ROH presents "Final Battle 2004" on 12/26 in Philadelphia, PA!
Posted by Mike Speer on 12/10/2004 at 10:20 AM
Ring Of Honor
"Final Battle 2004"
December 26, 2004, 6:00pm belltime
Pennsylvania National Guard Armory
2700 Southampton Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19154

Tickets on sale now at the ROH offices by calling 215-781-2500, right here at ROHwrestling.com or at Ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster outlets.

ROH World Title Match
Samoa Joe (Champion) vs. Austin Aries

Grudge Match
Low Ki vs. "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson

In-ring confrontation between Mick Foley and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

ROH Pure Title rematch
John Walters (Champion) vs. Jimmy Rave

Fight Without Honor
Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer vs. The Carnage Crew

Jay Lethal vs. Prince Nana's Weapon of MASK Destruction II

Trent Acid vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Also scheduled is Steve Corino, John Daniels, Alex Shelley, Homicide, CM Punk, Special K and more.

Directions:

For New York fans:

1) Take Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey Turnpike via Exit 10B or 7B on NJ 3. Take NJ Turnpike southbound to Exit 6 (Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-276). After crossing Delaware River, take Turnpike Exit 351 (US 1 Expressway) which becomes US 1/Roosevelt Boulevard. The Armory is on Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road as shown in the above map.

2) Take Verranzano Narrows Bridge and continue on I-278 through Staten Island to New Jersey and Exit 13 of New Jersey Turnpike.

Take New Jersey Turnpike southbound to Exit 6 (Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-276). After crossing Delaware River, take Turnpike Exit 351 (US 1 Expressway) which becomes US 1/Roosevelt Boulevard. The Armory is on Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road as shown in the above map.

For South Jersey fans:

Take Route 73 until you reach the exit for Route 90 (the approach road for the Betsy Ross Bridge). Take the Betsy Ross Bridge to Philadelphia and take the first exit immediately off of the Bridge onto I-95 northbound.

Take I-95 northbound to the Woodhaven Road exit. Take Woodhaven Road to Roosevelt Boulevard (US 1) and turn right. The Armory will be on your right.

For fans from Delaware/points south:

The directions are fairly simple. Go to I-95 northbound from wherever you are. Continue on I-95 through Delaware and Pennsylvania, through center city Philadelphia, until you reach northeast Philadelphia and the Woodhaven Road exit. Take Woodhaven Road to Roosevelt Boulevard (US 1) and turn right. The Armory will be on your right.

For Philadelphia fans using SEPTA:

It should be noted that the Armory IS accessible via SEPTA from center city and south Philadelphia, taking the Frankford El to the Frankford Transportation Center, then transferring to the Route 14 bus (which goes right out Roosevelt Boulevard).

The bus ride takes about 20 minutes from the Frankford Transportation Center. Inbound buses to the Frankford Transportation Center run past midnight, so people will be easily be able to get back into town after the shows.

------------------------
Damn you Ring of Honor, for taking all of my money.

Damn you ring of honor, for robbing me of my first.. and second paychecks...

I wonder how close Joe is to losing the title. I imagine he'll go over the 2 year mark but I'm starting to wonder who the next would be champion is.

At this point....it'll be sometime before Joe loses the title. If he didn't lose it to Punk/Danielson, I don't think they'd have him lose to anyone else besides Low-Ki..........and I still don't even see that happening.

When did Samoa Joe win the ROH Heavyweight Title? I know it's close to 2 years, but I don't follow much Indy Promotions. Everytime I skim through the PWI Rankings he's always listed as Champion with a © always being his previous months rank. I don't even remember who he beat for it...I have a small clue, but I don't want to see because I might look foolish. Fine, I'll try...

I want to say either Homicide or Xavier, but I'm not 100% sure.

Joe beat Xavier for it in March of 2003.

He won it in Feb/March of 2003.

Yeah, I have to say I was slightly disappointed that he didn't drop the title to CM Punk at the last show. I like Joe, it's just I thought Punk should've gotten the title.

Keep watching MD.....I think you might change your mind.

Whoever beats SJ for the title will certainly have a feather in his cap. I've heard nothing but praise about Samoa Joes matches in ROH, and a nice long reign (that isn't poorly booked) will only make the title switch that much more important.

Of course, I don't watch ROH, so I probably shouldn't be making these assumptions.

I'm more worried that they might be booking themselves into a corner with this. What happens if they take the title off Joe and say the attendence might drop slightly? Do they panic and put it back on him.

But at this point they might as well go for 2 years if they're this close.

credit : rohwrestling.com

Looks like a great show. I'm interested to see justhow far Ki and AmDrag have come.

They have a lot to try and top over 3/30, but I think they can do it, considering how good Danielson has become, and Ki rules as a heel.

Exactly. It'll be very rewarding for longtime fans to see two of thier more "homegrown" stars evolve. Watch teh two back to back.

Yeah, I actually just watched 3/30 last night in anticipation for the rematch. It holds up pretty well. The tape also made me realize how much I miss Daniels in ROH. If his match against Danielson had gone 10 more minutes, it would have been BETTER than Ki vs. Danielson.

I'll be there, hoping against hope that they randomly give Aries the belt.

Results courtesy of The Shadow Behind You on TSM:

Quickie Results...Complete details as they become available.

via ROHBoard

1) JIMMY JACOBS over TRENT ACID

After the match, Acid proclaimed to the "World" that he was QUITTING Ring of Honor
2) Lacey & Deranged over Becky & Angel Dust, when Lacey pinned Becky after an inverted DDT.

After the match, the heel part of Special K went to attack Angel Dust, but Dunn & Marcos made the save and the faces danced.
3) ROCKIN' REBEL over DEVON MOORE
4) Homicide over Josh Daniels
5) JOHN WALTERS retained the Pure Title over JIMMY RAVE

Walters made Rave tap on the outside of the ring, literally ONE SECOND before both men would be counted out.

After the match, Prince Nana offered Walters a spot in The Embassy, to which Walters ACCEPTED and joined forces with Nana, Rave, and The Killaz.
6) Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer over The Carnage Crew in a Fight Without Honor

Mick Foley brought out thumbtacks and DeVito was slammed on them.

Foley and Steamboat made up.

Foley called out Joe and wanted to put the water between them under the bridge stemming from what Joe said about Mick on 12/4. They shook hands and as they were about to hug, Joe ATTACKED Foley and turned on him!

7) JAY LETHAL over WEAPON of MASK DESTRUCTION #2 (UNKNOWN)

8) CM Punk & Steve Corino over Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong

Post-match, Austin Aries came down and told Alex Shelley to step down, so he could have the top spot in GN.

This lead to Aries beating down Shelley and Roderick joining in with Aries.

9) BRYAN DANIELSON versus LOW KI was a NO-CONTEST

Hanson threw the match out late due to the two guys fighting in the crowd.

10) Austin Aries over Samoa Joe to become the 4th, and NEW Ring of Honor World Champion.-

HUGE SHOW!

Joe turns full heel. Attacks Legend in Foley. Joe's reign ends.

-------------------------------------

Wow, I really, REALLY didn't see that happening. Aries turning on Shelley is a HUGE surprise, as is he winning the title. I'm shocked.

::blink::

My thoughts exactly. I'll post some more detailed results when I find them.

I call for a day of mourning and a Wake.

Ditto... Holy Shit, I thought that reign would never end.

That guy has to be -iB- or some other really annoying PBP from TSM. No one can be as annoying as this person is.

THANK FUCKING GOD!

I'm extremely happy I was there for the Joe turn and end of his reign. Awesome performance from Joe tonight, the way he ended his reign made me appreciate him even more.

I hate you for being there. Ass.


But what will Joe do now? Where is there left to go?

People on DVDVR seem to think he's off to NJPW. Apparently he'll only be coming back for big matches, ala Danielson...

I'm so fucking pissed.

Man, that sucks for us, but good for him. He's awesome, and hella nice, so he deserves it.


::one last barrage of streamers for ROH's greatest champion::

The DVDVR guys seems to be really down on Aries, which I don't understand. They also are ripping the shows booking apart, which is ludicrous considering they haven't seen it yet and don't know yet where Gabe is going with it.

The DVDVR guys diss anything not named Misawa or Kawada or something. If he was Ariesawa he'd be thier object of affection.

Aries is the most overrated person in the indies right now. Giving him the title over about 5 others I can think of................is awful.

You think he's over rated? Howso? I think he's really good.

If you follow RoH, you had to know something like this was coming. When they first started the promotion, they gave the belt to Ki, and that was expected because he was putting on the best matches in the early days of the promotion. NO ONE expected them to put the belt on Xavier, and people lambasted the decision on the net. But, the belt GOT X OVER and I thought his matches were perfectly fine during his reign. He had good matches with London and Styles, most notably. When it came time for X to drop the strap, they put it on Joe, who at that time was relatively unknown on the East coast. But he ended up having good matches and became the darling of the internet. His name became synoymous with the belt, so much so that people don't know what he'll do without it. Now we have Aries, who I would say was the most groomed for the belt of all RoH champions. Sure, they put Ki over AmDrag and Daniels before he got the belt, but Aries has gone over Dragon and Punk, plus he's drawn Ki. This was the least shocking title change so far to me, and people act like it was so out of left field.

Few things I wanted to throw out here....

1) His match with Dragon at Testing the Limit is the match everyone uses when I start this discussion. Why? It's a match where him AND Dragon are simply trying to stretch a match out just to stretch it. Not that I hate the match, but I would give it anything more than a ***1/4. AT THE MOST......

2)Besides his 2/3 falls match and his match from Survival of the Fittest, what has he done that's been so great? He already fought Joe at the Strong Style Revolution(IWA-MS) and after I saw it......I wondered why ROH was so intent on pushing it in their company. It wasn't anything special, and I haven't seen Joe/Aries in ROH yet to comment on that.

3)The booking of his title win, was terrible. Why the hell would he just win the title out of nowhere? Like someone else mentioned here, THEY DID IT ALREADY. Yes, remember when they gave the title to Xavier? I admit he did improve with the reign, but now he's hardly even in the company(When WAS the last time X was on a show?)......

4)This hurt's Joe and a TON of members of their roster, indirectly.......it lower's the stature of CM Punk, as he couldn't beat Joe no matter what in three different instances. Homicide tried to light Joe on fire, and still couldn't beat him in about uh.......10 different matches. They indirectly depushed half of their main eventers here.

5) Aries takes away a big match appeal that Joe had, and that will hurt the company financially for a little while, especially if now Joe won't be on the shows to apparently work in NJPW(which I don't know if its true or a rumor).....

what do you guys think.....

LFV, I've seen the majority of his stuff from this year.....my opinion doesn't seem to weight up to the opinion of people that think he's great. IMO, he's overrated. What matches of his have you seen from this year?

I agree that it's a bit sudden. I would've preferred the title to switch at the blowoff of a big feud. Switching it now doesn't make much sense unless Joe had a contract issue.

EDIT: Wasn't Aries the lackey in GN? Why make the lackey the champ while he's STILL the lackey in the fans eyes?

DK: I've seen him live and on tape at 6/12 and the clips of his 3.13 Convention match. I also saw some MV's of the more famous matches.

Swiggy: Aries kicked Shelley out of GN and "Took his spot" as leader, bringing the cycle around full circle.

I know he did that, but it was during the same show at which he won the belt. They should've given it more time to set in.

RoH always fucks up their title changes. Xavier and Aries wins are proof of that. Even Joe's was kind of iffy at the time.

I don't mean to be a dick, but I doubt that matters with RoH's fanbase. As long as they like him, it's fine to give him the belt. For example, if Dunn and Marcos won the tag titles tomorrow, there'd be a face pop for the win.

It's just the logic of the decision. It would be like if HHH won the title while HBK was the head honcho of DX.

I'm willing to give this a shot. That's really all I can say.