Final Battle 2009

On November 23, 2009, ROH announced that they had signed a pay-per-view deal with Go Fight Live (GFL) to air live events over the Internet.[12] The first event to be aired as part of this deal was Final Battle 2009.[12]

On December 15, 2009, ROH announced the formation of its video on demand service through GFL to complement the live broadcast of Final Battle 2009.[13] Beginning on December 15, five taped ROH events were broadcast leading up to Final Battle 2009.[13] The events aired were Glory By Honor IV, Death Before Dishonor IV, Final Battle 2006, Glory By Honor V: Night 2, and Glory By Honor VI: Night Two.[13]

Due to a blizzard, Necro Butcher was unable to attend the event, and Teddy Hart and Jack Evans arrived late, forcing their scheduled match to be changed.[3][14]

The event began with a video promo package of the scripted feud between Austin Aries and Tyler Black, and the three commentators, Dave Prazak, Eric Santamaria, and Larry Sweeney were introduced.[14]

Claudio Castagnoli won a Pick 6 Contenders Series four-corner survival match

The first match that aired was a Pick 6 Contenders Series four-corner survival match, which featured Claudio Castagnoli, Rhett Titus, Kenny Omega, and Colt Cabana. The Pick 6 Contenders Series is a ranking system in ROH, which determines the challengers for the ROH World Championship.[16] Prior to the match both Castagnoli and Omega were in the Pick 6, Castagnoli as number one and Omega as number six.[15] Cabana and Omega worked together throughout the match, teaming up on Castagnoli and Titus, until Omega performed a Ura–nage slam on Cabana. Castagnoli won the match by pinning Titus after a German suplex.[3][14][15] Immediately following this match, a video promo of Tyler Black was aired.[3][14]

The second match was originally scheduled to be Erick Stevens and Bison Smith versus Delirious and Necro Butcher, however, due to the blizzard in the United States, Necro Butcher was unable to be at the show. As a result, Prince Nana, Stevens' and Smith's manager, insulted Butcher prior to the match, before Delirious interrupted. Delirious began the match on his own, but Pelle Primeau came out to help shortly afterwards. Smith press slammed Primeau to the outside, eliminating him from the match, and causing Bobby Dempsey to come to Delirious' aid instead. A notable spot in the match involved Smith performing a backbreaker on Dempsey across Stevens' knee. Stevens and Smith won the match by pinfall, after Smith performed a powerbomb on Dempsey.[3][14][15]

The third match that aired was a Fight Without Honor between Eddie Kingston and Chris Hero. The match began with both men brawling, until Hero got the upper hand by using a steel chain on Kingston, making him bleed. In the middle of the match, Hero removed a section of the barricade and placed it in the ring, balancing it on the ring ropes to form a platform. Hero then ganso powerbombed Kingston from the top rope onto the barricade for a near-fall. Kingston took the advantage by using the steel chain, and performed a capture suplex on Sara Del Rey, Hero's manager, when she interfered in the match.[17] Kingston won the match by pinfall after performing Hero's own finishing move, the Rolling Elbow, on Hero while wearing Hero's loaded elbow pad.[3][14][15]

The final contest before the intermission was a tag team match in which The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) faced Kevin Steen and El Generico. The story of the match saw The Young Bucks attempt to exploit Steen's knee injury. The Young Bucks won the match following a series of superkicks to Steen to pin him. After the match, Steen then thanked several wrestlers in what appeared to be a retirement speech, and embraced Generico, before performing a low blow on him. He then hit Generico with a steel chair, before being stopped by Colt Cabana.[3][14][15] During the intermission, a match between CM Punk and Spanky from the Third Anniversary Celebration: Part 1 aired.[3][14]

The first match after the intermission was a Pick 6 Contenders Series match between Kenny King and Roderick Strong, who was number four in the rankings prior to the match. The match was a back and forth contest, with a notable spot occurring when Strong performed a backbreaker on King on the ring apron. King eventually won the match by utilizing a roll-up while holding onto Strong's ring gear. As a result of the win, King gained the number four ranking in the Pick 6 Contenders Series.[3][14][15]

The next match was originally scheduled to be a tag team match between the teams of Rocky Romero and Jack Evans, and Alex Koslov and Teddy Hart, however, due to the blizzard, Evans and Hart were late to the event. As a result, Romero and Koslov competed in singles competition against each other instead, but during the match the fans in attendance chanted "we want Teddy" and "Jack". The ending to the match was botched, as the bell rang before Koslov submitted to Romero's armbar hold, however, Romero was still credited with the submission victory.[3][14][15]

The first championship match of the show followed, as The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) defended the ROH World Tag Team Championship against the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark). The Briscoes took the advantage early on, but this ended when Edwards faked an arm injury, based on the broken elbow from which he had just returned, and the Wolves began double-teaming Jay. After about 20 minutes, the Wolves applied simultaneous submission holds, but the Briscoes were able to counter them. The Briscoes won the match by pinfall shortly afterwards by performing a doomsday device on Edwards. This win made the Briscoe Brothers a record six-time tag team champions.[3][14][15]

Austin Aries defended the ROH World Championship against Tyler Black

Immediately following the tag team match, Claudio Castagnoli walked down to ringside, and was quickly joined by Chris Hero, who came from the crowd. Castagnoli and Hero attacked the Briscoes and posed with the ROH World Tag Team Championship in an apparent reunion of their former tag team, The Kings of Wrestling.[3][14] Teddy Hart and Jack Evans, accompanied by Julius Smokes, then made an appearance and, after cutting a promo, they had an impromptu unsanctioned match, with Smokes as the referee. Evans won the match after performing a 630° senton on Hart.[3][14][15]

The main event of the show was for the ROH World Championship, between the defending champion, Austin Aries, and the challenger, Tyler Black. The match was based around Aries constantly trying to escape from Black, and lose by countout, which would have meant that Aries retained the championship. When Black refused to let him leave and brought him back to the ring on multiple occasions, Aries attempted to get disqualified by performing a low blow on Black and threatening to hit the referee. The match ended in a 60-minute time-limit draw.[3][14][15] Afterwards the two men continued to fight, until they were interrupted by a brawl between the Kings of Wrestling and The Briscoe Brothers, which began in the crowd, and ended in the ring. After Aries, Castagnoli and Hero fled the ringside area, Black and the Briscoes posed in the ring to end the show.[3][14]