ROH FINAL BATTLE

 

Arlington, Texas

JEFF COBB vs. MASCARA DORADA (6:59): This was a good show, though not a great one. It was entertaining and had a small but hot crowd. I'm still kind of confused as to what the point of ROH is. If it's supposed to be a seperate brand than AEW, then why were the majority of the wrestlers on this show AEW wrestlers? Jeff Cobb isn't a ROH or an AEW wrestler. As far as I know, neither is Mascara Dorada, who I think used to wrestle in WWE. I forget his name in WWE, though, but remember he was misused. This was a fun opener on the Zero Hour pre-show. They did 4 pre-show matches. The last live wrestling show I went to was a ROH show in December 2019 at the ECW Arena and Jeff Cobb was in the main event. Alas, Marty Scurll was also in the main event, and sadly the "Me Too" movement curtailed his career. **1/2

THE JERICHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY (ANGELO PARKER & MATT MENARD) vs. CHEESEBURGER & ELI ISOM) (6:00): The crowd tonight was definitely an ROH crowd because they chanted for Cheeseburger. You would think that Parker and Menard would've gotten a push since they joined Jericho's group, but they haven't really been used much. Maybe it's because they're not spectacular wrestlers? This was pretty uneventful but mildly entertaining. **

WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. TRISH ADORA (6:20): This was forgettable. 1/2*

TOP FLIGHT (DANTE MARTIN & DARIUS MARTIN) vs. THE KINGDOM (MATT TAVEN & MIKE BENNETT) (11:19): Top Flight is great. This was a lot of fun. Dante Martin did slip on the ropes once but it wasn't the end of the world. AEW was kind of pushing Dante Martin as a big deal for awhile but now he's back in the tag team and just a spot guy. **1/2

AR FOX & BLAKE CHRISTIAN vs. LA FACCION INGOBERNABLE (DRALISTICO & RUSH) (10:35): Dragon Lee wasn't on this show. He's better than Rush and Bandido, so I'm baffled why he isn't around. Maybe because he broke Hiromu's neck and is, thus, dangerous? This was another fun match. The end seemed like a botch, though, as Dralistico kicked out of the pin but the ref still counted to 3. AR Fox is a new AEW signee and has looked fantastic. He does all of the high flying stuff and the crowds love him. **1/2

ATHENA vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ (13:06): Athena won the Women's title here. This was more entertaining than the usual women's match, which was a good thing, obviously. The ROH women's division was always kind of a forgotten, dull division. Tony Khan hasn't exactly set the world on fire with his AEW women's division, so I kind of doubt anything will come out of the ROH women's division. I guess time will tell. **1/2

SWERVE IN OUR GLORY (SWERVE STRICKLAND & KEITH LEE) vs. SHANE TAYLOR & JD GRIFFEY (13:43): Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee broke up as a tag team...so I'm not sure why they were a tag team again in this match. Swerve walked out of the match and left but Keith Lee ended up winning by himself. This was very entertaining. The crowd really popped big for Shane Taylor. That was kind of surprising, the fact that ROH fans still exist. **1/2

THE EMBASSY (BRIAN CAGE, BISHOP KAUN & TOA LIONA) vs. DALTON CASTLE & THE BOYS (10:02): The Embassy won the 6-man titles here. Remember when Brian Cage was in big AEW PPV matches against Sting and Darby Allin and Adam Page? What happened to him? Something did, obviously, as Tony Khan has kind of demoted him to ROH for whatever reason. Dalton Castle always entertains, so this was pretty good. Castle of course has wrestling's best entrance. **1/2

WHEELER YUTA vs. DANIEL GARCIA (14:25): They put up a list of the rules for this Pure Title match and it was like an ancient scroll that went on forever. The only thing I remember is that each wrestler only gets 3 rope breaks. Why? Who the fuck knows? Yuta ended up winning the Pure Title. This was kind of boring but it got a bit exciting at the end. Daniel Garcia got a big push for a while and it seemed to set up him turning into a good guy and wrestling Jericho. That never happened, and now his push is seemingly over. Weird. **

THE BRISCOE'S vs. FTR "DOUBLE DOG COLLAR MATCH" (22:20): This match was announced on Dynamite 3 days before the show. I guess it didn't matter, because it was the best match on the show and the only one anyone really cared about. They had 3 matches this year and each one was great, although the first one was the best and the second match was the second best. This was just an epic bloodbath. They also used chairs and set up a table but didn't use it. The Briscoe's won the tag team titles. I guess the idea of FTR winning all of the belts will never happen. You can thank The Acclaimed's sudden popularity surge for that. I'm not the biggest fan of dog collar matches because, honestly, they're kind of boring. This was exactly what you expected, though. Tons of blood, brutality, and dramatic near falls. ***

SAMOA JOE vs. JUICE ROBINSON (13:37): Juice apparently signed an AEW deal. I'm not entirely sure why, as he's just okay in the ring. I also prefer him as a good guy as opposed to whatever the hell he's doing now. Samoa Joe retained the TV title. I think ROH has too many titles. There wasn't much to this match. It was okay. The crowd loved Joe, though. *1/2

CLAUDIO CASTIGNOLI vs. CHRIS JERICHO (17:05): This wasn't as good as their match at AEW's All Out. It was decent, though nothing special. Claudio won the title when Jericho tapped out during the swing. That was a unique end, although you couldn't see Jericho tapping out because he was being swung around, you just knew it was over because the announcer's yelled, "Jericho tapped out!" The match started fast as Claudio threw Jericho all over the outside of the ring. Then there were a lot of uppercuts and slaps and submission holds. This was not the epic, classic, PPV main event we deserve, but at least they have a good champion now that isn't an old man. **1/2