If you didn’t know, now you know. ROH Final Battle on Saturday night was a strong show that featured some excellent wrestling matches in front of a hot Texas crowd that was ready to lap up as much of it as they could.
The event started off with Vikingo against Black Taurus — of course an action packed affair that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Brian Cage and Gates Of Agony smashed around a group of random partners and then the co-main event hit with Ethan Page defeating Tony Nese in an “I Quit” Match. No, you read that right. Tony Nese was in a featured match on the show.
Co-Main Event Tony Nese?
Even to my surprise, the match carried a ton of drama with it thanks to vicious and torture like action that fired up Page as the babyface on the edge of giving up. When Page won, the audience reacted strongly and positively like the wrestlers wanted and on the show went. Nyla Rose defeated Vert Vixen in less than three minutes before Kyle Fletcher became the ROH World Television Championship by winning a Survival of the Fittest Match to claim the vacant title.
For some reason Wheeler Yuta vs. Tom Lawlor was on the card next and it was a good match that popped the audience. Keith Lee beat Shane Taylor in a battle of big men that freshened up the show from a style perspective. Jon Moxley teamed with Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli to take on Mark Briscoe and FTR in a wild and bloody brawl that honored the late, great Jay Briscoe. Eddie Kingston beat Anthony Henry before you could run to the fridge for a beer and then Athena defeated Billie Starkz to retain her ROH Women’s Championship in a wonderful main event match.
I mean, there you go. The show didn’t need to have anywhere close to 10 matches, but Tony Khan is booking and we all know he loves his matches. It is what it is. This was a good show. It wasn’t a smart show.
Where’s the context?
I can feel your eyes judging a bit. How can a good show not be a smart show? I’ll tell you how — a lack of context.