ROH Final Battle 2005 (December 17 2005) Recall's Review.

[Recall]

At this point in the world of ROH they had Bryan Danielson as their world champion having dethroned James Gibson. The idea of more international talent appearing on the shows started to become a major factor too with big stars and internet fan favourites making their presence known and standing toe-to-toe with ROH’s best. As far as ROH was concerned things were only going to get better going in 2006.


ROH Final Battle 2005 (17th December 2005)

We kick off the show with a Low Ki promo package hyping up the main event and it does a wonderful job of telling you why it matters to not only Low Ki but for the ROH fans also because this is a one hell of a dream match.

Match 1) Jimmy Rave vs. Milano Collection AT
Thoughts: The fans pelt Jimmy Rave with toilet paper as he enters the ring and I had somehow forgot how much of a fun visual that is. Milano is blisteringly fast paced and uses it to his advantage at every turn. Rave slows it down to regain control by side stepping Milano’s offense as that is the only out he has. We do get a nasty spot of Rave blowing a Northern Lights Suplex and instead sending Milano face first into the mat, ouch! Prince Nana even interjects at one point as Rave distracts the ref but Milano makes sure to get revenge as he delivers a dropkick through the ropes to send Nana flying. It is Milano’s speed that helps him overcome Rave’s domination. Rave may have the slams and heel tactics but if you can’t catch your opponent then you can’t defeat him but it isn’t enough as the power of the pedigree puts Milano down for the 3. Perfectly acceptable opener and it did its job of being entertaining though Rave was very clearly overshadowed as a performer.
Grade: C, Acceptable.

Backstage we have ROH world champion Bryan Danielson who isn’t intimidated by Naomichi Marufuji as Bryan has defeated lots of Japan’s top names and there is no reason why he won’t vanquish Marufuji too.

Match 2) Azrieal vs. Colt Cabana
Thoughts: Cabana is feuding with Homicide at this point and has no time for his old comedy routines as Cabana is in a serious mood but Azrieal keeps egging him on to loosen up. Azrieal dominates early on and gets in way more offense than you would expect but by the end a Homicide style lariat by Cabana is enough to put Azrieal down. Out comes an injured Homcide and tells Cabana to stay out of his business as Homicide is more interested in dealing with the guy who injured him and long time nemesis, Steve Corino. Not much of a match and more of an angle advancement segment and even then it wasn’t much of that either.
Grade: D, Underwhelming.

Match 3) Nigel McGuinness (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli (ROH Pure Title Match)
Thoughts: These two have been battling for a few months now to the point two referees are needed to ensure the rules are followed and to stop Nigel’s reign of terror with all his dastardly cheating ways. Nigel doesn’t seem to learn as he keeps trying to cheat and thusly keeps getting caught. Series of pinfall attempts by Claudio is enough to send Nigel to the outside to “compose” himself, Claudio gets bored so dives to the outside and the second referee gets wiped out instead due to Nigel’s “expert” positioning. They do the silly thing of using rope breaks on holds they never would in a normal match, which makes no sense as rope breaks are supposed to be your lifelines in a Pure Title match so why use them up so easily? Things pick up and we see Claudio begin an onslaught of European Elbow strikes followed by hitting Nigel with his own move, The Tower of London which has Nigel escape by using the ropes. Ok that time I liked using the rope break as a finishing hold is worthy of using one up, not a simple wrist lock like earlier on. Collision in the ring between Nigel and the referee allows Nigel to go get his prop of choice, the mighty iron but he instead throws it at Claudio and plays possum in hopes to dupe the now recovering referee. The referee is still coming to his senses so Claudio takes it upon himself to level Nigel with the iron and Claudio scores the pin. But wait! The second referee is now awake and states he saw it all unfold and that Claudio cheated by using the iron so the pinfall is null and void. As a match is was a little lacking in wrestling content but the story they were going for was well executed and helped continue their rivalry.
Grade: C, Acceptable.

Match 4) Alex Shelley vs. Steve Corino
Thoughts: The match starts off hot and heavy with neither having time for the ring introductions. Steve Corino is supposed to be the good guy here but he doesn’t wrestle like it nor is he cheered by the crowd making for an odd dynamic of a Heel vs Heel match. Shelley sets up a chair in the corner of the ring but Corino reverses it sending Shelley into it head first. It is worth noting that Shelley isn’t selling a thing here and no matter what is done to him he just pops back up, even before the person who delivered the move is up. I’m not a fan of that at all. Shelley has though spent the contest focusing on Corino’s arm making for a match with a clear focus and reason rather than moves for moves sake, which is something I do enjoy. Miscommunication between Nana and Shelley sees Corino plant them both face first to the mat, Corino uses this momentum to set up Shelley for the Northern Lights Bomb and as the ref is counting we have Nana jump in and beat up him up. Corino throws Nana to the outside but with him distracted it allows Shelley to roll up Corino and get that victory. I liked the match for the limb work and both work well against each other.

Within a flash Homicide has stormed the ring and starts laying the boots to Corino, Homicide finds a bottle of Draino [!] (why is this near the ring? What the hell even is it?) and starts to pour it onto Corino’s head. Cabana darts to the rescue only to be blindsided by Homicide’s henceman, Julius Smokes and then the Draino gets poured down Cabana’s throat instead who then proceeds to vomit everywhere. That sure escalated quickly!
Grade: C, Acceptable

Gary Michael Cappetta is out in the ring to find out why Jay Lethal viciously attacked his mentor Samoa Joe. (2005 was the year ROH strongly pushed both Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong to hopefully matter more to the crowd with varying degrees of success. Lethal got nothing out of the Homcide/Low Ki feud barely even a match victory while Roderick Strong would win tag titles and main event shows. Lethal even disappeared for several years once this Samoa Joe feud ended at the start of 2006.)

Match 5) Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe vs. BJ Whitmer
Thoughts: Samoa Joe starts us off and beats the crap out of Whitmer with hard kicks and Whitmer gets himself out of there giving us what we want to see in Daniels vs. Joe. Lethal sees an opportunity to attack Joe and get himself in to the match and does whatever he can to not actually square up against Joe. Whitmer takes it upon himself to beat the tar out of Daniels on the outside for no real reason other than to display dominance and a pseudo alliance of Whitmer and Lethal begins to form. Whitmer’s valet Lacey and Daniel’s valet in Alison Danger now get in the ring and fight as Lacey took it upon herself to attack Daniels, which is a no-no. Whitmer breaks up the scuffle allowing Daniels to momentarily gain the upper hand so Whitmer simply retreats and Joe is back in. Daniels surprises Lethal with a sudden tag and it is on, Joe brings Lethal in and then simply destroys Lethal. It breaks down and we get near fall exchanges between Joe and Whitmer with each dropping bigger and bigger moves on each. Doing these recaps and reviews shows how the rules of these matches really do mean nothing. Whitmer and Joe roll out as Daniels and Lethal take centre stage and start hitting big moves on each other too. It is all quite fun to watch along with the crowd been super pumped all evening helps gloss over these rule transgressions. All four in the ring and Joe goes into super mode and unleashes a barrage of strikes on Daniels. We see moves from all men from all angles including a Muscle Buster by Samoa Joe on Daniels on top of Joe’s TNA X-Division title belt, Whitmer levels Joe with a chair and that sends Joe crashing to the outside. Springboard dropkick by Lethal homes in on Whitmer forcing him out of the ring also, giving Lethal a perfect opportunity to finish off Daniels with a top rope diving headbutt. That was certainly chaotic and quite a joy to watch, high energy by all and awesome interactions especially when Joe gets all fired up.
Grade: B, Enjoyable.

Gary Michael Cappetta updates us on Cabana’s condition and introduces us to The Embassy who have won all their matches tonight and the declare that they will change the face of ROH in the new year and all of the ROH titles will be theirs.

Match 6) Ricky Reyes vs. Davey Andrews
Thoughts: For seemingly forever Ricky Reyes squashed everyone he faced in either a few seconds or a few minutes. Why? Because Ricky Reyes is terrible and this is all they could come up with. I’m pretty sure Reyes was only booked on these shows as a favour to Homicide as it’s not as if this dominating winning streak over students/jobbers set the wrestling world on fire, it just existed simply to exist. They even cut mid-match to Gary Michael Cappetta getting an update from Corino who says he is done as Homicide has taken it all too far. The best bit of all this is Austin Aries coming out after the match and basically calling Reyes a talentless sack of shit, which lead to a match the following month and then Reyes was sent packing for good.
Grade: E, Get off my TV.

Match 7) Sal Rinauro & Tony Mamaluke (c) vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
Thoughts: Rinauro get’s totally decimated by a series of Roderick Strong chops and tag team moves. Eventually Mamaluke has seen enough so bounces Aries’ head off the ring apron and then the guard rails several times in an attempt to level the playing field and get some more offence in. Rinauro and Mamaluke keep Aries at bay for a few minutes but once Strong gets in he just annihilates both Rinauro and Mamaluke. The tag champions were simply outclassed and outwrestled, not once are the challengers ever in jeopardy of not winning the match as they gain control early on and never really relinquish it. I guess you could call it one sided with the challengers being allowed to showcase themselves as to why they are worthy of becoming champions but the lack of competition is a little jarring but the live crowd loved it and it never got dull.
Grade: C, Acceptable.

Match 8) Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Naomichi Marufuji (ROH World Title Match)
Thoughts: They begin with back and forth strike exchanges with Marufuji gaining the advantage each time forcing Danielson to take it to the ground and do what he does best in stretching his opponent. Marufuji gets to his feet and that is all it takes as his quickness alone is enough to switch the momentum along with his strikes, which continue to overwhelm Danielson. Danielson stops Maurfuji by pulling his legs out from underneath him but it doesn’t delay Marufuji who then goes up and over trying to hit a sunsetflip powerbomb on Danielson to the outside but a simple punch ends that in a hurry. Danielson sends Marufuji crashing into the all the barricades around ringside before sending him back in to apply a Mexican surfboard hold then goes to work on Marufuji’s legs in a spectacular manner. Rope break brings them both back to their feet, which as we’ve seen so far is Marufuji’s domain as Marufuji sends Danielson to the outside by suplexing him over the top rope. A dive attempt is cut short as Danielson launches Marufuji into the ringside barricades and goes for a dive himself and it’s unclear who got the better of it as both crash in the barricades with tremendous force. Back in and Danielson ends up in a tree of woe allowing Marufuji to hit a sliding baseball dropkick, Danielson is still tied up so Marufuji sees the opening and delivers his gigantic springboard dropkick from one corner to the other hitting Danielson full on and that, as expected brings the crowd to its feet. Close 2 count off of that but Danielson was too close to the ropes, superkick now by Marufuji and he latches on to Danielson’s neck in preparation for the Shiranui but that is blocked as Danielson hurls himself full force at Marufuji with an elbow strike. Danielson german suplexes Marufuji which gets a 2 count so he rolls through and applies Cattle Mutilation on Marufuji instead. Rope break saves Marufuji. Danielson sensing the end is near puts Marufuji up top and delivers a titanic super backdrop and then re-applies the Cattle Mutilation. It isn’t working so Danielson rolls up Marufuji but again it’s only a hot 2 count. Back on their feet Marufuji finally hits Shiranui but is too worn down to capatalise and go for a cover. They stagger back up and in a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment, Marufuji punts out a superkick but it is blocked, which rolls into Danielson locking in the waist for a german suplex yet Marufuji rolls through that, so Marufuji runs right at Danielson ducking under his lariat and we get an amazing stretch of back and forth roll up attempts with Danielson ending up on top and getting the win. Holy shit!

They didn’t click as perfectly as you would expect at the start as at times things felt a little awkward and clumsy especially with Marufuji not being sure how to take certain spots. Yet they built up those false finishes and near falls, especially those towards the end that got the crowd riled into a frenzy shows overall they still managed to overcome any problems to create an interesting, exciting and competitive match. The corner to corner dropkick from Marufuji was the moment the switch was flipped and took this match into a higher gear. It did capture that dream match aura quite well as the crowd were totally captivated by what they saw while both guys left enough back for a rematch down the line.
Grade: A, Exciting.

Match 9) KENTA (c) vs. Low Ki (GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match)
Thoughts: The crowd are hyped and we get all the official declarations and title presentations to make this match feel as official as it is. KENTA is doused with streamers just shows how without ever stepping into an ROH ring before that word of mouth and internet buzz carries with it a lot of weight in the right places.

Aggressive lock up and a wild kick by KENTA is ducked by Low Ki and they go back to the lock up, Ki suddenly armbars KENTA’s am as they are in the ropes showing no remorse. It turns into the most vicious strike exchange you could imagine and it leads to just a 1 count for KENTA. KENTA starts kicking Low Ki’s head but with just a gentle tap liking poking a hornets nest and you can see Low Ki getting exceptionally riled up. And guess what, they start one upping one other with strikes and they are already going mental with strikes barely 5 minutes into the match and the crowd are at a fever pitch. Low Ki garners control for a moment but runs into a boot and KENTA locks Ki up in the ropes with scissored sleep hold as a receipt from earlier. KENTA takes to the skies and comes thundering down with a mighty clothesline that only gets a 1 count. It’s all about escalation and pride but they are still making each other look strong. KENTA is even more arrogant than Low Ki, who knew such a thing was possible and does his little kick to Low Ki’s face as if Ki is trash. There is also a level of finesse and crispness which we totally don’t see on american indies with a clear path for the momentum to take so when something happens it actually matters. Strike exchange again as both are on their feet but Low Ki seems to be on the worse end of it, KENTA takes to the ropes but Ki cuts him off with a rolling Koppo Kick. Again there is that escalation, Low Ki didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a running attack so busted something out that would make sure it halted KENTA. Ki drapes KENTA over the top ropes and delivers a thunderous punt to KENTA that sees him fall to the ground so Ki makes the most of it and chases KENTA down with a top rope springboard elbow strike, again thrilling the live crowd. Ki is in control and this time Ki delivers his own receipt for those obnoxious jabbing kicks from earlier. Strike exchange and Ki gets the better of it but all these kicks are visibly taking their toll on both of them. Ki puts on the pressure with a bodyslam then a body scissors but KENTA reaches the ropes. KENTA attempts the comeback with strikes but Ki cuts him off by countering a roll up with a huge standing double stomp for a super close 2 count. Ki continues his domination strikes and cocky offence that suddenly gets more and more intense. Outside they go and Ki slams KENTA into both the barricades and ring apron then rolls him back in for a 2 count. These prolonged periods of one guy hitting his stuff and being in control is so good because when the tide will turn it will great impact. They are teasing the hope spot so when KENTA gets it later, it fucking means something. Something I totally love. Irish whip by KENTA is reversed by KI with a drop toe hold that slumps a shattered KENTA over the middle rope. Amazing. Up Ki goes in a single spring and pounces with a massive double stomp on to KENTA’s prone body. Ki falls to the outside due to the momentum, and when he gets back in KENTA is able to muster up the kick out at 2. Both guys are tired, and selling and this is just fantastic. KENTA is able to get his boot up and hits a springboard drop kick giving him some control, Low Ki goes for strikes which KENTA fucking counters and drops Ki with a beastly double underhook suplex with a bridge then rolls through into the cross armbreaker. Ki being in danger of losing gets the ropes in time. Falcon Arrow gets KENTA a 2 count. KENTA lifts Ki to the top rope and looks for a superplex but Ki strikes KENTA’s knee tying KENTA up in the tree of woe, KENTA tries to unhook his legs as KI comes storming off the top with another double stomp. Ki slowly makes his way to KENTA while selling the arm from the previous cross armbreaker. Ki’s cover only nets him a 2 count. Another strike exchange and again it is Low Ki who escalates it by hitting his springboard round rouse kick to ensure he comes out on top and then a series of Kawada kicks. Low Ki ascends the top rope possibly looking to the put an end to this madness but in one single bound KENTA leaps up and hooks Ki bringing him down with a top rope falcon arrow for a super hot 2 count. Back on their feet we get a blistering hot strike exchange which sees Ki gaining the momentum, only for KENTA to duck, and unload with a massive flurry of his own. KENTA runs full pelt at Ki looking to end it with a Baisaku knee kick but Ki catches KENTA and drops him head first with the Ki Krusher. Ouch! KENTA stumbles into a corner so Low Ki unloads a cartwheel tidal crush and connects, KENTA is out on his feet and Ki calls for the end. Low Ki grabs KENTA and the Ki Krusher is escaped as KENTA now has Ki in place for the Go 2 Sleep, Ki escapes that, so KENTA gets behind Ki and delivers a fantastic Tiger Suplex. This match just does not stop giving! Huge KENTA striking combo sees Ki duck this time and shotgun blast KENTA with a shotgun dropkick which propels KENTA across the ring. Low Ki goes up and hits an even bigger double stomp than before and it still isn’t enough to get the 3. Desperation move time as Low Ki goes up and unleashes his Phoenix Splash but KENTA rolls out of the way KENTA musters up the power to hoist Ki up and connects with the Go 2 Sleep but Low Ki still isn’t down so a full on Baisaku knee kick is finally enough to put Low Ki down and for KENTA to retain his title.

Fan-mother-fucking-tastic.

Without a shadow of doubt this match right here is one of the very, very best to have ever took place in an ROH ring. The intensity, that big fight feel, Low Ki taking it to levels we haven’t seen since 2002 and KENTA blowing expectations out of the water with an incredible performance give it not only legendary status but a match that has well and truly stood the test of time. It has selling, it has action that keeps on getting more and more wild while still retaining that crispness and logic so by the end you flat out believe that these two didn’t just wrestle each other but gave it everything they possibly could to try and pull out the victory. Such a heroic battle that is one of my all time favourite matches in ROH.
Grade: S, Incredible.

Overall: This is ROH’s Starrcade and one of the most enjoyable shows from 2005, it has its weak moments in the undercard but there are still highlights to enjoy but that fucking main event is just insanely spectacular making it one of the best matches of 2005. It must be seen. I don’t think you can go wrong with this show and it is a great starting point for the transition ROH took as things only got better from here on out.

Reviewed by Recall on 12th June 2015