ROH Final Battle Fallout Review - December 15, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

La Faccion Ingobernable Interrupted Villain Enterprises

All of Villain Enterprises was out in the ring to celebrate PCO's ROH World Championship victory from Final Battle and Marty Scurll even teased his future being in doubt. They were then interrupted on the big screen by the trio of Rush, Kenny King and Dragon Lee, who are apparently calling themselves La Faccion Ingobernable. I realize Rush and Lee are legitimately brothers, but King's involvement feels forced. The crowd sat on their hands for the reveal of his new faction. I'm not sure why Rush needs his own stable aside from the inevitable multi-man tag team match with La Faccion Ingobernable and Villain Enterprises. It was announced later on that PCO will defend his newly won ROH World Championship in a rematch against Rush at Saturday at Center Stage next month.

Mark Haskins def. Hallowicked

I wasn't familiar with Hallowicked at all prior to this match, but he really impressed me here. Of course, having a quality opponent in Haskins helped and they worked well together. Haskins is fresh off his big win over Bully Ray at Final Battle, so it was imperative that he maintained momentum with a win. Here's hoping this isn't the last time we see Hallowicked in ROH.

Nicole Savoy def. Sumie Sakai

I knew I've heard Savoy's name before, and it's because she made it to the second round of the Mae Young Classic two years ago. She's a very good talent and ROH would be crazy not to sign her. They could use all the help they can get when it comes to rebuilding their depleted women's division. The crowd wasn't super hot for it, but the effort was there. Women of Honor needs more matches like this as opposed to the trash we're used to seeing with The Allure. Speaking of whom, they attempted to attack the ladies afterward only to be thwarted by Maria Manic, who was then put through a table by Bully Ray. It's possible he'll be positioned as The Allure's heavy given his ties to Velvet Sky, but I can't say that storyline does a ton for me.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Jonathan Gresham def. Alex Shelley

I brought up in my Final Battle review that Shelley's victory over Gresham from earlier this year was never followed up on, but we finally got the rematch on this show. Once again, they produced an exciting affair and had the best bout on the entire show. Shelley can still be a valuable asset to ROH in getting others over as seen here. Gresham getting his win back was the right call and I appreciated that it came in clean fashion, proving that heels don't always have to cheat to come out on top. I was certain Gresham and Jay Lethal would attack him afterward, but Gresham shook Shelley's hand instead and that was it.

Bateman def. Tracy Williams

It dawned on me while watching this match that Williams wasn't at Final Battle. Between that and his loss here, is it possible that he's on his way out? Meanwhile, Bateman has been all over ROH programming lately. He won his match on last week's episode of ROH TV, aligned himself with Vincent at Final Battle and won again here. The match was decent but boring at times. Bateman won with help from his new faction Ring of Horror consisting of Vincent and two other carny-looking people. Basically, it's The Menagerie from TNA but somehow worse.

Silas Young and Josh "The Goods" Woods def. The Briscoes

Young and Woods have been on quite the roll lately as a team. They've been undefeated since joining forces, so there was no reason for them to lose to The Briscoes. I don't believe this was officially labeled a number one contender's match, but it might as well have been. Gresham and Lethal interfered at the end to cost The Briscoes the victory and further their feud with them in the process. This was a very enjoyable matchup and exactly what the tag team division needs more of. Young and Woods should be in line for a tag title opportunity sometime soon.

Flip Gordon def. Rey Horus

Horus was another guy I didn't know coming into this show but won me over by the end. He and Gordon put together a fun and frantic match where both men got to shine throughout. Gordon winning was the correct outcome and Horus looked credible in defeat. Gordon's offense is definitely more befitting of a babyface, but personally, I've liked his run with Villain Enterprises. He appears to be in the best shape of his life, but I wish ROH would do more with him.

ROH World Champion and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion PCO and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Marty Scurll def. Dan Maff and Jeff Cobb

Maff and Cobb are fresh off their hotly-contested clash at Final Battle and made for a terrific team here. I'm almost afraid of their chemistry being too strong because I prefer Cobb in singles competition over him being slotted in the tag team ranks at the moment. This was an excellent, all-action main event with a slightly surprising outcome. Not only did Villain Enterprises win, it was Scurll who picked up the victory for his team. Considering this didn't seem like a sendoff for him (in addition to how he's still one-third of the Six-Man World Tag Team Champions), it looks like he'll be sticking around in Ring of Honor for a little while longer, assuming he's on his way out. He very well could have re-signed, but nothing is official as of now.

Overall Show

Final Battle Fallout was an improvement over the Final Battle pay-per-view itself in my opinion. No, it didn't have post-WrestleMania levels of excitement due to the quiet crowd, but the show did set forth several new storylines and continued a few existing ones. We have a general idea of where the on-air product is headed, which is encouraging. There were some solid matchups and nothing too terrible, either. With some fresh faces coming in, there's reportedly just as many on their way out. It will be interesting to keep an eye on ROH and their status heading into the new year. 2019 has been horrendous for them, so fingers crossed 2020 will be better.