Tag: roh final battle

Mercedes Martinez vs. Athena Women’s title match set for ROH Final Battle

Posted on by Ian Carey

The ROH Women’s Championship will be on the line at Final Battle. 

AEW posted to social media on Thursday that Mercedes Martinez will defend her title against Athena on the show. 

“In a battle of two of the toughest, @ringofhonor Women’s World Champ @RealMMartinez faces @AthenaPalmer_FG @ Final Battle LIVE on PPV, 12/10 in Arlington!” AEW wrote on Twitter. 

An angle between the two took place on the November 18 (taped November 16) edition of AEW Rampage. After Athena defeated Madison Rayne, she continued to attack her opponent after the bell until referee Aubrey Edwards tried to pull her away. Athena then struck Edwards and Martinez eventually came out to make the save after Athena had turned her attention back to Rayne. Martinez had her first match in four months earlier that night during the Dark Elevation taping. She had been out since July win an undisclosed injury.  

Martinez will be going for her sixth successful title defense to tie Deonna Purrazzo for second all-time behind only Rok-C (Roxanne Perez) who defended the belt eight times. 

The show will take place a one-hour drive from Athena’s hometown of Garland, Texas. 

ROH Final Battle takes place Saturday, December 10, from the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas with a special start time of 4 p.m. Eastern time. Three matches have been confirmed for the show. 

  • ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
  • ROH Women’s Championship: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Athena
  • ROH Pure Championship: Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta

ROH Final Battle date, location & special start time announced

Posted on by Josh Nason

As Tony Khan alluded to in an interview, Ring of Honor will indeed have one more pay-per-view in 2022 as a date, location and special start time for Final Battle was announced during Tuesday’s AEW Dynamite.

The PPV will emanate from the University of Texas at Arlington on Saturday, December 10th with a special start time of 4 PM Eastern. While not mentioned on the show, competition that night includes the UFC 282 PPV and the Heisman Trophy being awarded to college football’s most outstanding player.

Tickets go on sale November 4th.

It will be the third ROH PPV in the Khan era of ownership with the previous two (April’s Supercard of Honor, July’s Death Before Dishonor) setting company records for buys, according to Khan himself. 

The news comes on the heels of Khan telling Sports Illustrated Tuesday in the aforementioned interview that there will soon be “great news” when it comes to an ROH weekly TV show in 2023.

Jonathan Gresham wins ROH World title at Final Battle

Posted on by Bryan Rose

One era ended and another began at tonight’s ROH Final Battle event, where four titles changed hands, including the ROH World Championship.

Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal to win the title after submitting Lethal with the octopus stretch. The entire locker room had emptied out prior to the finish. Jordynne Grace, Gresham’s wife, entered the ring as Gresham was presented with the old ROH World Championship and had his hand raised by former ROH owner Cary Silkin. The show closed with Gresham celebrating his first title win.

The main event for tonight’s pay-per-view was originally set to be ROH World Champion Bandido facing Gresham. However, the company announced two days prior to the show that Bandido had to pull out due to testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, Lethal, who is now signed to All Elite Wrestling, took Bandido’s place. It was announced during the first hour of Final Battle that the winner would be awarded the ROH World Championship.

The ROH Six-Man, Tag Team, and Television titles also changed hands.

Vincent, Bateman, and Dutch defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Moses, Kaun, and O’Shay Edwards) to win the ROH Six-Man titles after Vincent hit Orange Sunshine on Edwards for the win. This marks the end of Shane Taylor Promotion’s run with the titles, having won them on the episode of Ring of Honor television that aired on February 10 of this year.

Rhett Titus won the ROH Television Championship, defeating Champion Dalton Castle, Silas Young, and Joe Hendry in a four-way match, pinning Young with a dropkick after he dodged a springboard splash. Castle had only won the title recently, defeating Dragon Lee on the episode of ROH TV that aired on November 21.

The Briscoes won their twelfth ROH World Tag Team Championship tonight, defeating OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett). After the match, the team cut a promo, saying they would take on any challengers. This led to the lights going out, and when they came on, AEW’s FTR appeared on the apron. Both teams soon engaged in a pull-apart brawl, eventually having to be separated.

Bandido off ROH Final Battle due to positive COVID-19 test

Posted on by Ethan Renner

ROH World Champion Bandido will miss Saturday’s Final Battle after testing positive for COVID-19.

The company announced today that Bandido tested positive and will not be at the Baltimore-area event this Saturday, December 11. Bandido had been scheduled to defend the ROH World title against Jonathan Gresham on the show. No replacement match has been announced. 

ROH released a statement on Twitter regarding the news: 

“#FinalBattle update. Get well soon @bandidowrestler! Match updates will be released as soon as possible.”

“Unfortunately, ROH World Champion Bandido returned a positive result on his most recent Covid Testing and will not be present at Final Battle this Saturday, December 11th in Baltimore. 

Thank you for continuously supporting Ring of Honor through it all and we appreciate your understanding that safety and health of our talents, staff and fans are our top priorities. 

Stay tuned for match updates regarding Final Battle 2021 as we commemorate the history-making era that is coming to an end.”

ROH will go on hiatus following Final Battle, with a relaunch planned for Spring 2022, although no future dates have been announced, and no talent will be under contract after March 31, 2022.