Welcome to another edition of The ROHbot Report – the only article you need for all the Ring of Honor news you have to know. This year’s “Final Battle” represented the end of an era of Honor as we know it before Ring of Honor goes on hiatus until April 2022. With all the ROH championships on the line and promised surprises, the wrestling world’s eyes were on Baltimore to see how everything would play out for all the marbles.
Final Battle Results; December 11th, 2021; Baltimore, MD
– ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman & Dutch) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Kaun, Moses & O’Shay Edwards) to become the NEW CHAMPIONS
– The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) & Miranda Alize defeated Chelsea Green & The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle)
– Wildcard Ten-Person Tag: The Bouncers, PJ Black, Flip Gordon & World Famous CB defeated Max The Impaler, Demonic Flamita, Will Ferrara, Sledge & LSG
– Dragon Lee defeated Rey Horus
– ROH World Television Championship (Four Corner Survival): Rhett Titus defeated Dalton Castle, Silas Young and Joe Hendry to become the NEW CHAMPION
– ROH Pure Championship: Josh Woods defeated Brian Johnson to retain
– Fight Without Honor: Shane Taylor defeated Kenny King
– ROH World Women’s Championship: Rok-C defeated Willow to retain
– VLNCE UNLTD (Brody King, Homicide & Tony Deppen) & Rocky Romero defeated Eli Isom, Taylor Rust, Tracy Williams & EC3
– ROH World Tag Team Championship: The Briscoes defeated The OGK to become the NEW CHAMPIONS
– ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal to become the NEW CHAMPION
“Hour One” kicked the event off in grand fashion as the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was on the line. Things broke down pretty quickly and momentum swung back & forth mostly thanks to the big men in Dutch and Moses showing off their agility & high-flying skills. Sadly for STP, after mounting a comeback came accidental controversy. The SOS used that double team DDT death drop on Bateman before O’Shay Edwards splashed him for a two count that saw the timekeeper accidentally ring the bell; thinking the bout was over. Moses attempted to get his team mentally back in the game after they just believed they won, only for Edwards to get caught with Vincent’s Orange Sunshine Sliced Bread to give Vincent the pin & his fourth Six-Man title reign.
Similar to the previous bout, another solid six-person match occurred next as The Allure & Miranda Alize teamed for the first time against The Hex of Allysin Kay & Marti Belle alongside Chelsea Green. After an early run by The Hex, Green got isolated for a short time before things broke down and bodies started flying. In the closing moments, Belle thought she could win it for her team when she ran into Leon’s Astral Projection to put her shoulders down for Mandy’s pin. Closing out “Hour One” was a Wildcard ten-person tag with Max The Impaler stealing the match with her interactions with The Bouncers; channeling the spirit of Vader when beating Milonas in the corner with clubbing forearms. The doctor & patient that was PJ Black & Flip Gordon survived a series of dives on the outside, getting a hold of LSG to execute that impressive doomsday Canadian destroyer to pin “The Ace of Space” in a very fun bout that perfectly closed out this PPV pre-show.
Throughout the pay-per-view, various former ROH competitors & champions gave their thoughts via videos including Eddie Edwards, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Adam Cole, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson – really adding an air of finality to this era with hope for the future being embedded in all of their words. In regards to words, words can’t do the PPV’s opening match justice as Rey Horus and Dragon Lee went full-blown lucha crazy from bell to bell. While the former ROH World Television champion did a good job in the early going, it was Horus showing incredible heart to withstand an onslaught & fire back including using a deceptive dive by feigning a jump on one side and coming out from the other side. Sadly for Horus, his lackadaisical pin off a satellite tornado DDT didn’t pin Lee and allowed Dragon to rally back before hitting not one, but two Incinerator knee strikes to put Rey’s shoulders to the mat for those precious three seconds.
The ROH World Television Championship match followed with Dalton Castle spending a good amount of time parading around ringside and taking in the crowd’s adulation. His old tag team partner and rival Joe Hendry showcased his increased power since changing his workout regimen during the pandemic by slamming Castle’s most hated adversary Silas Young around. Rhett Titus found himself looking for that patented dropkick at any given moment. As expected, chaos reigned during the closing moments as Hendry cracked the champ with the TV title belt after Dalton got angry about Joe attempting to win. It was down to Titus and Young with The Foundation member avoiding that always-impressive Peegee Waja Plunge to land the Hydraulic Dropkick to pin “The Last Real Man” to win the TV title. A fine sprint of a Four Corner Survival that avoided the old issue of tags by just letting the four men go at it from bell to bell until Titus finally got his much-deserved singles title victory.
In a surprising turn of events, the Pure title challenger found himself down two rope breaks in the match’s first minute. Johnson withstood some early submission attempts, actually using them to his advantage by pulling off a hotshot when stuck in the sleeper as they were in the corner. Woods took a lot of punishment including a Tower of London on the floor that actually hindered “The Mecca’s” follow-up attack where Woods recovered faster and yanked Johnson off the top via an arm drag. Johnson lost his third rope break not long after, getting desperate by grabbing the title belt. It was actually a distraction by Johnson to undo a loose top turnbuckle pad.
Johnson was thinking chess when everyone else had checkers on the brain as the referee attempted to put the pad back on while the challenger clocked Woods via a pair of brass knuckles. No one could believe it when Woods not only kicked out of Johnson’s pin attempt, but also “The Technical Beast” catching his challenger in an arm triangle when Brian attempted to superplex Woods. Johnson refused to submit, passing out without a rope break to save him. Really strong match that definitely exceeded expectations and utilized the Pure match rules to really exemplify the talents of two men who really broke out in ROH during 2021.
The seventh Fight Without Honor in “Final Battle” history came next and this personal battle was nothing short of brutal as Shane Taylor drew a line in the figurative sand with the plunder coming into play almost immediately between two men undoubtedly ready for war. Beatdown Clan-style Kenny King felt Taylor’s wrath early when he not only got bashed with fists, but also the barricades. It seemed Taylor had this in his favor with the intent of superplexing his foe through a pair of tables on the floor when King countered with the blockbuster to put himself & Shane through the wood. The violence would only escalate with the usage of kendo sticks, chairs, and King using Taylor’s own ladder bridge in the ring against him by Superfly splashing Shane through the ladder holding STP’s leader above the canvas.
It was only fitting that a gigantic ladder used as a bridge between the ring and the barricade was the final battleground like two warriors squaring off for their inevitable conclusive clash. A sneaky headbutt from Taylor stunned King and left him prone to the Marcus Garvey Driver through the ladder. With a chair in hand and King demanding that Shane pull the figurative trigger as he nothing left to fight with, Shane finished off his old friend with both a chair shot to the face and the Marcus Garvey Driver on said chair to end this feud via a pin fall. Like so many other bouts on the cards, words can’t do this one justice and, up until this point in the show, was definitely the Match of the Night.
The third title match saw a very enthusiastic Willow getting her first, and potentially, final shot at the ROH World Women’s Championship. Sporting an outfit that one would think honored Delirious, Rok-C found herself outmatched in the early going not because of her lack of size or a strength disadvantage, but her latest challenger knowing her inside & out by countering & reversing some of the champ’s patented maneuvers including that moonsault double knee drop. Though the titleholder found herself failing to really gain any momentum, she refused to stay down; firing off forearms that obviously angered Willow.
With that being stated, Rok’s forearms were chipping away at the figurative armor surrounding her challenger; resulting in “The Prodigy” eventually downing Willow after taking some big maneuvers such as the Pounce and even having her Code Rock turned into a Dude Buster. The closing moments were all about Rok landing big moves off Willow’s attempts at crushing her foe. After suffering a super kick, Rok blocked the second super kick to yank Willow into the Code Rock for the three count in a banger of a bout that didn’t even go ten minutes – cramming a lot of action & story into a brief amount of time.
The fans were really behind Willow by the closing stretch and this match proved that even in defeat someone can come out looking strong. Strength has been the definition of Deonna Purrazzo’s time since being released from WWE. The former two-time Knockouts champion & current AAA Women’s titleholder arrived to confront none other than the ROH World Women’s champion. Deonna declared that after she regains the Knockouts title, she wants a winner takes all match with Rok. When? Where? We’ll have to wait & see.
But the arrival of “The Virtuosa” or the various videos from former ROH talent weren’t the only surprises this show had left to wow everyone. New Japan’s Rocky Romero, who was scheduled to commentate during the show, was approached by Brody King during “Hour One” to join VLNCE UNLTD to take on the contingent of Eli Isom, Tracy Williams & Taylor Rust. With a man short, the Williams-led trio asked EC3 to prove he believes in honor by teaming with them against VU. EC3 accepted and the eight-man tag that followed was a wild encounter with the closing moments being an ode to all the former ROH competitors by executing their patented maneuvers such as “Hot Sauce” pulling off the McLariat on Romero, Tony Deppen stopping Tracy’s Cattle Mutilation with Warrior’s Way, and Isom even using El Generico’s turnbuckle brain bustah to a big, “Ole!” chant. In one of the show’s most shocking in-ring moments, Isom survived Homicide’s Cop Killa. Unfortunately for “Infinite”, that neck damage done by the Cop Killa left him prone to Brody King’s Ganso Bomb and, subsequently, the three count. Just an exhilarating tag bout that perfectly captured the chaotic nature of old multi-person ROH matches.
Apparently frustrated about his team losing, EC3 took the microphone and began a tangent similar to what’s been seen & heard on ROH TV where he talks about the failure of corporate wrestling and how the wrestlers themselves need to control their narratives & futures – grapplers like Isom, Brian Johnson & Dak Draper, with the latter two coming to the ring while unknowingly being followed by two men including the former Wesley Blake from WWE. With an ominous, “Free the Titan!” statement from EC3 came the arrival of Adam “Braun Strowman” Scherr to obliterate Isom, Draper & Johnson before literally taking them to the back for what one can only believe is some type of mental reevaluation. Though EC3’s promo took up way too much time (time that could’ve been used during the show’s closing minutes), the big surprise of the apparent Titan arriving in ROH, even for one night, will have people talking for a long time in a positive way.
Arguably the second-most anticipated title match of the evening arrived with The Briscoes challenging their old rivals The OGK for the latter’s gold as Matt Taven & Mike Bennett brought out Maria Kanellis-Bennett to second them. The crowd was hot with the pro-Briscoe crowd getting their money’s worth by them bringing the fight to the champs like only Dem Boys can. Jay suffered a cut above his left eyebrow early on, giving the champs a point of execution after a big series of dives ended unfavorably for the champs. After some back & forth action, all four men were looking for that big maneuver to put someone down for good. Initially it seemed Mark found the solution after wiping out Bennett with his running blockbuster off the apron before landing his rolling DVD-Froggy Bow combo on Taven. Maria yanked the referee’s leg to stop a sure three count, only to be accidentally speared by her husband on the apron.
What occurred next took the bout to a different level as Jay had to save his brother from a sure pin after taking a Doomsday Device on the floor, the Proton Pack, and Hail Mary. Jay was a one-man army, hitting his patented Jay Driller for only a near fall on Taven. The fans were going wild as Dem Boys called for the end. Taven somehow survived the Doomsday Device, opting for death over failure. The Briscoes obliged in putting Taven’s lights out with the Jay Driller-Froggy Bow combo. Mark made the cover, pinning Taven to attain their twelfth ROH World Tag Team Championship win. No arguments can be made this is one of the greatest ROH tag team matches of the last decade and a fitting way to cap off The Briscoes’ time as ROH’s premier duo.
With twelve ROH World Tag Team title victories, Jay Briscoe took the microphone to declare The Briscoes aren’t done and are ready to take on any tag team ready for what Sandy Fork’s finest have to offer. The lights went out and when they returned there stood FTR ready for a fight; and fight they did. Security had to separate the two teams while the fans wanted them to go at it and expletives were thrown with reckless abandon. With ROH promising a return in April with “Supercard of Honor”, there doesn’t seem to be a better place to have The Briscoes versus FTR and Rok-C taking on Deonna Purrazzo than at that event. What a moment for not only The Briscoes, but also the fans as the stage is officially set for, potentially, the 2022 tag team Match of the Year (or Match of the Year in general).
It was time for the big one – the ROH World Championship featuring the original title belt held by the likes of Low Ki, Xavier, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, CM Punk, James Gibson, Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Takeshi Morishima, Nigel McGuinness, Jerry Lynn, and Tyler Black. As the commentators noted, Jonathan Gresham’s strategy was plain as day: he wanted to take Jay Lethal’s arms apart. Gresham’s focus on attacking his old tag partner’s arm also left him prone to counterstrikes and the former World champion a chance to catch Gresham figuratively sleeping including sending “The Octopus” to the floor for his patented tope that slammed Jonathan’s back against the barricade. Gresham’s back became a big weak point in the bout for him, giving Lethal the chance to work him over and cause Gresham to stumble when he attempted comebacks like going for suplexes or slams that his back wouldn’t allow him to complete.
The match’s closing moments seemed to have Lethal in position for victory when he went for his patented finisher, the Lethal Injection. Unfortunately for Lethal, his left arm gave out on the handspring portion and left him open to be snatched in the crossface chicken wing. Lethal countered the submission after several excruciating moments by hitting an ace crusher. The locker room emptied as the fans chanted support for both men.
All eyes were literally on the ebbs & flows of this monumental match as Gresham surprised Lethal with his running forearm known as “The Bayonet”. One Bayonet, two Bayonets, but the third was stopped as he felt a super kick. The Lethal Injection was to follow. Instead, Gresham snatched Lethal down in the Octopus Stretch – his original finishing maneuver in ROH. Lethal’s body crumbled and Jay had no choice but to submit. The building figuratively exploded as Cary Silkin awarded Gresham the title. With time running short, Gresham’s title celebration didn’t last as long as it should’ve; but didn’t take away from a stellar match where Jonathan Gresham finally reached the mountaintop.
This is, hands-down, one of the best all-around ROH events in a long time. Not a bad match on the card, some truly genuine emotional moments & surprises, surprises galore, and hope for the future of Honor. There’s no reason why a wrestling fan shouldn’t see this and celebrate what ROH has done for the pro wrestling business for the last nineteen years.
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