Ring of Honor Final Battle 2015: Results and observations from the show
Ring of Honor closed out 2015 on a high note by presenting an entertaining evening of matches with its Final Battle pay-per-view at the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia Friday night.
Although Ring of Honor as a whole had a good night, the spotlight belonged to Jay Lethal, as he retained his ROH World Heavyweight championship by defeating a very game AJ Styles.
Styles entered the match nursing a back injury, but his injury didn't seem to slow him down a bit, as he and Lethal put on the match of the night.
When the smoke cleared, Lethal fended off his toughest challenge yet and will enter 2016 as the ROH World champion.
At the conclusion of the match, fans chanted "Best in the world," to Lethal as he celebrated a hard-fought victory. Lethal has stood tall many times in 2015, as he began the year as the ROH World Television champion before holding both the Television and World titles simultaneously.
The next big match for both men will take place at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 10 on Jan. 4 in Tokyo, Japan.
Speaking of the ROH World Television title, Roderick Strong retained it by defeating Bobby Fish thanks to the referee not seeing Strong tapping out to Fish's submission hold.
Fish saw Strong tapping out and released the hold thinking he had won. The referee quickly informed him that he had not. By the time Fish realized what happened, Strong had recovered and delivered a devastating knee to Fish's face, knocking him out. Strong then pinned Fish to claim the victory.
In the most surprising outcome of the evening, War Machine quickly dispatched The Kingdom to become the new ROH World Tag Team champions.
However, that wasn't the biggest takeaway from the match, as it looked like Matt Taven suffered a legitimate leg injury. Taven hobbled around the majority of the match and had to be helped to the back by numerous officials when it was over.
Another surprising finish was Adam Cole defeating Kyle O'Reilly in their long-awaited grudge match. The feud seemed tailor-made for O'Reilly to come out on top, but Cole snuck out a victory by pinning Cole with his feet on the ropes. I have a feeling this feud isn't over just yet.
Another grudge match on the card was Silas Young going up against Dalton Castle. Young managed to pull out another victory over Castle, but Castle won in the long run, as he reunited with The Boys after the match.
The All Night Express became the No. 1 contender to the ROH World Tag Team titles by defeating The Briscoes and The Young Bucks in a very entertaining opening contest.
Here are the full match results:
- All Night Express def. The Briscoes & The Young Bucks
- Silas Young def. Dalton Castle
- Michael Elgin def. Moose
- Adam Cole def. Kyle O'Reilly
- ACH, Matt Sydal & Alex Shelley def. The Addiction & Chris Sabin
- ROH World Television championship – Roderick Strong def. Bobby Fish
- ROH World Tag Team championship – War Machine def. The Kingdom
- ROH World Heavyweight championship – Jay Lethal def. AJ Styles