

By Big Red Machine
From December 18, 2010
Discussion
ROH Final Battle 2010 (12/18/2010)- New York, NY
ADAM COLE & KYLE O’REILLY vs. THE ALL NIGHT EXPRESS (Kenny King & Rhett Titus)- 7.25/10
Great, spotty, hard-hitting opener including one of the sickest DDT’s I have ever seen
TJ PERKINS vs. COLT CABANA- 5.25/10
Good, fun scientific wrestling- exactly what it needed to be to get Colt away from his recent series of hardcore brawls with Steen and Corino.
DAIZEE HAZE & AMAZING KONG vs. SERENA DEEBN & SARA DEL REY- 6/10
Great heel stuff from the heels. Very old-school match.
SONJAY DUTT vs. EDDIE EDWARDS- 6.75/10
HOMICIDE vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS- 6/10
A very disappointing match, considering the high level of talent involved. And the end of the match, there was a very weird ref bump that didn’t matter at all.
THE BRISCOES (Jay, Mark, & Papa Briscoe) vs. SHANE HAGADORN & THE KINGS OF WRESTLING (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (w/Sara Del Rey)-7/10
Papa Briscoe was surprisingly good in the ring, and his wrestling skill didn’t hurt the match at all.
There was one spot in this match that just plain pissed me off. Papa Briscoe was on the outside and Del Rey went to low blow him. He blocked the kick, the plants a big sloppy, wet one on her. That is fine for a valet, but is SARA DEL REY. She would respond to that by kicking someone’s teeth out (after all, KoW don’t want the match. They don’t care if they get DQed), not by complaining to the ref, and as a result, getting ejected from ringside. Compare this Sara Del Rey to the Sara Del Rey from last year’s Final Battle who jumped in the ring and started kicking away at Eddie Kingston. It made Death Rey look bad, and it reminded me of why I haven’t cared about this feud for six months- It is a classic example of just plain bad storytelling: When the good guys break rules/do socially unacceptable things (Mike Briscoe jumping the guardrail and attacking wrestlers TWICE, or the Briscoes going after Del Rey at the 8th Anniversary Show, even though she hadn’t gotten involved in the feud at all) we overlook them, but when the bad guys defend themselves (Chris Hero hitting Papa Briscoe with a rolling elbow after Papa Briscoe slapped him, Death Rey complaining that someone just violated her right to her body), it is unforgivable. Prazak even got Kevin Kelly to admit this on commentary.
I am actually almost at the point where I now consider KoW to be the babyfaces (after all, no one has ever proven that Hero’s elbow pad is loaded, either) because, in the last six months, they have seemed a lot more like the babyfaces in this feud (I have recently hit this point with Sheamus and Morrison, where I now consider Sheamus to be the babyface, and will root for him in that feud because Morrison is just being a jerk).
Aside from this one atrocious spot, the match had some good psychology, with Hagadorn tagging in when someone was down, hitting a few stomps, and then quickly tagging out whenever his opponent showed a sign of life.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Roderick Strong(c) (w/Truth Martini) vs. Davey Richards -9.5/10
WOW! Just plain hard hitting awesomeness, and the crowd was ultra-hot.
MASK VS. CAREER FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR: . El Generico (Mask) vs. Kevin Steen(ROH Career)- a PERFECT 10/10!
This was match was just plain ART! An PERFECT match to blow-off a outstanding feud.
Overall, an AMZAING show from ROH. Not sure if I would put it down as better than Death Before Dishonor VIII, but it is definitely one of ROH’s all-time top 10 shows. BUY THIS NOW!