Ring of Honor "Final Battle 2011" Internet PPV Roundtable Reviews

Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist (5.5)

I didn't drop this grade down as far as other have for the chairshots to the head. I find them unnecessarily brutal in 2011, let alone any other time period, but I'm not as disgusted and turned off by it as others. I haven't sat down and watched many ROH iPPVs all the way through, and at over four hours, I don't think many people are going to complain about not getting enough bang for your buck, especially compared to the prices and show quality of the big two.

Still, asking fans to sit in front of their computer, or even their TV, for that long is really pushing it. As for Final Battle itself, given the build-up on TV and ROH no doubt wanting to make a strong impression with first-time viewers who were enticed by the new television show, I thought this one fell short. I had certain expectations for an ROH PPV, and they weren't met. That's not to say there weren't redeeming qualities about the show, though.

Michael Elgin vs. T.J. Perkins was a nice opener and I totally expected T.J. to bump around for Elgin. Jimmy Rave vs. Tomasso Ciampa was just kinda there. Rave looked like a guy off the street with no muscle definition in his arms or abs. It was a little strange. The three-way I liked, but Generico's overselling got annoying fast. I didn't think any of the men stood out above the others.

Steve Corino vs. Kevin Steen seemed to be an homage to ECW in a building that the old company used to run. The brutality certainly fit this feud, but it was over-the-top at times. I noticed it in this match (but it was the case in other matches too) where way too many times guys seem to kick out of moves that should end the match. I know they think it's adding drama, but it also takes away from the believability at times. Having Triple H and Undertaker do it once on the biggest show of the year is one thing; having wrestlers do it almost every match on a show is another.

The tag gauntlet match was good, especially when it got down to the Young Bucks and All Night Express. For much of the match, the Bucks looked much more major league than the other teams. Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero was a bit of a disappointment, but Hero as the surprise opponent felt like a worthy payoff. The Briscoes vs. Haas and Benjamin was most certainly not about workrate. I bet Charlie Haas wishes he could've gotten the heat in WWE that he got in this match.

For portions of the main event, it seemed like they were putting together a really strong sequence. Then it would get interrupted by a stare-off, or a slap-fest, or something else in the match that someone probably thought looked good on paper or would've added drama, but came across as too cheesy. Still, the guys left everything in that ring and you can't question their effort.

***

Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist (3.5)

This was an exhausting and disappointing show in many ways. The crowd seemed to get burned out after the first half of the show. A big hamper on the show was the production, which was awful in terms of missed shots and bad audio quality. An even bigger issue here was the number of unprotected blows to the head during the Corino-Steen and Briscoes-WGTT matches. That’s unacceptable in 2011 given all of the long-term ramifications.

If anyone knows about concussions, it’s Nigel McGuinness, who sat at ringside and ironically urged Jay Briscoe to get his hands up right before he took an unprotected chairshot flush to the head. ROH management has to put an end to any and all chairshots to the head immediately. At the very least, the locker room has to band together and insist they end.

I was uncomfortable and upset by a lot of things I saw on this show. Instead of thinking about matches and storylines, I’m wondering where Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe are going to be in terms of their health in ten years. If a wrestler knows how to work they don’t have to resort to chairshots and brutal bumps to sell DVDs and pop a crowd on the independent scene. I hope to never see a show filled with this many dangerous bumps and unprotected chairshots again.

Mike Roe, PWTorch specialist (4.5)

Remember when Ring of Honor was the state of the art in wrestling? Well, clearly they don't. Their show felt like a stale re-hash of what was wrong with ECW and early 2000s WWE, with unprotected chairshots to the head, blood that didn't add to the stories being told, and the feeling that you were watching a geek show at the circus instead of a simulated sport.

Kevin Steen versus Steve Corino is where the show fell apart. Was it dramatic? Sure, in the way that watching someone being shivved would probably be dramatic. It went from a hardcore wrestling match, which is bad enough, to uncomfortable and upsetting.

The tag gauntlet went forever and no one ended up looking that great in the end. The crowd didn't get into it (just like they didn't get into anything on this show), and while I have a personal affinity for the Young Bucks due to them being local Southern California-built guys, they didn't get a convincing enough victory to make them seem like stars.

Roderick Strong versus Chris Hero was the match of the show for me. Two wrestlers wrestling, with some interference from a heel manager. Great! Hero's surprise return actually got the crowd into the match for once, which was a nice change of pace.

The Tag Title match was just disgusting. When you have Nigel McGuinness telling you to get your hands up, you're doing something wrong, and that's exactly what happened here as he urged Jay Briscoe to stop taking unprotected chairshots to the head. The fans also turned on the World's Greatest Tag Team, cheering the heel Briscoes and booing the face Haas & Benjamin. They were mocked by the crowd and instead of this feeling like a blood feud match, we got bloody bread and circuses and didn't get to watch a couple great wrestlers wrestle. Then, the Briscoes won the titles, and it just felt empty and meaningless. They did a poor job selling it, and both teams ended up seeming lesser afterward.

Then, there was the main event. It had to follow matches that pulled out all the stops with violence, and the crowd that didn't care about almost anything else on the show continued to visibly sit on their hands. A couple short chants would get started but instantly die. They seemed to be trying to build some momentum, but without the crowd backing them up, this match felt like it was going on for days. Things picked up when they went into their finishing sequences, but quite a disappointment.

Overall, a show with pieces that may have worked with some greater subtlety, more attention to the safety of the performers, and a crowd that cared, but there wasn't any of that. There were callous fans who seemed to only get excited at the most disgusting stuff on the show, poor production, and booking that didn't go anywhere.

Other notes: The Jay Lethal-Mike Bennett-El Generico three-way was decent, but a bit long, and a dead crowd didn't help matters. I expect they were all probably busy staring at Maria. I enjoyed T.J. Perkins and Michael Elgin in the opener. Jimmy Rave had a strong return with Tomasso Ciampa, and his haircut and facial hair have him looking like a serious wrestler instead of an indie geek these days.

Brian Leahy, PWTorch specialist (3.0)

I used to think it had a time and a place. I used to think I was okay with it. I was wrong. Chair shots to the head have no place in the wrestling business in 2011. They most certainly have no place on the most heavily promoted show of an almost nation-wide wrestling product from a brand considered the product of choice for those who like their wrestling with a dash of entertainment, and not the other way around.

Ring of Honor is still a young company, and with a few exceptions, has a home grown roster of young wrestlers who have seemingly not stopped and considered the damage done to their bodies. Just like any professional athlete, a professional wrestler willingly experiences and accepts pain as part of their job. Some of it is part and parcel of the job - whiplash from back bumps, bone chips in elbows and knees, sore muscles from being struck. These are the accepted aches and pains of working in a profession where creating the illusion of physical combat can only best be achieved by toeing a painful line. But, measures are taken, chins are tucked, elbow pads are worn, strikes land flush over the largest area possible to spread the impact, etc. These are all things that are taught in wrestling school and, for better or worse, they are repeated ad nauseam from day one. I spent 18 months of my life going to wrestling school, and in the limited time I spent in that world I never, never learned how to get hit in the head with anything that wasn’t a human limb.

This wasn’t recently. This was pre-Benoit, pre-Sports Legacy Institute, but it wasn’t pre-common sense. There’s a reason that you don’t practice hitting each other over the head with a steel chair. Or, that you don’t line up and headbutt one another 10 times in a row. There’s a reason that hands are used to block or lessen the impact of certain blows.

To put it simply: there is no skill to getting hit in the head. There is no methodology that turns a potentially concussive blow into something less sinister. There isn’t a way to significantly and appropriately lessen the impact of a steel chair shot to the head without actually blocking it. Turn your face, tense your shoulders, tuck your chin, do whatever you want, but know that it’s for nothing unless your hands stop the steel before it hits your skull.

I wasn’t someone who believed that all shots to the head should be banned. I believed in a time and a place for (almost) everything. When WWE removed all chair shots to the head from its product, I thought it a little extreme. When Triple H and The Undertaker were criticized for using a chair “to the head” at WrestleMania, I thought it was needless mollycoddling.

Older wrestlers can use the excuse that they know what they’re doing. Younger wrestlers can be defended for their “youthful exuberance” if they introduce a chair shot. What cannot be excused is when a pro wrestling organization not only allows its wrestlers to not only swing chairs at each other’s heads, but also turns a blind eye to wrestlers not making any attempt to protect themselves from the trauma. Ring of Honor, at Final Battle 2011, did a disservice to itself and to professional wrestling at large by facilitating and showcasing wanton, mindless, needless shots to the head on one of its marquee shows.

Steve Corino and Kevin Steen were the initial culprits. Their match, billed as no DQ, was inevitably going to feature a ton of hardware. They brawled, they bled, and in the process they fired chairs at each other’s heads and dropped each other head-first onto steel chairs. They made no attempt to block the impact.

The “Worlds Greatest Tag Team” vs. The Briscoes followed two matches later. Their match was not billed as no DQ. They brawled, they bled, and in the process (amongst other unprotected blows) Charlie Hass welted Jay Briscoe in the head with a chair. Jay did not put his hands up. This is the same Jay Briscoe who was seen vomiting on iPPV having been concussed. I honestly don’t feel like anything else needs to be said.

In other events on the card: TJP and Michael Elgin had an enjoyable opener, Christ Hero and Roderick Strong had a decent match, and the Ricards vs. Edwards main event was probably quite good but the trash that went before it ruined everything.

I don’t know if it was genuine concern or pre-scripted, but Nigel McGuiness on commentary shone a blinding light on the concern most of us should have about this show as he pleaded with wrestlers to get their hands up to block blows intended for their skulls. At 33 years of age, Nigel has admitted on interviews to memory loss from concussions, and would probably be first to admit that short lived “pops” are not worth the scrambled brains they leave behind.

I cannot, and will not, be an advocate of what Ring of Honor presented tonight. Not recommended.

James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor (5.0)

Disappointing show for ROH. I'm weighing the main event, Kevin Steen's character, and other good wrestling on the show to bring this to a thumbs in the middle. Credit to Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards for going 40 minutes and telling a good story, and no blame for the crowd being dead after the earlier matches ruined the show and the crowd heat. Too many chairshots, as mentioned above, and too much outside interference/shenanigans dragged down this show. Kevin Steen reflected my thumbs in the middle - an absolutely great heel giving ROH's roster a needed spark, but being involved in an unnecessarily brutal match with Steve Corino and being too vile on the mic hurt his evaluation.

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