** SPOILERS ** ROH Survival Of The Fittest Night 2 Tapings From Hopkins (11/14)
Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Vince Snyder:
Ring of Honor Wrestling: Survival of the Fittest Night 2
Hopkins Community Center in Hopkins, Minnesota
Well, the door time was supposed to be 5:30 pm CT, but the event before this one went on 'too long' so they pushed it back to 6:00 pm. People weren't happy, but I don't think anyone left. I was toward the front of the line with people that had been waiting over an hour, so I know they were upset.
Nevertheless, we get in and the wrestlers doing the Meet & Greet Autograph signing were Adam Cole, Matt Sydal (who was not advertised for the Meet & Greet), The Young Bucks, and AJ Styles! I paid for just the Young Bucks, but the guy accidentally gave me four tickets (which was supposed to be three times as much as I paid) and I was able to take pictures and get autographs from everybody! They were all really funny and awesome. Sydal was even taking pictures with a few people who didn't pay, it looked like.
On to the show! Scarlett Bordeaux was the ring announcer, with Kevin Kelly and Mr. Wrestling 3 on commentary.
In the dark match, Shaheem Ali def. "KLD" Kevin Lee Davidson.
The opener saw Cedric Alexander, getting decent heat, beating Will Ferrara who was pretty solid out there for a rookie.
Scarlett announced that ROH World Television Champion Roderick Strong, who beat Cedric last night in a SOTF Qualifier, sustained a concussion and would be unable to compete tonight. He then came out and cut a promo about how he wants nothing more than to come out and compete, but it felt it necessary to apologize for not being in the main event. He was super over, lots of Roddy chants. He also said when he's cleared he wants to take on challengers from all over the globe, and plugged his Roddy vs. the World T-Shirt.
BJ Whitmer came out, getting the most heat of anyone all night by far, with Adam Page. He calls out Mr. Wrestling 3 (Steve Corino), and is sent to the back by a hoarde of referees, much to the fans' excitement.
Adam Page vs. Dalton Castle was pretty good. Whitmer came back out to try to get at Mr. Wrestling 3, but referees pulled him away once more. Dalton Castle took advantage of a distracted Page, and got the win.
Frankie Kazarian against Mark Briscoe was good as well, Kaz was getting a lot of heat due to backtalking the audience and basically not being a Briscoe (Man Up). After a big Elbow Drop, Briscoe gets the win. Kaz got on the mic and said in 18 years of wrestling, he hasn't been to Minnesota until tonight. And he hates us all. "Don't come back chants" even though he was awesome in the ring tonight.
A big six man tag with The Kingdom (Adam Cole & ROH World Tag Team Champs Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett taking on War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) and Moose, who is over as always due to a very catchy chant (among other things). This match was INSANE. Everyone was great, and the Kingdom worked very well together. Lots of back and forth, the Kingdom are very entertaining (especially Maria at ringside). They got the win when they triple-teamed Raymond Rowe and Taven scored the pin.
15 Minute Intermission
We come back to Joey Dadeigo (not sure exactly how to spell out) coming out with Truth Martini and Taeler Hendrix. Joey is J. Diesel, he's been repackaged. He squashed Cheeseburger, who is extremely over. This was less entertaining than the dark match.
All Night-Express come out for the next one, taking on the Young Bucks. As you can imagine, the Young Bucks were incredible to see, and they were insanely popular. Young Bucks chant, Too Sweet chant, the match starts with instant superkicks, and we're treated to a good back-and-forth match/Superkick Party that ends with an Indytaker on Rhett Titus for the one, two, three.
In my pick for Match of the Night, #Reborn Matt Sydal vs. "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles. Slow build, pace picked up well, both of these guys were fantastic. The finish came when Sydal went for the Shooting Star Press, but Styles moved and Sydal landed on his feet, only to eat a Pele Kick. Styles looks for the Styles Clash, but Sydal struggles. Sydal plants his head to the mat real quick and then pulls him back up for the Styles Clash. You could've counted to twenty.
Afterward, Styles grabs a mic and puts over Sydal, followed by asking a fan, who criticized his failure to 'lock a headlock' near the start of the match, to respect him and the fellow wrestlers in order to earn respect himself. He then puts over Ring of Honor, and definitely had the biggest pop of the night.
House of Truth (ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Donovan Dijak) w/Truth Martini & Taeler Hendrix vs. reDRagon is up next. Everyone in the crowd is pretty tired after the last one, so the beginning of this match was time to rest. It picked up as things rolled on, because reDRagon. They get the win after Chasing the Dragon on Dijak.
Main Event
Survival of the Fittest 2015 Finals
Five-Way Elimination Match
"The Last Real Man" Silas Young vs.(GoGo) ACH vs. "Almighty" Christopher Daniels vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe
Remember Roddy can't compete tonight, so we get five competitors instead of six. The match starts off pretty slow, but builds an alliance between Young and Daniels, as well as a frenemy-style relationship between Elgin and Briscoe. A couple boring chants before things picked up, but when it got going it was pretty great.
Silas was out first after ACH landed a Belly-to-Belly and held him for the pin.
The match is announced as "Tornado Rules" due to the chaos, rather than Four Corners. Daniels freaks out and clears a table at ringside, then almost goes through it, only for Briscoe and Elgin teasing putting each other through it. Daniels tosses both men through the table for 'Holy Sh!t' chants.
ACH almost had Daniels beat, but Kazarian came out to distract the referee, and then Matt Sydal came out to brawl with Kazarian. Daniels pinned ACH soon after.
Elgin and Briscoe team up on Daniels, but that doesn't last long before they fight each other. Daniels still ends up drawing the short straw as Elgin tosses him off the top, and Jay lands the Jay Driller.
We're down to Jay Briscoe and Michael Elgin. These two fight in a slow-paced match with a lot of highlights, and a great amount of dueling chants. A few fans have strong opinions about Elgin being boring. Eventually, after 'Kick-Out City', Michael Elgin lands a nasty looking move taking Briscoe off the top, and pins him to become the first-ever two-time SOTF winner. He gets a future World Title shot.
Quick Results:
Dark Match: Shaheem Ali def. Kevin Lee Davidson
Cedric Alexander def. Will Ferrara
Dalton Castle def. Adam Page
Mark Briscoe def. Frankie Kazarian
The Kingdom def. War Machine & Moose
Joey Daddeigo def. Cheeseburger
The Young Bucks def. All-Night Express
AJ Styles def. Matt Sydal
reDRagon def. House of Truth (Lethal & Dijak)
Michael Elgin def. Silas Young, ACH, Christopher Daniels, Jay Briscoe in that order to win SOTF 2015.
Vince Snyder contributed to this article.