ROH Final Battle 2003

[Guest Peter_Griffin]

Well, being from Scotland, I am SO hyped to be going to the event.

 

I am BEGGING people to help me get behind Mark Briscoe.

 

This is Haraga, but I can't be arsed changing my name.

[tpww7 0]

I'll be there...taking the NYC bus trip.

[Guest OSIcon]

Thought I would bump this up since a full card is out for the normal show and the Convention card is nearly complete.

 

Ring of Honor Championship: Somoa Joe © vs. Mark Briscoe

 

AJPW Tag Team Championship: Chris Daniels/Dan Maff vs. Keiji Muto/Arashi ©

 

Field of Honor Finals: BJ Whitmer vs. Matt Stryker

 

Satoshi Kojima vs. Homicide

 

Fight Without Honor: Xavier vs. John Walters

 

AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi

 

'American Dragon' Bryan Danielson vs. Jay Briscoe

 

Turmeric Storm (Tomoaki Honma/Kazushi Miyamoto) vs. Second City Saints (CM Punk/Colt Cabana)

 

Convention Card:

 

ROH Tag Team Championship: Briscoes © vs. SAT

 

Trent Acid vs. Sonjay Dutt

 

No Disqualification Six Man Tag: Special K vs. Carnage Crew

 

Josh Daniels vs. Pinoy Boy (Puma)

 

More to be announced (probably just a match or two tops) with Johnny Kashmere, Sylk Wagner Brown, Dunn and Marcos, and Special K.

 

Should be a fun full day of wrestling. The card probably won't ROH's best ever from an in-ring standpoint or anything, but almost every match is worth seeing a few should be really good. Even the convention card looks pretty solid.

 

Wonder what kind of turn out they will get. ROH is saying that it is the fastest selling ticket in their history, so I wouldn't be surprised to see upwards of a 1,000 people there.

 

Any thoughts?

[Guest Rob Van Dam]

This show will probably outdraw the show with Jeff Hardy on it (7-19: between 1000 and 1200 fans)

[Michrome 0]

I actually think this will be the best in-ring RoH show ever, let's look at the matches.

 

AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi: I was one of the AJ haters at the beginning of 03, but man has he improved this year. If Kaz brings his "A" game, this is going to be freaking sweet. This has **** potential.

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Jay Briscoe: Danielson, from all reports, is BETTER now, which I didn't think was possible. Jay has improved a lot, and judging from the reports of what Danielson got out of Kazarian at PWG, this will likely be Jay's best singles match ever. This has **** potential

 

Turmeric Storm vs. Punk/Cabana: I'm a big fan of both teams, and if this gets solid time it could be quite good. Turmeric Storm is underrated.

 

Daniels/Maff vs. Muta/Arashi: The heat for this will be scorching. I saw a Muto/Arashi match against Taka and Gigantes (RIP) that was freaking great, so there's no reason this shouldn't be a ton of fun.

 

John Walters vs. Xavier: Look for violence and blood here, with ladders, chairs, and tables. They are trying to go the Paul London route to get Walters over. This could be a showstealer.

 

Whitmer vs. Stryker: After watching 11 ("15") great minutes of Stryker-Whitmer on BFSE, all I could say was, these guys needed 15 more minutes. They will get the time they need for the finals, and this should be great. It has to be great, because they both need it to be great. **** potential

 

Joe vs. Mark: This should be very solid, and better than Joe-Jay.

 

Cide vs. Kojima: Don't know what to make of this. On one hand, it will have a ton of heat and probably an insane head-dropping finish, so it will be fun. I like Kojima, I don't really like Cide, but this has the potential to be real good.

 

It looks like every match on the card, given good time, except for the Muta match, which should be fun in its own right, will be in the *** or better range.

[Guest Peter_Griffin]

A better Danielson v Jay Briscoe makes me feel even luckier.

[tpww7 0]

CM Punk will be doing double duty..working the convention card as well.

[Guest JumpinJackFlash]

Is this show worth driving 5 hours to see it?

[tpww7 0]

Probably.

 

Seriously.

[Guest JumpinJackFlash]

I have yet to see a ROH show, and I plan on going to this one. Hopefully, I will go and hopefully it will be great. It will also be my first time in Philadelphia. Man...I really need to go places. Could you tell me about Samoa Joe. I've been wondering about him and how good he is since he's the champion.

[tpww7 0]

http://members.fortunecity.com/rohpix7/ima...es/image13.html (Pic of Joe)

 

 

 

 

Joe's a real solid worker, he works a strong-style submission based style for the most part. His trademarks include the Island Driver, Olay Kick (Rules!) a Powerbomb into an STF, and sometimes a chokeout. Some people criticise him because of his look..unjustly. Hope to see ya in Philly.

[Guest JumpinJackFlash]

Who do you think are the best wrestlers showing up?

[Guest ToddRoyal]

AJ is awesome, as is "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. Kaz Hayashi is still really good. Joe is leaps and bounds better than you'd think.

 

Also, and I'm not sure how they'll come off working with Muta and Arashi, but Chris Daniels and Dan Maff are a REALLY good old school heel team.

[tpww7 0]

There's no one actively bad in ROH. At least to me, everyone is good for something on the roster.

[Guest JumpinJackFlash]

How do you compare ROH to ECW 1996? Better? Worse?

[Michrome 0]

wrestling-wise better, not as good storyline-wise.

[Guest ToddRoyal]

yeah, it depends on your prefrences. They're still working on developing storylines, and are nowhere near the intricate stuff ECW was coming up with, but for wrestling, you won't find any consistently better in the US.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Kojima vs. Homicide = badass match

 

this match is gonna be sick!!!!

Edited December 16, 2003 by dynamite1980

[Guest Dave O'Neill, Journalist]

Is anyone else worried about screwy finishes? Daniels, to the best of my knowledge, is still NJ (CURRY MAN!) and Muto is obviously not.

 

I'm probably paranoid but i keep getting Saturn-Suzuki flashbacks.

 

Card looks great, btw

[Nevermortal 0]

There's no one actively bad in ROH. At least to me, everyone is good for something on the roster.

SLUGGER.

 

That is all.

[Michrome 0]

Haha, true, Slugger really sucks.

 

To Dave: Xavier/Walters is the most likely screwy finish, due to the status of Xavier in the Prophecy, the whole Lucy thing, etc.

[Guest ToddRoyal]

Slugger was acceptable as the big, silent bodygaurd for Special K. As soon as he broke away, and started trying to be an actual wrestler, he lost all his usefulness.

[tpww7 0]

Here are the full previews from the ROH site.

 

Ring Of Honor will present a special convention and card on the afternoon of 12/27/03 at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory in Philadelphia. The convention starts at 2pm and the card starts at roughly 3pm. For tickets & info go to ROHwrestling.com, RFVideo.com or call 215-891-9404. Admission is only $5 and there will be tickets at the door. The card promises to be action packed and different than a typical ROH show as there is no telling what will happen or who will show up.

 

This will be a seperate admission than "Final Battle 2003" that night at the same building featuring Ring Of Honor vs. All Japan Pro Wrestling. The building will be cleared between the afternoon and evening events. There are lots of restaurants, bars, hotels and a huge mall all within three minutes of the building so there will be plenty of places for the fans to go and hang out between events.

 

The convention will feature autographs with several Ring Of Honor stars. For an additional fee the stars of All Japan will be signing autographs and taking pictures including The Great Muta, Satoshi Kojima, Kaz Hayashi, Tomoaki Homna & Kazushi Miyamoto. This is a once in a lifetime chance to meet these international superstars!

 

RF Video will be there with a huge merchandise table including new Shoot Interviews with Shane Douglas, Homicide, AJ Styles, D-Lo Brown, Magnum T.A. and Mike Awesome. New ROH releases will include the two tape 9/20/03 "Glory By Honor II" show with Samoa Joe vs. Chris Daniels for the world title, Terry Funk vs. CM Punk, tag team gauntlet to determine new champions, AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Stryker vs. Colt Cabana in the show stealer and much more!!! ROH also has four new DVDs out including 6/28/03 "WrestleRave" (brutal Homicide vs. Trent Acid Fight Without Honor), 7/19 "Death Before Dishonor" (Raven vs. CM Punk dog collar, Paul London vs. Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy), 8/9/03 "Wrath Of The Racket" (AJ Styles & Homicide vs. Chris Daniels & Dan Maff, lots of Jim Cornette) and 8/16/03 "Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies" (Steve Corino vs. Homicide match of the year bloodbath). All these releases are also available at RFVideo.com.

 

The convention card will be different than anything you've ever seen from ROH before and there is no telling what to expect. For just $5 you will witness this loaded show:

 

ROH Tag Team Title Match: Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. The SAT of Jose & Joel Maximo- These two teams have clashed all over indy circuit stealing the show everywhere they go and now they will finally collide in ROH. The match is even more important since the ROH tag team titles are on the line. Can The SAT finally win the belts? The SAT also blame The Briscoes for their cousin The Amazing Red's knee injury, which required surgery. This one could get very heated and we are sure to see some incredible moves with the tag titles on the line!!!

 

Special Challenge Match: Sonjay Dutt vs. Trent Acid of the Backseat Boyz- So what's the story behind this one? Well, there isn't one because we don't need a reason to put on this match. When you have two intense athletes like Dutt and Acid, you are sure to have a great match that could steal the show. That is reason enough for this one to go down and to think that you can see it for just $5!!!

 

CM Punk will be there and he is pissed off!!! Punk has gone insane trying to figure out who attacked and took out former Second City Saint member Lucy at "Wrath Of The Racket." Now Punk has stated that he will be at the convention card and he is coming to turn things upside down until he finds out who was the assailant.

 

No Diqualification Match: The Carnage Crew vs. Special K- Last time in Philadelphia at "Glory By Honor II" on September 20th, The Carnage Crew of Loc, Devito & Justin Credible were disqualified for whipping Special K with belts. Now the rematch will take place and Loc, Devito & Credible will be able to dish out any kind of beating they want on the rich kid ravers because there is no DQ!!!

 

Four Corner Survival: Deranged of Special K vs. Slyk Wagner Brown with April Hunter vs. Johnny Kashmere of the Backseat Boyz vs. Nick Gage- The four corner survival format has created one show stealer after another. This will be the only four corner survival on 12/27 and you better believe these four are coming to make an impact. The high-flying Deranged wants to return to ROH with a victory. Slyk Wagner Brown is on the verge of breaking out. Johnny Kashmere wants to prove he can make it as a single. Nick Gage wants to show he belongs in ROH. This is going to be one can't miss match.

 

Special Attraction Match: Josh Daniels vs. Puma- Two of wrestling's top upcomers will collide. The winner could earn a spot while the loser could be sent packing. The pure wrestler Daniels scored the victory of his life when he upset Steve Corino on 11/28. Puma, also known as Pinoy Boy, comes to ROH from New Japan Pro Wrestling and is known for both his shooting and high-flying skills. This one is going to be worth $5 alone!!!

 

In addition to all this there will be more with Dunn & Marcos and others. There is no telling what is going down on the convention card and for $5 you can't get a better value for your money. This is going to be one historic day

 

 

 

Ring Of Honor is ready for its biggest event ever on December 27th in Philadelphia, PA at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory when the stars of All Japan Pro Wrestling invade ROH for one night only. It's "Final Battle 2003" and will be the most unique show in ROH history with many first time matches. There will be $18 tickets available the night of the show at the door and belltime is 7:30pm.

 

For directions, advance tickets and more info go to ROHwrestling.com, RFVideo.com or call 215-891-9404. The National Guard Armory is a beautiful building and located just minutes from I-95 as well as the PA & NJ Turnpikes making it an easy drive from all points. The Pennsylvania National Guard Armory is located on 2700 Southampton Road in Philadelphia, PA 19154.

 

RF Video will be there with a huge merchandise table including new Shoot Interviews with Shane Douglas, Homicide, AJ Styles, D-Lo Brown, Magnum T.A. and Mike Awesome. New ROH releases will include the two tape 9/20/03 "Glory By Honor II" show with Samoa Joe vs. Chris Daniels for the world title, Terry Funk vs. CM Punk, tag team gauntlet to determine new champions, AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Stryker vs. Colt Cabana in the show stealer and much more!!! ROH also has four new DVDs out including 6/28/03 "WrestleRave" (brutal Homicide vs. Trent Acid Fight Without Honor), 7/19 "Death Before Dishonor" (Raven vs. CM Punk dog collar, Paul London vs. Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy), 8/9/03 "Wrath Of The Racket" (AJ Styles & Homicide vs. Chris Daniels & Dan Maff, lots of Jim Cornette) and 8/16/03 "Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies" (Steve Corino vs. Homicide match of the year bloodbath). All these releases are also available at RFVideo.com.

 

There is a special convention and card that afternoon at 2pm featuring autographs with the stars of All Japan and matches like Briscoes vs. SAT for the ROH tag titles, Sonjay Dutt vs. Trent Acid, Carnage Crew including Justin Credible vs. Special K in a no DQ match and more including some debuts. Tickets for this are only $5!!! Check ROHwrestling.com for all the info.

 

The building will be cleared between the afternoon convention & card and "Final Battle 2003" but there are plenty of restaurants, bars, a big mall and hotels within three minutes of the building for fans to relax between shows.

 

December 27th is sure to be a historic day in ROH history with the huge "Final Battle 2003" event featuring the most loaded show in ROH history. The event will be split into two halves with one half being all Ring Of Honor matches and the other half being the ROH vs. All Japan matches. Here is a look at what's going down:

 

All Japan Tag Title Match: The Great Muta & Arashi defend vs. The Prophecy of Chris Daniels & Dan Maff with Allison Danger- The Great Muta is coming to Philadelphia to fight The Prophecy!!! What more hype do you need? Oh yeah, the All Japan tag titles will be defended on American soil!!! This will be your only chance to see a match like this so don't miss out!!!

 

Ring Of Honor World Title Match: Samoa Joe defends vs. ROH tag team champion Mark Briscoe- The war between the world champion Samoa Joe and the ROH tag team champions The Briscoes has become the hottest rivalry of the winter. Mark pinned Joe following a perfect shooting star press in a tag title defense where Joe teamed with AJ Styles on 11/28 to earn this world title shot. Joe is angry and embarrassed at being pinned by the younger Briscoe and promises to unleash a brutal beating on him on 12/27 to showcase his skills as ROH world champion to the world. Joe delivered a vicious beating to Jay on 10/16 at "Tradition Continues" and Jay survived only to see his brother Mark choked out after the match. Can Mark score the upset? Is Joe too banged up to continue on as ROH world champion? If Joe wins this match he will earn a tag title shot with Bryan Danielson as his partner on 1/10 so there is even more at stake. This war is going to explode on 12/27!!!

 

Ring Of Honor vs. All Japan Dream Match: Homicide vs. Satoshi Kojima- Two of the best strong style competitors in the world hook it up for the first time in a match that has fans salivating. "The Notorious 187" Homicide refuses to lose since he is representing ROH and Kojima isn't traveling across the world to suffer defeat in front of the huge amount of Japanese media that will be in attendance. This is going to be one hard-hitting battle.

 

Field Of Honor Finals: Matt Stryker vs. BJ Whitmer- The Field Of Honor started on 9/6 at "Beating The Odds" and became one of the focal points in ROH show after show for one quality match after another. Now Stryker and Whitmer have won their blocks and they are ready to collide to determine the first FOH champion. The prestige of winning this tournament is sure to skyrocket one man's career. Whitmer and Stryker fought once before in a FOH qualifying match on 8/16 "Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies" and stole the show with a bout that had fans raving. In fact, the fifteen minute draw was so good that ROH officials immediately put both men in the FOH. Now there will be no time limit and we will have a victor between these longtime friends.

 

Fight Without Honor: Xavier vs. John Walters- It started with a personal insult and exploded into a bloody feud. Now on 12/27 it will be settled in a Fight Without Honor and we are sure to see ladders, tables and chairs come into play. This feud is going to be settled in Philadelphia and is sure to get violent!!!

 

Ring Of Honor vs. All Japan Challenge: AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi- Check out this one time only dream match between two superior athletes!!! This one has the potential to be the most spectacular match on the show as Styles represents ROH vs. the former WCW star Hayashi.

 

Ring Of Honor Tag Team Attraction: The Second City Saints of CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Turmeric Storm of Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto- The ROH vs. All Japan series continues with these unique tag team match. These four athletes are coming to steal the show and represent their promotions in what promises to be tag team wrestling at its best.

 

Special Challenge Match: ROH tag team champion Jay Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson- This lineup is so stack, so loaded, so unbelievable that this bout is the opening match at "Final Battle 2003." Yeah that's right, you are going to see two of the best pure wrestlers going today compete in what could be the best match on any show out there and this card has so much talent that this will be your opener. This one is going to be intense!!!

 

Ladies and gentlemen, December 27th is going to be a very special day in Ring Of Honor history. We invite you to be a part of it.

[EMAXSAUN 0]

I'm going to this show, taking the NYC Bus Trip.

[Adam 0]

Damn those two cards look awesome. Only downside to living in Australia...

[Guest Peter_Griffin]

Well, I'll start at the bottom of the card with predictions and previews of every match.

 

Special Challenge Match: ROH tag team champion Jay Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson

This match should be a VERY good match, and probably the best match in the career of Jay to this point. Briscoe is gonna have to get to a more of a flying game against Danielson, who will surely dominate this match if it turns into a mat game, and that is NOT what Briscoe wants. Mind you, saying that, I also expect Briscoe to win this one for some reason.

Predicted Winner : Jay Briscoe

Predicted Rating : At least ***1/2

 

Ring Of Honor Tag Team Attraction: The Second City Saints of CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Turmeric Storm of Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto

I've never seen Miyamoto but I've seen the rest of them. I've seen enough to make me believe that this match will be a really good one. I have a feeling this match is gonna be a lot more high impact than the opener, with more big moves than matwork.

Predicted Winners : Second City Saints

Predicted Rating : At least ***

 

Ring Of Honor vs. All Japan Challenge: AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi

The match will be a CRACKER ! ROH got it right when they said this is going to be the most spectacular match of the night.

Predicted Winner : AJ Styles

Predicted Rating : At least ****1/4

 

Fight Without Honor: Xavier vs. John Walters

Ah now, here is something that I have been interested in. This fued has been kinda lurking in the background a little. It surely played second fiddle to the two MAJOR blood fueds. Untill now. This is the time to shine for John Walters. This will be the violence of the night. Xavier has NEVER impressed me, but I can see him working REALLY hard in this one.

Predicted Winner : John Walters

Predicted Rating : ***

 

Field Of Honor Finals: Matt Stryker vs. BJ Whitmer

This match will be an absolute cracker, and should be a good show for the 'Pure Wrestling' division that ROH are wanting to build. Whitmer has been increasingly impressive every time he has performed, including great matches with Stryker, Homicide and CM Punk. This match should be no different.

Predicted Winner : BJ Whitmer

Predicted Rating : ***3/4

 

Ring Of Honor vs. All Japan Dream Match: Homicide vs. Satoshi Kojima

This should be UBER STIFF~! Homicide is another guy who has impressed the hell out of me this year. Satoshi Kojima is a great wrestler as well. This can only mean a GREAT strong style match.

Predicted Winner : Kojima

Predicted Rating : At least ****

 

Ring Of Honor World Title Match: Samoa Joe defends vs. ROH tag team champion Mark Briscoe

This fued will end with Samoa Joe on top. I have no doubt that this match will get less time than it should, and that will take away from what could be a GREAT match.

Predicted Winner : Samoa Joe

Predicted Rating : At least ***

 

All Japan Tag Title Match: The Great Muta & Arashi defend vs. The Prophecy of Chris Daniels & Dan Maff

Well, we ALL know what the main attraction is here. The Great Muta. Not that I'm complaining, as this is probably the biggest name that ROH have ever had. This match won't be match of the night, but it will be good fun, and I expect a good hot crowd as well.

Predicted Winners : Muta and Arashi

Predicted Rating : At least ***

[tpww7 0]

Which stop you using Emax? I'll be using the Queens one. Everyone is planning on bringing streamers for Muta, try to bring some if you can so they can be passed out to everyone.

[bob_barron 0]

I'm taking the Manhattan stop- If I can find some streamers I'll bring them

[Nevermortal 0]

I'm throwing toilet paper.

[bob_barron 0]

Make sure it's not used toilet paper