Well, ladies and gents, it's a been a while since I've done one of these. My apologies, as my inspiration for this tends to go through highs and lows, and as of late, I haven't been that motivated to write. Needless to say, I plan on changing that. More to the point, this week's episode. The matches for Final Battle have been set and now we just play the waiting game until this hopefully fantastic PPV comes to us in less than two weeks' time. The build-up to the matches has been done fairly well, especially everything SoCal Uncensored-related (story-wise, they've been the most interesting thing to watch in ROH as of late). And how fitting, given they're the main event of the show as they defend their titles against two of CMLL's top stars Guerrero Maya, Jr. and Stuka, Jr. But before that, let's get to the rest of the show.
Kenny King vs. Christopher Daniels
This was a decent way to start off the show. While he lacks the one real "big-time" match of sorts, King has always been a solid, reliable midcarder who can put on solid matches with most performers. And Daniels, obviously, is a legend who seemingly ages like wine when it comes to his in-ring performance. Coincidentally, age was the main theme of the match, as King spent most of his time mocking Daniels' age as well as his seemingly short time left in ROH.
Following a low-blow, King plants Daniels with the Royal Flush and picks up the W. Nothing special, but a decent match to start off the show. Both men are consistently good workers, and combined with Marty Scurll on commentary, told a decent enough story in the ring as far as sub-10 minute matches go. Not anything spectacular, a solid opener. Above all else, I'm pumped for Scurll/Daniels.
Jeff Cobb vs. Josh Woods
A mashup of styles as Cobb and Woods put their mat-based work to the test. Hangman Page sits up at the entrance ramp and watches his Final Battle opponent duke it out, putting their amateur wrestling backgrounds on full display here. Cobb uses his power and technical experience to make quick work of Woods and takes the W with a Tour Of The Islands. Page walks down to the ring, unimpressed, calling for people in the back to bring out his opponent (which I'll cover next) so he can show Cobb what a "real ass-whoopin'" looks like.
While no doubt short, I definitely dug this match for what it was. Cobb kept it technical and really only pulled out the power advantage near the end, which is a welcome surprise. Aside from that, I liked how it fed into Cobb's feud with Page; Hangman, needing to play a game of one-up with Cobb, talks shit, demands his next victim to be brought out while also instructing to sit and watch what he's capable of and what he'll see at Final Battle.
Hangman Page vs. Facade
Immediately after the Cobb/Woods match, Page gets in the ring with Day-Glo wearing Tom MacDonald doppelganger Facade, this time with Cobb sitting up at the entrance ramp to scope out Page. Page pulls out his standard bag of tricks (the apron shooting star press, the bridging pumphandle suplex, etc.) and is generally dominant throughout most of the match. Facade does his best to fight back (including an impressive springboard 450 plancha), but it wasn't enough as Page puts him away with a Buckshot Lariat and a Rite Of Passage to take the W and gain momentum leading up to Final Battle.
This might sound crazy, but I think the Cobb/Page tandem of squash matches just might be my favorite part of the show so far. They showed just how similar Page and Cobb as the standard-bearing powerhouses of ROH. While both men are similar in terms of strength and agility, both definitely have an advantage over the other; Cobb is much more technically proficient and can keep it mat-based, while Page is the better striker, dishing out clubbing blows in effective fashion. It's a good tandem of squashes, as well as a preview of what's to come at Final Battle.
SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) vs. Guerrero Maya, Jr. and Stuka, Jr.
I mean, it's obvious who going to win here (it'd be nonsensical for Team CMLL to take it so close to Final Battle), but as long as the match quality is good, the result is inconsequential. After a series of tag team combos and counters, SCU hits a uranage/backstabber combo on Stuka, Jr. to win the match and retain their titles. Afterwards, Christopher Daniels comes out to address SCU's situation with the company, which draws the ire of his Final Battle opponent Scurll. The two trade words and the episode ends.
An okay match and a decent enough closing to the show. It's impressive to see how well Kazarian and Sky have gelled as a tag team. It's only been a couple of months and the two have gotten along swimmingly, pulling out impressive combos and manuevers with each match. While I know "underrated" is a term used quite flippantly in the realm of wrestling, I feel these guys fit it to an absolute. They're so fluid in the ring and can get it done on the mic as well (especially Kazarian). Then again, that's nothing to take away from Maya, Jr. and Stuka, Jr. from this match. They put on a decent showing (tilt-a-whirl backbreakers aplenty) and gave us American wrestling fans a taste of what CMLL has to offer.
At The End Of It All
To sum up my feelings on this episode as a whole, I deem it necessary to use a Dennis Reynolds quote: "It was pretty good, it was alright. It wasn't great, but it was fine." It was pretty much a build-up episode to Final Battle, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Surprisingly enough, I think my favorite part of the show was the dueling squash matches from Jeff Cobb and Hangman Page. A nice story of one-upsmanship leading into their match at Final Battle, which should be a show-stealer.
It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen from an episodic wrestling show, but then again, it didn't need to be. It just needed to provide decent matches that hyped you up for their last big PPV of the year, and they accomplished it. Solid in-ring work and storytelling here, done in an easily digestible time frame. I'm pumped for Final Battle, that's for damn sure.
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