Tag: Chris Jericho

Bandido makes surprise appearance at ROH Final Battle to aid Matt Cardona

Posted on by Josh Nason

Former Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido made his surprise return during Friday’s ROH Final Battle, saving Matt Cardona from an attack by The Learning Tree.

ROH World Champion Chris Jericho had just defeated Cardona to retain the title when Bryan Keith and Big Bill started beating up the challenger. Bandido’s music hit and he ran to the ring, kicking Bill and dropkicking Jericho.

However, he did appear to hit the back of his head hard on the mat on the dropkick and was extremely slow to get up with the referee even checking on him at one point. Keith and Lee then did clunky-looking spots with Bandido before eventually leaving the ring.

Bandido has been out of action since June 2023 after breaking his wrist in an AEW Rampage match with Konosuke Takeshita. Complications have kept him out longer than expected, but vignettes began appearing on AEW TV several weeks ago heralding his return. His AEW in-ring return has yet to be announced.

Bandido was ROH World Champion for 152 days in 2021 before having to vacate it due to getting COVID-19 before he was supposed to defend the championship. Never having lost the title in the ring became an angle which led to a title vs. title match with Jonathan Gresham in April 2022.

During Jericho’s first reign as ROH Champion, he successfully defended against Bandido in September 2022.

Ring of Honor Final Battle live results: Athena vs. Billie Starkz

Posted on by Jeff Moss

Ring of Honor returns for its final streaming special of the year with tonight’s Final Battle from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defends against former Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz while ROH World Champion Chris Jericho defends against Matt Cardona.

Men’s TV Champion Brian Cage will defend his title in a six-way Survival of the Fittest match while Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet defends against Leyla Hirsch.

Pure Champion Lee Moriarty defends in an open challenge while ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara defend against The Righteous in a bullrope match.

The main card is rounded out by Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tommy Billington; Mansoor vs. Atlantis Jr.; and Jay Lethal vs. QT Marshall.

The Zero Hour pre-show will feature the Undisputed Kingdom vs. The Infantry; Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Dark Order; Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka vs. Gates of Agony; and Harley Cameron vs. Hanako.

**********

It is the final battle of the year, live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC as we kick off the appropriately named FINAL BATTLE 2024! Starting with ZERO HOUR! 

The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) defeated The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds w/Evil Uno)

Kicking off Zero Hour is a match with a little bit of a story to it. A couple of weeks ago, Gibson and Drake noticed that some extras were eating catering before they got a chance to. That resulted in them beating up said extras. John Siver of the Dark Order saw this and didn’t like it, so he stole the Vet’s trademark scarves in retaliation. Then there was an 8-man tag match and now we’re here (Hey, I said it was a “little bit” of a story).

Reynolds and Drake started things off with a standard tie up, but it wasn’t long before Gibson asked for a tag and was granted it. He took the fight to Reynolds, but it Silver quickly tagged in. What Silver lacks in speed he makes up for in strength. Both he and Gibson were able to go toe to toe, because what they both lack in hair, they make up for in talent!

Silver’s strategy seemed to be working for a submission, which was and interesting tactic against two very good technical wrestlers. Drake dragged him to the top rope but Silver flipped things and executed a hurricanrana, opening up hot tags for both Reynolds and Gibson. They flew at each other until Reynolds stacked Gibson up with a powerbomb.

The Dark Order took over with a Reynolds and Silver hitting a spiked spear/suplex on Drake the outside. The Vets followed that a few minutes later with a standing Doomsday device on Reynolds. At this point, Uno got involved (waving papers like the late Brodie Lee). Gibson grabbed the papers and tore them up, distracting everyone enough to allow Silver and Reynolds to land a fully of suplexes, stunners and double kicks on Drake, who was pulled outside at 2 by Gibson.

Silver then seemed to have pulled a hamstring which the Vets took and vantage of to hit a High/Low to get a pin and take the win. No scarves were hurt in this match.

Hanako defeated Harley Cameron

Cameron, a former Outcast, has been hanging around ROH sporadically over the last few months, usually to passive-aggressively take shots at Rachel Ellering for some reason. Hanako is a joshi star in the Stardom promotion and she and her tag partner Maika were runners up in the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2024 Final tournament this year.  

Cameron started the match by doing some warmup pushups. The very-tall-for-a-Joshi-star Hanako didn’t let it go for long though, using her strength and size to whip Cameron into the ropes for a big shoulder block. Cameron tried to lift Hanako up, but did not have the power. Switching tactics, Cameron punched her in the back instead.

Hanako landed a big stalling suplex to keep momentum in her favour. Cameron was clearly outmatched here and ate strike after strike for her efforts. Cameron lured Hanako to the outside and duped her into running into the steel ring steps. That gave Cameron an opening to finally get some offence in.

Hanako battled back, hanging Cameron up in a Tree of Woe. Cameron countered it though and hit a Backstabber and a shining wizard. Cameron tried a splash from the top rope but Hanako caught her mid air and Torture Rack Slammed her to get the pin.

The Undisputed Kingdom (Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) defeated The Infantry (Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo w/Trish Adora & Shane Taylor)

Since joining up with Shane Taylor Promotions a few weeks ago, the Infantry have shown a newfound aggressive streak and certain, shall we say, morally casual attitude. The Undisputed Kingdom started the year as ROH Tag Team Champions and since then have made impacts elsewhere, most notably Matt Taven’s quest to become the ROH Pure Champion. 

Bravo and Dean jumped Taven and Bennett as they approached the ring, getting the upper hand before the bell. They put Bennett into the barricade and then Taven dove over the top rope to nail both Bravo and Dean. Then the match started, for reals, with Bennett and Bravo as legal.

The Infantry were agressive in this match, with Dean hitting a brutal cutter on Taven on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!). Taven and Bennett were separated early and Taven found himself in the middle of a bunch of double teams in the Infantry’s corner. Bravo caused a distraction and Taylor punched Taven square in the face behind the ref’s back.

The Kingdom for their part were trying to find something, anything, to throw at their (seemingly four) opponents. In the end though it was good ol’ kicks to the face that got a hot tag to Bennett who cleaned house and unloaded a series of chops on Dean, and then Bravo. Bennett then used Dean as a weapon, Spiccoli Driver-ing him onto his partner Bravo.

A hot tag to Taven brought him in fresh to clear the Infantry out of the ring with kicks. Bravo was left in the ring to take a Spiccoli Driver and Just the Tip from the Kingdom, but it was only worth a two count. Taylor jumped up on the ring apron to cause a distraction so Adora could hit Taven and set up Bennett for a Boot Camp. But this too was only, uh, two.

Taven wrapped Dean around the ring post, leaving Bravo open for a Rockstar Supernova and a pin from Bennett to get the Undisupted Kingdom the win.

Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) defeated LEEJ (Lee Johnson and EJ Nduka)

The horribly named LEEJ (Lee Johnson and EJ Nduka) take on the Gates of Agony here in what is kind of a grudge match? Johnson has had singles matches against Liona (lost) and Kaun (won) with Nduka as his backup in case things got out of hand. Liona in particular has it out for Johnson and stopped Kaun from showing respect to him on the last episode of ROH On Honorclub.

Johnson and Liona kicked things off with Johnson having Liona a little more scouted this time and fed him all the speed. Liona was taken aback, allowing Nduka to tag in and assault, I mean, isolate him in the corner. Johnson tagged in and Liona got him with a massive backbreaker on the top turnbuckle, followed up by a devastating dropkick and suplex on the outside.

It was then the Gates’ turn to isolate, dragging Johnson to their corner for repeated cannonballs, chops and stomps. Johnson finally got a tag to Nduka and he faced off against Liona, tow big men swinging big arms in a violent manner until Nduka got Liona off his feet with a big Lariat, followed by a Spear.

Liona got Nduka off his feet and they stomped him in the corner. All four men entered the ring and started hitting finishers. Finally Nduka climbed to the top of the ringpost and hit a massive moonsault on Kaun for a two count. Kaun dragged Nduka outside and Liona drove his head into the steel steps with his knee. Kaun caught Johnson and Slammed him on the same steps.

Kaun dragged Johnson back into the ring and hit two huge double powerbombs on him to get the victory.

After the match, The Gates tried to show respect, but LEEJ beat them down!

And now…. Final Battle! Kicking things off is what’s sure to be a banger:

Atlantis Jr defeated Mansoor (w/ Mason Madden)

The Story So Far:  There isn’t one! Mansoor is one half of the crowd-favourite MxM Collection and Atlantis Jr is a CMLL star and former ROH TV Champion. These guys are both excellent in the ring though and have some history.

Tips were touched and the match started with the two similarly sized men wrestling until Mansoor took Atlantis down with a quick rollup. From there, Mansoor controlled the match and the posing. He had a takedown and pose for everything Atlantis threw at him. This earned his respect and the two men shook hands. Really.

Then it was Atlantis’ turn for some offence getting a few quick two counts before putting Mansoor in a Figure-4-like knee hold. Madden got involved, grabbing Atlantis and pulling him to the floor to pose on the ring apron (the sexiest part of the ring!). Mansoor dragged Atlantis back in for a series of suplexes.

Mansoor went for Atlantis’ mask but couldn’t get it off. Atlantis tried to fight out of it, but a big kick put him back down. Atlantis got his second wind and hit a series of backbreakers on Mansoor. Atlantis hit a really impressive trap slam for a two count and then went to the top rope. Madden distracted him, yelling “booga booga booga.” Really.

Mansoor hit a really hard looking slam in the corner that dropped Atlantis square on the head. From there, the two battled back and forth until Atlantis went for a splash, but Mansoor got his knee up. Mansoor played hurt, giving Madden a chance to get involved, slamming Atlantis in the ring. Madden then posed, but who should appear from under the ring?

DANHAUSEN!

He punched Madden in the junk while Atlantis tossed Mansoor out of the ring. He dove over the top rope onto Madden and Mansoor. Then, he dragged Mansoor back in the ring and hit a big splash to get the pin and the win.

After the match, Madden head butted Atlantis in the ring, beating him up until interrupted by Danhausen. He cursed Madden and poured teeth in his mouth. Danhausen then raised Atlantis’ hand as Madden slunk away.

-Backstage the Nueve, Chris Jericho was interviewed, but the first part was cut off due to technical audio issues. When it was resolved though, Jericho declared New York as his home town and listed a bunch of purposely wrong facts about New York and it’s local sports teams. It was delightfully insulting. He promised to leave the “Grand Apple” as still ROH Champion.

Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tommy Billington

The Story So Far: Tommy Billington is the nephew of the legendary Dynamite Kid. Dynamite was one of the best wrestlers to ever lace them up, so it makes sense that his son is fighting Shibata, a guy who calls himself “The Wrestler.” Yeah, I know that’s a stretch to connect, but it’s really all the reasoning I’ve got for this one. All I know is that this is going to be a very, very good match.

A tie up off the top led to some spectacular technical chain wrestling. Applause broke out. Billington got a solid headlock on Shibata and ground him down to the mat. Shibata literally did a headstand to break a hold and slap an ankle lock on Billington. Billington reversed it and sent Shibata through the ropes, following it up with a dive onto Shibata on the outside.

Back in the ring, Shibata locked in a figure four on Billington in the center of the ring. Billington turned it over, putting the pressure back on Shibata. The two rolled back and forth a few times until a rope break. They then traded suplexes, ending with Shibata planting Billington with a leg sweep.

Shibata got Billington in a triangle choke while Ian Riccaboni shouted Canadian city names. Billington managed to get to the ropes, breaking the hold and sending Shibata to the mat with a clothesline. Billington went to the top rope and hit a huge DDT from the top rope! Shibata bounced back though and locked in a sleeper hold until Billington was forced to tap.

An excellent, excellent match though!

Jay Lethal (w/Karen Jarrett and Sanjay Dutt) defeated QT Marshall (w/Aaron Solo)

The Story So Far: QT Marshall and Jay Lethal were both big deals in ROH at one time or another. Lethal returned to ROH a few weeks ago looking to enter the title picture. For some reason, Marshall took great offense to this, thinking that Lethal should be wrestling him if he wants fame and glory. So… now they’re going to fight. But first, duelling awesome Macho Man entrances for both.

The match exploded to a start with Lethal going high early and knocking Marshall out of the ring. Marshall lured Lethal out and drove him into the barricade before tossing him back in. Lethal seemed to bounce back out with a suicide dive though.

Back in the ring, Marshal landed a tornado DDT but Lethal fought back and the two had a flurry of chain wrestling. Marshall bounced Lethal’s head off the top rope and that slowed things down considerably. Marshall tried to get the upper hand, but Lethal was ready for it and the two exchanged blows until Lethal hit a neckbreaker. He followed that up with a figure four leglock.

Marshall tried a quick rollup but no dice as Lethal resonded with a big bang. Lethal climbed to the top rope but was knocked off by Solo. Solo started harassing the Karen Jarrett and suddenly, music hit. Jeff Jarrett stomped down to the ring and hit him with a guitar.

Back in the ring, Marshall hit Lethal with the CrossRhodes of all things, but it only got a two count. He went for a super diamong cutter, but Lethal dodged it and led him into a cutter off the ropes. Lethal missed a Lethal Injection, and Marshall tried one of his own in response.

The two traded forearms and near falls until Lethal managed to land a picture perfect pair of Lethal Injections to get the win.

For a long time, I’ve been wondering about the point of this match and now it is clear: it was to allow a thousand Macho Man impressions to ring out in one glorious Hammerstein Ballroom chorus!

ROH Women’s World TV Championship: Red Velvet (c ) defeated Leyla Hirsch

The Story So Far: These are two women who are very good at very violent wrestling and they do not like each other. Velvet has been the ROH Women’s TV Champion since Death Before Dishonor when she won it from Billie Starkz. Velvet has successfully defended it against Diamante twice, once in a brutal street fight. Now she takes on Hirsch who got hurt in a Texas Death Match against the aforementioned Diamante, and was out for the latter half of the year, returning a few weeks ago. 

Velvet was rapped to the ring by excellent MC, Red, and then she and Hirsch locked up. Velvet had a height advantage on Hirsch, but Hirsch hit hard and hit a lot. Her strength more than evened the odds as she sent Velvet to the mat and attempt an armbar. Velvet squirmed away though, taking a second to reset.

Velvet came out swinging though, sending Hirsch to the corner for some big stomps. Hirsch fought back though, suplexing Velvet. This managed to make Velvet mad though and she shot up and knocked Hirsch to the mat. Hirsch stomped Velvet’s arm in retaliation and flipped her into the turnbuckles.

Hirsch landed a swingout german suplex from the top rope on Velvet, but it only got a two count. Velvet grabbed at her shoulder and she and Hirsch rose, trading open handed slaps. Hirsch caught Velvet though and got her up for a power bomb followed by a springboard moonsault and then good ol’ kick in the arm.

Hirsch worked the arm while Velvet screamed in pain. Hirsch landed a shining wizard but got cocky on the pin and only got a two. Hirsch then locked an armbar on Velvet’s injured arm. Velvet rose and turned it into a powerbomb to get Hirsch off her. Velvet landed a solid right hand on Hirsch, seemingly knocking her cold. Velvet went for Mama’s Kitchen, but Hirsch was playing possum and fought out of it.

Velvet then dove under the ring and grabbed a spare turnbuckle. The ref rook it away from her, and went to put it to the side. Velvet produced a hidden wrench while his back was turned and hit Hirsch with it, knocking her out and allowing Velvet to get the pin and retain the ROH Women’s TV Title.

ROH Pure Championship Open Challenge: Lee Moriarty (c ) vs ????

The Story So Far: Lee Moriarty has been ROH Pure Champion since July, taking the title from Wheeler Yuta at Death Before Dishonor. He’s successfully defended it three times against the likes of Angelico, Preston Vance and most recently, Matt Taven. Now he wants to take on the “best of the best” and has issued an open challenge. 

If this is your first rodeo, a Pure Rules match has a 30-minute time limit. Each competitor gets three rope breaks and one closed fist warning. After that they can be disqualified. Any outside interference is a DQ and can cause a title change. If there is no clear winner by pinfall or submission by the time limit the match will be awarded based on points by a panel of judges. Fun Fact: this has never happened to my knowledge (I didn’t look very hard though). Tonight the judges are: Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels and Rocky Romero.

Shane Taylor accompanied Moriarty to the ring and who is the brave soul answering the Open Challenge? Why none other than legendary former ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness!

Moriarty was shocked but pleased to see one of the greatest Pure Champions in ROH history. In fact it was McGuinness that retired the original version of the title before it was revived a few years ago. McGuinness and Moriarty have a long history too as training partners and opponents. This is honestly way better than anyone that had been speculated about!

McGuinness pulled out a Mic and suggested they do this under the “old” Pure title rules. Taylor got a mic and ran down McGuiness as old news. McGuiness goaded Taylor and Moriarty in a very non PG way. Moriarty asked Taylor to let him do this the old way and Taylor reluctantly agreed. So, what are the “old” rules?

No Judges (See? Told you), wins are gotten by pinfall or submission. Three rope breaks are allowed and zero closed fists. Simple, no?

The match started with back and forth wristlocks, which in any other match would be boring, but in a Pure Match they are impossible to look away from. At 2:03, Moriarty accidentally used a rope break when McGuiness got him too close to it. This is a vintage McGuinness strategy.

At 2:54, McGuinness took a shot from Moriarty that the ref deemed a closed fist and docked Moriarty a rope break. That incensed Taylor who demanded a second official to keep the other one honest. A ref came to the ring and the match resumed with duelling waistlocks and open handed palm strikes.

McGuinness began working Moriarty’s elbow and shoulder, pushing him closer and closer to using that third rope break. Moriarty reversed it into a Border City Stretch at 5:40, causing McGuinness to use a rope break. Taylor lured McGuinness to the outside and Moriarty tried to jump him, but McGuinness moved, leading to Moriarty hitting Taylor. The ref counted and Moriarty beat the count by one second, diving back into the ring.

Moriarty delivered a huge Eurpoean uppercut to McGuinness and went up to the turnbuckle. McGuinness popped up and hit a London Bridge to get a two count. The two traded pinning attempts until Moriarty locked in a second Border City Stretch, forcing rope break #2 for McGuinness at 9:56.

Moriarty locked in a third Border City Stretch and McGuinness needed to use his final rope break at 10:44. From here on out, there would be no saving McGuinness on the ropes. Speaking of, Moriarty used the rope as leverage in a pinning attempt, but the second ref caught him. McGuinness hit Moriarty with a big lariat, but he couldn’t get a three count on the champion.

McGuinness hit another London Bridge and the Ref counted to three, but the second official saw Moriarty’s foot on the rope and since he had one rope break left, the pin didn’t count. That meant that all rope breaks had been exhausted as the two men traded blows in the center of the ring.

The time hit 15:09 as Moriarty tried a quick pin attempt that McGuinness kicked out of. Yet another Border City Stretch was applied, but McGuinness had no more rope breaks. He struggled until he could flip the hold. Moriarty hit a massive DDT, but again only got a two count. Back to the Border City Stretch and Moriarty used the ropes (which was now legal) as leverage and McGuinness was forced to tap out.

The crowd and Moriarty gave McGuinness his flowers, the champion raising the challenger’s hand.

ROH Tag Team Championship Texas Bull Rope Match: The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c ) defeated The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) 

The Story So Far:  Ok, I’ll try to tell this story as succinctly as possible. Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes won the ROH Tag titles from the Undisputed Kingdom back in August. Since then they’ve defeated the Dark Order, a couple of low-tier teams and the Undisputed Kindom in a Bunkhouse Brawl Match. The Righteous, Dutch and Vincent, decided they were done just hurting people and want some gold to go with said hurting. They turned their attention to Rhodes and Guevara (now going by the name Sons of Texas). Dutch was trained in part by Rhodes’ father, the incomparable Dusty Rhodes and has a special bullrope and cowbell that the American Dream gifted him.

Dutch has used that to get under Rhodes’ skin, saying the Dusty wished he was his sin instead of Dustin! The two teams have jumped each other in the back, played mind games and on the last episode of ROH on Honorclub, The Righteous jumped Rhodes at his training facility and left him in a pool of his own blood. This is a bitter, bitter feud that will be settled in a double Bull Rope match which means, essentially there are no rules and they will be linked to each other by the wrist by a bullrope.

Before the ropes could be applied though, Rhodes and Guevara attacked Dutch and Vincent, battling in, out and around the ring with the Righteous getting the better result. They thew Rhodes and Guevara back in the ring as the ref tried to attach the ropes. Vincent and Dutch kicked those ropes away and the brawl continued.

Guevara and Rhodes got the advantage and beat down Dutch and Vincent. They grabbed the ropes and Rhodes attached himself to Dutch, and Guevara tied himself to Vincent. The bell rang and the “match” “officially” “began.”

Rhodes and Guevara set the Righteous up on opposite corners and hit tandem Shattered Dreams. The Righteous used the bells on the ropes to re-arrange Rhodes and Guevara’s faces. The ropes at this point were becoming a bit of an issue as well. The pairs kept getting tangled with each other in the ring. So Rhodes, brought Dutch to the outside and hit him with a chair. Meanwhile, in the ring, Vincent used his rope to wrench Guevara’s arm.

Rhodes and Dutch fought up the ramp with Rhodes using the bell to punish Dutch. Dutch responded with a Bossman slam, knocking the wind out of him. Dutch then produced a table covered in barbed wire. He dragged the table and Rhodes to ringside and dragged him to the top of the ringpost. Rhodes blocked it though and sent Ditch flying backwards through his own barbed wire table!

The two pairs were close to each other on the outside, so Vincent knocked Rhodes silly. That fired up Guevara, but Vincent used the rope to send him into the ring post and hit an Orange Sunshine. Vincent then pulled a pair of scissors from under the ring and cut himself out of the bullrope. Now loose, and with Guevara out, Vincent used the rope to choke Rhodes against the ring post.

Rhodes held on until his arms went limp and just before the ref called the match, Guevara jumped in and took out Vincent. Guevara hit a cutter off the barricade on Vincent and went under the ring. He brought out a table (no barbed wire on this one) and set it up. He then went back for a ladder and set it up next to the table. Guevara placed Vincent on the table via kick to the face and climbed the ladder.

Guevara paused at the top of the ladder and then launched himself down onto Vincent, but Guevara took too much time and Vincent rolled off the table, sending Guevara plummeting through it. Vincent then faced off against Rhodes in the middle of the ring. Rhodes had him on his heels, but was still tied to Dutch, hampering his movements. Dustin went to remedy this and Dutch smashed the cowbell over his head.

Vincent and Dutch wailed on Rhodes in the ring while the crowd booed. Rhodes wouldn’t quit though and took shots from both until Vincent hit Orange Sunshine. The ref began to count and Guevera popped up and broke up the pin. Guevara hit a cutter on Dutch and sent Vincent to the outside.

Rhodes and Dutch faced off in the ring with Rhodes hitting the biggest Texas Destroyer in the Lone Star State. Guevara slipped him the Rhodes Family Cowbell and an emotional Rhodes pointed to the sky in a touching gesture. Then he smashed Dutch in the face with the bell and got the pin to retain the titles for his team.

ROH World TV Championship Survival of The Fittest Match: Komander defeated Brian Cage (c ), AR Fox, Blake Christian, Willie Mack and Mark Davis

The Story So Far: Brian Cage is the ROH World TV Champion. That’s it. He won the belt from Atlantis Jr on the Zero Hour of AEW Wrestledream 2024 and don’t think about why ROH titles change hands on non-ROH shosw too hard, it will hurt. Speaking of hurt, Cage has successfully defended the title against AR Fox while working a double as part of the Callis Family in AEW and ROH. Now he must defend against five other worthy competitors in Fox, Komander, Mack, Davis and for some reason Blake Christian. Christian is totally worthy as well, but I don’t really understand how he got here.

Cage entered last as the Champion is known to do and did so in his Callis Family black gear. A shame as Cage’s ring attire has been awesome in the past, but this new subdued Cage is equally scary. The bell rang and immediately, Christian dragged Komander out of the ring and someone shoved Mack. they didn’t show who, but he flew through the ropes none the less.

After the opening brawl, Cage and Davis faced off. Davis seems to be a cross between JBL and what Cage would look like if he didn’t work out. He tossed Cage out of the ring, just in time for Mack to jump back in. The always underestimated-ly fast Mack sent Davis out of the ring with a high knee. Fox jumped in then and immediately jumped back out onto Christian, then inand out again onto Cage and Mack. Then just a plain ol’ kick to Komander as he pulled him back in the ring.

Komander did his superhero thing which confused the heck out of Fox. Komander threw him out of the ring with in what was rapidly becoming a reverse-battle-royal of a match. Komander went high and tried a 450, but Fox was gone and Christian was in the ring to catch him. As was becoming a theme, Christian then dove back out of the ring.

In the ring, Cage fought off Davis, Fox and Komander. He then suplexed Komander and Fox AT THE SAME TIME. Grabbing Komander, Cage lifted him above his head with only one hand! In case it isn’t obvious, Cage is very strong. Mack got into the ring and stacked Fox and Komander on his shoulders for a fall away slam x2. He then delivered a standing moonsault to Davis and Cage came back in to get a stunner. Fox, Davis and Christian thought that looked fun, so they both took a stunner each from Mack. Komander got a special Super Stunner, and then Cage jumped back in and pinned Mack.

It was here that we discovered that this was an Elimination match.

Fox took advantage and DDT’d both Cage and Davis. He then hit a stunner on Christian followed by a sit-down Powerbomb. Fox DDT’d Komander on the ring apron and then did a cannonball flip onto the crowd gathering outside the ring. Fox hit a spanish fly and a 450 on Komander but it was only a 2-count. Cage then got involved and powerbombed Fox from the top rope to pin him for elimination.

Davis and Cage faced off next, with big fists being thrown at big heads. Unfortunately, Christian got too close and caught a punch in the face for his trouble. Davis and Cage traded about a dozen German suplexes and Komander hit a high flying move on Davis, sending him to the outside. Komander almost eliminated Cage, but Cage caught him midair and slammed him. Christian tried to use the distraction to roll up the champion and Cage threw him from the ring.

Davis took control with a big lariat to Cage followed by a piledriver. Davis then pinned Cage, eliminating him and guaranteeing a new ROH TV Champion! Christian took advantage of the shock and eliminated Davis with a rollup, leaving Komander and Christian as the final two!

Komander went high with a big crossbody and Christian returned a kick for it. The two battled in the ring, trading suplexes and high flying move attempts. Christian dropkicked Komander from the top rope, and locked in a half-surfboard to jam Komander’s knees into the mat. Komander slithered around Christian and locked in an abdominal stretch, but Christian backed him into the turnbuckle.

Komander went to the top rope and Christian shoved him off of it, diving through the ropes and driving Komander into the barricade. Christian put him back in the ring and went up for a splash. Komander moved though and the two traded super- and dropkicks.

Komadner hit a super-poisonrana and Christian staggerd from the ring. Komander hit a massive flipping splash on him outside the ring and dragged him back in. Komander walked the ropes, but Christian knocked the ref into the ropes, sending him off. Christian then hit a curb stomp, but it only got a two-count.

Christan hit a side slam from the second rope on Komander, but Komander responded with a Mexican Destroyer. He then hit Christian with a 619 and a Shooting Star press to get the pin, eliminate Christian and become the new ROH Television Champion!

-Kanemaru and Sho were announced as the opponents for the Sons of Texas in a match for the ROH Tag Team Titles at Wrestledream. Neat.

ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c ) defeated Matt Cardona

The Story So Far: Mark Briscoe was a wildly popular ROH World Champion, but met his match when he ran up against “The Nueve” Chris Jericho in a Ladder War. Jericho walked away with the title and has successfully defended it against Tomohiro Ishii on (checks notes) AEW Dynamite. Aside from that, the Champion has cut a few promos but has barely been shown on ROH TV, except in pre-taped footage. Somehow, the challenger has had even less to do with ROH in the same period.

Matt Cardona has become one of the top Indie stars in the world in the last few years, winning titles and matches in just about every promotion with three ropes and some turnbuckles. He arrived in ROH a few weeks ago to take this shot at Jericho’s title. So, to recap: The ROH Champion who is never on ROH is taking on a worthy challenger who has also not been on ROH. Regardless of how little sense it makes though, these two haven’t met since 2016 where Cardona got a win over Jericho and should put on one hell of a match!

Cardona entered from outside the building on the frigid streets of New York. He walked through the front doors of the Hammerstein all the way to the ring. His Ghostbusters-themed gear was looking fantastic and he gave his parents at ringside a hug.

Jericho entered with the “Nuev-ettes” to the dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York.” He also had a foam Statue of Liberty hat that only a tourist would wear on his head.

Cardona had Jericho on his heels early in the match, coming at him aggressive and fast. He dragged Jericho over to where his father was sitting and Cardona Sr. pie-faced him. Cardona Jr. then threw Jericho into the steel ringsteps.

Cardona picked up the ROH Title belt and brought it into the ring as Jericho staggerd to his feet. Cardona whipped Jericho with with the belt. Bryan Keith tried to help on Jericho’s behalf, but Cardona dispatched him and leapt onto Keith and Jericho on the outside. Finally, Jericho managed to get a backdrop onto the ramp to stop Cardona’s rampage.

Jericho waited in the ring, urging the Ref to count Cardona out. Cardona made it back at 19 though to avoid ending the match and Jericho chopped him in the corner. Jericho battled back and sent Cardona to the outside where Keith stomped him while the count started again. Cardona made it back faster this time though and Jericho took control of the match, jeering at the crowd.

Jericho exited the ring and confronted Cordona’s Dad, returning the pie face. That brought out the rage in Cardona and he charged Jericho, who dodged and sent him into the ringsteps. Jericho then grabbed a camera, played with it for a second, then put it down and slammed Cardona into the steps again, followed by sending him face-first into the ringpost.

Jericho, cocky now, got Cardona back in the ring and began toying with him. Chops, light kicks, soft covers. It was enough to wake up Cordona who began trading chops with Jericho. Jericho came out on top and set Cardona up for a frankensteiner.

Cardona recovered and drop-kicked Jericho, looking for a surprise pin. It was only a two count through and Jericho executed a Lionsault to get his own two-count. He went for the Lion Tamer, but Cardona reversed it into a spine buster. The crowd began to “Woo” as Cardona went to the top rope. Jericho climbed the ladder though and and superplexed him. Cardona no-sold it though and hit a tiger driver. Jericho responded with a Codebreaker, but it only got a two.

Jericho finally got Cardona in the Liontamer, but Cardona wriggled out and Keith climbed up on the apron with the ROH Title belt. Cardona shoved Jericho into him, knocking him off. Jericho battled back and locked in a second Liontamer. Cardona was able to get to the rope this time, where Big Bill was waiting! He kicked Cardona in the face and Jericho went for a pin but Cardona wasn’t done yet!

Cardona hit a codebreaker of his own and came within a hair of winning the title before Jericho kicked out. Cardona hit a Ruff Ryder from the tope rope and went fort a pin, but Bill distracted the ref and Kieth jumped in to hit Cardona with the belt. Jericho rolled over him and got the pin to retain the ROH World Championship.

After the match, Big Bill and Kieth beat up Cardona in the ring. They choked him out until the one and only Bandito made his return and ran to the ring to clear it out and save Cardona.

ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c ) defeated Billie Starkz

The Story So Far: Athena and Starkz may be destined to do this forever. Last year at Final Battle 2023, these two had a violent barnburner of a match. Since then, Stakz and Athena grew close, with Athena making Starkz one of her Minions along with Lexy Nair. Starkz won the inaugural ROH Women’s TV Title Tournament, but lost the belt to Red Velvet, disappointing the Minion Overlord (Athena).

Since then, Athena has demoted Starkz to Minion-in-Training and generally treated her like an afterthought. That frustrated Starkz who got mopier and mopier until it all boiled over during a tag match on the most recent ROH on HonorClub. After Athena used her as a weapon to get a victory (like literally threw her at her opponents several times), Starkz snapped and destroyed Athena’s custom ROH Women’s World Title. That brought about a brutal brawl (wow, lotta “b’s” there) that left Starkz unconscious after Athena sent her face into the title belt. 

Starkz arrived with a big smile in Wonder-Woman gear in tribute to Sumie Sakai. Athena entered in full Two-Face cosplay! I think I read this comic…

After introductions, the bell rang and the rematch was on! Athena began laying in the shots, driving Starkz face into the turnbuckle. Starkz scrambled and started throwing her own ‘bows and chops to the champion. The frustration that had been boiling for months was on full display as Starkz rained down blows on Athena.

These two know each other so well, that it was a virtual seesaw of momentum. One always had the counter or response to whatever the other threw at them. Athena tried to keep the pace slow while Starkz leaned into speed to keep Athena guessing.

Athena knocked Stakz over with a back elbow and Starkz popped back up to lay in some lariats. Athena sent her to the corner and Starkz kicked her way out. Athena caught Starkz’ leg when she attempted a big kick and wrapped it into a standing submission lock. Starkz twisted her way into an armbar, but Athena reversed THAT into a big slam.

Athena went back to working Starkz’ leg, raining down the kicks and stomps and wrapping Starkz up in the ropes to hang from it. Athena dragged Starkz from the ring and walked her around it by the hair like a dog. She jawed at Starkz’ Mom in the audience and went to send Starkz into the steps, but she didged it and Athena hit the steel. Starkz then hit a flatliner onto the steps, bouncing Athena’s head off of them.

Starkz tried to get Athena up in an Electric Chair but her knee gave out. She charged Athena who grabbed her in a powerbomb on the floor at ringside. Dragging Starkz back into the ring, Athena wrapped her injured knee around the ringpost. But Starkz jerked back and knocked Athena’s head against the post. Athena staggered back into the ring and Starkz met her with a DDT.

Starkz hit a Smash Mouth on Athena, but only got a two-count. Starkz began kicking Athena in the face, trying to stun her into submission. Starkz drove her knee into Athena’s spine, pulling back on her arms and chin. Athena fought out of it, but Starkz was able to set her up for a brainbuster on her own knee. Starkz climbed to the top rope, but Athena kicked her and pulled her into a fallaway slam from the top rope.

Athena caught a blast of energy and sent Starkz to the corner for some kicking. She followed that up with a springboard on a dazed Starkz to get a two-count. Athena looked like she was running out of ideas as Starkz rose and hoisted Athena on her shoulders. Athena rolled through it though and hit a codebreaker.

Athena went up for the O-Face, but Starkz caught her mid air and slammed her. The two began exchanging kicks and punches back and forth. Athena caught Starkz in the face with a kick and went up for a pile driver. Starkz reversed it though and landed a pile driver of her own. Athena kicked out at two though.

The two battled on the outside until Starkz hit an Alabama Slam on the ring apron. Athena rolled off and Starkz climbed up and hit an amazing Swanton onto her on the floor. Starkz dragged Athena back into the ring, but she kicked out once again. Fighting back to standing.

Athena picked up Starkz and threw her over the top rope. The ref checked on Starkz and Athena hit a suicide dive that got both of them. Athena pulled Starkz back into the ring, but there was no one to count! Lexy Nair appeared from under the ring and handed Athena a mic. She tried to hit Starkz with it, but missed, letting Starkz get her into an Electric Chair and a two-count.

Athena exposed the turnbuckle as Starkz hit a poison rana. Starkz charged and hit her head on the exposed turnbuckle. Athena climbed up and hit a perfect O-Face from the top rope. She pinned Starkz and won the match, retaining her title and continuing her reign as “Forever Champion!”

What a great night of wrestling!

Ring of Honor TV live results: Final Battle go-home show

Posted on by Jeff Moss

Tonight’s ROH on HonorClub will be the final episode before Friday’s Final Battle.

ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will team with Billie Starkz ahead of their clash for Athena’s title on Friday.

Following Chris Jericho’s attack on Matt Cardona at last Saturday’s GCW show, there will be an update on Cardona ahead of his challenge for Jericho’s ROH World title Friday.

Lee Johnson will team with Bishop Kaun ahead of an expected Friday tag team match that will include EJ Nduka and Toa Liona which Tony Khan has heavily hinted at.

Sidney Akeem (the former Scrypts/Reggie in WWE/NXT) will return to ROH against Serpentico.

In eight-man tag team action, the Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) will team with Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno) against the Grizzled Young Veterans and Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty.

The card is rounded out by Queen Aminata vs. Lady Frost, and the Murder Machines (Lance Archer & Brian Cage) vs. the Iron Savages.

**********

ROH on Honorclub episode #95 arrives to send us straight into December 20th’s Final Battle event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in good ol’ NYC. The card has firmed up in the last couple of weeks, but there’s always room for more!

Lee Johnson (w/EJ Nduka) defeated Bishop Kaun (w/Toa Liona)

Last week, Johnson lost a fight to Toa Liona that resulted in a beatdown until Nduka came down for the save. Not satisfied with the level of punishment Linoa gave him, Johnson this week faces Kaun, but he’s skipping the waiting and just bringing Nduka to the ring with him right away. One can only assume that a tag match between all four men is on the horizon. 

The two men locked up with Kaun having the obvious size advantage. Johnson’s speed and agility though more than made up for it and he remained defiant of the bigger man, shoving him in the corner. That got Johnson a big shoulder to the chops though, with Kaun keeping the match slow and heavy, exactly in his wheelhouse.

Johnson caught Kaun with a big dropkick, sending him to the outside and following it up with a front flip over the top rope onto Kaun. Back in the ring, Kaun flipped things and tied Johnson up in the ropes, leaving him prone to multiple dropkicks. Kaun worked Johnson’s knee over and over again, trying to take away his speed and possibly ability to walk.

Kaun flipped Johnson over with a lariat and hit a big driver. Johnson looked like he was done, but fought back with a neckbreaker and a standing moonsault. Kaun resumed the beatdown, but Johnson was able to sneak in a quick rollup for the 1-2-3!

After the match, Kaun wanted to shake Johnson’s hand, but Liona stopped him and shoved Johnson. That brought in Nduka to stare down both of them. Liona and Kaun backed away out of the ring slowly.

-Lee Moriarty was interviewed backstage about his open challenge for the ROH Pure Title. Moriarty said he’s ready for Final Battle, and anyone who answers the challenge. Moriarty wants to face the best to show everyone that he’s the best!

– After a commercial for Final Battle, Leyla Hirsch and ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet were interviewed back stage under the condition there be no violence. The two jawed at each other and got in each other’s faces, but that’s about it.

Queen Aminata defeated Lady Frost

Aminata and Frost were once top contenders for the ROH Women’s World Championship, but lately have been spending more and more time just being around. Aminata failed to win the Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup Qualifier Tournament Semi Final (boy, that’s a lot of words) she was part of in November, and Frost  has taken losses from Billie Starkz, Reyna Isis and Athena in the last few months. Both women are looking to right the ship here. 

The two tied up with Aminata getting the upper hand. She blocked a Frost suplex attempt and followed up a gymnastic exchange with a huge kick. Frost was not that easy to get by though and Frost rained down elbows on Aminata, which she no-sold. Frost finally got Aminata off her feet and kicked her into the corner for some chops.

Frost hit a Fisherman’s Suplex on Aminata for a two count before putting her into a sleeper hold. Aminata does not sleep though (I can’t back that up) and battled out of it, driving Frost into the turnbuckle. Aminata followed that up with a backbreaker and snap suplex. She hit Frost with a huge knee that looked like it put her away, but only got a two.

Frost delivered a Snowball Fight to Aminata in the corner and climbed the turnbuckle for a tornado clothesline. At this point it was a really exciting match, with lots of near falls and big moves, but the crowd was sitting on their hands.

The perked up a bit when Aminata locked in a modified tarantula stretch, pulling Frost’s arm practically out of it’s socket and forcing her to tap out (with the other arm, of course).

-The camera switched to a shot of the parking lot of a training facility where Dustin Rhodes got out of his truck and entered the building. The camera turned around to reveal Dutch and Vincent, the Righteous, lying in wait for him. They snuck in and found Dustin… vacuuming the ring? Sure. Anyways, they jumped him from behind and beat him down, choking him with cables and smashing his head with the cowbell. Vincent stole Rhodes’ phone and Facetimed Sammy Guevara (Rhodes’ partner) to show him the devastation. The Righteous left laughing, leaving Rhodes in a pool of his own blood.

Murder Machines (Brian Cage & Lance Archer) (w/Don Callis) defeated Iron Savages (Beefcake Boulder & Bulk Bronson) (w/Jacked Jameson)

I haven’t made it a secret that I’m not a huge fan of the Iron Savages schtick. I find it pretty derivative and obnoxious (which as heels, maybe I’m supposed to?). Anyways, watching them get beat up by Cage and Archer, each taking a break from their usual teams, was a pretty great time. Cage is using this as a warmup for Final Battle where he’ll defend his ROH TV Title in a 6-Way Survival of The Fittest Match. 

With four gigantic men in the match, it was no surprise that it was a hard hitting affair. Big clubbing chops, huge strikes and lots and lots of posing. Cage and Bronson started things off and literally just punched each other back into the ropes over and over. Boulder tagged in and stomped over to Cage who was more than happy to do the same thing with this big man. Boulder managed to knock Cage off his feet, so Archer tagged in and the hitting resumed.

Boulder (who looked a little jaundiced for some reason) found himself in the corner taking big running elbows from Archer. Archer put Bronson and Boulder in a choke hold and tried to choke slam them both, but they are very big men and were able to fight out of it for a Beefcake bomb. The Savages were in control as they tried a double team on Archer, but he rolled out of the way causing Bronson’s face to meet the mat. Cage jumped in and suplexed Boulder out of the ring.

All four men battled in the ring until Boulder was sent to the outside with a clothesline and Bronson was the recipient of a Choke Bomb (Chokeslam and powerbomb at the same time) giving Murder Machines the victory. After the match Don Callis got a few stomps in on Bronson, much to the joy of Cage and Archer.

-QT Marshall and Jay Lethal are fighting at Final Battle for… reasons. They were interviewed in what appeared to be a hotel conference room, but Marshall was late. They started anyways, but before Lethal could say anything, Marshall arrived and interrupted. Lethal started talking about how it feels to return to Ring of Honor (it feels amazing), Marshall talked about he’s been disrespected. He asked for the match with Lethal, but Lethal doesn’t think it’s a big deal. Lethal retorted saying no offense to Marshall, but he wanted to be in the Title Picture, not wrestling a random match (I feel the same way). This conversation went on for way, way too long, with both men trying their hardest to make the match mean something, but it didn’t really work. In the end, Marshall sucker-punched Lethal and they’ll fight tomorrow. Moving on…

-It was then announced that on the Final Battle Zero Hour pre-show, the Infantry would take on the Undisputed Kingdom, Harley Cameron will be up against Hanako of Stardom and two big tag matches. First, LEEJ vs the Gates of Agony and then the Dark Order vs The Grizzled Young Veterans.

ROH Classic Match: ROH Women’s Champion Athena vs Billie Starkz at Final Battle 2023

A preview of the rematch happening tomorrow night, this was as good a match as one can get from two women who are very, very good at wrestling. Athena had a facemask on due to injury and Starkz’ bratting was top notch. The two fought in a hard hitting, near 30-minute violent battle and I’m pretty sure you know who won. If we get a match half as good tomorrow night, it’ll be an easy Match of The Year contender.

Serpentico defeated Sidney Akeem

Serpentico and his partner Angelico have spent 2024 as standouts in ROH. Their laid back but also exciting at the same time matches have always been a highlight. Serpentico goes at it solo here, taking on Akeem who is looking to avenge his loss in his ROH Debut in November to Johnny TV. 

Serpentico matches are always fun, so it was no surprise that this one was as entertaining as it was. Akeem has always been underrated as a worker and was able to keep up with all of the speed and high-flying of Serpentico. He even managed to get the drop on Serpentico with a big kick! Akeem then flew over the top rope, almost seeming to pause in midair before dropping onto Serpentico.

It was like watching two video game characters. The moves with crisp, the shots landed and the big showcase spots were just that. Akieem was very impressive hitting a Skywalker stomp and a moonsault in quick succession. Battling on the top rope though, Serpentico took over, sending Akeem to the mat and following it up with a big senton to get the win.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena & Billie Starkz defeated Blair Onyx & Missa Kate

In reference to Starkz and Athena, this match dares to ask the most burning question in all of wrestling: Can they coexist!? The answer is yes, their existence on this plane in the same place at the same time is not in any question. However, the tag team they are forming just a day away from their showdown at Final Battle is less clear. They will be taking out their frustrations with each other on Blair Onyx and Missa Kate. Starks beat Onyx back in October, but this will be Chicago-native Kate’s ROH Debut. 

Athena sent Starkz out to start things off against Kate. It didn’t last long though as Starkz got a blind tag as soon as Athena was near enough. She and Kate battled for a bit before Onyx tagged in. Starkz hit a flying headscissor and laid her out in the corner. Athena distracted Starkz, trying to “warn” her about a DQ allowing Kate and Onyx to get the drop on her with a double team.

Athena grabbed a bind tag and jumped in to pick up Starkz and use her as a weapon. She threw Starkz at Onyx, then grabbed her again to do the same to Kate. Athena then used Starkz in an unwilling Flapjack to take out Kate and locked a submisson on Onyx, getting a quick tapout.

Starkz, furious, grabbed Athena’s personalized belt and ran up the entrance ramp. Starkz ripped the photo of Athena off the title and smashed the belt. Athena tried to attack, but Starkz laid her out with a huge forearm. They two fought until security showed up, at which point Athena laid out Starkz with a massive dropkick. She thew Starkz into the barricade and then beat her up until more security came. Athena took out the guards and started ramming Starkz’ head into the steel ring steps. She then smashed Starkz’ face with the title belt and left her lying, screaming her way into the back. Great end to a great show!

Oh, wait, there’s more!

-It was announced that two more matches have been added to the Final Battle card: Mansoor vs Atlantis Jr and Katsuyori Shibata Vs Tommy Billington!

-Next, ROH World Champion “The Nueve” Chris Jericho crashed Game Changer Wrestling’s HIGHEST IN THE ROOM 3 event on Saturday to take out his Final Battle opponent, “The Complete” Matt Cardona.  They showed footage of the attack while Jericho ran down Cordona in a promo. At Final Battle, these two will fight it out for the first time since 2016, when Cardona pinned Jericho in March 2016. 

Eight Man Tag Team Match: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) & Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor) defeated The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno, w/John Silver) & The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)

This team up makes perfect sense. The Grizzled Young Veterans and Shane Taylor Promotions have a similar bad attitude and the Dark Order and the Kingdom are both looking to elevate themselves back into ROH Tag Team Title contention. Also, last week Taven failed to win the ROH Pure Championship from Moriarty, so there’s already beef on both sides. As mentioned earlier, Moriarty has laid out an Open Challenge for his title at Final Battle so maybe this sets up a rematch? Let’s find out! 

In a great case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” the Kingdom and Dark Order did a synchronized pose to kick things off, signalling that they are going to be working as a unit. GYV and STP were not so cordial.

Gibson and Reynolds started things off and as expected it was a fast, technical exchange. Lots of kicks and whips. Uno tagged in and Gibson begged off, choosing to tag in Moriarty instead. Uno ended up getting the better of the Pure Champion, chopping him into the ring. Bennett, Taven and Reynolds all put their boots up on the top turnbuckle and Uno rammed Moriarty’s face into them.

Bennett tagged in and Drake got a blind tag so that he and Moriarty could double team Bennett. Bennett responded with at Thez Press and tagged in Taven who knocked Drake into next week. Gibson tagged in and a double clothesline from him and Drake put Taven on his back. That brought in the big man, Shane Taylor.

Taylor isolated Taven in the corner so Moriarty could tag in and the GRV could stomp Taven into the ground. Taven fought back and hit a spinning heel kick on the legal Gibson, giving him the chance to get a hot tag to Bennett. Bennett stacked up Moriarty, Drake and Gibson in the corner for chops. Then he delivered spinebusters to them all and went for the pin on Moriarty, but Taylor broke it up.

Uno and Taylor ended up facing off in the ring with Uno getting the upper hand until Moriarty hit him from behind. Then Reynolds hit HIM from behind and a brawl with all 8 men broke out. The dust settled with Uno and Moriarty legal. Drake and Gibson took out Silver on the outside, drawing the dark order into a brawl at ringside. These two teams fought to the back while Taylor hit Bennett with a big elbow in the ring.

Taylor missed a running elbow and Bennett tried to take advantage, but Moriarty tagged in, rolled him up and used the ropes for leverage to get the pin!

Final Battle is tomorrow starting a 7pm with Zero Hour! Here’s the card as of now:

ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c ) vs Matt Cardona

ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c ) vs Billie Starkz

ROH Tag Team Championship Texas Bull Rope Match: The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) (c ) vs The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) 

ROH World TV Championship Survival of The Fittest Match: Brian Cage (c ) vs AR Fox vs Blake Christian vs Willie Mack vs Mark Davis vs Komander

ROH Women’s World TV Championship: Red Velvet (c ) vs Leyla Hirsch

ROH Pure Championship Open Challenge: Lee Moriarty (c ) vs ????

QT Marshall vs Jay Lethal

Mansoor vs Atlantis Jr

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tommy Billington

Chris Jericho explains why Matt Cardona reminds him of Bret Hart

Posted on by Joseph Currier

During a Thursday appearance on Busted Open Radio, Chris Jericho explained why Matt Cardona’s wrestling style reminds him of Bret Hart.

The ROH World Championship will be on the line when Jericho defends against Cardona at Final Battle from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City this Friday night. It’s the first time the two have faced each other since Cardona’s days as Zack Ryder in WWE. Jericho told Busted Open Radio that he’s impressed with how Cardona has reinvented himself on the indies, and he sees a lot of Bret Hart in the way that Cardona is a “meat and potatoes” wrestler.

“Matt Cardona — he’s really done a good job of reinventing himself, of recreating himself,” Jericho said. “And dare I say, he reminds me a lot of Bret Hart. Everything he does is very solid, it looks great, he’s very meat and potatoes in the best possible way. Matt’s not the type of guy that’s going to do a moonsault off the balcony — and neither am I. So we’ll leave that to the guys that do that. And I expect we’re just going to beat the sh*t out of each other with a raucous crowd who are sick of Jericho proclaiming to be the king of New York.”

Jericho said he’s very happy with how the build to this match has gone. Last weekend, there was an angle where Jericho made a surprise appearance for Game Changer Wrestling and attacked Cardona. An update documenting that attack will air on ROH TV tonight ahead of Final Battle.

This is Jericho’s second reign as ROH World Champion. Dave Meltzer reported earlier this week that Cardona has been offered an AEW contract, though it is not known if Cardona has signed or not.

Final Battle is the first of three straight nights of AEW/ROH action at the Hammerstein Ballroom. A live Collision episode is taking place from the venue this Saturday, then there will be a Dynamite taping on Sunday for next Wednesday’s Christmas Day show.

Daily Update: WWE SNME & UFC fallout, Chris Jericho

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The notes of just how much of the young audience AEW has lost
  • All In at Globe Life Field both realities and perception
  • History of famous promotional wars and how they turned out and why
  • Why the few incumbents that lost did
  • The rise and fall of WCW
  • The finances of AEW
  • The issue with all non-Raw and Smackdown shows in the U.S. market right now not involving AEW
  • History of Saturday Night’s Main Event
  • High water marks for the show in the 80s
  • The Hogan vs. Andre match
  • Why SNME went away and its return and why that didn’t work as well
  • Preview of tomorrow’s show and betting odds
  • AEW Worlds End notes and WWE’s head-to-head show in Orlando
  • Full coverage of NXT Deadline
  • Full coverage of UFC 310
  • Tokyo Sports Awards, including unique things Zack Sabre Jr. has done and the history of all 51 MVP winners since 1974
  • More on the new Global Fight League, which features tons of post-40 UFC champions and major stars, to be debuting soon
  • For those outside the U.S. where the WWE Network moves to Netflix, what non-live shows will Netflix be airing and how little it is as compared to the WWE Network
  • Preview of both Tokyo Dome shows in January
  • The death of Karloff Lagarde Jr.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the U.S. TV shows, comparisons to one year ago, segment-by-segment and rankings for the night and week.
  • What CMLL star trained with the Olympic team only a few years ago
  • Pentagon Jr. update
  • Tag team tournament finals in Japan
  • Top star in Japanese group gets suspended
  • Another top star cutting down his schedule
  • International TV ratings
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • Tag team getting a non-wrestling national television show
  • Wrestling legend getting a non-wrestling TV show
  • Notes on the new season of Dark Side of the Ring
  • Willie Mack situation in GCW
  • What wrestler was GCW hoping to get for the Hammerstein Ballroom
  • Tessa Blanchard update
  • Lots of notes about the AEW on sale in Texas
  • Update on Rey Fenix situation
  • Most viewed streaming segments of AEW & WWE this past month
  • Steroids in BJJ
  • MMA Awards
  • Mark Shapiro talks future in WWE, UFC and even boxing ideas*WWE injury updates
  • Lots of notes about WWE shows on A&E in 2025
  • Son of sports legend makes quiet WWE debut
  • Janel Grant case updates
  • Dwayne Johnson movie updates

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Sunday Update

  • We have both weekend shows up on the site. Our week in review show with Garrett Gonzales saw us get into detail with the problems with AEW, Rey Fenix, plus we talked about Saturday Night’s Main Event history and the rest of the news.
  • Bryan and I had a show last night covering Saturday Night’s Main Event, Collision, other big matches of the week and UFC from last night. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night covering Raw.
  • For those in Canada who have been asking, the January 3 episode of Smackdown will be airing on the WWE YouTube channel only for Canada as Sportsnet is dropping it at the end of the year. Netflix picks it up on January 6. NXT on January 7 and Smackdown on January 10 will both be live on Netflix in Canada.
  • I know most know this, but the post-match attack after last night’s show where Kevin Owens attacked Cody Rhodes when he was doing his promo and gave him a package piledriver was exactly as it was supposed to have been. Some thought they had to cut away before the angle because the show went long, but that was not the case.
  • It was very interesting to see Paul Levesque’s approach last for a show aimed at people who would be new to the product. The so-called booking for casuals was fast paced matches with no slow spots, mostly wrestling and videos with a little nostalgia thrown in, and very few angles.  The idea was to keep it simple. I talked a lot on the show about the in-ring style because I found it so fascinating what type of style they went with.
  • At the UFC post-fight press conference last night Dana White said it is guaranteed that Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall for the heavyweight title unification will take place in 2025 and also said he expects the show to break records. He said it would be the biggest fight in heavyweight history. It is interesting that no PPV numbers have come out for Jones vs. Stipe Miocic in November, which was expected to do the biggest PPV numbers in more than a year. Aspinall also said he was told that the match would be taking place.
  • It was interesting that they didn’t book Hulk Hogan on last night’s show but Hogan did appear on the UFC show. Hogan was in Colby Covington’s corner with Chael Sonnen and Covington came out to “Real American.” Covington was hammered by Joaquin Buckley and lost via stoppage due to blood.  
  • The Chris Jericho deal last night at the GCW show in Los Angeles was not a detailed thing.  Basically Jericho was in Los Angeles last night already for Kuarantine at the Whisky and GCW was there and Jericho figured he could shoot an angle with Matt Cardona.  GCW wasn’t going to have any problem with a surprise appearance of Jericho on their show and laying out Effy just made sense for all concerned.
  • At last night’s UFC show they announced for 2/1 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia the main event will be Israel Adesanya vs.  Nassourdine Imavov and Michael Venom Page vs. Shara Magomedov.
  • Corey Anderson, who was announced to be fighting Vadim Nemkov on 1/25 in Abu Dhabi earlier in the week, on the PFL/Bellator show, said that he was told this morning that Nemkov refused to fight him.
  • For Sunday at Korakuen Hall, the final King of Pro Wrestling title match of the year at Korakuen Hall will be Great-O-Khan defending against Taichi. Fans will vote on the stips. O’Khan wants no DQ and falls count anywhere. Taichi wants a 2/3 fall match with the first fall being sumo style, the second fall has Yoshinobu Kanemaru as referee, and the third fall will be last man standing.
  • Matches I was told to go out of your way to see for this week were Sareee vs. Nanae Takahashi for the Marigold title and Flip Gordon vs. Rocky Romero for the Historic middleweight title at  Arena Mexico from Friday. I definitely would also recommend Kile Fletcher vs Mark Briscoe as the best match on U.S. television this weekend.
  • New Japan at 7:30 p.m. Eastern tonight on New Japan World
    • Matt Vandagriff vs. Zane Jay
    • Mina Shirakawa vs. Johnnie Robbie
    • Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs for Strong tag titles
    • Clark Connors vs.  Kushida vs. TJP vs. Kosei Fujita
    • Lio Rush vs. Hechicero
    • Titan & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Jacob Austin Young & Templario
    • Gabe Kidd vs. Ryohei Oiwa for the Strong title
    • Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste vs. Shota Umino &  Jack Perry & Konoske Takeshita
    • Mercedes Mone vs. Hazuki for the Strong women’s title.
  • The UFC Fight Night on ESPN 2 last night did 200,000 Google searches. Saturday Night’s Main Event had 100,000. Both are high for TV shows.
  • Hank Walker & Tank Ledger won the tag team titles last night for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling group.
  • Boca Raton Championship Wrestling today has a show with MJF vs. QT Marshall, Matt Riddle & Stallion Rogers vs. Anthony Greene & Matt Taven, Chris Masters vs. Madman Fulton, Colt Cabana vs. Bull James and Deonna Purrazzo vs. Chelsea Durden plus Missy Hyatt, Brutus Beefcake and Ricardo Rodriguez were there.
  • Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA: Jeri Giggalow b Levi Shapiro, Ray Rico b Jiah Jewell, Beatrice Domino b Angie Savage, Starboy Charlie b Jack Cartwheel, Marcus Lewis b Zane Jay, Too Fresh b Lights Camera Action, Will Hobbs b Vinnie Massaro, Aaron Solo b Fred Rosser (thanks to Jim Davis and Johnny Poon)

WOL: Saturday Night’s Main Event returns, Chris Jericho’s GCW surprise

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

With Andrew Zarian out on vacation through the end of the year, the good ship WOL must keep afloat in a sea of wrestling news so I’m wearing the captain hat for the next three Sundays.

On the Sunday feel-good edition of Wrestling Observer Live, we have to talk about the successful return of WWE Saturday NIght’s Main Event on NBC. While the show didn’t have a ton of news, it was another giant marker in the sand for WWE as they march into another huge year ahead.

I love the AEW Continental Classic and look ahead to what matches are left to come and who I think the final four will end up being at Worlds End. I also talk about the online conjecture about Toni Storm’s return to AEW and wonder if it’s all a bit too muddled.

And how could I not bring up Chris Jericho’s surprise appearance in GCW Saturday? What does it mean for the relationship between AEW and GCW if anything?

All that, plus my theory on why Chael Sonnen is suddenly cornering and acting as a mouthpiece for Colby Covington in the UFC. (Strong hint: he’s trying to get to WWE.)

Click here to listen (no sub needed)

WOR: SNME, Collision, Smackdown, Tessa to TNA, more

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Saturday Night’s Main Event, Smackdown and Collision, plus news on Tessa Blanchard and TNA, Jericho and GCW, Sareee, UFC last night, Chael Sonnen, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:
Start: WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event recap
19:45: WWE SmackDown notes
25:00: TNA notes including Tessa Blanchard’s return
32:58: Chris Jericho attacks Matt Cardona & Effy at GCW event, Arena Mexico notes, recent Sareee Marigold match, UFC notes
36:51: AEW Collision recap, NJPW Strong Style Evolved lineup
57:56: WWE SmackDown spoilers
1:01:27: More of Dave Meltzer’s thoughts on AEW

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Chris Jericho appears at GCW event, attacks Matt Cardona and Effy

Posted on by Josh Nason

AEW’s Chris Jericho made a surprise appearance at GCW Highest in the Room 3 Saturday in Los Angeles, attacking both Matt Cardona and Effy.

Cardona was taking on Effy in a singles match and after a low blow, Cardona was about to hit him with a belt shot when a disguised man hit the ring. He nailed Cardona with a bat, leading to Effy hitting a rough rider to pick up the win.

Effy was confused as to who the man was and then Jericho revealed himself, followed by a Judas Effect to Effy for good measure. Jericho then removed his sweatshirt to reveal an AEW t-shirt and laid in a few more bat shots to both Cardona and Effy before leaving to boos.

Effy was in the news three weeks ago after comments he made about Tony Khan and his father, Shad, on a podcast were then followed by Ricky Starks being pulled from several GCW dates. Starks was supposed to be on Saturday’s card against Cardona but was then replaced by Effy. Willie Mack, who occasionally still works for AEW and ROH, was also pulled from GCW appearances this past week.

Both AEW and GCW will be running the Hammerstein Ballroom as AEW/ROH is holding three shows there this upcoming weekend while GCW will appear there on January 19th — something that also became a public issue three weeks ago.

It’s unclear as of this point as to whether Jericho’s appearance is an olive branch between the two companies or an previously agreed upon one-off build to Jericho and Cardona’s ROH World title match at Final Battle this Friday.

Ring of Honor TV live results: International Women’s Cup qualifier

Posted on by Jeff Moss

The Ring of Honor representative for the Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup qualifier will be decided on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena, Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet, Billie Starkz and Leyla Hirsch will battle in a four-way with the winner advancing to a four-way on January 5th in the Tokyo Dome against representatives from AEW, CMLL and Stardom.

The show will feature a contract signing between ROH World Champion Chris Jericho and Matt Cardona for their impending Final Battle match.

Ahead of their Tag Team title defense against The Righteous at Final Battle, the Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) will be in non-title action.

The show will see title defenses by ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty against Matt Taven, and NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans against MxM Collection.

The lineup also features the return of Madison Rayne, Toa Liona vs. Lee Johnson, and The Outrunners vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari.

**********

It’s the penultimate show before Final Battle 2024 on December 20th! That said, there’s still an awful lot of room on the card (only three matches announced so far), so let’s see if tonights ROH on HonorClub can fill in some blanks. So it made total sense that the show started with a Qualifying match for a non-ROH Tournament!

Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup qualifier: Athena defeated Red Velvet, Billie Starkz and Leyla Hirsch

It started with a promo from Billie Starkz that was quickly interrupted by the ROH Women’s Champion, Athena who turned it into a MeM. She asked Starkz for an apology for her behaviour the last few weeks, oh, and also to lay down for Athena so she can win their 4-way International Women’s Cup qualifier. Starkz protested, but Athena reminded her that she owed her and danced away. Hirsch and Velvet, slated to meet at Final Battle for Velvet’s ROH Women’s TV Title, glared at each other.

Starkz didn’t offer up a Code of Honor to Athena off the top and Athena (after telling the other women they suck) left the ring and did jumping jacks to let the other three fight. In said fight, Starkz sent Velvet to the outside and kicked the much shorter Hirsch in the face. Velvet returned with a high crossbody onto Starkz and Hirsh. Athena then threw Velvet into the barricades.

From there, the match went back and forth until everyone put everyone else into a submission lock. They all got tired at the same time and let go though. Starkz began cleaning house, executing a triple swan dive and got back-to-back two counts. She stared at a prone Athena, but did not try and pin her. Athena then used Hirsch as a spingboard to hit a hurricanrana on Starkz.

Velvet and Hirsch tried to hit a suplex off the top rope on Athena, but Starkz ran in and TRIPLE superplexed them. Starkz had Hirsch pinned, but Athena broke up the count. The two argued and Athena commanded Starkz to lie down. Before she could though, Velvet knocked both to the outside where Hirsch double clotheslined them.

Hirsch and Velvet gave us a Final Battle preview, going one-on-one while Starkz and Athena recovered. Hirsch seemed to get the better of Velvet, but before a pin could be made, Starkz jumped in and tossed Hirsch out. Athena then shoved Starkz out of the ring and pinned a stunned Velvet to win the match and advance in the tournament.

The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum) defeated Premier Atheletes Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari (W/Josh Woods and Mark Sterling)

The Outrunners are everyone’s favourite throwback tag team and have quickly moved into prime positions in the AEW Tag Hierarchy.  The Premier Athletes want everyone to say they “rule” instead of “suck” when cued. This match marks the return of Tony Nese who’s been off TV relentlessly celebrating the birth of his twins. The Athletes entered to Sterling’s usual rap and the Outrunners entered to a huge pop from the audience.

Nese and Magnum started things off with a quick posedown (Magnum won) and Nese cheap shotted him to get him isolated in the corner. Magnum fought out and tagged in Floyd who Atomic Dropped Nese. Diavari jumped in and got a double atomic drop for his trouble.

Later, Daivari and Nese double teamed Magnum and tossed him to the outside for Sterling and Woods to stomp on. Nese pulled them back into the ring and then missed corner shots, allowing Magnum to fight his way to a hot tag to Floyd. Floyd exploded into the ring, slamming Daivari and Nese in quick succession.

At this point, Magnum fell with Daivari on his shoulder, causing a brief pause in the action while his knee was checked. Nese hit a pumphandle driver on Floyd that got a two count. A few pie-faces later and Floyd was Turbo-Charged and fought off both Daivari and Nese and Magnum joined him to deliver a double elbow and Total Recall to get the win.

-Dustin Rhodes joined us from the back to speak about the Righteous. Rhodes says there’s no quit in him or his family, so they can play their little mind games, but it wont get them the ROH Tag Titles. He called out Dutch specifically and the Bull Rope that Dusty gave him. Rhodes said that even though Dutch knew his father, he never understood him. Dutch has crossed the line and at Final Battle, it will be a double Bull Rope match!

Madison Rayne defeated Allysin Kay

Rayne, best known for her run in TNA as a 3-time Knockouts Champion, had her last ROH match way, way back on ROH on HonorClub episode 25, in which she picked up a win over Dani Mo. Since then, she’s been working behind the scenes as a producer and this match would be her big return to action. Kay, the definition of “journeywoman” has wrestled for over SEVENTY different promotions in her career. Her most recent ROH match was a Proving Ground match against ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet a few weeks back. 

These two veterans were pretty much guaranteed to have an awesome match, and it absolutely was. Kay had the strength advantage on Rayne, but there was no ring rust there. Both women traded shots and holds, looking for the other one to make a mistake somewhere.

Rayne hit a hurricanrana from the top rope, and then a crucifix driver on Kay to get the pin and win the match. Super fun!

-Next, The Dark Order joined us in the back. Last week, the Grizzled Young Veterans (GYV) harassed an extra they felt shouldn’t have gotten lunch before they did. The Dark Order’s John Silver saw this and wasn’t impressed, so he stole their scarves, which he and Evil Uno and Alex Reynolds had a good laugh about. So this week, Silver and Raynolds did a hilarious(?) impression of of GYV. The Veterans saw what was going down and stormed over. Reynolds and Silver fought back, but Uno stepped in the middle and glared at his Dark Order buddies, as if disappointed in their antics.

Toa Liona defeated Lee Johnson

Last week, Liona and his Gates of Agony partner, Bishop Kaun picked up a win over Griff Garrison and Preston Vance. This week, Liona looks to go at it alone against Ring of Honor super-worker, Lee Johnson. Johnson (who has a gigantic tag partner of his own in EJ Nduka) has fared pretty well in singles matches in 2024 (11 wins, 4 losses) but has failed to put any kind of gold around his waist. 

This match had a fast start with Liona’s strength and Johnson’s speed keeping them even as they ran through a bunch of quick moves and holds. Johnson made the fatal mistake of trying to chop Liona, which as you can imagine only made him madder. Johnson tried kicks and knees, but Liona took them all.

Johnson went high for a frog splash, but Liona kicked out at two. Johnson popped up looking for the Big Shot Drop, but Liona powered out of it, smashing Johnson with a top rope sit-down drop for the pin.

After the match, Liona tried to pick up Johnson, but the two started fighting. Liona hit a big kick on Johnson and that brought out the very large EJ Nduka. The two big men stared each other down until Lion left and Nduka helped Johnson to his feet.

NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated MxM Collection (Mansoor & Madden)

So as mentioned above the Veterans have been beefing with the Dark Order (specifically Reynolds and Silver, after Silver stole their scarves) and had an altercation with them earlier in the evening. Which led directly to this NJPW Strong Tag Team Championship match against… (checks notes) MxM Collective for some reason. Also Johnny TV was there.

With all that out of the way, tips were touched and Gibson started off against Mansoor. Drake jumped in, but Mansoor reversed it into a double neckbreaker. That brought the tag to Madden who dominated the legal man, Drake. Madden tried to forcibly make Drake touch tips (I do not like that sentence) and Drake caught a flurry of offense.

Mansoor found himself isolated in the GYV corner with Gibson and Drake wailing on him. He tried a long-distance tip-touch to bring in Madden, but no dice as Drake and Gibson started a brawl. They eliminated Madden and then hit a high splash on Mansoor for a two-count.

Madden hit the ring and took out both Drake and Gibson with side kicks and slams. Mansoor tagged in and Gibson tossed Madden into the stairs on the outside. That left Mansoor alone against Drake and to be choked with a scarf by Gibson behind the ref’s back. GYV finished Mansoor off and retained their titles.

Also, Johnny TV was there.

-Backstage, Board of Director Member Paul Wight joined us from the back to announce that Jay Lethal will be coming back to ROH at Final Battle! Lethal, anxious to get into the title picture, asked who his opponent would be, but before Wight could answer, QT Marshall arrived. He lamented the idea that Lethal might get a title shot before he does. The two fought and Wight made the match for Final Battle: Jay Lethal vs QT Marshall!

ROH Classic Match: Shane Taylor vs Kenny King in a Fight Without Honor (Final Battle 2021, Baltimore, Maryland)

What can I say about this match? It’s two very violent men doing violence to each other and doing it very well. Ladders, tables, trash cans, Kendo sticks, all used and destroyed in the first FEW MINUTES of this match. Super fun and worth a watch!

ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara defeated Eric Dillinger & Josh Crane

Rhodes and Guevara have been ROH Tag champions since Mid-August, when they took the titles from the Undisputed Kingdom. From there, they’ve had a handful of title defenses, a Bunkhouse Brawl and a bunch of multi-team/person matches. As mentioned earlier, they’ve currently got The Righteous waiting for them at Final Battle and possibly somewhere in the arena tonight.  As for their opponents, I couldn’t find anything on Crane, but Dillinger is the Asylum Wrestling Revolution (AWR) Champion and has been since 2022!

Crane and Guevara started things off, but Rhodes and Dillinger brawled on the outside. Rhodes left him laying and tagged in and out with Guevara, trading strikes on Crane in the corner. Dillinger tried to help his partner, but was tossed onto his prone partner for a Guevara standing slam.

Rhodes tagged in and took a punch each from Dillinger and Crane. Rhodes was sent to the corner and came out with a big boot to Dillinger. Guevara tagged in and met Dillinger and Crane with a high crossbody. A Texas Destroyer and a GTH followed by a CrossRhodes ended things with Guevara getting the pin on Crane.

Suddenly, the Righteous’ music hit and they ran down the ramp. Vincent grabbed a mic and called Dutch back, addressing Guevara and Rhodes. Vincent asked the crowd if they wanted to see these two teams fight TONIGHT. They responded in the affirmative, but Vincent decided that they didn’t deserve it. Vincent ran down Dusty with a “polka dots” joke, causing Rhodes to grab a chair as the Righteous beat a hasty exit.

ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty defeated Matt Taven

Taven has won every title in ROH except the Pure Title. Taven has been showing some previously unseen technical prowess though and has picked up wins over Josh Woods and Aaron Solo in Pure Rules Matches. Moriarty has been holding the Pure Championship since July when he won it from Wheeler Yuta. Moriarty successfully defended the title against the likes of Angelico and Preston Vance and has been having great success as a member of Shane Taylor Promotions. The real question here is why is this match taking place now with Final Battle just over a week away? 

Anyway, a Pure Rules match has three rope breaks and one closed fist allowed for each competitor. After that, it’s a DQ. If the match goes to it’s time limit, judges will award the match based on points.

Taven and Moriarty started off trading wrist locks, clearly in a feeling our process. for the next three minutes it went back and forth, Taven showing more of the surprising technical skill we’ve seen in past week and Moriarty finding a counter for every bit of it. A big kick to the sternum knocked the wind out of Taven and Moriarty got a two count. At 5:16 Taven used his first rope break to get out of a hold.

The pace slowed considerably, which allowed Taven to recover until Moriarty put on a stretch, causing Taven to reach for the ropes and use his second rope break at 6:31. Taven recovered and connected with a huge kick to Moriarty’s head.

In what I can only hope is a first in a Pure Rules Match, Taven hit an Atomic Drop on Moriarty followed by a big knee and got a two-count. Moriarty wishboned Taven’s hand and hit a huge straightjacket slam into a Border City stretch causing Taven to use his third Rope Break at 9:11.

The crowd got behind Taven as he went to the top rope and hit a big splash into a choke hold, forcing Moriarty to use his first Rope Break at 10:43. Moriarty also got his warning for a closed fist a few seconds later. Moriarty then wrapped Taven up in a Tarantula-style hold in the ropes, forcing Taven to tap out.

-Backstage, Athena joined us to talk about Final Battle. Who would her opponent be? Athena let us know that she’s moving on from Final Battle and is focusing on her International Tour. An angry Billie Starkz stomped in and demanded answers from Athena about their match earlier in the night. Athena said she’s been waiting for an apology. Starkz smirked and offered to give her one at Final Battle. For some reason, Athena decided that it would be a match instead at Final Battle. I won’t lie, It was hard to follow, but the bottom line is that Athena and Starkz will face off at Final Battle for the ROH Women’s World Championship!

Chris Jericho/Matt Cardona ROH World title contract signing for Final Battle

Final Battle is on Dec 20th, so that means time is running out for ROH World Champion Chris Jericho to get the paperwork in order! Last week, Matt Cardona revealed himself as Jericho’s opponent at Final Battle, but still needs to put his John Hancock on the contract. So, as with all matters of HR in wrestling, they are going to take care of it in the ring! 

Let me just say that of all the recurring wrestling tropes that exist the “Contract Signing” is my least favourite. At best they are the same thing over and over again, where one person jaws at the other, they fight, usually at the cost of a table and then the one left standing angrily signs whatever documentation is needed. (I do like that they bring out special chairs for them though). 

Anyway, Jericho came out with a Yankees hat on, as is apropriate for the King of New York. Cardona came out with his usual amount of pomp and circumstance. Tony Schiavone played host and gave a mic to Jericho. Jericho ran down the local sports teams while rhyming off his accolades. Cardona tried to talk, but was shushed by Jericho.

Jericho told Cardona he’s lucky Jericho granted him a shot at the ROH Title. He congratulated Cardona on having his biggest match ever; this one. But there will be no way that he will get the title from him. Cardona had enough and interrupted Jericho, telling him to shut up.

Cardona called Jericho a bull-spit artist and completely fake about his proclaimed love for Ring of Honor. Cardona called his shot at the ROH Title the biggest match of his life. It’s not about Jericho or the Title, it’s about Cardona needing to prove to himself that he’s the best. He then signed the contract. Angrily. Jericho asked to borrow a pen from Schiavone, then said that he should probably step out of the ring now.

Jericho went to sign the papers, but delayed, faking the crowd out over and over again. Finally, he signed, reluctantly. He stuck his hand out and Cardona took it… and threw Jericho into the ropes! He then put Jericho through a table and stood tall with the ROH Belt over top of him as the show ended.

World title contract signing announced for Ring of Honor TV

Posted on by Josh Nason

The contract for the Ring of Honor World title match at Final Battle between champion Chris Jericho and top challenger Matt Cardona will be signed as part of Thursday’s ROH on HonorClub.

Jericho made the announcement during Wednesday’s Dynamite, adding that Cardona will take on Bryan Keith of The Learning Tree on Friday’s AEW Rampage.

Cardona surprised Jericho by revealing himself last Thursday as his opponent for the Friday, December 20th streaming special from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. It will be Cardona’s first-ever ROH match and his first singles clash with Jericho since a March 2016 WWE Raw. Jericho will be looking for his second title defense.

Here’s the current lineup for Thursday:

  • Chris Jericho/Matt Cardona ROH World title contract signing for Final Battle
  • International Women’s Cup qualifier: Athena vs. Red Velvet vs. Billie Starkz vs. Leyla Hirsch
  • ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara in non-title action
  • ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty defends against Matt Taven
  • NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defend against MxM Collection (Mansoor & Madden)
  • Toa Liona vs. Lee Johnson
  • Madison Rayne in action
  • The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum) vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari

Two title matches official for Ring of Honor Final Battle

Posted on by Josh Nason

The card continues to fill out for this month’s Ring of Honor Final Battle streaming special with two title matches made official during Thursday’s TV show on HonorClub.

In a TV Time segment, Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho learned who his challenger will be at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday, December 20th: Matt Cardona.

However, it came off as surprise to Jericho even though he said he came up with a challenger from New York City. However, he wasn’t expecting to see his former partner in WWE instead of whomever he chose.

It will be Cardona’s first-ever ROH appearance and his first singles match with Jericho since a March 2016 WWE Raw. Jericho will be looking for his second title defense.

In a match that has been building on ROH TV for weeks, reigning Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara will defend against The Righteous.

Vincent & Dutch are looking for their first taste of gold in ROH since they held the Six-Man titles as recently as 2022 while Rhodes and Guevara have defended the titles just once since winning them in August.

Here’s the current lineup for the Friday, December 20th streaming special from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City:

  • ROH World Champion Chris Jericho defends against Matt Cardona
  • ROH Tag Team Champions Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) defend against The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)
  • ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet defends against Leyla Hirsch

Ring of Honor TV live results: Chris Jericho makes a Final Battle announcement

Posted on by Jeff Moss

Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho will appear on tonight’s HonorClub show to talk more about who his opponent will be for this month’s Final Battle.

Jericho announced his TV Time segment during Wednesday’s Dynamite.

Ahead of her opportunity to qualify for the International Women’s Cup at Wrestle Dynasty, former Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz will take on Lady Frost.

Former ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata will face Alex Reynolds of the Dark Order while Rachael Ellering takes on Trish Adora.

The show will feature plenty of tag team action as well as the Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) challenge Griff Garrison & Preston Vance while JD Drake & Beef will be in action against opponents to be named.

In six-man action, Shane Taylor & The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean) will battle Top Flight (Darius and Dante Martin) & Action Andretti.

**********

It’s Thursday and it’s only two weeks away from ROH Final Battle 2024 on Dec 20th! The only match made official so far is ROH Women’s World TV Champion Red Velvet defending against “Legit” Leyla Hirsch. Aside from that, there’s nothing official for the Pure Championship held by Lee Moriarty (though Matt Taven has been chasing him), Brian Cage and the ROH World TV Title or Athena’s ROH Women’s World Championship. The Righteous are gunning for the ROH Tag Titles, there a ton of teams in contention for the 6-Man Titles but neither have been added to the card. Finally, the ROH World Champion “The Nueve” Chris Jericho will be at Final Battle to defend his championship, but against who? Hopefully Episode 93 of ROH On HonorClub has some answers!

-The Grizzled Young Veterans kicked off the show with a promo lamenting that the extras get to eat before the talent does! They approached one such extra and smashed some cake in his face.

Katsuyori Shibata defeated Alex Reynolds (w/Evil Uno)

According to the detailed records kept on the internet, Shibata has gone 16-2 since returning to ROH in 2023. He’s only suffered defeats at the hands of Wheeler Yuta and Eddie Kingston. Earlier this year, he beat on the Dark Order’s Evil Uno and hopefully will get a trifecta match against John Silver in the future. Reynolds for his part has never won a singles match in Ring of Honor. But the Dark Order jackets still look cool, so he’s got that going for him! 

Reynolds has had a taped up midsection for the last couple of weeks, but Shibata didn’t really need the advantage. Shibata was clearly the better technical wrestler here and once he got Reynolds on the mat he was able to completely control the match. Reynolds did his best to keep up but could only get out of it via rope break.

Uno got involved, grabbing the leg of Shibata to give Reynolds an opening. He brought a bit more hard hitting style to Shibata, getting a neckbreaker and a near fall followed by a DDT. Shibata fought back though, waking up after Reynolds dared to chop him. Shibata no-sold a series of chops before driving Reynolds into the corner with a series of his own.

Shibata planted Reynolds with a Spicolli driver followed by an octopus stretch. Reynolds held on as long as he could, but was forced to tap out.

BEEF and JD Drake defeated Waves and Curls (Jaylen Brandyn & Traevon Jordan)

BEEF’s enthusiastic displays of pro wrestling have won over the audience, but not so much Drake. I’ve never seen a person get so upset when his tag team partner is happy to be a wrestler and often gets the win! That said, they took on (sigh) Waves and Curls.

The match wasn’t really much more than a squash. Jordan started things off with Drake, who beat him up a lot. Then Brandyn tagged in and BEEF beat up him a lot. Then BEEF pinned Brandyn. Not exactly a match to send BEEF and Drake to the top of the tag division, but a win none the less.

-Jay Lethal and QT Marshall had a conversation in the back that was half action figure commercial, half challenge on the part of QT. Lethal declined the match and that was about it. But hey, new action figure for Lethal!

Trish Adora defeated Rachael Ellering

Adora has been pulling double duty as of late, wrestling matches (most recently a win against Erica Leigh) and managing The Infantry as part of Shane Taylor Promotions. Joining STP has given Adora a chance to explore her violent side and Ellering knows all about violence. Ellering is 3-7 this year in singles competition, but has been leaning into a newfound aggressive streak lately, but her most recent win is from back in August against Maggie Lee. 

The match began with what seemed like an exceptionally long tie up grapple. Then Ellering moved into a wristlock. Tired of doing nothing at this point, Adora punched Ellering in the face. That woke her up and she levelled Adora with a huge shoulder off the ropes.

Adora rained down some hard strikes and kicks on Ellering, not giving her room to get set. Adora kicked Ellering’s shoulder out from under her and followed up with a drop down arm bar. Adora then stomped on Ellering’s wrist to drive home the point.

Ellering is kinda like the Juggernaut in that once she gets moving, she’s hard to stop. After reversing a suplex, she threw Adora around the ring hitting her with kicks, fists, shoulders and using sheer momentum to keep Adora off her feet.

Adora got her stride back though and hit a Lights Out lariat to put Ellering on the mat for good and pick up the win.

TV Time with ROH World Champion “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho

Jericho won the ROH World title from Mark Briscoe several weeks ago in a Ladder War and successfully defended it against old foe Tomohiro Ishii. All this without actually stepping into an ROH Ring. The question of who Jericho will face at Final Battle has been on everyone’s mind. This ROH edition of TV TIme would hopefully give us some answers.

Jericho kicked off the segment by introducing Bryan Keith who demanded the crowd respect Jericho. Jericho said that he has some information on his Final Battle opponent. Jericho said that he came up with something special, someone from New York City. Someone with the Warrior Attitude of the Windy City. Suddenly, music hit and who should come walking out?

As the internet (that he was once champion of) spoiled 24 hours ago, it was the one and only Matt Cardona!

Cardona climbed into the ring and trashed the TV Time set. Jericho seemed to be confused, and Cardona grabbed a Mic to declare that he would fight and win in NYC and become the new ROH World Champion. He knocked Jericho’s hat off and then left.

While I am stoked to see Cardona vs Jericho at Final Battle, one does have to ask, was there not one person on the ROH Roster who’s there every week that would deserve a title shot? I know ROH is very faction and team-heavy these days, but surely someone like Lee Johnson or Shane Taylor or even a rematch with Mark Briscoe would make a great Main Event of Final Battle. That said, Woo woo woo! 

-Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno talked in the back. John Silver joined them revealing he had stolen the scarves of the Grizzled Young Veterans in retaliation for how they treated those extras earlier.

Gates Of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) defeated Griff Garrison & Preston Vance

Garrison and Vance are still trying to find their footing as a team but did manage to pick up a win over Waves and Curls a couple of weeks ago. Kaun and Linoa, out of fresh meat in their troughs, have come looking to choose violence. It’s kind of all that’s on the menu for Gates of Agony who are currently 17-1 since arriving in ROH in 2022. 

Vance and Garrison got the upper hand off the top by jumping Liona and sending him to the outside before double teaming Kaun. That gave them a chance to keep him isolate in their corner, working him over while Liona paced on the opposite side of the ring.

Kaun literally leapt across 3/4ths of the ring to dropkick Garrison and get a tag to Liona. Liona shasmed his way through both Garrison and Vance. Liona got Vance on his shoulders, but Garrison jumped in to try and break it up. Without missing a beat, Liona flattened them both.

Kaun tagged back in and he and Garrison battled while Vance threw Liona into the stairs on the outside. Garrison tried a torture rack bomb, but Kaun kicked out. Linoa returned from the stairs and took out Vance so Kaun could land a big slam on the legal man, Garrison, and get the pin.

-Lexy Nair interveiwed Rachel Ellering in the back but before she could say anything, Harley Cameron showed up. She passive-aggressively made fun of Ellering, and then produced a small trophy with a dog on it, saying that Ellering was “Top dog!’ Ellering was touched, and the two women awkwardly hugged with Nair in between them.

Billie Starkz defeated Lady Frost

Starkz and Frost have two things in common: They both like to beat people up and they both have something of a “tense” relationship with the ROH Women’s World Champion, Athena. Frost lost a Proving Ground match to the Champion back in October and Athena and Lexy Nair have been giving the demoted-to-Minion-in-Training Starkz the bums for months. With Athena’s dance card at Final Battle still open, this match had the potential to set something up for either of these women.

Starkz has been coming out in darker gear and with darker purple hair lately, signalling her ennui. That didn’t stop her from Bratting her way around Frost though, setting her into a tight choke hold. Frost did a bunch of gymnastics style moves, but failed to notice that Starkz was just standing there watching for the most part.

A giant kick from Starkz knocked Frost on her back a gave Starkz the opening she needed to get her into the corner. Frost tried to fight back with kicks of her own, but another face kick from Starkz stopped that offensive surge in it’s tracks. Starkz then caught Frost with a quick rollup and got the win.

-A graphic made it official: At Final Battle, The Righteous will try and take the ROH Tag Titles from Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara!

ROH Classic Match: ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji (ROH Final Battle 2008 @ Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York, USA)

It’s easy to forget that Nigel McGuinness was once ROH World Champion. Not because he’s a bad or unimpressive wrestler, but because I can barely remember last week, let alone 16 years ago. Marufuji is still wresting today, working in Pro Wrestling NOAH as recently as last week. He’s current one-half of the GHC Tag Team Champions in fact! A great match and worth a watch if you’ve got 18 minutes to get rid of!

-Back in the present, Matt Taven cut a promo in the back, calling out ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty. Taven said that next week, the powers that be have made it official: Matt Taven vs Lee Moriarty for the Pure Championship! Seems like an odd time to do that with a major event on the horizon, but who am I to judge?

Action Andretti & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin) (w/Leila Grey) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Carlie Bravo, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean) (w/Trish Adora)

It’s a heavyweight Main Event this week and one that the current ROH Six-Man Tag Champions (Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs) would be keeping a close eye on. With so many teams in ROH right now, it’s kind of strange that the 6-Man Championships have been on the back burner, but when they return, it should be to a hot feud. Top Flight and Andretti have been solid in the past few months and once The Infantry joined up with STP they’ve been on a whole new level. 

Andretti and Dean kicked off the match, each shoving the other, probably because they couldn’t decide who’s hair had more bounce. Martin tagged in quickly and he and Andretti double kicked Dean. Top Flight were all over Dean and Bravo as both teams tagged in and out in a flurry of moves. ON the outside, Dean dropped Andretti on his head on the apron (the hardest part of the ring!) and Taylor followed it up with a huge legdrop.

Andretti found himself trapped in the STP corner taking shots from Dean and Bravo one after the other. Finally he got a hot tag to Darious, which brought in Taylor. All three members of Top Flight triple teamed him, until Bravo and Dean caught some feet and threw Andretti and Dean to the outside. They hit Boot Camp on Bravo, but it wasn’t enough to finish him off.

A mele broke out and after a bit of brawling, Andretti cleared the house, and Duante climbed the top rope to hit a huge splash on a prone Dean int he ring. 1-2-3 and it was over with Top Flight getting the win.

Spoiler: Chris Jericho’s ROH Final Battle challenger revealed

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Chris Jericho’s ROH World title challenger at Final Battle has been revealed.

Matt Cardona made a surprise appearance at Wednesday night’s Ring of Honor TV and AEW Dynamite taping in Fishers, Indiana to confront Jericho and challenge him to an ROH World title match at Final Battle on December 20.

The challenge came on a TV Time with Chris Jericho segment taped for Ring of Honor TV following Wednesday’s live Dynamite episode. In the segment, Jericho was accompanied by Bryan Keith, noting that Big Bill was in Nepal studying.

Notes on the segment from our Jim Valley:

Chris Jericho came out with Bryan Keith. Chris Jericho said Big Bill was sent to Nepal to study the lessons of The Learning Tree.

Chris says at Final Battle he wants to face someone from New York. He lists, among others, Tony Soprano, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Rodz.

Out comes Matt Cardona. 

Chris says, If it isn’t Zack…” and Cardona grabs the mic and says “Zack is dead. The man who’s going to beat you at Final Battle is Matt Cardona”

“Nice hat!” as Matt knocked Jericho’s cowboy hat off his head and backed out of the ring and down the aisle to end the segment.

Cardona last wrestled for AEW in March on Collision as a surprise challenger for then-TNT Champion Adam Copeland.

Jericho defending the ROH World title against Cardona is the second match official for the Honor Club special set for Friday, December 20. ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet defending her title against Leyla Hirsch is already official for the show.

AEW Dynamite live results: ROH World title match, Continental Classic begins

Posted on by Ryan Howard

The Full Gear fallout edition of AEW Dynamite returns to Chicago with a Ring of Honor World title match plus the kickoff to the Continental Classic.

In just their second career singles meeting, Chris Jericho and Tomohiro Ishii will square off with Jericho’s ROH title on the line. The previous match between the two was also on a Thanksgiving Eve edition of Dynamite in November 2022.

The second-ever Continental Classic kicks off with Darby Allin vs. Brody King and Ricochet vs. Claudio Castagnoli in the Gold league, and Mark Briscoe vs. Shelton Benjamin in the Blue league.

In the kickoff to the AEW qualifier portion of the Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup, Queen Aminata takes on Jamie Hayter.

The follow-up from Full Gear will start to play out after Jon Moxley retained the AEW World Championship with a victory over Orange Cassidy in last Saturday’s PPV main event, followed by a chaotic scene.

**********

AEW Dynamite comes on the air with a November Rain recap video from Full Gear, ending with Darby Allin outside the arena, bloody and stumbling out of the car he ran into The Death Riders truck, saying it’ll be hard for Jon Moxley to kill AEW, when he’s the one who dies first.

Excalibur welcomes us alongside Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness and says there will be some changes to the format of the Continental Classic this year, as everyone is barred from ringside and there is a 20-minute time limit. Similar to last year, 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw. We’re told the Gold League winner will face the Blue League runner-up and Blue League winner faces the Gold League runner-up at World’s End, as well as the Continental Classic Finals. So, both winners will be competing twice that night.

The Hurt Syndicate make their way to the ring, as MVP has an official announcement for the audience. Seeing as they’re in Chicago, it’s fitting to say he’s standing between two of the finest ever to grace a wrestling ring and compares Shelton Benjamin to Walter Payton and Bobby Lashley to Michael Jordan. The crowd chants for MVP, but he said it’s not about him, it’s about The Syndicate and lessons they teach. When he offers you his business card, it’s giving you a golden ticket. If you turn them down and are arrogant like Swerve Strickland, as they throw to highlights of Lashley defeating Strickland at Full Gear. MVP said Strickland isn’t the most dangerous man in AEW, Lashley is, the walking Armageddon. Their mission statement is to take championship titles and leverage them to more money and power. They are the merchants of misery and tonight, Benjamin will show you what they’re capable of. They’re the best in the industry at hurting people.

Shelton Benjamin defeated Mark Briscoe in the Continental Classic Blue League

(These two hadn’t faced each other since the Worlds Greatest Tag Team & Briscoes feuded in Ring of Honor, so it’s nice to see them pick up where they left off. This will be a running trend to say this for the entire C2, but this was a very good match to kick off the tournament. Benjamin has looked awfully impressive since coming to AEW and there’s not many better than Briscoe to make his opponent look good. I’m hopeful Briscoe gets more wins this year than he did last year, but tonight, it was important to make Benjamin look strong and he did just that.)

Briscoe had a stare-down with Lashley, as he & MVP were heading to the back and is a match I really want to see in the near future. Seemingly we had a Code of Honor, but Benjamin tried to pull Briscoe in, who quickly threw a chop and dive to the outside. Briscoe tried to fire up the crowd, but the delay led to an overhead suplex by Benjamin, who drove Briscoe into the steps and wanted a count-out. Briscoe recovered, brought Benjamin back outside and hit a somersault dive landing on his feet. Briscoe went up top, as Benjamin sprung to his feet, scaled the ropes and hit a superplex as things went to commercial.

Benjamin remained in control when things returned, until Briscoe started no-selling and firing up. Palm strikes backed up Benjamin, allowing Briscoe to fire off chops and rolling Death Valley Driver. Up top again, Briscoe successfully hits the Froggy Bow, but clutched his own ribs in the process. Benjamin rolled outside, but Briscoe hit another elbow from the apron. Back inside, Briscoe wanted a third, but Benjmain got the knees up and hit a series of German suplexes before Briscoe put on the brakes with an enzugiri. Benjamin avoided Jay Driller and hit the rewind kick, followed by the step-up corner knee and monster thrust kick for two. Benjamin hit another flush before hitting the T-Bone Suplex for the victory. Post match, Lashley & MVP came to the ring to celebrate with Benjamin, who is on the board first in the Continental Classic tournament.

**********

-Tony Schiavone welcomes TBS Champion Mercedes Mone to the stage, as balloons are set on the entrance. Mone comes out with Kamille, still with her arm in a sling, as she demands Chicago say hello to their C.E.O. Schiavone said Mone turned the wrestling world on it’s head after her victory at Full Gear with Kris Statlander and said many consider it the women’s Match of the Year. Mone said it feels good and Statlander proved she’s one of the best, but Mone proved she’s the greatest TBS Champion of all time. Mone said since Kamille can’t get anything right, (she was about to fire her) when Kamille took the mic and demanded she shut up. She questioned if Mone is stupid or dumb and said Mone can’t fire her, she quits. Kamille stormed out and Mone had a temper-tantrum as the crowd chanted “You Deserve It.” This whole falling out has felt super rushed and pretty underwhelming, but the crowd did react to Kamille finally standing up for herself.

-Video package of Big Boom AJ, Big Justice & The Rizzler defeating QT Marshall on Zero Hour at Full Gear and the social media traction it received.

Chris Jericho (w/Big Bill & Bryan Keith) defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain the ROH World Title

(I enjoyed the closing moments the most in this, as the Judas Effects that Jericho was able to connect with were some of the most violent of his career. Their first match was filled with chops galore and this was similar, just with slaps to the face. I think they overdid it with them, as the crowd weren’t as wild as they were for their first encounter. Regardless, Jericho retains and I’m not sure who he’s on track to face come Final Battle. They should build that story up on ROH TV a while.)

Bill joined commentary and presented Schiavone with a sapling tree he hopes can grow over time, as the quizzical look on Schiavone’s face was hysterical. The match begins and similar to their last match, was nothing but chops. Jericho hit a big boot, but Ishii bounced back with a lariat as Bill made a Devin Hester reference on commentary, while making tree references that McGuinness said was very insightful. Both men fought to the apron where Jericho spiked Ishii with a DDT on the apron, which, despite not having a neck, still had to be painful. Back in the ring, Jericho opted to start a slap battle, which did nothing but wake Ishii up. Jericho is bleeding from the mouth, as things went to commercial with the slap exchange continuing throughout.

Back from break, the slaps continued, but they went up the ropes and Jericho hit a superplex, which Ishii popped right up from. The slaps pick back up until finally Jericho hit a release German suplex. Jericho wanted a Judas Effect, but Ishii threw a lariat at the same time and both collapsed. Both up slow, but Jericho hit a fireman’s carry slam into the Lionsault for two. Judas Effect landed flush, then a Code Breaker, but Ishii kicked out at one, stumbled to his feet and kicked away from the Walls of Jericho, hitting a charging tackling headbutt for two. Sliding D avoided by Jericho, but Ishii managed a Code Breaker and wild lariat for two of his own. Ishii wanted the Sliding D, but Jericho hit two more Judas Effects right on the button to get the win. He fell onto Ishii with his own shoulders down as well, but it wasn’t really noticed by referee Aubrey, who awarded the match to Jericho.

-Renee Paquette is backstage with Swerve Strickland & Prince Nana who said rebuilding is something they do very well. He’s never been hit by anyone as hard as Lashley when Max Caster strolls by with a smile. Strickland asked him what’s so funny and Caster said Chicago is where he pinned Strickland to win the AEW Tag Team Titles. Caster called himself the Best Wrestler Alive and brought up Strickland’s house fire, as Strickland snapped, threw Caster against the wall and punted him in the ribs, as Nana had to usher Strickland away. For AEW always having security close by, there was none for Caster getting his ass kicked.

**********

-Tony Schiavone introduces Hangman Adam Page to the ring, as Excalibur tells us Orange Cassidy is not medically cleared following his match with Jon Moxley at Full Gear, as well as the chemicals being poured onto him by Moxley & Wheeler Yuta in the post-match.

Schiavone brings up Page losing to Jay White, attacking Christopher Daniels, then helping Christian Cage nearly securing a World Title match, all at Full Gear. Page said if Daniels ever gets in his way again, he won’t get back up. Page also said he kept up his end of the deal at Full Gear and would’ve been home for Thanksgiving the AEW World Champion, but Christian Cage failed. It should’ve never been Swerve’s, Danielson or Moxley’s, as that World Title has always been his.

Switchblade Jay White asked Page what happened in his match with White at Wrestle Dream and Full Gear, which was two loses. If anyone deserves a shot at the AEW World Title, it should be White, not Page. If Page wants another reminder, he’ll happily give him that chance. PAC appeared behind White, swept the leg and chucked him into the barricade, as Wheeler Yuta hit the ring and attacked Page. White unintentionally made the save, cleared the ring of PAC & Yuta, but Page dropped him. Marina Shafir blasted Page with the briefcase holding the AEW World Title, as White recovered and teased a Blade Runner on Shafir, but Jon Moxley showed up and choked White out, until Shafir hit a Judo throw and applied her Mother’s Milk submission, as White went out. The Death Riders put the boots on White, picked him up, as PAC cracked him with the briefcase as well, leaving White laying.

-As Claudio Castagnoli made his entrance through the crowd for the upcoming match, a video package featuring The Death Riders riding in the desert is shown as a plug for the World’s End PPV in December.

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Ricochet in the Continental Classic Gold League

(The match itself I thought was good, but the bald chants, though pretty darn funny, seemed to distract both guys. The finish seemed flat, but it was the same way Castagnoli put away Darby Allin last week, so it’ll take a little bit to get a standard lariat over as a finisher, no matter how hard you throw it. That said, the second week in a row, Castagnoli looked like a beast and hopefully has a strong run in this Continental Classic.)

Castagnoli enjoyed the advantage early with the power game, as he ate one hurricanrana from Ricochet, but blocked the second attempt. He tried a choke slam, but Ricochet managed his hurricanrana, as Castagnoli regrouped outside as Ricochet did the Spiderman flip and pose. Castagnoli caught a dive and dropped Ricochet throat first on the barricade. After firing off an uppercut, Castagnoli pressed Ricochet into the ring, but took too long to regroup, as Ricochet hit a dive. A springboard attempt back inside was thwarted, as Castagnoli knocked out the ropes and gained control into break. The crowd seems to have been coming up with chants for both guys being bald and it lasted throughout the commercial break. Yes, this included Bald Forever and Baldy Sh*t.

When things returned, Ricochet hit a dive through the ropes and went up top back inside, looked for a dive, but Castagnoli caught him into a back breaker and big boot for two. Castagnoli wanted a pop-up uppercut, but Ricochet stood on his chest, backflipped out into a round the world head scissors and another dive over the top to the floor. Back inside, a springboard clothesline connects, followed by a Lionsault for a near fall. Ricochet tried a springboard off the second rope, but Castagnoli hit an uppercut in mid-air for two. Sharpshooter transitioned into the Crossface by Castagnoli, who wanted a Ricola Bomb, but Ricochet rolled through for two.

Castagnoli chucked Ricochet to the floor and into the barricade, as he wanted a countout, but Ricochet broke the count. Castagnoli hit the big-time lariat and got the win.

-Renee Paquette is backstage with Kyle Fletcher & Don Callis, as she asks about Fletcher’s biggest win of his career. Callis said they destroyed Will Ospreay because that’s what people do to get ahead in this business. They proved what Callis has said all along, that Fletcher is better than Will Ospreay and they’re just getting started. Fletcher said they made it certain that he’s better than Ospreay in every single way and tells people to tune in on Collision, as the Continental Classic belongs to the Proto-Star.

-Adam Cole came out with The Kingdom and said he’s sick and tired of playing this game with MJF, who keeps ducking him because he’s a little bitch. After what MJF did to Roderick Strong, he swears on his mother he’ll beat Max within an inch of his life. Kyle O’Reilly then stormed to the ring and said with all due respect, Cole fought Max and it didn’t work out, so let him fight MJF. O’Reilly was going to call MJF out, when Cole cut him off and said what O’Reilly said to him last week stuck, he can’t let his friends fight his battles for him, he has to fight MJF. O’Reilly said it’s not for Cole, it’s for Roddy.

MJF is shown on the big screen playing a piano and declined the challenge by both O’Reilly & Cole and said he’s more focused on the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal next week. MJF says he’ll play them out and plays his theme song on the piano. Cole then enters the Battle Royal, as O’Reilly is the second with both arguing until he left Cole, Taven & Bennett.

**********

-Excalibur runs over the Internation Women’s Cup 4-Way taking place at Wrestle Dynasty, as the upcoming match will be one of the Semifinal’s for AEW, as Willow Nightingale vs. Serena Deeb will be the other AEW Semifinal taking place December 7th on Collision. The Finals will occur at Winter Is Coming December 12th with the winner advancing to Wrestle Dynasty and representing AEW in the 4-Way. The winner of which, will receive a title shot in any of the participating promotions. Ring of Honor will have Athena vs. Red Velvet vs. Billie Starkz vs. Leyla Hirsch at a future date, while CMLL have announced Zeuxis vs. Sanely vs. Persephone vs. Reyna Isis on their December 13th show. No word at the moment who the Stardom competitors will be.

Jamie Hayter defeated Queen Aminata in an International Women’s Cup Qualifier Semifinal

(To say this was hard hitting is an understatement, as these two beat the hell out of each other. Aminata crushes it most of the time she gets a chance on TV and this was no different. I wish she’d get pushed more, which, hopefully down the line, as they shouldn’t have had Hayter lose this early in her return. This win advances Hayter to the Finals and will face the winner of Serena Deeb & Willow Nightingale.)

Hayter tried grounding Aminata in the opening moments, but Aminata spun out into a hip toss. Hayter up first and fired off a forearm before driving Aminata into the corner repeatedly, as a series of chops followed. Aminata turned the tables and the two start lighting each other up with loud chops and forearms. Hayter reversed a corner whip and drove Aminata into the corner with a suplex as things went to commercial.

When things returned, both ladies continued slugging it out, cutting one another off until they trade near falls. Aminata blocked a lariat into a snap suplex, as Hayter stumbled into the ropes, allowing Aminata to hit her charging kick that leveled Hayter to the floor. Back inside, Aminata wanted a slam, Hayter slid out, tried a big boot, but Aminata caught it and hit a face buster. Aminata up top, as she wanted a double stomp, rolled through, as Hayter connected on a Hayt-Breaker, but as she went for Hayter-ade, Aminata got a roll-up for two. Both ladies scramble around for pin attempts until Hayter sank in a choke, which Aminata rolled out of for two. Hayter up first for a big boot and Hayter-ade that wiped Aminata out for the win.

Post match, the lights went out until a spotlight appeared on stage. Hayter was left alone in the ring, wondering where Julia Hart was, knowing she was behind the mind games, but Hayter’s music started playing again and nothing else happened.

-Renee Paquette is backstage sitting with Mina Shirakawa and asked about her heartbreak from Mariah May at Full Gear. Shirakawa said she knew this day would come, as if Mariah could do this to Toni Storm, she could do it to her as well. This is unfortunately the real Mariah May, selfish, who has to kill anyone who gets close to her. If that’s the real Mariah, then it’s time to introduce her to the real Mina. May charges in and busts a bottle over Shirakawa’s head and beats her down with the AEW Women’s Title before telling her she wants Mina. We’re then told it will be Mariah May vs. Mina Shirakawa in two weeks at Winter is Coming for the AEW Women’s Title.

**********

Brody King defeated Darby Allin in the Continental Classic Gold League

(The story here was the damage that Allin chose to do to himself at Full Gear was his own demise, as King controlled almost all of this one, aside from the hope spots towards the end. King got his revenge on Allin from their Wrestle Dream battle and I liked the visual of King almost standing up for his rival when Castagnoli tried to do damage in the post-match. King & Castagnoli should be excellent next week.)

Allin is ribs are heavily bandaged up from t-boning his car into The Death Riders truck to conclude Full Gear. His knee is also wrapped, as Allin offered a handshake to King, who almost seemed to reluctantly accept. King blocked a kick and backflipped Allin to the mat before connecting on running sentons for a near fall. It was all King, who kept chopping the hell out of Allin, who fell from the top to the floor as things went to break, as Allin hasn’t gotten off any offense yet.

It was all King annihilating Allin during break, until King missed a senton charge into the barricade, letting Allin recover at least briefly. Allin wanted a Coffin Drop, but his legs were swept out, tied to the Tree of Woe, as King hit his corner cannonball for two. King looked for a superplex, but Allin bit the hands and head, connecting on an Avalanche Code Red for a near fall. King rolled outside where he was immediately met with a charging Allin dive and top rope Coffin Drop. Allin connected on another one on the downed King, as he went for another back inside, but King caught him in a rear naked choke. Allin rolled through for two, but King was right back into trapping him in the choke. King released the hold and destroyed Allin with a Gonzo Bomb to get the win.

Post match, King left the ring, as Claudio Castagnoli showed up with a chair, but King returned and had a stare-down with Castagnoli, as we’re told they will face one another next week in the Gold League.

Continental Classic Gold League Standings

3 Points: Claudio Castagnoli, Brody King

0 Points: Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Juice Robinson, Darby Allin

Continental Classic Blue League Standings

3 Points: Shelton Benjamin

0 Points: Mark Briscoe, Kazuchika Okada, The Beast Mortos, Kyle Fletcher, Daniel Garcia

AEW Collision 11/30/24 (special start time 4pm ET/3pm CT/1pm PT)

  • Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. TNT Champion Daniel Garcia in the Continental Classic Blue League
  • Will Ospreay vs. Juice Robinson in the Continental Classic Gold League
  • Kyle Fletcher vs. The Beast Mortos in the Continental Classic Blue League
  • Hangman Adam Page vs. Wheeler Yuta

AEW Rampage 11/30/24 (immediately following Collision)

  • Thunder Rosa vs. Harleygram (Harley Cameron in a Hologram mask)
  • Hechicero vs. Komander
  • The Beast Mortos vs. Serpentico
  • Katsuyori Shibata, Atlantis Jr. & Mascara Dorada vs. Top Flight & Action Andretti

AEW Dynamite 12/4/24

  • Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal (MJF, Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly announced competitors so far)
  • PAC vs. Switchblade Jay White
  • Brody King vs. Claudio Castagnoli in the Continental Classic Gold League

Jericho-Ishii contract signing added to AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Contracts will be signed this Wednesday.

It was announced on social media Tuesday that Chris Jericho and Tomohiro Ishii will meet on AEW Dynamite to sign a contract for their future ROH World Championship match that will take place on the November 27 edition of Dynamite.

The feud between Jericho and Ishii dates back to earlier in the year, when Ishii was written out of AEW storylines following an attack by Jericho. Since then, Ishii has made his return and even pinned Jericho when the Conglomeration fought The Learning Tree in a Fight Without Honor on the November 6 edition of Dynamite.

Ishii previously challenged Jericho for the ROH World title during Jericho’s first run as champion in 2022, but was unsuccessful.

Here’s the updated lineup for Reading, PA:

  • Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli
  • Will Ospreay, Ricochet, Powerhouse Hobbs & Mark Davis vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, Lance Archer & Brian Cage
  • Big Boom A.J. appearance
  • Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida
  • Chris Jericho/Tomohiro Ishii ROH World title contract signing
  • Hechicero, Atlantis Jr., and Mascara Dorada in action