NEW YORK, NY – Ring of Honor hit it big with its last show of the year. Final Battle 2012 was one of the best cards the promotion produced this year, not to say in recent years. And it felt like Canada Day in New York City as all the Canadians on the card showcased their talent and devotion to make this show a real success.
The main event at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom was crazier than crazy. In one of their most brutal matches, ROH World champion Kevin Steen and arch-nemesis El Generico went at it another time and, like their other encounters, they raised the wild bar again.
Throughout the match, they were slowly building a ladder structure like no one ever seen before. It was a ladder war and they wanted the fans to make sure they remembered the concept. Once done, the structure looked like a scaffold, with two big ladders, six foot from each other, and two smaller ladders bridging the other two, one on top of the other one.
Steen and Generico were on top of one of the smaller ladder fighting, exactly like if they were on a scaffold and after Steen kicked Generico in the mid-section, he gave Generico his Package Piledriver through that structure. The fans were really in awe, as Steen climbed the rest of the ladder to untie the belt.
“The match was hard enough as it is, but being sick all day didn’t help and this is probably the hardest match to get through of my career,” an humble Steen told SLAM! Wrestling after the match.
If the main-event pitted two of the most talented Canadian talents out there, the first showcased another one who had a very good year for ROH — Michael Elgin.
In a hard-hitting contest, Roderick Strong won over Elgin with a suplex into a codebreaker. Earlier in the match, Elgin, known for his strength, was standing on the second rope, and lifted Strong all the way from the apron and suplexed him back in the ring. The match really started the show on a good note and could easily be the match of the night on another show. Along with his matches against Davey Richards and Steen, Elgin finishes 2012 like he started it, and was really a breakout star for ROH this year.
Another Canadian, Kyle O’Reilly, teamed with Bobby Fish to face his former mentor Davey Richards, who was reunited with fellow American Wolf, Eddie Edwards. It was a typical Wolves match, with a lot of stiff kicks, stiff forearms and strong style wrestling. Again, a solid match that could’ve been match of the night any other day.
And let’s not forget Steve Corino, originally from Winnipeg, who along with partner Jimmy Jacobs, lost their ROH tag team titles to The Briscoes in a three-way match that also included Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman. Even on the losing end, Corino was part of another good match shown on that stacked card.
These were just four of the nine matches ROH gave their fans, but all in all there were no bad matches, as everything on the show was okay, good or even better.
It was an up and down year for Ring of Honor, with among other things their iPPV problems, but nine days before Christmas, they really gave their fans a very nice Christmas gift and if this show and Glory by Honor are any indications of how 2013 will be, it could be one of ROH best years ever.
Here are the quick results of the show:
- Roderick Strong acc./Truth Martini defeated Michael Elgin. After the match both guys officially split from Martini.
- Lethal beat Rhino
- RD Evans acc/Ernie Osyris defeated Prince Nana
- Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin beat Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer in a street fight. For those who saw the show, Whitmer was suplexed on a table almost head first, but was alright after the show. It was a scary spot though.
- “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett acc./ Maria Kanellis and Brutal Bob Evans defeated Jerry Lynn in what was billed as Lynn’s last ROH match
- American Wolves beat Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish
- Matt Hardy defeated the ROH TV champion Adam Cole in a non-title match
- The Briscoes defeated the ROH World Tag Team champions SCUM (Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs) and Cedric Alexander & Caprice Coleman to capture the ROH World Tag Team titles.
- ROH World champion Kevin Steen beat El Generico in a Ladder Wars to retain the title.
