: Brent Albright, Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki & The American Wolves (w/Larry Sweeney). Big-ass brawl at ringside to start. Roddy and Stevens would make a natural regular team to matchup with the Wolves, and I’m not sure why they haven’t been featured more (in ROH. I know they’re practically the Megapowers of FIP). It’s utter chaos until Go German Suplexes Stevens through a table. Albright takes Davey down into the Crowbar, but Go grabs a chair and goes nuts on him. It devolves into a 3-on-1. The fans get listless as the beatdown lasts quite a while. Finally, Stevens and Strong recover enough to make the save, AND BOY DO THEY EVER! Strong’s gutbuster into a Stevens lariat on Edwards is just AWESOMESAUCE! Did you know they put cumin in awesomesauce? True story. Davey and Roderick get into it and tumble over the top. Davey sets up for a DR Driver from the apron through a table, but Roderick counters to a TIGER DRIVER THROUGH THE TABLE! That leaves Albright and Go. Albright slips out of the Go Flasher and avoids a Yakuza Kick. Go German Suplexes him but leaves himself open for a German Suplex from Stevens. Strong adds a SICK flying kick, and that’s enough to set up Albright’s Crowbar at 14:40. This one just got better down the stretch. The crowd really only popped for the big spots, though, which dragged down the fun a bit. The babyfaces just aren’t that over. ***1/4 The Briscoe Bros. vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima. Kinda bunching all the tag matches together here. Probably should have broken them up. The Briscoes have their Apollo Creed trunks on tonight… and Nakajima acts like Ivan Drago early. Jay finally catches him with a Samoan Drop to cut off momentum. Sasaki tags in, but he’s in no mood to work tonight, so he kicks some ass and tags right back out. Sure, just pawn it off on the intern. The Briscoes isolate Nakajima with doubleteams, but he’s scrappy and can’t be put away. Nakajima SWEEPS THE LEG and tags out. Kensuke steamrolls them yet again. Nakajima peppers Mark with superkicks. Crazy. The Briscoes set up for the Springboard Doomsday Device, but mark’s knee buckles. Nakajima reverses to a rollup, but the Briscoes hit a traditional DD. Sasaki makes the save, but Mark takes him to the floor. That allows Jay to hit the Jaydriller at 16:45. Nakajima handled most of the heavy lifting. Thankfully, the Briscoes’ worst traits were reigned in here, and they gave the Japanese wrestlers their just respect. Albright and Strong matched up with the visitors a lot better the previous night, though. ***1/4 After the match, the American Wolves hit the ring, chain Jay to the bottom rope, and destroy Mark’s knee with a chair. Kevin Steen & El Generico make the save. Albright, Strong & Stevens also run down. Albright tells ROH Owner Cary Silkin that Sweeney is going to continue to do this unless he puts an end to it. He calls for a Steel Cage match against Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.. Cary agrees. Afterward, Mark is helped from the ring, thus setting up Jay’s singles run in early ’09. Naomichi Marufuji isn’t sweating Nigel tonight. Ditto Takeshi Morishima with Danielson. I like that the little Japanese interpreter guy constantly ninjas in from off frame to translate. #1 Contender’s Match: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black. Crowd is split 50/50. Lots of trashtalk from Aries early. He is *really* not happy with the fans – or Black. They actually wrestle early on with Black avoiding the you-can’t-headscissor-Austin-Aries dropkick and hitting his own when Aries takes him down. Of course, you know, this means war. Aries fires off chops, but Tyler responds with his own. Tyler fires himself up, but Aries jumps him from behind and mocks him. Aries tries the IED, but Tyler boots him out of the air. Tyler sets up for a springboard, but Aries just shoves him off the top into the barricade. HEAT-SEEKING SUICIDA! The Last Chancery doesn’t finish off Black, so Aries dumps him. Austin picks him up on the apron, but Black elbows out of it and counters to the TKO ON THE APRON! Back in, Aries charges, but Black springboards over him and hits the Pélé. That leads to a Fosbury Flop. Back in again, Aries tries for the Brainbuster, but Black reverses to the PAROXYSM! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Aries punts him and drives the knees to the head. That sets up the Last Chancery, but he can’t get the submission. Black punts Aries in the head and hits the Turnbuckle Powerbomb. He sets up for the Phoenix Splash, but Jimmy Jacobs comes down to observe and winds up distracting him. The splash misses, and Aries is able to finish with the Brainbuster and 450-splash at 17:06. Fantastic storytelling with Aries becoming more frustrated with each passing nearfall and Tyler proving himself as more than capable of defeating a top-tier guy. Only Jacobs seemingly inadvertent interference led to the loss. ****1/4 After the match, Jimmy berates Tyler with the same speech Obi Wan gave Anakin. YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! He finally takes it one step too far, and Tyler shoves him down. Jimmy offers a handshake and then punts him in the nuts. Jacobs puts him out with the End Time and goes up. Here comes Austin Aries to make the save. Oh, but of course he doesn’t and, instead, turns on Black with a chairshot. Both Aries and Jacobs beat down Black. As an exclamation point, Jacobs drops the towel that Black failed to drop at Rising Above and throws it in his face. The crowd is nice enough to put the angle over and show their sympathy with a “You got fucked up” chant directed at Black. Since a lot of ROH fans were irate that Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries would team up like this, let me direct you to The Dark Knight wherein the Joker spends most of the film berating and humiliating the both Batman and Harvey Dent, even going so far as to — SPOILER FOR THE FIVE OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT – kill Dent’s girlfriend. The strain of that costs Dent his soul, and he not only turns on Batman but society as well. ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Naomichi Marufuji. Leonard announces a new attendance record for ROH. He doesn’t say what it is, just that it’s a new record. Prazak mentions that, should he retain, Nigel would be the first champion to hold the title for a calendar year, which seems to be a big deal to everyone but me. I mean, Joe won the title in early 2003 and didn’t lose it until late 2004. That, to me, is much more impressive. Marufuji stays ahead of Nigel’s offense, not letting him control with the cravat and cartwheeling away from him. Nigel headscissors Marufuji, but YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR MARUFUJI! Marufuji hits a back kick, though, instead of the dropkick. Nigel catches him on top and tosses Marufuji to the floor. Back in, Marafuji locks in a Cobra Clutch and turns it into a modified Koji Clutch! Nice! Nigel powers up, so Marufuji converts to a lungblower. McGuinness catches him up top again and tries the crotched lariat. Marufuji pulls himself up and hits a springboard dropkick. COAST-TO-COAST… misses. Nigel tries a Tower of London on the apron, but Marufuji blocks and hits a SICK SHIRANUI ON THE APRON! Nigel’s bounce off the apron really sold that. Nigel tries again a few minutes later and hits it. Marafuji avoids the lariat, but Nigel hits it on a second try. Nigel tries for the handstand, but Marufuji kicks him in the face. COAST-TO-COAST DROPKICK! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Marufuji sets up for and hits the SUPERKICK – and a ROUNDHOUSE! Nigel ducks and schoolboys him for two. The kickout sends Nigel tumbling back, and he rebounds with the JAWBREAKER LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THREE! Nigel retains at 18:13. Marufuji always gives everyone a great match in ROH, but you know he’s not going to win the title. Nigel is Nigel. ***3/4 After the match, Jerry Lynn congratulates Nigel on a match well wrestled. Nigel gives him no respect, so Lynn screams that he wants Nigel in a match. When we come back to the ring, Prince Nana steals the house mic and begs for his job. Security drags him away again. Fight Without Honor: Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima. Great start to the match as Morishima, the guy who detached Danielson’s retina and nearly blinded him permanently, casually warms up in the ring as if he’s thinking, “I’m sure he’s forgotten about that.” Danielson appears on the top and dropkicks him out to the floor. PLANCHA! Danielson tries to cut his eye out with the ring hammer and chokes him out with a chair. Back to the ring, Morishima goes all Hoth Creature on him and just mauls him. Danielson gets busted open, giving us the story of the match. He staggers up to the apron and gets brutally clotheslined to the floor. Morishima hits an Ole buttalanche and kicks him in the back. Danielson is wearing the crimson mask. Morishima grabs a chain and chokes Danielson down with it. We got blood, snot… possibly some urine. It looks like the leather strap scene from Friday the 13th Part V. Danielson starts to power up, so Morishima goes up for a missile dropkick. Danielson avoids and hits a flying clothesline to knock Morishima to the floor. That sets up a suicida that had even Austin Aries saying, “Dude, slow down.” Danielson looks determined. Back in, he fires off several kicks to fell the big man. Now, Morishima is getting pissed, and he hits an avalanche in the corner. LARIATOOOHHH knocks Danielson for a flip. Danielson backflips out of the Backdrop Driver and small packages him for two. German Suplex gets two for Danielson. CATTLE MUTILATION! Morishima powers up, so Danielson switches to TRAPPED ELBOWS! Morishima no-sells and knocks him down with a forearm. Danielson fires back with forearms and sprints… RIGHT INTO A LARIAT! Morishima wraps the chain around Dragon’s throat and chokes him out again. He drops that and sets up for the Super Backdrop Driver, but Danielson slips out and hits his own. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Now Danielson has the chain and wraps it around Morishima’s throat. STOMPS TO THE FACE! TRIANGLE CHOKE! Todd Sinclair checks Morishima, but his arm only drops twice. Morishima POWERS UP AND SLAMS DANIELSON! Danielson comes off and gets slammed again. LARIAT! That’s three SICK ones. BACKDROP DRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Danielson gets his foot on the ropes. Morishima wraps the chain around his arm and goes for another lariat. Danielson ducks and rides him down into an armbar and then has the clever idea of chaining Morishima’s arms behind his back. Morishima defends himself with a big boot and kicks Danielson in the head a few times. Danielson takes the chain and delivers TRAPPED ELBOWS WITH THE CHAIN! Morishima is out, so Danielson turns him over into the CATTLE MUTILATION! Morishima is unresponsive, and that’s a KO at 18:38. Danielson finally gets his big win over Morishima in a match so signified by true brutality that I winced several times at just how vicious the shots were. Morishima’s three lariats are sold like shotgun blasts to the face, and with his frame, you truly believe they have that kind of force. Danielson played the psychology perfectly as the normally controlled wrestler who has to abandon everything he learned about technique and discipline in order to thrive. Just a superb match, and it’s going to be hard to beat for Match of the Year. ****3/4

The 411: Once again, Final Battle delivers a knockout show. After a down 2007 show, 2008's returned to form with two must-see matches. The Danielson/Morishima feud had been bubbling for nearly a year and a half, and the finale lived up to the feud – often a rarity, even in wrestling. Aries finally cracked here, and it's the moment that firmly established that Tyler Black was going to be the future babyface star of the promotion. Thumbs way up!

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]