ROH Final Battle 2012 iPPV Review

ROH Final Battle 2012 iPPV Review

Michael Elgin vs Roderick Strong
These two have been waiting to kill each other for months and finally they get the chance. They were both members of the House of Truth and both left, mostly due to not liking each other or Truth.

"Wait a minute, the book of truth is in the ring." - Kevin Kelly

The pin

Roderick Strong beat Michael Elgin with a shot with a book to win this one. Elgin had Strong ready and had him up for the spiral bomb, but then he got cracked with the book for Strong win. Good match here. It was all action from the start and they hit some really cool moves. It was mostly just moves though. The only real story they had going on here besides the two wanting to kill each other was Truth cheering on both guys whenever one got the advantage.  Rating:***

Truth tried to suck up to Roddy after, but it didn't work:

"Truth, if I told you once, I told you a million times. I am done with you and all your bull$hit so leave me alone you little creep. I quit." - Strong

"I didnt mean what I said to Roderick Strong. Everybody knows that you were the main man in the House of Truth. Everyone knows that you're the biggest superstar in Ring of Honor. There's a connection between me and you.." - Truth

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I love you." - Truth

"Wait a second, hear me out. Just hear me out Elgin." - Truth

"Elgin, nobodies even heard of you until you met me." - Truth
"This is the way a real man slaps somebody in the face." - Truth
"Well, this is it for Truth. The bible of bullcrap just bit him in the @$$." -Caleb Seltzer
 

Jay Lethal vs Rhino

Steve Corino came down to the booth during this.

"I know Jay Lehtal's mother. I dated Jay Lethal's mother. She is an ungrateful human being and she created an awful human being. If he was my kid, he'd be a straight A student, he'd be a member of SCUM and wouldn't be a crybaby like he is now." - Corino

"Caleb, that's a stupid name. Why did Kevin and his wife name you that?" - Corino
"He's not my son." - Kevin

"I know he smells but squeeze harder." - Corino

"Gino get down and count." - Corino to the ref
"How about he pins him first?" - Caleb

Jay Lethal beat Rhino with a handspring into a cutter. Not a very good one here and Corino was the only real highlight. Come on, even on paper Rhino vs Lethal doesn't sound very promising.

"He spits on your mouther and all of the sudden you want a title shot." - Corino

"I dated your mother and don't have the cajones to challenge Kevin Steen. Now Jay Lethal, I used to like you. You were a good young kid, real respectful, used to carry my bags." - Corino

Jimmy Jacobs then attacked from behind and Rhino assisted.

Prince Nana vs RD Evans

"I don't think it's going to be very pretty." - Kelly

"What is this buffoon wearing?" - Kevin

Ernesto Osiris returned to take out QT Marshall

RD Evans beat Prince Nana with an inverted Styles Clash. Decent and short match here. This wasn't meant to be anything more and it was totally fine. One of the better manager vs manager matches I've seen and it was actually pretty enjoyable. Both guys did good. Rating:**

Tomasso Ciampa then returned:

New York City Streetfight - Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team vs Rhett Titus and BJ Whitmer

"We beat you with rules. What do you think we're gonna do when there aren't any?" - Shelton

Rhett Titus gets a giant stocking with a crutch in it.

"Oh and he's got candy canes." - Kevin
"Assault and battery with delicious treats." - Caleb
"Merry Christmas." - The Crowd

"Oh my goodness, are you kidding me? Rhett Titus now has a christmas tree." - Caleb
 

"The tree just chopped down Titus." - Caleb

Charlie Haas got the win for his team after belly to belly suplexing BJ Whitmer through a table. A totally sick bump here as you can see. BJ went head first and it looked really ugly. Aside from that, I wasn't into this one. It had some comedic christmas spots but thats about it. It was pretty slow and none of the non-sport work was interesting. Rating:**1/2

Final ROH match of Jerry Lynn - Jerry Lynn vs Mike Bennett

"Lynn has had more shower time than Bennett has had ring time." - Kevin

Mike Bennett won with a Box Office Smash after interference from Brutal Bob. This wasn't very good either. Lynn was fine in the beginning but it pretty much broke down after that. I don't care for either guy so it was hard to get into this and the screwy finish didn't help.

Jerry gave a short speech after the boys in the back came back to thank him. Nigel talked to him on the mic after. They gave him an award for contributions and cheered his name.

"Guess what SCUM? I'm still standing." - Lethal
"As the 2012 SOTF winner, that main event spot rightfully belongs to me. By command, I'm gonna put myself in that main event for the world title." - Lethal

"Kevin Steen spit on my mom, ROH spit on Jay Lethal and Jay Lethal just spit on you." - Lethal

Lethal then got kicked out of the building.

Mike Mondo came out for an interview:

"When I return, 4 weeks, thats 28 days, nobody will get no rest, no mercy and certainly no fear." - Mondo

Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish interrupted.

They beat up Mondo until Davey Richards and Davey Richards (RESPECT!) made the save.

Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly vs Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards

This is the dumbest move I've seen in some time. Some how, Edwards putting Richards in a chinlock is supposed to add more torque to a crab.

 

Eddie Edwards got the win when the ref stopped the match after a headstomp/achilles lock combo.  If you like these 4 guys and the style they do, you will love this, but I didn't. The dueling suplexes spot above was really stupid and it was just alot of random moves, 2.9's and kicks without much story to them. There was good heat for this but it didn't have much of a shot with me.

Matt Hardy vs Adam Cole

"F*** you, Hardy" - The Crowd



Matt Hardy won with a low-blow after he put the ref's shirt over the ref's head. Good match here with good heat and an anti-Hardy crowd. They had the match you would expect with Hardy hitting four Side Effects in a row at one point. Cole then worked the figure four for a little until Hardy got the win. Pretty good match and I'd be up for a rematch. Rating:***

ROH World Tag Team Titles - C&C vs The Brisoces vs SCUM

The Briscoes won this with a Doomsday Device in no time at all. We are talking less than 7 minutes here...for a semi-main. They crammed a bunch of moves in and the camera's missed half of them. This wasn't even half as good as it could or should have been and I was left disappointed. I also thought that C&C should have won it since The Briscoes don't need the belts and the belts would elevate C&C. Very disappointing. Rating:**

The Briscoes announced after that they will give C&C a title shot atleast. I'm up for that and I think it should have been tonight anyway.

ROH World Title - Ladder War - Kevin Steen vs El Generico

"You can't pin Steen, you can't make him submit, maybe you can outclimb him." - Kevin

"This ends when he's more broken than the f***in ladders." - Steen

 

"El Generico utilizing what could be the nuclear missle of doomsday." - Caleb

 

El Generico uses Steen's package piledriver

Kevin Steen retrieved the belt for the win after a package piledriver on a ladder. Pretty good match but not as good as it could have been. Generico got beaten for most of the match aside from getting a few moves in. They hit some nice spots and I liked the creativity of the table on the ladder and the double ladders(though I don't think it would hurt more thna a normal one one). The other ROH ladder matches were better but this was still very good. Rating:***3/4

Overall thoughts: Skip this one. There were only two matches I really liked here as most of the card was filled with people I didn't care about. I was disappointed with Tadarius Thomas not being on the card and the 3-way tag was highly disappointing. The last PPV was alot better and I'd say watch that instead.