Column of Honor Special Edition: 12.21.09: The Battle Waged, The Battle Lost

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 12.21.2009

ROH badly blows the main event and their iPPV debut but manages to present some interesting twists and turns, returns and reunions on the undercard--complete Final Battle 2009 live impressions and analysis inside. Buckle up.




Final Battle 2009: The Battle Waged, The Battle Lost


The snowstorm in New York City was appropriate for the end to the evening—a foot of snow piled up on Thirty Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue and growing higher with every second. Inside, the fans had just experienced a nuclear winter from the main event that bombed like Hiroshima.

It was an inglorious end to ROH Final Battle 2009, a show that began with such promise, delivered on quite a few interesting twists and turns, and then all of a sudden whose wheels figuratively skidded and careened into the snowbound parked cars on the New York sidewalk.

I sat in my perch on the balcony of the Grand Ballroom in the Manhattan Center throughout the sixty minutes of the Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black ROH World Title Match in sort of a disconnected haze—my initial applause and support of Tyler Black eventually transformed and then transfixed into a stunned silence. The outnumbered minority who wanted Tyler Black to win that match were beaten down into submission, first by the anti-Black brigade and then by the inadequacy of the match itself. I felt like I was at a stand-up comedy show watching the comedian dying in front of his audience and proceeding to extend his set for an hour. An hour of uncomfortable.

The main event went to a sixty minute draw, with Aries retaining his title. Yet this was no Joe vs. Punk Broadway or even like Bryan Danielson's three hour-long title defenses in the summer of 2006. This was the longest sixty minutes in Ring of Honor's life, in the end spelling the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful show. Sixty minutes that may have cost them the repeat business of those who purchased Ring of Honors first-ever live internet Pay Per View broadcast (through GoFightLive) and for fourteen dollars and ninety-five meager cents were given all the professional wrestling they could handle—and much more. In fact, it was too much professional wrestling by about sixty minutes worth.

Make no mistake; the fans pulled a "McGuinness" on Tyler Black. You could tell from even before the opening bell that this New York City crowd—which in the past has demonstrated a clear and decisive majority support for Tyler Black, this time turned their back on Black and then, when they saw what they were being given by the wrestlers, turned their back on the match as well. They sarcastically chanted, they booed Black, then cheered or booed for Aries depending on if he was running away or beating up Black. This was worse than the "Twinkies" match from this past September, where fans chanted the name of the snack cake throughout the match in protest of Aries vs. Williams.

Again, like in that match, I cannot blame the fans in the least for booing. Their outrage at the worst and silence at the least was justified (although as always, I loathe the fickle nature of the fans and how they turn their backs on the top babyface wrestler of the moment, in this case Black). This was by any objective judgment a bad match—the second bad title match in a row in New York City for Austin Aries.

After a year of ups and downs of a new era for Ring of Honor, those in charge seemed to finally understand what the fans wanted out of their ROH, especially the main event matches—action oriented, aggressive and exciting effort. This match was anything but what Tyler Black versus Austin Aries should have been—in fact; it was the exact opposite of what should have been done. It was the exact opposite of what had already been done to great success just one year previous.

Where was the Austin Aries who fought like a lion just several weeks ago against Davey Richards and Kenny Omega? Where was the Aries who could mix his heel act and yet give the fans the goods—a dramatic thrill ride match that could close out the show on a high-point? He was not here. Maybe he was waiting on a plane in Florida, like Necro Butcher who missed the show because of the Nor'easter.

Instead, fans were treated to "Austin Aries the cowardly heel" versus Tyler "Choke Artist" Black, now hero to the few, the faithful and villain to most everyone else who keep harping on the fact that he should have received the title a year ago and hold a grudge against him because the storyline didn't go that way.

Austin Aries took every opportunity to win this match via cheap tactics, to run away, to try to gain a count out and eventually, in one of the few entertaining moments of match, to attempt in desperation an intentional disqualification. Referee Todd "Twinkie" Sinclair would have none of it, and received boos for what should have been a "face referee" spot--stopping the heel from getting away with cheating his way out of a title defense. In 2006, when Bryan Danielson tried to act similarly in his title defense against Homicide, Sinclair refused to disqualify him and received a standing ovation from the congregating mass in New York City. Not here, oh no. The fans WANTED the match to end via disqualification. The fans WANTED the match to end in count out. The fans WANTED the match to end in an Aries title retention. The fans WANTED the match to end, period.

This was a far cry from just a few hours earlier when the fans were unanimously cheering for Eddie Kingston, who survived a hellacious Fight Without Honor grudge finale against Chris Hero. Or when the fans exploded for the reunion of the Kings of Wrestling after they decimated new ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes. Or when the fans chanted for Teddy Hart—yes, ROH fans chanting "We Want Teddy" when it seemed like he and Jack Evans would miss the show due to having their plane rerouted though the Gulf of Mexico. We'll get to Mr. Controversy and his pal Jack later.

That much of Black's offense was met with boos, catcalls and other derision while Aries was booed by those in the minority and received only half-hearted support from the Black blasters created one of the most weird and awful atmospheres for a match in maybe all of Ring of Honor history. Sitting in the middle of this and taking in the surreal scene, I had several questions. The first was: what the hell are they doing? The second was: what the hell were those who set this match up thinking? The third question was: when will this end so I can go home and shovel snow?

An example of how bad the reaction to the match came about forty-five minutes in:

Sinclair: "One!"
Crowd: " … hour!"
Sinclair: "Two!"
Crowd: "…hours!"
Sinclair: "Three!"
Crowd: "…hours!"

This exchange occurred during one of many count-out calls as Aries rolled in and out of the ring in an attempt to delay and stall and push on for an hour draw. That storyline in itself makes sense, but was the opposite of what the fans in attendance wanted, especially after a show near the three-hour mark and a blizzard waiting fans outside. The match went an hour but felt more like seventeen, which is how many hours Dennis Miller felt the WWE Slammy Awards were taking.

The fans also chanted "Twinkies" at several points during the main event and during matches that Sinclair refereed —the joke from the last show returning, but this time had grown far past its expiration date, showing much more about the crowd itself than Sinclair. When they started up in the main event, some other fans that were fed up quickly galvanized a "shut the F up" chant. It worked, but maybe it shouldn't have. Chanting for Twinkies would have been more entertaining than watching time stand still.

The main event began at 10:47 PM. It was late into the show and fans were already leaving because they wanted to beat the rush and the poor weather outside and just get home safely. As the match wore on, more and more fans began to leave until empty seats were clearly visible around all sides of the ring. This time it wasn't the weather that was the reason for the fans leaving.

I know that Ring of Honor under the new oversight of Jim Cornette (although still booked by Adam Pearce) wants to focus on telling stories in the ring. I can applaud that—but what ROH is forgetting is that ultimately ROH fans have always wanted a main event with good wrestling, that has an emphasis on action and uses the speed and flow of the modern era and not the slow Southern style of the 1970's, or even the NWA / WCW style circa the 1980's.

What ROH should have booked was a brisk and energetic fifteen to twenty minute bout, with an emphasis on excitement and high impact moves. Whether or not the fans rejected Tyler Black would have been canceled out by the reaction of the fans who were into the match. Looking back at the one hour draw, there were in fact some highlights moments to the match, but they were few and far between. Black ran and vaulted Aries into a guardrail with a powerbomb, Aries leveling Black on the stage and so on. If that powerbomb spot had been in the third minute of a twenty minute match, the crowd would have gone loco.

In other words, if they had just taken the Aries vs. Black Final Battle 2008 template, thrown in a few twists and turns and added a clean finish (i.e. no Jimmy Jacobs this time around to get involved), this match would have been a success.

I snuck a peak over the balcony to the Gorilla position with thirty minutes to go and the thinned out crowd just as negative as ever on Black and the possibility he could win the title. Booker Adam Pearce was talking very briskly to referee Paul Turner, who soon made his way to ringside. Turner talked to ring announcer Bobby Cruise and the timekeeper, then Todd Sinclair. Aries and Black brawled very slowly, almost doing nothing, then actually doing nothing. They were clearly buying time. I can't say for certain, but my theory is that the finish to the match was changed on the fly. If Black was supposed to win, instead the finish was changed to an hour draw. That's my hope anyway. If they were previously scheduled for an hour draw, well…

Just a few minutes beforehand, the crowd had chanted "Don't Go Sixty". Again, the crowd was telling ROH what it wanted (or in this case, what it didn't want). They were about to be disappointed.

With five minutes to go, Aries and Black at last upped their gear, exchanging stiff shots and high impact moves. Both men bled, both men brawled. All of it was too little, too late to get back what had already been lost. It was the equivalent of hitting a single to put yourself in scoring position when you have two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and you're down by ten runs.

Unneeded and ill-advised was Black's ode to Bryan Danielson in the closing moments of the match—using the Cattle Mutilation submission and MMA elbows to try to win. The fans did not like that at all—it was a slap in their face and a fresh reminder of someone who just left the promotion, who left beloved and appreciated. This was the first New York City show without Danielson and McGuinness and now here was Black using Danielson's moves to win, almost to say that if he couldn't win using his own big moves (if he didn't have faith in them) that he would use someone else's and hope for the best.

Actually, if there was more time (heh) or if they started this beforehand, you could have gone all the way. Have Black use ALL of Danielson and McGuinness's finishers to try to win the match only for them to not work and (since I would have booked him to win), finally use his own finishers, stringing them together rapid fire from Pele to God's Last Gift to Phoenix Splash to win. Instead, the moment was a pale imitation, and did Black no favors with the way the fans treated him during the match. Then again, it was likely at rock bottom as it was.

Or if ROH really wanted to create a stir, they could have had Black win a short, three minute or so match wherein Aries puts the badmouth on until Black snaps, slaps him, throws him into the turnbuckle with the buckle bomb, hits God's Last Gift, Phoenix Splash, three count. A short title match with a title change has never been done to date, but it would have put Black over strongly and undone much of the negatives associated with his push over the last year.

The real finish was Black hitting God's Last Gift and Aries kicking out with the bell ringing a few seconds later to signal the draw. The fans who wanted Aries to retain felt joy and relief and shouted out at around a volume five (out of eleven). The rest sat there in silence—perhaps from early-onset Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—or gathered their coats preparing to leave.

Black and Aries continued to brawl, beating each other up in a scrum. Aries blasted the referees who came to ringside to break it up, getting in a good shot on Paul Turner. Black, in a display of emotion that belied his lack of it in the match proper, regained the upper hand on Aries by ducking a belt shot and laying him out with one of his own.

Just then The Briscoes and the reformed Kings of Wrestling emerged out of the crowd near the stage, beating on each other. In an unintentionally hilarious moment, the security guard stationed in the crowd cut off Mark Briscoe, not realizing this was part of the show. When he realized the error of his ways, he sheepishly apologized and moved out of the way to let Mark continue his fake beat down on his fellow wrestler.

It was a thinly-veiled attempt to give the fans something to be happy about on the way home. While a few fed into the moment and chanted for the Briscoes, most who were left saw through the veneer and were not distracted or dissuaded from booing or finding other forms of expressing their disgust.

Also unneeded, ill-advised and flat-out stupid was Tyler Black's post-draw "victory" (concession?) speech. He said, taking a page from the Jerry Lynn School of Scapegoat the Fans When You Lay the Proverbial Egg: "You can like me or hate me, but if you booed that match you're not a wrestling fan." Well, I didn't outright boo the match, but that's because momma taught me right (though deep inside, I wanted to boo). I didn't cheer either.

Make no mistake though, the fans who booed the match—they ARE wrestling fans. They just weren't fans of that match and they let the wrestlers and the promotion know it. It was justified. As much as I don't like when the Ring of Honor fans pointlessly turn on the faces in the promotions—this match deserved to be booed.

A ROH crowd in New York City may be filled with jerks, but there are a lot of jerks in every wrestling audience. NYC just happens to be louder about it. This has nothing to do with fans being "spoiled". The fans don't deserve to be lectured to either—blaming the fans who support the product is about the last thing ROH and its wrestlers should be doing right now.

The crowd clearly told the wrestlers what they wanted on this night and those that listened were rewarded—fantastic receptions for Hero versus Kingston and Young Bucks versus Kevin Steen & El Generico, near tears for Steen's faux retirement speech, solid and constant support for the tag title match, standing ovations for Evans and Hart.

Black concluded his promo with what must have been an unintentionally ironic epiphany: "Win or lose, there's always next time, right?"

No, Tyler. No, there isn't.


Ring of Honor dropped the ball on the main event, big time. In its own way the Jack Evans and Teddy Hart saga contributed to the forthcoming disaster.

Their timeless tale of Dumb & Dumber began earlier in the week when both were forced to pull out of the ROH show in Manassas, Virginia, due to AAA double booking them for a show in Mexico. That changed the scheduled dream eight-man tag main event on that show to a six-man involving The Briscoes and Rocky Romero against The Wolves and Alex Koslov.

At the time news hit about Evans and Hart being off the Manassas show, It was said that they were still a-okay to make it on Saturday to the big show, THE big show for ROH, Final Battle 2009. Both Evans and Hart have had their appearance issues (not to mention Hart's behavior issues). Evans has missed shots for PWG as well. At best it was a coin flip if they would even make it on their own accord…and then that pesky snow storm wound its way through the Northeast.

Snow is the greatest enemy of flight plans and now it was extremely shaky if Evans and Hart were going to get to the show at all. Bobby Cruise made an announcement before the festivities began that Evans and Hart's flight had been rerouted. ROH would make its best effort to get them to the show and appear as scheduled.

A few hours later, Alex Koslov stepped out to the Russian Anthem to wrestle Rocky Romero one-on-one, not in the scheduled tag match involving Evans and Hart. So much for best efforts.

Now, I write that a bit facetiously, because as it turned out, Evans and Hart WERE busting their ass to get to the show and eventually they did make it, just barely. As well, Romero and Koslov really stepped it up in their singles match. They were intent on doing what they could to give the fans an entertaining match. Some fans were crapping on it, chanting "we want Teddy" (WILL WONDERS NEVER CEASE? Was this Ring of Honor? Was this Ring of Honor fans chanting for Teddy Hart?). Still, those fans were overcome by those who were expressing their appreciation for the match.

For their part, Romero and Kozlov refused to let those fans who were complaining to bring them or their match. They said screw it, we're going to kick ass anyway. They made the fans respect their performance. Huge dives, great exchanges, innovative moves, and the Russian babushka dance and hot near falls. They willed those fans to life early on and they held onto that attention and support the whole way through.

Then…after Romero wowed the crowd with an amazing Spanish Fly from the top turnbuckle into an armbar submission, Koslov was reeling, staggering, about to submit…and the bell rang.

The bell rang. Without a tap out or a verbal indication of submission. The bell rang to end the wrestling match without an ending where fans could hold onto their suspension of disbelief. The most important factor of any wrestling match is the semblance of legitimacy even though it's a worked sport. It was taken away from Koslov and Romero in an instant, through no fault of their own.

What happened was Bobby Cruise told the timekeeper to ring the bell—jumping the gun in a rare moment of botchery from the usually "on it" ring announcer. Bryce Remsburg, who was refereeing the match, simply froze. He looked to Cruise, looked to the time keeper, and called the match over. Romero looked confused, Cruise looked confused, the fans were definitely confused and not in the least amused. It was obvious this was not the planned finish, but because the bell rang, ROH had to go with it. Romero tried to salvage what he could in his interactions with Remsburg, asking him if he won and getting it confirmed. A win was a win, no matter how fake it looked in a fake sport everyone knows is fake but wants to pretend is real.

Cruise shrugged his shoulders. The ROH staff around him gave him a ribbing for the next few minutes. The crowd tried to move on to the next match, pretending this debacle never happened. That way they didn't have to think about what they just saw or how they weren't going to be able to see Evans and Hart, despite a good two months of hype and anticipation. Or so they thought.

The lights suddenly went out a minute after the tag team title bout (which took place after Romero vs. Koslov). A doo-rag wearing shadow jumped into the ring. When the lights came up, Jack Evans, Teddy Hart and Julius "J-Train" Smokes (Evans' manager in ROH stable The Vulture Squad) were in the ring, to a HUMONGOUS reaction. Chants of "Teddy!" filled the Grand Ballroom. Shouts of "Jack! Jack! Jack!" and Vulture Squad squawks abounded.

Evans, who was more muscular and defined in physique even given his small frame compared to just two years ago, delivered a tremendous promo about how they hauled ass to get to the show, how they wanted to give the fans what they paid to see, how he was going to teach Teddy Hart a lesson, if the crowd could give them five minutes of their time. The fans, clearly in love with the thought of getting this match, delivered their approval unto Jack and Teddy, who also cut a quick promo before the match. He explained how he may have had a controversial past, but he loved the fans and wanted to wrestle for them. Unfortunately, he did not also say that he would die for them as he did during his last match for ROH, which took place at the At Our Best event in 2004.

The next five minutes proved to be one of the more surreal experiences of my wrestling fandom.

Evans and Hart proceeded to have a "match". By that I mean they proceeded to deliver unreal and dangerous high spot after unreal and dangerous high spot for the next five minutes. Oh yes, they did this without a referee. That's right, no Sinclair, no Turner, no Remsburg. I don't know if ROH didn't plug Evans and Hart in for a match after all or that this whole thing was a shoot or supposed to come across as one, if they really wanted to punish Evans and Hart for this whole debacle or whatever. In the end, despite the crowd going bonkers for each and every ridiculous (and admittedly also ridiculously awesome) move, the fact was there was no referee to count the falls. Without an official referee, there was no real official match taking place, which ultimately made Evans, Hart, Smokes and the company itself look foolish. They should have rushed out a referee out there, just for the sake of appearance. Eventually, Julius Smokes was coaxed by the fans at ringside to be the referee, but if they hadn't its likely those two would have just done moves for the rest of the night.

Hart spiked Evans on his head about five-hundred and eighty-seven times, and every time it was a close two-count. Evans proceeded not to sell any damage to the head whatsoever. He did his own spots for close two. Repeat for a few minutes until Evans landed the 630 Splash for the "three-count".

The post-match fracas proved to be even more outlandish than the match itself, including some amazing and involuntary comedy from Remsburg. The poor guy was put in the futile position of trying to stop Jack Evans and Teddy Hart from talking. They had the microphone and began to cut obsequious fan-friendly promos, putting over the fans, the promotion, this and that. The fans loved it. Pearce was "talking" fervently on his headset, Remsburg was running around like the proverbial chicken without a head, making the "cut it" gesture with his hands and screaming "Jack, Jack" and "Teddy, Teddy". Like the Energizer Bunny, they were still going. Finally, The Vulture Squad theme song played over the PA…but Teddy took the mic from Jack and CONTINUED to talk to the fans and put them over, until finally, there were done and gone.

I didn't quite know how to react to all of this. I enjoyed what I saw, I think. I knew it flew in the face of all the hard work that the other wrestlers put into their match, but it was different, exciting and most importantly, unexpected. The New York fans ate it all up. They wanted Teddy Hart and Jack Evans, boy did they ever get it. Mister Controversy lived up to the expectation.

Before the molasses of the main event, Austin Aries had a bit of a rebuttal for the mania that just happened. It was an entertaining promo as well about his and Tyler's mother, which didn't do any favors to the atmosphere of the match and the pro-Aries crowd. Aries made sure to cut into Evans and Hart, in character, but it was plainly obvious he was pissed off legitimately about the show-stealing antics that were just perpetrated by Hart and Evans. Turns out they got the last laugh.


The show began early with the first pre-show match in the New York City area in quite some time, likely as some sort of test for the internet webcast. Andy "Right Leg" Ridge defeated "Sugarfoot" Alex Payne in a short contest with a bridging roll up that saw Ridge play the heel, kicking the guard rail in meanness during his entrance with—what else?—his right leg. I have no real use for Payne in the ring, as much as I can respect the effort he has put in all these years for Ring of Honor, starting out as an usher and moving onto a small role on the main roster. These days I try to skip as many of his matches as I can and save myself the pain, no pun intended.

In a telling foreshadowing, Bobby Cruise had to countdown the time for the live feed twice. As expected, the fans in attendance played their part and went absolutely bonkers for the very idea that ROH was back live and on Pay Per View for the first time since mid-year. It was reminiscent of the moment that began Respect Is Earned, ROH's first ever Pay Per View, just you know, without BJ Whitmer getting smashed by then-ROH World champ Takeshi Morishima. Loud chants of "ROH! ROH! ROH!" and he like. There are those out there who are already criticizing the fans' behavior during this show, but what cannot be denied is that they started out hot, ready and willing to support the company.

Cruise introduced Dave Prazak and Eric Stantamaria as the lead broadcast team, and they entered ringside to a surprising amount of boos. I didn't expect Prazak to be disliked by the crowd, and they obviously had no clue about Santamaria. Cruise then introduced the third announcer, and the maniacal laugh that began the theme song of none other than "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney filled the Grand Ballroom!

Sweeney received a tremendous ovation from the crowd. He had left ROH earlier this year under unfortunate circumstances, suffering from a lapse of his bi-polar disorder, acting erratically. His behavior led to a falling out between him and ROH Owner Cary Silkin and Sweeney would go on to bury Silkin and ROH in several massive, rambling, at times nonsensical and at times frightening online blog posts. Now Sweeney was back in a company he swore off, even hugging Cary Silkin in a sign of "bygones be bygones". Only in professional wrestling. Hopefully Sweeney did get the help he needed, because when there was no one better as a manager on the independent wrestling circuit when he was at the top of his game several years ago.

We were on our way with the first match, the four corner survival between Claudio Castagnoli (ranked first on the Pick 6 contender rankings), Kenny Omega (ranked sixth), Colt Cabana (unranked) and "Addicted to Love" Rhett Titus (also unranked), who as always was in top thrusting form with the ladies in the crowd. Everyone hit their marks in the entrance: Claudio with his scarf. Titus lewdly stroking a party popper and it exploding in a stream of confetti. Omega did his fireball and the crowd "Boom Boom"-ed in time with the beat to Cabana's entrance theme.

It certainly seemed like a big time event when these four were in the ring showing off their skills. It was a fast-paced and cleanly executed match. As expected, there was a mix of comedy and action, with Colt and Omega basically forming a team to handle the machinations of Castagnoli and Titus. They dosey-doe-d and switched positions to hit running butt-butts, dives and the like. Then Colt and Kenny squared off, with Colt lifting the "Stop" spot from Omega, who did a perfect Road Runner / Wile E. Coyote dead stop, coming within inches of Colt's raised hand. I could have sworn he had left a trail of dust behind him. Omega still won the day by smashing Colt with the Stop Sign Enziguiri anyway.

Claudio and Omega reprised some of the more impressive spots from the Glory By Honor VIII match, including a reversal series into an Omega hurricanarana and Castagnoli's now standard but still ever-impressive torture rack airplane spin that goes "no hands ma" about five rotations in. It would be Castagnoli eventually winning the match to maintain his position as top dog in the World Title rankings.

Necro Butcher had been announced previously as not being able to make it to show, leaving a hole in the scheduled tag team match between him and Delirious against The Embassy of Erick Stevens and Bison Smith. Prince Nana played it off like Necro was stuck on purpose, that he didn't want to show up to get beaten by his envoy. Delirious rushed out and for a time it was one-on-two. Delirious had the drop on the big guys and had a short advantage, but then Stevens and Smith used their size advantage to take over. In came of all people Pelle Primeau to the rescue for Delirious, and the crowd…went mild. It has been a long time since Pelle was in New York after all, and long after the peak of his "Mikey-Whipwreck"-eqsque peak in popularity in the company. It even took a while to remember that Pelle and Delirious were together as a short-lived team before Delirious turned heel and joined The Age of the Fall for a time. Pelle did some athletic moves but then Smith picked him over his shoulders. The fans buzzed, thinking they were going to get that "Bam Bam Bigelow / Whipwreck" spot where Pelle gets thrown into the masses in the first few rows. Instead, Smith casually dropped Pelle over the rope to the floor, where he not-so-casually splatted with a violent and unmistakingy grizzly THUD.

Delirious found himself alone again, but not for long as Bobby Dempsey (!) was now out to join Delirious. Dempsey received a massive ovation and "Bobby!" chants. New York still loves Bobby, even though he is rarely seen these days. I imagined what Sweeney was saying on commentary about Dempsey considering the last time those two crossed paths the "Dreaded Dempsey" (TM CHIKARA) was slapping him and beating him down. Dempsey dominated Smith and Stevens for a bit, including getting a few "Bobby-blocks" and a Cannonball into the turnbuckle. Then, as with Pelle, the bruiser team ganged up on the underdog and went to work.

While the crowd liked the match, the finish seemed off. First, Bison tried to do the clawhold chokeslam on Dempsey onto Steven's knee. Stevens collapsed due to the "weight" of Bobby being thrown down on his kneecap. He rolled out of the ring. He could have been selling, or it could have been an injury, but he was not seen the rest of the match. So it was up to Smith and Dempsey. Smith was trying to push Dempsey up to the top turnbuckle backwards (imagine getting into position for the super backdrop), but Dempsey either didn't remember the spot or wouldn't go up or he was just too fat. Smith had to let him go, gave him a massively stiff boot to the head, then tried again. This time, he managed to get Dempsey up there, just barely. A moment later and Smith had powerbombed Dempsey to death with Delirious just a second too late to save.

Third match up was the Fight Without Honor between Eddie Kingston and Chris Hero. As I theorized, the match was helped greatly by being slotted earlier on the card (as compared to their Glory By Honor VIII match which was in the post-intermission death slot). The crowd was far livelier and into the fight between these two, reacting most for the biggest weapons spots, some of which looked downright dangerous. I can understand the need to go all-out though, and the match was better for some of the more out-of-the-box moments that occurred as a result. If this was the last match in their ROH rendition of the feud, then best to go out with a bang.

Kingston was pacing back and forth in the ring waiting for Hero and the impression I had was he was going to get the jump on him. Sure enough, Kingston ran out of the ring and made a beeline for Hero as soon as came through the curtain. It was a real good brawl early on. There were lots of "Let's Go Hero!" and "Chris is Awesome" chants, but Eddie's supporters weren't far behind. Kingston had the early advantage, but both men hit some hard and heavy shots on the other.

Hero pulled out a chain from under the ring and proceeded to WALLOP Kingston with a strap-like shot to his back. That chain became an added extension of Hero's elbow and forearm, using some heavy shots to wobble Kingston and draw blood. Kingston fought back and landed some suplexes. Yet Hero managed to put a stop to the offense and soon dominated much of the body of the match.

Hero and Hagadorn pulled out the guardrail and set it against the turnbuckle. Kingston tried to take advantage but was stopped. So Hero adjusted the rail and squared it evenly so that it became a makeshift platform. Both men balanced carefully on that platform as the fans waited anxiously to see who would come out with the balance of control. It was Hero who put Kingston in a piledriver position and then blasted downward right onto that guardrail. The Grand Ballroom lit up with the roar of the crowd having witnessed one of the sickest moves in the history of the sickest moves in professional wrestling.

Hero or Kingston supporter alike, everyone marked out for that moment. It garnered the loudest "Eddie" chant in Kingston's short ROH run. It must have been especially sweet for him to receive that kind of reaction from "his" town—a vindication from his NY debut which was not as good as it could have been. These moments in New York where the crowd is one-hundred percent behind one guy or one moment gives the shows that special feeling. It's a pure magic moment in the world of sports / sports-entertainment. It is intoxicating and addictive for both the fan and the performer alike.

Both men had the fans the rest of the way through and they delivered with vicious forearms and backdrop drivers. Finally Kingston got leveled by a KO elbow with the chain. Hagadorn distracted the referee and Hero slipped on his "loaded" elbow pad. He struck Kingston, but only for a close near fall. Hero prepped for the "Deathblow"—an elbow to the back of the head, but Kingston ducked and LEVELLED him with a spinning backfist. Then another. In some matches, Kingston's signature strikes has been off-target and looked sloppy, thus ruining the visual effect of this devastating move and not nearly getting as over as it could be. Not this time. Both of Kingston's backfists were on the money. They looked like they were capable of crushing Hero's face in.

Hero dropped. Kingston covered, but only received a two count. Finally Kingston slipped off Hero's elbow pad, put it on his own elbow and nailed him with it for the three-count. The finish was anti-climactic, but ultimately satisfying to see Hero come up on the losing end in this rivalry with Kingston.


Kevin Steen and El Generico had their last stand as a regular tag-team matching up against Matt & Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks. It wasn't the flashiest showcase compared to the previous efforts of both teams, at least at the beginning. However, it proved to be the best of their three-matches in ROH as they built up the bigger moves and put them together in the back-half of the match. The Bucks showcased their athleticism and the power of teamwork and cohesion (really of both teams), while the resolve of The Bucks to win finally pushed them over the top.

Previously Team Steenerico had taken the first two of their matches against the Bucks, but the determined upstarts requested one more match to prove they could beat one of the best teams in the promotion. If they couldn't get the job done, they would leave Steen & Generico alone and move on to another team. Meanwhile Steen promised an announcement after the match that most surmised would either be a retirement announcement or a heel turn for one of the two men. As it turned out, it was half of the former and all of the latter.

Steen and Generico worked well throughout most of the match and in fact, Steen was perhaps the loudest and most animated he'd ever been in his support of Generico during the heat segments. He was getting those last licks of babyface characterization in before the heel turn, clearly enjoying himself. Steen ran around the apron to his two sides of the audience. He asked for the loudest "Ole!" chant the fans could give to Generico. They quickly picked up the chant, but to no avail for Generico. When that didn't work, he rallied the fans to do it again. A second time Generico tried to fight back against The Bucks, but failed. So Steen went crazy, running up and down his side, demanding the fans stand up and clap and cheer for Generico and chant "Ole!" He worked them up big time and finally Generico made the hot tag to Steen. This was just a ton of fun and a good final sendoff of heroism from Steen.

Steen was cut off and had his knee worked on a bit, and would sell the knee (the reason for his presumed and assumed retirement) throughout the match. Finally when Steen had one of the Bucks trapped in a sharpshooter, he cranked on that sucker for all it was worth. However, eventually the leg and knee gave out and he had to release the hold.

The finish saw Steen take the More Bang for Your Buck tandem move (Finlay Roll to 450 Splash to Moonsault) and kick out to a huge pop—it was the first time in ROH that had happened. Then in a reprise of a finish the Bucks and Steenerico just did at PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2009 Night Two, Matt and Nick got serious, shoved each other and pumped themselves up to do what was necessary. They leveled Steen with one massive superkick, then the other launched a superkick, equally jarring. They both combined to do a superkick together. Steen was crumpling. Another kick and he fell to one knee and a final ferocious superkick put him down and out for the three-count.

By the end of the night Ring of Honor workers were approaching ECW-levels of ridiculously overusing the superkick, but this finish was absolutely appropriate for the match, being a finale to their series and the end of Steen and Generico as a team.

After the match, both Steen and Generico shook the hands of the Jackson brothers to a very appreciative response from the audience. Then some jerk in the crowd made a comment to Steen, inaudible to me, but it got on Steen's nerve and he proceeded to roast the guy for a few minutes to the voracious approval of the rest of the crowd. They really loved him now.

Steen began a very emotional promo by talking about the effort he put into his time in ROH, his roots in Canada and in PWG. He talked about putting ten years in the business and despite his look and size being appreciated by the fans and being able to create some great matches. He stated though, that he was aware his work in the ring as of late hadn't been up to snuff (which is actually a criticism he had NOT received at all from the fans or critics). He had a figurative thank-you list as long as an Emmy Award winner, including Nigel McGuinness for giving him his favorite match, the referees, the merchandise stand workers, security guys, "Adam" and Cary, his wife, his child and the fans.

It certainly seemed like a retirement speech. The fans were showering him with love and affection, their ovations getting larger and larger the more Steen talked and the more emotional he became. Meanwhile, I was enjoying myself, but waiting, in the back my head…for the other shoe to drop. Steen pulled Generico into an embrace, hugging the tag partner and crying at the same time. I thought, "okay, here we go…". Then, the other shoe. Locked in the hug, hand connected to hug and head buried in head in acknowledgement of their long brotherhood, he said to Generico "And you…I just wanted to tell you… that I f**king hate your guts!"

With that, he leveled Generico with a low blow kick to the groin. The crowd gave a gasp of disbelief and the air in the room deflated from the shock of the moment. Then Steen absolutely destroyed Generico with one of the hardest chair shots I've ever seen, to the top of Generico's head, full speed ahead. Steen had a psychotic look on his face, half-relief and half-pleasure.

Doing a hard chairshot like this may be questionable just coming a week after reports of Andrew "Test" Martin's brain scan showing severe concussion damage, that for a wrestler who wasn't known for even being in too many hardcore matches or taking too many chairshots. I am glad that if they were to do a chairshot, they did only one and they made it count. I actually would have had Steen give Generico the package piledriver onto the chair, which would have been slightly safer and looked just as devastating.

Colt Cabana ran out to protect Generico and question Steen about what he was doing. Steen's response was perhaps even more shocking, even considering twenty-first century society. He pulled Colt Cabana's head in and gave him a kiss directly on the lips, then let him go. Cabana's reaction was shock and disbelief and the fans, well they were taken aback to say the least. As Steen walked to the back and a fan in the front row talked to him, he also gave that fan a kiss as well.

This heel turn was amazing. It was a perfect moment of professional wrestling booking, glorious in its set-up and punch-line. Steen never stated overtly that he was retiring—the fans just came to that conclusion by the newsbits about Steen being given time by ROH officials to make an announcement and common knowledge about the shape of Steen's knee. ROH bookers and Kevin Steen used all of that information to their benefit to pull this angle off brilliantly. There is a lot to criticize about this show, but this angle was one-hundred percent a triumph of booking and execution.

The Steen turn was by far my favorite moment of the show, because of how successful he was in bringing the fans along with his speech, then bringing them down in one crashing second. In a way, it was like CM Punk's heel turn in 2005 after his win at Death Before Dishonor III, just without a title changing hands.

There's nothing like overt male kissing to provoke a reaction from the male-dominated and mostly-straight professional wrestling audience. Is it a sexual act or an act of aggression, forcing one's dominance and control over someone else? Or is Steen coming out of the closet, in front of his wife no less? Well, no, it's probably not that, come on now. No, it was a "kiss of death" and a metaphorical "kiss goodbye"…at least for now. Steen can take some time to rest his injuries if he needs, leaving the fans speculating as to his and Generico's future and allowing the possibility for a feud against each other in 2010.

It should be noted that Steen is booked to appear for PWG's show at the Wrestle Reunion 4 convention. ROH runs the next night there in Los Angeles, so it's not inconceivable that Steen won't be taking time off after all.

Coming back from intermission, Roderick Strong and Kenny King had a solid match, albeit not more-so than the average Strong-style of match (dig that pun) with King throwing in a few dashes of "hot fire" with his athleticism and charisma. I did notice Strong was actually ill-timed on a few of his backbreaker moves and bigger spots, which is very rare for him these days. There was also starting to be an overkill on the jumping enziguri's to the corner, which had previously appeared in several other matches on the card.

The match suffered from the post-intermission slot and probably would have been better received coming after the Kingston-Hero match and before the Bucks-Steenerico. Honestly though, I don't know what ROH can do to beat the post-intermission trap its fallen into in New York City these past two shows short of throwing a student match there to die, which is something I know that I personally don't want to deal with on a regular basis.

King won with a roll-up holding the ropes, landing in the number four spot and dropping Strong and Black down a peg and Omega out of the Pick 6, just in time for the Los Angeles show where Omega would have been a solid opponent for either Aries or Black given his PWG / West Coast ties (having just won the PWG title a few weeks ago).

In hindsight, Castagnoli's win and King winning Strong's spot in the Pick 6 becomes somewhat baffling considering the Aries title retention. The list is now dominated by heels with Castagnoli up top, followed by Steen (now a heel), Hero, King, Strong and Black (who should really come nowhere near another title shot now that he dropped the ball for an eighth time in 2009) at the bottom of the list in the weakest position. Looking at that order, it certainly seems like this night was geared for Black to win the title match be the babyface challenging the heels, but now you have four heels in top position against a heel champion. ROH is going to have to work out that conundrum during the two HDNet tapings and the LA convention show in January.

The American Wolves put the title on the line against The Briscoes after the very enjoyable (if you were not one of the Hart / Evans whiners) Kozlov vs. Romero singles attraction bout. This was Eddie Edwards' first match back from his elbow injury. He received a very loud ovation and a healthy (but not overwhelming) chant of his name.

This was a very competitive match, going back-and-forth in momentum several times before The Briscoes began to dominate. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, and yakuza kicking back and forth. Oh and spitting—lots of spitting. The Wolves have been legitimized by the fans, but that doesn't mean they don't pull out the heel tactics to get booed. While Richards and Edwards both received respect, The Briscoes were the clear favorites and the majority of the crowd wanted them to win.

The elbow that was injured in the street fight from Final Countdown: Boston (having just seen the match a day or so ago it can be said without a doubt it looked horrible and likely felt worse) would come into play as Edwards went down in a heap mid-way through. Jay continued to attack Edwards while he was down and the ref was attending to him, provoking Davey Richards to get in the ring (actually these was a lot of that happening on both sides during the match) to push Jay. He chastised Jay, "what are you doing? Can't you see he's hurt?"

Just a moment after providing that distraction, Edwards attacked Jay with help from Shane Hagadorn, and then Edwards hurled Richards into the air so Richards could do the alarm clock kick. Edwards' elbow and arm, it seemed, was perfectly fine.

The finish saw Jay and Mark isolate Edwards and send Richards to the floor. Jay nailed the Jay-Driller dead-on for the closest of near-falls. Then they sent him up and brought him down for the Doomsday Device (sans springboard) for the win and the sixth ROH World Tag Team Title reign for The Briscoes.

While The Wolves losing the titles here makes sense and was well received, The Briscoes winning again (even if it's been a long while—eighteen months, since holding them) does have the tinge of "been there, done that." There are a few new teams to reckon with, so there should be some fresh matches for them as champions…including…

Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli dominated a large portion of independent wrestling's tag team scene in 2006. Together they wrestled as The Kings of Wrestling and they held the ROH World Tag Team Titles from September until November 2006 while simultaneously representing CZW as their tag team champions and CHIKARA as their Campeones de Parejas. When Castagnoli was set to leave for WWE, the team wound down its run and lost those titles. When Castagnoli never made it to WWE and remained on the independent scene, they still split up. They feuded with each other throughout 2007. Hero joined Sweet & Sour Incorporated and became "That Young Knockout Kid". Claudio turned heel at Death Before Dishonor VI when he attacked Bryan Danielson and became "Very European", associating with Prince Nana and The Embassy.

Both men of late have surged in singles competition and both men are at the top of their game in the ring and providing the crowd with compelling and athletic performances. Regardless, there have been very subtle teases of a Kings of Wrestling reunion over the last several DVD shows, including some cooperation in a four corner survival match at The Final Countdown: Boston.

There was nothing subtle about the Kings of Wrestling reunion tonight. Claudio Castagnoli walked out and circled the ring with the celebrating Briscoes still inside. They demanded to know what he was doing out there, and then they received their answer. Chris Hero rushed from the stage / general admission side of the venue and ambushed them from behind with his KO elbows. Then he and Claudio landed an awesome-looking KRS-One (their double team finisher which sees Claudio and Hero press and opponent from their shoulders into a sitout powerbomb) to the hearty approval of the fans in attendance. Hero and Castagnoli were lavished with the loud chant of "Kings of Wrestling". They are back and now an obvious top contender for the tag titles.

The Briscoes and Kings of Wrestling had two matches back-to-back to close out 2006. Each match was very well done, with the Final Battle 2006 match in particular standing out as an excellent bout, both Mark and Jay Briscoe flying and diving several times during that one. The feud between the two was left on those terms, but there was definitely some untapped potential in a longer series of bouts but for the averted departure of Claudio Castagnoli and the planned break-up of the KoW at the time. It's absolutely likely these two teams will be able to reprise the effort and quality of those matches with a new feud in 2010. If this is a regression for Castagnoli and Hero given their emergence as top flight heels as singles or if this works out of them remains to be seen. For now, chalk it up to a very pleasant surprise and another positive moment to remember of ROH getting it right during Final Battle 2009.


Quickly looking at some of the feedback from the web, it seems there were plenty of technical problems during the ROH internet broadcast including the stream breaking up for some users, sound cutting out several times and being unable to hear the announcers or crowd reaction. The video quality was said to have been on par with an ROH DVD, which is to say, good enough but not great and certainly not up to par about what ROH should be presenting eight years into their run. While technical glitches are to be expected and understood to some extent considering a mammoth first endeavor such as this, it's fair to say that the production values and length of the show likely left some internet viewers with a bad taste in their mouth.

Reviews have been mixed, with some concentrating on the positive aspects of the show and others stating their case that the main event was decent, all things considered. While I couldn't disagree more with the latter perspective, I also can't say this was a bad show overall. Take away the main event and you have a very good show with several spectacular moments and a few new and interesting plot developments. Add the main event back into the equation and you are left with the impression that ROH overdid it and that the overall show was weighed down by that last hour. In other words, the parts were greater than the sum of this show.

By no means do I think Ring of Honor is done because of one bad match, but the last impression I had walking out of the building was that ROH had blown a huge opportunity here to add onto their fan and buyer base. They didn't "kill the town" as the expression goes, but they didn't "save the farm from being bought out" either. It is clear that in the last four- to-five months ROH has demonstrated that it knows how to strengthen their shows and put on the kind of main event match that makes the crowd go crazy and want more. Yet, there is still much they have to continue to understand and learn about what the fans want to see. They cannot be stubborn and blame the fans in attendance for either leaving early or expressing their dissatisfaction or sitting on their hands because they were given something they didn't want to see. You don't drag them kicking and screaming as if the fans were children—instead you adjust and give the fans something else. That something else tonight was NOT the kind of match Aries and Black put on. If ROH can't learn that lesson, 2010 will prove to be as bumpy of a year as 2009.

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A quick note to readers of my column that the first part of my year-end Final Column 2009 feature for 411Mania will be pushed back to Monday, December 28th, 2009 due to family commitments and the Holidays. I hope you will join me for that. Thanks for reading this lengthy narrative and as always, feedback is appreciated.

--Ari--