I just have two quick notes
that I need to go over before the show starts. The 2015 Survival of the Fittest
Finals was originally scheduled to be a Six-Way Elimination Match (as it
traditionally is). However, during his qualifying match with Cedric Alexander
the night before, Roderick Strong suffered a concussion, and unfortunately, had
to pull out of the Finals. That means that, for only the 2nd time in
it’s history, the Survival of the Fittest Finals will be a Five-Way Elimination
Match (the first time it happened was in 2006). The other note concerns the
ring. ROH used a very interesting ring on this show, with red, white, &
blue ropes. Now, it could have been to celebrate Veteran’s Day (which is
November 11th), but it also could have been done as a way to stance
with France after the Terrorist Attacks in Paris (which I believe occurred that
weekend).
ROH Survival of the Fittest
2015: Night 2
Hopkins, Minnesota 11/14/15
1.) Cedric Alexander vs.
Will Ferrara: ***
Alexander is coming off a
losing effort in a Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match against Roderick
Strong the night before, the same match where Strong suffered a concussion.
Interestingly enough, this is the 2nd time in the span of a month
that a wrestler has suffered a concussion in a singles match against Cedric
Alexander (ACH suffered a concussion in a match with Alexander in Kalamazoo the
month prior). Now that could all be just coincidence, but it’s a fascinating
note nonetheless. The fact that commentary actually acknowledged this as well was
also quite interesting. As far as this match goes, it was a fine opener.
Alexander looked good, and Ferrara always manages to put on decently good
matches in the undercard. As you would expect, Alexander gets the win.
After the match, Alexander
offers a handshake to Ferrara, but then spits in his face instead.
Before our next match
begins, we get a promo from BJ Whitmer. He says that while everyone else may be
blind, he knows that Mr. Wrestling III is actually Steve Corino. He wants Mr.
Wrestling III to remove his mask so he can get Corino fired for violating his
suspension. Whitmer also wants him to do this so he can take his spot on
commentary, and threatens to hold the show hostage until Mr. Wrestling III
removes his mask. He continues rambling until they cut his microphone. He gets
another microphone, but then they cut it again. Soon, referees & security
come out, and throw Whitmer out from ringside.
2.) Adam Page vs. Dalton
Castle: ***1/4
Both of these men were in a
Triple Threat Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match the night before, which
was won by Silas Young. I thought this was a good match. It was around the same
quality as the Triple Threat Match they were in the night before. Solid work
from both guys here. Towards the end of the match, BJ Whitmer comes back out
(seemingly trying to confront Mr. Wrestling III), but is held back by security
& referees. This distracts Page long enough for Castle to take advantage of
the situation and score the victory with the Bang-A-Rang.
3.) Mark Briscoe vs.
Frankie Kazarian: **3/4
When this match came up on
the card, I groaned. It’s got nothing to do with Mark Briscoe (he’s great). My
frustration has more to do with Frankie Kazarian. He does absolutely nothing
for me as a singles guy. It’s not like he’s a bad wrestler or anything, I just
can’t get into his singles matches. This particular match was decent, but
again, it just didn’t hold my interest, and that’s mainly because of Frankie
Kazarian. Thankfully, Mark Briscoe would get the win in this one.
4.) Six-Man Tag - The Kingdom (Adam Cole & ROH World Tag
Team Champions Matt Taven & Michael Bennet with Maria Kanellis) vs. Moose
& War Machine (with Stokely Hathaway): ***3/4
Adam Cole & Moose were
part of a Triple Threat Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match the night
before, which was won by Michael Elgin, while Matt Taven & Michael Bennett
will be defending the ROH World Tag Team Titles against Hanson & Ray Rowe
at Final Battle 2015. I thought this
was a really good Six-Man Tag. I’d say it was about on par with the Bullet
Club/House of Truth Six-Man Tag Team Main Event from the night before in
Milwaukee. The only complaint I have about this one is that it went a little
too long (you probably could have shaved three minutes or so off this one).
Still, this was a very entertaining Six-Man Tag. The crowd in Hopkins was
seemingly into the action, and all six-guys definitely worked hard. The Kingdom
eventually got the win here.
5.) Joey “Diesel” Daddiego
(with Truth Martini & Taeler Hendrix) vs. Cheeseburger: *1/4
This was easily the worst
match on the show. Cheeseburger was fine (it’s impossible to not love the guy),
but Daddiego is just not a good wrestler. Plus, what does it say about this guy
that he needs outside interference from The House of Truth to beat an INJURED
Cheeseburger?! Seriously?! Daddiego wins. Moving on….
6.) The All-Night Express
vs. The Young Bucks: ***1/2
These two teams actually
had a pretty lengthy feud from the end of 2011 through the first few months of
2012 (It specifically started when Rhett Titus suffered a knee injury during an
ANX/Young Bucks match on a ROH live event in The Carolinas in late 2011). I
thought this was a very good match. It only went about eleven or twelve
minutes, but they packed a lot of action into that time frame. The crowd was in
love with The Young Bucks (as they always are), but Kenny King & Rhett
Titus had their moments as well. There was a weird moment towards the end of
the match, as the referee accidentally got taken out with a superkick. It seems
like the only reason they did this was so that ANX could get a “visual three
count”. The Young Bucks would go on to win the match, but ANX left upset,
feeling like they had the match won.
7.) “The Phenomenal” AJ
Styles vs. Matt Sydal: ***3/4
In an interesting note, the
first match Sydal had when he returned to ROH in late 2014 was against AJ
Styles. I thought this match was right around the same quality of that first
match. The action was very solid from start to finish, as you would expect,
given who’s involved. There were some cool moments throughout, and the fans
were into both guys. I feel like this match could have been a little bit
better, given that Sydal has really become one of the best in the world in the time since
that return match in September of 2014. However, I think the fact that Styles
was dealing with nagging back issues may have hindered this match somewhat.
Still, this was a very good match. In the end, Styles would score the victory
with the Styles Clash.
After the match, Styles
& Sydal shook hands.
8.) The House of Truth (ROH
World Champion Jay Lethal & Donovan Dijak with Truth Martini & Taeler
Hendrix) vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions reDRagon: ***1/2
Lethal has faced off with
both members of reDRagon numerous times throughout 2015. This was a pretty good
tag team match. Fish & O’Reilly were there usual great selves, but I came
away really impressed with the Lethal/Dijak tag team. They seemed to work very
well together, and even incorporated some new double team moves into their
repertoire, including a Lethal Combination into a Powerbomb-assisted Chokebreaker.
Incredible stuff. reDRagon would eventually score the win here in a very
entertaining tag team affair.
9.) 2015 Survival of the
Fittest Finals – Silas Young vs. ACH vs. Christopher Daniels vs. “Unbreakable”
Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe: ****1/4
Like I mentioned earlier,
Roderick Strong was forced out of this match after suffering a concussion in
his qualifying match with Cedric Alexander the night before. Just to run though
the eliminations quickly along with some other highlights (before I get into my
thoughts on the match itself), Silas Young was eliminated first by ACH. In
between the first and second eliminations, Elgin tried to give Jay Briscoe a Samoan
Drop from the Apron through a table on the floor, but Christopher Daniels got
involved, and ended up putting BOTH Elgin & Briscoe through the table! ACH then
has Daniels beat, but Kazarian comes out to distract the referee. This leads to
Matt Sydal coming out, and he & ACH double-team Kazarian in the ring.
As the referees and security try to remove Kazarian & Sydal, Daniels kicks
ACH low, and beats him after hitting the Best Moonsault Ever. Daniels is then eliminated
a little later on by Jay Briscoe. It comes down to Michael Elgin vs. Jay
Briscoe. They have a great back & forth battle, but in the end, Elgin is
able to win Survival of the Fittest for the 2nd time!!
This was a MUCH better
Survival of the Fittest Finals compared to 2014. While it certainly wasn’t the
best Finals in the history of the tournament, it was definitely one of the
better ones. The first half of the match told a really good story, particularly
with Christopher Daniels. He just played his role as the sneaky veteran very
well, from working together with Silas Young, to putting both Briscoe &
Elgin through a table, to taking advantage of the chaos created by Kazarian’s
interference. Young, as I figured, was the first one out. ACH looked good here,
but I feel like this was a very poor payoff to the Best-of-Five Series. Given
that series culminated in the winner getting a spot in the Survival of the
Fittest Finals, ACH should have lasted a little longer in this match. It
worries me that this is the second tournament in 2015 where ACH was
unnecessarily eliminated by Daniels (the first instance occurred in the
one-night #1 Contender’s Tournament at Aftershock
Tour: Las Vegas earlier that year). I would have preferred if ACH
eliminated Daniels here.
The last part of the match
between Jay Briscoe & Michael Elgin was great. That part of the match
actually lasted a good twelve to thirteen minutes. The action was awesome, and
the crowd was really into it. Elgin winning with a new finisher, The Burning
Hammer, was pretty cool to see. The finish itself was also very significant in
a number of ways. It was only the second time that Jay Briscoe had been pinned
in the last three years (of course, Jay Lethal defeated him at Best In The World 2015). Additionally,
it was a bit of redemption for Elgin, as it was Jay Briscoe who beat him for
the ROH World Title at All-Star Extravaganza VI, which started the downslide that Elgin went on towards the
end of 2014. As a whole, this was a fantastic match. I can only image that if
Roderick Strong wasn’t forced out due to a concussion, this match would have
been even better.
After the match, we get a
promo from Michael Elgin. He tells Jay Briscoe that he might be the toughest
guy he’s ever gone up against. He says wars like that are why fans buy tickets
to see ROH, and why those letters are so important. Battles like this makes ROH
the best wrestling on the planet, Elgin says. He asks Jay to shake hands, and
he does. Elgin then talks about the fact that he just earned a shot at the ROH
World Title. He mentions how Jay Lethal made his legacy in 2015, while he’s
been rebuilding his own legacy in 2015, which included his run in the 2015 G1
Climax. Elgin then says he wants his shot at the ROH World Title in Japan!
Overall: 8.25/10
I think it’s fair to say
that, as a whole, the 2015 Survival of the Fittest Tournament was much better
than the 2014 edition, and the Finals personified that. After the Attitude-Era
styles car-crash that was the 2014 Finals, the 2015 Finals were a significant
improvement. Even though Roderick Strong wasn’t able to compete, the five men
involved still produced a fantastic Main Event that was easily the best match
of the weekend. The rest of the undercard was mostly solid as well, with the highlights including Moose & War Machine vs. The
Kingdom, AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal, ANX vs. The Young Bucks, & The House of
Truth vs. reDRagon. This card, with matches like Cheeseburger vs. Daddiego
& Mark Briscoe vs. Kazarian, was a little less consistent than the show
from the night prior in Milwaukee. However, the quality of much of the
undercard and the awesome Main Event makes Night
2, in my opinion, right on par with Night
1.
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