Background: For the eight time in the company’s history, Ring of Honor hosted the “Survival of the Fittest” tournament were a group of men would battle for the rite to be a future World title contender. The 2011 iteration witnessed former tournament winners Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards, multi-time Tag Team champions The Briscoe Bros., and then-relative ROH newcomers advance to the tournament final – a six man Elimination match.
Survival of the Fittest 2011
Dayton, OH
November 18, 2011
Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Michael Elgin vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Not a single honorable handshake before Jay and Eddie kicked this one off. Jay did a good job hanging with Eddie in the grappling department, but ended up tagging out to his brother when Eddie pushed him close to Mark. Mark didn’t do as well as his brother before being forced into The House of Truth’s corner (featuring Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin). Elgin tagged in, powering Mark around the ring with forearms and slams. Roderick followed his fellow H.O.T. member’s offense with chops. When Mark fell into the corner behind him, Kyle O’Reilly tagged himself at the request of Mark. Becoming the legal man didn’t do much to help Kyle after being chopped, kicked, and delayed vertical suplexed by Elgin. Kyle kicked out before the three count, fighting his way off the mat thanks to the support of the crowd and, shockingly, Eddie Edwards. Elgin stumbled into Eddie’s tag to the joy of one little fan. Once again, O’Reilly and Edwards put their differences aside to wrestle honorably. Edwards made his young, yet loud fan proud by going kick for kick with Kyle. Suddenly, both opponents tagged out to the Briscoes.
Jay and Mark circled each other before attacking everyone. Dey’s a clubberin’ on da flo’, Tony! When the action returned to the ring, The Briscoes leveled Kyle as The H.O.T. beat Eddie down at ringside. Double Briscoe shoulder tackle saw Dem Boy run through Kyle to set up Jay’s pin attempt. The Briscoes isolated Kyle on their side of the ring, almost defeating him after a series of suplexes and simple Delaware stomps. O’Reilly kept his wits about him, ducking a double team clothesline before using that double dragon screw leg whip to give himself some breathing room. Kyle rolled to Eddie, tagging out.
Edwards downed both Briscoes, but not Roderick and Elgin after Roderick tagged himself in, and kicked Eddie in the back to set up Elgin’s running shoulder ram. The Briscoes entered the ring after Eddie rolled to the floor to hit that double team neck breaker on O’Reilly. The Briscoes and The H.O.T. met in the ring’s middle, throwing right hands. Eddie and Kyle stopped the dueling slugfest with double missile dropkicks.
Eddie and Kyle confronted each other again, going forearm for forearm. Kyle turned his attacks into kicks and knee strikes. The camera went from Eddie and Kyle’s war of attrition to The Briscoes and The H.O.T. battling on the floor. Suddenly, Eddie kicked Kyle to the floor with Roderick and Mark. Eddie wanted to dive on all three men, but Kyle and Mark moved so only Roderick took the blow. Mark slid into the ring, getting a running start so he could somersault on top of Elgin and his big brother. Kyle reentered the ring, pulling a Mark Briscoe on Roderick and Edwards when they got up. Roderick recovered, dropping Kyle back first across the hard ring’s edge. The Briscoes came over to the side with Roderick and Kyle, beating the life out of both men. As all five men fought on the floor, Elgin scaled the ropes. When everyone looked up, Elgin moonsaulted off the top, downing his opponents!
Elgin tossed Kyle back in, looking to splash him in the corner. Instead, Elgin had to counter a tornado DDT with the backbreaker. Everyone was throwing big boots soon after. Eddie and Kyle teamed to super kick Jay into Eddie’s Die Hard. Edwards made the cover on Jay, giving us our first elimination.
Recklessly, Mark charged Eddie, only for Edwards to sidestep Mark’s attack before yanking him into the Dragon Sleeper. Mark had no choice but to tap out, ending The Briscoes’ night.
Before Eddie could get off the mat, Roderick started stomping him. The H.O.T. had Eddie reeling until Eddie stopped an Irish whip by grabbing the top rope. Edwards ducked the incoming Elgin, back dropping him to the floor. Eddie grabbed a stunned Roderick, hitting a fisherman buster. Truth Martini jumped on the apron as O’Reilly climbed the ropes. Eddie shut the argumentative Martini up by yakuza kicking him. Unfortunately, Eddie’s kick shook the ropes, making Kyle lose his balance. O’Reilly went sailing off the top, going through the timekeeper’s table!
Eddie found himself caught off guard by The H.O.T., but did a great job avoiding their attempted attacks, rolling up Roderick to pin and eliminate him.
Before Eddie could get to his feet, Elgin caught him with two spinning back fists. Elgin followed up with a huge lariat. Making the cover immediately, Elgin pinned Edwards to gain his first elimination of the evening.
The crowd was solidly behind O’Reilly as he pulled himself off the floor. Elgin motioned for the Future Shock member to face his biggest challenge in ROH to date. O’Reilly could barely stand when he confronted Elgin. A single forearm dropped Kyle easily, but didn’t break his spirit. This was perfectly seen when Kyle elbowed his way out of a Samoan drop and survived the spinning back fist. Turning the power bomb against Elgin, O’Reilly slipped in the guillotine choke. Elgin shoulder rammed and suplexed his way out of the maneuver. O’Reilly made it to his feet, shockingly catching Elgin with a tornado DDT that he turned into the guillotine choke again. No matter how many times Elgin rammed him back first into the turnbuckles, Kyle refused to give up the hold. The ROH World champion Davey Richards came to ringside to support O’Reilly in this incredible effort. That support paid off when Elgin changed his game plan, turning the choke against Kyle by using the suplex sidewalk slam, but “Unbreakable” couldn’t pin him. With Kyle barely able to stand, Elgin hoisted him up, hitting the turnbuckle bomb. Elgin wanted to use this attack to set up his Spiral Bomb, but Kyle turned the maneuver into a reverse hurricarana! Regalplex by O’Reilly … only gained him a near fall!
Elgin used his powerful grip to stop Kyle’s cross arm bar. When Elgin tried to turn the arm bar into a pinning combination, Kyle put him in a triangle choke. Elgin powered himself and Kyle off the mat, but Kyle used the momentum to sunset flip Elgin … for another two count!
The crowd was going crazy for O’Reilly as he got up. Elgin took several kicks to the chest, but refused to go down. Elgin confronted O’Reilly in the ring’s middle, leading to another slugfest. Elgin couldn’t keep up with Kyle’s speed, getting rocked by palm strikes and kicks. Kyle hit the ropes, only to run into the same clothesline that put Eddie down. Somehow, some way, Kyle kicked out of Elgin’s follow up pin. O’Reilly also survived the sit-out piledriver, rolling onto the apron. Kyle slipped by Elgin as he met him on the apron, sunset flipping him. Elgin held his base to stop being power bombed on the floor, but not a belly to back suplex that saw Elgin bounce off the padded hardwood. Kyle climbed onto the apron, hitting that running dropkick from the ring’s edge on a rising Elgin to a huge ovation.
As “This is wrestling” chants rang out, Kyle scaled the ropes for a dropkick. Showing his impressive strength, Elgin caught Kyle, power bombing him. With his hands still clasped around Kyle’s waist, Elgin picked a rocked O’Reilly off the mat for a turnbuckle bomb-Spiral Bomb combination. Elgin hastily made the cover, becoming the 2011 “Survival of the Fittest” champion.
Winner: Michael Elgin (32:03)
Is It A Classic: The finale here was absolutely incredible. After a nice start and middle portion, Elgin and O’Reilly turned it up and produced, quite possibly, the best conclusion to a SotF tournament final since the original in 2004. There’s no doubt that both looked like bona fide stars after the last bell sounded. The crowd even treated them as such as they went from hot to molten during the last ten minutes of action.
