ROH has added a new title match to the card for Final Battle.
Josh Woods will defend his ROH Pure Championship against Brian Johnson at Final Battle, which takes place at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore on Saturday, December 11. The pay-per-view will mark an end of an era for ROH as the promotion then goes on hiatus to “reimagine” the company in the first quarter of 2022. ROH talent won’t have their contracts renewed after Final Battle.
Woods won the Pure title from Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor this September. Gresham, who moved to the World Championship division after losing the Pure title, will challenge for Bandido’s ROH World Championship in the main event of Final Battle.
Johnson defeated John Walters in a Pure Rules match on the latest episode of ROH TV. ROH is hyping up Johnson’s match against Woods at Final Battle as one of the dirtiest wrestlers in the promotion challenging for the Pure wrestling title.
The updated card for Final Battle is listed below:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Jonathan Gresham
ROH Women’s Champion Rok-C defends against Willow Nightingale or Mandy Leon (Willow and Leon will face off in a number one contender’s match on the Saturday, December 4 episode of ROH TV)
ROH Tag Team Champions The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defend against The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)
ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods defends against Brian Johnson
Shane Taylor vs. Kenny King
Shane Taylor Promotions (Moses, Kaun & O’Shay Edwards) will defend the ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles
ROH has also announced that, during the week leading into Final Battle, they’ll be uploading Road to Final Battle matches on their YouTube channel each day. Those matches are:
Monday, December 6: Jonathan Gresham vs. Dragon Lee
Tuesday, December 7: ROH Television Champion Dalton Castle & Dak Draper vs. PJ Black & Flip Gordon
Wednesday, December 8: Caprice Coleman vs. Beer City Bruiser
Thursday, December 9: ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen)
The Big Takeaway: Coming off the heels of a great Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, ROH hosts a special “Pure” episode of ROH TV.
Quinn McKay welcomed us to the broadcast from the ROH studio. McKay revealed that this week’s episode of ROH TV would be themed after pure wrestling in celebration of the one year anniversary of the division returning. McKay announced the return of the Pure Rules gauntlet match for tonight’s episode, as well as a main event clash between Mike Bennett and Rhett Titus.
Brian Johnson won a Pure Rules gauntlet match
World Famous CB defeated Eric Martin (3:13)
CB and Martin started with a standard lockup that saw CB get the advantage. CB tripped Martin into the ropes and hold him there, costing Martin one of his rope breaks. After CB repeated the trick two more times and cost him all of his rope breaks, Martin found some momentum and hit a few clotheslines.
CB ran circles around Martin after recovering and eventually locked in a backbreaker-like submission, which Martin would submit to quickly.
Delirious defeated World Famous CB (5:32)
Delirious immediately targeted the lower half of CB, but was met with great resistance. CB responded to Delirious with a scissors takedown, followed by a scissor headlock on the mat.
CB ran the ropes and hit a German suplex on Delirious, who recovered rather quickly and nailed CB with a lariat. Delirious capitalized on the lariat with a triangle choke/armbar combination that made CB submit quickly.
LSG defeated Delirious (5:20)
Delirious was in control of LSG for the first portion of their encounter, but LSG fought back valiantly. As the match progressed, the two traded big moves back and forth but eventually LSG applied a Muta Lock to Delirious and made him submit.
LSG defeated Joe Keys (4:37)
After exchanging a few headlocks and takedowns, the two men came to a stalemate. Keys locked in an abdominal stretch and beat on the chest of LSG before tossing him over his head.
Keys showed a glimmer of hope when he hit a fantastic backbreaker and followed it up with a Boston crab submission. Keys stayed in full control as he perched LSG on the top rope and seemed to be looking for a brainbuster, but LSG reversed it into a crossbody pinning combination which warranted the three count.
Brian Johnson defeated LSG (1:04)
Johnson took advantage of a weary LSG and tried to go right after him, but LSG still had a bit of a fight in him and hit a Rocket-Baby slam for a near fall that was broken up by a Johnson rope break.
Johnson struck LSG with a closed fist and while the referee was distracted. Johnson pinned LSG with his feet on the ropes for a three count.
Mike Bennett defeated Rhett Titus via judge’s decision (15:00)
Bennett tried to out-power Rhett Titus to the mat with a knuckle lock, but was met with resistance from “The Professional”. Titus continued to attack Bennett into the commercial break.
When the break returned, Titus had a leg-lock applied which caused Bennett to use his first rope break. As the match progressed, Titus had control of Bennett as he transitioned between different submissions into the middle portion of the match.
Bennett eventually found a second wind and overwhelmed Titus with a series of strikes. Bennett applied his own leg-lock in the corner, which caused Titus to use his first rope break.
As we returned from another commercial break, Titus nailed Bennett with a running boot in the corner. Titus applied his foot to the neck of Bennett, which caused him to use his final rope break.
As Titus was catching his breath in the corner, Bennett slipped out from underneath him and applied an ankle lock. Bennett seemed like he had Titus trapped in the hold, but Titus was able to use his second rope break.
Once Titus and Bennett rose to their feet, Titus attempted his signature running German suplex but ultimately failed due to his knee giving out. Bennett capitalized on the hurt knee and heavily targeted it in the final stages of the match.
In the final minute, Titus and Bennett exchanged multiple strikes but neither could capitalize as the time limit in the match expired.
Per the Judge’s decision, Bennett was crowned the winner due to landing more submissions and strikes, as well as reversing more moves.
Final Thoughts: ROH TV this week was a mixed bag. While I thought the Pure Rules gauntlet match was a bit dull at times, Rhett Titus and Mike Bennett had a fantastic main event match that further submitted Bennett’s status in the Pure division.
In recent months, I’ve introduced a scale in order to let you know if the current week of TV is worth your while. The scale is as followed:
Must Watch TV
Go Out Of Your Way
Recommended Viewing
Watch YouTube Clips
Avoid At All Costs
This week’s episode of ROH TV is: Recommended Viewing
EC3 is set for action at ROH Glory By Honor night one.
ROH announced today that EC3 vs. Brian Johnson has been added to the card for Glory By Honor night one. Glory By Honor nights one and two are taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21. Both shows will air live on HonorClub.
EC3 defeated Flip Gordon at ROH’s Best in the World pay-per-view earlier this month. Gordon is challenging Bandido for the ROH World Championship in the main event of Glory By Honor night one.
ROH noted that EC3 inserted himself into the World title picture by defeating Gordon and is looking to keep his momentum going against Johnson.
“A win over EC3 would be the biggest of Johnson’s career, and it couldn’t happen at a better venue for the Philadelphia native,” ROH wrote.
Here are the updated cards for Glory By Honor nights one and two:
Glory By Honor night one (Friday, August 20) —
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Flip Gordon
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham (w/ Jay Lethal) defends against Rhett Titus (w/ Tracy Williams)
Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Tony Deppen, Homicide & Chris Dickinson) vs. La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
EC3 vs. Brian Johnson
Glory By Honor night two (Saturday, August 21) —
Steel cage match: Matt Taven vs. Vincent Marseglia (Taven’s future ROH World title shot is on the line)
Bandido & Rey Horus vs. Rush & Dragon Lee
Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Tony Deppen, Homicide & Chris Dickinson) vs. The Foundation (Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus)
The winner of this year’s Survival of the Fittest tournament will be determined on the next episode of ROH television.
ROH has announced that the Survival of the Fittest finals will take place on the ROH TV episode that premieres this weekend (Saturday, June 26). The finals are a six-way elimination match where the winner will receive a future shot at the ROH World Championship.
Demonic Flamita, Eli Isom, Bandido, Brian Johnson, and Chris Dickinson have already advanced to the Survival of the Fittest finals. Danhausen vs. Rhett Titus is the final first-round match. Danhausen vs. Titus will air on this Tuesday’s edition of ROH Week By Week on YouTube.
Flamita defeated Rey Horus in the first round of the tournament, Isom defeated Dak Draper, Bandido defeated Bateman, Johnson defeated Sledge, and Dickinson defeated O’Shay Edwards. ROH said the participants for the tournament were chosen because they’ve all never held the ROH World Championship and aren’t currently in the World title rankings.
The ROH World Championship is currently held by Rush.
Matt Taven vs. Dutch will also take place on this weekend’s episode of ROH TV. Dutch (Bill Carr) is a member of Vincent Marseglia’s The Righteous stable and is making his ROH in-ring debut in the match.
Ring of Honor continues to announce new contracts for members of its roster.
ROH announced on Friday that Brian Johnson has signed a new contract with the promotion. Johnson was in action at last month’s Final Battle pay-per-view, losing to Danhausen via disqualification. As a stipulation of that match, Danhausen’s contract with ROH became official. There was a storyline where ROH offered Danhausen a contract but said he had to win a match by the end of 2020.
ROH’s full announcement regarding Johnson’s new contract is available below:
Ring of Honor is pleased to announce that Brian Johnson has re-signed with the company.
Johnson, who calls himself ‘The Mecca,’ was a member of the first class of the new ROH Dojo in 2018. He competed in the 2019 Top Prospect Tournament, but was eliminated in the first round.
Johnson made his Final Battle debut last month, but he lost to Danhausen by disqualification on ROH’s biggest show of the year.
It was also announced this week that Mark Haskins, Bandido, Amy Rose, and Bateman have signed new agreements to remain with ROH.
