Here's a place to check results and comment along with Ring of Honor (ROH)'s Final Battle pay-per-view (PPV) - happening Friday, December 18, 2015 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tonight's show caps off a busy week of wrestling and comes to us from a town that hosted one of the most eventful WWE Raw shows in recent memory. Philly is also the birthplace of both ECW and ROH itself. Final Battle is a special event on not only the company's yearly calendar, but also in their history. The last show of the year was also their first internet PPV back in 2009, and also their first live broadcast of any kind.
To try to live up to that legacy, ROH is putting two of biggest stars in the main event. Jay Lethal has lost the Television title, but he still holds the World championship. Lethal's held that belt for almost six months, but many would say that his run hasn't lived up to the promise of his epic win at Best in the World back in June. At Final Battle, he'll go toe-to-toe with another TNA ex, and one of the hottest superstars in the world, the Bullet Club's AJ Styles. The Phenomenal One is looking to add another World title to his trophy case alongside ones from TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), but he's also dealing with injuries that forced him out of NJPW's World Tag League tournament. Plus, he's prepping for a big showdown with Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in just a few weeks. Will he have what it takes to unseat the Greatest First Generation Wrestler in the World?
Tag action is a hallmark of ROH, and they're putting their best on display in Philly. Not only will champs The Kingdom put the belts on the line against War Machine, but The Briscoes, All Night Express and The Young Bucks will fight for the first shot at either Hanson & Rowe or Michael Bennett & Matt Taven...whoever walks out of Final Battle with the straps.
Mr. ROH Roddy Strong has been doing his best John Cena impersonation since taking the TV title from Lethal. His open challenge brought out reDRagon's Bobby Fish, but matchmaker Nigel McGuinness decided to keep that match until PPV. Strong has survived a few other contenders on the road here, and will face the multi-time tag champ tonight. Fish's partner will be handling some old business, as Kyle O'Reilly faces his old Future Shock partner Adam Cole. It looked like the pair had mended fences, but it was all a con as Cole rejoined his Kingdom cohorts and attacked O'Reilly - costing him his World title match against Lethal in the process. They'll look to close another chapter in their storied rivalry tonight.
A couple of other grudge matches fill out the undercard, where Dalton Castle looks for revenge on Silas Young for not only taking his Boys with a less-than-honorable win at All Star Extravaganza VII, but also turning them into "real" men the Party Peacock hardly recognizes. And Moose's rise to the top was stalled again when Michael Elgin beat him in the Survival of the Fittest tournament en route to winning the whole thing, and the World title shot that comes with it. The former NFLer will look to get back on a win streak when he faces Big Mike in Philly.
Plus, Chris Sabin came into ROH under a red mask, helping The Addiction as a Knight of the Rising Dawn. But a new man showed up under a similar hood, and no one listened when Sabin said this version wasn't allied with Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and himself. In an ongoing conspiracy (that honestly gives me a bit of a headache), the new masked man turned out to be an old friend, Alex Shelley. The old Motor City Machine Gun partners are not on good terms these days, however, and tonight, Shelley is joined by ACH and Matt Sydal to face Sabin and The Addiction in a six-man war.
All that, and a YouTube exclusive pre-show match between Brutal Bob and his old student, and Chris Jericho favorite, Cheeseburger!
The show starts tonight at 9PM Eastern from The 2300 Arena (formerly the ECW Arena). Tickets are still available at this link. You can see a listing of cable and satellite providers carrying the show here, or order a streaming version for $34.95 here. Final Battle will also be available on the Flipps app.
We'll update the results tonight as they happen, and feel free to use this space to discuss all the action with the best pro wrestling community on the internet - before, during and after the show.
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- All Night Express defeats The Briscoes & Young Bucksvia pinfall following a Super One Night Stand (Superplex by Rhett Titus; Blockbuster by Kenny King) on Mark Briscoe to become #1 contenders for the Tag Team titles
- Silas Young defeats Dalton Castle via pinfall following Misery (TKO); after the match, Young tries to get Dalton to admit he's a man, but he won't. Silas tells The Boys to hit Castle with chairs, but they hit Young instead. Dalton connects with Bangarang and he & the Boys strike a reunion pose.
- Michael Elgin defeats Moose via pinfall following a Burning Hammer
- Adam Cole defeats Kyle O'Reilly via pinfall; O'Reilly had Cole in a triangle choke, but had his shoulders forced to the mat when Cole put his feet on the ropes without the referee noticing. Post-match, Kyle refuses to release the hold and ends up spitting on and kicking his former tag partner. Multiple refs have to separate the two.
- Alex Shelley, ACH & #Reborn Matt Sydal defeat Chris Sabin & The Addiction via pinfall following a 450 by ACH and Shooting Star Press by Sydal on Sabin; the former Motor City Machine Gun partners didn't go one-on-one at all during the bout, which is something of which Knights of the Rising Dawn conspiracy theorists may want to make note
- Roderick Strong defeats Bobby Fish via pinfall following a knee to retain the ROH Television title (Roddy tapped to a Fish Hook but the ref didn't see it; the finish came while Bobby was celebrating what he thought was a win)
- War Machine defeats The Kingdom to become new ROH Tag Team champions (really quick match where it looked like Matt Taven blew out his knee; combine that with rumors that he, Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett are without a contract and shopping deals, and this isn't surprising - but probably wouldn't have happened in three minutes without the injury)
- Mr. Wrestling 3 leaves when Jerry Lynn arrives to call the main event; BJ Whitmer shows up, but is ejected
- Jay Lethal defeats AJ Styles via pinfall following a Lethal Injection to retain the ROH World championship (really good match; AJ did not look injured at all)