ROH Final Battle 2008 Review

Ring of Honor looks to close out 2008 with a bang!!

*This was downloaded off of the old rohvideos.com website*

ROH Final Battle 2008

New York, New York 12/27/08

1.) Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega: **1/2

This was a very solid opening match and the upset result was a nice way to start the show.

2.) Four Corner Survival - Chris Hero (with Larry Sweeney & Sara Del Rey) vs. Necro Butcher vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rhett Titus: ***

These four are here pretty much because they have nothing else better to do, but the match itself was actually pretty good. The Four Corner Survival entertains, as expected.

Jimmy Jacobs comes out afterwords and accuses Necro of selling out & getting soft. Since he's already out there, we get...

3.) ROH World Tag Team Titles - Kevin Steen & El Generico (with Daizee Haze) vs. The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious): ***

Definitely a step up from their match in Dayton. Daizee Haze comes out to ringside, which distracts Delirious, again leading to Steenerico picking up the win.

Jacobs berates Delirious after the loss.

4.) Six-Man Street Fight - Brent Albright, Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki & The American Wolves (with Larry Sweeney): ***1/2

This turned out to be a pretty good Street Fight. Lots of fun spots and hard hits. Definitely got better as the match progressed.

5.) The Briscoe Bros. vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima: ***1/2

The Briscoes won the right to face these two at the recent St. Louis show. It was pretty good. Nakajima seemed to carry the load for his team, but it still lead to a good match.

After the match, The American Wolves hit the ring. They chain Jay Briscoe to the bottom rope and attack Mark Briscoe's already injured knee with a chair. Steen & Generico come out to make the save, with Albright, Stevens & Strong also running down. Albright tells ROH Owner Cary Silkin that this is going to keep happening unless Sweet 'n' Sour Inc. was stopped, and calls for a Steel Cage Warfare Match. Cary agrees.

6.) #1 Contender's Match - Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black: ****

Although this was roughly the same as their St. Louis match (Wrestling Wise) this had more of a big match feel since it was a #1 Contender's Match. Aries seemed to be getting more & more frustrated as the match progressed. Jimmy Jacobs comes down to ringside towards the end of the match as Aries picks up the win.

Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black then have the classic Anakin/Obi Wan Chosen One shtick from Episode III. He beats down Black until Aries comes down for the apparent save. Instead, Aries attacks Black and joins his yearlong rival Jimmy Jacobs in the beat down.

7.) ROH World Title - Nigel McGuinness vs. Naomichi Marufuji: ***3/4

This was another very good World Title Match. You always know when Marufuji shows up in ROH, he will always put on a good match, but he wasn't going to win the title tonight.

8.) Fight Without Honor - Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson: ****1/2

Here it is. The conclusion to rivalry that's been going on since Mid-2007. These two fought in a brutal Fight Without Honor, probably one of the best out there. Just absolutely vicious & brutal stuff in this one. It's a must see.

Overall: 9.25/10

When your thinking about which Final Battle's were the best, this one is definitely up there. Pretty much every match on here delivers as expected, leading to a great show. It was also good to see a lot of storyline progressions on this show, definitely setting things up for the future. The last three matches are must see in my opinion, and everything else just adds to it.