ROH Final Battle full card: Briscoes aim to be 12-time tag champs

Ring of Honor is celebrating the end of an era with the Final Battle PPV on Saturday night (Dec. 11). Questions are swirling about ROH’s future after they announced plans to take a hiatus to reimagine the company’s future heading into next year. With a clouds on the horizon, the focus for now is on what ROH does best. That is to offer excellent wrestling inside the ring.

Final Battle will feature five championship contests, star returns, and surprises. The full PPV card includes:

• Jonathan Gresham vs. Jay Lethal
• ROH World Tag Team Championship: Matt Taven & Mike Bennett (c) vs. Briscoes
• ROH Pure Championship: Josh Woods (c) vs. Brian Johnson
• Kenny King vs. Shane Taylor
• ROH World Television Championship: Dalton Castle (c) vs. Rhett Titus vs. Silas Young vs. Joe Hendry
• ROH Women’s World Championship: Rok-C (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
• Brody King, Homicide, & Tony Deppen vs. Tracy Williams, Taylor Rust, & Eli Isom
• Rey Horus vs. Dragon Lee

The pre-show airs at 7 pm ET through HonorClub, Facebook, YouTube, and Fite TV. The lineup includes:

• ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Moses, Kaun, & O’Shay Edwards (c) vs. Vincent, Bateman, & Dutch
• Chelsea Green, Allysin Kay, & Marti Belle vs. Miranda Alize, Angelina Love, & Mandy Leon
• Wildcard 10-man tag match

Let’s break down the bigger matches.

Gresham was originally set to compete against Bandido for the ROH World Championship, but Bandido was pulled from action after testing positive for COVID. Lethal stepped in as a replacement. It will be bittersweet for Gresham. On one hand, he’ll get to close this era of ROH by wrestling his friend. On the other hand, it appeared to be destiny for Gresham to win ROH’s top prize. Destiny has a funny way of throwing us for a loop. ROH teased an announcement regarding the status of the world title, so maybe this becomes a championship contest after all.

As for the story between Gresham and Lethal, they had a student and teacher relationship when Gresham first came aboard ROH. As students often do, they challenge the teacher’s ways. Lethal proved his point by going 3-0 against Gresham in singles action, including an Ironman match. Gresham finally earned his first win over Lethal in 2019. The duo paired together to win tag team gold at Final Battle 2019. The next chapter saw them form the Foundation faction to purify ROH with Pure wrestling. Even though they were pals, they did battle one more time in April 2021 to honor the spirit of competition. Gresham was victorious to retain the Pure championship.

More recently, tension has risen as video surfaced of Lethal saying he can’t stand the Foundation. Lethal claimed it was taken out of context. He was just repeating what Vincent had said. Lethal is searching for a copy of the original film, but he has yet to find his proof. This story coincided with Lethal signing with AEW, so it might not reach a resolution. However, there is always time at Final Battle to provide a quick settlement one way or the other heading into the marquee match.

The Briscoes are on a quest to become 12-time ROH tag champs. OGK felt it was only fitting to battle with the Briscoes to close out this era of ROH. OGK has momentum on their side after beating the Briscoes in September. This is the #1 bout on my list. Just listen to the emotion in this promo package as the Briscoes discuss their desire to end the era with the tag belts in hand.

King and Taylor are friends turned rivals. King acted as a mentor in Taylor’s early career. As time passed, Taylor was on the cusp of winning the ROH world title. King robbed him of that glory by helping his Ingobernables brother, Rush, to retain. Taylor decided to act professional and put this beef to the side. King wasn’t having that and kept poking the bear. Now, the time has come to finish it in a fight without honor.

The PPV portion of Final Battle airs 8 pm ET. It is available through PPV, HonorClub, and Fite TV. Get in the mood for Final Battle with an intense slugfest between Gresham and Dragon Lee.

Share your predictions for the Final Battle card. Which matches are you most eager to see?