Official Final Battle 2016 Thread

[Vanilla Gorilla]

what's up with Bobby Fish?

[dhads7161]

Wait a minute...I thought Bobby Fish was supposed to be in the TV title match? Now it's Ospreay, Scurll, and Lee...swerve coming tonight. Delirious, stop trying to be Russo, one of him in the wrestling business is too many.

[cgstong]

Family issue with Fish

[monster mafia]

Bobby Fish had a family emergency..

[cgstong]

Gotta love the commentators saying this isn't the Cabana they know as he's doing the usual.schtick

[The Dragon Saga]

So, the take aways:

- Dijak is a beast
- Silas beat Jushin Liger
- Castle is the most over person on the roster
- Cody Rhodes' heel turn was splendid, a heel run will make him seem less bland
- Kingdom deserve the titles, Taven's response to the audience after was great
- Four Corner Survival was MOTN, Ospreay and Scurll = $$$
- The Bucks are probably staying with ROH
- The fucking Hardy's?! What the actual fuck?!
- Kyle O'Reilly is finally ROH World Champion

Overall, I enjoyed the show, I thought it could have been better, some of the production wasn't as good as previous shows, that awkward Cody Rhodes debut, the replays that made no sense, the sound from the slo-mo replays, lots of things.

[DXvsNWO1994]

Kevin Kelly & Steve Corino did mention that his mother had recently passed away so that's the reason. I think that's also why he missed the last show of the UK Tour (he had to leave early).

- Castle is the most over person on the roster

Definitely one of the most over (that entrance!!!!) but I think The Young Bucks are ahead of him in the reaction department.

- Cody Rhodes' heel turn was splendid, a heel run will make him seem less bland

It's different from how Evolve, TNA, & PWG used him. I think ROH is the first major company that Cody's worked for since leaving WWE that's booked him as a heel. ROH deserves some credit for doing something different with him.

- Four Corner Survival was MOTN, Ospreay and Scurll = $$$

Triple Threat, but I definitely agree. MOTN for sure. It seemed like it took the crowd awhile to get into it, but they were really behind Ospreay by the end, and popped huge for Scurll's finger snap spot.

- The Bucks are probably staying with ROH

This was the most surprising result of the night for me. I thought The Briscoes were winning regardless of whether The Young Bucks signed new deals or not. I guess it's a good thing though, as it would have sucked to see their reign end so quickly.

- The fucking Hardy's?! What the actual fuck?!

I've seen some speculation on Twitter that there may have been some sort of deal made where if The Young Bucks were allowed to appear on "Total Nonstop Deletion" (or whatever they're calling that episode of Impact being filmed at The Hardy Compound), TNA would allow The Hardys to make an appearance for ROH in return. That would make sense.

I honestly don't mind it. That reveal got the biggest pop of the night, without question.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, I thought it could have been better, some of the production wasn't as good as previous shows, that awkward Cody Rhodes debut, the replays that made no sense, the sound from the slo-mo replays, lots of things.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who noticed those things on some of the replay shots.

[christopherclinton55]

Decent pay per view glad to see Marty Scurll retain and thank you Jay Lethal great way to leave company by putting over talent. The match itself was okay.

[WHG]

I thought it was a great show. Some random thoughts:

- The TV title match and The Bucks/Briscoes hit levels that most ROH PPV matches don't get to. That's critical for their PPVs to be viewed as must-see shows.
- I thought the right talent won in almost every case (opener not withstanding, maybe...but that didn't really matter).
- The Cody turn was great. He looked more natural and it worked with the crowd. It made me hopeful for his run...whereas early in the match I was wondering how they were going to stretch it out.
- So many early ROH PPVs lacked surprise & noteworthiness. This show had it. I was legit floored when Matt Hardy appeared on the screen.
- It was awesome to see Scurll & Ospreay get the reactions they did. Great investment by ROH. You don't find talent like that at a seminar.
- Best news of the night was Bucks & Kyle winning because it seemingly indicates that they're signed.
- Had Kyle not signed and lost, it would have flushed almost 2 years of build down the toilet. So glad he won the title. It's been a long time since ROH boasted a World Champion with a progressive style that is in the conversation for one of the best in-ring in the world. They need that. Cole, Lethal, Briscoe are very good workers but are stronger on the mic than in the ring.
- I'm split on the production. Look and feel wise, this was their best show ever. The ballroom looked great. The Broadcast production (direction, etc...) was sloppier than it has been, though.
- It was very encouraging that 13 talents on the show were NOT on last year's FB. ROH & the roster felt stale the last year or so. This show had a different energy and was very encouraging heading into 2017.

[dhads7161]

Lethal's really on his way out?

[christopherclinton55]

Lethal's really on his way out?

Not confirmed but hasn't resign and I really hope so nothing else left to do

[GardenStateSaint]

Fantastic show, easily the best live ROH show I've seen in a while. Hopefully they continue with the Hammerstein.

[Brada]

Much agreed Garden Saint. I will post opinions once I sober up. At the bar as we speak...lol. Chant of the night for those watching at home was at Caprice..."Fuck your slacks"...lmao. Love that Hammerstein crowd. Great show.

[isles11]

One thing I didn't like about how the Main Event ended, was that after O'Rielley got busted open the match was basically a glorified squash. Cole didn't get that much offense in from that point. I felt it should have been a more competitive match.

[BurningHammer]

I haven't seen the show so wont comment directly on how good it was overall, but from I have heard and what's come out of the show I like It and there are some really interesting moves happening by the looks of it.

Cody going to a bad persona is good idea for sure in my opinion. I always enjoyed him as a bad guy, plus it separates him from everything so far that he has done outside of the WWE which for television and character in general will really help. The set up again sounded good and it leads straight away to something with Lethal which is really important for Cody and maybe Lethal as well. It also wouldn't surprise me to see bad guy Cody against good guy Cole possibly at the 15th Anniversary.

Interesting to see the Rebellion wining and I imagine them vs the Kingdom will be the first real feud for the 3Man Tag Belts, I can also see it delivering in many ways.

The Hardy's coming in for one night certainly isn't any way a terrible idea and honesty from a financial point of view ROH I imagine will make a mint, considering they will likely do it when the crowd is aware it is happening and will be in front of a live crowd. I could also stand it for a month long program.

As a side note Nana looks to have some new guys coming in probably and Dijak is the main guy to take them on so it will be interesting to see who that could be. Wouldn't be surprised if Bull James was one of them.

[Mike0284]

Amazing show live. So glad they were back in the Hammerstein.

The heat Cody got at the end of the match and the post match taunting was incredible and I can't wait to see how it unfolds from here.

Also I was lucky to be in the row that O'Reilly walked down when he was in the crowd so I got to say congrats to him.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/futuramaf ... 7260349826

[AlexROH]

Pretty dissapointing show. Maybe I made myself very highs expectations, but the show didn't click at all for me. I love ROH, and I really loved the building going into this show, and that's why I hated how they rushed all the card. We need 3h and a half for shows like Final Battle. Men, you cannot sell my the PPV as a big thing and then having all the match under 15 minutes without time between matches in order to give de main event more time. "Funny" thing is that the ME only went 18 minutes, which I understand because of the violent stipulation.

- Rebellion vs MCMG [***1/2] This match was cool, both teams did interesenting things and the crowd was hot. Great choice for the opener. I don't mind Guns loosing here, The Rebellion is this big heel stable and needed the victory more.

- Silas vs Liger [**1/4] Well, Silas get his ""big"" victory at FB. The match was, I think, what everybody expected. Liger is really old and can't do much in the ring. Correct match, but I would have given this less time, maybe 7-8 minutes, not 10.

- Cabana vs Castle [***] Fun match by these two. Loved Castle's entrance and Cabana's new theme song. This was one of the matches that I would liked to be longer. Good chemistry, but very rushed. I thought Cabana was gonna cheat for the victory. Seems like the feud is over. We'll see how the career of both of this men continue next year.

- Cody vs Lethal [***1/4 for the match itself, ***1/2 if we count post-match] Really like how ROH let the four title matches be last, that made all the championships look important. I wasn't a fan of Cody comming to ROH, but he looked fine in the ring and the heel turn was a shocked that create some hype in me. I've always said that Cody needs a character to shine, and this heel attitude is great for him. Correct in-ring action and tremendous post-match. Plus, I didn't like that Addiciton promo, was like, oh men, they are rushing everything and now you are putting a fukin promo? Hope Lethal stays too.

- Trios Title [***1/4 - ***1/2] Great match! It is funny because, until this point, I thought both trios matches were the best thing of the night. The action was wel executed. The only thing I didn't like was another shitty finish. This concept of The Kingdom being a sect, as we seen on the promos on YouTube doesn't feel right. Love the three wrestlers in the new kingdom, but their characters... emhhhgg.

- World TV Title [***3/4] Awesome stuff by these three. Crowd was hot for them, what is cool. I want to know what are ROH's plans for Will Ospreay now that Marty is TV champ.

- Tag Team Title [****] I said in the preview I made for my website (in spanish, that why I didn't put it here), we've seen these match a lot of times, but we all know that it was going to be one of the best matches in the show. Fantastic work by both teams. I cannot believe how much the Bucks always impress me. They are so good that no matter how many times you see them wrestle, you always have a great time. The only thing I didn't like was Matt Jackson kicking out of all the finishers, didn't look real. Loved the finish with the Superkicks, it reminded me the finish of the Bucks vs Steen/Generico match back at FB '09.... post match was DELIGHTFUL! Didn't see that comming.

- Cole vs Kyle [***1/4] Meh, meh and more meh. Where are ROH's big title matches? I didn't like this. I appreciate the effort by botch Kyle and Cole, but this didn't look like an importante world title match. The No DQ stipulation came out of nowhere, and this, by far, was worse than their Supercard of Honor X. They were doing things for making this an epic title match (the two blade jobs) but all felt very unnatural. There were some good spots, but it wasn't great, by any means. I know Kyle's reing will be good and have great matches, but this title change looked weird. Hope he faces Bobby at WK and Lethal at the Anniversary.

Fine easy-watch PPV. I recomend it, but it wasn't "Final Battle" worth to me. The last two years we had, at least, big matches with Cole-Briscoes FWOH (that was better than this No DQ match) and Styles-Lethal. Fun PPV, good decisions in the booking, but unspectacular show. I hate to say this, but this didn't feel like Final Battle to me

Final rating: 6,75 / 10

I think watching all the old stuff for my big Hammerstein Ballroom top made me open the eyes. I still like the current product, but not watching old stuff made me see the current shows better than they actually are. I don't see the same emotion in the ROH big shows. TV shows and VODs are great for what they are, but the PPVs... men, I would like to see our old hard-hitting, well builded, spectacular matches.

ROH ends the year in a good way. They started 2016 bad, but in the middle of the year were able to give us good wrestling and storylines. There are some interesting things going into 2017, but it's strange to look back at the year and see just 1 or 2 singles match in the ****1/4 (MOTYC) rating.

[ROHFanAnthony]

I haven't really been watching or following ROH since Roderick Strong left, but big congratulations to Kyle O'Reilly for finally winning the big one. Well deserved! It's about time the world title changed hands again at Final Battle. First time in what? 10 years?

[cgstong]

Lethal's really on his way out?

Not confirmed but hasn't resign and I really hope so nothing else left to do

Wouldn't be too quick to say this is happening. Just syaing.

[cgstong]

I haven't really been watching or following ROH since Roderick Strong left, but big congratulations to Kyle O'Reilly for finally winning the big one. Well deserved! It's about time the world title changed hands again at Final Battle. First time in what? 10 years?

I believe you're right as the last ROH title change I can remember at FB happened when Homicide def Danielson in '06