By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

The Third installment of my 2014 ROH Year End Awards looking at the 2014 Feud of the Year category .

ROH 2014 Feud of the Year

It was a hard decision finding feuds worthy of choosing for this category. Ring of Honor relied more on big matchups and bringing in outside names for special appearances like the NJPW stars, A.J. Styles, and The Young Bucks to bolster their lineups with the best matches possible.

There were some standout feuds in the company, but it has been clear after going back and watching much of the footage from 2014 that the company needs to build credible challengers to the ROH World Title in 2015. That being said, the company should be proud of the outstanding Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole feud.

(1) Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole: This feud started at “Death Before Dishonor XI” in 2013 when Adam Cole won the ROH World Title Tournament by defeating Michael Elgin. The storyline was that Jay Briscoe had a shoulder injury after being attacked by SCUM and ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness was forced to strip Briscoe and hold a tournament to determine a new ROH World Champion. Going into “Death Before Dishonor XI,” it was unclear whether or not Briscoe would hand over the title to the winner of the tournament.

Papa Briscoe ended up convincing Jay that a real man would hand over the ROH World Title, so after Cole beat Elgin, Jay handed the ROH World Title to him and shook his hand. Cole ended up superkicking Jay in the back of the head launching an excellent long-term feud.

Jay eventually returned to action with his own title belt called the Real ROH World Championship. Matt Hardy eventually became Adam Cole’s mentor. Cole also formed an association with Michael Bennett and Maria in the following months. Briscoe began defending his version of the title at ROH events and eventually the storyline built up to a Ladder War with the ROH World Title and the Real World Title hanging from the rafters to headline Supercard of Honor VIII during WrestleMania weekend.

Cole really evolved as a champion during this period and began to carry himself like a top heel. Watching his work on the mic and in the ring, he clearly gets how to turn an audience against him with his facial expressions while he’s working over an opponent during a match. The feud was personal heading into WrestleMania weekend and Briscoe still hadn’t been pinned or submitted in an ROH ring for over a year at this point.

Cole and Briscoe had a brutal Ladder War that saw both guys take unprotected chairshots from tossed chairs and several rough bumps onto ladders and through tables. Briscoe bled a ton in the match and although they should have scaled back on the tossed chairs into the head, this felt like an old school war that was personal. Jay managed to fend off outside interference from Matt Hardy, Michael Bennett, and Maria during the match, but ultimately Cole managed to get the upper hand by shoving Jay off the ladder as they fought up top to win the match.

The tandem of Cole, Hardy, and Bennett eventually became The Kingdom and they feuded with the Briscoes on the undercard. Cole gave Briscoe’s version of the ROH World Title to Hardy, who called it the Iconic Title and put a sticker of his face on the front of the belt. Cole dropped the title to Michael Elgin at “Best in the World 2014” in June and the company began a storyline with Cole having to win matches to get back to the top of the contender’s list for the ROH World Title.

Cole took the fall in his rematch for the ROH World Title, which was a Four-way match at “Field of Honor” in August. The announcers hammered home the point in the following weeks that Cole was on the bottom of the list of contenders for the ROH World Title. The storyline continued when Cole got another big opportunity against A.J. Styles in September at “All Star Extravaganza VI.” Cole lost to Styles and once again couldn’t win the match to get himself back to the top of the contender’s list. On the same show, Jay Briscoe beat Michael Elgin for the ROH World Title.

An opportunity presented itself to Cole at “Survival of the Fittest 2014” in November. Cole got a spot in the tournament with the winner getting an ROH World Title shot. This was a two show event that saw first round matches held on the first night and the Six Man Elimination. Although the Cole storyline wasn’t driven home much on ROH TV, these two shows were key to the build to “Final Battle 2014.”

Cole beat Delirious via count out in his Survival of the Fittest Qualifying match on Night 1 to advance to the finals on night 2. The match showcased Cole’s excellent heel work and he ended up beating Delirious after getting him in a figure 4 on the outside late in the match. Cole held onto it until late in the 20 count from the ref and then slid into the ring and faced the hard camera and smiled as Delirious writhed in pain on the outside.

Another key element of the Briscoe-Cole storyline unfolded at the end of “Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 1.” After Matt Hardy left, Matt Taven eventually returned after an absence and became a member of The Kingdom. Taven and Michael Bennett teamed to face the Briscoes in the main event of Survival of the Fittest. After pinning Mark to win the match, The Kingdom ended up going after Jay Briscoe. Cole came out after Bennett and Taven had beaten him down. Cole talked trash in Briscoe’s face before The Kingdom eventually nailed him with a triple superkick in the corner to end the show.

At “Survival of the Fittest: Night 2,” the final Six-Way Elimination match came down to Cole and Hanson. They had a really good segment to close the match that saw Cole eventually hit the Florida Keys to get the win. Bennett and Taven helped Cole do an over-the-top celebration. Cole announced that he would face Jay Briscoe for the ROH World Title at “Final Battle 2014.”

In the build to “Final Battle 2014,” the feud became even more personal, as Cole kicked Jay’s father in the head and cut a promo saying he was going to reserve two seats at ringside for Briscoe’s mother and father. Cole continued to cut promos leading into “Final Battle 2014” that made the feud extremely personal, as he talked about how he hated Jay and that Papa Briscoe deep down inside didn’t really respect his son.

The feud ended at “Final Battle 2014,” in a brutal Fight Without Honor match with Jay Briscoe defending the ROH World Title against Adam Cole. Briscoe had now passed two years without being pinned or submitted in ROH. They introduced a staple gun during the match and Cole stapled the reserved seating signs for Jay’s parents into his forehead. The match was uncomfortable to watch at times, but it was fitting given the nature of the feud and Briscoe ended up coming out on top to head into 2015 as ROH World Champion.

Key events: “Supercard of Honor VIII” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “SuperCard of Honor VIII” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), “Field of Honor” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Field of Honor” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), “Survival of the Fittest: Night 1” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Survival of the Fittest: Night 1” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), “Survival of the Fittest: Night 2 (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Survival of the Fittest: Night 2” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), and “Final Battle 2014” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Final Battle 2014” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com).

Runners Up Feud of the Year 2014

(1) The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly). There wasn’t much of a storyline hear, as these two teams were simply matched together for the first time at “Raising the Bar: Night 2” in March of 2014 with ReDRagon defending the ROH World Tag Team Titles in the first of three matches the teams would have in 2014. In all three matches, the ROH World Tag Team Titles were on the line.

The Young Bucks captured the ROH World Titles in the first match between these two teams. Going into the match, Matt had a broken hand, which became the focus of ReDRagon’s attack throughout the match. Matt eventually got a jackknife pin on Fish to capture the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Bobby Fish demanded a rematch from ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness immediately after the match.

The two teams met again in a rematch at “War of the Worlds.” This time the match was all action and ended up being one of the best matches in Ring of Honor in 2014. ReDRagon found a way to constantly counter The Young Bucks signature offense throughout the match. Both teams set the crowd of fire with state of the art tag team action, including the spot of the match where The Young Bucks put O’Reilly on top of a dazed Bobby Fish and then superkicked his legs out from under him forcing him to tombstone his own partner. ReDRagon ended up capturing the ROH World Tag Team Titles to set up the third and final match between these two teams at “All Star Extravaganza VI” in a 2/3 Falls match.

As I’ve stated before, I normally am not a fan of 2/3 Falls matches, but ReDRagon vs. The Young Bucks at “All Star Extravaganza VI” was another match in the feud between these two teams that is among the best matches of 2014 that ROH had to offer. The Young Bucks were running wild early until O’Reilly hit Nick with a hockey stick on the outside. ReDRagon then went up 1-0 after hitting chasing the dragon on Nick a short time later. The crowd in Toronto really got behind the match as they built up to a hot tag from Nick to Matt during the second fall. The Young Bucks ended up isolating Fish and they tied the match 1-1 after hitting a package piledriver/superkick combination on him. The match really picked up from this point as the fans really got into the action. The final fall was fantastic, as The Young Bucks hit the Meltzer driver (spiked piledriver/450 combination) on O’Reilly during the early stages. The finish saw O’Reilly catch Nick in a triangle when the Young Bucks went for more bang for your buck. Fish then dragged Matt off the top and tossed him through a table at ringside. Another ref came out and Nick had no choice but to tap out when O’Reilly transitioned the triangle into an arm bar. This was all action from bell-to-bell and was one of the best 2 out of 3 Falls matches I’ve seen.

Key events: “Raising the Bar: Night 2” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Raising the Bar: Night 2” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), “War of the Worlds” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “War of the Worlds” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), and “All Star Extravaganza VI” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “All Star Extravaganza VI” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com.

(2) Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander: It was hard to pick a second runner up, but the Strong-Alexander feud gets the nod because they had a solid feud that elevated Alexander heading into the summer and fall schedule. At the time the feud began, Strong was a member of The Decade with B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. The Decade began bullying younger wrestlers on the roster, but Alexander would not be bullied by them and eventually sent a message to Strong when he started to use Strong’s signature back breaker.

Strong and Alexander went on to have three very good matches. Their first match took place at “Supercard of Honor VIII” during WrestleMania weekend and Strong won the match clean. The rematch was set up as a Battle of the Backbreakers at “Global Wars” in May. In front of a hot crowd, Alexander once again had to fight from behind against Strong. Strong worked over Alexander’s back and mid-section during the match. Alexander eventually got the win in the end with a small package to set up their blow off match at “Best in the World 2014.”

At “Best in the World 2014,” Strong and Alexander faced off in a Submission match. The stipulation hampered them a bit, but they ended up doing a really good job of working with it. Once again, Alexander fought from behind most of the match. At one point, Alexander took a sick backdrop onto the apron from Strong. Alexander got control late in the match and ended up getting a dragon sleeper on Strong, but he wouldn’t tap. Alexander then hit a back breaker over the top turnbuckle, a pop-up back breaker, and finally beat Strong with his own submission, the Stronghold. This feud elevated Alexander’s profile in the months that followed and stands out from other feuds in Ring of Honor in 2014.

Key Events: “Supercard of Honor VIII” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “SuperCard of Honor VIII” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), “Global Wars” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Global Wars” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com), and “Best in the World 2014” (You can watch this show by purchasing ROH’s “Best in the World 2014” on DVD by clicking HERE or on VOD at ROHWrestling.com).

Honorable mention: The Kingdom vs. The Briscoes, Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven

My ROH 2014 Year End Awards will end with the MVP and Rising Star categories.

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