Final Battle sees a pair of NJPW challenges
Ring of Honor’s Final Battle event on December 15 saw a pair of matches with NJPW involvement, as New Japan representatives wrestled for the ROH 6 Man Tag Team and Pure Championships.
First of the challenges saw Shane Haste, Kosei Fujita and Bad Dude Tito represent TMDK and make good for a win for Haste and Mikey Nicholls over the Gates of Agony in World Tag League, facing the Mogul Embassy team of Brian Cage, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun. Fujita would start, and giving up size to the powerful champions, would be worked into the corner, but a counter clockwise spinning heel brought in Tito. The biggest member of the challenging team would get the advantage for TMDK, and Kaun was in trouble before a cracking lariat from Kaun saw the fearsome Cage tagged in.
Fujita was worked over by the Mogul Embassy until he escaped a powerbomb attempt to land an impressive German suplex. That brought Tito in, who exploded at all three challengers with incredible power and athleticism, capped off with an escalada into a tornado DDT on Liona. The Mogul Embassy managed to find a numbers advantage on Haste, swatting aside attempts from Fujita and Tito to break up their double teams, but the challengers found their footing, and a springboard dropkick from Fujita scored on Kaun as the match broke down.
A shotgun dropkick from Kaun in reposnse set Cage up for a big superplex from the apron back inside, but Tito was there to break the pin. Cage would take down both Tito and Haste however, and that left Fujita as one man against three monsters. Fujita fought valiantly, but was clobbered with a run in the corner from the Gates of Agony and then a sitout powerbomb from Cage for the three.
The other ROH Championship match with an NJPW link saw the first NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Filthy Tom Lawlor challenging ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta. In the opening moments, Lawlor had the advantage, and worked for a cross armbreaker that forced Yuta to use the first of the three rope breaks allowed him under the ROH Pure rules just one minute and 47 seconds in. Distance was created as a result though, closed with a dropkick from the champion, who then threw away an elbow pad to distract the referee and deliver an illegal knuckle to the face. Lawlor would fire back in response, but in view of the official, receiving a public warning. Now it was Yuta on top, forcing a rope break from lawlor on a half crab and continuing to press the advantage.
A hard strike exchange had Yuta reeling and Lawlor in the drivers seat, a wrist clutch exploder getting two, but an attempt at the NKOTB would be blocked and countered with a Dragon Screw; still Lawlor found a high and tight uranage slam as a response, before homing in on the arm. After a hammerlock was turned into a Tombstone by Lawlor, the challenger transitioned into an Anaconda Vice, Yuta having to use his second rope break and then his public warning for punching desperately at Lawlor from the apron. That didn’t put the champion out of danger however, as a top rope hammerlock takedown was followed with a double wristlock center ring, Yuta crawling for his third and final rope break.
With Yuta unable to go to the ropes for salvation, Lawlor kept up the pressure and used a page from rival Fred Rosser’s playbook as he found a Crossface Chickenwing, but was countered into the Seatbelt Clutch for a very narrow Yuta victory, a post match low blow from the retaining champion putting an unfortunate addendum to the contest.
