Final Battle 2006

[kingkurteous]

Final Battle 2006 review

Show opens with Santa Claus and his elf getting pummeled by the Briscoes. They want a rematch with the Kings of Wrestling. Jimmy Jacobs cuts a promo about love.

El Generico vs Davey Richards vs Jimmy Rave vs Christopher Daniels......I must say that Allison Danger looks damn hot in a girl scout outfit. Crowd agrees obviously as they cheer "We want cookies". The match had tons of tags and momentum changes (as expected in a 4 way). Generico looked great and even hit his brainbuster off the top rope on Davey Richards. Too bad Jimmy Rave had tagged himself in and ended up making him tap out to the heel hook. Great, fun opener!

After the match Rave says he has plans to make a title run. Nigel runs down and clocks him.

Ricky Reyes vs Adam Pearce.......Unfortunately, the highlight of this match for me was Pearce playing with his man boobs and nipples. He pins the Rottweiler after a loaded weapon is used. Only a few wasted minutes, so it's OK. Hagadorn spike piledrives Julius Smokes afterwords.

Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer vs Jimmy Jacobs & Brent Albright.......Lots of bad blood here.....these guys just go at it. The biggest bump was taken by BJ after he gets thrown through a table outside. A series of suplexes and a back senton pin Colt. This was actually the best push Albright has gotten thus far in ROH. I like the match but not as much as the opener.

Kings of Wrestling vs Briscoe Brothers.......Chris Hero officially introduces Mr. Sweet n Sour Larry Sweeney to the NYC crowd. The brothers are in control most of the match but Claudio does hit his countdown suplex and a Ricola Bomb. the Kings hit a double team move off the top by a superplex splash combo for 2. A top rope hurracanrana off Marks shoulders sends Castagnoli flying. Huge frogsplash for 2 by Jay. Double team neckbreaker connects but Hero breaks up the pin. Claudio's strength is showcased by spinning both brothers around his neck (gotta see it to be explained) Hero starts pandering to the crowd and gets caught in a Jay Driller. Jay then is stunned by a waterslide bomb. Cut-throat driver for 2. The briefcase is used but on the wrong man. The Briscoes win a match 10x better showing than last show. Great job guys!

Larry Sweenet tells Claudio he is no longer needed and Hero looks shaken. He needs to pick a side. Samoa Joe's music comes on the loudspeaker and he and Claudio have words with each other, Nigel intervened but rave chopped his knee so here's an impromptu bout.

Jimmy Rave vs Nigel McUiness...........Yurinagi on the apron by Rave gives him momentum. He wrestles to the mat and locks in some restholds. The following ten minutes just were uneventful, Lariat does take Jimmy down for 2 Running Europen uppercut in the corner has Jimmy dropping fast. Tower of London can only get him 2 as well. A pedigree connects by Jimmy but Nigel kicks out at 1. That pisses Rave so Jimmy locks in a submission attempt, but Nigel makes the ropes. Big lariat almost pins Nigel. Another Tower of London on the mat, but Rave kicked out again. Just as Nigel looks to finish this, Jimmy again gets him in a heal hook for the tapout win. Thats 3 tapouts by Nigel to Jimmy....amazing.

Blood Generation & Matt Sydal & Roderick Strong, Austin Aries & Delirious........I'm not into heel Sydal. The match just seemed too long for me. Aries was cut off from his teammates most of the match. CIMA is a beast with double stomps, while Shingo plays the Jim Neidhart role of a powerhouse. Tons of action to call especially the ending. All 6 men hit big moves, with Sydal getting demolished with a lungblower, shadows over hell and a 450 splash. CIMA disrupts the pin though. Cobra Stretch is broken up by CIMA as well. Delirious kicks out of the cradle slam, but the package piledriver is too much and CIMA gets the pinfall. Again, the match was good, just same old stuff for 80% of the match. I lost interest but the final 5 minutes were pretty awesome. The crowd agrees and gives them a standing ovation.

Jack Evans video package hyping his 2007 return is shown.

Homicide vs Bryan Danielson......Jimmy Bower gets in on the match calling, explaining how this match is years in the making. Homicide is obviously the crowd favorite in NYC. The world champ gets him in multiple surfboards early on. Homicide responds with the 3 amigos suplex. Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn run in and beat Homicide up. The ref restarts the match and Homicide is ready to fight. The champ takes control and hits a diving headbutt for 2. German suplex for 2. They trade boots and forearm strikes mid ring. Homicide winds up in the crowd so Danielson leaps with a springboard flip into the 3rd row. Nasty bump! Champ delivers elbows and transitions into the crossface chicken wing. he almost goes to sleep but fights his way to the ropes. Danielson reverses a cop killa into the Cattle Mutilation. He gets a 2 count after a Tiger suplex. The champ smashed Homicides face with more elbows, right back into the submission attempt. Crowd chants "HOMICIDE, HOMICIDE". The #1 contender out of nowhere hits the Cop Killer but Dragon gets his hand on the ropes at 2. Homicide tries to bring the bell but the ref stops him. Instead a lariat pins the champion and Homicide is the new ROH world champ!

The locker room empties and the crowd is ecstatic! Even Cary Silkin gets a hug in. After the match the belt is hand delivered by Danielson and we get a speech with tons of cursing. A video highlighting Homicide's career in ROH with terrible background music.

The show was in the right city. The NYC crowd was hot from start to finish. The title change was expected but was still cool to watch. Homicide earned the belt IMO. This dvd gets a solid 8/10. Thanks for reading guys.

Anyone else have opinions?