Ring of Honor Final Battle, the company’s final pay-per-view of 2022 and the third under the Tony Khan regime, emanates from Arlington, Texas, in a rare Saturday afternoon event.
The show is headlined by ROH Champion Chris Jericho defending against Claudio Castagnoli. If Jericho wins, Castagnoli must join the Jericho Appreciation Society.
The co-main event will see FTR and the Briscoes battle over the ROH Tag Team titles for the third time this year, this time in a double dog collar match.
Six total title matches make up the main card which also includes ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe defending against Juice Robinson, ROH Women’s Champion Mercedes Martinez defending against Athena, ROH Pure Champion Daniel Garcia defending against Wheeler Yuta, and ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dalton Castle & The Boys defending against The Embassy.
The main card is rounded out by Swerve in our Glory vs. Shane Taylor Promotions, and AR Fox & Blake Christian against Rush & Dralistico while four matches make up the Zero Hour pre-show.
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Zero Hour Pre-Show
Jeff Cobb defeated Mascara Dorada
Dorada tried to start off the match with fast paced movements, but he was unable to move Cobb around with ease. Cobb eventually slid out of the ring to get a breather, which prompted Dorada to attempt a dive. Instead, Cobb caught him and slammed him spine first into the ring post.
As the match transitioned back in the ring, Cobb maintained control. After hitting Dorada with a few stiff chops and strikes, Cobb whipped his opponent into the turnbuckle. The match turned around for Dorada at this point, as he caught Cobb in the midst of a corner attack.
Dorada didn’t maintain full control here, as the two began to exchange some of the best strikes in their wheelhouse. Dorada scored a near fall after hitting Cobb with a springboard bulldog. Cobb would go on to end things moments later, as he caught Dorada with a pop up Tour Of The Islands for the victory.
Matt Menard & Angelo Parker defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger & Eli Isom)
This was really fun, and it was cool to see how over Cheeseburger still is.
Isom and Menard started off the bout. Isom rolled out of the way of an attempted attack by Menard. As the crowd began to chant for Cheeseburger, he came in the match with Parker. Cheeseburger caught Parker’s kick and gave him a sarcastic handshake.
Menard and Parker began exchanging tags at this point in the match to stay ahead of Cheeseburger. Parker then hit Cheeseburger with a series of stomps, which was followed up by a headlock from Menard.
Isom eventually made the tag and double speared Menard and Parker in the corner. With Parker getting the worst of it, Cheeseburger took advantage by coming off the top rope with a double foot stomp.
All of Isom and Cheeseburger’s momentum came to a screeching hault when Parker recovered and evened the odds. The match was ended moments later with Parker and Menard hit a double DDT on Isom for the win.
Willow Nightingale defeated Trish Adora
As soon as the bell rang, Adora took Willow to the mat and locked her head in a head scissors submission. Nightingale escaped and applied her own head scissors, which Adora got out of even quicker. Adora and Nightingale then began to exchange a series of brutal strikes, which included a fantastic shotgun dropkick from Nightingale.
Nightingale then pounced Adora across the whole ring, much to the delight of the entire crowd. Moments later, Nightingale hit Adora with a Doctor Bomb for the win.
Top Flight (Darius & Dante Martin) defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
Bennett and Dante started out the match. The advantage immediately shifted to The Kingdom, as Taven jumped Dante from behind while Bennett took out Darius on the apron. When Darius recovered, Taven took out both members of Top Flight with a series of spinning back kicks. Dante recovered rather quickly and hit a Swanton on Taven, which prompted Bennett to storm the ring. Bennett ended up on the apron before falling to the floor as a result of a dropkick from Dante.
The match was moving at a rapid pace at this point, as expected. Taven attempted to hit his signature running kick, but Darius ducked out of it. Bennett came in quickly after to try to gain more of an advantage, but it would have the reverse effect as Top Flight regained the control. As the match winded down, Dante missed a crucial dive, but still managed to land on Taven. Moments later, Dante hit a flipping assisted Nose Dive with Darius on Taven for the victory.
Main Show
Blake Christian & AR Fox defeated RUSH & Dralistico
As the match got going, Fox and RUSH began exchanging chops before the match spilled to the outside. RUSH tossed Christian into the barricade while Dralistico sent Fox onto the base of the steel steps with a powerbomb. At this point in the bout, there was no sign of Christian and Fox regaining control, although the crowd was fully behind them.
After Christian suffered a few more beatdowns from Dralistico and RUSH, he was able to barely make a tag to Fox. Fox came off the top rope with a swanton into Dralistico. Fox then dove onto RUSH at ringside before diving onto Dralistico, who rolled out of the ring after the swanton.
Christian had recovered at this point, as he popped back up and dove onto RUSH at ringside. Fox positioned himself on the top turnbuckle and hit a 450 Splash on Dralistico, which would score him the pinfall victory.
After the match, RUSH and Dralistico beat down Christian and Fox at ringside with chairs and RUSH’s signature power cord.
Athena defeated Mercedes Martinez to win the ROH Women’s World Championship
I loved seeing how over Athena was here. She’s doing some of the best work of her career.
Martinez played with her food for a little bit in the opening stages of the match. This would only further anger Athena, who began to pound away at Martinez with stiff strikes. Martinez wasn’t fully down and out after the fact, which allowed her to do some ground work on Athena.
Both women eventually ended up on the middle turnbuckle. After some back and forth up there, Athena sent Martinez crashing to the mat with a german suplex. Again, this wouldn’t keep Martinez down, as she began to deliver a few suplexes of her own to Athena.
The match spilled outside at this point, which allowed Martinez to position Athena on the barricade before dropping her to the floor with a DDT. Martinez then rolled Athena in the ring and attempted her signature Brass City Sleeper. With the crowd fully behind her, Athena bit Martinez and got out of the hold.
Athena then ripped one of the turnbuckle pads off of the ring. Moments later, she dropkicked Martinez into the exposed turnbuckle. Athena followed that up with an Eclipse to win the match and the ROH Women’s World Title.
Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & JD Griffey)
Griffey started off the match against Strickland. After essentially circling each other for a few moments, Strickland tagged out to Lee, who the crowd was massively over. Griffey proceeded by tagging out to Taylor. Strickland tagged himself back in the match and tried to chop down the legs of Taylor.
Taylor eventually positioned Strickland on the apron before sending all of his weight crashing down on him with a leg drop. Strickland recovered from this and tagged Lee in. The match broke down at this point as tags began to frequent between both teams.
As the match began to wind down, Lee accidently struck Strickland. This led to Strickland walking out of the match, which nearly spelled the end for Lee. Instead, Griffey accidently kicked Taylor in the head, which sent him crashing to the ringside floor. Lee quickly took advantage of a shocked Griffey and hit him with his signature powerslam for the win.
The Embassy (Brian Cage, Toa Liona, & Bishop Kaun) defeated Dalton Castle & The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate) to win the ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships
Cage took the first few minutes of this match to just toss around both of The Boys like ragdolls. This obviously angered Castle, but referee Paul Turner prevented him from getting in the ring.
Brent Tate eventually made the tag to Castle, who delivered a german suplex to Liona. Liona got up rather quickly, tagged back in, and squashed both of the Tates with a Samoan drop. Brent Tate tried to get back up and square off against all three members of The Embassy, but he was planted into the mat by Liona again.
Castle came in and tried to save face, but Liona threw Brent into Castle with ease. This sent Castle outside of the ring, allowing Liona and Kaun to swing Brent Tate into a powerbomb from Cage. Moments later, Cage pinned Tate for the victory.
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Top Flight were being interviewed backstage before Matt Menard and Angelo Parker interrupted them. This would start a fight between both teams that spilled out to the ringside area. Menard and Parker got the upper hand and cut a promo in the ring about how Ring Of Honor was always full of garbage, flippy floppy pro wrestlers.
This was seemingly pointless, although Menard and Parker are always funny.
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Wheeler Yuta defeated Daniel Garcia to win the ROH Pure Championship
Yuta and Garcia went right at each other before Garcia used a closed fist. After being issued a warning, Garcia threw Yuta out of the ring and then into the steel steps. Garcia seemed to have no intentions of letting up here, as he then trapped Yuta in the ropes and choked him out until the referee pulled them apart. This technically counted as Yuta’s first rope break.
Garcia then trapped Yuta in the ropes with a double arm stretch, which cost Yuta another rope break. Garcia then applied a variation of illegal holds, but refused to break them until he was forced to do so.
Yuta began to fight back at this point, as he dropped Garcia into the mat with a brainbuster. This was followed up by a german suplex and a angle slam, which wasn’t enough for Yuta to successfully pin Garcia.
Both guys ended up having an exchange on the apron where Garcia attempted a piledriver, but instead, Yuta flipped Garcia over his head. When the match made it back in the ring, Yuta hit Garcia with his own variation of a piledriver. Instead of pinning, Yuta began to deliver a series of elbows into Garcia’s jaw, which eventually knocked him out. The referee then called the match, allowing Yuta to score the win.
The Briscoes defeated FTR in a Double Dog Collar Match to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships
This was an absolutely epic conclusion to the FTR/Briscoes trilogy. This might be my new favorite match of the year.
Jay Briscoe was tied to Dax Harwood, while Mark Briscoe was chained to Cash Wheeler.
Harwood and Jay Briscoe ended up in the crowd rather quickly, prompting Harwood to throw a drink in Briscoes face. The two didn’t last long in the crowd, as both groups of men ended up back in the ring. A bloodbath between both teams began to ensue here, as all four men began to strike each other with the chains in tact. After a series of strikes, Harwood hit Mark Briscoe with a Hart Attack off the top rope with the chain wrapped around his arm.
Weaponry began to come into play here, as a table was positioned at ringside near a pile of chairs. Harwood then came off the top rope onto Jay Briscoe with the chain wrapped around his head. Wheeler then yanked Mark Briscoe off the top rope with the chain and sent him crashing into the pile of chairs at ringside.
The crowd couldn’t get enough of the match at this point, as most fans in the arena were standing. Jay Briscoe nailed Harwood with a Jay Driller onto the chain, but it wasn’t enough to score a three count. Harwood fired back with his own piledriver onto a chair and the chain, but Jay kicked out.
Harwood perched Jay on the top turnbuckle while Wheeler threw some more chairs in the ring. Harwood attempted to piledriver Jay off the top rope, but Jay reversed it into a powerbomb on the chairs. Jay then motioned to wrap the chain around Harwood’s face, which forced him to verbally submit after Mark prevented Wheeler from breaking up the hold by holding on to their chain.
After the match, The Gunns jumped FTR from behind. When Austin Gunn attempted to cut a promo, The Briscoes returned to the ring to chase them away.
Samoa Joe defeated Juice Robinson to retain the ROH World Television Championship
Joe started off the match with some of his classic punches, but Robinson turned the tables quickly and put Joe on the mat. Robinson then tried to deliver a jumping splash to Joe, but it was turned into a Coquina Clutch. Robinson escaped the hold and baited Joe to the outside, where he was thrown head first into the barricade.
The match transitioned back in the ring at this point. Robinson wore down Joe with some limb targeting, but he recovered his stamina rather quickly. Joe applied a crossface to Robinson, but it was broken up by a rope break. Joe attempted a muscle buster, but Robinson turned it into a sunset flip pin that was kicked out of at the last second. Joe then got Robinson up on the top turnbuckle and successfully hit a muscle buster for the win.
Claudio Castagnoli defeated Chris Jericho to win the ROH World Championship
This wasn’t fantastic or anything, but I enjoyed it more than the first match between these two back at Grand Slam.
Castagnoli wasted no time here as he immediately went after Jericho and threw him to the outside. Jericho was then thrown into the barricade before Castagnoli threw him back in the ring. Castagnoli proceeded to show off his strength as he tossed Jericho off the top turnbuckle with a gut wrench suplex.
Jericho still played to the crowd here, but Castagnoli continued with his onslaught of offense, as he delivered a pop up uppercut to ‘The Ocho’. Jericho was pretty wore out by this point, but he grabbed control of the match and sent Castagnoli to the mat with a hurricanarana. Castagnoli rolled out of the ring onto the apron, which prompted Jericho to attempt a springboard dropkick. Instead, Castagnoli caught him with another uppercut.
Castagnoli then pulled Jericho out to the apron with him. Jericho took advantage of the situation and suplex Castagnoli to the floor, which almost hit one of the cameramen. When both guys made it back in the ring, they hit each other with a double clothesline to take each other out.
In the final stages of the match, Castagnoli attempted to swing Jericho, but Jericho reversed it into a Walls Of Jericho submission. Angelo Parker and Matt Menard made their way to ringside, which allowed Menard to slip Jericho his bat. Jericho struck Castagnoli with the bat while the referee was distracted, but Menard and Parker were ejected from ringside anyway.
Castagnoli then swung Jericho around about 26 times before Jericho submitted in the midst of the 27th swing. Castagnoli celebrated in the ring with Wheeler Yuta and Jerry Lynn to close the show.
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