Final Battle 2011

[dark patriot]

return date is sunday march 4th 2012 for the 10th anniversary show. i hope they hit somewhere else close by that weekend.

[WrestlingIsMySaviour]

[Thomas Bobo]

To me, it feels like the whole build they had for the main event was a waste.

Severn was pointless, Edwards never went to him for advice or anything during the match.

The deadly dragon sleeper that was constantly hyped was used about two times and Davey quickly escaped it!

Totally agreed on this point. They made a big deal of Severn, and the dragon sleeper, and then...nothing. Why bother?

Gotta love Nigel saying during the match "he beat someone on TV with that didn't he?" Nigel, do your homework man! I love him, but man, just an awful comment to throw out there.

The headshot thing was troubling, we know so much about concussions now, no need for it. When Nigel was yelling "put your hands up!" I think that may have been actual concern and not just selling it.

Absolutely loved TJP/Elgin, and the suplex spot was absolutely great. The Steen stuff last night will be what keeps me invested for months to come, he is red hot right now, and I love it.

I see what people are saying about Davey too. I like Davey, but his matches are getting repetitive. I looked at my brother last night and said "once again, we're have to go for the gunshot finish, because that's all that will stop them at this point", not sure that's a good thing.

Show was way too long for the night before Christmas Eve too. And production values as mentioned were just awful. Graphics showing up randomly, audio not being removed from replays, and the camera work was total crap. Missed a ton of moves, and way too many shaky moving camera shots, I was feeling sea sick at points. According to PWInsider, Cornette was going through the roof about the production issues, so hopefully they get this fixed, and now. Honestly, 2 years into doing iPPV's, it's totally unacceptable.

Jim, you are so spot on with your points.

To the point on Nigel...dude, you're the color commentator for the TV show and you cannot even remember - WOW!

I think I posted it already, but the lack of finishers or match ending moves being just that is SO what irks me. I know this isn't specific to ROH, but this is where Adam Pearce's touch as booker is missed. He had finishes that made sense, where last night's main event did not.

On top of that, what was the story of the main event? No real purpose for Severn to be in there, the Dragon Sleeper meant nothing. Sure, Eddie Edwards has a WORLD of heart...but didn't we already know that? He needed to battle Davey for darn near 40 minutes to prove it even more? huh?

[TreeOfWHOA!]

I enjoyed the IPPV for the most part, Steen really did save the show IMO. I thought the Tag title match was fine the double turn didn't need to happen right at the beginng of the match wish it had happened more gradual of the course of the match. Steen and Corino had a fantastic fight without honor and in the end i think ROH swerved us all without having a swerve(If that makes sense). I'd like to see Cornette start and punish Corino and Jacobs for not getting the job done. Which could eventually turn them on Cornette maybe turn Cornette heel in a way kinda like ROH's version of Vince Mcmahon(No beer trucks or ass kissing of course).

I wasn't a fan of the main event at all i wish the N.Y crowd would have started chanting "Same old shit" during the entire match because thats what it felt like to me. I find it funny on the old board some of you would defend comments people would make about Davey Richards. Would defend the whole MMA thing by basically saying "MMA is whats hot right now". Some of you even called Davey's promo at BITW the promo of the year(LMAO now it's just whiny to you). Davey Richards started getting old for me after Final Battle last year his match with Roddy felt like the same old stuff we had been seeing between the two for the most part of that year. Don't get me wrong Davey is a fantastic athelete and a fine wrestler but his matches lack variety. Something that Dragon's matches or Nigel's had IMO they were far superior champions the Davey has been so far.

I guess thats what makes this forum so much better so far then the old board. The fact that some of you don't feel the need to kiss anybodys ass anymore. As if Cary or Cornette were reading your posts on the old board in the first place. And I like it because on this forum people seem to be posting there true thoughts. We will get Kevin Steen as ROH world Champion in the new year at some point. I figure Daveys last defense before he loses it will be against Michael Elgin. I'd rate this IPPV 7 out of 10..6 of those points alone go to Kevin Steen and his awesome comments to Davey Richards after the show

[Thomas Bobo]

As I watched the main event, I continued to think to myself about how "cool" it might have been for ROH to book the main event using MMA rules and rounds.

Imagine last nights match in a 5 round format, with 1 minute breaks between rounds. I feel like it would have made a lot of what happened a lot more dramatic than what we saw last night and not as some have said where they felt that watching the bout on iPPV or live was "laborious."

I think that would have been a real opportunity to be cutting edge, incorporating the things that both Davey and Eddie were training for, but still in the context of being important in the "Ring of Honor."

Oh well...

[TreeOfWHOA!]

As I watched the main event, I continued to think to myself about how "cool" it might have been for ROH to book the main event using MMA rules and rounds.

Imagine last nights match in a 5 round format, with 1 minute breaks between rounds. I feel like it would have made a lot of what happened a lot more dramatic than what we saw last night and not as some have said where they felt that watching the bout on iPPV or live was "laborious."

I think that would have been a real opportunity to be cutting edge, incorporating the things that both Davey and Eddie were training for, but still in the context of being important in the "Ring of Honor."

Oh well...

This is a good idea and makes sense still in the end i watch Pro Wrestling for just that reason the Wrestling. Plus i have bad flash back thoughts when i think about having rounds in a wrestling match. The awful European Rules Nigel/Brent Albright match from DBD VII a few years ago comes to mind. Your right though it is what Davey and Edddie were kind of training for and i'm sure they could make it work better then Nigel and Albright did.

[cviens]

So is this when everyone turns on Davey?

Sounds good to me

Sounds GREAT to me. I'll try and get a SHUT THE FUCK UP chant started next time he cuts one of his post match cry fests.

You'll be my hero if it's successful.

[SilentXtasy]

Thought it was a great show overall. Every match was at least pretty good, while many were superlative. I think the show was too long though, so it dragged a bit and was exhausting to watch, which burned the crowd out and damaged the main event.

WGTT/Briscoes was a mess, but I loved it anyway because of the crowd reaction to the Briscoes and them winning. Why would Charlie Hass flip off the crowd and then make a babyface comeback? At least listen to the crowd and try and turn them, instead of going about the original gameplan of beating the shit out of the Briscoes, which was getting them boos, or else embrace the boos and turn properly. This was like amateur hour for Hass.

I think the main event is being unfairly criticised in many circles. It was overkill of course, but it really had to be. This was the blowoff to the fued, and considering what it took to beat Edwards the first time, Richards was going to have hit Edwards with EVEN more this time. That said, I think Edwards should have got in way more offense, such as MMA stuff and the dragon sleeper and the like. I think, just like FB 09, this was the wrong match to put on after the night's events, but at least it tied up Richards vs Edwards while getting both the winner and loser over.

[ROHWorld_Des]

As usual, the matches were solid, as was the booking in regard to setting up feuds for the future. however, I found the main event to be underwhelming. it was, as I've said to various people, a tremendous match, but when watched in the context of the ROH television show, it was pointless. The Severn spot where he herded Truth and Strong to the back was reminiscent of the old guy who can't do much in TNA, without the TNA-Esque swerve at the end. But was that really all Severn was brought in to do?
Isn't it funny how Kevin Steen is essentially being the reverse of CM Punk? Punk wanted to win the WWE title and then leave the company, thus disgracing them. Steen, however, gets reinstated in the company, and now wants to win the ROH title in order to disgrace Jim Cornette. I hate to always use TNA as the measuring stick of bad storylines, but when TNA takes something from WWE, they usually produce a carbon copy, with significantly reduced quality. I applaud Ring of Honor with being creative with the way they're telling that story. And, though we most recently saw this story in WWE, it was ROH that did it the first time, and I believe it was done again in Japan more recently, though I can't be sure who did it or in which company. Essentially, ROH has reinvented their own storyline for new fans, which is good, I guess. Steen is doing a much better job of being CM punk than CM Punk, and that's coming from a huge Punk mark. it hurt to type that.
Finally, here's my one critique on storytelling for Final battle. Why does it matter that ANX couldn't continue on to fight the Bucks for a title shot? Did the ANX not win a proving ground match on television? I didn't here the commentary team reference that once. How silly.
After I've had time to reflect, I have to say that this was the worst Ring of Honor IPPV of the year, but that's not really saying much seeing as every show has been of superb quality. Amid a sea of sub-par wrestling, Ring of Honor still reigns supreme. (See what I did there? Because Chris Hero ... nevermind...)
8 out of 10.

[JSWO]

Looking forward to watching this in the next few days. I'm sure the matches were all fantastic. As for the production issues, I really hope people stop bitching and realize just how difficult it is to perfect a technology that's been around less than two years for a business with a limited budget.

[ROHWorld_Jon]

Looking forward to watching this in the next few days. I'm sure the matches were all fantastic. As for the production issues, I really hope people stop bitching and realize just how difficult it is to perfect a technology that's been around less than two years for a business with a limited budget.

I just know CHIKARA's iPPV was nearly flawless in November. It was their first iPPV and it was far superior production wise to any iPPV ROH has done.

[JSWO]

Looking forward to watching this in the next few days. I'm sure the matches were all fantastic. As for the production issues, I really hope people stop bitching and realize just how difficult it is to perfect a technology that's been around less than two years for a business with a limited budget.

I just know CHIKARA's iPPV was nearly flawless in November. It was their first iPPV and it was far superior production wise to any iPPV ROH has done.

David Lagana also produced that one. Major difference at ROH now.

[Hammond Eggar]

Then ROH needs to hire someone better. It looked like shit.

[JSWO]

Then ROH needs to hire someone better. It looked like shit.

Dan Bynum has experience producing shows. No way to tell how someone will act under pressure, calling out camera cues and graphic cues to guys in a production truck. Especially at ROH where there is more than just a hard cam and a floor cam. The ROH style, in itself is a learned production art. But you guys can continue to complain, it's not going to matter. It just doesn't become perfect overnight.

[Thomas Bobo]

Then ROH needs to hire someone better. It looked like shit.

Dan Bynum has experience producing shows. No way to tell how someone will act under pressure, calling out camera cues and graphic cues to guys in a production truck. Especially at ROH where there is more than just a hard cam and a floor cam. The ROH style, in itself is a learned production art. But you guys can continue to complain, it's not going to matter. It just doesn't become perfect overnight.

J - I think you are missing the point a little.

People do have a right to voice their displeasure/disappointment over the production miscues. They paid their money and ROH is the #3 promotion in the U.S. There is no place for that...if it happened in TNA, please would be all over them.

ROH being owned by a TV company, even under the GoFightLive team on this night, should have had their ducks in a row and not had those things occur. It's not as simple as saying Dan Bynum missed a free throw and he gets another shot. Dude was bricklaying all night long if we use that analogy.

Additionally, I have a real issue with you stating that you are "sure all the matches are fantastic" when you haven't seen the show. That really is being just too blindly loyal to a product when you make statements like that.

[davew00d]

You can't really compare ROH's production to Chikara's. Chikara spend a fortune on getting other companies to produce their stuff. The DVDs are released quicker, have better covers and better audio/video but the company, almost certainly, isn't profitable.

Doing things in-house is the best thing for ROH, business-wise. Plus, people with Lagana's talent and experience are few and far between.

[HarpoonIPA]

When Jim Cornette flips out over the production you know there is / was a problem

from PWI

There were a lot of production issues with tonight's show, to the point that Jim Cornette hit the roof backstage. It was doubly frustrating since it was the first show Dan Bynum had directed and the company had everyone wearing headsets so Bynum could communicate with the crew shooting the show and working on production. Obviously, that's going to need to get worked out ASAP.

[Marketh.]

When Jim Cornette flips out over the production you know there is / was a problem

from PWI

There were a lot of production issues with tonight's show, to the point that Jim Cornette hit the roof backstage. It was doubly frustrating since it was the first show Dan Bynum had directed and the company had everyone wearing headsets so Bynum could communicate with the crew shooting the show and working on production. Obviously, that's going to need to get worked out ASAP.

When anyone in ROH flips out over production, you know there's a problem, because it doesn't seem like much bothers them, even stuff that should be a big deal.

[HarpoonIPA]

When Jim Cornette flips out over the production you know there is / was a problem

from PWI

There were a lot of production issues with tonight's show, to the point that Jim Cornette hit the roof backstage. It was doubly frustrating since it was the first show Dan Bynum had directed and the company had everyone wearing headsets so Bynum could communicate with the crew shooting the show and working on production. Obviously, that's going to need to get worked out ASAP.

When anyone in ROH flips out over production, you know there's a problem, because it doesn't seem like much bothers them, even stuff that should be a big deal.

The Wrestling was so good, that the issues with production really didn't bother me, but I can see first time buyers thinking twice about getting the next ROH IPPV. I'm an ROH lifer, and realize that with all the great, sometimes comes some bad

[ROHFanAnthony]

I was at the show(second row, section B). I enjoyed it for the most part. I have two complaints though. Briscoes took way too many chair shots and the Davey vs Eddie match was too similar to their last match. It had a similar ending too which kind of annoyed me. Steen vs Corino was match of the night and man is Steen over! A fan in the row behind me was heckling the hell out of Roderick Strong for doing too many chops! I will admit that was like 90% of his offense. Man it was so cool to see Chris Hero again. Going into the tag match I didn't know WGTT were heels and Briscoes faces. I thought it was the other way around. I'm glad dem boys are 7 time champs. You know they've been with ROH since day one and never left for wwe or tna.