ROH Final Battle 2023

[DSR]

Announced earlier today, Final Battle will be held December 15th at the Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. The show will be broadcast live exclusively on HONOR CLUB.

twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/1716469778486112310


I know a lot of folks have been asking what the purpose of Honor Club is if you still have to go to PPV for the big events. Don't know if this is how things will be going forward, but at least there's this.

Announced matches:

ROH WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Athena (C) vs. Billie Starkz

FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Jon Moxley) Vs. FTR and Mark Briscoe

AAA MEGA CHAMPIONSHIP

El Hijo Del Vikingo (C) vs. Black Taurus

ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP

Wheeler Yuta (C) vs. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor

ROH WORLD SIX-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Brian Cage and Gates Of Agony (C) vs. TMDK

6-WAY SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCH FOR THE VACANT ROH TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Dalton Castle vs. Komander vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Lee Johnson vs. Lee Moriarty vs. (Winner of Keith/Cartwheel)

Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor

I QUIT MATCH

Tony Nese vs. Ethan Page

Zero Hour:

The Von Erichs vs. The Outrunners

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFIER MATCH

"Bounty Hunter" Bryan Keith vs. Jack Cartwheel

[Bo Rida]

Oh cool, it was terrible value compared to the bigger streaming services so this is a big improvement.

[CeilingFan]

This event should be the beginning of ROH becoming a true Developmental.

[HMARK Center]

Given the title changes made recently for ROH and this decision, combined with those changes being to AEW regular roster members, I'm curious if there was another round of trying to sell WB on airing both promotions, and doubly curious what this means moving forward for both AEW and ROH.

All that said, the ROH PPVs have been great stuff, the weekly show's built up some new faces and stories, and Final Battle basically being $10 for everyone is good to hear. Hope they add the other PPVs and maybe some other special events in there, too.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Oct 23, 2023 20:01:46 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

This event should be the beginning of ROH becoming a true Developmental.

I think they're going in the opposite direction based on their current slate of champions. 

[kingoftheindies]

Oct 23, 2023 21:27:47 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Given the title changes made recently for ROH and this decision, combined with those changes being to AEW regular roster members, I'm curious if there was another round of trying to sell WB on airing both promotions, and doubly curious what this means moving forward for both AEW and ROH.

All that said, the ROH PPVs have been great stuff, the weekly show's built up some new faces and stories, and Final Battle basically being $10 for everyone is good to hear. Hope they add the other PPVs and maybe some other special events in there, too.

I wonder if Tony may have gotten the okay to try and pitch ROH to Fox for even an FS1 deal

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

ROH definitely feels like it's gearing up to be pitched

And whether that's for Warner or another brand in general remains to be seen tbh, but it sure feels like they're gearing up to try with how the champions look especially.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Oct 23, 2023 23:24:40 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

ROH definitely feels like it's gearing up to be pitched

And whether that's for Warner or another brand in general remains to be seen tbh, but it sure feels like they're gearing up to try with how the champions look especially.

And a lot of people may not follow it but they do put effort into the weekly show. The current Athena stuff has been entertaining and advancing multiple characters. Ethan Page is getting into a groove. Maria is doing stuff with Griff and Cole. It's not just random matches.

[HMARK Center]

Oct 23, 2023 23:42:16 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Oct 23, 2023 23:24:40 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

ROH definitely feels like it's gearing up to be pitched

And whether that's for Warner or another brand in general remains to be seen tbh, but it sure feels like they're gearing up to try with how the champions look especially.

And a lot of people may not follow it but they do put effort into the weekly show. The current Athena stuff has been entertaining and advancing multiple characters. Ethan Page is getting into a groove. Maria is doing stuff with Griff and Cole. It's not just random matches.

And when a match seems random, it’s mostly based on the old ROH TV formula: wins on TV translate to getting a shot at a belt. Still gonna be a few squashes mixed in, but overall it’s a good time.

I do want it to feel more important, though, but I only think that really starts to happen once they start shooting more episodes in distinct, more intimate/smaller locations where the crowd is there specifically for ROH, rather than being done before or after an AEW show. I get the cost effectiveness involved, but still.

And we’ll see on what’s going on with any possible TV deal; on the one hand this decision makes it seem like WB passed again, on the other I have to think Khan sees Corgan getting that CW deal and could be thinking about some other possibilities. No way to know yet, obviously.

[dbsot]

Prediction:

ROH World - Eddie Kingston vs Jay Lethal

ROH Tag Titles - MJF/? vs Gates of Agony

ROH Women's World - Athena vs Mercedes Martinez

ROH TV Title - Samoa Joe vs Ethan Page

Pure Title - Josh Woods vs Shibata

6-Man Titles - Hung Bucks vs ? (maybe Iron Savages)

[clifford]

They may stretch the Eddie/Lethal feud all the way to Final Battle; personally would love for Rush's return to involve targeting the ROH World title and for Final Battle's main event be Eddie/Rush.

Think Athena's title reign should finish up at this show as well. Would love her to 'graduate' to Dynamite/Collision in 2024.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Oct 28, 2023 5:18:15 GMT -5 clifford said:

They may stretch the Eddie/Lethal feud all the way to Final Battle; personally would love for Rush's return to involve targeting the ROH World title and for Final Battle's main event be Eddie/Rush.

Think Athena's title reign should finish up at this show as well. Would love her to 'graduate' to Dynamite/Collision in 2024.

It doesn't feel like Eddie/Lethal lasts till December but I could be wrong. The way Dutt looks like he's trying to recruit Ortiz is a new wrinkle in trying to stack the deck against Eddie though

[Some Guy]

The only way I can see Lethal/Eddie getting to this point would be if the show was main evented by Joe/Mark Briscoe in a cage and he ended his long reign there. Otherwise, that's just nowhere near interesting enough of a main event/title match for a PPV in a pretty decent sized arena.

Also Athena/Mercedes already happened tonight.

[HMARK Center]

For anyone signing up to HonorClub for this PPV, check out Dalton Castle vs. Anthony Henry from this week's TV, it absolutely slaps.

[DSR]

Tony Khan has announced the new ROH World Television Champion will be the winner of a 6-man Survival Of The Fittest elimination match at Final Battle!

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Nov 17, 2023 1:37:05 GMT -5 DSR said:

Tony Khan has announced the new ROH World Television Champion will be the winner of a 6-man Survival Of The Fittest elimination match at Final Battle!

Better then another Tournament I suppose, though I guess technically there will be qualifiers to get to the 6 man

[HMARK Center]

Ok, I'm 1000% on board with reviving Survival of the Fittest, always loved that match.

Still, once a new champ is crowned there'll still be some work that needs to be done for the belt's status itself. We'll see who wins and what kind of stories stem from that.

[The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM}]

Nov 18, 2023 14:30:14 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Ok, I'm 1000% on board with reviving Survival of the Fittest, always loved that match.

Still, once a new champ is crowned there'll still be some work that needs to be done for the belt's status itself. We'll see who wins and what kind of stories stem from that.

With the ROH World Title being folded into an American Triple Crown along with the NJPW Strong Title and the AEW Continental Title, it's possible the ROH TV Title becomes its top belt.

[HMARK Center]

Nov 19, 2023 0:04:41 GMT -5 The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM} said:

Nov 18, 2023 14:30:14 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Ok, I'm 1000% on board with reviving Survival of the Fittest, always loved that match.

Still, once a new champ is crowned there'll still be some work that needs to be done for the belt's status itself. We'll see who wins and what kind of stories stem from that.

With the ROH World Title being folded into an American Triple Crown along with the NJPW Strong Title and the AEW Continental Title, it's possible the ROH TV Title becomes its top belt.

It's being phrased oddly, isn't it? I figure whoever wins the tournament will get some kind of accolade ala the Owen Hart tournament belts, but I doubt they'd become a belt to defend. At the same time, I remember hearing some people throw around recently that there was a chance Honor Club could become the home of both ROH content and some US-based NJPW content, in which case combining the Strong and ROH belts would be interesting.

I doubt the ROH title is going away, though; Eddie's defended both titles he holds separately, so I doubt it becomes a full-on Triple Crown situation where three titles genuinely combine into one...but then again, stranger things have happened? We'll know soon enough, I guess, but it'll need to be clarified.

[Some Guy]

So what even is this PPV at this point? I doubt MJF wrestles here so there goes the tag titles. The ROH title is embedded in the C2 at the moment. Shibata is leaving to go back to Japan and Yuta is champ now so I guess they can do Yuta/Hook. The trios tag titles are on the Mogul Embassy who have beaten everyone on Earth already.

Like what do you do here? Book Ronda/Athena and then pray against all hope it'll carry the whole show?