Smartmark
12-08-2014, 09:03 AM
After a great opening video that really drove home what a huge year ROH has had, we head to Terminal 5 in New York City, which looks absolutely awesome on TV. I don't know if this is the biggest crowd ROH has ever done, but it looks like it could be on TV.
Crowd chants "Final Battle" as Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino, and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to Final Battle and run down a few of the top matches before sending us to the ring for our first match.
Four Corner Survival: Mark Briscoe vs Hanson vs Caprice Coleman vs Jimmy Jacobs
Mark has new entrance music, and Jacobs has BJ Whitmer in his corner. Mark and Coleman start us off with a quick back and forth exchange, then Jacobs tags in and demands Coleman tag out to Hanson. Coleman obliges, so Jacobs gets right in Hanson's face and is promptly launched across the ring. Jacobs tries a couple of chops, but Hanson shrugs it off and tosses Jacobs again, so Jacobs decides to let Coleman try Hanson after all. Coleman tries using his speed to avoid getting nailed, catches Hanson with a couple of dropkicks, but eventually gets caught coming off the ropes and side suplexed. Now Mark comes in to have a shot at Hanson, and they trade blows in the middle of the ring until Mark clotheslines Hanson to the floor. Mark goes out after Hanson and gets slammed into the barricade, then Coleman jumps Hanson and hits a swinging dropkick around the post on Hanson. Jacobs tries a crossbody over the ropes, but Hanson catches him. He waits too long and Mark takes Hanson out with a dropkick off the apron, then brings Hanson back inside and gets a running boot to the face for 1. Coleman tags in and gets 2 off a series of flying kicks, but Jacobs tags himself in and hits the top rope senton on Hanson for 2. He charges Hanson and gets caught in a spinning powerslam for 2, then Hanson hits a series of clubbing forearms in the corner and finally squashes Jacobs with a Bronco Buster. He covers for 2, tosses Coleman when he sticks his nose in, and then misses a charge at Jacobs and gets caught with the springboard Ace Crusher. Mark tags himself in and goes to town on all three opponents, impressively flattening Hanson with a running clothesline before Jacobs comes in and spears Mark and then Coleman. Jacobs tries to spear Hanson, but Hanson just catches him in midair and turns it into a gutwrench powerbomb. Hanson tags himself back in and goes at it with Mark, cartwheeling past a shot from Briscoe and turning him inside out with a clothesline. Coleman tags himself in as Mark falls out of the ring, hits some weak looking martial arts punch that apparently knocks Hanson out cold, then hits Mark with a top rope Frankensteiner. Coleman with the rolling northern lights suplexes on Mark, catches Jacobs on the third for a double northern lights, and both of them roll out to the floor. Hanson takes both Mark and Jacobs out with a dive, then Coleman hits Hanson with one of his own, but they come back inside and Hanson spinkicks Coleman into next week and covers for the win.
Winner: Hanson
Well, if the goal of this match was to make Hanson look like a monster, then mission accomplished. He came out of this looking like a million bucks, hopefully it's something he can use to springboard to greater things in 2015.
We see the video package for the next match, then we go back to the ring as Jimmy Jacobs, still in the ring with Whitmer, says that there's a kid in the locker room who will take his spot as a full fledged member of the Decade tonight, and his name is Adam Page.
Adam Page vs Roderick Strong
Page tries getting the jump on Strong, but Strong dodges and lays in some chops. Page is game and fires back at Strong, but Strong catches Page with a leg lariat, shoves him into the corner, and stomps his skull in. Strong with a side backbreaker, Page tries another charge and Strong sidesteps and sends Page out to the floor, then follows him out with a dive. Strong continues hammering on Page on the floor and backdrops him into the crowd, but then Strong gets distracted by Whitmer and gives Page an opportunity to springboard off the barricade with a clothesline. Now Page is in control and brutally attacks Strong in the ring, gouging his face and hammering him with hard forearms before hitting a rolling neckbreaker off the second rope for 2. Strong finally connects with a sharp dropkick to the chin and both men are down. Page is up first, but he runs right into a flurry of offense from Strong. Strong with a running clothesline, some chops, and then gives Whitmer a shot after Whitmer tried grabbing his leg from the outside. Strong follows that with a baseball slide to Whitmer, catches Page coming off the apron, and hits a backbreaker on the ring apron. Strong rolls Page inside and hits a leaping enziguiri and another backbreaker for 2. Page is bleeding from the mouth, but he has the presence of mind to snap Strong over with a powerslam as he charges in. Strong quickly recovers and hits the gutbuster for 2, then drills Page with the Sick Kick, but Page is out at 2. Strong spits at BJ Whitmer and Jacobs holds Whitmer back as Strong puts Page on the top rope. Page fights Strong off and they trade blows on the top rope before Page hits Strong with the Mustache Ride for 2. They trade blows again, Page gets backdropped to the apron, and he comes back in with the somersault clothesline for 2. Trading more blows, Strong with a pair of leaping kneestrikes, the vertical backbreaker, and cranks Page over in the Stronghold. Strong has it in deep right in the middle of the ring, but Strong puts his knee right in the back of Page's head. Page isn't submitting, but mostly because he passed out. The referee notices that too and stops the match.
Winner: Roderick Strong
Another great showing by a younger member of the roster, as Adam Page looked like a star tonight. Jacobs shakes his hand after the match and tells Page he earned his spot, then Whitmer goes out to the broadcast table, pulls Steve Corino's headset off, and uses it to tell the TV audience that Page proved he's one of them. Corino didn't appreciate that, and gets up and shoves Whitmer. ROH officials have to separate the two of them.
Michael Elgin vs Tommaso Ciampa
Something tells me Ciampa isn't coming out and squashing Elgin in two minutes like he did to Taven last year. In fact, Elgin has won both of their previous two matches. They share a tense handshake before the match, then proceed to pound each other's skulls in. Ciampa German suplexes Elgin into the corner, Elgin gets Ciampa up for a delayed vertical suplex, but Ciampa...well, he squeezes Elgin's junk to get him to release the hold. Ciampa won't release his for several seconds, however, and Elgin is so mad that he immediately snaps Ciampa over with that vertical suplex, minus the delay, once Ciampa lets go. Ciampa rolls out to the apron and trades blows again with Elgin, but misses a shoulderblock through the ropes and Elgin nails him, then comes off the second rope with a guillotine legdrop. Elgin comes off the ropes with a splash for 2, but then Ciampa simply bowls Elgin out of the ring and bashes him into the barricade. Ciampa lays in some shots, but then Elgin rams Ciampa into the barricade and grabs the timekeeper's table, presumably thinking to let Ciampa use it for a forced nap. They go to the ring apron and Elgin sets for a powerbomb through the table, but Ciampa blocks and hits an air raid crash on the apron. He quickly rolls Elgin back inside and covers, but only gets 2. Ciampa goes to the top, but Elgin nails him and hits what started like the Razor's Edge, but Elgin turned him all the way over and plants Ciampa on his face. Elgin follows up with the sitout powerbomb, but Ciampa kicks out at 2, then knocks elgin silly with a kneestrike to the face. Elgin drills Ciampa with a leaping enziguiri and then powerbombs him into the corner, but Elgin tries to go up for the twisting senton and Ciampa catches him with Project Ciampa. Elgin is out at 2, so now they've both kicked out of each other's finishers. Ciampa sets that table up near the corner and then he and Elgin go to the top rope and Ciampa tries to superplex Elgin through the table. Elgin fights Ciampa off, nails him with a leaping enziguiri, and hits an overhead release superplex. Elgin pulls down his knee brace and goes for Ciampa's own running knees. Ciampa dodges, but Elgin hits a pair of spinning backfists, mocks Ciampa, and comes off the ropes...right into a huge clothesline from Ciampa that turns Elgin inside out. Ciampa covers for 2 and then goes for Project Ciampa, but Elgin backdrops, rolls through, and powerbombs Ciampa into the corner. Ciampa comes out with a clothesline, but Elgin dodges and Ciampa takes the referee out. Ciampa immediately begins freaking out and pleading to Nigel that he didn't mean to do that, and even the announcers are telling Nigel that it didn't look intentional. An angry Nigel gets up and walks to the back as Elgin nails a distraught Ciampa from behind, hits the double underhook DDT as the referee comes to, and covers Ciampa for the win.
Winner: Michael Elgin
Hell of a brawl, and Ciampa really looks unhappy that his ROH career could be coming to an end after what just happened.
ROH's 13th anniversary show will be on PPV on March 1st, live from Las Vegas!
Cedric Alexander & The Addiction vs ACH & The Young Bucks
Great ring entrance as Cedric was an honorary third member of the Addiction. Crowd chants F TNA, but Daniels redirects them into an ROH chant. Nick and Cedric start off doing a fast back and forth, Cedric nails Nick with a dropkick, but Matt tags in and the Bucks lay Cedric out with a series of double teams. Cedric dumps Matt out to the floor and takes him out with a dive, then tags Daniels in and the Addiction works Matt over with some double teams of their own. ACH tags in and goes back and forth with Daniels and nails him with a nice dropkick, then sets him up for the double handspring backrake from Matt. Nick tags in, but Daniels catches him with an STO and then Cedric tags in, tries to take Matt out with a dive to the floor, but Matt dodges, and I can't describe the double team the Bucks hit Cedric with at this point, but it was really cool, Anyway, Cedric is in trouble for a brief moment before ACH tries to be cute by moonsaulting to the floor to avoid a shot from Cedric, only to be caught and parachute slammed on the floor by the Addiction. Matt tags in and clotheslines Daniels to the floor, nails him with a dive, then backdrops Nick over the top rope and into a tornado DDT on the floor on Daniels. That was just nuts. Matt superkicks Cedric for good measure, then the Bucks take everyone out with dives. We finally go back into the ring where Matt nails a top rope elbowdrop on Daniels for 2, Daniels responds with an STO for 2, Matt counters Angel's Wings to a backdrop, and he tags ACH in to hit a top rope something on Daniels for 2. Cedric tags in and hits a Michinoku Driver for 2, then all six men wind up in the ring at once. We do spot-spot-spot-spot-spot until all six men are down. Then everyone gets up and more spot-spot-spot-spot-spot until the Bucks hit Cedric with a spike Tombstone and then ACH finishes Cedric with a 450 splash.
Winners: ACH & The Young Bucks
A lot of very impressive spots here, but that's all it was. That finishing sequence was awesome, though.
Moose vs RD Evans
Evans slaps Moose to start the match, and they do a back and forth that ends with Moose dropkicking Evans square in the face. Evans dodges a charge and Moose tumbles out to the floor, but Evans tries a dive, Moose catches him, and gives Evans an F5 into the ringpost. Moose then picks Evans up for a giant swing and swings him back and forth from one barricade to the other. Veda Scott comes out from the back looking visibly concerned as Moose brings Evans inside and backdrops him into the next zip code. Evans hits a discus punch, but Moose pops Evans up and tears his head off with a clothesline as he comes down. Moose covers Evans with a boot in the chest for 2, but misses a charge and Evans nails Moose with a running Yakuza kick in the corner. Evans snaps Moose's neck down on the top rope, tries a springboard move twice and slips off the ropes both times, then goes for it a third time and barely makes it into the ring for a real weak looking shot to Moose that Moose is nice enough to sell anyway. The fans let him know about that, so Evans comes off the top rope with another shot, but Moose nails Evans the third time and goes for a side suplex, but Evans rolls through and hits a Scorpion Deathdrop for 2. Evans goes for the Sharpshooter, fights like hell to get Moose over, but finally gets the hold right in the middle of the ring. Nana slides a chair in to Moose, so the referee kicks Nana and Ramon out and literally herds them to the back. Veda Scott gets in to stop Moose from spearing Evans, and as if everyone doesn't see the turn coming from a mile away, she acts like she cares about Evans long enough to give her a Flair uppercut so Moose can spear Evans and pin him for the win.
Winner: Moose
Yeesh...Everything was going okay until Evans missed those springboard moves and that seemed to take all the air out of the fans and put both guys off their games. Plus, any idiot could see the Veda heel turn coming the instant she got in the ring while everyone else was in the aisle. Not what I think they were hoping to do out there. Nana, with his arm around Veda, gets a mic and says that karma is a bitch.
ROH TV Title Match: Jay Lethal vs Matt Sydal
They do some feeling out stuff to start, then things pick up with a back and forth that sees Sydal avoid an attempt at the Lethal Injection. Another back and forth sees Sydal get a few lucha moves and nails Lethal with a dropkick. Sydal tries going to the top rope, Lethal blocks him and follows him up, but ends up bailing to the floor when Sydal fights him back off. Lethal gets back in and backs Sydal to the corner and puts the boots to him, but Sydal counters a hiptoss attempt to a flying headscissors, high knee, and leg lariat for 2. Lethal nails Sydal and goes ot the top rope, but Sydal catches Lethal with a kick on the way down and works Lethal over with several more kicks. Lethal tries escaping to the floor, so Sydal nails him with a baseball slide and goes to the top for a dive. Jay Diesel steps in his way and tries to distract Sydal, but Sydal dodges an attempt at a Yakuza kick and starts to hammer Lethal with more kicks. He charges Lethal in the corner and gets backdropped onto the top rope, and Sydal looks like he might have hurt his leg catching it on the ropes coming down. Sydal is down and Lethal is putting the boots to him and makes a cover for 2. Truth yanks Sydal out to the floor behind the referee's back, but Sydal lands on his feet and grabs Truth. Lethal takes Sydal out with a dive and then rams him into the barricade, then puts his feet on Sydal to pose for a picture by Truth. Sydal goes for a backslide and only gets 2, and Lethal just drills him with a punch to the face. Lethal chokes Sydal on the ropes and covers for 2, but Sydal rolls through a sunset flip attempt and double stomps Lethal to turn the tide. Sydal hits a leaping kneestrike to the jaw and covers for a very close 2, then hits the stepover deathdrop for another 2. Sydal hits the diving clothesline in the corner, but Lethal catches him coming in and counters to the Lethal Combination for 2. Lethal goes for Hail to the King, Sydal gets the boot up, but Lethal sees that and stops short, gives Sydal a backbreaker, and hits Hail to the King on the second attempt. Sydal kicks out at 2, then catches Lethal out of nowhere with a flying headscissors, diving clothesline in the corner, hits Meteora off the top, and finally hits the shooting star press and makes a cover. Truth Martini pulls the referee out of the ring at 2 (which I hate seeing because it's a DQ and referees look stupid for not calling it), so Sydal takes out Jay diesel, superkicks the Book of Truth into Truth Martini's face, and goes to the top rope to nail Truth with the shooting star press. Lethal catches him coming down with a Lethal Injection, then hits a second Lethal Injection for the win.
Winner: Jay Lethal
Great match, terrible finish.I really, really want to stop seeing that "pulling the ref out at 2" spot because it's as direct interference as if Truth jumped in the ring and kicked Sydal in the face. Other than the finish, match was terrific.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match: reDRagon vs Time Splitters
reDRagon looks great with all those title belts, having defeated the Time Splitters for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Title recently and added it to their ROH title. Kushida and O'Reilly start us off with some mat wrestling, then Fish and Shelley tag in and Shelley picks up the pace, drilling Fish wish some dropkicks and then taking O'Reilly back to his corner to do some double teams with Kushida. O'Reilly bails to the floor to break up the momentum, but Time Splitters outmaneuver reDRagon and lay them both out on the floor. Kushida sends O'Reilly back inside and Shelley comes off the top with a splash for 2. Fish distracts Shelley and allows O'Reilly to snap Shelley's arm down on the top rope, then Fish does it again from the outside while the referee is distracted. O'Reilly traps Shelley in an abdominal stretch, and Shelley fights his way free, but continues absorbing a beating for several minutes. Shelley nearly makes the tag, but O'Reilly yanks Kushida off the ring apron and Fish manages to pull Shelley back to the middle of the ring before Kushida can get back up. O'Reilly slams Shelley to set him up for a top rope move from Fish, but Shelley kicks O'Reilly off into the ropes, shaking Fish and causing him to slip and land on his ding ding, and Shelley makes the tag to Kushida. Kushida comes in and cleans house, and plants O'Reilly with the Chaos Theory for 2. Fish and Shelley go at it on the floor and Fish rams Shelley into the barricade, O'Reilly goes for the crazy dropkick off the apron but gets superkicked, then Kushida comes off the apron and takes everyone out. Kushida quickly goes for a pin on O'Reilly and gets about 2.99999999. reDRagon catches Kushida with the double goozle, but Kushida is out at 2. Shelley and Fish go back out to the floor while Kushida and O'Reilly go at it in the ring and O'Reilly gets a guillotine choke, Kushida gets out and Shelley hits O'Reilly with Sliced Bread #2, but Fish comes in and nails Shelley. Time Splitters hit a series of Motor City Machine Guns double teams on Fish, then Shelley hits a top rope Sliced Bread #2 on O'Reilly. Fish barely breaks the cover at 2, Shelley dumps him to the floor and goes for a dive but misses as Kushida goes for a moonsault on O'Reilly and gets caught in a triangle choke. O'Reilly turns that into a cross armbreaker and Fish adds to it with a top rope headbutt, but then Shelley comes off the top with a double stomp to O'Reilly. Now reDRagon takes back over, hammering both Time Splitters with hard hitting offense, but Kushida escapes Chasing the Dragon and superkicks O'Reilly so hard his mouth guard comes flying out. Kushida backdrops Fish to the floor, so Fish takes Shelley out with a dive as O'Reilly hits Nigel McGuinness' rebound lariat and a brainbuster on Kushida for 2. Fish is back in and they hit Chasing the Dragon, but Kushida kicks out, so O'Reilly gets the cross armbreaker, also hooks Kushida's leg to keep him from struggling, and Kushida is finally forced to tap out.
Winners: reDRagon
There was a lot going on in this one, and maybe I'd feel differently if I wasn't trying to type up play by play, but this felt a lot more spot-centric that I expected from this match.
Fight Without Honor/ROH World Title Match: Jay Briscoe vs Adam Cole
These guys have been fighting over the title for a year and a half and Cole has yet to score a pinfall win over Jay, even though he did win the Ladder War earlier this year. Cole gives Jay the double bird to get under his skin, and it leads to Jay beating the crap out of him and hitting the Jay Driller just like that. He makes a cover and Cole barely kicks out at 2 and rolls to the floor to catch a break. Everything is legal in this one as Jay follows Cole to the floor and hammers him with right hands before kicking the timekeeper out of his table again and putting Cole on it. Jay gets on the apron, gets a running start, and double stomps Cole through the table, and we get a great slow motion replay of that for emphasis. Briscoe pulls a staplegun out of his pocket, but cole BASHES Jay over the skull with a chair before Jay gets a chance to use it. Cole reaches over the barricade to the two seats he purchased for Jay's parents, takes a picture of Papa Briscoe off of one of the empty chairs, and staples it to Jay's head before ramming him into the barricade. They head back inside as Cole kicks Jay in the face and snaps him over with a suplex. The paper is still stapled to Jay's head as Cole grabs the chair from ringside and sits in it to gouge at Jay's mouth. Jay hits a jawbreaker to knock Cole backward into the chair and then drills him with a running boot. Jay continues beating on Cole, wedges the chair in a corner, and then rams Cole into it. Jay with a hard slam and then he just chokes the hell out of Cole before going under the ring and pulling out...another table! The table goes into the ring and Jay sets it up in the corner and tries to ram Cole through it, but Cole blocks and hits Jay with a brainbuster onto the knee for 2. Cole sets up two chairs to make a little platform and tries to toss Jay onto them, but Jay blocks and gives Cole a falcon arrow suplex through the chairs. Jay now gets a Singapore cane from under the ring and menaces Cole with it, but Cole goes to the eyes, gets the cane, and pounds on Jay with it. Jay no-sells and tells Cole to hit him again, so Cole cracks him square in the skull and Jay goes down like a brick. Cole covers for 2, then goes back to hammering Jay with the cane, drags him to the corner, and rams his knee into the post. He tries to do it again, but Jay pulls up on his legs and pulls Cole into the post. Cole is bleeding from the skull as he gets back to his feet just in time to take a shot across the head from the Singapore cane. Jay brings Cole back into the ring and Cole is bleeding so heavily that the doctor from the NY State Athletic Commission comes down to ringside to stop the match and check on Cole. The crowd doesn't like that, so Jay goes out to the floor, fights the doctor and the security that accompanied him off, and tosses Cole back into the ring to continue stomping on his face. Jay hits a neckbreaker in the middle of the ring, but Cole is out at 2. Jay continues punching Cole in the face as the crowd is 50/50 behind both me. They go to the top rope and Jay tries to superplex Cole to the floor, but Cole drops into the ring and superkicks Jay, sending Jay backward through the table at ringside. Cole grabs the World Title belt from ringside, measures Jay when he comes back in the ring, and smashes him in the face with the belt. Cole covers Jay for 2, then kisses the belt and tosses it aside, superkicks Jay in the back of the head, and hits the Florida Key for 2. Cole goes to the second rope for the leaping Panamaninan Destroyer, but Jay catches Cole in a fireman's carry and gives him a running death valley driver through the table in the corner. Jay grabs a purple bag from under the ring and turns it upside down to pour a huge sea of thumbtacks all over the mat. Cole punches Jay in the ding ding and looks at the tacks, grabs a handful, pours them in Jay's mouth, and superkicks him in the face. What a jerk! Cole makes a cover but Jay kicks out at 2, blocks the Florida Key, drills Cole with a pair of Yakuza kicks, and finally backdrops Cole onto the tacks. Ouch. Jay with another Jay Driller, but Cole again somehow kicks out at 2. The crowd is going nuts as Jay picks up his title belt, lays it on the mat, and waits for Cole to get to his feet. Cole crawls to his knees, looks down at the belt that was once his, then looks up at Jay and realizes his fate. Jay with another Jay Driller, this time on the belt, and Cole collapses onto the tacks for good measure. Jay covers Cole and picks up the extremely hard fought win and remain undefeated against Adam Cole.
Winner: Jay Briscoe
Hell of a fight to top off a solid show. It'll be interesting to see what's next for each of these guys since I feel like this had to close out their feud. Both men are still laying in the ring as the show closes with another spot for the 13th Anniversary Show from Las Vegas.
PWI
Crowd chants "Final Battle" as Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino, and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to Final Battle and run down a few of the top matches before sending us to the ring for our first match.
Four Corner Survival: Mark Briscoe vs Hanson vs Caprice Coleman vs Jimmy Jacobs
Mark has new entrance music, and Jacobs has BJ Whitmer in his corner. Mark and Coleman start us off with a quick back and forth exchange, then Jacobs tags in and demands Coleman tag out to Hanson. Coleman obliges, so Jacobs gets right in Hanson's face and is promptly launched across the ring. Jacobs tries a couple of chops, but Hanson shrugs it off and tosses Jacobs again, so Jacobs decides to let Coleman try Hanson after all. Coleman tries using his speed to avoid getting nailed, catches Hanson with a couple of dropkicks, but eventually gets caught coming off the ropes and side suplexed. Now Mark comes in to have a shot at Hanson, and they trade blows in the middle of the ring until Mark clotheslines Hanson to the floor. Mark goes out after Hanson and gets slammed into the barricade, then Coleman jumps Hanson and hits a swinging dropkick around the post on Hanson. Jacobs tries a crossbody over the ropes, but Hanson catches him. He waits too long and Mark takes Hanson out with a dropkick off the apron, then brings Hanson back inside and gets a running boot to the face for 1. Coleman tags in and gets 2 off a series of flying kicks, but Jacobs tags himself in and hits the top rope senton on Hanson for 2. He charges Hanson and gets caught in a spinning powerslam for 2, then Hanson hits a series of clubbing forearms in the corner and finally squashes Jacobs with a Bronco Buster. He covers for 2, tosses Coleman when he sticks his nose in, and then misses a charge at Jacobs and gets caught with the springboard Ace Crusher. Mark tags himself in and goes to town on all three opponents, impressively flattening Hanson with a running clothesline before Jacobs comes in and spears Mark and then Coleman. Jacobs tries to spear Hanson, but Hanson just catches him in midair and turns it into a gutwrench powerbomb. Hanson tags himself back in and goes at it with Mark, cartwheeling past a shot from Briscoe and turning him inside out with a clothesline. Coleman tags himself in as Mark falls out of the ring, hits some weak looking martial arts punch that apparently knocks Hanson out cold, then hits Mark with a top rope Frankensteiner. Coleman with the rolling northern lights suplexes on Mark, catches Jacobs on the third for a double northern lights, and both of them roll out to the floor. Hanson takes both Mark and Jacobs out with a dive, then Coleman hits Hanson with one of his own, but they come back inside and Hanson spinkicks Coleman into next week and covers for the win.
Winner: Hanson
Well, if the goal of this match was to make Hanson look like a monster, then mission accomplished. He came out of this looking like a million bucks, hopefully it's something he can use to springboard to greater things in 2015.
We see the video package for the next match, then we go back to the ring as Jimmy Jacobs, still in the ring with Whitmer, says that there's a kid in the locker room who will take his spot as a full fledged member of the Decade tonight, and his name is Adam Page.
Adam Page vs Roderick Strong
Page tries getting the jump on Strong, but Strong dodges and lays in some chops. Page is game and fires back at Strong, but Strong catches Page with a leg lariat, shoves him into the corner, and stomps his skull in. Strong with a side backbreaker, Page tries another charge and Strong sidesteps and sends Page out to the floor, then follows him out with a dive. Strong continues hammering on Page on the floor and backdrops him into the crowd, but then Strong gets distracted by Whitmer and gives Page an opportunity to springboard off the barricade with a clothesline. Now Page is in control and brutally attacks Strong in the ring, gouging his face and hammering him with hard forearms before hitting a rolling neckbreaker off the second rope for 2. Strong finally connects with a sharp dropkick to the chin and both men are down. Page is up first, but he runs right into a flurry of offense from Strong. Strong with a running clothesline, some chops, and then gives Whitmer a shot after Whitmer tried grabbing his leg from the outside. Strong follows that with a baseball slide to Whitmer, catches Page coming off the apron, and hits a backbreaker on the ring apron. Strong rolls Page inside and hits a leaping enziguiri and another backbreaker for 2. Page is bleeding from the mouth, but he has the presence of mind to snap Strong over with a powerslam as he charges in. Strong quickly recovers and hits the gutbuster for 2, then drills Page with the Sick Kick, but Page is out at 2. Strong spits at BJ Whitmer and Jacobs holds Whitmer back as Strong puts Page on the top rope. Page fights Strong off and they trade blows on the top rope before Page hits Strong with the Mustache Ride for 2. They trade blows again, Page gets backdropped to the apron, and he comes back in with the somersault clothesline for 2. Trading more blows, Strong with a pair of leaping kneestrikes, the vertical backbreaker, and cranks Page over in the Stronghold. Strong has it in deep right in the middle of the ring, but Strong puts his knee right in the back of Page's head. Page isn't submitting, but mostly because he passed out. The referee notices that too and stops the match.
Winner: Roderick Strong
Another great showing by a younger member of the roster, as Adam Page looked like a star tonight. Jacobs shakes his hand after the match and tells Page he earned his spot, then Whitmer goes out to the broadcast table, pulls Steve Corino's headset off, and uses it to tell the TV audience that Page proved he's one of them. Corino didn't appreciate that, and gets up and shoves Whitmer. ROH officials have to separate the two of them.
Michael Elgin vs Tommaso Ciampa
Something tells me Ciampa isn't coming out and squashing Elgin in two minutes like he did to Taven last year. In fact, Elgin has won both of their previous two matches. They share a tense handshake before the match, then proceed to pound each other's skulls in. Ciampa German suplexes Elgin into the corner, Elgin gets Ciampa up for a delayed vertical suplex, but Ciampa...well, he squeezes Elgin's junk to get him to release the hold. Ciampa won't release his for several seconds, however, and Elgin is so mad that he immediately snaps Ciampa over with that vertical suplex, minus the delay, once Ciampa lets go. Ciampa rolls out to the apron and trades blows again with Elgin, but misses a shoulderblock through the ropes and Elgin nails him, then comes off the second rope with a guillotine legdrop. Elgin comes off the ropes with a splash for 2, but then Ciampa simply bowls Elgin out of the ring and bashes him into the barricade. Ciampa lays in some shots, but then Elgin rams Ciampa into the barricade and grabs the timekeeper's table, presumably thinking to let Ciampa use it for a forced nap. They go to the ring apron and Elgin sets for a powerbomb through the table, but Ciampa blocks and hits an air raid crash on the apron. He quickly rolls Elgin back inside and covers, but only gets 2. Ciampa goes to the top, but Elgin nails him and hits what started like the Razor's Edge, but Elgin turned him all the way over and plants Ciampa on his face. Elgin follows up with the sitout powerbomb, but Ciampa kicks out at 2, then knocks elgin silly with a kneestrike to the face. Elgin drills Ciampa with a leaping enziguiri and then powerbombs him into the corner, but Elgin tries to go up for the twisting senton and Ciampa catches him with Project Ciampa. Elgin is out at 2, so now they've both kicked out of each other's finishers. Ciampa sets that table up near the corner and then he and Elgin go to the top rope and Ciampa tries to superplex Elgin through the table. Elgin fights Ciampa off, nails him with a leaping enziguiri, and hits an overhead release superplex. Elgin pulls down his knee brace and goes for Ciampa's own running knees. Ciampa dodges, but Elgin hits a pair of spinning backfists, mocks Ciampa, and comes off the ropes...right into a huge clothesline from Ciampa that turns Elgin inside out. Ciampa covers for 2 and then goes for Project Ciampa, but Elgin backdrops, rolls through, and powerbombs Ciampa into the corner. Ciampa comes out with a clothesline, but Elgin dodges and Ciampa takes the referee out. Ciampa immediately begins freaking out and pleading to Nigel that he didn't mean to do that, and even the announcers are telling Nigel that it didn't look intentional. An angry Nigel gets up and walks to the back as Elgin nails a distraught Ciampa from behind, hits the double underhook DDT as the referee comes to, and covers Ciampa for the win.
Winner: Michael Elgin
Hell of a brawl, and Ciampa really looks unhappy that his ROH career could be coming to an end after what just happened.
ROH's 13th anniversary show will be on PPV on March 1st, live from Las Vegas!
Cedric Alexander & The Addiction vs ACH & The Young Bucks
Great ring entrance as Cedric was an honorary third member of the Addiction. Crowd chants F TNA, but Daniels redirects them into an ROH chant. Nick and Cedric start off doing a fast back and forth, Cedric nails Nick with a dropkick, but Matt tags in and the Bucks lay Cedric out with a series of double teams. Cedric dumps Matt out to the floor and takes him out with a dive, then tags Daniels in and the Addiction works Matt over with some double teams of their own. ACH tags in and goes back and forth with Daniels and nails him with a nice dropkick, then sets him up for the double handspring backrake from Matt. Nick tags in, but Daniels catches him with an STO and then Cedric tags in, tries to take Matt out with a dive to the floor, but Matt dodges, and I can't describe the double team the Bucks hit Cedric with at this point, but it was really cool, Anyway, Cedric is in trouble for a brief moment before ACH tries to be cute by moonsaulting to the floor to avoid a shot from Cedric, only to be caught and parachute slammed on the floor by the Addiction. Matt tags in and clotheslines Daniels to the floor, nails him with a dive, then backdrops Nick over the top rope and into a tornado DDT on the floor on Daniels. That was just nuts. Matt superkicks Cedric for good measure, then the Bucks take everyone out with dives. We finally go back into the ring where Matt nails a top rope elbowdrop on Daniels for 2, Daniels responds with an STO for 2, Matt counters Angel's Wings to a backdrop, and he tags ACH in to hit a top rope something on Daniels for 2. Cedric tags in and hits a Michinoku Driver for 2, then all six men wind up in the ring at once. We do spot-spot-spot-spot-spot until all six men are down. Then everyone gets up and more spot-spot-spot-spot-spot until the Bucks hit Cedric with a spike Tombstone and then ACH finishes Cedric with a 450 splash.
Winners: ACH & The Young Bucks
A lot of very impressive spots here, but that's all it was. That finishing sequence was awesome, though.
Moose vs RD Evans
Evans slaps Moose to start the match, and they do a back and forth that ends with Moose dropkicking Evans square in the face. Evans dodges a charge and Moose tumbles out to the floor, but Evans tries a dive, Moose catches him, and gives Evans an F5 into the ringpost. Moose then picks Evans up for a giant swing and swings him back and forth from one barricade to the other. Veda Scott comes out from the back looking visibly concerned as Moose brings Evans inside and backdrops him into the next zip code. Evans hits a discus punch, but Moose pops Evans up and tears his head off with a clothesline as he comes down. Moose covers Evans with a boot in the chest for 2, but misses a charge and Evans nails Moose with a running Yakuza kick in the corner. Evans snaps Moose's neck down on the top rope, tries a springboard move twice and slips off the ropes both times, then goes for it a third time and barely makes it into the ring for a real weak looking shot to Moose that Moose is nice enough to sell anyway. The fans let him know about that, so Evans comes off the top rope with another shot, but Moose nails Evans the third time and goes for a side suplex, but Evans rolls through and hits a Scorpion Deathdrop for 2. Evans goes for the Sharpshooter, fights like hell to get Moose over, but finally gets the hold right in the middle of the ring. Nana slides a chair in to Moose, so the referee kicks Nana and Ramon out and literally herds them to the back. Veda Scott gets in to stop Moose from spearing Evans, and as if everyone doesn't see the turn coming from a mile away, she acts like she cares about Evans long enough to give her a Flair uppercut so Moose can spear Evans and pin him for the win.
Winner: Moose
Yeesh...Everything was going okay until Evans missed those springboard moves and that seemed to take all the air out of the fans and put both guys off their games. Plus, any idiot could see the Veda heel turn coming the instant she got in the ring while everyone else was in the aisle. Not what I think they were hoping to do out there. Nana, with his arm around Veda, gets a mic and says that karma is a bitch.
ROH TV Title Match: Jay Lethal vs Matt Sydal
They do some feeling out stuff to start, then things pick up with a back and forth that sees Sydal avoid an attempt at the Lethal Injection. Another back and forth sees Sydal get a few lucha moves and nails Lethal with a dropkick. Sydal tries going to the top rope, Lethal blocks him and follows him up, but ends up bailing to the floor when Sydal fights him back off. Lethal gets back in and backs Sydal to the corner and puts the boots to him, but Sydal counters a hiptoss attempt to a flying headscissors, high knee, and leg lariat for 2. Lethal nails Sydal and goes ot the top rope, but Sydal catches Lethal with a kick on the way down and works Lethal over with several more kicks. Lethal tries escaping to the floor, so Sydal nails him with a baseball slide and goes to the top for a dive. Jay Diesel steps in his way and tries to distract Sydal, but Sydal dodges an attempt at a Yakuza kick and starts to hammer Lethal with more kicks. He charges Lethal in the corner and gets backdropped onto the top rope, and Sydal looks like he might have hurt his leg catching it on the ropes coming down. Sydal is down and Lethal is putting the boots to him and makes a cover for 2. Truth yanks Sydal out to the floor behind the referee's back, but Sydal lands on his feet and grabs Truth. Lethal takes Sydal out with a dive and then rams him into the barricade, then puts his feet on Sydal to pose for a picture by Truth. Sydal goes for a backslide and only gets 2, and Lethal just drills him with a punch to the face. Lethal chokes Sydal on the ropes and covers for 2, but Sydal rolls through a sunset flip attempt and double stomps Lethal to turn the tide. Sydal hits a leaping kneestrike to the jaw and covers for a very close 2, then hits the stepover deathdrop for another 2. Sydal hits the diving clothesline in the corner, but Lethal catches him coming in and counters to the Lethal Combination for 2. Lethal goes for Hail to the King, Sydal gets the boot up, but Lethal sees that and stops short, gives Sydal a backbreaker, and hits Hail to the King on the second attempt. Sydal kicks out at 2, then catches Lethal out of nowhere with a flying headscissors, diving clothesline in the corner, hits Meteora off the top, and finally hits the shooting star press and makes a cover. Truth Martini pulls the referee out of the ring at 2 (which I hate seeing because it's a DQ and referees look stupid for not calling it), so Sydal takes out Jay diesel, superkicks the Book of Truth into Truth Martini's face, and goes to the top rope to nail Truth with the shooting star press. Lethal catches him coming down with a Lethal Injection, then hits a second Lethal Injection for the win.
Winner: Jay Lethal
Great match, terrible finish.I really, really want to stop seeing that "pulling the ref out at 2" spot because it's as direct interference as if Truth jumped in the ring and kicked Sydal in the face. Other than the finish, match was terrific.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match: reDRagon vs Time Splitters
reDRagon looks great with all those title belts, having defeated the Time Splitters for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Title recently and added it to their ROH title. Kushida and O'Reilly start us off with some mat wrestling, then Fish and Shelley tag in and Shelley picks up the pace, drilling Fish wish some dropkicks and then taking O'Reilly back to his corner to do some double teams with Kushida. O'Reilly bails to the floor to break up the momentum, but Time Splitters outmaneuver reDRagon and lay them both out on the floor. Kushida sends O'Reilly back inside and Shelley comes off the top with a splash for 2. Fish distracts Shelley and allows O'Reilly to snap Shelley's arm down on the top rope, then Fish does it again from the outside while the referee is distracted. O'Reilly traps Shelley in an abdominal stretch, and Shelley fights his way free, but continues absorbing a beating for several minutes. Shelley nearly makes the tag, but O'Reilly yanks Kushida off the ring apron and Fish manages to pull Shelley back to the middle of the ring before Kushida can get back up. O'Reilly slams Shelley to set him up for a top rope move from Fish, but Shelley kicks O'Reilly off into the ropes, shaking Fish and causing him to slip and land on his ding ding, and Shelley makes the tag to Kushida. Kushida comes in and cleans house, and plants O'Reilly with the Chaos Theory for 2. Fish and Shelley go at it on the floor and Fish rams Shelley into the barricade, O'Reilly goes for the crazy dropkick off the apron but gets superkicked, then Kushida comes off the apron and takes everyone out. Kushida quickly goes for a pin on O'Reilly and gets about 2.99999999. reDRagon catches Kushida with the double goozle, but Kushida is out at 2. Shelley and Fish go back out to the floor while Kushida and O'Reilly go at it in the ring and O'Reilly gets a guillotine choke, Kushida gets out and Shelley hits O'Reilly with Sliced Bread #2, but Fish comes in and nails Shelley. Time Splitters hit a series of Motor City Machine Guns double teams on Fish, then Shelley hits a top rope Sliced Bread #2 on O'Reilly. Fish barely breaks the cover at 2, Shelley dumps him to the floor and goes for a dive but misses as Kushida goes for a moonsault on O'Reilly and gets caught in a triangle choke. O'Reilly turns that into a cross armbreaker and Fish adds to it with a top rope headbutt, but then Shelley comes off the top with a double stomp to O'Reilly. Now reDRagon takes back over, hammering both Time Splitters with hard hitting offense, but Kushida escapes Chasing the Dragon and superkicks O'Reilly so hard his mouth guard comes flying out. Kushida backdrops Fish to the floor, so Fish takes Shelley out with a dive as O'Reilly hits Nigel McGuinness' rebound lariat and a brainbuster on Kushida for 2. Fish is back in and they hit Chasing the Dragon, but Kushida kicks out, so O'Reilly gets the cross armbreaker, also hooks Kushida's leg to keep him from struggling, and Kushida is finally forced to tap out.
Winners: reDRagon
There was a lot going on in this one, and maybe I'd feel differently if I wasn't trying to type up play by play, but this felt a lot more spot-centric that I expected from this match.
Fight Without Honor/ROH World Title Match: Jay Briscoe vs Adam Cole
These guys have been fighting over the title for a year and a half and Cole has yet to score a pinfall win over Jay, even though he did win the Ladder War earlier this year. Cole gives Jay the double bird to get under his skin, and it leads to Jay beating the crap out of him and hitting the Jay Driller just like that. He makes a cover and Cole barely kicks out at 2 and rolls to the floor to catch a break. Everything is legal in this one as Jay follows Cole to the floor and hammers him with right hands before kicking the timekeeper out of his table again and putting Cole on it. Jay gets on the apron, gets a running start, and double stomps Cole through the table, and we get a great slow motion replay of that for emphasis. Briscoe pulls a staplegun out of his pocket, but cole BASHES Jay over the skull with a chair before Jay gets a chance to use it. Cole reaches over the barricade to the two seats he purchased for Jay's parents, takes a picture of Papa Briscoe off of one of the empty chairs, and staples it to Jay's head before ramming him into the barricade. They head back inside as Cole kicks Jay in the face and snaps him over with a suplex. The paper is still stapled to Jay's head as Cole grabs the chair from ringside and sits in it to gouge at Jay's mouth. Jay hits a jawbreaker to knock Cole backward into the chair and then drills him with a running boot. Jay continues beating on Cole, wedges the chair in a corner, and then rams Cole into it. Jay with a hard slam and then he just chokes the hell out of Cole before going under the ring and pulling out...another table! The table goes into the ring and Jay sets it up in the corner and tries to ram Cole through it, but Cole blocks and hits Jay with a brainbuster onto the knee for 2. Cole sets up two chairs to make a little platform and tries to toss Jay onto them, but Jay blocks and gives Cole a falcon arrow suplex through the chairs. Jay now gets a Singapore cane from under the ring and menaces Cole with it, but Cole goes to the eyes, gets the cane, and pounds on Jay with it. Jay no-sells and tells Cole to hit him again, so Cole cracks him square in the skull and Jay goes down like a brick. Cole covers for 2, then goes back to hammering Jay with the cane, drags him to the corner, and rams his knee into the post. He tries to do it again, but Jay pulls up on his legs and pulls Cole into the post. Cole is bleeding from the skull as he gets back to his feet just in time to take a shot across the head from the Singapore cane. Jay brings Cole back into the ring and Cole is bleeding so heavily that the doctor from the NY State Athletic Commission comes down to ringside to stop the match and check on Cole. The crowd doesn't like that, so Jay goes out to the floor, fights the doctor and the security that accompanied him off, and tosses Cole back into the ring to continue stomping on his face. Jay hits a neckbreaker in the middle of the ring, but Cole is out at 2. Jay continues punching Cole in the face as the crowd is 50/50 behind both me. They go to the top rope and Jay tries to superplex Cole to the floor, but Cole drops into the ring and superkicks Jay, sending Jay backward through the table at ringside. Cole grabs the World Title belt from ringside, measures Jay when he comes back in the ring, and smashes him in the face with the belt. Cole covers Jay for 2, then kisses the belt and tosses it aside, superkicks Jay in the back of the head, and hits the Florida Key for 2. Cole goes to the second rope for the leaping Panamaninan Destroyer, but Jay catches Cole in a fireman's carry and gives him a running death valley driver through the table in the corner. Jay grabs a purple bag from under the ring and turns it upside down to pour a huge sea of thumbtacks all over the mat. Cole punches Jay in the ding ding and looks at the tacks, grabs a handful, pours them in Jay's mouth, and superkicks him in the face. What a jerk! Cole makes a cover but Jay kicks out at 2, blocks the Florida Key, drills Cole with a pair of Yakuza kicks, and finally backdrops Cole onto the tacks. Ouch. Jay with another Jay Driller, but Cole again somehow kicks out at 2. The crowd is going nuts as Jay picks up his title belt, lays it on the mat, and waits for Cole to get to his feet. Cole crawls to his knees, looks down at the belt that was once his, then looks up at Jay and realizes his fate. Jay with another Jay Driller, this time on the belt, and Cole collapses onto the tacks for good measure. Jay covers Cole and picks up the extremely hard fought win and remain undefeated against Adam Cole.
Winner: Jay Briscoe
Hell of a fight to top off a solid show. It'll be interesting to see what's next for each of these guys since I feel like this had to close out their feud. Both men are still laying in the ring as the show closes with another spot for the 13th Anniversary Show from Las Vegas.
PWI