Ring of Honor reached what is arguably it's greatest peak in the mid-2000's, where a continued lapse in interest in the WWE led more and more wrestling fans to seek out an alternative. But as the aughts wore on, the promotion ran into the same fate that had spelled the doom of ECW, it's most direct predecessor: talent sniping. Extreme Championship Wrestling had slowly faded from the public eye as their best and brightest moved on to greener pastures down South and up North, while Ring of Honor was mercilessly taken apart by Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter, who combined to create a complete stranglehold on the top talent in the US. Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, and many others would depart, and while not all of them have left for the three matches in this post, by the time the new decade would begin, all would be gone. This forced ROH to quickly transition into a new era of competitors on the fly, and while their ability to create fresh stars remained remarkable, the new crop wouldn't be quite as revolutionary as the first. We'll see a few of those new faces in today's three matches, in addition to more classic work from Danielson on his way out, and we'll end out on a brutal mask versus career match.
- We start here in the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, New York, for Final Battle 2008, the site of a vicious "Fight Without Honor" between Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima. Unless you're a fan of either ROH or Noah, you probably don't know much about Morishima, who was booked to be an absolute killer here in Ring of Honor, a brutal monster who steamrolled through opponent without the grace or artistry of someone like Samoa Joe. Morishima dished out all kinds of pain, and had initially started out as an ally of Danielson's, but the two beefed over the ROH world title, and after exchanging shots over the past year and a half, they come to blows here in a no disqualification, no countout affair, to close out 2008. This was a very deliberately paced match, with very few spots interspersed in these 19 minutes, and even then, I doubt anything from this match would've made it onto any highlight reel. There are no feats of insane athleticism or heart-stopping near falls to be found here, just two men beating the stuffing out of each other, and it's honestly pretty great if you go in knowing what to expect. Danielson really shows out in this one, nailing a suicide dive with such ferocity that he tumbles into the crowd, battering the Japanese hoss with stiff kicks and headbutts, and perfectly selling Morishima's power offense, including a very believable chain choke. I really loved Danielson's tenacity, and he's such a perfect babyface that even repeatedly kicking Morishima in the groin doesn't turn anyone against him. The ending moments where Danielson smashed Morishima in the chest with chain-wrapped forearm strikes and finally got the win with the Cattle Mutilation was a perfectly ugly and painful conclusion to this slugfest.
- We now head up North to Ontario, Canada, where Ring of Honor hosted two shows on back-to-back nights, the latter of which I'm covering, as the Tag Title Classic show was main evented by the American Wolves defending the ROH tag titles against Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black (Seth Rollins). Black had debuted about two years prior in 2007 alongside his tag team partner on the independent scene, Jimmy Jacobs, and quickly began to shine as a future star of Ring of Honor. Black is teaming up with Danielson as a fan favorite duo here, with the latter searching for his first taste of tag gold in ROH. My enthusiasm for this match dampened when I discovered it was going 45 minutes, and I don't feel like these four men did enough to make this one consistently interesting, which would be a tall task, in fairness. There were a few highlights of the first half of the match, like a stretch where Danielson and Black took turns delivering a series of body slams to Eddie Edwards, each slam getting a louder pop from the crowd, but it takes about 20-25 minutes to really get good. From there, the match quickly escalates to that "classic" level, as all four men pour their heart and soul into each near fall, hooking the crowd and myself. I loved the focus on Danielson's knee, as Bryan takes a Dragon Screw across the barricade (painful and demeaning, given that's his move), and Edwards breaks up a Cattle Mutilation with a diving knee drop, driving all of his weight onto Danielson's knee, absolutely sickening. The crowd totally buys into a Buckle Bomb/Superkick near fall for Black, with Edwards just about getting his leg to the bottom rope in time, and another heart-stopping moment sees Black almost go down to a combination a Superkick by Edwards into a German Suplex from Davey Richards, only for Danielson to dive in for the save. Danielson's burst of offense against the numbers game was brilliant, as he drops Edwards with a running knee strikes, then plants Richards with a gorgeous delayed top rope Saito Suplex. The drama intensifies as both teams trade dual submissions, Richards and Edwards each locking in a Texas Cloverleaf, Danielson and Black fighting out and letting loose with elbow strikes and a double Cattle Mutilation. It's at this point that the time limit for ROH tag matches, 45 minutes, comes into play, as suddenly, there's less than a minute left for Danielson and Black to force a title change. Black releases his Cattle Mutilation to instead nail the God's Last Gift (Small Package Driver), which surely would put Eddie Edwards away, but at the count of two from Todd Sinclair, time expires. ROH really loved booking these time limit draws, it was a staple of adding heat to feuds for years to this point, and the choice to go Broadway with this one did hold it back, you could've chopped this match in half and it would've been significantly improved.
- For the final match of this post, we head to the end of 2010, as this year's Final Battle featured yet another "Fight Without Honor", this time between former tag partners turned bitter rivals, Kevin Steen and El Generico. Steen had fully embraced his most aggressive and sadistic tendencies after shattering their team and aligning with Steve Corino, and after a year of the two men desperately trying to destroy each other, they meet in a decisive contest to settle their rivalry, with Generico putting his mask on the line and Steen putting up his career. You might notice that despite these high stakes, and the fact this match went on last, it's not featured on the pay-per-view poster for Final Battle. This was due to ongoing friction between Steen and current ROH booker Jim Cornette, the latter of whom apparently didn't see much in Steen, and evidently didn't think this match was worthy of the central spotlight, instead making it "unsanctioned", therefore giving it a kayfabe explanation to be ignored. Regardless of backstage politics, if you're familiar with the type of guys Steen and Generico are, you knew they were going to do everything possible to turn out an absolute war worthy of these high stakes. Both men putting their bodies through Hell for this match, each taking multiple painful-looking bumps through ladders and tables and chairs, plus pieces of the metal barricades, which Steen jumps onto for a Frog Splash and launches Generico into with a powerbomb. But make no mistake, this isn't just a pure spotfest, as Steen adds in a lot of wonderful character work, riling up the crowd with relentless taunting and showboating, drawing absolutely nuclear heat for a disgusting spot where he covers his hand in Generico's blood and starts lapping it up. Steen's cockiness costs him, as Generico is allowed the opportunity to stay alive, and mounts several comebacks, nearly sending Steen packing with a trio of brainbusters (one in the ring, one on the apron, one on the top turnbuckle) and his own Package Piledriver. The match devolves into full sports-entertainment shenanigans near the finish, which I enjoyed, it feels more fresh in a promotion that hadn't done it often to this point, as Steen and Corino attack multiple referees when Generico won't stay down. Finally, it comes to a finish when Generico fully embraces the evil bastard with him that Steen has awakened, scrambling Steen's brains with a vicious chair shot that secures victory. I don't love seeing chair shots to the head in a modern setting, knowing how much damage they can cause, but I do understand why they went to that, it's certainly an exclamation point for the ending of a match.
Next time on my dive into Ring of Honor Wrestling, the next generation of the company truly arrives, as Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, and Kyle O'Reilly battle across multiple big matches. Plus, Jay Briscoe, a staple of modern ROH, takes a big stride into becoming a singles performer as he challenges Kevin Steen for the world title.
- Henry
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