Show begins with a recap of the year ROH has had, from AJ Styles’ return, to the relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling being announced, to their first live PPV, Best in the World, to Michael Elgin winning the ROH World Championship at the event and Jay Briscoe winning it three months later at All Star Extravaganza VI. We get a small introduction video to Final Battle before going live to Terminal 5 in New York City, where Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary. Terminal 5 looks very cool but you can see how difficult it must have been for some fans due to the set-up. There is a big screen on the stage that throughout the night played entrance videos like in WWE, Steve Corino referred to it as the, “Carytron”, named after former ROH owner and current ambassador Cary Silkin.
1) Hanson pins Caprice Coleman with the Spinkick of Doom to defeat Caprice, Mark Briscoe and Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corner Survival match. Solid opener, Hanson looked really good and Mark Briscoe was very over with the NYC crowd. Some wild spots here such as the big man Hanson doing a Suicide Dive to the outside and turning Mark inside-out with a Cartwheel Clothesline. Hanson didn’t get much of a reaction when he came out but at the end the fans were applauding him.
We get the promo for Adam Page vs. Roderick Strong which is up next, but when we come back, Jimmy Jacobs wants to speak. He tries to talk about The Decade and how this, “could be” the night Adam Page proves his worth, but BJ Whitmer cuts him off and says that, “he will” prove his worth.
2) Roderick Strong def. Adam Page by referee stoppage after Adam Page refused to submit to the Stronghold. Physical match that told a good story, Page went all out to try and beat Roddy but Roderick was just too good. Page hit his signature leaping clothesline over the guardrail on Roderick, and Strong dropped Page with a backbreaker against the apron. Roderick got the win when he hit the End of Heartache and followed it up with the Stronghold which Page refused to tap out from because BJ Whitmer at ringside told him not too. Referee Paul Turner stopped the match because Page was obviously not going to break the hold. Very good story told here.
3) Michael Elgin def. Tommaso Ciampa with a Modified DDT after Nigel McGuinness unintentionally (or intentionally?) distracts Ciampa after he accidentally hit the referee. Nigel McGuinness made it clear to Ciampa on Ring of Honor Wrestling a couple of months ago that if he ever hit an official again he would be fired. This was an okay match, didn’t deliver as expected, crowd was pretty quiet during it or booing Elgin.
4) The Young Bucks & ACH def. The Addiction & Cedric Alexander when The Young Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on Cedric followed by a 450 from ACH to pick up the win. Extremely fun match, Young Bucks were incredibly over with the crowd. The Addiction made a special Marvel themed entrance along with Cedric, and The Young Bucks came out with ACH wearing a Bullet Club t-shirt. Very fast paced, exciting match.
We see an advertisement for the next time Ring of Honor will be on Pay-Per-View, Sunday, March 1st, with the 13th Anniversary Show live from Las Vegas, Nevada.
5) Moose def. RD Evans with a Spear after Veda Scott came down and turned on RD by low blowing him. Not a good match, big disappointment, fans weren’t into it at all. Evans missed a springboard spot which may have been an attempt at comedy but it just didn’t translate with the audience. Not much else to say here, Moose, Stokely Hathaway, Prince Nana and Veda Scott all left together.
6) Jay Lethal def. Matt Sydal with the Lethal Injection in a good match to retain the ROH World TV Championship, in a match that was plagued by the crowd who didn’t seem interested in it and made silly chants throughout. Truth Martini got involved near the end to distract Sydal as he was going for the Shooting Star Press, which he wound up missing, leading to the fatal Lethal Injection.
7) reDRagon def. Timesplitters when Kyle O’Reilly pinned KUSHIDA off Chasing the Dragon to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships. Match of the night here, Alex Shelley was very over with the crowd, as good as their matches in Japan. Near the end O’Reilly hit KUSHIDA with everything and even locked in Armageddon but wasn’t able to finish KUSHIDA before he and Fish finished it with Chasing the Dragon. Go out of your way to watch this match.
We get a promo for the main event, the crowd are loud when we comeback which is a testament to the build of this match and the hype surrounding it.
8) Jay Briscoe def. Adam Cole in a Fight Without Honor to retain the ROH World Championship after he hit Cole with the Jay Driller onto the ROH World Championship title. A very violent match which saw both men get color, Jay put Cole through two tables, Cole staple a piece of paper that he had attached to a chair at ringside which read, “Reserved for Mrs. Briscoe” to Jay’s head, several moves onto thumbtacks, Cole put thumbtacks into Jay’s mouth and then superkick them out and two consecutive Jay Drillers, the final coming as Cole crawled on his hands and knees toward the ROH World title only to look up and see Jay standing above him, an incredible image before Jay finished the match, to end this 18 month old rivalry.
The final image from the ring as Final Battle goes off the air is both men laid out in the ring, the wreckage of tables, thumbtacks, chairs, signapore canes laying around as well as streamers, before we go to an advertisement for the 13th Anniversary Show on Sunday, March 1st.
